The 20-year legacy of President Janet L. Holmgren

Courage & daring

Mills QuarterlySummer 2011 Alumnae Magazine

I n S I d e : 2 0 0 9 – 1 0 A n n u A l R e p o R t o f G I v I n G

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M I L L S C O L L E G E A N N U A L F U N D

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Video camera and tripod: $3,000

Soldering iron: $50

Small electronic components: $200

onors to the Mills College Annual Fund support scholarships and campus resources, including the Prieto Multimedia Lab. Here, students in the College’s Intermedia Arts Program create interactive installations, robots, multi-media performances, and other art that integrates computer technology with traditional media. Each year, Mills invests in programs that cultivate students’ academic and creative work.

Software licenses for• Video production: $7,992• Audio editing: $5,995• Interactive audio and video

programming: $10,485 • Design and image editing: $12,000

D

Mills Quarterly

contents Summer 2011

306 8

6 Evolution of a revolution by Nadia Mostafa Saleh ’59 When civil protest deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February, the world watched in amazement. A Mills alumna and Cairo resident shares her perspective of those riveting events and thoughts on the future of her country.

8 Milestones of a Mills womanWe look back at two decades of remarkable achievements in academics, campus construction, and educational leadership, all spearheaded by the vision of President Holmgren.

12 Remarks on 20 years as President of Mills College by Janet L. Holmgren The President reflects on the changes in the country and in higher education since she took office at Mills and affirms the continuing importance of women’s education. Plus: a special thanks to donors to the Holmgren Presidential Scholarship.

30 Sound off! In a follow-up to this feature in the last issue, more alumnae answer the question: Who has been your most influential professor?

Departments

2 Letters to the editor

3 Mills Matters

17 Bookshelf

18 Class Notes with Notes from Near and Far: Alumnae Activities Report and a feature on Date Palms band members Marielle Jakobsons, MFA ’06, and Gregg Kowalsky, MFA ’06

28 In Memoriam

On the cover: President Janet L. Holmgren stands proudly in the atrium of the building for the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business. Photo by Erin Lubin.

Special insert: 20 years, 20 donors 2009–10 Annual Report of Giving

With much gratitude, Mills publishes this honor roll of donors who made gifts to the College between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010.

Thank you for that wonderful front cover! So many wonderful girls—women, I know—and so natural, real, and as you say, joyful. This subject was not so joyful for me, but I do hope that more and more women will enter math, science, and engi-neering for the good of our country and the world. I’m a cello teacher with some high school girls who have 4.8 averages, ace all of their APs, and are brilliant in math and science. I am urging these young women to please step forward and lead the charge towards females working hard to pursue higher education, do post-doctoral work, teach others, and lead sci-ence teams toward greater excellence.

I see great promise in many of our women present and future. I hope my encouragement will help.

—Michael Knapp, MA ’89 Emeryville, California

Letters to the Editor

Have a comment or opinion? Write to us at Mills Quarterly, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613 or quarterly@mills.edu. Letters may be edited for clarity or length.

I am pleased to see Mills encouraging women to pursue math and science. In my twenties, I worked as a secretary in a small hospital. The accountant got paid three times my salary and drove a yellow Porsche.

I went back to Mills and got a degree in computer science. I was off into a won-derful career. I’m retired now and drive a red Dodge Challenger!

—Linda Peterson ’81 Concord, California

2  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

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Volume XCIX Number 4 (USPS 349-900)

Summer 2011

PresidentJanet L. Holmgren

Vice President for Institutional AdvancementCynthia Brandt Stover

Senior Director of CommunicationsDawn Cunningham ’85

Managing EditorLinda Schmidt

Design and Art DirectionNancy Siller Wilson

Contributing Writers

Rose Lopez ’14 Nadia Mostafa Saleh ’59 Pamela Wilson

Editorial Assistance

Allison Marin ’12

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 © 2011, 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.

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Printed on recycled paper containing 10 percent post-consumer waste.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 3

New degree prepares educational leaders for complex challenges In the face of record budget cuts to public schools across California and throughout the nation, mounting accountability to improve the quality of education, and the emergence of private charter schools, educational leaders are increasingly confronted by complex challenges that require not only educational expertise but fundamental business skills as well.

In response to these escalating chal-lenges, Mills College will debut a new joint MBA/MA degree in educational leadership this fall, incorporating an even balance of both business man-agement and educational leadership courses from the Mills College School of Education and the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business.

“In the future, effective leadership in education will demand more than the basic knowledge of managing budgets and people,” said Katherine Schultz, dean of the School of Education. “It will require enhanced leadership and management skills that address the ethical and moral dimensions of school leadership.”

“The ideal skill set for an educational leader is one that combines knowledge, experience, and skills in education and business,” added Deborah Merrill-Sands, dean of the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business.

For more information about this program, see the Mills College School of Education website, mills.edu/education, or the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business website, mills.edu/mba.

Building a strong reputationThe building housing the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College continues to reap architectural honors. In May, Architectural Record named the building as one of nine winners of the Good Design Is Good Business awards, an international competition which recognizes projects using innovative architectural strategies to help businesses achieve specific goals. Each project was evaluated on the basis of its “business case”—a series of quantitative and qualitative measurements of building performance, including employee productivity, construction costs, reduced overhead, and branding. The building was designed by the firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

At Mills, for Alumnae

Mills MattersMills partners with Oakland to offer internshipsExciting new summer internship opportunities have arrived for Mills students thanks to a partnership between Mills College and the City of Oakland. Investing in Oakland: A Mills College Summer Internship Program, established by President Janet L. Holmgren, allows student interns to participate in community efforts directly related to the economic and human development of Oakland.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has targeted several priority areas for the internship projects which include education, neighborhood safety, economic development, sustainability, and mentoring. The internships, administered by Mills faculty and staff, entail close collaboration with city departments or community-based organizations working on city initiatives.

“In creating these collaborative internships, Mills College is able to demonstrate its strong commitment to the Oakland community in a substantially focused way,” says President Holmgren. “Students will be immersed in projects which will provide opportunities for a significant learning experience, while at the same time producing measurable benefits for Oakland’s residents.”

Approximately two dozen Mills undergraduate and graduate students are partic-ipating in five internship programs. These programs will establish a career advisory network for Oakland’s former foster youth; perform research to improve local bicycle, pedestrian, and transit options; conduct ethnographic research resulting in a “cultural map” to inform a public planning project in Chinatown; design an entre- preneurship course to support two existing economic development organizations; and work through local organizations to mentor Oakland youth. All internships provide students with a stipend as well as professional experience.

Mills faculty members, well known for their outstanding teaching, continue to contribute groundbreaking work and reap professional honors in their fields of study.

Professor of Studio Art Hung Liu received the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Printmaking from SGC International, an organization that advances the field of original prints, drawings, books, and handmade paper. The award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the professional development of print-making as a fine art.

Ron Nagle, professor of art emeri-tus, was selected to receive the Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which provides a prize of $7,500 to encourage creative work in the arts.

Sonya Delwaide, associate professor of dance, received the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Restaging/Revival/Reconstruction in 2010 for her work “Lettre à Jos” from Je Me Souviens.

Professor of Music Fred Frith’s newest CD, Clearing Customs, which combines conventional jazz instruments with Asian instruments and electronics, features Mills alumnae/i Fei Wu, MA ’04, Anantha Krishnan, MFA ’08, and Patrice Scanlon, MFA ’03.

Faculty honors, awards, and publications

Professor Christie Chung and four Mills psychology students and alumnae published the paper “Emotional Memory in Women: Why a Negativity Bias?” in the Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Ellen Spertus co-authored the book App Inventor: Creating Your Own Android Apps and received approval for a patent on which she is a co-inventor.

Assistant Professor of Public Policy Mark Henderson received an Overseas Young Chinese Forum–Ford Foundation Teaching Fellowship to lecture at Lanzhou University in western China.

The article “Public Interest Ethnography: Women’s Prisons and Health Care in California,” by Professor of Anthropology Rachael Stryker, has been accepted for inclusion in the 14th edition of the textbook Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology.

Two mystery novels for young read-ers by Associate Professor of English Kathryn Reiss have just been published by American Girl: A Bundle of Trouble and The Silver Guitar.

