Mount Holyoke s u m m er 2015
Alumnae Quarterly
I N T H I S I SSU E E D UCAT IN G C H E M ISTS THE CONNECTIONS P RO G RAM INSIDE WA-SHIN-AN T IM E CAPS U L E
Mount Holyoke Forever Shall Be Welcoming our newest alumnae to Reunion’s shared traditions
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President’s Pen F I V E Y E A R S A G O, when I began hosting
The Academic Minute on National Public Radio in collaboration with Albany’s WAMC, our goal was to promote participatory democracy by providing access to those outside of the academy to cuttingedge research and scholarship taking place at colleges and universities around the world. This ninety-second glimpse into the lives of faculty is also an attempt to use the most vibrant vectors available to articulate the value of liberal education. At a time when public confidence in higher education is at an all-time low and when education is viewed as a private commodity instead of a public good, it is incumbent upon education leaders to make the case for why a liberal education is more relevant than ever. Mount Holyoke’s extraordinary faculty ensure that when our students graduate, they have the capacity to write, speak, and think with precision, coherence, and clarity; the ability to anticipate and respond to objections; The liberal education and the ability to exercise cultural competence, understanding what it we offer at Mount is like to walk in the shoes of others. Holyoke is a sensibility, As philosopher Martha Nussbaum reminds us, “upheavals of thought” rather than a collection create empathy—an essential component of humanity—and are building blocks toward understanding justice, of subjects. creating moral imagination, and connecting thought to action—all at — LYN N PA SQ U E R E LL A ’80 the heart of Mount Holyoke’s mission of using liberal learning for purposeful engagement in the world. Moreover, as Mount Holyoke has made clear with the launch of our Lynk initiative, connecting curriculum to career, we are convinced that a liberal education is the best preparation for whatever career goals our students have in mind. Indeed, a liberal education provides the skills of adaptability and flexibility in a world in which rapidly changing technology means rapid obsolescence and where the jobs of the future have not yet been invented. Perhaps most importantly, the liberal arts and sciences enrich the experience of individuals alone and as members of a community, allowing us to flourish fully as human beings and empowering us to grapple with the complexities of human existence. One cannot cope with
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Ben Barnhart
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complexity through fragmented consciousness and discourse or flourish on an entire diet of bread and circuses. There is inherent value that comes from reflecting on experiences in a way that arouses the very sensibilities enabling us to deal with the metaphysics of being human, conscious of living in the world. The liberal education we offer at Mount Holyoke is a sensibility, rather than a collection of subjects. A good critic of literature can bring us into a sphere of experience that combines allusions to the past with what is happening in the world right now. Like philosophers, artists, and historians, he or she is capable of speaking to the universality of experience, and it is unnecessary to measure how many people were illuminated to understand the impact of what they offer. In the end, it is this phenomenological engagement with the liberal arts, offered each and every day at Mount Holyoke, that fosters the next generation of women leaders and helps students to clarify who they are and who they want to become.
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Contents 17
D E PA R T M E N T S
2 LYO N S SH ARE
Kudos to alumnae, support for the admission process, a call for role models, and a look back at #MHCReunion
7 UNCOMMON GROUND Welcome to our newest alumnae, Mary Graham Davis ’65 honored, College welcomes new board chair
15 The Maven Evelyn Resh FP’90 on sexual health
Cover: Meredith Heuer; chemistry: Joshua Sugiyama; Wa-shin-an: James Gehrt; Pontigny: MHC Archives and Special Collections; back cover: Olivia Mellan: Erin Schaff; Sherry Christie: Sheila Enochs
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LL EC I A L PU
14 Go Figure Summer at Mount Holyoke
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12 Insider’s View Wa-shin-an
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11 Ten Minutes With Founder of POM POM skateboards Sarah Strebel Cameron ’97
Find Your People
16 The Female Gaze Oil painter Alice Ullman Dustin ’64; authors Liz Murphy Fenwick ’85 and Robin McLean ’87 F E AT U R E S
17 A Winning Formula
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Educating top chemists, professors, inventors, and researchers through the College’s forward-thinking chemistry program rooted in history
29 Mount Holyoke
Forever Shall Be
Alumnae recall their time at the College during Reunion festivities
Plus
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Reunion 2015 Awardees
Mount Holyoke served as a refuge for scholars during World War II 33 On Display 1900 time capsule 34 Then and Now Senior Ball
22 Meaningful Moments
The Connections Program joins classes fifty years apart, helping alumnae and current students find common ground between generations
32 M oHOME MEMORIES
35 CO N N ECT I ON S
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Class of 2004 sends encouragement to students; trekking through India, Nepal and Bhutan; alumnae travel opportunities 36 A Place of Our Own Garden pond
38 CLASS N OT ES 80 MY VOI C E
Kate Burke Laird ’95 on “What is Enough?”
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LETTERS
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FAC E B O O K
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I N S TAG R A M
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Lyons Share
—Marilyn Bruno ’69 via Association website KUDOS TO LOURDES MELGAR ’85 Great interview (“Building a Spring pink #mountholyoke
CHEMICAL RESPONSE Brava to Anne Blake ’85 and
Aimee Boulanger ’90 (“Chemical Reaction,” winter 2015, p. 23)! Cynthia Bruno Burzell ’01 and I continue to pitch product manufacturers, including the leaders in consumer and feminine hygiene markets, to replace biocides that are known to be toxic and harmful with nontoxic substitutes. We know of no case in the eight years that we have been working on this in which toxic chemicals were voluntarily replaced in any end-use product. Most product manufacturers have no motivation. The status quo is
Prosperous Mexico,” spring 2015, p. 9). It’s always fantastic to see MHC women tackling the complex issue of energy in today’s world. It’s a traditionally male-dominated field, but the women who thrive in it are amazing people! —Danetta Beaushaw ’88 via Association website ADMISSION’S STUDENTS Recognizing the importance of a
personal connection during the interview process and developing a plan to make that happen is what makes Mount Holyoke the superior college it is. To participate as a student interviewing a prospective student is a wonderful experience for both interviewer and applicant. Congratulations, Mount Holyoke, for maintaining your integrity in all areas! —Jan Lehrman ’57 via Association website
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Alum in NYT Sunday puzzle! Go Virginia Apgar! @aamhc @mtholyoke E M I LY D I ETR I CH ’85 @E M I LY D I ETR I CH
Reading the article about the Newhall Fellows and the mission of admission rekindled so many sentiments. I, too, that long-ago fall of my senior year in high school when I had my campus tour and interview, was blown away by the one-on-one time spent with me and the personal attention that everyone with whom I came into contact demonstrated, both face-to-face and through the subsequent correspondence. No other school even came close to showing a similar sincere interest in possible reciprocal benefits. I felt special, from the beginning of the admission process to the end. I knew in my gut that Mount Holyoke and I could be and would be a good match. And it all began with Reggie (Clara Regina Ludwig ’37) and her dedicated and empathetic Office of Admission staff; glad to see that under Karen Osgood the unique tradition of making prospective students feel so welcome and important continues. —Ellie Shulman Bartolozzi ’75 via email
Jennifer Grow ’94
lucrative, legislators are not giving them meaningful grief, and there are few enforcement actions. Most investors ignore whether or not the manufacturers have gained inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. No consumers are boycotting these products. Women investors and consumers could develop action plans around these last two points. Mount Holyoke College could remove from its investment portfolio those companies that harm our health— and start advertising that fact.
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ON LEADING WOMEN Where are the role models? They are
reading this article (“Women in the Lead,” spring 2015, p. 23). I personally challenge every Mount Holyoke graduate to get a seat at the table— as a director on a board. Those with experience in government affairs, international business, law, marketing, and especially finance are particularly useful to publicly traded company boards, which—by the way—pay their directors. You know what else all MHC grads have? Ethics. A single woman director can reduce the presence and severity of fraud in male-dominated industries. Look at your accomplishments and see if you are qualified, and do this now. If you are building your career, aim for a board seat while you aim for the C-suite. Be a role model. —Verity Chegar ’00 via Association website
Watching #DirtyDancing under the stars with the
MHC Archives and Special Collections; Cynthia Smith ’76
entire class of 2015 because “Baby’s starting @mtholyoke
Well said, Verity. I think Uncommon Women all need to remember that these “old boys’ clubs” we’ve been breaking into for so many years still need breaking into! Hints on getting invited to be on public company boards are always welcome, but imagine the impact if each of us made a New Year’s resolution to do our damnedest to get invited this year— we’d change the ratio in no time! For myself, I’m starting a venture capital firm focusing on female-founded biotech companies. Don’t forget that institutional investors nowadays have diversity initiatives, and, for better or worse, if you can “check some boxes” for them (women-owned, minority-owned, etc.), they’re more than happy to avail themselves of your services. —Elana Bertram Dolce ’04 via Association website
I have worn my class ring every day since 1967! —Marcia Brumit Kropf ’67
SPRING PRAISE Just have to tell you how much I
The knuckle is larger and the skin is wrinklier, but the ring fits and I wear it! —Cynthia Smith ’76
enjoyed the spring 2015 edition. The appearance was beautiful and the content captivating. Even the feel of the paper was delicious. Congratulations on making a good thing even better. —E. Suzanne Barber ’57 via email
Join the Conversation
in the fall” one last time E M I LY K AM M E R LO H R ’ 15 @E M K AM M 93
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A beautiful class ring from 1931 (who were sphinxes like the class of 2015!). Did you purchase a class ring, and if so do you still wear it? Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections and part of a collection of college jewelry.
quarterly@mtholyoke.edu
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facebook.com/aamhc twitter.com/aamhc instagram.com/mhcalums alumn.ae/linkedin
I wear mine for every interview and every conference I have attended since graduating in 2008. —Katherine Patrick ’08 My great aunt Mary D. Torrey ’49 left me her class ring, which I cherish. We were both so excited to have her march with alums in the Laurel Parade when I graduated in 2000.
—Leslie Kumler ’00 I am in a “wearing it” phase. Sometimes I go years without wearing it, and then get the urge to put it on again. —Jena Gaines ’83 Have worn it every day since I bought it my sophomore year. Skin under it is perfect having never seen the sun all these years. —Sarah Dale Anderson ’91
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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Lyons Share: Reunion
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Mount Holyoke alumnae from across generations and around the world returned to campus to celebrate Reunion in May. Here’s a sampling of shared memories, discoveries, and selfies during two festive weekends. To view additional photos and watch a video of Reunion 2015, visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/reunion2015.
