Mills Matters

A campus steward retires

Nearly every building project that’s taken place on the Mills campus since 1992 bears the fingerprints of Karen Fiene. Known colloquially as the campus architect (her most recent title was director of facilities, compliance, and sustainability), Fiene first started working on Mills campus projects when employed by the architectural firm EHDD, initially coming on board to assist with renovations at Warren Olney in 1992. While operating her own firm from 1999 to 2005, she worked on the refurbishment of the Vera Long Building for the Social Sciences and the design for NSB. At that point, it made sense to bring Fiene into the fold as a Mills staffer, so she started working on a project-by-project basis in January 2006, then became a full-time employee in 2009.

Since then, she has blended specific site work with larger, overarching initiatives that affected the full campus, including broadening sustainability programs and bringing the Mills Community Farm to fruition. “Basically, anything that had to do with interiors, furniture selection, fabrics, lighting—anything that had a design element, that was me,” Fiene says. After delaying her retirement to help with the Northeastern merger, she finally called it quits on September 2—but you can expect to see her on campus in any number of capacities, from consulting to working on her own landscape painting. She sat down with the Quarterly to chat about the campus she knows so well.

Mills Quarterly: What’s your favorite spot on campus?

Fiene: There’s buildings and there’s spots—and experiences too. The most impressive is coming down Richards Road, and that’s known as one of the 100 most beautiful streets in the world.* You can’t do better than that. I also really love the creek by Lisser, and that was one of my favorite little walks before the trees came out. Even now, though, it’s beautiful with the deck. And I love walking up to Pine Top and down to the farm, because of course I love the farm. Building-wise, I do love the Julia Morgans, and special places like the Bender Room and the Student Union because of their designs and big spaces. I’m also captivated by the Chapel, and I’ve always loved how it has a spiritual feel—and you don’t have to be religious or anything—and the way it sits in the land with the labyrinth. The Music Building is phenomenal, and the Concert Hall: Those were fun projects to work on. The theater with the frescos… I just always find that to be a really magical building. Those are my favorites— and Mills Hall too, of course.

Quarterly: What campus project did you participate in was the most memorable?

Fiene: It’s really hard to say, because they were all so unique. Both NSB and the Music Building were EHDD, and they were both J.R. Griffin (construction company), and that was a unique experience because they’re great firms that care so much about the history. Because I love historic buildings so much, the Music Building restoration was very special for me, partly because it had little moments like rejuvenating the frescos. We found a couple who trained in Prague, and they got up on scaffolding over the holidays—completely unheated since the building was under construction—and for three weeks they were up there with tiny little toothbrushes, cleaning up all the frescos. And then, we climbed up in the attic and found all the chandeliers—there were all these things we were able to preserve.

Oh, I forgot Lisser! Lisser was really interesting because of all the surprises we found—like the time capsule. That was really cool. This is like saying which child you like best, it’s very hard!

Then there’s NSB, which was a new construction, and that was great too. I really enjoyed working with [architects] Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and the different firms with very high design standards. Vera Long was also a fun project.

Quarterly: As someone who’s been an observer of the campus for so many years, where would you like to see the Mills campus go next? What’s your wildest dream?

Fiene: Well, it sounds totally unsexy, but fixing up the buildings! We have so much deferred maintenance. For instance, I’d really like to give the museum its due. It’s an important public building. The older halls need more attention, though we’re starting to look at that. I’d like to see the Julia Morgan buildings preserved as much as they can be; Carnegie and the Student Union could use some love. I’d love to see the older structures repurposed and reused so their legacy and history are appreciated.

There was a big project at the lake that we’ve always wanted to do: a bypass channel that would slow the water and keep it from undermining the bridges

over the creeks. We are actually getting a new spillway, and I’d love to see a promenade around the lake like we’ve seen in pictures with the lanterns. Those were some really interesting rituals, so the lake could be a really special celebratory space.

And I would also like to see some meaningful connection to the history of this land, the unceded land of the Ohlone, and how Mills could really honor that. There’s an amazing educational opportunity as well as meaningful land sharing. This is such a special, sacred place, and it’s been this enclave. That could be a way we’d be more open to community. How do we make this more welcoming? How do we make people feel like they belong here?

