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In this issue…
Volume 3 • 13 February 2008• Issue 1
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Welcome from the Executive Director
Support and sisterhood, 24-7 |
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Alumnae Quarterly Talk amongst yourselves |
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Alumnae Calendar
Reunion 2008, spring Lyon Lectures, new MHC directory |
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News and Events
MHC alumnae in the media |
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I-Witness Bosnia in 2008 |
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Online Class Notes Read the latest news from your sister alumnae |
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Rochelle Calhoun ’83
Executive Director, Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College
Congratulations to Christine McGonigle Newcamp ’88, winner of the Alumnae Association’s
$1,000 travel prize. Christine’s name was chosen in a drawing that included all former travelers
who had signed up for an Alumnae Association Educational Travel trip by December 2007.
Bon voyage, Christine.
Tomorrow is February 14! Surprise a classmate with an MHC e-Valentine.
Welcome from the Executive Director
t’s February: winter doesn’t seem to know when it’s time to leave, and spring is nowhere in sight. At this time of year it’s tempting to drift into midwinter blahs—not quite the blues, but close. There’s another choice, though. I like to think of the alumnae community as an antidote to whatever ails you, a tonic of support and sisterhood wherever you are. At the Alumnae Association, we created MHConnect so you can do just that: reach out and connect with fellow alums for conversation, career advice, or carping about the weather, if that’s what you need.
Once you’ve reached out to your MHC friends through one of our discussion groups, on LifeNet, or on our new Alumnae Quarterly “blogazine” (read more about the blogazine below), you may want to expand the pleasure by taking a trip together. Check out the Alumnae Association’s Educational Travel offerings on our Web site—and then get packing. You can journey along the Silk Road in China, explore the Dalmatian Coast, cruise the Danube River, or visit gorgeous English gardens in May. I just returned from an Educational Travel trip with a group of intrepid alums to the Amazon, where we learned about local wildlife while basking in the Peruvian sun. (Talk about banishing the blahs.)
If you can’t join us on an international trip, come back to campus and pay us a visit. Did you know we’ve started a series of gatherings for alumnae in their career fields? Our first event, “The Future in Communications,” will take place at Mount Holyoke February 29-March 1. Journalist Priscilla Painton ’80 is our Friday night keynote speaker for the event, which also includes alumnae panels, a gala dinner, breakout discussion groups, and opportunities for networking and socializing. Registration is still open, so please join us if you can. Education is the focus of the next professional conference in 2009, and future events are in the works for alumnae in the sciences, arts, politics, and many other fields.
Can’t make it to campus but want to stay connected? Take a look at our new class and club Web sites and see what’s happening in your area. Find a long-lost classmate through our online directory. Or just send a simple hello to an old friend with one of our beautiful e-cards. Any way you choose to stay in touch, you keep our community lively and engaged—and you just might give a lift to a sister who’s counting the days until spring.
Warm regards ,
W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83
Executive Director, Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College
Alumnae Quarterly
ere are shortcuts to the “Learn More” items at the end of feature articles in the latest Alumnae Quarterly magazine. Haven’t received your winter issue yet? You can read any article from the magazine online at your convenience.
Innovative Science Teaching at MHC: For statistics about MHC’s historic leadership in science, links to science department Web pages, and more, visit
www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/science
Alumnae and Students of Color Conference: For comments about and initiatives arising from the fall conference, and photos from the weekend, visit
www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/ASCC
Rowing for All: For more about rowing for those with physical challenges, and for the story of how an MHC carpenter’s ingenuity allowed Julie Holley ’87 (who uses a hook-ended prosthesis on her right arm) to wield an oar, visit
www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/holley
Global Visions: To see the winning photos taken by MHC students abroad, go to www.mtholyoke.edu/global/17635.shtml The contest is sponsored by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.
