Mills Quarterly fall 2005

Mills Quarterly Fall 2005 Alumnae Magazine

Mills Enrollment Reaches New Heights Global Refugee Expert Stacy Gilbert, ’89 Mills Architect Walter H. Ratcliff

Thank you to the many generous alumnae who have given to Mills College for 2005-06! We are well on our way to our $2 million goal.

MILLS COLLEGE

ANNUAL FUND

As Mills’ preeminent arts programs continue to flourish, new classes in the sciences are bringing even more excitement to the College’s academic mix. ©

©

You can help a new generation of women create their own

unique Mills experience by investing in the College.

Through the Mills College Annual Fund you can now support the visual and performing arts, as well as many other programs! ©

Due to the agreement between the College and the Alumnae Association, prior accounting and gift receipt processes for donations will change. Under the previous structure, gifts made to the AAMC were funneled to the College on an annual basis. The new system will provide direct, immediate support of Mills. Consequently, whether your gift is unrestricted or to one of many designations, your payment should be made to: Mills College Annual Fund. Additionally, we are now facilitating any gifts you would like to make to the operations and programs of the AAMC. These gifts will go directly to AAMC and will not be assessed any overhead fees.

We know this is a significant change in the operations of the College and the AAMC, but it is our hope that this new relationship will lessen the confusion and mend the divisive feelings that arose during this transition. For the benefit of Mills College and women’s education, it is our greatest desire to be good stewards of your donations.

Gifts to Mills support and enhance a dynamic liberal arts education for women!

16

COURTESY OF RATCLIFF

BRIAN PLONKA/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

PEG SKORPINSKI

12

20

Mills Quarterly

CONTENTS FALL 2005 12

Mills Enrollment Reaches New Heights

16

Mission: Possible

20

Walter Ratcliff and the Master Plan for the Mills Campus

by Pat Soberanis The incoming class is the largest in Mills’ 153-year history. Our story and photos document the excitement and hard work of move-in day.

by April Bamberg Road trips through dangerous places are all in a day’s work for Stacy Gilbert, ’89.

by David M. Brin, MA ’75 In the 1920s, architect Walter H. Ratcliff made a plan for the campus that has influenced the look of Mills into the 21st century.

D E PA R T M E N T S 3

Letters

4

Inside Mills

8

Mills Matters

11

Calendar

24

Profile

25

Passages

ABOUT THE COVER: A freshwoman performs anew the ritual of move-in day. Photos begin on page 12. Cover photo by Peg Skorpinski.

Mills Quarterly Volume XXIV Number 2 (USPS 349-900) Fall 2005 Interim Alumnae Director Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73 Editor David M. Brin, MA ’75 <dbrin@mills.edu> (510) 430-3312 Design and Art Direction Benjamin Piekut, MA ’01 Associate Editor Pat Soberanis Contributing Writer Moya Stone, MFA ’03 Editorial Assistance Katrina Wardell, ’07 Quarterly Advisory Board Marian Hirsch, ’75, Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Jane Redmond Mueller, ’68, Cathy Chew Smith, ’84 Ramona Lisa Smith, ’01, MBA, ’02, Sharon K. Tatai, ’80 Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72, MA ’74 Class Notes Writers Sharada Balachandran-Orihuela, ’05, Barb Barry, ’94 Julia Bourland Chambers, ’93, Laura Compton, ’93 Barbara Bennion Friedlich, ’49, Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48 Marian Hirsch, ’75, Cathy Chew Smith, ’84 Special Thanks to David M. Hedden Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Board of Governors President Thomasina S. Woida, ’80 Vice Presidents Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63 Jane Cudlip King, ’42 Treasurer Ramona Lisa Smith, ’01, MBA ’02 Alumnae Trustees Leone La Duke Evans, MA ’45 Sara Ellen McClure, ’81 Sharon K. Tatai, ’80 Governors Lila Abdul-Rahim, ’80, Michelle Balovich, ’03 Micheline A. Beam, ’72, Diana Birtwistle Odermatt, ’60 Cecille Caterson, MA ’90, Beverly Curwen, ’71 Suzette Lalime Davidson, ’94, Linda Jaquez-Fissori, ’92 Harriet Fong Chan, ’98, Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51 Krishen Laetsch, MA ’01, Mary Liu, ’71 Michele Murphy, ’88, Nangee Warner Morrison, ’63 Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72, MA ’74 Karilee Wirthlin, ’92, Sheryl Y. Wooldridge, ’77 Regional Governors Joyce Menter Wallace, ’50, Eastern Great Lakes Nancy Sanger Pallesen, ’64, Middle Atlantic Albertina Padilla, ’78, Middle California Adrienne Bronstein Becker, ’86, Middle California Judith Smrha, ’87, Midwest Linda Cohen Turner, ’68, North Central Brandy Tuzon Boyd, ’91, Northern California Gayle Rothrock, ’68, Northwest Louise Hurlbut, ’75, Rocky Mountains Colleen Almeida Smith, ’92, South Central Dr. Candace Brand Kaspers, ’70, Southeast Julia Almazan, ’92, Southern California Elaine Chew, ’68, Southwest The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly in April, July, October, and January by the Alumnae Association of Mills College, Reinhardt Alumnae House, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613.

Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the Mills Quarterly, Alumnae Association of Mills College, P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998.

Statement of Purpose The purpose of the Mills Quarterly is to report the activities of the Alumnae Association and its branches; to reflect the quality, dignity, and academic achievement of the College family; to communicate the exuberance and vitality of student life; and to demonstrate the worldwide-ranging interests, occupations, and achievements of alumnae.

On This Issue The first day of college is truly a high point in life and not soon forgotten. I watched the anticipation and excitement as incoming students moved into Warren Olney Hall in August. Welcome Day was full of activities, and getting settled—or at least getting one’s possessions moved into the residence hall—was one of the most important events of the day.

Parents, siblings, friends, and cousins were there to help and to witness a rite of passage. Younger siblings seemed to look ahead to their own moment of independence, while proud parents adjusted to their daughters’ new situations. The feelings were palpable; many seemed to be experiencing those moments when laughter and tears are not far apart.

One mother from Minnesota told me of her reservations about sending a daughter far away to college, and how she felt reassured when her daughter chose to live in the Wellness Community on the third floor of Warren Olney Hall. Students in this newly formed community have made a commitment to healthy living and will help each other keep their commitments.

Mills has an exceptional entering class this year. Applications were up dramatically, resulting in many fine new students on campus. You can read about the incoming classes on pages 12 to 15 and get some glimpses of move-in day as well.

I have never lost my admiration for the beauty of the Mills campus. After two years as a graduate student and more than six years on campus as the Quarterly editor, I still feel a sense of harmony and grace every time I drive through Richards gate.

Cyrus and Susan Mills began building the campus in Oakland 135 years ago. I have often wondered how the campus evolved, and over the years I’ve gathered some information about the architects who planned the buildings and shaped the campus.

While Julia Morgan is without question the best-known of the many architects who have designed buildings at Mills, I discovered that one of her younger contemporaries, Walter Ratcliff, was responsible not only for some of Mills’ most beloved buildings, but also for a master plan that has guided architects and planners from the 1920s to the present day. You can read more about Walter Ratcliff and the master plan for Mills College on pages 20 to 23.

Finally, the achievements of Mills alumnae and alumni come to my attention through a variety of means. More than one alumna sent me an extraordinary article from the Spokane newspaper about Stacy Gilbert, ’89. Stacy is a courageous individual who has worked with refugees and displaced persons in many parts of the globe. When a recent assignment took her to Iraq, she went in spite of the dangers. You can read about Stacy and her remarkable undertakings in April Bamburg’s article beginning on page 16.

I hope you will also take time to read about the talented new faculty coming to Mills, on pages 8 and 9, about Mills’ preeminence in the arts, on pages 4 through 7, and of course, Class Notes and other departments of the Quarterly.

Stay in touch!

Letter to the Editor Fond Memories I have just spent a happy period of time reading your Summer 2005 issue.

I was drawn to Jade Snow Wong’s article. It was an extremely interesting story. She was a few years younger than me and I found that our times at Mills had many similarities.

I discovered she had written a book, and I called our public library in Battle Creek and was happily surprised that they had a copy of Fifth Chinese Daughter. It’s very good indeed.

I am still surprised that from Battle Creek I went to Mills College. How could I have been so lucky? I still feel the joy and gratitude, and amazement.

—Kay Redner Randels, ’38 Battle Creek, Michigan

It’s Your Magazine!

You can contribute to the Quarterly by sending m a letter to the editor mail to: Email to: dbrin@mills.edu The Editor, Mills Quarterly PO Box 9998 Oakland, CA 94613-0998 m a class note about yourself to the address or email address above. m a photo for class notes. We particularly appreciate good photos for our Class Notes section, and your classmates and friends love to see them. Mail prints to the above address, or email high-resolution photos (300-dpi .tif or .jpg files) to the above email address.

The Annual Giving Report has appeared in the Fall Quarterly for the last five years. The 2004–05 Annual Giving Report will appear in the Winter 2006 issue.

ONLINE SERVICES Be sure and visit the Mills College website at <www.mills.edu> for all kinds of information about the College and the AAMC. You can get news of the College and a list of upcoming events from the home page. And for information about the Alumnae Association, you can access the AAMC pages from the Mills site by clicking on Alumnae in the upper-right corner of the home page. (Or go directly to <www.mills.edu/alumnae>.) Check the navigation bar on the left of the Alumnae page to sign up for free email for life, to view a list of AAMC trips (under Activities) or to read back issues of the Quarterly (under Publications).

