Winter 2023

Learn about five recently hired professors and their passions—from 19th-century travel and French literature to the impacts of social media use on health.

During a historic midterm election cycle, many Wellesley alums ran for office, driven by their desire to make change in their communities.

Black people are more than three times as likely as white people to die from pregnancy-related causes. Wellesley medical professionals and advocates are at the forefront of addressing this maternal health crisis.

Tributes to Wellesley alumnae by family and friends

Wellesley College Athletics mourns the passing of former athletic director and Wellesley Athletics Hall of Famer Louise O’Neal, who passed away on Sept. 17, 2022, in Plymouth, Mass. She was 83 years old.

Like many science-inclined students, Lamiya Mowla ’13 arrived at Wellesley intending to become a doctor. But an introductory astronomy lesson altered her ambitions—and the course of her life.

Courtney Streett ’09, a Native American and member of the Nanticoke Tribe, co-founded a nonprofit, the Native Roots Farm Foundation, to reclaim, cultivate, and celebrate Native relationships with the land, plants, and communities for the next Seven Generations.

After nearly 20 years in the House and Senate advising lawmakers on policy, strategy, and messaging, Bronwyn Lance ’90 this year became the first woman in the history of North Carolina’s 11th District to be named chief of staff.

In late May 2020, Michele Moody-Adams ’78 went for a walk, hoping to clear her head during a particularly busy season in her life. Instead the Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory at Columbia, stumbled upon a protest—and the inspiration for her next book.

As the WCAA headed into the holiday season, we looked back on the many ways that Wellesley alums connected with and supported the College and each other in the preceding year.

On the board, we regularly ask ourselves, “Are we spending our time on what matters?” I love this question, because it makes me stop and think, “Are we doing what’s best for Wellesley and our alumnae?”

Recent publications by Wellesley authors

Diamond Sharp ’11 knew from a pretty young age that she was going to be a writer. As a senior at Wellesley she began to write some of the poems in this debut volume, much of which deals with Sharp’s coming to terms with, and treating, her mental illness.

The Insider: A Life of Virginia C. Gildersleeve , a new biography by Nancy Woloch ’61, takes the life of a little-known, complex, and often obstreperous woman and makes it into a riveting story.

In Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality, 1920–2020 , Elisabeth Griffith ’69 undertakes the daunting task of documenting a century of women’s activist history in the United States.

Newhouse Visiting Professor of Creative Writing Lauren Holmes ’07 teaches Writing for Television. The course dissects TV pilots and web series. “I’m looking for the clearest examples of character building, story building, and the story engine,” she says.

Mingwei Song, professor of Chinese, was a child in China when he discovered a stash of books in the factory where his mother worked. He recalls reading fairy tales and, before long, works by Dickens, Hugo, Balzac, and others. Perhaps his early readings provided a key to the future.

Launching the Class of 2022.5 In December 2022, 62 students celebrated their final semester at Wellesley at a festive gathering in the Alumnae Hall Ballroom. Melissa Jo Zambrana ’15, assistant director of alumnae engagement, welcomed...

Wellesley is well known as an excellent liberal arts college—but also as a decadent chocolate cake.

“For me, vegetarian adobo represents how I like to think about Filipino food in my life. I can take dishes that remind me of my family and where we came from, but I can adapt them to my own palate, preferences, and values.”

“My biggest shock was seeing the amount of Venezuelans that reside in Buenos Aires and how they have built solid communities and organizations. It has been an awesome part of this trip I was not expecting, but I have gotten to connect to my own roots.”

Wellesley’s new Anne Shen Chao ’74 Office of Student Success is focused on the development of the whole person, and this requires collaboration across the entire College.

Just before the curtains closed on the fall 2022 semester, the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre in Alumnae Hall was transformed into the colorful Kit Kat Club of Weimar Berlin for the musical Cabaret.

“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Janet McDonald Hill ’69 (‘In Memoriam,’ fall 2022) and deeply grateful for the legacy she leaves on the Wellesley community at large and the Black Wellesley community specifically.”

On Jan. 15, 2010, I lurched out of bed at 7 a.m. and maneuvered my hugely pregnant self to the bathroom. In the dim hallway, I suddenly felt warm wetness on my legs, and saw a puddle forming on our uneven hardwood floor. My water had broken.

When we look at inequities in health such as Black maternal mortality, we need to recognize that this is more than a scientific puzzle—it is also a red flag for systemic failings that can only be solved with better leadership.

My mom said if she died and the house caught fire, I should go into the basement and save the negatives. The ability to reprint the family photos mattered more than the photos themselves.