Mills Quarterly, Fall 2015 by Mills Quarterly

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Mills Quarterly Fall 2015

ANOTHER UNIQUE MILLS EXPERIENCE MADE POSSIBLE BY YOU

SARAH SWOPE AND ANDREA KUfTIN ’16

GENEvA LEE ’16

Will dormant seeds of the critically endangered Tiburon jewelflower in California’s drought-stricken soil be viable when the rains return? Will plants grown from these seeds be genetically diverse enough to help this species adapt to a rapidly changing climate? These are among the questions that Assistant Professor of Biology Sarah Swope and her students Geneva Lee ’16 and Andrea Kuftin ’16 are studying together. The enviable student-to-faculty ratio at Mills College means professors can work closely with students to help them achieve more than they ever thought possible. Your gifts to Mills create unique opportunities for students and faculty to collaborate on projects that are timely, relevant, and life-changing.

MAKE A STATEMENT. Give to Mills College by calling 510.430.2366, visiting alumnae.mills.edu/give, or returning the enclosed envelope.

Mills Quarterly

contents Fall 2015 3

Finding the right fit

Academic rigor and a commitment to social issues are primary elements of the educational experience at Mills. Enrolling students who will benefit most from this environment is essential for building a successful student body and a strong future for the College.

Lisser Hall: A drama in four acts by Linda Schmidt

For more than a century, Lisser Hall has been a laboratory for students and faculty exploring the boundaries of live performance. The building’s rich history includes great names in theater and dance, an unusual turn, and even a ghost!

Pride and pain by Sheryl Bize-Boutte ’73

Amid the tumultuous social change of the 1960s and early ’70s, one woman’s undergraduate years were marked by racial barriers and prejudice—as well as personal, intellectual, and creative awakening.

A studio of one’s own by Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04

Three working artists find reflection and inspiration when they make the Mills campus their home base in a semester-long residency program.

Departments 4

Mills Matters

Calendar

Class Notes

In Memoriam

On the cover: Sound artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon considers a ceramic panel, one element of the sound and art installation she created in residence at Mills. Photo by Phil Bond.

X Presidential search update

Mills Quarterly

The Presidential Search Committee (PSC) is charged with identifying the opportunities and challenges that will face the next president of Mills College, developing selection criteria, identifying and interviewing candidates, and recommending the top candidate or candidates to the Board of Trustees. These

Volume CIV Number 1 Fall 2015

members have been selected for their range of skills and experience, knowledge

President Alecia A. DeCoudreaux

Katie Sanborn ’83, trustee and chair of the Presidential Search Committee

Chief of Staff and Vice President for Communications and External Relations Renée Jadushlever

Gordon Chong, P ’93, trustee

of and commitment to Mills, and their affiliations with various constituent groups.

Kathleen Burke, chair, Mills College Board of Trustees

Lucy Do ’75, trustee and president, Alumnae Association of Mills College

Editor Linda Schmidt

Maryellen Herringer, trustee

Design and Art Direction Nancy Siller Wilson

Marilyn R. Schuster ’65, trustee and professor emerita at Smith College

Contributing Writers Sheryl Bize-Boutte ’73 Dawn Cunningham ’85 Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Editorial Assistance Russell Schoch The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly by Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California, and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the Office of Institutional Advancement, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Copyright © 2015, Mills College Address correspondence to the Mills Quarterly, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity or length. Email: quarterly@mills.edu Phone: 510.430.3312 Printed on recycled paper containing 10 percent post-consumer waste.

Eric Roberts, trustee and chair of the Finance Committee

Modesta Tamayo ’12, recent graduate trustee and former president of the Associated Students of Mills College David Bernstein, professor of music Diane Cady, associate professor of English Lisa Urry, professor of biology Stephanie Hanor, director of the Mills College Art Museum Sabrina T. Kwist, MA ’11, director of engagement and inclusion for the Division of Student Life and co-director of the Summer Academic Workshop Rachel Patterson, undergraduate student and president, Associated Students of Mills College Melanie Vega ’15, graduate student Isaacson, Miller, a leading global executive search and assessment firm, has been selected to assist with the presidential search process. The firm was selected for their passion for liberal arts institutions, especially traditionally women’s colleges; their wide and deep network of experts; their emphasis on teamwork; and their understanding of what makes an effective leader. The Mills team will be led by Julie Filizetti and Regan Gough, who are based in San Francisco. Filizetti led the 2010 search for the dean of the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills. The search consultants have already met with faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumnae/i to gather input about the characteristics that are most important in a new College leader and to hear about the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead for Mills. Opinions were also gathered via a confidential online survey. In addition, potential candidates or names of individuals who might be able to provide candidate recommendations may be provided by using the “Source and

(Please use outline)

Candidate Suggestion Form,” which is available on the presidential search website at www.mills.edu/presidential_search. If you have any other questions, please send them to: presidentialsearch@mills.edu.

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

A Message from the President of Mills College

Finding the right fit By Alecia A. DeCoudreaux I’m writing this letter in late August, after

whether Mills is the right fit for them. We

an exciting day spent with new under-

want to enroll students who will feel they

graduates who had just arrived on cam-

belong here from Orientation through

pus for orientation. I had a chance to

Commencement.

greet many of these students and their

One of the most important things pro-

parents while I helped staff the check-in

spective students need to know is that

tables and hand out residence hall room

Mills provides an academically rigorous

keys, and I met many others during a

liberal arts education. Students who suc-

reception in the afternoon.

ceed here are serious about their studies students

and motivated to meet their professors’

impresses me in several ways. They

high expectations for their performance

already know a lot about Mills: they read

as researchers, artists, and writers. This

the materials we sent them and are eager

fall’s first-year class fits this academic

to make themselves at home on campus.

profile, with an average GPA of 3.7.

This

class

incoming

Many already have connections to admis-

This focus on academics means Mills is

sion counselors, advisors, alumnae/i, and

not a party school, and students who are

others in the Mills community. The par-

looking for wild nightlife might not feel

ents I met are thrilled that their daugh-

a deep connection with this community.

ters chose Mills. One new Bent Twig is the

In fact, we rank among the nation’s top

fourth in her family to enroll here, and

20 “sober” schools and top 10 “Got Milk?”

her parents credit Mills with equipping

(low beer usage) schools, according to

their older daughters to enter easily into

The Princeton Review. Yet campus life at Mills is full of energy.

engaged in strengthening our Oakland

I have never been more confident that

Our students’ social lives revolve less

community, where so many of us live,

Mills delivers a truly transformative educa-

around craft beers than around craft-

work, volunteer, raise families, and do

tional experience and prepares its gradu-

ing a better future for themselves, their

research. In short, Mills is an ideal place

ates to forge distinctive paths throughout

communities, and the world. Students

for students who are open to powerful,

their lives. A survey we conducted in the

are active in more than 50 campus clubs

sometimes challenging, discussions of

spring showed that 84 percent of our

focusing on academic and professional

social issues, and who want to play a role

graduates felt the College prepared them

fields, the arts, cultural identities, and

in bringing about change.

adequately or more than adequately for

environmental and social justice. Partly

Alumnae/i, current students, parents,

the job market, and 97 percent felt they

because of our location in Oakland, they

and donors can all play a significant role

were prepared adequately or more than

are attuned to cutting-edge social move-

in helping us reach out to the students

adequately for further education (such as

ments—and often help to define them.

who belong at Mills: those who would

graduate school and careers.

The activism of our students helped

benefit from a highly individualistic,

At the same time, I know that Mills

make Mills the first women’s college to

intensely inclusive environment with

is not for everyone. The College has a

adopt an admission policy that welcomes

a strong focus on academics and social

very distinctive atmosphere and atti-

transgender students. It has helped the

issues. We welcome you to refer pro-

tude. That’s why we have made it a pri-

College earn high marks for environ-

spective students to us and to help them

ority to describe Mills in ways that are

mental sustainability from The Princeton

make a connection with Mills. Enrolling

both accurate and engaging throughout

Review. It has compelled us to strive to

those students is one of the most impor-

the recruitment process. We want pro-

be the most inclusive college possible—

tant steps we can take to ensure a con-

spective students to feel a connection

one that respects the diverse identities,

tinued strong reputation for Mills, and to

with the College, but we also want them

backgrounds, and life paths of all our stu-

empower individuals to become creative,

to make an informed decision about

dents. And it has kept the campus deeply

independent thinkers who inspire action.

master’s or doctoral programs).

