Alumnae Spotlight Stories
May 2013
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Noted Breast Cancer Activist Dies
Even after amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had silenced her vocal chords, Barbara Brenner ’73’s powerful voice continued to send tremors into the medical establishment. Barbara Brenner ’73 accepting the 2012 Smith Medal from President Carol Christ. With the assistance of a text-to-speech computer program, Brenner, the former executive director of Breast Cancer Action (BCA), [...]
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New Drafts Shed Light on Plath’s Demons
Drafts of one of Sylvia Plath ’55’s last poems will soon go to auction. These papers include a fragment from an earlier short story that Plath discarded, and it illustrates what haunted the poet for most of her life.
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The Windy City’s Money Manager
by Cheryl DelleceseChicago City Treasurer Stephanie Neely ’85 not only oversees billions of dollars in city assets, she also uses her office to support small businesses and educate the public about the importance of financial literacy.
April 2013
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An Homage to Shelly
Shelly Lazarus ’68 has been named a 2013 Advertising Hall of Fame inductee. In “Love Letter to Shelly Lazarus,” Liz Olsen writes, “Years before Sheryl Sandberg, Shelly Lazarus was out there as living proof of what leaning in looks like.”
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The Battle Over Blasphemy
Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman ’85 is fighting intolerance and battling her country’s controversial blasphemy laws—but at what risk? Read the DailyBeast/Newsweek story.
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Art and the Self
Artist Rebecca Shapiro ’85’s TEDxConcordiaUPortland talk is titled “Untangling the Stories, Beliefs and Behaviors that Bind,” She says, “My current work is about releasing stories that are no longer true to us.”
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When We Were Special
Meg Wolitzer 81’s latest novel, “The Interestings,” tells the story of a group of teens, who meet at an artsy summer camp in the 1970s, and follows them through adulthood to lives they did not plan. Read the NPR review.
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Advocating for Global Citizenship
by Cheryl DelleceseFormer U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Gillian Sorensen ’63—dubbed the diplomat’s diplomat by The New York Times—shares her thoughts on the United Nations today and the need for more women leaders.
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The Power of the Smith Network
by Alana Muller ’93Business consultant and networking expert Alana Muller ’93 views the Smith alumnae global connection as one of the most valuable aspects of her education. Here she recommends how to make the most of it.
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Changing History
Catharine MacKinnon ’69 has been advocating for women’s rights her entire life, including leading the fight to legally define sexual harassment and make it a crime. Here she reflects on what led her to take on such a challenge.
March 2013
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Fresh Starts
by Jennifer Maddox Sergent ’91Everything in our culture tells us to hang on to our dreams. But what if those dreams lead us in the wrong direction? Alumnae reflect on times they had to start over, give up, let go or turn around to find a better, more satisfying path.
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A Groove of Her Own
by Christina Barber-JustMerrill Garbus ’01 catapulted onto the music scene in 2011 with w ho k i l l, the second album from her tUnE-yArDs project, which made more than 100 critics’ top-10 lists and captured the raw, experimental zeitgeist of indie-pop music.
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Compelled to Help
by Winifred Neidecker Constable ’76Eight years ago physician Winifred Neidecker Constable ’76’s then 13-year-old daughter decided she was going to save the world, starting with an orphanage in Uganda. Constable had no idea that she would be part of the deal.
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Ready… Set… Network!
by Alana Muller ’93Effective networking is a necessity in today’s professional world, says business consultant and networking blogger Alana Muller ’93. Here she offers some tips on how to create your own networking style.
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The Mark of a Mentor
In an essay on the Huffington Post, Xiomara Iraheta ’07 writes that having a mentor made her feel “valued, important and worthy” and changed the course of her life, including leading her to Smith.
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Conversations with the Smith Medalists
Watch video interviews with this year’s Smith Medalists, including scientist Anne De Groot ’78, zoologist Kay Holekamp ’73, philanthropist Janet McKinley ’76 and Shakespeare scholar Gail Paster ’66.
January 2013
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Corporate Responsibility Pioneer
Marilyn Carlson Nelson ’61, chair of the world’s largest hospitality corporation, talks about corporate responsibility, her leadership style and combating human trafficking.
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Person of the Year
Tammy Baldwin ’84, Wisconsin’s first female senator and the first openly gay U.S. senator, is The Advocate’s 2012 Person of the Year.
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Breast Cancer in Words and Pictures
by Cheryl DelleceseA Google search of “breast cancer books” yields more than 68 million results, but two alumnae recently published books that deal with the topic in new and innovate ways.
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Blueprint for a New Life
by Jane FallaErin McCormick ’83, author of “A Year of Action: How to Stop Waiting & Start Living Your BIG, Fabulous Life,” shows you how to accomplish anything you set out to do.
