With dust storms swirling above, explosives dropping
in the evenings, and the Army rolling in, Air Force Major Kimberly Calcutt
McQueen ’99 sat atop Saddam Hussein’s former private terminal at the Baghdad
airport in the summer of 2007, maintaining the communications network for Air
Force personnel deployed there and preparing to set up communications services
for a newly arrived Army battalion. In the next four months she would connect
the Iraqi police force with U.S. forces and expand General Petraeus’s communications
network.
Despite the danger and pressure of the
assignment, McQueen relished the opportunity to use her skills. “The military
places a high value on knowledge and advanced education,” says McQueen, “but we
spend so much time training that sometimes it’s nice to actually get out there
and do the job.”
Despite the training, McQueen admits
that she never expected to find herself dodging mortars at the Baghdad Airport,
or taking shelter from falling bombs in a bunker before continuing her communications
networking tasks.
A young
alumna’s discovery in Yellowstone National Park is
causing a stir far beyond its gates and has sobering implications for the
future of the planet.
For nearly five years, Sarah McMenamin
’04 has been conducting research on a subspecies of tiger salamander, called Ambystoma
tigrinum, as part of her doctoral thesis at Stanford University. The
salamanders are robust little creatures that have flourished for thousands of
years in vernal pools and kettle ponds formed by glaciers.
Sarah McMenamin ’04 surveying a pond in Yellowstone National Park for frogs and salamanders. Photo: Yu-Jun Lee
President Creighton during the laurel parade Photo: Paul Schnaittacher
The Quarterly invited alumnae to submit questions for
President Joanne V. Creighton to answer. You sent many, and she chose which to
answer here. Others will feed into a farewell article planned for the end of
Creighton’s presidency next spring.
Q. I was a student on the committee of faculty, staff and students you formed in
1996 to develop the Plan for 2003. We spent a lot of time working on the
college mission that year. Knowing what you know now, how would that mission
statement be different? Elizabeth O'Donoghue '97
A. I’m proud that we were able to boil down the College’s mission into
a single sentence: it warms my heart as an English professor! The key elements in
that sentence—academic excellence, diverse residential community of women,
liberal arts, and purposeful engagement in the world—are still the touchstones
of Mount Holyoke today. I wouldn’t change a word.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the College today and what’s
being done about it? Melinda A. Mann ’79
Ten-year celebrations included a talk by journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault (left), student presentations (center), and (right) a meeting between student grant recipients and Center founder Harriet Levine Weissman ’58 (right).
Photos by Paul Schnaittacher (right); Fred LeBlanc
As the
Harriet L. and Paul M. Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts
celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, its impact as a vibrant hive for teaching,
learning, and social action at Mount Holyoke continues to grow. Operating out
of a few offices in Porter Hall, the center has insinuated itself into many
aspects of academic life on campus, has established bonds with the surrounding
community, and promises to be a source of new approaches to creative pedagogy
in higher education nationally.
“Our idea was to get our tentacles into
as many classrooms, as many faculty gatherings, as many student gatherings as
possible, and to really encourage and shape campus conversations,” said Christopher
Benfey in a recent interview. Benfey, a respected literary critic and author
who is also Mellon Professor of English, codirected the Weissman Center from
2000 to 2004.
Note: This article is part of "What Everyone
Should Know About...", a Quarterly series by MHC professors.
By
Sam Mitchell
Almost the earliest pieces of writing we possess speculate
and argue about the infinite. Greek philosopher Zeno's paradoxes are probably
the earliest. One of them (written in the fifth century BC) concerns Achilles, fleetest
of foot of all the Greeks, who is to run a race with a tortoise. He gives the
tortoise a ten-meter start. He runs ten times as fast as the tortoise, but
cannot ever overtake him. Why not?
By the time Achilles reaches the point
where the tortoise began, the tortoise is ahead, by one meter.
By the time Achilles reaches the end of
that one meter, the tortoise is still ahead, by ten centimeters.
By the time Achilles reaches the ten
centimeters, the tortoise is still ahead, by one centimeter.
Ireland’s President Tells Grads, “Do Good, Humanly Uplifting Things”
It is no accident that the peace and reconciliation that eluded Ireland during its decades-long “troubles” finally came to pass in a new era “where women’s talents are flooding every aspect of life as never before,” said Ireland President Mary McAleese in her commencement address to the class of 2009, which was broadcast live via the Internet.
“For centuries, the world has tried to fly on one wing, and it has not been a pretty sight as it struggled with the downstream consequences of wasting the talent and potential of that other wing, the women of the world,” she emphasized to the 566 women receiving degrees on May 24.
The challenges for women, of the developing world especially, remain daunting, McAleese went on, and all who were awarded MHC degrees—including thirty-six Frances Perkins scholars, one master’s degree recipient, twenty-four international students earning certificates, and three post-baccalaureate degree students—should “go and do good, humanly uplifting things that will not be done unless you do them.”
Inspiration to work hard and long and with indomitable spirit was provided by Luora Webb FP’09, who received her degree this year at the age of eighty-two and is believed to be the oldest person to graduate from MHC. The first African-American to be hired in the Springfield, Massachusetts, public school system, she received a standing ovation and roar of appreciation from the audience.
