WESmag spring/Summer 17

mag

W E S L E YA N C O L L E G E , S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

ADMINISTRATION Ruth A. Knox ’75 President Vivia L. Fowler Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia M. Gibbs Vice President for Student Affairs Andrea G. Williford Vice President for Institutional Advancement Clinton G. Hobbs Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management Dawn P. Nash Vice President for Administration/CFO Matthew R. Martin Dean of the Faculty WESLEYAN MAGAZINE STAFF Mary Ann Howard, Editor Director of Communications mhoward@wesleyancollege.edu Brandi Vorhees Art Director Cathy Coxey Snow ’71 Alumnae Director csnow@wesleyancollege.edu Millie P. Hudson ’75 Director of Development Julie Jones Director of Advancement Services Jaime F. McQuilkin ‘06 Class Notes Editor CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Susan Allen ’17 Jane Price Claxton ’68 Photography by Maryann Bates PRINTING Panaprint SPECIAL THANKS Andrea Honaker, The Telegraph; 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.

Greetings from Wesleyan!

Our Summer 2017 issue arrives after several lively celebrations on the Wesleyan College campus, including Alumnae Weekend in April, Baccalaureate and Commencement for our graduates in May, and the spring meeting of the Board of Trustees later that month. During that time, I have shared several variations of my “farewell remarks” to highlight some of our successes over the last fifteen years.

Through the lens of “Places, Programs, and People,” we have remembered the construction and renovation of buildings (Munroe, Pierce Chapel, Taylor Hall, Willet Library); the addition of new programs (Lane Center, Wesleyan Disciples, Bachelor of Science in Nursing); and the education of hundreds of wonderful Wesleyan Women who are making their mark on the world. I am proud of all that we have accomplished together.

Over the last several weeks, the folks who create this WesMag have asked me lots of questions, too, and those conversations have sparked many memories and stories – from my childhood, student years, and more recent times. The result is a scrapbook of sorts of personal reminiscences and reflections that you’ll find in the first pages of this issue. And while I would prefer to have avoided this sort of spotlight, maybe you will enjoy a few laughs and gain a few insights as you read about some of the people who have meant so much to Wesleyan and to me over the years.

Alternatively, just skip right over to page 28, where the real substance begins!

There you will learn more about Dr. Vivia Lawton Fowler, who becomes our president on July 1. Vivia has been an important part of the Wesleyan community for ten years, first as academic

dean and later as provost. She now brings her considerable talents to the presidency, and I am eager and optimistic to see her in action as she leads Wesleyan in this next phase of her story. She will be joined by other additions to our campus, including Dr. Melody Blake, our new provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Clint Hobbs, who will be vice president for strategic enrollment management. Both are profiled on page 29. Like Vivia, Melody and Clint bring impressive experience and expertise, and we welcome them to the Wesleyan family.

In addition, this issue contains several student profiles as well as news of campus goings-on. Whether or not you were able to attend Alumnae Weekend 2017, you’ll enjoy seeing the fabulous photographs from that weekend – both in this issue and online at www.wesleyancollege.edu/ alumnaeweekend.

Finally, I thank each of you for the love and support you have shown to Wesleyan and to me over the past fifteen years. Your notes and letters have touched my heart especially, and I certainly intend in my retirement to let you know personally how much you mean to me. I leave with great confidence in the future because I know you will continue to be “true, faithful, and loyal” to our alma mater. Likewise, I pledge that, as a “civilian” once more, I will continue to love and support Wesleyan with my gifts and my volunteer service. I look forward to celebrating with you at many happy Wesleyan occasions still to come.

Hail, Wesleyan!

Contents

W E S L E YA N M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

4 Ruth’s Reflections 25 Knox Rocks 28 New leadership at Wesleyan 30 New majors and minors 15 years as Wesleyan’s 24th president

Alumnae share favorite stories about Ruth

The College fills three top positions

Expanded course offerings for fall 2017

32 Partnership with Goodwill 36 Spreading hope and love 38 From Here to Career 42 Honoring Betty Corn ’47

Art displays created by Wesleyan students

Shanita Anderson ’17 is giving back

Sarah Berks ’17 thrives at local farm

Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters

40 Commencement 44 Campus News 48 Alumnae Weekend 50 Alumnae Award Recipients 52 Alumnae Connections 56 Class Notes 70 Why We Give 71 Alumnae Leadership Weekend

Ruth’s Reflections On June 30 Ruth Knox ’75 will complete her fifteen year tenure as Wesleyan’s 24th president and first alumna president. In a series of wide ranging conversations with Wesleyan Magazine conducted this spring, Ruth reflected on her years as president and her unique connection with the College.

WESMag: There is another story, isn’t there, about saying you wanted to be president?

WESMag: First, let me ask a question every little girl gets asked: What did you want to be when you grew up?

Ruth: There’s a funny story about that.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a high school English teacher. That’s what my mother was for three years before she married my father, so I thought that was what I wanted to be.

When I was in kindergarten, part of our graduation program was standing in front of a microphone and telling the audience what we wanted to be. By the time they got to me, Susan Harber had already picked “teacher” and we had been warned that we each had to have a different answer. So, when my turn came, I said, “I want to be a majorette.”

It was not a proud moment for my mother and daddy – no offense to all the baton twirlers out there.

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Ruth: That occurred much later, in the mid-80s, I believe.

Several of us were hanging out at Cindy Wright’s (now retired Judge Cynthia Wright ’75) home in Atlanta, most of us friends from Wesleyan. We were young adults, probably in our early thirties. Someone posed a question to the group: “What would your dream job be?” I remember Cindy actually said, “I’d like to be a judge.” That seemed like a stretch at the time. Millie (Millie Parrish Hudson ’75) said, “I’d like to be Ben Vereen. He can do anything – sing, dance, act!” (I think Millie had seen too many Broadway plays at that point.)

And – we all remember this – I said, “I’d like to be president of Wesleyan College.” Not sure where that came from. We all just laughed and laughed. Nothing I was doing seemed to be preparing me for that. What I didn’t know at the time, what I couldn’t have foreseen, was that in a strange way I was preparing for the job.

WESMag: Who was president of the College at the time?

Ruth: This was probably early in the Bob Ackerman years, and I was already on the Alumnae Association Board of Managers.

The only time after graduating from Wesleyan that I was not actively involved with the College was my three years of law school.

In 1980, there was quite a bit of talk about Wesleyan’s merging with Mercer, and several people who served on the Board of Managers called me with questions like, “Is this legal?

Can they do this?” I started looking at the charter and trying to help - and I began to get involved a little more. Shortly after that I was selected to the Board of Managers as treasurer.

So from that point on, I was doing something for the College in some semi-official capacity.

WESMag: When you said you wanted to be president of Wesleyan College and everyone laughed, was there any part of you that took the idea seriously?

Ruth: No! It just popped out. I had never thought about it. I had probably been to Alumnae Weekend and Wesleyan was on my mind. I went to lots of alumnae events, and there was something special about all of them. I remember one Alumnae Weekend in particular when my Aunt Molly was there with her class. She didn’t attend many events at that point in her life, so it was special to me to see her there in the place where we had this other connection.

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WESMag: You’ve said that you were born a Wesleyanne. Your mother and your aunts were alumnae?

Hall Hearin ’43) was a freshman. So for a long period of time there was at least one Hall girl here.

Ruth: Yes, my mom and my aunts on both sides were Wesleyannes. Mama was one of four girls, and her daddy was a preacher in the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church.

That’s the reason the girls could come.

Preachers’ daughters got significant scholarships in those days. Aunt Libby was the first to come. My granddaddy was serving an appointment in LaGrange, so Libby started college in LaGrange and transferred to Wesleyan her sophomore year. When Aunt Libby was a senior, Aunt Kitty was a freshman. When Kitty was a senior, Mama was a freshman, and when Mama was a senior, Aunt Mary (Mary

WESMag: Aunts on your father’s side were also Wesleyannes?

Ruth: My father was one of four brothers, and he and two of his brothers married Wesleyan graduates. Daddy’s older halfsister had come to Wesleyan too as part of the Class of 1919. Coincidentally, my Knox aunts and my Hall aunts were in the same classes. Aunt Molly (Mary Lyles Aiken Knox ’34), who was from Florence, South Carolina, was in the Class of 1934 with Aunt Libby (Elizabeth Hall Mason).

1934 was also Miss Julia’s (Julia Munroe Woodward) class. Aunt Pinkie (Margaret Evans Knox) was in the Class of ’37 with

Aunt Kitty (Katherine Hall Arnold).

That means Mama was a freshman when Aunt Pinkie was a senior; they were both great students and athletes.

Aunt Pinkie was quite a character. She was a brilliant writer – she wrote for the school newspaper as well as the Macon Telegraph while she was here – and she often served as her own best press agent when she was covering some of those basketball games. Aunt Molly was a beauty – she was named Miss Charming three times. She had a great pose she seemed to like – a dead-on look straight into the camera. She was the mother of my cousin Nancy for whom the Equestrian Center is named. Mama, of course, was a tremendous athlete as well as a top student. She played basketball, soccer, and tennis, and she was really good.

WESMag: You recently told a story about playing your mother in tennis.

Ruth: That happened exactly one time, after I had taken a tennis class at Wesleyan. I knew I wasn’t great, but I thought I could play. One weekend I was home from college and I asked Mother if she’d like to hit a few balls. She went into her closet and found this ancient wooden racquet – she hadn’t been on a tennis court in 30 years – and we set out. I was in my cute tennis whites, Mama in her slacks and shirt. You know where this is going, right? Mama’s first serve blew right past me.

She was able to return every shot I made without moving a foot. I was racing all over the court and I couldn’t return one of hers. She never broke a sweat. I lost 6-0. I never picked up a racquet again.

Caption in the 1940 Veterropt: An action shot through the net...

All of these women loomed large in my young life, and I used to spend hours poring over Wesleyan yearbooks looking at their glamorous pictures.

But my father was part of the reason I came to Wesleyan, too, because he was a trustee for so long. He chaired the finance committee for years, and he convinced (Reverend) Jason Shirah to join the board. When I became a trustee myself in 1993, Jason told me that he had known me since I was five years old. He had visited in our home and that’s why he called me Ruthie. I am really proud of Daddy. He died in 1994. Very courtly, the epitome of a southern gentleman lawyer. Always in a coat and tie, he was handsome and stylish.

Mama and Daddy were a stylish couple.

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WESMag: Did you visit other schools before deciding to attend Wesleyan?

Ruth: No, I don’t think I even applied anywhere else.

My two best high school friends were excited about going away to Converse, and in about April or May of my senior year I announced at dinner one night that I thought I might want to go to Converse instead of Wesleyan. Daddy said, “Boo, I’m on the board of Wesleyan College. You can go to the University of Georgia or any other place you want. But, if you’re going to a women’s college in the South, you’re going to Wesleyan. You are not going to Converse.”

So that was the end of that!

WESMag: Talk about your activities while you were at Wesleyan.

Ruth: I played basketball and soccer, swam with the Naiads, and I played with the Washboard Band.

I was involved in STUNT every year I was here – I was in the production my freshman, sophomore, and junior years. I really shouldn’t have been on stage in my junior year because, as class president, I was automatically on our class’s STUNT committee. We couldn’t be in the cast if we were on the committee. But, Annette Hallman (Whaley) got sick and I had to fill in for her. My senior year I was on the committee again.

WESMag: You were president of your junior class.

Did you hold other offices?

Ruth: Well, I ran for president of SGA, but I lost to Debbie Newby ’75.

WESMag: Students often say how much they appreciate your accessibility, the fact that you speak to them on campus, you know their names and their majors, you pat their backs, and come to their ballgames. When you were a student, was the College president as accessible and involved as you are?

Ruth: He was to me! [laughter] Dr. Strickland (1960-1979) had been president for many years by the time I got to Wesleyan. Because Daddy was on the board of trustees, Dr. Strickland had visited in our home several times so I knew him. But I think Dr. Strickland was pretty accessible to everyone. His daughter Margaret (Margaret Strickland Lovein ’75) was in our class, and he was really a father figure to all of us. We thought he was old, but he was in his early fifties!

Dr. Strickland’s style was to work behind the scenes.

If people needed him, he was always there, but in a quiet, unassuming way that didn’t attract attention.

Here’s an example. When I was a senior and he knew I was planning to go to law school, I saw him on campus one day and he asked me to stop by his office.

Turns out he had gotten something in the mail about a scholarship to New York University and he said, “Ruthie, have you ever thought about going to school in New York?” I said, “No sir.” And he said, “I’d like to nominate you for this award, and if you get it, would you consider going out of state?” I got into NYU, I but I didn’t get the scholarship, so I didn’t go, but that was just the kind of person he was. He knew us and was always thinking about what was best for us and how he could help. He was a cute man and a lot of fun. The Washboard Band used to sing a song called “Violent Love” and we’d dedicate it to him. He always got a kick out of that. He was dear.

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STUDENTS TODAY ARE MORE FOCUSED. THEY MAY NOT BE BETTER PREPARED ACADEMICALLY, BUT THEY COME TO COLLEGE WITH A SENSE OF PURPOSE.

WESMag: Do you make a conscious effort to get to know students?

reasons, including giving our students the experience of learning about all sorts of cultures.

Ruth: I enjoy it. Getting to know the students is one of the best parts of being president of the College. But, as a practical matter, I’m a better president and a better spokesperson and a better fundraiser if I have stories to tell, and the best stories are the stories of our students. A story I’ve shared a lot lately is the way the Golden Hearts handled STUNT last year. We have a precious Golden Heart who uses a wheel chair and when the class won STUNT, they didn’t storm the stage as is tradition.

They celebrated right where they were because they wanted her to be a part of it. That’s indicative of the kind of students we have.

Secondly, students today are more focused. They may not be better prepared academically, but they come to college with a sense of purpose.

Many of them already know what they want to do after graduation. I was not thinking that far ahead when I was a student. I had been a pretty serious student in high school and I was when I got here too, but times were different.

Not many of us were thinking a lot about what we were going to do for a living.

WESMag: What’s the biggest difference you see in Wesleyan today compared to when you were a student?

Ruth: STUNT and the Washboard Band. I couldn’t pick one over the other but our sophomore STUNT was so much fun. It was a satire on the excesses of the funeral industry. The lead character was Paul Bearer, played

by Virginia Ann (Daniel Holman ’75).

It took place at the annual convention of the Council On Restful, Peaceful Sleep Eternal, or CORPSE. I was one of

Ruth: I would say there are two major differences. First of all, the student population is dramatically different. It’s a positive to have a campus that reflects the world as ours does – for lots of

WESMag: What are your favorite memories from being a student at Wesleyan?

12 dancing undertakers decked out in top hats and canes. The show was really pretty cynical, but it was hilarious.

One of the songs, to the tune of “If My Friends Could See Me Now” from Sweet Charity, began (sings) “It’s great to see you here, how’s business doing Joe?” “The traffic deaths are falling, it’s been kind of slow.” “Come see our drive in windows; they’re great for a show.” “Yeah, everyone who sees them’s just dying to go.”

The Washboard Band was great, too. We took spring break trips and played at hospitals, military bases, and retirement homes. My sophomore year we went to Chicago, the next year to New Orleans, and the next year to Williamsburg. Those were great trips.

The Washboard Band was a source of a lot of fun. It still is. My favorite individual memories, since I’ve been president, are the times the band has gotten together to perform, including at my inauguration. The last time we sang - at Alumnae Weekend 2015 - was especially memorable. We were in the dining hall - a throw back to when we were in college.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

WESMag: When did you decide to go to law school?

Ruth: [laughter] My senior year of college. There’s a funny little story about this, too. Sophomore year, some of us were sitting around talking about what we were going to do after graduation.

I said, “I’m going to marry a lawyer and give dinner parties,” which is what my mother had done. Later, Millie (Parrish Hudson ’75) got all over me. She said, “Ruthie, you can do all sorts of things.

Don’t ever say that again.” What she was really saying is, even if you believe it, don’t say it out loud. It’s not becoming [laughter].

Several things happened to change my mind. First of all, I matured. I took 12

classes that helped me think about looking beyond what might have been expected of me. I joke that I’ve had three jobs in my life: camp counselor, lawyer, and college president. I was a camp counselor until I graduated from college. Well, I was more than a counselor. I ran the waterfront program of a camp during the summers after my sophomore and junior years. I got to know the camp directors, who were older than I and who pushed me to think about doing other things. Still, I wasn’t particularly thoughtful about what I was going to do. I just knew what lawyering was like. I had actually written a term paper in high school about being a lawyer, so I had thought about it a little bit.

WESMAG: Your father was a lawyer.

Are your brothers lawyers, too?

Ruth: My older brother Bobby is.

Andy is in the insurance and real estate business. So, I took the LSAT, and I did well enough to know I could get into law school. I was accepted at Georgia, Emory, and NYU, and I chose Georgia.

WESMag: Were there other females in your class?

Ruth: Yes. By the time I went to law school, females studying law wasn’t unusual. About a quarter of my classmates were female. That number is probably 50 percent or more now.

WESMag: How did Wesleyan prepare you for success in law school?

Ruth: Being an English major at Wesleyan was the best preparation I could have had for law school. We were required to write and write and write some more. While I might not have been as gifted as many of my classmates either at Wesleyan or at Georgia, I did better than many because a) I worked harder, and b) I could write. I happened upon the career, but the choice worked out well.

WESMag: You were the first woman in your family to become an attorney. How did your family feel about that?

Ruth: I interviewed with big firms, smaller firms, and the firm I eventually joined. When I didn’t choose King & Spalding, which is - I think anyone would say - an outstanding and well-known firm, my mother said something like, “Oh darling, are you sure that’s the right thing to do?” I said, “Yes’m, I’m positive,” and she said, “Well, years from now when you’re playing bridge with your friends, it would be so much fun to talk about having worked at King & Spalding.”

I don’t think she thought I’d be practicing law very long. My sister had a similar reaction. When she first heard I was going to law school, she said, “Well, at least you have a chance of meeting a husband there.”

[Laughter]. That’s just the way things were then.

WESMag: So they fretted about you?

Ruth: I won’t say they fretted about me. They just took care of me.

I was a shy little girl.

WESMag: Really?

Ruth: I grew up in the small town of Thomson, Georgia. In those days, folks would have store accounts with all the local merchants. Mother would pay these bills once every two weeks. She and I would get in the car and deliver the checks to businesses around town. She would try to get me to take the checks into the stores, but I would just sit in the car and cry.

Some of those folks I knew well – saw them in church every Sunday! I still would not get out of the car and take the check. I was that shy!

out at lunchtime; I’m not sure. The next day - the same thing. She stayed in the back of that classroom for the first six weeks of school.

After six weeks, our compromise was my brother Andy. Andy was in the fourth grade. He walked with me about a quarter of a mile - holding my hand, all the way into my classroom.

Then at the end of the day, he would come back and walk me home. He did that for the entire year.

WESMag: How long did the shyness last?

Ruth: Oh, about 63 years!

Thomson Elementary was - and still is - just down the road from our house.

We were expected to walk to and from school. In first grade, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t walk. So the first day Mama took me. Maybe that would be expected on the first day of school.

But when she tried to leave, I started crying. I was inconsolable, so she stayed in the back of the room. She might have slipped

WESMag: You are the youngest in your family?

Ruth: I am the little sister.

Bobby is eight years older. My sister Mary was six years older, and Andy is three years older.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

WESMag: Obviously you are very family-oriented and you love your family. They’ve played a supportive role. Are they glad you’re coming home?

Ruth: Yes, they’re looking forward to it.

They’re glad I’m coming home.

WESMag: What are you going to do the first week of retirement?

Ruth: I have no idea. Tennis maybe?

[Laughter] WESMag: Most people say they are going to sleep and read.

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Ruth: As long as I have Gracie (twoyear-old English cocker spaniel) I won’t be able to sleep late! She wants to go out every morning between 6:45 and 7:00, whether I want to sleep late or not. But, yes, of course, I have a list a mile long of books I want to read. And movies I want to watch. And, I keep hearing that we’re in a golden age of television and there are all these wonderful television shows to watch. And I’ve got a number of projects to work on. But mainly I want to get to know my great-nieces and great-nephews and nurture some relationships with family and friends in a way I haven’t been able to over the past few years.

WESMag: You’ll be living in your mother’s house in Thomson?

Ruth: Actually, it’s my father’s family’s house; he was born there.

WESMag: Do you foresee changing anything?

Ruth: I don’t know. People ask me all the time, “What are you going to do to change it?” Change it? We renovated the upstairs after Mother died. It’s a bit empty upstairs so I am going to have a good time decorating that, but in terms of the downstairs, no, I probably won’t change much. I can’t do it.

WESMag: You’re sentimental.

Ruth: Yes, I just can’t do it.

WESMag: Was it an easy decision to leave your law practice and come to Wesleyan?

Ruth: The decision was easy but not instant. When I came here as president in 2002, I thought I was coming temporarily as an interim. Once I got here, things moved pretty quickly. I came in May after Nora (Kizer Bell) announced her resignation in March, which was way too late to do anything about getting a new president. She said she would serve out the term through

June, but she was going to another college, so we knew that probably wouldn’t work. She ended up leaving after graduation. I started the Monday after graduation. Nora was still living in Bradley House, and I was living in the apartments. The summer was fairly uneventful. I don’t think I was in love with the job then because there weren’t any students on campus. I went on the SLI (Summer Leadership Institute) trip that summer, though, and got to know that group of seniors before school started. They were incredible. Then all the students came back and the fun really began!

The Board of Trustees had started the presidential search, of course, and Tom Bass was chairing the committee. They had good candidates, I understand, but Tom came to me in January and said, “Would you consider staying, because people think you’re doing a good job.” By that time, I loved the role, so the decision was not hard. I had been through an earlier period where I could have gone either way. By late fall, though, I realized I didn’t miss practicing law at all, and I did really enjoy being president of the College.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

WESMag: Let’s talk about what’s happened on this campus in the past fifteen years – the places and the programs. The Lane Center (for Service and Leadership) in particular has taken on a life of its own. Is it now what you imagined it to be?

Ruth: I don’t think I imagined it would be as strong as it is. A lot has happened in recent years to give substance to what the students really want and need. The Lane Center establishes a culture of giving back, and students want to be part of it. I think we have 75 servant leaders this year.

