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Mills Quarterly Winter 2021
“ I am a Class of
1990 Striker, and I had pledged to support the College as an alum.” Lisa Kremer and daughters at the Strike Statue: her new Bent Twig, Nora, is on the right.
T
hree decades after graduating, Lisa Kremer ’90 maintains her pledge in her roles as class agent, donor, Mills ambassador, and proud new Bent Twig parent, whose daughter Nora now roams the campus as a student excited to explore her first year, despite the pandemic. “Having received a scholarship at Mills, I feel inspired to give back, both with money and by speaking the College’s name when I can,” Lisa explains. “My Mills experience was incredibly useful in my first career as a journalist, and has been again in my second career as an attorney.” As a class agent, Lisa puts her career skills to work for the benefit of current Mills students by writing persuasive messages to her classmates, prompting them to make gifts of any size to the college they love. This season, look for a personal letter or email from your own class agent, who is working hard to ensure that the Mills legacy of academic excellence and inclusive community endures for this and future generations of students—with the help of your gift.
Make it possible. Make it Mills. Please make a gift to the Mills College Annual Fund by calling 510.430.2366, visiting alumnae.mills.edu/give, or returning the enclosed envelope.
16
8 Mills Quarterly
CONTENTS
Winter 2021
8 Higher Education Inspiration by Moya Stone, MFA ’03 The Mills experience has stirred many a writer to center the campus in their creative works.
12 Black Power and the Mills Girl by Lauren Araiza The cultural and political forces of the late 1960s that helped reshape the College into the institution it is today are the subject of an academic article.
16 Full Circle by Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 A new book closes a chapter on the Mills Longitudinal Study.
22 Reunion Photos Going virtual didn’t stop many alumnae from gathering to commemorate Reunion 2020.
Departments 2
Letters to the Editor
3
President’s Message
4
Mills Matters
18 AAMC News 24 Class Notes 28 Bookshelf 30 In Memoriam On the cover: A recent academic article in the Journal of Civil and Human Rights underscores the Black Student Union’s 1969 occupation of President Wert’s office as a turning point in Mills history. Read an excerpt from the piece on page 13. Photos courtesy of the Mills College Special Collections and Archives.
22
Volume CX, Number 2 (USPS 349-900) Winter 2021
Letters to the Editor I am beyond words grateful for the beau-
President Elizabeth L. Hillman
tiful article in the fall 2020 issue (“A
Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nikole Hilgeman Adams
been remarkably generous to me, and it
Managing Editor Allison Rost
my very unhappy kindergarten daughter
Design and Art Direction Nancy Siller Wilson Editorial Assistant Lila Goehring ’21 Contributors Kate Robinson Beckwith, MFA ’13 Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Moya Stone, MFA ’03 Editorial Advisory Committee Angela Bacca, MBA ’12 Sheryl Bize-Boutte ’73 Melissa Bender Henley ’99 Sarah Lehman ’86 Mira Mason-Reader ’15 Mari Matoba ’03 Livi Perez ’14, MA ’17 Mason Stockstill, MFA ’09
Future for Old Women”). Mills has always all started when an Oakland elementary school principal arranged for me to have evaluated by Lee Mirmow in the psychology department to see if she was ready for first grade. I discovered the MA in English, and the rest is history! –Professor Emerita Ruth Saxton, MA ’72; Oakland I am a Mills alum, and wanted to just say
Dawn Cunningham’s article, “A Future
how much I enjoyed the fall 2020 issue
for Old Women,” featuring Professor
of the Quarterly. The layout and graphics
Ruth Saxton, was inspiring! As a mem-
were exceptional, and the articles inspir-
ber of the Class of 1968, I happily resem-
ing. The piece on Ruth Saxton’s new
ble and embrace the “old lady” title. I’ve
book was especially wonderful, particu-
shared the article and the preview of
larly given the recent news of RBG.
Saxton’s The Book of Old Ladies with
–Cara Johnson-Hubbell, MFA ’03; Denver, Colorado The fall 2020 Mills Quarterly matters for
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.
me because of two of its incredibly timely,
Copyright © 2021, Mills College
one of about 10 Black young women in
Address correspondence to Mills Quarterly, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Email: quarterly@mills.edu Phone: 510.430.3312 Printed on recycled paper containing 10 percent post-consumer waste.
(Please use outline)
engaging, and personally relevant articles. “Black Lives Matter at Mills” brought back so many memories for me as a freshman member of the Class of 1968. One of five Black 18-year-olds in the class and living in Olney Hall, I was the entire college of approximately 750 women in 1964. In the slowly awakening shelter of Mills College, we—along with some of our non-Black friends and acquaintances—experienced directly and
working out with Zoom trainers, leading active “socially distanced” social and political lives, teaching full- or part-time at one of the local colleges or universities, or practicing their professions. One colleague was so inspired by Saxton’s research that she and I are exploring how we might incorporate it into a project, class, or program—stay tuned for the outcome! Meanwhile, The Book of Old Ladies is at the top of my Christmas list. –Barbara Morrow Williams ’68, Henderson, Nevada
Corrections
year in civil rights history; it became
In the fall issue of Mills Quarterly, we
only more dramatic as our education pro-
misspelled the name of an MBA gradu-
gressed. The acknowledgement of Black
ate who passed away in May 2020. Her
Lives Matter movement at Mills, includ-
name is Stacey Park Milbern, MBA ’16.
ing the College’s recognition of student
We also included the wrong gradu-
anti-racist activism and its validation of
ation year for an alumna in Bookshelf.
the Black student experience, reawakens
The correct class year for Sheryl Bizé-
pride in being a Mills graduate (as well as
Boutté is 1973.
Williams Mount ’91). M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
friends and colleagues who defy aging—
indirectly what would be a cataclysmic
the proud mother of a Bent Twig, Portia
2
my equally “happy-to-be-an-old-lady”
We sincerely regret these errors and any confusion they may have caused.
A Message from the President of Mills College By Elizabeth L. Hillman
It’s been a tumultuous fall across the country, yet a relatively quiet one at Mills College. The now-accelerating global pandemic and economic crisis—alongside
mounting
pressure
to realize, at long last, an inclusive and antiracist community—has been the backdrop for an election season more contentious and difficult to predict than any the United States has experienced in some time. Yet the virtual Mills community has thrived, as has a small student, staff, and faculty population on campus.
President Hillman (bottom row, far right) at the Jill Barrett Symposium, held this year on Zoom
Academic, civic, and strategic conversations about the College’s future have shifted to the many platforms that now
science graduates into their careers with
connect us across space and time. One
both the very best of academic prepara-
such platform was created in October
tion and a network of support.
2020 by Christie’s, the auction house
This fall, Mills launched a COVID-19
that set a new world record price for any
dashboard to share information online,
work of literature with the sale of Mills
especially for the small community
College’s First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays,
that has continued to work and live on
one of the most important collections of
campus. The College has also provided
literature in the world. When Brooklyn
housing to about 180 students, and
book dealer and antiquarian Stephan
even welcomed Starr King School for
Loewentheil’s
bid
the Ministry, the graduate theological
ended a six-minute competition among
school and seminary formerly located
three telephone bidders, Mills realized a
in Berkeley, to its new home in the Vera
nearly
$10-million
Long Building. So far, the campus man-
much needed—if bittersweet—boost to its finances. Mills had held the Folio, first
Mills College’s own virtual events
dates for masking and social distancing
published in 1623, since 1977, when
have also been setting records, attract-
and the shift to mostly remote instruc-
alumna and trustee Mary Louise O’Brien
ing more participants and reaching a
tion and work have proved successful
’34—together with her husband James—
broader audience than the in-person
in limiting the spread of infection on
quietly gave the Folio to Mills to honor
versions that preceded the pandemic.
campus. This is also thanks to the sup-
her father, Professor Elian Olas James, a
Last year, the Jill Barrett Symposium
port and resilience of our frontline staff,
Shakespeare scholar and beloved English
in Biology took place in the beautifully
to whom Mills recently paid modest and
professor who inspired students at Mills
renovated Lisser Hall, but this fall, the
much-deserved bonuses for their heroic
College for 35 years. Mills College was
symposium was moved onto Zoom and
work early in the crisis, when we under-
fortunate to hold the Folio for these past
drew a crowd of some 150 attendees. It
stood far less about the coronavirus than
decades; it was treasured by the students,
showcased not only a new logo (above),
we do now. Yet COVID-19 has affected
faculty, staff, and scholars who studied
but also the research of 11 student schol-
all of us, and the Mills community in
and preserved it. At a time when cash flow
ars who, with support from Mills’ extraor-
Oakland and across the world continues
and budget deficits are bedeviling the
dinary biology professors, adapted their
to shudder under its weight. I look for-
most creative and resilient institutions
research plans to flourish even during a
ward to learning more from our virtual
of higher education, both the O’Briens’
pandemic that slowed field and laboratory
community in the months ahead as we
gift and those who cherished the Folio at
studies across the world. I’m grateful to
continue to fight the virus and embrace
Mills have sustained the College through
Associate Professor of Biology Jenn Smith
the possibilities of learning, planning,
a critical time.
for leading the College’s efforts to send its
and growing online. WINTER 2021
3
Mills Matters Adapting to the new status quo After a relatively uneventful fall semester, upcoming J-term
Mills community makes most of Convocation
and spring classes at Mills will continue with a pandemic-
As one of the earliest campus-wide events of the year,
era hybrid approach that incorporates both online and in-person learning. While the mix will still heavily lean toward the virtual, several more courses will meet on campus in 2021, including lab sciences and art studios. There were plenty of pitfalls to the first four months of a most unusual school year—for students and faculty members alike. Email and Zoom fatigue have plagued many in the Mills community, and at a faculty-staff town hall on October 27, 2020, Dean of Student Life Chicora Martin
Convocation followed its tradition of setting the tone for the new school year—though this one was already unlike any other. With classes online and many students spread out beyond the campus, Provost Chinyere Oparah and her staff made the decision to hold the event over Zoom. And rather than bring in an outside speaker—as per usual custom—students took charge and shared rousing speeches and poetry.
reported that students have diminished resources on both financial and emotional levels. Technology needs are up, while many of those learning off-campus don’t have the kind of privacy they need for online classes. The 180 or so students living on campus do have the opportunity to socialize, even as they occupy single rooms. “Students are able to establish social bubbles, and we encourage them to do that,” Martin said. “They have those two or three friends, and they eat together, so they’re interacting in small groups.” A new COVID-19 dashboard is available at mills.edu/covid-19/covid-dashboard.php, showing (as of press time) that there have been no positive cases on the Mills campus since September 2020. Additional signs of normal life are showing themselves as everyone learns how to adapt to the pandemic. Later in the fall, outdoor yoga sessions on Holmgren Meadow gave those on campus socially distanced time outside, and the area surrounding Mary Morse was reconfigured to allow student and faculty children the opportunity to roller skate. Martin said the Division of Student Life had found better virtual engagement among some populations, such as student parents, and that post-pandemic programming would be adjusted to accommodate those groups.
