AAMC News

A Message from the AAMC President

Ihad hoped to tell to you about all the ways the AAMC would celebrate Mills students this spring, with events like the Pearl M Dinner and the International Student Dinner. But just before this issue of the Quarterly went to press, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Instruction for all classes moved online, and most students returned to their homes. Spring events were cancelled or postponed, including Commencement and the AAMC annual meeting that would have taken place on the same day.

As I write this, at the end of March, California remains under a “shelter in place” order. The campus is closed to all visitors, including alumnae. AAMC staff and volunteers are working from home. This situation may change by the time you receive this magazine; please email us at aamc@mills.edu for an update.

We are all confronting unexpected challenges during this pandemic. But if

you are able, please consider supporting our alma mater. College leaders, faculty, and staff are working tremendously hard to keep the community safe and continue to provide students with an empowering education. Mills will face additional financial strains as a result of the pandemic. At the same time, it continues to address a structural deficit and must seek new ways of fundraising and new revenue streams to close this gap, as President Hillman has noted in her Quarterly letters. The AAMC proudly supported the College by extending a $2 million line of credit in 2017. This loan helped fund two important academic initiatives: redesign of the undergraduate student experience, known as MPOWER, and the creation of online degrees for selected School of Education graduate programs. We continue to look for ways our association can help strengthen the College’s financial position. One AAMC committee, the Alumnae of Color Committee (AOCC), has been showing their support for the College by steadily adding to the Alumnae of Color Endowed Scholarship Fund, created in honor of President Emerita Alecia DeCoudreaux to support students of color. The committee is working hard to grow its endowment to $200,000. The AOCC had quite a successful fundraising campaign in the fall, as well as a fantastic fundraising concert in February featuring Oakland recording artist Kev Choice, singer Jennifer Johns, and the Lucy Kinchen Chorale. You can contribute to the scholarship fund at alumnae .mills.edu/alumsofcolorgive.

The AAMC has also been the beneficiary of Mills graduates’ generosity. We recently welcomed back into our circle of donors a number of alumnae who have not made gifts for more than 15 years. Contributions to the AAMC Fund support a wide range of activities, from events for students to our MillsConnect networking and mentoring program (connect.mills.edu), and we are deeply grateful to all our donors, new and old.

You can also express your support of Mills and the AAMC by voting for our alumna trustee nominee (see facing page and inside back cover) or by serving on a committee of the AAMC Board of Governors. I encourage you to peruse the AAMC website for a list of the committees and descriptions of their activities.

As spring blossoms all around us, I am reminded that Mills College has endured longer than any of us have been alive. It has been through all manner of crises, and it will surely weather this pandemic with integrity and strength. I am grateful for our donors as well as alumnae who serve the AAMC in various ways to enrich our legacy and ensure our commitment to Mills for the next generation. Warmly, Viji Nakka-Cammauf, MA ’82 President, Alumnae Association of Mills College

Approve your alumna trustee

Vote by Monday, June 1, to approve the nominee of the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) to serve as the voice of Mills graduates on the Mills College Board of Trustees from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023. This alumna trustee will also serve as a member of the AAMC Board of Governors during this same period.

Alumnae trustees present the views of alumnae and of AAMC governors to the leadership of Mills College. They are full members of the boards of both the AAMC and the College, responsible for participating on committees as well as in board meetings, and serving as liaison between the two boards.

Please review our nominee’s statement, then vote to approve or disapprove her appointment using the paper ballot on the inside back cover of this magazine or the online ballot available at alumnae.mills.edu/alumna-trusteeballot. See detailed instructions about how to vote on the inside back cover.

All members of the AAMC are eligible to vote; any former Mills student who has completed at least one full-time semester and whose class has graduated from Mills is considered a member of the AAMC.

All ballots must be completed and received at Reinhardt Alumnae House by 5:00 pm on June 1, 2020.

If approved, Adrienne Foster ’74 will join continuing alumna trustee Debi Wood ’75 on both boards. Ammie FelderWilliams ’76 is completing her term as alumna trustee in July. We proudly thank her for her service to the AAMC and the College.

For more information about AAMC bylaws, scheduled meetings of the Board of Governors, or the nomination and election process, call 510.430.2110 or email aamc@ mills.edu.

Adrienne McMichael Foster ’74 Los Angeles, California Education: BA in psychology, Mills College; MA and PhD in education, UCLA It’s my hope and expectation for Mills College to continue as one of the premier colleges for undergraduate women and for all in graduate studies. Mills must focus on its fiscal stability, educational programs, alumnae relations, and campus climate. Mills must continue to be the place for more women to “get their voices.”

The relationship between the AAMC and the College must be that of a symbiotic nature. Each one should benefit from each other through whatever it takes to make each a success. The interaction between us will be able to produce the desired out comes, the synergy. Having served on the AAMC Board of Governors (BOG), I have been able to better understand how we can work together to get results.