FA L L 2 0 1 5

Mills Matters Fresh faculty for fall

Latino studies at New York University,

Great teachers provide the heart of a

comes to Mills as assistant professor of

Mills education, and this year’s crop of

ethnic studies with a focus on Latina/o

new tenure-track faculty members dem-

studies. She holds a PhD in political sci-

onstrate outstanding skills in the class-

ence from UCLA and brings an interdis-

room as well as in their

ciplinary, community-based approach

own academic research

to her research on civic and political

and artistic practice.

engagement of Latino communities,

Chris Sollars, assistant

social movements and protest politics,

professor of studio art,

immigrant and domestic worker rights,

received his BFA from

and media and social activism. She is

the Rhode Island School

currently working on a book manu-

of Design and his MFA

script examining how Central American

from Bard College, both

migrants use strategies of community

in sculpture. His work

organizing and social movement partici-

encompasses sculpture, photography, video, collage, installations, and performance, and is particularly attuned to con-

From top: Brandon Valentine, Wanda Watson, Chris Sollars

cepts of public space and

pation to claim rights in both the US and their countries of origin. In addition, two important non-tenured faculty positions have been filled. Lori Bamberger is the new director of the Public Policy Program and profes-

the environment. His work is included

sor of practice. With over two decades

in the collections of the Berkeley Art

his work has appeared in such peer-

of public policy leadership and man-

Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, and

reviewed journals as Personality and

agement experience, Bamberger has

the Miami Art Museum; he has received

Social Psychology Review and Current

served as assistant chief of staff of the

numerous grants and fellowships,

Directions in Psychological Science.

US Department of Housing and Urban

including a Guggenheim Fellowship

Wanda Watson, new assistant profes-

and San Francisco Arts Commission:

sor in the School of Education, will also

Cisneros; as the energy finance fel-

Individual Artist Grant. He is also direc-

direct the multiple subjects (elementary)

low to the UC Berkeley Center for Law,

tor of 667 Shotwell, an experimental

teacher education program. Watson

Business, and the Economy; and as a fel-

space in his home for artists to create

received a master’s degree in elemen-

low at the Carnegie Foundation for the

time-based works.

tary education from Stanford University,

Advancement of Teaching. She has a BA

completed her EdD at Teachers College,

from Dartmouth College and a JD from

his doctorate in psychology at the

Columbia University, and has been

Yale Law School.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,

working as an assistant professor in the

comes to Mills as assistant professor of

Department of Teaching and Learning

dean of the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate

psychology. His dissertation explores

at Long Island University in Brooklyn,

School of Business and Public Policy,

culture, community, and well-being

New York. Her research has focused on

taking a leave of absence from his posi-

among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer

critical race theory and youth social

tion as associate professor of business,

(LGBQ) individuals; he has conducted

networks. In addition to her interest in

and director of graduate programs for

extensive research on how LGBQ people

using technology to enhance teaching

the College of Business at San Francisco

of color form supportive communities

and her knowledge of culturally relevant

State University. He brings extensive

and develop their own cultures of com-

and inclusive practice, she brings a deep

experience in academic, non-profit, and

passion to navigate social and cultural

commitment to promoting social justice

public leadership. During his appoint-

stigma. He earned his undergraduate

through teacher training.

ment, he will guide the GSB in admis-

Brandon Valentine, who completed

degree at Chapman University and his master’s at the University of Michigan; 4

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Arely Zimmerman, who most recently was an assistant professor in

Development under Secretary Henry

R. Bruce Paton will serve as interim

sion efforts, program development, and in the next steps toward accreditation.

New recruitment tools make a statement about Mills A new admission website and printed materials for prospective undergraduates will provide a major boost to the College’s efforts to recruit students for fall 2016. With these new tools, admission staff aim to recruit not only more students, but also the students who are most likely to appreciate and benefit from the Mills experience. Associate Vice President of Marketing Judy Silva, who spearheaded the creation of these materials, says, “We want students to understand that Mills is a place where they will be encouraged to be creative, independent thinkers who will find their voices so they can effect change in their lives and the world.” These materials reflect a new College-wide strategy for telling the Mills story; their design and content reflect Mills’ most unique qualities as identified through an extensive market research effort. “Our research included participation from all segments of the Mills community as well as prospective undergraduate and graduate students,” says Silva. “Our goal was to make sure that the story would feel authentic to the Mills community and be motivating to prospective students.” The market research, strategy development, and creation of the new admission website were made possible by generous gifts from Trustee Barbara Ahmajan Wolfe ’65 and her late husband,

Admissions counselors who travel to meet prospective students around the country will bring a series of cards that pose conversation-starting questions about Mills (top). Students who wish to learn more about the College will receive the viewbook, a magazine-style publication that features stories about students, faculty, and alumnae (bottom).

Thomas Wolfe. The new website—www.mills.edu/undergrad—will launch this fall. It is the first site Mills has created to be responsive

Since then, admission staff have changed tactics, focusing

to browsing on mobile phones, tablets, and computers. New

on building closer relationships with prospective students and

printed materials have been designed to complement the

helping them to understand Mills more clearly before they

website, including a recruitment package that admissions

apply. While fewer students applied for admission to Mills’

counselors will bring to high schools and community colleges,

undergraduate program for fall 2015, those who did apply

as well as a printed viewbook, a magazine-style publication that

bring higher academic qualifications and are more likely to be

illustrates how students can benefit from a Mills education.

specifically seeking the kind of liberal arts college experience

These materials are being rolled out at a time when Mills, like many other women’s colleges, has been struggling to

that Mills provides. In the years to come, it is hoped that this recruitment strat-

meet its undergraduate enrollment targets. Overall enrollment

egy will enable Mills to retain more of the students who enroll.

reached a high of 1,608 students in fall 2013. That number

The retention rate of first-year undergraduate students from

fell to 1,548 in fall 2014, reflecting a first-year class that was

fall 2014 to spring 2015 already increased 8 percent from the

22 students smaller coupled with a decline in the number of

previous year. Improved retention also reflects the College’s

continuing undergraduates. (The number of graduate students,

enhanced programs for advising and counseling continuing

on the other hand, increased.)

students.

Admission staff point out that the record-breaking 2013

The admission website and printed materials are a critical

enrollment was achieved partly because the College had been

component of the College’s focus on recruiting students who

casting a very wide recruitment net. Some of the 2013 first-year

will feel a connection with the campus environment and con-

students found that Mills was not a good fit for their needs and

tinue on to graduate. Silva says, “We hope our strong message

did not return for their sophomore year in 2014. This contrib-

will break through to students who are the best fit for Mills.”

uted to a decline in the student retention rate and enrollment.

—Dawn Cunningham ’85

FA L L 2 0 1 5

Donors support research, teaching, and scholarships Mills College gratefully acknowledges

also benefit from this modern, new

College faculty. John T. Gray III made a

the following donors who made new

equipment. The Keck Foundation grant

pledge to support the Eleanor Armstrong

gifts, grants, and pledges of $50,000 or

also includes funds to buy a vehicle to

Gray ’54 Scholarship, created in memory of

more between December 16, 2014, and

transport students into the field for their

his wife. Suzy Mygatt Wakefield ’65 made

June 30, 2015.

research experiences.

a pledge to create the Suzanne Brogunier

The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell

Memorial Endowed Scholarship in memory

Barrett, P ’93, and his wife, Elaine;

Foundation made a substantial grant

of her late classmate. Ann Sulzberger Wolff

Trustee Glenn Voyles and his wife, Ellen;

to support the expansion of the School

’42 made a contribution in support of

and Trustee Barbara Ahmajan Wolfe ’65

of Education’s Mills Teachers Scholars

Mills’ Greatest Need.

and her late husband, Thomas, made

Program. This successful community

generous contributions to the President’s

partnership program helps urban teach-

Nangee Warner Morrison ’63 matured,

Fund for Innovation. The Voyleses also

ers work together collaboratively to

creating an endowment for Mills’ Studio

gave to Mills’ Greatest Need.

improve their teaching practice, which

Art Program. Janice Paull, MA ’51, signed

in turn contributes to improved student

a charitable gift annuity agreement that

learning outcomes.

will one day support Mills’ Greatest Need.

Mills College Trustee Richard W.