If you would like to receive the AAMC’s email newsletter, send a request to <aamcrcds@mills.edu>. You can send us your new address, phone number, email address, and news about yourself by using the same email address.

Hint: When using the Mills College website, the Search feature located at the top of every page is particularly useful.

Spread the Word!

As a Mills alumna, you know what it means to be a Mills Woman! Many of you know students who would benefit from the unique educational experience we offer. We’d like to give you the opportunity to sponsor such students—which means we’ll waive the $40 application fee. Just complete the form below and give it to the student to return with her application.

MILLS COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATION FEE WAIVER As an alumna of Mills College, I would like to sponsor an application for admission to Mills.

Please accept this waiver of the $40 admission application fee for: Student Name ___________________________________________________________________ Alumna Name ________________________________________ Address _________________________________________________________________________ Class Year ____________________________________________ City____________________________________________State __________Zip ______________ Alumna Signature_____________________________________

Give this form to the applicant to submit with her application for undergraduate admission to Mills.

The $40 application fee will be waived.

inside mills EXCEPTIONALLY FINE Fine Arts at Mills

by Moya Stone, MFA ’03

W

hat makes fine arts at Mills exceptional? “Faculty!” says Dr. MaryAnn Milford, provost and dean of the faculty and Carver Professor of East Asian Studies and Art History. “Every one of our fine arts faculty is an internationally known artist and scholar.” Dr. Milford believes students benefit greatly from the creativity and vision that the fine arts faculty brings to Mills.

Art history major Marin Hood, ’05, agrees. “The art professors at Mills are a diverse group and they have various teaching styles,” she says. “I felt challenged by them in many different ways.”

Mills’ fine arts departments boast an impressive array of distinguished faculty.

To name just a few—June Watanabe, professor of dance, is the artistic director of her own dance troupe, June Watanabe In Company. Fred Frith, professor of composition, was recently the subject of the documentary film Step Across the Border. Time magazine profiled Catherine Wagner, professor of studio arts, in Innovators Time 100: The Next Wave (October 2001), and Julie Chen, professor of book arts, was featured in March 2004 on the KQED television program Spark. Several faculty members have been awarded important installations in the Bay Area, including Hung Liu at the Oakland Airport and Catherine Wagner at the new de Young Museum. Anna Valentina Murch has commissions (in collaboration with Doug Hollis) at the San Jose Civic Center Plaza and the new federal courthouse in Fresno.

Setting the Tempo The tradition of hiring professional artists to teach in the fine arts departments dates back at least to the 1930s,

4

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

when President Aurelia Reinhardt began inviting distinguished figures from around the world to teach at Mills.

Luminaries such as French composer Darius Milhaud and renowned German art historian Dr. Alfred Neumeyer came to Mills and, over time, created a powerful environment that inspired students and put Mills on the intellectual and artistic map.

In that same tradition, President Holmgren is dedicated to the continued growth and evolution of the fine arts at Mills. “The arts are critical to society because of their unique ability to define and redefine culture, community, and the human existence,” says President Janet Holmgren. “As the College moves forward to respond to the needs of our ever-changing society, Mills remains absolutely committed to preserving and building upon the traditional strengths of our stellar fine arts programs.”

Today the College’s established reputation as a hot spot for artistic diversity continues. “Our faculty are at the top of their fields,” says Dr. Milford. “We are a place where working artists want to come to teach.” This spring, French video artist and published author Jacques Servin will join the faculty to teach in the Intermedia Arts Program (a cross study of technology and the traditional arts). “I feel great about joining the fine arts department,” says Servin.

“Mills seems like a place with a good, solid set of priorities, not swept up like so many other universities and colleges in the drive to retool themselves as technical institutions for cranking out profitable people.” Professor Servin says he’s excited to return to the Bay Area, as he feels there is more going on

here than in Paris.

Prospective students are just as excited about Mills. Applications for the master of fine arts degree average 125 per year for only 12 available spots.

New Rhythms As well as attracting strong faculty, the fine arts at Mills have always stayed on the cutting edge of what’s new and original. In the mid-1960s, Mills led the way in electronic music when the College started the Center for Contemporary Music. Emphasizing experimental approaches in modern music, the Center for Contemporary Music is recognized internationally as a leading center in music innovation.

More recently, in 2001 the intermedia arts program was added to the fine arts division as a minor, and in 2002, as a major. Intermedia arts offers students an opportunity to integrate technological media such as video, electronic, and digital arts with more traditional art forms such as dance, performance, music, sculpture, photography, and painting. The intermedia arts program encourages collaboration among disciplines, as well as exploration outside conventional boundaries.

Staying Ahead of the Beat To ensure Mills stays on the cutting edge and attracts top-notch artists and scholars, the College has embarked on two major projects. Renovation work on the Music Building has begun and will continue as money is raised. Built in 1928 and designed by architect Walter H. Ratcliff, the Music Building has housed such musical talents as Dave Brubeck, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison,

PREEMINENCE IN THE ARTS

date different types of exhibits. The and of course, Darius Milhaud. An plans include five additional studios, to upgrade is needed to maintain the allow an increase in the number of stubuilding’s beauty and the integrity of its dents. Currently the College is working structure. “There has never been any major work done on the building, and we need to make sure the building is here to house our prestigious music department,” says Dr. Milford.

Celeste Hutchins, ’98, studied electronic and experimental music at Mills. “Maggi Payne and John Bischoff introduced me to types of music and music making that were entirely new to me,” she says.

“They taught me to think about music primarily in terms of sound and to view all sound as potentially music.” Celeste later went on to Wesleyan University and recently received an MA in music composition.

“My experiences at Mills were extremely helpful at Wesleyan,” she says. “I probably wouldn’t even have Funded by Lauren Speeth, ’81, Mills College boasts a lively series of studied music if I hadevents featuring visiting artists, such as the Quartet San Francisco. n’t gone to Mills.”

Left to right: Emily Onderdonk, viola; Joel Cohen, cello; Jeremy Cohen, Also in the works is violin; Kayo Miki, violin. the Art Museum with architects to ensure the addition is expansion. A new building, adjacent to an appropriate complement to the existthe existing Art Museum building, will add gallery space and the ability for ing building. controlled light and sound to accommoMills continues to expand opportuni-

ties in the performing arts as well. The College recently received funding from the E. L. Wiegand Foundation for lighting and sound upgrades in Lisser Hall.

This generous grant will allow Mills to replace outdated equipment as part of significant renovations to maintain the beauty and usefulness of this historic theater, which serves as a performance space for Mills students and members of the Bay Area arts community.

As a studio arts major, Julie Sutherland, ’03, appreciates the College’s conviction to continually strengthen its programs. “I chose to go to Mills instead of UC Berkeley for a BA in studio art mainly for the access to studio space and faculty,” she says. “I found a department that was exciting and relevant to my art work and to my life outside Mills.”

The Reviews Mills is known for its diversity, innovation, and commitment to the arts.

Attracting prestigious faculty, upgrading the facilities, and staying open to rich, new ideas are key components to fostering success for our students.

That success continues after students graduate. Julia Bloch, MFA ’02, has won several prizes for her literary work, including the 2003 Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award for poetry. “Since graduation, I’ve been able to maintain the writing practice I developed at Mills,” she says. “Mills gave me the connections and support I needed to cofound a small chapbook press, contribute to literary journals, and work with other writers in the program. I was so lucky to study at Mills. Honestly, I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

5

inside mills FROM YOUR TRUSTEES As both alumnae and trustees, we are excited about the many wonderful things happening at Mills, and we are eager to share some of the news with you.

Undergraduate Applications Up Effective new marketing strategies have brought a surge in undergraduate applications this spring— 79 percent more applications than last year. New ways of marketing Mills to prospective students include a streamlined application process and a redesigned website that is more elegant and userfriendly. As a result, we have enrolled 881 undergraduate students and 491 graduate students this fall.

This means we have surpassed the enrollment goal of 1,300 students, set out in our strategic plan, two years ahead of schedule.

Former Astronaut Sally Ride Speaks at Convocation Mills marked the beginning of academic year 2005–06 at Convocation on Friday, September 30, 2005, with featured speaker Sally Ride, a former NASA astronaut and the first American woman in space. Dr. Ride is a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. She is also president and CEO of Sally Ride Science, a company that creates programs and publications dedicated to supporting girls’ interests in math, science, and technology.

New Bachelor of Science Degree For the first time in the College’s history, a bachelor of science degree will be offered at Mills. The degree will attract students who are interested in pursuing careers in science and will better prepare Mills students for graduate study and for increasing demand for skilled scientists in the current job market. The new science degree will be available in five majors: biology, biopsychology, chemistry, environmental science, and biochemistry and molecular biology.

Popular New Programs Students are expressing interest in several new and growing academic programs at Mills: the master in business administration (MBA) program, public policy, and infant mental health (the newest of these programs), which was launched in fall 2005. Infant mental health provides a 4+1 accelerated master’s degree program (four years of undergraduate study plus one year of graduate work), offering a BA in psychology and an MA in early childhood education with an emphasis in infant mental health. This program positions Mills as the first educational institution in the world to offer an integrated undergraduate/ graduate infant mental health curriculum.

Major Grants Awarded Mills College has received a major grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support the College’s innovative nursing leadership program—the only program of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. The five-year grant of more than $473,000 will enable Mills to help produce future leaders in nursing and increase the number of nurses entering the profession. More than 20 students have enrolled in the first year of the nursing program, beginning studies at Mills this fall.