Coronavirus, climate change, and Black futurism were the prompts for these creative contributions, and Mills students responded in spades. Convocation kicked off with an indigenous blessing from Hiwa Grieg ’22, Zooming in from Maui, Hawaii, with her mother, Napua (pictured above). Student leaders Dylyn Turner-Keener ’21 (president of the Associated Students of Mills College) and Sophie Stauffer, MA ’22, followed with advice for the pandemic and intensely personal reflections on their experiences at Mills. Three other students—Jessica Hairston ’22, MFA ’23; Reilly Hirst, MPP ’21; and Sara Lahey ’22—shared poems they had written for the occasion. Hairston’s contribution is at right; visit quarterly.mills.edu/convocation-poetry to read the others and for links to videos of their readings.
Work continued apace at the Mills Community Farm over the summer into the fall, with students and Farm Manager Julia Dashe packaging harvested food for on-campus residents and the Mercy Brown Bag Program for the Elder Care Alliance. “The outdoor space, the resilience of the natural worlds, and the smells and sounds of the surrounding ecology have been truly healing for students, staff, and faculty who have been working, volunteering, and enjoying the farm’s bounty,” Dashe said. 4
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
FOR THOSE THAT RAPE AND COLONIZE By Jessica Hairston ’22, MFA ’23 For Those That Rape and Colonize, Earth and I are one in the same, to take hold of Earth, is to take hold of Me I, the Black Woman, the oldest adage, has watched Herself, Earth, raped out of sanctity and auctioned as a commodity, to devolve from a house of worship to a house full of the things that haunt For the sake of greed, at the mercy of those that lust and want My body is the landscape of earth’s geography small scaled, in my truest essence, I exude an aura-ancient and avant The top layers of my skin shelter thousands of fissures, wherein lies the word ‘opulence’, elucidated under the gaze of astronomical dawn My melanin is so worldly, it’s the oldest decorum for an ancient ecosystem, the ‘Black Bod’ Wherever, I lay my body, plants blossom, the sun reveals herself, lost moons are found, ‘cause the Black Woman is Earth’s first reflection, her first confidant My body is often everybody’s home, this wallpaper I live under, is as deep as indigo By now, you should know, there is no reconciling Earth’s changing climate, when you still rape away the light of the blackest abodes As my topical layers fade from opal to opaque, there’s a virus of those that rape and colonize that dims the light in me that glows Earth came and cried to me the other day, actually she broke down in pain; she said, that she is dying quickly, that the time were living in is borrowed So I cried right back, broken and in pain; I said, that I miss the days where brown skin was a gift, a legacy, inheritance, because now when I look at Earth, my reflection reveals to me my inherited death sentence, to be black is to have sorrow Instead of innovate locally, you searched, pillaged, and conquered-globally Now my lungs are like the atmosphere you created: breathless, dense, cloudy My kidneys are as overburdened as our overpoliced inner cities My energy is as depleted as our neglected rural communities Honoring Earth, is honoring our collective health, ancient love, communal wealth, giving grace and saying please My skin is so dark and full of shade, it’s outer-worldly My skin is so black and pretty, it’s as extraterrestrial as our immeasurable galaxy Home can’t have zipcodes, or borders, or stop where the sun can no longer be seen Or where the sun sets and rises Relinquish your entitlement, make sovereign the bodies you’ve commodified Make sovereign the bodies you’ve raped and colonized Live morally, live minimally, and watch alternatives manifest the extras in life, the things you’ve earned, the delicacies you still desire Sincerely, A Survivor
WINTER 2021
5
Campus kudos A selection of recent achievements by faculty, staff, and students Mills College was ranked #1 as Best
Synchronous Classes Engage English
Value College in the West by US News &
Language Learners,” in which he
Mitchell performed in a virtual con-
World Report in September, as well as #1
explained how teachers can use music
cert in August 2020 alongside singer
in the category for Best Undergraduate
and programs like TikTok to connect
Bobby McFerrin, which celebrated their
Teaching. This guide, released annually,
with students during online instruction.
reception of the 2020 Jazz Masters
measures the academic quality of insti-
Student Rosina Ghebreyesus ’22 wrote
Professor Emeritus of Music Roscoe
Fellowship, announced in 2019 by the
tutions based on “success indicators”
an article, “The future is speaking—listen
like retention and graduation rates,
up,” for San Francisco Bay View National
Provost and Dean of Faculty
selectivity, and data from top officials
Black Newspaper in August, in which she
Chinyere Oparah was featured in
from similar institutions.
profiled native San Franciscans working
an August 2020 Glamour piece titled
to ensure that communities of color are
“Black Doulas Are Banding Together to
counted in the US Census.
Beat High Infant Mortality Rates.” In
Professor Emerita of Dance Molissa Fenley’s solo choreographed work, State of Darkness, was performed
Associate Adjunct Professor of Art
National Endowment for the Arts.
the article, she spoke about the benefits
(sans audience) at the Joyce Theatre
History Sarah Miller won a second
of working with a doula and reflected
from October 24 to November 1, 2020,
grant from the Graham Foundation
on her own birthing experience, which
by seven dancers, with whom Fenley
for Advanced Studies in the Fine Art
led her to co-found the organization
worked by “adapting her creative
for her book project, Documentary in
Black Women Birthing Justice. She was
process to our emergent world of
Dispute: The Original Manuscript of
also interviewed by KTVU Channel
social distance.”
Changing New York by Berenice Abbott
2 for a piece on absenteeism across
and Elizabeth McCausand, in which
the Bay Area in virtual schooling on
Education Department Chair Tomás
the original manuscript for Changing
October 19, 2020.
Galguera was featured in a July District
New York is recreated in a sequence of
Administration piece, “9 Reasons
photos and text.
Professor of Education and Teacher
Mills Teachers Scholars lead by learning The School of Education’s Teacher Scholars Program—which provides professional development training
Professor Emerita of Music Maggi Payne reissued two collections of music
Mills College Art Museum Shifting Perspectives ■ Through March 7 Students Simone Gage, Sage Gaspar, Sydney Pearce, Melika Sebihi, and Taya Wyatt curated this digital presentation of works from MCAM’s permanent collection that critique views of race, culture, and gender. Pieces include everything from documentary photography of Mexican immigrants in the United States to a plate that celebrates every Black man who lives to the age of 21. Visit mcam.mills.edu to view the exhibition.
to teachers already in the classroom, with an emphasis on equity, inquiry, and centering the student experience—is taking steps toward a nationwide audience by rebranding as Lead by Learning. The change in name, which was announced on November 20, 2020, is the culmination of many months of discussion to find a better representation of what the program provides—and make it more accessible to those outside the area. Adrianna Adams, Weekly Routine #1 6
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
Yolanda M. Lopez, Women’s Work Is Never Done
through Aguirre Records: Arctic Winds
responding, and provided resources and
speaker at the eighth annual All Things
from 2010 and Ahh-Ahh from the 1980s.
suggestions for struggling students.
Open conference, which occurred virtu-
An August 2020 review was featured
Student Natalia Roman ’24 was quoted
ally on October 17-19, 2020. The fourth book by Professor of
in The Quietus, which detailed Payne’s
in an October Los Altos Town Crier article
experimental uses of sound and rhythm
about her role as director of marketing
English Tom Strychacz, Kitchen
throughout her career.
and community outreach at Science
Economics, which features close read-
Nation, an online platform that provides
ings of 19th-century regionalist women
free resources to students in STEM.
writers and their work in political eco-
Darius Milhaud Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music Tomeka Reid was called “the most acclaimed
nomic theory, was published in August
Associate Professor of Biology Jenn
jazz cellist of her generation” by the San
Smith and alumna Lauren Kong ’13 are
2020 by the University of Alabama
Francisco Chronicle in a September 2020
two of the co-authors on a new scien-
Press and received the Elizabeth Agee
article. She gave an online concert on
tific article about resistance to rattle-
Prize in American Literature.
September 19, 2020, alongside video art-
snake venom in squirrels, published in
ist Selina Trepp and percussionist Adam
the journal Toxins in September 2020.
Women’s Leadership Susan Stryker
Vida, as part of the Mills Music Now
Smith was also quoted in a November
was featured in a September article in
Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in
2020 piece in The Guardian about
the Mercury News written by Martha
leadership in animal species and in
Ross, MFA ’98. The article, titled
Ross ’22 were featured in an October
Popular Science that same month about
“Fighting the New Culture Wars:
2020 KQED piece called “It’s OK to
a newly identified mammal from the
Mills College Hires Pioneering
Not Be OK: College Students Tackle
Late Cretaceous epoch that resembles
Transgender Historian and Activist,”
Mental Health Challenges During the
species she currently studies.
covered Stryker’s new position at
monthly series. Students Alondra Rios ’21 and Jada
Pandemic” by Laura Klivans, which
Elinor Kilgore Snyder Professor of
covered the pandemic’s toll on students’
Computer Science Ellen Spertus was
mental health and how campuses are
featured as an inclusion and diversity
Mills and her thoughts on transgender rights today.