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WordSmith
WordSmith is an ongoing list of titles penned by Smith alumnae—a perfect resource for your next Smith book club selection. Pictured is Ruth Ozeki ’80, whose latest novel, A Tale for the Time Being, is getting rave reviews.
December 2012
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New Life for Neighborhoods
by Cheryl DelleceseMonique King-Viehland ’99 talks about an exciting project to revitalize college neighborhoods in Newark, New Jersey, and why American cities need to be creative to survive.
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Asian Collections in Focus
by Elise GibsonBack in 1913, when Americans widely understood art to mean European paintings and sculpture, wealthy industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer gave a gift of Asian art to Smith College’s Hillyer Art Gallery. That gift—made at a moment when America’s aesthetic tastes were beginning to look to the East—formed the kernel of what [...]
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The China Connection: Opportunity Calls
Smith College’s long and meaningful connection to China extends back to 1915, when Smith alumnae helped launch Ginling College in Nanjing, China’s first college for women. The same year, Fung Yan Liu became Smith’s first Chinese alumna. Since then the connections have steadily built, especially in recent decades as more young Chinese women have [...]
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License to Practice
by Christina Barber-JustAttorney Erin Masson Wirth ’90 know how difficult it is to be a military spouse and maintain a legal career—so now she helps others in the same situation.
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Her Own Finish Line
by Jane FallaJess Mencer Peláez ’05 spent months preparing for a grueling ride across Mongolia, and an entrance fee of $10,000. Was it worth the risk?
November 2012
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Volunteers: Smith Women Changing the World
Watch a video that shows how alumnae are changing the world, from building sustainable schools in Africa to making a difference in their local communities.
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Tammy Baldwin ’84 Makes Election History
Tammy Baldwin ’84 makes history in Wisconsin, as she win the U.S. Senate seat, becoming both the state’s first female senator and the first openly gay candidate to be elected.
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The Work of Art
by Cheryl DelleceseAs the daughter of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Bernard Malamud, Janna Malamud Smith, M.S.W. ’79, grew up surrounded by writers, painters and musicians …
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Virtual Book Club, Real Connections
by The Chapin Book Club*As recent Smith graduates in the fall of 2010, we Chapin housemates (as well as a classmate from Parsons and one from Haven) decided to start a “virtual” book club.
October 2012
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Sylvia and Marty
Three weeks before she died on July 25, 2012, Marcia (Marty) Brown Stern ’54 sent me a registered letter, which began, “What is enclosed may astonish you.” Indeed it did.
September 2012
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A Coveted Prize, a Touching Tribute
by Mika Provata-CarloneWhat was meant as a touching tribute has turned into one of the most prestigious and meaningful prizes for women in contemporary drama—the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It was established in 1978 in memory of Susan Smith Blackburn ’55 …
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Behind the Book: “Secrets of a Wedding Night”
Yes, I went to Smith and I’m a romance novelist. And I already know what some of you are thinking. Let’s be clear. I’m a card-carrying feminist. In fact, I like to think my “card” is my degree from Smith. But I also believe passionately in two things: that the world could use more [...]
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Drawn to Philanthropy
by Laurie Bouck ’88Janet Clarke McKinley ’76 remembers the first time she saw something as small as a $20 loan change a woman’s life. It happened about twenty years ago …
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Commanding the Stage
by Elise GibsonIn her sixty years on the stage, Lois Markle ’52 has played just about every kind of female role a playwright can imagine: overbearing mothers, drug addicts …
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Champion of Change
by Debra MichalsAndrea Perry ’93 doesn’t watch the evening news quite like the rest of us. For her, every story about a teen in crisis is a call to action. Having spent more than a decade working for YouthConnect, a program of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston …
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Lasting Bonds
When Smith women meet up, the years simply fall away. Throughout both Reunion weekends, you’ll see them, laughing and sharing stories as they gather in …
August 2012
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Behind the Book: “The Not Yet”
by Moira Crone ’74Moira Crone ’74’s new novel paints a future where the one percent have achieved immortality—at a very steep price
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Advice for Entrepreneurs
Melissa Millan ’06, founder and CEO of clothing company Androgyny, talks about her experience starting the company and her advice for other entrepreneurs.
July 2012
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Make Your Boss Look Good … And Other Career Advice for Young Alumnae
by Terri Tierney Clark ’81Terri Tierney Clark ’81, creator of the website Advice for the New Careerist, shares some career tips for new alumnae.
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Aging Gracefully
by Jane FallaMargaret Dyer-Chamberlain ’80 talks about the movement toward “aging in place” and the implications for individuals and communities.
