Wesleyan College Alumnae Magazine Winter 2012

Magazine

2 0 1 2 A n n ua l R e p o r t

Administration Ruth A. Knox ’75

President of the College Vivia L. Fowler

Provost of the College/Vice President

for Academic Affairs Patricia M. Gibbs

Vice President for Student Affairs C. Stephen Farr

Vice President for

Enrollment Services Richard P. Maier

Vice President for Business

from the president

and Fiscal Affairs/Treasurer

Wesleyan Magazine Staff Mary Ann Howard, Editor

Director of Communications

mhoward@wesleyancollege.edu Brandi Vorhees, Art Director Kelly Page ’11, Executive Assistant to the Office of Institutional Advancement/ E-Communications Manager Millie Parrish Hudson ’75, Contributing Writer Cathy Coxey Snow ’71

Alumnae Director

(Classes 1927 - 1979)

csnow@wesleyancollege.edu Lauren Hamblin ’06

Director of Alumnae Services

(Classes 1980 - 2012)

lhamblin@wesleyancollege.edu Abbie Smoak Lacienski `01

Class Notes Editor Contributing Writers Susan Allen,

Senior Development Officer Annabel F. Brooks ’11,

Admission Counselor Kim Casebeer,

Director of Foundation Relations and

Donor Stewardship Debbie Jones Smith ’76,

Director of Special Projects Tracy Tilley ’89,

Alumnae Admission Program Director Andrea Williford,

Director of Annual Giving Printing Panaprint special thanks Neal Carpenter at iNWARD Studio, Jason Vorhees, The Telegraph, Terri Castruccio Hurst ’90 Susan Lennon, Women’s College Coalition, Melissa Graham Meeks ’00, Missy Ward ’09, Karen Connor Shockley ’63, plus alumnae and friends for providing photos.

Wesleyan Magazine is published twice a year by the Wesleyan College Office of Communications 4760 Forsyth Road Macon, GA 31210-4462 phone (478) 757-5134 fax (478) 757-5104 Contents may be reprinted with permission of the editor.

Welcome to the Winter 2012 Wesleyan Magazine and Annual Report!

The bright, young faces on our cover represent hundreds of Wesleyannes whose college experiences are enriched by your generous giving. Even a quick look helps to explain why we are inspired every day by their energy and promise, and we thank you – our alumnae and friends – for investing in their futures. This issue, which honors everyone who has contributed to Wesleyan over the last fiscal year, also highlights some special gifts made by our alumnae and friends to help us create a distinctive Wesleyan education for our students. We appreciate every gift, of course, and are exceedingly grateful to you all for including Wesleyan College among your priorities.

Already we are gearing up to welcome the first cohort of nursing students when Wesleyan’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program officially launches next fall. Read about George, our “new man on campus,” who will be a central feature of the curriculum thanks to the generosity of Trustee Elizabeth “Libba” Pickett and her husband George (whose good nature is apparent in allowing Wesleyan’s Sim Man to carry his name!). The new nursing laboratory is almost complete, and more applications for that first cohort of pioneering students are arriving each day.

For those interested in Wesleyan’s art collection, you will want to read about the restoration of Cima da Conegliano’s Madonna and Christ Child that took place in October in the West Gallery of the Porter Memorial Fine Arts Building. Our students were able to witness firsthand the painstaking process as conservators Catherine Rogers and Nancy Newton restored this Renaissance masterwork to its full glory. Thanks go to Mary Ann “Polly” Pollard Houghland ’60 for adopting this Wesleyan treasure and ensuring that others can enjoy its beauty for years to come.

In a redesign of the Summer Leadership Institute, this year our students, faculty, and Trustees traveled to Minnesota and Wisconsin for the first SLI exploration of American national parks. We hope you will enjoy learning more about this annual program funded each year by Alexis Bighley ’67, Lynda Pfeiffer ’63, Julia Munroe Woodward ’34, and other alumnae donors, which has become a rite of passage for Wesleyan’s top rising seniors.

You also will meet our first “Fresh Face” Elizabeth Harrell, whose Wesleyan adventure began this fall thanks to Gayle Attaway Findlay ‘55 and the Findlay Scholarship.

Elizabeth expresses the appreciation so many students share for the donors who make their Wesleyan education possible.

We salute as well those members of the Wesleyan family we have lost since the publication of our last magazine. Among those are Frank C. Jones, Sarah Louise “Weezie” Turner Butler ’47, and Neva Jane Langley Fickling ’55. Each was a towering presence in the life of the College whose contributions to Wesleyan’s growth and prosperity are immeasurable. You will want to read our special tributes to these Wesleyan treasures.

Finally, we give thanks to Susan Lennon, president of the Women’s College Coalition, for her feature article on the continuing relevance of women’s colleges and to our own Missy Meeks ‘00 for her take on the topic – then and now. Enjoy all these articles and more, and remember to visit our website at www.wesleyancollege.edu/alumnae for the latest round of class notes.

We thank you for blessing Wesleyan College with your friendship and support and send warmest wishes for a joyful holiday season!

Contents Wesley an M a g a z ine W i nt er 2 0 1 2

2 8 11 14 16 22 34

Women’s Colleges Why the world needs them

Transformative Power Somebody went to a women’s college

New Man on Campus High fidelity human patient simulator

CSI: Wesleyan Making math and science cool

First Generation Students A new tradition for many families

Restoring and Preserving Conserving Wesleyan’s Treasures

Ella Clare McKellar Scholar, teacher, crusader

18 Summer Leadership 2012 20 A Day in the Life 26 History of STUNT 30 Fresh Face 32 Logan Lewis Foundation 36 Alumnae Admission

Representatives 40 Alumnae Club News 46 Why I Give 47 Annual Investors’ Report

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Why does

the World Need

Women’s Colleges?

By Susan E. Lennon, president of the Women’s College Coalition (WCC). Susan earned her bachelor of arts in sociology at the University of San Diego and an MBA from Yale University School of Management. Prior to joining WCC, Susan was executive director at Hartford College for Women of the University of Hartford. Established in 1972, The Women’s College Coalition is an association of women’s colleges in the US and Canada.

Its mission: The Women’s College Coalition, in concert with its members, transforms the world through the education and success of women and girls. For more information, visit www.womenscolleges.org.

The Coalition will develop and implement a creative research agenda that provides members and opinion leaders with compelling data and analysis of the effectiveness of a women’s college education and that illuminates the factors that can impede or enhance the well-being and success of women and girls before, during, and after college.

At the Coalition’s 2003 annual meeting, five years before the economic recession hit, Joanne Creighton, then-president of Mount Holyoke College, set a pragmatic context for her keynote address: “Indeed, it is not surprising that it’s rough seas out there.

Women’s colleges are bucking all the tides in higher education. In addition to being single-sex, we are mostly small, private, liberal arts, and residential, and many of us are in rural or suburban locations, whereas the dominant trends in higher education are towards co-educated, large, public, professional, non-residential, and urban institutions. Financial challenges, difficult under the best of times, are daunting in the conditions of the economic downturn of the past several years.” She also issued a call to action to her colleagues: “What

is sustaining and motivating is our mission: the education of women.”

The challenges that face all of higher education today – not just women’s colleges, but all of higher education, including highly selective, private, liberal arts colleges – are increasingly complicated. The rules of engagement have changed for everyone. Robert Sevier, who is senior vice president of strategy at Stamats and provides some of the wisest counsel in higher education, believes that “the economy is not the cause of many of the problems that are facing higher education. It has merely exacerbated issues and trends that have long been in play.” He continues, “We are way beyond distinctive and unique. Rather, it is a matter of being compelling among your competitor set in ways that students, donors, and faculty and staff value. Your future will depend, largely, on whether or not you are successful in this undertaking.”

During the past several years, the Coalition engaged in a strategic thinking initiative in which we asked two thought provoking and unexpected questions:

Q. In the set of words “women’s college,’’ which is the more important word? What is the X for which we are trying to solve?

A. The more important word and the X for which we are trying to solve is “women.”

It is the women and girls we serve, and their education and success that define women’s colleges in the 21st Century.

Grappling with these questions brought us to big, bold ideas, and our compelling strategic plan, including our mission to transform the world through the education and success of women and girls.

These questions are among a set of what I refer to as rudders that help us navigate our way through the confused and often uncharted waters in which we work today, and to stay the course to our true north that is at the intersection of missioncentered and market-smart. I want to share these rudders with you as you join me in considering the question, Why Does the World Need Women’s Colleges?

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

The vast majority of women’s college alumnae believe the financial investment in their education was worthwhile and that the intellectual and personal capacities they gained are still extremely important to them.*

Think Like an Ocean

When undersea explorer Sylvia Earle was asked what was not working in the first days of British Petroleum’s recovery efforts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, she said that BP was “not thinking like an ocean.” BP was not thinking about the many dimensions of the ecosystem, and the interconnectedness and dependencies among them.

When we think about women’s colleges, we need to think not only about the many dimensions of higher education, but also about the many dimensions that shape our students’ increasingly complicated lives. A couple of years ago, The Chronicle of Higher Education issued a report entitled, “The College of 2020 – Students” which posed two thought provoking questions that reflect the increasing complex dimensions of the lives of this generation of high school students and the increasingly complicated college selection process: “’What is college?

And why should I go?’ Those may be the defining questions for colleges over the next decade. More than an expression of teenage angst, they reflect a fundamental transformation in the way students see higher education, and how they want to go about getting it.”

Research conducted by Linda Sax, author of The Gender Gap in College: Maximizing the Development Potential of Women and Men, shows that attending college farther away from parents predicts gains in leadership confidence for women, increases in emotional health for women, and gains in academic orientation. And yet, we know that 59% of students (female and male) want to attend college within 100 miles of home; 29% within 101-500 4

90%

miles; 12% more than 500 miles; and that 80% of first year students want to stay in home state (Lawler Associates); that only one in five high school graduates (female and male) plans to go to college full-time and live in a residence hall (Stamats); and that 40% of undergraduates (female and male) will travel across state lines to earn a degree (Stamats).

don’t think of an elephant

George Lakoff, author of “Don’t Think of An Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate,” describes frames as “mental structures that shape the way we see the world...they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act, and what counts as good or bad outcomes of our actions. To change our frames is to change all of this…We also know frames through language. When you hear a word, its frame is activated in your brain. Reframing is changing the way the public sees the world. Because language activates frames, new language is required for new frames. Thinking differently requires speaking differently.”

Prospective students and their families interpret and understand what we say through the lens of their experience, emotions, preconceptions, prejudices and existing beliefs. Often they cannot hear what we are saying because we’re not talking with them about what matters to them. In addition to capturing the attention of prospective students and their families, we also need to capture their imagination so that they can envision possibilities.

One of my favorite Far Side comics is one in which a dog owner is scolding his dog: “Okay, Ginger! I’ve had it. You stay out of

the garbage! Understand, Ginger? Stay out of the garbage or else!” What does Ginger hear: “blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah blah…”

words matter

It’s not what we say but what prospective students hear that matters. What does a 17 year old girl hear when we say allwomen or single sex? Or when we tell her she “should…”? Or when we talk to her about things that aren’t relevant and compelling to this generation of students?

Our conversations with a prospective student have shifted from talking about the college per se to talking about her, and meeting her where she is and bringing her along to where she needs to be. We focus on finding the right fit.

listen

“To listen another’s soul into a condition of discourse and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.” Douglas Steere Research shows that being a women’s college is not what drives the decision to attend a women’s college. And contrary to the too often employed “clever” marketing message, students do not choose to attend women’s colleges “in spite” of them being women’s colleges.

We have to compete for students just like every institution of higher education.

Students choose women’s colleges for a reason and by and large what drives the decision to attend a women’s college is the same thing that drives most students’ college selection: the colleges satisfactorily answered two questions that are top of mind for most students.

First, do you have the academic discipline I believe I want to study and does it have a strong reputation?

Second, will I get a job and/or into graduate school?

Imagine a Venn diagram. In one set are employers’ expectation of college graduates: teamwork, ethical judgment, intercultural skills, social responsibility, quantitative reasoning, oral communication, self-knowledge, adaptability, critical thinking, writing, self-direction and global knowledge, as well as how college graduates applied these skills and knowledge to complex, real-world challenges and projects that integrated problem solving, writing, and analytical reasoning skills in such hands-on opportunities as internships, community service projects, study abroad experiences and senior projects.

(Research conducted on behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2008.)

In the other set is what alumnae say about their satisfaction with the undergraduate experience, career preparation and advancement, broad skill development, and personal and professional values and attitudes.

The findings of the Hardwick Day Comparative Alumnae Survey, a research design and survey instrument that is based upon perceptions, experiences, benefits and outcomes reported by alumnae, tell us that a women’s college education proves its value over a lifetime.

Graduating from a women’s college significantly increases a woman’s chances of earning a graduate degree.

Women’s college graduates succeed in entering a range of career fields and graduate programs, regardless of their undergraduate major. Research also shows that a women’s college education develops critical skills for life and career. Women’s colleges help students learn to think analytically, bring social and historical perspective to issues, work as part of a team, write and speak effectively, make sound decisions, gain entry to a career, prepare for career change or advancement, and be politically and socially aware.

Last year, New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks wrote a piece titled, ’The Question-Driven Life’ in which he said, “We are born with what some psychologists call an ’explanatory drive.’ You give a baby a strange object or something that doesn’t make sense and she will become instantly absorbed; using all her abilities – taste, smell, force – to figure out how it fits with the world.” Fast forward this baby to college. At a women’s college, you’ll find that students and professors have that same intellectual curiosity about how people and things work, and the compassion and courage to make a difference.

Re

81%

Women’s Colleges Receive Higher Effectiveness Ratings than All Other Colleges and Universities for Helping Students to Be Prepared for Their First Job.*

92%

Women’s Colleges Receive Higher Effectiveness Ratings than All Other Colleges and Universities for Helping Students Develop SelfConfidence and Initiative.*

93%

Women’s Colleges Receive Higher Effectiveness Ratings than All Other Colleges and Universities for Helping Students Learn to Solve Problems and Make Effective Decisions.* *Findings from a comparative alumnae research study conducted and prepared by Hardwick~Day (February 24 and March 7, 2012) for the Women’s College Coalition. Respondents were categorized as alumnae of women’s colleges and universities, alumnae of liberal arts colleges, and alumnae of flagship public universities. This study was undertaken to assess lasting college effects, interviewing alumnae of each class more than 30 years after graduation, from 1970-2006. www.womenscolleges.org/ story/hardwickdayresearchfindings2012

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

a women’s college education creates leaders, communicators, and persuaders. Speaking out and speaking up – key components of leadership and civic engagement – are capacities actively developed at women’s colleges.

