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As the College celebrates its sesquicentennial, we offer 150 glimpses into Wellesley’s inspiring story. Together, they illuminate the corners of campus, brilliant scholars, trailblazing alumnae, and moments of joy that have shaped this extraordinary community and proved the wisdom of our founders’ radical idea: Educating women leads to progress for everyone.
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Wellesley’s 150th anniversary is a moment to honor the College’s long tradition of service and embody its motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. To mark this milestone, the College community is aiming to collectively complete 150,000 hours of volunteer service worldwide by May 2026.
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Wellesley offers alumnae the chance to travel the world through programs that extend the College’s intellectual community far beyond campus. In July 2025, for example, a group of alums and guests boarded the Diana, a 192-passenger expedition vessel, for a 10-night cruise along the coast of Norway and through its fjords.
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One hundred and fifty years ago, Wellesley College opened its doors to 314 students eager to learn in a world that did not yet expect them to learn, let alone lead. Five years later, 59 graduates gathered in the drawing room of College Hall to form the Alumnae Association—planting the seeds of a community now over 35,000 strong.
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In August, Claudia Joskowicz, a video artist and associate professor of art at Wellesley, found herself in a bind. She was supposed to be wrapping up shooting on a new project set in Bolivia’s Andean salt flats. Instead, she was grounded on the opposite side of the country—without any footage to show for her efforts. On the eve of national elections, Bolivia faced a nationwide gas crisis, and the production bill for her project suddenly quintupled.
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New and noteworthy from campus
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Wellesley opened its doors to the 578 members of the green class of 2029 in August.
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Last spring, as part of Wellesley’s 150th anniversary celebration, the campus community was invited to submit proposals for projects commemorating the College’s rich and diverse history. Anna Mkrtchyan ’28 was one of the grantees.
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In September, Wellesley Repertory Theatre (WRT) welcomed the inaugural cohort of WRT grant recipients, Maia Macdonald ’06, Annie Jin Wang ’14, and Sabina Sethi Unni ’19, as part of the first Wellesley Repertory Theatre Festival. Above, Jess Balgobin delivers a monologue in Flood Sensor Aunty, a comedic play by Unni about community disaster preparedness. Learn more about the festival at wellesley.edu/news.