On Election Day 2020, Assistant Professor of Public Policy Mark Henderson traveled to the town of La Honda in San Mateo County to volunteer at the polls. When he arrived, he learned that he had been assigned to the same site as Hilary Hart ’73, who lives in La Honda, bringing a definite Mills flavor to a historic day.
WINTER 2021
7
Higher Education
Inspiration
With such an illustrious legacy of creative writers, Mills itself has been the setting for a story or two. We talked to their authors. By Moya Stone, MFA ’03
T
he college, with its heady mix of beautiful nature, crumbling old buildings, and shadowy nooks and crannies, had a reputation for being extremely haunted.
8
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
–Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn ’99
A
nyone familiar with Mills College
knows that it offers an abundance of literary inspiration with its history and tradition, its expansive campus, and—of course—those trees! (Not to mention a creative writing program that has generated authors such as Micheline Aharonian Marcom, MFA ’99, and Marc Anthony Richardson, MFA ’09.) The Quarterly was curious about what motivates authors to write about or incorporate Mills into their works and how their interactions with the College influence their portrayals. So we contacted several of them—including faculty, staff, and alumnae—and asked what Mills represents in their writings, and to them personally.
A Home for (Super) Heroines When Sarah Kuhn ’99 set out to write Haunted
Heroine
(2020,
Penguin
Randomhouse), the fourth book in her Heroine Complex series, she knew she wanted to change the usual location for her superheroines. “They’d spent three whole books fighting demons in San Francisco,” she explains, “so I was trying to think of some other places where evil might be happening.” And what better a place than her alma mater? Not that Kuhn believes Mills is a place of evil: “I need to say that this is a very fictionalized version of Mills!” But her stand-in, called Morgan College, does have similarities to Mills. Both are women’s colleges located in Oakland on beautiful tree-lined campuses with old buildings, and both might have a
M
ills College was hundred-year-old eucalyptus trees and rolling hills of fresh-cut grass and barbed-wire fences to keep the city out, and the Indigo Girls singing from car stereos. –We Were Witches by Ariel Gore ’94
few ghosts hanging around. However, Morgan has serious problems that Mills does not, such as “a possibly corrupt
ALLI NOVAK
and very secret ghost-haunting society.” (Although, if there is one of these soci-
go back to face her personal demons was
classes in economics and writing and
eties at Mills, Kuhn would like to know
appropriate. “So here we’re dealing with
lives in Underwood Apartments with her
about it.)
both actual ghosts and the personal,
young daughter. Because her novel is so
metaphorical ghosts that haunt us,”
strongly based on reality, Gore decided
Kuhn says.
to name many of the locations, includ-
Mills inspired Kuhn in a variety of ways. She remembers the stories of ghost sightings on campus she heard as
ing the College itself. “Mills is such a
a student: the disappearing horse-drawn
A Magical Sanctuary
carriage, the spooky footsteps in Lisser
Ariel Gore ’94 drew on memory and
didn’t see any compelling reason not to
Hall. She says that the overall theme
imagination for We Were Witches (2017,
name it.” In the story of a young single
of her story is revisiting one’s past, and
Amethyst
autobio-
mother struggling with shame, poverty,
since her protagonist, Evie Tanaka, was
graphical novel takes place partially
and violence, Mills serves as a sanctu-
a Morgan College dropout, having her
at Mills, where her protagonist attends
ary from the outside world. At Mills,
Editions).
Gore’s
singular and magical place,” Gore says. “I
WINTER 2021
9
Gore’s protagonist—also named Ariel—is
Herron, who is a “huge Mills fan,” says
memory and affection for the campus
accepted and given the opportunity to
that the book was inspired by fond
allowed her to give detailed descrip-
explore her ideas and her identity. Most
memories of her time at the College,
tions of favorite campus locations, such
importantly, her desire to write is taken
and she even places her young protago-
as the Greek Theater, Mills Hall, and the
seriously and not dismissed because she
nist at Mills. “My character, Ellie, is try-
residence halls. “The entire book was
just happens to be a mother.
ing to decide where to go to school. Her
inspired by my love of Mills College,”
“The couple of years I spent at Mills
mother is dying, and going to Mills will
says McCracken, who, like her character,
impacted my life as a writer in profound
allow her to stay close to her, but Ellie
discovered a supportive environment
and beautiful ways,” says Gore, who also
still longs to spread her wings,” she says.
at Mills in which to explore new people
notes that she’s still paying off her student loans.
A Home Away from Home
and ideas that she would not have found
A Place to Find Yourself
in her small Indiana hometown. At
Affection for one’s alma mater is often
Mills, she met people from around the
the impetus for a narrative, and that
globe: “Wonderful young women, each
As with Gore, Rachael Herron, MFA ’99,
was the case for Alice McCracken ’63.
of them, all very different from me,” she
felt a sense of comfort at Mills. “Is it
Using the pseudonym Dorothy Rice
says. McCracken adds that Mills wasn’t
weird to say that Mills feels like a mater-
Bennett, McCracken writes romance
the answer to all her problems, but it
nal force in my life? When I was on cam-
stories with lesbian characters. After
did open her up to new worlds and pro-
pus, I always felt safe,” she says. Herron
attending Reunion in 1993, she got to
vided much needed individual attention.
still feels safe as a regular visitor (at
work writing a novel set on a college
“I would have been lost in a university,”
least before COVID) to the library and
campus much like Mills. The Artemis
she says.
the Tea Shop, both of which she calls
Adventure (2017, Outskirts Press) is
perfect spaces for writing. A Bent Twig
the story of a young runaway from the
A Place to Face the Future
and a successful author of more than
South Bronx and her adventures: first,
It was Mahmud Rahman’s unique per-
two dozen books under the name R.H.
heading to California, and then study-
spective as both a Mills College staff
Herron, she incorporated Mills into her
ing at the fictional Montrose College
member and a graduate student (MFA
novel Splinters of Light (2015, Berkley).
for
’04) that inspired his story written for
McCracken’s
excellent
PAUL K URODA
Women.
T
he shadow, the musician (you), the huge door that divides the space. Us. His name is a tinkle of crystal. Concert of those strange caressing melodies. I sit on the threshold of nobody’s door, the one in the painting. My ear is quick to hear. Faster than my eye. A window there, another here. The sky above my head. My feet on a rug. Some notes melt together and then fade out. –“Musician” by Carlota Caulfield
ALLI NOVAK
N
ew students wore excited faces, returnees were happy to reunite with friends, and faculty geared up to start a new year. Only the staff who worked year-round were ambivalent, some among them blue that the summer of an empty campus had ended too soon. –“Prophets and Spies” by Mahmud Rahman, MFA ’04
Oakland Noir, an anthology published by
A Place for Musings
and set their stories, mostly of the ghost
Akashic Books (2017) as part of its series
Renowned poet Carlota Caulfield has
variety, on campus. Reiss herself men-
of noir short stories set in different cities
taught Spanish and Spanish American
tions the College in two of her books, The
around the world. Rahman was asked to
Studies at Mills since 1992. In her poetry
Strange Case of Baby H (2009, Skyview
contribute to their Oakland edition set
collection
Notebook
Books) and The Glass House People (1996,
in a neighborhood of his choice. Mills
(2016, Hardpressed Poetry), she includes
HMH Books). “I figure that the young
seemed an excellent location for its atmo-
some poems inspired by her time liv-
readers of these books will be, in just a
sphere—and Rahman knew it well.
The
Neumeister
ing on campus. She says the poems are
few years, applying to college,” she says.
“Prophets and Spies” is about a Mills
connected to concerts and people in
“It doesn’t hurt for them to have heard
College staff member and a group of
the Music Department, as well as her
of Mills already.” Reiss recently started
activist students on New Year’s Eve
son learning to play the acoustic guitar
working on a time travel story after
1999. “I remembered how a faculty mem-
when they lived in Faculty Village. As
reading some newly discovered letters
ber had been very wrapped up in the
a resident on campus for several years,
belonging to two sisters who, in the late
somewhat extreme forebodings about
Caulfield was regularly exposed to cre-
19th century, lived in Mills Hall, where
Y2K,” Rahman says. In thinking about
ativity that was her “bridge toward
Reiss has her office. “My imagination ran
the story, it became important to him
new poetry journeys.” Music and art
wild,” she says.
to incorporate characters from different
had always influenced her work, but at
From the magical to the spooky, from
communities. “Often in campus fiction,
Mills she rediscovered jazz, which fur-
taking risks to self-discovery, from pon-
students or faculty are featured, but staff
ther contributed to her writing. It’s also
dering the future to considering the
tend to be forgotten,” Rahman explains.
where, she says, “I was welcomed as a
present, the inspirations are as varied
“I wanted to write outside this pattern,
poet and valued for my creative work.”
as the writers themselves. But what the
so I featured a staff person I made up as
authors have in common is that for each
one of the main characters of the story.”