Lisser Hall is receiving new sound and lighting equipment, thanks to a generous grant of $162,171 from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation of Reno, Nevada. Kristen Allison Avansino, ’67, MA ’69, the foundation’s president and executive director, noted, “Our trustees were impressed with Mills College’s commitment to the arts and the College’s reverence for its historic landmarks. This grant represents the marriage of both.”

Estate of Eileen Mitchell Gibbs, ’36, Supports Critical Programs We continue to be grateful for generous support from Mills alumnae who name the College in their

6

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

Top: Toni Renee Vierra, ’98, Recent Graduate Trustee Sara McClure, ’81, Alumna Trustee and Mills Parent

PREEMINENCE IN THE ARTS

wills. Recently the estate of Eileen Mitchell Gibbs, ’36, of Colfax, California, has provided Mills with a gift of $5.9 million. Mrs. Gibbs’ generosity is allowing Mills to support several priority programs, including an endowment for maintenance of the new Natural Sciences Building. The College’s technology endowment will also receive a share of Mrs. Gibbs’ bequest, which will support the costs involved in keeping up with technological advances.

As you can see, Mills is on a roll! Check Mills’ new website frequently <www.mills.edu>, and you will agree—an extraordinary range of programs and events continue to make Mills a unique and lively place to study.

Sara McClure, ’81 Alumna Trustee and Mills Parent

Toni Renee Vierra, ’98 Recent Graduate Trustee

ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION REACHES AGREEMENT WITH MILLS COLLEGE The Mills College Board of Trustees and the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) Board of Governors are pleased to announce that, following months of negotiations, Mills College and the AAMC have successfully reached a mutually acceptable agreement to strengthen our alumnae network.

We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in the productive negotiations. The cooperative spirit and genuine commitment to our mission have resulted in an agreement that responds to the needs and interests of both the College and the AAMC. Under this agreement, the AAMC retains its independent, nonprofit status.

Recognizing the importance of Reinhardt Alumnae House as an alumnae home on campus, the AAMC will continue in residence there, and the College will comply with the 1948 agreement regarding maintenance and upkeep of the building. The AAMC will continue to be responsible for running alumnae functions, including class reunions.

On July 1, 2005, the College assumed operation of the Mills College Annual Fund, and the AAMC now

engages only in fundraising for its own activities as outlined in the agreement.

The College will provide financial support to the AAMC on an annual basis and maintain a strong commitment to providing these resources in support of alumnae relations and functions.

We are confident that this agreement will encourage a vigorous and

independent Alumnae Association so vital to the College and its alumnae, while providing a new strategic direction for fundraising. This agreement provides many new opportunities for giving and underscores the long-standing commitment of both the College and the AAMC to advancing women’s education and leadership.

Acclaimed author Maxine Hong Kingston visited Mills on April 2, 2005, holding a lively conversation with President Holmgren, to which the public was invited.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

7

MILLS MATTERS

8

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

my students in any way.”

Assistant Professor of Dance Katherine Mezur, MA ’79, has studied Asian theater history and performance extensively, both in the United States and Japan. Her professional interests include multimedia performance and contemporary performance in Japan; her recent book, Beautiful Boys/Outlaw Bodies, explores gender ambiguity in Kabuki theater. She holds a BA from Hampshire College, an MA from Mills, and a PhD from the University of Hawaii.

Jacques Servin, assistant professor of intermedia arts (beginning spring 2006) will focus his teaching on electronic arts. Mr. Servin’s academic interests include media performance and media activism. He is also an Jacques Servin author. He described his work Beast as “an interactive contentmanagement nightmare/dystopian view of computer technology.” He has published two collections of short stories, Mermaids for Attila and Aviary Slag. Mr. Servin holds degrees from the University of Jared Young Arizona and Louisiana State University.

Jared Young, assistant professor of biology (beginning spring 2006), will JYNELLE A. GRACIA

University. Her professional interests involve issues of Diane Cady, assistant professor of diversity in the workplace English, has professional interests in with a focus on race and Chaucer, late medieval culture, medieval gender, antidiscrimination romance, and gender studies. “People law, and affirmative action often assume policies and programs. there is a great “I taught at Mills as a gulf between the visiting professor in the West’s present mid-’90s and I recall that moment and its time as one of the most medieval past— satisfying and enjoyable that there is little periods of my entire proYiyun Li that the Middle fessional life,” she says. “In Ages can teach particular, I appreciate the students at us about today,” Mills—their confidence, high ideals, she says. “Yet, diversity, and intellectual curiosity—and I many seemingly value the College’s commitment to ‘modern’ issues women’s education. After spending the and concerns, last eight years at Harvard, coming to such as racial Diane Cady Mills is like coming home.” and religious Yiyun Li, assistant professor of prejudice, the construction of categories English, is an award-winning writer who of race, gender, and class, and the rise of came to the United States from China in nationalism are issues actively explored 1996 and began publishing in English in by medieval writers and readers, and 2002. Her essays and fiction have much of the ideology that shapes the appeared in publications including The West stems from the Middle Ages.

New Yorker and The Paris Review. Her Indeed, I’ve often argued that when the first book, A Thousand Years of Good world seems its most modern, it is really Prayers, was published in September its most medieval. In our cultural imagi2005. “I think every artist is obliged to nation, the Middle Ages serves as a screen share his/her onto which we can project all insights and wisdom those aspects of our culture that may help that we don’t like to acknowlyounger artists,” edge. Studying the Middle she says. “An MFA Ages invites us to grapple not program is a great only with the roots of our ideplace for talented ologies, but also with our students to find reluctance to engage with our teachers (and of shortcomings.” course friends too) Carol Chetkovich, outside the loneliassociate professor of public ness of reading and policy and director of the writing, and I am Public Policy Program, just very happy to comes to Mills from the be part of it, hoping John F. Kennedy School of Carol Chetkovich that I could inspire Government at Harvard

New Faculty

NEWS OF THE COLLEGE AND THE AAMC

Baskets from the collection of Laurette Schorcht.

They will be on display at the Mills College Art Museum in January as part of an exhibit of recent acquisitions. Photo by Stephan Jost.

focus his research on subjects central to neuroscience, such as calcium signaling and ion channels. He is the winner of three undergraduate teaching awards at UC San Diego. His research concerns the molecular mechanisms used by plant stomatal guard cells that regulate stomatal opening and closing in response to changes in carbon dioxide levels. The goal of this work is to elucidate basic cellular signaling mechanisms that may be utilized widely by different cell types in plants and animals and to better understand how plants will be affected by the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels being generated by human activity. “I am looking forward to enhancing students’ critical thinking skills so that graduates will gain a wider knowledge base and be able to confidently consider issues, biological and otherwise, they will encounter in the future,” he says. “I

believe the collaborative, intimate educational atmosphere at Mills is ideal for fostering this kind of intellectual development.”

Art Museum Receives Gift of Native American Baskets Laurette Schorcht, a friend of the College, recently donated a fine collection of 19 Native American baskets to the Mills College Art Museum. The baskets, ranging from a Hupa bowl to a Navajo wedding basket, are a significant addition to the already remarkable collection in the museum’s holdings. This collection, which now consists of more than 200 objects, includes baskets from California and the West Coast and has been built over many years from gifts of

generous alumnae. Stephan Jost, museum director, says, “It was a welcome surprise when Rebecca Fuller, ’54, professor emerita of dance at Mills and a friend of Ms. Schorcht, called and told me about the collection and the idea of having it find a home at Mills.” The collection was given to the museum in honor of Doris Dennison, music director of the Mills College dance department from 1939 to 1973.

Princeton Review Selects Mills College Mills College has been chosen as one of the newest additions to the Princeton Review’s Best Colleges series, published in August 2005 by Random House. The Best 361 Colleges: 2006 Edition will feature Mills as one of 11 schools receiving the Princeton Review’s “Best” designaM I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

9

MILLS MATTERS

tion for the first time. Robert Franek, vice president for publishing at the Princeton Review, explained, “Only about 10 percent of the colleges in America are in this book. It is our flagship guide to ‘the cream of the crop’ institutions for undergraduates. We select the schools for it based on several criteria, including our regard for their academic programs and other offerings; data we collect about them; and the opinions of students, parents, and educators we talk to and survey.” Based on interviews with students, the Princeton Review ranked Mills students “most nostalgic for Bill Clinton” of the 361 colleges surveyed. The Princeton Review posts the book’s rankings and excerpts from its college profiles on its website <www.princetonreview.com>.

Mills Welcomes Hurricane Victims Two days after Hurricane Katrina caused such devastation to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Mills College offered Gulf Coast college students—from both the Gulf area and the Bay Area—expedited admission. In addition, “Mills is making every effort to make sure that money is not a barrier to coming here,” said Julie Richardson, Mills vice president for enrollment management. The offer came in conjunction with a campus fundraiser for the American Red Cross hurricane relief effort.

“We want to make the outstanding Mills academic programs available to affected women,” said Mills College President Janet L. Holmgren, “so they can continue the momentum of their studies while recovering from this unprecedented natural disaster.”

10

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

Within two weeks, more than 50 callers inquired about the offer, and 21 had submitted applications. By September 14, four students had enrolled. One Tulane University student, Marcie Lessard of Palo Alto, California, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mills’ offer felt like a personal invitation.

She had already been turned away by Stanford and Santa Clara universities when she saw the offer on the Mills website.

“They were so nice,” said Lessard, who escaped to Florida before the hurricane hit. “And they said I was more than welcome there.”

Julie Richardson put it simply: “Our hearts go out to these people.”

