Ruth J. Simmons’s experience as a Guest Junior at Wellesley helped shape the trajectory of her distinguished career, which has included her roles as the first Black president of Smith College; the first Black president of an Ivy League school, when she took on that role at Brown University; and the first female president of Prairie View A&M University.

What had begun as a set of urgent repairs to the Margaret Clapp Library grew into a reimagining of how the building might function—not just structurally, but academically and as a more accessible community hub for the campus.

This summer, as Wellesley closes out its 150th anniversary and the United States celebrates its 250th, Katharine Lee Bates 1880 stands as an exemplary scholar, activist, feminist, global citizen, community builder, and person unafraid to be herself.