A Home for Haunting
Using memory, personal journals, cam-
Kathryn Reiss, a professor in the English
ing space for exploration. Kuhn sums it
pus locations, staff and student charac-
department since 1989 and the author of
up: “This is where I feel like I started on
ters, and an historic moment, Rahman
more than 20 young adult novels, says
the path to becoming who I was meant
crafted a story of noir intrigue that offers
that many of her writing students over
to be . . . that is very rich to draw on as a
readers a different take on the College.
the years have been inspired by Mills
writer.” Indeed, it is.
of them, Mills offers a safe and accept-
WINTER 2021
11
BLACK POWER andthe Mills Girl:
Gender and the Black Campus Movement at Mills
12 
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
An excerpt from a Journal of Civil and Human Rights article about Mills in the late 1960s. By Lauren Araiza *Note: This article includes a direct quote with an outdated racial term. The late 1960s were a time of great societal shifts and change in the United States, and those forces
The BSU’s press conference and threat of militant protest
did not bypass the Mills campus—especially
challenged both the conventional image of the Mills girl and
given the role that the Black Panthers and the
notions of proper feminine behavior. However, it was not the
city of Oakland played during that tumultuous
explicit intention of the students to challenge ideas of feminin-
time. Spurred by the national call for civil rights
ity and ladyhood. Rather, they deliberately employed respect-
and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
ability politics and thus saw their protest as consistent with the
growing numbers of Black students at the College
behavior expected of a Mills girl. [Elizabeth “Liz”] Reynolds ’68
attempted to push for academic and social equity
later explained that holding a press conference was in line with
with limited success.
respectable behavior because they did it “not to be mean, not to
In an article published in the fall 2019 edition
be disrespectful, but to get what we want.” Furthermore, accord-
of the Journal of Civil and Human Rights, which
ing to Barbara Morrow Williams ’68, the students presented
is published by the University of Illinois Press,
themselves as ladylike Mills girls, in opposition to students on
Denison University professor Lauren Araiza out-
other campuses, even when protesting. She later described a
lined how this eventful time across the country
photograph of the students taken at the press conference that
was also transformative for the College. The inter-
was published in a Bay Area newspaper:
views and research she conducted detail how Mills, as with other women’s colleges, occupied a very specific space in its earliest days—as a destination mostly for the daughters of the wealthy (and usually white) elite. But growing activism, led by students of color at institutions across the
When you have photos of like San Francisco State and some of these other schools that are exploding, you’ve got people out there in combat jackets and boots and looking like Che Guevara knockoffs. We’re sitting there and we’re all wearing I. Magnins and we’ve got our Vidal Sassoon haircuts. I mean, we’re looking anything but radical. We look about as radical as the Junior League.
Bay Area, pushed colleges and universities into
Morrow Williams later wondered if it was the contrast between
diversifying their faculty and class offerings in
their respectable appearance and radical actions that some
the latter half of the 20th century. At Mills, those
found particularly disconcerting.
actions reached a crescendo with an occupation
Despite the BSU’s attempts to employ respectability politics,
of President Robert Wert’s office in Mills Hall on
many outside observers were alarmed by the students’ threat of
March 21, 1969, which directly led to the estab-
direct action. Some in the Black community were concerned that
lishment of the College’s first ethnic studies
the students’ femininity, ladyhood, and marriage prospects had
program. (Archive images from the occupation
been compromised. Morrow Williams recalled that family friends
appear throughout this piece.) These efforts echo
had criticized her parents for sending her to Mills because they
across the decades now in the College’s stated
felt that women should marry and have children, not pursue
mission and emphasis on social justice: Araiza’s
higher education. They echoed the many critics of higher edu-
argument is that Mills wouldn’t be the institution
cation for women, who had argued since the 19th century that
of higher learning it is today without the efforts
intelligence was unfeminine and that a college education ren-
of these student activists, even though—at the
dered women unsuitable for marriage. In response, at Mills—as
time—their actions were considered antithetical
at other women’s colleges—marriage was promoted as a goal for
to the ideal “Mills girl.”
students and was tied to ideals of ladyhood. Long-standing col-
This excerpt of Araiza’s article concentrates on
lege traditions included the elaborate formal announcement of
the conditions in the 1967–68 school year that
engagements at dinner and a ceremony at graduation that hon-
led up to occupation, including efforts by Black
ored seniors who had married or become engaged while stu-
students to appeal to the Mills administration by
dents. Mills administrators encouraged this and stressed the
embodying the stereotype of a typical women’s
importance of training students to be both ladies and wives.
college attendee—polite and mannered. As this excerpt begins, Araiza is referencing a press conference held by the newly formed Black Student Union (BSU) on May 7, 1968, after some of its members had taken actions such as writing news-
+
Interested in reading the full article by Lauren Araiza? Visit jstor.org/journal/jcivilhumarigh for more information.
paper editorials and petitioning the administration for change, but to no avail. –Allison Rost WINTER 2021
13
“ Mos t par e nt s hate to admit to t he ir f r ie nds t hat t he ir litt le gir ls might har bor ‘ radical ideas ’ lik e s tude nt s at Be r k eley and Columbia.” Lynn White, who was president of Mills from
girls, many students and alumnae challenged
1943 to 1958, called for courses that would sup-
the critique that protesting was unladylike and
posedly prepare students for marriage and moth-
thus not in keeping with the Mills image. An
erhood, such as home economics, interior design,
editorial in the Mills Stream declared, “Most
and child psychology. Regardless of these efforts,
parents hate to admit to their friends that their
Morrow Williams’s parents’ friends pointed to the
little girls might harbor ‘radical ideas’ like stu-
press conference as evidence that college had cor-
dents at Berkeley and Columbia. After all, they
rupted their daughter.
go to Mills! What they should tell their friends
Criticism of the BSU’s press conference was
is that Mills girls can mobilize” (emphasis in the
divided along racial lines. White critics were
original). Furthermore, many Mills students and
unconcerned about the Black students’ jeop-
alumnae were supportive of the BSU’s endeavors.
ardized
prospects.
[Associated Students of Mills College] officers,
Moreover, they did not consider the students to
class officers, and residence hall presidents sent
be ladies, despite their use of respectability poli-
individual letters to Wert expressing their sup-
tics. The mother of an alumna wrote to Wert
port for the BSU’s requests and asking that the
criticizing the students for “rank ingratitude and
ASMC be kept informed of all progress made on
gross discourtesy.” Other letters and telegrams
fulfilling them. The staff of the Mills Stream wrote
maligned the BSU as radicals and “communist
editorials supportive of the BSU and noted that
inspired negro agitators” who were using threats
the union’s requests benefitted the entire college,
and coercion to get their way and urged Wert to
not just African American students. Several white
stand up to “unlawful conduct” and “any form
alumnae wrote to Wert expressing their support
of anarchy.” The press conference thus revealed
for the BSU, and some donated money to Mills
that, to many white people, the celebrated lady-
with the express purpose of enabling the hiring
hood of Mills girls did not apply to Black women.
of Black faculty.
femininity or
outsiders—were
Not only did the BSU’s press conference and
alarmed by the new militant image of Mills
threat of direct action challenge the image of
Although
14
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
marriage
some—especially
the Mills girl as a lady who did not engage in protests, but it also represented a shift in strategy that was ultimately successful. Wert met with the students on May 9, two days after the press conference, and subsequently announced to the press that, due to a last-minute resignation of a professor in the mathematics department, African American professor Lawrence Gurly had been hired full-time to begin that fall. An anonymous donation had also enabled the College to create a new faculty position in the sociology department, with the intention that an African American professor be hired by September. An African American clerical staff member had also been hired, and plans were underway to hire a Black student advisor. The college was also in process of raising funds to endow a scholarship in honor of Martin
renewed Black student activism at Mills and else-
Luther King, Jr. The hiring of African American
where. Although the Mills BSU protests in the
faculty and staff elicited praise from the local
spring of 1968 had achieved their initial goals,
Black press and was pointed to as evidence of
Black students soon noted that other significant
the strengthening of the relationships between
issues remained. Ruth Johnson editorialized
Mills and the Black community.
in the Mills Stream that, while she was pleased
Although the Mills BSU achieved all of its
that the BSU’s efforts had led to an increase in
goals and more, the threat of direct action forever
the number of admitted African American stu-
altered the relationship between Wert and student
dents, she was concerned about the discrimina-
activists, as Wert immediately became an outspo-
tory treatment they would receive at Mills, from
ken critic of student radicalism, dissent, and pro-
both fellow students and staff. Micheline Beam
test. At the Mills commencement ceremony on
’72, who entered Mills in the fall of 1968, con-
June 9, 1968, which happened to be the day that
firmed Johnson’s trepidations. She recalled that
Robert Kennedy was assassinated, Wert decried
not only did African American students experi-
the recent protests at Columbia University and
ence discrimination and were the victims of rac-
then said to the assembled audience, “Anarchy
ist acts in the residence halls, but there was no
and violence seem to be spreading at an alarm-
support system in place to help them: “[There
ing rate and we are subject to a barrage of threats,
were] no minority faculty, of color, whatsoever,
demands and warnings that, if various groups do
no administrator or support staff of color. . . . They
not get their way, more disorder will follow. So far,
brought us here onto a campus, and the campus
most of this dissent has emanated from students,
was not prepared for us, and there was no one to
the left-wing, and in our country, from these plus
be supportive of us.” Therefore, Johnson pledged
a disposed minority.” He went on to ask the audi-
that the BSU would continue to agitate on behalf
ence, “Do we, as citizens of this country, stand
of Black students and would employ direct action
with Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy
if necessary: “All in all we were very pleased to
for moderation rather than extremism, or do we
see that our requests, after having been ignored
stand with Mark Rudd, the leader of the student
for so long, were considered favorably. But we also
revolt at Columbia, and Stokely Carmichael?” In
know what we had to do to effect such action—
subsequent speeches and writings, he minimized
and therefore we know what we will have to do
the accomplishments of Black student activists
in the future.” The members of the Mills BSU thus
and did not mention the Mills BSU’s actions.
began the academic year by rejecting respectabil-
Despite Wert’s attempts to discredit student protest, the 1968–69 academic year ushered in
+ Learn more about the 1969 occupation of President Wert’s office in the spring 2021 issue, which will include a roundtable discussion with several of the alumnae who participated.
ity politics and notions of ladyhood connected to the idealized Mills girl.
WINTER 2021
15
A groundbreaking study of Mills alumnae marks its 60th anniversary with the publication of a new book. By Sarah J. Stevenson, MFA ’04 When Ann Markewitz ’60 graduated from Mills, she entered a
women, every 10 years. Subjects were recruited from the Mills
world in which societal expectations for her life revolved around
senior classes of 1958 (65 participants) and 1960 (77) in order to
getting married—to a man, of course—and having children, with
study “creativity, leadership, and plans for the future in modern
career taking a secondary role for most women, even college
young women.” The participants were 97% white and 3% Asian,
graduates. And for a while she went by the book, moving to
largely reflecting the demographic makeup of Mills at the time.
Berkeley with her husband and raising two daughters. After
Organized chronologically, the book takes observations from
reconsidering her identity in midlife, Markewitz ultimately
the five major rounds of data collection and presents them in
married a woman, who she has now been with for 42 years.