June 2012
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Grabbing Life by the Reins
by Jane FallaJess Mencer Pelaez ’05 gears up to race this August in the Mongol Derby, a 10-day horse race billed as the longest and toughest in the world. For her day job, Pelaez is a geologist with a specialty in volcanology, who works for a mine-planning software company.
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Glimmers of Gladness
by Jane FallaAnne Kubitsky ’05 has created a unique community art project with a focus on gratitude that has gained the attention of people from all over the world.
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A Different Vision
by Christina Barber-JustDocumentary filmmaker Michelle Medina ’05’s focuses her lens on the stories that bring her beloved adopted country of Morocco to life.
May 2012
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The Shape of Things
by Jane FallaSeventy years into a brilliant career, sculptor Isabel Case Borgatta ’43 still has a passion for taking a piece of stone and carving it into something beautiful.
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Crimes of Fashion
by Cheryl DelleceseBusiness journalist and fashionista Hitha Prabhakar ’98 talks about her career in the industry and her investigation into the dangerous world of organized retail crime.
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Charting Culture
Renowned craftsperson Jaya Jaitly ’63 talks about the business, artistic,and cultural aspects of maintaining the integrity of the arts and crafts traditions of India while making them accessible.
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Gloria Steinem: A Woman Like No Other
New York Times writer Sarah Heploa looks back on the legacy of Gloria Steinem ’56 and wonders, “Where is the next Gloria?” Is there a comparable leader for the women’s movement in 2012?
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Behind the Book: “The Guilty Ones”
by Joanna Crispi ’78Novelist Joanna Crispi ’78 draws on her high-profile legal defense background to write a new novel that explores the fine line between guilt and innocence during the excess of the 1980s.
April 2012
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Behind the Book: The Drama Years: Real Girls Talk About Surviving Middle School
by Whitney Joiner ’00Whitney Joiner ’00, co-author of “The Drama Years: Real Girls Talk About Surviving Middle School,” talks about why we need to find out what girls today are really going through.
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Influentials
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ’02, who won a 2012 Academy Award for her documentary, “Saving Face,” about acid attacks on Pakistani women, is on Time magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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Keeping Up with Dr. Miller
Cindy Miller ’80—a radiologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital and an associate professor at Yale Medical School—wanted to be a doctor since she was 4 years old and even congenital muscular dystrophy couldn’t stop her.
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Remembering Isabel Brown Wilson ’53
Following Isabel Brown Wilson’s death on March 27, members of the Smith community and classmates remember her as a champion of the arts and a generous philanthropist responsible for one of Smith’s largest gifts.
March 2012
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Smith Networking Made Easy
by Cheryl DelleceseThe Alumnae Association and its volunteer leadership are making it easier for alumnae to connect professionally in their hometowns with Regional Professional Gatherings. Local alumnae leaders host the events, which center on a professional discipline, such as law or energy.
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Green is Good
by Christina Barber-JustBy appealing to their bottom lines, ecostrategist Aimée Christensen ’91 is helping corporations see that reducing their environmental footprint is smart business…
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Early Adopter
by Jane FallaIn a new book, Susan Spoehrer Elliott ’58 reflects on her successful career in the male-dominated technology trade…
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Framing Their Lives
by Lindsey Rowe Roberts ’06Buying a camera on a trip to Japan in 1975 inspired Susan Gilbert Tileston ’63 to become a professional photographer. Now, after a twenty-year career, she gives cameras to refugees on the Thailand-Burma border.
February 2012
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Philanthropic Powerhouse
by Christina Barber-JustEvery year, the Washingtonian magazine comes out with its list of “Washington’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” The 2011 list includes some very big names: Michelle Obama …
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A Leap of Food
by Jane FallaWhat happens when three New York meat and cheese lovers adopt a vegan diet? That’s what Marisa Miller Wolfson ’98’s first feature-length film, Vegucated,is all about. The documentary, which Miller Wolfson wrote, directed …
January 2012
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A Stitch in Time
by Jane FallaKim Taylor Kruse ’97 opened Sew Make Do, a modern sewing and craft studio in Gainesville, FL. Classes such as “Get Started with Sewing” and “Learn to Work with Patterns” are designed to get people together to learn, share ideas, explore their creativity.