Mills staff members Shrim Bathey and Deborah Long, along with seven other Mills Educational Leadership students, co-authored the paper “Isn’t That What Those Kids Need?: Urban Schools and the Master Narrative of the Tough Urban Principal,” which was selected as co-winner of the 2010 Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, awarded by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Fred Frith, Sonya Delwaide, Christie Chung, Mark Henderson

4  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly4  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

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S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 5

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New grant and gifts fund research, scholarships, and moreOngoing research by Professor Joe Kahne in Mills’ School of Education received a big boost from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which awarded a grant of $4.5 million to support his coordination of and participation in a new interdisciplinary network of scholars. The network, called Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP), works to understand the ways youth participation in online networks is shaping and reshaping youth civic and political engagement in the public sphere. The grant funds YPP’s work through June 2013. See the spring 2010 Quarterly for more about Kahne’s research.

Mills College also gratefully acknowl-edges the following recent gifts, pledges, and bequest of $50,000 or more, which were received between October 1, 2010, and February 28, 2011.

Thomas White created the endowed Leslie Scalapino Fellowship in Poetry to remember his late wife, Mills’ first distinguished visiting poet in the English Department. The fellowship will go to MFA students in Mills’ poetry program.

Neva Kesselring ’78 and Gerald Rico established the endowed Patrick Memorial Scholarship for students who are honorably discharged military veter-ans or dependents of these veterans.

Anna May Leong Duncan ’43, P ’73, established the Anna May Duncan Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Kathi Burke, chair of the Mills College Board of Trustees, and her husband, Ralph Davis, made a significant gift to the Mills College Annual Fund. Jacklyn Davidson Burchill ’44 and her husband, Philip, also made a generous gift to sup-port the annual fund.

Shirley Lowy ’43 left an unrestricted bequest to the College.

See page 16 for a list of donors to the Holmgren Presidential Scholarship Fund.

Alumna and student athletes honoredMills athletes take their sports seriously. But many students—and one alumna—who pursue their academic interests and professional goals with the same intensity that they work towards the winning goal or finish line were recognized by the department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation at the Athletic Awards Ceremony on April 14.

Jennifer Curtis ’01, who played soccer in all of her four years at Mills and is now a well-known violinist, received the Alumnae Athletic Achievement award. In lieu of an acceptance speech, she played her original piece, “Cave Paintings.” “Jennifer is the essence of a ‘Mills woman,’ showing us that Mills student athletes are more than their sports,” said President Janet L. Holmgren, who presented the award.

Also honored that evening were 38 student athletes who had a grade point aver-age (GPA) of 3.5 or higher; the team with the highest cumulative GPA, tennis, had a combined total of 3.57. Desirae Tongco ’12, a swim team member and representa-tive for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee who holds down three jobs during the school year, received the Janet Holmgren Student-Athlete Service Award. Senior Cheryl Sundheim earned the Eugene Trefethen Award, which recognizes the gradu-ating scholar-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA.

—Rose Lopez ’14

The Summer Sessions 1933–1952: Visiting Artists at Mills College Art Museum On view June 15–August 28

Museum Hours

Tuesday–Sunday: 11:00 am to 4:00 pm

Wednesday: 11:00 am to 7:30 pm

Monday closed

Admission is free

www.mills.edu/museum 510.430.2164

Some of the student athletes honored at the Athletic Awards Ceremony (left); violinist Jennifer Curtis ‘01, center, displays her award (below).

CH XI, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 1939

Evolution of a revolutionNadia Mostafa Saleh ’59 tells of her experience in Egypt

APRIL 2011, CAIRO—People are getting back to work and traffic is impossible, as usual. All this is on the surface—look deeper, and you’ll see that the events in Egypt present a study of political revolution, be it a success or a failure.

The beginningMy own experience is that on January 25, young people orga-nized protests against widespread police brutality. But as their requests for change were neglected, the demonstrations and demands increased. Eventually, the police were pulled away and the army deployed to the streets. Unrest grew stronger and loot-ers began to attack shops, hotels, and residences. We watched a large mall across the river from us get burned down. On televi-sion, they showed young men with stolen television sets, com-puters, clothing, and shoes, as well as other young people who caught them and brought them to the authorities. Citizens took it upon themselves to protect their homes, streets, and neighbor-hoods. The next day they met with each other and started divid-ing responsibilities. This happened all over Egypt and, for a few days, our country was protected by its young men.

Meanwhile, crowds converged in Tahrir Square—now known as Liberation Square. Demands began to be heard for President

Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled the country since 1981, to step down from office. Local television news kept saying that things were under control and aired regular programs in spite of the fact that tens of thousands were assembling. Throughout Egypt, the authorities cut off the Internet and mobile phones, which were essential tools in organizing the protests.

We learned that the atmosphere of the Square was peaceful and orderly. It is remarkable how these young people organized bath-rooms, sleeping areas, food, drink, prayers, and protection from opposing forces. We heard of old women bringing meals and of nearby stores contributing food and blankets. Christians protected Moslems when they had their Friday prayers and the Moslems did the same for the Christians when they wanted to pray on Sunday.

6  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Pictures of protest: Egyptian children sit above the crowd in Tahrir Square (above); in Alexandria, a young man’s graffiti reads, “Take part in elections” (opposite). Photos by Joel Carillet/istock.com

The military refused to use force against the demonstrators and the atmosphere turned festive, with music and entertainment at night. Mothers wanting to protect their daughters went with them to the Square only to like the spirit there and decide to stay. Fathers went in search and joined their families.

When pro-Mubarak groups went to disturb the demonstrators, it turned into a nasty, violent rampage. I am sure they were hired thugs, very different than the mostly educated young people who were leading these demonstrations. From that time on, it was everyone’s wish that Mubarak leave office.

By February 12, Mubarak had to give in and leave. The Square began to return to normal. My granddaughter’s 16th birthday was spent on Liberation Square cleaning up with the protestors who decided to leave no debris. (I only hope that seeing these young people pick things up will provide an exam-ple to others. Feeling responsible for one’s behavior, the environment, and the cleanli-ness of the city is not a given here.)

The organization of this revolution is of great interest. It had no real leaders but several savvy people who used Facebook, Twitter, and other technological means to organize their protests. The young people on the streets were educated and many spoke foreign languages. They knew how the rest of the world lived, and this knowl-edge spurred their call for democracy and freedom. These youngsters on the streets made us very proud.

The presentIn the past weeks, investigations have uncovered a Pandora’s box of corruption that seems to have no end. Every day we hear more about fiscal gluttony and the misuses of power; every day there is more scandal and disturbance. Ordinary people are flab-bergasted by the news. I sometimes feel like the poor woman who sat next to the guillotine in the French Revolution and kept on knitting and was entertained by the rolling of the heads. It’s an awful feeling.

Government ministers, heads of corporations, parliamentar-ians, and many others are in jail. The Mubarak family and their cronies are under arrest. As we get closer to a court appearance by Mubarak himself, he gets sicker. He fears the court and it damages his health. After all, he is 82.

The vast allegations of corruption and greed have wiped away any good memories of Mubarak. This is a very poor country, with millions living in poverty. Young men can’t find jobs and so can’t get homes or get married. Health is a big issue; many people I know have died of cancer, hepatitis C, or kidney failure. Education is lousy, there is no research and very little develop-ment. Many foreign companies have taken over local businesses. All the while, the government elite were making millions at the expense of the country. That is why there is so much anger at Mubarak and his cronies.

I must say that Mrs. Mubarak was a real force in helping women and children’s causes, but she too is accused of abusing her position. I would hate for the good that she was responsible for to be lost.

Previously outlawed fundamentalist religious groups, who the authorities fear are one step away from al-Qaida, have been allowed to express their ideas. They are all over the media and scaring a lot of us. Hopefully women will protest if the religious fundamentalists attempt to remove some of the benefits that

women have achieved. There are still demonstrations—

for jobs and higher pay or for housing. In one particular case, pro-testors have occupied the rail track between Cairo and Aswan, putting the government in a quandary: if they send troops, it looks like a brutal crackdown; if they leave the protestors alone, there is no trans-portation and no work. Either way, the protestors’ behavior is a result of the confidence they received in the revolution. They now know they can make a difference.

The future?We all want our constitution to be changed. We want the period of the presidency to be limited. We want

the army to protect the country, not rule it. We want higher allocations for health, education, services, research, infrastruc-ture, and other areas benefiting the common man. We want a fair government where all citizens have the same rights and opportunities. We want the freedoms that are in your US Bill of Rights (except for the gun part). We do not want security forces checking our telephones and mail or a police state arresting people at dawn.