“ordinary language,” as Mitchell describes it—from the study’s
It’s a life path that would have been difficult to imagine in her
beginnings looking at creativity and personality in young
youth, but one that has proved deeply fulfilling.
women and how these characteristics affected their choices
Her journey was chronicled through her participation in the
about family and career in midlife, to the effects of personal-
Mills Longitudinal Study, a groundbreaking look at the course
ity on attitudes about retirement and late life purpose. “To our
of women’s lives conducted by Berkeley psychologist Ravenna
great surprise, no one had really ever mapped the adult life
Helson.
course of women,” Mitchell says.
How
groundbreak-
ing was it? In its early days,
We know now that sex and gender have a significant impact
a monograph on the partici-
on the effects of medicine, the course of disease, and our over-
pants—then in their 20s—was
all understanding of physical and mental health. But research
rejected for publication. “The
in the sciences have traditionally been deficient in their atten-
person
[Helson]
tion to, and involvement by, women. Even now, many medical
and said, “Your sample is too
treatments are based on studies conducted on men, or studies
small, but quite honestly, if
that did not account for differences between women and men.
wrote
to
you had 1,000 women in your
Sexism in scientific study has been a longstanding issue. In
study, we wouldn’t publish it,”
the 1930s, Sigmund Freud declared that women stop developing
says Valory Mitchell, who first
psychologically around age 30. Even as psychology came into
became involved in the study
its own as a rigorous academic discipline, there was a pervasive
as a graduate student at UC Berkeley and has now seen it through to the publication of a book. Women on the River of Life: A Fifty-Year Study of Adult Development, by Helson and Mitchell, was published in November 2020, capping off six decades of inquiry with a look back on the many insights the study brought to light—and illuminating an area of research that was, and remains, underexplored. In 1958, Dr. Helson began her decades-long research project tracking the personalities, lives, and careers of Mills alumnae as they changed over time—or didn’t—in one of the only psychological studies of its kind: a longitudinal glimpse into the lives of the same group of 16
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
lack of interest in women as subjects. Times have changed significantly—and even though we still have a way to go to achieve gender equity, researchers now have a better understanding of the need to include people of all genders. The general public is also increasingly aware of the value of research that centers women. And yet, the Mills Study remains unique. Thus far, no other study has paid such granular, detailed attention to observing personality across the lifespan, enabling Helson and her associates to draw a number of interesting conclusions about the various stages of women’s lives, and how they are affected by personality traits as well as the sweep of social and historical change. When the study began, it focused primarily on creativity, looking at young women
DANA DAV IS
deemed to have “creative potential” and tracking their expectations with respect to family, career, and
office, but she stayed 10 years and became the College’s first
their future. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, expectations
dean of admissions.
for women tended to align with traditional milestones such as
The Mills study revealed that there are many ways to find hap-
marriage and motherhood. Several chapters of the new book
piness in one’s work, and, beyond that, in life post-retirement.
discuss the Mills women’s attitudes toward—and participation
In fact, contrary to popular understanding, women in their 50s
in—these “social clock projects,” as Mitchell describes them.
often experience a prime of life rather than the tribulations of
Across the decades, the advent of the women’s movement
menopause and the empty nest.
and gay liberation broadened existing ideas about what women
“Society seems to make a big point of telling women that
were capable of doing, and what was socially acceptable. It even
their lives are over after a certain point, and the women them-
affected the way researchers themselves approached their
selves do not feel that way,” Mitchell says. In fact, the Mills
studies. “The feminists really changed a lot of research in very
Study research confirms what psychoanalyst Erik Erikson pos-
important ways, like acknowledging the researcher’s role, and
ited about psychosocial development later in life: the continu-
that it couldn’t really be sterile,” says Carol Whitehill, one of
ing importance of generativity, or a concern with guiding and
the participants from the Class of 1958.
nurturing the next generation.
A feminist and researcher herself, Helson helped bring about
“The idea is that you’re leaving society with something that
these changes. Subjects were greeted with kindness, warmth,
will outlive you, that’s a positive contribution,” Mitchell says.
and genuine interest, whether they were at the institute in per-
“Maybe that’s your children, but maybe it’s also that you do
son or simply filling out questionnaires—a departure from the
things for the society, or you create things, or you make sure to
expected atmosphere of clinical detachment. It was, many felt,
preserve and protect things that are of value.”
an opportunity to reflect on their lives with a depth and regularity that they might not have otherwise had.
Several chapters of the book examine how the women in the study attained that sense of generativity. Ann Markewitz
As the study participants experienced different life stages,
describes this happening in her family life, in maintaining close
researchers noticed that personality was a very stable predic-
relationships with her children and grandchildren; but also
tor of the paths women took. Some defied socially prescribed
in her later career, working as a consultant with the Tohono
expectations, while others followed the norms of marrying and
O’odham Nation in Tucson, Arizona, to build a skilled nurs-
having children soon after college. However, as these women
ing facility. According to Markewitz, this was one of the great
grew into their 40s and 50s, their priorities would change—
learning experiences of her life.
sometimes quite drastically. Diana Birtwistle Odermatt ’60, who had been organizing a session on the study for Reunion 2020, initially took her life in
Perhaps this is one of the book’s most significant takeaways— that attainment of certain milestones does not mean a person stops learning, growing, or contributing.
a more traditional direction. She got married right after gradu-
In a way, the Mills study itself is a mirror of the very same
ation—“the last thing in the world I ever expected of myself!”—
life stages it describes—and, with the recent book publication,
and stayed happily married for 60 years. Once her children
the study has reached its stage of reflection and generativity,
were in high school, however, she felt ready to return to work.
leaving something of itself to the Mills community, the field of
She began with a six-month position in the Mills admissions
psychology, and to future generations. WINTER 2021
17
AAMC NEWS & NOTES A Message from the AAMC President Fall at Mills was a bit different in 2020,
alumnae-student
with fewer returning students com-
toring
ing back to campus, but it was still
platform at connect.mills
abuzz with the excitement of first-year
.edu. I sent a recording of
students who arrived with a host of
the AAMC update session
expectations. I took part in a number of
via email to alumnae on
virtual orientation events for students,
October 29. If you didn’t
including the candle-lighting ceremony
receive it, please contact
where students shared their dreams
Alumnae
and aspirations for their time at Mills.
alumnae-relations@mills
Students were able to learn more about
.edu to update your email
the AAMC, its history, and our engage-
information.
ment with students, and to see and hear
and
The
men-
networking
Relations
AAMC
at
also
welcomes and well-wishes from the
hosted a town hall with
Board of Governors (BOG).
President Beth Hillman
In addition to the virtual versions
on September 17. The BOG
of our usual fall events, Sayaka Omori
had collected questions
’06, an instructor at the University of
of importance to alum-
Washington’s College of Education, and
nae via email, Facebook,
I visited a course for international stu-
and a phone tree. AAMC
dents—the first of its kind at Mills. We
vice
spoke about our own cultural transi-
Cunningham and Alexa
tions and navigating US culture.
Pagonas
presidents ’91
Dawn
presented
Through lectures and hands-on learn-
these questions to me and
ing, the course hopes to set up incom-
President Hillman, who
ing students for successful academic,
addressed them with sub-
professional, and personal development
stance and transparency.
at Mills. Topics include cross-cultural
If you missed the live session, I recom-
come to Mills, paving the way for others
awareness, local history, community and
mend reviewing the recording that I
to follow in her footsteps. She was also
cultural engagement in the Bay Area,
sent to all alumnae, also on October
one of the most intelligent and engaged
and strategies for academic success in a
29. You can read Dawn’s summary
alumnae I had the good fortune to meet
liberal arts setting. This course is com-
of the event on the facing page. I am
and know at Mills. She will be greatly
pulsory for incoming F-1/J-1 students. I
grateful for our president’s leadership,
missed. You can find Peggy’s obituary in
hope it will be offered every semester!
commitment, and tireless work on
this issue’s In Memoriam section.
The pandemic robbed us of our in-per-
Viji Nakka-Cammauf
I would like to close with this anony-
behalf of Mills.
mous quote:
son Reunion, my all-time favorite event
I would also like to express my con-
at Mills, where we get to see so many
gratulations to the 2020 Alumnae
alumnae from various classes populat-
Award recipients: Kirsten Saxton ’90,
ing campus with their excitement and
Distinguished
enthusiasm. Instead, we hosted a few vir-
Marge Thomas, MA ’67, Outstanding
tual events that brought us together and
Volunteer
Dorothy
I wish you all continued good health,
helped us celebrate accomplishments and
Lawrence-Akaeze ’11, Recent Graduate
safety, and well-being, and I look for-
events. At our AAMC update session on
Award. See our profile of the awardees
ward to meeting again when it is safe for
October 3, alumnae saw and heard from
on the following spread.
us to gather.
Achievement
Award;
and
Award;
Those we love, don’t go away, they walk beside us every day, Unseen, unheard, but always near, still loved, still missed, and very dear.
our newly elected governors and alum-
On a sadder note, this fall we lost yet
nae trustees. Committee chairs shared
another one of our beloved alumnae,
Viji Nakka-Cammauf, MA ’82
highlights, and Dawn Cunningham ’85
Peggy Woodruff ’58. Peggy was one of
President, Alumnae Association of
guided us through MillsConnect, our
the first African American students to
Mills College
18
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
Warmly,
AAMC co-hosts town hall on Berkeley partnership conversation On September 17, the AAMC convened a virtual town hall at
expanded partnership, she said, would define a sustainable path
which President Beth Hillman addressed questions from alum-
forward that provides a high-quality educational experience for
nae regarding Mills College’s continuing conversation with UC
women, students of color, first-generation students, and gender
Berkeley to explore the possibility of a significantly expanded
nonbinary students, while offering students and faculty greater
partnership between the two institutions. The event was co-
opportunities for learning and research. To view a complete
hosted by the College’s Office of the President and Office of
recording of the town hall, go to bit.ly/Sept17townhall.
Alumnae Relations.