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From Teacher to Painter
by Jane FallaPeg Lee Bachenheimer ’66’s mixed media and encaustic paintings offer such inviting and reflective titles as Warm Glow at the End of the Day and Walk in the Winter Woods. The encaustic technique …
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Behind the Book: Margaret Wurtele ’67
I can trace my novel back to a June day in 2004. My husband and I had rented a vacation home in Tuscany with some California friends. One day we went with them to a villa near Lucca …
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Slope-side Humor
by Christina Barber-JustAs a thesis student in NYU’s graduate film program, Desiree Akhavan ’07 had an assignment last year to make a short film for a directing class: no parameters, no requirements, just make something…
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Behind the Book: Shana Corey ’96
I’ve had a thing for olden-day girls ever since I read my first Little House on the Prairie book—the bonnets, the corncob dolls, the maple syrup candy! One thing I learned at Smith …
December 2011
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Time to Recharge?
by Rita Foley '75When I graduated from Smith in 1975 with a major in psychology, I had passion, determination and a bunch of women’s voices in my head saying, “There is nothing you can’t do.” As I built my career, I learned that, yes …
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School of Hope
by John MacMillanOne day last spring, Erinn McGurn ’94 found herself in the front seat of a dusty car driving along the dirt roads of rural Mfuwe, Zambia, on her way to the Chiutika Basic School, which she’d first visited about five years ago …
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It’s All About the Beat
by Christina Barber-JustIn her latest documentary, All I Wanna Do, Casablanca-based filmmaker Michelle Medina ’05 follows Moroccan father and son Simohamed and Ayoub Rouguiyag as they chase their musical dreams …
November 2011
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The Enamelist in Action
by Jane FallaFrom bowls to plates to jewelry, contemporary enamelists know that the process to create decorative objects celebrating the beautiful color and light of enamels can be demanding and unforgiving. To turn out pieces like those by Averill Brockelman Shepps ’53 requires the right combination of patience, determination, and sense of adventure. Here, Shepps describes [...]
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All Fired Up
by Jane FallaWhen Averill Brockelman Shepps ’53 was introduced to enameling, an ancient, exacting craft of firing glass onto metal, she was instantly taken by the beauty of the colors and the play of light. That was more than 50 years ago …
October 2011
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Solving the Mystery of Autism
by Karen BrownWhen Margaret Bauman ’60 first entered the field of autism brain research in the early 1980s, she was practically alone. At the time, she was training in Boston as a neurobiologist, interested in learning disabilities, and working for a laboratory that analyzed postmortem brains.
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A Glass of Sherry with Mr. Donald
by Benjamin O. SperryHistorian Benjamin Sperry, whose mother is Robbie Oxnard ’51, writes about her time in New York City with her good friend Rosey Wilcox Dickerson ’51, and a special afternoon with one of their Smith professors.
September 2011
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A Way of Life
by Christina Barber-JustKecia Brooks-Smith Lowe ’88 and Malaika Brooks-Smith-Lowe ’08 are the mother-and-daughter team behind Spice Harmony Yoga Studio,the first and only yoga studio on the Caribbean island of Granada …
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The Landscape Come to Life
by Christina Barber-JustThe Smith College Museum of Art has a 1995 oil painting by Joellyn (Joly) Duesberry ’66 in its collection. Titled “Above Taos Valley, New Mexico,” it’s a subtly colorful landscape …
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Behind the Book: Linda Carroll ’78
by Linda Carroll ’78People often ask what inspired me and my co-author, writer and former managing editor of Neurology Now, David Rosner, to write our book, The Concussion Crises …
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Wanted: A Few Good Volunteers
by Kate Carlisle ’83Shirley Sagawa ’83 is sipping a cup of chai tea at the Bombay Club, a luxurious, but comfortable, restaurant a block from the White House. Fresh from publicizing her recent book, The American Way …
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Ringmistress of the Word
by Christina Barber-JustErin McCauley ’00 (pen name Erin Morgenstern) is living the debut novelist’s dream: Her book, “The Night Circus” (Doubleday, 2011), about a nocturnal Victorian circus and pair of dueling magicians …
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From the Fringe
by Jake Lipman ’00Jake Lipman ’00 founded Tongue in Cheek Theater Productions in 2006 after earning her MFA in 2004 from the Actors Studio Drama School at the New School in New York City. This summer …
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Behind the Book: Jessica Brody ’01
For many years, I’d heard writers talk about their “aha!” moments. When an idea for a book just popped into their head and they cried out, “aha!” But I’d never experienced that for myself …
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Life as They Know It
by Jenny Hall AC ’04Every alumna who returns to Smith for Reunion has a story to tell—about the things she’s seen, what she’s done, and the woman she’s become. During this year’s celebration, we asked a handful of Smith women to reflect.