Women’s college alumnae report more inclass experience with making presentations than their peers at other institutions and are more likely to gain leadership experience in student government and campus media.

Research also shows that when students receive honest feedback from faculty it predicts gains in physical health, gains in drive to achieve, and higher college GPAs for female college students.

It was easy to articulate the issue of access for women when the doors of men’s colleges and many careers were closed to women. Today, the issue of access is more complicated and difficult to articulate. It is subtly nuanced by sexism, racism, social classism, immigration status, financial affordability and language. It is often covert and politically charged. It is further compounded by the fact that younger generations of students do not perceive gender influence or differences. Every fall, Beloit College publishes the Mindset List, which reflects the world view and consciousness of entering first year women and men. On the list for the class of 2015: There have always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.

HMM... AHA... WOW!

Some of the most significant outcomes of the work in which the Women’s College Coalition is engaged are seemingly simply hmms... ahas... and wows... Why? Because it is hmms... ahas... and wows that can help us think about and approach challenges and opportunities in different and sometimes unexpected ways, and discover new bodies of knowledge that help us meet our students’ needs.

Hmm…I need to give that more thought Aha! Now I get it. Wow! I’ve never thought about it that way.

I say seemingly simple because in order to shift or change our mindsets, it often means we have to step away from our familiar and out of our comfort zones. For the Coalition and its diverse constituents – including prospective students and their families, faculty and staff, alumnae and trustees, donors and foundations, federal and state legislators, and the media – this has everything to do with how we think and talk about women’s colleges.

We never know where new conversations might take us, what new “Sputniks,” as I call them, we might discover in a world in which the public conversation about women’s colleges too often defaults to one about the decline in the number of women’s colleges during the past forty years or one in which women and men are pitted against one another as winners and losers in a gender war.

Who knows where new conversations might take us in a world in which the conversation about the college selection process has shifted from finding the right fit to looking for value and even more narrowly to affordability. A wonderfully evocative quote comes to mind: “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” Herman Melville Recently, as I was preparing for a presentation about women’s colleges to high school and independent guidance counselors at the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, I had pause to think about how we could help counselors get to their to their hmms…, aha!s and wow!s.

hmm...aha 6

89 %

Women’s Colleges Receive Higher Effectiveness Ratings than the Flagship Public Universities for Helping Students Learn to Think Analytically.

It’s important to note two things. First, the conversation about why the world needs women’s colleges really is about college counseling, and recruiting and retaining students to completion, from the admissions process to commencement and everything in between. It’s about the critical role that each of us reading Wesleyan Magazine – regardless of whether we are alumnae, faculty or staff, or representatives of other constituent groups – plays in the lifecycle of this generation of high school and college students. Second, there is no cookie cutter for women’s colleges. There is extraordinary and wonderful diversity within the sector of women’s colleges, from the students we serve (women and men, traditional and nontraditional, full-time and part-time, liberal arts and professional, and on campus and on-line, etc.), to the academic programs (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate, etc.), to student outcomes and pride points, and to multiple and sometimes competing identities (e.g., highly selective liberal arts and religiously affiliated, etc.).

Women’s colleges are as different from one another as coed colleges are different from one another. Each one has its one story to tell.

The guidance counselors who typically come to our presentations are the ones we describe as those who “get it.” They come because they’re looking for strategies to help their female advisees cast their nets widely to include women’s colleges in their college search. But what is it they “get” about women’s colleges? Do they really understand the contemporary interpretations of the founding missions of women’s colleges in the 21st Century and why the world needs them more today than ever before?

In making the case for women’s colleges, I often use the following quote from Debora Spar, President of Barnard College: “Although women are now entering the highest levels of leadership across the globe, women leaders have not yet achieved anything close to parity with men. With extraordinary challenges facing us – from global poverty, inadequate health care, gender-based violence, and environmental degradation – there is no better time than now to ensure that women contribute their ideas, energies and leadership to make the world a better place.”

I doubt there would be many who would disagree with the import of President Spar’s statement. It is, however, when you couple President Spar’s quote with one from MaryAnn Baenninger, President of the College of Saint Benedict, that you really can imagine the possibilities and what is compelling about why the world needs women’s colleges in the 21st Century: “Women and girls also still face genderrelated problems, despite legal equality.

We can debate the reasons and the source of these differences, but women still do not earn equal pay for equal work, and they are dramatically underrepresented in corner offices and boardrooms of top companies.

While women have equal or greater access to professions such as law and medicine, they also drop out of these professions at greater rates than men. And we have yet to fully understand why highly capable women are less likely than men to choose scienceand technology-related careers.”

It is this hand-in-glove distinction that drives the Coalition’s bold research agenda. We have embarked on a journey to answer the question that serves as the title of this article, “Why Does the World Need Women’s Colleges?” We invite you to join us.

ha...wow!

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

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Photo by Neal Carpenter

Why would anybody go to a women’s college?

The following is an editorial written by Melissa Graham Meeks ’00 during her senior year at Wesleyan College. After she submitted a piece to the Atlanta Journal/Constitution as a rebuttal to a previous editorial criticizing private college expenses, the AJC editor told her he already had too many similar responses and couldn’t use her story. However, he asked Melissa to write an editorial on the pros and cons of choosing a women’s college. Melissa put her heart and soul into the piece, and we are sure it has served Wesleyan College well.

S

Someone actually asked me that at a national leadership conference. He was a representative from a fraternity at a mid-Western university, and his question drew a crowd. My response got applause.

I rattled off the traditional propaganda: Graduates of women’s colleges finish Ph.D. programs twice as often as female coeds. We attain higher levels of management. We report greater satisfaction with campus involvement and student leadership opportunities. We achieve in the top ten percent of academic ability more frequently. We develop a firmer foundation in social self-confidence and academic flexibility that augment long-term achievement. And, students at women’s colleges more aggressively motivate each other to succeed because we share a high intellectual self-esteem.

the differences in our selves – who we are – have become celebrated additions to the richness of what we share. Because we value uniqueness so highly, I’ve learned to stand out, up, and firm.

Though I’m a woman, I don’t have to roar for you to hear me – no, all that is required is speaking in my own voice with words of my own choosing. You’ll listen because I’m not just “anybody” anymore. The value of a women’s college is really summarized in a closing address made by Rev. George Foster Pierce, Wesleyan’s first president, to those first graduates of the world’s first college charted to grant baccalaureate degrees to women.

He said, “I proclaim today the restoration of your birthright; I commit to the flames the warrant of your exile.” Rev. Pierce, in 1840, was little concerned with feminist politics, but his remarks establish the core of what same-sex education proffers: students are individuals first.

These arguments he expected, and his response was hardly complimentary. His comrades laughed until I continued. “You asked me why anybody would want to go to a women’s college, and those are the reasons why anybody – male or female – would. But, I never wanted to be just ‘anybody,’ and I attended a women’s college to find out why.”

For me, a Wesleyan education is more than the prestige of attending a nationally-ranked women’s college; Wesleyan has given me the skills and tools necessary to carve a niche in the world – first as an individual and second as a woman. Being a woman neither privileges me nor constrains me; it is merely the lever by which we move the world.

Wesleyan has given me that opportunity. I’ve been able to define myself without a male comparison or, worse yet, without a comparison to females for the sake of male attention. The measuring stick, then, becomes a standard, not a person; standards can be raised without fear of collapse – people never can. I’ve picked math, science, and research-intensive coursework and accepted executive leadership roles without being intimidated by their gender connotations.

Our only disadvantage is we have to return to a world that sees us as women first and individuals second. We must re-learn how to interact in a gendered world.

I’ve learned that beauty and intelligence, kindness and assertiveness, and grace and strength are neither mutually exclusive nor poles on a continuum of femininity. By living in a learning community defined by the sameness of our sex,

As his compatriots clapped, my antagonist blushed – tonguetied – and walked away.

Later, I watched him approach another young lady sporting an emblem from a university of formidable football status, and I overheard him ask, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

I had to laugh as she turned on enough charisma to attract anybody.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Somebody went to a women’s college.

We asked Melissa Graham Meeks ’00 to write an editorial responding to the editorial she wrote for the Atlanta Journal Constitution – “Why would anyone go to a women’s college?” – twelve years ago. She was challenged to compare her outlook as a student with her outlook today as a graduate, wife, mother, and businesswoman.

R

Reading something you wrote a dozen years ago is more humbling than seeing decadeold pictures. Old pictures are kind—fewer winkles, gray hairs. This old writing reveals a confidence that feels truly foreign. Surely, such command is the folly of youth.

I’m less certain these days about the world and my place in it.

I’m less certain about how gender constrains and enables my actions, choices, and experiences. I’m less certain about the possibilities of conversing with those who will never consider my values and beliefs like the frat boy in my editorial. I’m less certain about the wry cynicism that makes it easy to mock the sorority sister.

I am still certain that being educated at a women’s college transformed and continues to transform my life. I learned things about being an individual in the world at Wesleyan that allow me to be a different kind of woman now. Justifying that belief is harder.

After graduating from Wesleyan, I finished my PhD in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, college students—majority women—talked about the transformative power of college too. Then, I taught at Wesleyan for two years, and I heard students echo my own epiphanies. Next, I taught at Georgia Tech where students (mostly men) said similar things. Now, I am a digital learning consultant for Bedford/St. Martin’s, a college textbook company, and I talk to professors across the US and Canada who all want their students to experience metamorphosis.

They won’t be disappointed.

Much of the transformative power of college comes from timing.

Research about cognitive and social development indicates that between 18-25 our brains and relationships decisively

10

move toward maturity. College students are just lucky enough to have a rich environment of ideas and possibilities in which to mature. Most college students are women, and they will be transformed by college because that is the natural order of things.

Some of the transformative power of college comes from place, and institutions use the particularities of place to recruit and shape students. Wesleyan College is a unique and special place for many reasons. (Where else can a whole school fill an hour with songs or a month with STUNT?) I think Adrienne Rich’s essay “Claiming an Education” in On Lies, Secrets, and Silence—a text Wesleyan faculty introduced to me as a new colleague—explains the power of place at women’s colleges best: The contract [between students and faculty at women’s colleges] is really a pledge of mutual seriousness about women, about language, ideas, methods, and values.

It is our shared commitment toward a world in which the inborn potentialities of so many women’s minds will no longer be wasted, raveled-away, paralyzed, or denied. (page 235) Because I was educated at Wesleyan where my professors took me seriously and where I took myself (too) seriously, I am careful in my professional and personal life not to be “wasted, raveledaway, paralyzed, or denied.”

I’m not vigilant enough about it. I can get trapped in menial tasks that rob me of creativity. I clearly work too hard at the expense of relationships and rest. I can tie myself in knots worrying about whether my son is getting enough food, intellectual stimulation, social skills, and sleep. I don’t fight being denied common courtesies.

But, I can see my life in these terms because I went to a women’s college where a lot of people—sisters, professors, staff, administrators—treated me like I was somebody. And I dared to believe them.

New Man on Campus

He’s long, he’s lean, and he’s coming to campus next fall. Yes, for the first time on the Rivoli campus, Wesleyan is admitting a male undergraduate.

His name is George, but you won’t see him walking around campus or having dinner in Anderson Dining Hall. He will be housed on campus, but not in a residence hall. George is a Sim Man - a high fidelity human patient simulator – who will reside in Munroe Science center and help prepare the first cohort of women enrolled in the College’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program. George comes to Wesleyan through a generous gift of Wesleyan Trustee Elizabeth (Libba) Herbert Pickett and George Pickett.

Sirena Sawyer Fritz, Dr. Teresa Kochera, and George.

Photos by Neal Carpenter

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Abigail Jones, a junior at Wesleyan, will be a member of the first cohort of nursing students in the fall.

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“We will teach our students that nursing is also about developing deeper relationships with patients to meet all of their needs to ensure they stay healthy.” – Dr. Teresa Kochera While the College eagerly awaits the arrival of George and the first cohort of nursing students, the nursing faculty and other staff are busy preparing state-of-theart training facilities for the new program.

Housed in the Munroe Science Center, the nursing program will use a remodeled classroom and a hightech, cutting-edge clinical simulation laboratory. Designed to simulate a hospital, the lab will feature a variety of staged hospital rooms where high fidelity human patient simulators, such as George, will interact with students to provide real-life medical scenarios in a controlled environment. Since hospitals have limited space for training nursing students, Wesleyan’s simulation lab will provide a safe learning environment where students can practice necessary skills before going into an actual clinical situation.

“The simulation lab will not take the place of clinical education, but will serve to augment and enhance instruction,” stressed Sirena Sawyer Fritz (MSN, RN), BSN program director and assistant professor of nursing. “This type of instruction allows students to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes in a controlled environment.”

The experiences can be video taped, allowing students and faculty to review the outcomes, then repeat the procedures to correct mistakes.

Sim Man George can be programmed by the faculty to do almost anything including speak, cough, bleed, have a heart attack, and much, much more.

The lab also will include Sim Junior (pediatric), Sim NewB (neonatal), and Mama Natalie (maternal and newborn care).

Professor Fritz explained that the simulators will also help prepare students for situations they might not

see in a hospital or clinical setting. “For example, we can program the simulator to suffer an anaphylactic shock from a peanut allergy,” she described. “This can prepare our students to respond accurately and quickly if they ever face this situation with an actual patient.”

Since not all nurses practice in a hospital, Wesleyan’s program will also include a simulated home health area as well as other non-clinical settings. Theatre students will bring their talent to the lab to act as family members for practicing not only critical thinking skills but also communication skills.

“We will provide every student with real life experiences in the simulation lab,” said Professor Fritz, “and help her build her confidence and improve her skills before going out into the real world.”

In addition to the classroom and laboratory instruction, Wesleyan’s nursing program also will include partnerships with numerous health care organizations throughout the region to train students.

Hallmarks of the nursing program will include an emphasis on women’s health and holistic nursing with specific coursework designed to prepare graduates for leadership and management roles in the field of nursing.

Holistic nursing focuses on addressing patients’ physical needs as well as their spiritual, cultural, social, environmental, financial, and emotional needs.

