Music at Mills

From Milhaud to Mauleón

Mills QuarterlyFall 2008 Alumnae Magazine

M e e t t h e p r o v o s t t h e y w r i t e — a n d M a k e — t h e b o o k s r e u n i o n r e v i s i t e d

“Each morning, as I approach the doors of Geranium Preschool, my heart skips a beat, for I know that here at Mills I am living out my dream of being a teacher. Nowhere else could I teach and learn simultaneously. Nowhere else would I feel that others are investing in my future just as much as I am.”

Make a gift by phone: talk to the students who call you on behalf of the Mills College Annual Fund or call 510.430.2366.Send a gift in the enclosed envelope.Give online at www.mills.edu/giving.

Caitlin Alegre-Thiry ’09 Major: Child development.

Favorite class: Student-teaching practicum at the Mills College Children’s School.

How Mills invests in Her: By awarding her a four-year scholarship package supported by individual donors like you.

Help more students like Caitlin attend Mills!

Mills Quarterly

contents

on the cover: Jazz musician rebeca Mauleón ’89, MA ’97 and her band performed in the Student Union at this year’s reunion, just a day before appearing at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Photo by Dana Davis.

Fall 2008

12 1215 22 40

Departments2 campus contacts

3 Letter to the editor

4 Leadership Perspectives

6 Mills Matters

26 Bookshelf

28 class notes

38 In Memoriam

12 Aconversationwiththeprovostby Valerie SullivanSandra Greerarrives on campus with a wealth of experience and strong ideas on increasing women’s opportunities through education.

15 Livinginthewholeworldofmusicby David W. BernsteinGenerations of musicians have contributed to the world-class reputation of the Mills Music Department. today’s faculty continue to ensure that the college offers the best in artistry and teaching with a global perspective.

18 Awomanofnotesby Rachel HowardPauline oliveros made her own scene as one of the originators of electronic music in the 1950s. her example teaches women to claim their own voices in contemporary creative music.

20 Risingstars by Pamela Wilson and Linda SchmidtAs they draw from disparate cultures and techniques, four recent music graduates forge the cutting edge of musical composition and performance.

22 Anewchapterinbookart by Sarah StevensonWith expanded studios and a new dual graduate degree program, book art and creative writing continue to build their reputations.

24 AlumnaeawardsandclassmateconnectionshighlightReunion2008three alumnae are honored with AAMc awards for service and achievement. Plus: other reunion events and highlights.

40 Learningfromexperience by Sarah StevensonFor the past half century, the class of 1958 has participated in a long-term psychological study of women’s development. the findings have meaning for all of us.

2  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

volume XcvII number 2(USPS 349-900)Fall 2008

PresidentJanet L. holmgren

ExecutiveVicePresidentforInstitutionalAdvancementramon S. torrecilha

VicePresidentforDevelopmentvirginia v. rivera

DirectorofDevelopmentandAlumnaeCommunicationsDawn cunningham ’85

ManagingEditorLinda Schmidt

DesignandArtDirectionnancy Siller Wilson

ContributingWritersrachel howard Kelsey Lindquist ’10 valerie Sullivan Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Pamela Wilson

ResearchAssistanceAmber Williams ’10

EditorialAssistanceKelsey Lindquist ’10

SpecialThanksToAnita Aragon Bowers ’63

the Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly by Mills college, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., oakland, cA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at oakland, california, and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the office of Institutional Advancement, Mills college, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., oakland, cA 94613.

copyright © 2008, Mills college.

Address correspondence to the Mills Quarterly, Mills college, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., oakland, cA 94613. Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity or length.

email: quarterly@mills.edu Phone: 510.430.3312

Printed on recycled paper containing 30 percent post-consumer waste.

AlumnaeRelations 510.430.2123www.mills.edu/alumnaeFind out about Reunion, alumnae clubs, and events; update your contact information; and request our @mills enewsletter. email: alumnae-relations@mills.eduLaura Gobbi, Director ....................510.430.2112

Alexandra Wong, Program coordinator ................... 510.430.3363

Emailforlifehttps://alumnae.mills.edu

AlumnaeAdmissionsRepresentatives510.430.2135Help prospective students learn more about the College.Joan Jaffe, Associate Dean of Admissionemail: Joanj@mills.edu

CareerServices510.430.2130Connect with other alumnae in your field through Mills’ career network.

GivingtoMillswww.mills.edu/giving Make gifts to the Mills College Annual Fund or the AAMC endowment. holly Stanco, Annual Fund Director email: hstanco@mills.edu ..........510.430.2366

To contact any of these Mills College staff or offices by mail, please write to: Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613

AlumnaeAssociationofMillsCollege(AAMC)Learn about AAMC membership, merchandise, travel programs, Board of Governors, committee meetings, or reach your elected representatives on the College’s Board of Trustees email: aamc@mills.edu .................510.430.2110

Anita Aragon Bowers ’63, President ...................................... 510.430.3374 email: AnitaAragonBowers@alumnae.mills.edu

Bill White, Accountant .................. 510.430.3373

To contact the Alumnae Association of Mills College, please write to: AAMC, P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998

AtMills,forAlumnae

fa l l 2 0 0 8 3

It was with immense joy that I joined my 1957 classmates in attending our 50th Reunion in October 2007. I sent my Reunion gift to the Annual Fund in honor of my former French drama and poetry professor, Madeleine Milhaud, who was living in Paris at that time, aged 105. Our resilient Madeleine died on January 17, 2008, as noted in the Summer Quarterly by David Bernstein, then chair of the Music Department.

I had a sublime visit with Madeleine at her Place Pigalle apartment in Paris in June 2002, following her 100th birthday. Frail in body but strong in spirit, she was her vibrant, witty self as she recalled the luminous moments of her life, including nearly 50 years of marriage to her first cousin, the renowned composer Darius Milhaud, who died in 1974. After the German invasion of Paris in 1940, the Milhauds fled the country and began their extraordinary teaching at Mills College. As a French major, I, along with legions of undergraduate and graduate students, reaped the enormous benefits of their presence on campus. I spent my junior and graduate years abroad when the Milhauds were also in Paris. What truly magnificent moments we shared. By coming to Mills, I was forever blessed to have this radiant and valiant professor touch my life for more than 50 years.

—Kit Farrow Jorrens ’57 Acton, Massachusetts

KitFarrowJorrens’57(left)visitsMadeleineMilhaudinParis,2002.

LettertotheEditor

Agents encourage annual giving to Mills by sending

an annual letter to classmates and by helping the

College thank its supporters. If you’re interested

in serving as a class agent or would like more

information, please contact Danielle Brown

Stapleton at 510.430.3331 or dabrown@mills.edu.

1944 1950 1968 1972 1978 1987 1996

1945 1951 1970 1973 1981 1990

1948 1955 1971 1974 1983 1994

No secret: class agents inspire giving to MillsThe Mills College Annual Fund is seeking volunteers from the following classes to serve as class agents:

4  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

As I reflect on Reunion 2008—which was especially meaningful to me because it was my 45th—the word that is uppermost in my mind is “connection.”

Since the inception of the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) in 1879, one of the group’s main intentions has always been to facilitate ongoing connections among alumnae and to the College. This continues to be a primary goal of the AAMC today. Reunion events provide optimum opportunities for real-izing the goal of connectedness while they allow us to honor our past, celebrate the present, and embrace the future.

Whether we are recent graduates or celebrating our 60th Reunion, many of us returned to campus September 18–21 to delight in the warmth of friendships sustained through the years. As AAMC president, it was my special pleasure to become acquainted with alumnae from all the reunioning classes. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the AAMC volunteers and College staff who planned and facili-tated a very successful four days.

Events throughout Reunion Weekend were varied, inspiring, thought-provok-

ing, and fun—from the AAMC Awards Luncheon (see page 24) to the open stu-dio of Professor Hung Liu (whose Going Away, Coming Home mural was our visual theme for Reunion) to the Saturday night dinners of each reunioning class (which are always a high point of the weekend).

Reunion participants became students again by attending classroom lectures and other faculty and student presentations; we marveled at the accomplishments of today’s articulate, passionate Mills stu-dents; we saw exciting physical transfor-mations on campus; and we learned about curricular and demographic changes during President Holmgren’s informative State-of-the-College Address.

Alumnae were an integral part of the Mills community during Reunion, and there are many opportunities throughout the year to contribute our unique expe-riences and vision for the benefit of our College. Our actions and involvement can support the educational mission and the strategic plans of the College in many ways. I encourage you to remain informed by reading the Quarterly, the @mills email newsletter, The Campanil

LeadershipA Message from AAMC President Anita Aragon Bowers ’63

student newspaper, the Mills website, and other publications. You can directly sup-port student recruitment by becoming an Alumnae Admissions Representative. Contact Mills College’s Career Services about becoming a mentor to students or other alumnae. Your AAMC card entitles you to use the library, swimming pool, and gym; it also gives you reduced or free admission to campus events. Take part in regional branch or club events; for more information, contact Laura Gobbi, direc-tor of alumnae relations at Mills College. Look for contact information for Laura and various Mills offices on page 2.

In addition, I urge you to nominate a candidate for Alumna Trustee. Three Alumnae Trustees sit on both the AAMC Board of Governors and the College Board of Trustees. It is an excellent way for our voices to be heard at the College’s deliberations on important issues. See the inside back cover of this Quarterly for further information about the Alumna Trustee nomination process. I also encourage you to nominate candidates for the Outstanding Alumnae Awards (see page 25).

There are more than 20,000 Mills alum-nae throughout the world. Imagine the powerful, positive support we can give our alma mater through the investment of our intellectual, emotional, and finan-cial capital. I encourage you to join our efforts to ensure that Mills continues to be a distinguished college at the cutting edge of higher education.

Sincerely,Anita Aragon Bowers ’63

AnitaAragonBowers’63withclassmatesBethFeldhammerEiselman(left)andRoberta"Bobbi"MeyerBear(right).

fa l l 2 0 0 8 5p h o t o s b y d a n a d av i s

PerspectivesNot since the fall of 2001 have we had such a tumultuous and challenging polit-ical and economic climate for the launch of the academic year. The nation and the world community are roiling with ques-tions about social change, economic stability, and the environment. In the context of these challenges, it is truly a privilege to lead an academic community that is full of the enduring strength and vitality that lie at the heart of successful educational endeavors. Mills is strategi-cally focused on the education of our stu-dents, whose creative, generative work will change the future of our society.

There are many positive indicators that the 2008–09 academic year will be filled with energy, achievement, and distinction. This fall marks the beginning of another academic year with record enrollment at the College. There are 1,481 students enrolled at Mills: 973 undergraduates and 508 graduate students. A new strategic plan, endorsed by the Board of Trustees at its May 2008 meeting, has set out a path to guide us toward 2013. A distin-guished team of College officers, includ-ing our new Provost and Dean of the Faculty Sandra C. Greer, is working with the faculty and administration to imple-ment that plan. Our fundraising efforts for 2007–08 resulted in our exceeding our $15 million goal once again, with a grand total of $21.5 million. Importantly, at the end of June 2008 we had exceeded our $3.5 million goal for unrestricted gifts by more than $500,000. Our fundraising in 2008–09 continues the previous year’s strong pattern, including receipt of sev-eral large gifts and bequests.

The most inspiring highlight of fall 2008 at Mills was our Convocation and Reunion Weekend. Under the new

arrangement between the College and the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC), we worked together to provide a memorable and informative event for a record-breaking number of alumnae: 81 from class years ending in 3, 118 from those ending in 8, and more than 50 alumnae from other classes. Activities throughout the weekend focused on the core values of connection and investment in women as “holding up half the sky” that lie at the heart of Mills College.