Mills provided me with lifelong friendships, which helped me navigate my profes sional and life choices. With more than 35 years of experience in higher education, I believe that I will be able to provide insight and direction to Mills. My experiences in community colleges include faculty roles and administration in academic affairs and student services.

My experience on the BOG and the interactions with the College administration opened my eyes to know that my higher education experience would be put to bet ter service in a role as a trustee in addition to the BOG. I feel that I would be able to provide some insight into the future educational development and strategic planning of Mills College.

My strengths seem to lie within my leadership skills. I’ve been dean of academic affairs and dean of student services, and I’ve served in faculty positions such as presi dent of the academic senate and state academic senate representative. These positions have afforded me the opportunity to engage in educational discourse that led to sig nificant learning outcomes. I know how to get a group to engage and get to the desired outcome.

Alumnae revive role in student recruitment

Mills College’s Office of Admissions and the AAMC have launched a program that enables alumnae volunteers to play a key role in recruiting undergraduate students across the country. Since the program’s debut in fall 2019, 19 alumnae volunteers have represented Mills at 18 different college fairs in California and Massachusetts. They have spoken with dozens of prospective students about their time at Mills and their professional accomplishments after college.

Julia Almanzan ’92, president of Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae, is one of these volunteers. She believes that “more alumnae involvement ultimately results in better recruitment of students and better retention,” she says. “Students who really know what to expect are more likely to want to stay.” Alumnae make excellent recruiters, Julia adds, because “Mills alumnae have the enthusiasm

Isis Blanchette-Marcelin ’11

and a passion that cannot be bought or faked. Mills alumnae truly love the school, and that love is infectious.”

Los Angeles–area Mills alumnae courted Julia as a prospective student in the late 1980s. Julia says these alumnae are now like family to her, and she went on to recruit prospective students herself starting in 1997 as a participant in the Alumnae Admissions Representative Program (AAR), designed by Diana Odermatt ’60.

Mills has a history of engaging alumnae to recruit prospective students that goes way back to the early days of the College, but its first formal program started in 1932. Mills hired Diana in 1977 to overhaul the existing program and give it more structure. What was originally a six-month hire turned into a 10-year tenure for Diana. She eventually became dean of admissions.

The AAR Program sought to create and maintain a network of informed alumnae to assist the College in recruiting and retaining successful Mills students. It worked to improve the visibility and image of Mills College among high school students and college counselors, and to provide feedback to the Office of Admissions on the concerns of prospective applicants and their parents.

ALUMNAE AWARDS CALL Honor our best and brightest with the 2020 alumnae awards

Nominate honorees for the AAMC’s coveted alumnae awards, presented during the class luncheon at Reunion in October. We are seeking qualified candidates for:

• Distinguished Achievement, for distinction in professions, arts, or sciences;

• Outstanding Volunteer, for commitment in serving the AAMC and the College; and

• Recent Graduate, for volunteer efforts that exemplify a spirit of caring and community.

Nominations must be received by July 15 and candidates must be able to attend the awards ceremony in October. To nominate candidates, please send information about their achievements to Alumnae Awards Committee chair Susan Ardisson ’77 at aamc@mills.edu or AAMC, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., MB #86, Oakland, CA 95613.

All the while, the AAR role provided an opportunity for alumnae to remain connected to the College and the AAMC, and to gain tangible skills that could be applied to their professional lives. Over the years, hundreds of alumnae representatives from all around the world have participated, many of whom would return to campus every two or three years for AAR training workshops.

The AAR Program was suspended several years ago as a result of budget and staffing constraints in the Office of Admissions and the need to develop new ways of deploying alumnae that are attuned to both the changing interests of today’s prospective students and the evolving college search process. With this new iteration of the program, Admissions and the AAMC continue to look for more ways alumnae can support enrollment efforts. This spring, the Office of Admissions will be featuring alumnae profile spotlights on its social media channels, and a toolkit of talking points and marketing materials is in development for alumnae who want to speak at events such as career days and

Julia Almanzan ’92 and Nangee Warner Morrison ’66 professionalization panels. In the future, we hope to expand the effort to more domestic regions as well as internationally, and there may be opportunities for alumnae to host panel events and networking receptions themselves.

The AAMC thanks the many alumnae who have been involved in Mills College recruitment programs, old and new. You have provided crucial support for the College, and we hope to build on that support going forward. Assistant Director of Admissions Diana Martinez has trained 12 new alumnae volunteers thus far, and we hope to add many more to the roster. If you are curious to learn more, or want to get involved, please reach out to AAMC Communications and Volunteer Program Coordinator Kate Robinson Beckwith, MFA ’13, at karobinson@mills.edu.

–Kate Robinson Beckwith, MFA ’13

A special thanks to Julia Almanzan ’92, Diana Odermatt ’60, and Nangee Warner Morrison ’63 for their help with this article.