mills quarterly winter 2006

Winter 2006 Alumnae MagazineMills Quarterly

Passionate Pediatrician: Lora Melnicoe,’77

Our Week with Rosa Parks

Reunion and Convocation 2005

Passionate Pediatrician: Lora Melnicoe,’77

Our Week with Rosa Parks

Reunion and Convocation 2005

Remember that you choose how the money is spent!Gift designations include:

● Mills’ Greatest Need

● Student Scholarships

● Graduate Fellowships

● Faculty Salaries

● Buildings and Grounds

● Technology Acquisition

Every gift counts,and every gift helps.Thank you!

Many thanks to those alumnae, parents and friends who gave generously tothe Mills College Annual Fund during the fall phone-a-thon!

MILLS COLLEGE

ANNUAL FUND

Your College,Your Choice

CONTENTS WINTER 2006

Cover photo by Peg Skorpinski.

18 24

Mills Quarterly

12 Reunion and Convocation 2005

Alumnae in full regalia gathered at Convocation to hear astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, whoencourages women in math and science. More than 200 alumnae took part in Reunion thisyear; class photos begin on page 19.

14 Bookshelf

This collection features a new faculty member’s award-winning short stories; the magicalmemoir of a rock musician’s wife; the next installment of the Go-Girl Guides; plus art, education, and poetry books.

18 Statement by Alumna Trustee–Elect Susan Brown Penrod, ’71

“Over the years I have experienced the energy of our loyal alumnae in many ways andbelieve that it is one of the legacies of our Mills education.”

22 Passionate Pediatrician by Jo Kaufman

Doctor, mother, and humanitarian, Lora Melnicoe, ’77, is physician to the poor.

24 Our Week with Rosa Parks: Her Presence Remains a Gift in Our Hearts and Homes by Daphne Muse

The civil rights pioneer visits Oakland in 1980.

D E P A R T M E N T S

3 Letters

4 Inside Mills

8 Mills Matters

11 Calendar

22 Profiles

25 Passages

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Volume XCIV Number 3(USPS 349-900)

Winter 2006

Alumnae DirectorSheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73

EditorDavid M. Brin, MA ’75

<[email protected]>(510) 430-3312

Design and Art DirectionBenjamin Piekut, MA ’01

Associate EditorPat Soberanis

Contributing WriterMoya Stone, MFA ’03

Editorial AssistanceKatrina Wardell, ’07

Quarterly Advisory BoardJennifer Neira Heystek, ’04, Marian Hirsch, ’75

Jane Cudlip King, ’42, Jane Redmond Mueller, ’68Cathy Chew Smith, ’84, Ramona Lisa Smith, ’01, MBA, ’02

Sharon K. Tatai, ’80Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72, MA ’74

Class Notes WritersSharada Balachandran-Orihuela, ’05, Barb Barry, ’94Julia Bourland Chambers, ’93, Laura Compton, ’93

Barbara Bennion Friedlich, ’49, Sally Mayock Hartley, ’48Marian Hirsch, ’75, Cathy Chew Smith, ’84

Special Thanks toDavid M. Hedden

Jane Cudlip King, ’42

Board of GovernorsPresident

Thomasina S. Woida, ’80

Vice PresidentsAnita Aragon Bowers, ’63

Jane Cudlip King, ’42

TreasurerBeverley Johnson Zellick, ’49, MA ’50

Alumnae TrusteesLeone La Duke Evans, MA ’45

Sara Ellen McClure, ’81Sharon K. Tatai, ’80

GovernorsLila Abdul-Rahim, ’80, Michelle Balovich, ’03

Micheline A. Beam, ’72, Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73Cecille Caterson, MA ’90, Harriet Fong Chan, ’98

Vivian Fumiko Chin ’89, Beverly Curwen, ’71Suzette Lalime Davidson, ’94, Cynthia Guevara, ’04

Linda Jaquez-Fissori, ’92, Krishen Laetsch, MA ’01Mary Liu, ’71, Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51

Nangee Warner Morrison, ’63, Michele Murphy, ’88Diana Birtwistle Odermatt, ’60, Ramona LisaSmith, ’01, MBA, ’02, Jennifer Torkildson, ’06

Lynette Williams Williamson, ’72, MA ’74Sheryl Y. Wooldridge, ’77

Regional GovernorsJoyce Menter Wallace, ’50, Eastern Great Lakes

Nancy Sanger Pallesen, ’64, Middle AtlanticAlbertina Padilla, ’78, Middle California

Adrienne Bronstein Becker, ’86, Middle CaliforniaJudith Smrha, ’87, Midwest

Linda Cohen Turner, ’68, North Central Brandy Tuzon Boyd, ’91, Northern California

Gayle Rothrock, ’68, NorthwestLouise Hurlbut, ’75, Rocky Mountains

Colleen Almeida Smith, ’92, South CentralDr. Candace Brand Kaspers, ’70, Southeast

Julia Almazan, ’92, Southern CaliforniaElaine Chew, ’68, Southwest

The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly in April, July, October, and January by the

Alumnae Association of Mills College, Reinhardt AlumnaeHouse, 5000 MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94613.

Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send addresschanges to the Mills Quarterly, Alumnae Association ofMills College, P.O. Box 9998, Oakland, CA 94613-0998.

Statement of PurposeThe purpose of the Mills Quarterly is to report

the activities of the Alumnae Association and itsbranches; to reflect the quality, dignity, and academic

achievement of the College family; to communicate theexuberance and vitality of student life; and to demon-

strate the worldwide-ranging interests, occupations, and achievements of alumnae.

Mills Quarterly

On This Issue

In the Mills Matters section you’ll find one news item that is especially important to

Mills alumnae: the appointment of Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73, as permanent executive

director of the AAMC. (See page 8.) Sheryl has been at the AAMC since March, acting

as interim executive director. She has worked to create a climate conducive to mutual

success for the Alumnae Association and Mills College, and she is leading the AAMC

with a spirit of cooperation as we look to our future.

You’ll find photos of Convocation and Reunion on pages 12 and 13, and in addition,

the class photos taken at Reunion on pages 19 through 21. Convocation this year was

particularly impressive. The concert hall overflowed with students, alums, faculty, and

staff, and the speeches were especially memorable. Dr. Sally Ride, the first American

woman in space, was there to talk about her work encouraging girls and women to

pursue careers in science. (See an excerpt of her speech on page 12.) How appropri-

ate, then, that she was present to break ground for Mills’ new $17-million natural

sciences building. Construction—or actually, the demolition of parts of the old life

science center, in preparation for construction—is taking place as we go to press.

The new building will assure Mills’ role as a leader in training women to assume top

positions in the sciences.

I was especially moved by the student speakers at Convocation this year. Carolina

Salazar, ’06, who is this year’s president of the Associated Students of Mills College,

asked, “What does it mean to be a Mills woman?” She called Mills women “coura-

geous, revolutionary, imaginative, inspiring,” and added, “But most importantly, Mills

women are world changers. Mills women have vision. They do not accept the status

quo. They have the capacity to see what is wrong in the world and the drive and ambi-

tion to change it.”

Rachel Flaith, ’80, MBA ’06, told the audience that a friend “asked me why I decided

to come back to Mills to get my MBA. And her question got me to thinking, for it

wasn’t just because of the small classes, the esteemed faculty, or the unique student

body. I realized that it all boiled down to three things that Mills had taught me over 25

years ago: love, laugh, and give.” She noted that laughter is everywhere at Mills, and

she takes this as a good sign. Her own path took her to Mills as an undergraduate,

and back years later as a student in the MBA program. “I came to Mills the first time . . .

unsure of myself and not knowing what I wanted,” she said. “I came back to Mills

because I knew exactly what I wanted.”

Before I sign off, I want to draw your attention to the article about Dr. Lora Melnicoe, ’77,

on page 22. Lora is a Mills alumna who exemplifies Carolina Salazar’s notion of a Mills

woman, someone with vision who has “the capacity to see what is wrong in the world

and the drive and ambition to change it.”

I hope you’ll find some inspiring words in this issue,

Letters to the Editor

MILLS QUARTERLY WINTER 2006 3

Architecture at MillsMany thanks for your article in therecent Quarterly about the architectWalter Ratcliff. [“Walter Ratcliff andthe Master Plan for the MillsCampus,” Fall 2005.] All these years,I had assumed (erroneously) thatthose Mills buildings which I mostadmired were Julia Morgan struc-tures. Those awesome buildings—Ethel Moore, the Music Building—which in the 60s forever shaped mygrowing sense of beauty and func-tion, were not Julia’s at all, it turnsout, but completed decades later by an architect I’d never heard of. I thank you for the correction.Morgan may well have borne thetorch for the ‘look’ of the Mills campus, but Ratcliff carried it to theheight of its potential. —Gail David-Tellis, ’63

Stacy Gilbert, Global Refugee ExpertI really enjoyed the Fall 2005Quarterly. I was especially pleasedto see your article on Stacy Gilbert.[“Mission: Possible,” Fall 2005.] Inthe fall of 1988, Stacy was my host-ess when I visited Mills as a prospec-tive student. She graciously showedme around Orchard-Meadow, tookme to dinner in the dining hall, andthen handed me over to MielCorbett for the evening. Meanwhile,Stacy betook herself to the librarywhere she spent the night finishingher thesis. In the morning when shereturned to take me to breakfast,she apologized for being a disen-gaged hostess, but I didn’t mind abit. I’d already seen enough todecide that Mills was for me.

Even from that brief visit, it waspretty clear that Stacy was destinedto get involved in international poli-tics. Her room was filled with posters,pictures, and other evidence of her

interest. I love seeing that she madeit a reality.—Jennifer Moxley, ’93

Bachelor of Science DegreeI just finished reading the Fall 2005issue of the Mills Quarterly. As always,it was enlightening and enjoyable. Thearticles about Stacy Gilbert and WalterRatcliff were wonderful.

I did, however, note an error on page6. This is not the first time in theCollege’s history that a Bachelor ofScience degree has been offered at Mills.In 1960 Bachelor of Science degreeswere awarded for medical record librari-anship. I know, because I have one. TheBS degree may have been awarded inother fields as well, although that mayhave been the last year.—Stacia Sue Gabriel, BS ’60

More on Birds at MillsYour fine article on Mills birds, which I’vejust read [“Stalking the Dark-eyed Junco,Spring 2005] brought back many memo-ries of towhees scratching in the leaf lit-ter on the east side of Mills Hall, thewonderful spring song of robins in thelate afternoon, the scurrying of quailcoveys, and Cogsie’s [Howard LymanCogswell, Professor of BiologicalSciences] superb field trips on campusand elsewhere, complete with the sightof a great horned owl sitting on a MarinCounty hillside. He (Cogsie) seemed tobe able to identify all birds from theirsongs, notes, and other noises, even toa hummingbird coming to a screechinghalt in the air.—Ellen Crumb ’59

A very happy event was to receive theSpring Mills Quarterly and find thewonderful article on birds by DavidBrin. Quail calls always say “MillsCollege” to me, so I will admit thatpart [that there are no longer quail on

campus] was a shock. My parents builttheir home on the Mills campus in1928 when I was eight years old, andmy most precious memories of thecampus are of the walks I had. I think Icovered every inch of the campus dur-ing the many years I lived there, and Istill enjoy walking.—Jean McMinn Greenwood, ’43

WANTED: ALUMNAE ADMISSIONREPRESENTATIVESWould you like to recruit bright,dynamic young women and encouragethem to attend Mills? The AlumnaeAdmission Representative (AAR) pro-gram is looking for new volunteers. Ifyou enjoy talking about your time atMills and like to contact prospectivestudents, consider becoming an AAR.Alumnae who live in all areas outsideof Alameda County are needed!