A Brave New World for the AAMC

by Lucia Stauffer Savage, ’84

Since July 1, 2005, the Alumnae Association of Mills College has refocused its energy, operations, and alumnae programs. As you probably know, in June the AAMC finalized negotiations with the College about the relationship between the two organizations and specifically about who would be responsible for annual solicitation of funds to support the College. Our agreement with Mills College gives the College the responsibility for direct mail solicitations, phonathons, and other familiar ways of raising funds. While our agreement with the College provides some financial support for AAMC programs and operations, the support from the College is not enough to provide the programs that alumnae are used to having or to allow us to develop and offer new programs, and it will not grow our financial independence in the long term. We

need your financial help: we need you to donate to the AAMC. Space constraints prevent us from giving you all the reasons why, so we are listing just two: n To continue programs serving alumnae as well as to offer possible new ones n To maintain AAMC’s financial independence There are three ways to make a gift to the Alumnae Association: 1. The gift check to AAMC should have “AAMC Programs, Operations, and Endowment” written in the memo section. This will help the AAMC to keep its programs strong and meaningful for you and other alumnae/i. Please write all five words on your check as we work through the beginning phases of our new arrangements with the College.

2. You can use the check box marked “AAMC” on the College’s direct mail solicitations. Our agreement requires the College to remit to the AAMC any donations it receives when the donor indicates on the return card that the donation is for the benefit of the AAMC. Look for this checkbox on College solicitations and mark it for AAMC. 3. You or your business or company can give “in kind” to help AAMC meet its many needs, both programmatic and operational. Call Reinhardt Alumnae House at (510) 430-2110 for a current wish list. You can even donate securities or other valuable assets to the AAMC to build its endowment, but be sure to call Reinhardt Alumnae House for wording to ensure that such gifts go to the AAMC. Look for more details about our new fundraising methods in the next Quarterly. If you have questions, contact Reinhardt Alumnae House.

ONGOING THROUGH DECEMBER 11 Measures of Distance: A Video by Mona Hatoum Mitchell’s Death: A Video

by Linda Montano Her Black Flags: Video Projections by Sigrid Sandstrom Art Museum, Mills College (510) 430-2164 ONGOING THROUGH DECEMBER 11 Jacob El Hanani: Drawings and Moroccan Calligraphy from the

Concert Hall, Music Building (510) 430-2117 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 9:00 AM Mills College Cross Country: NAIA Region II Championships Fresno, California (510) 430-2172 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 4:00 PM Mills College School of Education Speakers Series: Distinguished Visiting

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 10:00 AM Mills College Swim Team: Bay Area Invitational Trefethen Aquatic Center, Mills College (510) 430-2172 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 5:30 PM The Chana Bloch Reading of Writers in Translation: Khaled Mattawa The first ever Arab American poet to win a Guggenheim Fellowship will read from his most

classical vocal and instrumental music.

Concert Hall, Music Building (510) 430-2296 SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 8:00 PM Concert Series: Phil Minton/Improvised Vocal Music with trained and untrained singers from Mills College and the community.

Concert Hall, Music Building (510) 430-2296

C A L E N D A R Magnes Museum.

Carla Trefethen Saunders: Fragments, Fadings, Feelings.

Opening reception for both exhibits: Wednesday, November 9, 6:00 PM–7:30 PM Art Museum, Mills College (510) 430-2164

Cellist Frances-Marie Uitti will perform a concert of music celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Giacinto Scelsi in the Concert Hall on November 12 at 8:00 PM. For information call (510)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 7:30 PM New York Times Art Critic Holland Cotter: “In Distrust of Merits: A Critic in Wartimes” Cotter will discuss two moments in the history of art: the late 1960s, when he saw art against the background of the American war in Vietnam, and the present, as he sees art against the background of another war.

430-2296.

Professor of Education Delaine Eastin will speak about current issues facing California’s educational system, drawing on insights from her years in Sacramento as California state superintendent of public instruction.

Education Building Lounge

MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 7:30 PM Harry Eisenstadt in Concert A concert of solo and small-group compositions will be presented by this Los Angeles-based percussionist and improviser noted for his range and musical sensitivity.

Ensemble Room, Music Building (510) 430-2296

recent collection of poems.

Mills Hall Living Room, Mills Hall (510) 430-2236

For more information about events at Mills, see <www.mills.edu>. Events appear on the home page.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 8:00 PM Concert Series: Aswat choir and orchestra, a community group that presents Arabic folk and

Scheduled events are subject to change. Please phone or check the website to verify.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

11

Mills Enrollment Reaches New Heights

by Pat Soberanis Photos by Peg Skorpinski

A

s new students streamed in from all points, the College announced that the incoming class is the largest in Mills’ 153-year history. Applications for the first-year class were up 79 percent from last year.

“The record-breaking enrollment reflects the attractiveness of our innovative academic programs, providing students with an exceptional liberal arts foundation and opportunities for leadership,” said Janet L. Holmgren, Mills president. “Our new students benefit from Mills’ small classes, outstanding leadership experiences, and faculty members who love to teach.”

The profile for both undergraduates and graduates reflects the inclusiveness Mills has strived for in recent years. For the 2005–06 academic year, Mills has 881 undergraduate students.

Among the 335 new undergraduates, 40 percent are transfer students, and 20 percent are the first generation in their families to attend college. They speak 29 languages, from Cantonese to Twi, and range in age from 16 to 66. Thirty-three percent of undergraduates classify themselves as students of color, and an additional 14 percent identify themselves as biracial.

Graduate students total 491 this year, with 243 incoming students, a 1 percent decline from last year. The paths that led them here mark another kind of diversity. One woman, for instance, came from a marketing career in international business to

12

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

enter the MA program in early childhood education. A student in the postbaccalaureate premedical program had been directing HBO movies and documentaries before coming to Mills, while another studied Maori health in Australia.

Mills’ traditions of scholarship and leadership also continue in the new class. Academic awards earned by new undergraduates include the National Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa, and Alpha Gamma Sigma. Among their accomplishments are performing at Lincoln Center, stage-managing at Burning Man, exhibiting at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and dancing with the Houston Ballet. One woman was president of a Sister Souljah chapter, another volunteered to help AIDS victims at an orphanage in Malawi, and still another managed a successful campaign to pass an anti–animal cruelty bill. One is a former Merchant Marine. Twenty-three make up the inaugural class of nursing students in an innovative program in partnership with Samuel Merritt College (see “Mills Matters,” Winter 2005).

New graduate students have in their midst the former musical director of the Al-Marjanah Ensemble and the Aswat Arabic choir; a colleague who studied herbal medicine with the Mapuche, an indigenous people in southern Chile; and a classmate with a degree in traditional Chinese medicine. Undergraduate majors of new MBA students range from history and integrative biology to criminology and dance. The 4+1 MBA program and the graduate English program saw the highest growth in the graduate school, with application increases of 25 percent or more.

Freshwomen in Warren Olney Hall found several exciting new Living Learning Communities to choose from.

Students seeking a healthy lifestyle can join the Wellness Community on the third floor of Warren Olney, where dorm-mates focus on nutrition, women’s health education, personal

Facing page: In Warren Olney Hall, the whole family pitches in on movein day. Freshwoman Robin Cumming (far left) got help from her family.

Above: Hand trucks come in handy when moving big boxes into the dorms, as Ixquel Sarin discovered first hand.

Right: Freshwomen Asha Maxey (left) and Konstance Kirkendoll share a laugh as they take a break from heavy lifting.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

13

exercise plans, and 12-hour quiet times. The Leadership and Social Justice Community, open to both freshwomen and continuing students, is housed in Orchard Meadow and offers leadership skills and the development of a commitment to social justice.

Students also have the option of joining an academic community tied to an introductory course. The course professor serves as their first-year adviser, an upper-division student is available as

a teaching assistant for the course, members are housed together in Olney, and the course is supported by complementary activities such as lectures and museum exhibitions. This year five academic communities are available; the themes are art history, biology, literature, psychology, and philosophy.

The Living Learning Communities are but one way Mills won over prospective students this year. As Julie Richardson, vice president for enroll-

ment management, said to new undergraduates on Welcome Day, “In an era where it seems like colleges are trying to be more and more alike, you have chosen one committed to providing an education to women from all races, ethnic groups, religious stripes, socioeconomic backgrounds, and lifestyles.

I am truly excited for you, and I look forward to hearing your stories in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.” m Left: President Janet L. Holmgren greets new undergraduates Miranda Shelton (front) and Amanda Page at the President’s Garden on Welcome Day. Below: Cross country coach Sharon Chiong, far right, invites a freshwoman to join the team as Themy-Jo Adachi, director of athletics, recreation, and physical education (to Sharon’s right) looks on.

Bottom right: Vernon McKenzie (left), office manager of the Mail and Copy Center, set up a package delivery system outside Warren Olney Hall.

Freshwomen Dana Martinez and a dorm-mate pick up boxes.

Bottom left: Freshwoman Jackie Bull, left, and her cousin get ready to make her bed. Jackie is part of the Wellness Community on the third floor of Olney.

14

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

Above: You can almost feel the pride emanating from freshwoman Maria Vigil and her family as they pose for a photo outside Olney. Clockwise from Maria (in front) brothers Valtazar and Jorge, father Valtazar, sister Ana, mother Maria, and sister Monica.

Far right: Bringing boxes to Olney.

Right: The stairs become pretty familiar to students as they move into their rooms.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

15

Mission: Possible

Amid danger and hardship, Stacy Gilbert, ’89, helps refugees around the world

BY APRIL BAMBURG

BRIAN PLONKA/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Stacy Gilbert, ’89, has good memories of the ten months she spent in Iraq despite the challenges, the instability of the region, and the responsibility involved in her job with the U.S. State Department.