The tone for this inspiring time of “Going Away, Coming Home” (as cap-tured in the beautiful artwork of Mills faculty member Hung Liu reproduced on the Reunion brochure) was reflected in events throughout Reunion. Class of 1958 alumna Trisha Brown, a renowned choreographer, experimentalist, and artis-tic leader, spoke at Convocation about her career path, her willingness to take risks, and her connection to her Mills experience. Students in their senior year, alumnae from the classes of the 1930s through the 21st century, families visiting for Family Weekend, faculty, and board members listened intensely and cheered her on—there was magic in the air as con-nections of mind and spirit spanned the generations.

Trisha Brown ’58 was honored again at the AAMC luncheon with the Distinguished Alumna Award, along with Peggy Weber ’65 and Ramona Lisa Smith ’01, MBA ’02. What a pleasure it was to be among alumnae, faculty, and friends to cel-ebrate the amazing accomplishments and contributions to Mills of these dear friends, alumnae from a range of generations.

As always, Mills alumnae recognized and stepped up to the College’s most important and pressing need: support

A Message from Mills College President Janet L. Holmgren

for our current and future students. The 50th Reunion class led the charge with the creation of the Class of 1958 Endowed Scholarship of more than $390,000. Thank you to all of our alumnae for your gener-ous support for the College in so many ways and for the reflection in your lives and connections of the values that con-tinue to inspire Mills. We hope you are as proud of Mills College as we are of you.

Sincerely,Janet L. Holmgren

Leadership

p h o t o s b y p h i l i p c h a n n i n g

Mills Matters

6  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

For five consecutive years, Mills has succeeded in expanding and diversifying its undergraduate student body while becoming more selective in admitting new students. Undergraduate enrollment hit a new record at the start of this fall semester—973 women, an increase of 32 percent since 2003—reflecting a succes-sion of large entering classes as well as improved retention of students as they progress from one year to the next. Mills’ total enrollment of 1,481 students also marks an all-time high.

In 2008, the College received more applications than ever from interested students (more than 1,700), admitted a smaller percentage of applicants, and welcomed a first-year undergraduate class with the strongest academic record in recent years. The 188 students in the Class of 2012 collectively hold a high

Fall 2008 enrollment profileTotal students 1,481

Undergraduate students 973

Students of color 34%

Multi-ethnic 13%

Full-time 93%

Living on campus 56%

Age span 17 to 93

California residents 78%

New to Mills 322

Graduate students 508

Women 80%

Students of color 31%

Multi-ethnic 10%

Full-time 84%

Living on campus 8%

California residents 82%

New to Mills 269

school grade-point average of 3.65. More than 40 percent of these freshwomen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class and more than half received academic honors or awards in high school.

Mills’ first-year class is also remark-ably diverse: half are women of color or multi-ethnic, half represent the first gen-eration in their families to attend college, and almost half come from homes where a language other than English is spoken. Twenty-four are Bent Twigs.

More students, more selective, more diverse

New loans and scholarship gifts help meet growing need for financial aid

As the economic downturn began to hit families nationwide in the first half of 2008, American cam-puses saw stu-dents’ requests for financial aid soar. The San Francisco Chronicle reported

on August 11 that requests in California have increased 20 percent since last year. At Mills, applications for student aid increased 17.1 percent.

To help meet students’ needs, Mills earmarked $18 million of its 2008–09 budget for financial aid—the largest amount ever. This aid benefits 91 percent of undergraduate students, who receive an average award of $30,835 toward tuition and expenses, which total $51,784 for a student living on campus. Among graduate students, 85 percent receive financial assis-

tance from the College. Such aid is crucial to attracting and retaining an academically strong student body.

But some students have seen their own resources dwindle in the time since they applied for aid and are struggling to close the gap between their scholarship award and total educa-tional expenses. The Chronicle article quoted David Gin, Mills’ associate vice president of student finance and administrative services, who said, “We had a number of students who have had the economic hard times of parents losing jobs or their assets. What they can liquidate now is different than in January or February [2008], when they filed their forms.”

To help students facing unexpected financial hardship, the College established a one-time bridge loan program at the start of November. Emergency loans are now available to help full-time undergraduate and graduate students in good standing meet tuition and campus room and board expenses.

Most importantly, Mills’ ability to provide students with scholarships has received a major boost from several generous gifts and pledges made since July 1. Among them are:• $50,000fromtheAlexander&BaldwinFoundationforthe

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organic waste, the residence halls’ composting programs, and the use of sustainable construction materials in the College’s newest apartments.

In its 2009 issue of America’s Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report ranked Mills fourth for academic excel-lence among 53 universities and colleges in the West that confer bachelor’s and master’s degrees, moving the College up from last year’s ranking at sixth. In addition, Mills placed seventh in the West on the “Great Schools, Great Prices” list for high academic qual-ity relative to the net cost of attendance.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Princeton Review fea-tured Mills in its college guide, Best 368 Colleges. The Princeton Review also named Mills one of the 117 “Best Western Colleges” and one of the greenest in the nation, earning a 92 out of 99 rating for environmental policies and practices.

Last year, for the second year in a row, the Chronicle of Higher Education named Mills a leading producer of U.S. Fulbright award recipients. This Fulbright-winning tradition continues in 2008 with two alumnae, Erika Martinez, MFA ’07, and Patricia Tumang, MFA ’06. Martinez will use her Fulbright award to study at the Universidad Autònoma de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and complete her forthcoming anthology entitled Voz: Dominican Women Writing, a collection of English language prose and poetry by Dominican-American women. Tumang’s award will support her work at the University of the Philippines and research for a novel, “A Visionary Life,” about Filipina heroines during the Philippine Revolution.

Rising through the ranksFall semester brings not only a new crop of students to colleges and universities across the country but also a slew of rankings and reviews by independent national publications. Two new rankings give Mills particularly high marks and two well-established reviews continue to place Mills in the top echelons of peer colleges.

A new ranking, published by Forbes in conjunction with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, rated Mills 75th in the country, placing the College among the top 2 percent in the United States. Mills stacked up favorably against many other small liberal arts colleges in California, including another prominent women’s college, Scripps, which ranked 139th. The Forbes list included only the top 15 percent (or 569) of undergraduate colleges and universities nationwide and focused its ranking on quality of education, number of alumnae listed in Who’s Who in America, student debt, gradu-ation rate, and the numbers of students and faculty who have won nationally competitive awards like Fulbright grants or Guggenheim fellowships.

KIWI Magazine, a national family magazine, listed Mills as one of the 75 most environmentally responsible colleges and universities in its second annual green college report. The mag-azine noted the College’s recent first place award in recycling

Matson Navigation Company Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will provide financial assistance to undergraduate students from Hawaii and Guam (Matson’s chairman, James Andrasick, is a Trustee of Mills College);

• $50,000fromSuzanneMunkRagen’58andBrooksRagenforTheBrooks&SuzanneMunkRagenEndowedScholarship, to be awarded to women from the greater Pacific Northwest who have financial need;

• $50,000fromAlethaWaiteSilcox’54andHughSilcoxforThe Aletha Waite Silcox Scholarship, an endowed fund for students enrolled in Mills’ 4+1 combined BA, MA, and teacher credential program or in Mills’ two-year graduate teacher credential program;

• a$1.7millionbequestfromtheestateofBarbaraM.Bundschu ’38 (see obituary in winter/spring 2008 Quarterly); and

• a$330,645bequestfromDorothyGillard,sisterofRuthGillard ’36.

To help provide Mills students with scholarship support, call the Mills College Annual Fund at 510.430.2366 or use the enclosed envelope to send in your gift.

AAMC board and bylaws evolve

Mills Matters

8  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

On Saturday, September 20, at a special meeting during Reunion, the Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC) approved a revision of the organization’s bylaws. The revision reflects changes in the structure of the AAMC and its relationship with Mills College brought about by the 2005 and 2007 memoranda of agreement between the AAMC and the College. The bylaws also include provisions for electronic communica-tions to facilitate the business of the AAMC Board of Governors. In addition, the board has adopted a new set of goals and objectives that responds to the evolving role of the AAMC.

The revised bylaws and statement of goals, values, and objectives are now available on the Board of Governors web page, www.mills.edu/alumnae/board_of_governors.php. You may request printed copies of the bylaws and the goals state-ment by contacting AAMC accountant Bill White at 510.430.3373 or aamc@mills.edu; see page 2 for complete con-tact information for the AAMC.

The Board of Governors itself is continuing to evolve. A new Alumna Trustee, Lyn Flanigan ’65, joined both the AAMC board and the College Board of Trustees in July. Alumnae are invited to nominate candidates for another Alumna Trustee who will begin a term on July 1, 2009 (see inside back cover), when Susan Brown Penrod’s current term concludes. Currently, the Board of Governors consists of:

Officers:President Anita Aragon Bowers ’63, Vice President Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92, Vice President Diana Birtwistle Odermatt ’60, and treasurer Karlin Sorenson ’92.AlumnaeTrustees: Lyn Flanigan ’65, Susan Brown Penrod ’71, and Gayle Rothrock ’68.FacultyRepresentative: Vivian Fumiko Chin ’89.Members: Michelle Balovich ’03, Lynda Campfield ’00, MA ’02, Beverly Curwen ’71, Rina Faletti ’81, Cynthia Guevara ’04, Kathleen Janes ’69, Jennifer King ’00, Rita Stuckey, MA ’01, EdD ’05.

In mid-October, Mills College launched a Facebook page to help alumnae, students, and parents connect with and show pride in the College. By mid-November, more than 700 Facebook users had declared themselves “fans” of Mills College, exceeding the fan totals on the official pages of such sister schools as Wellesley and Scripps.

Mills College’s page includes the latest College news, photos from Reunion and other events, videos, posts from our fans, and more. Unlike individual profiles or groups on Facebook, this page—and anything posted on it—can be viewed by the pub-lic. Any Facebook user can become a fan of Mills, and anyone can join Facebook for free by going to www.facebook.com.

Facebook users have also launched dozens of informal Mills-focused groups, such as Mills Women Are Indubitably Hotter “because,” the group states, “we’re smart and we know it… we’re not intimidated by Chaucer, negotiation, racism, calculus, brain surgery, or you.”

Show your pride: Join 700+ Mills fans on Facebook

AlumnaeRelationsUpdate

Alexandra Wong became the college’s

alumnae relations program coordinator

in november. She had previously served

as events coordinator in the office of

Institutional Advancement and played a

major role in the success of this year’s

reunion. Before coming to Mills, Wong

worked at the Willows community

School in Los Angeles as associate direc-

tor of alumni relations and development.

Based now in reinhardt Alumnae house,

Wong reports to Director of Alumnae

relations Laura Gobbi.

...we’re smart and we know it… we’re not intimidated by

Chaucer, negotiation, racism, calculus, brain surgery, or you.

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MillsPost-ItNotesThese note pads make great gifts

for all of your alumnae friends! They

come in pads of 50 at $2.50 each

plus $1.00 shipping and handling for

each order. Mail your check, payable

to PAAMCC, to Palo Alto Area Mills

College Club, c/o Hunter, 316 Laurel

Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025.

Speaking in tonguesBeginning in summer 2009, Mills will host more than 300 language students enrolled in the Middlebury College Language Schools program.

The summer residential program will offer undergraduate-level courses in French, Italian, and Spanish. Mills will also house Middlebury’s only Arabic program. The College joins the Monterey Institute of International Studies as one of Middlebury’s California language sites.

Middlebury’s almost 100-year-old language program is known for its high quality and effective teaching method that requires students to commit to speak only the language of study for the entire summer session. “As the United States sees the importance of second or third languages as necessary in a more globalized world, more people are turning to intensive language instruc-tion,” says Middlebury College President Ronald D. Liebowitz.

In selecting a new California language school site, Middlebury was attracted to the similarities between Middlebury and Mills. “Both institutions share longstand-ing reputations as respected liberal arts colleges, strong interdisciplinary cur-

riculums, and beautiful campus facili-ties,” says Mills College Vice President for Operations Renée Jadushlever, who visited Middlebury this summer. The Mills campus also offers students study-ing a particular language the opportu-nity to live, eat, and study within their individual language community.