Also receiving honorary degrees at MHC’s 172nd commencement were Princess Loulwa al-Faisal al Saud, founder of Effat University, the first private university for women in Saudi Arabia; and Clare Waterman ’89, chief of the Laboratory of Cell and Tissue Morphodynamics at the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
When the news first hit that Michelle Obama was starting an organic
vegetable garden, I became obsessed, reading everything about it. As a
passionate locavore and organic foodie, I can’t begin to describe the thrill I
felt about her garden. As a black woman, my first thought went to the ancestors
who built the White House, imagining their pride and joy in watching one of
their daughters as she reminded the world of their legacy in ways they could
only dream about.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not “post-racial,” but I didn’t have any of
the racial anxieties that numerous brilliant black women bloggers and academics
have written about in relation to the First Lady’s garden. Instead, I
immediately wanted to know the veggies Michelle Obama was planting, who was
helping her, and whether this was her first garden. I wanted to know what
Michelle Obama’s favorite veggies were; if like me, she loved collard greens
and Brussels sprouts. I even wanted to know what books and resources she used
to learn about gardening so that I could read them too. It’s no secret that the
First Lady was really the Obama I wanted to vote for last November, but Barack
is all right too. (More)
The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience By Kirstin Downey
(Nan A.Talese)
Before
there was Hillary Clinton or Condoleezza Rice there was Frances Perkins
(MHC 1902), secretary of labor under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The first
woman to hold a cabinet position, Perkins initiated sweeping changes to
labor laws including the eight-hour workday, Social Security, and
child-labor laws. In this biography, new light is shed on a
largely forgotten figure who was integral to the formation of theNew
Deal. Kirstin Downey is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist at the Washington Post.
Lessons From Freedom Summer: Ordinary PeopleBuilding Extraordinary Movements By Kathy Emery, Linda Reid Gold, and Sylvia Braselmann
(Common Courage Press)
In
this book, Emery outlines the impact of the 1964 “freedom schools” in
Mississippi that opened on back porches and in churches in 1964 to teach
confidence, voter literacy, and political organization to
African American citizens long denied all three. It also serves as a case
study illustrating thee lements crucial to the success of a social
movement that can inform present-day activists. Kathy Emery ’77
was a highschool teacher for sixteen years, coauthored Why is Corporate
America Bashing Our Schools, and is executive director of the San
Francisco Freedom School.
Moving Beyond Racism: Memories, Transformations, and the Start of NewConversations Edited by Heather PowersAlbanesi and Carole AnnCamp
(White River Press)
Susan
Daniels ’79 and Ivy Tillman ’83 are included in this collection of
twenty-one personal essays regarding race relations and racism in the
twenty-first century. In descriptions of events and memories, the
authors provide personal accounts of their experiences with racism, and
the realities that many Americans of color still face. Susan
Daniels ’79 is an executive recruiter for Deerfield Associates, an
executive search firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Ivy Tillman FP ’83 is
a technical support and repair consultant at the MHC library. (More)
The synergy of Reunion 2009 is evident in every embrace, outburst of applause, photographic pose, and colorful textile evident on campus during two weekends in May. More than 1,600 alumnae returned to reignite old friendships, gather in Chapin for the annual meeting of the classes, finger East Asian saris during a “back to class” session, and celebrate a sisterhood that shows no sign of fading.
Tattoos—Spirited Expression or Scourge of the Skin? Alumnae and parents sound off.
*What do you think? Add your two cents about body ink by using the "add comment" at the bottom of this page.
As a tattooed member of the class of 1957
(yes, '57!), I'm delighted to learn that I would find plenty of company on
campus! After a trip to French Polynesia in 2004, I knew I wanted one; the
question was, "where?" At my age, most of the favorite places (upper arms,
belly, rump, thigh) are no longer "out there." Then I remembered one of the
natives with a tattooed wedding ring. Aha! A toe ring! And that's what I have today.
Jan Laing Hetterly '57
Fairfield, Connecticut
For my eightieth birthday, I presented myself
with a tattoo for no particular reason except that, as a recent denizen of
hospitals, I wanted to be sure I was better identified than with a plastic wristband.
It is on my left wrist, easily hidden by a
wide bracelet when my age group might be startled. It has two colors (the inks
now are quite handsome): sky blue and coral; red for my Aries sun, blue for my
Pisces moon sign. The shape is a flower with seven petals in blue for my biofeedback
number, and a seven-pointed center in red. Nothing was more fun than designing
it myself with the help of an adorable young man.
Alumnae Break New Ground Preventing Disease and Promoting Health By Hannah Wallace ’95
The public health challenges of the twenty-first century are vast—antibiotic resistance is on the rise, childhood obesity is rampant, and nearly fifty million Americans are still without health care. Add the effects of global warming, cholera outbreaks in Africa, and the continuing HIV/ AIDS pandemic and these combined hurdles seem overwhelming, possibly insurmountable. Fortunately, Mount Holyoke alumnae are making significant strides in public health by founding innovative community-health organizations, launching national wellness initiatives, and collaborating with communities in Zimbabwe to stanch the cholera epidemic, to name just a few.
