Politics+Society

A photo portrait of Rosanna Hertz, Class of 1919 50th Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies
Winter 2019
Rosanna Hertz, Class of 1919 50th Reunion Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies, chairs the women’s and gender studies department. Her new book, Random Families: Genetic Strangers, Sperm Donor Siblings, and the Creation of New Kin , co-authored with Margaret Nelson, takes on the question of who is family in today’s world.More
A photo portrait of Kavindya Thennakoon ’19
Winter 2019
On Oct. 11, 2013, the United Nation’s International Day of the Girl, Kavindya Thennakoon ’19 addressed Sri Lanka’s Parliament about the state of girls and young women in the country.More
An image of the cover of Crystal M. Fleming's "How to be Less Stupid About Race," is an all-type collage of remarks typical to race-related conversation--such as "What are you?" "That's Reverse racism!" and "I don't see color."
Winter 2019
Readers who believe in a post-racial America, in being color-blind in racially diverse situations, who are hoping for a kumbaya moment, are not going to have those needs met by Fleming’s book. But if they’re willing to let go of what they think they know about race and prejudice, Fleming will provide a bracing trip through how we do—and don’t—discuss race.More
2018 Alumnae Achievement Awards
Winter 2019
Wellesley’s highest honor was presented to Camara Jones ’76, a physician who has been a champion of racial and economic health equity, and quantum astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala ’90, who is part of the team that detected gravitational waves.More
A photo of an empty bird's nest
Winter 2019
What’s here that we’re not seeing? That’s a question I ask myself a lot, on all kinds of levels, literal and metaphorical. What have I missed? Are there realities here that are hidden by outward…More
Liz Miranda ’02 campaigning in Massachusetts; Lisa Shin ’91 poses in the New Mexico desert.
Winter 2019
Part of a wave of women who ran for public office in 2018, Liz Miranda ’02 and Lisa Shin ’91 never dreamed they’d enter the political arena. But both felt called to fight for what they think is right.More
A photo portrait of Alissa Carlat Ruxin '97shows her standing in front of her restaurant, Heaven.
Fall 2018
Alissa Carlat Ruxin ’97 never thought she’d be a restaurateur and hotelier—much less one living in Rwanda. But in 2007, she launched Heaven, a “modern African” restaurant that has become a popular destination in Kigali, the capital.More
A photo of Katrina Mitchell '96.
Fall 2018
Early on, Katrina Mitchell ’96 learned to look beyond herself to meeting the needs of a larger extended community. Her journey has taken her from the Children’s Defense Fund to the United Way of Greater Atlanta, where she is executive director of the Child Well-Being Movement.More
A photo shows Cheryl Finley ’86 signing books at the Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, Mass.
Fall 2018
A simple abolitionist illustration of human beings packed like cargo into the suffocating lower decks of a slave ship retains all its heart-stopping power. In Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon , art historian Cheryl Finley ’86 details the history behind the image.More
The cover of SAVING CENTRAL PARK depicts author Elizabeth Barlow Rogers leaning against a large rock outcropping in the park, with the silhouettes of skyscapers visible in the background.
Fall 2018
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers ’57, New York City’s first Central Park administrator and recipient of the 1989 Alumnae Achievement Award, has written a memoir/history of her remarkable leadership in restoring, conserving, and managing the city’s green heart.More