1 Better together. Always Uncommon. #mhc2010 #classof1960 #mhcreunion @mhcalums @M H C2 010 M OU NT H OLYOKE CLASS OF 2 010
2 What fun sharing my 40th #MHCReunion with @H ANNAH R LUCAS , Class of 2018! #mhc2018 @LUCAS H ALF D OZ E N H OPE PE T E RSON LUCAS ’ 75
3 1970 #MHCReunion @M H CALU M S M OU NT H OLYOKE ALU M NAE
Seven alums from the class of 1945 came back for Reunion! #MHCReunion
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4 Paws and I had a blast today at the #laurelparade. #mhcreunion #mountholyoke @PE R KI2 2 N NICOLE PE R KINS ’ 16
@A A M H C M O U N T H O LYO K E A L U M S
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5 1950 #MHCReunion @M H CALU M S M OU NT H OLYOKE ALU M NAE
6 #MHCreunion
#BlackAlumnae Reconnecting with my #Sisters was a blast #Classof2000 #15yearreunion
@AKILAH CONNECTS AKILAH CH AR LE M AGNE ’0 0
7 The Laurel Parade is on
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#MHCReunion - my besties in front of our old Dorm. @M OONLIGH T BIND E RY KAT H AR INE CASS E LM AN WAGNE R ’ 9 0
@aamhc @mtholyoke lots of love to class
8 Reuniting never felt so good #mhcreunion #tropica2013 @LST E ADS 13
of 1945! They look adorable!
LINDSAY ST E AD M AN ’ 13
H E LE N TE LI L A FP ’09 @M I SSTE LI L A
9 Class of 1955 has got some humour. #mhcreunion @S H IKH AT H AKALI S H IKH A T H AKALI ’ 18
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OH: Daughter of #1990: “Mama can we come back to this place?” #MHCReunion @A A M H C M O U N T H O LYO K E A L U M S
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1985 classmates Marge Anderson (left) and Betsy Powell
This just cracked me up and reminded me of the truly zany things we were all a part of! —Kathleen Usher ’87
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M OU NT H O LYOK E A LU M NA E QUA RT E R LY Summer 2015 Volume 99 Number 3 EDITORIAL AND DESIGN TEAM
Taylor Scott Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Jennifer Grow ’94 Editor
Hey there Bow 3 and coxswain! MHCReunion #alumrow
Millie Rossman Creative Director CONTR IBUTORS
A class of 1995 “banana sandwich!”
Rachel Aylward Stephanie Calas ’17 Olivia Collins ’18 Alicia Doyon Lauren Kodiak Linda Valencia Xu ’16
The Alumnae Association of
QUARTERLY COMMITTEE
Mount Holyoke College, Inc.
Beth Mulligan Dunn ’93, chair Amy L. Cavanaugh ’06 Lauren D. Klein ’03 Katharine L. Ramsden ’80 Linda Valencia Xu ’16, student rep.
South Hadley, MA 01075-1486 413-538-2300 alumnae.mtholyoke.edu quarterly@mtholyoke.edu
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Mount Holyoke Alumnae
President Marcia Brumit Kropf ’67
Quarterly is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall, and winter by the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, Inc. Summer 2015, volume 99, number 3 was printed in the USA by Lane Press, Burlington, VT. Periodicals postage paid at South Hadley, MA, and additional mailing offices. Ideas expressed in the Alumnae Quarterly do not necessarily reflect the views of Mount Holyoke College or the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College.
Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee Tara Mia Paone ’81 Clerk Ashanta Evans-Blackwell ’95 Alumna Trustee Catherine Burke ’78 Young Alumnae Representative Elaine C. Cheung ’09 Chair, Nominating Committee Radley Emes ’00
ais@mtholyoke.edu or 413-538-2303. POST M AST ER
Chair, Communications Committee Shannon Dalton Giordano ’91
Alumnae Information Services at
(ISSN 0027-2493; USPS 365-280) Please send form 3579 to Alumnae Information Services Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association 50 College Street South Hadley, MA 01075-1486
Director-at-Large Amanda S. Lainberger ’07 Chair, Volunteer Stewardship Committee Ellen L. Leggett ’75 Chair, Clubs Committee Elizabeth Redmond VanWinkle ’82 Executive Director Jane E. Zachary ex officio without vote
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J E N N I F E R G R OW ’ 9 4
Vice President Julianne Trabucchi Puckett ’91
Chair, Classes and Reunion Committee Danielle M. Germain ’93
To update your information, contact
@MOMALOMJ E N
President Lynn Pasquerella and her class
Social Superstars Mount Holyoke Class of 2010 posted a steady stream of Reunion posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @mhc2010
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1 “SELFIE STICK!” #mhc2010 #2010fiveyear #mhcreunion 2 Former Mount Holyoke President Joanne Creighton caught up with members of the class of 2010, who posted to Facebook: “Now it’s a reunion!”
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Alumnae row: Jennifer Grow ’94; Banana sandwich: Jemma Penberthy; class of 1980: Meredith Heuer
50 College Street
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N E WS
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TEN MINUTES WITH
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INSIDER’S VIEW
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GO FIGURE
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T H E M AV E N
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THE FEMALE GAZE
Uncommon Ground
Credit Tim Llewellyn tk
Alumnae row: Jennifer Grow ’94; Banana sandwich: Jemma Penberthy; class of 1980: Meredith Heuer
Welcome, Class of 2015! On Sunday, May 17, more than 600 seniors were awarded bachelor’s degrees at the College’s 178th commencement ceremony in Richard Glenn Gettell Amphitheater. Alumna and honorary degree recipient Carol Geary Schneider ’67, right, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, gave the commencement address. Schneider is widely recognized as an authority on higher education and spoke of her time at Mount Holyoke as a turning point that set her on her path to become a leading national advocate for undergraduate liberal education and women’s colleges. In her address Schneider spoke of the College’s groundbreaking work in preparing graduates for the future. “Mount Holyoke is developing a powerful and exciting model for twenty-first-century liberal education—a model that deliberately and actively prepares college women to connect your learning with the world’s most important questions,” she said. President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 also awarded honorary degrees to Sheila Lirio Marcelo ’93, CEO of Care. com, the world’s largest online firm connecting families with caregivers; Robert Forrester, philanthropist and CEO of Newman’s Own; and Meredith Monk, an internationally acclaimed vocal artist. Olivia Papp ’15 was selected by her peers to give the student address. Read Schneider’s full commencement address at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ commencementaddress.
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Students Intern with Alumnae Around the World This summer twenty-five Mount Holyoke students are being supervised by alumnae in internships around the world, a 13 percent increase from last year. A central goal of the College’s Lynk initiative is to ensure that each MHC student has the opportunity to explore her career interests and gain practical experience, which is why in 2013 President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 announced that Mount Holyoke will provide funding for sophomores and juniors to pursue one unpaid internship or research opportunity. To post an opportunity at your company, or for advice on creating or growing an internship program, contact the Career Development Center at cdc@mtholyoke.edu.
Alumnae are supervising student summer internships at the following organizations: • Advancement for Rural Kids • Brigham and Women’s Hospital • Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies • Center for Cross Cultural Studies • Civil Rights Center at the US DOL • CONNECTIONS After School Program • Core Complexity Assessments LLC • Girls Inc. of Worcester
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• Mission and Installation Contracting Command • Mount Holyoke College • Olympic National Park • Podcasts for Peace • Sofregen Medical • The Smithsonian Associates • Tokyo Christian Women’s University • Under the Mango Tree • Voices From Inside
Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees Welcomes New Chair Barbara Baumann ’77, president of Cross Creek Energy Corporation of Denver, Colorado, and a consultant to US energy companies, has been named the next chair of the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees. Baumann took the helm July 1, with the departure of current chair Mary Graham Davis ’65, who served on the board for nineteen years. Baumann has served as vice chair of the investment committee for Mount Holyoke College’s endowment—currently $717 million—since 2011 and was a trustee from 2003 to 2013. During that time, she cochaired the College’s $300 million capital campaign. “I was transformed by my student experiences at Mount Holyoke,” says Baumann, “and am excited to be a part of the College’s efforts to ensure that the next generation of students graduate ready and eager—as our founder Mary Lyon said—‘to accomplish great things.’”
Baumann, who holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Mount Holyoke. Her grandmother was enrolled at the College as a member of the class of 1915.
MHC Supports Sweet Briar Students In March, the president of Sweet Briar College, citing “insurmountable financial challenges,” announced that the college would close its doors at the end of the summer session. President Lynn Pasquerella ’80 swiftly responded with an email to the Mount Holyoke community assuring alumnae, students, faculty, and staff that Mount Holyoke remains fiscally sound with a viable business model. “This year, Mount Holyoke has had its second-highest number of applicants in the College’s history, and according to admission, the pool is outstanding,” said the president. In addition, President Pasquerella noted that Mount Holyoke’s “special bond with all women’s colleges is felt more strongly than ever in moments such as this, and that the College was doing a number of things to help Sweet Briar students in their time of need. Mount Holyoke students immediately launched a postcard-writing campaign to share their concern and support. Their efforts were so successful that a postcard was delivered to every single Sweet Briar student. At the end of June, as the Quarterly was going to press, Sweet Briar College announced on their web site that a resolution to closing the college’s doors had been reached. With successful fundraising efforts and additional monies released by the attorney general from the college’s restricted endowment, the college announced, “The Board of Directors decided that new leadership should be allowed the opportunity to operate the College for another year with the hope it will be able to find long-term solutions for ongoing sustainability.”
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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Alumnae Association Establishes New Award in Honor of Mary Graham Davis ’65
Hannah Arbach ’15 Receives Laurie Priest Alumnae Scholar Athlete Award
This year the Alumnae Association created a new award to honor the inspired and visionary leadership of the outgoing chair of the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees, Mary Graham Davis ’65, who was also the inaugural recipient. Going forward, the Mary Graham Davis Leadership Award will be presented to alumnae who have gone above and beyond routine volunteerism in order to advance the mutual interests of both the Alumnae Association and the College. A former president of the Alumnae Association Board of Directors, Davis has also been a trustee of the College for the past nineteen years and chair of the board of trustees for the past five. During challenging economic times, Davis established innovative collaboration among the Five Colleges to share services and faculty. Her leadership and vision for women’s education have taken the reputation of Mount Holyoke College and the Alumnae Association into the national and international spheres through her efforts with Women’s Education Worldwide, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and the Women in Public
Davis: Meredith Heuer; Arbach: Amie Canfield
Service Project.
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On April 27 the Laurie Priest Alumnae Scholar Athlete Award was presented to Hannah Arbach ’15 at the Department of Athletics’ annual awards celebration in Chapin Auditorium. The award is given to an exceptional student athlete who displays exemplary leadership, character, and scholarship. Arbach was a member of the crew team during her four years at Mount Holyoke, serving as team captain for two years, and leading the team to many successes. She helped the team earn four consecutive Seven Sisters second-place finishes and two topfive placings at the NEWMAC Championships. She was twice named an ECAC/NIRC All-Star and was a two-time CRCA Scholar Athlete. Arbach was also the recipient of the Holly Metcalf Cup and the O’Malley Cup, awards voted on by teammates, and served as assistant coach of the Mount Holyoke Community Rowing Program. As a biochemistry major, Arbach is an accomplished scholar and researcher who has earned prestigious academic recognition, including a Presidential Leadership Scholarship, a Merrill Award, and the Chemistry Department Book Award. In the fall she began a doctoral program in biochemistry at the University of Washington.