During the first year we do ask newAARs to attend the AAR TrainingWorkshop at Mills, which will be heldearly September 2006.

Time Commitment The amount of time required to do theAAR job varies according to area. Theminimum commitment is 15 hours peryear.

AAR Activitiesm Contact prospective students andapplicants by mail, email, and/or phoneand represent Mills at college fairs. m Interview interested students. m Call and congratulate admittedstudents. m Host and/or organize recruitingevents in your area.

If you have questions, or if you wouldlike to volunteer, please contact JoanJaffe in the undergraduate admissionoffice, (510) 430-2135 or email<[email protected]>.

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4 MILLS QUARTERLY WINTER 2006

Mills College enjoys prestige as aleader in women’s education

through both its undergraduate andgraduate degrees. But as PresidentJanet L. Holmgren stated, “MillsCollege cannot stand still.” Mills studentsagree, and have clamored for new professional graduate programs. Inaddition to the master’s program inpublic policy, Mills hasmade several innovationspromoting women in theprofessions. The popular“4+1” option is nowoffered in several disci-plines, allowing studentsto complete bachelor’sand master’s degrees infive years.

Public Policy: A Marriageof Analysis and ActionIn response to the interestin professional graduatestudies at Mills, and throughthe careful consideration ofthe Strategic PlanningCommittee and the faculty,the College has initiated a4+1 master’s degree pro-gram in public policy. Dr.Carol Chetkovich, formerlyat Harvard’s KennedySchool, has joined the Millsfaculty to direct the PublicPolicy Program.

The unique feature ofthe 4+1 bachelor ofarts/master of public poli-cy path is that it allowsundergraduates with amajor or minor in publicpolicy to earn bothdegrees in five years,

streamlining their career opportunities.Dr. Chetkovich says her goal is “themarriage of analysis and action” on thepart of her students. “I’d like to givethem the tools to analyze the outcomesfrom a policy, then decide whether ornot to become an advocate. Mills’ pub-lic policy graduates should also put thefocus on action, to move forward with

ideas and make them happen.”The proposal for the 4+1 public policy

curriculum is currently under review by theWestern Association of Schools andColleges (WASC), and the graduate cours-es will be launched soon after WASCapproval. The master of public policy aimsto provide students with the skills andperspectives required to formulate, imple-

LEADERSHIP IN THE PROFESSIONS

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Natural Sciences Groundbreaking Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman inspace, helped President Janel L. Holmgren breakground for a new natural sciences complex onSeptember 30, 2005. The building will be

annexed to the existing life sciences center, andwill bring together the department of chemistryand physics, now housed across campus, withbiology and biochemistry and molecular biology.

Helen Drake Muirhead, ’58, Mary Alice Garms Ramsden, ’48, Dr. Sally Ride, President Janet L. Holmgren, andProfessor of Chemistry John Brabson prepare to break ground for the new natural sciences building.

L E A D E R S H I P I N T H E P R O F E S S I O N S


ment, and evaluate public policies. Inaddition, graduates of the program willgain the expertise to analyze complexsocial, economic, and cultural issues.

“We will create a woman-centeredprogram, in part by analyzing how gen-der interacts with public policy,” says Dr.Chetkovich. “My mission is to ensurestudents are inspired to go into publicservice, and to view public, nonprofit,and government work as honorable.”

New School of EducationMills recently enhanced several pro-grams in education, thus creating a newSchool of Education from what used tobe a department. The major areas offocus for graduate study in educationare child development, teacher prepara-tion, and educational leadership.

One of Mills’ enhanced areas ofstudy is the early childhood educationmaster’s degree, with an emphasis onthe burgeoning field of infant mentalhealth. This 4+1 course of study allowsstudents to complete their bachelor’sand master’s degrees while also earninga California teaching credential.

Mills College also offers specializedgraduate study in the field of childdevelopment through the child life inhospitals and community health centersprogram, as well as early childhood spe-cial education.

The Mills MBA, Where Women Mean BusinessBuilding on Mills’ 150-year heritageas a leader in women’s education, theMills Graduate School of Businessprovides a challenging, team-orientedenvironment that celebrates and fos-ters female advancement. The MillsMBA program prepares women for

leadership roles intoday’s competitivebusiness world.

The Mills MBA program provides aunique and supportivelearning environmentwhere women canexplore their businesspotential. The flexibleprogram options allowcompletion of thedegree in two to foursemesters, and smallclasses allow greaterfaculty access for stu-dents. The curriculumis rigorous, but theatmosphere is congen-ial and individualized.

The 4+1 MBA pro-gram includes a sum-mer internship between graduation andthe fifth year, ensuring that participantsenter the fifth year prepared for thegraduate business curriculum with real-world experience.

Pre-Medical StudiesStudents who have chosen the field ofhealth services may strengthen theirapplication to medical schools throughthe College’s post-baccalaureate pre-medical program. This educationalopportunity is open to women and menwho already have a bachelor’s degreeand have decided to pursue a healthprofessions career, but lack some or all ofthe basic science courses. The program isflexible, and can be tailored to suit a stu-dent’s specific background in science andmathematics. Many students who com-plete the Mills pre-med program go onto prestigious medical schools such as

UC San Francisco, Stanford, Harvard,UCLA, Dartmouth, and Yale.

“We have been at or above our 60-student capacity for the past threeyears. Over that period, the range ofacceptances to medical schools hasbeen from 75 to 85 percent,” says JohnBrabson, PhD, professor of chemistryand adviser for pre-med students.

The Mills DifferenceAt Mills the academic atmosphere inprofessional programs is one of encour-agement and optimism. Students sup-port each other and are cooperativeand friendly as they seek their mutualgoals. Faculty members expect studentsto achieve their goals and make everyeffort to ensure individual success. Thismodel of rigorous academic preparationcombined with collegiality makes MillsCollege a leader in graduate education.

President Janet L. Holmgren speaks at the natural sciences buildinggroundbreaking ceremony.

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Alumnae of ColorA lively event welcoming alumnae ofcolor back to campus was held at theMills College Art Museum on September10, 2005. More than 50 women, repre-senting 60 years of graduating classes,enjoyed lunch, lively conversation, and akeynote address by President Janet L.Holmgren. Frances Dunham Catlett, MA’47, provided an inspiring historical con-text for the group.

The event was hosted by President

Holmgren and cochaired by MillsTrustee Corazon Manese Tellez, ’72; for-mer Trustee Estrellita Hudson Redus,’65, MFA ’75; and executive director ofthe Alumnae Association of MillsCollege, Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73. Theevent was cosponsored by the Office ofInstitutional Advancement.

According to President Holmgren,the event was a tremendous success.“The gathering provided a wonderfulopportunity for honest and productivedialogue among alumnae of color, mem-

bers of the College administration, andkey leaders in the AAMC,” she said.“Discussion was lively and forward-thinking. Participants offered many con-structive ideas to actively re-engagewomen of color in Mills’ mission to edu-cate women of all backgrounds for rolesof leadership in the global community.”

The event honored the creation ofan endowed chair named forCongresswoman Barbara Lee, ’73. Thiswas the first in a series of events foralumnae of color to be held in 2005–06.

Clockwise from right: Micheline Beam, ’72,Estrellita Hudson Redus, ’65, MFA ’75, andBenita Sheffield Harris, ’74. Cynthia Guevara,’04, shakes the hand of Frances DunhamCatlett, MA ’47, as Sarah Washington-Robinson,’72, looks on. Trustee Corazon Manese Tellez,’72, and Toni Adams, ’68. Stephan Jost, Mills ArtMuseum director, and Rita Stuckey, ’01.

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A Gala at the de Young Museum

What do you get when youinvite Mills College volunteers

and donors to a private event at abrand new museum? Over 500happy art lovers! Mills was pleasedto host one of the first such eventsat the new de Young Museum in SanFrancisco’s Golden Gate Park.President Janet L. Holmgren intro-duced renowned artist and Mills fac-ulty member Catherine Wagner, whotreated attendees to a private tourof her exhibition at the de Young.

The event was made possiblethrough the efforts of Trustees JoanLewis Danforth, ’53, and RoselynSwig, as well as the Fine ArtsMuseums Project Director DeborahFrieden, ’76.

Professor of Studio Art Catherine Wagnerdiscusses her work at the de YoungMuseum.

Chicago Alumnae UniteElizabeth Parker, ’85, hosted adelightful reunion for Illinois alumnaeat the Women’s Athletic Club inChicago on September 13, 2005.President Holmgren was greeted by25 enthusiastic women, who listenedto the president’s report on currentcampus happenings and shared theirinsights with her.

Gina Salaices Ney, ’85, left, and Sheryl J.Bize-Boutte, ’73, executive director of theAAMC, in Chicago.

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MILLS MATTERS

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, ’73,Appointed ExecutiveDirector of AAMCThe AAMC’s Board of Governorsannounced last month that Sheryl J.Bize-Boutte, ’73, has been appointed

executivedirector of theAlumnaeAssociation ofMills College,effectiveJanuary 1,2006. Sherylhad been serv-ing as interimdirector sinceMarch 2005. “Iam extremelygrateful for allof the supportprovided to meas interimdirector andfeel confidentabout the

future,” Sheryl comments.Sheryl majored in English at Mills and

worked on the Mills Weekly while a stu-dent. She recently retired from a longcareer in management with the U.S.Department of Energy, National NuclearSecurity Administration (DOE/NNSA).She first joined the DOE/NNSA Oaklandoffice in 1973 as a management internand served in a variety of managementpositions during her tenure.

She was the site manager at theDOE/NNSA Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory site office and as acting direc-tor of the Oakland Operations OfficeFinancial Assistance Center, she adminis-tered a portfolio of 1,075 active grantswith a cumulative value of $11 billion.

In her most recent capacity atDOE/NNSA, Sheryl was the deputyassociate director for federal services,where her primary responsibilities

included management of informationtechnology and security for theDOE/NNSA Service Center, whichincluded oversight of a $27 millionbudget. She was also responsible forthe integration of the Oakland officeinto the Albuquerque office. The prin-cipal mission of the Oakland office wasto provide support for the NNSA mission in oversight of the federalresearch and development contractsfor the Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory, the Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory, and the StanfordLinear Accelerator Center.