Having Aunt Maggie’s (Kitchen Table) right next-door is very important also.

When we first started developing the strategic plan for the College, which we’ve essentially been operating under the last 15 years, I felt that the service and faith components were crucial to the foundation of Wesleyan - helping to make us distinctive from other women’s colleges.

We started the Lane Center for Service and Leadership in 2003, although I announced we were creating the center at Fall Convocation 2002. Making service and leadership part of our stated mission was very, very important. From a programmatic standpoint, I’m very proud of both the Lane Center and our campus ministry program. Of course, both of these programs are people-driven. We had a great leader in Catherine Meeks, who started the Lane Center, and now we have a great leader in Jill (Amos ’87), who is doing such a fabulous job. In the case of campus ministry, of course, Bill Hurdle was simply a gift from God.

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WESMag: It has been important to you to strengthen the ties with the Methodist church. What does that mean?

WESMag: What did Bill Hurdle mean to you?

Ruth: I love him. I loved him from the moment I met him. He served on the board of trustees before he came to work here as chaplain, so I’d known him for a while. Shortly after I became president, we went to a conference in Nashville, and something there sparked in his mind the idea for the Wesleyan Disciples.

He wasn’t copying another program.

He might have borrowed a piece here and there, but he said we need to have this group on campus.

The Disciples Program was started in the 2005 - 2006 academic year.

I had loved and appreciated Bill before, but the Disciples program really did change the way everybody looked at campus ministry because it was student driven. Bill gave it structure. He required the students to plan the worship services, and he required them to lead the Bible studies. They rose to the occasion and they did it. He involved all sorts of students, and they would come to him and ask if they could join.

Gosh, talk about being involved in students’ lives! To see him sitting in the dining hall with all these students around him…. Often he’d pop in my office just to talk.

Being around him was a joy. There was a lightness about him, a glow almost. He gave the most wonderful prayers at our ceremonial events.

They were always different and always special. His benedictions were one-of-a-kind. He was open

and understanding, and he didn’t just talk about being inclusive and embracing others - he actually did it.

Another thing about Bill is he was a top-notch recruiter.

I want to tell just one more story about Bill. I didn’t have anything to do with the Hurdle bench - that project was completely driven by Alexis (Gregg, assistant professor of art) and our students, but I treasure that bench and the spot where they placed it overlooking the Chapel. I walk by the Hurdle bench every day when I’m on my walks with Gracie.

My route is to go down the road from Bradley House and up to the Chapel and then back through the woods. So along the way, I stop by the bench and put my hand on Bill’s hat, which is a part of the bench, and I tell Bill I love him. I thank him for being so important to me and for pushing me. I ask him to keep us in his prayers. I’ve put my hand on his hat many times now, but the first time was one morning when I knew we were facing a particularly tough day on campus. I said, “Bill, be with us today and help everything go okay.” And everything did go okay.

So now, every time I walk, I do the same thing.

Ruth: After a time when our connection with the Methodist church wasn’t all that prominent, President Bob Ackerman (1984-1997) really began the effort to strengthen those ties. He revived the traditional baccalaureate service held at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church.

President Nora Bell hired Bill as chaplain, which was a terrific move. In my mind, however, we weren’t communicating all the good things we were doing on campus to all the people who supported us, including those who were part of the church. And we needed to support the church, too. That’s why it was important to have a vibrant campus ministry and to be intentional about raising up a new generation of leaders for the church. That’s what the Wesleyan Disciples group was intended to be - our effort to raise a new generation of church leaders. We also began to offer more academic experiences for women who wanted to go into the ministry or youth education, become chaplains, teachers, or whatever they wanted to be – they didn’t all have to be pulpit preachers.

Going forward, we have structured the chaplain’s job to be half-time chaplain and half-time faculty because it’s exceedingly important for this idea of nurturing church leadership to get embedded in the curriculum and for religious studies to have a lively presence in the curriculum.

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MOST OF OUR MAJOR SUCCESSES HAVE CAPTURED THE INTEREST OF A TRUSTEE OR TWO, SUCH AS WITH THE MUNROES AND THE SCIENCE CENTER. (TRUSTEE) LIBBA PICKETT KEPT SAYING WE SHOULD HAVE A NURSING PROGRAM - “DO IT, DO IT!” HER ENTHUSIASM LED OTHER PEOPLE TO GET EXCITED. OTHER EXAMPLES ARE BETTY CORN ’47 AND THE CHAPEL AND ELEANOR LANE ’58 AND THE LANE CENTER. NONE WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT THE DONORS WHO GAVE PERSONALLY AND INSPIRED OTHERS TO GIVE AS WELL. WESMag: Another thing you are surely proud of is the Munroe Science Center, constructed in 2007. It was the first new building on campus since 1968.

Ruth: I must give credit to the Munroe family, who had made substantial gifts for the Science Center well before my tenure as president began.

WESMag: Did the Munroes have a particular interest in science?

Ruth: Miss Julia did. And I know Margaret (Munroe Thrower ’35) was a biology major.

They had created the Munroe Chairs in Science and the Munroe Scholars program so they had definitely begun directing much of their giving to the sciences. Everyone knew for years that we needed a new science building, and Randolph (Thrower – Margaret’s husband) was the one

who orchestrated the plans and the funding.

Mary Gray (Munroe Cobey ’34) was a major part of the effort, too.

I think because the Munroe Science Center has been here for so long now people forget how behind the times we were when Taylor Hall was our science building. It was really inadequate.

So, clearly a science center was the most important need we had on campus, and the Munroes stepped up. As did the Woodruff and Peyton Anderson foundations.

WESMag: Now Munroe houses the nursing program. Was starting a nursing program part of the plan from the beginning?

Ruth: No, the building was not designed with nursing in mind. We renovated other labs for the nursing program.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

“WHAT WE’RE REALLY DOING IS RECOGNIZING OUR HISTORIC STRENGTHS AND BUILDING UPON THEM.” WESMag: Right after Munroe was finished, the renovation of Taylor Hall began?

the cabin and to build the pavilion.

He has been a champion of its development.

Ruth: Yes. And between the time we built Munroe and renovated Taylor, we also joined the President’s Climate Commitment initiative and decided that all new construction/renovation on campus would be LEED certified.

That’s about the same time we got interested in the arboretum again, too - looking at how the trees could help us offset our carbon footprint. At least that’s when my own particular interest in the arboretum bloomed. I was trying to help us make the climate commitment by putting the arboretum in the equation.

Rob Edenfield has endowed several scholarships at Wesleyan. Rob is a graduate of Emory and says that the logical college for him to support would be Emory. But, he believes that his contributions matter more to Wesleyan. So that’s why he supports us as generously as he does. And we are grateful!

The arboretum trails had become overgrown and no one used the arboretum much. Jim (Ferrari, professor of biology) said, “Just go walk with me. It’s really cool back there.”

Barry (Rhoades, professor of biology) and Pat (Pritchard, alumnae chair of education) and others got interested again, then lots of folks started walking and saw how incredible it is. Then the trustees got excited. Rob Edenfield in particular developed a special love for the arboretum and made gifts to reroof

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WESMag: The College has recently reestablished its historic connection with China.

Ruth: That was serendipitous. A film crew working on a movie about the Soong sisters came to campus and somebody said to somebody (actually Susan Welsh), “You need to have a Confucius Institute.” Once we applied, they realized who we were – the Soong sisters are indeed widely known in China - and we got the Confucius Institute.

After the Confucius Institute success, I thought “My goodness! What we’re really doing is recognizing our historic strengths and building upon them.”

That includes building not just upon our historic relationship with China but also on our affiliation with the United Methodist Church and our history of having a foundation of faith and service as core values. It means taking advantage of this gorgeous campus and the amazing Arboretum. It means taking care of our extraordinary art collection and sharing it with the world. I’m also very proud of the art restoration program. Adopt-A-Painting wasn’t my idea, but I was determined to get the art restored. That project, too, was driven by trustees. Dennie McCrary made the first donation and adopted “The Pink Lady” for restoration. My first adoption of “Bowl of Zinnias” followed pretty closely. The reason I chose “Zinnias” is because the director of the Georgia Museum in Athens came to look at our collection, and when he saw “Zinnias” he said we could put it in the trash because it was unsalvageable. That infuriated me, which was like “I can say something bad about my family but you can’t!”

So I volunteered to restore that one.

I didn’t care what it cost. And we did!

Now we’ve raised about $365,000 to restore 140 paintings.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

WESMag: Are you leaving anything unfinished? Is there anything on your list that you didn’t get done?

Ruth: I wish we had raised more money for the renovation of the library.

I’m happy with where we are, and the project will be finished. I’m amazed that we completed as much as we did in such a short amount of time. Also, I wish we could have had made progress on Porter Gym. That would have been next on my list, and I hope I can help with that when I am just an alumna and a donor.

I love that building. I’ve had a lot of fun there - as did my mother and aunts.

WESMag: What are you most proud to have been part of?

Ruth: The education of our students. We’ve sent many wonderful Wesleyan Women out into the world since 2002, and I’m most proud of our students.

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I’m very proud to have hired Dr. Vivia Fowler, too. I didn’t know at the time that she’d be my successor, but I am so glad she is.

WESMag: What has brought you the most joy?

Ruth: Pierce Chapel. But the joy comes from more than the building. It comes from helping to fulfill the dreams of those who wanted the Chapel and care for it deeply. I feel the same way about the Science Center.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Miss Julia and all that she’s done, for Margaret and Randolph, for Mary Gray, for Betty and Lovick (Corn), for Eleanor (Lane), and obviously for Bill (Hurdle).

When anything is important to those who have given so incredibly generously to the College, that’s a really powerful motivation to get done right what they want to have done. And that, most of all, brings me joy.

WESMag: What do you love most about Wesleyan?

Ruth: All the people that I have known, past and present, starting with the students and including alums, trustees, faculty, and staff.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Jane Shirah’s (wife of former trustee, the Reverend Jason Shirah) funeral. The service was simple, at the gravesite. Hearing her daughter talk about Jane and Jason, hearing (trustee) Kay West sing, I thought, “I am so lucky to have known them,” and that’s the truth.

I am so very lucky to have known people like Jason and Jane, Frank and Annie (Jones ’48), Randolph and Miss Margaret, Miss Julia, Linda Lane, Tom Bass, Neva Fickling, and so many others. Having them in my memory bank is an incredible blessing.

I HAVE SAID MANY TIMES BEFORE: FIFTEEN YEARS FROM NOW, WHO’S GOING TO BE THE NEXT MISS JULIA? WE’VE GOT WORK TO DO TO RAISE UP THE NEXT MISS JULIAS, THE NEXT BETTYS, THE NEXT ELEANORS, AND THE NEXT RANDOLPHS AND FRANKS. WESLEYAN COLLEGE HAS BEEN GUIDED BY SOME AMAZING TRUSTEES OVER THE YEARS, BUT SUCCESS TAKES EVERYBODY THE TRUSTEES, ADMINISTRATORS, FACULTY AND STAFF, AND THE ALUMNAE. MOVING FORWARD TAKES US ALL. BUT, THAT’S THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION – IT’S THE PEOPLE OF WESLEYAN I LOVE MOST.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Another Wesleyan First

At their last meeting of the 20162017 year, Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution, creating a President Emeritus Policy in order to recognize any Wesleyan College President who has provided outstanding, distinguished, and extended service to the College community. Members of the Board of Trustees resolved that President Emeritus status should be reserved to honor a Wesleyan College President who is retiring or has retired; has provided outstanding and distinguished service to Wesleyan

College; and has served as Wesleyan College President for at least ten years. “Outstanding and distinguished service” is defined as service which goes beyond the normal duties and responsibilities of the appointment, and which has had extraordinary impact on Wesleyan College and/ or broader community. Such service contemplates that the individual demonstrated exceptional commitment and contributions to Wesleyan College, exemplifying the highest standards of personal and professional integrity, civic responsibility, vision, and

leadership. Further, to be conferred the honor of President Emeritus status; a Wesleyan College President should have served with dedication to, and effectively advanced, the United Methodist Church mission of Wesleyan College.

On Friday, May 19, 2017, Wesleyan College’s Board of Trustees presented its first President Emerita Award to President Ruth Austin Knox ’75 with the following citation.

Citation President Emerita Presented to Ruth Austin Knox

by Wesleyan College ************

Friday, May 19, 2017 WHEREAS, Wesleyan College desires to honor retiring presidents who have provided at least ten years of outstanding and distinguished service to the College, which service has gone beyond the normal duties and responsibilities of the appointment and which has had extraordinary impact on Wesleyan College and the Macon and Central Georgia community; and WHEREAS, Ruth Austin Knox, President of Wesleyan College from 2003-2017, having served as Acting President from 2002-2003, has sought always to honor the mission of Wesleyan College and has endeavored to move the institution forward by building on Wesleyan’s historic strengths; and WHEREAS, Ruth’s tenure has seen many improvements to the campus, including the Munroe Science Center; campus landscaping, including the institution of a tree replacement policy; the Arboretum; renovation of Taylor Hall; Pierce Chapel; Phase I of the renovation of Willet Library; expansion of the Nancy Ellis Knox Equestrian Center; and the James Hyde Porter House; and

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WHEREAS, under her leadership many programs were established, including the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, the Adopt-a-Painting program, Masterworks on the Move, the dualdegree program between Wesleyan College and Guangzhou University, and the Confucius Institute at Wesleyan College; and WHEREAS, as president, she has effectively contributed to the financial health of the College by overseeing the completion of the Leap of Faith campaign; Phase I of the FAST FORWARD campaign; and the current Phase II of the FAST FORWARD campaign, raising a total of almost 100 million dollars; and WHEREAS, as the College’s first alumna president, Ruth has always served as the model “true, faithful, and loyal” daughter of Wesleyan, unselfishly generous in her personal support of the College, including countless anonymous acts of munificence; and WHEREAS, Ruth Austin Knox has exemplified the highest standards of personal and professional integrity, civic responsibility, and vision by serving in leadership positions in numerous organizations including the Macon Rotary

Club, the Georgia Humanities Council, Georgia Women of Achievement, the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, and Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia; and WHEREAS, Ruth has worked to strengthen the ties between Wesleyan College and The United Methodist Church by building Pierce Chapel, supporting the Wesleyan Disciples program, expanding scholarships for United Methodist students, supporting the Lane Center for Service and Leadership, speaking in United Methodist churches, and enthusiastically participating in The United Methodist Church’s University Senate and the Georgia United Methodist Foundation; NOW BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, in recognition of the qualifications heretofore listed, and in accordance with the policy for naming retiring presidents emerita/ us as approved by the Board of Trustees in its executive session on Thursday, May 18, 2017, we, the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan College, do hereby bestow upon Ruth Austin Knox the distinguished title President Emerita.

KNOX Rocks!

In the weeks leading up to Alumnae Weekend, alumnae were asked to submit their favorite memories or stories about Ruth. Below you will find a selection of the responses received. Clearly, Ruth is loved by her sisters... and like all Wesleyannes, she knows how to have a good time.

Enjoy the memories!

My favorite Ruth memory would be of my graduation day when she and I exchanged hugs on stage after I received my long awaited diploma and she said to me, “Cindy, what are we going to do without you?” Well, it’s my turn to say, “Dear President Knox, what are we going to do without you?” Ruth is an example of the everlasting legacy of what a strong, brilliant, witty, graceful, determined, and beautiful from the inside-out woman can do when she leads by example. Cindy M. Fountain ’07 Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

My senior year at Wesleyan I applied for the Trustee Scholarship at Mercer Law School, a full-tuition scholarship awarded to a few students from qualifying private colleges around the state. Ruth wrote a letter of recommendation and I was awarded the scholarship. When I went to her office to share my exciting news, I barely got the words out of my mouth before she grabbed me and gave me a big bear hug, knocking my sunglasses right off the top of my head. I think she might have been more elated than I was.

That is why we love Ruth. Her passion for Wesleyan and her Wesleyannes is so obvious and wonderful.

Wesleyan is better for her having served us. – Mary Beth Barker Tolle ’07 I was a sophomore when Ruthie first came to Wesleyan. Tall, quiet, and serious, I could tell the “mantle of leadership” rested lightly on her shoulders and knew she was destined for extraordinary success on campus and later in life. I couldn’t have been more pleased when she was named president - thrilled that an alumna from my generation would come back to our alma mater! Ruth directed curriculum changes, building projects, and countless other details to bring Wesleyan into the twenty-first century, able to attract a new generation of students from all over the world! Congratulations to President Knox for a job well done!

Kasse Andrews-Weller ’72 I first met Ruth when she was president of the alumnae association and I was a student. I was moved by her presence, articulate speech, and obvious passion for Wesleyan. She inspired me to be a better student and Wesleyanne, to serve our alma mater as she was (and still is) doing, and to use my skills and talents for good. Years later, I completed my EMBA in Wesleyan’s first cohort (2002) and later that year, began working for the admissions office. It was a pleasure to work for and with Ruth. We shared Miss Munck memories and the continued pleasure we receive from garnering A’s in those classes. Ruth is a servant leader in every sense of that phrase. It is a pleasure to know her. Lisa D. Shiveler ’87 My class celebrated our 10th reunion in April of 2010. I would be finishing my doctor of nursing practice program at University of Massachusetts Amherst the following month. Unbeknownst to me, a dear friend of mine here in Asheville reached out to the chancellors/ presidents of all three of my alma maters (UMASS, Vanderbilt, and Wesleyan) to ask for them to sign a pre-written congratulatory letter on my behalf.

UMASS and Vanderbilt stated it was a busy time of year and they did not have time. President Knox told my friend she

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would be happy to write a letter. My friend said she already had one written, all she had to do was sign it and send it back. President Knox refused to accept a pre-written letter and insisted she would write her own (during the week of Wesleyan’s Commencement). At my graduation party, my friend stood up and said she had some kind words for me, and read President Knox’s letter.

Not only did Ruth remember that I had just seen her at Alumnae Weekend, but clearly she had talked to some of my former professors and looked through old yearbooks, because the letter was full of personal anecdotes from my days at Wesleyan, which were before her time. I was moved to tears. The letter is framed and sits in my office. I am now the director of a doctor of nursing practice program at a university in North Carolina.

I will always look back on my days at Wesleyan as some of the best I have lived and with some of the best people I have ever known. Sarah E. Mannle ’00 On the 2014 Summer Leadership Institute trip, I was in a walking boot for the duration of the trip. Part of one day in Zion National Park involved walking through the river that runs through the park. I had packed a large trash bag and some duct tape to wrap around my walking boot so that I could join the rest of the group. Unfortunately, my trash bag got punctured, and the boot flooded with water. Thankfully, President Knox was right there beside me, and helped me get through the rest of the water while trying to keep my walking boot as dry as possible. She also walked with me back on the trail from the river access, as a soggy boot made for slow going. I will never forget her helping me then; even though it was a little gesture, it meant a lot to me that she helped me out.

Christina R. Mayfield ’15 I first met Ruth when I was a freshman.

She happened to be on campus for a meeting and joined in our Washboard Band rehearsal. I was so taken with her

passion for Wesleyan. She taught the band some songs and encouraged us to carry on the Washboard tradition. I felt like she was talking directly to me and I really wanted to make my mark too so I played all four years. As the student representative on the board of trustees, I worked side-by-side with Ruth and watched her leadership style in action. It has been such an inspiration and pleasure for me to be part of the Wesleyan experience under her leadership since 1984. I admire her honesty and directness all wrapped up in a great sense of humor. Thank you Ruth!

Beth Herndon ’88 Ruth Austin Knox ‘75 (daughter of Ruth Hall Knox ‘40) often refers to herself as “Miss Ruth’s Child.” This appellation has provided years of convenient excuses for things Ruth ‘75 WILL or WON’T do. For example: “Miss Ruth’s Child” wouldn’t dream of wearing white after Labor Day... and “Miss Ruth’s Child” balks at coach class on long-haul flights. In addition to the “date parlor,” every Wesleyan dorm had a cigarette machine in the 1970s and “Miss Ruth’s Child” was born knowing that a lady NEVER stands while smoking.

Scores of Wesleyan women live more refined and sophisticated lives thanks to the wisdom and grace that Ruth ‘40 imparted to Ruth ‘75. All my best wishes to “Miss Ruth’s Child!” Former smoker, Leigh Lambert Goff ‘78 I have two really. One is a personal memory. When I was hospitalized and recovering, I made the President’s List.

My letter from President Knox had a personal “get well” note attached. It really made it clear how much Wesleyan is a community. My other memory is from my sophomore year during Alumnae Weekend. As a part of the Washboard Band, we performed at the picnic.

President Knox and several other women from different classes joined in and it was truly amazing. Watching the joy they shared, you’d swear the women were back in their 20s. Kristina M. Battles ’15

I have had the pleasure of knowing Ruth both as a student and as a professional.

One of my favorite memories of Ruth occurred when I was a senior (October 2006). Ruth was new in her tenure as president, and she quickly gained the admiration and respect of the student body. She was poised, intelligent, funny, and above all, an alumna, and someone who understood the fun and traditions of being a Wesleyanne. The PKs of 2006 planned a senior trip - a cruise to the Bahamas - and we learned it was tradition to leave a bottle of alcohol in our class color on the steps of the President’s home before we left. So, we purchased

My freshman year at the Lighting of the Christmas Tree ceremony there were so many people attending that Ruth Knox asked that those who could, please move to the floor so that people who needed to, could move into a chair. I was one of the students that moved to the floor and when Ruth finished her part of the ceremony she came and sat on the floor beside me. It really meant a lot to me that the president of my new college did not take a chair that would have understandably been hers. This showed me that she puts others before herself and tries to do what she can to help everyone she can. April Roos Rohrbaugh ’10

Ruthie and I attended camp in Athens for many summers and established a bond that was undeniable. When she went to Wesleyan, I graduated early from high school so that I could join her at her cherished Wesleyan. Ruthie was a senior and I a mere freshman, but she took me under her wing and taught me many invaluable life lessons. Always more studious and serious than I, she advised me that the campus guest lectures, which I loathed to attend, might actually enlighten me and serve a beneficial purpose. I started attending, and listening. She patiently guided me through a turbulent growth period, always with an eye on the larger picture and steadfastly supported me, even when I didn’t deserve her time or effort. She was my beacon of light and anchor of strength. I was so fortunate that my friend and mentor, Ruthie, was the perfect role model who helped make my path a little less treacherous. I am forever grateful. – Julie St. John Thornton ’78 two bottles of wine (in opaque purple bottles) and class members signed the bottles with gold Sharpies. We waited until 11:00 pm to deliver our special package.