“I usually did road trips on Fridays to visit IDP [internally displaced person] settlements and inevitably would come across an outdoor rural wedding party,” she says. “I always stopped at the wedding parties to give my congratulations to the bride and groom and their families. [This was] a bit selfish of me, too, because I immediately became the guest of honor, featured in the families’ wedding video; everyone wanted to have their picture taken with me, and people fought over who got to link arms with me during the unending snaking line dance that is de rigueur at every Iraqi wedding.” Those roadside weddings are some of her fondest memories of her stay there.

In war-ravaged Iraq, many work not only to rebuild a country but also to rebuild a national government, essentially from scratch. Stacy, 37, worked with the Coalition Provisional Authority as the regional adviser for displaced persons from September 2003 until July 2004. In the beginning, the biggest challenge was “just trying to figure out who was doing what” in a country where she and her colleagues knew little of the history or culture and were “trying to resolve conflicts that were decades and even centuries old” with relatively few resources.

She was in charge of the creation of seven provincial offices

16

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

of the Iraqi Property Claims Commission (IPCC). Sorting out property disputes without violence was a big part of her work with the IPCC, as was managing assistance for nearly 1 million Iraqis and other refugees forced from their homes in northern Iraq. The main task of the commission is to “sort out decades of displacement in a systematic and legal way and not cause more displacement or violence,” Stacy says. “It has been a slow process largely because it is very hard to explain, much less implement, justice in a way that acknowledges that often both parties in a property conflict are victims.”

A typical day during her Iraq assignment began at 5:30 a.m. with a run through the compound, usually surrounded by “my own ‘personal security detail’—a pack of wild dogs that I befriended and bribed with food smuggled out of the cafeteria,” she says.

A variety of tasks took up the rest of her day: visiting settlements in her region, meeting with military, government, or NGO (nongovernmental organization) officials, or sending emails from her office, which was also the room in which she slept. “Because there wasn’t much else to do besides work, we generally all worked until 10 or 11 p.m. and then collapsed with exhaustion.”

In all her travels—she has spent time in Eastern Europe and Africa and now works in India—Stacy focuses on the people and cultures of the host countries, and Iraq was no different.

Meeting so many Iraqis—Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen, Assyrians, and Yezidis—and simply talking to people was what was most

Dharamsala, in northern India, Stacy was “fortunate to meet the Dalai Lama and speak with him at length about the condition of the refugees and his thoughts on how to preserve Tibetan culture.”

After the tsunami devastated Southeast Asia last year, part of her job was to provide support for U.S. military assistance to other countries in the region, in close coordination with the government and military of India.

The Indian government was first to provide large-scale emergency assistance to other countries affected by the disaster, according to Stacy.

Her adventurous career got its start after high school. As she prepared to graduate from Central Valley High School in Verdale (near Spokane), Washington, in 1985, applying to colleges in her home state never entered her mind. “Being from a relatively small town, I’d always wanted to travel.” Her guidance counselor thought highly of Mills, and California was an attraction, so that was where she went, leaving her mother and three siblings in Washington.

Stacy’s international journeys began during her junior year at Mills, when she spent five months studying Soviet and Eastern European politics, history, economics, and culture at the Austro-American Institute in Vienna. An avid reader of spooky

“I KNOW IT MATTERS TO PEOPLE THAT I COME AND SEE HOW THEY LIVE AND REALLY LISTEN TO THEIR PROBLEMS.” rewarding to her. “I know it matters to people that I come and see how they live and really listen to their problems,” she says.

“Often, I’m the only American they have ever seen or may ever meet. I’m there not only to try to meet their basic needs for survival but also to bear witness to their suffering and be their advocate to the U.S. and to the world.” Wherever she is on assignment, she tries to interact with people in a respectful way, regardless of the situation. “At the very least, I always try to greet people in their own language; [in Islamic countries] sometimes I wear a veil when speaking to men, or I meet with women separately in a place where it seems men are universally afraid to go: the kitchen. By interacting with people on their turf and on their own terms—not yours—you show respect for their culture and genuine interest in their lives.”

Although she has worked in other unstable environments, the situation in Iraq was unique because “rather than becoming safer, it became more dangerous,” Stacy says. As the end of the assignment drew closer, several of her colleagues were injured, which created “ineffable feelings of loss, despair, regret, anger—and a dangerous apathy about your own safety.”

Despite the challenges, she says, there were pleasant surprises, too: the hospitality of the Iraqi people, and “how much ordinary people would risk to help us.”

Currently on assignment in New Delhi, India, Stacy works as a political officer with the U.S. Embassy there. Her work covers a variety of issues, including nuclear safety, humanitarian assistance, and providing support for U.S. refugee programs in India. “Regardless of what other issues I cover, humanitarian assistance is always the hardest and best part of my job,” she says. During a trip to assess the situation of Tibetan refugees in

Clockwise from left: Stacy rests at the end of the Big Ride.

Stacy often participated in weddings, this one Kurdish.

Stacy meets the Dalai Lama.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

17

In the Iraqi desert, the only communication was by satellite phone.

stories, she couldn’t resist a visit to Transylvania, a part of Romania, over Halloween that year; later, she used “any opportunity to go back” to the region. During her senior year at Mills, Stacy was part of a delegation that represented Afghanistan at the national Model United Nations, winning an award for Best Delegation. (A decade later, in 1998, she found herself working for the real United Nations in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. “I remember thinking that my Mills classmates would be appalled to see me—a graduate of a women’s college—voluntarily dressed in a burqa, stumbling around Kabul.”) Her empathetic focus on other cultures also began at Mills, where she was a resident assistant for international students. “The international and ethnic diversity of the small student population at Mills influenced me to pursue not only the academic aspect of international relations but also the social and cultural aspects,” she says.

After graduating from Mills, she received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to conduct independent research about vampire folklore. The fellowship gave Stacy a reason to go back to Romania, as well as to Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. She stayed for five years, working as a journalist for the Prague Post and at a law firm in Prague. It was during that period that Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, and other Eastern European countries began to emerge from the shadow of Soviet domination. She helped NGOs in Czechoslovakia aid a “relatively small refugee influx,” which was the beginning of her career in refugee work.

Returning to the United States for graduate school in September 1994, Stacy earned a master’s degree in international affairs, with a specialization in economic and political development, from Columbia University in May 1996. By October 1996 she was working for the U.S. State Department in Albania, providing logistical support for the Organization for Security

18

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

and Cooperation in Europe, and in November that year, began working in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in Washington, D.C. That lasted until October 2001, with assignments in Albania, Pakistan, and Macedonia as a refugee officer for the Disaster Assistance Response Team.

Stacy next worked in Tanzania with refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo, giving her the opportunity to revive the French she had learned in high school.

Her travels have allowed her to learn many languages which have come in handy in her work. The Czech she learned while living in Eastern Europe, for example, was helpful later in her work on refugee issues related to the breakup of Yugoslavia. She also learned Swahili during her time at the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, which, she says, was “surprisingly useful in Iraq—of all places!—because Swahili is largely comprised of Arabic words in a Bantu sentence structure.”

Stacy enjoys challenges outside of work as well. In 2000, she took part in the Big Ride across America for the American Lung Association. About the bicycle ride she says, “The ride itself was challenging, but I did it as a challenge to the people in my family who smoke and because my grandmother died from lung cancer. Before the Big Ride, I’d seen more of other countries than I’d seen of my own....In fact, I hardly had any idea of anything between San Francisco and New York City except O’Hare airport. Now I can look at a map of the world and say that I’ve crossed the Soviet Union, Mongolia, and China by train, I’ve driven to nearly every town and village in northern Iraq; but I can also point to the United States and say that I crossed my own country—an entire continent—powered by nothing but my legs and hundreds of pieces of pie and milkshakes.”

When an assignment ends, Stacy does not lose interest in the countries where she has spent time. “Regardless of where I am in the world,” she says, “I still monitor what is happening in countries I’ve worked in; it’s like staying in touch with an old war buddy. At some point, I’d like to go back to all the places that I’ve worked to see how they’ve changed. . . . Maybe I would do a photographic retrospective comparing then and now.”

She returns to Spokane every two years or so. “I was home twice last year, which was more than I’d seen my family in the past several years,” Stacy says. An advantage of her nomadic job is that she “can offer family and friends a place to stay in exotic locations around the world.” Her mother, Janice, and her sister, Andrea, visited while she was in Tanzania, and her sister visited her in India this year.

“I have friends who plan their vacations based on my assignments. No takers in Iraq, though.” m April Bamburg is a freelance writer and reporter based in northwest Oregon.

PEG SKORPINSKI

Music Building Holiday Ornament The Alumnae Association is pleased to offer the Music Building Holiday Ornament, depicting the front entrance of the Music Building. This limited edition ornament is the third in a series of historic campus buildings that is being produced over the next several years. The ornament is made from solid brass, finished in 24 karat frost and shiny gold. Each ornament is presented in a gift box and includes a ribbon for hanging.

Ornaments can be purchased at Reinhardt Alumnae House for $20. Shipping and handling fees are $2 per ornament.

Mills “Post-It” Notes These note pads make a great stocking stuffer for all of your alumnae friends! They show a eucalyptus branch and the motto “Remember who you are & what you represent.” They come in pads of 50 at $2.50 each plus $1 shipping and handling for each order. Mail your check, payable to PAAMCC, to Palo Alto Area Mills College Club, c/o Hunter, 316 Laurel Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025.