Often it is said that others have captured the revolution from those original young protestors. The fundamentalist religious groups have stepped in and their efforts are in the papers every day. Where are the revolutionaries? They have immortalized their revolution in countless songs, videos, jokes, and writings, but it is feared that their messages will be lost among the millions of issues coming up. We hope they don’t get lost. They are wonderful.

They knew how the rest of the

world lived, and this knowledge spurred

their call for democracy

and freedom.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 7

About the author: Nadia Mostafa Saleh ’59, a lifelong resident of Cairo, Egypt, enrolled at Mills on the recommendation of a family friend. She majored in child development and completed a secondary degree in anthropology. After returning to Egypt, Nadia began working in the family business, Nimos Engineering and Agricultural Development Company, and became chairperson in the mid-1970s. Nimos is one of very few female-run businesses in Egypt.

Throughout the course of President

Holmgren’s tenure, her vision and

guidance have developed leading

academic programs, fostered a

culture of diversity, and—quite literally—

built state-of-the-art facilities to advance

women’s education at Mills College well

into the 21st century. As Holmgren steps

down from office, we highlight some of the

many remarkable achievements on campus

since she began her leadership of the Mills

community 20 years ago.

Milestones of a Mills woman

8  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

1995 President Holmgren represents Mills College at the United Nations/NGO Forum and Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

The Intermedia Arts Program is launched.

Mills’ “graduate initiative” places new emphasis on enhancing graduate programs and increasing the number of graduate students.

1996 Mills College launches its first website.

1991 Janet L. Holmgren McKay is inaugurated as the 12th president of Mills College.

1994 Holmgren welcomes attendees to the Women in Science Summit, which releases a national report to advance women’s leadership in scientific disciplines.

New Prospect Hill Apartments provide additional independent residential options for students.

Mills Hall reopens after $10 million in renovations and repairs following its near-destruction in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Under Holmgren’s leadership, the Mills endowment passes the $100 million mark.

1992 Students occupy the President’s office— one of several protests demanding greater diversity among students, faculty, and staff. As a result, Mills expands offerings in the Ethnic Studies Program and pledges to increase the number of people of color on the faculty and in other leadership positions.

1993 Last Strike class graduates.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 9

1997 Aron Art Center expands to include room for permanent studios for painting and sculpting.

Mills receives a major James Irvine Foundation grant to support multicultural curriculum transformation.

1998 Trefethen Aquatic Center opens.

2001Mills launches the Institute for Civic Leadership, a two- semester program that combines coursework with an internship linked to public policy and social change.

The curriculum expands to offer a 4+1 BA/MBA program, environmental studies major, and public policy program.

Holmgren becomes chair of the board of the American Council on Education.

Holmgren is honored with the Donna Shavlik Award, presented by the American Council on Education’s Office of Women in Higher Education, for “sustained and continuing commit-ment to women’s advancement in higher education.”

Mills introduces wireless Internet access on campus; the F.W. Olin Library makes its catalogue available online and provides access to e-books.

1999 Suzanne M. Adams Plaza is established where the swimming pool used to be, creating community space outside the Tea Shop.

Mills’ first doctoral degree, an EdD in educational leadership, is accredited.

2000 New $8 million Education Complex opens.

Holmgren chairs governance taskforce of the California state legislature’s joint committee to develop a master plan for higher education.

2004Mills completes its Sesquicentennial Campaign, raising more than $130 million (nearly one-third over the goal).

The Vera M. Long Building for the Social Sciences is remodeled and reopened as a new home for anthropology, history, and other departments.

2003 The Campanil celebrates 100 years of standing tall and gets a new garden.

10  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

2002 Mills celebrates its sesquicentennial as the oldest women’s college west of the Rockies.

Holmgren is named president of the board of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

2006Mills establishes the Graduate School of Business to house the MBA Program and the School of Education to integrate baccalaureate and doctoral programs in this discipline.

Mills’ endowment passes the $200 million mark.

The Danforth, Stephenson, and Springs Houses are dedicated. Named for College Trustees and known collectively as the Courtyard Townhouses, these further expand on-campus housing for non-traditional-aged students.

2005The College introduces a bachelor of science in five majors—biology, biopsychology, chemis-try, environmental science, and biochemis-try and molecular biology—as well as an innovative two-year Pre-Nursing Program in cooperation with Samuel Merritt University, leading to the bachelor of science in nursing.

Mills is named one of Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges” for the first time.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 11

2011The Janet L. Holmgren Presidential Scholarship is endowed.

The President is awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters; Toyon Meadow is rededicated as the Janet L. Holmgren Meadow.

2007Two new 4+1 master’s programs are launched, in public policy and in infant mental health.

The Betty Irene Moore Natural Sciences Building opens and earns a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification.

President Holmgren signs a national Climate Commitment, which promises the creation of an action plan to achieve climate neutrality.

Holmgren receives the Council for Advancement and Support of Education CEO Leadership award.

2010: 20 years after the StrikeTwo decades after the College reaffirmed its commitment to women’s education, campus undergraduate enroll-ment has increased from 777 to 926 students and graduate enrollment has more than doubled. The number of students of color has risen to 39 percent of the under-graduate student body; nearly a third of incoming students are the first in their families to attend college. Since 1990, the proportion of faculty of color has increased from 5 to 25 percent. Annual giving to the College stands at an impressive $18.2 million.

2009Following an extensive renovation and restora-tion of the historic Music Building, a six-concert festival of contemporary music in the newly named Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall celebrates the reopening.

A strikingly modern new

building opens for the

Lorry I. Lokey Graduate

School of Business,

providing classrooms and

gathering space for the

campus, earning a gold

LEED rating, and

garnering multiple

architectural awards.

2008Mills announces the MFA in book art and creative writing, the first degree of its kind in the nation.

By Janet L. Holmgren

20 Years as Presidentof Mills College

Remar√s on

In celebraTIon of presIdenT JaneT l. holmgren’s 20 years of leadership, an exuberant crowd of supporters came together on February 9 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). The gala evening provided an opportunity to share pride in how far the campus has come under Holmgren’s steady hand— from the College’s recommitment to women’s education to its current place as a national leader in advancing women in the arts, sciences, and other fields— and to reflect on how Mills College is positioned to move forward into the future.

On these pages, we present a transcript of President Holmgren’s address that night.

all photos © 2011, Drew altizer12  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

I am deeply graTeful and very humbled by this outpour-ing of appreciation. It is, in fact, in my mind, a celebration

of the wonder that is Mills College. In my inauguration speech in October 1991, I quoted the great American poet Walt Whitman, who wrote Leaves of Grass about the time of Mills’ founding in the mid-1800s. Whitman proclaims, “I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” So tonight we celebrate Mills and every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

This evening is possible particularly because of the tireless efforts of the organizing committee, chaired by Trustees Merrill Kasper ’83, Maryellen Herringer, and Nan Gefen, and colleagues Ramon Torrecilha and Cynthia Brandt Stover, who acted on the very generous and supportive impulses of the Mills College Board of Trustees and the honorary committee for this event, our current and past board chairs. I thank also the special invest-ment of time and energy from those who have spoken and par-ticipated in the program tonight.

I also want to acknowledge the beauty and splendor of the space that we occupy tonight and the generosity of the museum in sharing this space with those of us from the other side of the Bay. A few years ago, in the fall of 2007, the other MOMA—the one on the other side of the continent—held a memorial service for the great artist Elizabeth Murray ’64, who had died earlier that year, and the director asked choreographer Trisha Brown ’58 to perform at that service. Trisha had already retired from danc-ing and was hesitant, but the MOMA director said to her that in his estimation the entire landscape of 20th century postmodern-ism had been transformed and opened to women as the result of the work of three artists—choreographer and dancer Trisha Brown and painters Elizabeth Murray and Jennifer Bartlett ’63. All three of these extraordinary artists are Mills women. I like that story especially for this celebratory moment tonight—we at Mills salute the SFMOMA, we take pride in bridging space and time, and we claim the place of Mills creativity and the power of that creativity to shape the culture that we live in.

President Holmgren addresses the audience gathered in her honor (opposite); Celebration chairs and Trustees Merrill Purdy Kasper ’83, Maryellen Cattani Herringer, and Nan Gefen (above left); Janet L. Holmgren with her daughter Elizabeth Jobst, sister Beth Holmgren, and daughter Ellen McKay (above right).

