Window on Wellesley

On the Road Again

On Patriot’s Day, Central Street in front of the College was once again lined with students holding signs and screaming their support for Boston Marathon runners.More
A photo portrait of Joy St. John

Agent of Change

Joy St. John, dean of admission and financial aid, is moving on. When announcing St. John’s decision to leave Wellesley this spring to serve as director of admission at Harvard College, President Paula Johnson said, “Under her leadership, Wellesley has recruited its most diverse classes, which has deeply enhanced the student experience.”More
A photo of Bryan Stevenson speaking at Wellesley.

A Voice for Justice

Lawyer and criminal justice activist Bryan Stevenson addressed the Wellesley community on April 28 at the combined Betsy Wood Knapp ’64 Lecture in the Social Sciences and Wilson Lecture. Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, spoke about the soaring number of Americans affected by mass incarceration.More
The Wellesley crew team holds their trophies in the air.

We Are the Champions

Wellesley Crew won the 2022 NCAA DIII Rowing National Championship on May 28 in Sarasota, Fla. It is the second time since 2016 that the program captured the national title.More
A photo portrait of Deana-Rae Weatherly ’22

Two Queens and Jamaica’s National Identity

At this year’s Ruhlman Conference, the first held in person since 2019, Deana-Rae Weatherly ’22 gave a presentation titled “Icon of a Nation: Black Womanhood in Jamaican Visual Culture,” based on her art history thesis.More
A photograph of three antique nails

Want of a Nail

When Daniel Sichel, professor of economics, isn’t doing research on economic growth, technology, and economic measurement, he enjoys woodworking—in particular making furniture. One day, while looking at a catalog of tools, he saw a listing for old-fashioned cut nails. He started wondering how much those nails would have cost in the 19th century, and he began looking at prices that economic historians had gathered.More
A photo shows the class of 2022 seated in the tent and looking toward the stage as Melisa Campos ’22 delivers the student speech at commencement.

Gathering Together, Heading Out

May 27 was a joyful day as Wellesley celebrated the class of 2022. “I am so proud of all of you for having overcome the many challenges of COVID-19 and arriving at this beautiful moment,” said President Paula A. Johnson.More
A photo of the almost life-size papier-mâché anatomical model of a woman.

A Model Woman

Among the hundreds of objects that were rediscovered during the recent move out of Sage Hall, the most remarkable is the almost life-size papier-mâché anatomical model of a woman made in 1928 by Maison Auzoux, a firm founded by French surgeon Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux.More
Pins made for art history and studio art majors depict the Jewett Arts Center and Pendleton , respectively.

College Road

Reports from around campus as the 2021-2022 academic year drew to a close.More
A photo portrait of Nina Tumarkin, the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Slavic Studies

Reconsidering Putin

Like much of the world, Nina Tumarkin was unprepared for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. “My reaction at the time was utter shock,” says Tumarkin, the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Slavic Studies and the longtime director of Wellesley’s Russian Area Studies Program. “An actual full-scale invasion and war seemed so unlikely and impossible.”More
A page from the journal Eva McNally ’25 kept for the class is collage of images and words decrying climate change.

An Interdisciplinary Lens on the Climate Crisis

On a frosty night in January, 90 students made the trek across campus to gather in the largest lecture hall in the Science Complex, H101. They were there for ES 125H/PEAC 125H: The Climate Crisis, a class that embodies one of the goals in the College’s strategic plan: “We will renew the structure of our academic program and draw the greatest possible value from finite resources by reducing the siloing of our academic departments and prioritizing interdisciplinary collaboration.”More