A PK contingency drove up to Bradley House from Mathews athletic fields and spotted Ruth sitting in her back sunroom.

After a hasty conference we decided a few of us would sneak up to the back door, knock, leave our parting gifts, and escape. The goal was to not be seen. We were successful because our door knock startled President Knox, she jumped, looked shocked, and then we ran to our get-away car (driven by current trustee Amy Fletcher) giggling the entire time. This is the only time in all my years associated with Wesleyan that I have seen Ruth unnerved.

But after she recovered, we heard her call out to us with a thank you and something to the effect that we didn’t have to run away.

Ruth has always been gracious to open her home to students and alumnae. Several years later, when I returned to Wesleyan as a staff member, I worked an event at her home and noticed an entire shelf lined with gifts from many of her senior students. She had kept them all, which made this memory even more of a treasure!

Lauren Hamblin Beaty ’06

Five years after my daughter-in-law, Erin Zinko McKenna ’04, graduated from Wesleyan, she and I were invited to campus for an Alumnae Educators Day. Sometime during our visit, Erin and I wanted some fresh air and were sitting together on a bench outside Tate Hall when Ruth Knox walked by. Ruth and I are both Golden Hearts from the Class of ‘75 but it was Erin who Ruth was most interested in. There was a comfortable rapport between the two and before Ruth left us she asked about Will, Erin’s husband and my son, by name. I was most impressed that Ruth not only remembered my daughter-in-law but she also remembered Will. This is when it hit me that the women of Wesleyan were Ruth’s top priority. They have been as special to her as Ruth to them.

Sally Moffett McKenna ’75 My favorite Ruth memory is her inauguration celebration - specifically, the fact she included both a service project and a fancy party for the students! One of my roommates, Mollie Hughes, and I chaired the junior/freshman team for the service project (a makeover competition at two local group homes). The service project ran through the night and was timed. The two teams were judged the

following day and the winning team (PKs ‘06/GKs ‘08) was announced at the student gala that evening. I recently ran across the pictures of my roommates all dolled up and of me accepting the winner’s award from Ruth.The fact we won was icing on the cake. But, Ruth’s inaugural celebration embodying Wesleyan’s mission and values, perfectly demonstrates the high standard Ruth has set from the start of her time as President!

Amy M. Fletcher ’06 My favorite memory of Ruthie is from the night of her inauguration ball. We were all having a blast in a tent on the quad, and she rolls up in a red Lamborghini wearing a beautiful black evening gown. I thought to myself, now that’s style!

Heather Poindexter Kennedy ’05 For several seasons I served as “Cherry Bear” - the official mascot of the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival. Wesleyan hosted the hot air balloon launch (an official Cherry Blossom event) on campus every year. Even though only a few friends knew it was me in the (HOT) costume, I was able to get lots of pictures with Wesleyannes.

During my first year as mascot, Ruth came up and wanted a picture. After the picture was snapped, my volleyball teammate whispered in Ruth’s ear that it was me in the costume. She laughed so hard and during the following years she always came up to give “Cherry” hugs.

Jyoti Danes Coffelt ’05 A stand-out memory is from a past Alumnae Weekend where fellow GH ‘03 Rachel Garcia and I crashed President Knox’s GH class party in the cabin. There was food, fun, and DANCING! Even though we crashed, we were welcomed and dared to dance. I’m so grateful for all the gifts, changes, and contributions that were instituted during her tenure. May her next venture bring her joy!

Elaina M. Winter ’03 Probably a favorite memory for a lot of us is the little speech Ruth would give at graduation practice. One of my favorite lines was, “A Wesleyanne is a lady at all times, in all places, and all positions...” (and then Ruth would smile knowingly)... “On the soccer field, I mean.” Another piece of Ruth’s advice from graduation rehearsal that stays with me today is how ladies get in a car: “Fanny, foot, foot. Not foot, fanny, foot.

And never foot, foot, fanny.” Of course, every time I get in a car, I fail to be a lady, but I always think of Ruth Knox.

Betsy W. Herlong ’12

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

New Leadership at Bringing experience and knowledge to three top positions Vivia Fowler, president

Wesleyan College is proud to announce Dr. Vivia Lawton Fowler as the institution’s twenty-fifth president. Since 2007, Fowler has served Wesleyan as provost and vice president for academic affairs. In August 2016, President Ruth A. Knox announced her retirement effective June 30, 2017. Fowler will assume the responsibilities of president on July 1, 2017.

Fowler brings to the position significant experience in higher education, particularly liberal arts higher education for women. Fowler has almost thirty years of award-winning experience at two United Methodist women’s colleges as professor of religion and academic administrator, including almost ten years of leadership at Wesleyan.

“I think often of the two thousand or so students I have encountered in the classroom whose professional and personal development I follow with joy and pride. But I am not nostalgic for the past as I look back on the history of small, private colleges and imagine the exciting future that lies ahead. Since 1836, Wesleyan has been a leader in women’s liberal arts education, and I am confident the College will continue to thrive,” Fowler said.

Among her accomplishments at Wesleyan, Fowler was instrumental in establishing the bachelor of science in nursing program, the Academy for Lifelong Learning adult continuing education program, the Confucius Institute, the American Cultural Center at partner school Guangzhou University in China, and a dual degree program for Guangzhou students.

“Indeed, many of the College’s successes in the last ten years – our nursing program, our renewed connections with China, new partnerships with folks like Navicent Health, the renovated library – all have

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resulted from Vivia’s creative leadership and persistent efforts. Without any doubt, the titles she has held, dean and provost, have never adequately captured the multitude of roles she has filled. For all those reasons and many more, Vivia is the most qualified president-elect this College possibly could have,” said President Knox.

Before joining Wesleyan, Fowler was a professor and administrator for twenty years at Columbia College, also a United Methodist women’s school.

She holds a bachelor of arts in religion and sociology from Columbia College, a master’s degree in religion from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, and a doctorate from the

University of South Carolina. She’s also an ordained United Methodist minister.

Fowler said, “As a leader I seek to identify, empower, and support others to share the responsibility for institutional leadership. My great joy as a higher education administrator is seeing the transformation that our students so often experience as a result of being in the unique environment provided by a small liberal arts college.”

In February, President Knox named Fowler an honorary Golden Heart since she arrived at Wesleyan in 2007 with the Golden Hearts of 2011.

Wesleyan Melody Blake, provost

Melody Blake will move into the position of provost and vice president for academic affairs effective July 1, 2017. For the past year, Blake has served Wesleyan as visiting assistant professor of psychology. Before joining the Wesleyan family, she served as a psychology professor and academic administrator at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and as vice president of mission services at Goodwill of the Heartland.

“I am very excited to serve Wesleyan College as provost and vice president for academic affairs,” Blake said. “Having been in the classroom as a professor for one year, I am convinced that Wesleyan students are women of courage, intellect, and creativity.”

Originally from California, Blake earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Los Angeles and a master’s degree and doctorate from Claremont Graduate University. She and her husband Christopher live in Macon and have two married daughters.

“We are thrilled that Melody is joining the Wesleyan family full-time, and we look forward to the addition of her talents, energy, and wisdom to this vitally important position for the College,” President-elect Dr. Vivia Fowler said. “She brings a wealth of experience as an academic leader, and I am excited to move into my new position as president knowing that Melody is on our team.”

Clint Hobbs, vice president for strategic enrollment management Wesleyan welcomes Clint Hobbs to the role of vice president for strategic enrollment management beginning July 1, 2017.

Clint began working for his alma mater, Young Harris College, soon after graduating in 1988. For twenty-seven years he served in various positions in Young Harris’s office of admission, culminating as vice president for enrollment management and external relations from 2004 through 2016. In 2016, Clint left Young Harris to focus his full attention on consultant work with prestigious institutions such as York College of Pennsylvania and Benedictine University.

A registered enrollment professional (REP), Clint is the 2016 recipient of the Carol Nobles Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions

Officers, having served as the organization’s president 2009-2010. He is chair of the Georgia Non-Public Post-Secondary Education Commission by appointment from the governor. Clint also serves his community of Towns County, Georgia, as chair of the fire and rescue board, volunteer firefighter, and first responder. He earned his undergraduate degree in journalism and public relations from the University of Georgia in 1990 and his master of education in higher education from UGA in 1995.

“The entire Wesleyan community is excited to welcome Clint to campus this summer. He brings valuable experience and expertise, and Wesleyan will benefit greatly from his years of enrollment service to Young Harris and as an enrollment consultant,” said President-elect Dr. Vivia Fowler.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

New majors & minors for fall 2017 Sport Management

(major and minor) A partnership between the business administration and athletics departments is providing a new opportunity for sport, fitness, and recreation-minded students. Sport management is a specialized major in business administration that focuses on the management of sports and other athletic activities. Students will learn how to apply principles of accounting, business, finance, management, and marketing to the sports industry. With a foundation in the liberal arts, graduates will be prepared to pursue an advanced degree in sport management or obtain an entry-level position in a variety of sports-related careers, such as sports event planning, sports marketing, facilities manager, or director of athletic programs.

“Students will be able to design their unique career path with elective classes. Paired with advertising and marketing communications, accounting, economics, biology, and other disciplines, we will produce candidates seeking to enter physical therapy, sport law, recreation, collegiate and professional athletics, owning and operating fitness facilities, and many other options. It truly is a ‘choose-yourown-career’ style degree that will cater to many interests,” said Nicky DiMarzio, head women’s basketball coach and associate director of athletics.

Equine-assisted Therapy

(minor) Equine-assisted therapy is a growing field that differs from therapeutic riding in that the setting is conducted on the ground rather than in the saddle.

The horse, paired with a mental health specialist and an equine specialist,

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completes a three-pronged therapy team. Equine-assisted therapy has been effective in family therapy, for clients who have experienced domestic violence or need some type of rehabilitation, and for clients with behavioral issues, eating disorders, and addiction. It is also an effective technique for team-building activities for groups such as businesses, management teams, and youth groups.

According to Jessica Denniston, program coordinator, coach, and barn manager, “This new program will work in conjunction with the psychology department to provide students a wellrounded view of the uses of equineassisted psychotherapy and learning.

During my time at Virginia Intermont College I minored in equine-assisted growth and learning, and witnessed firsthand the benefits of this type of therapy. I am excited to bring this inspiring program to Wesleyan and believe it will greatly benefit students interested in combining their love for horses with a passion for helping others.”

Organizational Behavior (minor) One of the fastest growing professional areas for the next decade involves the interface between business and psychology. Wesleyan is moving to prepare our students for jobs in this area with our new minor in organizational behavior, and our new psychology course, industrial/ organizational (I/O) psychology. The minor explores how human behavior impacts organizational practices and will pair well with majors in business or psychology. Successful businesses, agencies, and organizations will leverage the growing body of research evidence from psychology on individual

and group behavior to create efficient, effective systems that maximize their greatest resource, their employees.

Considering how to best develop their employees, how to match employees to jobs, and how to manage conflicts will help organizations function well. Shelly Martin, the professor of psychology developing the I/O course, noted that I/O psychologists are in demand worldwide. “Two of our psychology majors have gone on to complete Ph.D.s in I/O psychology, an occupation in which women have been underrepresented. This course will open up for more students the field of I/O, a lucrative area with many opportunities.”

Forensic Science

(minor) The forensic science minor at Wesleyan brings together courses across a variety of scientific fields, including biology, chemistry, and psychology.

Students studying forensic issues are trained to objectively apply scientific procedures in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Steps might include DNA analysis and interpretation, the identification of trace elements from a crime scene, or an understanding of the proper composition required for an unbiased lineup.

“The forensic science minor is highly interdisciplinary, with forensic biology, forensic psychology, and forensic chemistry providing diverse perspectives. With these and other strategic courses, a student will have a multi-disciplinary perspective in forensic science, which will complement a deeper understanding in their majors,” said Holly Boettger-Tong, professor of biology.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) After an approximate twenty-year hiatus, Wesleyan College is pleased to once again offer the bachelor of fine arts degree. The new BFA offers students a deeper concentration in the studio arts while maintaining Wesleyan’s strong liberal arts general education. “We are excited about the expansion of our programming, bringing in more artist lectures and exhibitions, and starting a professional artist residency this fall,” said Alexis

Gregg, assistant professor of art. “The program officially begins this fall, but we already have six current students and two new students on the BFA track.”

The BFA requires highly intensive and focused coursework in the arts to prepare students for professional careers in visual arts fields or entrance into master of fine arts programs.

Students will cultivate a disciplined methodology for studio art production

and develop the skill and confidence to speak, write, and professionally present her work in a gallery or public setting.

In the junior and senior semesters, students may choose to concentrate their upper-level art studies from the following: painting, drawing, ceramics, graphic design, photography, sculpture, or printmaking.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Wesleyan partners with Goodwill Art Gallery

On March 23, Wesleyan’s art department and the Wesleyan Station Goodwill store on Forsyth Road unveiled a new partnership in which the store will feature monthly rotating art displays created

by Wesleyan art students, in a newly remodeled space. The first exhibition, titled “The Art of Weaving,” featured creations from Wesleyan student, artist, and weaver Jessica Hughes Pitts ’74 and ’20 (Jessica earned her first degree from Wesleyan in 1974 and is scheduled to graduate in 2020 with her bachelor of fine arts degree). Pitts’ mesmerizing hanging displays, inspired by modern art paintings, celebrate sustainability as she repurposes textile material from Goodwill’s inventory that is not suitable for resale. Sharing her talents with others, Pitts helped students in Wesleyan’s 3-D Design course, taught

by Assistant Professor of Art Alexis Gregg, weave their own art from donated Goodwill materials.

The second exhibition featured extraordinary large-scale abstract landscapes by art & advertising and marketing communication major, Ying (Christina) Li ’18.

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Planning for the initiative began in December, 2016, after Wesleyan president Ruth Knox, who serves on Goodwill’s board of directors, presented the idea to Jim Stiff, president of Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia. “Since its opening last March (2016), the Wesleyan Station Goodwill retail store has become a popular destination for shoppers lured to great deals on fashion finds, and for donors seeking a convenient opportunity to support Goodwill’s mission,” said Stiff. “This exciting new partnership with Wesleyan College provides students an opportunity to recycle donated clothing into art. The community’s generous visits to the convenient Goodwill donation drive-through, and the monthly featured artists in the gallery space provides new reasons to shop at the Wesleyan Station Goodwill store.”

The Wesleyan/Goodwill partnership has also created an internship which provides Wesleyan students the opportunity to work with the store on initiatives connected to marketing, the making of art from recycled materials, and learning to curate art exhibitions. Bachelor of fine arts student Keondria Epps ’18 is the first to hold the internship which begins this summer.

Ying (Christina) Li ’18 Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

I AM

intelligent, driven, and successful

In April, Lane Scholar Catherine “Cat” Kryjak ’17 attended the Unlocking Women in Nonprofits Seminar in Washington, D.C. During the rigorous three-day workshop, sponsored by PLEN (Public Leadership Education Network), Cat mingled with successful professionals in various positions of the nonprofit sector. Cat said that Professor of Political Science Dr. Barbara Donovan, Director of Career Development Sarah Schanck, and Assistant Director of Career Development Chelsea Flieger were constant motivators and sources of encouragement.

In Cat’s own words:

“For the past four years my professor has been encouraging me to attend a PLEN seminar.

So many Wesleyannes go to the seminars offered throughout the year, but I simply couldn’t afford it. Finally, my senior year, I received the PLEN scholarship and it made all the difference.

Through blogging and talking to other students, I heard that not only should I attend PLEN, but that ‘everyone needs to go.’ Still, I couldn’t help feeling a little hesitant. Even with the encouragement — literally from everyone I spoke to — I thought that ‘everyone’ did not include me.

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I doubted my knowledge in the nonprofit sector was adequate enough to engage with professionals and other impressive PLEN attendees.

Fortunately, I was mistaken. PLEN was a life-changing experience.

I was learning fundamental skills I wish every woman could have access to and immediately felt empowered. I was surrounded by intelligent, successful, and driven women from all sorts of backgrounds and, suddenly, it hit me that I am one of them; intelligent, successful, and driven. PLEN gave me the tools via workshops and real life interactions with panelists and alumni that confirmed for me that the path I was aiming for all along is the right path.

If a day comes when I have an unexpected experience that turns my course, I’m prepared for that too. Just as one of the panelists said, ‘You have to look back at your life to connect the dots of how you got where you are.’ I’ve placed a dot with PLEN and I’m ready to lay all of the other dots throughout my career.

Now, I’ve joined the network of women saying that everyone should go to PLEN.” Cat is from West Babylon, NY. For the next twenty-seven months she will be working for the Peace Corps in the West African

country Benin as a food security extension agent. “I’m going to train locals in sustainable and effective agricultural methods so they have more food to eat, and I will connect them to markets so they can generate an income with the food surplus.”

After her service in the Peace Corps, Cat plans to apply to the Fulbright Scholar program and eventually earn her Ph.D. in development. While at Wesleyan, she studied abroad in Rennes, France, and served as a resident advisor, a peer mentor, chancellor of the Council on Judicial Affairs, and a summer ambassador for Guangzhou University dual degree students.

Cat was a member of SGA, GLBAL, ACT, and STUNT committee as well as the Pirate class mascot.

PLEN is the only nonpartisan national organization with the sole focus of preparing college women for leadership in public policy. PLEN is unique in that nowhere else in Washington, D.C., can students learn how Washington really works from a faculty exclusively comprised of women leaders who make and influence public policy every day.

Apply for a Scholarship

The Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN) provides need-based scholarships for outstanding students interested in attending PLEN seminars.

PLEN scholarships will assist students in funding a portion and/or all of program and registration and housing fees associated with attending the seminar. Students awarded any level of scholarship will be responsible for funding their own transportation, meals, and any remaining dues and fees.

Visit plen.org to learn more.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

‘SPREADING HOPE & LOVE’ ACROSS THE COMMUNITY

Shanita Anderson ’17 never thought she would go to college until a family took her in and changed her life.

The Atlanta resident is about to graduate from Wesleyan College with a bachelor’s degree in human services and a minor in education.

She wants to help children on a deeper level and make a difference in their lives. She knows firsthand the impact that positive role models can have. Anderson was unofficially adopted as an infant, but her adoptive mom died when Anderson was just 12.

Then, Marsha and Steve Lamb became her caregivers, showing her that “love has no boundaries,” Anderson said.

Although they have been Anderson’s parents for a decade, they will officially adopt her this summer.

“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here at Wesleyan,” Anderson said. “I grew up in a very bad neighborhood, and no one around me really went to college. (The Lambs) kept on telling me you’re going to do this. They put the sparkle and the determination in me, and that really changed my life.”

Amid her studies at Wesleyan, Anderson worked with children with behavioral disorders as a part-time nanny. She interned at the Autism Center and Loaves and Fishes, and she served as a summer ambassador for the College. Among her community service projects, she put together more than 100 hygiene kits for the homeless as well as Thanksgiving meal boxes for families.

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“She’s always looking for a new opportunity to put herself out there and do something new and make an impact,” said Theresa Abercrombie, an administrative assistant at the College.

“She wants to be out in the community spreading hope and love. I think to know her is to love her. Shanita knows in her heart what her calling is, and it’s helping people.’

On May 21, Anderson became a child care counselor at The Methodist Home, which is for abused, neglected and abandoned children. She will plan activities, work one on one with the girls there, and teach and empower them. She said the job is exactly what she wants to do.

In the future, she’d like to start bigger initiatives for the homeless, create empowerment programs and camps for children, become a foster parent, and one day open her own boarding school.

Shanita, graduated with a degree in human services and a minor in education, and says she’s excited to be working at The Methodist Home where she can make a difference in the lives of children.

This article appeared in the May 12, 2017 edition of The Telegraph. Special thanks to Andrea Honaker and The Telegraph for allowing Wesleyan to reprint this story.

Photo by Beau Cabell

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

From Here to Career takes Sarah Berks '17 to the Farm!

Wesleyan College implemented the four-year career development program From Here to Career to ensure every student receives superior career preparation, professional development skills, and practical experiences that will transfer to life after college. It is about more than just securing a job or getting into graduate school. It is more than finding an internship. It’s about helping our students understand how their Wesleyan experience has uniquely prepared them for their next step in life. It is teaching them how to navigate their own career journey -from refining their interests and goals to preparing a resume to succeeding in a job or graduate school interview.

The Class of 2020, who are beginning their sophomore year this fall, will be the first class to complete all four years of the program. Each year has a unique set of goals for students, with year three requiring an internship or other professional development experience (PDE). A PDE could be an internship on campus or in the community, a theatre performance or art exhibition, on- or off-campus student research, or extended community service.

Corn Scholar Sarah Berks graduated in May magna cum laude with a double major in French and international relations. Because of her year, Sarah and her classmates were not part of the full four-year career development program, but she was interested in completing a PDE. Director of Career Development Sarah Schanck and her staff used Sarah’s experience as a guide for defining the requirements of a PDE for future students. “They set up the application and everything online so that I could organize this experience into one that would benefit my future and also so I could

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receive credit. It was one semester long but I am staying in Macon this summer to continue my work.”

Sarah secured an internship with The Dirt Farmers in Macon. “The Dirt Farmers is a coalition of farms. I work at a farm run by Joe Zawacki, or more commonly known as Joe Dirt, who lives in a farmhouse on the property.

The Farm is where all the farmers deliver their produce, dairy, eggs, etc., to be processed for market and wholesale.” The Dirt Farmers, a CSA (community-supported agriculture) located off Wesleyan Drive, is also a show farm with pigs, goats, chickens, and ducks. The community is welcome to visit the animals and see the various vegetable beds. “Because everything we grow is seasonal, it is difficult to say exactly what we’ll be growing at any given time, plus Joe also likes to experiment. Right now, we’re transitioning from leafy vegetables like chard and kale to summer vegetables like peppers and tomatoes.”

As an intern, Sarah worked on the farm about ten hours a week in addition to taking classes on campus.

A typical day on the farm starts with chores such as feeding and watering the animals, watering the plants if it hasn’t rained, and locating and cleaning free-range chicken eggs.

