Winter 2022

Longtime alum couples provide a window on changes on campus—and in the world—for the College’s LGBTQ community.

A new institute at Wellesley co-founded by mathematics professors Ismar Volić and Stanley Chang supports education and research at the intersection of math and politics.

The pandemic has had a disproportionate economic impact on women, particularly women of color. How can we create a better economy for all?

Tributes to Wellesley alumnae by family and friends

D. Scott Birney died on Aug. 15, 2021, at age 95. Scott joined the astronomy department in 1968, and throughout his 23 years at the College, his good cheer, wry wit, and self-effacing demeanor made the Whitin Observatory a congenial and supportive home to both students and faculty.

Mary Ellen Crawford Ames ’40 passed away on Aug. 17, 2021, following a lifetime of achievement and adventure that spanned 102 years. For 70 of those years, she was an engaging presence at Wellesley as a student, class president, alumna volunteer, personnel director, and as the College’s venerable director of admission from 1969 to 1985.

Miriam Butt ’87, a professor of general and computational linguistics at the University of Konstanz in Germany, chose to attend Wellesley in part because it was one of the only American colleges at the time where she could study both Latin and computer science.

In 2010, Anne Shen Chao ’74 founded the Houston Asian American Archive at Rice University, an oral history collection about the lives of Asian Americans living in the Houston area. “We want to make sure that Asian American contributions are included in the narrative of Texas history,” Anne says.

Peggy Cullen Nicholson ’54 has accomplished a lot in her life: She taught French for years. She served on her town’s board of education. She’s the mother of three. She’s been a lifelong volunteer. And last fall, she rowed in her first race, at the Head of the Charles.

After concluding a national search, the Wellesley College Alumnae Association chose a familiar face to become editor of Wellesley magazine. On Nov. 15, 2021, Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 assumed her new role after 16 years on the magazine staff.

“We’re all in one big stream. Everyone is trying to find a way to be heard,” says Lois Roach, senior lecturer in theatre studies. In Roach’s course THST 106: Speaking Truth to Power, her students learn to speak up while hearing out other perspectives.

For the last year and a half, Christopher Arumainayagam, professor of chemistry, has sought to understand one of the most fundamental questions of all: How did life begin?

Last fall, empty red dresses swayed from tree limbs around campus. They were impossible to miss, or ignore. The installation, part of the REDress Project created by Jaime Black, a Canadian artist of mixed Anishinaabe and Finnish descent, was brought to campus by Wellesley’s Native American Student Association (NASA).

A lithograph of Empress Adelina, a member of the Haitian royal family, is part of the “Album Imperial d’Haiti,” dated 1852. This set of 12 pages is part of the Elbert Collection in Special Collections in the Margaret Clapp Library, which contains some 800 volumes on slavery, emancipation, and Reconstruction.

Grace Dodd ’25 was one of 15 members of her class to participate in Wellesley’s inaugural First Year Global Scholars program, in Athens

Working with College Chaplain and Rabbi Dena Bodian, Jewish students have edited and produced a Passover prayer book especially for Wellesley.

Macy Lipkin ’23 has been thinking about Wellesley for a long, long time. “My sixth grade science teacher went to Wellesley—Cindy Krol ’02—and I practically wanted to be her, so naturally I decided when I was 11 that I was going to come here, too,” she says.

At the end of the fall 2021 semester, a short punch list remained, but the completion of the Science Complex—the largest construction project the College has undertaken in more than a century—was in sight

Recent publications by Wellesley authors.

AJ Odasso ’05, teacher and poet, has stepped in a new direction with their first novel. The Pursued and the Pursuing picks up right where The Great Gatsby leaves off, but with a difference.

The Rock Eaters is a compulsively readable short story collection full of extraordinary happenings. Brenda Peynado ’06 makes the most of every single word in this debut collection, writing with confidence and musing thoughtfully on inclusivity.

State of Terror is a political thriller with all the fast-paced thrills and chills you’d expect from Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69 and award-winning mystery author Louise Penny. It’s also a celebration of a woman’s love for her country and her battle to protect it.

We believe that as the preeminent women’s college in the world, Wellesley has an obligation to advance women’s empowerment and gender equity, not just here on campus, but in society at large.

A Tree Grew in Illinois In 1954, I chose to go to Wellesley because it had the most beautiful campus of any other college I had seen. (The education was pretty great, too.) The beautiful...

One of my favorite features of my new office, which I moved into in November when I was named editor of Wellesley, is the bookcase of bound volumes of magazines going back to the first issue in October 1916.

Miss having your mind stretched and your ideas challenged in a Wellesley classroom? Through the WCAA’s new Virtual Faculty Speaker Series, you can have that experience from your living-room couch.

WCAA President Laura Wood Cantopher ’84 wants to know: “Who are you? What do you care about? What are the ways you support the College? How can we harness your enthusiasm for Wellesley in support of its mission?”

In February 2021, Wellesley launched a comprehensive alumnae survey, asking alums to evaluate the impact of their education and share their thoughts on their connection to the College. Here is what they said.

Maintaining a two-career marriage is a delicate balacing act.