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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For the past fifty years, prominent scientists, including many alumnae, have come to campus to speak about their groundbreaking research as part of the Christianna Smith Lecture Series. For forty years Dr. Christianna Smith, class of 1915, taught at Mount Holyoke, where she specialized in comparative anatomy and histology, established the school’s first course in medical zoology, and researched the role of the thymus gland in the body’s production of antibodies. The College established a lecture series in Smith’s honor seven years after her retirement. In early April, more than one hundred guests—including former students of Smith—attended the Fiftieth Anniversary Christianna Smith lecture, presented by Mansi Srivastava ’03, a faculty member in Harvard University’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Dr. Srivastava spoke about her research on the evolution of regeneration. “It was wonderful to have Mansi back at Mount Holyoke for this momentous occasion,” said Professor of Biological Sciences Craig Woodard. “Mansi, like Christianna Smith, is a pioneering woman scientist, and both represent what makes Mount Holyoke so great.” To watch the lecture visit alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/smithlecture.
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Friedman Honored with a Boat in her Name
More than thirty alumnae and countless other students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered at the Mount Holyoke Community Boathouse on a sunny Sunday morning in March to celebrate the christening of the team’s newest boat, the Jeanne Friedman, named after the program’s coach emerita, who retired from coaching in spring 2014 after twenty-three years at the helm. During Friedman’s tenure, the crew team achieved new heights, its training facilities were improved, and in 2010, after more than a dozen years of scouting locations, refining building plans, and raising money, a boathouse was completed, giving the team a new headquarters and place of its own for its early-morning practice sessions. Speakers at the celebration included Mount Holyoke Athletic Director Lori Hendricks ’92, Jennifer Grow ’94, a former rower and novice coach of the program under Friedman, and Friedman herself, who spoke of the privilege of seeing her name on a boat. Friedman was also quick to honor the greater community of crew supporters. “You have all helped create the legacy of MHC crew,” she said. “I’ve had the privilege of coaching the most dedicated and hardworking athletes a coach could ask for. They have been an inspiration to me. It has been rewarding watching them grow as athletes and wonderfully successful women in the world. We’ve pushed, challenged, and grown together.” At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Jeanne Friedman was christened with champagne and Connecticut River water. The next week, the Varsity 8 embarked on its inaugural row, many sitting in seats named for some of the dozens of donors who contributed to the Friends of Rowing fundraising campaign that made purchasing the boat possible.
Doug Keller (2)
Noted Alumnae Scientist Presents Fiftieth Anniversary Christianna Smith Lecture Series
Jeanne Friedman and her son christen the boat named in her honor.
alumnae.mtholyoke.edu
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ten minutes with
FOUNDE R A ND CO -OW NE R O F PO M POM
Boarding for Girls Skateboarder, snowboarder, surfer, and dirt bike rider SARAH STREBEL CAMERON ’97 is no stranger to taking risks, but her biggest adventure came in 2008 when she founded her own company. Upon realizing that most skate, snow, and surf wax brands target men and boys—through brand name, packaging, graphics, or marketing efforts— Cameron launched POM POM (iheartpompom.com), the first wax and accessories brand for girls. The brand soon attracted female surfers, snowboarders, and skaters to its sponsored teams. In February 2015, POM POM teamed up with Made In Mars Inc.—a Los Angeles-based action sports gear manufacturer—to create a line of skateboards, longboards, and cruiser boards for girls.
“
I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo and have always had ‘side projects’ going on, even while I was in law
” Roger Cameron
school.
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On why she started POM POM: Women and girls are the fastest-growing segment of the skateboard market. But too many companies address girls by “pinking and shrinking” their assortment of products, or adding a “girls” tag. All this really does is reinforce that the original brand was never intended for girls. My husband started Magical Go-Go—a skate wax company—in 2003, and we worked on it together; that was when I decided I wanted to have a brand that focused on girls. On her journey to starting a business: I have always followed my passions and never been afraid of rejection. During my senior year at MHC, I started my own greeting card company, which later led to developing it into an animated preschool property for television. That project never came to fruition, but I learned a ton from the experience, and it sparked my entrepreneurial journey. On her love of adventure: I’ve always been a big fan of spending time outdoors, being active, and challenging myself. My love for standing sideways first began on a Back to the Future skateboard that I bought at a neighbor’s tag sale. After skiing since I was four years old, I took up snowboarding my freshman year in college and was hooked. Then, after meeting my husband, I learned to surf and bought my first dirt bike. On Mount Holyoke: My experience at Mount Holyoke strengthened my independent drive and helped me realize a passion, follow it, and see where it would take me. Thankfully, I’m still on that journey today. I learned that life is too short to not take chances. Keep exploring until you find what drives you; there’s something to be learned from every experience. Surround yourself with positive people who challenge, motivate, inspire, and support you. (For me that includes philosophy professor Lee Bowie!) — I N T E RV I E W E D BY L AU R E N KO D I A K
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Wa-shin-an
Wa-shin-an, translated directly as “Peace Mind House,” is a “hidden jewel on campus, and a rare space to find at a college,” says Heath Atchley, manager of Mount Holyoke’s Japanese Teahouse and Meditation Garden. Built in 1984, the teahouse and garden are situated on the top floor of Eliot House, home of the College’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Wa-shin-an’s composition, carefully designed by distinguished architects, is focused on the spiritual process of moving through the garden, into the teahouse, and reaching a state of inner peace. n Professor Tadanori Yamashita, now retired from
Mount Holyoke’s Religion Department, and his wife, Nobue Socho Yamashita, an instructor of the Urasenke school of Tea, dreamed of an authentic Japanese teahouse for Mount Holyoke. In partnership with President Elizabeth Kennan ’60, they made that dream into wood, stone, tatami mats, and garden. n Wa-shin-an was designed by master architect and
builder Teruo Hara. Hara used traditional Japanese hand tools to build the house and garden areas and worked with raw woods, including Paulownia, a tree native to North America and China. This wood is frequently used in teahouses and is prized for its strength and relative resistance to fire. The interior of Wa-shin-an conforms beautifully to the requirements of chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, a practice of elegance and hospitality more than 400 years old. n The tea house opens onto a roof garden, designed
by Osamu Shimizu in the kare sansui style, which focuses on the symbolic creation of the world in a small space. Small white pebbles represent the sea, the large stepping stones are land and the continents, the undulating patterns of shrubs and trees represent the mountains, and low-growing mosses and plants represent the fields and people of the earth. This space is watched over by a statue of Jizo, a bodhisattva (revered or enlightened one) who protects those in need. n The fifteenth grand master of the Urasenke school
of Tea, Genshitsu Sen, came from Kyoto to South Hadley in 1984 to name and dedicate the teahouse. His calligraphy remains one of Wa-shin-an’s treasures. Through the generosity of Dr. Sen and the dedication of the Yamashitas and countless others, Wa-shin-an continues as a cherished part of Urasenke’s worldwide network of venues for chanoyu. —BY STEPHANIE CALAS ’ 17
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a place of our own
insider’s view
W E B E XC L U S I V E
James Gehrt (2)
Read more about Wa-shin-an and view a photo slideshow at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/washinan.
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go figure
Learning continues across campus throughout the region’s lushest season
61.5
Average length in centimeters of the Arabic oud, one of the instruments studied at this year’s nineteenth annual Arabic Music Retreat
Number of hours of supervised field experience students in Moderate Disabilities Practicum II–Student Teaching in Inclusive Classrooms will accumulate in a public school setting
Number of Gordon Research Seminars hosted, promoting discussion and the free exchange of ideas at the research frontiers of the biological, chemical, and physical sciences
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3,660 Number of minutes of organized tennis instruction offered by the South Hadley Recreation Department on the Mount Holyoke tennis courts
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Number of weeks in each of the two summer terms of the College’s Professional and Graduate Education (PaGE) program, which offers an array of in-class and online learning opportunities
Age of youngest student admitted to computer science professor Audrey St. John’s iDesign workshops, where girls create wearable interactive technology
610
Number of Mandarin Chinese characters students of Intensive Elementary Chinese— offered by the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages—are able to recognize and write by the end of summer
Meredith Heuer
go figure
Summer at Mount Holyoke
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the maven
THE SE XUA L I TY MAV E N
Achieving Sexual Health and Satisfaction
AR E YO U A MAVE N?
Pitch us your area of expertise at quarterly@ mtholyoke.edu.
E V E LY N R E S H F P ’ 9 0 is a certified sexuality counselor, nurse-
midwife, speaker, and author of Women, Sex, Power, and Pleasure and The Secret Lives of Teen Girls. She holds a master’s in public health from Boston University and lives and works in western Massachusetts, where she counsels patients both in an office setting and via Skype and telephone. Resh developed the division of sexual health services at Canyon Ranch, a destination health spa with an integrative health department, where she continues to work part time. She also engages audiences through public speaking and writes for the American Sexual Health Association and other websites, including evelynresh.com.
© 2015 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Sexual health is literacy in the language of the human body and how it functions sexually, insight into our own sexual preferences and desires, and self-advocacy skills that allow us to ask for what we want in an intimate relationship. Sexual health evolves over time and allows us to continuously redefine our sexuality throughout life as our bodies and interests change with experience and aging.
Identify a problem It isn’t uncommon for women to experience decreased or absent libido, problems achieving orgasm, low sexual self-confidence, negative body image, and medical issues that impair or interfere with sexual function and pleasure. Some of the hallmark signs of sexual problems include pain with sexual activity, declining interest in sex that persists over several months for no apparent reason, worsening self-image or body image, and conflicts about sex in a relationship that increase and seem unresolvable. Know when to seek help All of us will, at one time or another, struggle with sexuality regardless of our coupled status, age, or level of sexual sophistication and successes with sex
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in the past. When you feel stuck or are unsuccessful at managing a sexual conflict within yourself or with your intimate partner then it’s time to get help from a trained sexuality counselor. Mental health practitioners, nurse practitioners, and physicians don’t often have this specialized training. Because of this, most people end up struggling alone—and often unsuccessfully—with problems that may be easier to solve than they realize.
Set treatment goals The goals of treatment include educating and supporting women in achieving better sexual health, confidence, and satisfaction. A big part of what a sexuality counselor can do is assess levels of sexual literacy and provide you with sexual health education tailored to meet your particular needs. A counselor can also offer you strategies on how to solve sexual problems. Because I have a background in medicine and specialize in women’s health I frequently identify and treat health issues that interfere with sexual function. In all cases this helps reduce the sense of isolation and hopelessness about sex that many women (and men) feel when they come in to see me for help.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Series I, No. 8, 1919. Oil on canvas, 20 × 16 in.