I n our celebraTIon TonIghT, we are embracing the last 20 years of Mills under my leadership as president. As I

cast my mind back to that time 20 years ago when I began, I am amazed at the courage and daring of the search committee that selected me. I was new to the West Coast, new to the role of president, and I was a single mother with two young daughters. I was vice provost of Princeton University, the highest ranking administrative woman at Princeton at the time, and on the fac-ulty teaching a class in American women writers. I had no plans to become a president nor to leave Princeton, and I surprised myself by accepting the nominations extended to me to become a candidate. I think the search committee probably surprised themselves too; as the chair of the search committee noted when she first saw me: “We thought you would be bigger—you have a big resume and write a big letter!” I am a bit bigger now 20 years later, but no taller.

A year earlier, Mills had experienced a shock that very few institutions successfully sustain. The board had decided, for a variety of reasons having to do with sustainability, that Mills should alter its core mission of educating only women at the undergraduate level and become a coeducational institution. As a result of a student/alumnae/faculty strike that endured for 16 days and deep and intense negotiations, the board reversed its decision and recommitted to keeping Mills for women in perpe-tuity again. There are many explanations for the motivation and ferocity of that strike, but to me, then and now, the message is very clear: women matter—the education of women with women and by women, in an environment that puts women at the core of learning and creativity, matters.

12

all photos © 2011, Drew altizer S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 13

Twenty years ago, the question for Mills was one of survival. We were swimming against the current of the previous 30 years in higher education that had at its core the supreme optimism of Americans (perhaps of the whole human spirit) that if you simply put people together—if you simply open doors, make access pos-sible, declare an end to discrimination—something called “equality” will happen. So Mills had to fight to remain “different”—to keep focusing on what we knew best how to do. And after that battle, when I arrived as president, everyone was catching a breath and saying that the battle had been won to affirm our mission, now we just needed to stay on track.

What we discovered, of course, is that we had to clarify that track, we had to invest in it, we had to expand the breadth and depth of what we were about against the backdrop of a complex world changing at a breakneck pace. Just one small example: as I have reviewed my archives spanning 20 years, the first 10 are on paper, the second decade is largely electronic. This speech has been rattling round in my head; I have driven many people crazy with the research and the ideas, I have made notes and pulled facts and information together, but those notes and that research were on an iPad and the speech itself was “entered,” not written.

T wenTy years ago, Mills had to heal wounds but we also had to reexamine who we were and wanted to be. What does it mean

to be for all women? As I said in my inaugural speech, the strong, proud Mills woman of the 21st century is African American, Asian American, Latina, Middle Eastern, Native American; she is differ-ently abled; she is gay, straight, transgendered, young, tall, old, short; she is first generation, she is a transfer student; she will be a teacher, a dancer, a lawyer, a doctor, a scholar, a homemaker, a community builder, a mom, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. She is a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and an atheist.

What does it mean to evolve from a liberal arts college to a mas-ter’s-level university? What does it mean to be an urban college with a responsibility for preparing the next generation of teachers, scientists, artists, political leaders, community leaders, environ-mentalists, and the list goes on? How do you build coeducational master’s-level and doctoral programs on the best in the liberal arts and the best in women’s education? For the Mills “woman” is also a man and always has been—men on the faculty, in the graduate programs, on the board, and as supporters and friends.

What kind of faculty, facilities, technology, and policies do we need to accomplish these goals? How do we articulate those val-ues and that knowledge so that our graduates will be prepared to compete in a fluid world of work and life? How do we explain to new populations of students that while women are the majority of students at almost all educational institutions and at all levels of education, the special experience, skill, and care that we take at Mills to educate women will give them an extraordinary value added? It is a model and an inspiration.

In the past 20 years, as the State of California pulled back on affirmative action in public higher education (remember Prop. 209)

12

1. Trustee Margaret Wilkerson and Carlos Baltodano

2. Irene Panagopoulus ’85 with son Phillipos Tsangrides

3. Professor of Studio Art Hung Liu, Stuart Bowyer, and Professor Emerita of Education Jane Bowyer

4. Alexandra Orgel Moses ’64, Jamienne Studley, and Trustee Muffy McKinstry Thorne ’48

5. Bonnie Reuter Leaver ’58, Douglas Hunter, and Alumna Trustee Julia Almanzan ’92

6. Trustee John McDonnell Jr. and Lois De Domenico

14  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

1 2

3

4

5

6

and on support for the public higher educational enterprise, Mills charged full speed ahead. As the country experienced unprec-edented prosperity, came under attack, and went to war, Mills students, faculty, and alumnae invested in peace and justice and social responsibility. As the economy experienced a roller coaster of ups and downs and the gap between rich and poor widened, Mills donors invested steadily in the future, expanding more than threefold the financial aid that we offer our 1,600 full-time students at the undergraduate and graduate level to an astonishing $20 million a year just from our own sources, tripling our endowment, doubling our investment in faculty, and doubling our available classroom and research space, investing over $100 million in new beautiful, environmentally responsible buildings, and in renovating and modernizing revered land-marks. Moreover, we are blessed with donors and friends who are enthusiastic about allowing their names and reputations to be tied to Mills in new and inspiring ways.

I T Is ofTen saId that the most famous women writers come at the beginning of our bibliographies—under A for

“anonymous.” It is also true that women who give of their time and resources often prefer not to be fussed over or acknowl-edged too grandly. One of our greatest friends and donors to Mills, Suzanne Adams ’48, helped to break that pattern for us and launch us into the 21st century with her desire to make a gift in order to name the Suzanne Adams Plaza at the College—I miss you tonight, Suzanne. So tonight Mills is breaking that mold once again—pioneering institution that we are—we are boasting about our work, taking pride in our accomplishments, and say-ing “thank you” to one another. We are also looking to the future and the great challenges and exciting possibilities ahead. I per-sonally look forward to returning to the faculty where I began my career almost 40 years ago and catching up on all that I have missed, and I look forward to turning over the leadership reins of the College to my successor, Alecia DeCoudreaux.

It is a blessing to be able to end my tenure on a positive note and I am grateful to all of the colleagues and supporters I have worked with, sometimes fought with—we’re a feisty bunch at Mills—worried with, and rejoiced with. There are three women here tonight, however, who deserve my special thanks and appreciation. I would not have come to Mills had my younger sister, Beth Holmgren, not already established herself as a faculty member at UC San Diego—showing me the way to California—and had I not been able to count on her wisdom, strength, and support for all these years. Sadly for me, she is now chair of her department at Duke University, but she graciously flew across the country and left her class in the hands of others to be here tonight. My daughters, Elizabeth Jane Jobst and Ellen Katherine McKay, are my wisest counselors, my strongest supporters, my toughest critics, and the loves of my life. I ask that you—Beth, Liz, and Elle—join me here to share this moment.

Thank you all for the generosity of spirit and sense of com-munity with Mills that brought you here tonight.

7. Todd Jaquez-Fissori, AAMC President Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92, Hisham Joudi, and Maha Al-Shibib Joudi ’90

8. Trustee Barbara Sandoval Terrazas ’73; Pat Pineda ’74, mistress of ceremonies for the evening and former Trustee; and Alfredo Terrazas

9. President Holmgren with Warren Hellman, chair of the Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1992

10. Eugene Metz; Kathi Burke, chair of the Board of Trustees; and Mary Metz, Mills president from 1981 to 1990

12

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 15

7

8

9

10

1212Anonymous (5)Katherine and Glenn Allen III, P ’04 Julia M. Almanzan ’92*Ginger and James Andrasick*Isabelle Hagopian Arabian ’45Darice Balabanis, MBA ’08The Barrett FoundationMr. and Mrs. Hugh P. Barton (Sheila Grieve ’54)Angela and Fred BlackwellBronnie Tuchman Blaugrund ’64Dr.+ and Mrs. Darl E. Bowers (Anita Aragon ’63), P ’84Cynthia Brandt Stover and Beth StoverWilliam R. and Wendyce Hull Brody ’68*Sally Matthews Buchanan ’64Dr. and Mrs. Philip Burchill ( Jacklyn Davidson ’44)Kathleen Burke* and Ralph DavisCarolyn Otis Catanzaro and Victor CatanzaroJune and Budd Cheit*Mr.* and Mrs. Gordon H. Chong, P ’93Catherine Foresman Coates ’65Kay and George ColemanTonya Coney ’08Barbara Crane ’49 and John MillerJoan L. Danforth ’53*Nancy May de L’Arbre ’46Lauriann Zemann Delay*John and Susan DiekmanSterling Loftin Dorman ’47Mr. and Mrs. George Drayton III (Phyllis Rawlins ’58)Mr. and Mrs. Stephen S. DunhamEllen and Thomas Ehrlich*Elaine ’47 and Donald Ehrman, P ’69, P ’79Beth Feldhammer Eiselman ’63Ruth E. Fassinger and Sandra C. GreerCheri Foster Feiner ’67Ms. Jocelyn P. FergusonLyn Flanigan ’65*Mayhill and James Fowler*Morton and Amy Rothschild Friedkin ’68Nan Fink Gefen* and Jonathan Omer-ManDaisy Gonzales ’07*Jeff and Janie Green (Janie Bewley ’93)Lucile Pedler Griffiths ’46, MA ’47, P ’75Jennifer Marx Gruenberg ’64 and Bud Gruenberg