August 2011
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Writing in the Digital Age
by Christina Barber-JustAfter years spent watching the caliber of writing decline “precipitously,” Susan Leigh Babcock ’76 finally decided to do something about it. Babcock, a professional writer and editor with Wall Street experience to boot, is the CEO …
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Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
by Christina Barber-JustAs a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, Sramana Mitra ’93 has experienced multiple booms and busts over the years. The financial crisis of 2008 got her thinking …
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First Job: Teaching in Chile
by Christina Barber-Just“Most Chileans have never heard of my town,” says Woodman-Russell, who is volunteering with the Chile Patagonia Sur Year program …
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A Promising Year
by Jane FallaLast October, while visiting The Lake Austin Spa Resort for her work as a marketing consultant, Jamie Eslinger ’96 had an epiphany…
July 2011
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Playing for Patients
by Christina Barber-JustPittsburgh Symphony Orchestra violist Penny Anderson Brill ’71 always knew music helps heal—she just didn’t know how much until she herself got sick. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, Brill experimented with using music
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A Mother Lode of Deals
by Christina Barber-JustPlum District CEO Megan Gardner ’98 likes to describe her Website as “Groupon for moms meets Mary Kay without the lipstick.” A daily-deal site for mothers, Plum District offers discounts on family-friendly products and services to moms in more than thirty-five urban areas, or “districts.
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How She Got That Job: Product Tester
by Christina Barber-JustAs the number-two member of America’s Test Kitchen’s four-person tasting-and-testing team, Graves identifies supermarket ingredients and kitchen equipment worth rating; evaluates them on a scientific basis …
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‘I thought I might have wrecked the Peace Corps’
by Christina Barber-JustMargery Michelmore Heffron ’60 graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Smith, joined the Peace Corps in its first year, and distinguished herself as an outstanding trainee, according to one account.
June 2011
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Gone With the Wind‘s Unsung Heroine
by Ellen BrownIn 1927, Lois Dwight Cole ’24, a bright and bookish young woman from New Jersey, landed a job as the office manager of the Atlanta branch of the Macmillan Company …
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In My View: Smith Is
by Emily Markussen Sorsher ’04I know that everyone looks back at their college years with a certain amount of nostalgia, but I wondered what it was that made Smith such a compelling place for those of us who attended.
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Making Science Fun
by Jane FallaSixteen years ago when Stephanie Urban ’78 volunteered in her son’s first-grade class, a light bulb went off. Armed with a hair dryer and ping-pong balls to demonstrate the Bernoulli principle of velocity and pressure …
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‘A Greater Purpose’
by Christina Barber-JustJohn F. Kennedy stood before students at the University of Michigan and asked, “How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your days in Ghana?”
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Founding Feminist
by Christina Barber-JustFlorence Rosenfeld Howe, MA ’51, holds her own among modern feminists. A leader of the women’s movement, she is founder of the Feminist Press …
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‘I Should be There’
by Karen BrownIt never occurred to Anjana Shakya ’91 not to return to her native Nepal after she graduated from Smith. “I felt that if I wanted change in my country, I should be there,” says Shakya.
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In My View: Our ‘Uncommon Hours’
by Katherine Chao Evans ’64When I was a junior at Smith in the early 1960s, we had to attend an assembly every Wednesday morning in John M. Greene. One speaker in particular stands out in my mind.
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Society Girls Go West
by Jane FallaIn 1916, Dorothy Woodruff Hillman and Rosamond Underwood Carpenter, both class of 1909, bravely traveled west from their privileged lives in Auburn, New York …
May 2011
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Times of Turmoil and Transformation
by John MacMillanAlumnae on campus for Reunion discuss the tremendous cultural shifts that shaped their college years and influenced their lives.
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A Passion for Protecting the Planet
by Jane FallaTwo children, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren have shaped Anita King ’37’s life, but it’s King’s interest in people and the planet that have …
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Help on the Breast Cancer Journey
by Jane FallaElesa Commerse ’76, a meditation teacher, is the founding president of Forever Whole, a nonprofit created to alleviate the suffering of people with breast cancer.
April 2011
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In My View: Growing Pains and the Defense of Marriage
by Jen VanderWeyden ’93Six years ago I married my longtime girlfriend, Kris Martini ’95, in western Massachusetts where we first met as Smith soccer teammates a decade and a half earlier.
March 2011
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Got Art?
by Jane FallaWendy Cromwell ’86 has some simple advice for anyone who wants to turn her passion for art into collecting: Don’t be intimidated. Art collecting is accessible to anyone.
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Teaching with a Mom’s Touch
by Jane FallaAnne Stevens Frost ’98, who now lives in the Philippines, began thinking about homeschooling five years ago while living in Arizona, before her oldest daughter, Kai, was ready to be enrolled in kindergarten.
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A Mission to Teach
by Jenny Hall AC ’04Jennifer Carter ’04 remembers with startling clarity the first day of her stint with Teach for America. At 22, with a fresh new anthropology degree in hand, she had arrived on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota …
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Singing Lessons
by Leslie TalmadgeDorry Schalk Brown ’65, a wide-eyed, youthful grandmother, sits on the floor of a large, airy classroom at Boston’s Emerson College. She sings in her clear, alto voice: “Oh, five kids came to group today.”
