The Wellesley College Alumnae Association created the annual Sed Ministrare Volunteer Awards in 2014 to recognize dedicated volunteer service to Wellesley and celebrate alums who embody the College’s motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. The 2023 recipients, Beth McKinnon ’72 and Nida Mirza ’05, were announced at the annual meeting of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association at reunion.

Beth McKinnon ’72 has volunteered for Wellesley for over 30 years. A longtime Wellesley Fund volunteer, McKinnon most recently served as her class’s co-representative leading up to its 50th reunion in 2022. McKinnon’s dedication and work resulted in the class not only winning the participation cup during reunion weekend, but also breaking all three of its previous fundraising records. McKinnon has also been deeply involved with the Washington Wellesley Club as communications chair, secretary, and president. In 2012, she was invited to join the Wellesley College Alumnae Association Board of Directors and subsequently joined and chaired the Alumnae Achievement Award Committee. McKinnon’s commitment to her volunteer work for Wellesley has been described by a fellow alum as “steadfast and thoughtful” and her work ethic “as contagious as her smile.”

Nida Mirza ’05 is an inclusive leader who has made sure neither cost nor a global pandemic can get in the way of connecting alums to each other and to the College. Before relocating to the West Coast, Mirza was on the board of the Wellesley Club of Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts. Since 2017, she has been active in the Wellesley Club of Silicon Valley, first as the communications chair and then as president. Under Mirza’s leadership, the club offered workshops with the Wellesley Racial Justice Initiative and provided financial support to alums who otherwise could not attend club events. During the 2020 California wildfires and the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the club launched Community Connections to offer support to alums in need of local assistance. She was also an early adopter of virtual technology and opened up the club’s events to all alums. The club has continued to offer many virtual programs. Throughout her many years serving Wellesley, Mirza has made “thoughtful, welcoming, inclusive programming” for all alums a priority, as a fellow alum said.