There’s also the issue of sustainability and getting the campus to net zero, so what would that mean for bringing existing buildings up to energy standards? What does that mean for new construction? I’d like to see us get a ground-mounted solar system and change all the lighting to LEDs. These are things we’ve wanted to do but were unable to due to lack of funds.

Quarterly: What do you plan to do in retirement?

Fiene: I have no lack of projects. I’m a watercolor/plein air painter. I’ve already been working half-time, so I’m painting a couple days a week, but I really want to enter shows and do workshops. So that’s a big thing. And my mom is 86 and I’m her caregiver, so I’m spending more time with her. In fact, in September we’re jumping on a plane and going to Wales to see her brother!

A lot of my friends are also retiring, so we’re planning to go to the Galapagos, Santa Fe—I have something happening almost every month. And then there’s sleeping, reading, gardening… it’s always felt like I was running, and I probably will still be running, but at least I won’t also be working 40 hours a week!

Bent Twigs, Redux

In our summer 2022 story on Bent Twigs, we published photos of Bent Twigs from the 2007 Commencement that appeared in that summer’s Quarterly without captions. Thanks to those readers who reached out with information so we can right that wrong from 15 years ago! We can now identify most of the pictured alums; if you can help with any of the remaining IDs, email us at quarterly@mills.edu.

Top row, left to right: Jamila Williams ’07 with sister Aisha-Lorraine Williams ’96; family friend Gloria Goyena, MA ’00, with Gema Ornelas ’07 and Ornelas’ mother Patty Oregal ’86. Second row: Nhu Thuy Tran ’04 with sister Thom Tran ’07; Elizabeth Douglass Paine ’47 with great-niece Katie Rogers, MFA ’07; Jana Rogers Pastena ’07 with mother Sari Herzig Millard ’88.

Third row: Elizabeth Clayton Wester ’07 and mother Karen Clayton, MFA ’94; two still unknown alums; Melissa Johnson Michael ’71 with daughter Lisa Aurora Calderon ’07. Fourth row: Kathryn Peck McCarthy ’07 with mother Victoria Fawns, MFA ’75; two still unknown alums.

Stacie Hudson ’99 (center) with aunt Estrellita Hudson Redus ’65, MFA ’75; sister Lelalois Hudson Beard ’94; sister Samzie Hudson ’97; and aunt Camellia Hudson Franklin ’73

We also apologize to the family of Stacie Hudson ’99 for flubbing a few names in her family of Bent Twigs. The correct captions are below the photo.

Calendar

Mills College Art Museum

The museum is open 11:00 am–4:00 pm Tuesday through Sunday and until 7:30 pm Wednesday. Admission is free. Visit mcam.mills.edu for more information. Shifting Terrains ■ Through December 11 More than 200 works from the museum’s collection will be on display for Shifting Terrains, an examination of artistic representations of the West Coast that span more than 130 years. The pieces depict the awe-inspiring natural world yet also look through the lens of climate change and environmental justice. Artists include Anne Colvin, Ralph Du Casse, and Susan Magnus, MFA ’92.

Below: Sybil Anikeyev, Lettuce Fields, Salinas, ca. 1940, gelatin silver print Below, right: Ralph Du Casse, Untitled (green, orange, purple), 20th century, acrylic on paper Artist Lectures

All events are free.

October 20 ■ Judith Belzer and Kathryn Spence Belzer’s paintings explore human engagement with the natural world, often looking to human-made landscapes to consider this dynamic and sometimes uncomfortable relationship. Spence’s objects and installations are inspired by nature but composed from the discarded materials of the human world—exploring the disconnection between nature and human culture and, in particular, the realities of an overwhelmingly consumption-driven society. 6:00 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall at Jane B. Aron Art Center.

November 16 ■ Bessma Khalaf Iraq-born and Oakland-based artist Bessma Khalaf employs processes of degradation (burning, smashing, shattering, melting, defacing, eating, regurgitating) to her work in photography, video, sculpture, and performance to explore the boundaries of landscape, place, and image. 7:30 pm, Mills College Art Museum.