Order form Music Building Holiday Ornament $20 if you pick it up at Reinhardt Alumnae House $22 per ornament if you would like it shipped to you Number you would like: ________

Eucalyptus Pin $25 if you pick it up at Reinhardt Alumnae House $27 per pin if you would like it shipped to you Number you would like: ________ Please designate gold silver

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

PHONE NUMBER

TOTAL AMT. ENCLOSED

ZIP

Send your check made payable to AAMC along with the order form and mail to Reinhardt Alumnae House, PO Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998 or call with your credit card information. If you have questions, please contact Laurie Krane at (510) 430-2110 or email <lkrane@mills.edu>.

Mills Gifts!

PEG SKORPINSKI

Eucalyptus Pin Each eucalyptus leaf has been hand picked on the Mills campus and then strengthened with copper and preserved in 18-karat gold or sterling silver. Cost is $25 per pin with $2 shipping and handling per pin.

Walter Ratcliff and the Master Plan for the Mills Campus

by David M. Brin, MA ’75

T

he beauty of the Mills campus is apparent from the moment one drives through the main gate of the College. The landscape and the buildings work together to create one of the most attractive college campuses in the West. During the College’s early years, the harmony of the buildings and grounds may have resulted from serendipity as much as from forethought, but beginning in the early 20th century, a series of master plans ensured that the College’s growth was carefully managed. Many individuals deserve credit for the campus’ unity and grace, but perhaps more than anyone else, Walter H. Ratcliff, the College architect from 1923 to 1947, was responsible for the planning that ultimately led to the look of today’s campus.

20

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

Early History of the Oakland Campus Cyrus and Susan Mills made a bold move in 1870 when they decided to relocate their school from Benicia to Oakland. They commissioned architects S.C. Bugbee and Son of San Francisco to plan an ambitious building, and Mills Hall was completed in 1871. The Victorian structure was modeled on Vassar College’s Main Building of 1865. Originally the entire school, then known as Mills Seminary, was housed in Mills Hall.

In 1904, a significant structure was built on the Mills campus: El Campanil, designed by Julia Morgan. The first woman graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Morgan might have situated the bell tower directly across from Mills Hall in order to introduce a scheme of broad boulevards, but instead

COURTESY OF RATCLIFF

COURTESY OF MILLS COLLEGE ARCHIVES

Walter Ratcliff’s master plan for Mills College, 1923. Richards Road begins at the center left of the drawing. As one enters the campus on Richards Road, the first building on the right is the Music Building. Across from it is a 3,000-seat auditorium, which was never built. Right: Walter H. Ratcliff (1881–1973)

The First Master Plans While Morgan had arranged her buildings along a graceful curve to the east of Leona Creek, before 1915 not much thought had been given to a plan for the campus as a whole.

By then, the need for new roads and buildings concerned the College’s trustees to the point where they commissioned the first master plan for the College. This plan was still being considered when Phoebe Apperson Hearst, a trustee of the College, commissioned Bernard Maybeck to draw up a master plan for Mills in 1918.

Maybeck wrote in the October 1918 Mills Quarterly: “No one can foresee the future of an Institution of such importance as that into which Mills is now growing. If it were possible to prophecy what the material development will be, it would mean that the development would be limited, and the stage of completion once reached, from that time on the college would become a museum rather than a living institution for the education of women. To be vital means to grow; to grow means to adapt an organism to new needs. This point of view must not be lost sight of in planning the housing for the future of Mills.”

He goes on in flowery prose to compare Mills to the Garden of Eden and calls Lake Aliso the “holy of holies.”

The gist of his plan is two axes approximately perpendicular to each other, one running from north to south and the other from east to west. It is a grand plan in the Beaux Arts style, dividing future buildings into three groups: the semi-public group, including a stadium; the College group, including “buildings of a monumental character” such as the chapel, the library, and the administration building; and the dwelling group.

Maybeck also envisioned an entrance plaza “which may some day make way for such shops as the neighborhood may need ...

PEG SKORPINSKI PEG SKORPINSKI

she sited the building at an oblique angle, accentuating the curves of the grassy Oval that had been in front of Mills Hall since its earliest days. El Campanil was advanced for its time—it was made of reinforced concrete, a new method of construction when it was built in 1904, and the fact that it withstood the 1906 earthquake helped establish Julia Morgan’s reputation and career in architecture. In spite of its forward-looking use of materials, the design itself, with its tiled roof and heavy wooden doors, evoked old Spain or the architecture of colonial New Spain. El Campanil’s style, variously called Spanish colonial revival, Mediterranean, or California mission style, set the trend for many of the subsequent buildings on the Mills campus.

In 1906, Morgan placed her Margaret Carnegie Library along the curve of the Oval and gave it a tiled roof and a Mediterranean style. Morgan continued to design buildings for Mills, including the Student Union (originally called Alumnae Hall and completed in 1916), and a gymnasium, which stood approximately where the Tea Shop is now located.

Cyrus Mills’ original vision of the campus was that of an English country estate, as Rosalind Keep notes in her June 1932 article “Plot and Plan at Mills College” in Architect and Engineer magazine. “Gradually these plans have been modified to meet the needs of a modern growing college,” Keep writes.

“Many of the footpaths, bridle trails, lanes, and winding driveways for horse-drawn carriages have had to yield to paved roads broad enough for a speedier method of transportation.”

Top: The front entrance to the Art Building for those coming from the nearby trolley stop. “After entering, the spectator will descend stairs into the main gallery, an unusual and not unimpressive manner of entering a gallery,” said Professor of Art Roi Partridge.

Above: The east side of the Art Building features a long porch, reminiscent of one of California’s missions from the Spanish colonial period.

presumably owned by Mills College but leased to the shop keepers.”

While the two axes “were determined by the topography of the ground and the environment,” the main problem with Maybeck’s plan was that it called for the destruction of most, if not all, of the buildings then on campus, so that the grand scheme could be implemented. Maybeck, who designed the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Christian Science church in Berkeley, was probably the Bay Area’s greatest architect of the time. His sweeping gesture that cleared the campus of all buildings to make way for his great design left little room for practicality. While the trustees may have felt they couldn’t afford to implement the particulars of Maybeck’s design, they still adopted the general scheme of perpendicular axes—essentially what are now Richards Road and Wetmore Road—and some work, particularly the paving of roads, began.

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

21

The front of the Art Museum that faces the campus. The original design called for an elaborate tower (inset).

COURTESY OF MILLS COLLEGE ARCHIVES PEG SKORPINSKI

Walter Ratcliff’s Plan for the College In April 1923 the trustees appointed Walter H. Ratcliff to the position of College architect, and he soon completed another master plan for the campus. Writing in the January 1924 Mills Quarterly, Ratcliff stated, “In the problem of making an architectural plan for an established college, the considerations are three-fold and a scheme must be established that takes into account: First, the present buildings and grounds; second, the necessary development in the immediate future; and third, the development in the distant future, which is the ultimate scheme.” He goes on to write, “In establishing the two major axes, a permanent modification of the east and west axis was necessitated, on account of the position of the present buildings which prevented this axis being a straight vista . . . as laid down by Mr. Maybeck.”

Although many details of Ratcliff’s plan were never realized—the 3,000-seat auditorium was never built across from the Music Building, nor were the library or administration building he sketched out—his general scheme was flexible enough that it was followed.

In 1932 Rosalind Keep was able to write, “In striking contrast to many of the older buildings [on the Mills campus] are those of the last decade that have been designed in relation

22

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

to one another and in relation to future building and landscaping of the college campus.” Once Ratcliff’s plan was implemented, and by the time his first buildings were constructed, his lasting influence on the look and feel of the Mills campus was apparent.

Walter Harris Ratcliff was born in 1881 near London, England. When he was 12, the family moved to San Diego, and later to Berkeley. Walter attended Berkeley High School and the University of California, graduating in 1903 with a major in chemistry. After graduation he traveled to Europe to study architecture. Returning to the Bay Area, he established his architecture firm in 1906, moving it from San Francisco to Berkeley in 1909. He served as the architect for the city of Berkeley from 1914 to 1920, designing fire stations, schools, and other buildings for the city. He was a prolific architect, designing many homes and commercial buildings in the East Bay. The firm, known today simply as Ratcliff, is now located in Emeryville and is about to celebrate its centennial. It is headed by Walter Ratcliff’s grandson, Christopher Ratcliff.

In an oral history, one of Walter Ratcliff’s sons, Peter, remembers a turning point in the architect’s career: “I recall one Sunday we met (he took us along) Aurelia Reinhardt at the Oak

Ratcliff’s Buildings at Mills Ratcliff’s first major building project on the Mills campus was the Art Building, completed in 1925. Chair of the art department Roi Partridge called it “the finest and most permanent building upon the campus.” The original design called for an elaborate tower (see sketch on page 22). The building had two main entrances—one for the public, near the streetcar stop, and one for the campus. The east side of the building features a long porch, reminiscent of a cloister or mission.

Ratcliff’s residence halls were planned for less public locations on campus. Built on Prospect Hill in 1925, Ethel Moore Hall shows extraordinary attention to architectural detail, as does Ratcliff’s Music Building of a few years later. “How can one picture in a few words this hall of architectural grace and rare charm?” Rosalind Keep asks. There are three large patios, two smaller patios, a courtyard and a pool, designed by landscape architect Howard Gilky. Built on 16 different levels connected by stairs, “it is as skillfully adjusted to the contour of the ground as were the early Spanish haciendas,” according to Keep. (In those days, architects were not required to think about accessibility issues.)