Thomas HannenMr. and Mrs. Stephen E. Hansen (Susan Crain ’78)Margaret C. HaubenTamra C. Hege, MA ’97Sabrina* and Marco HellmanKathryn Madge Henkens (Kathryn Mayall ’80)Frank and Maryellen Herringer*Beth HolmgrenDr. Carmen IrizarryThe Honorable Harriet W. Isom ’58Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92*Renée and Elia JadushleverElizabeth and John JobstAnne Kaiser ’73 and Robert TaylorVan and Merrill Purdy Kasper ’83*Carolyn Clothier Killefer ’45Kathryn Hall and Thomas KnutsenPauline Royal Langsley ’49, P ’78, P ’83Victory and Richard Lareau (Victory Heramb ’64)Elfie Hanson Larkin, ME ’61Maribelle* and Stephen LeavittTherese LeoneMs. Leah LevyJoi D. LewisLorry I. Lokey, P ’85*Katharine LyallMrs. James T. Mabie (Margot Jones ’66)Neil and Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51, P ’75Lucy Cowdin Maisel ’38Dale MarshallAmy Schanno McCarthy ’58John McDonnell Jr.*Ellen McKayDr. L. Bruce MeyerBetty and Gordon MooreAlexandra Orgel Moses ’64*Fraser and Helen Drake Muirhead ’58*, P ’88, P ’93Miss Jane Newhall ’36*Jamie Nickel and Nancy WhitePauline OliveroswMs. Irene Panagopoulos ’85 and Mr. Stephen TsangridesElizabeth Parker ’85 and Keith S. CrowCynthia Lou Parker ’96Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce

* 2010 –11 Trustee + Deceased

Marianne H. PetersonPat Pineda ’74 and Eric Klein, P ’09Mrs. David E. Porter (Kathleen Hall ’49), P ’74Caren Prothro ’63, Cullum and Nita Prothro Clark ’91*, and the Perkins-Prothro FoundationKavita RamdasMary-Lee Lipscomb Reade ’41Alexandra Widmann Rinde ’08* and Craig RindeMrs. Harvey Rogers (Nancy Bernheim ’47)+Gayle Rothrock ’68*Cristine Russell ’71* and Ben Heineman Jr.Katie Sanborn ’83 and Barbara WrightKatherine Schapiro*June Holden Schneider ’43Marianne B. SheldonMr. and Mrs. Thomas Smegal Jr. (Susan Stanton ’60)Ann Eddy Smith ’59, P ’82Karlin Sorenson ’92Clare H. Springs ’66*Vivian Stephenson* and Margarita GandiaAnn StoneMyra Strober* and Jay JackmanAlice Eto Sumida ’36The Bernard M. and Caryl H. Susman Foundation (Caryl Hollender ’52)Eleanor SwentRoselyne Chroman Swig, P ’80*Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Terrazas (Barbara Sandoval ’73, MPH*)Harold and Evelyn McKinstry Thorne ’48*Ramon S. Torrecilha, PhDLinda Cohen Turner ’68*Fawn Leffler Valentine ’71Toni Renee Vierra ’98Ellen and Glenn Voyles*Susan S. WangMargaret* and Stanley WilkersonClare WintertonThe Family of Robert and Betty Chu Wo ’46Thomas and Barbara A. Wolfe ’65*Ann Sulzberger Wolff ’42Mark and Judy YudofBeverly Johnson Zellick ’49, MA ’50Mr. and Mrs. John U. Zussman (Patti Peters ’74)

16  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Mills College offers its deepest thanks and gratitude to donors to the Janet L. Holmgren Presidential Scholarship Fund.

This scholarship will advance goals championed by the President throughout her tenure: expanding access to Mills for

outstanding students of all backgrounds, empowering women to realize their leadership potential, and ensuring financial

stability for students and the College. As of April 15, the following donors had provided an endowment of $2.3 million for

the scholarship, which will be awarded each year to as many as five entering first-year, transfer, and graduate students

selected for academic merit and promise as leaders. The first Holmgren Scholars will be announced in fall 2011.

13, rue ThérèseBy Elena Mauli Shapiro, MFA ’06Reagan Arthur Books/Little Brown and Company, 2011

Bookshelf

As a child growing up in Paris, Elena Mauli Shapiro acquired a box of items—photos, postcards, a pair of gloves—left unclaimed after an elderly neighbor, Louise Brunet, passed away. “My relationship with the box was very gentle and tactile,” says Shapiro. “I would handle the artifacts and imagine what it would be like to be her. I used to slip her old lace church gloves onto my own hands just to feel them there and have my hands where her hands had been.”

“I did imagine several lives for her over time, several personali-ties,” she continues, but Shapiro never felt the need to research Louise’s true story. “Part of the interest of the objects was their very muteness—the essential incompleteness of what we all leave behind. It was the gaps that drew me in.”

Given that rich history, it’s no great surprise, perhaps, that her first novel centers around the mystery those objects represent. In 13, rue Thérèse, Trevor Stratton is an American scholar who discovers a cache of artifacts in his Paris office. But is Trevor a historian or a fantasist as he weaves the fabric of Louise’s life: her young lover killed too soon in World War I, her vaguely omi-nous father, her good yet dull husband, and her brazen affair with the married man who lives in the flat below?

Images of the actual objects appear throughout the book, lend-ing an air of authenticity to the story, but Shapiro introduces a good deal of ambiguity as she deftly skips from the present day to various points in the past and rapidly shifts the narrative voice. Trevor suffers from a fevered illness as he explores the items and much of the novel consists of his missives describing the objects to an unidentified col-league, creating multiple layers of interpretation and uncertainty.

“Trevor loses his mind a bit so that I didn’t have to,” says Shapiro. “The entire thing may or may not be happening completely inside his head. It can never be known who is what, exactly. That’s what happens when anybody tells a story about anything. Reader, it is as you wish.”

The technique lends a dreamy, almost intoxicated quality to the prose, but it is Louise’s passionate nature that truly drives the novel. Each page pulses with unabashed sensuality. At turns torrid, tragic, and sometimes a tad over the top, even Louise’s most mundane acts hum with hedonism. She puts laundry away “within the softly sliding drawers of her husband’s dresser, within the smoothly hinged doors of her armoire,” and when she meets with the object of her adulter-ous desire, “she wants to leap on him and tear the clothes from him, get this over with—or perhaps kill him instead? In a fit of fury, she might pick up a loose cobblestone and dash his brains all over the ground.”

All this fervor creates a page-turner of a book. “Hot diggity dog!” wrote Simon Schama in The Financial Times, though some critics have complained that the tale reflects more male fantasy than the liberation of a proto-feminist.

“It saddens me a bit when Louise is reduced to strictly a male fan-tasy, as if women are not capable of being powerfully sexual,” Shapiro retorts. “This is a repressive myth we need to get rid of. Horny women actually exist and have existed since before feminism.”

Either way, Shapiro’s prose makes for a brisk, entertaining read.

—Linda Schmidt

Toward an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis: Brandchaft’s Intersubjective VisionBy Bernard Brandchaft, Shelley Doctors, and Dorienne Sorter ’54

This book presents clinical case histories while portraying the intellectual development of Bernard Brandchaft, who developed the concept of “pathological accommodation”—a mechanism in which a person sacrifices their own perceptions and adopts those required by another in order to maintain a needed tie. Brandchaft further argues that not only individuals are subject to this trap, but indeed that the entire field of psychoanalysis has been stunted by accommodation to authority. Commentary from Doctors and Sorter creates a compelling dialogue about how and why to break the bonds that shackle us.