“So often we can take care of patients’ diseases, but we can’t take care of their other needs,” emphasized Dr. Teresa Kochera (DNP, RN, PCCN, CNL), associate professor of nursing. “We will teach our students that nursing is also about developing deeper relationships with patients to meet all of their needs to ensure they stay healthy.”

Wesleyan College’s nursing program received the Georgia Board of Nursing’s initial approval in July 2012, and the College is on target to obtain full approval by the Georgia Board of Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Nursing/Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools/Commission on Colleges.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

CSI: Wesleyan

Spectacles Encourages Young Girls to Pursue Careers in Math & Science This past summer Wesleyan’s quiet campus was the backdrop for a cold case murder investigation. More than forty years ago, an alleged double homicide was committed in Dice R. Anderson Cabin, but without enough evidence, the case went cold. In July, however, stained carpet and furniture were discovered in the Arboretum. To determine if the evidence was sufficient to re-open the case, Wesleyan’s own crime scene investigators – twenty five middle school girls from the Spectacles math and science camp – were given the task of determining whether or not the stains were blood. “We picked blood off the carpet and furniture in the cabin,” Adreanna Chester, a local camper, excitedly explained. “Then we had to test the blood to see whose it was to try and solve the murders.”

The mock crime scene was staged by Dr. Holly Boettger-Tong, director for the Center for Women in Science and Technology at Wesleyan, and other Spectacles’ faculty members. It was just one of the many engaging activities that Adreanna and her fellow campers experienced while attending Spectacles, a week-long residential math and science camp sponsored by Wesleyan for middle school girls.

For the past twenty-one years, Spectacles has offered middle school girls from all over the world the exciting opportunity to immerse themselves in real life math and science experiments.

Spectacles is an academic program of the prestigious Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) – an organization dedicated to serving academically – gifted youth. Each summer, Spectacles attracts some of the brightest middle school girls to Wesleyan’s campus to explore the possibilities of becoming the world’s next generation of scientists and mathematicians.

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Using the College’s state-of-the-art science labs and electronic classrooms, and drawing on the extensive expertise of Wesleyan’s faculty from the College’s Division of Science and Mathematics, Spectacles offers a fun but challenging real-college experience.

According to the report, Women in STEM: A Gender Gap Innovation, published in August of 2011 by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), women fill nearly half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, but they hold less than twenty-five percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) jobs. This has been the case throughout the past decade. Why the gender gap? The report and Dr. Boettger-Tong cite several possible factors including a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields. Whatever the reasons, Spectacles is offering middle school girls exposure, positive experiences, and intentional interactions with powerful women role models who are employed in STEM professions. Wesleyan is showing girls that the opportunity is there and encouraging them to pursue highpaying and challenging STEM related professions.

“We make science and math cool,” said Dr. Boettger-Tong. “We want them to see the creativity and purpose in science and math – something that’s exciting, fun, and accessible – something they can take with them.”

Jeremy Magruder is a former Spectacles camper who is now pursuing her PhD in engineering at the University of Florida (UF). She participated in the camp ten years ago while in seventh grade and claims Spectacles made a lasting impact on her life. After returning to her

“We recognize that middle school is a very important time for young women to begin thinking about what they want to do in their lives.

Although Spectacles has changed throughout the years, our commitment remains the same – to encourage and engage young women to consider science and mathematics as a choice not only when they attend high school and college but also as a career.”

– Dr. Boettger-Tong

Assisting Spectacles campers in obtaining evidence at a mock crime scene, Holly Boettger-Tong sprays a forensic chemical used to locate blood on a section of carpet from Dice R. Anderson Cabin. Photo by Jason Vorhees

hometown of Orlando, Florida, she attended an engineering, science and technology magnet high school where she excelled in the classroom.

“It was during Spectacles that I gained the desire to obtain a PhD in engineering,” said Jeremy. “We went on a field trip to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and had the opportunity to go inside a nuclear reactor. That moment changed my life.” Jeremy has been serving as a role model for students since she was in high school and still works as a mentor with high school students through the UF

Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers Pre-College Initiative.

“I’m a huge supporter of educating students about the applications of math and science at a young age,” said Jeremy. “I think middle school is a great time because students understand the basic concepts that exist in interesting STEM projects.”

As for Adreanna, now an eighth grader at Macon’s St. Peter Claver school, the crime scene in the cabin inspired her interest in pursuing a career in forensics, and she is already researching colleges. One of her fellow campers

came all the way from Saudi Arabia and would like to return to Spectacles to learn even more about chemistry and biology. She is encouraging Adreanna to pursue her dream too. “A strong community of women invested in math and science serve as powerful role models for these young girls,” said Dr. Boettger-Tong. “We hope to show the girls they can become the women scientists and mathematicians of tomorrow and that their participation is necessary for the continued growth and diversity of these fields.”

Wesleyan Magazine Winter Wesleyan Magazine Winter 20122011

Wesleyan Firsts: First Generation College Students As alumnae, we traditionally celebrate with pride the accomplishments of our Wesleyan sisters and their postWesleyan experiences; we commend our classmates and peers who have blossomed from fresh-faced eighteen year olds into poised, articulate, and inspiring women. We often attribute who and where we are today to our Wesleyan education and the impact Wesleyan had on our lives. Less often, however, do we focus on the strength and courage many of our sisters needed to become Wesleyannes. Rather than taking the natural next step, they are starting a new family tradition. So, in the spirit of adventure, we acknowledge and celebrate the grit and tenacity of our sisters who are first generation college students.

This year, Wesleyan introduced the program “I’m #1 at Wesleyan: First Generation College Students,” which targets students in the first year class.

The voluntary program is designed to aid students in their transition to college life. Every month, Student Affairs staff offer programming on college resources such as the Academic Center, advising, financial aid, career development, stress management, alumnae connections, and communication. Students can also participate in small group activities led by a Student Affairs staff member. These small groups serve as intimate discussion groups to help students work through their transition to college life.

Within the United States, first-generation students in the Green Knight Class of 2016 came from as far away as Burlington, Vermont, and from as close to campus as Gray, Georgia. International firstgeneration students came from Nigeria, Nepal, China, and Jamaica. Grace Morse, a future biology and neuroscience major, credits her presence at Wesleyan to her

mother. “Working three jobs since I was a child, my mother made huge sacrifices for my future. That is truly the only reason I have been provided a chance to attend college. Attending college is an absolute privilege—I cannot express my gratitude enough.” Upon graduation, Grace plans to attend medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon. Her ultimate vision is to join Doctors Without Borders and advocate for health care as a basic human right.

Chloe Fowler also shares her classmate’s interest in the field of medicine; however, Chloe plans to become part of the College’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Chloe joins the Wesleyan family through an immediate family connection, her sister and first generation college student Annabel Fowler Brooks ’11. Chloe claimed, “I hope to follow in Annabel’s footsteps and become just as successful as she has, but in my own way. She has set the bar for me, so I know where I should be by graduation, and I hope I can live up to that.” Annabel transitioned from a Wesleyan student to a Wesleyan admission counselor two months after graduation and currently recruits future Wesleyannes from South Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and parts of the midWest. Annabel and Chloe have a younger sister, Mary Peyton, whom they hope to welcome to Wesleyan in 2014.

Ameera A. Harris ’13 is a senior theatre major and communication minor from College Park, Georgia. As one of five children in her family, she watched her mother struggle on a daily basis to provide for her family. Ameera challenged herself to earn her education so her life could be different. As a high school student, Ameera participated in Upward Bound, a federally funded educational program that provides

students from low income families with increased opportunities to attend college. Ameera was exposed to colleges and cultural opportunities in cities such as Chicago and New York. As a result, Ameera discovered her love of theatre by attending plays at Agatha’s and the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Currently, Ameera is busy studying for the LSAT and preparing law school applications.

Dr. Vida Olivares ’02 of McDonough, Georgia, began working for her education at an early age. Vida’s family has been in the restaurant business for fifty years and “growing up watching my dad serving food, my mom and grandmother cooking food, my aunts washing dishes, and my grandfather doing all of the above instilled in me at a very early age, that this is not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

I wanted to become a teacher.” After learning about Wesleyan at a college fair, Vida was encouraged to attend Wesleyan by her high school English teacher, Carrie Melissa Bell ’93. Vida acknowledges the struggle it took to deviate from her parents’ life path, but her actions have influenced three of her younger female cousins, all of whom have earned their bachelor’s degrees. In May 2012, Vida earned her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Mercer University and joined the faculty at the University of Central Missouri as assistant professor of mathematics education. According to Vida, “It is only after one has the courage to fight for oneself that she can fight for others, which in my opinion is the entire point of a college education.”

Are you the first in your family to attend college? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Please submit your stories to mhoward@wesleyancollege.edu.

Chloe Fowler ’16 and Annabel Fowler Brooks ’11

Photo by Neal Carpenter 16

“I hope to follow in Annabel’s footsteps and become just as successful as she has, but in my own way.

She has set the bar for me, so I know where I should be by graduation, and I hope I can live up to that.”

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Summer Leadership 2012 Every summer, ten leaders from Wesleyan’s rising senior class are invited to attend the prestigious Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) founded in 2000 by Alexis X. Bighley ’67, Lynda Brinks Pfeiffer ’63, Lorinda Lou Beller ’64, and Diane A. Lumpkin ’63. SLI serves as a means to provide Wesleyan students with distinct leadership opportunities outside of the Southeast, connect students to alumnae in various parts of the United States, and inspire students to give back to their alma mater. Over the past eleven years, SLI did just that as more than 140 students explored cities such as Denver, Seattle, Boston, Santa Fe, Washington, D.C., St. Paul/Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland, Quinault, New York, and Chicago.

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students immersed themselves in the outdoors – canoeing the Namekagon River, boating on Lake Superior, and exploring the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Madeline Island.

In preparation for the trip, students canoed the Chattahoochee River at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Atlanta, and two students learned how to swim.

After more than a decade of featuring big city life throughout the United States, SLI was reinvented in the summer of 2012 with a focus on the national park system. In 2016, the national park system will celebrate its 100th anniversary and has goals to increase their commitment to engage young people in the great outdoors. As a result of the National Park System’s goal, Bighley and Pfeiffer partnered with Chris Stein, superintendent of the St. Croix Scenic Riverway in Minnesota, to help students understand the scope of the National Park System and the many academic disciplines represented in the national staff. Bighley believes that centering the SLI experience on the National Park System benefits a larger percentage of students who have never been to a national park or engaged in the outdoors in a meaningful way, since many have visited or lived in a large city.

The 2012 SLI attendees were Marisa Arnold, Amanda Awanjo, Kendal Binion, Alayne Brown, Ameera Harris, Jennifer Lee, She-Marie Steadman, Jemima Suwa, and Sheila Walton. The Pirates of 2013 were accompanied by faculty sponsors Dean Vivia Fowler and Dr. Shelly Martin, associate professor of psychology, and President Ruth Knox for part of the week.

According to Dr. Martin, the new SLI format “added a wonderful element to the Summer Leadership Institute. The Institute has always challenged students to develop their skills and expand their horizons, and now students encounter the joys, abundance, and richness of the natural world. Students can meet face to face some of the most beautiful and unique natural treasures in our nation and think about the importance of protecting them for future generations.

This new focus embraces the idea of sustaining and celebrating this incredible bounty and gives students the chance to personally experience new physical challenges like learning to canoe. These challenges intensified the experience for the students and added a sense of heightened meaning and personal impact to what the students took away.”

The Summer Leadership Institute 2012 allowed ten rising seniors to enjoy the national parks of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Exploring the topic “The Importance of Water Conservation,” the

The students experienced a variety of defining moments on the trip. For Alayne Brown, future environmental engineer, SLI gave her “true motivation, purpose, and hope” for her future. She said, “I want my

job to mean something to me and hold me accountable for the moral decisions I make in my life.”

Sheila Walton is from Jonesboro, Georgia, and had never traveled much, so she thought “other places were similar to Atlanta or were like Florida and had beaches. The SLI trip broadened my limited view. The cities we visited were full of people who loved their environment and the St. Croix Riverway that ran through their city. Their love and appreciation for the rivers and land was a welcoming passion that I have never felt in Atlanta.”

Marisa Arnold was surprised about “how attached and connected I became to nature. Never did I expect to gain such appreciation for the natural beauties we so often take for granted.” SLI maintains its original goal to promote leadership by studying areas outside of the southeast but does so in innovative outdoor experiences that give Wesleyan students unique opportunities to learn and grow outside of the classroom.

In 2013, the Summer Leadership Institute will continue this year’s environmental theme, but will focus on land use through the ages. Dr. Teresa Smotherman and Dr. Wanda Schroeder will serve as faculty liaisons as Wesleyan SLI travels to South Dakota and venues such as Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Native American reservations.

Wesleyan College extends an extra special thank you to Christopher Stein, superintendent of the St Croix Scenic Riverway, for his pivotal role in organizing the National Park Service’s concept for the 2012 Wesleyan Summer Leadership Institute. Without Chris’ unparalleled enthusiasm and generous gifts of time, talent, leadership, knowledge, and energy, SLI 2012 would not have been possible.

The Institute has always challenged students to develop their skills and expand their horizons, and now students encounter the joys, abundance, and richness of the natural world. Now students can meet face to face some of the most beautiful and unique natural treasures in our nation and think about the importance of protecting them for future generations.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

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Story and photos by Missy Ward ’09

A minister of hope among refugee women and girls I enrolled at Wesleyan in the fall of 2005 with great anticipation and a passion for helping and serving others. My years at Wesleyan helped give voice, shape, and direction to this passion. Coursework in political science, religious studies, and rhetoric exposed me to the dire state of women’s rights in our world. I was especially shocked to learn how many women are sexually assaulted during wartime and how many refugees are trafficked or exploited in various ways.

With these high levels of violence, it is hard to believe that there are relatively few resources for aftercare and healing.

Instead, women are often blamed and sometimes ostracized from their communities.

I became even more aware of the complexities and statistics during the summers after my junior and senior years of college while interning as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for refugee women from Afghanistan in Fremont, California. Now I am attending seminary at McAfee School of Theology, and I have had additional opportunities to teach ESL to East African refugees at a refugee community center in Kampala, Uganda. The experiences changed my life. These women are no longer a statistic or a news story - they are my students, my friends, and my family. We laughed, cried, learned, and walked through life together. They, like everyone else in our world, deserve to be treated as equals with complete dignity and respect.