“We are delighted with this partner-ship to teach modern languages with Middlebury College. This will be a service to the Bay Area community and a wonderful opportunity for Mills stu-dents,” says Sandra Greer, Mills provost and dean of the faculty.

Two Middlebury employees will be hired and housed in Reinhardt Hall year-round so that they become familiar with and part of the Mills community and campus. The program’s first employee, Operations Manager Abigail Bennett, began in November. A Middlebury grad-uate, she received an MFA in creative writing from Mills in 2004.

For details about Middlebury Language Schools and admission information, please visit www.middlebury.edu/ academics/ls/.

In May, the Mills College Board of Trustees endorsed a new strategic plan that will guide the College through 2013. The plan was developed over the course of 17 months by several work-ing groups that incorporated input from the Strategic Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees, constituents throughout the campus and alum-nae community, the Accreditation Steering Committee, and the Diversity Committee. The plan focuses on three principal goals:

• Academicexcellenceandeducation

forleadership. During the next five years, the plan directs Mills to enhance the excellence of its undergraduate women’s liberal arts college, expand graduate and professional programs for women and men in the context of that undergraduate program, and strengthen the development of Mills students as leaders and innovators in their chosen endeavors.

• Educationalaccessanddiversity.The plan calls for the College to enhance educational access for and retention of

an excellent and diverse student body as well as access for and retention of a diverse faculty and staff.

• Environmentalandfiscalsustainabil-

ity. Finally, the plan calls for Mills to expand and maintain its physical envi-ronment while incorporating concern for environmental sustainability, and pursue strategic goals while maintain-ing financial sustainability.The entire plan may be downloaded

from the web page of the Office of the President: www.mills.edu/administration/presidents_office.

Board endorses five-year strategic plan

17ContemporaryWritersSeries:ChristianBök5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, free An acclaimed performer of sound poetry whose conceptual artwork includes books built out of rubik’s cubes and Lego bricks, Bök created artificial languages for two television shows. his second book, Eunoia, won the Griffin Prize for Poetic excellence.

19CenterforSociallyResponsibleBusinessLecture:InspiringHigh-Potential,Low-IncomeWomenEntrepreneurs7:30 pm, Student Union, free this lecture features Women’s Initiative, a nonprofit agency that aims to build the entrepreneurial capacity of women to overcome economic and social barriers and achieve self-sufficiency. For more informa-tion, check www.mills.edu/academics/gradu-ate/mba/csrb/lecture_series.php, email pgordon@mills.edu, or call 510.430.3248.

10  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Calendar

January21PaintingtheGlassHouse:ArtistsRevisitModernArchitectureOpening reception, 5:30 pm, Mills College Art Museumexhibition on view January 21 through March 22the 16 artists featured in the exhibition are interested in the potential of utopian ideas as well as the sense of a passing idealism that modern architecture now embodies. the exhibition brings together two-dimensional works in various media (including video) by Alexander Apóstol, Daniel Arsham, Gordon cheung, David claerbout, Angela Dufresne, Mark Dziewulski, christine erhard, cyprien Gaillard, terence Gower, Angelina Gualdoni, natasha Kissell, Luisa Lambri, Dorit Margreiter, russell nachman, enoc Perez, and Lucy Williams.

February1TechnologyandSocietyLecture:AaronBetsky3:00 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall, free entitled “Blob Utopia: Digital Destiny or Aesthetic escape?” this lecture offers a critical exploration of a new utopian archi-tectural vision that relies on computer and communications technologies to free us from the prison of the straight and nar-row into a sensuous world of automatically appearing blobs. Bestky is the director of the cincinnati Art Museum and in 2008 was the artistic director of the 11th International Architecture Biennale in venice. contact 510.430.2164 or museum@mills.edu.

11ArtLecture:KeithBoadwee7:30 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall, free Boadwee produces photo-based works that address his continued fascination with action-ism, the everyday, and the abject. his works have been exhibited at venues such as the venice Biennale, MocA Los Angeles, and PS 1.

24ContemporaryWritersSeries:RachelTzeviaBack5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, free An evening with the Israeli poet, transla-tor, peace activist, and literature professor, co-sponsored by the fund for Jewish Women’s Studies Programming at Mills college.

25ArtLecture:AngelaDufresne7:30 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall, free the new York–based artist delivers a lecture entitled “Imitation of Life, or Why Queen Jane Should Be Approximately.” She describes her paintings, which bring together disparate sources from film, music, architecture, and the history of painting, as “mash-ups.”

March11ClareRojas7:30 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall, free A seminal figure in the “Mission School,” rojas is a major influence in the Bay Area and performs regularly as the musi-cian Peggy honeywell. She has enjoyed major solo exhibitions at Deitch Project in new York and the McA chicago.

12–15SignalFlow:AFestivalofNewWorksbyMillsGraduateStudentsThursday through Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm, Concert Hall, free the Music Department presents its annual festival of new works by graduate composition students.

17ContemporaryWritersSeries:ElmazAbinader,HayanCharara,andFadyJoudah5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, free Mills professor Abinader joins edi-tors and contributors in discussing Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Arab American Poetry, containing works by 39 contemporary American poets.

For information about the Mills Music

Festival 2009, see back cover. For infor-

mation about other Music Department

events listed below, contact 510.430.2334

or steed@mills.edu. For the Contemporary

Writers Series, contact 510.430.3130

or syoung@mills.edu. For information

about art lectures or exhibitions, contact

510.430.2164 or museum@mills.edu.

Fast, factual, free:  Mills’ email newsletter

Mills hosts many more campus events and alumnae gatherings than those listed in this Quarterly calendar. To make sure you get the scoop each month on the latest events and breaking news, sign up for our @mills enewsletter. Send your email address to alumnae-relations@mills.edu along with your full name, previous name and class year (if applicable), and current address (if different from the address at which you received this Quarterly). Write “@mills” in the subject line of your message.

DanielArsham,The M-House got lost found itself floating on the sea, affecting salination levels in the North Atlantic(2004),fromtheexhibitionPaintingtheGlassHouse:ArtistsRevisitModernArchitecture.Privatecollec-tion,Paris;CourtesyofGalerieEmmanuelPerrotin,Miami/Paris.

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09

“Sports test character, giving us oppor-tunities to grow and make conscious choices about the way in which we act,” says Mills College Athletic Director Themy Adachi. Adachi puts her fin-ger on one of the themes of Mills’ fall athletic season. When student athletes weren’t competing in their respective sports, the players from seven different teams were raising money for breast cancer research, raising awareness of the dangers of alcohol and drug use, and raising the self-esteem of several dozen future student-athletes.

On September 20, the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (APER) hosted Girls’ Sports Day, an event geared toward 8- to 12-year-old girls from low-income Oakland schools. Mills athletes acted as mentors to their “little sisters,” teaching them about the values of respect, integ-rity, and support as well as how to swing a tennis racket, throw a javelin, dribble a soccer ball, and exercise all-around good sportsmanship.

Sports Information Director Elese Lebsack ’98 received lots of positive feedback from program organizers who brought girls to the event. She cites one who said, “The activities were awesome! The girls could not stop smiling and laughing. And the one-on-one mentors matched up with the girls were amazing.”

Continuing on their path of character-building through community outreach, the Cyclone athletes began October with two events focused on raising money to support breast cancer research and awareness. The first, on October 3, was Dig for the Cure, a volleyball game like any other, except that friends and staff members pledged money for each “dig”

(saving a ball that has been spiked over the net by an opponent) made by a Mills player. The Mills team defeated William Jessup University 3–0, with a total of 48 digs. The resulting funds were donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has raised over $55,000 this fall through the efforts of volleyball teams at more than 150 colleges and universities.

On October 4 and 5, Swim-A-Mile for Women with Cancer, a fundraiser for the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, took place at Mills’ Trefethen Aquatic Center. Mills students and staff as well as par-ticipants from the surrounding commu-nity collected pledges for each lap they completed, up to 72 lengths of the pool. The event raised an impressive amount—over $250,000—while it built community. “We were all swimming for a common cause, so there was a sense of ‘we’re in this mile together.’ Everyone was really supportive,” said Mills swimmer Shelby Phillips ’09.

Student-athletes also exercised their character-building skills within their own teams. In late September, three students led their teammates through an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Workshop, where they shared knowl-edge they gained at a national con-ference on substance abuse among student-athletes. “My main goal as a leader was to put across the message that we are all intelligent, strong women, and that we can make intelligent choices with what we do with our lives and bodies,” said Robin Cumming ’09, one of the national conference attendees who headed the Mills event.

Adachi says that the student-athletes’ hard work in helping their communities on and off campus has taught them just how intelligent and strong they have the potential to be. “They are learning to view themselves as capable and as change agents in the world,” she says.

—Kelsey Lindquist ’10

Athletes build character through community

the Mills college swim team has topped the national Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (nAIA) Academic All-Americans with the highest grade point average in its division.

this honor, awarded annually by the collegiate Swim coaches Association of America, recognizes the spring 2008 academic successes of swim teams across the country. this year marks the sixth year in a row that the Mills team has been awarded an Academic All-Academic honor but the first time that the team placed in the number one

SwimteamearnsAcademicAll-Americanhonor

spot. of last year’s team of 11 women, two had grade point averages above 3.85. the team’s overall grade point average was above 3.3.

“this award is a great acknowledgment of how our student-athletes are able to balance their school work with their pool work,” said neil virtue, head coach of the Mills college swim team. “the time commitment to be on a team helps students focus on time manage-ment. Also working the body out relieves stress and allows the student-athletes to get back to studying for class refreshed.”

d a n a d av i s

12  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

A conversation

theprovost

with

Sandra Greer combines teaching excellence with a commitment to increasing opportunities for women in all fields—especially the sciences. As the College’s new provost, she’ll help develop a responsive and progressive campus environment.

By Valerie Sullivan

After a 30-year career in academic research, teaching, and administration, most women might be happy to rest on their laurels and

stay put. But Sandra Greer chose instead to move across the country and take on the challenging role of provost and dean of the faculty at Mills College, responsible for the faculty, curriculum, and under-graduate experience on campus.

Greer was a distinguished professor of chemistry and chemical engineering and held several admin-istrative positions at the University of Maryland, College Park, earning numerous awards, includ-ing the 2004 Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal awarded by the American Chemical Society to women chemists to recognize their distin-guished service to chemistry and the 2008 Kirwan Undergraduate Education Award, which she received on the College Park campus on October 6.

She pioneered classes in research ethics and has long been an advocate for increasing educational opportunities for women and minorities. In 1988, she led a University of Maryland study which iden-tified new ways to improve the educational environ-ment for women. She also chaired the 1994 Women in Science Summit, which drew leading women sci-entists to Mills to discuss ways for women to break through the scientific glass ceiling.

Now comfortably ensconced in faculty housing with her dog, Greer is delighted to live just across the bay from her two adult sons, Andrew, best-selling author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli, and Mike, director of web technology for The Onion. The Quarterly spoke with her in her Mills Hall office to learn more about her vision for a “college of the future” and maintaining a campus environ-ment that “is as supportive as possible for every student who comes here.”

After30yearsatMaryland,whatbroughtyoutoMills?I have such respect for Mills’ mission of woman-centered education. Mills is one of the few places that still succeeds at that mission. I see it as a noble mission in which I could invest these last stages of my career.

I do miss teaching, but there are certainly lots of challenges to my job now. It’s another kind of problem solving. That’s what you do as a scientist: you solve problems every day. This kind of job is like that.

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You’vebeenrecognizedasanoutstandingclassroomleader.Inyourview,whatconstitutesexcellenceinteaching?You have to be willing to figure out where students are in their own minds on a particular subject and then bring them along to where you want them to be. Students appreciate organization and logic and yet, at the same time, a willingness to deviate from a planned syllabus when you need to. You have to lead students through a conversation in which they make the points for themselves, in their own heads.