Prosper in and out of the bedroom One of the most important characteristics that anyone can have is self-confidence. Genuine self-confidence makes you powerful and allows you to move through life with faith and optimism. Self-confidence also has an erotic charge. My perspective on sexuality is a whole-life perspective, and I consider it connected to every aspect of our lives. When you feel good about yourself and your sense of self-agency, then your self-confidence grows and so does your erotic energy. — B Y E V E LY N R E S H F P ’ 9 0
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the female gaze
V ISUA L A RT
Painting the Here and Now Alice Ullman Dustin ’64 has collected a wide array of experiences in her career as a self-taught painter. She has written Email your and illustrated more than 200 educational children’s books submission for her grandchildren. She organized an art show and painted to quarterly@ a collection of Mount Holyoke dormitories for a class reunion. mtholyoke.edu. She has even worked with the founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team to recover her artwork. In 2005, Dustin signed a contract with a Philadelphia art museum worker who claimed to sell paintings to offices in the city. After picking up Dustin’s works and selling four to a law firm, however, he became hard to reach. After many failed attempts at reclaiming two more paintings that had not been sold, Dustin, a self-proclaimed “go-getter,” connected with a lawyer who offered to help. Along with his friend, a retired undercover FBI agent, the two were able to track down Dustin’s paintings, which were returned to her. In appreciation for their pro bono work, Dustin made an original painting for each man. Dustin’s dedication to her art comes not from the subjects of her work but from the process of painting itself. She says, “I don’t necessarily have this burning issue that I have to put on the canvas.” Instead her approach is, “I want to paint now; what can I paint?” Once she begins, Dustin is relentless. “I’ll milk whatever it is I’m working on until I can stand it no longer,” she says. Drawing has been one of Dustin’s hobbies since childhood. During her junior year abroad in France with the Sweet Briar College Program, she constantly visited cafés to “buy an espresso and fill up sketchbooks of images of people around me,” she says. Yet it wasn’t until 1997 that she decided to take classes in oil painting, kickstarting her career as a painter. By 1999, she was entering exhibits and competitions and winning awards. Beginning in 2000, galleries on the East Coast were showing her work. Dustin also exhibits and sells her work through alicedustin.com. But it is time spent with a brush and a canvas that satisfies her most. “I’m happy when I paint,” she says. AR E YO U AN ARTI ST?
— BY L I N D A VA L E N C I A X U ’ 1 6
Sun on River, 2010. Oil on panel, 20 in. x 24 in.
BO O KS
Reptile House Robin McLean
BOA E D ITI O NS LTD.
The characters in these nine short stories abandon families, plot assassinations, nurse vendettas, tease, taunt, and terrorize. They retaliate for bad marriages, dream of weddings, and wait decades for lovers. The stories in this 2013 BOA Short Fiction Prizewinning collection are strange, often disturbing and funny, and as full of foolishness and ugliness as they are of the wisdom and beauty all around us. ROBIN MCLEAN ’87 holds a master’s in
fine arts from UMassAmherst. She teaches at Clark University and lives in Bristol, New Hampshire, and Sunderland, Massachusetts. She has worked as a lawyer and a potter, and her fiction has appeared in numerous journals.
Under a Cornish Sky Liz Fenwick
ORION PUBLISHING GROUP
In this novel of romance and intrigue, Demi and Victoria are in for a surprise. Boscawen, the family estate, is finally in Victoria’s hands after the death of her husband, and Demi is ready for her bad luck to change. Surrounded by orchards, gardens, and the sea, Boscawen is about to play an unexpected role in both their lives. LIZ MURPHY FENWICK ’85 grew up in Boston and majored in English at Mount Holyoke. She is the author of The Cornish House, A Cornish Affair, and A Cornish Strange and lives with her family in Cornwall and Dubai. W E B E XC L U S I V E
See more recent alumnae books at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/summer2015books.
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SPECI
AL
P U
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-O UT SECTION
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You are the Power of the Mount Holyoke Connection. From your first steps through the gates you felt it. The palpable sense of women’s history. The intellectual might of your classmates. The immediate bond with the students in your dorm. You had found your home. You had found your people. And today? Mount Holyoke women are still your people. At the Alumnae Association, we make it easy for you to find them. Whatever your age. Wherever you live. Join the online alumnae community, update your information, and start connecting. Help strengthen a powerful network of powerful women.
Your People Have a Lot of Life Experience. And you are a community for life, no matter what your age. You’re fifty years apart, bonding over M & Cs and the anti-alma mater. You are roommates who meet up in a different city every year to reconnect. You have friendships that stand the test of time. Age 30 and under: 5,436 Age 31-50: 11,023 Age 51-70: 10,700 Age 71-90: 4,792 Age 91 and over: 433
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Your People Live, Work, and Play Everywhere.
Your People Can Change the Course of Your Career.
And you are constantly bumping into each other. In a tucked-away restaurant in Malawi. At a Bruce Springsteen concert in Tampa. On an eight-hour flight to Paris. (Your heart leapt when you saw her class ring!) At a dinner for young farmers in New York. Wherever you are, Mount Holyoke is with you.
And you go the extra mile to help each other. You are mentors, encouraging a young alumna’s humanitarian work in Vietnam. You are colleagues, and the only women in the office to always speak up. You are leaders, unafraid to push boundaries together. You are Mary Lyon and Frances Perkins and Emily Dickinson. You are Mount Holyoke changemakers.
50 states, plus Washington, DC 4 territories: Guam, Northern Mariana Island, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico
Alumnae Careers* 23% Education
139 countries
18% Business & Finance
6 continents
16% Journalism & Communications 15% Health & Scientific Research 11% Law & Public Policy 9% Social Services & Nonprofits 5% Other 3% Technology
Your People are Passionate About Their Interests. And you connect with them in the unlikeliest of places. Showing off moves at a family dance camp in the White Mountains. Canvassing the suburbs of Chicago as political campaign volunteers.
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Driving carpool for a local rowing club. Cheering on kids at an elementary-school poetry slam. You share a lust for life and learning that began that first day you set foot on campus.
Artwork by Lindsay Slaughter
* Data represents the 27,000 alumnae who have shared professional information
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A WINNING FORMULA Educating top chemists, professors, inventors, and researchers through a forward-thinking chemistry program rooted in history
WRITTEN BY JANICE BEETLE PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSHUA SUGIYAMA
Lab partners Emilie Heidel ’10 and Arda Kotikian ’15 work together in a lab for Chem 212.
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It’s 11:30 a.m. on the Tuesday after spring break, and twenty-three students have settled in Chem 212: Chemistry of Biomolecules class in Kendade 303. After some housekeeping items and a syllabus update, Professor Katie McMenimen ’03 launches into an exacting seventy-five-minute lecture. The material is dense, supported by formulas and graphics displayed on a screen in the front of the classroom. Students take notes furiously. There are frequent questions, and with each new query, McMenimen pauses. She wants her answers to have precision, to offer ample information—but not to overwhelm. CHEM 212, designed for non-biochemistry majors, offers an introduction to basic biochemical principles. One of four required electives in the biochemistry discipline, the course is broad rather than deep as it must meet the varying needs of chemistry, biology, and post-baccalaureate students who are all on different academic and career paths. Nearly half of the thirty-seven students who take Chem 212 each semester will head to graduate schools such as Northwestern, California Institute of Technology, or Harvard for doctoral degrees, while others will enroll at medical schools, and still others will
“THERE’S QUITE A BIT OF GROUND THAT STUDENTS WANT COVERED.” —PROFESSOR KATIE MCMENIMEN ’03
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serve as research technicians or teach at the high school level. “There’s quite a bit of ground that students want covered,” says McMenimen, “but they don’t necessarily need a whole course on every individual piece.” So McMenimen is concise in her lecture. She moves quickly and deftly through the demanding lesson, and she directs students to the textbook if they want or need to learn more to suit their purposes. “It’s entirely a balancing act,” she says. “Students get to take the individual bits and, with knowledge from other classes, synthesize it together to help them understand the material.”
In fact, the entire rigorous chemistry curriculum at Mount Holyoke is a balancing act, as professors strive to provide relevant information in an industry that is constantly on the brink of discovery as well as prepare students for careers that may not yet exist.
Tradition and Prestige
Mount Holyoke has a long history of national excellence in educating women in chemistry—and in the physical and life sciences in general. That history began with founder Mary Lyon, who was herself a chemist, and continued with faculty icons such as Emma Carr, class of 1902, and Lucy Pickett, class of 1925. These esteemed chemists each taught at the College for more than thirty-five years and were both acclaimed worldwide for their advances in the field. In addition, they each received the prestigious Francis P. Garvan Medal, granted by the American Chemical Society for distinguished service by women chemists. “Pickett and Carr really pioneered getting undergraduates involved in research and publishing papers,” says Maria Alexandra Gomez, professor and chemistry department chair, who also notes it’s the chemistry department’s definitive research culture that gives this small, liberal arts college a competitive edge over big research universities. “The biggest help to our students is being able to join a research group and work directly with a princi-
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pal investigator,” Gomez says. “When an undergrad goes to a large research university, she gets assigned to a grad student and doesn’t work directly with a principal.” “I think being a chemistry student at Mount Holyoke has gotten more exciting over time,” Gomez says. “The level and amount of instrumentation that’s available to undergraduates is really quite impressive.”
Facilities and Resources
The chemistry department is one of eight campus departments housed in Kendade Hall, a 40,000-square-foot building completed in 2003 that connects existing Carr and Clapp laboratories and Shattuck and Cleveland Halls to form a unified science center. Gomez says one quarter of the College’s students major in either the sciences or mathematics—twice the number of women majoring in these areas at comparable coeducational institutions. Gomez says the College has recently acquired more state-of-the-art equipment than it has ever had, making the department even stronger. The College now boasts an atomic force microscope that affords students a view of materials at the atomic level. “You can see at the atomic scale,” Gomez says, noting the equipment is used by students to study the surfaces of various materials—such as polymers. The same technology is used for developing surface materials used in hip replacements and high-tech sports equipment. In fall 2013, nine spectrophotometers—devices used to measure the amount of light an object absorbs— were purchased through a $150,000 grant from the George I. Alden Trust, setting the department ahead of many peer schools in terms of instrumentation resources and crucial opportunities for students to learn and apply quantitative analysis skills. Thanks to a 2011 $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, chemistry students are also involved in a cross-disciplinary
project for the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, in which students use modified digital cameras—with infrared lenses—to study the under-layers of paintings in the museum; their findings include a forged signature on a painting by William Louis Sontag as well as images that have been painted over in the final renditions of other works.
The Undergraduate Experience While not all chemistry majors come to Mount Holyoke knowing they’ll pursue study in chemistry, many applicants are attracted to the school precisely because of its strong recognition in the sciences. Rachael Mazzamurro ’15, a twentyone-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavior, who headed to Dartmouth Medical School in August, chose Mount Holyoke over Smith and Brandeis, in part because of the College’s exceptional faculty and its reputation in the sciences. Mazzamurro has always wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and she enrolled in Chem 212 because it’s a prerequisite required by Dartmouth, where she will spend the next four of her roughly nine to twelve additional years of study. Mazzamurro says she’s proud that women hold powerful positions on campus. And she finds it empowering that the College teaches young women that they can excel in the sciences and in other fields traditionally dominated by men. Arda Kotikian ’15 also recognized her interest in science and engineering early on. As a child she built treasures from trash, such as shoes she fashioned from scraps of cardboard. “I like playing with things,” she says, noting that she hopes to be an inventor one day. Kotikian graduated with a double major in math and chemistry and this fall began work on a doctorate in materials science and mechanical engineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In summer 2014, Kotikian completed a Lynk-funded internship at Harvard, where she was tasked with developing materials to be used in 3-D printing
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MARIA ALEXANDRA GOMEZ PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT CHAIR Gomez and her research students use the principles of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and quantum mechanics to study how structure affects proton and oxygen vacancy conduction in fuel cell systems.