I will never forget Claire, one of the first students I tutored in Kampala, Uganda.

During my second week serving as an intern, Claire arrived as a new student to the center. She seemed eager and excited to learn but was very far behind the other beginning ESL students. Over the next month I tutored her for a few hours every day. Despite the language differences, we bonded. One day, just before we were about to start class, Claire handed me a letter that was translated into English. The letter explained that Claire’s parents had abandoned her at the age of three years old, just as the war started in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Claire grew up as an orphan and was subjected to physical and sexual violence. She managed to get to Uganda and find a family to stay with, but they could no longer take care of her and she was afraid. In the letter she pleaded, “teacher, help me. I want a better education and better life. I want to be productive in the society where I live.

Help me.”

My heart absolutely broke for Claire.

We sat together in silence, my hand in hers, and cried. As her teacher, I wanted to do something to help ensure that she found safety and the resources she needed. My search for these resources came up empty. Although there are advocacy organizations within refugee communities, there are none that assist in aftercare or provide shelter for refugee women and girls in violent or vulnerable situations. I quickly learned that Claire’s situation is not unique. There are other students who are being abused, neglected, and orphaned and have no place to go. This abuse compounds an already grave injustice they are

facing due to war, violence, and various oppressions within their countries. What an unimaginable crime that they continue to experience these tragedies in the very place where they seek peace.

Since the spring semester of my junior year at Wesleyan, it has been my dream to work with refugee women affected by violence in an area with no prevention or aftercare programs. I knew there were a number of challenges in following this dream, but I was a part of a larger community of sisters who encouraged and taught me how to dream big, work hard, and pursue my dreams. The empowerment of a Wesleyan education, coupled with my internship experiences, served to strengthen my determination to do something for these women and make a difference in their lives.

I have dedicated the rest of my life to ministering among refugee women and girls in East Africa. I am moving to Uganda in January 2013 and will serve on staff as the refugee women’s advocacy coordinator with Refuge and Hope International. I will develop a response to assist women and girls like Claire who are in violent or vulnerable situations.

This new ministry project will involve opening the first shelter for refugee women and girls in Kampala, Uganda; strengthening the education and vocational training initiatives for women at the community center; and self-help counseling, discipleship, and saving groups for women. This project seeks to holistically minister to female refugees by providing them with shelter, life skills, and community.

Missy Ward is a Pirate who graduated from Wesleyan in 2009. She is currently attending McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta where she is pursuing a Masters of Divinity with a concentration in social ethics. Over the last four years, she has served with ministries serving refugees in California and Uganda.

Beginning in January 2013 Missy will serve as the Refugee Women’s Advocacy Coordinator with Refuge and Hope International and work to develop a ministry project that holistically ministers to and empowers refugee women and girls in violent or vulnerable situations in Kampala, Uganda. To learn more and to make a donation to this ministry, please visit www.missyinuganda.com.

2011 Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

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Photos by Neal Carpenter

Restoring

& Preserving Wesleyan’s Treasures

Nearly ten years ago Catherine Rogers, a professional painting conservator received a phone call from Dr. Libby Bailey, Wesleyan’s professor of art history. “Libby asked me to stop by Wesleyan and take a look at a few paintings in need of conservation. I thought it would take a few hours at the most,” Catherine chuckled. She was here for two days. The College provided Catherine a student intern and together they searched every nook and cranny on campus and examined 150 paintings.

Catherine provided estimates for repair ranging from $700.00 to $8,000.00, depending on the extent of the damage and the work involved in the restoration.

When she was finished, Catherine told Dr. Bailey, “You have a small museum.

It is an amazing art collection.”

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

To fund restoration and conservation projects, Wesleyan created the AdoptA-Painting program in 2003 as a way to connect prospective donors who want to support the Wesleyan Treasures Collection with specific and tangible needs. Adopt-A-Painting allows appreciators of art an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of the collection by “adopting” a specific

painting for restoration. Since its inception, generous donors have raised over $275,000 providing for the restoration of seventy-five paintings, frames, and works of art to their original brilliance.

The first painting adopted was Edward Dufner’s The Pink Lady, part of the College’s Helena Eastman Ogden

Campbell Collection. Adopted by Dennie and Francis Parker McCrary ’62, The Pink Lady was restored by Catherine in 2003, and today hangs in the office of the president.

After Catherine had restored several of the College’s paintings, those leading the program began to address the issue of frame conservation as well, leading Catherine to recommend Nancy Newton for the job. Both women are skilled conservators who have been in private practice in Charleston for over fifteen years. These trusted conservators have restored many Wesleyan Treasures, including the large-scale copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper by A Corsa Lalli and its frame, as well as the Chippendale mirror located in the lobby of the Porter Family Memorial Arts building. “The mirror came to me in a box in hundreds of pieces,” said Nancy. “It took me three months to restore and, as difficult as it was, I really enjoyed it.”

Through a generous gift from Mary Ann “Polly” Pollard Houghland ’60, Catherine and Nancy returned to campus this fall to restore the painting and frame of the College’s oldest and most valuable work of art, Madonna and Christ Child,

by Venetian Renaissance artist Cima da Conegliano. The late fifteenth-century original work of art was donated to Wesleyan in 1936 by Samuel H. Kress, founder of S. H. Kress & Co. 5-10-25 Cent stores, who was a philanthropist and lover of Italian art.

Madonna and Christ Child is of great historical value as it represents an early work painted in tempera on wood rather than oil on canvas. Although painted in a Renaissance style, the traditional representation of the Virgin Mary is reminiscent of Byzantine icons. Since it is housed under glass in climate - controlled conditions at Wesleyan, Catherine found the painting to be in stable condition but in need of work aesthetically. While there was no major lifting or flaking of paint and no structural damage, there was a need to fill in along the edges of the wood panel.

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After cleaning the many layers of the painting – grime, yellowed varnish, and previous restorations –the colors the artist had intended began to emerge.

In the sky, for example, the color shifted from slightly green, because of yellowed varnish, back to its original blue. The window ledge in the painting had yellowed and darkened, and after cleaning Catherine discovered the artist had painted the ledge to look like marble. “It was fascinating and exciting to see the marble on the window ledge appear,” she said. “As a conservator, my objective is to bring back the artist’s original work without doing harm or covering up any of the original paint – I never want to change the artist’s intent.”

With any painting, Catherine explained, there are many layers and each must be treated separately. Wearing special glasses with a magnification of seven, she got through the dirt and grime that had collected on Madonna and Christ Child, then began filling in and retouching paint losses. Starting with the less obvious losses in the drapery, Catherine moved to the most difficult parts – the faces of Madonna and the Christ Child. She felt it was important not to fill in or paint each crack. “A crack is like a wrinkle on a person’s face,” she said. “We don’t want the painting to look brand new.”

At some point, the guild on the exquisite Tabernacle frame, which is believed to be original to the artwork, had been completely covered in gold paint. After removing the paint and cleaning the wood, Nancy used a water gilding process to preserve the frame.

Water gilding involves rabbit skin glue, gesso (ground chalk and glue), and bole (clay) to create a surface to which the gold leaf can adhere. Nancy makes her own materials from recipes she has perfected over the years. Once the frame was dry, she floated water on top of the bole with one brush while applying the gold leaf with another brush. The restoration of the painting

and frame should last 75 years or longer barring any unforeseen accidents. Each woman worked thirteen hours a day for six days. “Many times people don’t understand our work,” said Catherine.

“It is extremely detailed and time consuming.”

In 1937, Samuel Kress made a gift of two more Venetian paintings to the College, Adoration of the Magi and Adoration of the Shepherds, oil sketches by the eighteenth-century Rococo painter Gaspare Diziani. Both of these works were restored in 2009 through donations by Mr. and Mrs. C. Brown Edwards. According to Lisa Sloben ’00, Wesleyan’s director for the Center for Creative and Performing Arts, Kress donated the paintings to Wesleyan as part of his mission to support colleges and universities with gifts of European paintings, particularly Italian Renaissance paintings. The Kress Collection is on permanent exhibit in the West Gallery of the Porter Family Memorial Arts building.

According to Dr. Bailey, the job of conserving all of Wesleyan’s Treasures is collaborative and continuous. In fact, Catherine and Nancy will soon begin restoring Emily, by Louis F. Berneker.

Thanks to donations by the Class of 1963, Emily’s restoration will be completed in time for presentation at their 50th class reunion in April.

Dr. Libby Bailey is co-editor of the recently published book Gravity in Art: Essays on Weight and Weightlessness in Painting, Sculpture and Photography. She also contributed three of the twenty-six essays. For more information, visit http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/ book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6574-3.

Wesleyan Treasures has seventy-five more paintings awaiting adoption.

To participate in Wesleyan’s Adopt - A-Painting program, make your taxdeductable donation to Wesleyan College, designated for art restoration, or call the Office of Institutional Advancement Office at (478) 757-5187.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

1974 26

The

Magic

of STUNT

On February 23, 2013 the doors of Porter Auditorium will swing open to welcome students, faculty, staff, alumnae, families, and community members to one of Wesleyanne’s most beloved traditions, STUNT. Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

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Michael and George McKinney with members of Alpha Psi Omega theatre fraternity. circa 1985.

1985 STUNT began in 1897 when the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) decided to raise funds for three scholarships to be awarded to rising seniors at Wesleyan. These scholarships continue to be funded today from the proceeds of the musical competition among the College’s four sister classes and are awarded to students who exemplify sisterhood and the true meaning of STUNT. For many Wesleyannes, STUNT forever holds a special place in their hearts and signifies sisterhood at its best. The unity begins long before the curtains open on that most exciting Saturday night. In September, each Wesleyan class gathers to elect four members to serve as their STUNT committee. These four women will bring to life an original 15-30 minute musical and will write, direct, and choreograph each play under the guidance of the STUNT chair, cochair, and faculty advisory committee.

From September until opening night in February, committee members spend hours working together to write and rewrite songs, submit numerous drafts of their scripts, and plot out every detail that will bring their masterpieces to the stage.

After their election, committee members keep the STUNTs a secret from their classmates until Reading Night when eager Wesleyannes gather across campus to hear their STUNT for the first time. For the three weeks before opening night, students immerse themselves in painting backdrops, learning choreography, and practicing their lines. It is during this time that the real magic of STUNT takes place. At the end of each STUNT the performers gather as one unit for a “starburst” or group shot as the final act of their show. Everyone must be on stage and in the finale. Classes are challenged and sisterhood is strengthened through teamwork and the dream of achieving the most coveted honor of all, the STUNT CUP. STUNT is indeed one of the most powerful Wesleyan traditions.

Amanda Awanjo, 2012-2013 STUNT chair, claims the reason she is involved is to support “the spirit of sisterhood, creativity, responsibility, and hard work that STUNT fosters. It’s all the small stuff about STUNT that makes it so special.

You forget them while you are tired and up all night, but when the starburst hits on that final number, it’s the small moments that come rushing back.”

Those “small moments” are why STUNT is such a powerful experience for so many Wesleyannes. In three short weeks students are challenged to work together, pull from each other’s talents, and push each other out of their comfort zones to achieve a common goal. STUNT wouldn’t be the adventure it is without the bonds of sisterhood. After spending late nights painting backdrops and organizing additional rehearsals in the early morning hours, emotions can easily run high. The moments of frustration and lost sleep are not, however, what Wesleyannes across generations remember. The enduring memories involve friendships, laughter, and joy –– and sometimes lyrics that stay with us forever.

This year, on February 23, 2013, STUNT will celebrate 117 years of bringing Wesleyan sisters together. The spirit of sisterhood will be presented in a way that only Wesleyannes know how, and it will be a spectacular show. Alumnae are invited to share the spirit of STUNT with prospective students through the College’s Welcome to Wesleyan weekend event which includes the Saturday night performances.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Fresh Face

Photo by Neal Carpenter

Elizebeth Harrell

30

Each fall, Wesleyan welcomes to campus the fresh faces of her first year students. This year Green Knights smiled and laughed with excitement as they embarked on their new lives as college students. The GK class of 2016 is full of driven students, proven leaders, and passionate activists from all over the country and world. Among them is Elizabeth Harrell, whose academic success in high school and her desire to declare a major within the field of humanities earned her one of Wesleyan’s most prestigious scholarships, the Findlay Scholarship. Elizabeth has set high standards for herself, and the determination to succeed shines through the face of this intelligent young woman.

Elizabeth grew up in Pelham, Georgia, just south of Albany. After her father’s death when Elizabeth was a small child, she lived with her mother, grandmother, and older sister. In 2008, her mother died suddenly, and Elizabeth moved to Brunswick, Georgia, to live with her sister’s family. Along with feeling the anxieties that accompany most high school freshmen, Elizabeth was living in a new town, grieving the loss of her mother, and taking on the responsibility of helping to raise her niece and two nephews while her sister and brother-in-law worked full time.

Elizabeth didn’t let those hardships get in her way. She graduated from Brunswick High School a semester early with a 3.98 GPA, serving as manager of her school’s wrestling team, a member of the National Honor Society, and a math tutor. Attending college was never optional for Elizabeth. She had learned about Wesleyan from her AP Government teacher, Cleveland Craig Tiller, who is the daughter of Dale Parker Craig ’69. Elizabeth was considering another college, too, until Wesleyan Admission Counselor Annabel Fowler Brooks ’11, persuaded her to change her mind. Elizabeth said, “Mrs. Craig was very supportive of my decision to come to Wesleyan. She still sends me letters that are so motivating. I really love having her to talk to and telling me all of the stories from her time at Wesleyan.”

In February 2012, the day before Scholarship Day at Wesleyan, Annabel attended a college fair at Waycross College in Waycross, Georgia, and offered to travel the short distance to Brunswick to pick up Elizabeth and drive her to Macon so she could interview for a scholarship.

According to Annabel, “By that time, Elizabeth had already decided she wanted to come to Wesleyan and hoped to earn a scholarship to help finance her education. She didn’t even apply to other schools. She knew she was taking a risk by doing that, but in the end, it all worked out great.”

Elizabeth said the Findlay Scholarship fosters her personal inspiration to succeed and

“means the absolute world” to her. “If it weren’t for Mrs. Findlay, I wouldn’t be at Wesleyan now.

She is making my dreams come true! It has already changed my life. It’s made me believe that there are good people in the world who want to see others prosper.”