The prestigious W. M. Keck Foundation made a sizable grant to

A charitable unitrust established by

purchase several new pieces of labora-

Thomas White made a gift through

March Fong Eu, ME ’47, signed two new

tory equipment that will allow students

the Ayco Charitable Foundation to sup-

charitable gift annuity agreements that

and faculty to do more complex envi-

plement the Leslie Scalapino Fellowship

will support Mills’ Public Policy Program

ronmental science research. Chemistry

in Poetry, established in memory of

and Mills’ Greatest Need.

and biology students and faculty will

his wife, a former member of the Mills

Alumnae bolster College governance The Mills College Board of Trustees has confirmed five new members who will help guide and support

DC, where she is an attorney with expertise in trust

education. These members’ three-year terms began

and estate matters. She has been a member of the

on July 1.

firm Caplin & Drysdale since 2013. She holds an MBA from George Washington University and a JD from

trustee and will serve jointly as a College trustee

American University Washington College of Law

and as a member of the Board of Governors of the

and is a fellow of the American College of Trust and

Alumnae Association of Mills College. A resident of

Estate Counsel.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ardisson has worked as

Marilyn R. Schuster ’65, who served as provost

an attorney and, in 2007, became founder and CEO

and dean of the faculty at Smith College from 2009

of bit-x-bit, LLC, a computer forensic consulting

until 2014, has held professorships in French studies

company.

and comparative literature as well as in the Program

Leslie Decker ’79, of Sammamish, Washington,

for the Study of Women and Gender. Schuster earned

currently works as a social justice advocate. She

her MA and PhD in French language and literature at

has been involved with the Washington Women’s

Yale and recently relocated to Oakland, California.

Foundation and has supported Mills for many years

Anne O’Brien ’67 lives and works in Washington,

the College in its mission of advancing women’s

Susan Ardisson ’77 has been elected as alumna

Susan Ardisson, Leslie Decker, Marilyn Schuster

representative. She lives in Alameda, California.

The Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC)

as a class agent, class secretary, reunion ambassador,

also welcomed new—and returning—members of its

and regional alumnae club volunteer in Chicago,

Board of Governors. Pierre Loving ’77 of Oakland will

New York, London, and Seattle.

be serving a second term. In addition, four new AAMC

Sandra Macias ’10 will serve as recent graduate

board members are Rachel Patterson ’16, student

trustee. An economics major at Mills, she works with

governor; Athena Yock Davis ’06; Lenore Tate ’74;

the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

and Dorothy Lawrence ’11. These governors began

in San Francisco and has been an alumna admission

their terms on July 1.

Campus kudos A selection of recent achievements by faculty, staff, and students Associate professor of sociology

and “Why is it so difficult to build

International Forum on Contemporary

Dan Ryan’s new book, Ghosts of

community initiatives out of

Theory conference held in Goa, India.

Organizations Past: Communities of

organizations?”

For the summer of 2015, Visiting

Professor of Chemistry Elisabeth

Organizations as Settings for Change,

Assistant Professor of Dance Kara Davis

describes the challenges of using

Wade received a grant to join the

was in residence at the prestigious Bates

organizations to create change in

Visiting Faculty Program at Sandia

Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine, with

urban communities. Using the exam-

National Laboratory in Livermore,

project agora, her Bay Area–based dance

ple of Fighting Back, a now-defunct

California, this summer. She and a

company dedicated to cross-disciplinary

program in New Haven, Connecticut,

Mills undergraduate student spent

performance and exchange.

that aimed to build community coali-

10 weeks on research to make the first

tions against the abuse of alcohol and

observations of intermolecular collisions.

other drugs, he examines how the arti-

Brinda Mehta, professor of French

Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies Melinda Micco lectured on global feminisms and social justice at UC Santa

facts, or “ghosts,” of past organizations

and francophone studies, gave the

Barbara in March; in May, she addressed

both inhibited and enhanced Fighting

keynote address, “Algeria’s Forgotten

the 2015 conference of the Muscogee

Back’s chances of success. Published

Heroines: Writing as Memory,”

Creek Indian Freedmen Band.

by Temple University Press, the book

for the Department of French and

draws on concepts from the study of

Francophone Studies Distinguished

co-edited Food and France: What Food

organizations, social capital, and social

Speaker Series at Mumbai University,

Studies Can Teach Us About History, a

networks to re-think questions such as

India, in January. She also served

special issue of French Historical Studies.

“What kind of thing is a community?”

as the plenary speaker at the

Calendar

October 20  Robin Coste Lewis Lewis’s poetry debut, Voyage of the Sable Venus, is a lyric collection exploring representations of the black female figure in Western art alongside personal history and autobiography.

Songlines Series September 28  Rafael Toral applies jazz discipline and practices to abstract electronics.

November 3  Bangla Literature and Translation Shabnam Nadiya, Mahmud Rahman, MFA ’04, and Arunava Sinha present a bilingual reading followed by a conversation focusing on the humanist values in Bangla literature.

November 9  Dohee Lee integrates traditional forms and contemporary arts through music, movement, images, costumes, and installations. November 16  Judy Dunaway is an avant-garde composer known for her sound works and improvisations using latex balloons. November 23  David Jaffe has composed works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, and electronics, including the legendary “Silicon Valley Breakdown,” a landmark of computer music.

Professor of History Bertram Gordon

MariNaomi

All events start at 7:30 pm in the Ensemble Room. Admission is free. For information see musicnow.mills.edu or contact John Bischoff at 510.430.2332 or jbischoff@mills.edu.

Contemporary Writers Series September 29  Rebel Girls Narratives of rebellion and liberation with Debra Busman, MFA ’99, author of like a woman, and MariNaomi, author of the graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0–22. October 13  Eileen Myles Celebrate Myles’s new publication, I Must Be Living Twice: New & Selected Poems, and a reissue of her influential collection Chelsea Girls.

All events are at 5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, free. For program details and speaker bios, see www.mills.edu/english; for more information, contact Stephanie Young at 510.430.3130 or syoung@mills.edu.

Mills College Art Museum Public Works: Artists’ Interventions 1970s–Now September 16–December 13 Public Works focuses on often small but powerful temporary artistic interventions online and in the urban environment. The exhibition presents photography, print, audio, and video installations, and documentation from a number of projects that explore the politics and social conditions of creating art in public space. For more information, see mcam.mills.edu or contact 510.430.2164 or museum@mills.edu. The museum is open 11:00 am–4:00 pm Tuesday through Sunday, 11:00 am–7:30 pm Wednesday, and is closed Monday. Admission is free.

FA L L 2 0 1 5

Lisser Hall

a drama in four acts By Linda Schmidt

Act I: A star is born At the turn of the century— the 20th century— Mills College was bustling with crowds seeking culture and pleasure. Under the guidance of Louis Lisser, Mills music performances became a destination for the sophisticated. Lisser, who had been something of a musical prodigy as a youth in his native Germany, immigrated to California and became head of the music department at Mills in 1879. One of the most prominent members of the musical profession on the Pacific coast, he was thoroughly committed to the advancement of music, including through packed performances at Mills.

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

“It is a simple, dignified structure, without doubt the handsomest concert hall in California.” 3 “The attendance at our entertainments has been so great that many could not even find standing-room,” a pamphlet of the time states, adding that a concert on May 22, 1900, attracted “an extraordinary number of interested friends, and the crowded condition of the hall offered an irresistible object-lesson, demonstrating the necessity of a large assembly room.” Hazel Patterson ’00, a soon-to-graduate student at that crowded performance, pledged the first hundred dollars towards construction of an all-purpose college auditorium to accommodate the throngs that smaller rooms in Mills Hall could not. “With an impetus given by the pledges of students and alumnae, the trustees immediately sought means to finance a building which might have particular value for the department of music,” wrote Rosalind Keep in her venerable book of Mills history Fourscore and Ten Years, “and then came the happy suggestion that the proposed hall bear the name of Dr. Louis Lisser.... On December 14 of 1901, Lisser Hall became a reality and was dedicated.” The new building, designed by San Francisco-based architects G. W. Percy and Willis Polk and sited along the bank of Leona Creek, was designed in a muted classical Greek revival style, with fluted Ionic columns. Like Mills Hall, it faced towards Seminary Avenue and Wetmore Gate, the original approach to campus. “It is a simple, dignified structure, without doubt the handsomest concert hall in California,” says the White and Gold of 1901. “The interior decoration is ivory and gold; light, beauty, and comfort with the prime considerations in its construction.” The 1,000-seat hall’s auditorium contained a flat floor with a slightly raised stage; a full pipe organ, choral space, and piano practice rooms made it a versatile space for musical recitals, dance performances, and theatrical productions both dramatic and humorous, as well as for religious services, rhetoricals, receptions, and commencement exercises.