The rest of the day is spent on whatever tasks need doing. This could include anything from transplanting greenhouse vegetables to building a cart used for hauling feed bags.

Recently, Sarah has been preparing the ground beds for planting peppers, which entails weeding and pulling out the last of the previous crop.

Growing up with her gardening family in Newnan, Georgia, Sarah learned about composting and growing vegetables on a small scale. “I can’t

say that I have always had a specific interest in agriculture, but I’ve always known I wanted to do something related to sustainability and I’ve always loved food. Agriculture just seems like a really nice mixture of the two, and I’m so glad I found my way into this niche. People ask me what my two majors have to do with farming. I have found that there is really nothing more international than agriculture. I would like to explore an international aspect, but I haven’t decided how to go about that yet because I’m so in love with Georgia agriculture right now.”

Still contemplating long-term goals, Sarah continues to educate people about the importance of buying local, healthy, delicious, sustainablygrown produce. Involving community members in initiatives like CSAs increases nutritional education and stimulates the local economy upon which farms rely.

At Wesleyan Sarah served in leadership roles including as president of GLBAL, CJA class representative for three years, academic center tutor, orientation leader, IFDID facilitator, first year peer mentor, and vice president of the French Club. She was also a member of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in social sciences. Sarah credits her advisor, Dr. Barbara Donovan, professor of political science, with introducing her to Joe Dirt and The Dirt Farmers.

“The original purpose of my internship was to see if agriculture was something that I wanted to pursue in my life and the answer is yes. I’d like to work for a year or so in the field to explore different aspects such as policy and constituent services before deciding on graduate school. For now, I’m just seeing where these farm boots can take me.”

The original purpose of my internship was to see if agriculture was something that I wanted to pursue in my life and the answer is yes.

I’d like to work for a year or so in the field to explore different aspects such as policy and constituent services before deciding on graduate school. For now, I’m just seeing where these farm boots can take me.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Karan Kendrick

“Giving back is a part of who I’ve always been.”

A community-service-focused business owner with a lucrative movie career on the rise, Karan Kendrick was born and raised in Fort Valley, Georgia, and now lives in Burbank, California. She earned her bachelor’s degree in drama and dance from Spelman College, and her EMBA from Wesleyan College in 2010.

Kendrick’s acting career began with a preschool show where the song called for children representing a certain color to stand up. Kendrick was orange. As a child she was a ballerina, and at home there were always songs, dancing, and plays to put on for her family. In the recent movie The Hunger Games, Karan plays the head trainer, Atala, who welcomes twenty-four tributes chosen to compete. She also stars in this year’s blockbuster movie Hidden Figures as the younger version of Joylette Coleman, the mother of main character Katherine Johnson. The film is based on the true story of a team of female AfricanAmerican mathematicians for NASA who

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provided the calculations necessary for the space program. Faced with white racism and misogyny, Katherine Johnson and the other “computers” worked through the challenges and became part of NASA’s successful early history.

Karan has starred on television and in films alongside Hollywood royalty including Oprah Winfrey, Octavia Spencer, Taraji Henson, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Mahershala Ali, Lynn Whitfield, Jennifer Lawrence, Tyler Perry, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Ormond, Jennifer Garner, Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Robin Williams, and many others.

Other recent credits include CW’s “The Originals,” “Greenleaf” on OWN, “The Realist Real,” “Drop Dead Diva,” “Army Wives,” Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne” and “Madea Goes to Jail,” “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” “Parental Guidance,” and many more.

Although Hollywood keeps her busy, Karan also takes time to encourage students who are passionate about the arts. As owner and director of The Kendrick Academy in Fort Valley, Karan teaches drama, theatre, and dance to students aged three to adult. The Academy serves to enrich the lives of its students and the community through the fine and performing arts.

Currently, Kendrick is traveling with a Girls Empowerment Tour, teaching girls 8 – 12 years old how to choose excellence at every step along their journey and how their choices can change the world. She tells the girls that being smart is just the beginning.

“Once you get smart, be brilliant. It’s not enough to be just good. Focus on being the most amazing version of yourself.

The bottom line is people need to know they can count on you. You’re never too big or too small, too young or too old, to give your best.”

GO FORTH A N D F LY, MY SISTERS. Excerpts from Karan Kendrick’s commencement speech: The race is not given to the swift or the strong but to the one that endures until the end. Do not be conformed to this world.

Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Today as you women of Wesleyan enter into your new space, I want to make a deposit into your memory banks. These are things you can hold on to as you move forward to engage the world.

First, you, my sisters, are enough. Know that there is no hair color, no dress, no makeup, no title that can define you. Those things are representations of our true selves, not definitions of who we are. You are already defined. And you are enough. There is no changing, redefining, or pretending who you are that will carry you one step further on your journey.

Embrace your truth. You, my sisters, are enough.

Second, you have the choice to choose yourself.

You cannot wait on someone else to choose you. Every step of your journey will require a choice. You can wait around to be defined by someone else, whether it’s a job, a colleague, a lover, or a friend. You can choose to put yourself on the shelf until someone decides you are enough - that you are good enough or smart enough or talented enough. Or, my sisters, you can choose yourself.

Choose you. Choose your brilliance. Choose

your beauty. Choose your strength. Choose your determination. Choose yourself.

Third, you define your own success. I am a servant at heart. And knowing that about myself, I created a program for girls ages 8 – 12 to have an experience around the experience of the film (Hidden Figures).

I thought about starting with 100 girls, and having them read the book, see the film, and discuss themes of empowerment.

I didn’t win an Academy Award for Hidden Figures.

I wasn’t even nominated.

But almost a thousand girls later in cities around the country, I would say that that my participation in this film was quite a success. It was me being true to who I am, and me defining my own success.

Other people will tell you that because you haven’t reached certain milestones or shown up in certain places, that you have not been successful. That is not the truth. You decide what your version of success is.

You decide how you define excellence for you. And you pursue that with your whole heart. You define your own success.

You, sisters, are women of Wesleyan. There is a wow factor in your very DNA. Those of us who have gone before to prepare the way are waiting for you.

We are excited for you. We are rooting for you. We are waiting for your wow factor. Go forth and fly, my sisters.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

FOR THE GIFTS OF LEADERSHIP AND VISION The words, “true, faithful, and loyal” from Wesleyan’s alma mater seem to have been written for Elizabeth Turner Corn ’47, lovingly known to all as “Betty.”

A devoted alumna of Wesleyan College for 70 years and trustee emerita whose life exemplifies the value of a Wesleyan woman, Betty is a descendant of the Reverend Lovick Pierce, one of Wesleyan’s founders and of Bishop George Foster Pierce, the College’s first president. Betty and her late husband Lovick, who also served as trustee, have provided Wesleyan much of its strong foundation today.

On May 13, 2017, during Wesleyan’s Commencement ceremonies, Betty Corn was awarded a distinguished honorary degree, the Doctor of Humane Letters, approved unanimously by Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees. The award was accepted on Betty’s behalf by her daughter, Elizabeth Corn Ogie, trustee of Wesleyan College. The citation read during the ceremony highlights Betty’s extraordinary generosity and her many gifts of leadership and vision to Wesleyan College and to her community.

degree of Doctor of Humane Letters Presented to Elizabeth Turner Corn

by Wesleyan College LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: Upon recommendation of the President and with unanimous approval of the Board of Trustees, I present Elizabeth Turner Corn for the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Representing Mrs. Corn this morning is her daughter and Wesleyan Trustee Elizabeth Corn Ogie.

WHEREAS, Wesleyan College desires to honor individuals for lives of extraordinary accomplishment that benefit society through intellectual, professional, and public service contributions consistent with the mission of the College; and WHEREAS, Elizabeth Turner Corn, known affectionately as Betty, is a native and lifelong resident of Columbus, Georgia, and has served that community, Wesleyan College, and the United Methodist Church as an exemplary leader and philanthropist throughout her life; and WHEREAS, she graduated from Wesleyan College in 1947, earning the Bachelor of Arts degree in art history, being named both Miss Charming and May Queen, and serving as chair of the Social Standards governing board; and WHEREAS, Betty returned to Columbus following her graduation and married Lovick Pierce Corn on May 20, 1949, creating a couple with multiple ties to Wesleyan College who shared a devotion to Betty’s alma mater during their 64 years of marriage; and WHEREAS, among those ties is their family connection through Lovick Pierce, a member of the founding Board of Trustees of Wesleyan College in 1836, with Betty’s ancestor being his son George Foster Pierce, Wesleyan’s first president, and Lovick’s being another son Thomas Pierce; and WHEREAS, Betty and Lovick fostered in their five daughters a rich spiritual life as active members of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, where Betty taught Sunday School and served on the altar guild; and WHEREAS, she worked to improve her community by serving as a Pink Lady at St. Francis Hospital; as a board member of the Bradley Center, the Brookstone School, and the Columbus Teen Center; and on art committees for both the W. C. Bradley Company and the Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences; and WHEREAS, Betty has further served her community through her work with the Junior League of Columbus, the Children’s Theatre, the Historic Columbus Foundation, the Cancer Society Board, and the St. Francis Hospital Auxiliary; and WHEREAS, she has engaged in myriad philanthropic endeavors through the Beloco Foundation, The Lovick P. and Elizabeth T. Corn Foundation, and The BradleyTurner Foundation; and WHEREAS, Betty has been a “true, faithful, and loyal” alumna of Wesleyan College since her graduation; was honored in 1987 with the Alumnae Association’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Community; and has helped guide the College in a more intentional way since she joined her husband on the Board of Trustees in 2002, with the two of them continuing a remarkable record of family service on Wesleyan’s Board that began in 1836 and

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is still in effect today – now totaling more than 250 combined years; and WHEREAS, Betty’s parents also were ardent supporters of the College, with her mother, Elizabeth Bradley Turner, receiving the Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree in 1961, and her father, D. Abbott Turner, serving for many years as a Trustee; WHEREAS, to honor Betty’s father, the couple established the D. Abbott Turner Chair of Free Enterprise, an endowed teaching chair in the College’s Department of Business; and WHEREAS, Betty and Lovick were instrumental in building a more robust endowment for Wesleyan College, including by fostering valuable friendships and challenging others to join their efforts; and WHEREAS, their generosity to Wesleyan resulted in the Ernest and Pauline Pierce Corn Hall and the Elizabeth Turner Corn Hall, which added apartmentstyle living to the College’s residential offerings; and WHEREAS, Betty for many years funded annual scholarships, then with Lovick created the endowed Lovick P. and Elizabeth T. Corn Scholarship Fund, thus enabling scores of young women from the Columbus, Georgia, area to attend Wesleyan College; and WHEREAS, Betty and Lovick, both lifelong United Methodists and both heirs to a family rooted in support of Wesleyan College, shared a dream that the College might once again have a chapel on its campus; and WHEREAS, the construction of Wesleyan’s Pierce Chapel largely resulted from Betty’s vision, tenacity, and extraordinary generosity, providing at long last the visible expression of Wesleyan’s foundation of faith and a home for the College’s campus ministries; and WHEREAS, Betty Turner Corn also is a warm, wise, witty, beautiful, charming, and devoted mother, grandmother, great grandmother, alumna, counselor, and friend; NOW THEREFORE, in recognition of the foregoing, with admiration for her extraordinary life and appreciation for the many blessings she has shared with Wesleyan College; and because she has shown us for more than 90 years how to live out the values of the Wesleyan Woman – excellence, honesty, integrity, responsible citizenship, service to others, generosity, intellectual curiosity, and joyful enthusiasm for life, Wesleyan College is proud to present Elizabeth (Betty) Turner Corn for the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

“By the power vested in me by the State of Georgia and upon the recommendation of the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan College, I confer upon Elizabeth Turner Corn, represented by her daughter Elizabeth Corn Ogie, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.”

Morgan Burgamy ’16, RN, BSN

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When Morgan Burgamy ’16 graduated from Macon’s Mount de Sales Academy in 2012, she did what many ambitious graduates do, she enrolled in college at a big university. She had already earned college credit through Georgia’s high school dual enrollment program and felt she was ready for college. But she quickly found that large colleges often have large classes and little personal attention. Her advisor worked with many students and was not able to provide Morgan the assistance and encouragement she wanted to be successful.

Morgan endured two semesters at the large school before deciding it was not a good fit for her. She wanted smaller classes and more personalized guidance. She found the perfect fit at Wesleyan. All her previous college credits transferred to Wesleyan, including her high school dual enrollment credits.

“I have known Morgan for many years. I was pleased when she expressed interest in exploring Wesleyan’s nursing program. Morgan was a determined student who flourished in a smaller classroom environment. Nursing is a difficult program to complete. Small class sizes help students receive more direct instruction. This allows us to not only teach nursing, but to develop leaders for the nursing profession.”

-- Sirena Fritz

Wesleyan’s classes were smaller, and her advisor, Sirena Fritz, director and assistant professor of nursing, took a personal interest in her success.

Together they decided the best course of action for Morgan to get her degree, and then Fritz helped her get into the classes she needed. In spring 2016, Morgan graduated from Wesleyan with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

“Transferring to Wesleyan was so easy with the help of my advisor, Ms. Fritz. She worked closely with me and even petitioned on my behalf to get some of my credits to count. The education that I was provided in Wesleyan’s BSN program was personalized, and not only trained me to be a nurse, but also prepared me to further my education. I have started nurse practitioner school, and I am even more thankful to my Wesleyan professors for challenging me to learn

more than ‘just the basics.’ They have prepared me for my next step.”

Fritz said, “I have known Morgan for many years. I was pleased when she expressed interest in exploring Wesleyan’s nursing program. Morgan was a determined student who flourished in a smaller classroom environment. Nursing is a difficult program to complete.

Small class sizes help students receive more direct instruction. This allows us not only to teach nursing, but also to develop leaders for the nursing profession.”

Today, Morgan is a nurse at The Children’s Hospital Navicent Health in Macon and is also enrolled at Georgia College and State University, working toward her master of science in nursing degree, the next step to realizing her ultimate goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. This August, Morgan will marry Jonathan Adams.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

CAMPUS NEWS SULLIVAN AWARD WINNER

Rosamond “Roz” Goodson is the 2017 winner of the prestigious Mary Mildred Sullivan award presented during commencement ceremonies to a senior who demonstrates excellence in character, leadership, service to the community, and commitment to spiritual values. Roz graduated summa cum laude with a double major in music and neuroscience. In the fall, she will begin working toward her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Virginia Commonwealth University.

THE SIMMONS ART AWARD

Congratulations to Gabriella Garcia ’18, a junior double majoring in art and advertising and marketing communication and this year’s recipient of the Simmons Art Award.

Shown working on a yet-to-be-named piece, Gabby was judged on her body of work, including a self-portrait titled, “I Am a Work in Progress.” Gabby said, “Through my classes, I have been reaching beyond my comfort zone and trying new media. I decided to present pieces I have created in these classes and showcase my voyage into the unknown.”

PIRATES OF 2017 WIN STUNT

From hilarious costumes to moving candlelit ceremonies, tradition is alive and well at the world’s oldest and boldest college for women. The four classes wrote, directed, performed, and produced their own skits to compete for the coveted STUNT cup.

Congratulations to the Pirates ’17 on winning the STUNT Cup and to the Green Knights of ’20 for winning the Spirit Cup. To see more pictures from STUNT, visit www.flickr.com/ photos/wesleyancollege.

Historic Macon honors the Porter House with a 2017 Preservation Award In 2013, Wesleyan saved the Porter House from demolition by moving it from its original location to the college campus.

Originally built in 1928 as a country getaway for James Hyde and Olive Swann Porter, the house has elements of the Tudor Revival and Chateauesque styles.

Wesleyan has retained many of the house’s features, including the original ceramic tile roof, wooden floors, built-in cabinets, casement windows, and intricate wormy chestnut woodwork.

In May 2015, Georgia’s Historic Preservation Division officially declared the Porter House of outstanding local 44

significance, making it eligible for both National Register of Historic Places designation and historic tax credits. Wesleyan completed the masterful rehabilitation of the Porter House in 2016 with the help of Sheridan Construction. Dunwody/Beeland, Architects, Inc., who served as the architect for the project, has an historic connection to architect W. Elliott Dunwody, Jr., who designed the original house. R.C. Poss Construction moved the house and oversaw the initial phase of rehabilitation.

Historic Macon chose Porter House as its 2017 Design House.

It will be on tour June 22 – 29.

CAMPUS NEWS Cross Country

After a four-year hiatus, Wesleyan is bringing back cross country beginning fall of 2017. Alex Kosicki, head coach of the Wolves tennis program, will serve as the team’s head coach.

Associate Athletics Director Nicky DiMarzio states, “As the Wesleyan athletic department continues to grow, adding cross country back to our intercollegiate offerings seemed to be a natural step. We have already gained student, faculty, staff, and administrative support and interest and we believe cross country will be one of our most competitive teams. We have a great pool of existing student athletes who will get the chance to represent Wesleyan in the USA South Athletic Conference.”

Kosicki is tasked with recruiting a team on short notice, but current athletes and incoming students have already expressed lots of interest. “I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to coach cross country. Bringing it back is a step in the right direction for Wesleyan athletics. At a time when schools are defunding varsity sports at an alarming rate, Wesleyan is adding sports, and it’s really special to play a role.”

2016 Most Generous Workplaces in Central Georgia

Wesleyan College is ranked on United Way of Central Georgia’s recently unveiled list of 2016’s 100 Most Generous Workplaces in Central Georgia. Through corporate and employee sponsorships, monetary and in-kind giving, and initiative support, these generous companies are investing in a better future for Central Georgia and its residents. This critical support helps to build a stronger, more stable workforce.

Additionally, it bolsters the local economy and improves the health and well-being of the community.

Arboretum Collaborations

Wesleyan art students participated in a number of collaborations connecting art programs and the arboretum. A ceramics class made illustrated glazed tiles that will be installed as the floor of the folly in the arboretum’s natural playground. Tanner Coleman, adjunct professor of art, spearheaded the revamping of the abandoned concrete slab and granite remnants at the side rear of the Murphey Art Building. The students have assisted in cleaning the area, which is available for use as an outdoor exhibition or performance space, outdoor classroom, and the new location for the annual art department end-of-the-year cookout.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

CAMPUS NEWS

The Georgia Society of CPAs

Eight students from Wesleyan College participated in the Georgia Society of CPAs College2Career event in Atlanta, gaining valuable information on networking, transitioning from college to career, interview skills, resumes, and the CPA exam. The students had professional-style headshots taken, participated in mock interviews, and received a resume review.

Audit Case Competition AMKT garden

Eagle Scout Nick Dorogy, a student at Stratford Academy, led a group of volunteers in creating a garden at Wesleyan College’s community outreach program, Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table (AMKT). The garden includes fruit trees, a rock path, bird feeders, and a vegetable garden that will provide nutritious food and education for the children at AMKT. Dorogy raised the money for the project and donated an additional $1,036.67 to help maintain the garden.

Professor of Accounting Kara Kostiuk led three teams from Wesleyan College to participate in this year’s Internal Audit Case Competition, sponsored by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). Team 3 (Xinqi Deng, Yijie Zhang, Na Chen) was selected to participate in the finals, held all day on Friday, November 11th at Kennesaw State University. The top ten teams selected as finalists attend the all-day event, representing six to ten of the best accounting programs in Georgia. Each team is composed of three members who present for no longer than 15 minutes on the given case, with five minutes allotted for the judges’ questions.

Tennis Team Earns Community Service Award

The Wesleyan College tennis team was recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as one of four regional winners of its Division III Community Service Award. The Wolves assisted in the Jay’s Hope 11th Annual Trek or Treat Road Race by unpacking medals and providing support and encouragement to the runners.

Jay’s Hope is a local non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for Georgia children with cancer and their families by providing social, emotional, spiritual, educational, and financial support.

Renovation and Rejuvenation When students returned to campus in January for spring semester, the newly renovated ground floor and second floor lounge of Willet Library welcomed them back. The open floor plan provides students better opportunities for collaboration, study, and use of technology, and they are thrilled to have 24-hour access. With flexible seating, roving whiteboards, and more places to plug in and charge up, students are creating environments that work for their individual and group study needs.

The two multi-media group study tables have seen constant use, and the Burgess Design Lab has allowed students to create all sorts of projects using the Adobe Creative Suite and 3D printing capabilities.

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) has recently relocated to the first floor of Willet Library. The ARC is where you’ll find the Writing and Tutoring Centers and the offices of the assistant dean of academic resources and director 46

of student success. Because the ARC assists students in need of tutoring and provides disability resources and individual academic counseling, there couldn’t be a more perfect location. This rejuvenated space also provides the ideal location for students to meet for WISe, the first-year experience.

Meanwhile, the Wesleyan College Archives has been busy creating community access to Wesleyan treasures that are housed in the library. Thanks to a generous grant from the E. J. Grassmann Trust, a new BookEye scanner was purchased and is being used to digitize our collection. Throughout the fall and spring semesters, Archives student assistants, interns, and the archivist worked to digitize publications such as alumnae magazines, student newspapers, catalogs, and literary magazines, with our collection of Veterropt yearbooks being digitized next. Most of these publications can be accessed through the internet

archive (https://archive.org/details/ wesleyancollege), or through the archives and special collections website (www.wesleyancollege.edu/library/ archives-special-collections-home.cfm).

Currently there are 536 volumes available online, but check back periodically as we continue to add items as they are scanned and processed. All publications are downloadable and fully searchable.

Recent archives donations include: a four generation Wesleyan alumnae collection generously donated by Suelle Swartz (GH 1967), several letters signed by Soong Mei-ling for the Soong sisters collection from Sandra Baskin, and numerous scrapbooks and other memorabilia from alumnae created during their time at Wesleyan.

If you have questions or have items that you would like to donate to the Wesleyan archives, please contact Virginia Blake by phone (478) 757-5200 or email, at vblake@wesleyancollege.edu.

CAMPUS NEWS Congratulations to award-winning nursing students Aminata Arimah ’17 was honored with Wesleyan’s distinguished Purple Stethoscope Award, given annually to a nursing student who has demonstrated community or classroom leadership and active involvement in community and campus service. Aminata is employed at Navicent Health in Macon as an ICU nurse.

Amber Gomez ’18 was awarded the Distinguished Junior Award for demonstrating the highest overall nursing GPA in the junior class.