As a student at Wesleyan, Elizabeth is an active member of her campus community. She is a member of Wesleyan Disciples, runs with the cross-country team, and works in the school post office. Elizabeth lives in Wortham Hall with roommate Brittany Pye, who is also a Findlay Scholarship recipient. In her free time, she likes to take walks around campus and watch movies. She’s also a huge fan of wrestling,

“If it weren’t for Mrs. Findlay I wouldn’t be at Wesleyan now. She is making my dreams come true! This scholarship has already changed my life.

It’s made me believe that there are good people in the world who want to see others prosper.”

though she doesn’t readily admit it. Elizabeth will soon declare her major in human services, which will serve her well in her goals to work for the Division of Family and Children Services and one day open a home for adults with special needs.

“Honestly, what I most want to do in life is help people,” Elizabeth said. “It doesn’t matter what I’m doing as long as I’m serving the greater good and making a positive impact on the world.”

Elizabeth’s presence at Wesleyan is characterized by motivation and inspiration, especially in light of personal circumstances that could have held her back. A close friend of Elizabeth’s said, “Elizabeth has been an inspiration to me. As a young person, she has faced more difficulty than a lot of people face in their entire life. She has faced those difficulties with perseverance and drive beyond her years. She has let nothing stand in her way and has risen above and moved forward against the odds. To me, Elizabeth is a true Wesleyan Woman.”

Fresh Face is a new addition to the Wesleyan Magazine.

Each winter a first year student who represents all Wesleyan Women with bright futures, will be featured.

Our Spring edition will continue to feature the Five Faces from each graduating class. Congratulations to Elizabeth Harrell, Wesleyan’s first Fresh Face.

The Findlay Scholarship As one of Wesleyan’s premier scholarships, the Findlay Scholarship Program was founded by Cuyler and Gayle Attaway Findlay ’55.

These scholarships are designated for two first-year students who intend to declare a major in either the humanities or social sciences and who demonstrate particular promise for intellectual inquiry.

Findlay Scholars receive significant tuition assistance for a maximum of eight semesters and are eligible for up to $500 annually toward funding research.

Wesleyan’s other premier scholarships include the Munroe Scholarship for students with interests in sciences, mathematics, or dual-degree engineering; the Lane Scholarship for those who plan to major in the fine arts; the Margaret A. Pitts Scholarship for students who are active in The United Methodist Church and have a commitment to faith, leadership, and community service; and the Mary Knox McNeill Scholarship for Methodist students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement along with a commitment to faith and community service.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Graduating Superior Teachers Thanks in part to the Dorothy V. and N. Logan Lewis Foundation Last December, Wesleyan was thrilled to receive a generous gift from the Dorothy V. and N. Logan Lewis Foundation to support the College’s Center for Educational Renewal. The Lewis family’s relationship with Wesleyan College dates back to 1871 when Logan Lewis’s grandmother, Tero Callaway, entered Wesleyan at the age of fourteen. She attended for two years, taking classes in composition, algebra, physics, chemistry, Latin, French, and history. In 1901, Logan’s mother, Johnnie Logan, matriculated at the age of fifteen to study piano. Although she did not earn a degree, Johnnie continued at Wesleyan for the next four years, taking courses in astronomy, literature, French, Latin, history, and arithmetic. She was also a member of Phi Mu sorority.

Typical of Wesleyannes, Tero and Johnnie were both strong, savvy women, but as the result of a series of tragedies, Johnnie was called upon to lead in a way that was foreign to most women of her time. John Thomas Logan, Johnnie’s father, died when she was just two weeks old. Her father’s namesake, Johnnie was Tero 32

and John’s only child. Eight years after John’s death, Tero married W. B. Amos, a widower with several children and a successful insurance business in Forsyth, but he died just two years later. W. B. and Tero had no children together.

Two years after leaving Wesleyan, Johnnie Logan married Nathaniel (Nat) Lewis in a home wedding The (Macon) Telegraph called “a beautiful and brilliant affair.” Nat and Johnnie both grew up on Vineville Avenue and probably knew each other for most of their lives. Like Johnnie, Nat came from a prominent Macon family and had lost his father at an early age. While Johnnie attended Wesleyan, Nat studied at Mercer University and later worked in banking until he assumed responsibility for management of the family’s business concerns. Johnnie and Nat had one child, Nathaniel Logan Lewis, who was just ten years old when Nat died at the age of 33.

Although it was not customary for women to work outside the home in the early 1900s, with no brothers and her father, step-father, and husband now deceased, Johnnie took over handling the family’s business ventures and property

management responsibilities. This was no small matter. Johnnie’s family owned a great deal of real estate, including approximately thirty acres in the Vineville District which the family subdivided, developed, and rented. When Johnnie’s mother died in 1934, her estate included half of the property she owned jointly with her sister, Annie, including the acreage in Vineville, 228 acres in north Bibb County, several properties in downtown Macon, 625 acres in Monroe County, 1,434 acres of farmland in Lee County, approximately 12 properties and lots in Leesburg, and half interest in one part of the land on which the Keely Building sat in downtown Atlanta. Within the year, Annie quit claimed her interests in all the property primarily to Johnnie, with the Atlanta property going to Johnnie’s son Logan.

Eventually, Logan assumed responsibility for all the family’s holdings, and he and wife Dorothy Vits Lewis added to them.

They, too, invested heavily in real estate, although Dorothy also bought and sold securities. In the 1950s, Logan returned to his roots in banking and was credited

Photos by Neal Carpenter as the driving force in establishing the Georgia Bank & Trust Company. He later served as the bank’s president.

In addition to their business ventures, Dorothy and Logan shared a love of cars and racing. The couple had no children.

Logan was diagnosed with cancer just shy of his fifty-eighth birthday and died six months later in 1966. In 1979, Dorothy established the Dorothy V. and N. Logan Lewis Foundation to ensure that the bulk of her estate would go to various charities she supported, primarily Catholic missions and schools. Dorothy’s interest in education and Logan’s family connection to Wesleyan led the foundation to give to the College’s Center for Educational Renewal.

Wesleyan’s Education Department currently occupies two spacious wings in the newly renovated Taylor Hall. Faculty and students benefit from two state-ofthe-art model classrooms – one lab space designed to simulate what a teacher might encounter in a middle or high school science laboratory and another to reflect the actual teaching environment of an early childhood classroom. Both model spaces help our educators refine the use of the classroom space as an effective teaching tool.

Teacher education at Wesleyan is fieldcentered, designed to develop specific competencies through experience and knowledge of the practical aspects of teaching. Wesleyan students routinely are placed in Bibb County classrooms to observe teacher and student behavior, assist the teachers, and plan and implement instruction. In their senior year, Wesleyan’s education students are placed in appropriate clinical practices (student teaching) to learn and teach for thirteen weeks or more in the classrooms of certified teachers who have been carefully selected as exceptional models within the teaching profession. While the student teaching component is not unique, Wesleyan’s program goes beyond the norm, requiring 210 hours in field experiences beginning with a student’s first education course. As a result, Wesleyan graduates are well respected for their knowledge of the classroom environment, their excellent preparation, and the individual attention they give to every student.

Wesleyan’s Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education (M.Ed.) Program began in June 2010 with eighteen students – all teachers at public schools in Central Georgia. Two more cohorts have followed, including teachers from both public and private schools.

This accelerated summer-to-summer program enrolls certified teachers and combines traditional, online, and hybrid courses. The curriculum is demanding, but the schedule is designed around an educator’s academic calendar and formatted over a period of fourteen months so busy professionals may pursue an advanced education degree without interrupting their careers. With a focus on one small cohort each year, admission requirements are high. A distinctive collaborative learning approach builds on the talent of every member in the cohort, creating a dynamic network that lasts well beyond the program. The experience transforms already accomplished certified teachers into confident, successful leaders and highly skilled practitioners of the principles of early childhood education. Already, two of Wesleyan’s M.Ed. graduates have been named Teacher of the Year in their schools.

Wesleyan is exceedingly grateful to the Dorothy V. and N. Logan Lewis Foundation for their support of the Center for Educational Renewal. With the Foundation’s generous support, the program is graduating superior teachers, many of whom stay and teach in Central Georgia, adding their lasting impact to classrooms and our community.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Scholar, Teacher, Crusader In a lifetime that spanned ninety-five years, Ella Clare McKellar (1887-1982) proved herself an astute scholar, an able teacher, and a tireless crusader for health and wholeness. In recent months, Wesleyan College has been honored as the recipient of the Ella Clare McKellar Collection of documents and artifacts that reflect the multi-faceted life of this remarkable woman.

The college is indebted to Dr. McKellar’s great-nephew, Dr. William Baird, for the exhaustive collection. The information in this article comes almost entirely from the Collection itself.

There are photographs, honor society pins, and handwritten research papers dating back to her tenth grade year at Americus High School. There are beautifully illustrated notebooks from her science classes at Wesleyan Female College, a lovely framed watercolor of a rural scene, and bound copies of two dissertations. There are letters from senators and governors and tracts decrying the evils of alcohol. There are letters, postcards, receipts, and more. Taken together, they chronicle the life of one Ella Clare McKellar, Class of 1907, and create an indelible impression of a woman who used her extraordinary intellect and boundless energy to change the world in which she lived.

Having been born a few miles outside of Americus, Georgia, Clare enjoyed a childhood filled with physical activity and spiritual and academic endeavors. In an autobiographical sketch written in 1964, she credits her father with strengthening her interest in the church and in Sunday school

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work. From her grandmother, she acquired a love for literature, while her mother taught her Latin, mathematics, and piano. Later, her mother would become her chaperone as Clare studied in Macon, New York, and other places.

With a strong scholastic background, Clare was well prepared for eighth grade at Americus High School, graduating with high grades and entering Wesleyan Female College as a sophomore in 1904.

Completing her course of study in 1907 with a major in Latin, Miss McKellar was the recipient of the Medal for Highest Scholarship.

Her Wesleyan degree was the first of six she would earn over the next thirty-four years.

She was the first woman to earn a Master of Arts in mathematics from the University of Georgia (1918); then she returned to UGA to acquire a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics in 1920. In 1936, there was a Bachelor of Divinity (a master’s

level degree) from Duke University, where she studied as much theology, psychology, and sociology as possible. Her last two degrees, earned just a year apart, were a PhD in philosophy (1940) and a Doctor of Theology (1941) from Boston University – with the result that Clare became the first woman in the school’s 102-year-old history to earn a ThD. (Two doctorates and two dissertations in two years.)

What does one do with so many degrees?

Ella Clare McKellar taught school, third grade in Whigham, Georgia, and later sixty pupils in grades one through nine in a little school near LaGrange. When she taught near Americus, she rode her horse to school, often traveling at breakneck speed. In Cedartown and Athens she taught high school mathematics and coached basketball. Physical well-being was as important to Claire as scholastic achievement, so she often found herself teaching swimming lessons and equestrian skills.

Her career as a college professor began at Southern College (now Florida Southern) and later took her to Sullins College in Virginia, Central College in Missouri, and Southwestern University in Texas. Because her own studies had been so diverse, she was able to teach in various departments, including mathematics, psychology, education, philosophy, and religion.

In her short autobiography of 1964, Dr. McKellar wrote, The war, depression and two deaths brought me back to Georgia and I bought a home in Tifton, a small, quiet town, to continue research and writing. However, I was drawn into WCTU work, knowing it was not popular but feeling it was the most needed and most important work I was prepared to do.

as nutrition and temperance education, and her home became a center for the distribution of materials on these subjects.

The research for her dissertations and graduate studies served her well as she wrote or revised publications on the evils of alcohol for youth and adults, temperance education facts, and what the Bible says about drinking.

She taught in Youth Temperance Council camps and spoke to countless church and school groups.

She served at the local, district, and state levels and attended eleven national WCTU conventions. She wrote to political figures to advise them of the importance of abstinence to the health of the nation, and she called them to account for their expressed views on matters related to alcohol legislation.

She even expressed her disapproval for Wesleyan students’ presentation of the play I Remember Mama, which she called “...the most insidious, subtle propaganda for the liquor traffic...”

Although the temperance work would seem to have been all-consuming, Clare still made time for the sort of active life she had experienced as a child. She purchased a farm near Tifton and was very involved in growing and harvesting much of her own food.

Ella Clare McKellar died on December 5, 1982, leaving a legacy of scholarship which lives on in her former students, an active Christian faith which no doubt changed the lives of many, and a treasury of documents and artifacts which continue to inspire and inform the lives of all who read them.

Thanks to Karen Connor Shockley ’63 for contributing this article. Karen is a retired educator who lives in Macon, Georgia. She is a past president of the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association and is a member of The Macon Writers’ Club.

Clare McKellar threw herself wholeheartedly into temperance work, both in the Methodist Church and in the Georgia Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She made herself thoroughly knowledgeable on such subjects

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

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Photo by Terri Castruccio Hurst ’90

Up and down the Eastern seaboard, along the Pacific coast, in all four corners of the United States, and across six continents, Wesleyan’s admission counselors are traveling, visiting, and recruiting bright young women to the College’s historic campus. Parrish Smotherman Jenkins ’06, Anna Mishina ’04, Annabel Fowler Brooks ’11, Tracy Ward Tilley ’89, Lisa Sloben ’00 and Lindsay Culpepper are representing Wesleyan at college fairs, speaking to students and counselors at high schools, issuing invitations, hosting events, and scheduling visits.

The sincere love and respect these women have for Wesleyan is evident in every conversation with every potential student.

No one knows Wesleyan better or is more qualified to share information and enthusiasm about the College than her own alumnae. With this thought in mind, the Alumnae Admission Representative (AAR) program was initiated in 2007 through the efforts of Alumnae Admission Program Director Tracy Tilley. According to Tilley, “Since its inception, this program has attracted hundreds of alumnae volunteers. Everyone does her part to make it work; some work college fairs, some host parties, and others present Wesleyan First Book Awards.

There are many ways to represent the College in your community.” For example, you can become a Wesleyan contact for your Methodist Church, contact prospective students by phone or email, make an alumna referral for a student, commit to represent Wesleyan at a college fair in your area, or serve on the planning committee for Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend (WWW).

WWW has emerged as one of the most popular occasions for alumnae to bring their daughters, granddaughters, cousins, nieces, and neighbors to Wesleyan and introduce them to traditions that make

the Wesleyan experience unique. During STUNT weekend each year, alumnae and prospective students tour campus, learn songs of sisterhood, join in class competition, sleep in a dorm room, eat in Anderson Dining Hall, and enjoy the magic of STUNT. The Alumnae Association Board of Managers, in partnership with the Admission Office, started WWW in 2010. The number of attendees has almost tripled in three years, and in February 2012, twenty-three alumnae brought forty six prospective students to campus for the exciting weekend.