“I am looking forward to workingwith the AAMC Board of Governors, theAAMC staff, the College, and alumnaeto make the AAMC a model for suchorganizations,” Sheryl says.

New Staff

Joanna Iwata New dean of student life Joanna Iwataisn’t new to Mills: She began her careerhere as assistant director of student activi-ties. Ms. Iwata has spent the interveningtwo decades in student services at a num-ber of colleges, most recently as directorof student involvement at East CarolinaUniversity in Greenville, North Carolina.“Coming back to Mills 20-plus years lateras the new dean of student life,” she says,“is like coming home.” She didn’t waste a

minute, leadingher team of“imagineers” indeveloping anew student-cen-tered matrix ofprograms “toimprove thediversity of pro-grams and servic-es we offer ourstudents,” Ms.

Iwata says. “I am excited to be back atMills and look forward to a challengingand rewarding year ahead!”

Daphne MuseWriter, teacher, commentator, and consult-ant Daphne Muse has been appointeddirector of the Women’s LeadershipInstitute (WLI). Before coming to Mills, shewas a writer and editor at educationalpublisher Scholastic. Ms. Muse has beeninvolved with Mills several times in hercareer—twice as faculty member, as a WLIfellow and advisory board member, andmost recently as a consultant to the Officeof the President, where she developed theinitial plan for the Barbara Lee Chair inWomen’s Leadership. “The opportunity toengage in an intellectually vibrant and cre-atively compelling sustained discourse,with women from around the world, wasone of the most amazing experiences ofmy life,” notes Ms. Muse. “The Institutereflects the power and vision of some ofthe most insightful and powerful womenI’ve ever met.”

Randy McGlauthingRandy McGlauthing, appointed earlierthis year as director of graduate admis-sion, has nine yearsof experience in stu-dent and facultyrecruitment in bothhigher education andbusiness training. Heserved as interimdirector of graduateadmission for thefirst half of 2004;prior to that, he wasprogram recruitmentmanager at DigitalThink, a business servic-es firm. With bachelor’s and master’sdegrees in business administration, Mr.McGlauthing has focused on the admin-istrative management of academic pro-grams delivered on-site and online.

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N E W S O F T H E C O L L E G E A N D T H E A A M C

“Mills is well known on regional, national,and international levels for its outstand-ing graduate programs,” Mr. McGlauthingsays. “I am looking forward to contribut-ing to and enhancing graduate educa-tional opportunities for both our currentundergraduate students as well as thegeneral public.”

Jess MillerAfter a nine-month search, Mills Collegehas appointed Jess Miller as programdirector of Services for Students withDisabilities. Ms. Miller’s extensive experi-ence includes positions as program direc-tor, assistant professor, and crisis coun-selor. Through orientation, an onlinenewsletter, and brochures, her primarygoal is to “raise visibility of the programon campus so that every student who mayneed our services knows of our program.”

Holly N. StancoHolly N. Stanco fills the newly createdposition of director of the Mills CollegeAnnual Fund in the Office of InstitutionalAdvancement. Ms. Stanco brings exten-sive experience in donor cultivation,fundraising, stewardship, alumni relations,and staff management to Mills. Shecomes to Mills from UC Davis School ofLaw, where she directed the annual fundand earlier served as associate director ofdevelopment and alumni relations.

Julie Gordon CohenIn the Office of InstitutionalAdvancement, the new associate direc-tor of major gifts is Julie Gordon Cohen.Ms. Cohen brings 12 years of experiencewith nonprofit development and sevenyears with major gift management. Hermost recent positions were in develop-ment at the University of Washingtonand at the California Pacific MedicalCenter Foundation.

Stephanie L. MazowAlso in the Office of Institutional

Advancement, Stephanie L. Mazow, MFA’02, is the new donor relations coordinator,where she will head up stewardship respon-sibilities. Ms. Mazow moves to OIA from theOffice of the President, where she servedfor many years as administrative assistant.

Women of the WestConferenceOn October 6–8, dozens of women gath-ered for the Women of the WestConference, cosponsored by MillsCollege and the National Women’sHistory Project. The opening keynotefeatured three “Makers of History”: AdaDeer, director of American Indian Studiesat the University of Wisconsin and formerassistant secretary for the U.S. Bureau forIndian Affairs; Delaine Eastin, Mills distin-guished visiting professor of educationand former California state superintend-ent of public instruction; and AileenHernandez, chair of the CaliforniaWomen’s Agenda and the first womanappointed, in 1965, to the U.S. EqualEmployment Opportunity Commission.

Highlights included a first-night per-formance by singer-songwriter Holly Near;a tribute by University of Pennsylvania lawprofessor Linda Wharton to newly retiredSupreme Court Justice Sandra DayO’Connor; a celebration of the 85thanniversary of women’s right to vote; andworkshops on the Rosie the Riveternational park project and efforts to pre-serve the home of Juana Briones, apre–Civil War California businesswoman.

The Mills community played integralroles at the conference, with ProfessorsEastin and Bertram M. Gordon speaking,current students participating in work-shops, and eighth-graders from the JuliaMorgan School for Girls offering a pres-entation on the significance of theirschool’s namesake.

The conference closed with a tour of Mills buildings designed by JuliaMorgan, in which the guide, BettyMarvin of the Oakland Heritage Alliance,impersonated Morgan.

Mills Provides Leadershipat Teaching InstituteMills College President Janet L.Holmgren and Professor of EducationAnna Richert have played leading rolesat the Carnegie Foundation for theAdvancement of Teaching, an independ-ent policy and research center based inStanford, California. The foundationrecently honored President Holmgren forher accomplishments during a seven-year tenure on the foundation’s Board ofTrustees, four as chair of the board. Aschair, she shepherded the 100-year-oldfoundation through the construction ofits first permanent home in Stanford.“Janet Holmgren is a gifted educationaland organizational leader,” said CarnegiePresident Lee S. Shulman. “Her tenure aschair was characterized by a profoundsense of stewardship and responsibilityto the foundation’s welfare.”

Professor Richert is one of three edu-

Shhh!Posted every month, Shhh! is your online source for all that’s new and happen-ing at the Mills College library. Catch a book review, peruse the list of newmaterials added to the collection, get inspired by a profile of an author, or readsome sound advice in the Miss Nomer column. In the December issue, the usu-ally polite Miss Nomer lost her cool and went on a rant.

To view Shhh! go to <www.mills.edu/ academics/library/library_information/newsletter.php>.


MILLS MATTERS

cation experts exploring the use of Web-based technologies in teaching programs.The two-year Carnegie Foundation–fund-ed Quest project, featured recently inEducation Week, creates collaborativewebsites where experienced teachers inurban schools share their expertise. Theteachers videotape their lessons andwrite reflective essays on their methods;both are posted on the Web, where stu-dent teachers can view them. Thesedemonstrations help teachers in trainingexplore such questions as how teacherslearn about their students and how theyuse this knowledge to advance theirteaching methods. “We hope the Questproject will launch a new, Web-basedmethod for preparing future teachers forthe complexities of the profession,”Richert said.

Seagate TechnologyContributes $100,000 toExpanding Your Horizons Seagate Technology, the world’s largestmanufacturer of disc drives, recentlyawarded the Expanding Your Horizons(EYH) Network a $100,000 grant to sup-port women in science, technology, engi-neering, and mathematics. As part of thecompany’s commitment to K-12 scienceand technology educational programs,Seagate’s chief operating officer, DaveWickersham, will be working closely withthe network for the next year, assistingwith raising the network’s visibility bothnationally and internationally and helpingthe network implement a long-termstrategic plan.

For more than 30 years, Mills Collegehas been working in partnership with theEYH Network to expose young women tocareers in science, technology, engineer-ing, and mathematics. The first EYH con-ference was held on the Mills Collegecampus in 1976. Over the years, Mills hasdemonstrated its commitment to women

in science, technology, engineering, andmath by housing the national office of thenetwork and by hosting a Mills CollegeEYH conference each spring. Barbara Li Santi, professor of computer scienceand a former chair of the Mills CollegeEYH conference said, “We’re thrilled thatthe EYH Network has received this presti-gious grant. Our partnership will continuefor many years to come.”

Professor Moira RothReceives Award forLeadership in ArtTrefethen Professor of Art History MoiraRoth has been named a 2006 recipientof the Annual Recognition Award by theCommittee on Women inthe Arts of the CollegeArt Association (CAA).She was chosen for excel-lence in art and leadershipin the world of art.

An internationally rec-ognized writer, curator,and lecturer, Roth hascurated numerous ground-breaking exhibitions, andpublished books, articles,essays, and conversationswith artists that bring visi-bility and give voice toartists underrepresentedin their profession.

The CAA Committeeon Women in the Arts willhonor Roth at their AnnualAward Ceremony duringthe CAA Conference inBoston on February 23,2006.

Roth received her PhDfrom UC Berkeley in 1974.From her early writings onMarcel Duchamp, the sub-ject of her PhD disserta-tion, to her numerous

publications on performance, feministart, and multiculturalism, Roth has urgedthe discipline of art history to expandand reconfigure the scope of its vision.

Roth edited and contributed to TheAmazing Decade: Women and Perfor-mance Art in America 1970–1980,Connecting Conversations: Interviewswith 28 Bay Area Artists, and We FlewOver the Bridge: The Memoirs of FaithRinggold. An anthology of her writing,Difference/Indifference: Musings onPostmodernism, Marcel Duchamp, andJohn Cage, with commentaries byJonathan D. Katz, was published in 1998.

In recent years, Roth has continued tobroaden her intellectual reach to encom-pass travel, memory, language, and artists’responses to war and its aftermath.

Show of Imogen Cunningham’sWorks at the Mills Art MuseumThe Mills College Art Museum recently acquired thisstudio portrait of Hillary Black Dumas, ’63, taken byImogen Cunningham in 1968. It is being shown in thecurrent exhibit of Imogen Cunningham’s works at theMuseum through March 2006. Cunningham was mar-ried to Mills professor of art Roi Partridge, and oftenphotographed people with connections to Mills. Thephotograph is a gift of Hillary and Dr. Gilbert Dumas.

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 288:00 PMConcert Series: PhilMinton/Improvised VocalMusicEnglish vocal improviserPhil Minton and his FeralChoir project performwith trained anduntrained singers fromMills College.Concert Hall, MusicBuilding(510) 430-2296

MONDAY, JANUARY 306:30 PMLunafest Film Festival:films by, for, and aboutwomen. Lunafest was

created in order to raiseawareness aboutwomen’s issues, highlightwomen filmmakers, bringwomen together in theircommunities, and raisemoney for the BreastCancer Fund. Haas Gym(510) 430-2395

TUESDAY, JANUARY 315:30 PMContemporary WritersSeries: Bruce Andrews, a“performance artist andpoet whose texts aresome of the most radicalof the Language school.”Mills Hall Living Room(510) 430-2236

TUESDAY, JANUARY 318:00 PMConcert Series: ChrisBrown

Mills faculty composerpresents Lava andRagamala Chiaroscuro.Concert Hall, MusicBuilding(510) 430-2296

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 3:00–5:00 PMSophomore and JuniorTea and Treats Orchard Meadow DiningRoomSponsored by theAAMC’s AlumnaeStudent RelationCommittee.Alumnae are invited tomeet, chat, and share acup of tea with students.