Act II: The turning point Soon enough, the needs of the growing College demanded alterations to Lisser Hall. By 1919, the auditorium’s simple platform was upgraded to a “modern” stage, with rooms for scenery, costumes, and makeup to accommodate the recently established Drama Department. An annex of classrooms and offices was added in 1938; by 1940, fixed plush red seating had been installed. But the most significant change came in the late 1920s. With the automobile becoming the dominant force in transportation, the main entry point to campus shifted to Beulah Road (now Richards Road). The Music Building, completed in 1928, and other new structures oriented towards this thoroughfare—and Lisser seemed decidedly incongruous. Students lamented in the Mills Weekly of March 14, 1928: “Classes for several years have wished they could pick up Lisser Hall and turn it around to face Beulah Road instead of kicking its heels in child-like glee and turning its back on all comers to campus.... Lisser must be taught better manners. It must look the students frankly in the face and make its bow to the public at the proper angle.” Campus planners agreed. They further hoped to unify the architecture of college buildings in a Spanish colonial revival style. Walter Ratcliff, master architect for the College, not only remodeled the exterior with a classically columned north-facing entry and red tile roof, he also reversed all interior functions. “If you walk along the creek side of the building, you can still see the original style,” says Jim Graham, a College employee for more than 40 years and technical director and manager of Lisser since 2002. “The rest of the building was stuccoed over to match the other buildings on campus. Lisser reflects not only the history of the College, but the his-

tory of Oakland and the coming of urbanization in the early 20th century.”

1. The dedication and opening of Lisser Hall in 1901 was a gala affair. 2. The stately countenance of Professor Louis Lisser. 3. The original organ. 4. The building’s “new” face.

FA L L 2 0 1 5

Act III: The phantom president Graham may know Lisser Hall more intimately than anyone: he

“For three or four years I did that, standing between the light-

has been behind the scenes for more than half of the build-

ing dimmer boards and the fuse box, wedged into a small space

ing’s lifespan. The son of dance Professor Eleanor Lauer, MA ’40,

downstage right that, when the dimmers started heating up,

Graham literally grew up on campus. “My earliest connection

took on a quality of Death Valley on a July afternoon,” he says.

to Lisser, at least that I can remember, was leading a procession

“The curtain hung on an old wooden track and was pulled with

of dancers from the back of the hall to the stage, carrying a

thick cotton ropes. It took a fair amount of strength to pull so,

large abstract sphere made of brass tubing, probably four feet in

between the energy needed and the climate where I was work-

diameter,” he says. “This would have been in the late 1950s. The

ing, I came out of concerts drenched in sweat.”

dance was in 17th-century style, and we were dressed more or

Graham claims no knowledge, however, of a ghost long

less as court jesters. Alas, I have no memory of what happened

rumored to haunt the building. An article originally published

after we got the sphere and the dancers to the stage. After all, I

in the Mills Stream newspaper (and reprinted in the February

was about nine.” Graham made himself useful as a page turner

1976 issue of Mills Quarterly) details the purported paranormal

for Professor Doris Dennison as she provided live piano accom-

experiences of several students, alumnae, and faculty mem-

paniment for dance performances and later, as a teenager, oper-

bers who have heard eerie footsteps and unexplained knock-

ated the stage’s hand-drawn curtain.

ing or felt unusual gusts of cold wind—usually while working alone late at night. Many claim that the restless spirit is

Susan Tolman Mills, co-founder of Mills College, under whose presidency the building was erected. Mills and Louis Lisser reportedly disagreed about the future of the College: Lisser dreamed of turning it into a music conservatory, while Mills was unwavering in her commitment to the ideal of a liberal arts college for women. And when Mills died in 1912, her funeral ceremony was held in the auditorium, where the body lay in state. “Seven or eight years ago, I was leaving after a rehearsal and heard odd noises from the attic,” Graham admits. “It wasn’t Susan Mills. We later realized it was a raccoon that had gotten trapped in the attic.” The mortal occupants of the building have remained varied and noteworthy. In addition to student perform-

ers and stellar artists such as dancer Marian Van Tuyl and composer John Cage, the hall has hosted political speakers, comedians, and others from outside the gates. And, bit by bit, Lisser’s physical structure continued to evolve. The last major renovation was done in the early 1970s, when a balcony was remade into the studio rehearsal theater above the lobby. “Lisser now had two performance spaces, which served the Drama Department for the rest of the 20th century,” says Graham.

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Act IV: Back to the future Today, despite its central location and the great demand for a mid-sized performance space on campus, beautiful and historic Lisser Hall is dramatically underutilized. After 114 years, its technological and functional limitations simply cannot meet the

audience and performer in live theater is an immediate, three-

demands of students and faculty in a variety of fields. With these

dimensional way of storytelling in which we are co-contributors

needs in mind, plans are afoot for a major renovation that will

to an unfolding experience. It stimulates the imagination in a way

make the hall a hub for interdisciplinary creativity and revive

other art forms can’t.”

the geographic heart of the College.

The proposed renovation would alter the building’s form and

“A renovated Lisser Hall would allow students to experiment

function to provide a proper performing space for dance, theater

with what’s possible on stage,” says choreographer and profes-

studies, and other uses. An expanded lobby, equipped for use as

sor Molissa Fenley ’75, who speaks eloquently about the role of

a multimedia exhibition space, would open onto a new terrace

physical studies, and dance in particular, as an essential element

overlooking Leona Creek. The auditorium would return to its

of a liberal arts education. “The body is the one thing that we

original format: a flat floor with a raised stage. With sprung floors,

have in common with other humans throughout time. Dance

modular seating, and technical upgrades including Internet-

connects your personal history with the history of the world;

enabled audiovisual equipment, the space would be capable of

at the same time, it’s intellectual—physical sciences, philosophy,

hosting a range of events, from traditional dance and theater

and the arts are all intertwined.”

to interactive multimedia events and co-located conferences to

Victor Talmadge, director of the newly revived theater studies program, makes a similar point. “We are increasingly becoming a

career fairs and community festivals. The upstairs rehearsal space would be transformed into a digital performance theater.

two-dimensional society. In film and television, we are exposed

Although completion of this project—and even the beginning—

only to someone’s else’s vision,” he says. “The interaction between

is still in the future, more than half of the estimated $7-million project cost has been secured from the Valley Foundation and several major donors. These supporters, like many on campus,

Throughout the decades, Lisser Hall has served as a laboratory for performing arts students and faculty alike:

are excited by the potential of having a specifically interdisci-

1. An elaborate costume drama from Lisser’s early years.

munity together to continue the artistic, intellectual, social, and

2. Choreographer Marian Van Tuyl, first head of the Dance Department.

recreational traditions of Lisser Hall.

3. Music theorist Harry Partch and a student rehearse a production of King Oedipus in 1951.

of Lisser Hall’s next stage. “I am excited to be part of the team

4. Darius Milhaud’s L’Homme et son desir.

ways, these changes could return Lisser to the original concept

5. Professors Rebecca Fuller and Antonio Prieto prepare for ’Adame Miroir, with music by Milhaud and text by Jean Genet.

of a multipurpose space that Susan Mills and Louis Lisser had in

plinary space and of bringing students and the greater com-

Not surprisingly, Jim Graham and his expertise will be part planning the renovations to come,” says Graham. “In many

mind at the turn of the 20th century.” ◆

6. Molissa Fenley ’75 and Peiling Kao, MFA ’10, on stage at the dance alumnae event Ebb+Flow in 2012. FA L L 2 0 1 5

Pride and pain Coming of age as a black woman at Mills By Sheryl Bize-Boutte ’73

Thrusts White Values on Black Students,” “Mills the headline screamed. Who would dare to write about such a touchy and emotion provoking subject in the tumultuous 1970s? I would. Yours truly. And what academic institution would allow such a potentially divisive and troublesome accusation to be printed for all of campus to see? Mills College. The head-spinning duality of this simultaneous rejection and

desirable to, and needed by, Mills. Many inhabitants of this lush

encouragement defined my relationship with Mills even before

green village wanted this change to come. But more than a few

I set foot on campus as a student in 1969. My high school math

resistors felt that the institution had caved in and granted admis-

teacher was so supportive of my potential acceptance to Mills

sion to “less than qualified” students. There was a strong senti-

that he took it upon himself to go to campus and pick up my

ment that we were to be tolerated, but could not really belong.

application materials and then sat next to me while I filled them out. “You are going to Mills,” he said. “You belong there.”