Run with the President

An awesome group of students joined President Knox on a sunny afternoon in April to “Run with the President” for the last time. Throughout the years, this program has remained one of President Knox’s favorite activities with students.

Run with the President began in 2008 under the leadership of Kathy Malone, manager of Mathews Fitness Center. At each event, an average of thirty to forty students (and often several four-legged friends) turned out to run or walk the one-and-a-half-mile course through campus.

Tang wins State award

In April, Catherine Tang ’18 was honored as the recipient of the Jack Mangham Experiential Learning Award, sponsored by the Georgia Association of Colleges and Employers. Catherine is the first Wesleyanne and the only student in the State to win this prestigious award.

The winner is determined based on a student’s exemplary experiential learning experience (internship, coop, etc.), academic success, faculty recommendation, and commitment to on-campus leadership. Catherine won for her internship with Wesleyan’s advancement office where she applied statistical data analysis and predictive modeling to the historical charitable giving data in an effort to determine giving trends and identify potential donors in Wesleyan’s constituent base.

Three Wesleyan nominees made it to the state finals: Ronnie Deng, Amber Davis, and Delia Beristain Noriega.

In May, Catherine began an internship at the Overton Summer Research Program at California Lutheran University.

Students, faculty, and staff recognized on Honors Day On Honors Day, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, Wesleyan College bestowed awards, prizes, and recognition to students, faculty, and staff at a ceremony held in Pierce Chapel.

D’Andrea Dixon ’17 received the highest student-nominated honor, Wesleyan Woman of the Year, for leadership, loyalty to the College, and friendship to others. Rebecca Otwell ’17 was honored as Wesleyan Woman of Success, an award given annually to a graduating senior who stands out in extracurricular activities, community service, and academics. In the fall, Rebecca will be attending East Tennessee State University, working toward her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Monica Mohanty ’18 earned the SGA Student Leadership Award for outstanding leadership skills and leadership potential.

Tonya Parker ’01, assistant dean of students for diversity and inclusion, was honored as Staff Member of the Year. Faculty award winners included Professor of Music Nadine Cheek ’79, recipient of the Ann Munck Excellence in Teaching Award; Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Chenny Gan ’02, recipient of the UMC Exemplary Teacher Award; and Associate Professor of English Dr. Melanie Doherty, second-time recipient of the Vulcan Materials Exemplary Teacher Award.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2016

A Letter from the WCAA president Another memorable and exciting Alumnae Weekend has come and gone. Like the others, there were cheers and laughter, boas and hats.

Like the others, there were honors and accolades, smiles and hugs. But this Alumnae Weekend 2017 will stand apart because we celebrated our first Alumna President of the College on the eve of her retirement. Knox truly does “rock!”

The WCAA renamed its long-standing Alumnae Scholarship for Leadership, awarded annually to a rising junior, the Ruth A. Knox Alumnae Scholarship for Leadership in recognition of the extraordinary leadership roles Ruth Knox has held in service to the College, including serving as our WCAA President from 1985-1988.

And a BONUS ... more amazing Pirates (Class of 2017) have been added to our midst, including Wesleyan’s advancement officer Susan Allen ’17 who was made an honorary Pirate alumna. If you have the pleasure of getting to know these women you will instantly be aware of their drive, their commitment, and their passion. You will know, without doubt, the Pirate Class is on track to change the world! I am excited to call them sisters and look forward to celebrating many future reunions with them.

Finally, in the meantime and in-between times that span from Alumnae Weekend to Alumnae Weekend, continue to “keep always burning the love which was kindled during your student days.” Stay connected to each other and to Wesleyan.

Melanie Filson Lewis ’93 President, Wesleyan College Alumnae Association

Announcing Alumnae Weekend 2018 April 20, 21, and 22

It’s not just for reunion classes!

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.

48Gifts made between July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016

* deceased

CHECK OUT MORE ALUMNAE WEEKEND 2017 PHOTOS AT www.wesleyancollege.edu/ alumnaeweekend

2017 ALUMNAE AWARD RECIPIENTS Distinguished Service to the Community

CYNTHIA COSTELLO BUSBEE ’92 Cyndey Busbee serves as assistant vice president of corporate communications, business development, and corporate affairs for Navicent Health, one of the largest health care systems in Georgia.

Her professional accomplishments and her passion for her work are matched by what a colleague has called her “fierce advocacy for our community” which has found expression in volunteer board service across a dizzying array of organizations in Macon and Central Georgia.

Cyndey has served on the board of Career Women’s Network; the Cherry Blossom Festival, serving as festival chair in 2012-13; Education First; Georgia Women of Achievement, serving as president from 2010 to 2012; the Grand Opera House; the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce; Historic Macon; the William S. Hutchings College and Career Center of the Bibb County School System; Macon Economic Development Council; Macon Volunteer

Distinguished Service to the Community

JEAN MIDDLEBROOKS MORRIS ’57 If “all the world’s a stage,” as Shakespeare wrote, then Jean Middlebrooks Morris must be its leading player. After graduating from Wesleyan in 1957 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting, Jean refined her acting skills in Atlanta at the Theater of the Stars and the Peachtree Playhouse. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has performed on Broadway and in off-Broadway productions, and has worked in television commercials and films.

An active fundraiser for community events, philanthropic organizations, and tourism, Jean helped establish the Theater Center of Mississippi in Jackson and judged student debates and the Junior Miss Pageant. Her service extended to coaching theater arts at Wesleyan College, working with Macon’s Little Theater, teaching in Wesleyan’s Summer Arts Program and in the Governor’s Honors Program. In Thomaston, Georgia, she met and married Ralph Morris 50

of the Thomaston Times, following him to Missouri and later back to Middle Georgia.

Throughout her career, she has remained an active volunteer, newspaper writer, and a participant in local theater productions. In Highlands, North Carolina, Jean worked with Art Walk and the Highlands Playhouse and founded the Highlands Community Players.

She initiated dinner theater productions in Cashiers, Highlands, and Sapphire Valley, and in 2005, the Highlands Community Players honored Jean with its Founders Award.

Jean is descended from a long line of Wesleyannes, including Bishop George Foster Pierce, Wesleyan’s first president.

This legacy continued when Jean’s daughter, Karen Toner Mixon, became a Wesleyan student in the class of 1985. Jean’s devotion to Wesleyan has remained strong throughout her life, and she served her alma mater again as a member of her class’s 60th Reunion Committee.

Clinic; Ronald McDonald House; Rotary Club, serving as president of the Downtown Macon Club in 2008-09 and assistant governor for District 6920 from 2010 to 2012; and United Way. She is a member of the Leadership Macon Class of 2005 and the Leadership Georgia Class of 2009. She was named Rotarian of the Year in 2005-06, named to Macon Magazine’s 5 Under 40 in 2006, and was honored with the Career Women’s Network’s Woman of Achievement award in 2015.

In her nine years on Wesleyan’s board of visitors she has assisted with fundraising and internships, served as reunion chair for her class, spoken at Wesleyan convocations, hosted events for the Macon alumnae club, and has delivered the commencement address at the EMBA graduation ceremony.

Cyndey was recently the subject of the “Why I Give” profile in the Wesleyan Magazine.

Now is the time to Nominate for 2018 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) 757-5173 or download forms from our website. Deadline to nominate January 1, 2018.

Distinguished Service to Wesleyan

FLO WILLIAMS DOUGLAS ’67 It has been fifty years since Flo Williams was chosen by her classmates as Miss Wesleyan, and even today, the wisdom of that choice rings true. At Wesleyan, Flo was tirelessly engaged in academic and extra-curricular activities and her Golden Heart sisters responded to her leadership and loyalty to her class. Still today, Flo is the glue that holds her class together, encouraging them to return for reunions, involving them in the Wesleyan of today, and reminding them to give of their own resources for the advancement of the College.

While living in Brunswick, GA, with husband Curt, Flo was active in the Golden Isles Alumnae Club, planning fundraising events, representing Wesleyan at college fairs, and organizing admissions parties.

Upon the couple’s move to Milledgeville, GA, Flo’s involvement with the College increased. For six years she served on the National Alumnae Association Board of Managers as Alumnae Weekend Chair and

as Vice President for Admissions. During that time, she helped found the Welcome to Wesleyan program for potential students and worked with counselors, alumnae, and church leaders to put into place the most effective recruitment practices.

Flo’s dedication to her church and community is also impressive. With a master’s degree in education from Georgia Southern University, she has worked as a school counselor and a mental health professional. In her church she serves as a lay leader, member of the choir, and spearheads the Walk to Emmaus in addition to her many other church service roles.

For five decades, Flo has been an active alumna volunteer - as a class reunion chair, alumnae admissions representative, hostess for alumnae events, and she always has been available to accept any other task for the betterment of the College. Today, Wesleyan is a better place because of Flo Douglas.

Young Alumna Award

ROBYN L. GOBIN, PH.D. ’06 After graduating from Wesleyan, summa cum laude, with a major in psychology, Robyn Gobin earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Oregon in 2012. Today Robyn is a licensed clinical psychologist, trauma researcher, and a tenure-track assistant professor of community health in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s department of Kinesiology and Community Health. She has completed internships and fellowships affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Boston University, the University of California San Diego, and Brown University among others.

A fellow of the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program, Robyn is an advocate for diversity within the field of psychology. She has extensive research and clinical training in interpersonal trauma, women’s mental health, and veteran’s issues. Robyn has shared her experience as a woman of color in higher education, been involved in planning a diversity-training workshop for therapists,

co-written grants to support diversity training and research, and helped organize events on campuses across the country.

During Alumnae Weekend 2016, Robyn spoke to Wesleyan psychology students about her career journey.

Robyn provides daily inspiration and encouragement to more than four thousand social media followers. She also developed a smart phone app called TransformU Quotes and Reflections, where app users can create the lives they want by changing their mindset and making small changes that get them closer to living their best lives.

She has held leadership positions in the Association of Black Psychologists, APA’s Society for the Psychology of Black Women, APA Division of Trauma Psychology, and the National Black Graduate Student Association. In 2015, The Limited chose Robyn to participate in the store’s Leading Looks Like Campaign, a national campaign featuring women leaders.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

AlumnaeCONNECTIONS Save-the-Dates!

Alumnae Leadership Weekend is scheduled for October 6 -7, 2017. Sponsored by the WCAA Board of Managers and the Alumnae Office, the two day forum will focus on alumnae/student engagement, designing alumnae volunteer opportunities, and discovering ways in which all alumnae and students can work together to support Wesleyan. A Professional Development Conference for Students (P.A.W.S), sponsored by The Center for Career Development, will be held in conjunction with the weekend. Why should I attend? Because YOU ARE WESLEYAN!

Georgia

Washington DC Metro Area

In March, a Sisterhood Social was held at the home of Nancy Peterson Shaw ’58 in Atlanta. Hosted by past presidents of the Atlanta Alumnae Club, this year’s social had 45 alumnae guests who enjoyed spending time with each other and visiting with Wesleyan advancement staff members Susan Allen ’17 and Millie Parrish Hudson ’75, who shared updates on the College.

DC Metro area alumnae hosted a Wesleyan Mixer at Highline RXR in Arlington, VA, for all alumnae who visited the nation’s capital to attend events during the weekend of January 20. Jessica Kendrick ’08 organized the mixer. In March, Ashling Thurmond Osborne ’05 hosted a Pioneer Book Club discussion (of Big Little Lies) in her home in Alexandria, VA. The DC group participated in a local WOW Day project in May where they donated professional clothes to Suited for Change.

Atlanta

Macon Since January, June Jordan O’Neal ’90, Glennda Kingry Elliott ’65, and Beth Sullins Hughes ’75, have hosted Macon Pioneer Book Club meetings in their homes. Millie Hudson and Susan Allen hosted the March discussion in the Willet Library at Wesleyan.

SISTERHOOD IN ACTION: SAVE THE DATES & VOLUNTEER Move-In Day: August 8 (9am- noon)

Statesboro Statesboro area alumnae were invited to Sisters and Sweets at Pittman Park United Methodist Church in April. WCAA PresidentElect Abbie Smoak Lacienski ’01 presided at the Club’s business meeting that focused on presenting Wesleyan First Awards to local high-school students. The Club has expanded its outreach to include four schools including private and public schools in Bulloch County. Seven high school students were nominated for awards.

Alumnae Director Cathy Coxey Snow ’71 was on hand to share news from the College with the group.

North Carolina Raleigh Members of the North Carolina Triangle Club held a New Year’s Luncheon in January at The Carolina Country Club where Wesleyan’s Vice President for Advancement Andrea Williford spoke to the group about new renovations to Willet Library. Pamela Pate Henry ’71, Karen Garr ’69, and Linda Brown Walker ’73 are club co-leaders. The NC Triangle Pioneer Book Club met in March to discuss Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Help new students (Pirate Class of 2021) move into residence halls and make their first day at Wesleyan a special one. Watch for an e-mail this summer with more information.

Candlelighting Ceremony Guangzhou University Dual Degree Students July 16 (3pm, Pierce Chapel) Serve as a candlelighter to one of our Chinese students when they are inducted into the WCAA.

Alumnae E-Link Program Want to connect with a current Wesleyan student and communicate and encourage her throughout the year? Then sign up to be an Alumnae E-Link! Watch your inbox in July for how to volunteer.

Contact mkborland@att.net for more information.

For current updates on news of classmates and friends, check www.facebook.com/WesleyanCollegeAlummnaeAssociation.

Visit wesleyancollege.edu/Alumnae/AlumnaeEvents to participate in alumnae activities.

Got Sisterhood? Get Social . Check us out on Social Media.

Wesleyan College Alumnae Association 52

@wesleyancollege

wesleyancollegega

wesleyancollegega

CLUB facebook 1. Being Social. Atlanta Club Past Presidents host a Sisterhood Social at the home of Nancy Peterson Shaw ’58 (Center) 2. Putting First Things First. WCAA President-Elect Abbie Smoak Lacienski ’01 and Statesboro, GA, alumnae discuss plans to present Wesleyan First Awards to local highschool students in Bullock County.

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3. Well-Read Wesleyannes. NC Triangle Club members discuss Maiden Flight by Harry Haskell at their June Pioneer Book Club meeting held at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh.

4. A New Year’s Tradition. NC Triangle Club members at The Carolina Country Club enjoy a college update from Andrea Williford, vice president for advancement at Wesleyan.

5. Wesleyan in Washington. Dr. Vivia Fowler, Wesleyan students, and faculty visit DC during historic events at the nation’s capital in January.

6. Riding High in DC. Wesleyannes relax at Highline RXR at the DC Wesleyan Mixer after participating in the Women’s March on Washington.

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7. Mixin’ it Up. Black Student Alliance members hosted a Mixer for BSA alumnae during Alumnae Weekend, where Trustee Bryndis Roberts ’78 joined in the conversations with students and alumnae.

8. Happy 100th! Dottie DuPuis Mackin ’38 and her T-shirt say it all. (See Class Notes 1938) 9. BSA Reunion. BSA Alumnae enjoy a MiniReunion and Reception on the 2nd floor terrace in Munroe Science Center during Alumnae Weekend.

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10. Bookin’ It at the Beach. Members of the Class of ’68 enjoyed a weekend at Tybee Island, GA, and a Pioneer Book Club discussion on Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes.

11. Great Day for a New PK. Wesleyan First Award recipient Andrea Morgan ’22 is excited about attending Wesleyan in the fall of 2018.

The announcement was made at Andrea’s high school during awards day. (From left) Andrea’s grandmother Jeanette Loflin Shackelford ’61, Andrea, and award presenter Denise Cheek Brown ’89.

12. Toasting the Future. The Class of 2017 met at Bradley House in May for the traditional Senior Toast, administered by President Ruth Knox.

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Sympathy The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends sympathy to: Georgann Dessau Blum ’47 and Corky Dessau Holliday ’48 of Macon, on the death of Georgann’s husband and Corky’s brother-in-law, Arnold S. Blum, on April 5, 2017.

Winifred Stiles Bell ’67 of Mobile, AL, on the death of her sisters, Emily Bell McNally ’46, on January 12, 2017, and Jean Bell Greaves ’39 on February 7, 2017.

Dorothy Stubbs Hollingsworth ’49 of Chapel Hill, NC, on the death of her daughter, Amanda Hollingsworth, on January 25, 2017.

Peggy Ray Sichveland ’68 of Memphis, TN, and Marsha Fernald Sichveland ’68 of Eatonton, GA, on the death of Peggy’s husband, and Marsha’s brother-in-law, Duane Peter Sichveland, on April 13, 2017.

Nancy Stanley Brown ’50 of Atlanta, on the death of her sister, Betty Stanley Butler ’49, on April 30, 2017.

Susan Ewing Maddox ’69 of Macon, on the death of her husband, Charles Edward “Eddie” Maddox, on January 23, 2017.

Eleanor Inman Turrentine ’52 of Atlanta, on the death of her sister, Jane Inman Shirah, wife of long-time Wesleyan Trustee Emeritus, the Reverend Alton Jason Shirah, on March 21, 2017.

Gena Roberts Franklin ’71 of Macon, on the death of her grandson, Cooper Reid Fuller, on March 27, 2017.

Mary Jane Wood Thornton ’54 of Macon, on the death of her husband, James Earl Thornton, on April 10, 2017.

Julie Adams Hawk ’57 of Flowery Branch, GA, on the death of her husband, James Bertram “Bert” Hawk, on February 5, 2017.

Barbara Wittstruck Trombly ’57 of Orlando, FL, Sarah Wittstruck ’59 and Mary Carole Fisher Battle ’85 of Saint Petersburg, FL, on the death of Barbara and Sarah’s sister and Mary Carole’s aunt, Mary Ann Wittstruck Shaffer ’53, on January 12, 2017.

Julia Stillwell Ketcham ’58 of Syracuse, NY, on the death of her husband, Ralph Ketcham Ph.D., on April 26, 2017, and on the death of her cousin, Eugenia “Gene” Launius Clark ’40, on March 11, 2017.

Anne Harp Cason ’60 of Dahlonega, GA, on the death of her husband, William R. Cason, on March 15, 2017.

Juliana “Jukie” Hardeman Caldwell ’61 of Cape Coral, FL, Pat Hardeman ’68 of Macon, and Ginger Caldwell Musser ’83 of Kennesaw, GA, on the death of Jukie and Pat’s sister and Ginger’s aunt, Ruth Inman Hardeman Schubring ’50 on April 11, 2017.

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Debbie Wedgworth Altman ’72 of Belle Glade, FL, on the death of her father, George H. Wedgworth, on November 16, 2016.

Janet L. Keys ’78 of Vestavia, AL, and Mary Beth Taylor Keys ’69 of St. Simons Island, GA, on the death of Janet’s husband and Mary Beth’s brother-in-law, Mark Lynwood Rowe, on May 14, 2017.

Beth Dilworth Beaver ’82 of London, UK, on the death of her mother, Mary Anne Brown Dilworth, on February 9, 2017.

Rhonda Helton Hambright ’82 of St. Simons Island, GA, on the death of her father, Captain Ronald L. Helton, CEC, USN, on January 23, 2016.

Linda Johnson ’82 of Reston, VA, and Mary Johnson ’83, on the death of their mother, Dr. Rosalie Voigt Johnson ’56, on January 12, 2017.

Carla Asbell Dennis ’87 of Macon, on the death of her brother, Markus Asbell, on March 4, 2017.

Jane Shirah Stump ’72 of Fort Valley, GA, Anne Shirah Dykes ’78 of Excel, AL, and Martha Shirah Brumbeloe ’81 of White, GA, on the death of their mother, Jane Inman Shirah, on March 21, 2017. Jane was the wife of the late Wesleyan Trustee Emeritus, the Reverend Alton Jason Shirah.

Erin Mulvihill Blanchard ’89 of Bridgewater, MA, on the death of her sister, Brenda Mulvihill O’Quinn ’87, on November 25, 2016.

Lynn Ellis Rousseau ’73 of Gainesville, FL, on the death of her uncle and former Wesleyan Trustee, W. Tinsley Ellis, on February 25, 2017.

Wesleyan Trustee the Reverend Jennifer Stiles Williams ’93, Grace Stiles Williams ’19, and Caroline Stiles Williams ’21 of Orlando, FL, on the death of Jennifer’s father and Grace and Caroline’s grandfather, Rev. Joseph Richard “Joe” Stiles, on November 8, 2016.

Cheryl Ann Irby Adams ’74 of Macon, on the death of her mother, Mary Ann Irby, on September 12, 2016.

Teresa Morris Futral ’91 of LaGrange, GA, on the death of her mother, Mary Smith Morris, on January 3, 2017.

Penny Thomas ’74 of Moreland, GA, on the death of her mother, Pat Blackmon Thomas, on January 12, 2017.

Sherry V. Neal ’96 of Atlanta and Emily Neal Duke ’03 of Centerville, OH, on the death of their father, Gawaine Clayton Neal, on April 24, 2017.

Dale Plexico Scott ’76 of Hendersonville, NC, on the death of her mother, Miriam Clark Plexico, on December 29, 2016.

Erika Danner ’05 of Marietta, GA, on the death of her father, Kevin Danner, on April 26, 2017.

Debbie Jones Smith ’76 of Macon, on the death of her aunt, Frances Smith Ramsey ’49, on March 30, 2017.

Kristina Mendoza ’05 of Newport, RI, on the death of her father, William Leal “Bill” Mendoza, on March 16, 2017.

Births and Family Additions The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends congratulations to: Brittany Dixon Jones ’96 and Corey on the birth of a son, Corey O’Neal Jones, Jr., on May 10, 2016.

Alaina Avera Harrison ’12 and Greg of Macon, on the birth of a daughter, Addison Lain Harrison, on February 6, 2017!

Esther Celestin Wang ’00 and JiaJun of Edinburg, TX, on the birth of a daughter and future Wesleyan legacy, Hannah-Marie Mingwan Wang, on May 25, 2016.

Marissa Duhaime Martin ’12 and Kale, who added their three children from foster care to their family in November. Son Dylan (13), daughter Jaden (12), and son Jesse (11) are settling in well!

Becki Tanner Smith ’02 and Jonathan on the birth of a son, Bowen Smith, in November 2016.

Cameron Beasley Gilliland ’07 and Tim of Macon, on the birth of a son, Orson Monroe Gilliland, on February 16, 2017.

