No, I am not talking about the controversial Keystone pipeline to move crude oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. I’m talking about a pipeline of Wellesley alumnae for the special awards that the Alumnae Association bestows each year.

Since 1970, the Alumnae Achievement Awards have celebrated Wellesley women who have brought honor to themselves and to Wellesley College through their outstanding professional accomplishments. The three most recent award recipients are highlighted elsewhere in this magazine. In 2014, we instituted a new award, aptly named the Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award, to honor outstanding alumnae volunteer service to Wellesley. Our first four recipients, spanning five decades in various volunteer roles, were recognized at Alumnae Leadership Council last year.

But the Alumnae Association needs you to help keep the pipeline flowing. Nominations for either recognitions can come from anyone, but most come from classmates and friends. Do you know of a class or club leader or an admission or Resources volunteer who goes above and beyond to make a difference for Wellesley? Is there a Wellesley woman whose extraordinary professional achievements have made a profound difference in a particular field or in the world? We want to hear from you. To learn more about both awards and their nominating processes, please visit our website.

This will be my last column as president of the Alumnae Association. Thank you so very much for the opportunity and honor of serving you in this capacity. Engagement, inclusion, and participation have been my goals. So, in addition to a robust pipeline of nominees for awards, I encourage you to please keep open the pipeline of financial support for Wellesley. Our gifts to the College help ensure that the Wellesley education and opportunities we benefited from will continue to be available to future generations of young women who may one day be recipients of a Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award or an Alumnae Achievement Award.