WINTER 2026

“Because I grew up in Dhaka, in Bangladesh, right in the middle of the smoggy, light-polluted city, I do not remember seeing any star,” says Lamiya Mowla ’13, assistant professor of astronomy. That changed when she arrived at Wellesley.

Three alumnae—specializing in modern, American, and Asian art—are part of transformative curatorial initiatives at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

As fertility rates plummet in much of the world, Wellesley experts explain why it’s happening and what might be done to address it, and alums tell their own stories about their winding paths to becoming parents—or not.

As we celebrate our 150th year, Wellesley’s founding mission is more relevant than ever. Henry and Pauline Durant were inspired to create Wellesley College because they saw that our American democracy required educational opportunity to be spread as widely as possible.

“I was wrong” is one of the most difficult things for a human being to say. Imagine saying it when you have been a conservative public intellectual and expert on public education for decades. Yet that is exactly what Diane Silvers Ravitch ’60 does in her engaging new memoir, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else.

In November 2025, the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center hosted the “We the People” summit, bringing together diverse leaders to discuss bridge-building across political divides.

What do whaling dories, Longfellow, Bizet’s opera Carmen, and the Whitin Observatory have in common? They are all part of the story of Float Night. The story began in 1875, when Wellesley co-founder Henry Fowle Durant purchased three ungainly boats for the College.

While Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People’s Politician is a very different kind of work from Dan Chiasson’s previous five books—all collections of poetry—as soon as you hear Chiasson discuss it, you know that he was destined to write this book.

I had the dream again. I’ve been having it for years, about once a week. It goes something like this: I’m about to start my senior year at Wellesley. I’m always incredulous about it, like I woke up on the starting line of an Olympic sprint as the official is raising the pistol. Wait! How did three years go by so quickly? Why didn’t I appreciate them sufficiently? Why did I waste my time?

Tributes to members of the Wellesley community

Paul A. Cohen, Edith Stix Wasserman Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies and professor emeritus of history, died on Sept. 15, 2025.

Books and media by the Wellesley community

The College commemorated its milestone anniversary with “Wellesley at 150,” held in October 2025 in conjunction with Friends and Family Weekend.

As I write this column, 2025 is coming to a close, and by the time this goes to print, I’ll be completing my first year as assistant vice president. It’s been a whirlwind learning more about the WCAA, working with our incredible volunteers, and getting a real grasp of the magnitude of the most powerful women’s network in the world: the more than 40,000 Wellesley alumnae making a difference in our communities, in ways big and small.

Richard W. Wallace, professor emeritus of art, a specialist in the history of Italian Baroque art, passed away in July 2025.

Reports from Around Campus

When Janina Shivdasani ’26, Julia Kuang ’26, Lily Deutscher ’27, and Ella Kim ’26 entered the Wellesley College Business Case Competition last fall, they didn’t expect it would lead to presenting in a room packed with alumnae business leaders.

“When art opens our hearts and our minds up to metaphor, it also allows us to see possibilities in our current reality.”

Letters to the Editor, Winter 2026

For Sidney Aldridge Bonnet ’75, a retired pediatric hospitalist turned artist, landscape painting is more than a creative outlet—it is her way to give back to a deeply personal cause. For 22 years, Sidney’s son John, who has cerebral palsy and developmental delays, has lived at Marbridge, a nonprofit residential community in Manchaca, Texas. Since 1953, Marbridge has offered transitional and lifetime care for adults with developmental disabilities. John moved there right after high school. “The community is extraordinary,” Sidney says. “I have never seen a culture that is so beautiful and accepting.”

Sometimes change needs to start with something small. Perhaps even a tiny butterfly the size of your thumbnail. “I realized if I could convince people to just plant a plant that a butterfly might visit, that starts them on the road to becoming nurturers of nature,” says Mary Benton ’80, founder of Bound by Beauty and president of GROW (Gardeners Restoring Our World) Miami.

Documentary director Jennifer Redfearn DS ’03 illuminates social issues through “the humanity of the people who are at the center,” she says. The 2024 Guggenheim Fellow’s work has a clear theme: curiosity. Curiosity about the natural world led her to an environmental studies major at Wellesley. Though Jennifer found “becoming a scientist wasn’t the best fit for the way my curiosity worked,” taking photography and film gave her new ways to explore.