The proud grandmother is Kay Hickman Beasley ’75.

Kaitlyn Rentz Lancaster ’12 and Trey, of Louisville, KY, on the birth of a son, Clayton Raiford Lancaster IV, on January 10, 2017.

Marriages

The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association extends congratulations to: Beulah “Bootsie” Laslie Brinson ’58 and Thomas Buckingham Bird, Jr. who were married on December 28, 2016.

Amy Smith ’06 and Svend Egholm who were married on October 15, 2016, in Savannah, GA, with many PK sisters in attendance.

Kellie Cauley ’11 and Freddie Lee Arnold II who were married on March 11, 2017, in Bristol, TN. Wesleyannes in attendance were Amanda Awanjo ’13, Sheila Walton

’13, Hannah Doan ’12, Katie Clenney ’11, Amber Campbell ’11, Lorikim Morris ’11 and Soshawn Blair ’11. Kellie and Lee reside in Savannah, GA. Kelly Page ’11 and Richard Lawrence who were married on January 26, 2017.

Madison McCarty ’15 and Ryan Ernest who were married on March 26, 2017, at Hopeland Gardens in Aiken, SC, the city where they now reside.

In Memoriam

The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association Remembers

Jane Mulkey Green ’42 November 16, 1921 – April 5, 2017 President, Wesleyan Alumnae Association (1967-1970) 1942 Veterropt

Recipient, Alumnae Award for Distinguished Service to Wesleyan (1974) Chair, Alumnae Task Force, Capital Campaign (1969-1973) Past President, Atlanta Wesleyan Alumnae Club Benefactor, Rufus K. and Jane Mulkey Green Scholarship Thank you, Jane, for the gift of the sterling silver candlestick used each year in the Alumnae Association’s Candlelighting service.

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Dorothy Wink Bolding Jean Bell Greaves Eugenia Launius Clark Marjorie Potts Durden India Clary Powell Estelle Brunila Brown Jane Mulkey Green Ava Lowe Lawman Elizabeth Johnson McCaslin Mary Agnes Wolff White Esther Taylor Faulk Anne Morrison Killebrew Emily Bell McNally Wakie Stivers Heckman Betsy Chipman Kaplan Frances Kaplan Goodman Helen Ragsdale Gordon Virginia Starnes Hickman Virginia Worrall Sirmon Madge Yawn Slade Betty Stanley Butler Frances Smith Ramsey Betty Johnson Wildman Ruth Hardeman Schubring Mary P. Smith Jane Schmidt Catlin Joan Coart Johnson Jane L. Wootton Betty Bishop Elliott Mary Ann Wittstruck Shaffer Betty Henderson Lindsay Rosalie Voigt Johnson Mona Rhodes Stratton Patricia Conner Clark Anne Hankinson Lane Gail Gilkerson Neumann Mary Jo McPhillips Serda Louise Lloyd Hansen Elizabeth Cauthen Hofmann Patsy Yon Warriner Lynn McDonald Boswell Emilyn Brown Cinicola Paula Weatherly Miles Carole Ernest Thompson Deborah Laseter Nimnicht Pamela Rogers Baxter Margaret M. Decker Patti C. Marshall Susan Hester Jacobson Ellen Smith Moore Paulette Brown Brenda Mulvihill O’Quinn Anna L. Kuykendall Ericka S. Stewart Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 1947 (70th reunion) (L-R) Martha Bradford Swann, Georgann Dessau Blum, and Mildred Scott “Scottie” McGoldrick

Class of 1952 (65th reunion) Evelyn LeRoy Fortson

1930s

Congratulations to Dottie DuPuis Mackin ’38 of Silver Spring, MD, who celebrated her 100th birthday in March with her children, son Derrill and daughter Donnelle, friends from the community and from Riderwood Retirement Village where she lives. Dottie is a living legend at the Village and her close friend Larry Williams and his wife spearheaded the 100th birthday celebration party for her that included a special gift to Wesleyan in her honor. Dottie continues to enjoy her five great-grandchildren, concerts, games, and staying active.

1940s Jackie Lamm Souder ’46 of Evans, GA, was sorry to have missed her 70th reunion in 2016.

She encourages everyone not to make her mistake. We hope to see you next year, Jackie!

1947 (70th Reunion)

Members of the Class of ’47 attended the Golden Belles Luncheon to celebrate their 70th reunion. Golden Heart President Martha Bradford Swann ’47 drove from Spartanburg, SC, to visit with classmates and Macon residents Georgann Dessau Blum ’47, Mildred Scott “Scottie” McGoldrick ’47, and Mary Anne Patton Butler ’47 (who was unable to attend at the last minute). Table talk turned to family additions and losses and to reminiscing about much loved classmates as the years of sisterhood blended together into oh-so-familiar heart to heart talks.

Maconite Fran Callaway McCommon ’47 celebrated her 90th birthday surrounded by family and friends at Wesleyan’s beautiful Pierce Chapel with a concert by Edward Eikner.

“It was a lovely day!” writes Fran.

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Notable update from Sara “Gigi” Smith ’47 who is enjoying life in a nice retirement home in Birmingham, AL, near her niece and family. Sara authored an adventure story and a romance, based on true historical facts about the first English settlers on Saint Simons Island titled Sanctuary on Saint Simons Island. She is currently writing every day and working to complete a new novel, Uncle Henri, Master Spy for New France, which takes place during the French and Indian War period.

“I am so blessed!” writes Elizabeth Cook Smith ’49 of Marietta, GA. Her daughter is taking good care of her after a broken hip.

1950s Joyce Andrew Bledsoe ’50 of Jacksonville, FL, sends a heartfelt thank you to Ruth Knox, for her loyal, dedicated service.

Marian Morris Rogers ’51 of Cartersville, GA, misses husband Nelson K. Rogers, who died in September 2013. Nelson was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was an alumnus and Professor Emeritus of GA Tech, where he taught for 29 years at the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

1952

(65th Reunion) Conservatory graduate Evelyn LeRoy Fortson ’52 from Charlotte, NC, represented the Class of 1952 at Alumnae Weekend. Evelyn wished more classmates could have attended but was so proud to carry the class flag on behalf of ’52 College and Conservatory classes. Recognized at the WCAA’S Annual Meeting for celebrating her 65th reunion, she received a standing ovation as a member of the earliest class to attend the meeting. Husband Norman was on hand for the weekend celebration.

Atlanta residents Virve Paul Martin ’52 and husband Albert ’53 will celebrate their 65th anniversary this year. They enjoyed a visit from Virve’s sister, Gerda Paul Goodrich ’55, and her husband, Bob, in February. Their daughter, Monique Martin Whorton ’81 visited from TN in March.

Joan Jennings Norton ’52 of Green Cove Springs, FL, is happy to announce that her daughter, Jeanne Norton Rollberg ’79, retired this year from UALR after 35 years as a Mass Media professor. Presently, she’s doing some writing and research. “She’s a genealogy ‘sleuth’ these days. I am so lucky and so pleased with her independence and tenacity.”

“Surely hated to miss reunion this year.

Something was wrong with all of our group. I know it was a bittersweet moment for Ruth. See you next year,” writes Claire Houser-Dodd ’53 from her home in Fort Valley, GA. Congratulations to Susan Thigpen McDuffie ’53 of Macon, who was selected by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) as National Music Teacher of the Year!

Honk at Virginia Eidson Robertson ’53 if you spot her driving around LaGrange, GA, in her 2001 red Corvette. It’s her only car now.

From Deridder, LA, Marcia Mallet Ades ’54 sends an update on her family. “We are happy to report we now have a great-granddaughter, Hattie, in California and a great-grandson, Vincent, in Macon. Vincent’s mom is an Air Force pilot and he is a joy and visited us recently. Hattie is coming for a visit this month; she is almost four months old. Many of us attended grandson Matthew’s graduation from Centenary College. We miss his dad, Mark our precious son - who died about 1 1/2 years ago.

Class of 1957 (60th reunion) Front Center: Maria Higgins; (L-R) Row 1: Julie Adams Hawk, Jean Middlebrooks Morris, Pont Riley Hall, JoAnn Bloodworth Nunnelly, Mildred Taylor Dennis, Sue Rogers McCright Row 2: Buford Stabler Brannen, Ruth Chapman Ham, Harriet Wilkes Grimes, Sally Thorp Heath Row 3: Nan McClellan Flowers, Joan Maddox Sammons, Anita Bruce Etheridge, Nancy S. Haller

“Hello” from Sarah Bob Ware Arthur ’56 of Warner Robins, GA, who attended the Conservatory her freshman year 1952-53.

1957

(60th Reunion) Kudos to the Class of ’57 reunion committee, chaired by Ruth Chapman Ham, for guiding Pirates back to Wesleyan for a 60th reunion celebration. With help from committee members, Julie Adams Hawk, Martha Sisson Gaston, Maria Higgins, Jean Middlebrooks Morris, and Joan Maddox Sammons, 15 classmates returned to enjoy a weekend of sisterhood that included a class party at the home of Anita Bruce Etheridge on Saturday.

Pirate pride was showing (and lots of the color red, too!) at the Annual Meeting when Jean Morris received the 2017 Alumnae Award for Service to the Community.

“So sorry I will not be able to attend reunion,” writes Peggy Campbell Cowan ’57 from Decatur, GA. I am so proud of Jean! I send my love to you all.”

“Wishing you and all our classmates a very happy 60th! So sorry I can’t make it. I am doing well and living in Melbourne, FL. Recently visited my cousin, Mary Kapnias Katsenes ’57, in Phoenix and had a great time with her, John, and family. My family is all well with a recent wedding of my grandson and two more coming up soon!” reports Sylvia Kartsonis Demopoulos ’57.

From Decatur, GA, Martha Sisson Gaston ’57 writes, “I won’t be at reunion after all.

There is much going on with graduations of grandchildren, a visit with a new greatgrandson, etc. I will miss seeing you all and hope reunion is a great success. I will be there in spirit.”

Mary Hodge Malone ’57 emails from Gainesville, GA, “As much as I would like to make the reunion, which I know will be great fun for those who do, I am unable to attend this time. Looking forward to hearing all about it!”

Anne Marcy Grossman ’57 sends congratulations to Jean Middlebrooks Morris ’57 from her home in Bloomington, IN. Julie Adams Hawk ’57 misses her husband, Bert, who died shortly before her reunion in February. They had been married 49 1/2 years and had two children, David and Susan Hawk.

(See Sympathy) “Please tell everyone I am so sorry to miss seeing them. Love to all!” writes Martha Anne Neville Reynolds ’57 from Charlotte, NC. Sandra Deisch Ringdahl ’57 of Williston, FL, is full of fond memories from her time at Wesleyan. “2017… our 60th! Hard to believe!

Greetings to all the Pirates.”

From Washington, DC, Sylvia Vanlandingham Rossiter ’57 sends “LOVE TO ALL!” Congratulations to the granddaughter of Medra Lott Keyser ’58 of Fernandina Beach, FL. Elisa Wallace made the 2016 US Olympic Equestrian Reserve team, showed in England twice, and returned in May 2017 to compete.

Dr. Anne McGee Morganstern ’58 of Columbus, OH, is an art historian working with her husband on a long-term project about the monastery church at Jumie`ges (Normandy).

She hopes to return to her painting this year.

Congratulations to Wesleyan Trustee Betty Nunn Mori ’58 of Atlanta who was named a Trustee Emerita in May. Betty also served

as Wesleyan’s delegate to the Presidential Inauguration at Emory University in February.

Joan Nachbaur Rathbun ’58 of Longview, TX, works part time at her church, First United Methodist. She enjoys “trying” to keep up with 1958 classmates to talk about their many fond memories of Wesleyan.

Anne “Swety” Swetnam Barton ’59 lives in Goose Creek, SC. She enjoys her two young granddaughters.

From Manita Bond Dean ’59 of Athens, GA, comes wishes of “good health, good bike rides, happy gardening, and good times with your family. Add church and community volunteer work, and we have a pretty good nutshell summary of Dean family activities. Best wishes to the Wesleyan community.”

Anne Ricketson Zahlan ’59, Professor Emerita of English, Eastern Illinois University, now resides in Charlotte, NC, where most of her close family members live. She and her husband, David, are active in a number of literary organizations. They enjoy spending time with their granddaughters, Soraya and Iman.

1960s 1962

(55th Reunion) Class of 1962 members reunited to celebrate sisterhood and the color PURPLE at Alumnae Weekend. Reunion committee members Ellen Weldon Dukes, Iris Carroll Edwards, LaTrelle Blackburn Oliver, and Jill Jayne Read worked all year to make the weekend one to remember.

With 17 registered classmates decked out in purple, PKs were elated at the Annual Meeting when the Class of ’62 was recognized for taking 2nd place in class giving to the Annual Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 1962 (55th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Ann Yarbrough Mallard, Ellen Weldon Dukes, Dottie Rhoden Hicks, Carol Anne Rollins Harrison Row 2: Sharon Faris, Harriet Holland Schmitt, Harriet Laslie Reynolds, Rhoda Morrison Joyner, Liz Daves Ream, Jill Jayne Read Row 3: Peggy Smith Pittman, LaTrelle Blackburn Oliver, Iris Carroll Edwards, Jackie Turner Bailey, Patricia Bonner Burton, Frances Parker McCrary Not Pictured: Jane Flemister Batten

Fund and 2nd place in class participation!

Friday and Saturday night parties were held at Fairfield Inn where PKs enjoyed having three husbands as guests. On Friday night, messages were shared from classmates who could not attend and the outstanding achievements of three among their crowd were spotlighted: Jill Jayne Read who at the 2016 Annual Alumnae Meeting, received the Alumnae Award for Distinguished Service to the Community for her diligent contributions to the Athens-Clarke County community; Frances Parker McCrary, (great-great-granddaughter of Wesleyan’s first graduate Catherine Brewer Benson), who with her husband, Wesleyan Trustee Emeritus Dennie McCrary, were instrumental in Wesleyan’s Adopt-A-Painting Program, and for whom the Frances P. and Dennie L. McCrary Gallery located in the Murphey Art Building is named; and Harriet Holland Schmitt, who has established the Essa Harriet Holland and Linda Holland Book Supply Scholarship which is designated to provide resources for books and/ or supplies for Wesleyan students who would qualify.

After 17 years in the mountains, Carol Ann Rollins Harrison ’62 moved to Lanier Village Estates in Gainesville, GA. “If ever in the area, come see us. I will be looking for Wesleyan alumnae in the Gainesville area.”

Marybelle Proctor Menzel ’62 of Littleton, CO, had the pleasure to host a 1962 suitemate reunion in spring 2016 for her Wesleyan sisters, Dottie Rhoden Bailey Hicks, Rhoda Morrison Joyner, and Charlotte Jolly Hale. The suitemates enjoyed a few Florida days of conversation, play-going, dining, and shopping fun!

In March, Dr. Tommie Sue MontgomeryAbrahams ’63 of Oshawa, ON, presented a lecture to Wesleyan students entitled “Beavers 58

and Eagles,” which examined the similarities and differences between the U.S. and Canada with a focus on the history, culture, and political systems of both countries. A retired professor of political science who has traveled extensively throughout Central and South America, Tommie Sue has lived in Canada for more than 15 years after marrying her husband, David.

Congratulations to Paul and Sharon Smith Pizzo ’65 of Tampa, FL, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in July 2016 at Rimrock Ranch near Cody, WY, with the entire Pizzo family. “We had a wonderful time whitewater rafting, horseback riding, and visiting Yellowstone National Park. We returned home with “cowboy grandsons” wearing boots and cowboy hats! Quite an experience for Florida natives not used to high mountain scenery. Paul Sr. has completely retired from law. He stays busy with archaeology, fishing, boating, and hunting; we both are busy with the grandchildren. Daughter Aileen has two boys (12) and (10). Paul Jr. and Stacy also have two boys (9) and (5). Everyone lives in Tampa!” writes Sharon.

In March, Suzanne Spence Joyce ’66 of Athens, GA, hosted her 1964-1966 suitemates—Jo An Johnson Chewning ’66, Marsha McDonald Godsey ’66, and Mary Towers Weese ’66. She writes, “We have been friends since 1962. I thank them for being role models, confidants, and dearly loved friends.”

“Why did I wait so long to return to Wesleyan?” asks Jane Silverman Mason ’66. “Coming back for my reunion weekend was the highlight of this past year for me. Being a PK is really very special! Thank you, Wesleyan, for giving me the tools to help me become what I am.”

1967 (50th Reunion) Golden Hearts celebrated 50 years of sisterhood when they returned to Wesleyan for reunion as the newest Golden Belles. Our thanks to Reunion Co-Chairs Marilyn Vickers and Jean Widney Wynn, along with committee members, Flo Williams Douglas, Maribeth Wills Lowe, Judy Warren Edwards, Alexis Xides Bighley, Karen Moore Thomson, Susan Kirvin Ogburn, Susan Rau Middlebrooks, Bobbie Dunn Rowe, Kathy DeBerry Brungard, Helen Moorhead Hermoyian, Helen Neal Kleiber, Judy Ragland Armstrong, Ann Zimmerman Elliott, Dot Ogden Brown, and Jane Manley Wheeless, for five years of planning for a fantastic 50th with all the trimmings, including white gloves and GH fascinators that “capped off ” a great weekend.

Using pre-reunion regional and local class get-togethers that encouraged reunion attendance, committee members also reached out to classmates via phone, email, facebook, letters, and notes to issue the call to return to Wesleyan. And return they did – with 53 in attendance, including 10 husbands who participated in reunion events. Kasey Carneal Phillips and Barbara Smith Clark, along with Class Flag Bearer Jane Inman Young, led the Parade of Classes into the Annual Meeting where GHs were recognized for being 1st in the top three classes for giving ($436,000) and for raising $125,000 for their special class project, naming the GH Student Lounge in Willet Library and the writing lab and testing/tutoring room in the Learning Center. Flo Douglas received the 2017 Alumnae Award for Service to Wesleyan and Alexis Bighley received the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award, the highest service award given by the WCAA. Ann Elliott and Dot Brown chaired the GH Art Exhibit in Oval Hall, pianist Karen Thomson represented the class at the Celebration

Class of 1967 (50th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Lynn Burnett McGill, Joanna Trask Harrison, Daphne Murph Chapman, Kathy DeBerry Brungard, Kasey Carneal Phillips, Dale Harris, Barbara Bryant, Nancy Robinson, Barbara Smith Clark, Jeannie Nabell Grow, Helen Neal Kleiber, Flora Jean Phillips Grinstead Row 2: Suelle Swartz, Maggie Bonar, Sue Walker Johnson, Mary Dunten Helms, Maribeth Wills Lowe, Jane Inman Young, Jean Widney Wynn Row 3: Susan Kirvin Ogburn, Bobbie Dunn Rowe, Ann Zimmerman Elliott, Dot Ogden Brown, Rosanne James Harrell, Laura Treadway DeMartino, Jane Manley Wheeless, Anne Hilger Manley, Marilyn Avra Williams, Edie Wallenburg Shelton, Judy Johnson Highsmith, Anne Telford Parr, Charlotte Babcock Ellis Row 4: Judy Warren Edwards, Kay Williams New, Helen Moorhead Hermoyian, Jurelle Whatley Stanton, Flo Williams Douglas, Phyllis Heaton Judge, Karen Short Cumming, Susan Rau Middlebrooks, Sally Griffie Mehalko, Alice Gene McConnell Abrams, Susan Crawford, Judy Miller Newbern, Judy Ragland Armstrong, Marilyn Vickers, Karen Moore Thomson, Janie Hudson Williams, Alexis Xides Bighley Not Pictured: Bonnie Wirschnitzer Masslofsky, Ginny Sowell Popper, Carolyn Lansing Gunn, Sallye Hallberg Anderson

Class of 1972 (45th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Elizabeth Rogers Kelly, Eileen Vickery Thurmond, Susan Wyllys Wallace, Marianne Graeme Fortuna Row 2: Lynn Golson Priester, Joyce Rice Ellison, Dianne Claussen, Debbie Dye Gigliotti, Mary Catherine Collins O’Kelley

Concert, Bonnie Wirschnitzer Masslofsky sold her jewelry at Alumnae Marketplace, and early morning Yoga classes taught by Karen Thomson prepared classmates for night time class parties hosted by Susan Middlebrooks and Susan Ogburn. The weekend ended with a Morning Watch service led by the Class of ’67 that honored deceased classmates. Morning Watch Chair Flo Douglas and her committee members, Helen Hermoyian, Helen Kleiber, Maribeth Lowe, and Karen Thomson included meaningful liturgy and music by pianists Karen Thomson and Jean Wynn, and flutists Charlotte Babcock Ellis and Bobbie Rowe (Indian flute). The class also donated handcrafted pottery communion sets designed by Doris Hein Patton and Bobbie Rowe to Pierce Chapel. It was a remarkable Heart to Heart weekend where, indeed, many memories were made and shared.

According to Maggie J. Bonar ’67 from Jacksonville, FL, “It was good to see so many friends during the reunion!”

“Maybe next reunion Nancy Condes Whitsett ’67 and I can make it. Missed seeing you!” writes Ann Hyatt Brim ’67 from Dawson, GA. Barbara Ann Bryant ’67 of Jacksonville, FL, and classmate Dale Harris ’67 certainly enjoyed coming home for Alumnae Weekend.

“Seeing so many after so many years was grand! Most we would recognize anywhere, for basically we changed little (outwardly).

Wesleyan continues to be “the Oldest and Best.”

For all that, we will always be grateful. For parents who worked to pay for everything we had, we will always be thankful. It continues to be up to us to “give back to the world,” so we do what we can, as we can, to live our lives so that wherever we go and whatever we do, we will represent not only our parents, but also Wesleyan. It continues to be an honor to do so.”

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According to Rosanne Anderson ’67 of Hendersonville, NC, “Best thing I ever did was Wesleyan!”

“I think everyone in our class felt we had a magical weekend that far exceeded any of our expectations... much more special than anything I could have imagined,” reports Jeannie Nabell Grow ’67 in Hahira, GA. Dee Thompson Monahan ’67 appreciated the reunion photos online. She writes, “We GHs just get better with age. Adorable fascinators – just right! Jim and I are really snowbirds and spend our summers in Ohio and the rest of our time in my mom’s childhood home in Central Florida. We buried both our moms a couple of years ago at 101 and 91. We stay busy and enjoy family in both places.”

