Fall 2024

The 2024 recipients of the Alumnae Achievement Award are Claire Parkinson ’70, climate change scientist and social justice advocate; Joanne Berger-Sweeney ’79, college president and professor of neuroscience; and Amy Weaver ’89, business leader and...

For 50 years, researchers at what is now the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) have conducted groundbreaking interdisciplinary studies on social issues such as the effects of placing children in child care, gender equity in education, and the role of social media in adolescents’ lives. From the beginning, its mission has been to deploy rigorous academic research to address real-world problems.

My friends, and some of my professors, even, are not on campus with me anymore. But the trees are.

Amy Huang ’99 clearly remembers her experience in the Wellesley in Washington (WIW) internship program the summer after her junior year. A Chinese studies major, she interned with Leslie Griffin ’89, who at the time worked in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Asia department.

Earlier this year, I was fortunate to reconnect with my Wellesley little sister. We were matched in Pomeroy Hall in 2001 when I was a junior and she was a first-year. We had exchanged emails...

Recent publications by Wellesley authors

Thumbnail reviews of new publications from the Wellesley community

Anger. Love. Shame. Desire. Betrayal. These are just a few of the emotions that burn within the women in Their Divine Fires , the debut novel by Wendy Chen ’14. Spanning four generations in one Chinese family, the story begins in 1917.

When people hear “Walden Pond” they usually first think of the writer, transcendentalist, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who spent two years living in solitude on the shore of the pond, culminating in his classic...

Reports from Around campus

This fall, the newly renovated and restored Tower Court Residence Hall welcomed its 345 residents home to newly updated bathrooms and kitchenettes, new furniture in common spaces, new efficient and sustainable heating, and new accessibility...

At this year’s Flower Sunday, student speaker Katelynn Crespo ’26 (left) stressed the importance of finding joy amidst academic challenges and building meaningful relationships to serve as a support network.

Courtney Coile has worn many hats since arriving at Wellesley. She came to the College as an assistant professor of economics in 2000 and rose to the rank of full professor in 2014. As of July 1, Coile can add provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College to her résumé of Wellesley responsibilities.

Thanks to Shreeya Lakkapragada ’26 and collaborators across campus, as of this summer, Wellesley has two new swings.

It’s incumbent upon college campuses to provide what I see as a powerful antidote to polarization: pluralism, and the dialogue and diversity of ideas that come with it.

Bringing the World to Wellesley I was excited to read about April’s summit, Renewing Democracy: Women Leading the Way ( “Citizenship in Action,” summer 2024), because I was reminded of Miss Ball’s Symposium on Africa...

When I was in sixth grade, my family moved from Harvard, Mass., to Colorado Springs, Colo. Our new house was on a ridge with a view of Pikes Peak, which famously inspired Katharine Lee Bates,...

Tributes to Wellesley alumnae by family and friends

The “Boston gentlemen” have played a key role throughout Wellesley’s history. Henry Durant, the Hunnewells, the Kidders, the Stones, and others were the movers and shakers downtown who brought their time and talent to Wellesley to build and strengthen the world’s exceptional college for the education of women. Nelson J. Darling, Jr., was one of those gentlemen.

For almost a decade, Sara Simon ’13 built a career as a data journalist, with positions at the New York Times , Vermont Public Radio, and Spotlight PA, an investigate newsroom covering Pennsylvania. But this fall, she began a Ph.D. in history at Northwestern University.

Charlotte Ashamu ’01 began her career working in global economic development before moving into the cultural heritage realm. She is now the director of international programs at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University. Her big push in this new role has been to launch the Yale Directors Forum, a global fellowship that provides training for leaders at African cultural heritage institutions.

A distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Deborah Chung ’74 developed a building product called “smart concrete.”

On the last Saturday of each month, Jennie Gerard ’66 joins the Lake Merritt Weed Warriors, an all-volunteer band of gardeners she co-founded, to supplement public works staff by tackling much-needed weeding, planting, and mulching in the urban oasis in Oakland, Calif.

At our 1973 commencement, 426 seniors listened as Shirley Chisholm wove her hard-fought “firsts” into a message for us about activism, laced with bold truths. That day, her powerful words propelled me into our generation’s revolutionary times. How would I live up to her charge?