WEI CHEN MARILYN DAWSON SARLES M.D. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY The primary research goal of Chen’s group is using materials chemistry to understand and impart important surface phenomena, such as wetting and biocompatibility of polymeric and inorganic substrates.
DONALD COTTER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Cotter has recently turned his scholarly attention to study the history of chemistry, focusing on the American chemical community between 1890 and 1920.
KYLE BROADERS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Broaders’ research focuses on the interaction of living cells with their material surroundings. He employs the tools of organic synthesis to prepare materials with tailored properties like shape, stiffness, permeability, or response to external stimuli.
FACULTY RESEARCH Mount Holyoke’s chemistry faculty are well steeped in the College’s rich research tradition. Here’s a selection of individual research focus areas:
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KATHRYN A. MCMENIMEN CLARE BOOTHE LUCE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY McMenimen is interested in protein homeostasis and how dysfunction of molecular chaperones contributes to protein misfolding diseases, such as cataracts, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases. ALAN VAN GIESSEN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR One focus of Van Giessen’s research has been on the destabilization of a test protein and its potential to provide a mechanism for nucleating misfolded aggregates complicit in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s.
DARREN G. HAMILTON PROFESSOR Hamilton works with students on a variety of projects that use the tools of synthetic organic chemistry to prepare molecular systems with designed properties or functions.
processes and with creating materials that are used to monitor heart tissue contractions. She loved the creativity behind the labor. And although she is more than a decade removed from her own Mount Holyoke student experiences, Smith College chemistry professor Mohini (Sridharan) Kulp ’00 shares many of the same experiences of today’s undergraduates. Kulp grew up mostly in Nairobi, Kenya, where children are educated in a specialty area, or track. Kulp was on the science track in high school; and she chose Mount Holyoke, where she earned a bachelor’s in math and biochemistry, “because I had the sense that if you wanted to be a scientist, this was the place to be in the US.” She was right. The rigor of the College combined with a broad range of opportunities, which included a year spent at Dartmouth College, prepared her for graduate school and her career. But it was a Howard Hughes Summer Fellowship, a research project Kulp completed early on with Professor Sean Decatur, a protein biochemist, that was most influential. The project fueled a passion for research that has yet to wane and morphed into a demanding, fulfilling three-year project with Decatur. “I wasn’t just shadowing a graduate student,” she explains. “It was my data, and I had to understand it.” “The chem department was very formative,” adds Kulp, who holds a doctorate in biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco. “It really set me up well for doing graduate work. Having to present (my undergraduate thesis) at the undergraduate research symposium and present in front of peers and professors really helped me. It still helps me today.”
Beyond the Classroom
Biochemistry lecturer Tim Miles leads the Chem 212 lab that meets six times throughout the semester to supplement classroom work. During one particular session, Mazzamurro,
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Kotikian and Emilie Heidel ’10, a post-baccalaureate premed student in her third year, were part of a group working to bring a semester-long project to a close. Kotikian and Heidel, paired at a lab station at the end of the room, talked quietly about their individual roles in the experiment. They were surrounded by beakers, syringes, experiments in various stages, and state-of-the-art equipment, like one of the newer spectrophotometers. Heidel says the knowledge she gained through her lab work will be useful to her in medical school and beyond. It can, for instance, be applied to the work of studying diseases and the development of new treatments. In addition to learning critical laboratory skills as they worked with partners, Kotikian and Heidel also bonded and developed their “people skills,” as Kotikian says. In fact, in each of their respective departments, they have formed deep connections with peers and with professors, in and outside of the classroom. Extracurricular offerings support this outcome. In addition to chemistry socials that are held at the end of each semester, the department also offers biweekly luncheons, during which students compare notes on topics ranging from how to write a research paper for a fellowship application to how to email a professor, a topic often raised by first-years students. In addition, lectures organized by the department are also held weekly, with speakers covering a broad range of topics. The annual Lucy Pickett Lecture is a major draw. This year, nearly fifty students attended a presentation by Polly Arnold, Crum Brown Chair of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who champions women in chemistry and in sciences in general. Professor McMenimen says students had so many questions for Arnold that the lively dialogue continued over dinner across the street at Food 101, and Arnold had questions of her own. “She was interested in the students
and what they’re learning and what they’re interested in,” McMenimen says. Kotikian, who attended the lecture, says such events build community at the College. “The main point is to get everyone together and build connections,” she says, noting the result is a tight-knit department in which students study together and professors and students connect. “They show they care about you,” she says. McMenimen says the interpersonal scene has not changed since she was a student, nor has the rigor and the push for learning through seminar experiences. “That’s been a very consistent part of the department culture. . . . You really spend a good chunk of time with the students you are in class with,” she says. “I think that really formed a nice little family for me while I was a student.”
Continuing the Legacy
Building on the strong reputation of the department’s history, current chemistry faculty develop model curricula in cross-disciplinary areas, continuing to position Mount Holyoke at the top of its peers. Many of these professors have strong interdisciplinary interests, resulting in a culture in which faculty regularly collaborate on crossdisciplinary curricular initiatives and develop research projects that involve students from different departments. The College’s new Engineering Nexus program is an example of this important focus. The program allows chemistry students to investigate chemical and materials engineering and also crosses department lines into physics, math, biology, and environmental sciences. Currently, Gomez says, ten students are enrolled in the Engineering Nexus; several are chemistry or biochemistry majors. Inspired by a high school chemistry teacher, McMenimen was drawn to Mount Holyoke’s chemistry department by a visit to campus that included time with Professor Darren G. Hamilton. She later worked in Hamilton’s research lab as a student,
and that work led to her desire to become a professor herself. Professors Hamilton and Donald Cotter, McMenimen’s advisor for several years, “pushed me to think outside the box,” she says, “and really let me take every opportunity I could to make the most of my experience in chemistry and at Mount Holyoke.” Mary Lyon likewise strived for the best, and she persisted against all odds. In the three years she spent raising donations and awareness about her college for women, she endured ridicule from those who felt her ambitious undertaking would be “wasted” on women. But her work has been continued by generations of young scientists and the faculty who have led them, and the College continues to be recognized for its strength in the sciences. A 2009 National Science Foundation study notes that Mount Holyoke ranked sixth among all selective liberal arts colleges in producing women who received doctorates in the life sciences from 1966 to 2006. During the same period, the College ranked first in graduating minority women who received US doctorates in the physical and life sciences. And as part of the largest class of graduates embarking on life outside the College’s gates, Mazzamurro, Kotikian, and their sisters in the class of 2015 are the next in a long line of women to continue the work that sustained them in the classrooms and labs of their undergraduate days.
Janice Beetle is a writer and communications professional in the Pioneer Valley and the owner of Beetle Press.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read more about the impressive contributions that Emma Carr and Lucy Pickett made to the field of chemistry at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/pickettcarr.
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Meaningful Moments The Connections Program joins classes fifty years apart, helping alumnae and current students find common ground between generations—and changing lives in the process
By Abe Loomis Photographs by Lynne Graves
n the summer of 2010, when Sandhya Banskota ’10 learned that she had been invited to a final round of interviews at a Boston management-consulting firm, she already had a ticket for a flight back to her native Kathmandu. In fact, her plane was scheduled to leave on the same day as the final interview. She had graduated from Mount Holyoke that spring and had decided to return to Nepal, where she planned to take an internship and look for work. She was confident she would be able to find a job back home on familiar turf. But she had stayed in the United States for the summer and now, quite unexpectedly, she was faced with a choice that could change the course of her life and career. How she got to that point is a story in itself—one connected to her friend-
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ship with Dana Feldshuh Whyte ’60 and an evolving Mount Holyoke tradition that brings together new students and their fifty-year counterparts: alumnae who entered Mount Holyoke a half-century earlier. Whyte, who lives in South Hadley, had been involved with her class’s outreach to the class of 2010, and she met the younger woman on campus soon after Banskota arrived as a first-year, finding her way at a new college and in a new country. “We hit it off,” Whyte says. “You just do that with some people. She was very interested in getting to know me and my husband and getting to know the culture.” Whyte had spent time trekking and rafting in Nepal and shared her stories with Banskota. As their friendship blossomed, Whyte sometimes attended Banskota’s classes and presentations
or invited her for visits to the home she shares with her husband, Curtis Smith, a Mount Holyoke professor emeritus of biological sciences. “One of our routines was to have breakfast at their house,” Banskota says. “After breakfast we would take the dog walking around the lake and up into the field, just talking all the way, and almost every month she’d take me out to a local Nepali restaurant—the Lhasa Café. Nepali dumplings are the best in the world, and she knew I loved them.” Banskota even assisted Whyte in a nighttime, midwinter “elfing” mission, helping to deliver bags of treats and notes of encouragement to the class of 2010 just before exams. “If Sandhya and her posse hadn’t helped us,” Whyte says, “we’d still be there. As it was, we weren’t finished until about 3:00 a.m.”
