Photo by Richard Howard

Paul Fisher, associate professor of American studies, took home the Alumnae Association’s 2019 Faculty Service Award for his active participation in the WCAA’s faculty speaker program. Over the last eight years, he has spoken to alumnae clubs as close as Boston’s North Shore and as far away as Northern California. Last year, he refused to be thwarted by a storm that grounded his plane and set up a video lecture on the spur of the moment for Wellesley in the Palm Beaches. His lectures on Mary Cassatt, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and John Singer Sargent and Belle Époque women’s culture get rave reviews and draw large, enthusiastic audiences both on the road and at reunion. Calling Fisher “a great ambassador for the College,” WCAA interim Executive Director Janet McKeeney ’88 said, “we are extremely grateful for his support of the Alumnae Association and his willingness to work with the Association to contribute to the lifelong intellectual connection between alumnae and the College.”