This winter, the AAMC aims to offer alumnae an additional
President Hillman emphasized that this conversation is in the
online opportunity to discuss this news. Please watch your
early stages and that no proposal had, as of that date, been pre-
email for an invitation from the AAMC. If you do not regularly
sented to the UC Board of Regents or the Mills Board of Trustees.
receive email news from Mills or the AAMC, make sure we have
She placed the conversation in the context of the College’s per-
your current address by sending an email to aamc@mills.edu
sistent budget deficits and enrollment declines, which have
or calling 510.430.2110 with your name and class year.
been exacerbated this year by the COVID-19 pandemic. An
MILLS COLLEGE
Oakland, California
Est. 1852
SHOW YOUR MILLS PRIDE ALL AROUND TOWN with a new Mills College bumper sticker! With a simple collegiate design featuring our signature eucalyptus leaf, these stickers are available for purchase on the AAMC online store. Also newly available online are limited-edition Mills seal mugs that feature the elegant seal of our alma mater in shiny gold foil. A portion of the proceeds from these mugs goes toward supporting the College. Visit aamcmerch.square.site for these and many other lovely items created especially for alums. All merchandise sales benefit the AAMC unless otherwise noted.
WINTER 2021
19
AAMC NEWS & NOTES
Three change leaders receive 2020 AAMC Alumnae Awards EVERY YEAR SINCE 2007, the AAMC has selected exemplary alumnae to receive its highest honors: The Distinguished Achievement Award for distinction in a professional field; the Recent Graduate Award; and the Outstanding Volunteer Award. This year, because of COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to gather at Reunion to celebrate award recipients as we usually do. Instead, the AAMC is delighted to spotlight our awardees here. AAMC
Marge Thomas
Communications Coordinator Kate Beckwith, MFA ’13, and Alumnae
students partnered with Oakland artists
Awards Committee co-chair Kristen
to collect and curate materials for a pub-
Oliver ’17, MPP ’18, convened the
lic digital archive of The Town’s past and
awardees via Zoom to reflect on
present as an artistic hub.
their time at Mills, their life paths
In addition to her scholarly work,
since graduating, and their hopes
Kirsten has offered her expertise to the
for the College. Kirsten
Saxton
’90,
alumnae community by leading AAMC
our
travel program tours and giving talks at
Distinguished Achievement Award
regional Mills clubs. “I can think of few
recipient, earned her PhD from UC
alums who are more deserving of this
Davis in 1997. An Oakland native,
honor,” said Janet.
she returned to Mills as an assistant visiting professor of English in 1997 and climbed the ranks, reaching
Kirsten Saxton (left), with her mother, Professor Emerita Ruth Saxton
full professor status in 2012. According to her nominator, Janet Boone MacEachern ’90, Kirsten embodies the best of Mills and has empowered generations of students. Her command of her field and commitment to student development have made her an outstanding professor as well as an empathetic mentor. A cultural studies and feminist scholar, Kirsten specializes in 18th-century literature with a focus on gender in popular British narratives. Her scholarly research attends to authors and genres whose contributions to the literary landscape have been obscured or repressed. She has published three books— The Passionate Fictions of Eliza Haywood: Essays on Her Life and Work (2000), Narratives of Women and Murder in England, 1680-1760: Deadly Plots (2009), and Adapting the Eighteenth Century (2019)—and numerous articles and book chapters. She is a lead faculty researcher on a five-year, multi-pronged humanities project at Mills funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For this project, she co-taught a course in which 20
M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
This
year’s
Outstanding
Volunteer
Award goes to Marge Thomas, MA ’67, who has been dedicated to furthering the mission of the AAMC and the College for
decades. After graduating from Mills with her MA in English literature, Marge served as registrar for the College, as executive director of the AAMC, and as editor of the Mills Quarterly (then published by the AAMC). Her AAMC positions were far more than simply jobs for her, and she went above and beyond her duties on a regular basis. For example, she often volunteered to host events at her home during Reunion, and throughout the year she took extra time to get to know not only alumnae, but also students—as they would one day join the ranks of Mills graduates. During the Strike of 1990, she leveraged her relationships to help both groups support each other. For decades, Marge was known as the Mills historian, another role she played as a volunteer. She could tell you exactly what Susan and Cyrus Mills did in the “Sandwich Islands” and why it mattered to current students. During Orientation, Marge would dress up as Susan and tell stories of the College’s early days.
Marge’s volunteer work extends far beyond the Mills cam-
in helping. This “purposeful accident” resulted in Dorothy men-
pus. As noted by her Bent Twig daughter nominators, Megan
toring more and more Mills students who had a similar desire
Thomas Barr ’93, MA ’98, and Katherine Thomas ’88, Marge
to hers: to create transformative opportunities in their com-
is a fearless advocate for immigrants and homeless people
munities. Giving back to and connecting to these students has
and a supportive presence for anyone in need of comfort or
given Dorothy an increased sense of purpose as a Mills alumna.
care in her Sonoma community. We are
Similarly, Kirsten never expected to find herself back at Mills
honored to bestow the Outstanding
in the position of professor, but she
Volunteer Award upon her.
has embraced the role wholeheart-
Dorothy Lawrence-Akaeze ’11, this
edly. “Mills College’s values mean
year’s Recent Graduate Award recipi-
that you always have to be thinking
ent, is an enthusiastic change leader
about new ways to support the folks
and proud Oakland native. She earned
in the room,” she said. “Institutions
her BA in psychology from Mills and
of higher education weren’t neces-
obtained an MA in education, special-
sarily built to support the marginal-
izing in adult education and training,
ized communities that are central
from the University of Phoenix in 2013.
to the current student body, so their
Since graduating from Mills, Dorothy
mere existence on campus is a radical
has worked as an organizational devel-
act pushing the institution to learn,
opment strategist.
grow, and do better.”
In 2015, she joined the AAMC’s
It doesn’t always live up to the chal-
Alumnae of Color Committee (AOCC).
lenge. Dorothy noted the difficulty
She served as a governor of the AAMC
she had on campus as a Black stu-
from 2015 to 2018 and participated
dent, especially when there weren’t
in the development of a new compact
many others around. This experience
between the AAMC and the College, which laid the groundwork for the
informs her work mentoring current Dorothy Lawrence-Akaeze
organizations’ current Memorandum of Collaboration and Agreement. Dorothy is a champion of student advocacy and enjoys men-
Mills students, and she hopes that any future changes at Mills ensure that the needs of each student are pri-
oritized, valued, and respected.
toring and supporting Mills students. Her volunteer efforts
Marge recalled that, during her time at Mills in the ’60s, the
include co-leading the AOCC’s annual Phenomenal Women of
student body was mainly white, and most of the women of color
Color ceremony and supporting Summer Academic Workshop
she got to know were international students. But the immense
brunches, Taco Tuesdays, career advisory panels, student
sense of support Mills fostered between women was undeniable
events, and more.
and contrasted with her time later at UC Berkeley, which she
Nominator Myila Granberry ’05 said Dorothy exemplifies the Mills woman, and we couldn’t agree more. We are proud to honor her with the Recent Graduate Award and look forward to watching her career develop.
called a “cold bath” lacking in support and opportunities for women to explore their full potential. “Even during the Strike,” Marge said, “I’m not sure people understood exactly what Mills ought to be, what it needed to do to grow and change with the times.” Kirsten observed that some of her faculty colleagues believe Mills would be better off now if it had gone coed 30 years ago, but she disagrees. “The
DURING OUR CONVERSATION, the three awardees each out-
past three decades have allowed Mills to become an institu-
lined their very different paths before, during, and after their
tion that has an awareness of trans students and studies, for
times at Mills. The common thread between them, though, was
example, and one that increasingly empowers BIPOC students,”
that they were all drawn back into the Mills orbit after graduation.
she said. For Kirsten, this evolution made rejecting the coed
Dorothy described her theory of the “purposeful accident”: a
option worth it, allowing Mills to face the future with integrity.
move guided by intuition rather than a clear vision. In an effort
Mills is an institution that welcomes people who come to make
to build a bridge between Mills and students at an Oakland
an impact. Students push, alumnae push, and the world pushes
middle school, she somewhat accidentally joined the AOCC in
to shape Mills College into the very best version of itself it can be.
seeking out campus programs and alumnae groups interested
—Kate Robinson Beckwith, MFA ’13 WINTER 2021
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2 0 2 0
Virtual Reunion
Despite the cancellation of in-person events, several yearly traditions continued online on October 1–3, 2020.
There There Faculty Panel The weekend’s festivities kicked off with a discussion about the first-year student common read, There There by Tommy Orange. The book, which takes its title from the famous Gertrude Stein quote, follows various indigenous Oaklanders as they prepare for a powwow. The talk was led by native members of the Mills community: Elder in Residence Patricia St. Onge; Assistant Adjunct Professor of Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies Natalee Kehaulani Bauer ’97, MA ’07; Kelli Rutherford ’21, leader in the College’s Indigenous Women’s Alliance; and Charlene Harrison ’96, MA ’08, who works with the Native American Health Center in Oakland.
“There’s beauty in writing down the sorrow.” –Patricia St. Onge
Writers’ Salon Five alumnae authors—Thea Orozco ‘03 (far left), Kathleen Dalton ‘70, Nicole Taghert Bergstrom ‘70, Kristen Baumgardner Caven ‘88, and Kathleen MacKay ‘70 (not pictured)—read from their works and answered questions on everything from the lives of Theodore Roosevelt and Bob Dylan to the life of an introvert. Caven also showed off her short stop-motion animated film, The Dirndl Diaspora (left).
Convocation Read our roundup on page 4! 22
+ M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
“There were some great stories told, great memories shared. We are looking forward to having a reunion in person next year!” –Lisa Kremer ’90
Class of 1990 Wine Reception Celebrating their 30th Reunion, members of the Class of 1990 logged on from all over the world—from Mumbai to Colorado, Georgia, Washington state, and of course, the Bay Area.
Darius Milhaud Concert The annual celebration of the longtime Mills music professor was pre-recorded at the Mable Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College, featuring performances by Sara Parkins and Sarah Thornblade on violin, Maggie Parkins on cello, Genevieve Feiwen Lee on piano, and Melissa Givens with vocals.