Donations of home-baked cookies and teacakes gratefully accept-ed. Volunteers welcome.(510) 430-2101

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9 8:00 PMConcert: Great Fences ofAustralia Concert andHyperstring ProjectA performance with Millsstudents on a speciallyconstructed 50-footamplified fence. Concert Hall, Music Building(510) 430-2296

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 215:30 PMContemporary WritersSeries: Chris AbaniAbani is a poet, novelist,and native of Nigeria.Mills Hall Living Room

(510) 430-2236

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 269:00 AMMills College Concert HallKol Isha—JewishWomen’s VoicesUnbound: Creativity,Scholarship and

PerformanceAll-day conference fea-turing poet and scholarIrena Klepfisz and per-formance artist SaraFelder. The day will con-sist of concurrent work-shops and panels on thecreativity and scholarshipof Jewish women.Advance registration andticket purchase required.For more informationrefer to<www.mills.edu/academics/grants_and_special_programs/kol_isha/index.php> or email<[email protected]>.

SUNDAY, MARCH 54:00 PMConcert Series: A Ragefor MusicMusic for flute, harpsi-chord, and fortepiano byJ.C. Bach, MuzioClementi, James Hook,and others. Concert Hall, Music Building(510) 430-2296

SATURDAY, MAY 13118th CommencementMeet at ReinhardtAlumnae House at 8:30AM to don robes andmarch with your fellowalumnae. Toyon Meadow(510) 430-2110

SATURDAY, MAY 13AAMC Annual Meeting(510) 430-2110

C A L E N D A R

The Mills College Swim Team is having a great season. Mills hosts meetsagainst California State University, East Bay on Saturday, February 4at noon and against Cal-Tech on Saturday, February 11 at noon, at theTrefethen Aquatic Center. For information call (510) 430-2172.

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I have a shared mission with you at Mills in trying to

encourage girls and young women at all levels to enter

and stay in the sciences.

You may not realize it, but you are enormously important

role models to elementary and middle school girls. When

they see college women who have gone on in math and

science, who are encouraging them and telling them they

can do what they want to do, they can be what they want

to be in whatever area it is, they really, really listen.

—Dr. Sally Ride

Left: Dr. Sally Ride, first American woman in space, gave the keynoteaddress at Convocation.

Above: Francie Mixter Lloyd, ’55, presented President Janet Holmgren witha gift from her class.

Below: Amy Buckingham-Flammang, ’65, left, with Alex Orgel Moses, ’65,and Professor Emerita of Economics Marion Ross, ’44, at the president’sgarden reception.

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We take the occasion of Convocation to cele-

brate the accomplishments of our students

and our faculty, and to welcome our reunioning

alumnae, those wonderful women—and in

our graduate programs, women and men—

who have come before us and set a standard

for our students to follow.

—President Janet L. Holmgren

Convocation is the celebration of the official

opening of the academic year at Mills and

affords an excellent opportunity to reflect on

who we are, where we came from, and what

we represent.

—Thomasina Woida, president of the AAMC

Clockwise from top right: Marian Hirsch and Ellen S.Jamieson. Vivian Stephenson, chair of the Mills CollegeBoard of Trustees, left, and Dr. Sally Ride at Convocation.Peggy Weber, ’65, left, and Anita Aragon Bowers, ’63.Proud alums from the Class of 2000.

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BRUCE COOKunionMILLS QUARTERLY WINTER 2006 13


Twigs: The Go-Girl Guide to Nestingby Julia Bourland, ’93; Perigee Books <us.penguingroup.com>.

Whether you rent or own thataddress you use for sleeping,Julia Bourland’s latest book is agreat primer on how to turn ahouse (or apartment, or dormroom, or whatever) into a home.Twigs: The Go-Girl Guide toNesting is Bourland’s thirdhandbook on living the goodand satisfying life; as with herprevious endeavors, it’s packedwith helpful and manageabletips.

Twigs is divided into twosections—“Composing the

Nest” and “Feathering the Nest”—and although it may betempting to skip right to the “feathering” chapters, Bourland’spredecorating advice is invaluable. Here, she gives readersinsight—drawn from her own experiences as a homeowner—onthe best way to approach projects. Some of the biggest obsta-cles, Bourland notes, are oddly shaped or functionally chal-lenged rooms—where do you put a couch in a room that’slargely broken up by windows and doors? Or, how do you turnthat tiny studio apartment into something other than one giantmess? The answer to the latter problem—as well as many oth-ers outlined in the book—is to divide the area into “zones” viapaint, furniture, and other visual dividers.

Throughout, Bourland’s writing is breezy and inviting; read-ing Twigs is almost like reading emails from your best friend. By giving Twigs just the right balance of cheery optimism anddown-to-earth reality checks, Bourland has created a modernand invaluable style manual.—Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’05

BOOKSHELF

Why Are We Reading Ovid’s Handbook on Rape? Teachingand Learning at a Women’s Collegeby Madeleine Kahn <www.madeleinekahn.com>; ParadigmPublishers <www.paradigmpublishers.com>.

Dr. Madeleine Kahn’s new book,Why Are We Reading Ovid’sHandbook on Rape? Teachingand Learning at a Women’sCollege, is a compellingaccount of the challenges sheencountered during her tenurein the Mills English departmentfrom 1989 to 2004. When a student asserted that includingOvid’s Metamorphoses on theclass syllabus was tantamountto “reinforcing the patriarchy’soppressive power” overwomen, a series of questions

and challenges was ignited, causing Kahn to rethink herapproach to teaching, her definition of feminism, and the placement of boundaries between professor and student.

Recounting classroom discussions seemingly verbatim, Kahnexamines the traditional so-called patriarchal form of teachingand explores how and why that approach didn’t work for someof her students at Mills. From students’ reluctance to speak inclass to their unfamiliarity with boundaries and accusations ofoppression, Kahn confronts it all and reveals her search for away to balance her students’ needs (and demands) with herdesire to help these young women develop a voice and a placefor themselves in life.

Mills alumnae will find this book fascinating as they comparetheir classroom experiences from past years with what’s hap-pening in the classroom today.—Moya Stone, MFA ’03


Teaching as Principled Practice: Managing Complexity forSocial Justiceby Linda R. Kroll, Ruth Cossey, David M. Donahue, TomásGalguera, Vicki Kubler LaBoskey, Anna Ershler Richert, andPhilip Tucher; Sage Publications <www.sagepublications.com>.

Teaching as Principled Practice ismore than mere anthology. Theseven coauthors, all on the facultyat the Mills College School ofEducation, present and elaboratefor the larger education communitythe six principles that have guidedthem in educating preserviceteachers at the elementary, secondary, and preschool levels. It is dedicated to the children inthe Oakland public schools, “whodeserve the best education andthe best teachers.”

The following make up the six principles: m Teaching is a moral act founded on an ethic of care.m Teaching is an act of inquiry and reflection.m Learning is a constructivist/developmental process.m The acquisition of subject matter and content knowledge

is essential.m Teaching is a collegial act and requires collaboration.m Teaching is essentially a political act.After an introduction to all six principles, which are interre-

lated, one author (sometimes two) in turn discusses and elabo-rates on each principle. Anna Ershler Richert, for example,addresses the “moral terrain of teaching” through the lens of areal-life dilemma faced by a student teacher: Four students in ahigh school history class had plagiarized their end-of-year bookreports. Richert examines every dimension of the problem, fromthe motives of the Pakistani student who “loaned” her bookreport to the other girls in hopes of winning their friendship, tothe girl who knew that plagiarism was not allowed but didn’tsee it as “a big deal,” to the administration’s pressures on thestudent teacher to report and punish. Richert gives her readerstools for analyzing such issues and finding alternatives torewards and punishments—alternatives that give the studentsskills for their future education and relationships, alternativesguided by the ethic of care—and finding the courage to act onthose alternatives.

In similar ways, each chapter explains its respective princi-ple. Inquiry and reflection simply mean stopping to questionyour teaching practice, while knowledge of subject matterapplies to both the teacher’s knowledge and the student’slearning. The constructivist/developmental process refers to atheory about the way children learn; that is, they learn bestthrough experience, by figuring things out—“constructing”knowledge—for themselves with adult guidance, and theirlearning changes as they develop and grow. Collaboration isessential, the authors say, in a profession that is inherently iso-lating. And teaching—from devising lesson plans to addressingthe dilemmas of plagiarism—always carries an equity and socialjustice component.

This book is itself a collegial project of inquiry and reflectionwith moral and political dimensions. As an elementary-schoolteaching-credential student at Mills, I can also attest to theconstructivist and collaborative approach to their own instruc-tion and the value these professors place on subject mattercontent. A rarity in academia, these educators practice whatthey preach.—Pat Soberanis


Losing and Findingby Karen Fiser, MFA ’90; University of North Texas Press<www.tamu.edu/upress/unt/untgen.html>.

Winner of the Vassar Miller Prize inPoetry in 2003, this tight collectionfrom Mills alumna Karen Fiser is asmuch an intimate journey of loss anddevastation as it is of hope andrecovery. Fiser speaks of the loss oflove and intellectual powers after adebilitating illness, the dark dayswhere “the pain is patient, sittingthere.” But she also sings of sur-vival—“My amphibious life seems tobe going very well. / It’s as good away to live as any, I believe, / so

long as you remember you must keep on swimming.” Fiser’svoice is controlled, lyrical, and at times tinged with a bitter-sweet humor. In Partners, she writes,

The pain and youare like Holmes and Watson,the one hawkish and keen,master of disguise and sleight of hand,the other bumbling along behind, writing about it.

In these meticulously titled poems, Fiser offers sharply observedmeditations on life as an unceasing cycle of losing and finding,as “that bright curve of light” in the “cold night sky”:

from a distance it looks like one bright thing, but it ends and begins again and againout there in the dark where we can’t see.

Her poems describe suffering and the sudden loss of one’sprior life and powers, but they also celebrate the gifts that arisefrom the heart of suffering—the importance of the smallestthings and the ability to pay fierce attention to them. —Gayle Mak, MFA ’05

Space between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heartby Deborah Santana; One World/Ballantine Books<www.oneworldbooks.net>.

This beautifully written memoirilluminates the shadows inhabit-ed by celebrities’ wives. Formost of her life, DeborahSantana has lived among andbetween stars, from her father,master blues guitarist SaundersKing, to her husband of 32years, Grammy Award–winningguitarist Carlos Santana.