Deborah Klein Walker ’65, EdD
Title: Vice president and principal associate at Abt Associates, a public health consulting firm; former president of the American Public Health Association
Major at MHC: Psychology
Thirty years ago—when she was working at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare—Deborah Klein Walker didn’t even know what public health was. Today, she’s a nationally respected
public health expert known for her leadership on maternal- and child-health issues as well as substance abuse programs. She discovered public health while teaching community child-health studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and “never looked back.”
(More)
Since a “perfect storm” swept the US economy off its foundations last fall, the waves have eroded finances everywhere, including at Mount Holyoke. As President Joanne V. Creighton wrote to the campus community in January, “In the past six months we have seen the financial markets move from shaky to steeply lower and the economy as a whole move from weakness to serious recession.”
“The consensus view among financial experts is that the worst may not yet be over and that the recovery will be long and slow. The negative impact on Mount Holyoke and on higher education in general is already being felt, and it will continue well into the future. As a result, like many other institutions, the college needs to make both short term and longer-term changes to remain financially stable.”
MHC’s endowment—the income from this fund accounts for about one-fifth of each year’s operating budget— dropped by $155 million in the last half of 2008. But Mount Holyoke is hardly alone in being hammered by the recession. A national survey released in late January noted that American college and university endowments lost an average of 23 percent during fall 2008. “This is the most challenging environment that any of us in higher education have seen in our professional lifetimes,” Molly Broad, president of the American Council on Education, told the Washington Post in January.
This is true even though higher education’s endowments generally outperformed the market during the fall slide. For example, the S&P 500 index dropped nearly 29 percent during the second half of 2008, while MHC’s endowment value slid 22 percent during this period.
Girls never went to school when Tashi Zangmo FP’99 was growing up in a remote corner of Bhutan. She’s working to change that. (Photo by Ben Barnhart)
Many an alumna has been described as “following in Mary Lyon’s footsteps,” but the comparison fits Tashi Zangmo FP’99 better than most. Zangmo, a citizen of Bhutan— where many girls still lack even a primaryschool education— says her life’s work is to elevate the standard of female education in her country. And the parallels don’t end there. Both Lyon and Zangmo were raised in small villages, yet became highly educated women when this was rare in their society. Both aimed to create something large and lasting to benefit girls and women; and spirituality is central to the visions of both educational reformers. (More)
President Joanne V. Creighton to Step Down in 2010
President Joanne V. Creighton will step down at the end of the 2009–2010 academic year after nearly fifteen years of service. The seventeenth president of MHC, Creighton informed the college’s faculty of her decision at a special meeting in February.
“An extraordinary and palpable esprit de corps emanates out of the college’s inspiring history and mission; that spirit has been the engine of our collective success during the past dozen plus years,” Creighton wrote in a message to the broader community.
Creighton’s tenure has been marked by significant achievements. Since she assumed the presidency in 1996, applications for admission have risen by 50 percent; ninety new tenuretrack faculty were hired, and 81 percent of alumnae have participated in two fundraising campaigns.
“Joanne has a remarkable ability to bring out people’s best selves in service of the greater good,” said Mary Graham Davis ’65, president of the Alumnae Association. “The constructive agenda she has set for the extended Mount Holyoke community has kept alumnae informed and engaged. We have seen we really can make a positive difference in the life of our alma mater. The strong partnership we enjoy between the association and the college is no doubt one of Joanne’s most important legacies.” (More)
I got my first tattoo a month after my twenty-first birthday. I had been imagining it for six months and was ready. Or so I thought.
Having had surgery earlier in the month, I didn’t anticipate the pain being much of a problem. As soon as my tattoo artist-friend’s needle touched down, however, I was writhing in agony. I yelled louder than the TV I was supposed to be distracted by and ended up shaking in a cold sweat.
But the meaning of my tattoo wasn’t lost in those moments of concentrated pain. I focused on my tattoo’s story instead of the needle.
Before I could even talk, I would look at Audubon bird guides for hours. When I started talking, I could name most of the birds. My grandfather and I used to play a game in which he’d name the species of a bird and I’d find it in the book. That’s how I decided I wanted a bird tattoo.
(More)
Welcome to the “blogazine” (blog+magazine = blogazine) version of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. You’ll find the same articles as in the printed magazine; however, here we also post extras, and you may also comment on any article. Click the “comments” link to the right of the article title to read comments from others or to post your own. If you can’t find something, use the search tool, browse the categories below, or browse the archives.
With dust storms swirling above, explosives dropping
in the evenings, and the Army rolling in, Air Force Major Kimberly Calcutt
McQueen ’99 sat atop Saddam Hussein’s former private terminal at the Baghdad
airport in the summer of 2007, maintaining the communications network for Air
Force personnel deployed there and preparing to set up communications services
for a newly arrived Army battalion. In the next four months she would connect
the Iraqi police force with U.S. forces and expand General Petraeus’s communications
network.
Deborah Klein Walker ’65, EdD