AAMC Update A quick synopsis of this meeting is available on page 18.
+
50th Reunion
Class of 1970 Reception Several dozen members of the Class of 1970 commemorated their 50th Reunion on Zoom with an update from President Elizabeth L. Hillman, a slideshow put together by Kathleen Dalton ’70, and a trivia game. Did you know that residence-hall curfew times were once based on when ferries from San Francisco would arrive in Oakland?
WINTER 2021
23
Class Notes do not appear in the online edition of Mills Quarterly. Alumnae are invited to share their news with classmates in the Mills College alumnae community. To submit notes for publication in the next available Quarterly, send your update to classnotes@mills. edu.
Class Notes do not appear in the online edition of the Mills Quarterly. Alumnae are invited to share their news with classmates in the Mills College Alumnae Community, alumnae.mills.edu. To submit notes for publication in the next available Quarterly, send your update to classnotes@mills.edu.
In Memoriam Notices of deaths received before October 2, 2020 To submit listings, please contact alumnae-relations@mills.edu or 510.430.2123 Eleanor “Ellie” Stauffer Neely ’38, July 8, 2020, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ellie grew up performing ballet and modern dance, and continued dancing at Mills and then in New York City. Ellie had a great love of family and friends and embraced new ideas with open arms. She was a knitter of sweaters, an avid reader, a hospital volunteer, and a player of tennis court and bridge. She is survived by a brother; niece Caroline Lawton Fahlen ’69; three daughters; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Barbara Miller Glaser ’43, August 19, 2020, in Edwards, Colorado. After Mills, Barbara returned to her home state of Colorado. She worked for many civic causes, including for Rose Hospital, the Jewish Community Center, and the National Sports Center for the Disabled. The Denver Rotary Club honored her with a distinguished service award in 1987. She also loved to ski, taught the sport to the blind, and enjoyed time in Vail. She is survived by three children, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Emily Bourne Grigsby ’44, September 17, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia. A true Renaissance woman, Emily was a mediator following graduation from the Woodrow Wilson College of Law while also hosting more than 30 solo shows of her own paintings. She also sang soprano with the
San Francisco Opera, earned her pilot’s license, modeled for Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta, and studied interior design. She is survived by many nieces and nephews. Murlyn “Murly” Rodger Miner, MA ’44, August 2, 2020, in Nelson, New Hampshire. Murly rehabilitated injured soldiers returning from the Pacific after World War II. After marrying her late husband, Dick, whom she met on the job, the two moved to New England, where Murly volunteered with organizations like the Wellesley Service League and the Congregational Church. She was a sophisticate who felt at home with anyone in any environment. She is survived by three children, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Marian McCormack Wilkie ’45, September 3, 2020, in San Anselmo, California. She majored in psychology at Mills, and later retired as an instructional assistant at Redwood High School in Marin County. She is survived by two daughters, including Marianne Wilkie Gripenburg ’78. Christine Oertel Sjogren ’45, May 6, 2020, in Corvallis, Oregon. Christine was born in Germany, and her family immigrated to Portland in 1935. After Mills, she studied at Johns Hopkins and then settled in Corvallis, where she served as professor of modern languages at Oregon State for 30 years. Her 1972 book of essays on Adalbert Stifter’s novel Der Nachsommer is still cited widely. Christine was also a concert pianist of classical music. She is survived by five children and five grandchildren.
Peggy Constance Woodruff ’58 Peggy was born in Orlando, Florida, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She entered Mills in 1954 during a turbulent time in our nation’s history: Schools had recently been desegregated by the Supreme Court, and the civil rights movement was prominent nationwide. After graduating in 1958, Peggy continued to involve herself in social justice and civil rights issues for many years. She moved to the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco in the ’60s and was involved in city politics. She was even photographed by Life magazine in an article about “quaint” San Francisco life. She was the administrator for substance-abuse service contracts for the City and County of San Francisco. After the loss of her parents and sister, Peggy decided to research her family background and became a genealogist, establishing a business called Family Roots to research African American families. She traveled by train to Florida many times to research her family background. Peggy also traveled extensively in Europe and briefly lived in Mexico City. Peggy lived in Marin for a number of years, where she farmed acres of fruit trees and grew vegetables. After moving to Oakland, she was employed as director of the West Berkeley Health Center and later worked as an independent contractor and grant writer for service agencies. In later years, she was a founding member of the Mills Alumnae of Color Committee and served as its co-chair from 1999 to 2006. In 2003, Peggy secured the College’s first Smithsonian Art Exhibit, “Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers from 1840-Present.” Peggy died in Oakland on September 18, 2020.
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M I L L S Q U A R T E R LY
Patricia “Pat” Donovan Bugas ’47, September 21, 2020, in Portland, Oregon. Pat and her late husband of 72 years, Ted, made their home in Astoria, where Pat was instrumental in starting Phoenix House, a home for unwed mothers. Pat was a gifted pianist and a woman of deep faith, and she invited anyone into her home for a meal despite her own big family. She is survived by a sister, Mary Donovan Bunning ’42; 10 children; 24 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren. Billie Wallace Williams ’47, May 26, 2020, in Olympia, Washington. Billie was a French major named to Phi Beta Kappa when she was a junior, and she completed advanced studies at the Sorbonne, founded her own French travel company, and received the Legion of Honour medal from the French government for furthering cultural relationships between France and the United States. She is survived by her husband, Robinson; two sons; and several grandchildren. Helen Wood Wyatt ’49, September 7, 2020, in Jackson, Georgia. Helen was a native of Canada and grew up in Vancouver. After Mills, she worked as an occupational therapist for many years in Atlanta-area schools. She was later a homemaker who enjoyed sewing, gardening, swimming, and scrapbooking. She is survived by a sister, three children, and two grandchildren. Isabelle Forbusch Dupzyk ’50, April 3, 2018, in Stockton, California. After receiving a degree in chemistry from Mills, she earned a master’s
Gifts in Memory of Received June 1, 2020 – August 31, 2020
Rosario Cardona Perez by Sophia Perez ’16
Henry Baltazar, P ’03 by Julia Almanzan ’92
Donna Hunt by Cheryl Smith Blankenship ’72
Timanna Bennett ’02 by Marcia Randall ’02
Kim Korner by Jessica Mosher ’95
Linda Nelson Branson ’77 by her spouse, James Branson
James Long, P ’01 by his daughter, Courtney Long ’01
Frits Brevet, P ’76, spouse of Erica Weber Brevet ’51, P ’76, by Joan Thompson Armstrong ’51, P ’95; Jeanne Thomas ’51
Leah Hardcastle MacNeil, MA ’51, P ’75 by Kay Miller Browne ’53, P ’83; Susan Stanton Smegal ’60
Alda Nye Byron ’88 by Sharon Page-Medrich ’05
Donald Massagli, P ’96 by Shannon Wolfe ’96
Nancy Speer Cody ’44 by her son, Alan Cody
Barbara Forster Mitchell ’63 by Eleanor Sims ’64
Olivia de Havilland by Kathleen “Katie” Sanborn ’83
Elaine Moss ’61, TCRED ’62 by Dorotha Myers Bradley ’61
Marjorie Lesser Fasman, P ’63 by her daughter, Fay Pfaelzer Abrams ’63, P ’92
Winsome Nembhard, P ’90 by her daughter, Lois Nembhard ’90
Theodora “Thea” Faust Anderson ’14 by her aunt, Rhoda Faust Mary Johnson Foraker ’55 by Harrie Cheim Kordelos ’54 Steven Givant by Yun Miao ’11 Laura Gobbi by Suzanne Alexander, Sherisse Dozier, Kelsey Lindquist ’10, Shannon Wolfe ’96 Helen Gotkowitz, P ’83 by her daughter, Carrie Gotkowitz ’83 Coleen Gragen by Natalee Bauer ’97, MA ’07 Patricia Heskins Gumbiner ’52 by Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae, Carole Joseph Silva ’54 Arnold Hendrick by his spouse, M. Georgeann Freeman Hendrick ’69 Edward “Terry” Hogan, spouse of Elizabeth Livingston Hogan ’63, by Sharon Coleman ’68 George Brown by Cynthia Facer Clark ’64, P ’91
degree in biochemistry and biophysics at Oregon State. She later worked as a chemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She and her late husband, Jene, bred German Shepherds and loved attending various performances in San Francisco and Livermore. Isabelle also enjoyed sewing in her spare time. Franque Mattoon Nelson ’50, May 8, 2020, in Carmichael, California. At Mills, she studied dance, and enjoyed the art in its many forms, from acrobatics to hula. She met her late husband, Maynard, when they were set up on a blind date during her time at Mills. Franque loved to volunteer, work at her shop in Old Sacramento, and spend time with her family. She is survived by her six children, 10 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Mary Rosenthal Hoexter ’50, September 30, 2020, in Palo Alto, California. Mary was born in San Francisco and had a life-long love of the City. She was an avid student of California Jewish history and co-authored several articles with son David on family forebears. She loved nature, the environment, hiking, and travel. She met her late husband, Hank, on a hike in 1946, and they trekked the Himalayas in the 1990s. She is survived by a son, three grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Marion Krebs Conlisk ’51, July 17, 2020, in Los Altos Hills, California. She attended Mills with her sister, Ottole, who was her best friend. The two later shared a painting studio and sold their paintings at stores in downtown Los Altos. Marion was passionate about her house and garden; she loved tending to her extensive rose collection. She served
Georgine Dunlop O’Connor ’81 by Helen Harris Margaret “Meg” Quigley ’63 by Marilyn Schuster ’65 Albert Romano, P ’79 by his daughter, Jeanette Romano DeBenedictis ’79 Marion Ross ’44 by Yuk-yin Ma ’90, Sharon Page-Medrich ’05 Vivian Stephenson by Kathleen Burke Ariel Eaton Thomas ’63, P ’92 by Patricia Wakida ’92 Carol Lotz Wenzel ’46, MA ’47 by Lucile Pedler Griffiths ’46, MA ’47, P ’75 Katherine Zelinsky Westheimer ’42 by Julia Almanzan ’92, Autumn Doerr ’96, Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae, Carole Joseph Silva ’54 Diane Ferris Whyte ’54 by Harrie Cheim Kordelos ’54 Billie Wallace Williams ’47 by Barbara Moller Lyons ’47, TCRED ’48 P=parent. For information about making a tribute gift, contact 510.430.2097 or donors@mills.edu.