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Freedom to Teach
by Ileana Jimenez ’97I went into teaching because I wanted young people to learn that they have the power to make the world a better place. I wanted to teach them that reading, writing, and activism can have far-reaching effects on the way we live.
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Teachers of Today
Each of the alumnae educators profiled here is determined to find solutions to nagging problems in the nation’s schools. For Rachel Willis ’04 it’s insisting on high expectations for her third-grade students.
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A Treasure in Panama
by Christina Barber-JustOne of the key players who has worked to make Panama’s Biodiversity Museum—or BioMuseum—a reality is Pilar Arosemena Aleman ’79.
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Mika El-Baz ’85: Music Publicity Executive
by Christina Barber-JustAs executive vice president, publicity at RCA Music Group, Mika El-Baz ’85 is responsible for overseeing a staff of publicists to promote the labels groups artists.
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Dressed for Success
by Christina Barber-JustMeredith Duncan ’08 launched Cubicle Chic in April 2010 with the mission of inspiring creativity in young professionals’ everyday corporate style
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Game On
by Christina Barber-JustThe game-design curriculum Terrasa Ulm ’99 created for Becker College is currently ranked fourth in the nation and first in New England by the Princeton Review.
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Balancing the Old and the New
by Jane FallaLinny Blumer AC ’89 is a free spirit. Just after graduating from Smith, she followed her new husband to Russia, where he moved to work for the American Embassy. From there they created a family life in Switzerland and enjoyed plenty of travel. Nine years ago, Blumer, her husband, and her three children left [...]
February 2011
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Legion of Honor
by Christina Barber-JustFor Denise Silber ’74, attending Smith meant she had one big thing in common with Julia McWilliams Child ’34. Now, make that two. Almost a decade after Child received the French Legion of Honor, Silber is set to receive …
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The People’s Revolution 2011
by Hala Kamal, DIPL ’00I am an Egyptian, living and working in Cairo and currently appointed as assistant professor in the English department at Cairo University. I spent a year at Smith College enrolled in the American Studies Diploma Program for international students (1999-2000), during which I focused on developing my knowledge of feminist praxis through women’s studies; [...]
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Cairo Timeline: From Pyramids to Protests
by Judith Bronstein Milestone ’66As a former vice president at CNN, Judith Bronstein Milestone ’66 is used to thinking fast in crisis situations. Those skills were put to the test for three days last month when she served as the Alumnae Association representative on a Smith Travel trip to Egypt that very quickly turned into something more than [...]
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‘We hope for the very best’
by Mary Ellen Ellsworth ’62Click here to view a photo gallery On January 26, my husband, Mike, and I set off on a Smith Travel trip to Egypt with a planned extension to Jordan. The trip’s itinerary was quite wonderful, with several days in Cairo, cruises on the Nile River and Lake Nasser, and visits to Alexandria, [...]
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‘We had wandered into a war’
Photos courtesy Mary Maples Dunn and Bruce Hauck
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Bird’s-eye view of a revolution
by former Smith College President Mary Maples DunnOn January 26, former Smith College President Mary Maples Dunn joined twenty-four alumnae, their spouses, and friends on a Smith Travel trip to Egypt. They arrived in Cairo just as the country erupted and demonstrators against President Hosni Mubarak filled the capital city. For two tense days, Smith Travel and the tour company, Odysseys [...]
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Witnessing modern history in the making
by Gardi Pedersen Hauck ’65It’s almost impossible to put our Egypt experience into words. By Saturday, I was keeping my journal by the hour. Click here to view a photo gallery Our group of twenty-four was kept out of harm’s way by our amazing guide, 29-year-old Nora, who was so bright, beautiful, passionate, and forthright. Our [...]
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‘We had wandered into a war’
On January 27, twenty-four alumnae, their spouses, and friends on a Smith Travel trip to Egypt arrived in Cairo just as the country erupted and demonstrators against President Hosni Mubarak filled the capital city. For two tense days, Smith Travel and the tour company, Odysseys Unlimited worked the phones to get the group out of [...]
January 2011
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The Happiness Paradox
by Andrea Cooper ’83Sometimes happiness thrives under surprising conditions. Consider Lynne Thomas ’96. Her daughter, 8-year-old Caitlin, was born with a rare congenital disorder…
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Good Eggs
by Christina Barber-JustFor Phoebe Potts ’92 and her husband, four years of fertility treatments yielded nothing but a depressing tally: three unsuccessful artificial inseminations, four failed in vitro fertilizations, and at least five miscarriages.