The WCAA would like to thank Priscilla Gautier Bornmann ’68 of Alexandria, VA, for serving as an alumna trustee on the WCAA board of managers for eight years. In May she was elected to serve on the Wesleyan College board of trustees (2017-2021 term).

Congratulations, Pris!

Ellen Beard Martin ’68 of Greenville, SC, is blessed by friendships formed during her four years at Wesleyan.

Dianne “Dee” Brannen Adams ’69 and Dale A. Adams were married on November 27, 2016, at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon. They reside in Macon and in Fort Valley. (See Winter 2017 Magazine).

Martha Farrar Pickett ’69 married Jack Pickett in 2002 in Fairhope, AL. She was widowed in 2011, and now she and her son live on Perdido Bay, AL, with their beloved dachshund, Maggie.

Martha’s daughter and son-in-law have four children and love living in Coral Gables, FL.

1970s The WCAA and the Class of 1971 would like to thank Wesleyan Trustee Susan Pyeatt Kimmey ’71 of Atlanta, for her dedicated service to Wesleyan as chair of the board of trustees for the past two years. Great job, Susan!

After receiving a M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, Dr. Linda Patrick ’71 had a career in education and human services with the University of Georgia and with the State. She’s now retired and lives in Decatur and Gainesville, GA.

1972

(45th Reunion) The Class of ’72 believes in “the wearin’ of the green!” The Great Green Knights were delighted be together again, especially at the home of Joyce Rice Ellison who hosted a FUN Friday night party. Reunion Chair and Class President Susie McDonald Sheehan kept GKs up-to-date on reunion plans with all the “fixins” including the donning of green Irish bowler hats that were sure standouts in the Parade of Classes.

“We love Signal Mountain, TN,” writes Mary Catherine Collins O’Kelley ’72 who moved there in summer 2016. MC is happily retired after 42 years as a Delta flight attendant. “It was great to see our GK sisters this year at our 45th.

Sending a big thank you to Joyce Rice Ellison ’72 for hosting our class party!”

From Glen Allen, VA, Claire Taylor Ward ’72 says she misses her Wesleyan friends Dr. Sylvia Ross ’92 (HON), Marlina Kawira Belstadt ’72, Patsy Overton Oberg ’72, and Ann Perkins Gibbs ’72. She has lots of good Wesleyan memories, including eating in the Manget Dining Room on Sundays. “Husband Ed is a

Class of 1977 (40th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Lucia Chapman Carr, Peggy Ellis Caton, Beth Parker McConnell, Lynn Moses, Diana Bowers Triplett, Ada Rosa Gomez McNeff Row 2: Kathy Brown Stine, Marcia Parton Moore, Sally Lassiter Schroeder, Merry vonLehe Cobb, Cathy Bailey Crumbley

good provider. Our kitty cat, Clover, is spoiled.

I am still a Wesleyan Woman,” declares Claire.

“I am enjoying my new gig at PricewaterhouseCoopers. The surprise of the new President has left business in even more need of guidance about government. Love to all. Knox Rocks!” writes Janice Mays ’73 from Arlington, VA. Gail Dixon Mann ’74 welcomed a new grandson in April. Eben Elliot Cox is the son of Gail’s daughter Marlene and her husband, Jonathan Cox. It’s been a difficult year for Penny Thomas ’74. She writes, “We moved my mother from Orlando to Newnan, GA, to live so we could take care of her. After falling last October and breaking her hip, her health declined and she passed away in January 2017 at the age of 87.

The good news is I purchased a new house in Moreland, GA, and moved in on June 1st.”

Penny has been teaching general music to elementary students in Newnan, GA, for 31 years! (See Sympathy)

1977

(40th Reunion) RED was the color of choice for Pirates of ’77 whose 40 years since graduation seemed like only yesterday once they were back in Macon.

Reunion committee members Lucia Chapman Carr, Cathy Bailey Crumbley, and Lynn Moses welcomed classmates back to campus for a weekend of “catching-up,” especially at the class party dinner at Bonefish Grill on Saturday night.

In April 2016, Lynn Moses ’77 retired from Georgia Power after 38 years. She has moved back home to the beach in St. Simons, spending time with friends and family (Uvalda, GA).

Travel is her hobby of preference. Lynn also reported that Cary Langford Purvis ’77 died in September 2016, after an extended illness. She was at home surrounded by her husband, Dan, and her children, Collin and Courtney. (See In Memoriam, Winter 2016) Dr. Jeri Lynn Ellis ’78 moved to Cumming, GA, after losing both parents in the past year.

“Both of my sons are married and both of my daughters-in-law are named Amy! We have a lot of fun with that. I teach full time in counselor education and supervision with Capella University online. I love my work and can work from anywhere I have Internet. Truly blessed.”

“Her Cool Quotient continues. Julie St. John Thornton ’75 recently invited me to visit her in Miami and attend the Sia concert. Go on, Google it. (I had to.) A good time was had by all!” reports Leigh Lambert Goff ’78 from Atlanta.

Mary McMillan Mancin ’78 of Bartow, GA, is enjoying her large family and all of her grandchildren’s activities including college graduation, weddings, etc. She is expecting her second great-grandchild this year. Sadly, in July 2016, Mary lost her husband of 59 years, John.

(See Sympathy, Winter 2016) Janet Ort ’78 from Birmingham, AL, writes “In May 2017, Janet Keys ’78 lost her husband Mark due to complications from heart surgery. Candice Muehlbauer Shockley ’78 attended the memorial service at Independent Presbyterian Church (where Janet and I both are active), I sang, and Judy Day Powell ’78 was able to attend virtually. At Janet’s home, I met her sister-in-law, Mary Beth Taylor Keys ’69. ​​Mary Beth is the reason Janet went to Wesleyan. The purple love of sisterhood was palpable in prayer and support.” (See Sympathy)

Lou Bender ’79 is making a mid-life career change. She finished a degree and licensure in December and is teaching special education at Twin Cities Academy in St. Paul, MN. The birds are singing good news for Nadine Cheek ’79 of Macon who received the Ann Munck Award for Teaching Excellence at the College’s annual Awards Day. “A Wesleyanne can do anything at any age!” exclaims Lynne Anthoine Hueglin ’79 of Roanoke, VA. She’s made a career change from Allstate to the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she is challenged daily.

1980s Congratulations to Jan Lawrence ’80 who was named the new interim executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), a ministry that advocates for LGBTQ justice and inclusion in The United Methodist Church.

Jan has been engaged in the movement for full inclusion in The United Methodist Church since 2012. As a leader on the LGBTQ Inclusion Advocacy Team at Foundry UMC in Washington D.C., she has been responsible for legislative actions, conference outreach, and leading General Conference volunteer teams in 2012 and 2016. Jan writes “After a 10-month hiatus from the working world, I have taken a new position and I am excited about the opportunity it presents.”

The WCAA would like to thank Helen Anne Richards ’80 and Nadine Cheek ’79 for their diligent work in making the Alumnae Weekend 2017 Celebration Concert a success! Great music and performances!

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 1982 (35th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Patti Stanukinos McCullough, Gigi Ramos Zaenglein, Mary Ellen Skowronek Sutphin, Linda Johnson Row 2: Rhonda Helton Hambright, Karen Martin, Jenny Houser Chapin, Shari Ginster Abney Row 3: Jennifer Willis Payne, Abbyjane Walker Eller, Becky Moore Robbins, Susan Dempsey, Susan Holloway

1990s

1982 (35th Reunion)

Celebrating 35 years of “knight-time” during reunion confirmed that Wesleyan sisters are, “forever” friends. Reunion Co-Chairs Mary Ellen Skowronek Sutphin, Abbyjane Walker Eller and committee member Rhonda Helton Hambright pulled out all the stops to ensure a PKs #1 Weekend, and classmates enjoyed just that and more! At the Celebration Concert on Friday, classmates applauded for Rhonda Hambright’s performance. After sporting purple sashes and headbands in the Parade of Classes, PKs were honored at the Annual Meeting as members of the 35th anniversary “Jade” class. A Friday night party at TownPlace Suites, Saturday PK-Night-Out at Ocmulgee Brewpub, followed by hanging out around the hotel fire pit gave Knights plenty of “sisterhood sharing” time.

Karol “Jeannie” Cheng ’87 of New Taipei City, in Tamsui, Taiwan, is thankful for everyone’s concern while she is still in recovery process.

Keep the well wishes coming!

1987 (30th Reunion)

Celebrating their 30th anniversary in style, GHs boasted a regal presence on campus wearing tiaras and feathered boas in the Parade of Classes. Kudos to Reunion Co-Chairs Leesa Akins Flora, Mary Anne Butler Brocato and committee member Carla Asbell Dennis (class gift liaison) for setting the stage for a fun-filled weekend to remember. GHs gathered at Comfort Suites on Friday to reminisce and reconnect with each other, and partied at the home of Lisa Morgan Edwards on Saturday continuing to share even more sisterhood stories. A class “shout out” at the Annual Meeting confirmed that Golden Hearts still are “Winners from the Start!”

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Maconite Kari Goellner Kitchens ’91 served as the 2017 Marker Speaker for the Class of 2017.

Kari has two WESLEYAN FIRSTS. She was the first woman to serve as the Director of Grant Initiatives for the Georgia Public Defender Council, a position held since 2014. Prior to her employment with the state, Kari was also the first woman to have served as the Grants Administrator for Bibb County government (2004-2014). She will graduate from Wesleyan’s EMBA Program in August 2017.

1992

(25th Reunion) Green Knights Rule! Says the Class of ’92.

Cyndey Costello Busbee and Diane Mayhue Johnson served as reunion co-chairs for this special landmark anniversary year and GK sisters responded to their message to return to Wesleyan for festivities that included a class party on Friday at a brewery downtown and a party on Saturday at Lara Blanchett Carlton’s home. Shades of green were seen around campus all weekend and at the Annual Meeting where classmates applauded for one of their own, Cyndey Busbee, who received the 2017 Alumnae Award for Distinguished Service to the Community and where shouts of “Hoddy Toddy” echoed in Porter Auditorium as the Great Green Knights cheered in honor of 25 years of sisterhood.

Wedding bells were ringing for Tina Davis ’92 of Toronto, ON, who married Dave Hughes on October 15, 2015, in a small (but fun) ceremony in Carmel, CA. Sharon Bressoud Mladucky ’92 was matron of honor.

Fleta Elizabeth “Beth” Riddle ’92 of Sylvester, GA, spent 23 years teaching high school in Worth County and moved to the middle school

this year for #24! “I have a daughter going into 6th grade and a son going into 4th grade. I still have horses and I am married to my college sweetheart.”

Family adventures are more exciting with Corey O’Neal Jones, Jr., joining the family of Brittany Dixon Jones ’96 of Eufala, AL. Corey was born on May 10, 2016. (See Births)

1997

(20th Reunion) It was a RED letter weekend for the Pirates of ’97 who anchored at Wesleyan to attend their 20th reunion. Reunion Co-Chairs Teresa Lawson and Rachel Viets Fortuna welcomed classmates back “home” with special Pirate Sisters T-shirts, and three parties gave classmates lots of sisterhood time to share “treasured” Pirate memories. Classmates enjoyed a Friday night meet-up for games at Pin Strikes, and had dinner and desserts at Dovetail on Saturday. Rachel Fortuna hosted a Sunday brunch at her home where hugs and good-byes were quickly captured on Facebook.

Monica Crawford ’97 lives in Temple, GA, and works in Fort Valley as a community counselor.

Monica is the supervisor of a program she helped start at Creative Community Services, the SOAR Program. The program uses applied behavior analysis to identify problematic behaviors and includes interventions to decrease those behaviors so foster children and adults with disabilities can remain stable in their placements.

Evelyn Leatherman Griffin ’97 is an account manager for Illumina Inc. and sells DNA sequencing instrumentation and services in the state of Florida and in Puerto Rico. Evelyn earned a master’s degree in biomedicine from Lancaster University in Lancaster, UK.

Class of 1987 (30th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Elizabeth “Liz” Gordon Jacobs, Katie Brennan Riner, Mary Anne Butler Brocato, Wyanne Coker Thompson Row 2: Melissa Tolbert Smith, Carla Asbell Dennis, Donna Waites Terrill, Lisa D Shiveler Row 3: Jill Amos, Leesa Akins Flora, Barbara Roe Wallace, Bernice Isaac

In Charlotte, NC, Wendy Lazzaro Grover ’97 is the operations manager for Target Corporation Distribution Centers.

Scott and Kara Bollmeier Jagger-Miller ’97 have lived in Nashville, TN, since 2009 and have a son, Garrett, who was born in 2012.

Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 2014.

Kara began working as a regulatory writer (for large and small pharmaceutical companies) in 2013 and currently works for Synchrogenix.

In Denver, CO, Joy Keeling ’97 is in the process of writing/researching a non-fiction book. She also is pursuing a master’s of divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology and is working as a paranormal investigator.

Tessa Williams Kamat ’97 is married to Bash Kamat and they live in Cumming, GA, where she is a teacher at Otwell Middle School.

“I live in Nashville, TN, and work for HCA IT&S, where I manage a large IT staff (170 IT professionals). I love to run marathons, bake in my spare time, and also volunteer with a local senior dog sanctuary,” reports Teresa Lawson ’97.

“Jason and I have been married for 19 years and we have four children. I teach 6th grade math in Rome, GA. I brought Macy (6) for her first Wesleyan reunion this year. She will be a Pirate of 2033!” writes Stephanie Pate Lewis ’97.

“I am a juvenile court Assistant D.A. in the Tift Judicial Circuit, writes Mary Mitchell McKinnon ’97 who lives in Tifton, GA. Mary graduated from law school at Mercer, worked as a law clerk in Rome, GA, and was an Assistant D.A. in the Middle Circuit and then in Tifton.

She’s a busy mom to Clara Louise (9), DJ (7), and Zane (2) and is a professor in the math department at Kennesaw State University but Beth Hitt Rogers ’97 still finds time to return to Wesleyan whenever she can. “I brought my daughter to her first STUNT this year and she loved it! She’s claiming PK ’30!” writes Beth.

Erin Popple Tice ’97 is the owner of MW Furnishings, MBA Custom Cushions, and Atlanta Bed Swings. She and her family live in Marianna, FL, where she also has been a homeschool mom.

In Sylvania, GA, Jena Forehand Tinsley ’97 teaches 4th grade at Screven County Elementary.

In May, Diana Bowers Triplett ’97 moved to Orlando, FL, where she is a literacy coach in Osceola County, FL. Monica Crenshaw ’99 has had the opportunity to represent GA and the southern states as the CTE Counselor of the Year for the past two years. “I never miss an opportunity to mention Wesleyan’s influence on my life and career. I’m proud to be a Wesleyan alumna!”

2000s Dr. Tiffany Noell ’00 of Savannah, GA, has a new children’s book out under the pen name of Tara V. Thompson. Please consider picking it up or asking your local public library/school library/bookstore to carry it. In Morgan Otter Saves the Sea Turtles, eight-year-old Morgan Otter moves to Wilmington Island, GA, and attends a nature camp where she and her friend, Claire, find out about a local sea turtle conservation group and decide to become Sea Turtle Superheroes: watching over nests and protecting the hatchlings from predators.

Esther Celestin Wang ’00 of Edinburg, TX, is thankful to have welcomed future Wesleyan legacy Hannah-Marie Mingwan Wang, born May 25, 2016, into her family. (See Births) Hyun Mi Choi Corin ’01 has relocated to the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain. After leaving NYC, she and husband Eli nested in Fredericksburg, VA, for a few years, where their daughter Ara was born three years ago.

They are loving their new adventure, and she is tutoring kids in art and English.

2002

(15th Reunion) It was a FAB 15th for PKs who arrived on campus ready to celebrate with Wesleyan sisters. And thanks to Class of ’02 Reunion CoChairs Vida Olivares and Jody Swink Miles they did! Harwood House was the house party hangout and venue for a Friday night class party where memories were shared in true PK fashion. On Saturday night, where else would any PK party but at Ingleside Village Pizza, where table talk centered on career, families, and fast-track life. Adorned in shades of perfectly purple attire, classmates posed for the cameras during the Parade of Classes. PK pride continued to show at the Annual Meeting when the class was recognized for taking 1st place in class participation to the Annual Fund – Yes, it’s true, PKs #1!

After a 15-year career as a social worker, Maconite April Austin ’02 has recently transitioned into another area of profession after having her child.

She is now a cake decorator and an independent sales agent for Avon.

In Greensboro, NC, Nikki Bradshaw ’02 works for IBM in recruitment management. She also is pursuing PHR certification. Nikki previously worked for TMobile for 11 years.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 1992 (25th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Anne Cordeiro, Brandy Allen Johnson, Becky Joslin Croft, Janet Wilson, Sharon Bressoud Mladucky Row 2: Candy Dickerson Cannon, Mary Marcia McMahan Winfrey, Karen Harp Cumsille, Tina Davis Row 3: Kristen Olsen Palmer, Diane Mayhue Johnson, Betsy Carver Reagor, Jennifer Johnson, Kelley Southerland, Beth Riddle Everett Row 4: Elizabeth Dillard Kuipers, Katie Garrett, Cynthia Costello Busbee, Leslie Noble, Mariana Furlin, Lara Blanchett Carlton

Amanda Smith Burnett ’02 is in graduate school at the College of Charleston, where she is pursuing a M.B.A. degree.

Jennifer Calhoun ’02 lives and works in Japan as a school manager and head teacher at an English school in Tokyo. She earned her M.A. degree from Takushoku University. Jennifer was recognized at the Annual Meeting as the alumna who traveled the farthest distance to attend reunion.

Sarah Chandler ’02 is assistant professor of theatre management at Auburn University.

She also is the director of logistics for Camp Bonfire, a summer camp for adults.

Crystal Rogers Cheyne ’02 works for GANZ USA, LLC, as director of sales operations.

Since Wesleyan her career has followed a retail/outside sales and administration/ management path.

Andrea Clark ’02 received a M.B.A. from Wesleyan in 2008, a M.Ed. from Northeastern in 2015, worked 13 years as an academic advisor (pre-health, medical, nursing, pharmacy, dental), and is now a law student at Mercer.

After earning a M.A. degree in women’s history from Sarah Lawrence College, Megan Beene ’02 worked in curriculum development for a few years. After moving to California she shifted into specialty food where she studied cheese. She is now a cheesemonger for Rainbow Grocery Cooperative and has placed 3rd in a national cheesemonger competiton!

Megan Temple Cotter ’02 is a Travel RN at Advantage RN. She is in graduate school at Walden University, where she is currently pursuing a MSNFNP degree.

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Erica Herrmann Fluet ’02 is proud of her SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) status. After Wesleyan, she spent one year on Capitol Hill working for Sen. Nelson (FL), earned a master’s degree in special education from Johns Hopkins University, and worked for 10 years.

Now she’s nurturing three babies at home in Roswell, GA.

Christina Miner Noble ’02 is a counseling psychologist at The Anxiety and Stress Management Institute in Marietta, GA. She earned a master’s degree in cognitive and developmental psychology from Emory, a master’s degree in professional counseling from Georgia State, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from GSU.

In Signal Mountain, TN, Catherine O’Kelley Fore ’02 is a self-employed interior designer.

Her business is called The Pink Lantern Interiors LLC.

At the University of Central Missouri, Vida Olivares ’02 is assistant professor of mathematics education.

“After college I completed a master’s degree in psychology (cognitive) at Tufts and then got a degree from Le Cordon Bleu in culinary arts. I worked as a chef for a number of years before becoming a stay-at-home mom with our children,” reports Taylor Johnson-English ’02 who lives in Seattle, WA. Bria Andrew Kitchens ’02 is a stay-at-home mom and professional volunteer in Bonaire, GA. “I worked in social work for 10 years after graduation until I had my daughter, Charlotte, who will be a PK of 2034!” writes Bria.

Christen Bennett McGeathy ’02 resides in Dallas, GA, and is the office manager at Northwest.

Jody Swink Miles ’02 has been a veterinary assistant for 15 years and calls Irondale, MO, home. She works in Belgrade as the manager of Washington County Country Farm Supply and is also a Purina feed dealer.

Lorry Izula Mpindu ’02 works for the U.S. Census Bureau as a data collector. In 2014 Lorry earned a M.P.H. from Walden University.

Tarra Jo Wall Powell ’02 works as a lead business analyst for the General Service Administration.

Since Wesleyan, Dr. April Prince ’02 has put her music and history degrees to good use in her career path. After earning a M.M. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, April worked as a music professor at Oklahoma City University and as a lecturer at Loyola University.

She now works as a senior lecturer in music history at the University of North Texas.

After teaching for eight years, Laurie Gibson Priban ’02 has enjoyed entrepreneurship as a gift shop owner in Columbus, GA. Calessa Wells Small ’02 is a full time claims manager at Allstate Corporation in Birmingham, AL. Becki Tanner Smith ’02 of Axson, GA, and husband Jonathan welcomed baby boy Bowen in November of 2016. (See Births) In Columbus, GA, Alaina Garcia Steele ’02 enjoys being a stay-at-home-mom and community volunteer, especially with Girl Scouts. Before having her own children she served as an HR specialist at Our House (part of The Methodist Home for Children).

Class of 1997 (20th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Mary Mitchell McKinnon, Erin Popple Tice, Teresa Lawson, Stephanie Pate Lewis, Jena Forehand Tinsley Row 2: Evelyn Leatherman Griffin, Wendy Lazzaro Grover, Kara Bollmeier Jagger- Miller Row 3: Beth Hitt Rogers, Joy Keeling, Brandy Conner Worgo, Monica Hilley Crawford, Tessa Williams Kamat, Rachel Viets Fortuna

In 2010 Saralyn Stewart ’02 opened up her own law practice, Stewart Law Office, in Madison, GA. She earned her J.D. from Mercer University School of Law. Dr. Ebony Roberts Tate ’02 earned a Pharm.D. from UGA College of Pharmacy. She is able to work from home (Lawrenceville, GA) as a clinical advisor pharmacist for Humana Clinical Pharmacy Solutions.

Kathryn Marshall Wilcher ’02 works part time for Hometown Inspection Groups while she is in kidney transplant recovery.

