Alumnae Lives

Alumnae Achievement Awards 2024
Fall 2024
The 2024 recipients of the Alumnae Achievement Award are Claire Parkinson ’70, climate change scientist and social justice advocate; Joanne Berger-Sweeney ’79, college president and professor of neuroscience; and Amy Weaver ’89, business leader and…More
A photo portrait of Kathryn Mackintosh, WCAA executive director
Fall 2024
Earlier this year, I was fortunate to reconnect with my Wellesley little sister. We were matched in Pomeroy Hall in 2001 when I was a junior and she was a first-year. We had exchanged emails…More
An illustration depcits the number 50 surrounded by figures of women conducting research, providing child care, and working in Washinhgton, D.C.
Fall 2024
For 50 years, researchers at what is now the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) have conducted groundbreaking interdisciplinary studies on social issues such as the effects of placing children in child care, gender equity in education, and the role of social media in adolescents’ lives. From the beginning, its mission has been to deploy rigorous academic research to address real-world problems.More
A photo portrait of Sara Simon '13
Fall 2024
For almost a decade, Sara Simon ’13 built a career as a data journalist, with positions at the New York Times , Vermont Public Radio, and Spotlight PA, an investigate newsroom covering Pennsylvania. But this fall, she began a Ph.D. in history at Northwestern University.More
 A photo portrait of Charlotee  Ashamu ’01
Fall 2024
Charlotte Ashamu ’01 began her career working in global economic development before moving into the cultural heritage realm. She is now the director of international programs at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University. Her big push in this new role has been to launch the Yale Directors Forum, a global fellowship that provides training for leaders at African cultural heritage institutions.More
A photo portrait of Deborah Chung '74
Fall 2024
A distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Deborah Chung ’74 developed a building product called “smart concrete.”More
A photo of Jennie Gerard '66 working in the landscape around Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif.
Fall 2024
On the last Saturday of each month, Jennie Gerard ’66 joins the Lake Merritt Weed Warriors, an all-volunteer band of gardeners she co-founded, to supplement public works staff by tackling much-needed weeding, planting, and mulching in the urban oasis in Oakland, Calif.More
A photo shows an open combination lock.
Fall 2024
At our 1973 commencement, 426 seniors listened as Shirley Chisholm wove her hard-fought “firsts” into a message for us about activism, laced with bold truths. That day, her powerful words propelled me into our generation’s revolutionary times. How would I live up to her charge?More
LEADING WITH KINDNESS
Summer 2024
When Amy Weaver ’89 was offered the role of chief financial officer and president of Salesforce in 2020, her first reaction was shock. “I immediately thought it was ridiculous,” she says. She knew there would…More
EYES ON THE ARCTIC
Summer 2024
A minor regret Claire Parkinson ’70 has from her time at Wellesley is that she waited until her senior year to take the class that ended up exciting her the most: astronomy. A climatologist for…More