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Dana Whyte ’60 and Sandhya Banskota ’10 reconnect during Reunion
“Any time I asked for suggestions, she would say, ‘Here’s what my experience has been like in a similar situation—just think about it.’” —SANDHYA BANSKOTA ’10
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After graduation, as Banskota planned her return to Nepal, she began to wonder if she might miss opportunities in the US. As she pondered, she turned to Whyte for advice. “Dana is a friend,” Banskota says. “She has traveled the world, and she has a supremely broad mind. Any time I asked for suggestions, she would say, ‘Here’s what my experience has been like in a similar situation—just think about it.’ ” Eventually Banskota decided to stay for the summer. “I talked to Dana about it,” Banskota says, “and her attitude was very much ‘when you’re young, this is the time to explore things outside the box.’ I wouldn’t say she convinced me to stay, but she coaxed me not to just jump back into the safe path. And knowing she was close made my family more comfortable with it.” The decision turned out to be a good one. That summer, while working for a friend of Whyte’s in an office near Boston, Banskota sent her resume to the management-consulting firm. The firm contacted her, and soon she was faced with a choice: return to Nepal, or cancel her ticket and attend the final interview.
onds between alumnae are a venerable tradition at Mount Holyoke. From career and networking opportunities to lifelong friendships, the shared experience in South Hadley generates connections of all kinds. But according to Jane Zachary, executive director of the Alumnae Association, the fifty-year connections are a recent and special development. “This started as a grassroots initiative,” she says. “The interest and excitement about this came from the alumnae themselves.” A spark to kindle that enthusiasm was struck in 2005, when Professor Eleanor Townsley asked students in her Sociology 224 class to research alumnae from the class of 1955. Their work culminated in videotaped interviews with members of that class, and the
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alumnae, in turn, interviewed the students. The videos were eventually added to the College’s archives and, with help from the students, 1955 alumnae Joan Winkel Ripley and Nancy Leech Mohr, along with other members of the class, chronicled the project in a book called Uncommon Women Together— Generations Apart. “When we started we had no idea that we were going to write a book,” says Ripley, who was vice-president of her class at the time. “It was fascinating to hear the interviews and to learn about the students’ experience in a place that we all love so much. It became apparent when the project was ending that we had to get it all down on paper.” The fifty-year connections caught fire in 2007, when Whyte and her classmate Nancy Zone Bloom invited the class board of 2010 to a dinner at
After the Willits dinner, Whyte and Bloom became the coordinators of the 1960/2010 project, designing a series of activities to nurture and build the connection between the two classes. The relationships began as email matches were made between members of each class, and more than one hundred members of the class of 1960 adopted granddaughters—some more than one—providing advice, guidance, and, sometimes, just good fun. Almost four years later, members of the class of 1960 surprised the graduating seniors with a check for $2,010 to boost their treasury, a friendly admonition not to become too isolated by screens and headphones, and a Dixieland band to lead them from senior breakfast to graduation rehearsal. The following year, inspired by the strength of this connection, the
Willits-Hallowell. The event would be the first of a series of activities designed to nurture and build the connection between the two classes. “We explained that they were very special to us, because in three years we would be together on this campus, celebrating two very important events in our lives: their graduation and our fiftieth reunion,” Whyte says.
Alumnae Association invited fifty-year alumnae to usher in a new tradition during graduation week: the “scarving” ceremony. In Chapin Auditorium, alumnae from the class of 1961 lined up to present each new graduate with a silk scarf in her class color, decorated with her class animal in a ceremony that was a formal welcoming of graduating seniors into the Alumnae Association.
Seniors wear their scarves after the 2015 Welcome New Alumnae Ceremony
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Ryan Bumgarner
ern North Carolina who can talk about Asheville and Mount Holyoke in the same breath. What started as a long work shift turned into this amazing serendipity.” Lasher and her twin sister, Kate Lasher, who is also a member of the class of 2014, had grown up in Weaverville, ten miles north of Asheville. “I’ve only been in Asheville for five years,” Nutter says. “They’ve been here their whole lives. When we talked, we realized that the twins had actually babysat for a family in my neighborhood.” When the Lashers graduated, Nutter and her husband attended their graduation party in Weaverville. “One of their uncles owns a working farm where they have events, and that’s
Meggie Lasher ’14 and Ellen Nutter ’64 live just miles apart in North Carolina
The fifty-year bond now has a formal name: the Connections Program. In May the Alumnae Association hosted the scarving, now the Welcome New Alumnae Ceremony. In a ceremony at Gettell Amphitheater on the Thursday afternoon before commencement, members of the class of 1965 became the fifth class to present graduating seniors with scarves, which have become a symbol of alumnae sisterhood. “It has become a strong tradition very quickly and has become very meaningful,” Zachary says. “To have the scarf presented by a fifty-year class member is symbolic of connection—fifty years of continuity. We knew the two classes were already starting to build connections, and we wanted to facilitate the formal welcome as seniors become alumnae and continue those meaningful relationships.”
or some, those relationships are closely connected to place. Meggie Lasher ’14 was working as an assistant to the class of 1963 at their fiftieth reunion when she met Ellen Manfredonia Nutter ’64, who was observing the event to prepare for her own class’s upcoming reunion. “Our class had initiated a ‘bridges’ program to make the fifty-year connection,” Nutter says. “One thing that was difficult was finding anyone you could see on any kind of sustained basis. So we had decided to look for people in our hometowns.” It was a happy coincidence, then, when she encountered Lasher in the hospitality tent. “I said I was from Asheville,” Lasher says, “and she just turned and stared at me. There are not many people from west-
where it was, with this beautiful mountain view,” Nutter says. “The house is from the early 1800s. It was wonderful to meet their family, and there was a country band playing—it is western North Carolina.” Nutter herself grew up in Long Island. At Mount Holyoke she earned a double major in political science and English and went on to study city planning at Columbia University. She earned a master’s degree, then found a job as a researcher at the New York Times. Lasher loves a story from that time that involves Nutter’s correcting a point of grammar, then standing up to a supervisor who challenged her. “Coming from Mount Holyoke, we know our voices matter,” Lasher says, “and we know how to assert that in a way that’s not angry or pretentious. It’s a way to help others learn to listen.” For Lasher, part of the value in the fifty-year connections is in just these kinds of stories; another is in the sense of shared experience—not only with Nutter, but with her predecessors as well. “Ellen talked to me about the Mount Holyoke College library and how the marble steps on certain staircases had been worn by the feet of women before her,” she says. “I worked in the library. After that conversation, going up the same steps, and noticing the marble worn down—it stopped me in my tracks. To think about
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the women who worked there, just like I was working there. We were doing the same thing. They marched up those steps with their bags full of books and got to work. This trivial thing became a marker of how special and how sacred my experience at Mount Holyoke has been.” The response from the younger classes has surprised many of the alumnae who have worked to build connections through the generations. “We were delighted to see how interested they were,” says Jamie Adkins Baxter ’65, whose class was the first to contact their fifty-year class—the class of 2015—during their first year at Mount Holyoke. “But I think they like the depth of history at Mount Holyoke,
Elaine Elliot ’62 and Stephanie Rohr ’12 have become family to each other
and the sense that they are part of an institution that is still as strong and as worthwhile as it was in the past.”
connection with the past is exactly what helped Elaine Kasparian Elliot ’62 and Stephanie Rohr ’12 find common ground. When Elliot enrolled at Mount Holyoke in 1958, she thought she might be a chemistry major. Then she took a Latin course to fulfill a core requirement. “I liked the problem-solving aspect of Latin,” she says. “There were all these endings to deal with, and I liked figuring
out what case was appropriate, how the adjective agrees with the noun. I liked it at the basic level of language.” It was at Mount Holyoke that she fell in love with classical literature, inspired by Professor Betty Nye Quinn ’41, who would later chair the College’s classics department, and by the sense of camaraderie among students and professors. After graduating with a degree in classics, Elliot pursued a master’s degree and then a doctorate in classics at Tufts, spending her first year as a master’s candidate in Cuma, Italy, a small town in the countryside outside of Naples, visiting archaeological sites and learning Italian, she says, “by turning Latin into Italian whenever I could—and succeeding maybe 75 percent of the time.” She taught Greek, Greek drama, and Latin literature for a year at the University of Illinois before moving back to the Boston area, where her husband, James Elliot, was studying astronomy at Harvard. Elliot taught Latin for thirtyfive years in secondary schools in and around Boston, including the Dana Hall School in Wellesley and the Doherty Middle School in Andover, Massachusetts. She met Rohr at a mini-reunion event in 2010. “The class of 1962 invited us,” Rohr says. “It was our first contact as a class. Elaine joined our circle of conversation, and when I mentioned that I was in the classics department, her face just lit up.” In the spring of 2011, shortly after the death of Elliot’s husband, Rohr mentioned that her girlfriend, Devora Kremer ’11, had enrolled in the AmeriCorps teaching program and was looking for an apartment near Boston. “Devora stayed with me for a year,” Elliot says. “And when Stephanie graduated she asked if she could stay there, too. Their presence at a transitional time definitely provided a bright spot in my life.” Of living at Elliot’s, Rohr says, “We were her ‘girls in the attic,’ and we got a chance to get to know Elaine and her friends.” Several of those friends were also Mount Holyoke graduates, and over dinner, bridge games, and trips to the theater, a sense of community formed.
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“As with most of my connections to Mount Holyoke, the more time I spend with them, the better I feel about myself and the better I feel about Mount Holyoke,” Rohr says. “The College has influenced so many amazing people.” When she graduated from Mount Holyoke and started a master’s program of her own at the School of Social Work at Simmons College in Boston, Rohr was grateful for Elliot’s presence in her life. “I would check in with her about what was going on,” she says. “She would always give me support and reassurance but also her heartfelt opinions about graduating from college and becoming a real grownup. That strong emotional support has framed a lot of our time together.” Rohr and Kremer have since moved to an apartment in Waltham, and the couple was married in 2012. Elliot attended the wedding and has visited their new home. “They share their apartment with another woman in her early forties,” Elliot says. “Initially she thought she might be
too old to be their roommate, but they said, ‘Our last roommate was seventy years old!’” Their newest roommate is a lot younger. “The big news is that I am now a Mount Holyoke great-grandmother!” Elliot says. “Stephanie and Devora had a baby in February, and I went to their house in Waltham for the naming ceremony. I really felt privileged—it was a small family group and me.” As her relationship with Rohr and her family deepens, Elliot continues to find reasons in it for hope. “It makes me feel young again,” she says, “remembering what it is to set out in life and make your choices and make your path and wondering and seeing what they’re going to do and experience. We’ve played games together, we’ve had lots of meals together, and I just think that if they exist, then others like them must, too. And if they are representative of their generation, then the world is in good hands.”
nd Sandhya Banskota? She canceled her ticket, and she got the job. Soon she was traveling the US as a consultant, learning the ropes in a role she came to love. She is now enrolled at Harvard Business School with a world of new possibilities to consider. Whatever comes next, however, her friendship with Whyte will be an important part of the journey. “Not because she’ll give me a solution,” Banskota says, “but because she’ll listen, and it’s always comforting to talk to her. I’ve been doing it for eight or nine years now. I don’t see that changing any time soon.” Abe Loomis is a freelance writer based in western Massachusetts. WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read about the Ring and Roses ceremony with the classes of 1967 and 2017 at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/ ringandroses.