YouhavecalledMillsfaculty“stellar.”Whatsetsthemapart?At some institutions, people seem to find teach-ing a chore. Here, it is a critical part of a faculty member’s career; the people who succeed here see it that way. Faculty members get to know their stu-dents and spend a lot of time with them.

And it astonishes me how much our faculty members accomplish in terms of their creative and scholarly work. We have artists who are exhibit-ing, musicians who are performing internationally, and economists who are writing in the best refer-eed journals. Our science faculty have contributed to the leading biology textbook in the world and written important books on ecology. The level of intellectual activity has been a delight.

As provost, I want to make sure the wonder-ful faculty members we have here feel appreci-ated and have the best environment in which to do their work. That means helping them to help themselves—through expanded research opportu-nities, for example.

“Every interaction

I have had with Mills students reminds me how lucky

our faculty members are

to be working with these students.”

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14  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Howdoissuesofdiversityaffectthefaculty?In faculty recruiting we are particularly interested in making sure that we have a diverse pool of candidates to choose from. We are searching this year for a tenure track faculty member for the Dance Department, which has been a jewel in the crown at Mills for half a century or more. In all departments, we want candidates to come to Mills, be impressed, and go away hoping they’ll get that job.

WhataboutMillswouldmakethemthinkthat?It’s a beautiful place where they can find wonderful colleagues to talk to about their work, and if you put them in front of the students, I know they’ll be amazed. Every interaction I have had with Mills students reminds me how lucky our faculty members are to be working with these students.

You’vementionedthatoneofyourgoalsthisyearistoincreasetheamountoffederalandstateresearchmoneycomingtoMills.Howdoyouhopetodothat?The National Science Foundation, for one, gives out a lot of financial support for programs for women and minorities. There’s support for gender-related issues, minority health, economics, women’s career patterns, and art exhibitions. As a women’s col-lege, Mills can take advantage of that angle.

Howdoesthistranslateintonewopportunitiesforfacultyandstudents?

This kind of money often will include tuition for students, and it will provide summer research jobs for students, summer salaries for faculty, and help with purchasing research equipment. This creates a real opportunity for students—it’s wonderful when they can work with faculty and have their names on publications.

Howimportantiswoman-centerededucationtoday?Many women are going into non-traditional areas such as sci-ence and engineering, as well as leadership positions in politics and social justice. Woman-centered education gives women self efficacy, which means that you’re not only confident in your overall abilities, but you’re also not timid about your particular area of expertise.

It can be intimidating to be in a roomful of men. We’re not past that yet. But Mills is “a room of one’s own”—it is a space that’s physical, emotional, and mental, where women can grow and work and develop in freedom.

Let’stalkaboutstudents.Howareacademicprogramsandcurriculumchanginginresponsetotheneedsoftoday’sstudents?Since I’m a scientist, I’m interested in strengthening math and science. We’ll constantly think about the balance and intercon-nection between the graduate and the undergraduate programs. For example, the idea of having a four-year undergraduate pro-gram where, with one more year of study, you can get a master’s degree is very appealing to me. For students, it’s very cost- and time-effective, and that has been one of the successes of the MBA Program. Of course, we can’t do everything, but Mills has been very strategic in thinking of areas to emphasize. Our School of Education, for example, is a great success and a great contri-bution to California’s elementary and secondary education. And I’m very proud of our Pre-Nursing Program and our commit-ment to creating leaders in nursing.

Whataresomeoftheothercampusissuesyou’relookingat?I will be working closely with the Faculty Executive Committee to think about new directions for the curriculum and whether we need to reconsider any general education requirements.

As provost, I am responsible for what happens to the students after they get here. That includes being sensitive to issues of diversity and access and making sure that the students have a good experience.

SandraGreerchatswithfreshwomenduringStudentOrientation.

“I am responsible for what happens to the students after they get here. That includes being sensitive to issues of

diversity and access.”

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Living in the whole world of musicBy David W. Bernstein

When the music started, it was like nothing that I had ever heard before. Electronic sounds mingled with light-ning-fast flurries of saxophone notes; percussive clusters of notes from the piano joined in an exciting dialogue with the vibraphone, gongs, cymbals, and tom-toms. Although Sankaran had only a single instrument at his disposal, a continuous stream of seemingly infinite rhythms and tim-bres flowed effortlessly from his drum, its magic easily matching the more “advanced” technologies of the other instruments on stage.

The concert took place during my first visit to Mills in the spring of 1989; in the nearly 20 years since, I have had countless experiences while sitting in the Concert Hall of being inspired by performances of a stunning variety of music, from J.S. Bach to Pauline Oliveros, Joëlle Léandre, and Meredith Monk; from rock, Balinese gamelan music, and mariachi bands to live electronic music, free jazz, and Schubert song cycles. I have had not only the privilege of observing musical history unfold before my eyes, but also the opportunity to learn more about Mills’ musical legacy.

The direction of music at Mills has changed dramati-cally over time. Henry Cowell, John Cage, and Lou Harrison taught here in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a period when each had begun to make crucial contributions to American music. French composer Darius Milhaud arrived at Mills in 1940 and quickly established the Music Department’s international reputation, attracting luminar-ies such as Nadia Boulanger and Igor Stravinsky—who lec-tured and performed in the Concert Hall in 1944—as well as generations of talented students, including a young

I will never forget the first time I heard music played in the Mills College Concert Hall.

Anthony Braxton, a legendary figure in the

free jazz tradition, stood surrounded by a

vast array of wind instruments, including a

contrabass saxophone standing more than

six feet tall. Next to him, computer music

pioneer David Rosenboom sat at a piano

alongside a tangle of wires connected to

various electronic devices. William Winant,

one of the world’s great percussionists and

a leading interpreter of new music who has

performed with Sonic Youth and Mr Bungle,

also stood amidst his own maze of gongs,

tom-toms, timpani, cymbals, cow bells, and

a vibraphone. A fourth performer, Trichy

Sankaran, a renowned specialist in Indian

music, sat on the floor with an ancient

barrel-shaped drum called the mrdangam

lying horizontally across his lap.

16

Music makers:HenryCowell,JohnCagewithastudent,AnthonyBraxton,DavidRosenboomandWilliamWinant,LouHarrisonwithJodyDiamond,andMaggiPayne.

pianist and composer named Dave Brubeck. Milhaud, a member of the Parisian avant-garde during the 1920s who used noise, indeterminacy, Brazilian music, and jazz in his compositions, fit in very well at Mills. His support for the decision to move the San Francisco Tape Music Center to campus in 1966 made it possible for subsequent generations of creative artists to continue their focus on interdisciplinary art forms.

The Tape Music Center, later renamed the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM), placed the College at the forefront of the rapidly growing field of electronic music. Just as the Music Department as a whole has transformed over time, the aesthetic orientation of CCM has changed under a succession of electronic music pioneers who have served as its directors, including Pauline Oliveros, Robert Ashley, David Berhman, David Rosenboom, and, most recently, Maggi Payne and Chris Brown. Over the years, composers at CCM have created multimedia works with sound, light, and theatrical elements. They have played leading roles in the development of computer music, designed new forms of interactive works using acoustic and electronic media, and led

the way in exploring musical interactivity on the Internet.As the College’s reputation as a leading institution support-

ing musical innovation grew, creative artists from around the world joined our faculty, each making a unique contribution to our continuously evolving musical landscape. The list of com-posers who have taught here—Annea Lockwood, Iannis Xenakis, Maryanne Amacher, Alvin Curran, Lou Harrison, Anthony Braxton, Hilda Paredes, Joëlle Léandre, Terry Riley, Pandit Pran Nath, and Annie Gosfield, to name but a few—is a veritable Who’s Who in the history of 20th-century music. Composers at Mills have played leading roles in the founding of musical minimalism; fused Western and Eastern musical traditions and incorporated cross-cultural influences from Java, India, and other countries into their compositions; boldly crossed the borders between rock and experimental music; and pioneered new expressions in free

PHoto of Henry cowell ©20 08 tHe ansel adaMs PublisHing rigHts trust.

Creative artists from around the world

joined our faculty,

each making a unique

contribution to our continuously

evolving

musical landscape.

Professor of Music David Bernstein has been a faculty member at Mills since 1989, specializing in 20th-century music history and theory. His book on the history of the San Francisco Tape Music Center was published in summer 2008 (see Bookshelf, page 27).

jazz. With the recent addition of Fred Frith and Roscoe Mitchell to our faculty, Mills is on the cutting edge of exploring relation-ships between written composition and improvisation.

The diversity of our history and current practice notwith-standing, experimentalism remains at the core of the Music Department’s aesthetic and educational mission. Experimentalist composers work without preconceived notions about music; they embrace an inclusive aesthetic rooted in an openness to and an active search for new sounds and musical forms. At Mills, we also recognize that artistic innovation did not “fall from the sky”; it has historical roots in the music of past generations of compos-ers and is a part of a global cultural, social, and political context. But most importantly, experimentalism is an aesthetic attitude embracing creative, exploratory, and individual approaches to music, whether working in radical new directions or examining musical traditions from many historical periods and cultures. Simply put, as composer and former Mills faculty member Henry Cowell said more than a half century ago, we “want to live in the whole world of music.” The Music Department’s curriculum, and particularly our pedagogy, reflects this commitment as we encourage our students’ individuality, allowing them to develop their unique musical “voice” during the process of experiencing, performing, creating, and learning about music.

Today, given the ubiquitous presence of technology that can provide access to any music at any time, the musical plu-ralism that we have practiced since the 1930s has become a dominant feature of cultural life in the 21st century. The syn-thesizers and other electronic media developed at Mills begin-ning in the 1960s are no longer esoteric devices used by only a handful of avant-garde composers. There exists more interest in our programs, particularly among our undergraduate students, than ever before, as strikingly demonstrated by over-enrolled classes with students spilling out into the halls. Although Mills has earned a reputation for training women composers, we are poised to make an even greater impact on this field, especially following the final phase of the Music Building renovation proj-ect, which includes plans for a new CCM.

Yet this newness doesn’t supplant the grand history of music on campus, but augments and continues the rich legacy. In 1928, Raymond Boynton described his daring decorative design for the Concert Hall’s murals to Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, then president of the College, stating that his artworks would “give free play to the imagination.” Today, 80 years later, that same spirit holds true, and future generations of Mills music students will continue to pursue their own bold, unorthodox, and innova-tive artistic visions.

Creative artists from around the world

joined our faculty,

each making a unique

contribution to our continuously

evolving

musical landscape.

For the past century, Mills college has been a hotbed of

musical creativity and innovation. Faculty, students, and

visiting artists have come together here to define the cut-

ting edge in a diverse range of practices, from classical

performance to electronic music to jazz improvisation.

the Music Building, designed in 1928 by influential architect

Walter h. ratcliff Jr., has been the crucible in which groundbreak-

ing collaborations and experimentation have taken place. the

works created here truly “give free play to the imagination”—

a phrase that artist raymond Boynton originally used to

describe his murals in the concert hall, where exceptional

performances have shaped the course of music in our time.

now, the building is emerging from a major renovation that has

improved and modernized facilities and restored the historic

artworks that grace the concert hall. to celebrate the reopen-

ing of the hall, a six-concert festival in early 2009 will draw

attention to the Music Department’s rich legacy and ongoing

contributions to the world of music (see schedule on back cover).

In these pages, the Quarterly explores these same themes in

words. Professor of Music David Bernstein provides an over-

view of the creative currents that have distinguished the Music

Department. A feature on electronic music pioneer Pauline

oliveros, who received an honorary doctoral degree from the

college in 2004, shows how Mills prepares women to play a

leading role in contemporary music composition. Finally, four

profiles of recent music alumnae/i demonstrate the department’s

enormous potential to shape the future of music composition

and performance in both popular and experimental contexts.

the Mills Music Festival will provide audiences with an opportu-

nity to experience first-hand not only the creative range of the

Music Department but also the concert hall’s improved acoustics,

seating, lighting, and stage. Look forward to more coverage of

this impressive renovation in the next issue of the Quarterly.