During high school, Mykel Glass ’14 was invited to a Wesleyan sponsored coffee in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, where she learned about Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend. She had already narrowed her college choices to five, with Wesleyan on the list but not at the top. Soon after WWW, however, Mykel declared Wesleyan her first choice of colleges. “Everyone was so welcoming, personable, and helpful. I just knew Wesleyan was for me.” Throughout the entire process, Mykel’s main recruiter was Erin Dallas ’98, who is also her aunt. Erin claims she has been “working on Mykel since she was two years old.” In the true spirit of alumnae recruitment, not to mention family love, Erin helped Mykel through the application and financial aid process and also helped Mykel move into her dorm room. Mykel says she wants to do for others what her aunt did for her, so she is serving as a WAVE member and sharing the Wesleyan story with prospective students.

Kayla Butler ’14 was attending Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when she stopped by the Wesleyan table at a college fair and met Catherine O’Kelley Fore ’02. Soon afterward, Jody Bethea Riggs ’88 hosted an event for prospective students and invited

Ten year old Jessie, daughter of Terri Castruccio Hurst ’90, holds a souvenir from a visit with her Girl Scout troop to Wesleyan’s Nancy Ellis Knox Equestrian Center. The horseshoe hangs in the troop’s meeting space as their official troop lucky charm.

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Kayla to attend Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend. Kayla fell in love with the unique environment of Wesleyan’s campus and said she felt at home. “Jody and Catherine had a big impact on my decision to choose Wesleyan. They had such great memories of Wesleyan and I loved hearing about their experiences as students. But most of all, they showed me what Wesleyan women can become and I wanted to be a part of that.” Already involved in new student recruitment, Kayla serves as a WAVE member and was the lead Orientation Advisor in the summer and fall sessions.

Catherine and Jody stay in close touch with Kayla, and Jody has agreed to be Kayla’s candlelighter when she graduates.

“These stories are great examples of how alumnae can develop relationships with students, or support a relationship that already exists,” Tilley said. “When alumnae reach out to a student more than once, when they build relationships with prospects, the Office of Admission has a greater chance of yielding the student. The relationship could be as involved as mentoring the student through the admission process or as simple as touching base with her every couple of months.”

Jennifer Eadie ’14 took Beth Riddle Everett’s ’92 journalism class in high school and said she learned a good bit about Wesleyan during class. “She talked about Wesleyan ALL the time,” said Jennifer. Jennifer asked Beth for more information about the College, and together they called the Office of Admission and learned that Fall Preview Weekend was only days away. During that special weekend Jennifer

made her decision to come to Wesleyan. Beth said, “I still talk about Wesleyan whenever it is appropriate to class discussion. Passing the torch is my duty to Wesleyan. I’m always looking for students who will do Wesleyan justice.”

Like Mykel and Kayla, Jennifer is a WAVE member. As an admission intern, she also receives training and grooming on how to be an admission counselor.

Wesleyan women have been recruiting since the first class graduated in 1840, and not always through a collegesponsored event. Terri Castruccio Hurst ’90, for example, has been recruiting her own daughter all her life. “When our Girl Scout troop traveled from Lilburn to Savannah last May, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Wesleyan. I graduated in 1990 (PK) and my daughter is planning to be a proud GK of ’24. Since our second visit to STUNT in February, she’s been talking up Wesleyan to all her friends. The girls loved exploring the campus, especially the Equestrian Center.

Hopefully they are all future GKs!” Most college students find out about the colleges they choose from a family member or friend. Alumnae have the power to make a huge difference in both the quantity and quality of students applying to Wesleyan College. The Wesleyan Admission Office needs your help as we share the Wesleyan story with prospective students. Please contact Tracy Ward Tilley ’89 (ttilley@wesleyancollege.edu) if you would like more information about how to become an Alumnae Admission Representative.

Register for Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend! February 23 and 24, 2013. 1-800-447-6610 or email: ahayward@wesleyancollege.edu.

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Alumnae population 38

6

0

8

20

18

7

8 1

11

7 41 37

33 4

74

20

5

12

30

151

41

286

73 24

24

50

38 20

20 5

21

9

10

30

59

38

15

21

12

9

235

38 155

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BREAKDOWN

3,587

0-19

41

20-75 76-286

6

951 951

3,587

7

ALUMNAE STATISTICS

GEORGIA POPULATION

656 Likes Alumnae Facebook page

3,292 # of alumnae emails addresses on file

34 # of countries where alums live

57 # of alumnae e-reps

27 # of alumnae clubs

1 OUT OF EVERY 28 HUNDRED GEORGIA RESIDENTS IS A WESLEYAN ALUMNA

WESLEYAN WANTS YOU Our alumnae live all across the USA and in 33 other countries. Stay in touch with your sisters! Consider starting a club or affinity group in your area. An alumnae club can be as simple as a book club or a pep squad to cheer on the Pioneers when they are in your hometown. Plan a potluck or evening out with the sisters in your city.

Meet quarterly for a service project. Ask a Wesleyan representative to speak at your next meeting. The options are endless, and the resources are available to you.

Some clubs, like the Washington D.C. group and the Atlanta Young Alumnae group, coordinate their plans via Facebook and email; other groups send invitations.

Contact the Alumnae Office for more ideas and for a list of alumnae in your city (alumnae@wesleyancollege.edu).

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

AlumnaeConnections

Engaging Wesleyan alumnae through volunteer activities, e-communications, travel and educational opportunities, sisterhood and class projects, and alumnae club events are just some of the services the Alumnae Office provides to help alumnae stay connected with each other and the College. To better serve our alumnae and the growing needs of the many programs of the Alumnae Office, Alumnae Directors Cathy Coxey Snow ’71 (Classes 1928-1979) and Lauren Hamblin ’06 (Classes 1980-2012) invite you to contact them about how you can network with Wesleyan sisters while serving and supporting Wesleyan. Visit wesleyancollege.edu/alumnae for information on how to become involved with the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association (WCAA). Find us at www.facebook.com/WesleyanCollegeAlumnaeAssociation for current updates on news of classmates, friends, and WCAA events. Let us help you to stay connected! csnow@wesleyancollege.edu (478.757.5173) or lhamblin@wesleyancollege.edu (478.757.2078).

Florida Tampa A Fall Luncheon at Lauro Italian Ristorante in Tampa provided a great venue for area alumnae to connect with each other and to hear an update on College news from Senior Advancement Officer Susan Allen and Alumnae Director Cathy Coxey Snow ’71. Sharon Smith Pizzo ’65 planned the informative and fun event with help from alumnae hostesses Anne Arthur ’87, Anne McKay Garris ’51, Linda Ennis Johnson ’70, Susan Taylor King ’63, and Sally Husted Shuford ’61.

Georgia Albany

Savannah Savannah area alumnae met in September at The Chatham Club, where speaker Kathy A. Bradley ’78, past president of the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association, discussed her new book. Wesleyan guests included Susan Allen, Andrea Williford, annual giving director, Lauren Hamblin and Cathy Snow who provided updates on the College. Bettye Withers Barnes ’42 organized luncheon plans and Monica Harper ’04, Helen Proctor Watson ’46, Carolyn Brooks ’77, and Anne Cordeiro ’92 also served as alumnae hostesses.

North Carolina Raleigh

In November Cathy Snow, Susan Allen, and Lauren Hamblin ’06, alumnae director (classes 1980-2012), met with area alumnae at the Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany, where they shared Wesleyan news with the group. Mary Joe Cawley McGee ’53 coordinated plans for the Fall Luncheon with help from alumnae hostesses Georgia Anne “Gi Gi” Milligan Arthur ’51, Syd Willis Blackmarr ’54, Jean Cowart Fleming ’48, and Nan Pelle Wuller ’69.

Members of the North Carolina Triangle Alumnae Club met in July to plan the club calendar for 2012-13. Lucia Hutchinson Peel Powe ’53 hosted the meeting and greeted guests at The Cedars in Chapel Hill.

Club Co-Leaders Pamela Henry Pate ’71 and Linda Brown Walker ’73 along with Mindy Fraiser ’80, the club’s Facebook manager, invite area alumnae to connect with the group.

Atlanta

Move-In Day. Wesleyan alumnae volunteers met on campus in August for the first ever Move-In-Day, where they provided hands-on help to entering first year GK students and their families. Carrying suitcases, providing directions, handing out bottles of cold water, and running errands gave new students their first look at Wesleyan sisterhood in action and helped to make their first day at Wesleyan a special one.

Want to be a Move-In Day volunteer next year? Contact lhamblin@ wesleyancollege.edu.

Atlanta Young Alumnae met in June at Atlantic Station for an outdoor screening of “The Help.” The group also met in August for sisterhood themed cocktails at The Peachtree Club. In October, members held a family friendly event at Stone Mountain. Want to join the group? Contact Jaime McQuilkin ’06 who manages the group’s Facebook page: www. facebook.com/atl.young.alums.

Macon The Macon Young Alumnae Club began organizational meetings this summer with a luncheon in July at Ingleside Village Pizza followed by a Planning Potluck Supper in August at the home of Taylor Bishop ’12 and Hannah Doan ’12. The group’s first event was a community service project at Hephzibah Children’s Home in October, where young alumnae held a Spa Day for teenage girls. The group also assisted with an Alumnae-Student Tailgate at Mathews Athletic Center in October at the Wesleyan vs. Tennessee Temple University soccer game. To join the Macon Young Alumnae network, contact Annabel Fowler Brooks ’11 who manages the group’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/

New Alumnae Programs

Alumnae Week. Wesleyan students were invited to participate in the first Alumnae Among Thee Week held in October. Filled with fun sisterhood events each day, students also had the opportunity to have lunch with board members of the Wesleyan Alumnae Association. The highlight of the week was a convocation entitled “Wesleyan Women” moderated

by President Ruth Knox ’75 and featuring alumnae panelists Cyndey Costello Busbee ’92, Peggy Parrish Hasty ’71, Melanie Reed Williams ’06 and Lauren Hamblin ’06.

WesleyanMaconYoungAlums.

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A SPECIAL OVERNIGHT EVENT FOR ALUMNAE AND PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

club facebook 1. In-town Tampa. Tampa alumnae meet at Lauro Ristorante.

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2. Lunch and Learn. Albany area alumnae learn about “What’s New at Wesleyan” at Thronateeska Heritage Center.

3. WAYA! Wesleyan Atlanta Alums meet for an outdoor screening of “The Help” at Atlantic Station. (From left) Christina Aiken Young ’05 and Stephanie Dunbar Lee ’06.

4. A Special Reunion. (From left) Wesleyan’s First Five – Sonya Tomlinson Holland, Marvette Baldwin Jenkins, Christine Everett, Dyleane Tolbert Taylor, and Carolyn McClinton Woodard – celebrate being together on campus for the first time since graduation in 1972.

5. Forever Sisters and Friends. (From left) WCAA President Ashley Garrett ’90 and college roommate and Wesleyan College Department of Education Chair Dr. Virginia Bowman Wilcox ’90, share memories at the 2012 Fall Convocation.

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6. What’s Cooking. Macon Young Alums plan for a successful club year at the Pot Luck Supper.

7. Alumnae Week Tailgate. Alumnae and students “cheer on” the Wesleyan soccer team in October.

8. Mighty Movers. Alumnae took a break on Move-In Day when they helped new GK sisters move into the dorms.

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9. Leading the Way. (From left) Pilar Wilder ’01, Mary Cay White McCullough ’93, and Melanie Filson Lewis ’93 shared leadership lessons with students at the October Fiscal Fitness Convocation “Leading in Your Community.”

10. Savannah Sisters. Savannah alumnae hostesses and guest speaker Kathy Bradley ’78 at The Chatham Club.

11. Planning for the Future. North Carolina Triangle Club members plan the new club calendar with hostess Lucia Hutchinson Poe ’53 (far right).

12. Alumnae Week “Meet and Greet.”

Students and WCAA board members meet for lunch in the Manget Room.

(From left) Lucy Guy ’09 and Ashley Garrett ’90 with Ameera Harris ’13.

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12 Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Sympathy The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends sympathy to: Kathleen Black Janssen ’43 of Midland, TX, on the death of her husband, Robert Donald “Pete” Janssen, on May 20, 2011.

Martha Sisson Gaston ’57 of Atlanta, on the death of her husband, Donald E. Gaston, on June 4, 2012.

Ann Ewing Shumaker ’63 of Columbia, SC, on the death of her husband, William M. “Butch” Shumaker, on April 25, 2012.

Virginia Harris Howard ’45 of Smyrna, GA, on the death of her sister, Lola Elizabeth Harris Ellis ’58, on August 11, 2012.

Faye Terrell Williams ’57 of Folsom, CA, on the death of her cousin, Xara “Mickey” Terrell Quillian ’53, on October 9, 2012.

RoxAnna Arrington Sway ’63 of Atlanta, on the death of her aunt, Elsie Andrews Johnson ’38 on September 25, 2012.

Betty Turner Corn ’47 of Columbus, GA, on the death of her sister, Sarah Louise “Weezie” Turner Butler ’41, on October 14, 2012.

Beulah “Bootsie” Laslie Brinson ’58 of Monticello, FL, on the death of her sister, Mary Laslie Grodner, Ph.D. ’55, on September 5, 2012.

Mary Russell “Rusty” George ’64 of Macon, on the death of her mother, Jean Russell, on June 14, 2012.

Zoe Moore Turner ’58 of Anniston, AL, on the death of her husband, Thomas Turner on August 11, 2012.

Dale Keyser Farran ’65 of Nashville, TN, on the death of her husband, Christopher Carroll Farran on April 3, 2012.

Mary Terrell Mitchell ’59 of Lizella, GA, on the death of her cousin, Xara “Mickey” Terrell Quillian ’53, on October 9, 2012.

Katherine Champion Smelley ’65 of Savannah, GA, on the death of her son, Scott Smelley, on August 18, 2011.

Mary Amerson Burt ’60 of Macon, on the death of her brother, Frank Amerson, on September 14, 2012.

Carol Banks Wilburn ’65 of Gulf Breeze, FL, on the death of her husband, Jack W. Wilburn, on April 26, 2011.