Support rolls in for Mills programs and students

Mills College gratefully acknowledges the following members of the community for their gifts, grants, and pledges of $50,000 or more, received between January 1 and June 30. • The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, which donated to a Lead by Learning grant to provide superlative professional-development opportunities to mid-career teachers. • The estate of Claire Kirman Taber ’27 for a gift to the Claire Kirman Taber Endowed Scholarship, which was originally established in 1993 to provide student financial support. • The estate of Wendyce “Wendy” Hull Brody ’68 for a gift to the Johnson/Tupper/Hull Scholarship, which was first endowed in 2001 by Brody and her husband to honor her family of Bent Twigs. The scholarship provides student financial support. • The estate of Jocelyn Sykes Cushman ’54 for its unrestricted bequest, which will help Mills respond to urgent financial demands and meet student needs.

Campus kudos

A selection of recent achievements by faculty, staff, and students

Professor of Spanish & Spanish American Studies Carlota Caulfield

participated in World Poetry Day on March 22. Her book of visual poems, GHROMYT, was published as part of the collection C’est Mon Dada this summer, and her essay “Modalidades poético-surrealistas en la poesía visual de J.M. Calleja” is included in this fall’s publication of Poesía caminante Cuando las palabras toman cuerpo.

Assistant Adjunct Professor of Communication Keli Dailey

participated in a St. Nell’s Humor Writing Residency in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, this past May. The residency is open to marginalized genders working in humor-related fields.

Professor of Geochemistry and Environmental Geology Kristina L.

Faul worked with University of Delaware’s Katharina Billups on a National Science Foundation-funded project, “Collaborative Research: Importance of the subtropical gyre and North Atlantic Current in interglacial warmth,” through summer 2022. Her students Sofia Almeida ’23 and Lily Jung ’23 participated as well.

Professor Emerita of Dance Molissa

Fenley presented and performed in two works for the Sundays on Broadway series at the New York City loft of artist Cathy Weis on May 15.

Luther B. Marchant Professor of

Music Nalini Ghuman presented her paper “Indian Music, Empire, and British Musical Modernism” at the 12th Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 this past June at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Her newest essay, “Shiva open his eye of wrath: East-West Juxtapositions in Kaikhosru Sorabji’s Opus Archimagicum,” accompanied the recent world premiere of Sorabji’s Piano Sonata no.5.

Professor of Business Kate

Karniouchina coauthored a study with

Professor of Economics

Lorien Rice, Professor

of Economics Siobhan

Reilly, Associate

Professor of Business

Carol Theokary, and Professor Steve Carson from the University of Utah called “Women and Minority Film Directors in Hollywood: Performance Implications of Product Development and Distribution Biases,” which appeared in the July issue of the Journal of Marketing Research.

The art of Professor of Ethnic

Studies and English Ajuan Mance

appeared at San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum as part of its Emerging Artist Showcase from April 30 to August 7. Mance also appeared in a Juneteenth story for Apple about the Black history she illuminates in her digital art.

Professor of French & Francophone Studies and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Brinda Mehta

participated in an Andrew W. Mellon Workshop titled “Im/Mobilities: New Directions in the Humanities,” organized by the American Academy in Berlin from June 13 to 17. She presented her current research, “Refugeetude Aesthetics: Gender Negotiations and Cultural Production in Lebanon’s Burj al-Barajneh and Jordan’s Al-Zaatari Refugee Camps.” She also authored the article “Contesting Militarized Violence: Indigenous Women Poets from Northeast India,” which was published in Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism in 2021.

Professor of English Kirsten Saxton

delivered a keynote at the Crones,

From left: Carlota Caulfield, Kristina L. Faul

Crimes, and the Gothic conference this past June at Falmouth University in the UK, and she presented her paper “Why Things Burn, Girls on Fire” at the International Crime Fiction conference in Germany.

Associate Professor of Biology

Jenn Smith and a group of worldwide colleagues contributed to a theme issue of the online journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Their article, “Sex Bias intergroup conflict and collective movements among social mammals: male warriors and female guides,” was one of multiple pieces on the theme of Intergroup Conflict across Taxa: Origins, Dynamics and Consequences. She also appeared on an episode of The Animal Behavior Podcast in May to discuss remote sensing social networks in California ground squirrels.

Assistant Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Research Justice at the Intersections Fellowship Program

Co-Director Jane Yamashiro was interviewed and quoted in the French magazine Tempura: un Magazine sur le Japon, in an article about the effects of personal and interpersonal development in Japanese society. Her current project looks at the related topic of Okinawan diasporic identity construction in the United States.