Her story begins with herexperiences as a child of tworaces, for her mother is IrishAmerican and her father, nowdeceased, was African

American. To Deborah, their different skin colors meant nomore than their different eye colors—until one day in thirdgrade, while crossing the school playground, an older girl“hissed in the meanest voice I had ever heard: ‘Your mama’s aswhite as day, and your daddy’s as black as night.’ ” From thatday on, her father’s stories of the prejudice he experiencedwhile touring the South carried resonance for Deborah.

Her stable, middle-class upbringing in San Francisco wentsmoothly until the counterculture arrived, her plans for collegeinterrupted when R&B star Sly Stone came into her life. Againsther parents’ wishes, Deborah followed Sly to Los Angeles,quickly quitting college there, and stayed in their rocky relation-ship for four years. She left after Sly hit her, and she wouldspend many years seeking redemption from those days ofdrugs and rock and roll.

In fact, writing is her redemption—writing honestly, that is,about her life with Sly and with Carlos, whom she met shortlyafter her breakup with Sly. They were a perfect match: both San Francisco natives (Carlos by way of Tijuana), he admiringher father’s musicianship, she unimpressed by his stardom. AndCarlos was kind and drug-free.

They married in 1973 and spent the next eight years as disciples of guru Sri Chinmoy, becoming vegetarians and medi-tating regularly. But in 1981, when Deborah revealed to Carlosthat she had had an abortion on the advice of the guru, theydecided to end their association with Chinmoy.

The happiness in this next stage of their lives—with thebirths of their three children, Stella, Salvador, and AngelicaFaith—was marred only by Carlos’ straying. Twice, Deborah lefthim. But the second reconciliation seems to have worked, withCarlos keeping his promise to remain faithful.

During this phase, Deborah’s brief time at Mills empoweredher: “I stretched my boundaries as a womanist and strove todevelop more personal autonomy and independence.” This shehas done, managing the band’s business, raising her family, andwriting this magical book.—Pat Soberanis


New Mexico Artists at WorkText by Dana Newmann, ’59, photographs by Jack Parsons;Museum of New Mexico Press <www.mnmpress.org>.

Part workshop, part gallery,the visual artist’s studio is fer-tile ground for the creativemind. It is also intensely per-sonal, for these are “private,not public, spaces . . . thusthey often have a cloisteredfeel to them, a serious weighteven when they possess alightness of touch,” writesphotographer Jack Parsons.

This stunning book givesus, as Dana Newmann writes in the introduction, “a glimpse of,and a clue to, the alchemical process by which somethingapparently comes from nothing.” Her carefully researched intro-duction provides a historical New Mexico context for the mainpresentation, but the cloistered feel of these studios, thealchemical nature of their purpose, applies to all artists every-where—and that’s what makes this book so fascinating.

Newmann’s empathetic and knowledgeable text is the per-fect complement to the photographic portraits. Based on inter-views about and personal visits to each space, these mini-profiles allow the artists to elaborate on the whys and hows oftheir studios and the connection to their art. Nationally knowninstallation artist Judy Chicago, for instance, created a spacefilled with natural light and easily movable worktables; her studio time is “inviolate,” she says, to allow for the disciplineand demands of her elaborate collaborative projects.

Some sculptors need vast areas for their work, such as LarryBell, who has installed a walk-in vacuum chamber where miner-als such as lapis are vaporized and deposited in thin layers ontopure rag paper; the result is shimmering, organically shapedsculptures. Erika Wanenmacher, by contrast, composes herdynamic pieces in a 16-by-24–foot extension to her modesthome in Santa Fe; it is chock-full of bicycle wheel rims, woodshelving, dolls, and other “everyday stuff” that serves as inspira-tion and materials for her art.

Such striking differences abound. Take, for example, thecontrast between painter Paul Sarkisian’s showroom-like, 6,000-square-foot Santa Fe studio, and the cluttered, attic-like yurtthat serves Suzanne Vilmain, whose unique, custom-designedbooks are works of art. Or the austere minimalism of painterGloria Graham’s space and the homey warmth of weaverRebecca Bluestone’s studio.

Artists of every stripe are represented here, working inevery kind of media: painting, weaving, ceramics, metalwork.It’s hard to tell at first glance, though, because the genre is nothighlighted in the text. But this quibble takes nothing awayfrom the visual and emotional impact of this captivating book.—Pat Soberanis

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Storiesby Yiyun Li; Random House <www.atrandom.com>.

These short stories by AssistantProfessor of English Yiyun Li are anastonishing display of virtuosity. Thenarrators and points of view varyfrom story to story. Many are set inChina, and they gave this reader aglimpse of life in modern China,where individuals may be strugglingto come to terms with a history ofrevolutionary fervor and a present ofcapitalistic opportunities. Other sto-ries in this debut collection involveChinese émigrés and visitors to theUnited States.

Yiyun Li seems at the beginning of a brilliant career as awriter. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers has already receivedmuch attention. Li was awarded the Frank O’ConnorInternational Short Story Award, the world’s largest monetaryshort story prize.

The wonder of these stories is that Li writes so well inEnglish, a language that is not her native tongue. Perhaps oneof her characters gives us a clue to what makes this possible. A father from China comes to visit his daughter in the UnitedStates and accuses her of not having communicated well withhim when she was young, and of talking on the phone inEnglish “with such immodesty.” In trying to explain herself toher father, she says, “If you grew up in a language that younever used to express your feelings, it would be easier to takeup another language and talk more in the new language. Itmakes you a new person.”

Yiyun Li has taken up a new language and used it marvelously well. These stories are a wonder and a delight.—David M. Brin, MA ’75


Statement by Alumna Trustee-ElectSusan Brown Penrod, ’71 I remember arriving at Mills as anentering student in the fall of 1967with anticipation of a great adventureabout to begin, meeting my class-mates, some of whom were to becomelifelong friends, and settling into mynew home, Mills Hall. Since graduationalmost 35 years ago, I’ve continued tobe inspired by Mills. Living nearby, Ibecame an active member of theAlumnae Association, where I learnedabout fundraising, committee planningand board governance. In the mid-70sI became a member of the AlumnaeFund Committee, recruiting volunteersfor branch and national telethons. Atthe time, this was an effort by alumnaeacross the country, but is now donevery effectively by current students. Iwas Alumnae Fund chair from 1986 to1989 and at that time served on theBoard of Governors, as well as on theFinance and Personnel Committees.From 1995 to 1998 I held the positionof president of the AAMC and with the

board and staff oversaw and managedthe programs of the organization.More recently, I was co-chair of theCSMS Society, a member of the AlumnaeFund Committee, and a participant inthe Campaign Network during theSesquicentennial Campaign.

As an alumna, I’ve had manyopportunities to meet with current students and hear their enthusiasticenergy as they spoke of recent favoriteclasses and of their ambitions for thefuture. I’ve been struck over the yearsby how Mills continues to nurture,challenge, and educate students, bothundergraduate and graduate. I findmyself frequently speaking proudlyabout the accomplishments of Millsstudents, faculty, and of the institutionas a whole.

Because of my involvement withMills, I have met many amazing peo-ple—Mills people—and I can simply say they have enriched my life.

Over the years I have experiencedthe energy of our loyal alumnae in manyways and believe it is one of the lega-

cies of our Mills education. Mills alumnaecare a great deal about the future of theCollege; they are eager for news fromcampus, opinionated about proposedstrategies and program changes, andexcited by the College’s successes. We are proud of our diverse, capablealumnae who are equipped for the challenges they face in the world.

On a personal note, my currentinterests and activities involve educationand opportunities for students. I am currently a member of the Board ofDirectors of the Environmental CareersOrganization, a 30-year-old nonprofitorganization that promotes and sup-ports paid internships for college andgraduate-level students interested inpursuing careers in the environmentalfield. I am also involved at the OaklandMuseum of California as a historydocent; I enjoy studying the many inter-pretations of California history and lead-ing young students through the gallery.My husband, Jim, and I follow with loveand interest the lives of our three grownsons.

I am pleased to have been nominat-ed and elected as the new AlumnaTrustee and look forward to the oppor-tunities for leadership that will be pre-sented to me during my work on boththe Board of Trustees of Mills Collegeand the Board of Governors of theAlumnae Association of Mills College.The recent consolidation of fundraisingefforts and the continued independenceof the Alumnae Association represent anadjustment in the relationship betweenthe College and the AAMC. I intend towork toward the success of thesechanges and the implementation of theefforts to strengthen fundraising andalumnae programs.

I am honored to be succeedingAlumna Trustee Leone Evans, MA ’45.Leone and I have worked together oninnumerable occasions and I continue tobe amazed by her energy and zeal inparticipating in the life of the Collegeand in encouraging other alumnae to beinformed and supportive of Mills’ educa-tional advantages—the value of a liberalarts education, the opportunity for lead-ership, and the training ground for afuture that recognizes no limitations forwomen. m

Your New Alumna Trustee: Susan Brown Penrod, ’71 This year there was only one nomination for Alumna Trustee. The candidate wasapproved by the Nominating Committee and the AAMC’s Board of Governors.According to our bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order, which govern our bylaws procedurally, when only one name is presented on a slate, that person is declaredelected. The Board of Governors, through the executive director and theNominating Committee, certifies that all Alumnae Association of Mills College procedural requirements were met, specifically and in a timely manner, and that this election meets all requirements of parliamentary procedure. Susan BrownPenrod will begin her three-year term on July 1, 2006.—Leah Hardcastle Mac Neil, MA ’51


Lora Melnicoe, ’77, probably wasn’t focusing on herundergraduate work at Mills when she traveled totsunami-ravaged Thailand a year ago. She was there

to provide medical care as part of her work with MedicalWings International, where, in addition to being on theboard of directors, she serves as the pediatric director.Lora describes the relocated school in Khao Lak—an hour’sdrive from Phuket—where she and a team of 14 doctorshad set up camp as being “kind of like a MASH unit. Yougo in, see what you’ve got, what needs to be done, andthen set up a clinic, sometimes in a tent, sometimes in aschool or church.” Because Medical Wings is a nonprofitorganization, it relies on charitable contributions and donations, which include everything from airline tickets tomedical supplies and professional volunteers.

“We got to Thailand about three or four weeks afterthe tsunami hit,” she explains, “with doctors, dentists, eyedoctors, and a pharmacist.” Interestingly enough, one of

the biggest needs was for ophthalmologists. “You don’treally consider things like eyeglasses when a disaster ofthis magnitude strikes, but we gave out about 500 pairs topeople whose glasses had been lost in the storm.” Thinkabout it. Thanks to round-the-clock news coverage, we allwatched the disaster unfold. We saw people clinging totrees, infants being torn from their mothers’ arms, franticfamily members combing the debris for any sign of lovedones. Seldom did we stop to think about something sobasic as eyeglasses.