The College seeks additional funding to meet the full expense of

the building’s renovation, including a future phase focusing on

the Center for Contemporary Music. To give your support to the

project, please call 510.430.2097.

Giving free play to the imagination

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PaulineOliveros(atright)withothersfromtheSanFranciscoTapeMusicCenter.

Groundbreaking composer Pauline Oliveros teaches women to “create their own scene” in the world of music

18  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Pauline Oliveros’ face peers down from a huge screen in the Mills Music Department’s Ensemble Room. Her eyes squint behind glasses, searching to see more clearly what

the students in this Women in Creative Music course are doing. The legendary 76-year-old composer and visiting professor at Mills is teaching via “telepresence” from her studio in Kingston, New York, watching the class through an Internet camera feed.

The high-tech pedagogy seems only fitting. Oliveros was one of the first maverick composers, in the 1950s, to begin using new technologies in art music. Her music has an out-of-time quality, whether performed on her electroni-cally reconfigured accordion, recorded in acoustically sensitive caverns, or incorporating all atmospheric sounds according to the principles of her “deep listening” techniques. Yet she has always been in her times. In 1953,

A woman of notes

By Rachel Howard

while a music student at San Francisco State College, she got her first tape recorder and began recording the sounds outside her apartment window. By the late ’50s, she had helped start a cooperative studio with such fellow cutting-edge composers as Terry Riley; this became the San Francisco Tape Music Center. It moved to Mills in 1966 with Oliveros as its founding director, and became the Mills Center for Contemporary Music.

Women working with technology were rare back in those days, but women in contemporary music were seemingly even rarer.

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No wonder Oliveros is so keenly interested in today’s women in creative music.

“Okay,” she says to the class in her gruff, no-nonsense voice. “Tell me what you got.”

The class has just finished one of Oliveros’ “Sonic Meditations,” a series of improvisations that can be performed by ordinary people using only their own voices and breath. In this case, the students were asked to produce a vocal tone for one breath cycle, and on the next breath cycle produce a pitch that they’ve heard, then on the cycle after that, produce a pitch that they haven’t heard. Because each person’s breath cycle is different, the result is a beautiful structured cacophony.

Now Oliveros has asked the class to break into groups to brainstorm how they might compose their own pieces based on breath. One group talks about giving people physical tasks, another group proposes having their performers “give an intona-tion of a universal memory, like blowing out a birthday candle.” Oliveros leans back from the screen, squinting and scrutiniz-ing. “Good. You’ve got some good ideas there. So come in next week with a piece. A sound piece based on the rhythm of breath. And be ready with performers.”

A few students look surprised by the heavy demands of the assignment, but Oliveros has always held high expectations for Mills women. She knows that although conditions have improved, female composers still face a male-dominated field and will need to emulate her moxie.

“Younger women today need to enter the scene or create their own scene,” Oliveros says during a break from teaching.

“It wasn’t so wonderful that I didn’t have any fellow female com-posers, but I was so focused on doing my own music that I went ahead and did it anyhow.”

In a way, the challenge of being a “lady composer”—as one condescending colleague called her—suited the temperament of a self-described “outsider musician” who took up accordion at nine years old in her native Houston, Texas. From her first pieces at San Francisco State—so dissonant that fellow students fled the room—to her groundbreaking “deep listening” methodologies, Oliveros has always followed her own vision.

At Mills, she’s determined to open students’ eyes to other exceptional women who have done the same. One major proj-ect of the Women in Creative Music class is to update the Bay Area Women in Creative Music website, http://music.mills.edu/bawcm, which Oliveros created when she first began teaching the course in 1997. Students working on the site learn about fel-low female composers, songwriters, improvisers, and sound art-

ists. But they also learn practical lessons about the need to take power into their own hands, as when Oliveros asked the class how many among them knew any computer programming—and only the lone man in the room responded.

“We’re creating a resource that can reach the world, rather than sitting here writing papers about women in music that no one will ever read,” says graduate student Zina von Bozzay.

Oliveros also has her students make their own creative work as quickly as possible. “Doing the creative work is enlivening and mind-expanding and gives you a spiritual base,” she says. “Getting drilled in theory doesn’t prepare you to create. My class is not about delivering criticism. It’s about providing an architec-ture for content to emerge in the group context.”

Often that architecture catches students by surprise. On the first day of Oliveros’ current Women in Creative Music class, she had her students do a physi-cal warm-up, then asked them to remember an experience of music in their families. After a silent meditation, Oliveros had the students share their stories, first with their eyes closed, whis-pering. She also asks her students to keep private journals.

“She’s very down to earth and real,” von Bozzay says. “She relates to you on a person-to-person level. She’s not hierarchi-

cal. And she’s compassionate.”Since she first began teaching at Mills in 1985, Oliveros has

seen her compassion encourage Mills students to take their own artistic risks. She’s especially excited about the boundary-crossing she sees, as in the work of recent MFA graduate Kristin Erickson, who under the performing name Kevin Blechdom uses “wild, DJ-like stuff,” as Oliveros describes it, “to take a popular form and move it into a new genre.”

The whole Mills Music Department, she says, is on a roll. “The growth began in the ’90s and has just continued. Mills is now the premier location in the United States for composers in graduate school.”

That growth, and Oliveros’ example, mean that soon women in contemporary music may not be so rare. Closing her class, Oliveros calls out the names of Mills music grads for her current students to research. “And here’s another I want you to know about, Ann Dentel,” she says. “She did something called Project 365, a new piece of music every day for a year. It’s in the library here on campus. Go look that up.”

She leans into the screen again. “That’s it for today,” she says. “High five.” Oliveros raises a hand and her palm looms huge above the room, her face behind smiling.

“High five,” the students respond, their hands in the air.

Oliveros was one of the first

maverick composers,

in the 1950s, to begin using

new technologies in art music.

Her music has an out-of-time quality....

Yet she has always been in her times.

I’ve been on a trajectory of playing music that’s rooted in Cuban traditional music but incorporates salsa, Latin jazz, and more

modern forms,” says pianist, composer, and bandleader Rebeca Mauleón. “I was a flamenco dancer before I started playing piano, so there’s a little bit of that influence too. All these different styles create a tapestry that is my musical sound. I’ve always respected people who stay within the traditional but try and push the enve-lope. I always like to go outside and look around.”

When Mauleón arrived at Mills as a resumer in her 20s, her career as a performer was already underway. While Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz were not quite Mills’ regular musical fare, she knew enough about the Music Department’s tradition of innovation to know that she would be welcome. “I didn’t have to go in there and explain why I didn’t follow a tra-ditional path,” she esays.

Rebeca Mauleón credits the Mills music faculty with help-ing her push boundaries and for “instilling creative confidence in me. Composer Alvin Curran was one mentor and inspiration. Although our styles are quite different, I always will value the fact that he made me think out-side the box.”

This fall, the San Francisco Jazz Festival chose Mauleón for

their annual Beacon Award, honoring her 30 years in the music business, during which she has performed with Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, and Mickey Hart. She is the author of the highly acclaimed “bible of salsa,” The Salsa Guidebook, has released three CDs of her own material, and teaches music at City College of San Francisco. When asked what she considers her greatest accom-plishment, Mauleón responds, “Balance. I’m comfortable juggling my performing career, writing, teaching, and raising a family. I stay focused and find joy in my life.”

Willow Williamson is always crossing the line—and in this case, that’s a good thing. The composer, keyboardist,

singer, guitarist, and producer often creates music in the context of film, theater, or dance; and she splits her time living in both Senegal and the United States.

She completed her MFA in music and new media at California Institute of the Arts in 2000. “I started getting more interested in the commercial world after helping to engineer the women’s CD recordings there. And, being in Los Angeles, I was drawn into film. I love the collaboration and interaction with the directors,” she says. Williamson’s music has been featured in a dozen feature, documentary, and short films; other tracks can be heard on Extra and The Tyra Banks Show. In 2004, she and two friends released a self titled album, This Side of North, which one reviewer described as “a narcotic landscape of seductively beautiful melody and rhythm.”

Williamson first visited Mills at the suggestion of Betty Wong ’60, from whom she was taking piano lessons, and recalls, “I immediately felt how open the atmosphere was and how engaged the students were.” She cites exposure to technology, improvisation, and experimental music along with discussions of the social and political context of music as formative aspects of the Mills curriculum. “Maggi Payne’s composition and record-ing techniques classes had a huge impact on me,” she says. “I was so excited to find the space to finally start composing in the way that I had wanted to.”

Williamson has been traveling to Senegal since 1997. She recently conducted workshops for musicians and filmmakers in Dakar and scored a film project with middle school children in West Africa. She is now producing music by local artists and building a studio in Senegal. At Mills, she says, “I also was exposed to music from all over the world, which helped open my mind to many possibilities.”

20  M i l l s Q u a r t e r lyWillow Williamson ’96

Rebeca Mauleón ’89, MA ‘97

Rising Stars

By Pamela Wilson and Linda Schmidtd

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When I came to Mills I didn’t know anything about electronic music; I didn’t even have a computer,” says Cenk Ergün. “I

certainly didn’t expect to come out of Mills programming my own software instruments and performing live laptop shows.”

A native of Turkey, Ergün grew up in Istanbul in a household filled with music. He started playing classical guitar and, at the age of 17, moved to New York to study at the Eastman School of Music. Once there, he says, “I realized I’d been spending most of my time on guitar making up my own pieces, so I switched my major to composition.”

After four years of rigid conservatory education, the reputation of Mills’ music faculty drew him to the Oakland campus. “I found the open-minded philosophy of education at Mills inviting and nurturing,” he says. “The best teachers are those who let you find your own path without too much interference. I’ve had the luck to study with amazing artists who also happened to be brilliant teachers—including Fred Frith, Alvin Curran, and Pauline Oliveros. The most important things I discovered at Mills were new ways of listening. Electronic sounds continue to inform what I do with chamber ensembles, and vice versa.”

And Ergün has been doing a lot with both. He was nominated for the Netherlands’ prestigious 2006 Gaudeamus Prize for young composers and performed at the16th Akbank Jazz Festival, Istanbul in 2006. Last year, he and Curran released The Art of the Fluke, an improvised laptop duo album. In the coming months, Ergün will release a collection of short laptop pieces, perform with two video artists at the Spektro Festival in Istanbul, and premiere a new percussion quartet at the MATA Festival in New York City.

“I see sound as material to work with as opposed to a tool for expressing ideas,” he says. “My music is influenced by everything I hear every day.”

All the world’s a stage for Jennifer Curtis—she has performed as a featured violin soloist and as a collaborative chamber

musician across Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Her premieres of new music pieces as well as her interpretation of classical masterpieces have earned glowing praise from the New York Times and Philadelphia Enquirer. Having completed her master’s degree at the Julliard School, she is now a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble and the Astral Artists roster and appears as a musician with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Also known for her excellent mandolin playing, her origi-nal compositions have been featured at festivals in Switzerland and Italy, and she has performed solo mandolin roles in New York City opera productions.

Even for a child who began Suzuki training in violin at age three, taught herself piano and drums shortly thereafter, and delved into music theory and audio engineering while still a pre-teen, these are impressive accomplishments. “I was always more comfortable speaking through music,” she says.

Yet the classical repertoire is only one aspect of Curtis’ musi-cal techniques. A rock-and-roll-friendly music teacher in grade school encouraged a broad range of expression. “The contrast of going to youth orchestra starting at age five and playing in a rock band at school by age nine was very cool, and pretty much set the stage for my musical path to be inclusive of many different cul-tural concepts of music,” Curtis says. “I was equally excited to play the Bach Double or to play the bass for Stevie Wonder tunes.”

Curtis has traveled widely to study the music of many different cultures—particularly West African, Haitian, and Afro-Cuban per-cussion. She is dedicated to pursuing cultural diplomacy through music; in 2005, she founded Tres Americas Project, a community-focused nonprofit group that explores and preserves the musical traditions of the Americas by performing original, traditional, and classical works.