Thoughts on Evolution: For books and Web sites about evolution recommended by professor of biological sciences Stan P. Rachootin, visit www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/evolution
Helping Cambodian Kids: For more about the work of The Sharing Foundation, founded by Nancy Woodward Hendrie ’54, visit www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/Hendrie or
www.sharingfoundation.org
Creature Feature: For information about the professors pictured with their animals in the winter issue, visit www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/go/profinfo
Robin Blaetz
Alumnae Calendar
Reunion 2008
Are you coming home for reunion this year? During reunion weekend, the campus comes alive with excitement as spring blooms appear, banners unfurl across buildings, and hundreds of alumnae return to celebrate their alma mater. Classes coming back to campus this year include:
Reunion I: May 23-25
Classes of 1933, 1938, 1958, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2006
Reunion II: May 30-June 1
Classes of 1943, 1948, 1953, 1963, 1968, 1973, and 1978
We hope you have saved the date, and are making plans now to return to campus. You can find up-to-date information and details on our Web site. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail Joni Haas Zubi.
Spring Lyon Lectures
For years, the Lyon Lecture series has brought the intellectual life of the campus to alumnae in their communities. This spring, popular Mount Holyoke film professor Robin Blaetz will present two Lyon Lectures, in Chicago and in Greenwich, Conn. Her lecture, “Inside an Online Course,” illustrates how she created an online film course last fall in a unique collaboration between the College and the New York Times.
You can hear Professor Blaetz in
Greenwich – April 27, 2008
2 pm: Refreshments and Hors d’oeuvres
The Greenwich Library
Cole Auditorium
East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT
Chicago – May 1, 2008
6:30 pm: Refreshments and Hors d’oeuvres
The Fortnightly of Chicago
120 E Bellevue Place, Chicago, IL
For more information, please e-mail assistant director of clubs Krysia L. Villón ’96.
New Alumnae Directory
For generations, the Alumnae Association has honored Mary Lyon’s decree to publish a directory of alumnae names and addresses every five years. In keeping with this tradition, we plan to publish the next alumnae directory in November 2008. The new directory will contain up-to-the-minute information about our alumnae, including details about career, advanced degrees, honors and awards, and other highlights. It will also be available in a CD version. Once again, we’ve partnered with Harris Connect, a trusted colleague, to gather updated information for publication in the directory. Please keep an eye on your mailbox or your email inbox—mail and email copies of the first questionnaire will be sent the week of March 17-21. (All information will be kept strictly confidential.) You can also check your current listing in our online directory to see what needs updating. Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation!
Bessy Magdalena
Reyna ’70
Carlyn Saltman
’80
Mona Sutphen’89
News and Events
Bessy Magdalena Reyna ’70, an OpEd columnist for the Hartford Courant, published a powerful piece about “the value of a vote” on January 18. More…
Documentary filmmaker Carlyn Saltman ’80 was interviewed in January by Greenfield Recorder reporter Richie Davis about the Web site EarthThrives.com, a “virtual neighborhood” of the Pioneer Valley that she helped create and that highlights local environmental efforts. More…
Foreign policy expert Mona Sutphen ’89, managing director at Stonebridge International LLC and co-author with Nina Hachigian of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise, was interviewed about the book last month by David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times, during a public event at the Center for American Progress. More…
Tahmima Anam ’97 recently published A Golden Age, a novel set in Pakistan in 1971, against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War of Independence. The book has received excellent notices in the international press and was reviewed in the New York Times on January 27, 2008. More…
Jo Jensen ’07, director of the advocacy group Students for Saving Social Security, was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on January 8, 2008, in an article about her group’s unusual success in pressing presidential candidates to pledge to make Social Security reform a priority in their campaigns. More…
Maria Alaguru ’02
To view a slideshow of a series of photographs from Maria Alaguru of the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, please visit our Web site.
I-Witness
aria Alaguru ’02 is currently teaching in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her story and the photo essay that follows illustrate the profound changes in the region since the
Bosnian War of 1992-1995:
“Most people who know of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina know it for the Old Bridge, Stari Most, and the war that brought it down in November 1993. They may even know of its reconstruction and reopening in 2004. When United World College in Mostar offered me a teaching position here last year, I faintly remembered coming across the city’s name in the Malaysian news as a teenager—something about a bridge—but I was reminded more of something a Serbian friend, Tijana Antonic ’03, had told me at Mount Holyoke years later: bridges had been a popular war target in her part of the world.