Institutional Elder Abuse: The Solution: Care Advocate ProgramBy Rita Stuckey, MA ’01, EdD ’05

In this concise, well-documented book, Stuckey describes her direct observations of patient neglect in elder care facilities, as well as cases of physical, sexual, financial, and emotional abuse. She goes on to outline a Care Advocate Program—an educational curriculum that provides a holistic approach to preventing elder abuse in long-term care settings and supporting families who care for their elderly loved ones. This book is a valuable tool for both the layman and professional.

also publIshed: Two books on healTh and wellness

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 17

Partners in planning for you and for Mills Are you planning for the future? Does your plan include Mills College? Are you wondering how a bequest, a charitable annuity, or trust can benefit you and the College?

The planned giving specialists at Mills College— April Hopkins, MFA ’03, and Nancy Fowler ’69 —are here to answer your questions.

April and Nancy can help you:

• Identify your philanthropic goals and help you accomplish them through planned giving

• Understand the complexity of planned gifts by crafting personalized models that assist you in choosing the right option for you and your loved ones

• Decide whether or not a planned gift is the best choice for you by offering information and providing education at no cost to you

If you are interested in learning more about planned giving, you can reach April and Nancy at 877.PGMILLS (toll-free), or send an email to planagift@mills.edu.

April has served the

Mills community for 20

years. She explains, “What

drew me to planned

giving is the potential for

alumnae—even those of

modest means—to make a

significant impact on the

College. Nancy and I freely

share our knowledge and

enjoy being of service to

other alumnae.”

Nancy brings 20 years of

experience in estate planning

law and trust administration

to the planned giving team.

She says, “I love the intellec-

tual excitement of figuring

out how to make a planned

gift work for an alumna

and for Mills. April and I

will ensure your gift benefits

the College and honors

your wishes.”

A L U M N A E A C t I V I t I E S r E P O r tNotes from near and farOn January 20, more than 25 recent graduates enjoyed happy hour at Gordon Biersch in San Francisco.

Ten alumnae from the Oakland–Berkeley Branch, Alumnae Association of Mills College, gathered on February 27 for a guided tour of the Victorian Cohen-Bray House, an Oakland landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

President Janet L. Holmgren was the guest of honor at a reception attended by over 50 alumnae from the Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae and Orange County Mills College Alumnae groups. The event was hosted by Pamela Mayers Schoenberg, MFA ’94, at her gallery, dnj Gallery in Santa Monica, on March 6.

Sixteen alumnae attended a tour of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum led by Art History Professor Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker. The March 12 event was sponsored by the Educational Outreach Committee of the Alumnae Association of Mills College and the Mills College Office of Alumnae Relations.

On March 24, the Mills College Office of Alumnae Relations hosted 25 recent graduates at a happy hour celebrating Women’s History Month. Saxophonist Sonja Jason ’83 and pianist Tammy Hall ’83 performed with their jazz trio.

Also on March 24, the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club hosted a happy hour for recent graduates at MacArthur Park Restaurant in Palo Alto. The 15 alumnae who attended had a chance to catch up with each other and to meet Tonia Blackwell, associate dean of the Division of Student Life at Mills.

On April 1 and 2, nearly 600 attendees participated in the 20th annual Charming Cottages of Palo Alto house tour hosted by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club.

The Office of Alumnae Relations and the AAMC’s Educational Outreach Committee held the first Nurse Networking Luncheon on April 2. Over 30 students, faculty, alumnae, and nursing professionals were in attendance. The event honored Barbara Hasler Dries, MA ’99, EdD ’02, for her contri-bution to the Mills College Nursing Program.

San Diego alumnae and families gathered at the San Diego Crew Classic on April 3 to cheer on the Mills College crew team. The lunch drew over 70 attendees.

On April 8, over 35 alumnae, families, and friends gathered in Hong Kong for a special event with President Holmgren at The China Club. The event was hosted by Mei Kwong ’70.

On April 9, the Oakland–Berkeley Branch held an artist tour at the studio of Gary Bukovnik in San Francisco with 10 attendees.

The Alumnae of Color Committee of the AAMC and the Office of Alumnae Relations hosted over 70 attendees at the annual Phenomenal Women of Color event on April 13. The event honored the achievements of seniors of color and featured a special presentation honoring President Holmgren.

On April 20, the AAMC Board of Governors honored 150 graduating seniors at the annual Pearl M Dinner. Kelsey Lindquist ’10 presented senior Dalia Cuenca with a donated Pearl M pin. The pin had belonged to Judy Winestine Wolf ’41, who passed away in 1986.

1 –Los Angeles: Laurel Burden ’68, President Janet L. Holmgren, Bonnie Reuter Leaver ’58, Susy Fineman ’68

2–Los Angeles: Julia Almanzan ’92 and Laurie Barton ’83

3–Nurse Luncheon: Barbara Hasler Dries, MA ’99, EdD ’02, and Rita Stuckey, MA ’01, EdD ’05

4–San Diego: Victory Heramb Lareau ’64, Betty MacMahon Wied ’55, Kay Hall Porter ’49, Wendy Hull Brody ’68

5–San Diego: Vera Judge ’84 and Carrie Davis, head rowing coach

6–Hong Kong: Mei Kwong ’70, Norman Chan, President Holmgren, Wendy Song Lee ’82, Kenney Yang King ’77, Carol Chinn Chiu ’63, Caroline Hu ’77

1 2 3

4 5 6

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 23

AlumnaeEdith Byers Roberts ’30, November 17, 2010, in San Diego. Edith was 101.

Gladys Buell Harrold ’31, February 24, in Chico, California. An excep-tional musician, she composed original pieces, performed solo and with symphonic orchestras, and taught privately as well as at Pomona College and the University of Tennessee. She is survived by a son and six grandchildren.

Lois Mariani Mongan ’34, December 17, 2010, in San Francisco. She graduated with a history degree and was a generous donor to the College.

Evelyn “Sunny” Hood Ritchie ’37, May 14, 2010, in Murphys, California. Survivors include granddaughter Karyn Broyles Tillett ’93 and sister-in-law Sally Miller Baumwell ’66.

Priscilla-Joy “P.J.” Everts ’40, January 1, in Alhambra, California. She served as social secretary to US Vice President Richard Nixon, was a Red Cross volunteer on the front lines of World War II, and held a variety of executive positions including assistant to Mills College President Lynn T. White Jr. and coordinator of civic affairs for Northrop Corporation.

Jean Clark Williams ’40, January 5, in Barre Town, Vermont. She served as a WAC during World War II and later in life became a committed Quaker and political advocate. She also established land trusts in both Vermont and Massachusetts. Survivors include her five children.

Eleanor Schalck Keil, ME ’41, January 26, in Ithaca, New York. She was involved in many charitable community groups and loved extended sailing trips. She is survived by three children and four grandchildren.

Antoinette Buttita Souza ’41, June 29, 2009, in Santa Clara, California.

Dorothy Warenskjold ’43, December 27, 2010, in Lenexa, Kansas. A well-known opera singer, she performed on several television programs, including the James Melton Show, and sang with the San Francisco Opera and other companies across the country. She later taught at UCLA.

Marion McKinstry Letsch ’44, March 10, in Encino, California. She played violin for several radio and television shows, and was a member of the symphony orchestra at 20th Century Fox for several years. Survivors include her cousin Tina Hagen Regehr ’91.

Mary Turner Ryniker ’44, January 15, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas. After teaching high school English, she spent most of her teaching career at the San Antonio School for the Deaf. Survivors include two sons.

Virginia Overjorde Cadeaux ’45, February 22, in Lincoln City, Oregon. A longtime resident of Alameda, California, she taught music for over 60 years, was a founder of the East Bay Organ Club, and was a member of the Black Sheep Spinning and Weaving Guild. She is survived by a daughter, a stepdaughter, and three granddaughters.

Mary Hopkins Sellers ’45, March 25, in Columbia, Missouri. She taught cultural anthropology at the University of Missouri, the University of Nevada-Reno, and North Hampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She is survived by many extended family members.

Beverly Daggs McNeil ’48, February 10, in Santa Margarita, California. She has careers as an elementary school teacher and later as a community volunteer. Survivors include her husband, Robert; two children; and two grandchildren.