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Jennifer Curtis ’01

Cenk Ergün, MA ’02, MFA ’02

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22  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

It is a late summer morning at Mills; sunny, cool, and quiet. But on the second floor of Carnegie Hall, behind an open door labeled “The Eucalyptus Press,” the hush is tinged with anticipation.

The home of the Mills College Book Art Program for the past ten years is empty, nearly bare of furniture. The huge, ven-erable letterpresses are gone, impressions in the floor the only evidence of their years in service. The seminar room where countless lectures were held contains only scribbles of dried glue on the walls.

Outside, however, is a different story. Work trucks and forklifts are parked and ready in the Oval, just outside Carnegie. Workmen wheel out heavy equipment

on dollies and platforms. A crane stands at attention, ready to pull the heaviest presses out via the second floor balcony. Everything is bustling in preparation for the move of the Book Art Program and the Eucalyptus Press to their new facility in the CPM building. And it isn’t just the studios that are changing—next fall will usher in a brand-new MFA program in book art and creative writing, the first of its kind in the country.

The Eucalyptus Press opened its doors in 1930 as Mills’ private press imprint. In 1975, the press became home to the College’s first book art classes, and today Mills offers the country’s most com-prehensive undergraduate program in

p h o t o s b y b r u c e c o o k u n l e s s o t h e r w i s e n o t e d

book art, with 13 courses and a minor. Meanwhile, creative writing has been a focus of the Mills curriculum for more than 80 years, and the College offers a well-established, highly respected MFA degree in creative writing through the English Department.

The new MFA in book art and cre-ative writing will integrate the strengths of both programs and address the ris-ing interest in the book as an expressive art integrating both form and content. “There is a renewed interest in the book as a form. Students have a much stron-ger material connection with their writ-ten work and want to put that interest to work for them,” says Kathleen Walkup, professor of book art and director of the Book Art Program.

The interdisciplinary degree program will train graduate students to teach cre-ative writing and book art, publish their own writing and images, work in galler-ies or the book trade as specialists on contemporary books, or join the growing number of presses that offer unique let-terpress and hand-binding services.

Walkup has been a driving force in the Book Art Program since 1978 and has

A new chapterin book art

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By Sarah J. Stevenson, MFA ’04

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will, in turn, inform their writing course-work. To complete the two-year program, each student will produce a creative writ-ing thesis as well as a book art thesis and exhibition.

Off campus, students will tap into the Bay Area’s thriving book art community. Walkup has built connections in the area with a number of book art centers, which seek to preserve the history and creation of books as an art form. Mills’ book arts students have access to such resources as the San Francisco Center for the Book, which hosts book art workshops, exhibi-tions, and public events; book collections at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and the Palace of the Legion of Honor; and Mills’ own F.W. Olin Library, which houses a notable collection of rare books and art-ists’ books as well as the Mills College Center for the Book.

Back on the Oval, several presses are halfway through the journey to their new home. Taking a short break from direct-ing the proceedings of the momentous move from Carnegie to CPM, Walkup shows off spaces that will house a new darkroom, cutting room, and bindery.

There are plans for a computer lab, and Walkup has high hopes for a dedicated book art gallery on campus. A significant anonymous donation has been made, but additional funding is needed to make the gallery a reality.

Students in the new degree program will be able to take full advantage of the expanded facility, which includes three offices and three studio spaces: a bindery, a letterpress studio, and a dedicated grad-uate studio. The undergraduate studio is already in place, with its familiar drawers of lead type set up in the middle of what was clearly once a science lab. Sinks sur-round the outside of the room; in another classroom, lab stations still fill up much of the space.

An additional press has been promised to the department by Gloria Stuart, who played Old Rose in the movie Titanic. A printmaker as well as an actor, the 98-year-old Stuart still works in her stu-dio every day, and “always wanted to go to Mills.” The new press will join the original 1860 cast-iron hand press that saw the very beginnings of the Book Art Program in the 1970s as well as a half dozen other presses of various types.

Today, signs of the move are apparent everywhere—boxes, stacks of chairs, the sounds of hammering, and the shouts of construction workers. But while the stu-dios are being broken in by undergradu-ate classes throughout this academic year, it isn’t hard to imagine the first crop of graduate students setting type, craft-ing words, and pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary art in these gleaming new facilities.

“These are students for whom moving between creative media is natural,” says Walkup. “They don’t work within tradi-tional genre boundaries, and as such they are helping to shape tomorrow’s trends. What is more thrilling for all of us than the opportunity to break new ground?”

For more information about the MFA degree in book art and creative writing, contact the Office of Graduate Admission at 510.430.3309 or grad-admission@mills.edu. The first cohort will be limited to six students to begin in fall 2009.

recently co-founded a national college book art association. “The field’s expan-sion reflects a strong interest in using traditional artmaking techniques in the service of the new medium of artists’ books,” she says. Book art classes across the country are in high demand, and the popularity of publications like Make mag-azine and its “maker faires” are evidence of a new appreciation for handcrafted works. Furthermore, book art offers a means of incorporating modern digital methods of production with traditional hands-on processes.

Walkup was instrumental in the design of the new MFA program and will be a key part of its implementation, along with book art instructor Julie Chen. Students will take an equal number of workshops in creative writing and book art, while also pursuing courses that reflect the pro-gram’s interdisciplinary approach: visual poetics, theoretical and critical aspects of artists’ books, and an annual intensive symposium with a visiting scholar focus-ing on the history of the book and the study of print culture. They’ll incorporate writing into their explorations of book art, and their work creating artists’ books

A thousand words:(Clockwisefromleft)ApressrestsintheOvalmidwayinitsjourneyfromCarnegieHalltoCPM;Astudentsetsalineoftype;KathleenWalkupandJulieChenexamineasetofoversizedprints;DeborahBarragan’10revealsanewlyprintedsheet.

24  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Peggy Weber ’65, recipient of the outstanding volunteer Award presented by Alumna trustee Susan Penrod Brown ’71, began her career as a Mills volunteer while still in school, serving as Associated Students of Mills college (ASMc) president and orientation chair. After gradu-ation, she became a member of the AAMc Board of Governors, worked tirelessly for the Alumnae Fund, acted as a class agent, and served as an Alumna trustee from 1998 until 2006. But perhaps her greatest impact has been as a spokesperson for her class and for the college as a whole. In addition to maintain-ing strong connections with her classmates, Weber has been an alumna admissions rep-resentative for more than 20 years. She con-vinced dozens of students that Mills was the right choice for their undergraduate education. closer to her own home in Minneapolis, Weber hosts a monthly meeting for students home from campus, alumnae, parents of current students, and others of the Mills community.

“I am thrilled and touched to be recognized by the alumnae association and by all of you for what I have done for my pure pleasure,” Weber said after receiving her award. She encouraged alumnae to speak the name of Mills every day, saying, “When you weasel Mills into your conversation you make the most incredible connections.” through her college-related activities, Weber has met alumnae from all across the country and from the class of 1898 to this year’s incoming class of 2012.

“Don’t forget to come back,” she encour-aged, “especially for reunions, admissions workshops, trustee meetings—they’re the most energizing, rejuvenating, wonderful things you can do. remember: you belong to Mills and Mills belongs to you.”

PHotos by dana davis unless otHerwise noted

The award goes to: PeggyWeber’65,TrishaBrown’58,andRamonaLisaSmith’01,MBA’02.

n overflow crowd of reunioning alumnae honored a trio of notable Mills women on the Reinhardt Alumnae House patio on September 19.

Former Mills dance instructor and Dean of Fine Arts Mary Ann Childers Kinkead ’63 presented the Distinguished Achievement Award to Trisha Brown ’58 for her outstanding contributions to dance.

As a Mills student, Kinkead took classes from Brown, who was on campus as a visiting professor in the dance department. “I didn’t know how famous she was going to become,” Kinkead recalled, “but she was wonderful in the classroom and exposed me to ideas about dance and ways of thinking of movement that I had never thought about.”

“I’m so thrilled to be here, I feel overhonored,” Brown said as she accepted the award. (For more on Trisha Brown, see the profile in the summer 2008 Quarterly.)

AAMc vice President Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92 presented the recent Graduate Award to Ramona Lisa Smith ’01, MBA ’02. After a nine-year career with the Dance theater of harlem in new York, Smith was working in a volunteer management organization and was denied a promotion because she didn’t have a college degree. She decided this would never happen again and came to Mills as a resumer, commuter, and single parent. Smith wrote for the Campanil and, as a senior, sat on the Quarterly advisory board, a post she held for four years. After graduation, she was invited to join the AAMc Board of Governors and, over the course of six years, served on the finance committee, on the resource development committee, and as treasurer.

Smith works part time for the california Department of Public health and runs two businesses: Imani consulting, which provides a variety of business services, and Goin’ Bananas, through which she sells homemade banana bread. Smith continues her community service through MohMS, a support group she cofounded for mothers of high and middle schoolers.

“there are so many wonderful women at Mills—and a few good men—who have volunteered so much of their time that this award could have gone to a number of alums,” Smith said. “I really appreciate the fact that I was nominated because Mills means so much to me,” Smith said. Smith explained that she left her old life as a survivor of domestic abuse and chose Mills as a means to start her life over. “After being in a situation where my power had been taken from me, Mills not only served as a safe haven for both me and my daughter, but it was a place where I was able to regain my power as a woman,” Smith said. “It helped me to rebuild my confidence and it helped me reclaim my voice. After receiving so much from Mills, I was more than happy to give back for as long as I did.”

Alumnae awards & classmate connections highlight REUNION 2008

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the Alumnae Association of Mills college (AAMc) is seeking candi-dates for the following awards:

• the DistinguishedAchievementAwardfor distinction in professional fields, arts, sciences, and public affairs;

• the OutstandingVolunteerAwardfor extraordinary commitment and service in promoting the goals of the AAMc and the college;

• theRecentGraduateAwardfor volunteer efforts that exemplify a spirit of caring and community to the AAMc and the college. Alumnae/i within 15 years of graduation may be considered for this award.

candidates must be able to attend the award ceremony at next year’s reunion, october 1 through 4, 2009. Mills alumnae/i may nominate candi-dates, and alumnae/i who attended Mills as degree candidates are eligible for consideration. nominations may not include current Board of Governors members, current members of the Mills Board of trustees, or members of the current Awards committee.

Please send nominations with informa-tion about each candidate’s achieve-ments and qualifications to: chair, AAMc Awards Program, Alumnae Association of Mills college, P.o. Box 9998, oakland, cA 94613. Please include your name, phone number, address, and email address.

nominations must be received no later than May 18, 2009.

For more information, email the AAMc at aamc@mills.edu or AAMc President Anita Aragon Bowers at AnitaAragonBowers@alumnae.mills.edu or call 510.430.2110.

2009Call for 

  Award Nominations

A jam-packed weekend of activities drew 250 alumnae and 70 guests back to campus

September 18–21. The number of alumnae registered was 55 percent higher than last year.

See Reunion 2008 class photos throughout the Class Notes section.

Dozensofalumnae“robedup”withstudentsandfacultyatConvocationtomarktheofficialstartofthe2008–09academicyear.Convocationspeakerandrenownedchoreog-rapherTrishaBrown’58addressedthecrowdonToyonMeadowwithwordsofexperienceandencour-agementastheCollegeenteredits137thyearontheOaklandcampus.

TheAlumnaeofColorBBQdrewahungrycrowd.

TheArtMuseumopeneditsdoorsfortoursoftheexhibitTheOfferingTable:WomenActivistArtistsfromKorea.

Classmates,parents,andkidsenjoyedanumberofreceptions,aswellaspaneldiscussionsandcampustours.