Lora and her fellow doctors provide more than thebasics, however. And they provide them throughout theworld, working most often in Latin American countries.According to Lora, it’s not usually a disaster that brings

Medical Wings to these countries, but an ongoing, criticalneed for medical attention—treating everything from com-mon infections to diabetes and HIV. Treatment for theseconditions is something that most of us in affluent countriestake for granted, but Medical Wings’ clients don’t haveaccess to rudimentary health care. Take this trajectory, forinstance: A patient has a severe head and chest cold. Leftuntreated, it could develop into bronchitis and then a life-threatening pneumonia. By seeing people at the onset ofan illness, Lora and the other Medical Wings doctors arenot only able to assess their needs, but in some cases, create a blueprint for wellness.

All told, Lora has made 12 trips with Medical Wingsduring the past five years. The itinerary is impressive:Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Peru,Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay. “That first trip wasn’t evensomething I’d been planning on,” she admits. “I got anemail on a Wednesday that a doctor was needed to go to

Ecuador for a five-day medical relief trip. I had Friday off,so I just packed up and went.” Clearly, the experiencechanged her. “It reminded me how passionate I am aboutmy work.”

That work, when she isn’t traveling to faraway places tooffer her services, is as a pediatrician at the Eastside FamilyHealth Center in Denver. She’s also a faculty member inthe department of pediatrics at the University of ColoradoSchool of Medicine. Oh, and in case these commitmentsaren’t enough to give even the most capable, Type A per-sonalities an anxiety attack, she’s married and the motherof two teenagers. “My husband is wonderful,” she demurs.“I couldn’t do it without him.” But it seems that magna-nimity—of the sort we all dream—is part of the family

Passionate PediatricianL O R A M E L N I C O E , ’ 7 7 , B R I N G S M E D I C A L C A R E T O AT- R I S K C H I L D R E N AT H O M E A N D A B R O A D

by Jo Kaufman

Lora Melnicoe checks the vital statistics of children in El Salvador.


legacy. Her husband, Mel, is busy with his work in naturalresources development, and her children, Hannah and Ian,are well on their way to becoming movers and shakers ofthe next generation. Hannah, 17 and a high school senior,went with Lora on one of three trips she made to Lima,Peru. “She speaks Spanish, which was a tremendous help,”Lora says of her daughter. “She just got in there and didwhatever needed to be done, down to sorting vitamins.”Hannah is considering majoring in international studies, andhas more than a passing interest in community develop-ment. Ian, now 13, was too young to accompany Lora whenshe began her Medical Wings trips in 2000, but he wentwith her to El Salvador last summer, eager to follow in thefootsteps of his mother and sister, to do his part to makethe world a better place.

For all her passion and achievements, Lora, like most ofus, didn’t enter college with a clear-cut idea of what shewanted to do in life. After attending the University ofMontana for two years as an undergraduate studyingwildlife biology, she realized that she wanted to focus on acareer in medicine. Seeking out various colleges and cam-puses that not only would be a good match but would alsosatisfy her premed requirements, she settled upon Mills. Ofher decision to transfer in her junior year, she says, “Forwhat I was interested in, Mills was the place to go, which atthe time sort of surprised me.” Realizing that the larger, co-ed “name” schools might not lend themselves to the

directed study she craved, she found her way to Mills. Andwhat she discovered when she arrived was exactly the kindof environment and education she’d been looking for: smallclasses, dedicated teachers, and “lots of excellent scienceclasses.”

She pauses to reflect on the time she spent at Mills. “It was a heavenly environment that allowed you to flour-ish; at the same time it gave you time to decide who youwere and where you wanted to go. . . . Maybe it’s becauseit’s such a calm atmosphere. I never felt overwhelmed,because there was a perfect balance of academics andserenity.” The classes, she explains, fostered both confi-dence and independence. “There was so much encourage-ment, but also the pressure to do well.” She laughs easily,the way one would when recalling, with great fondness, aperiod in one’s past that is such an integral part of thepresent that there is little need, unless asked, to dwell onit. “My calculus teacher was so great. . . . She gave thishuge push about women in science, and it really had animpact on me.”

It was during a “January term,” between fall and springsemester, that she enrolled in a course that she admitschanged her life: a public health class taught by TelfordWork, MD, a professor from UCLA’s School of Medicine. “It was a course in tropical medicine, and there I was, anundergrad, soaking up all these lectures, getting a sense ofa larger world. What I thought to myself at the time was

In El Salvador (left to right): Lora poses with new friends, while taking a break at the clinic, and with a new patient.

“What struck me during my rotations was that

when you have adult patients, you’re dealing with the

consequences, but when you’re dealing with kids,

you have a chance to impact health.”


that I would love to do this.” If we’re lucky enough toexperience these “Aha!” moments in life, the path to ourgoals is undertaken with both exuberance and exhilaration.For Lora, it became increasingly clear that her calling wasin the public health sector, not only as a practitioner butalso as an advocate. “This is where I want to be,” sherecalls thinking during and after Dr. Work’s class.

Following her graduation from Mills in 1977 with aBA in biology and Phi Beta Kappa honors, she enteredmedical school in Iowa—her home state—at theUniversity of Iowa College of Medicine. As for her decision to pursue pediatrics, she has this to say: “Whatstruck me during my rotations was that when you haveadult patients, you’re dealing with the consequences,but when you’re dealing with kids, you have a chance toimpact health.” After completing medical school in 1981,she was a pediatric intern at San Francisco’s Mt. ZionHospital, which was immediately followed by a two-yearresidency; by her third year, she was the chief resident ofpediatrics at Mt. Zion. “But even before I finished myresidency, I knew that I wanted to do more, that I wantedto go beyond being a pediatrician.”

At a time when many young doctors would be congrat-ulating themselves on a job well done, and settling into alife treating ear infections and broken arms, Lora had justbegun the trajectory that would eventually take her aroundthe globe. As a fellow at Harvard, with a grant from the

National Institute of Mental Health, she worked in the fieldof child abuse, family violence, and child development. In1986, she received her master’s in public health fromHarvard and headed for Colorado, where both she and herhusband had promising job prospects and where, in theensuing years, she has worn many hats: pediatrician at theMiner’s Colfax Medical Center, medical director of the LasAnimas/Huerfano Counties District Health Department,pediatrician at the Teen Clinic of the Eastside FamilyHealth Center in Denver. She’s also been appointed tocountless boards and committees and, in her spare time,has authored several publications.

Lora continues to work as a pediatrician for the Denver

Health Department, where kids come in with “everythingfrom having been exposed to tuberculosis to not havingaccess to immunizations.” By the time these childrenreach Lora, many have brought their illnesses with them,particularly chronic problems such as asthma or childhooddiabetes. “With kids, you have the opportunity to work onearly detection and treatment,” she says. “It’s so importantto go directly into the schools and advocate on theirbehalf.” Under her care, many of these children will beable to avoid disabling illnesses later in life.

Despite her academic and career successes, Lora con-cedes that her first trip with Medical Wings was “an eyeopener.” Already well-established in her profession whenshe first heard about Medical Wings, her involvement withthis grass roots, community-supported organization wouldprove to be a life-altering next step.

It’s hard not to wonder if a key component of Lora’ssuccess isn’t humility—the ability to take one’s accomplish-ments in stride. Never once during the course of the interview did she seem rushed. Never once was she any-thing other than modest, attentive, and fully present. Theimpression she gave, more than anything else, was of awoman who, despite her professional achievements, con-tinues to engage herself—with equal intensity—in the stuffof everyday life: her work, certainly that, but also basket-ball games, college applications, and family commitments.

At the close of the widely anthologized and much

quoted poem “Wild Geese,” Mary Oliver writes, “Theworld offers itself to your imagination / calls to you likethe wild geese, harsh and exciting— / over and overannouncing your place / in the family of things.” It’s notan exaggeration to say that Lora Melnicoe has not onlydiscovered her place but is continually expanding itsdepth and scope.

San Francisco-based writer Jo Kaufman has recently com-pleted a memoir, a chapter of which was published by AModest Proposal Press. Jo received her MFA in creativewriting from the University of San Francisco, where shealso taught English composition.

In Thailand (left to right): Lora vaccinates a little boy, checks the heart of another boy, and poses with the Child Clinic staff.

Profiles

For Deborah Barr, ’95, teaching basic paintingtechniques to a learning-disabled student orhelping an experienced artist loosen up and havefun is all in a day’s work.

In fact, she says, being an art instructor oftendoesn’t seem like work at all. “I love painting. Ilove watching students’ lights come on.” AtModesto Junior College, where she teaches full-time, she is able to do just that.

Teaching to different ages and skill levels canbe a real challenge. Despite the difficulties,Deborah enjoys working with beginning andexperienced students alike, whether in traditionalmedia such as watercolor or acrylics, or in mixed-media painting, a brand-new course she created.

No doubt her passion for art helped her landa rare full-time teaching position. However, shealso stands out because of her ongoing involve-ment in children’s rights. She credits her years atMills for nurturing both of these interests.

At the time, she was commuting from SanRamon, with three children and a niece living at home.

“I didn’t pick an easy road,” she says. Still, herlife was starting to change: “When I went to MillsCollege, it felt like I belonged there.” As an artmajor, Deborah—then Deborah Dague—looked upto Professor Hung Liu, and was awed and inspiredby a visit to the professor’s studio. Now, Deborahimparts that sense of inspiration to her own classes.

It was also at Mills that Deborah began tofocus on children’s issues. The abduction of PollyKlaas in 1993 was in the news then. “I let out allmy anger, my frustration, every emotion that I hadinside of me into a painting that I called MissingChildren.” That painting led to a full body of workthat would be exhibited on four continents.

Before traveling the world, though, Deborahentered the Master of Fine Arts program at SanJose State University in 1995. During this timeshe also started working with high school stu-dents in San Ramon. Students would visit her stu-dio on weekends, wanting to talk about seriousissues such as drugs and eating disorders—issuesthat their parents were reluctant to acknowledgein their own community. It was then that she real-

ized “there was nobody speaking for them.”So Deborah gave them the opportunity to

speak. She helped them express their concernsand fears with a mask-making project, and includ-ed the students’ artwork with her own in a show inDanville. She went on to produce a series of muralsin collaboration with students from area schoolsand youth from the juvenile hall in San Leandro.

Meanwhile, she continued her graduatestudy in San Jose. One day in 1996, she receiveda serendipitous phone call from a woman whosehusband—a university architecture professorArsen Melitonyan—had started UNICEF inMoscow. Deborah asked if he would be willing tospeak to her graduate class about activism andpolitical art, and he agreed.

After the lecture, he saw some of her paint-ings in the school gallery. His reaction was imme-diate: “Please come to Moscow.” A representa-tive of the Heal the World program in Kenyaattended her show at Phoenix Cultural Center inMoscow; he in turn asked her to exhibit her workin Nairobi. Six months later, her whirlwind jour-ney continued with a show at the CentroColombio Americano in Medellin, Colombia.

On all of her travels, she visits orphanages,meets with nonprofit agencies, and offers lectures.Her art presents a less confrontational way to dis-cuss children’s issues, and her silhouettes andschematic drawings of children enable her to bringher work to a variety of settings. “The child is face-less and raceless. . . . Everyone can identify with it.”