“Many believe that Bosnia and Herzegovina is still at war, struggling to keep up with the volatile activity in the former Yugoslavia. Yet fifteen years have passed since the violence ended and a whole new generation of citizens, many of whom returned after years abroad as refugees, are now in their early adult lives. Memories of the war have survived in the form of ruins and a spattering of bullet-holes on buildings around the city, such as the one on the Mostar Gymnasium, where I teach. One feels a momentary stab of anguish and guilt at the sight of a friendly passer-by missing a limb, or a photograph shared of a dear one lost. And yet the novelty of living with these memories is wearing thin. It is drowned out by the sound of blaring Bosnian folk and American pop, the smell of coffee and cigarettes at outdoor cafés under brilliant golden sunshine, or indoors while rain pours outside the windows. War memories fade at the sight of a gaggle of material girls decked up in the latest styles, contented loving families out and about, young and old sitting around tables basking in the pleasure of each other’s company, romantic couples strolling quietly in the evening light. I often catch myself wondering how a war could have happened here. Beneath the leisurely pace, Mostar trembles with a youthful restlessness for life reminiscent of Berlin.
“Reconstruction washes steadily though unevenly over the city, like toadstools after the rain. Traffic between the east and west banks of the Neretva is constant over the many bridges of Mostar. My personal delight is drawn from the genuine social character of the city’s folk that pervades all aspects of life, and is satisfying in and of itself. In particular, there is a freedom to express emotion that I have never seen anywhere else—a sheer luxury and exquisite relief. My heart and hope is in Mostar today, in its youth and resilience, its honesty and generosity, even its existential moments. It doesn’t get more human than this.”
Visit our Web site to view her photo essay.
Are You Connected?
To post or read online class notes, you must be registered with MHConnect. Click here to register now.
Joshua Eli Weiner, son of Ellen Dangler Weiner ’94
Kiefer Willem Ebling, son of April Stroud ’99
Svea Wentzler ’06
Online Class Notes
o read more online class notes,
or post your own notes and photos, please visit our
Web site.
Heather Lee Ingram Whipple ’90 was recently promoted to Director, Medicare Practice at Health Strategies Group located in Lambertville, NJ. “I’m now heading up the Medicare practice with Health Strategies Group and LOVING it. I left Novartis at the end of 2006 due to overwhelming travel — it was a good move. It’s nice to have interesting work AND balance!!!”
Ellen Dangler Weiner ’94 and Rabbi Robert Weiner are proud to announce the birth of a baby boy, Joshua Eli. He was born on October 10, 2007 in Westchester, New York, and weighed 5 lb., 11 oz.. Big sisters, Rachel Echols (6-years-old) & Emma (7-years-old), love doting on their little brother. Joshua was very excited to meet them, eagerly arriving one month earlier than planned…
Anne Werley Smallman ’97 and Robert Smallman are proud to announce the birth of a baby girl, Maisie Hannah Smallman. She was born on December 14, 2006.
We’ve thoroughly enjoyed Maisie’s first year and big brother Graeme (6 1/2) is great with her. After a wonderful summer of unemployment and full-time mommy-ing, I am back to work coordinating our county’s bicentennial celebrations…
April Stroud ’99 and Roel Ebling are proud to announce the birth of a baby boy, Kiefer Willem Ebling. He was born on May 26, 2007 in Greeenfield, MA at Franklin Medical Center, and weighed 8 lb., 12 oz. He’s a happy and healthy baby… full of smiles and giggles.
Svea Wentzler ’06 writes, “After graduation, I went to Nepal to visit Seetashma Thapa ’06. I stayed for almost six months, worked with streetchildren, traveled and adopted a streetdog that I brought back to Europe with me. Ive been living in Berlin for the last 7 months, and love it. I work in a contemporary art gallery, do some freelance hair cutting and lots of fleamarket browsing. Im exited for Reunion 2008, and to see my little sisters graduate!”