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26  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Bookshelf

Nearly 50 alumnae and friends sat at rapt attention in the Bender Room on Saturday afternoon of Reunion weekend, as six Mills authors read excerpts from their books. From the tale of a young Egyptian queen who declared herself pharaoh of her land (His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut, by Dorothy Carter, DFA ’42) to the contemporary poetry of Associate Professor of English Julianna Spahr, this year’s Literary Salon showcased a variety of fiction and non-fiction works.

Now in its third year, the salon is organized by Daphne Muse, director of the Women’s Leadership Institute. Reviews of two fea-tured books follow.

DancingWisdom:EmbodiedKnowledgeinHaitianVodou,CubanYoruba,andBahianCandombléYvonne Daniel, MA ’75

UniversityofIllinoisPress,2005

Yvonne Daniel, professor emerita of dance and Afro-American studies at Smith College, draws on a unique store of knowledge accumulated over the course of more than 40 years to craft this comparative study of three African Diaspora “dancing religions.” As a dancer, anthropologist, and enthusiastic “observant participant” in the rituals of Vodou in Haiti, Yoruba in Cuba, and Candomblé in Bahia, Brazil, Daniel provides a multi-layered perspective on these three religions, which share music making and dancing as primary vehicles of spiritual transformation. In each tradition, dances are performed to specific rhythms in order to encourage the manifestation of particular ancestral spirits in the bodies of believers. Participating in such ceremonies allows human beings to transcend time and space and to benefit from changes in their physical, emotional, and spiritual being.

Daniel challenges the Western hierarchy of knowledge in which the scientific and theoretical is superior to practical, expe-riential, and kinesthetic understanding, and she shows how Haitian, Cuban, and Bahian dancers and musicians incorporate history, philosophy, physiology, psychology, botany, and math-ematics in their ritual performance. To Daniel, rituals in these traditions serve as “social medicine” that promotes community cohesiveness and healing while they connect human beings with the spiritual plane and the cosmos.

The author participates fully in some of the rituals she observes. By reporting on the sensations she experiences while and after dancing in religious ceremonies, she breaks down the wall between anthropologist and “other,” between scholar and participant. And Daniel does not shy away from sharing the story of her own spiritual development, including the conundrum she faces when she is not able to return to Cuba to complete her initiation into the Yoruba religion but has the option to do so in the similar Candomblé tradition in Brazil—if and only if she agrees to cut ties with her spiritual family in Cuba. Daniel even shares guidance and information she received from spiritual entities with whom she communicated during her participation in religious practice.

Bookworms: Theauthorsfeaturedatthisyear’sLiterarySalon,picturedabovewithco-facilitatorJoanGelfand,were:AssociateProfessorofEnglishJulianna Spahr:Things of Each Possible Relation Hashing Against One Another,This Connection of Everyone With Lungs,The Transformation;Lauren Speeth ’81:Tracks of Hope;Kathie Warne ’45:My Twentieth Century: Madeleine Milhaud Interviews with Mildred Clary;Yvonne Daniel, MA ’75,Dancing Wisdom;Dorothy Carter, DFA ’42:His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut;Sharon Niederhaus ’63:Together Again: A Guide to Successful Multigenerational Living (reviewedin Mills Quarterly,winter/spring2008).Theaudiencelistensattentively,below.

Alumnae authors shine at Reunion’s Literary Salon

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This book has something to offer those interested in dance, embodied experience, religion, and African Diaspora culture in the Americas. It is clear that participating in Vodou, Yoruba, and Candomblé rituals has enriched the author’s life, and Daniel’s passion for her subject matter enriches this study with vivid detail along with something that is frequently missing from studies of religious practice—a phenomenological approach to what it feels like to participate in acts of praise and devotion.

TracksofHope:TheForgottenStoryofAmerica’sRunawayTrainandHowWeCanChangeItsCourseLauren Speeth ’81

ElfenworksFoundation,2008

With Tracks of Hope, Lauren Speeth aims to develop a new way of think-ing about poverty—not as an over-whelming problem that belongs to “other people,” but as a complex result of many social injustices: lack of access to education and health care, pervasive domestic violence and abuse, ineffective criminal rehabilitation programs, untreated mental illnesses, and personal crises. The coffee-table–style book features evocative photography of urban and rural landscapes, most of which were taken by the author herself. The book also serves to describe the philosophical basis of the Elfenworks Foundation, where Speeth serves as CEO, which is dedicated to supporting those who are addressing issues of poverty and injustice.

Speeth presents the daunting facts of poverty in this country while noting the humanity behind the numbers. She points out that women and children make up large segments of the popula-tion most affected by poverty, and presents the variety of factors that can lead to homelessness. Moreover, she argues that many systems in this country exacerbate these problems rather than offering any hope for improvement.

Most importantly, Speeth shows how poverty creates both an ethical and monetary burden for our society as a whole. But this isn’t a story of doom and gloom: the author encourages each reader of the book to take action in any way, large or small, to combat the problem of domestic poverty and asserts that every individual effort is rewarding and fulfilling. The book con-cludes with a series of appendices that offer informative online resources and useful suggestions for volunteering or otherwise creating change.

TheSanFranciscoTapeMusicCenter:1960sCountercultureandtheAvant-GardeDavid W. Bernstein, editor

UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2008

The foreword to this book states that “if you can remember the ’60s, you weren’t really there.” For those whose recall is lacking or those who never witnessed

the amazing countercultural forces germinating in San Francisco at that time, David Bernstein’s book is a fascinating and enlightening read. The San Francisco Tape Music Center documents a community of artists who both created and reacted to great cultural shifts in art, music, and performance. The volume contains oral histories with founding members of the Tape Music Center (which moved to Mills College in 1966 and is now known as the Center for Contemporary Music) as well as retrospective essays by leading schol-ars and artists. A DVD of performances from Wow and Flutter, a festival produced by the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004, completes the multimedia package.

Though the book focuses on the Tape Music Center and its founding members, other artists receive ample attention: from Ann Halprin, founder of the Dancers’ Workshop, to Tony Martin and his compositions of light, to the wizards who developed much of the Tape Music Center’s capabilities.

In describing this little-studied group, Bernstein pro-vides an intimate and exciting portrait of remarkable people doing remarkable things in remarkable times.

38  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

AlumnaeEdithOttenheimerMiller’25, August 5, in Portland, oregon. She was the 1922 Portland rose Festival princess, a lifelong member of temple Beth Israel, and a volunteer for the American red cross for 85 years. Survivors include her son Alan and a grandchild.

CelesteMalone’38, August 25, in Sacramento. She taught school for a number of years and was a lifelong member of the First Baptist church, where she helped form the Friendship class, a Sunday school group. She often entertained friends at a summer home on the west shore of Lake tahoe. Survivors include two children and four grandchildren.

MartadelCooper’39, July 22, in Las vegas. She studied piano at Julliard and worked as a legal secretary. She is survived by several nieces and nephews.

MargaretCaryTunks’39, november 3, 2007, in Los Angeles. She studied biochemistry as a graduate student at the University of Iowa and moved to Seattle in the mid-1960s, where she became an advocate for sensible transpor-tation policies. Survivors include two sons and two grandchildren.

MarjorieArmstrongWillard’40, June 11, in San ramon, california. Survivors include a daughter and niece Dana Wildman ’53.

PatriciaPaulinDavis’41, March 17, in Sidney, British columbia, canada.

Ruth“Elizabeth”DuncanAley’42, June 8, in San Francisco. In 1945, she traveled to Berlin as a member of the Women’s Army corps. She wrote and published poetry throughout her life, later teaching poetry and creative writing at Uc Santa Barbara, and was an avid bird-watcher. She is survived by three chil-dren and five grandchildren.

BillieGardnerAxel’42, July 14, in San Luis obispo, california. She worked at March Air Force Base and entertained the troops on stage during World War II, volun-teered for several community ser-vice organizations, and enjoyed extensive travel and creative hobbies throughout her life. She was president of Mills alumnae groups in new York and southern california, served as alumnae regional governor for six years, and hosted several fundraisers for her alma mater. She is survived by her husband, Murray; three children; and two grandchildren.

WinifredKowallis,MA’42, June 26, in Sacramento. She was employed by the State of california as a home econo-mist for 35 years. She is sur-vived by two nephews.

Ruth“Deemsie”DeemsRemington’43, January 12, in Ashland, new hampshire. After college, she lived in the Philadelphia area and Williamsburg, virginia, and worked as an elementary school teacher. She is survived by four children and 14 grandchildren.

PeggyvanHorneSeligman’43, September 2, in Stinson Beach, california. A longtime resident of San Francisco and a world traveler, she and her husband retired to Stinson Beach, where she thrived with her books and garden. She is survived by three sons and three grandsons.

Shirley“Chappie”ChaplerHeublein’44, June 11, in Sierra Madre, california. A Pe teacher in Pasadena for many years, she was an experienced angler, skier, golfer, domino player, and all-around sportswoman. She is survived by three sons, 13 grandchildren, and a sister.

BetsyBambergerLesser’44, September 20, 2004, in Los Angeles.

Mildred“Patricia”ThomsonGrinnell’45, August 1, in cohasset, Massachusetts. She was a renowned floral designer who exhibited, taught, and judged flower arranging throughout new england. She is survived by her husband, James; six children; 12 grandchildren; and a sister.

FrancesSanchezPeralez,MA’46, February 7, in Lakewood, california. Survivors include her husband, Manuel.

ConstanceRookPiper’47, July 29, in San clemente, california. She had a 40-year career teaching elementary school, was a member of Alpha Delta Pi, and was an experienced traveler. She is survived by her husband, Jim; four children; and 10 grandchildren.

HarryDonlevy,MEd’49, April 17, in oakland. he became a lieuten-ant in the navy before undertak-ing a long career as an art teacher. he worked in several high schools as well as the california college of the Arts and Uc extension and led art-centered trips in california, Asia, and europe.

PhyllisHill,MA’52, August 10, in Madison, Wisconsin. She was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign for 25 years, serving in both academic and administrative positions, including director of the campus Peace corps program and director of women’s athlet-ics. After moving to Wisconsin in 1977, she continued working as an educator and curriculum specialist. She is survived by her longtime friend, Jane Ayer; a sister; and three nephews.

Mary“M.L.”ConnerAllen’54, May 15, in oklahoma city, oklahoma. She was a world traveler and assumed leadership in numerous civic and charitable organizations. She was active with the Mills college Alumnae club of oklahoma and chaired a committee that endowed a regional scholarship at the college. She is survived by three sons and seven grandchildren.

HelenFunnell’27, September 7, in Monterey, california. She was a teacher in oakland schools for 36 years and enjoyed performing in many dramatic productions.

FrancesLeeBetz’28, october 26, 2006. She is survived by three children and 12 grandchildren.

MaryPorter’34, April 29, 2007, in Sacramento. A resident of Woodland until 2001, she was a member of the charitable sorority omega nu and of chapter IX, an organization that supports women’s education. Survivors include several cousins.

VerniceTheisenMeskell,MA’36, December 31, 2007, in claremont, california. A longtime resident of southern california, she was active with the Pasadena Mills Alumnae club. Survivors include a daughter.

InMemoriamnotices of deaths received before September 26, 2008

HelenFunnell

Spouses&FamilyFrancesAkerlund, mother of ellen Akerlund-Gonella ’68, April 2, in Sun city, Arizona.

AlexanderAllison, father of Lynne Allison Phillips ’75 and grandfa-ther of Kateri Allison rein ’90, June 18, in thousand oaks, california.

WilliamCahill, husband of Ann Jones cahill ’48 and father of Barbara cahill ’76, August 10, in Seattle.

ElizabethYatesCollender, mother of tori collender ’74, September 11.

ThomasGreer, widower of Dorothy “Dottie” Leech Greer ’43, May 23, in rocky Mount, virginia.

R.TheodoreLeaver, husband of Bonnie reuter Leaver ’58, July 17, in Beverly hills.

GailardL.Piper, father of Sonja Piper Dosti ’92, April 13.