Teaching is keeping her busy, but she continuesto reach out to the community, with recent murals atColumbia College and Lake Don Pedro ElementarySchool adding to her list of public artworks.

Clearly, Deborah is driven to use her passion forart to help others, both in and out of the classroom,and she credits her education at Mills for giving herthe inner strength to tackle the challenges of herprofession. “It pushed me beyond the acceptableto be more extraordinary in everything I do.”

Above: From the Thoughts series by Deborah Barr. Ink onDuralene, mounted on 1917 Collier’s magazine articles.

PAINTINGS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: DEBORAH BARR, ’95by Sarah J. Stevenson, MFA ’04



They say if you want to get somethingdone, ask a busy person. That would cer-tainly apply to Krishen Laetsch, MA ’01,whose list of simultaneous career roles,executive board positions, and volunteerwork would wilt the average career person.

Take his current activities. Besides hisdemanding job as senior field representativefor state Assemblywoman Wilma Chan ofOakland, Krishen serves on the board ofChabot Space and Science Center, on theadvisory board of the McClymonds Youth andFamily Center, is a member of the City ofOakland Head Start Advisory Panel, and—lastbut far from least—is a member of the AAMCBoard of Governors, where he serves on theexecutive committee and chairs the graduatecommittee. Krishen is on leave from the EdDin educational leadership program at Millsbecause, in part, “I have just added two morevolunteer positions to my routine.”

One theme threading through Krishen’srésumé is his commitment to K-12 education.Certainly it shows in his MA in education andin his work toward a doctorate in educationat Mills. It is also revealed in his current posi-tion, where he works on AssemblywomanChan’s priority issues of children, health, andeducation. His work is sure to have highimpact if they succeed: Two of theAssemblywoman’s legislative priorities areuniversal health insurance for all childrenunder 19 in California, and universal pre-school for all four-year-olds in California. Heis excited to be working in the political arena,where his work will have a broad effect.

“It’s fantastic,” Krishen says. “Now it’snot just Oakland, everything [Assembly-woman Chan] is working on has statewideimplications. It’s no longer working for a citywith a 40,000 student population; it’s for astate with a 10 million student population.The impact is substantial.”

But his commitment to educationappeared much earlier, and came by way ofhis long-standing interest in nature and sci-ence. Three years after earning a bachelor’sdegree in history from UC Berkeley in 1987,Krishen joined the advisory board of the SanFrancisco Insect Zoo and served on the pro-gram committee at the UC Berkeley Botanical

Garden; soon after, he cofounded theCalifornia Ecosystem Education Consortia,bringing together the Insect Zoo, the LindsayWildlife Museum, the Botanical Garden, andother natural history museums to share theireducational resources. Those appointmentsled to long-term, executive-level volunteerpositions with the Friends of the UC Berkeley

Botanical Garden and the Bay Area ScienceTechnology Collaboration in Oakland.

“Starting at an early age,” Krishen says,“my parents exposed me to science centers,museums, and botanical gardens. . . . Ilearned to enjoy, understand, and appreciatenatural history through science centers, so Isupport them and utilize them when I can.”

Those appointments also led him toMills. In 1992, Krishen joined Professor ofEducation Jane Bowyer and several othersto initiate the Leadership Institute forTeaching Elementary Science (LITES) pro-gram, a $3.5 million, National ScienceFoundation–supported series of educationalopportunities for teachers. LITES attemptedto bring a science program to everyOakland elementary school. As the adminis-trator, Krishen managed a broad coalitionmade up of institutions of higher learning,informal science centers, the OaklandUnified School District, and communityagencies. He ran the program for five years,and many Mills faculty were involved; it alsohad the “absolute support” of MillsPresident Janet Holmgren. “It was based atMills College but was a national model and

supported and trained more than 1,100teachers in science education,” Krishen says.

Thus began a stellar 12-year career atMills College. In those years, which ended in2005, Krishen led three other highly visibleprograms: the Oakland Education Cabinet (aconsortium of city, business, labor, and com-munity officials to monitor, support, and

improve Oakland schools), the Cross-City Campaign for Urban SchoolReform (a national network of com-munity and educational specialistsfrom nine cities working to improvelarge public school districts), andMills Community Link (providingundergraduates access to communityservice options and linking the com-munity to Mills), where he workedclosely with President Janet L.Holmgren as well as Provost andDean of the Faculty Mary-AnnMilford. Krishen thrived at Mills andaccomplished much. “It was a spec-tacular 12 years,” he says. “I learned

a great deal, interacted with many wonderfulpeople. . . . Mills is much like a little village:A great deal of gossip and infighting, butthat is balanced by tremendous loyalty andfriendship, with a united focus on learning,leading, and educating.”

During his Mills career, Krishen workedwith “several persistent and talented Millsmentors,” as he puts it, who encouragedhim to earn his master’s degree: VisitingProfessor of Education Pete Mesa, currentOakland school board president Gary Yee,former Oakland school superintendentDennis Chaconas, and Professor ofEducation Joe Kahne. “For that I am trulygrateful. I would not have completed theprogram without their constant support.”

And he joined the AAMC Board ofGovernors. “After securing my master’s ineducation,” Krishen says, “I was invited toserve on the AAMC Graduate Committee.Eventually people such as [Quarterly editor]David Brin and [Alumna Trustee] LeoneEvans convinced me that I should be thefirst male on the AAMC Board ofGovernors, and it has been a great pleasure.

“But I have yet to wear a Pearl M!”

EDUCATION DIPLOMAT: KRISHEN LAETSCH, MA ’01by Pat Soberanis

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Profiles

Every day, history is made by people whose names remainunknown as well as those who become eternal icons. In May of1980, Rosa Parks, a woman who forever changed our country,spent a week in our home.

The East Bay Area Friends of Highlander Research andEducation Center joined with founder Myles Horton to honor twoof the civil rights movement’s most courageous pioneers,Septima Clark and Rosa Parks. The two women met in 1955 atHighlander, a place where my own mother-in-law, MargaretLandes, was trained during the 1930s. Founded in 1932,Highlander is a civil rights trainingschool located on a 104-acre farmnear New Market, Tennessee. Overthe course of its history, Highlanderhas played important roles in manymajor political movements, includingthe Southern labor movements ofthe 1930s, the civil rights movementof the 1940s–60s, and the Appala-chian people’s movements of the1970s–80s.

Like millions of other AfricanAmericans, Mrs. Parks was tired of theracism, segregation, and Jim Crowlaws of the times. Through her com-mitment to freedom and her trainingat Highlander Research and EducationCenter, her refusal to move to theback of a bus in Montgomery,Alabama, on December 1, 1955,spawned a movement. Mrs. Parkstook a seat in the section of aMontgomery city bus designated forwhites. She was arrested, tried, andfined for violating a city ordinance.Mrs. Parks, a seamstress, often hadrun-ins with bus drivers and had beenevicted from buses. Getting on thefront of the bus to pay her fare andthen getting off and going to theback door to get back on was sohumiliating. There were times the driver simply shut the door anddrove off. Her very conscious decision turned into an economicallycrippling 382-day boycott of the buses in Montgomery, and endedlegal segregation in the United States.

Before Mrs. Parks' visit, she told members of the planningcommittee that hotels just didn’t suit her spirit, and she pre-ferred the tradition extended through Southern hospitality thatincluded putting people up in private homes. The committeethen asked if I would mind hosting Mrs. Parks during her week-long stay in Oakland. Mrs Parks made only one request of us:that we keep her presence a secret. She and her longtimefriend Elaine Steele were eager to be in a place where theycould relax, listen to music, and eat great food without beingdisturbed. The “being disturbed” part was my greatest worry,for between bullet-blasting drug wars and the press, I was con-

cerned about how to maintain that part of the agreement.Our modest home in the Fruitvale community of Oakland had

served as a cultural center and refuge to many writers, filmmakers,artists, and activists including the musical group Sweet Honey inthe Rock, novelist Alice Walker, and poet Gwendolyn Brooks.Although we’d never even met, when Rosa Parks walked throughour front door, she instantly became family. She and my thenalmost seven-year-old daughter Anyania melted into one anoth-er’s arms like a grandmother seeing her grandchild for the firsttime. The hug lasted a long time. The next morning, Mrs. Parks

was delighted to arrive at a breakfasttable where fried apples, salmon cro-quettes, and fresh-squeezed orangejuice were among the offerings.

As Anyania was about to take offfor school, the button on her dresspopped off. It was a jumper, made bymy mother’s own hands and filledwith multiethnic images of children.Mrs. Parks asked if I had a sewingbox, threaded the needle, and sewedthe button back on. My spirit spilledover and I just burst into tears.

Anyania was so good at keepingthe secret. I, on the other hand, want-ed to blurt out to my family, friends,and students at Mills, “Guess who’ssleeping in my bed?” One evening,she read poems from EloiseGreenfield’s Honey, I Love and OtherLove Poems to Anya. On another, shepored through our record collectionand listened to everybody fromAretha Franklin and Sarah Vaughan tothe Freedom Singers and Miles Davis.Some of her shyness disappeared asshe got down in the music.

A few months ago, a formerneighbor came by to pay a visit andstarted searching the scores of pho-tographs hanging on the walls in our

living room. She stopped, turned around, and blurted out, “No,that isn’t.” I instantly knew the photograph to which she was refer-ring. Along with pictures of Fannie Lou Hamer, Eleanor HolmesNorton, and Jim Forman hangs a very precious photograph ofRosa Parks surrounded by Anyania and her playmate Kai Beard.Dottie was simply undone that in all the years she’d come into ourhome, she, like so many others, simply thought the woman sittingnext to Anyania was her grandmother.

A few weeks after she returned to Detroit, Mrs. Parks sentAnyania an exquisite portrait of herself painted by Paul Collins. Thatportrait now hangs in Anya’s home in Brentwood, California, wheremy grandchildren Maelia and Elijah live, read, and play every day.

Daphne Muse is a writer, social commentator, and director ofthe Women’s Leadership Institute at Mills College.

Our Week with Rosa Parks: Her Presence Remains a Gift

in Our Hearts and Homes by Daphne Muse

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Anyania Muse, left, currently a student at Mills; Rosa Parks; and Kai Beard, currently a graduate student at Georgetown University.