The facts, of course, were quite different. We were gifted high achievers, risk takers, and creative thinkers. We were well aware

My chemistry teacher took the opposite tack. Once he learned

that our high school years coincided with the end, after 88 years,

I had been accepted—pending final grades—he gave me an F and

of Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation. The ongoing

announced to the entire class, “Sheryl thinks she is going to

struggles of the Black Power Movement, the surging rise of femi-

Mills, but she isn’t.” Looking directly at me, he spat, “You don’t

nism, and the anger of protests against the unjust war in Viet

belong there.”

Nam were among the things that framed our development. We

I called the admissions office to explain the bad grade I was

were the Black Student Union pioneers; the Black Panther–meet-

about to get. I could sense the smile in her voice as the kind

ing class cutters with bright blue National Honor Society sashes

woman on the other end of the line said, “Well, you are not

around our necks. We were ready for what we would learn. We

entering as a chemistry major, so we will just not count that

would not be ignored.

grade.” My panic transformed to relief, but my ride on the pride and pain train had just begun.

Our en masse, undeniable, and visibly black arrival in 1969 provided Mills an opportunity to remain a socially relevant institution and to transition from a finishing school for privileged

I am told I was among the largest entering class of black

ladies to a special place successfully preparing women leaders of

women in the history of the College. Women of color had been

the future. That same year, Mills established its Ethnic Studies

at Mills for years, but not in significant numbers. We were there

Department. It seemed as though we were partners in change.

because major battles in our ongoing struggle for equality and

But the internal battle spurred by this monumental shift

entry into forbidden places had been won. The results of protest,

would define the pain and pride of my years at Mills. I would

agitation, and community organization had coalesced to make us

stand on this unsteady foundation as I grew from girl to woman

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

had become a Mills woman. It became my mission to survive the dichotomy because failure was not an option. My newspaper column, “Sheryl Raps,” served as a way to remind myself that I had come to Mills for something and I would not leave without it. I knew the column was an experiment for some, a way to show the College was “down” with students of color; it was also a pure example of the academic freedom Mills was and is still known for. I readily embraced the opportunity, and I wrote to provide another point of view, hoping my words would help, in some small way, to expose the issues and, hopefully, move the change along. I wrote to mask the almost daily fear of the cop who would stop me at the back gate, suspicious of why I was coming out of “that campus,” protecting the place from people like me. Most of all, I wrote to feel the joy of expression and to revel in the excitement of involvement. And at Mills I also found support and freedom. There was the professor who apologized for referring to black people as “colored dana davis

folks” in class and taught me concepts of cultural relativity. (His note in my blue book, “what’s practiced in another culture isn’t necessarily appropriate to your own,” made him one of my Mills heroes.) The blessing of the creative writing teacher who helped Sheryl Bize-Boutte in the Tea Shop today (above) and in 1969 (inset). She is a former executive director of the Alumnae Association of Mills College, longtime member of the AAMC Alumnae of Color Committee, contributor to The Womanist and The Walrus, and author of A Dollar Five: Stories From A Baby Boomer’s Ongoing Journey.

me to see writing in visual terms and patiently engaged me in discussion. The gift of my rainbow coalition of Mills sisters who to this day greet me with smiles and warmth that is special beyond words. This is how the pride was delivered and nourished. But most of all, it is the true meaning of that headline at the beginning of this story and others I wrote in the Mills Stream. My

in a place that at once encouraged my free expression, denied

20-year-old self was writing about what I saw as wrong at Mills,

its validity, and then gave me the skills and knowledge to speak

and I was given absolute freedom to do so. I was a part of the

out even more strongly.

campus discourse, and I belonged there.

Within a month of starting classes, I became totally immersed

My writing back then delighted some and incensed others,

in the joy of Mills’ academically open atmosphere. I felt I could

and that too was an invaluable part of my enlightenment and

do anything. I joined the staff of the Mills Stream, the campus

education. The adamant curtain of disapproval became more

newspaper of the time. I delighted in long sessions at the Tea

and more transparent and fell away completely as I invoked my

Shop with my study buddy. I made the dean’s list during my first

ever-expanding voice. At Mills, I fed my love of words and found

semester while holding down a work-study job. But my euphoria

my creative heart.

was cut to the quick when one of my English professors called

When I graduated in 1973, I was both a justifiably resentful

my mother to tell her I needed to quit my job. The implication

and grateful recipient of an invaluable and well-earned gift: a

was that a true “Mills girl” had a requisite rich daddy and did not

degree from Mills College. The push and pull had never stopped.

need to work. Knowing that I would never be one of the girls

It had cost more than I could assess in scars unseen. It is still

who picked up hefty checks from the post office each week, that

paying more than I can count in accomplishment and affinity.

elitist admonishment pierced my joy with a stab of pain. Other wounds were inflicted without words: I remember the

Sometimes I look back and think I must have imagined

sideways glances, the eye-rolls, the scattering of the assembly as

much of it. And sometimes validation that my experience was

I approached, the mouths set in straight and recalcitrant lines in

quite real comes out of the blue. While chatting with a member

response to attempted academic participation, the unreturned

of my class at a recent Mills event, her long-held thoughts fell

smiles. Those nonverbal declarations became embedded in my

out in words: “Oh, so you are one of the ones they ‘let in’ in

blood and bone. The outright rejection of opinions and thoughts

1969,” she smirked.

were most jarring. In an assignment in which we had been chal-

After almost 40 years, pain was still being inflicted. Was I still

lenged to be creative, my suggestion that Shakespeare’s son-

hearing that I was not quite an authentic “Mills woman”? But her

nets might have been written to a black woman earned a failing

words did not penetrate. Because, after all, I was standing among

grade and a harsh rebuke.

some of the most accomplished women on the planet, some of

But I had not arrived at Mills psychologically or emotionally unarmed, and I recovered quickly. Plus, it was already too late. I

us soon to be golden girls, all of us proud to be a part of this challenging and inspiring College. ◆ FA L L 2 0 1 5

A studio of one’s own

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

By Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Photos by Phil Bond Residence. The word itself evokes notions of home, of place, of wholly inhabiting a particular spot. It is a fundamental way of looking at our existence in the world: a stable starting point against which we measure movement and change. It is the place we return to at the end of each day “out there” in the world, and it is the place where journeys inevitably begin. The three participants in a new artist-in-residence program, Art+Process+Ideas, made Mills their home base through the spring semester, and their artistic explorations culminated in June with an exhibition at the Mills College Art Museum showcasing the results of six months of reflection, creative inves-

Artists in residence are awarded the gift of time and space to explore, share, and create

tigation, and interaction with the campus and surrounding community. Artists Zarouhie Abdalian, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon, and Weston Teruya were selected by a committee of museum staff and art department faculty in part because of their focus on site-specific artwork: art that questions our relationship to our immediate surroundings, whether engaging its physical aspects, as with Gordon’s sound art, or connecting with its social and political history, as demonstrated by Teruya’s partially collaborative paper sculptures and Abdalian’s installations. By bringing an artist to a discrete, specific location in order to create new works, the very idea of an “artist in residence” seems to demand attention to issues of place and space. New surroundings can have a profound influence on an artist and her work—a physical transition can prompt a fresh perspective or a drastic upheaval—and in turn the artist brings something new, vibrant, and exciting to the place she temporarily calls home. Revitalization and rejuvenation were very much on the minds of A+P+I organizers Catherine Wagner, professor and chair of the Art Department, and Stephanie Hanor, director of the Mills College Art Museum. After a period that saw the unexpected death of sculpture Professor Anna Murch and the retirement of longtime department luminaries Ron Nagle and Hung Liu, a residency seemed a perfect way to re-energize the practice of art on campus and to provide a needed support for working artists. Wagner had recently returned from a year at the American Academy in Rome. As a recipient of the Rome Prize, she was one of a select group of scholars and artists who gain the opportunity to push their practice forward in an environment with a rich and long-running cultural legacy. “I was recognizing how important it is to have a beautiful space to work away from where you live, a place to be able to go to and simply be creative,” Wagner says. Stephanie Hanor saw the A+P+I program as a prime opportunity for Mills to step in and provide such a space. “We had three studio spaces available, and each artist could use the facilities on campus and have access to the faculty,” she says. “Part of our mission as an academic art museum is to be a laboratory for

Zarouhie Abdalian in her Mills studio

contemporary art practice.” FA L L 2 0 1 5

“One of the reasons I like paper sculptures is because they evoke architectural models, or the idea of creating a representation or projection of a space,” Teruya says. “I often use my installations to pull out or isolate certain dynamics within a place.” Exploring the implications of geography is an ongoing theme in Teruya’s career. He grew up in Hawaii, where mountains and ocean served as constant wayfinders. When he moved to the crowded, flat, mountain-ringed Los Angeles basin, he became explicitly aware of how deeply physical and Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon considers her work in progress, above; Weston Teruya creates an installation piece, right.

cultural landscapes affect his way “We wanted to give these art-

of being in the world. “That shift really made me aware of the

ists uninterrupted time to cre-

impact of place on my sense of belonging and navigating space.”

ate new work,” adds Wagner.