Stamford, CT, resident Dr. Beth Ann Williford ’02 is an associate professor of sociology at Manhattanville College. She earned graduate degrees (M.S.E. and Ph.D.) from Purdue University before becoming an assistant professor of sociology at Manhattanville.

Sherrie N. Randall ’03 of College Park, GA, has served as member-at-large for student relations on the WCAA board of managers for three years. Thank you, Sherrie!

Darlene Murphy ’05 is back home to Macon after a brief stint in Savannah, GA. “There’s no place like home!”

Congratulations to Dr. Nyasha GuramatunhuCooper ’06 who was selected to serve as the 2017-18 Race and Ethnicity Fellow through Kennesaw State University’s (KSU’s) Center for Diversity and Engagement. Nyasha created a digital (video and audio) exhibit that features the cultural identities and narratives of members of the KSU community for her students to explore in courses offered by the Department of Leadership and Diversity.

Amy Smith ’06 married Svend Egholm on October 15, 2016, in Savannah, GA, with lots of her Purple Knight classmates in attendance.

They now reside in Richmond, VA, (and she didn’t even have to take another bar exam!).

(See Marriages) Jaime McQuilkin ’06 of Atlanta traveled to Bali, Indonesia, in late 2016 where she explored temples, learned how to design a traditional batik, and was almost attacked by a monkey.

True story.

2007

(10th Reunion) GHs had 10 times the fun at their 10th reunion thanks to Jennifer Robinson and Tiffany Hatch Johnson who served as reunion co-chairs. Classmates enjoyed dinner at El Sombrero on Friday night and were invited to get “out and about” on Saturday night at a progressive party that began at the Situation Room in downtown Macon followed by dancing at Recess Bar and Lounge. Late night talk-fests brought back many Wesleyan memories of special times shared together.

After spending a number of years training staff at various restaurants, Anastasia Cooper ’07 is now a full-time bartender in Bethesda, MD. In Atlanta, Morgan Felts ’07 works for the State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia as associate general counsel. She graduated from UGA School of Law. Melinda Goggans ’07 lives in Macon and works as a 1st grade teacher in Bibb County.

In Newnan, GA, Melissa Herndon ’07 works as a unit manager (shipping/logistic scheduler) for Yamaha.

Tiffany Hatch Johnson ’07 lives in McDonough, GA, and works as a Pre-K teacher in Ellenwood. She also has a WESLEYAN FIRST as the first black woman to be a cast member of The Georgia Renaissance Festival!

Katie Mathews Loyd ’07 of Statham, GA, is a licensed clinical social worker, counseling at North Star Therapy Group in Watkinsville, GA. She is married and has one son.

Jenny Doles Nash ’07 recently remarried and is enjoying small town life in Dublin, GA, with husband, daughter Hannah and two step-daughters, Shelby and Emmy. She is a CPA and Firm Administrator for a 120-person regional firm.

Ashley Nelson ’07 has been teaching for the past 10 years. She lives in Newnan, GA, and teaches in the Coweta County School System.

Ashley attends the University of West Georgia where she is pursuing a master’s degree in elementary education specializing in math.

After earning a M.F.A. degree in photography from SCAD, Jennifer Robinson ’07 has been working as a freelance professional photographer in Atlanta.

MaryBeth Barker Tolle ’07 is an associate attorney at Adams Law Firm in Macon. She graduated from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, worked as a staff attorney for three superior court judges, and was a public defender before accepting her current position.

Lacey Lindquist Uhl ’07 is a certified professional coder for Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates in Athens, GA, where she lives.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 2002 (15th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Natalie Puckett Evans, Vida Olivares, Saralyn Stewart, Chrissy Minor Noble Row 2: Crystal Rogers Cheyne, Megan Beene, Alaina Garcia Steele, Christen Bennett Mcgeathy, Caleesa Wells Small, Jody Swink Miles Row 3: Kris Justice, Erin McGavin Dalton, Taylor Johnson-English, Kathryn Marshall Wilcher, Tarra Wall Powell, Catherine O’Kelley Fore, Amanda Smith Burnette, Sarah Chandler, Andrea Clark Row 4: Erica Herrmann Fluet, Lorry Izula, Ebony Roberts Tate, Bria Andrews Kitchens, Jennifer Calhoun, Laurie Gibson Priban, Megan Temple Cotter, Nikki Bradshaw, Beth Williford, April Prince

Katharine “Kat” Whatley ’07 lives in Marietta, GA, and works for Spanx as a logistics associate. Previously, she worked in Macon at Hillshire Brands for eight years before moving to Atlanta.

2010s Since her birth on October 21, 2016, Kathryn Quinn “Kate” Malone continues to be adored by her proud parents, Robert and Jessica Layne Malone ’11 of Macon.

Jessica even brought Kate to the Alumnae Weekend picnic! Jessica’s sister, Megan E. Layne ’16, and her sister-in-law, Melissa Malone Constable ’91, enjoy visiting with Kate when they are in town. Grandmother Nedra Martin Malone ’65 lives nearby and is delighted by the prospect of a future Wesleyanne in the family. (See Births, Winter 2016) Dibya Rawal ’11 of Saratoga Springs, NY, is expecting a baby. Congrats!

In New York, NY, Sarah Hudson ’11 has accepted a new position with Glossier as director of international marketing where she is working to expand the brand’s reach into new markets. Her recent work travel schedule keeps her busy on both sides of the Atlantic, as Glossier prepares to open in London and Paris.

Sarah lives with Biscuit, her Japanese Chin, in the Lower East Side/Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan.

2012 (5th Reunion)

GKs are taking the fifth to not reveal all of the FUN times they had at their 5th reunion and GK Co-Chairs Betsy Herlong and 66

Tricia Velasco agreed that what happens at class parties stays at class parties! On Friday, classmates were invited to a “GK Meet-Up” at Just Tap’d in downtown Macon. On Saturday, Tricia hosted a class party at her home. While “life after Wesleyan” was a sure-fire topic of discussion, GKs enjoyed reliving not-so-longago campus memories during a weekend devoted to sisterhood.

Taylor Bishop Deal ’12 lives in Wichita, KS, and works as a Pre-K teacher at the Primrose School of Wichita East. She enjoyed seeing GK sisters at reunion.

Cheyenne Foster ’12 lives in Washington, DC, and works for the Republican National Committee as the director of women’s engagement. After Wesleyan she worked in Congress for Tom Price, for Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign, and then at the RNC. Alaina Avera Harrison ’12 and husband Greg of Macon, welcomed a baby girl on February 6, 2017! Big brother, Owen, and puppy sister, Lucy, love her already! (See Births) In Memphis, TN, Betsy Herlong ’12 teaches French at Middle College High School. She earned her M.A. in romance Languages (French) from the University of Memphis (UM) and looks forward to completing her M.A.T. in December 2017 from UM. Betsy had a WESLEYAN FIRST as a student when she was the first recipient of the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award at Wesleyan.

Happy news for Samantha “Sammy” Lint ’12 of Birmingham, AL, who was engaged to A. Nicole Jacobs on March 19, 2017.

Congratulations to Marissa Duhaime Martin ’12 and her husband who finalized the adoption of their three children from foster care in November. Son Dylan (13), daughter Jaden (12), and son Jesse (11) are settling in well and they have spent time bonding as a family. Marissa earned a M.A.T. in history from the University of North Georgia in 2015 and teaches high school history in Cumming, GA. She has a WESLEYAN FIRST as the first person in her family to attend graduate school. (See Births & Family Additions) Anna Plue ’12 of Edgewater, FL, became the proud mother of her favorite horse from Wesleyan, Jack. Ride on! Anna is a freelance artist and wants to build a website to sell her art. She also works as a Starbucks barista.

Danielle Ross ’12 is a case coordinator at River Edge Behavioral Health Center in Macon.

She earned a M.S. in clinical counseling from Valdosta State University.

Kendal Binion ’13 and Amanda Holliday ’14 were recently engaged, and we’ll be hearing wedding bells in the fall of 2018 for the happy couple!

“My new job is awesome! I love what I am doing,” reports Devyn Foti ’13 from her new home in Minneapolis, MN, where she works at a casino as a project manager for the casino’s digital marketing.

“I get to work different events and have enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at performances. Tony Bennett, Lionel Richie, and Santana are all performing in the next month.

Blake and I also look forward to summer outdoor events and hiking in the area.”

Class of 2007 (10th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Kat Whatley, Ashley Nelson, Anastasia Cooper, Melinda Goggans Row 2: Jen Robinson, Cindy Fountain, Melissa Herndon, Tiffany Johnson Hatch Row 3: Lacey Lindquist Uhl, Noelle Goodman Hall, Morgan Felts, Mary Beth Barker Tolle Not Pictured: Jenny Doles Nash and Micah Wilson Walsh

In August 2017 Beth Hurst ’14 will begin work on her Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma.

Crystal Osburn O’Neal ’14 of Clarksville, TN, is expecting a baby in August 2017.

Susan Thigpen McDuffie ’53 Receives National Honor

2016

(1st Reunion) Wesleyan welcomed the Class of ’16 back for their FIRST reunion with GK sisters Chandra Norman, Loren Robinson, Jordan Ealey, and Blaire Bagwell signed up to serve as reunion committee members. Waving the Class flag proudly, GKs posed for photos and joined in the Parade of Classes with Great Green Knight pride.

Happy news for Brittany Pye ’16. She and Jay Wischmeyer became engaged in February.

At Wesleyan Lauren Turner ’16 was a studio art major with an art history minor. Now she is a part-time assistant registrar at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon thanks to her mentor, Lisa Sloben ’80. In her spare time Lauren works on her goals as an artist.

The Pirate Class of 2017 has a new member! Susan Allen ’17 (HON), advancement officer at Wesleyan, was inducted into the alumnae association during its Annual Meeting in April. The WCAA voted to make Susan an honorary alumna because of her long-standing and significant contributions to our alma mater. Her candlelighter was Kathy A. Bradley ’78, past president of the WCAA. Congratulations, Susan!

In March 2017 the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) honored Macon resident Susan McDuffie ’53 as 2017 National Music Teacher of the Year at their annual conference in Baltimore, MD. She also was named a foundation fellow of the organization. In December the Georgia Music Teachers Association (GMTA) honored Susan as the 2017 GMTA Music Teacher of the Year, and recommendation letters from the GMTA, her private piano students, and from other arts organizations led to her national recognition.

At the Wesleyan Conservatory, Susan majored in piano performance and minored in organ. She studied with Ralph Lawton, concert pianist and a

former student of Joseph Lhevinne and Madame Olga Samaroff, and Gladys Pinkston, a student of Louise Robyn from the American Conservatory in Chicago.

Macon and Middle Georgia students who study with the number one music teacher in the country realize the benefits of her guidance as a musician and as a mentor. Susan’s students include her own children with whom she often collaborates. Her daughter and concert pianist Dr. Margery McDuffie Whatley is now a Steinway Artist, and her son Robert McDuffie is an internationally renowned violinist. Susan’s twin teenage granddaughters Kendall and Lindsay Whatley also are receiving accolades as up-andcoming young pianists.

Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Class of 2012 (5th reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Marissa Duhaime Martin, Anna Plue, Betsy Herlong, Kelly Coquerel Row 2: Susan Yandle Middleton, Chelsea Robinson, Danielle Ross, Taylor Bishop Deal, Cheyenne Foster

The following citation was read at the WCAA’s Annual Meeting and highlights Alexis Bighley’s extraordinary service to Wesleyan College.

WHEREAS, Alexandria Xides entered Wesleyan College as a Golden Heart in the fall of 1963; and WHEREAS, As Alexis Xides Bighley, Class of 1967, she has been a devoted daughter of the College for more than 50 years; and WHEREAS, She from the beginning exhibited leadership qualities as STUNT committee member for four years; and

2017 Valeria McCullough Murphey Award Presented to Alexis Xides Bighley ’67 At the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Wesleyan Alumnae Association in April, Alexis Xides Bighley ’67 received the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award, the WCAA’s highest service award. Named in honor of the woman who was the first alumna to chair the Wesleyan College Board of Trustees and who inspired alumnae to take renewed pride in their alma mater, the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award recognizes outstanding, enduring, and unstinting contributions to Wesleyan College alumnae. It was established to give public praise and recognition for extraordinary services - services that touch the lives of vast numbers of alumnae, increasing their pride in the College and enhancing their role as Wesleyan alumnae. Previous recipients include Valeria McCullough Murphey ’48, J. Frederick Wilson, Julia Munroe Woodward ’34, Thomas Langston Bass, and Eleanor Adams Lane ’58.

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WHEREAS, She began her years of service to her Alma Mater as a young alumna by faithfully supporting the Annual Fund as well as participating in every fundraising campaign for the College since her graduation; and WHEREAS, With a touch of nostalgia, she donated rocking chairs for the porches on campus, each dedicated to someone who contributed to her growth and development; and

WHEREAS, She established and continues to build the Bill Maravelas and Frances Hook Scholarship for Art; and WHEREAS, She further has served faithfully as a member of the Board of Trustees since 1989, always generously giving of her time, resources, and expertise and working in creative and innovative ways to advance the College; and WHEREAS, She has been a personal mentor for Wesleyan students through her work as a leader and sponsor of the first Entrepreneurship Seminar, providing students with opportunities to network with professional alumnae business women; and WHEREAS, She was a founder in 2001 and remains a faithful benefactor of the annual Summer Leadership Institute, which over the years has become a cherished and often lifechanging experience for scores of Wesleyan students; and WHEREAS, She was the driving force responsible for the Wesleyan Market held each month on campus and for Masterworks on the Move, a traveling exhibition of Wesleyan’s permanent art collection that promotes the College throughout the Southeast; and

WHEREAS, She contributed generous support to the renovation of Munroe Science Center, naming the first floor lobby in loving memory of her mother Diana Maravelas Xides Baca; and WHEREAS, She was a major supporter of Pierce Chapel, naming a window in memory of her mother Diana Maravelas Xides Baca and her aunt Angelica Maravelas; and WHEREAS, Her faithfulness and generosity are evidenced year after year by her participation as a member of The President’s Council and the Stanback Society, and she has demonstrated her commitment to the future of Wesleyan College as a charter member of the Society for the 21st Century; and WHEREAS, She lives out the Wesleyan ideals of community engagement and service by serving as treasurer of the Arcola Mills Historic Foundation of Minnesota, which supports the arts, retreats, wellness, and renewal, and as a member of the Auxiliary Board for Presbyterian Homes, one of the largest senior living organizations in the Midwest; and WHEREAS, She has been a woman of faith, serving on the Parrish Council of her church, St. George Greek Orthodox Church; and WHEREAS, She has received the Wesleyan Alumnae Association’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in a Profession in 1992 as a role model for women entrepreneurs, as the founder of three separate companies related to the gift industry in the United States; and WHEREAS, She has in countless ways remained “true, faithful, and loyal” to Wesleyan College. Be it therefore RESOLVED, That the Wesleyan College Alumnae Association, this twenty-second of April, two thousand seventeen, does hereby present to Alexis Xides Bighley, Class of 1967, the Valeria McCullough Murphey Award for Service to the College.

Class of 2016 (1st reunion) (L-R) Row 1: Devonna Gaudet, Lauren Turner, Jordan Ealey, Kathleen Jenkins Row 2: Melissa Rodriguez, Julie Rogers

Welcome to the WCAA Board of Managers Yehudi Ben-J Self-Medlin ’96 A.B. (Falls Church, VA) Alumna Trustee (2017-2021) Advanced Degrees: Ph.D., University of Virginia Occupation: Associate Director for Science and Technology Investment, Computational and Information Sciences Directorate, Army Research Laboratory Wesleyan Activities/Recognitions: Class of 1996 President, Reunion Chair, Candlelighter, Leadership Day (2016), Washington DC Metro Club, Summer Leadership Institute Hostess (2008), Alumna Panelist for Summer Leadership Institute (2011) Community Activities: Board member and Chair of Family Selection and Support for Habitat for Humanity (North Shore, Andover, MA, in 2008) Allison McFarland Wilcox ’80 A.B. (Midland, MI) Member-at-Large for Nominations (2016-2019) Advanced Degrees: M.S., Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University Occupation: Homemaker, Community Volunteer Wesleyan Activities/Recognitions: Candlelighter, Board of Managers (at-Large for Nominations), Reunion Co-Chair Community Activities: PEO Chapter CE Treasurer, Zoe Club of Midland (President 2014-2015, Member 20132014), Midland Symphony Orchestra Advisory Board (2016-2017), Women of Michigan Action Network, Shelter House Resale Shop Volunteer

Faith Sumpter ’08 A.B. (Avondale Estates, GA) Member-at-Large for Diversity and Inclusion (2017- 2020) Advanced Degrees: M.A., Higher Education and Student Affairs, University of Connecticut Occupation: Staff Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement Coordinator, Georgia Institute of Technology Wesleyan Activities/Recognitions: Wesleyan Woman of Success (2008), BSA Reunion & Mixer (2017) Community Activities: Junior League of Atlanta - Provisional Development Director-Elect, Make-a-Wish GA Special Events Volunteer

Mary Kathryn Borland ’04 A.B. (Macon, GA) Member-at-Large for Student Relations (2017-2020) Advanced Degrees: M.S., Sport & Fitness Management, Troy University Occupation: Advancement Coordinator, Central Georgia Technical College Wesleyan Activities/Recognitions: Candlelighting Chair AW ’17, Alumna Awards Committee, Friendship Family Host, Candlelighter, Class Liaison, Class Sponsor Community Activities: Junior League of Macon Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

Why We Give B y J a n e P r i c e C l ax t o n ’ 6 8 On September 13, 1964, when I became a student at Wesleyan College, there was no way for me to imagine the extent of the positive impact the school would have on me for the remainder of my life. Nor could the young man I eventually married—and had dated since the day after my sixteenth birthday— have imagined how much Wesleyan College would come to mean to him! Today my husband, Joe, and I are very grateful for what Wesleyan has meant in our lives. Joe shares the enduring friendships and many of the great memories I have from my days at Wesleyan College.

Wesleyan gave me the foundation for twenty-five successful years as a teacher, guidance counselor, and college counselor at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon. Joe, now a professor emeritus at Mercer University School of Law, had a unique perspective during his career from which to evaluate the worth of a Wesleyan education. As a teacher and administrator at the Law School, he admitted or taught a number of Wesleyan graduates.

Without exception, all of them were fine students and are alumnae Mercer Law School is very proud to claim.

As long-time residents of Macon, Joe and I have had an opportunity to observe many of the changes that have occurred at Wesleyan during the last few decades. New academic majors and programs are part of the curriculum. New outreach initiatives have engaged

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students in the life of the Macon community. New buildings enhance Wesleyan’s academic mission and add to the grace and beauty of the campus. Among those buildings is the lovely Pierce Chapel, which for many students and alumnae has become the physical heart and soul of Wesleyan College.

Indeed, Pierce Chapel is symbolic of the fact that Wesleyannes across generations have an unbreakable connection. Now Wesleyan is embarking on a building project that goes to the core of education in every academic institution—the renovation of Willet Library. The planned renovation of Willet will address the learning processes of today’s college students, all of whom use technology in ways that did not even exist when I was a Wesleyanne. Fifty years ago, no Wesleyan student could have envisioned that hall phones would be replaced by smart phones!

Higher education always has been costly. My parents sacrificed to send me (and my younger sister, Janis Eugenia Price, PK ’74) to Wesleyan College, and parents do the same today. My parents were confident Wesleyan College would provide an excellent education for their daughters. It did exactly that, both inside and outside the classroom. Joe and I support Wesleyan College because we want students enrolled during the twenty-first century to have the same opportunities that Wesleyan provided for me fifty years ago.

Joe and I support Wesleyan College because we want students enrolled during the twentyfirst century to have the same opportunities Wesleyan provided for me fifty years ago.

– Jane Price Claxton ’68

Save the Date October 6 -7, 2017 And plan to attend

Alumnae Leadership Weekend ENGAGE with current Wesleyan students, DESIGN alumnae volunteer opportunities, and DISCOVER ways to interact with and support Wesleyan.

Weekend Agenda FRIDAY OCTOBER 6

MORNING SESSION Attend Classes Campus Tours (Student Directed) AFTERNOON SESSION Attend Classes Campus Tours (Self-Directed) Career Field Discussions with Current Students (Sponsored by The Center for Career Development) Up-Close and Personal with President-Elect Dr. Vivia Fowler EVENING SESSION Alumnae/Student Mixer (Sponsored by The Center for Career Development)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7 MORNING SESSION Registration/Check-In and Continental Breakfast Keynote Speaker: Dr. Vivia Fowler AFTERNOON SESSION Networking Decades Luncheon Break-Out Sessions

• Alumnae Events: A Young Alumnae Perspective

• Wow Day in Your Community: Sisterhood & Service in Action

• Alumnae Weekend: Future Time

• Wesleyan’s Rich Herstory DINNER (OPTIONAL)

Alumnae Leadership Weekend is open to all Alumnae.

Watch your inbox for complete information on registration.

The Wesleyan College Alumnae Association would like to thank its Board of Managers and the generous contributions from alumnae and The Center for Career Development who have underwritten the cost of 2017 Leadership Weekend.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Vivia Fowler Wesleyan College President-Elect

PROFESSIONALISM AFTER WESLEYAN SERIES

P.A.W.S. Wesleyan College will host its first ever P.A.W.S. Professional Development Conference for students on October 6 and 7th, 2017, in conjunction with Alumnae Leadership Weekend. P.A.W.S. stands for Professionalism After Wesleyan Series and is a key component of the From Here to Career Quality Enhancement Plan for Wesleyan students. Students participating in the conference will come away with greater knowledge of professional development competencies such as career planning and networking. The Center for Career Development is seeking alumnae speakers, panelists, and workshop leaders.

To learn more about volunteering, contact Sarah Schanck, director of career development, at 478.757.5224 or sschanck@wesleyancollege.edu Wesleyan Magazine Summer 2017

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

4760 Forsyth Road Macon, Georgia 31210-4462 www.wesleyancollege.edu GET SOCIAL W/ WESLEYAN

Alumnae Leadership Weekend October 6-7, 2017

ENGAGE with current Wesleyan students, DESIGN alumnae volunteer opportunities, and DISCOVER ways to interact with and support Wesleyan.