Jean Carruthers Wilson ’49, January 31, in San Anselmo, California.

Wilma Lanzafame Cardinalli ’51, December 19, 2010, in Citrus Heights, California. She worked in real estate for many years and started a children’s clothing store called Walnuts before retiring in 1991. Survivors include two daughters and her sister, Camilla Lanzafame Magnoli ’50.

Annette Swann Krueger ’54, November 4, 2010, in Alameda, California. A dedicated teacher in Alameda schools for over 35 years, she is survived by her husband, Herbert.

Elizabeth Dirmeyer Rice, ME ’55, August 25, 2010, in Folsom, California.

Luanne Edquist Gilbert ’56, MA ’58, September 5, in Berkeley, California. She had a long career as a librarian, was an expert gardener, and supported several organizations promoting the environment and social good. She is survived by three children, four grandchildren, cousin Barbara Newman Kines ’55, and her partner, Eleanor Crary.

Edna Beldon Green ’57, February 18, in Seaside, Oregon. She taught kindergarten and college-level child development, was involved in amateur theater, and was an avid reader. She is survived by her husband, Bob; three sons; and seven grandchildren.

Richard Deming, MA ’58, January 7, in Longview, Washington.

Beverly Beers McCall ’58, February 22. A resident of Seattle and Mazama, Washington, she was a professor of psychology at the University of Washington, specializing in child development. She was inducted into the USA Master’s Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1996 as a champion race-walker and was also a talented musician. She is survived by her husband, Mac; two daughters; and two stepdaughters.

Linda Moll Weisser ’61, January 26, in Olympia, Washington. Survivors include her husband Lawrence; three children; and her cousins Cynthia Taves ’48 and Lynda Taves Ogren ’54.

Joyce Shank ’68, January 26, in San Luis Obispo, California. A resident of Cambria, she began her career as a radio reporter in the 1970s and went on to work as a reporter for KGO-TV in San Francisco and KABC-TV in New York. Survivors include her son, Noah.

Rebecca Davidson Karlson ’69, December 23, 2010, while visiting family in Minneapolis. A resident of Palo Alto, California, she was a ballet enthusiast, world traveler, school volunteer, and member of Stanford Memorial Church. She is survived by her husband, Doug, and two children.

Razia Khursheed Inamdar ’70, November 26, 2010, in Fremont, California. She had a career in teaching for more than 20 years and was a board member of SEMAH, an organization combating domestic violence. Survivors include her sister Nasira Khursheed Sharieff ’69.

Lucy McCoy ’81, December 3, 2010, in Berkeley, California. She made a successful 30-year career in computer programming with InnoSys and enjoyed dance, gardening, and the arts. She is survived by her husband Lawrence Riley; a daughter; and a large extended family.

Gertrude Zell Wardwell ’82, March 5, in Pueblo, Colorado. She had careers as a kindergarten teacher and real estate broker. After retiring to a 71-acre ranch, she wrote a newspaper column about the wildlife and animals there. She is survived by two children and five grandchildren.

Young Ran Hong ’86, August 15, 2010, in Piedmont, California. Survivors include her husband, Soon-Kyung.

Barbara Ludwig ’87, December 15, 2010, in Novato, California. She worked as a clinical coordinator in Novato at Community Homes and Services. Survivors include her sister.

Notices of death received before March 25, 2011

To submit listings, please contact alumnae-relations@mills.edu or 510.430.2123

In Memoriam

28  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Jill Ramsay ’98, December 31, 2010, in San Francisco. She worked at City College in San Francisco testing for learning disabilities and serving as an accommodation facilitator. Survivors include her partner, Gayle Atwell.

Spouses and FamilySherri Asche, mother of Emily Asche ’07, April 6, 2010, in Danville, California.

Richard Chappelle, husband of Virginia Dobbins Chappelle ’53, February 27, in Seattle, Washington.

Theodore Eliopoulos (also known professionally as Ted Sorel), husband of Jacqueline Coslow Eliopoulos ’62, December 5, in Englewood, New Jersey.

Carter Larsen, husband of Carita Martin Larsen ’52, February 28, 2010, in San Francisco.

Norman Stone, husband of Edith Sheldon Stone ’43, January 26, in Minneapolis.

Robert Takagi, husband of Valentina Oumansky-Takagi ’49, November 9, 2010, in Sherman Oaks, California.

Benjamin Young, husband of Mildred Zitlau Young ’46, January 14, in Tiburon, California.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 29

Gifts in Memory of

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

Leila Abu-Saba, MFA ’07, by Judith Behar

Glenn Allen Jr. by Katherine Allen

Laura Balas, MA ’94, by Helen Delone

Eleanor and Raymond Berendsen, P ’65, by Barbara Berendsen Capron ’65

Marilyn Frye Bettendorf, P ’75, by Marilyn Ennis Barrett ’75

Darl Bowers by Barbara Goldblatt Becker ’63, Anita Aragon Bowers ’63, Kathleen Burke, Patricia Finn Burkhard ’63, Beverly Curwen ’71, Julia Prentiss Diez ’63, Sally Hartley ’48, Margarethe Kulke, Judy Miller Logsdon ’63, Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51, Yuri Chiamori Mok ’60, Sharon Graham Niederhaus ’63, Patricia Yoshida Orr ’63, Gayle Rothrock ’68, Leslie Stein Selcow ’63, Karlin Sorenson ’92, Donald and Bette Krause Spagel ’63, Karen Cardon Swearingen ’63, Evelyn McKinstry Thorne ’48, Margaret Stern Thornton ’65, Amy Vollmer, Emily Yarnall ’63, Connie Young Yu ’63

Linda Nelson Branson ’77 by James Branson

Ann “Betsey” Northman Brighton ’63 by Marion Lamson Thomas ’63

Mary Arch Bye ’61 by Linda Rooney Markstein ’61

Alan Clark, P ’73, by Betsy Clark Miller ’73

Evelyn “Peg” Deane ’41 by Mary Hart Clark ’42, Margaret Deane

Sybil “Syb” Johnson Dray ’41 by Lester Dray, P ’72

Harold Dudley by La Quita Joy Dillingham Dudley ’53

Marie Everett ’63 by Marion Lamson Thomas ’63

Priscilla-Joy Everts ’40 by Loie Gaunt, Rosemary Hill, Betty Mott

Jessica Feller ’09 by Evanthia Spanos

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fong by Gaylor Chinn and Momi Chang ’74

Timothy Francis by Jamey Coopman Francis ’60

Rosetta Freeman by Susan Hennigh ’72

Allyson Aragon Fremouw by Anita Aragon Bowers ’63

Barbara “Bobby” Coleman Frey ’68 by Patricia Abelov Demoff ’68

Sarah Grace by Nancy Buttenheim ’74

Denyse Gross ’72 by Kenneth Morrison

Liu Zong Guang by Roselyne Chroman Swig, P ’80

Edith Gutierrez by Pauline Oliveros

Princess Haideh Farmanfarmajan Hakimi by Nancy Boas, Jerome Oremland, John Pierce

Janet Hamburg, MA ’76, by Lauren Musicant Simpson MA ’76

Rebecca “Beccy” Davidson Karlson ’69 by Christiane Angelo Kropp ’69, Laurie Leinonen ’69

Charles Larsen by Darlene Holbrook ’64

Sylvia Jaureguy Love ’47 by William Love

Janet Chong Mark by Diane Mark ’72

Margery “Footie” Foote Meyer ’45 by Belvedere Scientific Fund

Marcia Miller ’63 by Mary Root Campbell ’63

Isabel Schemel Mulcahy ’44 by Thomas Mulcahy

Robbyn Panitch ’79 by Betsey Shack Goodwin ’76

Lois Phillips, P ’81, by Kate Phillips ’81

Linda Popofsky by Katherine Kiffmeyer Mendoza ’86

Edith Byers Roberts ’30 by Colin and Elizabeth MacMahon Wied ’55

Eleanor Marshall Schaefer ’29 by Nicole Bartow

Margaret “Peg” Hudelson Scherer ’49 by Joy Brorsen, Yvonne Steele Byron ’50, Willard Classen Jr., Patricia Connett, Earline Dal Porto, Kathleen and Jack Devlin, Betty Edwards, Lou and Sandy Gibbs, Margaret Hansen, Sandra Hjorth, Robert Hudelson, Janet Larson, Robert and Ann Lee, Barbara Maggetti, Patricia Miller, Yuri Chiamori Mok ’60, Ron and Joanne Richards, Thomas Sloane, Carolyn Symes, Janet Towler, and Margaret Clarke Umbreit ’49