Like many artists, Teruya had been using part of his garage as

“We also wanted the campus to

a studio space, which doesn’t always foster the ability to produce

be in some ways an inspiration,

freely and creatively. The residency provided dedicated space for

because it’s in the middle of the

art, enabling the artists to develop fresh perspectives on both

city but also kind of a retreat.

new and existing projects. At Mills, Teruya shared an adjoining

Less than a third of the approximately 500 artist residency pro-

studio with Abdalian, who notes, “It takes a while to get settled

grams in North America are in urban areas—and yet, these are

in a different space. The physical setup changed. I felt like the

some of the areas whose artists are most in need.

structure of my day also changed.”

“When I came back from Rome, many artists were leaving San Francisco because they couldn’t afford studio space,” Wagner

The residency also offered the privileges and opportunities of an academic environment.

says. In fact, artists from all over San Francisco have been priced

“Liberal arts colleges are a perfect place to be an artist-in-

out of their studio spaces and homes—especially in the vibrant

residence,” says Wagner. “A great deal of cross-curricular col-

and growing Mission District, a neighborhood that was once a

laboration becomes possible when an artist has access to the

hub of thriving artistic activity, from colorful public murals to

physical and intellectual resources of an entire campus.” Wagner

cutting-edge collaboratives.

and Hanor specifically sought out artists with interdisciplin-

Many of those artists and galleries chose to take their chances with the less exorbitant real estate market in the East Bay.

ary approaches to artmaking who would make the most of the chance to branch out.

Weston Teruya’s project Means of Exchange (25th and Telegraph)

Sound artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon, who chose to live on

directly involves one of these displaced art spaces: Spun Smoke,

campus during the six months of her residency, found a natu-

a new storefront gallery in Oakland’s arty Uptown. Intrigued by

ral fit in working closely with faculty and students in the music

the idea of what it means to live and work in this distinctive loca-

department, as well as in ceramics—her works Linda and Tammy 3

tion, consisting of “small, mostly culturally specific storefronts,”

feature handmade acoustic diffuser tiles. Combined with other

Teruya decided to coordinate with existing businesses around

materials such as felt, aluminum, and silk scarves, the ceramic

the gallery to create “sculptural exchanges”—collaborative works

tiles serve to alter the tones emitted from high-frequency direc-

that utilize the expertise of neighboring tenants. For Teruya, this

tional speakers.

was a critical entry point for starting a dialogue about the activity and life of the neighborhood itself. Over the course of three exchanges, he’s consulted with the vinyl record store across the way to create a paper-sculpture

Technical as it sounds, the process has sometimes felt more like play than work—an important aspect of artmaking for Gordon. “All this time to play and experiment and explore enables me to be very in tune and very intuitive.”

turntable with a flexidisc that actually plays, made paper clothes

Interactions with students and the community were also a

for the dry cleaning business down the street and had them to

major component of the residency. Open studios, public lec-

make “alterations,” and built a functioning megaphone made of

tures, and artist talks attracted visitors from beyond the Mills

paper for a nearby community organizer. These items were on

campus. Studio visits with graduate students were a part of the

display at the Mills College Art Museum over the summer, and

program, and each of the artists in residence also led a creative

Teruya is working toward the next iteration of the project to be

workshop open to students from any discipline. Abdalian pre-

exhibited at the Spun Smoke Gallery.

sented an informal survey of contemporary and historic site-

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

based work, followed by a set of written prompts to get the students thinking about various locations around the Mills campus

and

beyond.

Teruya, who also works for the San Francisco Arts Commission, put together a grant-writing workshop for students. Gordon’s workshop on musical scoring and the language of listening was one of her favorite experiences of the entire residency. “I’d already done studio visits with most of the students who showed up at the workshop,” she says, and that knowledge of her audience was invaluable when it came to establishing a real connection with the student

“Liberal arts colleges are a perfect place to be an artist-in-residence. A great deal of cross-curricular collaboration becomes possible when an artist has access to the physical and intellectual resources of an entire campus.” –Professor Catherine Wagner

artists. “It really felt good to show them what I do. And, because I knew their own interests, I was able to talk about

“There’s a lot of research that goes into the daily practice of

my work in ways that I knew they could respond to.”

making art. For some it’s an intuitive response to the place that

Having the space and time to reflect on her own work was

they’re in; for others it’s repetition over and over again; but

a great benefit for Zarouhie Abdalian as well. Indeed, space

every artist is engaged with process before he or she can actu-

and time themselves are key elements in Abdalian’s installa-

ally make the work.”

tion art, which she characterizes as not simply site-specific but

Wagner and Hanor are eager to revisit the year’s successes and

context-specific, engaging with the social and political history of

refine their strategy for a second iteration of the residency pro-

a location. A vibrant example is her 2013 public commission in

gram in spring 2016 (pending funding). The two foresee a contin-

downtown Oakland, Occasional Music, which consisted of brass

ued focus on strengthening the ties between the campus and the

bells pre-programmed to ring in a randomized pattern at vary-

wider community, even greater potential for cross-departmental

ing times. Bells, of course, have a myriad of associations, from

collaboration, and further opportunities to enrich the student

festivals to emergencies to the regulation of our lives via clock

experience both for art majors and for those in other fields.

time. The project resonated symbolically as well as literally: the

“Mills has always housed artists,” says Wagner. During World

work was installed through January 2014 at Frank H. Ogawa

War II, for instance, the Mills Summer Sessions brought in a

Plaza, the site of Oakland City Hall—whose own clock tower is

cadre of well-known European musicians, dancers, choreog-

empty of bells.

raphers, and visual artists who were escaping Nazi persecu-

Abdalian used the residency period to extend prior investi-

tion. Artists such as Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Fernand Leger, Max

gations such as Occasional Music beyond their sites of origin,

Beckmann, and Alexander Archipenko were invited to teach at

and to deepen her relationship with her work. The titled draw-

Mills for the summer and hold solo exhibitions on campus.

ings she exhibited in the culminating exhibition directly refer-

“So much art comes from ideas,” says Wagner. “We are always

ence specific earlier installations, delving even more deeply into

looking at times in which we live, and thinking about how past

issues of history and meaning for each piece and creating “a

history has shaped culture.”

visual and textual language” that provides her with yet another avenue for analyzing her work. “Importantly, I am doing analysis in a way that can be generative of future works,” she says. Wagner stresses that this is a major purpose of the residencies.

Mills’ own past history as a sanctuary for artist-scholars resonates throughout this new creative endeavor, and the Art Department is well on its way to making history yet again, providing up-and-coming interdisciplinary artists a welcome stopover on their creative journeys. ◆ FA L L 2 0 1 5

Gifts in Honor of Received March 1–May 31, 2015 Norris “Deac” Adams by Peggy Weber ’65, P ’02

Beth Hoffman ’06 by Janet Bianchi

Eddy and Emily Arensberg Barton ’61 by Barbara Manning Graham ’61

Renee Jadushlever by the Trustees of Mills College

Lori Belilove ’76 by the Mills College Club of New York

Cameron Jang ’17 by her mother, Crystal Jang

John Brabson by Alexa Pagonas ’91

Lorry Lokey, P ’85, by Cheryl Howell

Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk ’90 by Alexa Pagonas ’91

Mary Metz by Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk ’90

Carol Chetkovich by Acorns for Change

Mary-Ann Milford, P ’93, by Nancy Fee ’84

Class of 1961 by Barbara Manning Graham ’61

Madison Moelhman ’18 by her father, Craig Moelhman

Class of 1990 by Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk ’90

Elizabeth Potter by Acorns for Change

Class of 1999 by Maria Peinado Kagehiro ’99, MBA ’08

Raleigh and Estrellita Hudson Redus ’65, MFA ’75, by Glenn Voyles

Cassandra Colten ’17, by her parents, Dougie Douglas-Colten and Christopher Colten, Katherine Lemay, Simonetta “Simi” Roes