Gwyn Brown Chesnut ’60 of Carrollton, GA, on the death of her husband, Charles Adolphus Chesnut, on October 2, 2012.

Teresa “Tee” Hanson Smith ’66 of Macon, on the death of her son, Mark A. Smith, on June 21, 2012.

Annie Anderson Jones ’48 of Macon, on the death of her husband, Trustee Frank Cater Jones, on August 29, 2012.

Elizabeth Elyea Ward ’48 of Atlanta, on the death of her sisterin-law, Mary Ann Snellgrove Elyea ’56, on October 16, 2012.

Beth Parker Hunt ’49 of Cedartown, GA, on the death of her husband, Van Garlington Hunt, on December 15, 2011.

Martha Groover Staples ’49 and former Trustee Jim Staples of Winter Park, FL, and Courtenay Staples Bunn ’05 of Forsyth, GA, on the death of Martha and Jim’s daughter and Courtenay’s aunt, Miriam Staples Kersey, on July 29, 2012.

Florrie Matthews Johnson ’50 of Macon, on the death of her sister, Elizabeth “Betty” Matthews Parker ’48, on June 21, 2012.

Sue Marie Thompson Turner ’50 of Columbus, GA, on the death of her sister-in-law, Sarah Louise “Weezie” Turner Butler ’41, on October 14, 2012.

Georgia Anne “Gi Gi” Milligan Arthur ’51 of Americus, GA, on the death of her brother, Jay Milligan, Jr., on October 16, 2012.

Martha Jean Laslie Woodward ’54 of Quincy, FL, on the death of her sister, Mary Laslie Grodner, Ph.D. ’55, on September 5, 2012.

Charlotte Poole Harrell ’56 of Brunswick, GA, on the death of her son, George Lilly Harrell, on September 24, 2012.

Eleanor “Ecky” Laslie Griffin ’60 of Deland, FL, on the death of her sister, Mary Laslie Grodner, Ph.D. ’55 on September 5, 2012.

Carol Schneider Clements ’61 of Hiawassee, GA, on the deaths of her husband, John Leo Clements Jr., on August 2, 2012, and her father, Isadore Schneider, on August 15, 2012.

Peggy Pearson Jerles ’61 of Perry, GA, on the death of her husband, Dr. William Rowland “Bill” Jerles, on June 13, 2012.

Harriet Laslie Reynolds ’62 of Augusta, GA, on the death of her sister, Mary Laslie Grodner, Ph.D. ’55, on September 5, 2012.

Charlotte Thomas Marshall ’63 of Athens, GA, on the death of her husband, Dr. George Octavious Marshall, Jr., on September 25, 2012.

Shirley Wise Richardson ’63 of Longwood, FL, on the death of her mother, Lucile Flow Wise, on June 14, 2011.

42 (Announcements reported since the last Wesleyan Magazine.)

Lash Lawton Woodcock ’68 of Macon, on the death of her mother, Hayes Fowler Lawton ’34, on October 11, 2012.

Susan Isaacs Dodson ’69 of Douglasville, GA, on the death of her mother, Margaret Cantrell Isaacs ’33, on June 18, 2012.

Lynda Jordan Gasses ’71 of Monticello, GA, on the death of her mother, Sara Clyde Banks Jordan, on August 7, 2012.

Justine Lawton Gillis ’71 of Soperton, GA, on the death of her mother, Hayes Fowler Lawton ’34, on October 11, 2012.

Jill Gerber Smith ’73 of Winter Haven, FL, on the deaths of her mother, Julette H. Gerber, on March 27, 2012, and her father, Daniel S. Gerber, on February 21, 2012.

Laura Hunt Edenfield ’74 of St. Simons Island, GA, on the death of her father, Van Garlington Hunt, on December 15, 2011.

Marti Andrews Willis ’74 of Panama City, FL, on the deaths of her father, Sandy W. Andrews, on July 10, 2012, and her aunt, Elsie Andrews Johnson ’38, on September 25, 2012.

Henny Craddock Schoonover ’76 of Neptune Beach, FL, on the death of her son, Andrew Schoonover, on Ocotber 22, 2012.

Debbie Jones Smith ’76 of Macon, on the death of her father, Deen Kaufman Jones, on October 26, 2012.

Carol Freeman Ake ’79 of Woodstock, GA, on the death of her aunt, Nancy Connell Freeman ’54, on August 14, 2012.

Bonny Denton Gibson ’80 of Macon, on the death of her husband, William Maxwell Gibson, on September 24, 2012.

Peggy Jones Hall ’83 of Indialantic, FL, on the death of her father, Deen Kaufman Jones, on October 26, 2012.

Lisa Boyer Millican ’83 of Griffin, GA, on the death of her mother, Mary Ruth J. Boyer, on August 26, 2012.

Marianne R. Brotschul ’85 of West Chester, PA, on the death of her mother, Rita V. Brotschul, June 18, 2011.

Tara Joyner Haussler ’90 of Bonaire, GA, on the death of her father, William Robert Joyner, on November 17, 2011.

MacKenzie Jennings Williams ’94 of Winter Haven, FL, on the death of her mother, Margaret MacKenzie Jennings ’70 on July 24, 2012.

Heather Preuss Kent ’96 of Jonesboro, GA, on the death of her husband, William Dale Kent, on June 16, 2012.

Jessica Mercer ’10 of Macon, on the death of her sister, Stephanie M. Mercer ’05 on April 1, 2012.

Tricia Velasco ’12 of Macon, on the death of her father, Eric Velasco, on October 2, 2012.

Marriages The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends congratulations to: Elizabeth “Betsy” Lester Cobb ’61 of St. Simons Island, GA, who married Walter Scott Dillard on June 13, 2012.

Jasmin Williams Corbin ’07 of Macon, who married Justus Jerome Corbin on June 19, 2010.

Patrenice Guthrie Thomas ’96 of Macon, who married Ben West on August 11, 2012.

Heather Mathis Glow ’08 of Honolulu, HI, who married Dr. Jason Glow on March 31, 2012.

Jess Salter ’00 of Cranston, RI, who married Charles Speziale on June 23, 2011.

Births & Family Additions

The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends congratulations to: Jacqui Dravis Wilson ’94 and Mark of Macon, on the birth of their first child, Nicholas Jay Wilson, on July 6, 2012.

Missy Bowen Brown ’01 and Philip of Winterville, GA, on the birth of a daughter, Aubrey Evelyn Brown, on February 21, 2012.

Catherine O’Kelley Fore ’02 and Brooke of Signal Mountain, TN, on the birth of their daughter, Carolina Elizabeth Fore, future PK Class of 2034, on August 12, 2012.

Grandmother Mary Catherine Collins O’Kelley ’72 and great grandmother Frances Oehmig Collins ’47 are delighted.

Amanda Smith Burnett ’02 and Wesley of Morgantown, WV, on the birth of their first child, Zoe Morgan Burnett, future PK Class of 2034, on April 18, 2012.

Bria Andrew Kitchens ’02 and Thomas of Bonaire, GA, on the birth of their daughter, Charlotte Grace, future PK Class of 2034, on June 23, 2012.

Noelle Goodman Goel ’07 and Ankur of Augusta, GA, on the birth of a son, Caleb Ankur Goel, on September 3, 2012.

Announcing Alumnae Weekend 2013 / April 19, 20 & 21

Mark your calendar now and plan to join us next spring! Reunions are celebrated at five-year intervals, but all alumnae are invited to this and every Alumnae Weekend.

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Alumnae Travel Program Pacific Northwest & California Tour: Featuring Washington, Oregon, and California October 28 –November 4, 2013.

Alumnae and friends won’t want to miss this educational journey as we follow the coastline from Seattle to San Francisco with visits to Olympia, Mount St. Helens, Portland, Eureka and many other areas, including Columbia River Gorge and Redwood National Park. Cruise the Rogue River to view Oregon’s wilderness and wildlife, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge into the “City by the Bay,” enjoy breathtaking scenery, historic American landmarks and California cuisine with your Wesleyan sisters… and more! For information, contact Cathy Snow at (478) 757-5173 or csnow@wesleyancollege.edu or visit www.wesleyancollege.edu/ alumnae. Slide Show Presentation: January 30, 2013, 11am. Benson Room, Candler Building.

Please enjoy reading all class notes submitted to the College since our last magazine online at www.wesleyancollege.edu.

In Memoriam 1933 Margaret Cantrell Isaacs 1934 Elizabeth Ashford Romberg

Hayes Fowler Lawton 1938 Elsie Andrews Johnson

Harriette Friedman Krugman Edith Hoeflich Luke Eva Baggett Scott 1940 LaVerne Baird Murrah 1941 Sarah Louise Turner Butler

Beverly Ann Pacetti Owen

Margaret Brantley Reed Emily Cottingham Stuart

Virginia Hatcher Taylor Lucy Hodges Thompson

Mary Meyer Wood 1942 Evelyn Robinson Wood 1943 Ruth Wilson Lipford 1945 Carol Biel Courshon Eleanor Smartt Gilley Lucile Dismuke Neighbors

Kathryn Griffis Poppell 1946 Ann Owens Shippey 1947 Beverly Daniel Burnett 1948 Alice Wasden Jones Carr Elizabeth Matthews Parker 1950 Doris Patterson Crowley Elisabeth Kinney Windrow Pope 1952 Elizabeth Percy Hill 1953 Olive Long Kellum

Mickey Terrell Quillian 1954 Nancy Connell Freeman

Doris Chitwood Kirksey 1955 Mary Lula Laslie Grodner 1956 Mary Ann Snellgrove Elyea 1958 Lola Elizabeth Harris Ellis 1960 Emilie Smith Rhodenhiser 1964 Suzanne Askew Brannen

Marguerite Copes O’Riorden 1965 Elaine Houston Beaber

Carole Jones Graham

Janet McCord Moore

Sylvia Anne Whigham 1967 Sharon Kaye Hatcher Hacker 1970 Helen Grace Cappleman

Margaret MacKenzie Jennings 1992 Jennifer Collins Miller 2003 Amy Awtry Gladden Waller 2005 Stephanie Marie Mercer 2006 Laura Beth Botkin 2009 Elizabeth Ann Jones

Wesleyan Magazine Winter 2012

Welcome to the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association National Officers (2012 - 2015)

A Message from the Alumnae President I am energized to begin my term as President of the Alumnae Association. As this is our Annual Report to Investors, I want to address the investment that we have all made in Wesleyan and the dividends we reap together.

In September, I brought greetings from the alumnae to the senior class at Fall Convocation. It was a joyful moment, seeing seniors in their black robes and mortarboards, but I was troubled.

Before the procession, I had been talking to the convocation speaker, Representative Karen Joy Clarke. She mentioned that she had graduated from a women’s college, then added, “But it’s not around any longer.” When Karen rose to speak, I wondered how it felt to be a graduate without an alma mater. How would we introduce ourselves as Wesleyannes if we had to follow with, “but it’s not around any longer?”

Now, I certainly never got near a business class taught by Dr. Dod Meyer or Dr. Taylor (English major here!), but I can still assess my Wesleyan diploma as a marketable commodity. It opened doors for me. It still does. The thousands of us who have walked into the wide world with a Wesleyan ticket to success had that opportunity because someone invested in us. We think of donations—from the $10 check to the million dollar bequest—as philanthropy, simple generosity, but generosity is an INVESTMENT. We give money to the things that we think are important. I believe that single-sex education for women is important, so I invest in Wesleyan.

We are all investors, shareholders, stakeholders—whatever the name—and we must protect the significance of our alma mater’s name. I never want to say, “It’s not around any longer.” We alumnae have benefited from the investment others made on our behalf.

Now it’s up to us to keep our women’s college relevant, available, and accessible.

Like the members of the Alumnae Association Board of Managers who are profiled in these pages, I invite you to invest your money, time, enthusiasm, and expertise. Please contact us directly with any ideas that you have for alumnae engagement. Wesleyan needs EVERY gift!

Ashley Garrett ’90 President, Wesleyan College Alumnae Association 44

President Ashley Garrett ’90 Athens, GA Advanced Degree: M.A., Auburn University Occupation: Information Services Education Manager Alumnae Activities: Former Secretary, Vice President for Publications and Public Relations, Vice President for Educational Enrichment, and President-Elect, WCAA; Atlanta Wesleyan Alumnae Club; Loyalty Fund Chair; AAR; Society for the Twenty-First Century; Fiscal Fitness Convocation Speaker; e-Link; Candlelighter; e-Rep; Alumnae Weekend and WWW Volunteer; agarrett@armc.org President-Elect Melanie Filson Lewis ’93 Fayetteville, GA Occupation: Business Support Manager, Bank of America Alumnae Activities: Former Treasurer, WCAA; Class Liaison; AAR; Atlanta Wesleyan Alumnae Club; Alumnae Christmas Coffee Hostess; Wesleyan First Contact; Reunion Planning Committee; Fiscal Fitness Convocation Speaker; Candlelighter; e-Link; Alumnae Weekend and WWW Volunteer; tomandmel@bellsouth.net Secretary Jaime F. McQuilkin ’06 Smyrna, GA Advanced Degree: Certificate in Design, The Creative Circus Occupation: Interactive Designer, CSE Alumnae Activities: Wesleyan Atlanta Young Alums Planning Committee and Member; Atlanta Club, Member and Hostess; Reunion Attendee; Sisters 4 Sisters; Designer, WCAA Activities; Co-Designer, PK 2006 Newsletter; Candlelighter; e-Link; AAR; jfmcquilkin@gmail.com Treasurer Lynn Moses ’77 Macon, GA Advanced Degree: UGA Sales Leadership Academy 2010 Occupation: Georgia Power Company, Sales Manager for Central Region Alumnae Activities: Class Reunion Co-Chair; Loyalty Fund Liaison; Convocation Speaker; Thousandfold Society; Candlelighter; holymose@yahoo.com Vice-President for Admission Lucy Guy ’09 Dublin, GA Advanced Degree: Executive M.B.A., Wesleyan College, Class of 2013 Occupation: Vice President of Marketing, Horse Creek Auction Company, Inc. Alumnae Activities: Founder, Young Alumnae Dublin Chapter; Candlelighter; luciannaguy@ hotmail.com

Board of Managers Vice-President for Development Caroline Oliver Goff ’92 Eufaula, AL Advanced Degree: M.S.W., Valdosta State University Occupation: County Director for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment, New Horizons Community Service Board Alumnae Activities: Class Liaison; Society for the 21st Century; Candlelighter; cogwmg@aol.com