The Music Building of 1928 is one of Ratcliff’s most beautiful buildings, and one of the best representatives of Mission style architecture in the Bay Area. The front entrance is decorated with detail suggestive of a church of the Spanish colonial era.

The porch of the Music Building, connecting the Ensemble Room with the entrance lobby.

The practice rooms are on the right. In 1929, the building was awarded the highest honors by the American Institute of Architects “in recognition of the splendid performance of providing a suitable housing for the School of Music in a convenient and beautiful form.”

PEG SKORPINSKI

Knoll Country Club,” he said. “They had just completed their country club, which was a rather nice colonial Spanish. She said ‘this is the kind of thing I want.’ Dad and Mom packed up and went to Mexico. He took lots of pictures and did a lot of sketching.”

It’s clear that Ratcliff was eager to please his clients; in this respect he resembled his colleague Julia Morgan. To suit their clients’ varied tastes, both Morgan and Ratcliff designed in a variety of styles, and their buildings don’t evidence as strong a personality behind them as those by Maybeck, for instance.

Ratcliff was a master of the Berkeley brown-shingle style, and his buildings sometimes evoked his native England. He was equally comfortable designing a church that resembled a medieval English cathedral or a residence hall that looked like a Spanish hacienda.

Before 1923, Ratcliff had not designed much in the Mediterranean style. President Reinhardt’s preference for this style, which matched Julia Morgan’s existing buildings on campus, determined not only the style of Ratcliff’s many buildings at Mills, but also became the dominant style of building on the Mills campus from that time forward. Ratcliff utilized it in a number of buildings outside Mills, including private homes and commercial buildings.

The choice of the Mediterranean style had a practicality that would have been well understood in 1923. In September of that year, just a few months after Ratcliff was appointed College architect, a devastating firestorm swept through Berkeley, destroying nearly 600 buildings. After witnessing the flames leaping from one roof to the next, Bernard Maybeck vowed never to build another wood shingle house. These sentiments probably reached Mills as well, and the Mediterranean style, with its stucco walls and tile roofs, was certainly less vulnerable to fire.

To the left of the entrance is a long porch, reminiscent of the old missions in San Jose or Sonoma. The ceilings in the foyer and concert hall are especially elaborate.

A four-phase plan for refurbishing the Music Building is now underway. Phase one has already been carried out, and phase two, which will address seismic issues, make the building more accessible, and bring many other improvements to the building, is planned for the near future.

The architectural details that were lavished on the Music Building and Ethel Moore Hall are lacking from the Norman Bridge Health Center, designed by Ratcliff and completed in 1930. The College was evidently watching costs carefully.

However, the building has recently been beautifully remodeled and is now called the Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences.

A major remodeling of Lisser Hall was also completed in 1930. Built in 1902, Lisser Hall was originally a Greek revival style building with the main entrance on the building’s south end. Ratcliff placed the entrance on the opposite end of the building and gave it a Mediterranean style to match other buildings on campus.

Ratcliff’s legacy at Mills also includes Mary Morse Hall, Wetmore Gate Lodge and Pool, and most of the houses in Faculty Village. His charming Tudor style building for the Shakespeare club was never built, nor was the Alumnae House he planned to situate just inside Wetmore Gate. Yet his influence is evident on the Mills campus at every turn.

Maybeck, when drawing up his plan for the College, had cautioned, “Unless a tradition be established concerning the artistic expression that Mills should have, Mills College will grow into a hodgepodge of architectural styles like a graveyard full of monuments.” Fortunately, the tradition was established, thanks to Walter Ratcliff and others. The current master plan for the campus, a 96-page book that details future development, acknowledges Ratcliff’s contributions and ensures that Mills will continue its legacy of fine architecture into the future. m

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

23

FUNDRA ISING F O R S O C I A L C H A N G E : M A RY S C H M I D T, ’ 9 1

by Pat Soberanis zations, faced imminent teardown by the city unless it So often we feel we have to choose between our hearts raised $4 to 6 million for seismic retrofit and major renovaand our careers, but Mary Schmidt, ’91, has found a way to tions. She and fellow Mills alumna Silja Talvi, ’91, teamed have both. A well-established fundraiser for nonprofits, she up for the cause but made little progress. Out of desperaseeks out what she calls “right causes.” tion, they put in a call to Warren Hellman, former chair of “My niche has been to take on little ‘can’t afford anythe Mills College Board of Trustees—“the only rich guy we body’ groups and find a way to make it work,” she says. knew”—who not only gave them their first lead but also Her commitment is so strong that in 1995 she earned a introduced them to some of his friends. “The short of it is,” master’s degree in “transformative leadership” from the Mary says, “the money came, the Women’s Building is still California Institute of Integrative Studies; the program aims standing, and its gorgeous mural is known throughout the “to prepare individuals who want to facilitate positive social world as a beacon of hope.” change.” Seven years later, having worked for large Her commitment to social change came from her time nonprofit-consulting firms in San Francisco and Toronto, and at Mills, specifically as a leader, along with Silja Talvi and with several multimillion-dollar campaigns under her belt, others, of the 1990 strike. About six weeks before the May Mary struck out on her own as a nonprofit development 3 announcement that the college would go coed, involved coach, specializing in capital campaigns, major gifts, board staff and faculty members recruited Mary. development, and corporate sponsorship. Her current “They said, ‘We need somebody who can rally the clients comprise a roster of underrepresented, underfunded troops—this school is about to go coed!’” Mary says. A nonprofits, including Youth Radio and Women’s Initiative for resumer living on campus that year, she had developed a Self Employment. rapport with students through BLASTT (Bisexuals, Lesbians, “With fundraising, I get to do social and economic jusand Straights Talking Together), whose members went from tice work,” she says, even if it’s “not the most popular cause of the day.”

Mary has just added to her workMary Schmidt takes time off to play with her dog, Travis. load major-gifts campaigns for Sierra Club–San Francisco Bay Chapter, and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual) synagogue in San Francisco. “It will be a satisfying challenge,” she says, “to help bring in large gifts for both of these important and worthy organizations.”

One of her favorite projects is for a unique Filipino American arts group called Bindlestiff Studio. Located in the heart of San Francisco’s South of Market redevelopment district, Bindlestiff needs to raise $600,000 to $1 million to buy its space, which otherwise will be torn down and developed. Filipino American history is full of quiet sacrifice.

“This wonderful giving that Filipino Americans have done for San Francisco and California and the country has gone dorm to dorm talking about sexual identity and related unacknowledged,” Mary says, “and now you want to boot issues. She organized several rallies in Toyon Meadow them?” where a microphone allowed students to speak their feelMary’s cultural awareness came in part from her work on ings about Mills as a women’s college. the Multi-Cultural Alliance, a two-year training program she On May 18, when Hellman unfurled a banner that read, helped start eight years ago for the Association for “Mills. For Women. Again”, he didn’t need to elaborate.

Fundraising Professionals. A series of monthly training workThe decision had been reversed. shops geared toward people of color and LGBT people who “Everyone’s crying, he’s crying. It was really beautiful do fundraising for grassroots community organizations, the and really humble,” Mary says. “I don’t think he understood program helps level the playing field. the power of these women and the power of the education “The face of the philanthropic sector is changing,” she we were receiving at Mills. . . . He was like, ‘You guys really says. “It’s starting to mirror the diverse society in which we helped me get it.’” live. I believe this will change the flow of philanthropic dolMary’s experience at Mills remains the touchstone of lars, and I am hoping it means those most in need will start her life. “I learned that we could bring about change,” she seeing the dollars they need to bring about the changes says. “Not just functional change but a change of conthey wish to see in their communities.” sciousness, in ourselves, in Warren Hellman, in anybody Mary got her start in fundraising on behalf of another reading the paper. It was humbling, and I’m really grateful building about to be torn down. In 1994, the Women’s for that opportunity.”

Building in San Francisco, home to a dozen service organi-

24

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

PASSAGES Gifts in Honor Of Class of 1945, by Maryon Huestis Welty, ’45 Alumnae Association of Mills College Staff, by Alice and Gerry Gaxiola Isabelle Hagopian Arabian, ’45, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Adrienne Bronstein Becker, ’86, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Alice London Bishop, ’58, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Gail Blackmarr, ’79, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68, by Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41, Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41, and Bevo Johnson Zellick, ’49, MA ’50 Judith Euphrat Castaillac, ’70, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Charming Cottages tour volunteers, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Anna May Leong Duncan, ’43, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Barbara Evans, ’63, by an anonymous donor John Ferrari, by Jacqueline Fox Ferrari, ’55 Robert Fox, by Jacqueline Fox Ferrari, ’55 Elizabeth “Betsy” Frederick, ’61,

by Ann Gordon Bigler, ’61 Helen Funnell, ’27, by Dianne Lafferty Carle, ’53 Susan Candland Graham, ’63, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Eleanor Hadley, ’38, by Kazuko Tsunematsu Tajima, ’69 Marian Hirsch, ’75, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Barbara Hunter, ’57, by an anonymous donor and Carol