Amanda Ridley ’15 by her grandmother, Bessie Ridley

Susan Marks Craven ’63 by Jordan Kinkead Belva Davis by Tides Foundation Alecia DeCoudreaux by Calia Brencsons-Van Dyk ’90 Sterling Loftin Dorman ’47 by her daughter, Anne Dorman Dana Doughty ’11, MPP ’12, by her mother, Carol Evans Doughty ’63 Sandra Greer by Acorns for Change

Gifts in Memory of Received March 1–May 31, 2015

R Marion Ross ’44 by Mary Gilbert George ’73, Peggy Weber ’65, P ’02 Karyn Kruttschnitt Sinunu-Towery ’69 by Melody Fujimori ’69

The Strike Classes by Meighen Katz ’92, by Juniper Neill ’91, Colleen Almeida Smith ’92 Jorie Bolton Townsley ’69 by Melody Fujimori ’69

Anne Claflin Allen ’51 by Joan Thompson Armstrong ’51, P ’95, Jeanne Thomas ’51

Sarah Elliott Leake ’48 by Nancy Butts Whittemore ’48

Phyllis Nelson Amata ’64 by Elaine Moss ’61

Boitumelo “Tumi” McCallum ’08 by her mother, Teboho Moja

Marilyn McAllister Anderson ’51 by Joan Thompson Armstrong ’51, P ’95, Jeanne Thomas ’51

Robin Hunt McCorquodale ’56 by Linda Denny Knox ’56

Laura Balas, MA ’92, by Helen Hovdesven Timanna Bennett ’02 by Marcia Randall ’02 Joan Rosenthal Block ’51 by Rena Houston Du Bose ’51, Martha Cushman Skelly ’51 Richard Bryant, husband of Barbara McCall Bryant ’50, by Carol Rugeti Alcalay ’53, P ’81, Patricia Heskins Gumbiner ’52 Jacklyn Davidson Burchill ’44 by Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae Dana Davies Coffin ’76 by Bonnie Rice Gibson ’76 Willa Wolcott Condon, MA ’32, by her daughter, Ann Condon Barbour ’69

James Long, P ’01, by his daughter, Courtney Long ’01

Eleanor McDonald Meyer ’36 by her daughter, Nancy Meyer Neal ’70, P ’12 A. David Neri by his wife, Laura Collins Neri ’54 Ann and Robert Osmun by their daughter, Marion Osmun ’76 Margaret Dollar Powers ’33, P ’57, by Elizabeth Bryant Miles ’34 Mary-Lee Lipscomb Reade ’41 by Mildred Eberle Rothrock ’41 J. Roussel Sargent by Anne Sherwood Copenhagen ’44, P ’77, P ’74, P ’86, Mary Schratter Hale ’82, Anne Jensen ’61, Elaine Bowe Johnson ’62, Leah Hardcastle MacNeil, MA ’51, P ’75, Dorothy Kleppen McCall ’79, MA ’87, Marion Ross ’44, Laura McKeon Scholtz ’62, Bette Krause Spagel ’63, P ’79, Peggy Weber ’65, P ’02 Joseph Shuttleworth by his wife, Becky Marsh Shuttleworth ’64

Theodore Farber by Robert Fox, MFA ’15

Leda Soffran Silver ’68 by Sharon Coleman ’68

Helen Baer Gaw and William Gaw by their daughter, Jane Farrell Gaw ’52

Rudolph Tretten, P ’81, by Diane Ketelle ’78, MA ’89

Eleanor Armstrong Gray ’54, P ’80, P ’83, by Susan Fowler Zehnder ’81

Linda Watts by her daughter, Marguerite Murphy ’03, MBA ’06

Jane Holm ’76 by Marian McCormack Wilkie ’45, P ’78 Mary Ann Childers Kinkead ’63 by Carolyn Richter Kelemen, MA ’74, Susan Marinoff, MA ’74, Paul Schulman

Diana Walker ’72 by Susan Graves ’73 Allan Wendt by Bette Krause Spagel ’63, P ’79, Peggy Weber ’65, P ’02 Ralph Wood, husband of Barbara Ristrom Wood ’47, by Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae

p=parent; For information about making a tribute gift, contact 510.430.2097 or donors@mills.edu.

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

In Memoriam Notices of death received before June 30, 2015 To submit listings, please contact alumnae-relations@mills.edu or 510.430.2123

Alumnae Jane Rosenfeld Kendall ’38, May 1, in Portland, Oregon. She was committed to preserving Oregon’s land and history and was active in the Boys and Girls Aid Society, Arts and Crafts Society of Oregon, Friends of Columbia River Gorge, North Coast Conservancy, and Portland Garden Club. Survivors include two children and two grandchildren. Sara Rand McCulloch ’40, May 30, in Newport Beach, California. Miriam Mayer Sternberg ’40, June 3, in Dallas, Texas. She was a creative crafter; a member of the Herb Society, the Dallas Garden Club, and the League of Women Voters; and a supporter of UNICEF. She is survived by a son and two grandchildren. Marian Riley Beggs ’41, April 16, in San Jose, California. She was a homemaker and was active in St. Anthony’s Church community. She is survived by three children. Kay Taggart Booth ’41, May 16, in Provo, Utah. She was an active USO volunteer, eventually serving as USO director of protocol. Her great passions were travel and jazz, and she often combined the two with jazz cruises. Survivors include a son, a daughter, and two grandsons. Dorothy Babcock Phillips ’42, April 6, in Eugene, Oregon. She published stories in Highlights and other children’s magazines. She enjoyed gardening, painting, journaling, reading, and traveling. Survivors include four children, including Kathy Phillips Rynearson’72, and 10 grandchildren. Ethel Forrester Bradley ’45, June 21, in Missoula, Montana. She was active in PEO for 72 years and enjoyed bridge and gardening. She is survived by four children and 13 grandchildren.

Denise McCluggage ’47 A trailblazing auto racer and journalist, Denise McCluggage ’47 fell in love with cars at the age of 6, when she saw a Baby Austin 7. She earned her driver’s license before she turned 14 and, in 1959, became the first woman to win the feature sports-car event at Thompson Raceway in Connecticut, driving a Porsche RS. She raced as often as she could, successfully competing head-tohead with male drivers. After winning the GT class at Sebring in Florida in 1962, she became the only female driver inducted into the Sebring International Raceway Hall of Fame. Although often relegated to the “Ladies Races”—which she also won—she continued her professional racing career into the late 1960s. She also had an outstanding career as a journalist, working as a reporter and editor for the San Francisco Chronicle before joining the New York Herald Tribune. She first covered women’s features and then shifted to racing, skiing, parachuting, and other “extreme” sports. In the 1950s, she helped found and edited Competition Press, the nation’s first motorsports weekly, and its successor, Autoweek magazine, where she remained a contributor throughout her life. McCluggage was inducted into both the Automotive Hall of Fame and the Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame. For her writing, she won the Ken Purdy Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism and the Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award; her writings for Autoweek are collected in the book By Brooks Too Broad For Leaping. Denise McCluggage died May 6 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is survived by her sister, Pat.

Marjorie Righetti Davis ’45, March 11, in Chico, California. She taught high school English in Bieber, California. An avid walker, she loved opera, good espresso, the Marx Brothers, and watching Jeopardy! Survivors include four children, three grandchildren, and two stepgrandchildren. Katharine Mulky Warne ’45, April 24, in Cleveland, Ohio. An accomplished musician and composer, she studied with Darius Milhaud and founded the Darius Milhaud Society to promote the performance of his music worldwide. She is survived by three children, including Carolyn Warne ’83; four grandchildren; and her sister Doris Mulky Hood ’47. Margaret Ann Bellinger Putnam ’47, April 27, in Salem, Oregon. A devotee of literature, she spent her career as a librarian and loved attending theater and the opera. She leaves four children and six grandchildren. Josephine Fraser Schirra ’47, April 27, in Rancho Santa Fe, California. She was proud to be a Navy wife to Captain Walter Schirra and one of the original first seven astronaut wives. She was a world traveler with a great love of nature and all outdoor sports. She is survived by a son and a daughter. Harriet Westling Shank ’47, May 3, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A longtime member of the Seattle Symphony cello section, she was also known as a fine music teacher. Survivors include her daughter. Marilyn Meany Shook ’47, in May, in Cary, North Carolina. She was a military wife who lived in Japan and France. With her second husband, she was a consultant and author in the field of career and life management. She is survived by her husband, Hal; two sons, two stepchildren, and six grandchildren.

