Photos by Joshua Touster

Given annually at reunion by the WCAA, the Syrena Stackpole Award honors dedicated service and exceptional commitment to Wellesley. The 2017 recipients were:

Karen Capriles Hodges ’62

Hodges has been a tireless Wellesley volunteer on all fronts: for her club, for her class, for annual giving and planned giving, and for the Alumnae Association. She has served as vice president, secretary, class rep, and record-book chair for her class, and as president, treasurer, book-award chair, and communications/newsletter chair for her local club in Phoenix, Ariz. As a member of the WCAA’s board of directors and chair of its nominating committee, says current president Georgia Murphy Johnson ’75, Hodges “provided a clarity of organization and consistency of process that was much needed.” The model she developed serves today as the basis for the board’s process to identify and research candidates.

Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67

A trustee emerita who served the College from 2002 to 2014, Kaufmann embodies the term “intentional ambassador” and has engaged alumnae through more than 100 personal visits on behalf of the College. She has also lent support to the Religious and Spiritual Life Program through her involvement with the Unitarian-Universalist chaplaincy. An ardent supporter of and tireless volunteer for the Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies, she has also dedicated much energy to the Wellesley Centers for Women. In 2014–15, Kaufmann served on President Kim Bottomly’s Advisory Committee on Gender and Wellesley. She once remarked that her service brought her into a “joyful and intense relationship with Wellesley.”