Saturday Speakers
Chrissy Griffth Heyworth and Mary Ray Struthers, curated an incredible group of speakers for us on Saturday; sometimes schedules and health issues intervene. But, as expected(!), the three in person and the four via video were spectacular!”
Dr. Anne Moore, our Smith Medalist and renowned now mostly retired oncologist, presented this slide show.
“Breast Cancer: A 50-year Journey”
“I wanted to be a doctor from the age of 4 and I arrived at Smith as a pre-med student. I worked at Cooley Dickenson Hospital in Northampton during the interim session, and I worked at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in NYC during college summers. I just retired after almost 60 years at Weill Cornell Medical Center in NYC, specializing in breast cancer. When I started my training, the radical mastectomy with a 2-3 week hospital stay was the preferred treatment. These days, breast surgery is commonly a day procedure and may be followed by radiation treatment, hormonal therapy and sometimes chemotherapy to prevent recurrence. The cure rate is high, and the advances in understanding the biology and the genetics of this disease are amazing! I already miss being part of this exciting field!”
Kate Bach Medina
“What do you want to read?
Days in the Life of a Trade Book Editor”
“I started to become an editor in a class at Smith College. Then, in the fall of 1965, I got a job in book publishing, and I have worked very happily in the book business ever since. Much of my life is centered around books, friends and family, including my husband Leo and my son, his wife and their two young sons; also graduate programs at NYU and programs at the Henry Street Settlement. As Associate Publisher, Executive Editorial Director, and Executive Vice President at Random House, I work with writers of fiction and nonfiction. Among the books I have edited are JAWS by Peter Benchley, memoirs by Tennessee Williams and Nancy Reagan, THE SOUL OF AMERICA and other books by Jon Meacham, CASTE and THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS by Isabel Wilkerson, and books by Tom Brokaw, Michael Chabon, E.L Doctorow, Fannie Flagg, Jane Fonda, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anna Quindlen, Gloria Steinem.”
Carol Rosenbaum
“Finding the power, passion, and humanity in each film story“
1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike (“Memphis” is the 2nd one down on the list; Carol wrote/produced the others.)
Carol’s website (Click on “Videos” then “Beating the Odds” for the heart transplant story.)
“What an exciting and varied career I’ve had! After Smith an MA at UPenn in English…then taught English at Community College of Philadelphia for 13 years as an Assistant Professor. Showed students so many films I decided to study film for a year at USC…and began to make films – and loved it! Then worked at 2 TV stations, first shooting video, then producing documentaries. For 40 years I’ve been an independent documentary writer/producer/director—winning 2 Emmys and 16 National Awards!! What a ride – and I’m still on it! And through most of it, married 39 years to my honey Rufus, and joyful for our daughter Sarah!”
Those who could not be present also have wonderful stories to tell:
Amy Kaiser, an award winning Choral Conductor for the St Louis Symphony, whose career might have begun when she (in babushka) conducted our Glee Club singing a Russian Folk song.
“How Smith shaped my Musical Life”
Retirement Tribute
“My first memory was listening to my mother’s 78 recordings of the great Marion Anderson singing Schubert songs and spirituals and it got me at age 3 and I was transfixed. So when I was around 14, I would come home from school and play through piano parts of the Mozart operas and sing all the parts. I learned Italian in order to do that. Then in college was the first time I discovered choral music. When I graduated at age 20, I knew I was a professional choral conductor. This was 1965, and there were very few women in professional music and it was only in the early 70s with the Women’s Movement that there began to be the dream of conducting professional ensembles…and so I moved to NYC and was able to get a few part-time jobs doing a lot of professional choral work and having the time of my life until I realized I had to get a real job…and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus was the one [of two offers] I was thrilled about.” [And there she went and stayed from 1995-2021.]
Taken from a tribute for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts to Amy by the SLSO in 2021.
Trudy Rubin, an amazing, talented Journalist who could not be with us because…she was in Ukraine. Here is an older photo of her standing on a downed Russian helicopter nearer to the beginning of the War.
“What it’s like to be a Worldview Columnist when the world goes crazy”
Trudy’s LIVE WorldView Programs
Trudy is a member of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer where she has been an international journalist since 1983. Before joining the Inquirer, she was first a national correspondent, then Middle East correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor. With her special expertise on the Middle East, Russia, and Eastern Europe, she has written from more than nineteen countries, including four lengthy trips to Ukraine since February 2022. A two-time Pulitzer finalist for Commentary in 2001 and 2017, she was the winner in 2018 of the Overseas Press Club of America’s Flora Lewis Award for Best Commentary in International affairs. She is the author of Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq.
Deborah Deal Thiagarajan
“DhakshinaChitra Museum, Looking Backward at the Past for the Future”
DhakshinaChitra Story 30/04/2025
“When I decided to set up this museum DakshinaChitra in 1984, I went back to the University of Pennsylvania for an MA in South Asian Studies, focusing on Indian art. This complemented a year of Anthropology at the University of Rochester and my MA in International and Development Education at the University of Pittsburgh.I then completed a PhD in Ancient Indian History and Culture at the University of Madras. The museum opened in December 1996. During the years from 1984-2000, I researched, with teams, the architecture of the states, the folk performing arts and the crafts. I resigned as Honorary Director of the Museum in 2020. I was also the head of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage for the state of Tamil Nadu from 1984-1996. I have published on museums, crafts, and vernacular architecture.
Carol Wishcamper
“Maine Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Questioning our Stories of Who We Are”
Photo: Carol with Mi’kmaq Nation Vice Chief Richard Silliboy
“Dawnland” Trailer (a film about the TRC)
“Dawnland” Website (rent or purchase)
Additional Information
“When my children entered school, my love of learning – for myself…for my kids…for all kids – led me into education policy-making at the local and state board level. My impatience with the slow pace of social change motivated me to become a gestalt-trained organization development consultant working to advance systemic social change in the education and non-profit sectors.
My career path has not been linear. Over the years, my focus and energy have shifted as varying issues fire my passion for justice.
I never spoke in class at Smith. People and causes I care about sparked me to find my voice, speak out, and take on leadership roles. Most recently I was honored to serve as chair of the Maine Wabanaki State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first state government-sanctioned, grassroots-initiated entity to deal with harms to Native American people. Since 1966, Joe Wishcamper and I have been growing each other up through life’s phases. We moved to Freeport Maine in 1977 where we raised our two, now middle-aged, sons who continue to contribute to our ongoing maturation process.”