ElsaFreudenthalAltshool’55, March 28, in Las cruces, new Mexico. She gave folk guitar lessons for many years, sold her crafts at juried fairs, and operated valley Insurance Agency. A vocal advocate for the disenfranchised, she was active with the Democratic Party, peace and justice move-ments, and many progressive community organizations. She is survived by a daughter.

KayReitenMeyer’61, August 9, in Walnut creek, california. She owned her own interior design business and worked for Interform commercial Interiors.

JanetGill’62, July 8, in Seattle. She was the author of several novels, picture books, and short stories, and organized a BookFest to bring together writers and the public. She is survived by three children and a brother.

MarciaMiller’63, August 15, in Palo Alto. A history major at Mills, she founded one of the Bay Area’s top interior design firms and earned great professional recogni-tion, including the Sunset maga-zine Award of excellence in 2000. Survivors include two sons, three grandchildren, a brother, and sister Sally Miller Baumwell ’66.

MaryvanBeurenSeavey’70, August 29, in Saint helena, california. She was a leader with the oakland Museum, the Women’s Athletic club of oakland, and the english Speaking Union of the United States. With her husband, she was owner and operator of Seavey vineyard in the napa valley. She is survived by her husband, William; five children; and four grandchildren.

JeanHastings’73, September 11, in Benecia, california.

HollieQ.Hill, July 14, in Mountain view, california. A Mills stu-dent pursuing library arts, she had been an employee of nokia Inc. and the oakland Museum. She was honored with the MS Society Mission Possible Award in acknowledgement of her outstanding fundraising efforts, and was considered joyful, artistic, and witty. Survivors include her husband, Wayne runyon; parents Frank and carol; and siblings Debra and troy.

HollieQ.Hill

GiftsinMemoryof

Mary“M.L.”ConnerAllen’54, by Robert Allen, Laura Collins Neri ’54

BillieGardnerAxel’42, by Doris Morton, Margaret Scott, Dwight Tate, Doris Turner

Evelyn“Peg”Deane’42, by Mary Hart Clark ’42

GraceForlenz, by Jerome D. Oremland, M.D.

Barbara“Bobby”ColemanFrey’68, by Laurel Kathryn Burden ’68

HelenandWilliamGaw, by Jane Farrell Gaw ’52

RuthGillard’36, by Estate of Dorothy Gillard

NancyLastonGilmore’68, by Elaine Elliott Flynn ’68

SaraAmodeiGrosskettler’58, by Drusilla Eaton Binney ’58

JamesHarper,P’78,P’90, husband of nancy Gene harper ’80, by Kristin Harper Bush ’78

GeorgeHedley, by Mura Kievman ’64

BarbaraJacobson’68, by Susan Stern Fineman ’68, Margaret Stern Thornton ’65

MarionTonkonKaufman’51, by Jane Simonton Abts ’51, Rena Houston Du Bose ’51, Bette Dreyfous Goldsmith ’51

E.AlisonKay’50, by Constance Black, P ’74, Betty Chu Wo ’46

MaryLarkin’86 andDonLarkin,P’77, by Sheila Larkin Brethauer ’77, MA ’89

CharlesLarsen’69, by Mura Kievman ’64, Catherine LaRoche ’85, Lisa Lemon ’86, MA ’93

Boitumelo“Tumi”McCallum’07, daughter of tebojo Moja, by Steven Burrell, Dennis Coll, Margaret Moja, Hilda and Tiisetso Moja, and Tebojo Moja

MadeleineMilhaud, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens ’57, Mura Kievman ’64

MarciaMiller’63, by Palo Alto Area Mills College Club

PatriciaTaylorMilligan’47, by Donald Milligan, P ’73

FranklinOtt,husband of Margaret Saunders ott ’40, by Margaret Saunders Ott ’40

IreneDamisPapan’58, by Loretta Hirsh Shine ’58

Jane“Jinx”Rule’52, by Jane Robinson Shoemaker ’64

CarolynNissenRathbun’68, by Gayle Rothrock ’68

FloraElizabethReynolds, by Sandra Ong ’59

LawrenceShrader, by Grayson and Jenifer Kirtland

GildeeAbercrombieVaughn’68, by Gretchen FitzGerald Chesley ’68

ImogeneandFranklinWalker, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens ’57

HelenandReynoldWik, by Katherine Farrow Jorrens ’57

(received June 1–August 31, 2008)

P=parent For information about making a tribute gift, contact 510.430.2097 or donors@mills.edu.

fa l l 2 0 0 8 39

p h o t o s b y d a n a d av i s

“We are truly more our real selves—more at ease with who we are, and more accepting of ourselves and each other,” says Cynthia Foskett Nestle ’58. “I sensed it in many of the classmates I reconnected with at Reunion.”

Simply participating in the study imparted a sense of perspec-tive. “I’ve looked forward to sitting down and reflecting on where I’ve been and where I’m going,” says Mary Stuart McCullough ’58.

Nestle also notes the broader historical context of her class-mates’ lives: “I have come to see our class as part of a ‘bridge gen-eration’ caught between the traditional roles for women and the radically changed roles that emerged in the ’60s and ’70s.”

“The idea of ‘integrity’ as a final thrust in life is compelling and true,” according to Marilyn Winans ’58. “I see the strengths that have been developing during my journey. I notice how they relate to my past, and how that has shaped what I have done these 50 years after graduation. I am looking at what I need to do now to truly have a life of integrity.”

The findings of the Mills Longitudinal Study have resulted in more than 100 scholarly publications on personality, emotional experience, relationships, and life satisfaction. Details can be found at the project website, http://millslab.berkeley.edu.

Even as our society changes with respect to gender roles and attitudes toward aging, so too does this dynamic group of Mills alumnae continue to change, learn, and grow—and show alumnae across the age spectrum how we, too, can approach each decade with grace and integrity.

40  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

In fall 1957, Ravenna Helson, an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, visited Mills College armed with a battery of questionnaires, inven-

tories, and assessments. Her goal: to select a representative sam-ple of the Class of 1958 to participate in a long-term study on “creativity, leadership, and plans for the future in modern young women.” The study would enable researchers to investigate changes in personality and gender roles over time, against the complex backdrop of historical and social change.

Just over 50 years later, on September 18, 2008, a lively group of Mills women from the Class of 1958 gathered during Reunion to hear a presenta-tion by Helson, who has tracked the class through significant life changes. Helson’s research team, now headed by Berkeley Professor of Psychology Oliver John, followed up with the Class of 1958 sample and another group from the Class of 1960 a few years after their graduations and again at periodic intervals spanning five decades.

“When we entered into the study, I don’t think that we knew it would be this long,” laughs Margi

Roberts Tomczak ’58, who introduced Helson that afternoon. One of the recent areas of study has been the concept of integ-

rity, which psychologist Erik Erikson describes as the acceptance of one’s past as inevitable and meaningful and which Helson terms “the last major task of adulthood.” The study has revealed that integrity may not simply be a matter of acceptance, but that there is also an active component of “making yourself the person you want to be, or finding your authentic self.”

Many study participants reported feel-ing freer in their 60s and 70s to pursue creative work that they had been unable to commit to earlier in life, due to employ-ment, health concerns, life events, or social expectations. Satisfaction with relation-ships tended to increase, and even losses and late-life regrets could be a source of strength and integrity.

Learning

experience

Woman of integrity:SuzanneMunkRagen(aboveleft);PaulineWoodBauer,BonnieReuterLeaver,andSylviaGerberBruce(aboveright);AnneSheridanTiber(right).

By Sarah J. Stevenson, MFA ’04

“I have come to see our class as part of a

‘bridge generation’ caught between the traditional roles for women and the radically changed roles that emerged

in the ’60s and ’70s.” —Cynthia Foskett Nestle ’58

from

Remember,

the nomination

deadline is Friday,

January 16, 2009.

Nominate your choice for Alumna Trusteethe Alumnae Association of Mills college nominating committee

is seeking alumnae/i who have demonstrated service and support

to the AAMc and the college to serve as Alumna trustee, 2009–2012.

We invite you, the alumnae of Mills college, to submit

candidate nominations before January 16, 2009.

three Alumnae trustees sit on both the Board of trustees of Mills college

and the Board of Governors of the AAMc. they are expected to attend

several annual meetings of each board and serve as a liaison between

the two boards. the term begins July 1, 2009. contact cynthia Guevara,

nominating committee chair, at guevaracyn@yahoo.com, or call AAMc

offices at 510.430.3373 or 510.430.3374 for further information.

nominations may be submitted to the nominating committee, AAMc,

Po Box 9998, oakland, cA 94613, or via email to cynthia Guevara,

guevaracyn@yahoo.com. Please include your nominee’s name, class year,

address, telephone, and email address, as well as your own name.

Up to three final nominees will be featured in the winter Quarterly. All

alumnae/i are eligible to vote using the mail-in ballots provided in that issue.

Total Solar Eclipse over China w July 15–24, 2009

An Extraordinary Event

n Witness the total solar eclipse from the centerline of the path of totality, where viewing will last an extraordinary 5 minutes and 55 seconds.

n Enjoy lectures and commentary by California Academy of Sciences astronomer Bing Quock.

n Explore the highlights of Beijing, including the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, the Olympic Village, and the Forbidden City.

n See Xian’s terracotta warriors, and the Bund in Shanghai.

n Extend your China Adventure with an optional Yangtze River cruise through the famed Three Gorges.

Main Program (Per person, based on double occupancy) .... $3,895Single Supplement ...................................... $ 695

Yangtze River Cruise Extension (Per person, based on double occupancy) .... $1,995Single Supplement ...................................... $ 525

Program Costs

For more information, please contact the Alumnae Association of Mills College at 510.430.2110, or email aamc@mills.edu

Mills College 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94613-1301

510.430.3312 quarterly@mills.edu www.mills.edu

Address service requested

Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing office(s)

Mills Quarterly

Saturday,Feb.21,2009

OPENING NIGHT Pauline Oliveros with Tony Martin, Terry Riley, Joseph Kubera performs Roscoe Mitchell, Joan Jeanrenaud

8:00 pm

Solo performances of works by pioneers in the experimentalist tradition. A champagne reception follows.

Freeadmissionforthefirst80alumnaewhoreserveseatsbyJanuary16.RSVPtoalumnae-relations@mills.eduor510.430.3363.

Sunday,Feb.22,2009

A Celebration of the Center for Contemporary Music3:00 pmMore than 40 years of electronic innovation. Pre-concert talk with performers at 2:00 pm.

Sunday,Mar.8,2009

Arditti Quartet3:00 pmThe world-renowned string quartet plays works by Mills composers past and present.

Sunday,Apr.5,2009

The Music of Fred Frith3:00 pmA rocking birthday concert of new music. A special birthday reception follows.

Giving Free Play to the Imagination

Friday,Feb.27,2009

Legendary Composer and Improviser Muhal Richard Abrams8:00 pmWith special guest Roscoe Mitchell.

Saturday,Feb.28,2009

Darius Milhaud’s Brazilian Connection8:00 pmDazzling orchestral works conducted by Nicole Paiement. A celebration of the Concert Hall naming follows.

Admission for alumnae: $12 for each concert; $60 for the series

General admission: $20 for each concert ($12 seniors); $100 for the series ($60 seniors)

Series tickets make great holiday gifts! To purchase tickets for individual concerts or for the series by credit card, visit www.boxofficetickets.com and search for “Mills Festival.” A limited number of tickets will be available at the door before each concert for purchase by cash or check. For more information about the festival, visit www.mills.edu/musicfestival or call 510.430.2296.

M i l l s M u s i c F e s t i v a l 2 0 0 9

celebrate the reopening of Mills college’s historic concert hall, where for more than 80 years the Music Department’s performances have shaped the course of music in our time. experience the hall’s renovated acoustics, seating, and stage, and see the restored frescoes, choir panels, and ceiling details by artist raymond Boynton, who aimed “to produce a scheme of decoration that would give free play to the imagination.”

Pauline Oliveros