A Brief History A look at how the Connections Program began as a grassroots effort to build bridges between classes fifty years apart and has since become a beloved Mount Holyoke tradition, facilitating lasting friendships across generations 2005 Students in Professor Eleanor Townsley’s Sociology 224 research alumnae from the class of 1955, leading members of the class of 1955 to chronicle the project in the book Uncommon Women Together—Generations Apart
AUGUST 2006 Members of the class of 1960 reach out to the class board of their connections class of 2010, the first contact in what would become a series of activities that build lasting and ongoing relationships between members of the classes
MAY 2011 First scarving ceremony held in Chapin Auditorium as the class of 1961 presents the class of 2011 with red scarves FA LL 2 011 Members of the class of 1965 reach out to the class of 2015, becoming the first class to contact their connections class during their first year on campus, a part of the tradition that continues to this day
SPRING 2013 The class of 1967 is the first class to begin their connections with their undergraduate class as soon as the class of 2017 has been admitted MAY 2 014 The scarving event is formally named the Welcome New Alumnae Ceremony and is held in Gettell Amphitheater
APRIL 2015 The class of 1967 joined the class of 2017 for a Ring and Roses ceremony, held in Chapin Auditorium ON G OI N G Many seniors wear their scarves during the laurel parade and commencement, symbolizing their entry into the Alumnae Association
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Congratulations Reunion 2015 Awardees
MARY GRAHAM DAVIS LEADERSHIP AWARD
Awarded to an alumna who has assumed significant leadership positions in her service to both the Alumnae Association and the College, and in so doing has facilitated achievement of collaborative endeavors, initiatives, or projects. MARY GRAHAM DAVIS ’65
MEDAL OF HONOR Awarded for long-term service and leadership in promoting the effectiveness of multiple areas of the Alumnae Association and/or College. JOAN WINKEL RIPLEY ’55
BETH TIETZE LOWD ’65
NANCY ZONE BLOOM ’60
BARBARA COOKE MONKS ’70
DANA FELDSHUH WHYTE ’60
SUSAN SWART RICE ’70
NANCY BOGGIE KUEHLER ’65
LYNDA DEAN ALEXANDER ’80
ALUMNAE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Awarded for outstanding achievements that exemplify the ideals of a liberal-arts education through salaried or volunteer fields of endeavor. CATHERINE MCARDLE KELLEHER ’60 MARY BREMER KELLEY ’65 LAURIE FENDRICH ’70 SADAFFE ABID ’95
LOYALTY AWARD Awarded for consistent and active involvement in one area of service over an extended period of time. DOROTHY GOERNER DUCKER ’45
DIANA S. DEANE ’75
ANNE CHAFFEE HARTMAN ’55
SILVIA MAULINI ’80
JOANNE GRIFFITH DOMINGUE ’65
MICHELE DEROSA O’CONNELL ’85
DIANE HOWLAND MCINTYRE ’65
SABRINA L. MAURER ’90
YOUNG ALUMNA VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP AWARD Awarded to young alumnae for strong leadership and active involvement in the Association or College. TRISHA L. TANNER ’00 WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read more about the award winners at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/awards2015.
KIRA YEVTUKHOVA ’10
MOUNT
H O L YO K E REUNION
2015
F.O.R.E.V.E.R SHALL BE
Alumnae recall their time at Mount Holyoke during Reunion festivities More than 1,200 alumnae from generations that span nearly a century traveled back to campus from around the globe for a single shared cause—their love of Mount Holyoke College. From thought-provoking Back-to-Class sessions to outlandish parade costumes to M & Cs with classmates in the dorms, the two weekends of Reunion were filled with alumnae celebrating their connections to one another and to the beautiful oasis they still call home. After the laurel parade, alumnae gathered in Chapin Auditorium for the 143rd Annual
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Meeting of the Alumnae Association. Association President Marcia Brumit Kropf ’67 presented volunteer and achievement awards to thirteen alumnae, and the College recognized advancement award recipients. Between these presentations, representatives from each returning class were invited on stage to read from their class’s histories. Though each history told a unique story, all expressed the shared experiences of what it means to be a Mount Holyoke alumna.
Text adapted from histories submitted by each reunion class.
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1955
We had to wear skirts for dinner and stockings and heels on Wednesdays and Sundays. There were no locks on our room doors, and anyone could go in any building on campus. Snail mail was an important part of our lives, and the one telephone per floor of each dorm did double duty. The college bought its first TV at the end of our junior year.
1960
We wore Bermuda shorts and blouses with Peter Pan collars. Our purses contained wallets, maybe checkbooks, but not credit cards and no cell phones. We typed our papers on typewriters. None of our dates were allowed in our rooms, and if you spent the weekend away you had to have a permission note from your parents.
We blew in on Hurricane Betsy—an indication of our energy. Our production of Junior Show involved the first live band and more than 218 members of our class. We heard Martin Luther King Jr. and Betty Friedan speak on campus. No one discussed technology. Fifty years later, we have formed meaningful relationships with the class of 2015, full of smart, amazing women.
1965
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1970
When we graduated gas was only 36 cents per gallon, Richard Nixon was president, and 100,000 citizens—including MHC students—marched on Washington to protest Vietnam. We wore sweater sets to tea with President David Truman yet listened to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, both of whom we lost to drug overdoses in the same year.
1975
We were Elves and Big Sisters, we rode the Five College bus to classes and parties, attended mixers, Gracious Living nights, and Friday teas, and studied abroad or through the Twelve-College Exchange. Twenty of us came from countries outside the US while others arrived from states scattered across the country. South Hadley was an oasis from the Vietnam War.
1980
We received our acceptance letters soon after NBC premiered the iconic television show, Saturday Night Live, which was to become our barometer, our lens to the world, and, most important, a reason to gather. We came together around our dorm television sets to laugh at two wild and crazy guys, Todd and Lisa Loopner, the Coneheads, and Land Shark.
We participated in air-raid drills, became land girls to help local farmers, acted as “heat cops” in the wee hours of the morning—closing dorm windows to keep cool, and shared Thanksgiving dinner with the WAVES. Social life? Rather limited, though on one occasion a squadron from Westover arrived at Abbey for blind dates.
1990
We saw the country enter a major recession, watched as East and West Germany reunited (and it felt so good), and witnessed Nelson Mandela being freed from prison. But our greatest memories from MHC overwhelmingly include friends, Mountain Day, “One Hell of a (Junior) Show,” and M & Cs. Classes were, apparently, just a good excuse for experiencing the rest!
1985
We wore corduroys, adored President Liz Kennan ’60, who always had time for students, and were the first graduating class to have used computers on campus. The year we graduated the New York Stock Exchange closed for Hurricane Gloria, postage stamps were only 22 cents, and Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It” won the Grammy for Best Song.
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We were Depression children, WWII teenagers, and are parents of Baby Boomers. We hosted faculty guests at Wednesday dinner, attended compulsory chapel, skied on Prospect Hill, passed comprehensive exams in our major to graduate, wore penny loafers and bobby socks, and paid $1100 in tuition, room, and board.
1995
We listened as Liz Kennan ’60 told us that passing through the gates of Mount Holyoke made us “Empowered Women,” participated in sit-ins to stave off going co-ed, and watched as Disorientation fizzled out. Out in the world riots broke out in Los Angeles after the beating of Rodney King, and terrorists bombed Oklahoma City.
Meredith Heuer (4)
2000
Actual keys, then later “OneCards,” allowed us entry to our residence halls, which all had full kitchens serving M & Cs seven nights a week. Metal wastebaskets were required because smoking was still allowed indoors. And hoarding enough quarters to pay for our laundry was a real issue. So were long-distance bills, as cellphones had not arrived.
2005
We were the most diverse class in Mount Holyoke’s history and the first class that didn’t have to submit SAT scores as part of our applications. Our first year marked the last year that every dorm on campus had a kitchen and the last year of the “Old Blanchard.” Facebook came to Mount Holyoke, and we began connecting in new ways.
2010
We carried around cell phones (but few were “smart”) and our brand-new pink OneCards, which preserved our sweaty, move-in day faces for the next four years. We memorized the vertical-horizontal rule, cleaned the Golden Pears, and learned the potential of Telnet. We volunteered during the 2008 campaign that saw the election of Barack Obama. And who could forget the streaking that followed?
2013
We graduated on a comfortably cool and breezy Sunday. Our commencement was the first in Mount Holyoke’s history where all of our graduation speakers were alums of the College. Since that semi-gloomy afternoon 2013 has embodied a spirit of transformation, and we have continued to grow, forever grateful to this place.
2015
We will take the voices that we found in this space and use them to create meaningful change. We will grow from the mistakes that we will naturally make as we leave the “bubble” that is MoHome. We will giddily wake up to Mountain Day emails and eat ice cream with alumnae in our communities. We will never forget the ways MHC transformed our lives.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read the Reunion 2015 extended class histories at alumnae. mtholyoke.edu/classhistories.
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MoHome Memories
Jean Wahl speaking at the Entretiens de Pontigny Conference at South Hadley in 1944
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Mount Holyoke served as a refuge for scholars during World War II
MHC Archives and Special Collections (2)
DU R I NG T H E MO S T volatile years of World War II,
Mount Holyoke saw a slew of extraordinary visitors as the College played host to the Entretiens de Pontigny, an intellectual gathering of European and American scholars. Founded by philosopher Paul Desjardins as Décades de Pontigny in 1910, during wartime these meetings moved from Pontigny Abbey in France to Mount Holyoke, which offered a refuge for persecuted academics. In 1942, Mount Holyoke representatives began working with L’école libre des hautes études, the French university established in New York by French and Belgian scholars, to reignite these discussions. Exiled Sorbonne professor Gustave Cohen, who helped found the university, spearheaded a committee that included its president as well as several of Mount Holyoke’s own: Helen Patch, class of 1914, and Pierre Guédenet of the French department and philosophy professor Jean André Wahl, also a former Sorbonne professor. The first summer session of L’école libre des hautes études at Mount Holyoke took place in August 1942. The aim was to create a platform of French culture where students met with scholars to discuss research projects and to acquire fresh perspectives. The work was a departure from undergraduate coursework and gave students— from Mount Holyoke and other institutions of higher learning—opportunities to expand their education. For four weeks, Pontigny-en-Amérique welcomed a diverse array of distinguished guests, including actors, ambassadors, journalists, diplomats, economists, and architects. Discussions were rigorous and covered topics as varied as “Literature and the Idea of Crisis” and “The Place of the Spiritual in a World of Property.” By the end of the session, more than 200 guests had attended, with representation from at least thirteen countries. By 1943, participants were even more diverse, representing two dozen nationalities and more than thirty colleges and universities. For one more year, Pontigny was held at Mount Holyoke to great success and acclaim, but after the liberation of France in 1944, the gathering of intellectuals resumed its place in France. — BY L I N D A VA L E N C I A X U ’ 1 6
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on display
A Gathering of Scholars
A RT IFACT
Shared History Time Capsule
“V I V E L A M.H.C.,” reads a
toast by Nan Evans, class of 1900. Inscribed on a small, handwritten class banquet menu dated March 19, 1898, this historical treasure is one of a number of artifacts included in a time capsule passed from the class of 1900 to the class of 2000 and recently acquired—not for the first time—by the College’s Archives. The simple oak box preserving this century-old sister culture had been bolted shut and adorned with a plaque describing its contents as “a legacy from the Class of 1900.” As the class of 2000 approached graduation, hundreds of students, alumnae, parents, and faculty stood by during a ceremony at Gettell Amphitheater, where they awaited the unveiling. Among the contents of the capsule were a small collection of letters, handcrafted dinner menus, playbills, and other preserved artifacts that told the story of what held importance to a previous generation of students. Participants took note of details like hard wax seals and frayed decorative ribbons fringing many of the box’s contents. A blue book used for “examinatories” was unveiled, accompanied by groans from current students. In the one hundred years before its reveal, not only did the time capsule travel through time, it also went on a literal journey. First housed on a shelf in the library, it was lost for a time and then, in the 1980s, found and assigned to a table in the College Archives. Somehow it eventually ended up on the dormitory floor of Sara Hines, president of the class of 2000. Fifteen years after the second ceremony, the box and
its contents are safely stored in the Archives. In a note included within the time capsule, Margaret E. Ball, class of 1900, wrote, “If your science shall have taught you what some believe will be one of the commonest elements of your knowledge—the power of communication with the unseen world from which we may possibly be overlooking your destiny—we beg you to reply to this message of ours.” This reply is now in the hands of some future class. —B Y R A C H E L AY L W A R D
W E B E XC L U S I V E
Take a closer look at the contents of the time capsule at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/timecapsule.