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The Blessing of Alzheimer’s
by Christina Barber-JustIn 1995, Harrison (Hob) Hoblitzelle, the man Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle ’59 calls “my buddy, my husband, my lover, and companion in life,” received a catastrophic diagnosis: Alzheimer’s disease.
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Tiffany Montague ’96: Space Commander
by Christina Barber-JustA business development manager in Google’s New Business Development group, the title on her business card reads “Intergalactic Federation King Almighty and Commander of the Universe.”
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Remaking a Classic
by Jane L. Levere ’72When landscape architect Signe Nielsen ’72 took on the massive job of transforming the exterior spaces of New York City’s Lincoln Center, her vision for one section of the grounds started with a request from Peter Martins.
December 2010
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Guiding Caregivers
by Karen D. BrownJamie Spooner ’87 became a long-distance caregiver when her mother called from across the country to say her father had not been out of bed that week.
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We Know She’s In There
by Debra MichalsIn her room in the rehabilitation center where she’s lived since late summer 2006, Margaret (Maggie) Worthen ’06 is answering an interviewer’s questions as best she can.
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Wear It Well
by Christina Barber-JustAndrea Shapiro ’88 had long been perplexed by the fact that organizations serving the homeless and poor in her Massachusetts community had piles of donated clothing but no efficient means to distribute them to those in need.
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A Force in China’s Art Scene
by Christina Barber-JustMegan Connolly ’00 and her sister are the self-described expat “New York City gals” behind a two-year-old Beijing-based art venture called ChART Contemporary.
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All the Right Notes
by Maida Pineda ’96Back when Jeannie Cho Lee ’90 was still a student at Smith, she went to Oxford to study for her junior year. During breaks and holidays, she and a friend would spend their days traveling around France and Spain …
November 2010
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Eating Well
by Jane FallaOne of Laura Trice ’90’s aha moments came when she was working as a set medic for the show 7th Heaven; she noticed that people who headed for the donuts often came to her with headaches later in the day. That only reinforced what she had witnessed as a medical school student. “I [...]
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Live on “Today”
by Christina Barber-JustSara Haines ’00 may be the only person in television who started at the top. An NBC News contributing correspondent, Haines appears daily (live and in taped segments) on the fourth hour of “Today,” her first paying on-camera job.
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Faith Moore ’70: Event Planner
by Christina Barber-Just“Ancillary skills are a very good side door through which to enter the event world,” Moore says. Graphic designers, caterers, tour guides, and those in the hotel industry all have an edge as aspiring event planners.”
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Sixteen Candles Revisited
by Aimee Swartz ’98It’s been twenty-six years since the iconic coming-of-age film, Sixteen Candles, was first released, and, with its shy, gawky heroine played by Molly Ringwald, it may seem like an odd source of inspiration for a new novel. But author Ernessa Carter felt the moment was perfect.
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Freedom Fighter
by Christina Barber-JustHuman trafficking is often described as modern-day slavery. It applies to any person or groups of people forced into servitude for sexual, labor, or other reasons.
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A Self-Publishing Success Story
by Jane Falla“I was never going to self-publish. I was taking the book around to agents—a couple were Smith contacts—and for one reason or another, it wasn’t along the lines of what they were doing at their agency.”
October 2010
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The Lives We Lead: Lisa Slavid ’90
by Jenny Hall AC ’04Initially, I had some hesitation about coming to a women’s college. Although I might have known at the time I was gay, I wasn’t sure, and I thought, where am I supposed to meet guys?
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The Lives We Lead: KP Perkins ’85
by Jenny Hall AC ’04Coming to Smith was my “aha” moment because it was the first time I had been exposed to the variations within my own culture, to “my” history. My background was different than that of most of my peers. They had grandparents who had been slaves, who had a history of segregation and oppression. My grandparents were voluntary immigrants from the Caribbean, and my parents were first-generation Americans.
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The Lives We Lead: Evelyn Boyd Granville ’45
by Jenny Hall AC ’04We had to have a “posture picture” when we entered, and when I saw myself I thought, my god, that girl is as thin as a rail. I’ve got to get a little weight on me.
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The Lives We Lead: Sandra Laney AC ’96
by Jenny Hall AC ’04Smith gave me a place to redefine myself. When I was at Green Street studying, I was nobody’s mother, nobody’s wife, just me. Smith gave me a place and space to figure out who I was.
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A Horse-Racing Phenom
by Jane FallaWhat’s refreshing about the film, “Secretariat,” which opened across the country earlier this month, is the attention it pays to the personal story of Secretariat’s owner, Helen (Penny) Chenery ’43.