Anne Sherrill by Willa Berliner Anderson ’65

Suzanne Brogunier Smith ’65 by Ann Bailey ’65

Charlene Brandt Taylor ’66 by Bronnie Tuchman Blaugrund ’64, Linda Cohen Turner ’68

Melody Clarke Teppola ’64 by Darlene Holbrook ’64

Yoshimatsu “Charlie the Gardener” and Ume Teraoka by Yoko Tashiro Olsgaard ’77, P ’04

James Wanzer by Sue Ann Coopman Peterson ’55

Dorothy Warenskjold ’43 by Katherine Zelinsky Westheimer ’42

Ruth Sherrill Webb ’48 by Mimi Webb Miller ’71, Melissa Webb Hogan, Robin Webb Street, Sherri Webb Burns

Betty Taves Whitman ’46 by Betty Rowen McCord ’46

Susannah MacRae Whitty, MA ’60, by Jaci Williams Pappas ’60

Reynold Wik by Irene Knight and Darlene Holbrook ’64

Benjamin Young Jr., husband of Mildred Zitlau Young ’46, by Sally Hartley ’48

Received December 1, 2010–February 28, 2011

and went on to receive an MA in journal-ism from Stanford University. I may not be a diplomat writing for Foreign Affairs these days, but as a working journalist in an emerging international field, I am a lot more than I was before working with Fred.

—Amanda Glasser ’06

When I visited Berkeley as a pre-vet stu-dent, I saw a 500-seat auditorium with TVs so you could see your professor and toured campus with 25 other people. At Mills, John Harris personally toured the life sciences building with me, discussed the pre-med program, allowed me to sit in on his biology class (commenting on how large it was—30 people!), and two days later sent me a list of Mills classes I needed to qualify for the veterinary school at UC Davis. And all this was before I arrived! He only got better from there: his wonderful skills and introduc-tion to the science of ecology changed my view of the world forever.

—Anne Reed ’94

Professor Alfred Neumeyer had the most lasting impact on me. The final exam in his course on Renaissance art included identifications of paintings we’d seen, as well as 10 slides we’d never seen. I got an A on the first part of the exam, but flunked the last part. Dr. Neumeyer was baffled, but I realized I was probably not cut out to be an art curator. However, he did manage to turn me into an avid museum visitor and art purchaser, two of the great pleasures of my life.

—Sheila Knipscheer Johnson ’58

Want to be part of the next “Sound off”? Sign up for the @mills email newsletter—just send

your email address to alumnae-relations@mills.edu along with your full name, any previous

name, and class year. Write “@mills” in the subject line of your message. We’ll also post the

next “Sound off” question on Mills’ Facebook page.

Last issue’s Sound off! generated more responses than we could

include on a page. Here we present more alumnae recollections of

the inspiring, motivating, and thought-provoking teachers at Mills.

I will never forget Professor of Psychology Robert Edgren saying, “If you want to be happy in your life, find the thing you’re most passionate about and make that your career.” That was movies for me; but I didn’t want to act, or make films. When I learned of a graduate program in film studies at USC, I saw a chance to put Dr. Edgren’s advice into action. I applied and was accepted… and have had an immensely enjoyable and satisfying career as a freelance film critic and film researcher at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I have never stopped being grate-ful for his lecture that day!

—Janet Lorenz ’75

I was working full time and completing my master’s degree when I took one of Elisabeth Siekhaus’ literature classes. Even when I was exhausted I’d find myself engrossed in Elliot, Goethe, or von Kleist, whose works came alive under her tutelage. I’d literally stay up all night pre-paring for that evening class. I loved the stimulating discussions and her uncanny, insightful feedback. Elisabeth was always

Sound off!

30  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

encouraging me to pursue my passions or advising me in some capacity—keeping in touch during my fellowship in Ghana, coaching me as a guest curator at the Smithsonian, consoling me when things went awry. She remains a dear friend, mentor, and confidant.

—Arabella Grayson, MA ’96

Robert Anderson’s courses in anthropol-ogy help open my mind to various views and cultures of the world. Much of what I learned from Dr. Anderson helped me as a public school teacher and as a minister. I will forever be indebted for the oppor-tunity afforded me to study as one of his students.

—Ann Brooks Hilliard ’72

Edna Mitchell allowed me (as an under-grad) to enroll in a graduate seminar that took us into a women’s prison to speak with incarcerated mothers. Dr. Mitchell demonstrated that sometimes the most logical thing to do is bend the rules, and in so doing allowed me to see the criti-cal intersection between education and social action.

—Betsy Lancefield Lane ’85

Fred Lawson inspired me to excel in sub-jects that previously had terrified me. Before coming to Mills, you couldn’t pay me to talk political science—and a learn-ing disability scared me off of journal-ism. Thanks to Fred’s kind and persistent mentoring, I made Pi Sigma Alpha (the national political science honor society)

Bob Anderson

Who was your most influential professor? Elisabeth Siekhaus

See the AAMC travel website at aamc.mills.edu for dates, prices, and full itineraries as they become available. For reservations or additional information, call the Alumnae Association of Mills College at 510.430.2110 or email aamc@mills.edu.

Tahiti and French PolynesiaFebruary 23–March 4, 2012

Your nine-night tropical adventure includes seven nights aboard the five-star MS Paul Gauguin, providing an unmatched small-ship experience and shore excursions amid the islands, atolls, and motus of Tahiti, Raiatea, Taha’a, Bora Bora, and Moorea. Throughout the cruise, an onboard naturalist will present talks about the islands’ environment, history, and cultural heritage. Begin and end at the deluxe InterContinental Resort in enchanting Papeete, Tahiti, including an exclusive visit to the Paul Gauguin Museum. As an option, you may choose to extend your stay with three nights in a deluxe seaside resort on Moorea or Bora Bora.

From $4995, including airfare from Los Angeles (limited availability) and many complimentary features aboard ship

Cruising the Black Sea: A bridge of two continentsIstanbul • Romania • Bulgaria • UkraineSeptember 9–17, 2012

Join us for seven nights aboard the six-star MV Silver Wind, featuring gourmet dining, complimentary fitness classes, and a variety of attractively priced optional shore excursions. Visit Nessebur, colonized by the ancient Greeks in the sixth century BC and now a UNESCO World Heritage site; Livadia Palace, site of the famous 1945 Yalta Conference; the 16th-century Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysaray on the Crimean Peninsula; Odessa’s stately Opera House and the Potemkin Steps; and the architectural treasures of Constanta, Romania.

Choose to join the Istanbul three-night pre-cruise option or the Cappadocia and Istanbul four-night post-cruise option.

From $4695, including airfare from 22 major gateways (limited availability) and many complimentary features aboard ship

AlumnAe trAvel 2012

S u m m e r 2 0 1 1 31

Other 2012 destinations:• Waterways and Canals of Holland and Belgium

• Discovery Retreats Colorado

• Paris and The Villages and Vineyards of France

• Italy’s Magnificent Lake District

• Peru, featuring Machu Picchu

• Sketches of Spain

• Discover Switzerland

...Stay for ReunionSeptember 22–25Honoring the 50th Reunion of the Class of 1961 and alumnae from class years ending in 1 and 6All alumnae and their guests are invited to meet old friends and make new ones, reconnect with faculty and familiar spaces, and experience all that the vibrant Mills community has to offer.

Come for Inauguration ...September 23Celebrate the inauguration of Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, the 13th president of Mills College

The festivities begin the evening of Thursday, September 22, with a fine arts open house and reception. The Inauguration and Convocation ceremonies on Friday morning will be followed by a community lunch and an academic panel discussion.

For more information, see www.mills.edu/inauguration

See the latest information at alumnae.mills.edu/reunion or contact 510.430.2123 or alumnae-relations@mills.edu

Registration information will be available online and in a printed brochure in early August

Address service requested

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

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

510.430.3312 quarterly@mills.edu www.mills.edu

Reunion highlights include:

• DariusMilhaudConcert

• After-hourspartyatReinhardtAlumnaeHouse

• Classroomvisits

• ClassLuncheonandAlumnaeAwardsceremony

• Classphotosanddinners

• 20thanniversaryoftheAlumnaeAssociationofMillsCollege’sAlumnae of Color Committee

• Andmuch,muchmore!