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1940 Senior Ball: a time for students to celebrate their college experience by “puttin’ on the ritz.” On the evening of February 23, 1940, “the ritz” happened to be “a laurel wreath for graceful gaiety” worn proudly by the seniors, as described in the class of 1940 yearbook.
Senior Ball
Only seniors are allowed to buy tickets, but many invited a friend from a younger class year, including more students in the fun.
Mount Holyoke seniors wore full-skirted dresses and moved to the jaunty sounds of the evening. Musical selections included Jack Teagarden, the “Father of the Jazz Trombone.” It was the year of swing, with Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” topping the charts at number one.
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Over the years, Senior Ball has changed forms to reflect the culture of the time—or for the class of 2015, the culture’s interpretation of a different time. This year, the Senior Ball theme was “Some Like It Hot.”
A live jazz band featuring Mount Holyoke students played for the first hour of the dance. Then a DJ took over, playing more contemporary picks like current Top 40 hits, throwback hip-hop favorites, and Caribbean music.
Sophomore Bessie Nesbit ’42 wrote home to her parents the following day, saying, “I went down to S.A.H. [Student Alumnae Hall, now known as Mary Woolley Hall] & watched the Senior Dance till 10:45. It was lots of fun to watch. The girls’ dresses were very pretty & so many of the boys had tails.”
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2015
On Saturday, April 25, students, dressed primarily in black and red, made their way to Chapin Auditorium, braving the chilly spring evening. Chapin celebrated a Roaring Twenties flair with a sparkling cider fountain, white-feather centerpieces, and black, gold, and silver party beads for all.
The dance was carnival themed, complete with an enormous hoop of red, yellow, and blue streamers suspended from the ceiling. Handmade animal cutouts adorned the balconies, and fanciful lights illuminated paper circus horses. Chapin was transformed into a merry-go-round.
As summarized in the class of 1940 yearbook, “That intangible essence was ours that night. We have had it, we pass it on to ’41.”
NOW
W E B E XC L U S I V E
Read Bessie Nesbit’s ’42 full letter home to her parents at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/seniorball.
Class vice president Rachael Smith ’15 commented on the feel of the evening: “Being a senior is no small accomplishment, and it was wonderful to see the people we had spent the past four years with celebrating our successes together. There was definitely a magical element to the whole event.” — B Y R A C H E L AY L W A R D
1940: MHC Archives and Special Collections; 2015: Rose Donahue ’15
then and now
THE N
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C L A S S A N D C L U B I N FO J U S T K E YS T R O K E S AWAY
Class and club contacts are available online at alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/classes or alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/clubs.
Connections Class of 2004 Sends Encouragement to Current Students In April the class of 2004 set out to start a new class tradition, “The Random Acts of Kindness Mail Campaign.” The class board asked classmates to send a card of encouragement to a current Mount Holyoke student during reading week, the study period leading up to exams. Dozens of alumnae sent handwritten cards along with a few goodies to their old mailbox numbers. “A kind word, a smile, or a small gift can help us all push through a stressful time,” said Class President Sophia Apostola ’04.
Travel Abroad with Sister Alumnae
We invite you to join one or more of the Alumnae Association’s travel opportunities this year. Visit alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/travel. U P CO M I N G T R I P S
Tanzania Air Safari February 11–22, 2016
Patagonia: Wikimedia Commons; alumnae: Mike Emerson
Celtic Lands May 31–June 9, 2016
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Waterways of France June 8–19, 2016 Alaska’s Glaciers July 9–16, 2016 Patagonia and the Chilean Fjords October 25–November 7, 2016
Trekking Through India, Nepal, and Bhutan 1964 classmates, pictured, from left, Barbara Dallinger Crowell, Sarah Allen Mowitt, Susan Schuck Hirst, Hope Justman, and Jane Shilling Emerson returned from a trip to India, Nepal, and Bhutan in March. During the course of three weeks, the group trekked for a total of 128 miles, most of which were between the elevations of 3,000 and 10,000 feet. The travelers were amazed by the heat of Nepal and thrilled to spot tigers, rhinos, crocodiles, sloth bears, and elephants in the jungles. Among their many adventures, the group celebrated Nepal’s Holi Day Festival of Colors by dancing with the locals in the neighborhood and covering themselves with colorful powders. The classmates were also amazed by their time in the rural villages. Emerson said, “It was fascinating for us to chat with these remote Nepali who have had outhouses for only six years, get at most three hours of electricity per day, mix dung fertilizer into water buffalo-plowed fields with their bare hands, and cook on burning wood in holes in their mud floors. How differently we in the USA live through a day.” Another unique moment in the trip was the time the group spent with a sister Mount Holyoke alumna, Dr. Tashi Zangmo FP’99, a native of Bhutan, who Emerson said “is doing a remarkable job of helping young women in Bhutan lift themselves into more independent and productive lives through basic education.” In 2006 Zangmo founded the Bhutan Nuns Foundation with the goal of improving the living conditions of Buddhist nuns and their students and giving them access to quality education. Although they didn’t all know each other before the trip, Emerson said that “ meeting all the challenges of this trip’s opportunities with other MHC ’64 classmates made the experience especially memorable. Flexible, spontaneous, explorative, hardy, convivial, and fun-loving in general describes our group of travelers on this unusual and rigorous trip.” —BY STEPHANIE CALAS ’ 17
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
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SUMMER 2015
35
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I loved the slow and easy pace of the Pioneer Valley in the summer. Visiting farmstands, hiking the Holyoke Range, swimming in the Connecticut . . . and no essays to write!
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Chiurazzi Foundry (Italian) Hermes at Rest Bronze, ca. 1890–1900 Gift of Edith G. Carter Mount Holyoke College Art Museum South Hadley, Massachusetts 1991.30.12
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Meredith Heuer
—HANNAH DUFF ’10
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SUMMER 2015
a place of our own
a place of our own
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly
39 37
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my voice
ESSAY
What is Enough? By K ATE BUR K E LAIRD ’95
Pitch your topic at quarterly@ mtholyoke.edu.
Laird and her children, from left, Brendan, Evelyn, and Colleen
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to administration. But I had no desire to be a principal or a superintendent. I finally cleared my throat and told him that seeking one of those positions didn’t fit into the plan I had to be a stay-at-home mom. I remember his shock at my unwillingness to “do more,” at my not wanting to reach out of my comfort zone to the next rung up. He did not see that our ladders were different. After the birth of my first child, I left the classroom. Her two siblings soon followed, and I was knee deep in the three of them. I stayed there in the muck, struggle, and hilarity of it all. I loved those years at home. The Quarterly would arrive, and I’d read about I never pursued a what my classmates were career that was high doing, amazed at careers I had never heard of and profile or fast-paced. experiences I never imagined. As a class scribe, I reached out to friends to write in and heard from most that they weren’t doing “anything special.” What constituted something special, I wondered. I began to write about what I was doing. About mothering. And hanging out with classmates, returning to campus to stroll around the lakes. I let my voice join the others in a place that I already belonged. A few years ago I was offered a job as a special education assistant in a middle school. Not in charge. Not in my age group. A bit out of my comfort zone. I went at it, guns blazing, and fell in love with my new position. It is easily measured as a “step down” on the job ladder, and yet the experience has enriched my life. It also allows me to leave work at 3:15 and spend the next six hours of the day with my own children. At the end of my father’s life, when I took the kids to visit him, he would grab the smallest in his arms and gaze at the others playing. He told me that I was doing the most important work on the planet—guiding the next generation that would have custody of the world. He assured me I had a voice in that future. Mount Holyoke is one of my true comforts and greatest gifts. It is where I emerged an adult, a more steadied self. It is where I learned that there is no job too small as long as I am “all in.”
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Rob Laird
HAVE AN ESSAY TO S HAR E?
I USED TO stage whisper my dreams of motherhood, not sure if attending Mount Holyoke would mean I had to view my future in a different light. Would I be a disappointment to this prestigious women’s college if I did not go forth and stand out in the world? My father’s dream of my being a “Mount Holyoke Woman” stemmed from his having met Frances Perkins, class of 1902, and working with MHC alumnae throughout his career. At Mount Holyoke I found myself surrounded by intelligent women, and we were guided toward excellence. I thrived at the College, studying to become a teacher, and graduated an MHC woman. I walked away with my diploma and the attitude that there was nothing that I couldn’t attain if I put in the hard work. My dreams had not changed. But the whispers had: Would being a mother be “enough”? I never pursued a career that was high profile or fastpaced. Teaching first grade was the perfect fit for me. One day my father asked when I would start my move up
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50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075
...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ................................................................................................ ..... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sherry . . . . . .Christie: . . . . . . writer . . . . . and . . . editor. . . . . . .Olivia . . . . Mellan: . . . . . .speaker ................................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and . . . .money . . . . . coach. . . . . . Both . . . . class . . . . .of. .1968. . . . . Both . . . .French . . . . . majors. .............................. ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconnected . . . . . . . . . . at . . their . . . . twenty-fifth . . . . . . . . .reunion. ........................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Twenty-two . . . . . . . . . .years . . . . and . . . five . . . co-authored . . . . . . . . . . books . . . . . later, . . . . the . . . two .......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . can’t . . . . imagine . . . . . . .their . . . .careers . . . . . .without . . . . . .each . . . .other. ..................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Discover . . . . . . . . . . . . the . . . . . . . . .of. .the . . . . . . . . . .can . . . . . .for ............................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .what . . . . . . . power . . . . . . . . . . .network . . . . . . . . . . do . . . . . you. ........................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Update . . . . . . .your . . . .information . . . . . . . . . and . . . .start . . . . connecting. ........................................ ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/directory .................................................................... ...................................................................................................... .. ................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... .. ................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ........ ............................................................................................. ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ... .................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sherry . . . . . .Christie . . . . . . .’68 .................................. ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ......... ............................................................................................ ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Olivia . . . . .Mellan . . . . . ’68 ................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... .......... ........................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ... .................................................................................................. ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Read . . . more . . . .about . . . .this . . Mount . . . . .Holyoke . . . . .connection . . . . . . . at ................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/findyourpeople. ................................................. ..................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... ......................... ............................................................................ ...................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................... . . . . . . MHQ_Summer15_backCover_Press.indd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7/1/15 . . . 11:46 . . .AM. .................................