as a department chair for the Stanford Museum Treasure Market Fundraising Gala, and she loved celebrating Christmas with her family. She is survived by three children and four grandchildren. Patricia Hoffman Millar ’55, May 1, 2020, in Burbank, California. At Mills, she majored in music and drama, and she later worked as a secretary for Hewlett-Packard in the company’s early days and as a social worker. She and her husband, Graham, lived all over the United States, and her vibrant wit and sense of humor were loved by all. She is survived by Graham and two children. Helen Tucker DeMers ’55, December 2018, in Beaverton, Oregon. Cara Bradbury ’60, September 1, 2020, in Danville, California. She studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills, then went on to teach, perform, and direct musical performances at her alma mater as well at CalArts, UCLA, UC Berkeley, the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company, and the Contra Costa Chorale. In later years, she served as lead accompanist for various churches in the Oakland Diocese. Cara is survived by her best friend and former husband, James Marcus. Barbara Forster Mitchell ’63, June 8, 2020, in Livermore, California. She obtained MA and PhD degrees in art history from Indiana University and taught at the college level in New York and California. She then received an MBA degree from UC Berkeley in 1982 and worked in sales management and biotechnology recruiting, later founding her own company. In retirement, she was active in church-related programs helping those who experienced loss of loved ones. She is survived by her husband, Alex, and a daughter. WINTER 2021
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Diana Russell, professor emerita of women’s studies Diana Russell, one of the first teachers of women’s studies at Mills, died on July 28, 2020, in Oakland. Born and raised in South Africa, Russell witnessed the oppression enacted by the Afrikaner police state, which shaped her scholarship: After receiving a master’s degree in political science from the London School of Economics, she attended Harvard University for her PhD, studying sociology and the history of revolution. It was then, in 1969, that she arrived at Mills as a sociology professor. In her first year, she was the co-instructor on the first woman-focused course at the College, which led to the formation of the women’s studies program—among the first in the US. In the 22 years she taught at Mills, she continually pushed against misogyny with actions such as helping put together the first-ever International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Brussels, Belgium; founding organizations such as Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media, and Feminists’ Anti-Nuclear Group; and coining and politicizing the word “femicide.” Russell documented all of this work throughout many books and articles. She also continued protesting using bold methodology, something she learned in her home country. Russell was known to spray-paint feminist sayings on businesses known for their sexism, stage sit-ins at government offices, and destroy magazines in porn shops. In recent years, Russell shifted her attention to writing her memoirs, which she did not finish. Read more about them on her website, dianarussell.com. She is survived by a sister and an extensive community of friends, admirers, and women who were saved by her work.
Jan Walker Killen ’63, August 11, 2020, in Irving, Texas. After Mills, she received a degree from Texas Women’s University and became a licensed interior designer. Jan had a long record of community service, including as the first president of the Irving Cultural Affairs Council and taking the lead role in the city’s Great Days of Service. Jan will be remembered for her enthusiastic dedication to building peace through service and the arts. She is survived by her husband, Byron; two daughters; three stepchildren; and five grandchildren. Paula Benjamin Little ’64, August 9, 2020, in Tiburon, California. After Mills, she became an award-winning teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and then a beloved principal of Topanga Elementary School. She was honored with the Topanga Citizen of the Year award in 1986. In 2013, Paula began her personal sponsorship of the “Hanging Basket” campaign, which provides hanging baskets along Tiburon Boulevard. Paula loved tending to her beautiful garden of rose bushes and playing the piano while singing. Margaret “Meg” Witmer Brickley ’65, September 15, 2020, in Kerrville, Texas. A military lifestyle took Meg to Denver, Las Vegas, Honolulu, and San Antonio, among other cities. She enjoyed reading, nature photography, travel, and ballet and jazz dance classes. Meg spent the last 35 years in Corpus Christi and Kerrville with husband Phil, and the two enjoyed several cross country trips in recent years. She is survived by her daughter, two stepchildren, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
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Diane Li-hsien Chung Price ’65, May 25, 2020, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She had three careers: elementary school art teacher, licensed real-estate agent, and painter. Her works included photorealistic portraiture and impressionist landscapes, as well as Chinese scrolls. Among her many honors is the Award for Excellence in Realism at the 2011 Oil Painters of America’s National Juried Show. She is survived by her husband, C.W.; a daughter; and three grandchildren. Susan Clark Gillum ’66, September 22, 2020, in Los Gatos, California. After Mills, Sue earned her teaching credential at UC Berkeley. Her four-decade career made her a favorite teacher to thousands of children who would remember a fun, creative, smart, and engaging academic who nurtured the lives of many. She and her husband of 53 years, Tom, enjoyed traveling the world, exploring, hiking, fishing, and golfing. She is survived by Tom, two children, and two grandchildren. Christine Marshall ’69, June 28, 2020, in Columbia, Missouri. After majoring in theatre and English at Mills, Chris earned a master’s degree in English from Northwestern University and then returned to her home in Columbia to pursue a doctorate in theater. She was the costume designer in the University of Missouri Department of Theatre, and taught at Stephens College for 20 years before becoming a celebrated adviser. She is survived by her husband, David; and two children. Jennifer Arnold ’84, April 1, 2020, in New York. Jennifer was a costume dresser on Broadway, spending 32 years working on the crew at Phantom of the Opera. Hers was a unique spirit that took her to Europe and South America as a dancer before she returned to her family’s roots in New York. She once protested a threatened ban on topless women in Times Square by removing her shirt in solidarity. Later in life, she developed pulmonary fibrosis, which made her more susceptible to COVID-19. Jennifer is survived by a sister. Diane Ring ’86, May 4, 2020, in West Hollywood, California. At Mills, she majored in history, and she later worked as a librarian at the public libraries in Denver and Beverly Hills.
Spouses and Family Henry Baltazar, father of Myrtle Baltazar Pickering ’03, January 13, 2020, in Yorba Linda, California. Frank Blauvelt, husband of Ilah Baddley Blauvelt ’52, May 14, 2017, in Jackson, California. Stuart Bowyer, husband of Professor Emerita of Education Jane Bowyer and father of Elizabeth Bowyer ’02, September 23, 2020, in Orinda, California. Fritz Brevet, husband of the late Erica “Rita” Weber Brevet ’51, January 10, 2020, in Oakland. Richard Croul, husband of Jane Bell Croul ’52, July 29, 2019, in Corona del Mar, California. Eleanora “Nora” DeWitt, mother of Sophia DeWitt ’96, April 9, 2020, in Fresno, California. Marjorie Fasman, mother of Fay Pfaelzer Abrams ’63, July 28, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California. Maynard Nelson, husband of the late Franque Mattoon Nelson ’50, February 10, 2020, in Sacramento. Sheldon Grinnell, husband of Maureen Berman Grinnell ’62, July 7, 2019, in Napa, California.
BOG CALL FOR NOMINATIONS Contribute your talents and skills to the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC). Join our Board of Governors! As a governor, you will: • Work with other members of the board to make decisions that best represent alumnae and promote a strong working relationship between alumnae and the College • Attend board meetings (typically four or five each year) • Participate on AAMC committees to develop policies, programs, and events
NOMINATIONS FOR THE AAMC BOARD DUE APRIL 5
We invite alumnae to submit nominations for the 2021-24 term by Monday, April 5. See the “Leadership” section of the AAMC website, aamc.mills.edu, for more information. Send nominations to the Nominating Committee Chair at aamc@mills.edu or AAMC, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., MB #86, Oakland, CA 94613.
2021
AAMC Travel Programs Dutch Waterways April 27–May 5
From the thatched farmhouses and footpaths of fairy-tale Giethoorn to the medieval landmarks of Antwerp, relax on the sunny top deck of your first-class river ship as you enjoy the sights of bygone eras along the scenic waterways of the Netherlands and Belgium. There is so much to see and do! Stroll amongst acres of colorful tulips at Keukenhof Gardens, bike through charming villages, or gaze at masterpieces by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters at the Rijksmuseum. Explore The Hague or watch artisans as they paint delicate porcelain at the Royal Delft factory. Savor world-celebrated Belgian chocolates in Bruges, discover its beer culture, or visit the famed Groeninge Museum and immerse yourself in many other delightful experiences. An extensive meal plan is available throughout your seven-night cruise. For more information, including a full itinerary for this and other planned trips for 2021, please visit the AAMC travel program webpage at alumnae.mills.edu/travel.
Mills Quarterly Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613-1301
MICHAEL HALBERS TA DT
510.430.3312 quarterly@mills.edu www.mills.edu
Splashes of color honor Black lives at campus gate Those few members of the Mills community who still come to campus are now being greeted by a colorful new art installation at the Richards Road entrance. Converging Flora is a collaboration between Cristine Blanco, MFA ’20, and Yétundé Olagbaju, MFA ’20, as a visual representation of the College’s efforts toward becoming an antiracist institution. The front gate expands on a student-created memorial to Black lives with striking sketches of plants, both native and invasive, rendered in and surrounded
by hues pulled from nearby localities—such as a shade of green from the community gardens at Peralta Hacienda. The installation will remain up for the 2020–21 school year, with potential additions from other artists throughout. Visit mills.edu/blacklivesmatter to learn more. In addition, the Mills Board of Trustees voted at its meeting on October 15, 2020, to adopt a commitment to antiracism, developed by an Antiracism Working Group over the course of several months. Steps toward an expanded framework are continuing, with input from the Board of Trustees, Special Assistant for Equity and Inclusion Kamala Green, the Intersectional Racism Team, the National Equity Project, the Division of Student Life, and the larger Mills community.