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A Voice For Understanding
by Linda Kramer Jenning ’72Since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named Farah Pandith ’90 to the newly created position of special representative to Muslim communities, Pandith has met with Muslims of all ages and backgrounds.
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Photographer Alison Shaw ’75
by Christina Barber-JustThe Boston Globe has called Shaw “one of the island’s signature photographers,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Stan Grossfeld has said that “she is to the Vineyard what Georgia O’Keeffe is to the American Southwest.”
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Come On, Get Happy!
by Christina Barber-JustWomen tend to sweat the small stuff, and it can chip away at our happiness. But you can work on being happier, says psychiatrist Catherine Birndorf ’88, Self magazine’s mental-health expert and co-author of The Nine Rooms of Happiness: Loving Yourself, Finding Your Purpose, and Getting Over Life’s Little Imperfections (Voice, 2010).
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Estrogen and Memory
by Christina Barber-JustAs a new study conducted by neuroscientist Emily Jacobs ’04 shows, estrogen has a direct effect on cognition during a woman’s menstrual cycle.
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A Diabetic’s Best Friend
by Christina Barber-JustThe accuracy of glucose meters used by diabetics has been questionable. But, Lisa Horween-Kelly ’81 has a solution, thanks to some “furry continuous glucose monitors.”
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Trading Up
by Karen BrownShahnaz, a former investment banker and publishing executive and mother of two, is the founder and chair of Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), the first socially responsible stock exchange in Asia.
September 2010
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Decoding Disease
by Aimee Swartz ’98“We took our vaccine from village to village and brought the sickest children back to the bush hospital in our medical truck,” recalled De Groot, now an infectious disease doctor specializing in vaccine development.
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“I see poetry everywhere”
by Christina Barber-JustPoet, playwright, and performance artist Lenelle Moïse, MFA ’04, is already a triple threat, and now the Haitian-born Moïse is Northampton’s new poet laureate, selected for the two-year post by the Northampton Arts Council.
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Chapters of a Life
by Elise GibsonHer books celebrate the quiet moments of family life, moments so small, so ordinary that they might otherwise be overlooked. Katrina Kenison Lewers ’80 likes to say that “ordinary gets a bad rap,” and when you see how she lives you understand what she means. “Ordinary” doesn’t mean “second-rate” or “mediocre.”
August 2010
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Found At Sea
by Christina Barber-JustA Pearl in the Storm, McClure’s memoir about her solo journeys across the ocean, is being hailed as a story of adventure, courage, and personal discovery.
McClure’s day job is a little tamer: She serves as vice president for external relations, enrollment management, and student affairs at Spalding University, in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lives with her husband, Mac. -
Ode to an Alumnae Magazine
by Christina Barber-JustJoan Prusky Glass ’98, MEd ’99, has a stressful job (administrator in the Norwalk, Connecticut, schools) and a hectic family life (married, two preschool-age kids). So for her the Quarterly—especially the class notes section—is her main link to Smith and her former classmates, as it is for many other alumnae. Reading the Quarterly, she says, [...]
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Julie Bowers ’94: Pilot
by Christina Barber-JustWith a captain, Bowers flies an MD-88—a 142-seat McDonnell Douglas twin-engine jet airliner—on two- to three-hour flights departing from and returning to Atlanta. She pilots as many as five flights a day, working three or four days at a time (including lots of weekends and holidays), then enjoys several days off at home in Powder Springs, Georgia.
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Green’s Best Messenger
by Christina Barber-JustEnvironmental journalist Simran Sethi ’92 is everywhere these days. Maybe you’ve seen her on the Sundance Channel’s The Green, which she co-hosts, or on news programs and talk shows, dispensing eco-advice.
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Wearable Electronics
by Christina Barber-JustElectronic textiles (or e-textiles) have come a long way since 2003, when Burton Snowboards and Apple teamed up to create a snowboarding jacket with iPod controls built into the sleeve. While most of these “smart clothes” are technology focused, Lynne Bruning ’87 has found her niche at the intersection of high science and high fashion. As she says, “What’s very different about what I do is I make it look good.”
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My Hope for Haiti
by Elizabeth Gibbons ’76The news that Haiti had been hit by an earthquake came to me in a text message from a former colleague of mine in the UNICEF-Haiti office. My first reaction was, “This can’t be true!”
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First Responder
by John MacMillanMelinda Miles ’98′s work in Haiti is all about bringing people together. Those connections were vital in getting aid to the country immediately after the earthquake and may be key to building a new, stronger Haiti.
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Higher Purpose
by Tzivia GoverFrequent fliers take note: The next time you get on an airplane, consider giving a nod to Gloria Heath ’43, a pioneer in flight safety whose work, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has contributed to saving tens of thousands of lives.