Kevan Thatcher-Stephen, son ofPatrice “Pat” Thatcher, ’75 /February 12, 2005

Margaret Kathryn Jepsen Tracey,daughter of Ruth NemoedeJepsen, ’58 / September 24,2005

Jeffrey Church Wendt, son ofMargaret “Mary” ChurchWendt, ’52 / September 20,2005

Margaret Werthheimer Wolf,mother of Susan WolfKaufman, ’64 / June 11, 2005

Gifts in Honor ofLila Abdul-Rahim, ’80, by the

Oakland Branch, Mills CollegeAlumnae Association

Annis V. Aiyar,by Michelle Balovich, ’03

Sara Shuttleworth Anderson, ’56,by Sue Wood Spence, ’56

Isabelle Hagopian Arabian, ’45,by Laura Lundegaard

Anderson, ’45Marguerithe Dietrich Baxter, ’28,

Happy 99th Birthday! by Barbara Baxter Pawek, ’56

Anne Gillespie Brown, ’68, by Katie Dudley Chase, ’61

Barbara Fankhauser Butzbach, ’50,by Mary “Mimi” Glide Miller, ’50

The Class of 1935’s 70th Reunion,by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35

Elaine Wertheimer Ehrman, ’47,by the Palo Alto Area MillsCollege Club

David J. Graham, by BarbaraManning Graham, ’61

Jane Hasfurther Harvey, ’55, by Barbara Newman Kines, ’55

Barbara Hunter, ’57, by Helen Drake Muirhead, ’58

Diane Smith Janusch, ’55, by Barbara Newman Kines, ’55

Judith “Judy” GreenwoodJones, ’60, by the OaklandBranch, Mills College AlumnaeAssociation

Marilyn Endres Larsen, ’47, by Sterling Loftin Dorman, ’47

Sandra “Sandy” Pitts Malone,’74, by Ellen GoldschmidtFigueira, ‘75

Margery Foote Meyer, ’45, byCarilane Newman Vieregg, ’65

Helen Drake Muirhead, ’58,Happy 70th Birthday! by Nancy Bernheim Rogers, ’47

Eleanore Lundegaard Nissen, ’42,by Laura LundegaardAnderson, ’45

Annabelle Lewis Patton, ’47,Happy 80th Birthday! by Sterling Loftin Dorman, ’47

Patsy Chen Peng, ’51, MA ’53,by Joel Gerber, Peter Sih,Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51, andV. P. Steinhauer

Sarah Pollock, by Michelle Balovich, ’03

Sally Schrepferman Reeds, ’55,by Barbara Newman Kines, ’55

Erwin and Emma-Jane “Emmie”Peck White, ’35, Happy 65thWedding Anniversary! by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35

Dr. Andrew A. Workman, by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club

Reverend Doctor Seigen H.Yamaoka, by Tomoye K. Tatai

Gifts in Memory ofCamilla Austin Andrews, ’43,

by Margaret Hincks Dyer,’43, and Lydia NelsonMcCollum, ’43

Barbara Seal Borden, ’49, by the Palo Alto Area MillsCollege Club

Mary Lou Brooks, ’61, by Katie Dudley Chase, ’61

Jane “Jae” GiddingsCarmichael, ’46, by Elizabeth Barnhart, OlafBolm, Jean Boswell, NancyBennett Colace, MA ’91,Patricia Boadway Cox, ’43,MA ’44, Paul and EricDarrow, Ruth Fettes, LucilePedler Griffiths, ’46, MA ’47,Jeanne Sook Hill, M. Ivey,Elizabeth Lent, Elizabeth andGarnet Mason, Doris Shields,Paula Merrix Sporck, ’46,Gretel Stephens, Esther andMark Steyaert, MarthaWickland Stumpf, ’46,Adalene Todd, Patrica SmithTomaso, Marilyn Monsour

PASSAGES

Nathan Rubin, 1929–2005Violinist Nathan Rubin, a longtime faculty member at Mills, diedOctober 13, 2005. Born in Oakland in 1929, he was a soloist with theOakland Symphony when he was 15 and with the San FranciscoSymphony when he was 20. Joshua Kosman of the San FranciscoChronicle called him “a violinist of broad musical interests and anelegant, expressive technique.” He was director of the MillsPerforming Group, described as “one of the finest chamber ensem-bles in this country” by the Chronicle. His performances with thegroup included appearances with Darius Milhaud, Aaron Copland,Luigi Dallapiccola, Luciano Berio, Henri Pousseur, KarlheinzStockhausen, and other notable composers. He also taught at UCBerkeley and California State University, Hayward (now Cal StateEast Bay).

Mr. Rubin served as concertmaster of the Oakland and OaklandEast Bay Symphonies for more than four decades. He also served asacting concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony and as concert-master of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the San Jose Symphony,the Skywalker Ranch Symphony, and many other orchestras. His solo recordings include performanceswith André Previn, Leon Kirchner, Naomi Sparrow, Robert Hughes, and many others. His orchestralrecordings include a performance of the music to Star Wars conducted by its composer and a largenumber of film scores.

His work outside the classical realm included recordings with Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, VanMorrison, Sly and the Family Stone, Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, Art Pepper, Herbie Hancock, Kitaro, thePointer Sisters, and Jerry Garcia. He was the author of two books: Rock & Roll: Art & Anti-Art and JohnCage and the Twenty-Six Pianos of Mills College.

The Oakland East Bay Symphony has established an endowed chair, the Nathan RubinConcertmaster Chair, honoring his service to the orchestra. He is survived by his wife, Martha HenningerRubin, ’75, and daughters Sara, Adrienne, and Deirdre.

Passages


Tyler, Kate Morrow Whitley,’43, and Nancy May deL’Arbre, ’46

Daval Chang, by Patsy ChenPeng, ’51, MA ’53

C.Y. Chung, by Patsy ChenPeng, ’51, MA ’53

Nancy “Nan” Colhouer, ’55, by Christine Ascher Evans, ’55

Elizabeth “Liz” Abreu Cravalho,’60, by Betty Anne MathewsonMahoney, ’60

Dr. Howard Everett Crofts andMary Isabelle “Mig” GiffordCrofts, ’46, by Muriel “Tex”Johnston, ’42, MA ’46, andBetty Taves Whitman, ’46

Janet Tuthill Davenport, ’55, byCarolyn Everett Wellington, ’55

Josephine Holzman Demuth, ’31,by Katie Dudley Chase, ’61

Diana Munger Dieter, ’55, byMarilyn McMillan Stratford, ’55

Marjorie Putnam Edel, ’35, by Phyllis Cole Bader, ’35, andSheridan Mason Murphy, ’37

Lori Chinn Fong, by Marilyn and William Learn

Mary Compton Goni, ’22, by Mary Johnson Foraker, ’55

Glenn Gordon, Jr., by Nancy Kenealy Soper, ’51

Samuel W. Hudson, Jr., by MaryLois Hudson Sweatt, ‘60

Sheila Morrow Joost, ’48, by Kay Peabody Lins, ’48

Katherine Bryan Kalin, ’42, by Katie Dudley Chase, ’61

Charles Larsen, by Elizabeth Terhune, ’90

James Lewis, husband of MaryGarner Lewis, ’56, by Katie Dudley Chase, ’61

Dorothea “Deddy” MeyerLondon, ’33, by Jane Heberling Egner,’59, Mr. and Mrs. AllenHasse, and the Palo AltoArea Mills College Club

Douglas Nichols, by Myrna Bostwick Cowman, ’57

Elvira “Ellie” Nishkian, by Ann Stone

Doris Estey Powell, by Andrea Powell, ’86

June Burley Rensch, ’52, by the Los Angeles MillsCollege Alumnae

Anne Sherrill, by Elizabeth Terhune, ’90

Col. James Short, by Kimberly Kim Lim, ’55

Carmen Campbell Smith, ’47, by Sterling Loftin Dorman, ’47

Marilyn “Mitzi” OrlobThornton, ’55, by HelenDrake Muirhead, ’58

Ann Wert, by Lucile PedlerGriffiths, ’46, MA ’47

Lynn White, by Linda Denny Knox, ’56

William D. White, Jr., by Lois Strittmatter White, ’47

Mason and Katharine Young,parents of Cornelia Young, ’60,by Gloria Nishida Wu, ’60

Jae Giddings Carmichael, ’46, 1925–2005 Jae Carmichael and I were assigned tobe roommates the summer of 1947when both of us returned to campusfor special courses, I in ceramics, Jaein painting. We were given one of theOlney top-floor balconied rooms socoveted when I was in school; Jae’sfriends used to climb up the vines tovisit us after hours without gettingcaught. One of Jae’s many endearingqualities was to find ways around per-plexing or unsolvable problems. Thatsummer brought a bonus of knowingand growing artistically with eachother for almost 60 years.

Jae died on November 5, 2005, inPasadena, California, after four monthsof suffering head and neck complica-tions resulting from tearing around acorner on the first floor of her house inan area where she did most of her computer work. Characteristically, “tearing around” was her usualspeed and were her words when she told me on the telephone about the fall. Her sudden death wasshocking, taking away an enchanting artist too soon.

Jae had a PhD in cinematography from the University of Southern California, in addition to her MFAfrom Claremont Graduate School and the BFA from USC. She was a war bride, a Mills student for just afew semesters, but our college was the one uppermost in her heart. Our class of ’46ers will rememberthe video that she made for our 50th Reunion. She was always helping Mills in one way or another.

Jane Giddings Carmichael signed her work Jae Carmichael. She was a fine painter, she sculpted inwood and titanium, she investigated and then executed monumental stained glass installations, and shemade astonishingly beautiful silver and gold wearables. Her full-length color film of the sculpture ofClaire Falkenstein—her friend, colleague, and a Mills drawing professor in our day—received internationalacclaim. Jae always broke new ground, and was one of the very first artists ever to use mixed mediawith lights, motion, and film for extravagant presentations. Her own light was somewhat under a barrelbecause she spent so much energy helping others as adjunct professor of film at USC, as president ofthe California Watercolor Society, as director of the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, as a politicalactivist, an art historian, and as a cinematographer.

Jae was a remarkable Renaissance woman, and her gift resides now in the hearts and minds of thosewhose lives she touched professionally and profoundly, locally and abroad.—Susan Harnly Peterson, ’46

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Jae Carmichael in front of her watercolor, “Bouquet 4C,” in May 2005.

Class Notes do not appear in the online edition of Mills Quarterly.

Alumnae are invited to share

their news with classmates in the Mills College alumnae community. To submit notes for publication in the next available Quarterly, send your update to [email protected].

Class Notes do not appear in the

online edition of the Mills Quarterly.

Alumnae are invited to share their

news with classmates in the Mills

College Alumnae Community,

alumnae.mills.edu. To submit notes

for publication in the next available

Quarterly, send your update to

[email protected].

Alumnae Association of Mills CollegeReinhardt Alumnae House Mills CollegePO Box 9998Oakland, CA 94613-0998(510) [email protected]

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Mills Quarterly

Printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks.

“Fling,” (detail) by Elizabeth Murray, MFA ’64, eight-color lithograph, 1997. Collection of Mills College Art Museum.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York recently presented a major retrospective of Elizabeth Murray’s work. Of her role in the world of modern art, artdaily.com writes, “Over the course of more than four decades, she has transformed painting’s conventions to forge an original artistic idiom through the use of vivid colors, boldly inventive forms, and shaped,

constructed, multipaneled canvases.”

mills quarterly winter 2006

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