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Rosanna “Posie” Welsh Ewart ’48, June 15, in Wilmington, North Carolina. An accomplished linguist, she lived overseas for many years working with the United Nations Development Program in the Middle East, New Guinea, and Fiji. She is survived by her son and a grandson. Cecile Frankel Rubin ’50, November 20, 2014, in Stamford, Connecticut. She participated in many volunteer activities and was an accomplished craftswoman and prodigious reader. Survivors include two daughters. Joan Castator Brazil ’51, April 18, in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. She worked for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, volunteered with numerous senior facilities, enjoyed bicycling and walking, and was a member of Mariners Church in Irvine. She is survived by three children and four grandchildren. Paula Ann Williams Remington ’51, June 12, in El Centro, California. She was a leader of the Calexico Women’s Improvement Club, Job’s Daughters, and Order of the Eastern Star. She also sang with the Imperial Valley Master Chorale. Survivors include her children and grandchildren. Beverly Bostick Solo ’51, May 23, in Oakland, California. She was a Red Cross instructor, Chabot Science Center volunteer, Scout leader, and member of the League of Women Voters. In later life, she learned computer programming and worked as a consultant to large companies for 25 years. Survivors include three children, six grandchildren, and cousin Marshall Francisca Dozier ’92. Marilee Norling Martel ’53, October 24, 2014, in New York. She is survived by her husband, Leon; two sons; and a grandchild. Sue Ford Langa ’56, January 28, in Alpine, California. Survivors include her husband, John. Katherine Hu Fan ’57, in Ossining, New York. She was an accomplished artist, creating vivid large-scale mixed-media works that combine Western styles with her Eastern heritage. Her work was exhibited at the Hudson River Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and at various New York–area galleries. Survivors include her husband, George, and cousins Caroline Hu ’77 and Constance Hu ’79. George Burt, MA ’59, March 28, in Sonoma, California. He scored the Robert Altman films Fool for Love and Secret Honor, among others, and authored the book The Art of Film Music. He also wrote traditional and electronic chamber music and taught at Smith College, the University of Michigan, Rice University, and USC. Survivors include his wife, Sharon; two sons; four stepchildren; and nine grandchildren. Nancy Seff Giles ’59, June 17, in Sioux City, Iowa. She loved theater and traveling, and served on more than half a dozen local boards of directors as well as the state board of Friends of Iowa Public Broadcasting. She earned the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Sioux City Museum and Historical Association and the Sioux City Junior League’s Sustainer of the Year award. She is survived by two sons and four grandchildren. Marriane Klose Hollen, MEd ’59, May 3, in San Antonio, Texas. In 28 years of service as an Air Force nurse, instructor, and OB/GYN nurse practitioner, she earned numerous honors including the Meritorious Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal; her commitment to women’s health while practicing in Okinawa led to a pavilion being named in her honor. She had an avid interest in the art of bonsai. Survivors include her extended family and many friends.

M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Marcia Anne Luther Hubbard ’60, April 22, in Libertyville, Illinois. A passionate conservationist and champion for the underprivileged, she pursued graduate study at Cornell and post-graduate work at Missouri University. She worked as a librarian at Northwestern University in Chicago and was engaged in community outreach through the Episcopal Church. Survivors include her husband, John; a son and two grandchildren. Mary “Toni” Greene Boynton ’61, May 16, in Los Gatos, California. She was an active member of the Salt Lake City Junior League, sat on the board of the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah, hosted a radio program on NPR, and served the Cathedral Church of Saint Mark. She is survived by three children and her ex-husband, Charles Albert Boynton. Ann McNabb ’62, May 2, in San Rafael, California. Survivors include her sister, Virginia McNabb O’Connell ’64. Edith Chinyere Ejiogu Asika ’64, May 3, in London, England. She dedicated her life to rebuilding the Nigerian nation after years of warfare, serving as chair of the National Working Group of Africa Peer Review Mechanism, contributing to numerous women’s empowerment programs in the country, and participating as a member of the New Partnership for African Development. She is survived by four children and her niece, Cecilia Ibekwe ’78. Andrea Menefee Singh ’65, May 16, in Mitchellville, Maryland. Thomas Ashburn, MFA ’86, November 27, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was an artist working in painting and sculpture. Survivors include his wife, Jenny.

Spouses and Family Jerome Graham, husband of Barbara Manning Graham ’61, February 26, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Charles Mathews, husband of Carol Jenkins Mathews ’68, April 24, in Crescent City, California. John Phillips, father of Katherine Phillips Rynearson ’72, January 11, in Eugene, Oregon. Ed McKeown, husband of Patsy Pettibone McKeown ’47, June 1, in Oakland, California. Tomoye Tatai, mother of Sharon Tatai ’80, in Oakland, California. Thomas Wolfe, husband of Barbara Ahmajan Wolfe ’65, June 18, in San Francisco.

Faculty and Staff Rudolph Tretten, May 8, in Pacifica, California. A teacher supervisor in the Mills College School of Education for 10 years, he earned an MA in English and teaching credential from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in social science education from Stanford University. He was a talented writer and world traveler and served on many nonprofit and community boards, including the Laguna Salada School District in Pacifica and the Morrissey Compton Educational Center. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Shirley; daughter Karen Tretten Chavez ’81; a son; and three grandchildren.

Nominate the next alumna trustee Make your voice heard on the Mills College Board of Trustees and the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) Board of Governors. All alumnae are invited to nominate themselves or other alumnae as candidates for the position of alumna trustee for the 2016–2019 term. Alumnae trustees serve a three-year term both on the Board of Governors of the AAMC and the College’s Board of Trustees and are expected to participate on committees on both boards. Interested candidates will find additional information on the responsibilities of the position and how to apply on the “Leadership” section of the AAMC website, aamc.mills.edu.

Submissions are due January 15, 2016

Submissions are due January 15, 2016, to AAMC Nominating Committee Chair Pierre Loving ’77 at aamc@mills.edu or AAMC, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., MB #86, Oakland, CA 94613.

Alumnae tr avel 2016 Legends of the Nile ■ January 12–23 Discover mummies, Giza’s pyramids, and other ancient treasures.

Tanzania

Wings over Tanzania ■ February 11–22 Observe magnificent wildlife and UNESCO World Heritage sites. Trans-Pacific Voyage ■ May 5–19 Journey from Tokyo to Anchorage in luxury small-ship accommodations.

Cruise the Face of Europe ■ May 26–June 10 Wind past storybook villages and fairy-tale castles along Europe’s great waterways.

Tuscany ■ June 1–9 With President Alecia DeCoudreaux Join President DeCoudreaux to experience the charm and romance of Tuscany.

See the AAMC travel website at aamc.mills.edu for full itineraries of these and other upcoming trips. For reservations or additional information, call the Alumnae Association of Mills College at 510.430.2110 or email aamc@mills.edu.

Tuscany

Mills Quarterly Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613-1301 510.430.3312 quarterly@mills.edu www.mills.edu Address service requested Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA, and at additional mailing office(s)

Saturday, September 12

Chad and Curtis McKinney and composers from the Center for Contemporary Music New electronic music by the McKinneys—both Mills MFAs— and members of the Mills Music Department.

Friday, September 25 All performances are at 8:00 pm in the Littlefield Concert Hall (unless otherwise noted). $15 general, $10 seniors and non-Mills students, free to alumnae with AAMC card. For details or to purchase tickets, see musicnow.mills.edu or contact Steed Cowart, steed@mills.edu or 510.430.2334.

Darius Milhaud: Médée (A Tragic Opera) Nicole Paiement conducts Milhaud’s 1938 opera with a libretto by Milhaud’s wife, Madeleine.

Saturday, October 10

Kala Ramnath The “Singing Violin” of Indian classical music.

Saturday, October 17 Kala Ramnath

Improvisation: Barre Phillips–Jacques Demierre– Urs Leimgruber Trio and Dapplegray An evening of improvised music with electronics and traditional instruments.

Friday, October 30

Hild Sofie Tafjord, David Tudor Composer-in-Residence Tafjord presents her work for French horn and electronics as well as music developed with Mills students.

Sunday, November 15, 4:00 pm

Madeleine and Darius Milhaud

Three’s Company: Music for Multiple Harpsichords Hild Sofie Tafjord

An early music concert of music by J. S. Bach, W. F. Bach, Rameau, Soler, and Mattheson.

Saturday, December 5

Mills Performing Group: Music by Lindsay Cooper Celebrating the music of the late feminist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Lindsay Cooper.

musicnow.mills.edu