Alumna Trustee (2010-2014) Beverly F. Mitchell ’68 Woodstock, GA Advanced Degree: Ph.D., Florida State University Occupation: Professor and Associate Dean, Kennesaw State University Alumnae Activities: Atlanta Alumnae Club; Candlelighter; Alumnae Weekend and WWW Volunteer; bmitchel@kennesaw.edu

Vice-President for Education Enrichment Sally Shingler Kurrie ’70 Valdosta, GA Advanced Degree: M.A., Ed.S., Valdosta State University Occupation: Retired English teacher Alumnae Activities: Former Class Liaison and Loyalty Fund Liaison; Past President, Atlanta Alumnae Club; Valdosta Alumnae Group; Class Reunion Attendee; Candlelighter; sallykurrie@gmail.com

Member-at-Large for Nominations (2012-2013) Carol Bacon Kelso ’73 Thomasville, GA Occupation: Caterer and Former Local Cooking Show Host; Community Volunteer Alumnae Activities: Former Alumnae Weekend Chair, WCAA; Class Reunion Co-Chair; Reunion Committee; Class Liaison; Alumnae Office Volunteer; Candlelighter; Thousandfold Society; Tallahassee Alumnae Club; Wesleyan mother to PK ’06; AAR; carolbkelso@gmail.com

Vice-President for Publications and Public Relations Abbie Smoak Lacienski ’01 Statesboro, GA Advanced Degree: M.Ed. in Educational Leadership, Georgia Southern University Occupation: CTAE Director for Bulloch County Schools (Career, Technical, and Agriculture Education) Alumnae Activities: Class Reunion Planning Committee; Sisters 4 Sisters; Candlelighter; aksgagirl@hotmail.com Alumna Trustee (2009-2013) Pris Gautier Bornmann ’68 Alexandria, VA Advanced Degree: M.S., Purdue University; J.D., American University Occupation: Attorney Alumnae Activities: Washington, D.C. Metro Area Alumnae Club; Society for the Twenty-First Century; Class Liaison; Vice Chair, Campaign Major Gift Committee, Forever First Campaign; AAR; Career Mentor; Internship Hostess; Candlelighter; pbornmann@cryonmiller.com Alumna Trustee (2011-2015) Glennda Kingry Elliott ’65 Macon, GA Advanced Degree: M.FS., Master of Family Studies, Mercer University Occupation: Social Worker; Retired as Coordinator of Senior Services, The Medical Center of Central Georgia, Director of Golden Opportunities (older adult program) and Geriatric Care Manager Alumnae Activities: Past President, Macon Wesleyan Alumnae Club; First Vice President, Finance and Nominating Committees, WCAA; Reunion Chair and Co-Chair; Class Liaison; Presidential Inaugural Gala Committee; Candlelighter; AAR; Macon Club Christmas Coffee Hostess; Society for the Twenty-First Century; WWW Volunteer; gkgandy@aol.com

Member-at-Large for Student Relations (2011-2014) Parrish Smotherman Jenkins ’06 Macon, GA Occupation: Senior Admission Counselor, Wesleyan College Alumnae Activities: Macon Young Alumnae Club; Hall Programs Chair; Reunion Chair; Alumnae Weekend Volunteer; Candlelighter; AAR; e-Link; Sisters 4 Sisters; WWW Volunteer; parrishsmo@gmail.com Member-at-Large for Alumnae Weekend (2012-2015) Rita Parker McGarity ’75 McDonough, GA Advanced Degree: M.Ed., GA State University Occupation: Retired School Teacher, Henry County School System and Retired Director of Music, McDonough Presbyterian Church Alumnae Activities: Class Liaison; Class Reunion Chair; Reunion Committee; Society for the Twenty-First Century; Loyalty Fund Liaison; Thousandfold Society; Candlelighter; reereemcg@yahoo.com Past President Susan Woodward Walker ’70 Franklin, TN Advanced Degree: M.S., Old Dominion University Occupation: Homemaker and Volunteer Alumnae Activities: Former Vice President for Development, Alumnae Weekend Chair, President-Elect and President, WCAA; Loyalty Fund Chair and Vice Chair; Class Liaison; Class Reunion Chair; Society for the Twenty-First Century; Alumnae Admissions Representative (AAR) Award; Wesleyan First Award Committee Chair and Presenter; Thousandfold Society; Alumnae Weekend and WWW Volunteer; sgww1@bellsouth.net

Now is the time to Nominate for 2013 Alumnae Awards: Distinguished Achievement in a Profession • Distinguished Service to Community, Church or Wesleyan • Young Alumna Award For nomination forms contact the alumnae office (478) 757-5172 or download forms from our website. Deadline January 11, 2013.

Congratulations to Dr. Viva Fowler, Provost of the College.

In October, Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Dean Vivia Fowler to the position of Provost of the College. While playing a central role in all institutional decision making and overseeing the implementation of the College’s strategic plans, Dr. Fowler will continue to serve as Vice President for Academic Affairs and as the second ranking officer of Wesleyan College.

According to President Knox, “This new role reflects not only the greater responsibility that comes with the introduction of new programs at the College but also the outstanding effort that Dr. Fowler has given on behalf of the entire Wesleyan community over the last five years.”

Dr. Fowler joined the administration of Wesleyan College as the Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs in July of 2007. Prior to that she held teaching and administrative roles from 1986 to 2007 at Columbia College, a sister women’s college that also is affiliated with The United Methodist Church. Just a few of those positions included Director of General Education and Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, Spears Professor of Religion, and Co-Executive Director of eChristianEd, a web-based program that provides training for United Methodist church leaders around the world.

First consecrated a diaconal minister in 1980 and now an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church, Dr. Fowler served churches in South Carolina for ten years before joining the faculty of Columbia College. She graduated cum laude from Columbia College and received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Sociology (1976). She earned a Master of Arts in Religion at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (1980) and a Ph.D. in Foundations of Education at the University of South Carolina (1994).

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Why I Give.

Deborah Stevenson Moses ’89 New Wesleyan Trustee and a member of The Society for the Twenty-First Century In the year 2000, Deborah Stevenson Moses ’89 was an attorney in private practice, newly married to Robert R. Moses, and president-elect of the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association.

She decided it was a good time to revise her estate plans to include Wesleyan College as a beneficiary. Since making this decision, Debbie has become the mother of two active daughters and has transitioned from private practice to serving as Executive Director of Claims and Litigation for Piedmont Healthcare, which includes five hospitals and approximately 400 physicians. She also manages claims and litigation related to Piedmont Healthcare and its employees and serves as a legal resource on risk related issues. Service to others has always been a strong part of Debbie’s character, and she recently accepted the invitation to serve her alma mater as a member of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees.

daughter’s life. Debbie, in turn, has made contributions to this scholarship fund, explaining that scholarship support was a significant reason she could attend Wesleyan and that the generosity of those before her inspired her own desire to create a legacy. Debbie’s planned gift gives her an additional way to strengthen this legacy for future Wesleyannes.

In 1997, Debbie’s parents, Billy and Eva Stevenson, began making gifts to Wesleyan College to endow a scholarship in honor of their daughter as their way of saying thank you to the College that made such an impact on their

For information about planned giving and the Society for the Twenty-First Century, please contact Susan Allen, senior development officer, at (478) 757-5133 or sallen@wesleyancollege.edu.

By including Wesleyan in your estate planning, you become a partner in the mission of the College. Planned giving is one of the easiest ways to make a gift to your alma mater. It is simple, beneficial, and smart to do! Consult with your attorney or financial advisor to include Wesleyan College as a beneficiary in your will, your life insurance policy, a trust, or a retirement plan. Any of these options will transform your good intentions into an action plan that will provide lasting benefits for Wesleyan College.

“I consider it a privilege to include Wesleyan in my long term estate plans. I attended Wesleyan, thanks in large part, to generous families who endowed scholarships long before I knew Wesleyan existed or began to think of what I wanted to be when I grew up. In short, their generosity changed my life. That generosity inspires me to create a legacy of my own by including Wesleyan in my estate planning.” -Deborah Stevenson Moses ’89

The Benson Society In celebration of Wesleyan’s 175th anniversary, the College recently renamed the Thousandfold (giving) Society as the Benson Society in acknowledgement of Catherine Brewer Benson, Wesleyan’s first graduate in 1840. The Benson Society recognizes alumnae and friends who make annual leadership gifts of $1000 - $4999 to the College. Her distinction as the “first” graduate is reason enough for notoriety, but it is Benson’s remarks to Wesleyan’s graduating class of 1888 which have made a lasting impression on Wesleyan and her alumnae. Each year during Alumnae Weekend, her eloquent words, known as the “Benson Charge,” are recited by the seniors during the Candlelighting ceremony, marking their induction into the Alumnae Association.

The Society is aptly named for Catherine Brewer Benson because she continued her loyal service to Wesleyan throughout her life. Upon graduation, she remained in Macon and in 1842 married Richard Aaron Benson. Together, Catherine and Richard had ten children. In addition to her service at home and church, Benson was a faithful supporter of the College and was instrumental in the establishment of

the Wesleyan Alumnae Association in 1859, the world’s first Alumnae Association.

Remarks Benson made in earlier years provide an appreciative glimpse into the first years of the College. In a brief tribute to her teachers, Benson fondly referred to Wesleyan’s first president, Reverend George F. Pierce, as “ever kind and genteel” and stated that his “memory is lovingly embalmed in the hearts of all who were under his guidance.” She further recollected that rather than study mathematics one evening, she and her friends elected to spend their hours curling their hair. In class the following day, Reverend William H. Ellison realized that his students had not completed their lessons and stated, “Young ladies, had you devoted the hour to study instead of making cork screws you would have found it more profitable.” Through the direction of Reverend Thomas B. Slade, Benson recalled botanical walks and the joy of analyzing flowers on the banks of the Ocmulgee River.

Speaking to an Alumnae reunion group almost fifty years after her own graduation, Benson

described the significance of her matriculation and that of her classmates by saying, “One of the most memorable days in the history of Macon was the day the matriculation book was opened and ninety girls from Macon and abroad were registered as pupils of ’Georgia Female College.’ The idea that woman could compete with strong-minded men in the pursuit of knowledge had never until that late date taken possession of the public mind… How far wrong they were in their opinions has been fully demonstrated in the number of cultured women who have left these halls.”

While Benson’s reminiscences of Wesleyan are historically significant, it is her statement to the graduating class of 1888 that established her legacy at the College. In the memorable words of Catherine Brewer Benson, “Members of the graduating class, demands will be made upon you which were not made upon us. Your training, if you are true to it, will amply qualify you to meet those demands. No wiser blessing could I wish for you than that you may be true to every God-appointed work.”

Alumnae: Join Mathews Athletic Center for just $22/month!

Membership includes access to Cybex strength training equipment, free weights, recombent bikes, treadmills, steppers, elliptical machines, outdoor track, yoga, pilates, step aerobics, sculpting, Cycle Reebok classes, indoor pool and tennis courts. The Center provides locker room areas with day use lockers, showers, vanity areas, and towel service. Call Kathy Malone (478) 757-3775.

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Do your Christmas shopping at the Wesleyan Campus Store through December 21st and give a gift that gives back to the College directly. Sweatshirts and t-shirts in all class colors, jewelry, and other fine gifts. Monogramming and gift-wrapping available.

Shop M-Th, 10am - 5pm, Fri 10am - 4pm (478) 757-5233

Nonprofit Organization U. S. Postage PAID Macon, GA Permit No. 3

4760 Forsyth Road Macon, Georgia 31210-4462 www.wesleyancollege.edu

Upcoming Events

Libby Bailey. The Presentation of the Reliquary [detail].

Concert with International Conductor’s Workshop Symphony Orchestra January 21 Porter Auditorium. Free and open to the public. (478) 757-5259.

Festival of New Plays, written and directed

by Wesleyan’s theatre students January 25 and 26, 8PM. Grassmann-Porter Studio Theatre. Reservations required (478) 757-5259 or theatre@wesleyancollege.edu.

WOW! A Day for Macon January 26, 8AM-12 noon Anderson Dining Hall. (478) 757-3799.

Masterworks on the Move: Wesleyan’s Traveling Exhibit of American Art February 5- May 24 West Gallery, Porter Auditorium. Free.

Author Douglas Blackmon Wall Street Journal and Washington Post editor, and Pulitzer Prize winning author.

February 6, 7PM. Taylor Amphitheatre February 7, 11:15AM. Porter Auditorium.

Free and open to the public.

Graffe String Quartet February 11, 7:30PM Burden Parlor. For tickets call (478) 301-5470.

STUNT! Saturday, February 23, 7PM Porter Auditorium $5 tickets available at the door. (478) 757-5257.

Wesleyan Art Students Exhibition February 14 - April 12 McCrary Gallery. Free. (478) 757-5189.

Late Night with Leonard Bernstein March 8, 7:30PM Porter Auditorium. For tickets call (478) 301-5470.

Soprano Marcia Porter March 28, 7:30PM Burden Parlor. Free. (478) 757-5259.

Marissa Arnold and Nichelle Frazier, Senior Voice Recital March 30, 4PM Burden Parlor. Free. (478) 757-5259.

Kelsey Tinsman, Senior Voice Recital April 6, 4PM Burden Parlor. Free. (478) 757-5259.

An Evening With the Women of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice April 11-13, 8PM Porter Auditorium. Free. 478-757-5259.

Wesleyan’s Annual Spring Recital April 15, 7PM Porter Auditorium. Free. (478) 757-5189.

Senior Studio Art Major’s Exhibition April 17 - May 11 McCrary Gallery. Free. (478) 757-5189.

Libby Bailey: Reverberations April 18 - May 11 East Gallery. Free. (478) 757-5189.

Michael Brown, Pianist April 18, 7:30PM Burden Parlor. For tickets call (478) 301-5470.

Flyin’ West April 25, 26, 27, 8PM Grassmann-Porter Studio Theatre.

For tickets call (478) 757-5259 or theatre@wesleyancollege.edu.

Wesleyan’s Annual Spring Concert April 28, 4PM Porter Auditorium.Free. (478) 757-5259.

Morning Music Club Centennial Celebration Pianists Louise Barfield and Curtis Smith in Concert May 9, 7:30PM, Porter Auditorium. Free and open to the public.