Meyer Doyle, ’81 Keiko Kimijima, ’02, by April Hopkins, MFA ’03 Jane Cudlip King, ’42, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Dr. George F. and Helen Leong, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Cynthia Mahood Levin, ’95, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae, by Elizabeth Agee Hancock, ’40 Marcia McElvain, ’61, by Ann Gordon Bigler, ’61 Cynthia McLaughlin, ’74, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Madeleine Milhaud, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens, ’57 Carolyn Jensen Monday, ’61, by Ann Gordon Bigler, ’61 Helen Dencker Osborne, ’48, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Patsy Peng, ’51, by James Chien, Judy Goodman, Fred Lee, Lois Lee, Wenyen Leong, Wen-Chao Macbride, D.C. Mader, Julia Ng, Paul Perlowin, Helen Putnam, William Regan, Dorothy Ruddell, Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51, Don Sorrells, Ina Tchen, Bung-Fung Torng, Annie Toy, and Janet Wu Mr. and Mrs. Joel Rogosin, by Kazuko Tsunematsu Tajima, ’69 Sibila Savage, ’85, by Michelle Balovich, ’03 Emma-Jane “Emmie” Peck White, ’35, for all that she has done for our class of 1935,

by Marian Wickline, ’35 Dr. Reynold M. Wik, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens, ’57 Jane Buehler Yates, ’59,

by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35

Gifts in Memory Of Betty Mathew Adams, ’52,

by June Bilisoly, ’52 Betty Anderson, by Mildred Olsen Moore, ’41 Camilla Austin Andrews, ’43, by Imogene Fluno Whipple, ’43 Zette Bleecker, by Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51 Mary Lou Brooks, ’61, by Larry and Ann O’Brien Hildebrand, ’61 Joseph “Jake” Bueno,

by P. Doreen Bueno, ’97 Dorothy Wiscombe Busch, ’41, by Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41 Elizabeth “Liz” Abreu Cravalho, ’60, by Esther Coleman Elizabeth Smith Crow, ’68, in honor of her life, by Marion Lamson Thomas, ’63 Margery Schultz Cruger, ’54,

by Diane Ferris Whyte, ’54 Marisu “Buzzie” Mathew Dall, ’54, by June Bilisoly, ’52 Evelyn “Peg” Deane, ’41, by Mary Hart Clark, ’42, Louise Shumway Muhler, ’41, and Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41 Stella de Jaurequi, ’42, by Alice Gonnerman Mueller, ’42 and Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41 Franz Dolp, father of Laura Dolp ’90, by Heather Cox, ’88 Helen “Sally” Lathrop Eustis, ’37,

by Lucy Cowdin Maisel, ’38 Lady JoAnn Farmanfarma,

by Jerome Oremland Virginia “Ginny” Hale Feldner, ’64, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Carolee Rodgers Finney, ’48,

by Rosanna Welsh Ewart, ’48 Professor William and Helen Gaw, by Jane Farrell Gaw, ’52 Gwendolyn “Gwen” Moore Gilbert, ’49, by Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51 Jill Graham, ’51, by Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51 Elizabeth Gaillard Harrington,

’40, by Helen Smith Dr. and Mrs. George Hedley,

by Carol Jenks Fogg, ’60 Patricia Green Herbert, ’39,

by Barbara White, ’64 Clifford J. Hudson, Sr., by Maurie Davidson, ’63 Samuel William Hudson, Jr., by Estrellita Hudson Redus, ’65 Florice Crackenberger Jacobsmeyer, ’42, by Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41 Louise Barkan Klein, ’38,

by Jane Tucker, ’38 Jean Bush Lathrap, ’45, by Elizabeth Sheffield Webb, ’45 Joyce Leland, ’47, by Elizabeth Peck Hutchins, ’47 James Warren Lewis, my husband,

by Mary Garner Lewis, ’56 Sydney Silverman Lindauer, ’31,

by Hillary Black Dumas, ’63 Margaret Elizabeth Lyon, ’35,

by Robert Gibbs Jayne Davis Markel, ’36, by Phyllis Carman Marling, ’41 Barbara McClelland, ’31,

by Ann Johns Nancy Russell McCullough, ’48,

by Elizabeth Parker Belles, ’48 Danny McFarland, by Isabelle Luebbers Edward F. McManus, by Deborah McManus Avery, ’78 “Buzz” McNiff, our dear friend,

by Diane Smith Janusch, ’55 Dorothy Oppenheimer Mier, ’42,

by Mary Edith Longmire Woodward, ’43 Mary Elizabeth Milloy, ’47, by Evelyn Maglathlin Petersen, ’47 Katherine Webster Parsons, ’33,

by Helen Webster Quilty, ’62 Donald Robinson, husband of Audrey Coker Robinson, ’52,

by Antoinette Gibson Bone, ’52 Dr. Victor G. Rubenstein, on his birthday, May 12, by Florence Fox Rubenstein, ’38 Patricia Scarlett, ’41, by Norma Godfrey Vermilion, ’41

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

25

Passages Evelyn Sharp, ’33, by Anne Petersen Burk, ’61 Radene Beers Showalter, ’64,

by Palo Alto Area Mills College Club Carmen Campbell Smith, ’47,

by Marilyn Endres Larsen, ’47 Marilyn “Daz” Dalziel Spencer, ’54, by Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48 Kay Anderson Stanley, ’35, by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, and Virginia Schlichting Lenore and Norman Tenneson, my parents, by Nikki Tenneson King, ’56 Melody Clarke Teppola, ’64,

by Patricia Collins Temple Gabbe, ’64, and Barbara Christy Wagner, ’59 Dr. Imogene B. Walker and Franklin Walker, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens, ’57 Helen Wik, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens, ’57 Lois “Tooky” Belcher Wrench, ’44, by Marion Ross, ’44

Amy Chamberlain, MA ’00, 1972–2005 Hundreds of trees now grow around the world in honor of Amy Chamberlain, MA ’00, who died at 32 in an unusual swimming accident July 4.

The nonprofit cultural exchange program AYUSA International, where she was director of grants and partnership development, arranged the tree plantings among the many exchange students she shepherded in the last two years. Olive trees, symbols of peace, grow in the West Bank, fragrant jasmine bushes in Damascus, hundreds of redwoods across the United States, and countless others throughout the Middle East and in Germany and Japan.

Of the tree-planting project, Susan Chamberlain, Amy’s mother, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I can only hope that she will inspire the daughters of other people to do the sort of things she did in her life.”

The outpouring came from being touched by Amy’s energetic and optimistic outlook on life, and her deep wish for peace in the world.

“Amy was a dynamo,” says AYUSA vice president of program operations, Shelley Whelpton, “always generating ideas, relationships, and goodwill.” At AYUSA, Amy also served as internal leader of Youth Exchange and Study [YES] program, a Department of State initiative to build friendship and understanding between the United States and Islamic countries. In June, she organized a visit to Washington, D.C., including a meeting with President Bush, for 200 YES students.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Amy earned degrees in education and English literature at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania before coming to Mills for a master’s degree in English literature. She was about to become engaged to her boyfriend, Andrew Wyckoff, a geologist in San Francisco.

A triathlete, Amy ran the Boston Marathon and similar races, biked, swam, and hiked. A member of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, she also volunteered with Wilderness Volunteers, leading teams of crews on service projects in national forests and parks, and with a rape crisis line.

“Amy lived a large and beautiful life, full of service to others and joyful friendship to many,” said Paul Whiting of Wilderness Volunteers, “and we will never forget what she taught us about loving our neighbors.”

26

M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY FA L L 2 0 0 5

Upcoming Travel and Study Opportunities with the AAMC Wings over the Nile by Private Plane January 17–31, 2006 Explore Cairo’s museum and mosques, walk the path to the Sphinx and Great Pyramid, cruise the Nile River Valley. The trip concludes in Jordan with a visit to Petra and the Dead Sea. Travel is by chartered plane, the best and most secure way to explore this part of the world. $4,595 plus air.

Belize, Guatemala, Honduras February 6–14, 2006 A small-ship adventure that provides the flexibility to be as energetic or as relaxed as you wish. The 102-passenger ship is perfectly suited to enter tiny harbors and secluded bays where you can swim and snorkel. $1,930 plus air.

Alumni College in Peru: Lima and Cuzco March 3–10, 2006 Visit the cosmopolitan city of Lima, as well as Machu Picchu and Cuzco. $1,995 plus air, includes all meals, excursions, transfers within the country, and the study program.

Turkey and the Total Eclipse March 25–April 1, 2006 Join Dr. Fred Lawson, Mills professor of government, on a trip that explores Ephesus, Antalya, and Kusadasi. See the astronomical phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. $2,295 plus air.

Japan: Traditional and Modern May 25–June 5, 2006 Visit the beautiful gardens and parks and famous shrines and temples of Japan. Most meals are included. Accompanied by Professor of Art History and Asian art expert Mary-Ann Milford. $3,895 including air.

Iceland, Land of the Vikings August 3–12, 2006 Bertram Gordon, Mills Professor of History, will be the study leader. $4,975, including air.

If you would like additional information on any of these trips, please call the AAMC at (510) 430-2110; email us at <aamc@mills.edu>; or write us at Reinhardt Alumnae House, PO Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613.

Oakland artist Keba Konte works on “Spike,” which was on exhibit in front of the Art Museum this summer and fall. He is assisted by his wife, Rachael. The work is an homage to Konte’s mother, who was nicknamed Spike when she worked at the Port of Oakland in the early 1970s, when few women worked there. The main images are of Spike driving a fork lift and of her wearing a hardhat. The work continued to evolve after this photo was taken.

Konte owns the container. “I could have rented a container and painted over it before returning it,” he says. “But I decided to buy the container ...it holds its value as a storage unit.” He’d prefer to sell it as a work of art, of course. For more information, see <www.kebakonte.com>.

DAVID M. BRIN, MA ’75

Mills Quarterly Alumnae Association of Mills College Reinhardt Alumnae House Mills College PO Box 9998 Oakland, CA 94613-0998 (510) 430-2110 aamc@mills.edu www.mills.edu

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT OAKLAND, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICE(S)

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks.