GSLIS Edition - Simmons College

SIMMONS
FALL 2007
GSLIS Edition
making
work work
IT’S ALL ABOUT FLEXIBILITY
work, family
and simmons
IT’S ALL ABOUT FLEXIBILITY
work, family
and simmons
IT’S ALL ABOUT FLEXIBILITY
GSLIS
PRISON LIBRARIANS
also in this issue:
π PROFESSOR RECEIVES APA AWARD
π ONLINE COURSES TRANSFORM TEACHING
editor’s note:
MAKING AND MAINTAINING CONNECTIONS
Two alumnae enjoy Reunion 2007.
Making Connections. Maintaining connections. In the world of alumnae/i relations, making and
Read more about Reunion
online at www.alumnet.
simmons.edu
maintaining connections is an integral part of our everyday work, whether that means staying in touch with
alumnae/i through emails, inviting them to events, or reminding them of their college days here at Simmons.
One of the best ways to rekindle these connections is through Reunion. As the photo above illustrates, this
yearly event celebrates all the best of Simmons and its meaning to alumnae.
On page 16 we highlight Reunion 2007 in the story “The Legacy of Alumnae.” Through their own words,
six alumnae talk about the importance of Simmons in their lives and what it means to connect back to the
College.
Another way we connect with alumnae/i is through our various communications: the Simmons magazine,
Alumnet, invitations, fundraising appeals, and more. Lately, some of these communications sent through
the U.S. mail have not been delivered to you on time, and we apologize. There have been a series of postal
changes this year that have impacted not only non-profit mailings, but also other types of mailings. We are
working to create a solution so that you receive these important notices in a timely manner.
Just as we want to communicate with you, so too do we want to receive your feedback and ideas. Letters to
the editor are always welcome, and I hope one day to devote a page or more to alumnae/i letters. However,
I need to receive this feedback first! If you have any comments about the Simmons magazine (for example,
thoughts on recent stories, ways to improve the magazine, or ideas for alumnae/i features) please send them
to simmonsmagazine@simmons.edu, or mail them to Simmons magazine, Office of Marketing Communications, Room E108, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA, 02115.
Please continue to connect with Simmons, and use your magazine to do so.
Allyson Irish ’04GS, Editor
allyson.irish@simmons.edu
SIMMONS
Fall 2007
Volume 89, Number 2
Vice President of Advancement
Kristina G. Schaefer
Senior Director, Marketing
Communications, Advancement
Rebecca H. Yturregui ’94
Editor
Allyson Irish ’04GS
Assistant Editor
Emily Devaprasad
Editorial Assistant/Class Notes Editor
Kristin Howley
The Legacy of Alumnae
Copy Editor
Elyse Pipitone ’07SW
BY KRISTIN HOWLEY & ALLYSON IRISH ’04GS
Writers and Editorial Assistants
Christian Pope Campbell ’91
Katie Fiermonti
Jill Russell
Magazine Design
Sawyer Design Associates, Inc.
Diane Sawyer, Art Director
Ellie Krysl, Designer
Printing
Kirkwood Printing
#
Photography/Art
Kathleen Dooher
Steve Gilbert
John Gillooly
Rose Lincoln
Stephanie Mitchell
Len Rubenstein
For more than 100 years, Simmons
has been nurturing young women
and helping them to succeed in their
personal and professional lives. What
does this legacy mean to today’s
alumnae and how does Reunion foster
these strong intergenerational ties?
We speak to six alumnae who
share their thoughts.
16
Making Work Work
Cover Photo
Kathleen Dooher
BY KATIE FIERMONTI
Flexible work arrangements can offer
working women the opportunity to
pursue challenging careers while maintaining a family life. Despite media
accounts to the contrary, a recent School
of Management study found that many
working mothers would prefer to stay
in the workforce if given the option of
flexible schedules.
President’s Letter/ 2
Graduate News/ 3
Fenway/ 8
Voices/ 25
Giving/ 26
Undergraduate Class Notes/ 30
Emerities/ 31
Obituaries/ 44
departments
departments
20
fall 2007
1
president’s
president’sletter
note
Chair
Helen Drinan ’75LS, ’78SM
Dear Alumnae/i,
Clerk of the Board of Trustees
Regina M. Pisa
Members
Carmen A. Baez ’79, ’03HD
Robert E. Branson
Lauren Brisky ’73
Deborah C. Brittain ’74SW
Joyce Elden ’80
Atsuko Toko Fish
Eileen M. Friars ’72
Helen K. Gee ’85, ’04HS
Maha Ghandour P ’06
Anne C. Hodsdon ’75, ’77GS
Pamela H. Jackson ’85
Stephen P. Jonas P ’05
Kathleen Morrissey LaPoint ’84
Ngina Lythcott ’67, ’04HD
Judith Samdperil Mann ’83
Stephen P. McCandless
Jacqueline C. Morby ’78SM
Carol Waller Pope ’74
Emily Scott Pottruck ’78
Lucia Luce Quinn ’75
Faith M. Richardson ’84
Jo-Ann Robotti ’75
Barbara B. Scolnick ’64LS
Susan Scrimshaw
Douglas Smith-Petersen
Paula A. Sneed ’69
Gail Snowden ’78SM, ’97HD
Janet Trafton Tobin ’67
Amy E. White ’81
board of trustees
Kevin C. Phelan
As I write this letter in late August, I am
thinking of the many ways that Simmons
is thriving.
The back of our campus has been
humming with construction this summer. The new underground garage is
nearly complete and a landscape designer
is finalizing plans for the new quadrangle, which will connect all the main
campus academic buildings. This beautiful grassy common will be a place to
stop and smell the flowers, read a book,
hold a class, or meet a friend. The new
School of Management building — which
includes classrooms for other schools and
programs — is now a sculpture of girders, and renovations to Beatley Library are
complete with faculty and staff moving in
for the fall semester.
All of these physical changes look spectacular and provide a glimmer into the
bright future of our college. They also are
due in large part to your generosity.
In fact, we have just completed the
most successful fundraising year in our
history, having raised $9.7 million (excluding bequests). Your gifts to Simmons
ensure our students have the same opportunities you found so valuable. Thank you
also for encouraging prospective students
to attend our undergraduate and graduate programs. This year we saw a record
number of applicants, and the number of
new undergraduate students will likely be
close to 600.
Simmons also is thriving because of
the vision and commitment of alumnae
like Barbara Fish Lee ’67, ’01HD. Barbara
celebrated her 40th reunion in June by
making a $1.5 million gift to Simmons
from her family foundation to establish
an endowment for a political intern fellowship program (story page 28). Since
2005, 40 Simmons women have worked
at the Massachusetts State House and at
various non-profit groups with the goal of
preparing them for political careers.
Another gift (from an anonymous
amily of donors) provided $600,000 to
support research by the nursing faculty.
These and other gifts help improve our
scholarship and visibility, and allow
Simmons to achieve what we could not
otherwise afford to do.
It continues to be a delight to meet
so many of you here on campus and
through my travels. These exciting
improvements could only have been
achieved with your support and generosity, and I look forward to sharing with
you our continued success.
Susan C. Scrimshaw, Ph.D
President
The Simmons College Office of Marketing
Communications publishes the Simmons maga-
Alumnae/i Volunteer Leadership
Reference Key
zine three times a year. Third-class postage is paid
Undergraduate Alumnae Association
Executive Board
President
Amy Klotz ’96
School for Health Studies
Health Care Administration Alumni Association
Co-Chairs
Wendy Gutterson ’94HS
Richard Corder ’01HS
Graduate School of Library and
Information Science Alumni Association
President
Margaret Cardello ’85LS
School of Management
Alumnae Association
President
Joan Tomaceski ’91SM
School of Social Work
Alumni Council
President
Katherine Elliott ’02SW
School Names
CAS
College of Arts and Sciences
SHS
School for Health Studies
GSLIS
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
SOM
School of Management
SSW
School of Social Work
GD
Garland Junior College
in Boston, Mass. Diverse views presented in the
Simmons magazine do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the magazine or the College. Letters to
the editor should be no longer than 250 words and
should be addressed to Allyson Irish, editor, Simmons
magazine, Office of Marketing Communications,
Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, Mass.,
02115-5898; (fax) 617-521-2303; (e-mail) allyson.
irish@simmons.edu. (ISSN) 0049-0512. For more
information, call the Office of Marketing Communications at 617-521-2380, or visit www.simmons.edu.
2 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
Alumnae/i Designations
’37
1937, undergraduate
’88GS
1988, Graduate Studies
’91HS
1991, School for Health Studies
’65LS
1965, Graduate School of Library and
Information Science
’77SM
1977, School of Management
’45SW
1945, School of Social Work
’53GD
1953, Garland Junior College
P ’04
Parent of 2004 Graduate
GSLIS
graduate school of library and information science
The Work of a Prison Librarian
BY KRISTIN HOWLEY
It looks like a typical library — patrons perusing book titles, queuing
up at the circulation counter, asking
for reading suggestions. Yet the cinderblock walls and barred windows
reveal a different setting. Within this
prison, library patrons are incarcerated criminals who oftentimes consider
the library their only place of solace
and exploration.
What does it take to work in one
of these facilities? Mary-Jo Sweeney
’76LS, manager of library services
for the Massachusetts Department of
Correction (DOC), says, “The prime
qualifications for prison librarianship
are a sense of humor and unbounded
patience.”
According to the Statistics Bulletin,
a national publication produced by
the Bureau of Justice, the Massachusetts prison population was approaching 11,000 at the end of 2005.
The state has 11 prison libraries, with
11 trained librarians, each of whom
is responsible for maintaining a fullservice library including a complete
law library and a comprehensive
general library. Overseeing both
library sections is a difficult task for
any one person, said Sweeney, and
prison librarians often train inmates
to assist them.
Becoming a prison librarian is
not a common field. And many, like
Sweeney, get into the position by
chance. After attaining her master’s
degree at Simmons, Sweeney
worked at a public library, a private
company, and then segued into a
paralegal program. That’s when a
friend suggested that Sweeney
might enjoy combining her interests
as a prison librarian.
Sweeney has now been working
for the DOC for 18 years and says
her work has been challenging
yet rewarding.
“Running both a law and a general
library in a prison setting can be
difficult at times, but also it is very
rewarding, and never, ever dull,”
said Sweeney.
Sweeney said that her training at
GSLIS provided her with all of the
core competencies that she uses
daily in her job. Sweeney is often a
guest lecturer, and talks about her
experiences in GSLIS West classes.
She also arranges at least one prison
visit for students each year to show
them the opportunities available as a
prison librarian.
Sweeney currently is working to
plan development goals for DOC
libraries. These goals include adding
to the law library to provide the most
accurate legal information; adding
to the general library to increase
re-entry materials; increasing large
print and Spanish-language materials; and creating library-based literacy
programs.
Prison populations are largely underserved, said Sweeney, and prison
libraries are among the most undercontinued on pg. 7
Mary-Jo Sweeney ’76LS
Resides: Franklin, Mass.
Education: B.A. in American History from Boston State College, now a part of the University of Massachusetts
Experience: Currently, manager of library services for the Massachusetts Department of Correction; previously children’s
librarian at Boston Public Library
Memberships: American Library Association, the Massachusetts Library Association, the American Correctional Association, the Correctional Association of Massachusetts
Awards: 2007 Certificate of Recognition for Professional
Excellence from the Department of Correction for her work in
designing the transition of inmate law libraries from print to
electronic resources
Hobbies: Reading, gardening, cooking, kayaking, and canoeing
fall 2007
3
graduate school of library and information science
faculty news
SERGIO CHAPARRO
RONG TANG
Sergio Chaparro, GSLIS assistant professor, was the feature of a Q&A profile
in the March 18 Boston Sunday Globe.
In the article, titled “Quiet, Please.
Libraries Still Count: You can’t find
everything on the Internet,” Chaparro
extols the benefits of library research
and shares his own experiences as
a librarian.
GSLIS Professor Peter Hernon and
GSLIS Ph.D. students Rosita Hopper,
Michael R. Leach, Laura L. Sanders, and
Jane Zhang are the authors of E-books
Use by Students: Undergraduates in
Economics, Literature, and Nursing,
which appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, in January.
James M. Matarazzo ’65LS,
GSLIS professor and dean emeritus,
co-authored the article “Corporate
Score,” which was published in the
Feb. 1 issue of the Library Journal.
The article also was selected as the
“Editor Pick” for the March issue of the
Informed Librarian Online. Matarazzo
recently was named a member of the
President’s Club of the Special Libraries
Association for his efforts to recruit
new members.
GSLIS Continuing Education
Instructors Bonnie Peirce ’03LS and
Robin Brenner are featured on the
Library Journal’s list of “Movers &
Shakers”, published March 15. Peirce,
who is labeled in the article as “Library
Goddess”, is head of children’s services
at the Dover (Mass.) Town Library. In
addition to founding the Library Goddess Blog network (librarygoddesses.
blogspot.com), the Library Youth Services 2.0 group (libraryyouth.ning.com),
and Global Libraries Organizing (globallibraries.ning.com), she has worked
to get libraries around the world to
participate in July’s Global Library
2.0 Week. Peirce also is co-founder
of thebestkidsbooksite.com, a unique
knowledge brokering service serving
child-focused professionals and families
around the world. Brenner, whose profile is titled “Batgirl” after the action
figure on her desk, is the teen librarian
at the Brookline Public Library. Brenner
is the creator and editor in chief of the
graphic novel review website, No Flying
No Tights (www.noflyingnotights.com).
GSLIS Assistant Professor Rong
Tang recently received a $10,000
award from the American Psychological Association (APA) to conduct a
research project assessing the search
needs of PsycINFO users. For her
project, Tang will survey APA members
and academic librarians on the use of
PsycINFO, a bibliographic database
of psychological literature. Her results
will help identify gaps in user education and improve PsycINFO user
interface design.
GSLIS Students Honored
at Commencement
During the GSLIS Commencement
May 19 at the Bayside Exposition
Center in Boston, several students
were honored. Pictured here, Darin
Murphy ’07LS receives the Estelle
Jussim Award for the Visual Arts
from GSLIS Dean Michèle Cloonan.
The award is presented annually to a
graduating GSLIS student who has
demonstrated great promise in the
visual arts and honors Dr. Estelle
Jussim, a GSLIS faculty member
and distinguished photographic
historian and scholar.
4 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
Other students who received
awards were: Ellen Knowlton Wilson
’07LS, who received the Student
Chapter of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology
Outstanding Information Science
Student Award; Jennifer Michelle
Lege ’07LS, who received the Kenneth R. Shaffer Award; and Georgina M. Trebbe ’07LS, who received
the GSLIS Western Campus Leadership Award.
graduate school of library and information science
Dean’s Message
GSLIS Offers First Online Class
When GSLIS Adjunct Professor
Linda Braun teaches her class each
week, she never has to recap the
previous lesson. Thanks to emails,
online chats, the class wiki, and
podcasts, her students are up to
speed, and often have continued
the discussion outside of class.
This spring, GSLIS launched its
first online course, “Technology
and the School Library Media Center.” Taught during the spring and
summer semesters, the class has
been met with much success.
“Online teaching provides new
opportunities for checking in with
students and finding out what
their understanding is,” said
Braun. “I was impressed at how
well the students adapted. They
quickly became comfortable with
the technology and with asking
sortium allowed GSLIS students
to take courses from other leading
American Library Association-accredited programs and provided
guidance for quality predictors in
online education.
According to Braun, online
courses are beneficial in many
ways. The online structure is helpful to students who cannot travel
In the past, summer campuses
used to be quiet; faculty would focus
on their research and administrators
would plan for the academic year
ahead. No longer! Simmons GSLIS
is just as busy during the summer as
at any other time. Below are just a
few examples of how we have spent the summer.
• Students can enroll at Simmons any time of the year, and
many use summer to take their core, required courses or to
sign up for internships and independent studies.
• Many applicants use the summer to tour GSLIS and
Boston, taking the time to stroll around campus, hop on a
Duck Tour, make their way around the Emerald Necklace,
or head over to join Red Sox Nation.
• Some of our full-time faculty teach in Boston, while others
elect to teach at our Mount Holyoke campus or abroad. For
the past two summers, GSLIS part-time and full-time faculty have offered classes in the Middle East. This summer,
Professor Pat Oyler ’77SM and Assistant Dean Terry Plum
taught in Vietnam.
to campus for class or those who
live far away. Contrary to popular
belief, Braun says that students
do not feel isolated. Her students
formed strong friendships through
the class wiki and instant messaging, and participated in online
discussion boards.
each other — and me — for help
when needed.”
Prior to offering this online
class, GSLIS gained valuable
experience about distance learning
by joining the Web-based Information Science Education (WISE)
consortium, which makes online
courses available to each of the 13
participating LIS schools. The con-
• Several conferences are held in Boston over the summer,
and we host continuing education courses and meetings
on campus.
• International students like to arrive well in advance of fall
semester to find housing, immerse themselves in English,
or go sightseeing before they devote all of their energies to
graduate studies.
• For the third summer in a row, Assistant Dean Denise
Davis ’99LS led a group of Simmons students to San Juan
del Sur, Nicaragua, to volunteer at Biblioteca Movil. Those
abroad continue to keep in touch with students in Boston
through emails and our dispatches blog at
http://gslis.simmons.edu/blog/dispatches.
In this issue of the Simmons magazine you can read about
prison libraries and the librarians who work in these settings.
And don’t miss our story on our first online class to read
about how Linda Braun is using technology in her teaching.
I hope you had a wonderful summer, and if this issue
doesn’t fully saturate your appetite for reading, check out a
bibliomystery. The Simmons College library has volumes and
volumes of them.
Best wishes,
more online
Read more GSLIS news on
Alumnet, www.alumnet.
simmons.edu.
PHOTOGRAPHY :
Steve Gilbert
Stephanie Mitchell
MICHÈLE V. CLOONAN
DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
fall 2007
5
graduate school of library and information science
alumni news
Roz Pelcyger ’68LS, director of
the Glen Rock Public Library in New
Jersey, received the New York Times
Librarian Award.
During this year’s 2007 Alumni and
Professional Development Day, GSLIS
recognized Molly Raphael ’69LS with
its 2007 Alumni Achievement Award.
The former director of the District
of Columbia Public Library, Raphael
is the current director of Multnomah
County Library in Portland, Ore. She
is an active member of the American
Library Association, serving on the
Intellectual Freedom, Budget Analysis
and Review, and the Nominating
committees. She recently completed
a term on ALA’s executive board, and
was co-founder of the ALA’s unit on
library services for the deaf and hearing impaired.
Winston Tabb ’72LS received the
ALA International Relations Committee’s John Ames Humphry/OCLC/
Forest Press Award in recognition
of significant contributions to
librarianship and community service
worldwide. Tabb is currently dean
of university libraries at Johns Hopkins University.
Ross Atkinson ’77LS was posthumously awarded the Blackwell
Scholarship for his article “Six Key
Challenges for the Future of Collection
Development” published in Library
Resources & Technical Services.
Donna Mullen Good ’79LS was
featured in a March Boston Herald article highlighting her work as CEO and
president of the Center for Women &
Enterprise.
Mary E. Helms ’81LS was awarded
the University of Nebraska Medical
Center’s Spirit of Community Service
award for demonstrated excellence
in community service in April at
the annual meeting of the faculty.
This award is given in recognition of
outstanding service to the community. Helms is associate professor and
associate director at the McGoogan
Library of Medicine, University of
Nebraska Medical Center.
6 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
Robert Fleming ’84LS has been
appointed executive director of the
Emerson College Library.
Daryl Boone ’85LS is a Harvard
residential administrative fellow for
2006–2007 in a program intended
for individuals pursuing administrative
careers in higher education, especially those committed to addressing
the under-representation of ethnic
minorities in university administration. Boone has been working at the
Harvard libraries for more than 20
years, and is currently head of English
division technical services.
Scott Atwell ’88LS writes, “I am
currently a professor of library and
instructional services and reference librarian/liaison for art, music,
philosophy, and religion at Ferris
State University. I have published in
several library science and musicology
journals. I am also an abstractor for
the world’s premiere music bibliography, Répertoire International de
Littérature Musicale (RILM), and I am
working on publishing my first book
for the Edwin Mellen Press. I also am
a contributor and English proofreader
for Die Goldberg Stiftung (2004–),
founded by Dr. Clemens Goldberg. The
website emanates from Berlin,
Germany. The URL is http://www.
goldbergstiftung.org/page_home_de.”
David Miller ’90LS writes that
he’s had the honor of serving as
chair of the ALCTS Cataloging and
Classification Section for 2006–07.
He also has recently co-edited (with
Filiberto Felipe Martinez Arellano) the
book SALSA de Topicos=Subjects in
SALSA: Spanish and Latin American
Subject Access. This fully bilingual
book of essays, based on an American
Library Association annual conference
program, will be published in 2007.
Miller continues to work as head of
technical services for the library at
Curry College in Milton, Mass.
Amy Leimkuhler Williams ’94LS
was recently named the deputy director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum & Library in
Independence, Mo. The library is
one of 11 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and
Records Administration. Williams
was the first graduate of Simmons’s
dual degree program in archival
management.
During this year’s 2007 Alumni and
Professional Development Day, GSLIS
recognized Nguyen Thi Bac ’95LS
with its 2007 Alumni Achievement
Award. The director of the General
Sciences Library in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam, Bac established a preservation center and has provided Braille
and talking books to blind and visually
impaired patrons. She serves as a
vice president of the newly formed
Vietnam Library Association, and
was named a woman leader of Ho Chi
Minh City.
Betsy Marcus Wolfe ’97LS has
been named director of the Thayer
Public Library in Braintree, Mass.
Prior to this position she was director
of the Marlborough Public Library.
Elaine Jackson ’98LS is a former
Taunton, Mass. teacher who is currently head librarian at the Norton
Public Library. She has held her
position for the last 15 years, and said
that the transition from teacher to
librarian was easy. Both jobs educate,
but the positions just go about it in
different ways.
Elena O’Malley ’98LS has been appointed assistant director for technology and access services at Emerson
College Library.
Linda Takata ’98LS is now head
of technical services at the Fine Arts
Library, Harvard College Library.
Sarah Tudesco ’98LS is interim
head of the Circulation Division, Widener Library, Harvard College Library.
Maria Christenson Bernier ’99LS
recently accepted a position at Salve
Regina University located in Newport,
R.I. as university archivist. Bernier
previously was employed at Mystic
Seaport as ships plans librarian.
Ellen Dyer ’99LS has been named
curator and director of education
graduate school of library and information science
The Work of a Prison Librarian
continued from pg. 3
represented portion of the library
world, a trend Sweeney hopes will
change through awareness.
“I hope more library students will
be interested in a career in prison
librarianship, but even if that doesn’t
happen, I hope that when these
students move into library positions
they will remain aware of prison
libraries and work with us to include
the libraries in community outreach
projects.” π
at the Center for the Study of Early
American History in Maine.
Ondrea Toni Robertson ’99LS
recently accepted a position at the
Falmouth (MA) Public Library as
information systems librarian.
Robertson previously was interlibrary
loan librarian. “After 23 years in Ill.,
I’m now overseeing everything electronic for the main library and two
branches. I’m starting at an interesting
time, as the main library building is
being renovated and expanded, which
means all the equipment in it next year
will be different!”
Sarah Gray ’01LS is a project
librarian/cataloger at the Weissman
Preservation Center, Harvard
College Library.
Ralph Montilio ’02LS is a library
assistant at the Tozzer Library, Harvard
College Library.
Erin Dini ’04LS has been appointed
reference librarian at Utah State
University’s Merrill-Cazier Library.
Steven Folson ’05LS was appointed
metadata librarian at the Image Collection Library of UMass Amherst.
Nicole Hios ’05LS is a serials
cataloger, Harvard College Library
Technical Services.
Support GSLIS Through a Bequest
Taking time to create and maintain a legal will is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, your loved ones, and the organizations you care about. If you have a will, or plan to create one, consider
including a gift to the Graduate School of Library and Information Science
at Simmons College. This simple gift can be one of the most satisfying
contributions you’ll make in a lifetime, and it may also help you reduce
or eliminate estate taxes. Your bequest may be unrestricted or designated for a special purpose such as scholarships, endowment, or faculty
development. Bequests are an option for everyone, and each bequest is
as unique as the individual who creates it. Those who have notified the
College of their plans are welcomed to the John Simmons Society, to
recognize and honor their visionary gifts. For confidential information tailored to your needs, contact Monica Collins, director of planned giving, at
617-521-2382 or monica.collins@simmons.edu, or visit us online at www.
alumnet.simmons.edu and click on “Giving and Volunteering.”
Jane Callahan ’06LS is a library
assistant at the Tozzer Library, Harvard
College Library.
Linda Carroll ’06LS is the reference/local history librarian at the Cary
Memorial Library in Lexington, MA.
Nancy Cordery ’06LS and Rosanne
Sheridan ’06LS are both working at
Bain Capital in Boston.
Monica McCarter ’06LS, director
of library services at Atlantic Union
College, published an article in Current
Studies in Librarianship entitled “At
Risk Students and Cooperative Learning: Best practices for library instruction based on students’ psychological,
cognitive, and emotional needs.”
Jennifer MacMillan ’06LS is the
evening and weekend library supervisor
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and
also is working in the children’s room at
the Memorial Hall Library in Andover,
MA.
Anne Munn ’06LS is a library assistant at the Fine Arts Library, Harvard
College Library.
Clare Murphy ’06LS is now the
children’s librarian at the Amesbury
(MA) Public Library.
Jessica Suarez ’06LS is an archives
assistant at the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School.
Brittany Lehman ’07LS is a reference librarian at Latham & Watkins,
LLP in New York City.
2007–2008 Alumni
Association Executive Board
President
Margaret Cardello ’85LS
Vice President/Achievement Award Chair
Kris Liberman ’87LS
Secretary
Julie Jersyk ’92LS
Treasurer
Bernadette Rivard ’01LS
Past President
Claudette Newhall ’98LS
At-Large Director
Marilyn Steinberg ’86LS
At-Large Director
Vivien Goldman ’00LS
At-Large Director
Beatrice Pulliam ’04LS
Director of Fundraising
Thomas Casserly ’94LS
The Alumni Board can be contacted at:
gslis_alumniboard@simmons.edu
fall 2007
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movers and shakers
accomplished graduate and undergraduate alumnae/i
FAYE EDWARDS COLEMAN ’68
KAREN CROSBY-JARMOC ’89
MEGGEN BEAULIER WALKER ’96
Harriet Elam-Thomas ’63, ’00HD, former
U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Senegal and currently director of the University of Central Florida’s new diplomacy
program, recently was named the 2007
recipient of the State Department’s Director General’s Cup for Foreign Service.
Elam-Thomas, who retired in 2005, is
only the fourth woman to receive this
prestigious award.
Faye Edwards Coleman ’68 recently was
interviewed in U.S.News & World Report
online in the “small business scene” section for her successful navigation of government contracts through her company,
Maryland-based Westover Consultants. In
September 2005, Coleman was asked to
assist with coordinating the federal emergency response to Hurricane Katrina, and
helped implement the Katrina Assistance
Project.
Gilda M. Thomas ’78LS recently was
named senior vice president and general
counsel for POZEN Inc., a Chapel Hill,
N.C.-based pharmaceutical company
focused primarily on treatment products
for migraines, acute and chronic pain, and
other pain-related conditions. Thomas will
be responsible for all legal matters affecting the company, its products, intellectual
property, and employees. Thomas received
a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an
A.B. from Wellesley College.
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation recently named Tracy Nickl ’83
managing director of BNY Mellon Wealth
Management in southern California. In
this role, Nickl will oversee wealth management business development efforts in
Los Angeles, Glendale, Century City, and
Newport Beach. Nickl formerly worked
for the Wells Fargo family wealth group,
where she was senior vice president and
director responsible for setting strategy
for its multi-disciplinary service team.
BNY Mellon Wealth Management is
ranked as one of the top 10 U.S. wealth
managers with nearly $155 billion in
private client assets and 83 offices globally.
Democrat Karen Crosby-Jarmoc ’89
recently was elected to the Connecticut
State Legislature. Jarmoc previously
served on the Enfield (CT) Democratic
Town Committee and on several boards,
including the United Way and North
Central Chamber of Commerce. She will
be up for re-election in the fall of 2008 for
the 2009–2010 year.
In April, Wendy Campanella ’96,
’02HS and her rowing partner were victorious at the National Selection Regatta,
held in West Windsor, N.J. As a result,
Campanella earned a seat on the 2007
National Rowing Team, and hopes to earn
a spot in the 2008 Olympics. She and
her rowing partner also won the bronze
medal in Amsterdam at the World Cup
Regatta in June. Campanella is a nationally recognized rower; she placed first in
the Lightweight singles at the Head of the
Charles Regatta in Boston in 2005, and
competed in that year’s World Championships in Gifu, Japan, where her crew also
broke the world record during a trial heat.
Meggen Beaulier Walker ’96 and her
mother, Trina Beaulier, recently appeared
on the Today show in December and the
Rachael Ray show in May featuring their
business Simply Divine Brownies. Since
the company was founded in 2004, it has
exploded onto the gourmet scene. The
brownies were given as gifts at the Oscars,
the Indy 500, Ralph Lauren’s Pink Pony
parties in both New York and Japan, and
the Muhammad Ali Charity Celebrity
Fight Night this past March. The brownies, which are being sold at Bloomingdale’s, Ralph Lauren, and the Home Shopping Channel, also have been featured
on The Food Network shows Roker on the
Road and Unwrapped as well as in articles
in magazines Better Homes and Gardens
and Working Mother.
Ellenmarie Rhone ’04SM recently was
named vice president of human resources
at OrderMotion. The Boston, Mass.-based
company delivers an on-demand direct
retail platform that enables merchants to
achieve unprecedented growth for direct
commerce companies. Previously, Rhone
was director of human resources at the
company.
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www.alumnet.simmons.edu
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Scrimshaw Presides Over 102nd Commencement
Keynote speaker John Prendergast
called upon Simmons’s graduates to
follow the plea of Martin Luther King,
Jr., who in 1968 told his followers:
“Don’t sleep through the revolution.”
“Don’t sleep through this momentous defining period in our history,”
said Prendergast to more than 1,400
graduates at Simmons’s 102nd Commencement exercises May 19 at the
Bayside Exposition Center in Boston.
One of the world’s leading critical
voices on the genocide in Darfur and
other war-torn nations in Africa, Prendergast is the author of eight books on
Africa, senior adviser of the International Crisis Group, and founder of the
ENOUGH stop-genocide project. He
was formerly an adviser to the White
House and to the U.S. Department of
State.
Prendergast encouraged the graduates to “dream big” and to believe in
themselves. He also spoke about current world events and our responsibility to help solve global problems.
The ceremony was the first Commencement presided over by President
Susan C. Scrimshaw, who spoke of
the common values held by Simmons
students and alumnae/i: scholarship,
leadership, and a dedication to the
global community.
During the ceremony, degrees were
awarded to undergraduate students, as
well as to graduate students from the
College of Arts and Sciences, School of
Social Work, School for Health Studies,
and the Graduate School of Library and
Information Science.
Prendergast and four others received
honorary degrees from the College
during the ceremony. Prendergast
received a doctor of public service degree. Brigadier General Dana H. Born,
Ph.D., the highest-ranking psychologist
in the U.S. military academy and the
Air Force Academy’s first female dean
of faculty, received a doctor of humane
administration degree. Dr. Josephine
Morello Butz ’57, a respected emerita
professor of pathology and medicine at
the University of Chicago, received a
doctor of humane sciences degree. Dr.
Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip ’77, an internationally recognized neuroscientist, received
a doctor of humane sciences degree;
and Dr. Sidney Verba, the former Carl
H. Pforzheimer University professor
and director of the Harvard University
Library, received a doctor of humane
library science degree.
top to bottom: President Susan
C. Scrimshaw; graduates await the
Commencement procession; Dr.
Josephine Morello Butz ’57,
Brigadier General Dana H. Born,
Commencement Speaker John
Prendergast, President Scrimshaw,
former Board of Trustees Chair
Lucia Luce Quinn ’75, Dr. Sidney
Verba, and Dr. Nancy Yuk-Yu Ip ’77
fall 2007
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New Warburg Chair Joins Simmons
Simmons will get a fresh global
perspective on diplomacy and human
rights issues this fall as Thomas N.
Hull, ambassador to Sierra Leone, joins
the College as the new Warburg chair
in international relations.
Serving as ambassador since 2004,
Hull has expertise in African affairs
and a specialization in public diplomacy. During his distinguished career,
he has been on the diplomatic front
line of many global issues, including
peace building, social justice, human
trafficking, blood diamond reform, and
war crimes prosecution.
Before becoming ambassador, Hull
served as deputy chief of mission at
the American Embassy in Ethiopia. He
also was director of African affairs at
the United States Information Agency
in Washington prior to its merger with
the Department of State.
Hull has made an international
impact outside of the African border.
He served as counselor for public affairs in Prague, for which he received
a Presidential Meritorious Service
Award for his contributions to the
transformation of communist Czechoslovakia into the democratic Czech
Republic and Slovakia.
Throughout his career, Hull has
been actively involved with academia.
He founded the Fulbright Commissions for Educational Exchange and
served as board chairman in the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, and South Africa.
He also worked at the Institute of International Education in New York.
The Warburg Chair in International
Relations was established in the 1980s
by Joan Melber Warburg ’45, ’97HD.
Most recently, Walter Carrington served
as Warburg chair. Carrington is the
former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and
Senegal.
Students and Alumnae Learn From One Another
A new mentoring program is giving
alumnae the opportunity to reach out
to Simmons students and help shape
their future.
Created by the Office of Alumnae/i
Relations, the purpose of the Mosaic
Multicultural Mentoring Program is to
foster strong mentoring relationships
between alumnae and students of color,
and for students to learn from their
alumnae mentors about the college-towork transition, and the education and
skills needed in professional fields.
Phu Ly ’95, a first grade teacher at
the Union School District in San Jose,
Calif., was one of more than a dozen
alumnae who traveled to Simmons in
February to meet with undergraduate
students and learn more about the
unique new program.
Ly, whose student mentee was Ashley Martin ’09, said she has found the
program to be very fulfilling.
“I’ve always wanted to give back to
Simmons because Simmons gave so
much to me when I was a student. I
also believe in the power of mentoring,
10 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
“I’ve always wanted to give back to Simmons
because Simmons gave so much to me when
I was a student.”
— PHU LY ’95
and the wonderful things that can
happen,” said Ly.
Funded by the Simmons College
Diversity Council, Mosaic helps to further the College’s diversity initiatives.
A total of 14 sophomore and junior
undergraduate students of ethnically
diverse backgrounds participated in the
program this past spring, communicating with their alumnae mentors and
meeting with them for job shadowing opportunities. Another group of
students and alumnae mentors are
scheduled to meet this fall.
For more information, or to sign
up to participate as a Mosaic mentor,
please contact Sarah Zengo in the Office of Alumnae/i Relations at 617-5212112 or sarah.zengo@simmons.edu.
SIMMONS
Black Alumnae/i
Symposium 2008
The Power of Our Presence:
Past, Present, and Future
save the date
April 11–13, 2008
for more information, visit
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
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faculty focus
notable achievements by simmons faculty
BOB OPPENHEIM
RONG TANG
RICH GURNEY
Donna Beers, professor of mathematics,
recently received the Certificate of Meritorious Service Award in recognition of
outstanding service to the Mathematical
Association of America (MAA) and to the
Northeastern Section of the MAA. This
award, which is given every five years,
was presented in January at the Joint
Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans,
where Beers also participated on a panel
titled “Creating and Maintaining Active
MAA Student Math Chapters.”
Stephen Berry joined Simmons this
fall as assistant professor of history. His
previous teaching experience included positions as a visiting instructor at HampdenSydney College in Virginia, a preceptor at
Duke Divinity School, and an instructor at
Duke University. Berry’s areas of interest
include religion in the U.S., history of the
American South, and African-American
history. He received a B.A. and M.Ed. from
Vanderbilt University, an M.L.I.S. from
the University of Southern Mississippi, an
M.Div. from Reformed Theological
Seminary, and a Ph.D. in religion from
Duke University.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing
Terry Buttaro ’95HS has been elected a
fellow of the American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners, a distinction achieved each
year by a select few nurse practitioners
who make outstanding contributions to
health care through nursing practice,
education, research, or policy. Academy
fellows work on leadership and mentoring
programs to develop leaders in the field.
Buttaro is a primary care nurse practitioner who works with adolescent, adult, and
elderly patients in Boston and Newburyport, Mass.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Rich
Gurney was one of 10 educators nationwide to be invited to the “Building the
Capacity of Green Chemistry Educators”
workshop in Washington, D.C. this summer. Gurney also presented two papers
at the International Green Chemistry
and Engineering Conference and made
a presentation about Simmons’s “Cups
to Cleaners” project at a Green Chemistry and Engineering Student Education
Workshop. In addition, he presented two
papers at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in August, and was
the keynote speaker at the Green Chemistry Educators Workshop at the University
of Oregon in July.
SOM Professor Lynda Moore was
awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for the
2007–2008 academic year at Zayed
University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She will teach courses on leadership
in the College of Business Sciences and
conduct a research project on corporate women leaders in the United Arab
Emirates. The highly selective Fulbright
Fellowships are designed to increase
mutual understanding between citizens
of the United States and people from
other countries through the exchange of
persons, knowledge, and skills. Profes-
sor Moore is the first SOM recipient of a
Fulbright Fellowship.
Art and Music Professor Bob Oppenheim was recognized at the Fifth Annual
International Association of Art Critics/
New England for a Simmons Trustman
Gallery exhibit he curated in 2005 titled
“Four Artists in Search of the Intangible.”
Oppenheim received second prize in the
category “Best Group Show in Institutional/University Gallery, Boston Area,”
during a Feb. 28 ceremony at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum.
GSLIS Assistant Professor Rong Tang
recently received a $10,000 award from
the American Psychological Association
(APA) to conduct a research project assessing the search needs of PsycINFO users. For her project, Tang will survey APA
members and academic librarians on the
use of PsycINFO, a bibliographic database
of psychological literature. Her results will
help identify gaps in user education and
improve PsycINFO user interface design.
Cheryl Welch ’70, professor of political
science and international relations, recently was awarded the John D. and Rose H.
Jackson Fellowship for archival research
at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library. The visiting fellowship will support a month-long period
of research in September and October to
study the papers of French magistrate and
prison reformer Gustave de Beaumont, in
pursuit of a book project on the 19th-century roots of human rights discourse.
fall 2007
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Students Create Marketing Initiative for U.S. Navy
Students in Ed Vieira’s advanced
marketing class did far more this
spring semester than study advertising techniques. Partnering with the
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
(NCIS), 13 undergraduate students had
the opportunity to create multi-faceted
marketing and recruitment campaigns
for the agency, and the chance to win
an all-expenses-paid trip to NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The collaboration with Simmons
was the first time NCIS had paired
with a school to work on a major marketing initiative.
The students were divided into
three groups to create recruitment
campaigns that included ads for print,
radio, and television media. In May, the
students presented their campaigns
to a panel of judges including Joan
Abrams ’71, ’91GS, director of the
Master’s in Communications Management program; Cheryl Marsh, NCIS
recruitment officer; and Ira Matathia,
managing partner of NoFormula, a
strategic communications branding
consulting company in New York.
The event was standing room only,
and was attended by the NCIS director
Simmons marketing students at NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Professor Ed Vieira,
Olga Karagiannis ’07, NCIS staff member, Emily Catallozzi ’07, Kate Mistretta ’07, Kimberly
Mitchell ’06, Anna Reinhard ’08, and NCIS staff member.
and NCIS agents from Rhode Island,
Washington, D.C., and Maine.
The winning team members — Olga
Karagiannis ’07, Kate Mistretta ’07,
Emily Catallozzi ’07, Kimberley Mitchell ’06, and Anna Reinhard ’08 — presented “Chart Your Course” to the
NCIS director’s executive team while
in Washington, D.C. this spring. NCIS
plans to use the marketing concept in
its next advertising campaign.
“This enriching learning experience
provided students with the opportunity
to bridge what they have learned in the
classroom with the real world,” said
Vieira. “They developed advertising
recruitment campaigns for women
and minorities, which is in the spirit of
Simmons’s mission. I am very proud of
them and their achievement.”
SOM Creates Partnership with Latina Business Organization
In response to the fast-growing number
of Latinas working in the corporate sector, the School of Management (SOM)
and Madrinas, a national network for
Latina professionals, recently formed
a unique partnership. SOM Professor
Patricia Deyton, director of the SOM’s
Center for Gender in Organizations
(CGO), will oversee the partnership and
coordinate upcoming projects.
Latina women represent one of the
fastest growing demographic groups
entering the U.S. workforce today; their
numbers are estimated to reach 9.2
million by 2010, according to recent
business surveys.
“One of the goals of the School of
Management is to effectively serve the
needs of professional women of color,”
said Deborah Merrill-Sands, SOM
12 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
dean. “Our alliance with Madrinas is
key to furthering the professional empowerment and success among Latinas
in corporate positions.”
Madrinas and the CGO are planning
to focus on long-term research, programming, mentoring, and networking
opportunities to ensure that Latinas
have the best tools and resources to
succeed in diverse corporate industries.
“There are unique challenges faced by
Latinas in the corporate workplace,”
said Deyton, “and this partnership will
include opportunities such as mentoring and specialized executive education
programs to enhance Latina professional development options.”
Other long-term goals of the partnership include expanding the SOM
research about women’s use of flexible
work arrangements, and creating
a research agenda that will lead to
publications about the challenges and
successes of Latinas in the workplace.
During the upcoming year, CGO will
organize several programs to be offered
during monthly teleconference meetings of Madrinas. The programs will be
led by SOM faculty and CGO affiliates
who will focus on areas that are of specific interest and value to Madrinas.
“There is a real need for programs
that address the specific needs of Latinas,” said Roseanne Lopez, president
of Madrinas. “We want to throw a
lifeline to the next generation of young
professionals.”
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words, etc.
publications by simmons faculty and alumnae/i
Phyllis Bricker ’58HS is the author of Girl
Cane and Other Short Stories (Rosedog
Books, 2006). The lead story focuses on
a woman who struggles with her physical
therapy until she begins swimming with
a dolphin near her Southern California
home. Eventually, their friendship leads to
a legal battle about animal rights.
Sophie Freud ’48SW, ’96HD, professor
emerita of social work, published Living
in the Shadow of the Freud Family (Greenwood Press, 2007), an expanded autobiography of her mother, Esti — the daughterin-law of Sigmund Freud. Professor Freud
expands her mother’s memoirs through
family letters, archival material, and
her own diary penned as a teenager, to
recount her family’s experiences on three
continents, through two world wars, and
the Holocaust. Through a special offer by
Greenwood Press, members of the Simmons
community can get 20 percent off the book’s
list price when purchased directly through
the publisher. Enter or reference coupon code
F238 when ordering. Orders can be placed at
www.greenwood.com, by emailing orders@
greenwood.com, or by calling 800-225-5800.
Shipping/handling and sales tax apply.
Women-run companies are more likely
to stay in business, to grow at three times
the average rate, and to produce profits
faster than the average U.S. firm. To find
out how and why, SOM Visiting Professor
of Entrepreneurship Margaret Heffernan
interviewed hundreds of women business
owners in How She Does It: How Women
Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of
Business Success (Viking, 2007).
Julie Silard Kantor ’91, executive director of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), writes
about the transformative power of teaching entrepreneurship in I Said Yes! — Real
Life Stories of Students, Teachers, and
Leaders Saying Yes! to Youth Entrepreneurship in America’s Schools (Gazelles, Inc.,
2006). Kantor shares her career journey
into youth development and teaching, and
tells stories about youths who overcame
significant obstacles to make their lives
productive and meaningful.
In her second book of poetry, Hometown for an Hour (Ohio University Press,
2006), Jennifer Rose ’82 writes about
places and displacement as she searches
for the meaning of “home.” Incorporating
the brevity and immediacy of a postcard,
the poems are greetings from destinations ranging from Cape Cod to Croatia.
The book was the 2004 winner of the
Ohio University Press Hollis Summers
Poetry Prize.
Escapade Johnson — the most boring
kid in the most boring town in the most
boring state in the country — is back in
the second installment by GSLIS Lecturer
Michael Sullivan ’99LS. In Escapade
Johnson and the Coffee Shop of the Living
Dead (Big Guy Books, 2007), the protagonist learns that one small mistake might
be enough to doom him to a job working
side-by-side with the undead. For more
about Sullivan and his books, visit www.
talestoldtall.com.
Calling All Authors
If you’ve recently authored a book and
would like it to appear in the “Words,
Etc.” section of the Simmons magazine, please send a copy of the book,
along with a cover letter including
your name and graduation year, to:
Simmons magazine, Office of Marketing Communications, Simmons
College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA,
02115-5898. You also may fax information about the book to 617-521-2303 or
e-mail simmonsmagazine@simmons.
edu. Books will appear in “Words,
Etc.” at the editor’s discretion and as
space allows.
fall 2007
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Alumna Chosen As New Trustee Chair
Helen G. Drinan ’75LS, ’78SM, senior
vice president of human resources at
Caritas Christi Health Care, recently
became the new chair of the Simmons
College Board of Trustees.
“It is an honor to serve Simmons in
this leadership capacity,” said Drinan,
who has been a member of the board
of trustees since 2003. “In the tradition
begun by John Simmons, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to give back
while contributing to the educational
mission of this special place.”
Caritas Christi Health Care is the second largest health care system in New
England, providing community-based
medicine and care to populations in
eastern Massachusetts, southern New
Hampshire, and Rhode Island. As senior vice president of human resources,
Drinan is responsible for policies and
programs affecting 12,000 employees,
and her strategic vision includes cultivating a culture for the enhanced care
of one million patients annually.
Drinan has been recognized for
distinguished leadership as a Fellow
of the National Academy of Human
Resources, and as a recipient of the
Phyllis Rappaport Alumnae Achievement Award by the Simmons School of
Management. She has received the Best
Practice in Human Resources Award
from the board of the New England
Employee Benefits Council, and the
John D. Erdlen Five Star Award from
the New England Human Resources
Association.
Drinan replaces Lucia Luce Quinn
’75, who has served as board chair since
2004 and as a Simmons trustee since
1996. Quinn and Anne L. Bryant ’71
were honored at the 2007 Commencement Recognition Dinner at Simmons
in May. Bryant retired from the board
after 36 years of distinguished service
to the College.
Poetry Comes Alive Through Hurston Literary Center
For nearly a decade, the Zora Neale
Hurston Literary Center at Simmons
has provided a forum for contemporary
poets, playwrights, and writers to share
their diverse cultural perspectives with
members of the Simmons community
and the public.
Kwame Dawes, Honoree Jeffers, Li
Young Lee, Cynthia Hogue, and Natasha Trethewey — winner of the 2007
Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
In April, the center welcomed
award-winning author and poet Martha
Collins, who read from Blue Front, her
The center was created in 1998 with the goal of giving
members of the Simmons community access to some
of the most vital writing being published today.
Named after renowned novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic Zora Neale
Hurston, the center was created in
1998 with the goal of giving members
of the Simmons community access to
some of the most vital writing being
published today.
“As a writer, I understand the need
to have an audience,” said English Professor Afaa Michael Weaver, director
of the center. “Live readings energize
working writers.”
The first poets to present at the center were Toi Derricotte and Cornelius
Eady, the founders of Cave Canem, a
non-profit organization that supports
the efforts of African American poets.
Other guests through the years have
included Alicia Ostriker, Marilyn Chin,
14 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
latest book-length poem based on a
lynching her father witnessed when he
was five years old in Cairo, Ill.
Not only does the center provide
poets and writers with a public forum,
said Weaver, but also it provides Sim-
mons students with an opportunity to
hear from those who often have very
different life experiences and perspectives from their own. Weaver himself
was among the first faculty at Cave
Canem, and has been recognized by
many younger poets as a mentor.
Weaver recognizes the important
link between the center and nurturing
students’ awareness of contemporary
writers and poets.
“Students at Simmons have an
increasing interest in creative writing,
and I think it is important for them
to see the wide array of voices at work
today in all the genres,” he said.
For more information about the center
and its events, please visit www.simmons.
edu/znh, email znhlc@simmons.edu, or
call 617-521-2220.
You are The Simmons Fund
From financial aid to field placements, from books to basketballs, your gifts to The
Simmons Fund support every part of the Simmons experience.
The annual support of our alumnae/i and friends helps bridge the gap between
tuition and the actual cost of a Simmons education. Every gift matters, and every
student benefits.
To make a gift today, or to learn more about supporting Simmons, visit us online at alumnet.simmons.edu/donate/simmons or call 1-866-GIV-BACK.
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Annual Leadership Conference Focuses on
the Ways Women Lead
The 28th annual School of Management
Leadership Conference, “Ways Women
Lead,” was yet another success. The
sold-out May conference was the largest
ever, and was attended by nearly 3,000
professional women, entrepreneurs,
students, and 150 SOM alumnae. An
impressive slate of inspirational speakers including Yue-Sai Kan, entrepreneur, TV journalist, and best-selling
author; Christiane Amanpour, CNN
chief international correspondent; and
actress and recording artist Queen
Latifah spoke during the day-long event.
“I am proud that the conference was
Queen Latifah delivers the keynote
address.
global in focus and shone the spotlight
on a wide array of women leaders and
the diverse ways that women lead,” said
SOM Dean Deborah Merrill-Sands.
“SOM alumnae conceptualized and established this important event 28 years
ago. It is heartening to see so many
from the SOM community remain
involved today.”
The conference offered a broad mix
of business content, personal leadership stories and experiences, analysis
of complex political and social issues,
and skill development workshops. It
also featured business leaders who have
successfully integrated profitability and
corporate social responsibility, such as
Ann Moore of Time, Inc. and Barbara
Krumsiek of Calvert Group.
“It’s important to highlight all types
of women leaders, especially those who
represent a new way of thinking about
profitability and responsibility,” said
Leadership Conference Executive Director Joyce Kolligian ’87, ’89SM.
Other speakers included Jehan Sadat,
former first lady of Egypt; Marta Sahagún de Fox, president Vamos Mexico
Foundation and former first lady of
Mexico; leading cultural linguist Debo-
Indira Patel ’83SM, Yue-Sai Kan, Marta Sahagún de
Fox, President Susan C. Scrimshaw, and Marcela
Aldaz-Osorio ’06SM
rah Tannen; former NASA astronaut
Eileen Collins; commercial fisherman
and author Linda Greenlaw; and Newsweek senior editor Barbara Kantrowitz.
Corporate sponsors included HP,
Pfizer, Philips, Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Massachusetts, Deloitte, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Novartis, Pink magazine,
Shattered magazine, State Street, and
the U.S. Postal Service.
For more information about the conference, including photos, visit www.alumnet.
simmons.edu.
New Online Service Offers Job Resources to Alumnae/i
Looking to rejuvenate your career? Begin
a job search? Analyze a new industry?
Simmons is now offering a free online
service to our alumnae/i. Available
through Alumnet (www.alumnet.simmons.
edu), the Vault Online Career Library offers a vast array of professional resources
at your fingertips.
Vault is the world’s leading source of
career information, making research on
employers, industries, and career subjects
easy and efficient. This new online resource contains:
• 90+ career guides and employer
profiles in PDF format
• 3,000+ company profiles
• 1,000+ career advice articles
• industry and occupational profiles
• access to Vault message boards for
insider information
In addition, Vault is offering a 15 percent discount on its career services —
including case and finance interview
preparation, and resume and cover letter
reviews — for Simmons alumnae/i. Your
discount code is simalumv. Simply go to:
www.vault.com/careerservices/career
services.jsp, and type the discount
code in the box on the upper right when
you order.
To access the Vault services, log on
to Alumnet and access the Professional
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fall 2007
15
BY KRISTIN HOWLEY & ALLYSON IRISH ’04GS
Once a year, undergraduate alumnae
gather on campus for Reunion, a time
to reconnect with classmates, professors,
and Simmons. Many alumnae consider
Reunion a precious time — one that reminds them of their formative years and
links them to a long history of Simmons
women.
What does this legacy mean to today’s
alumnae and how does Reunion foster
these strong intergenerational ties? In
the following pages, you will read about
six women who attended this year’s
Reunion and who shared their thoughts
about Simmons, Reunion, and the
legacy of alumnae.
16 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
A recent law school graduate who passed the
Massachusetts bar exam last year, Julieanna
Sacchetti ’02 has a
ahead of her. She attributes much of
this success to the lessons she learned at Simmons. “Being in law school and experiencing the intense competition and the Socratic
teaching method made me appreciate my
Simmons education, which emphasized the
success
future of
lping
ng other
others
and helped me maintain a balance that other
law students lacked.” When thinking about
the alumnae who have come before her,
Julieanna says she feels honored to be among
them. “It makes me feel confident to know
that alumnae support and protect the Simmons experience, which is so precious.”
“I chose Simmons because I knew what a
profoundly positive long-term effect it
had on my mom,” said Alexa Tsokanis ’87,
director of project management at Lewtan
Technologies in Waltham, Mass.
“Growing up, I saw the
value
of
S
Simmons
experience
and what it brought to my mom, both
educationally and socially.” A research
associate at the Harvard Medical School
biophysics lab for many years, Bessie
Zotos Tsokanis ’52 says she is gratified that
she and her daughter both chose Simmons
and happy with the life skills they attained.
“We were taught to be
and proud of our accomplishments, and
gained self confidence in all we did.”
independent
fall 2007
17
The assistant director of therapeutic foster care at
The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston, Eugenia
Correia Knight ’97 says her experience at Simmons
was
“So many of my personal views about the world,
myself, and my family were challenged during
my undergraduate experience. Simmons literally
opened up a whole new world to me.” Eugenia
also feels a strong bond with other alums. “During
Reunion, I looked around and thought, ‘I wonder
how many of us have
and thoughts within
these walls.’ An alumna from the class of 1952
gave me a tour of her dorm in Evans Hall and we
were both excited as we reflected on the changes.
She could have been my grandmother, but for
that moment we were chatting like girlfriends in
college together!”
life-changing.
shared
the
same feelings
18 simmons
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After nearly five decades in the communications field, Dorothea (Dotty) Hesse Doar ’52
retired in 2000. But that hardly means she’s
been idle. Dotty attends watercolor painting
workshops and has created a line of greeting cards, which she sells through local retail
shops. Given her work ethic, it’s not surprising
that Dotty believes being an alumna requires
dedicated
dicated involvement.
involvement
She currently is vice president of the Class of
1952 and communications vice president of the
Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
Simmons College Club. She also was one of
70 class members who attended her 55th Reunion this year. “My undergraduate years were
among the
My Simmons experience gave me
an appreciation for professionalism, helped
shape my career, and contributed greatly to my
enjoying a fulfilling, enriched life.”
happiest
of
my
life.
When Winifred Whitemore Kneisel ’37 isn’t square dancing, tending the garden, or
walking around her neighborhood, she can be found in the same Waltham, Mass.
house where she was born in 1915. At age 92, Winifred has slowed down a bit, but
she still
and attributes her good spirits and joie
de vivre to Simmons. “I learned lessons at Simmons that I continue to use 70 years
later,” said Winifred, who counts among her most important classes accounting,
which was particularly helpful after she took over her husband’s accounting business. “At Simmons, I learned to buckle down and work hard. With the
right knowledge,
hehher life
ytything is possible.”
more online
For more information about Reunion and additional
profiles, visit www.alumnet.simmons.edu.
fall 2007
19
fenway
accomplished graduate and undergraduate alumnae/i
MAKING WO
20 simmons
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How flexible work
arrangements are
making employment
WORK
work for moms
Work
BY KATIE FIERMONTI
Monday is the most hectic day of the week for Miranda Daniloff Mancusi ’07SM. She
must get her five-year-old to school, pack lunches for her two teenage stepchildren, get them all out the
door, pick them up after school, drive to soccer practice and tutoring, cook dinner, fold laundry, etc. In
between all that, Mancusi also makes time for her full-time job as associate director of the MossavarRahmani Center for Business & Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University. Her key to sanity, she says with a laugh, is flexibility.
“The trick is to get all the moving pieces working in a complementary direction,” said Mancusi. But
what really helps is her flexible work arrangement — or FWA — which allows her to have a healthy
work-life balance. This arrangement provides Mancusi with the wiggle room to keep doctor’s appointments and even take some Friday afternoons off in the summer. She also gets five weeks of vacation
each year. Despite the hectic pace, Mancusi loves her work and says she wouldn’t change a thing.
“I don’t think I could stay at home full time, even if it was an option. I have chosen to remain working, in large part, because of the flexibility.”
A New Paradigm
Mancusi is one of countless American women — and men — who is creating a new paradigm for
work. Unlike the media portrayal of women “opting out” of the workforce to stay home, a recent study
from the Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) at Simmons’s School of Management (SOM)
found that many women would actually prefer to stay in the workforce if given the option of telecommuting, job-sharing, or flexible hours — essentially the definition of a flexible work arrangement. In
fact, nearly 90 percent of the women respondents to the 2007 SOM study “Optioning In Versus ‘Opting Out’: Women Using Flexible Work Arrangements for Career Success,” stated they had used FWAs
to stay employed.
Study authors and SOM professors Mary Shapiro, Cynthia Ingols, and Stacy Blake-Beard knew
about the prevailing cultural rhetoric: working mothers leaving the workforce in droves in favor of the
“mommy track” and eschewing careers to focus on their families. News articles like the pivotal 2003
New York Times piece, “The Opt-Out Revolution,” sparked outrage and backlash from feminist groups
around the country. Women like Karen Hughes of the Bush Administration, a mother who left a highfall 2007
21
powered job to spend more time with her
family, reinforced this “opt-out” notion,
along with articles in Time magazine
and the Wall Street Journal. Additionally,
a 2005 study by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and
Carolyn Buck Luce of the Center for WorkLife Policy cited a statistic that 37 percent
of working women fully “opt out” of
careers by voluntarily leaving work.
But the recent Simmons survey provided some striking contrasts.
Opting-In with FWAs
“We were getting very different stories
from our MBA students and alumnae,”
said Shapiro. Of the 400-plus women
sampled for the SOM study, most of the
respondents reported using some form
of FWA during their career. This figure
contrasted with the numbers reported
by the 2005 Hewlett and Luce research,
which found only 58 percent of women
using FWAs.
Shapiro and the other study authors
were surprised by the extent to which
women reported using flexible work arrangements.
“Our study supported the anecdotal
evidence we had that women are committed to work, and are being creative in juggling the multiple responsibilities in their
lives. Overwhelmingly, women are using
flexible work arrangements not to ‘opt out’
of work, but to make employment work in
their complex lives,” said Shapiro.
are in effect challenging a half-century
of strongly held ideas about work and its
place in American society. The idea that
people work Monday through Friday,
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with total loyalty
to a company has become impractical,
outdated, and unrealistic.
“It’s no surprise that the 1950s career
definition, which was written by and for
white middle-class males, no longer works
for an increasingly diverse workforce,”
said Ingols, also a faculty affiliate at the
CGO. Today, the modern workforce is
being shaped by “mega-trends,” such as
the increase of working mothers, singleparent families, those taking care of aging
parents in addition to young children, and
fathers helping out more at home.
Such fathers seem to be taking their
cue from women in terms of seeking
out flexible work arrangements. It is no
longer unusual to hear of men forgoing
long hours at the office in favor of more
time at home, especially since fathers
are becoming more and more involved
in their children’s lives. According to a
2002 Families and Work Institute study,
the average amount of time fathers spent
with their children per day increased from
1.9 to 2.7 hours between 1977 and 2002.
A 2003 study by the Families and Work
Institute, Catalyst, and the Boston College
Center for Work & Family found that
more than 20 percent of male executives
had downsized their career aspirations,
work. Indeed, a 2005 study by the SOM
and Bright Horizons Family Solutions
found that 95 percent of respondents
rated their “life outside of work” as equally
or more satisfying than their job.
“Flexible work arrangements are not
just for women and they are not just for
mothers,” said Blake-Beard. “They are
for people, women and men, who need
flexibility, and from what we can see, the
number of workers who will need flexibility is going to get larger.”
with family and personal life the most
highly cited reason for the sacrifice.
Ingols said such mega-trends have
affected an overall change in our society,
where home life is valued as much as
also allows me to get home to take them
off the school bus.”
Another example is Allyson Nickowitz Ross ’90, who left her position as a
magazine art director and designer partly
Staying Connected
One key component to these changes is
technology. With devices like cell phones,
laptops, and the BlackBerry, a person “no
longer has to physically be at their office
to do work,” said Shapiro. “Employers
must totally rethink how and where work
gets done. BestBuy already does this with
its ROWE (results only work environment) Program, which allows all employees in the corporate offices to get their
work done anytime, anywhere.”
Nadine Heaps ’09SM is a working
mother who has embraced this “anytime,
anywhere” idea. Married with four children, Heaps is owner and president of the
Purple Ink Insurance Agency in Ashland,
Mass. “Technology is amazing,” said
Heaps. “People can reach me 24/7. I shut
my phone off if I need to, but my kids understand that if I get a call at dinnertime,
I have to take the call. But that flexibility
According to the Executive Moms survey, only
10 percent of women
without a flexible work
schedule feel their current
situation is “just fine.”
Seeking a Work-Life Balance
This emerging trend of workplace flexibility does not come without some major
cultural and societal rethinking. The
study authors said that working women
22 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
is flexibility right for you?
Think you might be ready for a flexible work
arrangement (FWA)? They certainly can help
to achieve work-life balance, but it’s important
to recognize that not every person is ready, nor
every job situation appropriate, for a FWA.
Here are some guidelines, provided by SOM
study authors and professors Mary Shapiro,
Cynthia Ingols, and Stacy Blake-Beard.
• Not all employees are cut out for telecommuting or flexible work hours. Critical
traits are the ability to work independently
with little supervision, the ability to work
with less social contact, dependability,
honesty, and self-organization.
• Certain jobs are better suited to telecommuting or flexible hours. Research indicates that these jobs most likely involve
writing, accounting functions, administrative duties, software and Web design,
sales, telemarketing, and some consulting.
• Management must be ready to support the
employee. For those managers who believe
“out of sight, out of mind,” this won’t
work.
• Certain industries, such as technology,
are more receptive to FWAs. On the
other hand, according to the SOM study,
nonprofits had a lesser percentage of
employees using FWAs, possibly due to
resource constraints.
The success factors in obtaining and making FWAs work include:
• Build your value in the organization first.
That means putting in the hours and
because she wanted more flexibility than
her company could offer. Now a freelance
graphic designer and illustrator based in
Cambridge, Mass., Ross says she is happy
with her choice.
“Most companies that I have worked
for aren’t really structured for flexible schedules, mostly because of strict
deadlines,” said Ross. Now she enjoys
spending mornings with her three-yearold daughter, and working at home in the
afternoons.
Making “Face Time”
It’s a scramble, though, for parents whose
work schedules are less accommodating.
Many women face this problem as they
look for flexible work arrangements, says
Blake-Beard, adding that companies must
building trust so
that the organization
recognizes your input and
does not want to lose you.
• Have a detailed proposal for your
employer. Know what you want and
negotiate well.
• Rather than focusing on what you
need, focus on how your organization
will benefit from the FWA.
• Very clear productivity metrics must be
established, monitored, and used to appraise the success of the arrangement.
Negotiate these metrics upfront, and then
have frequent check-ins.
Check out these online resources for more
information on women and work-life balance:
• www.momsrising.org
• www.executivemoms.com
• www.workoptions.com
• www.familiesandwork.org
• www.workfamily.com
shift to a work culture where results and
productivity — not “face time” — are
rewarded.
Adria Giordano ’92 is aware of how
vital face time can be. As a mother of two
young girls and a Mothers Against Drunk
Driving development officer for the Connecticut branch of the national organization, Giordano usually works from her
house and visits the office once a week.
“I check in,” she said. “I feel so much
more productive when I’m at home with
my girls, but it’s good for me to be able to
communicate with my coworkers.”
Giordano landed her current job after
nearly 12 years of working for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd in Washington, D.C., a
job she says eventually offered her a lot
of flexibility once she moved to work in
Dodd’s campaign fundraising office in
West Hartford, Conn.
As Giordano expressed, workers need
to understand that communication is
extremely important when using FWAs.
Oftentimes, companies and co-workers
harbor misperceptions about workers
who use flexible work arrangements,
which can lead to unspoken costs like the
infamous “mommy tax.” Coined by Ann
Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood, the term “mommy tax” refers to the
lifetime loss of income that women incur
as a result of having children.
However, data from the recent SOM
study shows that the use of flexible work
arrangements has no statistically significant impact on income. Women who have
used FWAs saw no difference in salary
fall 2007
23
Today, the modern workcompared to those who did not. Still,
said Shapiro, “we can’t ignore that there
are many studies that have identified
‘unspoken costs,’ such as decreased salaries, being seen as less committed, being
taken off the ‘fast track’ for promotions,
or having reduced influence inside the
organization.”
“Power to the Worker”
Despite these potential drawbacks, SOM
student Lisa Craig ’10SM is willing to take
the gamble. Craig is planning a return
to the workforce after a 13-year hiatus to
raise her two sons, and is adamant that
her future job will offer flexibility.
“I still want the flexibility that I have
now. I’m used to it,” she said. But Craig
hopes that with the increase of women
like her returning to the workforce after
raising children, employers will listen to
requests for flexible schedules.
“Demographics are going to force the
hand of companies. There’s going to be
a transfer of power to the worker,”
Craig said.
Those like Craig may be right to bank
on their value to the marketplace. The
U.S. Census Bureau reports that there will
be a four percent decline in the working
age population between 2000 and 2050,
and baby boomers are already beginning
to retire.
Though employees may enact a cultural shift in the workplace with FWAs,
employers also benefit from flexible work
Tell Us About Your
Experience
Do you have a personal story to tell
about flexible work arrangements
(FWAs)? Have you negotiated one or
managed working in one? Have you
managed employees who worked
flexibly? The Simmons School of
Management is currently conducting
a follow up research project exploring what makes FWAs work or not. If
you would like to share information
about FWAs, please email Simmons
Professor Mary Shapiro at
mary.shapiro@simmons.edu.
24 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
force is being shaped by
“mega-trends,” such as
the increase of working
mothers, single-parent
families, those taking care
of aging parents in addition to young children, and
fathers helping out more
at home.
arrangements. For example, Blake-Beard
cited that women were overwhelmingly
more loyal and willing to “go the extra
mile” for organizations offering FWAs.
“In a world of an impending labor shortages and constrained resources, capturing
those benefits through FWAs will be a
strategic advantage to organizations in
recruiting and retaining key talent,”
she said.
Ready for Real Change
More and more companies, like Johnson
& Johnson, which offers on-site childcare
and lactation rooms, will compete for
highly talented women who value their
families as well as their careers. According to the authors of the SOM study, real
change will occur only when companies
and organizations adopt wide-scale policies on FWAs, instead of offering them
on a case-by-case basis.
For women like Mancusi, Heaps,
Giordano, Ross, and Craig, their lives are
a delicate balance of professional and
personal time. And while this balance
can often seem crazy or unmanageable,
they are appreciative of their flexible work
arrangements. They know they are examples to other women who long to gain
fulfillment with families and careers, and
they are optimistic that more widespread
changes will come.
“We have come a long way,” said
Mancusi. “So that now there are many
ways to build a career without sacrificing
your family.” Q
more online
To read more on this topic, please
visit www.alumnet.simmons.edu
fenway
voices:
AMY PATTEE
TITLE:
Assistant Professor, GSLIS
AR E A O F S P E C I A L I Z A T I ON :
Young Adult Literature,
Children’s Literature
W HAT I L E A R N E D AT SI M M ON S:
“I have learned a lot from
my students, and I enjoy the
challenge of taking student
suggestions and creating better
classes each year.”
During the middle of Amy Pattee’s first interview for a library job in Westhampton, N.J. she
had an epiphany. For the first time in her life, she realized that all the accumulated knowledge she had about Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and Sweet Valley High was actually of professional value.
“I realized that for my entire life, I had been in training for this. All these years of reading and critical thinking were finally coming into play in a way that made sense and was
validated,” said Pattee.
An assistant professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Pattee
teaches children’s and young adult literature. In her three years at Simmons, Pattee says
she’s learned a lot about being part of an active faculty and managing curricular and administrative issues. She also is keenly aware of instilling in her students a sense of critical
thinking and analysis. But she sees her role as far more than academic.
“I consider my position as a professor, an advocate for youth, and a critical consumer of
materials for children and young adults, to be an inherently political one,” Pattee says of
her teaching philosophy. “I try to encourage my students to be aware of the power we enact
as teachers and librarians. It’s important for us to recognize that children’s literature is not
innocent literature; children’s texts are deliberate texts and deliberate objects of design.”
These are strong words, which underscore just how seriously Pattee is about her chosen
field. While some may dismiss the young adult genre as being “in between” children’s
literature and adult literature, Pattee strongly disagrees.
“Youth occupy symbolic space,” said Pattee, paraphrasing cultural and educational critic
Henry Giroux. “So we’re concerned about the lives and choices of young people. Youth
remind us to be attentive to a future that others will inherit.”
fall 2007
25
giving
Tribute Gifts Honor Simmons C
Honoring Friends with Special Gifts
“BFF” could very well be the motto
for classmates Trustee Anne Collins
Hodsdon ’75, ’77GS; Doreen Devine
Keller ’75; Margo Daphnis ’75; and Meg
Gaynor ’75. The acronym BFF — “Best
Friends Forever”— certainly is true for
these four, who have reunited for every
celebration there is, including birthdays, Easter, July 4th, and Christmas,
and exchanged gifts for more than
30 years.
But recently, these women realized
they wanted to make a larger gift, one
that would impact the alma mater
where they began their friendship, and
help future generations of students.
“We were four independent, hard
working, goal-oriented young women,”
“From the moment we all met, we clicked. We’ve
shared so many good times together and stood by
each other through the bad times. These women are
truly my best friends.”
— MARGO DAPHNIS ’75
said Keller. “We valued the opportunity
to be at Simmons and wanted to give
back to the place that had given us so
much.”
gifts to honor others
If you are interested in making a
tribute or memorial gift, please contact the development office at 800831-4284. You also may mail your
gift to Simmons College, Office
of Development, 300 The Fenway,
Boston, MA, 02115. Please include
your name, address, phone number
and/or email. Also include the
name of the person you would like
to honor with this gift, and whether
you would like your gift to be unrestricted or designated to a specific
fund. All gifts are tax-deductible to
the extent permitted by law.
26 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
So in 2006, the classmates created the “Smith Hall 4Ever Friends”
initiative. Since they give gifts to each
other all year around, they decided to
consolidate their tokens of friendship
into gifts to the The Simmons Fund in
honor of each other.
Whether it was hopping into Hodsdon’s powder-blue Volkswagen bug
for an ice cream run, studying in the
library, or climbing over the spiked iron
fence after curfew, the foursome shared
many fun-filled moments in college.
“Ice cream always brought us together back then,” said Hodsdon. “The
best was Cabot’s in Newton, and they
delivered any and every flavor. Who
wanted to eat the cafeteria food, when
you could have ice cream delivered to
your door?”
Shortly after their freshman year
began, the four young women became
acquainted (Hodsdon and Keller had
been friends since childhood) and
before they knew it, they were insepa-
Whether it’s rain or shine, Anne Collins
Hodsdon ’75, ’77GS; Meg Gaynor ’75; Doreen
Devine Keller ’75; and Margo Daphnis ’75
always have a good time together.
rable. Although life and geography
have changed since their days residing
in Smith Hall, the friendship has continued to flourish over the years.
“From the moment we all met, we
clicked,” said Daphnis, who works for
Partners Healthcare in Boston. “We’ve
shared so many good times together
and stood by each other through the
bad times. These women are truly my
best friends.”
Daphnis came up with the idea for
“Smith Hall 4Ever Friends” in 2005.
In an email to Hodsdon, Keller, and
Gaynor, she suggested that they forgo
the traditional birthday gifts that year
and make a gift to the College instead.
The friends happily embraced Daphnis’ idea and have been making yearly
gifts since.
“It made sense,” said Gaynor. “Simmons was the vehicle that introduced
us to each other. It also provided us
with a foundation for our careers and
future. What better way to honor our
friendship than by providing the same
opportunities we had to future generations of Simmons women?”
giving
s College in Unique Way
An Example for Others
Dan Saklad always knew that his
parents ardently supported education. After Dan’s mother, Ruth Leavitt
Saklad ’30, passed away in 1985 and
his father, Joseph Saklad, passed on in
2002, Dan and his wife, Sheila knew
exactly how to honor their memory. In
2006, the couple established the Ruth
Leavitt Saklad ’30 and Joseph Saklad
Scholarship at Simmons.
“My mother always spoke positively
about Simmons. This scholarship will
provide an opportunity to help someone in financial need advance in her
life,” said Dan.
Ruth Leavitt Saklad grew up in
Worcester, Mass. She attended Simmons from 1926 to 1930 and graduated with a degree in business. She
“My mother always spoke positively about Simmons.
This scholarship will provide an opportunity to help
someone in financial need advance in her life.”
— DAN SAKLAD
married Joseph Saklad in 1936 and
became a full-time homemaker while
Joseph practiced law. The couple raised
Dan and his sister, Barbara, in Belmont, Mass. Ruth served as president
of the former Women’s Scholarship
Association in Boston, and Dan said
both parents loved to travel, play golf,
and were devoted to their family.
“They were very interested in education — it’s the door opener to advancement and quality of life,” said Dan.
“My advice to scholarship recipients
would be to follow the example that
my parents set for us. Work hard, be
responsible, take accountability, enjoy
your studies and work, and remember
to have fun.”
A Legacy for a Mother
Kurt Allshouse has been in the homebuilding business for 22 years. But
now, he’s decided to build something
else — his mother’s legacy.
Kurt’s mother, Virginia Hosmer
Allshouse ’43, passed away in January
2006. Shortly after, Kurt’s sister was
reviewing their mother’s checkbook
and noticed several gifts to Simmons
College. Since their mother had supported Simmons through the years,
Kurt and his family decided to honor
her memory by creating a scholarship
in her name.
“My mother enjoyed her time at Simmons and used to talk about it often. I
remember her telling us how she and
the girls used to go to Fenway Park and
swoon over Ted Williams,” said Kurt.
“She was on the tennis team at Simmons and said that it was her very good
backhand that kept her on the team.”
Virginia Hosmer Allshouse attended
Simmons from 1939 to 1943 and
graduated with a degree in business.
She attended her 50th class reunion
in 1993. Kurt describes his mother as
“independent and a nonconformist.”
“There weren’t many women getting
business degrees in 1943,” said Kurt.
“She didn’t get married until 1949,
which was a big deal back then. She
didn’t get married just because other
people said so. She worked for six years
after college and got married when she
felt it was right for her.”
After marriage, Virginia stayed at
home to raise Kurt and his three siblings in Chelsea, Mich. She was very active with the Ann Arbor Public Library
and served on the library board.
“My mother always taught her children and grandchildren to do what you
enjoy, do your best, and be flexible, be-
cause life rarely turns out the way you
expect,” said Kurt. “I think she would
have given that same advice to the students attending Simmons today.”
Virginia Hosmer Allshouse ’43
fall 2007
27
giving
Alumna’s Gift Encourages Women in Politics
To mark her 40th Reunion, 1967 alumna Barbara Fish Lee ’01HD recently
gave $1.5 million to Simmons to endow
a political fellowship program. Lee’s
gift — the largest single gift ever made
during a Simmons Reunion — helped
raise the total 2007 Reunion contribution to more than $2 million.
“This remarkable gift fits perfectly
with the mission of Simmons,” said
President Susan C. Scrimshaw. “I am
President Susan C. Scrimshaw, Barbara Fish Lee ’67,
’01HD, and Leanne Doherty, political science professor
so excited to watch this program blossom and to encourage our young women to pursue their political dreams. As
we like to say, the world needs more
women from Simmons.”
The gift to the Barbara Lee Political
Intern Fellowship Program will provide
stipends for up to 20 undergraduate
students each year to serve as interns
for Massachusetts women legislators
and statewide elected officials. In turn,
these women will serve as mentors to
the students and encourage them to
envision themselves as future political
leaders and policymakers.
The gift also will fund a speaker series at Simmons on women in American politics, and travel for students to
attend women’s non-partisan political
training workshops.
“Working side-by-side with women
who are successful in government
and politics helps students become
deeply invested in the political process
and gain both the confidence and the
know-how to run for office,” said Lee,
principal of the Barbara Lee Family
Foundation.
The endowment expands upon the
Barbara Lee Political Intern Fellowship
Program, which began at Simmons
three years ago. Under the program,
students have been matched with
Massachusetts women legislators and
worked as interns on projects including
legislative research, budget analysis,
writing news releases, handling constituent duties, and attending hearings. A number of students who have
taken part in the program have since
graduated and have gone on to work in
government, politics, advocacy, and law.
“Our students value the integration
of the theoretical and the pragmatic,
which is so characteristic of a Simmons
education,” said College of Arts and
Sciences Dean Diane Raymond. “The
gift that Barbara Lee has given to the
College supports that integration in
new and creative ways.”
Reunion Gifts Total More Than $2 Million
Thanks to the generosity of alumnae, the total 2007
Reunion gift to Simmons this year was $2,360,255.
The Reunion Cup, which recognizes the class with
the most attendees, was given to the Class of 1957 —
the 50th Reunion Class. A total of 72 alumnae, along
with guests, attended the weekend event. Reunion
Giving Chair Judith Wolper Ennis ’57 said she enjoyed
the experience of helping to plan for the weekend and
reconnecting with so many classmates.
“Some were overwhelmed to hear from us; it was
the first time they’d heard from classmates in 50
years,” said Ennis. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Other awards included:
• The Class of 1957 received the Highest Participation Award for the highest overall giving
participation rate (70.6 %) for the year;
• The Class of 1932 received the Kay Heggie
Planned Giving Award for the greatest amount
of planned gifts this year;
• The Class of 1967 received the highest Simmons Fund Gift Award ($88,000) and the
highest overall Reunion Class Gift Award for
contributing $246,000 to the College.
Above, Victoria Walsh ’07LS, assistant director of reunion giving, presents The Reunion Cup to 1957 Class
President Sandra McLean Clunies; at
left, the 50th Reunion class poses for
a photograph.
more online
For more about Reunion 2007,
visit www.alumnet.simmons.edu
28 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
the greening of the main academic campus
School of Management/Academic Building & Quad Project
the greening of the main academic campus
• Nearly 2 acres of grass and plantings will create a peaceful, yet active, quad by 2010
• Numerous seating and gathering spaces will offer opportunities for relaxing or studying outdoors
• Five stories of parking will be underground
benefits of the som moving to the main academic campus
• Will promote collaboration among all schools and programs, uniting the campus
• Graduate and undergraduate students will have more opportunities to interact
• A mix of traditional and tiered “case” classrooms will enhance the
undergraduate and MBA learning experiences
a model of green building design
• Simmons is seeking U.S. Green Building Council LEED® Silver certification
• This is one of the most environmentally friendly construction projects and buildings
in Massachusetts
• The building will consume at least 30% less water and 20% less energy than likesized conventional structures
fall 2007
29
classnotes
Undergraduate Classnotes
CLASS NOTES/ALUMNAE/I NOTES POLICY
Alumnae/i are encouraged to send notes directly the Class Notes Editor
at classnotes@simmons.edu or alumnet@simmons.edu. We prefer
that alumnae/i send us notes directly and electronically to lessen the
chance for error. Notes also may be sent by mail to the Office of Marketing Communications, Room E108, Simmons College, Boston, MA 02115.
Undergraduate Class Notes will be printed in the back section of each
issue of the Simmons magazine; graduate Alumni Notes will be printed
in their respective graduate school sections (CAS, GSLIS, SHS, SSW).
Photos of alumnae/i are welcome and will be printed as space allows. Please be sure to include the names of all alumnae/i in the photo
along with class years. If you want the photo returned, please indicate
this on the back of the photo. Electronic photos must be at least 300
dpi to be printed in the magazine.
All Class Notes will be printed in full online at Alumnet (www.
alumnet.simmons.edu). Notes will be edited for space purposes to be
published in the magazine.
The magazine is published three times per year: fall, winter, and
spring. In order to be considered for the fall magazine, notes must be
received by March 15; for the winter magazine by July 15; and for the
spring magazine by Nov. 15.
Names and addresses of Class presidents and secretaries are available online at Alumnet (www.alumnet.simmons.edu) on your specific
Class pages. You also may get this information by calling the Office of
Alumnae/i Relations at 800-246-0573.
We no longer are printing the years of classes with no Class Notes.
If you do not see your year listed, it means we did not receive any
information from your Class, or that the information is printed elsewhere in the magazine.
Please keep notes brief and to the point so we can print as much
information as possible. Please limit notes to 35 words per person. The
Class Notes Editor reserves the right to edit notes for clarity or brevity.
If you have any questions, please contact Class Notes Editor at
classnotes@simmons.edu, or 617-521-2380.
1932
Debbie Bell Gavaletz wrote to
report the death of her mother,
Dorothy Hornig Bell, Jan. 3,
2007. “She was a great mother
and will be missed terribly by
her six children, their spouses,
15 grandchildren, and 8 greatgrandchildren. She was a loyal
supporter of Simmons and so
grateful for her education.”
30 simmons
1939
Katherine Sullivan, a.k.a. Sister
Mary Denisita RSM, enjoyed a
luncheon reception hosted by
the Rhode Island and Cape Cod
Simmons Clubs to meet the
new president and her husband.
She was interested to learn they
lived in the same president’s
house where our Class attended
a brunch at a long-ago Reunion.
| Margaret Blossom Coffin keeps
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
busy with family and friends.
She lives at Lasell Village, where
each resident is supposed to
be physically and mentally
busy at least 1.25 hours daily. |
Ruth Robbins Lafley still enjoys
hearing from friends. | Marjorie
Duggan Murphy is enjoying life
in Brooksby Village and is busy
with her large, active family.
She visited Clare MacPherson
Peters at her summer home in
New Hampshire. | D. Marjorie
Clark writes that even though
she’s afflicted with the usual
problems of aging, she is always
cheered up by hearing from old
classmates and reading about us
in Simmons magazine. | Priscilla
Lima Averill also looks forward
to Class Notes. She’s still hanging in there in Washington
state, enjoying life among her
“descendants.” | Katherine
Keelan Lopez sends greetings
from her home and reports she
is in good health. Of her eight
grandchildren, all live in San
Juan except one, who lives in
Atlanta. She also has three greatgrands. | Jane Thompson Tukey
is still playing tennis at Piper
Shores, even though she had a
couple of “bumps in the road”
this year. | Mildred Halfmann
Gilman writes that she is still
tutoring new immigrants and
participating in the “Literary
Council” that she founded 30
years ago. They now have 189
trained tutors. She also serves
on committees at her retirement
residence. | Our sympathy to
Jeanette Auringer Arnold, whose
husband died in July 2006. She
says she enjoys our Class news.
1942
Dorothy Siegfried Silhavy writes,
“Libby Welch ’43GS has received
a letter from Estella Kanevsky,
our 1942 Endowed Scholar-
Evelyn Gilmore Juthe ’34 attended the Simmons graduation of her granddaughter
Stacey Lynn Juthe ’07 in May.
Stacy received her master’s
degree in special education
with an emphasis in severe
special needs.
ship recipient for the year
2006–2007. Estella expresses
her gratitude for our assistance
toward her degree in a double
major of mathematics and economics and a minor in statistics.
She has achieved the Dean’s
List every semester and is now
applying to graduate school to
seek a career in biostatistics.
Her hope is to work in the
pharmaceutical industry and
later to study medicine in order
to understand disease prevention. All our best wishes to you,
Estella, in the pursuit of your
dreams! Please send me your
notes, Dorothy Silhavy 357 Grant
Hill Rd., Tolland, CT 06084;
(860) 875-6408.”
1943
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Barbara Prance Fluck writes,
“Please accept my apologies for
my column in the winter 2006
magazine. I mentioned expressions of sympathy I received
from several classmates who
are also widows. The editing
at Simmons made it seem that
those I named are the only
widows in our Class. That is not
the case. Never before has the
editing been a problem. Please
write to Barbara Prance Fluck
@ 19 South St., Plainville, MA
02762 or to barbpf@verizon.
net” | Mary Zecchini Bryant has
been a faithful correspondent
this year. She tells of living alone
in her home at Cape Porpoise,
ME, but within the caring
circle of her stepchildren. She
travels with the seniors on some
interesting local trips, still drives
locally, and walks to the grocery
classnotes
store for supplies. She sends
word that Mary Hatch Kimball is
living at Coveside Nursing Facility in Damariscotta, ME after a
debilitating fall. Mary Z.’s letters
are full of life and interest, and I
thank her for them. | Priscilla
Kay Smith, better known to us
all as P.K., remains in her own
home in Dummerston, VT. Her
letters show an active life of service to her various organizations
and devotion to her children
and grandchildren. Her current
interest is following the adventures of two granddaughters
who are traveling in England
and France, as of March 2007.
| One of us who does traveling in a big way is Kay Wingate. Her Christmas letter was
full of trips to warmer climes,
ocean sailing, and her winter
home in Florida. That girl never
runs out of steam. | Peg Coffey
Hamilton had plenty of ice this
winter living in Ottawa, Ont.,
Canada. Her daughter, Terry
Carter, won a contest for the best
haiku about cherry blossoms,
emeri-ties
Carroll
French
Miles,
1915–2007
updates on emeriti faculty and staff
During the glorious Inauguration March 31 of Simmons’s
new President Susan Scrimshaw, many emeriti/retirees
marched in the academic procession including Peter Bowers
(Chemistry), who led the way as
the delegate from Cambridge
University, which was founded
in 1209. That’s a mere 427 years
before Harvard, which was
represented by Richard Lyman
(History). Carol Leary (Vice
President) represented Bay Path
College, where she serves as
president, and Karen Talentino
(Biology) was the delegate from
Stonehill College, where she is
dean of faculty. Helen Reinherz
’46SW (Social Work), Laurie
Taylor Crumpacker, ’63, who is
back on the Simmons faculty as
chair of the history department,
Kay Dunn (Education), Carol
Frasier Love, ’60 (Nursing) and
Betty Rawlins ’67GS, ’03HD and
Sandra Williams ’95GS (Biology)
also processed.
Other emeriti who attended
the ceremony included Susan
Bloom ’60, ’81GS (Children’s
Literature), Marie Bueche ’61
(Nursing), Anne Coghlan, ’48,
’98HD (Biology, Dean of
Sciences), Diane Coulopoulos
(Psychology), Ici Hartman
(Chemistry), Henry Halko
(History), Reggie Jackson
(Communications), Susan
Keane (French), Lawrence
Langer ’96HD (English),
Charles Mackey (French, Dean
of Humanities), Alden Poole
(Communications), Dr. Marjorie
Readdy ’82HD, (Health Center),
and John Robinson (Education,
Dean of Professional Studies
and Graduate Studies).
In other emeriti news, Sophie
Freud ’48SW, ’96HD (Social
Work) reports that her latest
book, Living in the Shadow of
the Freud Family, was published
by Greenwood/Praeger Press
in April 2007. Alicia Faxon
’98HD (Art) chaired a session
entitled “Creating Culture in
19th Century Boston: Blue Prints
in Arts and Letters” last winter
for the College Art Association conference in New York.
Elizabeth Rawlins ’67GS, ’03HD
(Education, Associate Dean)
was looking forward to receiving
an honorary degree from her
undergraduate alma mater, Salem State College, at their May
Commencement.
Emeriti and long-term retirees, please send news items to
Peggy Loeb, ’62, at peggyloeb@
verizon.net.
in Japan. Peg sent a charming
picture of her family at her table
on Christmas and one of herself
which clearly shows that at least
one girl of the Class of 1943 ages
beautifully. | Reunion is only a
bit over a year away as this is
being written — much closer
when you receive the printed
version of these notes.
a remembrance by a friend,
HENRY J. HALKO, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, EMERITUS
Carroll French Miles, professor of government, emeritus, died in
February at the age of 91. Stan, as he was known, came to Simmons
in 1960 from Harvard, where, after completing his doctoral studies,
he was dean of foreign students and senior tutor of Dunster House.
At Simmons, Stan was director of the School of Social Sciences,
comprised of the sociology, government, economics, and history
faculties. In the mid-’60s when the College reorganized along departmental lines, he cheerfully accepted the reduced role of chairman of
the department of government (now political science), a position he
held until his retirement in 1984.
Dress and decorum were important to Stan. Always well turned
out, Stan was known to berate younger colleagues who, as times
and values changed, lectured in shirts open at the neck, having
abandoned the hitherto proper jacket and tie. And as for the student
overheard using less than delicate language, a scolding was quick to
follow.
But there was more than the curmudgeon to Stan. A gifted administrator and splendid lecturer, he was devoted to Simmons, his
work, his students, and his colleagues. Perhaps his most outstanding
attribute, however, was his astonishing capacity for making friends,
friends who crossed generational lines and whom he was quick to
share with others. The value he placed in them is reflected in his
favorite lines from William Butler Yeats, lines he quoted frequently:
“Think where man’s glory most begins and ends. And say my glory
was, I had such friends.”
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
31
classnotes
1944
Roslyn Blake Bell, who lives in
Silver Springs, MD, is a retired
judge. | Dot Christie Leitch and
her husband have moved to a retirement center in Laconia, NH,
close to their former home. |
Joanne Williams Tripp has been
enjoying tour groups, visiting
Maine, Chateau Frontenac in
Quebec, and two weeks in Maui,
HI. | Carol Blanchard Owens,
who lives in Seattle, has been
editing for a forestry magazine
for 39 years. She has a daughter
living in New Zealand, another
is a translator at the University
of Washington, and her son is a
meteorologist. She has a grandson at Georgetown and another
at Stanford. | Jean Marie Jensen
Crocker writes that she and her
husband are still living in their
2-story home. She writes some
poetry and had a poem in Off
the Coast, a magazine published
in Maine. She has completed a
memoir of her father’s Danish
family. She had a reunion with
Dot Leitch and John last fall in
Laconia, NH. | Jeanne Henery
Talbot is still living in Rockport,
MA and doing her painting. |
Joan Keating Lowney writes, “I
stay busy with our church choir
and also the LLI, the Institute
for Learning in Retirement, connected to BC — and, of course,
bridge. Be sure to write me your
news at 1202 Greendale Ave
#119, Needham, MA 02492.”
| Peggy Adelson Saslow is our
Class president, and can be
reached at 278 Ridge St., New
Milford, NJ 07646. | The Sarah
Elizabeth Field ’44 Endowed
Fund, supports activities that
engage Simmons students in
literacy and reading activities
with children. The Field Fund
embodies core values of the
College, including community
service and solid preparation
for meaningful careers through
direct work experience. Classmates and friends are invited to
learn more about Sarah’s fund
from classmate Joanne Belk
at jbelk1@aol.com or Monica
Collins, director of planned
giving at Simmons College, 617521-2341, or monica.collins@
simmons.edu. | Macy Sheehan
Williams’s husband died last
August. She is staying put in
Naples, FL; she likes it there!
| Janet Lawton Autenrieth lost
her husband last spring. | Alice
Bentley Britnell ’57HS passed
away this year. She shifted
careers from her master’s in
nutrition from Simmons to a
master’s in library science from
BU. She was librarian in the
Holliston Middle School until
she retired in 1981 to East Orleans on Cape Cod. | Ruth Hall
Harley from Sandwich, MA,
recently lost her husband.
1945
Lucille Lundy Lagerloef writes,
“Several classmates have
inquired as to the possibility of
a mini-reunion class luncheon
in March or April of 2008. It
sounds like a great idea to me,
and I will be happy to make the
necessary arrangements. Please
share your thoughts on the
subject. (This will by no means
indicate a positive commitment
on your part.) Please contact me
by snail mail: 2 Hendrie Drive,
Old Greenwich, CT 06870; by
email: llagerlo23@aol.com; by
phone: 203-637-9813.”
1946
Priscilla DePetris spent Christmas in San Francisco with her
daughter and took a side trip to
San Diego to visit Harriet Leighton Mitchell and her husband.
| Dorothy McMahan has a new
address, 1256 Castine Rd, Penobscot, ME 04476. | Marjorie
Lindsey missed Reunion due to
a grandson’s graduation. She
and Wes drove to Maine, stopping to visit “Cricket” Connie
Hudson and Betty Putnam. |
Joyce Chandler MacDiarmid
writes, “I’m still working at the
Gardiner, ME public library and
walking a mile a day.” | Dorrie
Coffin Prouty writes that she is
living in a retirement community in Chapel Hill, NC. | Martha
Brooks Stearns writes, “enjoying
assisted living in Duxbury, MA.”
1947
Helen Shribman Curran writes,
“I really am too busy to travel
back to Boston, lovely as that
would be. I am now president
of a health club here in Leisure
World, wrote a book about my
experience surviving cancer,
arrange tours of Mexican clinics,
and do publicity for four alternative medicine physicians. I also
counsel cancer patients on the
32 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
1948 alumna and SSW
Emerita Professor Sophie
Freud writes about her
famous family. Read more on
page 13.
phone and in my home. I had
a call from Lebanon this year!
I wish everyone happiness and
good health.” | Rita O’Loughlin
Bourque writes, “Since our 55th
Reunion, I have had a broken
hip and arm, and am now learning to adapt to a gluten-free diet;
however, am still planning to
go on a cruise with my daughters and sons-in-law. I have 23
grandchildren. My children live
nearby and help me in many
ways since my husband passed
away six years ago.” | Priscilla
Wheelock Duncan writes, “Have
been enjoying my granddaughter, Nora, who is a multi-talented
dancer, specializing in ballet,
jazz, and hip-hop. Nora is the
daughter of my son who died
eight years ago. My husband
passed away Aug. 31, 2006. I attended my high school reunion
and enjoyed reconnecting with
my high school classmates.”
| Barbara Potts Smith writes,
“Saddened by the death of
my husband, Tom, who was a
member of the first graduating
class of the Maine Maritime
Academy. We had been married
for almost 60 years. Tom’s ashes
and our daughter Karan’s (who
died in a car accident in 1985)
were laid together.” Barbara
says she is fortunate to have her
daughter Janet close by, and she
and Audrey Hickey Livingston
keep in close contact.
classnotes
1948
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Please remember that Nancy
Jane Blanchard Carmel is
our Class president and can
be reached at njcarmel@aol.
com, and Jane Gates Washburn
Parker is Class secretary and can
be reached at 1210 Evergreen
Ave., Plainfield, NJ 07060, or
parkerjg@comcast.net. | Ruth
Harrington Powell visited her
late husband’s ancestral home
in Belgium traveling with his
three nieces and their families. They traveled to Brussels,
Ghent, Bruges, Bassevelde, St.
Laureins, Aalter, and several
other locations. Ruth was official
translator, and “gained a lot of
knowledge of history and family
relations, ate well, and drank
some very good beer!” This year
she also celebrated her 80th
birthday and traveled with sister,
Frances Harrington Marshall
’45, to visit family in Ohio. |
Margery Garland Nickerson,
Lois Fogg Jackson, and Mildred
Stevens now live in Piper Shores
retirement community near
Portland, ME. They are planning a 2007 mini, mini-reunion
for the fall. Marge wrote that
her spring swimming program
helped her recuperate from her
Dec. 2005 hip surgery. Her children threw her an 80th birthday
party in June ’06 at son “Albert’s
studio/flower shop in a Biddeford mill with a spectacular
view of the Saco River thundering over the falls, and catered it
with ‘family recipes’ making it a
gathering of family and friends.”
| I, Jane Gates Washburn Parker,
attended granddaughter Arielle
Knudsen’s Middlebury College graduation in May. | Jean
Vanicek Babcock sent us June
Grant Taylor’s new address:
Brighton Gardens, 391 Common St., Needham, MA 02026.
Van and Violet Drury planned
to visit June. | Katharine Morris
Fisher writes, “Last grandchild
is a sophomore in college. Still
in a retirement community
(Quadrangle) near Haverford
College, where I work in their
arboretum, joy! Bob, 93, with
Alzheimer’s, but still a goodnatured, nice person. I’m fine.”
| By the time you read this, Simmons will have inaugurated its
president, Dr. Susan Scrimshaw.
She spoke at the fall Leadership Weekend, and I was most
impressed. Send me your email
address and/or mail me news.
Our classmates tell me they
read Class of 1948 news first. |
Condolences go to the families
of two of our classmates. Jean
Kohler Davis died in Nov. 2006,
and Isobel Daniels Comerford
in Feb. 2007. Virginia Nowell
Klein, who served with Jean as
assistant treasurer, has agreed to
become our treasurer.
1949
Patricia Lindsay White writes,
“My husband taught geology at
the Ohio State University for
34 years — many summers at
University of Colorado as well
as summers at OSU’s field
camp in Ephraim, Utah — been
married 61 years — happy and
fascinating travels abroad.” |
Polly Donovan Kidney passed
away unexpectedly March 18.
1951
Virginia Willon Clark writes,
“Please send your news! Virginia Willon Clark, 4519 Baybrook
Dr., Pensacola, FL 32514, email:
ginlee@cox.net; Joan Sing, 280
Newtonville Ave., Apt.417, Newton, MA 02460. Sorry, I have
nothing to report this month.
Joan Newman Sing mentioned
that there was a lot of news from
last year’s Reunion, but so far
no one has emailed me or written. I am beginning to feel like
the Maytag repairman. My next
deadline for news is November
15, so there is plenty of time to
forward items to me. Looking
forward to hearing from you.”
1952
President: Mary Harrington
Wentworth, 167 West Street,
Granby, MA 01033; email:
Mary_Wentworth@comcast.net;
Secretary: Ann David Young,
126 Berwick Place, Norwood,
MA 02062 or drocey@comcast.
net | Dorothea Hesse Doar was
in San Diego visiting her grandson Adam and took a side trip
to Galeta, CA to visit classmate
Milly Thompson Colahan and
her husband, Bud. Dottie toured
the Colahan’s vineyard and enjoyed swapping grandparent stories. In Sept., Dottie and roommate Jane Echlin Kammerer
visited Block Island and soaked
up the island breezes. | Bessie
Zotos Tsokanis is happily settled
in at Baypoint in Brockton, MA,
and was happy to see all of us at
Reunion. She sends thanks for
the cards and notes she received
from classmates. | Claire Meyer
Kretschmer and Ray had a fabulous cruise from Singapore back
to NYC aboard the QE2 and the
QM2. Last month she had lunch
in Florida with Helen March
Bond, Carolyn Hax Hoffmann
and Jane Kammerer. Claire and
Ray also see Jane Wood Harrington and Bob several times
a year. | Milly Colahan traveled
to visit granddaughter Bailey at
Purdue University. She writes
that it was fun to get back to the
Midwest again to see a Big Ten
football game and meet Bailey’s
friends and fellow crew classmates. | Joanne Patterson Porter
spent a long time recovering
from rotator cuff surgery, but is
doing well with lots of physical
therapy. She and husband Bob
traveled to Mexico in early December. | Barbara Smith Glover
spent a few days in Florida with
nursing school classmate Carol
Rogers Jaffe and her husband,
Don. They met Lillian Anderson Rowe for lunch one day, as
Lillian lives nearby. | Our Class
continues to make College gifts
at a record-breaking percentage
of participants per class. It’s
not too late to remember that
our Class gift this year is to be
directed toward establishing
scholarships to future Simmons
students.
1953
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Dorothy Halloran Fowerbaugh,
Class secretary, 260-432-3656;
pauldotty1@netzero.net; Eleanor
Doane Quirk, Class president.
| For Mary Miller Cross and
Alan, 2006 included cruises
and trips to Boston for visits
with Mary’s mother (age 102)
and their daughter Mary and her
family, and a July family reunion
with their four living children,
spouses, and 10 grandchildren
in Cashiers, NC. | Audrey Bryant Barnes of Rockport, ME,
is active in clubs and enjoys
traveling. Two granddaughters
will graduate from college this
year. | Peggy Downey Brawley
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
33
classnotes
has been writing fiction and
non-fiction and had a watercolor
painting in a juried art show in
Falmouth, MA. She has a condo
townhouse in Mashpee and is
active in the Cape Cod Simmons
Club. Peggy enjoys her grandchildren, who live in Duxbury.
| Ethel Elbein Milas is keeping
busy with her seven grandsons
and volunteering. She tutors a
first grader and a kindergarten
student for the Jewish Coalition
for Literacy. Ethel also is taking
classes at Merrimack College.
| Helen Parks Neff teaches
quilting. She and husband
John recently led a group trip
down the Danube to the Black
Sea. John’s book, Katahdin: An
Historic Journey about a Maine
mountain, has been published.
Their first great-grandchild
was born in June 2006. | Alice
Hochheimer Epstein, who
passed away June 3, 2006, had
been an adjunct professor in the
School of Education at the University of Delaware. We extend
condolences to her husband,
Bennett, and three sons and
their families, including three
granddaughters. A Class gift in
Alice’s honor will be made to
the Simmons Fund. | We offer
our condolences to Mary Lou
Kenney Logan and family on
the loss of her husband, Tom,
who passed away Feb. 26, 2006.
Four small grandsons help keep
Mary Lou’s spirits up. Her summer schedule included a week
in Boulder, CO, and a week in
Rockport, MA.
1954
Gertrude Rose Soderstrom
sends her “best to all you ’54ers
out there!” Trudie and her husband have just moved across the
street from their old Cape Cod
house, as they downsized to a
smaller home. She and Ray cel34 simmons
ebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to Paris this
past year. | Lorraine Fraser and
Mary Cavallaro ’56GS are the
wonderful co-chairs for our 55th
Reunion in June 2009. Any suggestions YOU may have about
events for Reunion would be
most welcome to both Lorraine
and Mary. | Marilyn Sarkisian
Woloohojian attended the Gold
Coast Simmons Club luncheon
in Palm Beach, FL, recently to
hear and meet new president,
Dr. Susan Scrimshaw. Marilyn
also met Myra Sparks Rosenberg at the luncheon. Myra lives
in FL for part of the year.
1955
Marj Ahara Kraske and her
husband, David, celebrated their
50th wedding anniversary June
16, 2006. Seventeen members
of their family gathered to
celebrate at Lake of the Woods,
Kenora, Ontario. In early
October, Marj and Dave took a
motor trip from their home in
ME to Ornate, WA, to visit their
son and his family. | Barbara
Thorpe Runneals is still working
8 to 5 as a “hostess” (basically
Customer Service) at a multispecialty medical clinic. She
says “it’s my HOBBY and I love
it.” | Suzanne Mills Dennis and
her husband, Larry, have moved
to an Active Adult Community
close to their former NJ home
and have a condo in Sarasota,
FL, where they expect to spend
their winters. | Evelyn Dreyfoos
Spelman went on a trip to the
Amazon with Linda Sprague
McElroy in Oct. 2006. We will
hear more about that in future
news notes. Evelyn sends greetings to all. | Greetings from Lilias “Lilla” Ford Cingolani. After
teaching science and chemistry
and enjoying her children, she
returned to Simmons for a
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
degree in library science and
became a school librarian. She
is now retired and is a coordinator for The New Art Forum in
Kingston, MA and ballroom
dancing four times a week. |
In Aug. 2006 Judy Lamprey
McLain and her husband, Cliff,
flew to San Francisco to visit old
friends then drove to Portland,
OR, and joined up with three
other couples. They eventually
made it to Yellowknife, Canada,
where they have some very
impressive waterfalls, and back
to Portland to celebrate Cliff’s
brother’s 50th wedding anniversary. Cliff had driven 6,000
miles by the time they made it
back to San Francisco. | Marilyn
Paul Chapman is still running her small gift shop, Mrs.
Chapman’s Gift Shop, in Fairlee,
VT. The shop is open seven
days a week, so stop by and
introduce yourselves. She’s not
able to be at the mini-reunion,
but she will be there in spirit. |
Mary Starbuck Hastings and her
husband, Phil, spent almost a
month at their farm, a few days
on the Cape, took some trips
to VT and NH, and they plan
to be back home in Oct. 2007.
Their family is great, very busy.
Their granddaughter graduated
from Purdue Engineering and
is now working on bridges for a
company in OR. Mary sends her
best to all. | Babs Weaver McCorsin will be cruising to Princess
Louisa and Desolation Sound all
of September. | In Sept. 2006,
Priscilla Trayers Tennant and
Edith Syrjala Eash and their
husbands were in Hawaii for
the American Dietetic Association’s annual meeting to celebrate their 50th anniversary year
as members. After a week in
Honolulu, they all went to Maui.
Edith said it is a glorious island.
At the end of March, Edith was
scheduled for a knee replacement, joining the ranks of all
who have had that experience. |
Mina Angelus Marken couldn’t
attend the mini-reunion in Sept.
because she and her husband
were celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary that weekend.
| Priscilla Balyea Trussell and
her husband, Phil, celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary
in Sept. 2006, but decided to
wait until Thanksgiving and
celebrate with their kids and
grandkids in Bermuda. | Gloria
Sloat Stolman is still adjusting
to the tropical climate in Palm
Beach Gardens, FL. She and her
husband recently visited their
daughter and family in Chicago.
She was packing for a two-week
holiday in Sicily at the writing of
this column. She received a lovely note from Alice Tate Cushing,
thanking her for introducing her
to Chuck; they just celebrated
their 50th. How time flies! | Jean
Bedford Cameron has decided to
remain year-round on the Olympic Peninsula in Sequim, where
she has begun a new business:
“By Arrangement,” redesign in a
day. Jean says it’s something she
has always wanted to do, and as
it is said, “it’s never too late!”
| In December 2006, several
members of our Class were at
the Middlesex Simmons Club
holiday gathering in Framingham, MA including Barbara
Meaney Keough, Jean Marie
Lehan Levergood, Pat Chisholm
Wallace, and Kay Rogan Paltsios.
Kay started in our Class, left at
the end of her freshman year
to marry, then went back and
graduated in the Class of 1965.
Jean Marie brought part of her
antique doll house furniture collection and gave a very fine talk.
Ellie Dosick sent her regrets;
she was scheduled to work at
the library that afternoon. | On
Feb. 6, the winter meeting of
the Gold Coast Simmons Club
was held with a luncheon at
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL.
classnotes
There was an extra large group
of alums there to meet our
new president, Susan Scrimshaw. The class of 1955 had the
most classmates present. In
attendance were Sandra Ferreira Smith, Elizabeth “Betsy”
Hoffmann, Frosos Metalides
Delianides, Jackie Pell Tuttle,
Helene Rosen Schwalberg,
Gloria Sloat Stolman, and Jackie
Wray Buck. A delicious lunch
and lots of visiting and networking were the order of the day.
We hope other classmates are attending their regional Simmons
Club meetings, so they are able
to meet Susan Scrimshaw.
1956
Dot Bruce Willis writes, “Recently a newsletter was sent to
the Class of ’56. As the Class
secretary, my name and email
address were included in the
letter, but my email was incorrect; it is dandfwillis@verizon.
net. I have had several notes
from classmates hoping they
could email me news. Although
a year has passed since our 50th,
the excitement still lingers in
the notes and emails I have received.” | Sheila Goldner Sydney
and husband Stanley celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary with all their children and
grandchildren during Thanksgiving week. | Carolyn Zaltman
Mangel had a “mini” reunion in
Maryland with her old roommate Joan (Rip) Rippner Mechalovitz who came from California. They enjoy getting together
every year or two. Carolyn and
husband Joel are now living in
their new condo in Maryland,
6 or 7 months in Florida, and a
summer month in Seattle with
their daughter and family. | Lynn
Deitch Wolk, after living 40
years in Connecticut, has moved
to University Park, FL, where
she belongs to the Simmons
Club of Southwest FL. Lynn and
her husband, Arnold, celebrated
their 50th anniversary with
a trip to Hawaii, Australia,
and New Zealand. | C. Helen
Crestin Farber writes that she is
enjoying a busy life: traveling,
reading, volunteering, and playing bridge. She recently traveled
to Australia and New Zealand.
| Ann Hinckley Romish, who
lives in Seattle, had dinner with
Grace Medici Hess in Delaware,
where she was visiting with her
daughter and first grandchild.
She then went on to Boston and
visited with Katie Gomatos Zedros, who continues to run the
incredible Brattle Square Florist.
Katie sent Ann home to Seattle
with a bouquet of red roses. |
Grace Medici Hess writes that
her travel has been close to
home this year. She and her
husband, Sid, spent the summer
at their home in Ocean City,
NJ, with their 3 children and
spouses and 5 “grands.” | Beth
Weeks MacNally after 30 years
in her home in Burr Ridge, IL,
has moved two miles away to
“The Woods.” She especially
enjoys “the organized trips that
take advantage of cultural events
in Chicago and the environs.”
| Corrine Hord Yetman has
had a year of travel — Hawaii,
Russia, and a cruise from Dubai
to Singapore. She even found
time to attend Reunion. | Joyce
Davidson Franklin, our Class
president, underwent major
spinal surgery in Feb. We wish
her well. | After many years
of declining health, Shirley
Richardson Creedon passed
away March 22 after a massive
stroke. We extend our sympathy to her husband, John, her 3
sons, and 2 grandchildren. | It is
with sadness we have learned of
Shirley Merrill Warren’s death
Dec. 10, 2006. Shirley was very
dedicated to the Class of ’56 and
to Simmons. She leaves three
stepchildren and six step-grandchildren. | Please send all news
for the Simmons magazine to
your Class secretary — Dorothy Willis, 24 Bradford Lane,
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920, or
dandfwillis@verizon.net.
1957
Ruth Angel Finn writes that
everyone had fun visiting with
classmates in June. “What a
wonderful Reunion — many
friends returned. What great
parties we had on campus and
at the Hotel Commonwealth.”
| Dawn Anderson Lewis lives
in Charlottesville, VA, with her
husband. They have two sons
and five grandchildren. They
own and operate a service association for employment of teachers from international schools.
| Helen Addison Blakelock and
husband are enjoying their
weekend home in Nobleboro,
ME. They live in Belmont, MA,
and love to travel. | Mary Dreier
Holleman still lives in Denver,
CO. She enjoys her grandchildren, and spends time golfing,
and playing bridge, tennis, and
Mah Jongg. | Phyllis Isenman
Buchsbaum enjoys keeping in
touch with her friends Judith
Wolper Ennis, Sheila Orlinsky
Nadler, Marion Brody Soled, and
Ilene Edelstein Beckerman in
NJ, and Sandy Frank Goldberg
and Sheilah Cohen Harrow
in FL, where she winters. She
was looking forward to the
50th. | Paula Lewis Spound
has three sons and six grandchildren, and travels as much
as possible with her husband.
| Evelyn Dowd Hand lives in
Pittsfield, MA with her husband.
They have two children and
two granddaughters. Evelyn is
now retired and enjoys traveling. She visited New Mexico
in March. | Margaret Dunn
Russell lives in East Winthrop,
ME, with her husband. They
have 3 daughters, one son, and
5 granddaughters. Recently,
they traveled to Ireland. | Susie
Olson Reicher retired from The
Writing Room and now sells a
great line of clothes — Elana by
Tanner Company. She has four
seasonal trunk shows each year
at her home. | Class secretary
Claire Austin Anderson wants
to remind everyone of Class officers: Sandra MacLean Clunies
is president, Ruth Finn is vice
president, Claire Anderson is
secretary, and Patricia Hetherington O’Hara is treasurer. Sandra, Claire, Ruth, and Pat had a
great time at the 50th Reunion.
1958
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Nine classmates gathered at
Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach to
welcome our new president, Dr.
Susan Scrimshaw. Everyone was
exceedingly pleased with the
choice of our Trustees. Those
attending were Deanna Rothschild Alper, Stefanie Erenstoft
Bornstein, Dianne Kofman
Chirls, Phyllis Fishman Decker,
Joyce Golan Derrow, Sandy
Rosenfeld Dickerman, Maxine
Ascher Goldberg, Beverly Halpern Goldberg, and Catherine
Ferreira Parenteau. | Patricia
Greene Lessow and husband
Herb have enjoyed March vaca-
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
35
classnotes
tions in the California desert for
the past 20+ years. She continues to swim laps, and both work
out almost daily at the local
gym. She continues to assist the
chairman emeritus at Pfizer. Pat
missed seeing Maxine Goldberg,
Sandy Dickerman and other
Florida snowbirds in Dec., but
hopes to make it up in 2007. |
Gerda Kilian Freedheim and her
husband, Don, spend a lot of
time at their townhouse in Old
Town Alexandria, VA, while visiting 5 of their 6 grandchildren.
They are world travelers, having
been to over 100 countries and
all 7 continents. Favorite spots
include Tuscany and London,
where they stay and “live at the
theater.” In Dec., they traveled
to Prague to visit family, and
then to Vienna. Gerda keeps in
touch with Joan Handilman Lee
and Sheila Weinstein Hutman.
| News from our president,
Florence Pressman — still busy
working and traveling. She and
Pat Keegan Harden are “theater
buddies,” and they often team
up with Michelle “Cookie” Lally
for a night out. Florence is working hard with Sandy Dickerman, planning for a spectacular
50th Class Reunion in 2008.
Stay tuned for more details and
make sure you have the date
on your calendar — May 30th
to June 1, 2008! | Share your
news with our classmates in
the next issue of the Simmons
magazine — send your news to
the address above or by e-mail to
c.zannetos@comcast.net before
November 15, 2007.
36 simmons
1959
Joan Halpert writes, “I spent
a great weekend in NY with
Barbara Peretz Shulman in Feb.
I also see Susan Slater Barnet
often. Now that I’m retired
from full-time work, I’ve been
completing my education with
courses at Brown, downsizing
my collections of things, and
recently moved back to Providence. | Carol Korb Sachs writes,
“My daughter Lisa Sachs ’89,
was married Aug. 5, 2006 to
Andrew Goodman. They were
married at the Hyatt Harborside
Hotel in Boston and, are living
in Natick, MA.”
1961
Claire B. Rubin recently hosted
a student from Simmons as
part of a program that pairs
undergrads with alumnae to
obtain some insider career
information. Leanna Farnum, a
senior majoring in biology with
a career interest in forensics
and homeland security, was
in Washington, D.C. to attend
a conference on Homeland
Defense/Homeland Security.
“Since it was her first time in
Washington, DC, we did a quick
tour of major monuments and
landmarks.” | Marion Geber
Berman writes, “Although I still
work (very) part time for Jones
Apparel, I took off the month of
January and spent it traveling
in the Mekong Delta; namely,
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and
Vietnam. The trip was wonderful, and each day proved more
spectacular than the last. My
two daughters are happily married and each has two children
— nothing like grandchildren!”
| Congratulations to Betty Crock
Shapiro, who became the grandmother of triplets (Isabel, Max,
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
and Sam) born August 2006
to son David. | Claire Caram
Dembowski writes, “In my 30th
year as a full-time, award-winning realtor in the Marblehead/
Swampscott (MA) area. I’m
married to Henry Dembowski,
lifelong educator and now
educational consultant, mother
of 2 sons, and have 2 granddaughters. I remain active in my
community, supporting charities
and schools, and am currently
on the Swampscott Council
on Aging.
1962
President: Gloria Scott Conway,
7 Belmont St., Charlestown,
MA 02129; Secretary: Myrna
Abbott Kasser, 214 Thirteenth
St., Hoboken, NJ 07030; email:
myrnak214@yahoo.com | We
have our own website now
— www.ClassOf62.org — with
pictures from the 2002 Reunion
and a mini-reunion held in
Maine in 2006. And we have
a listserv: send an email to AllGrads@list.ClassOf62.org and
reach everybody — or everybody
with a known email address....
If you’d like to be added to the
listserv, please email Myrna. |
Myrna Kasser writes, “I was in
Pocatello, ID for an Elderhostel
program on forensics. The local
police participated, and we also
had a lawyer/ psychologist and
an archeologist talk to us. We
visited the women’s prison, a
cadaver lab, and investigated a
Alumnae talk about the
importance of Reunion. Read
more on page 16.
mock crime scene. We also did
sightseeing at a fort related to
the Oregon Trail and visited the
local zoo.” | Elaine Moran Dixon
writes, “After teaching English
at Wellesley High School for
26 years, I retired to Chatham
on Cape Cod. For the past few
years, I have enjoyed selling
second homes and retirement
homes on the lower lake. My
three daughters enjoy the
Cape with our grandchildren.
Come visit us any time: 508845-3260.” | Myrna Herscot
Freedman (myrnahf@aol.com)
and her husband, Gene, are still
living in Weston. She said “It
hardly seems possible that so
much time has elapsed since
our college days. I am busy with
5 grandchildren, travel, golf, and
exercise. May it all continue!” |
Bette Gordon Epstein has done
some exciting traveling: first to
the Dominican Republic Christmas week with the entire family
— 11 of them — then in Feb.
to Australia and New Zealand
for three weeks. Her husband,
Joe, is semi-retired — sold his
pharmacy, but has since been
working for CVS in Riverside,
CT. | Carol Nobel Hirsh says her
favorite activity is “fleeing to
Cambridge, MA, where our two
children and twin grandsons live
within a mile of each other. For
us, there’s nothing to compare
with the joys of grandparenting.
Life is good, and we are grateful
for our many blessings.” Her
husband, Mike, teaches firstyear medical students clinical
classnotes
pediatrics each fall. “This leaves
us winter, spring and summer
to play!” | Joan Moskovitz Druckman said it for all of us: “Hard
to believe we’re this old!” She
welcomed her 7th grandchild,
Juliette, on Oct. 3, and her oldest
grandchild Nate became a Bar
Mitzvah Oct. 28. Joan is still
tutoring: “I always say I’ll cut
down my number of students,
but I’m such a softie when I
hear a desperate parent on the
phone.” | Kathleen Rizzo Benjamin writes that, “In November
2008, the American Contract
Bridge League is going to host
the North American Bridge
Championships at Copley Place
for 10 days. I am going to cochair the event. Several thousand bridge players from around
the world will be in attendance.”
1963
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Barbara Paresky Budnitz is
Class secretary. “Once again, it’s
time to catch up on news. Please
keep in touch; phone is 510-5279775 and address is 734 The
Alameda, Berkeley, CA 94707,
so keep sending news before the
next deadline, November 15. All
is well here in sunny California.
Our three children are great,
happy, still single. One lives in
Berkeley, two in New York. My
husband, Bob, has no plans to
retire. I’m retired, but thinking
I should go back to work to get
some rest. I went to a reception for Simmons’s President
Scrimshaw, who had wonderful
things to say about our school,
is a super choice for leading the
College. Best wishes to all.” |
Marcia Chase Karp writes, “I
I just signed a 10-year contract
to open the Sotheby’s International Realty Office in Newton,
Karp, Liberman, & Kern
Sotheby’s International Realty.
My grandchildren are very cute,
but live far away. Our 5 year-old
grandson, Jason, has autism. My
daughter Josie is living in
Colorado Springs, is retired
from CNN, and is a mom of 2
children.” Marcia traveled to
Budapest at the beginning of
April with a fellow realtor who
was born and raised there. |
Gerry Conway Morensky writes,
“I’m fine, still living and loving
life. Spent Christmas holidays in
Brussels visiting my daughter,
Kathleen. She has been living
there for about 20 months in
her job at the American
Embassy there. I still work part
time; neither child has found
Mr. or Ms. Right.” | Linda
Sundook Wise reports, “Life
here in Holliston, MA is good. I
am still working as the co-owner
of N.E.C. Trophies in Ashland, a
trophy and awards store. Our
family has increased with the
addition of 9-month-old twins,
Holden and Phoebe, born to our
son Jeffrey and his wife,
Barbara. They, along with 8year-old grandson, Ian live in
Burbank, CA. Our daughter
Karen and her husband, Brad,
are the parents of 4-year-old
twins, Isaac and Molly, and live
in Uxbridge, MA. Larry and I
are enjoying being grandparents. I see Ruthie Sooper Weiner
and Don, as we try to meet for
dinner every few months. I am
also in touch with Judy Dubin.” |
Linda Tripp Parker writes, “I
continue to work my private
practice as an LCSW, having just
this year scaled back to my inhome office. My husband,
Michael, and I enjoy planning
and executing a major trip every
year: last year southern Spain,
this year the Greek Isles. The
big news is that we became
grandparents for the first time
in May. Life is good!” | Phyllis
Cook Tarlow who is in Hartsdale, NY, wrote, “I’ve been an
artist for many years now, and
recently began painting
landscapes while still doing
portraits of people, pets, and
homes. My new interest brings
me to beautiful areas of the
country like Cape Cod and New
Mexico. My son Jordan and his
family live in Malibu. My
daughter, Wendy, lives in Ft.
Lauderdale and owns a Fitness
Together studio there. I was
recently in touch with Karen
Temko Backilman ’65. She lives
in Florida, so we may get
together one of these days when
I go south to visit my daughter.
Check out my websites for more
information about my work.
www.ptarlow.com (portraits);
www.phyllistarlow.com (fine
art)” | Elaine Fisher Dodge
writes, “Jim and I are enjoying
traveling since he retired from
NASA. We’ve been traveling
most of our lives, but now it’s
mainly to visit our 2 grandsons.
Each of our sons has a son
almost 3 years old; one near
Pasadena, CA and the other in
Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic. We recently bought a
small, van-sized RV and are
planning a cross-country trip to
bike Rails to Trails routes, visit
National Trust properties and art
museums, hike, and visit
friends. I send best wishes to all
my Simmons classmates.” |
From Mary Lyons: “I’m a
professor of English and
communication at Bryant
University in Smithfield, RI,
where I have been teaching
since 1970, and have recently
have turned into a technology
buff. My husband, Bill Parrillo,
passed away in Feb. 2003. Bill
was chief sports columnist at
the Providence Journal, and I
sponsor a journalism scholarship in his name at the University of Rhode Island, his alma
mater. I still live in Johnston, RI,
a short commute to Bryant.” |
Jinny Hines Fruin and JoAnn
Curtis Pippin met at Jinny’s
house just outside Yosemite
National Park in September of
2006. JoAnn and her husband,
Ron, enjoyed climbing Pothole
Dome and a hike along the
Tuolumne River with Jinny and
her grandson, Robert, whom
she has adopted as her 6th
child. Jinny and JoAnn are both
avid volunteers. Jinny recently
won high honors for over 30
years of work with her nutrition
project for Korean orphans,
returning to Korea to receive her
award at the 50th anniversary
celebration of Holt Children’s
Services in Oct. 2005. She
returned to Seoul in April 2006
with Robert and her daughter
Lauri to share her Korean
experiences with them. JoAnn
and her husband have done
volunteer service at Great Sand
Dunes National Park and will be
volunteering at Acadia National
Park this spring and fall. JoAnn
also works with the Five
Colleges Book Sale in Hanover,
NH, which last year raised over
$12,000 for a Simmons
scholarship fund. | Barbara
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
37
classnotes
McGaw Gracki celebrated 40
years with John last spring. She
wrote, “Daughter Katherine
married Marc Irwin in Covington, LA, Nov. 11 in a beautiful
garden ceremony after surviving
a week of being stranded in the
great Katrina flood. Her twin
sister, Kirsten, has three little
girls, Emily 7, Sophia 4, and
Clara 11 months. Our son, John,
is married to Fabiola Velarde
Garcia from San Luis Potosi,
Mexico, and their son, Felix, is
2. John and I are both working
part time, and love the extra
time for our volunteering and
travel. We spent June in Paris. I
would love to hear from fellow
alums. My email address is
barbaragracki@lwr.com.” |
Susan Howard Biederman
writes, “Barry and I became
grandparents of a delightful
baby girl, Delilah, in February.
She is the sister of a fabulous 3year-old, Jasper, who lives in
Boulder, CO, with our daughter,
Rachel, and her husband, Greg.
Our son, David, lives in Las
Vegas, and we recently made a
combined trip to visit them all.
When not visiting or traveling,
we are happily occupied in New
York. I’m a volunteer tutor and
belong to two book groups, and
Barry takes courses at Columbia
U; occasionally works when an
interesting project comes along;
and does pro-bono work for
several organizations. We both
try (vainly) to keep up with the
abundance of cultural events
that interest us. Retirement and
grandparenting, especially, are
the best things about becoming
a senior citizen (oh yes, and
those discounts). I keep up a
steady correspondence with
Diane Cogan Volk, and we see
her and her husband, Ken,
whenever we are in reasonable
range of each other. I also keep
in touch with Lori Dingman
Wadsworth, although we saw
more of her and Chris when
they lived in Turkey than we do
now that they are in Boston! My
only other Simmons contact is
Diane Lewis ’64, who lives in
CT. I enjoy hearing news about
my Simmons friends and send
my warmest regards to all.” |
Judy Frank Dubin wrote to
Barbara Budnitz. Barbara says,
“I’ve taken the liberty of passing
on her news.” Judy says, “I just
returned from visiting my
brother in Visalia. My mom
passed away Dec. 17. She lived
on the Cape for her final year,
and I saw her almost every day. I
can’t believe it is nearly 2 years
for Mike, but it is. Busy
attending a lot of 65th celebrations — who’d a thunk it? I now
have 5 grandsons ages 8 mos. to
8 years. I am still very busy
working at selling real estate
and renting summer cottages at
the beach, and hoping soon to
plan some fun trips being a
senior citizen and all that. Wish
I had really interesting news to
report, like bungee jumping in
Bejing or swimming across the
Atlantic, but things are just moving along at a nice pace, and I
Read about 1963 alumna
Harriet Elam-Thomas on
page 8.
38 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
am too. It is interesting
reconnecting with everything.” |
Linda Twombly Baker and her
husband, Don, have been
happily married for 43 years,
and live in Williamsburg, VA.
They have two sons, Russ and
Ken, and two grandchildren,
Jack and Cailey. They enjoy
family, friends, golf, bridge,
travel, and being together. They
have traveled all over the world,
highlighted by a quest to play
golf in all 50 states — a
milestone reached in 2002.
Linda currently serves on the
board of Art Song of Williamsburg, and the Williamsburg
Symphonia League. | Evie
Cohen Celler reports that she is
living out west. “I am living in
Lafayette, CO, (Boulder County)
and selling real estate here. I
would be delighted to hear from
anyone traveling in this area. I
love Colorado year-round for the
abundant sunshine and great
athletic activities. I ski, hike, and
canoe. I have two grandchildren
living nearby and one in Japan.
I’ve been single for a while and
am open to meeting a good
companion!” | Sally Hill Reed
was on a fun trip to San
Francisco and the wine country
in April, so we will hope to
connect or at least talk by
telephone. She still lives in
Bangor, ME. | Pat Mais Palmer
says, “We’ve been in Albuquerque for 4 years, and have
explored many national parks
and other areas we never spent
enough time in before. We
Bob Johnson with his wife
Gail Townsend Johnson
’56 and friend Val McGlone
Winslow ’56 at the Christmas
Parade in December 2006.
drove to Palm Springs to meet
with our “stone seeking” club,
Aiseki Kai, and traveled through
some wonderful places. We were
in Sedona, AZ, and marveled at
the red rocks at sunset and
sunrise. We return to MA a few
times each year to visit with our
grandkids — 2 in Harvard and 1
in Amherst. Hope you’re all
doing well.” | Marcia Chase Karp
wrote, “Our Class has very sad
news. Susan Kelfer Goldstein
died in the late summer. Carol
Hillman Oreskovic, Amy
Maskel, and I were at her
funeral in Bethesda, MD. She
was one of the kindest and
loveliest people I have ever
known, and made magnificent
contributions to the lives of
children and families in her
roles as therapist and friend. |
We are sorry to acknowledge
that Sylvia Jaakola Striebeck’s
husband passed away. She
writes, “After a long illness my
husband of almost 42 years
passed away in Dec. 2004. I am
filling the void with spending
time with my children and
grandchildren and traveling —
China was in April.” | Simmons
has learned of the death of our
classmate Paula Migneault.
Paula was supervisor of
microbiology at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY,
for 20 years. She was a resident
of Bay Winds in Webster and a
member of the Browncroft
Community Church. | Ann
Salmon Robb has a son living
classnotes
with wife and children in
Berkeley. Ann’s husband, Peter,
died suddenly in the not-toodistant past. It was too short
notice for us to get together, but
she’ll be out again in the future
so we can catch up on old times.
1965
Suellen Zima writes, “Dear
Classmates, Hooray! I have succeeded in writing and publishing my adventures over the last
22 years. Memoirs of a Middleaged Hummingbird is available in
paperback or as an e-book from
amazon.com or by calling 1-800AUTHORS. Come visit me at
my website for the book at www.
ZimaTravels.com. | Although
many of our classmates have
retired, there are still many who
continue to work and enter new
careers. Janet Razler Wolf reports that she has been looking
for a career change, i.e. a move
into fundraising/development.
She has two children, a recently
married son in New York, and a
daughter who teaches English
in Chestnut Hill. | Liz Miller
Austin continues to run the
Stony Brook Children’s Center
on the campus of Mount
Holyoke College. She continues
to find time to travel abroad,
recently Cairo, and to serve as
a guide at the Robert Barrett
Fishway on the Connecticut
River. | Sarah Rothman is still
working “harder than ever” as a
senior government scientist. | I,
Margie Levine Lappen, continue
to work as a public guardian and
geriatric case manager, while
my husband, Arthur, remains
an elder law attorney in private
practice. While recently meeting
President Scrimshaw at a high
tea in Washington, DC, I visited
with Arleen Goodman Lustig
and Jane Young Rainville. It was
a wonderful mini-reunion for
us. That’s my news for the next
Simmons magazine. Thanks
for staying connected.” | Karen
Temko Backilman writes, “Liz
Klock Austin recently visited me
in Jacksonville, FL. We picked
up our friendship as if we had
just seen each other the day
before. Frank and I enjoyed
taking her on a trip to nearby St.
Augustine. Our beautiful, sunny
weather was a great contrast to
the cold New England clime Liz
had just left.” | After Barbara
Ginsberg Foreman passsed away
last spring, she was awarded a
patent posthumously for her
weather-predicting software.
1966
Trisha Rothenberg Roth writes
that she has been working for
two months in Sacramento as a
pediatrician. She has two daughters, and is helping one, Suzi,
the graphic designer, plan for
her wedding in L.A. Her son left
for South America in February. |
Jeanie Eaton Goddard sends an
addendum to her recent Class
letter: “We owe a great debt to
Carol Nesson for orchestrating
such a glorious 40th Reunion
and gathering such a spirited
committee to assist her.” | Judy
Hargraves Fichtenbaum will be
continuing her good work as
Class agent with Linda Lenge
Waterhouse. | Judith Powers
Brand writes, “My husband and
I had a great time making new
friends and renewing old ones
at the fantastic Reunion. I live in
Washington, DC, and visit our
sons and grandchild in California and Vermont. Our youngest
child will graduate from Georgetown this year.”
1967
Mary A. Lee Cliborn writes, “I
was unable to attend Reunion
due to my grandson’s first
birthday, and my 40th anniversary! I worked with classmate
Karen Smith Killoy, a physical
therapist at the Visiting Nurse
Association of Greater Lowell,
MA. I am enjoying retirement
and my grandchild, and hope
to move to Florida in the near
future. I regret that I have lost
touch with my classmates, but
please contact me, 14 Stephen
Ave., Dracut MA, 01826.” |
Carole Palmer writes, “I am
currently professor and head
of the division of nutrition and
oral health promotion at Tufts
Dental School and am also on
the faculty of the school of nutrition and the school of medicine.
My husband, Charles, and I live
in Concord, NH on the Contoocook River with our toy fox
terrier and miniature pinscher
dogs. We just bought a condo in
Bay Village to spend more time
in Beantown!”
1968
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Miriam Kandler Sokoloff had
seven quilts on display this
winter at the New England Quilt
Museum and her Israel postage
stamp quilts were on exhibit
at the Spellman Museum of
Stamps & Postal History at Regis College. She also co-chaired
the Brookline 300 Quilt, which
is now on permanent display in
Brookline. It can be seen online,
www.townofbrooklinemass.
com/coa/300thQuilt.html.
Miriam and her husband, Jeffrey, have 3 married daughters
and 7 grandchildren.
1970
Harriet Kroogman Brand is now
director of alumni relations for
the Boston University School
of Public Health. | Seva Jaffe
Kramer was named an honorary
member of the Princeton University Class of 1969 in 2005
by virtue of her outstanding
work as executive director of the
Class of ’69 Community Service
Fund which is committed to
making a global contribution to
community service, stimulating community service activity by Princeton students, and
providing members of the class
with opportunities to become
deeply involved with community service organizations that
are important to them. | The
Class extends its condolences
to our Class president, Cookie
Levinson, and her brothers,
Richard and Alan, on the death
of their mother, Beatrice Levinson, in Pittsfield, MA, this past
Jan. | The Class also extends
its condolences to the family of
Jane Noseworthy Harthorn Lind
of Quispamsis, New Brunswick,
Canada, on her unexpected
death this past Feb. At the time
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
39
classnotes
of her death, she was teaching
Grade 9 at Kennebecasis Valley
High School in Rothesay. This
past summer, Martha Cronin
ran into Jane, who told her that
she planned to get back in touch
with the College, after many
years of being on the “lost classmates” list. | Jackie Clark
Thomson wrote, “Jane’s sudden
death is a reminder of the fragility of life. As her husband said
when he called, it’s a reminder
to hug those we love and tell
them how much they mean
to us. Thank God I had called
Jane just a few weeks before she
died, and we had a good long
chat. She was a great friend and
will be sorely missed.” Your
Class officers will be working
on a Class letter at some point
in the near future — watch for
it! Please don’t hesitate to send
your news to me by email or
regular mail, or register with
Alumnet, Simmons’s alumnae/i
website, at www.alumnet.sim
mons.edu and post news about
yourself in the 1970 Class Notes
area. I look forward to hearing
from you!
1972
Roberta Fiske-Rusciano writes,
“Greetings! I have been teaching at Rider University for the
past 16 years, and have edited a
book, Experiencing Race, Class,
and Gender in the United States,
4th Edition, 2005, McGraw-Hill
(with Virginia Cyrus, deceased).
40 simmons
My students have been involved
in a dialogue with students in
Middle East/North Africa region
to broach difficult topics. As
one student from Yemen stated,
‘Sometimes governments get
in the way of people. Peace is
too important to leave up to
governments.’ Please email me
at ruscianor@rider.edu with
any questions.” www.studentglobalvillage.org | Judith Tavano
’72, ’74GS recently was appointed director of a new professional
development academy at the
University of Arkansas. Tavano
will act as a liaison, assessing
teachers’ needs and identifying
resources available on campus
and in the region to serve those
needs.
1973
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Secretary: Deborah Lerner
Duane; dduane@comcast.
net; President: Lesley Levine;
Lesleyf16@aol.com | Nancy
Rigelhaupt Smith and her husband, who is a research scientist
at Harvard-Smithsonian, live
in Newton. They have three
children — Avi, a college sophomore, and two high school-age
daughters, Sarah and Mira.
A social worker for 30 years,
Nancy is now in a chaplaincy
training program. | Rachel Boyer
writes that she is working at the
Shriners Hospital for Children
in Boston as a nurse recruiter.
| Vivian Klek Brocard is an ex-
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
ecutive recruiter with Isaacson,
Miller (www.imsearch.com),
“a decided and much-appreciated change from the high-tech
industry, where I focused for
about 18 years with my previous firm.” Vivian and husband
Dominique have two sons, Ollie,
25, and Benoit, 22, who both
boys work in Boston. Vivian says
marriage with Dominique “is
a life-long intercultural experience.” | Important note: We have
a 35th Reunion coming up next
year. Diet if you insist, come
up with something fabulous to
wear, change whatever you think
needs changing, but remember
— we all love each other as we
are. Middle-aged baggage, be
damned!
1974
Mel Patrell Furman writes, “The
Class of 1974 is back in Class
Notes, and a lot is new. Many of
us are shipping children off to
college and shifting gears into
new activities. Deb Paden-Levy
is now our Class president, and
Diane Miller Knopf is taking a
well-deserved rest after years of
leadership. Deb started her own
private practice in counseling
after working for a psychiatrist
for 15 years. We are fortunate to
have her at the helm. In other
news, I, Mel Furman, have accepted a job as communications
director of Newry Corporation, a
management consultancy based
in Cleveland. My youngest is
still at home, daughter Emma
is at Sarah Lawrence, son Ezra
at Tufts, and Noah graduated
last year from Colorado College,
where he is working to facilitate
student-generated visual arts
programming on campus. Boris
and I have fun visiting them
all.” | Jennifer Hillson Hudner
writes: “I now have two sons
in college, so I find myself
thinking back to my own college
years! My kids and their friends
were actually quite intrigued as
I described May Day breakfasts
and Friday afternoon teas. Life
is very good with work, family, friends, and community
activities here in Connecticut.”
| Mary Angela Fellow Davis is
still associate minister at First
Church in Windsor, CT, which
recently celebrated its 375th
anniversary! Last year, Mary
Angela took a class at Andover
Newton Theological School and
supervised a seminarian in field
ed. | Bob and Jan Parmenter
announce the addition of Li, a 5year-old adopted daughter from
Xian, China. | Beth Hollander
Rigel writes: “My husband Darrell and I split our time between
New York and Vail, CO. I am
enjoying retirement, planning
two large medical meetings a
year, and traveling extensively.
Our daughter is a freshman at
MIT, son Adam is a junior there
and president of his fraternity,
and Ethan graduated from MIT
last June. I always stop by the
Simmons campus when we
are in Boston. It seems like old
times, traveling between MIT
and Simmons!” | Chris McElroy
wrote that her church, the Unitarian Universalist Church in
Cambridge, partnered with First
Parish in New Orleans, which
was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Chris and her
son, Mathis, a junior at Concord
Academy, went to work in New
Orleans for spring vacation last
year. | Loukia Mourikis LoPresti
writes: “I am busy with 11-yearold Hope, husband Bob, and
my part-time job at Monmouth
Medical Center’s Emergency
Department. I enjoy trips to
Cape Cod to visit family. See you
at the next Reunion! | Esther
Darling Mulroy wrote: “Married to Michael — 29 years. We
have 3 sons: Conor, 24; Tom, 22;
classnotes
Read about the gift that four
1975 alumnae gave to
Simmons — and each other.
See page 27.
and Robert, 19. I am a speechlanguage pathologist working
in Lynn, MA since 1995 in early
intervention.”
1975
Judith Moses writes, “In November 2007 in New Orleans, I was
installed as National President
of the Women’s Council of Realtors, the 12th largest women’s
organization in the U.S. I will
serve as the spokesperson of the
organization, whose mission is
to empower women to execute
their potential as entrepreneurs and industry leaders. As
president, I will visit local and
state chapters all over the U.S.”
| Sarah White Crosby writes,
“I’m living in Vermont with my
husband of 22 years, David; our
children, Emily and Ben, are
both in college. For the past 17
years, I’ve worked as a therapist
at a community mental health
center, working with children
and families who are coping
with trauma and attachment
issues. I’ll probably never write
my autobiography, but have
chosen a title for it: ‘When Bizarre Things Happen to Boring
People!’ I’d love to hear from
anyone, at sarahberra05060@
yahoo.com.”
1976
Amy Drogin-Schwartz writes,
“I have been married to Dan
Schwartz for 28 years and live
in New City, NY. Dan is a CPA,
and I manage residential real
estate in Manhattan. We have
2 sons. Ilan, 23, is engaged to
Rebecca Sneider, a graduate
of Simmons’s class of 2005.
Roberta Solar ’75 will be attending Ilan and Rebecca’s wedding.
Jonathan, 20, is now a junior at
Binghamton University, where
he is a regular columnist for the
university newspaper.” | Donna
Rosenbaum Lupatkin is the
mother of three children: Judith
(24), Benjamin (22), and Gabriela (20). She maintains an active
private practice in social work in
Brookline, MA, and consults for
a variety of organizations and
is active in training social work
interns. She lives in Brookline
with her husband Richard who
is a psychologist, and with
whichever children happen to be
in town.
1979
Deborah McCarter Spaulding
wrote that she completed her
Ph.D. in nursing in March from
University of Massachusetts,
Lowell, and that she is still a
busy mom with her 16-year-old
son, Daniel, considering his
college options, and with her
7-year-old daughter’s activities.
| Marcy Adler Krumbine, our
Class president, started a new
job in June 2006 as director
of human services of Collier
County and said she felt her education — BA (human services,
Simmons) and MPA (Florida
Gulf Coast University) — helped
“seal the deal.” | Treacy Stascavage Weiner has a new internet
provider and her email has
changed to treacy913@comcast.
net. | Gail Pituck, Class secretary, thanks you all for keeping in touch! Also, just a little
reminder that our 30th is just 2
short years away, and remember to visit our Class page on
Alumnet.
1981
Lynne Marino writes, “I’ve just
taken a new position with Women@Work. This is a unique
women-only placement firm
perfectly targeted to Simmons
alumnae. We offer workshops
and seminars on interviewing,
resume writing, career coaching, blogs, etc. Women must
have college degrees and have
previous work experience. This
baby boom generation is the
largest growing demographic
workforce in the US.”
1984
Natalie Fleischman writes, “In
February, I left the University of
Vermont to become vice president for development at World
Learning, headquartered in
Brattleboro, VT. World Learning
celebrates its 75th anniversary
this year, and prepares individuals, institutions, and communities to be inspiring and effective
leaders of change. I encourage
you to explore the organization’s
website at www.worldlearning.
org to learn more.”
1987
Cheryl Koor started her company, Kameleon Healing, www.
KHealing.com in 2002. “I run a
unique business as an aromatherapist and perfumer. I have
been featured on the television
show Chronicle and praised in
Boston Magazine, The Boston
Globe, and other publications.
I teach aromatherapy classes
at the Cambridge Center for
Adult Education, and have
been published in The National
Holistic Aromatherapy Journal,
Natural Health Magazine, and
many community publications.
I’d love to hear from other
classmates. My email address is
Cher@Khealing.com.”
1989
Lisa Sachs writes, “I was married on Aug. 5, 2006, to Andrew
Goodman. We were married at
the Hyatt Harborside Hotel
in Boston and are living in
Natick, MA.”
1990
Julie Trela and Frank Tantillo
are happy to announce their
marriage on Oct. 15, 2006,
in Lincoln, MA. The wedding
took place on a perfect fall New
England weekend, and activities
before the wedding included
a canoe trip on the Concord
River and a running race in
Lowell, MA. Alumnae attendees
included classmate Michele
O’Toole and Julie’s mom, Patricia Trela ’59. Julie is director of
merchandising for the expert
floral designer and plants category at 1800flowers.com. The
couple currently resides in New
York City. | Michelle Cooper and
Chris Cummings are proud to
announce the birth of a baby
girl, Scarlett Cooper Cummings. She was born March 8
in Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto,
CA, and weighed 6 lbs., 13 oz.
Meredith (7-1⁄2) and Abigail (5)
are thrilled to be big sisters.
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
41
classnotes
1991
Elizabeth Dunsker, her husband, Jeff Leiman, and son
Zachary welcomed new baby Sadie Mo Dunsker Leiman to their
family in November. | Tia Priolo
Wilkinson says, “I have recently
been appointed the municipal
court judge of Westerly, RI, and
am proud to say that I am the
first female to hold the position.
I have been practicing law in
Westerly for the past 10 years
and will continue to practice in
my law firm, Scungio & Priolo.”
1992
Jill Harmacinski Beaulieu and
her husband, Richard, of
Danvers, MA welcomed a son,
Raymond Richard Beaulieu,
Nov. 15, 2006. Jill planned on
returning to work as a staff
reporter at the Eagle-Tribune
Publishing Co. in North Andover, MA in mid-February.
1994
Catherine Boehm Miller and
her husband, Matthew, recently
moved to Maine after the birth
of their 2nd child, Allison. The
family, including Tyler (age 3)
and dog, Tucker, are all settling in well in their new home.
Catherine would love to hear
from friends and classmates at
CathMiller@roadrunner.com.
1995
Marci Levine Grossman and
her husband, Brian Grossman,
welcomed their third child,
daughter Eden Noe Grossman,
on Jan. 21. | Laura Moreschi
recently accepted a position at
Winter, Wyman & Co, located
in Waltham, MA, as senior consultant. “My husband, Jeff Pare,
and I are proud to announce
the birth of Charlotte Adams
Pare, born May 20, 2006, and
weighing 9 lbs., 8 oz. Big sister
Amelia Moreschi Pare (born
Dec. ’04) happily welcomed
home our second little girl. “Life
is busy and exciting with two
little ones toddling about! Please
feel free to contact me at lmoreschi@winterwyman.com.”
1996
Pamela FitzGerald Campbell
recently accepted a position at
Simmons as assistant director of
online communications. “I was
always looking to get back to the
Simmons community. I thoroughly enjoyed my four years at
Simmons. My husband, Fred,
and I bought my parents’ house
in South Weymouth in 2004,
and adopted a boxer/Rhodesian
Ridgeback mix from West Virginia in 2005. We took him to
Nantucket this past summer. He
loved the beach!”
1997
Sarah Leete Tsitso writes, “In
Feb., I accepted an award from
the New England Press Association during a ceremony held
at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel.
I received the award for my
coverage of the 2005 Suffield
(CT) municipal elections. I am
currently serving as editor of the
Southwick Suffield News.”
1998
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Suzanne Ronkin Leone and her
husband, Lorenzo, are proud
to announce the birth of their
twin sons, Hayden Franco and
Caleb Gabriel. They were born
Dec. 28, 2006. It was a happy
new year for the Leone Family! |
Dana Kessner Figler and Ed are
proud to announce the birth of a
baby boy, Ryan, in Oct. ’06. He
joins his big brother, Josh, who
is now 3!
1999
Carrie Libby writes, “I live in
Washington, ME, where I work
as an ICU nurse at Miles Memorial Hospital, Damariscotta.”
2000
Roxana Peters McCloskey and
James McCloskey are happy to
announce their marriage on
April 15, 2006, in Lake Tahoe,
CA. They currently reside in
Philadelphia. Sara Pane ’01 was
a bridesmaid.
2001
Lisa Cormier Valentine was
recently promoted to marketing
42 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
manager of Intertech-Pira’s Portland, ME, office. She now heads
up the fast growing team and is
responsible for the company’s
overall marketing strategy for
Global events. | Hanna Bordas
writes, “I am studying to be an
urban public school teacher
through the Boston Teacher
Residency, and have been teaching at Edwards Middle School
in Charlestown. I have made a
commitment to teach for three
years in the Boston Public
Schools, and after the incredible
experience I have had so far, I
imagine I will stay for much longer than that.”
2002
Ilana Plavin Bernstein and her
husband, Steven, had a baby
boy, Yeshiah Simhah, in Aug.
They currently live in West Hartford, and Ilana is a fundraiser at
the Jewish Federation of Greater
Hartford. | Katherine Lupa Matthews writes, “My husband, Peter, and I are proud to announce
the birth of our first child, Anna
Deborah Matthews, on Feb. 19.
She is a healthy and happy little
girl, and we are so excited to
have her home with us!”
2003
REUNION ’08
MAY 30–JUNE 1
Julie Blundon and G.R. Nash
were married in March in Old
Saybrook, CT. They currently
reside in Connecticut. Julie and
G.R. have been together since
high school, and are excited to
“make it official!” They were
also looking forward to seeing
Molly Weinmann Steen ’03
and her new husband at the
wedding. | Lynn Dutra Swift
and Mark Swift are proud to announce the birth of a baby girl,
Laura Mae. She was born Sept.
classnotes
accepted a position at Color
Services located in Needham,
MA. | Jennifer Madden recently
accepted a position at Scituate
(MA) High School as an English
teacher. “I’m very excited to start
teaching in September,” says
Jennifer. “I can’t believe that,
after five years at Simmons, I’m
finally entering the ‘real’ world.
Then again, is high school really
the real world?”
Simmons launches a new
multicultural mentoring program. Read more on page 10.
16, and weighed 7 lbs., 5 oz. |
Diane Randolph accepted a position at Community Healthcare
Network located in New York,
NY as a project manager. “I was
pleased to share news of my
move to the Big City with close
friends and family; particularly
Laju Ogedengbe ’01 and Brook
Davis ’01. The going-away party
was ridiculously fun, and I will
always have fond memories of
(and hopefully a place to stay
with) my Simmons family in
Boston.” | Sarah Buckley Nolan
and husband Mark are proud
to announce the birth of a baby
girl, Alexandria Leigh. She was
born on March 4, and weighed 7
lbs., 14 oz. Mom, dad, and baby
are all happy and healthy!
2004
Alicia Parillo recently was
promoted to budget analyst II
at Raytheon Company, located
in Tewksbury, MA.” | Alice
Fangueiro recently accepted a
position at Boston magazine as
business manager. “Hello: After
2 successful years working for
a prominent law firm, I decided
to seek a more challenging
position at Boston magazine. I’ve
been with the company since
November 2006 and absolutely
love it!”
2005
Kathleen Tighe is working
at Boston Bar Foundation as
development and philanthropic
services associate. “I needed
a break from law school, so
I’ve gone to work as second in
charge of a massive fundraising effort for Greater Boston
civil legal aid providers. I bet
no one ever thought a Republican would take this job, but I
absolutely love it!” | Tanya Zuk
accepted a position at Massachusetts Continuing Legal
Education, Inc., located in
Boston, as marketing production assistant. MCLE is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to establishing new lawyers in
the legal field and continuing to
educate successful professionals. | Meghan Backus recently
accepted a position at Simmons
College as assistant registrar for
institutional reporting. Meghan
was recently employed at Massachusetts General Hospital as
a senior research assistant, and
will continue as a consultant
for the research project she was
involved in there. She is excited
to be back at Simmons!
2006
Laura Buckley recently accepted
a position at Cramer Productions, located in Norwood, MA,
as associate producer. “Cramer
is a comm. girl’s dream company! I am excited to work with
a long list of clients on projects
including event planning, video
production, and printed marketing materials. www.crameronline.com.” | Beth Gilbert recently
Looking for
Alumnae
Volunteers
The Office of Undergraduate
Admission and the Office of
Alumnae/i Relations is currently recruiting alumnae volunteers interested in writing
to prospective Dix Scholars
(undergraduate women age
24 or older). This is a new
and exciting volunteer initiative, that requires writing to
no more than 15 students in
a 12-month period. If you are
interested or would like more
information, please contact
Kathy Porteus at
kathy.porteus@simmons.edu
or 617-521-2314.
President Scrimshaw Continues
National Tour
Simmons’s seventh president, Susan C. Scrimshaw, continues to travel
across the country, meeting with alumnae/i and sharing her vision for
the future of the College.
Please save the date for the following events in your area:
November 7, 2007 – Atlanta, GA
March 25, 2008 – Los Angeles, CA
March 26, 2008 – Portland, OR
For more information, visit www.alumnet.simmons.edu.
undergraduate classnotes
fall 2007
43
obituaries
1976
OBITUARIES
From December 2, 2006 through April 16, 2007, the
College received notification that the following alumnae/i and faculty are deceased.
garland
1958
1973
1936
1974
Elizabeth O’Neill Hannaway
Dec. 6, 2006
Minna Flynn Johnson
April 16, 2007
1946
Jane Moore Johnston
June 27, 2006
1948
Janice MacNeil Mendes
March 12, 2007
graduate school
of library and
information
science
1933
Margaret Rathbone
Nov. 15, 2006
1937
Ellen Stone Harris
Jan. 27, 2007
1939
Alice Warner
May 19, 2006
Alice Johnson
Jan. 1, 2007
Lee Adair Major
Feb. 11, 2006
Elizabeth Rattle
Jan. 20, 2007
1981
Maury Feld
June 3, 2005
1990
Diane Barry
Feb. 23, 2007
graduate studies
1939
Mary Kellogg Chapman
Retail Management;
Aug. 21, 2006
1940
M. Elizabeth Fawcett Koenig
2005
Barbara Morey
Feb. 2, 2007
Elizabeth Jordan
Retail Management;
Feb. 25, 2007
Jean Drake Wanless
Business; Jan. 11, 2007
1941
1971
Rita Desaulniers Dinneen
Feb. 7, 2007
1948
Lucy Manzi
March 19, 2007
1954
William Quinn
Nov. 19, 2006
1955
1983
Norma Sinclair Stiles
Generic Teacher;
Feb. 8, 2007
school of
social work
1928
David Cooley
March 21, 2007
Ruth Thomas Bemis
Sept. 17, 2006
1963
Margaret Otto
Dec. 10, 2006
1964
Arthur Wolman
May 15, 2006
1969
Ruth Chase Schubert
May 26, 2005
1972
Christine Peters
Home Economics;
Nov. 7, 2006
Frances Darr Aley
Nov. 12, 2006
Charles Jacob
Jan. 19, 2007
1932
Evelyn Davis Cowles
March 10, 2007
1938
Margery Osberg
Jan. 20, 2007
1957
Sylvia Weisz Isaac
Jan. 7, 2007
1959
Barbara Sparks Hall
Jan. 10, 2007
1974
Naomi Young
Nov. 18, 2006
44 simmons
www.alumnet.simmons.edu
Lorna Merson
July 18, 2006
1996
Emma Bassinor Robbins
Library Science; Jan. 19, 2007
1939
Frances McRobbie Caswell
Business; Nov. 7, 2006
Elizabeth Welt Lucy
Library Science; Feb. 7, 2007
Vivian Copp Chumbley
Library Science; Feb. 8, 2007
Carolyn Nutter Crowley
English; Feb. 28, 2007
Alice Crosby Kean
Business; Jan. 10, 2006
Mary Gordon McCrensky
Nutrition; Dec. 8, 2006
Evelyn Andrews McKnight
Social Work; Jan. 31, 2007
Barbara Roth Rau
Library Science;
Nov. 14, 2006
Rose Blumberg Schwartz
Business; Dec. 22, 2006
Elizabeth Roper Simpson
Business; Dec. 8, 2005
1931
1940
Ann Lynch
Aug. 3, 2006
undergraduate
college
1923
Henrietta Kugelman Jacobs
Business; May 30, 2003
1925
Margaret Full Luckey
Business; Jan. 23, 2007
1929
Doris Stevens Dewing
Business; June 24, 2006
Anne Jacobson Lewis
Business; March 5, 2007
Marie Toperzer Sharkey
Home Economics; July 18, 2006
Mary Herlihy Ahearn English
Feb. 22, 2007
1941
Dorothy Hornig Bell
Home Economics; Jan. 3, 2007
Gladys Morgan Schuldt
Business; Feb. 23, 2006
Phyllis Smith Charpentier
Nursing; Nov. 5, 2001
Elizabeth Villone Mooney
Nursing; Nov. 26, 2006
Marie Wieners Reynolds
Nursing; Nov. 8, 2006
Bess Hershman Swartz
Chemistry; Dec. 6, 2006
1933
1942
1932
Sylvia Spaulding Allen
Home Economics; March 3,
2007
Isabel Selzer Barlofsky
Accounting; Oct. 11, 2006
Muriel Libin Cohen
English; Dec. 5, 2006
Jessie Parsons
Nutrition; Nov. 22, 2006
1934
Eunice Kemler Greenstein
Pre-Professional;
Feb. 16, 2007
Beth Ferguson Symons
Business; Jan. 31, 2007
Dorothy Peterson Allen
Library Science; Aug. 5, 2006
Elizabeth Dipesa Alley
English; Oct. 1, 2004
Hortense Burleigh
Nutrition; Feb. 22, 2007
Frances Hale
Library Science; April 3, 2007
Marian Buck Nemec
Special; Oct. 31, 2006
1936
Mary Farrell Sutton
Nursing; Oct. 24, 2006
1937
Vera Chase
Library Science; March 20, 2007
Dorothy Leventhal Levinson
Business; Jan. 28, 2007
1938
Ellen Lyons Ballweg
Library Science; March 25, 2006
Loretta Ecker Graham
Nursing; March 15, 2006
Frances Adams McDonnell
Library Science;
Sept. 23, 2006
1943
1944
Irma Wolf Abramson
Nursing; Nov. 26, 2006
Ruth Fogelin
March 19, 2007
Ruth Knipes Streeter
Business; March 3, 2007
1945
Helen Cooper-Young
Science; 2007
Hazel Lager Molzan
Library Science;
Feb. 15, 2007
Doris Carter Ufford
Business; Dec. 30, 2006
1946
Eunice Howard Del Grasso
Nursing; May 3, 2005
Ann Michelson Ellis
English; Nov. 30, 2006
1947
Phyllis Gray
Nursing; March 22, 2006
Rita Sharcoff Mizner
Science; March 15, 2007
1948
Beatrice Cavan
Science; Jan. 26, 2007
Isabel Daniels Comerford
Business; Jan. 30, 2007
Jean Kohler Davis
Business; Nov. 29, 2006
1949
Polly Donovan Kidney
English; March 18, 2007
Jane Church Miller
Accounting; Dec. 5, 2006
1950
Natalie Shea Davis
Business; Nov. 21, 2006
Irene Wironen Mattila
Communications;
Feb.14, 2007
1951
Elizabeth Kudriavetz Pack
Retail Management;
Jan.15, 2007
1952
Ethel McCausland
Nursing; Dec. 18, 2003
Eleanor Kantor Rosenberg
Business; Jan. 18, 2007
Irene Rosenbaum Weinstein
Science; Jan. 21, 2007
1956
Shirley Richardson Creedon
Social Science; March 22, 2007
Shirley Merrill Warren
Nursing; Dec. 10, 2006
1961
Patricia Kamens Young
Home Economics;
Jan. 7, 2007
1963
Jane McFarlane
Library Science;
Dec. 1, 2006
Paula Migneault
Science; Jan. 28, 2007
1969
Athalinda Woodcock
Russell ’69LS
Library Science; Jan. 18, 2007
1970
Jane Noseworthy Lind
Education; Feb. 19, 2007
1978
Patricia Wallace
Nursing; Dec. 13, 2006
1983
Joan Curley Kelley ’85SW
Social Work; Nov. 2005
endnote
the flexibility to work
BY KELLIE BUCKLEY ’91, ’99GS
not the most practical or effective, for me
or for my employer. Many working moms
like me are proving that it’s psible to chaperone school field trips and to exercise a
couple of times a week, if you are willing
to work in the wee hours of the morning
or after you put the kids to bed.
For me, flexibility is about
making choices and setting
priorities based on the every
day push and pull of work
and family.
A flexible work schedule allows me to
have days like last Wednesday, a glorious
end-of-summer day. At the last minute, I
decided to take my kids to the beach for a
picnic. I called my boss to tell him I was
going to spend the afternoon “goofing
off” with my kids. But the truth is, I didn’t
need to inform my boss of my whereabouts. And the best part was, I didn’t feel
guilty about taking off in the middle of the
day. I knew my work would still get done.
During my freshman year at Simmons,
my first taste of freedom came with the
realization that schoolwork could be
done anytime and anywhere. I could
study in the early morning or late at
night, in the library or in my dorm
room. Almost 20 years later, as a working mother of an active young family,
I am able to experience a similar kind
of freedom through my flexible work
arrangement.
For me, flexibility is about making
choices and setting priorities based
on the everyday push and pull of work
and family. When I began my marketing communications job at an Internet
start-up, it did’t start as a flexible work
arrangement, but over the past two
years, it has morphed into one. The flexibility of the position is the reason why
I have been able to stay in the workforce
and avoid the “opt-out” dilemma that so
many women face.
I no longer have to think in terms
of work-life balance, because a flexible
work arrangement blends my work-life
with my “life-life.” My flexible work arrangement allows me to have “schedule control” of my day, and my work
is judged on results — not face-time.
Gone is the attitude “the more hours
you work, the more productive you are.”
As a working mom, there are some
days when the hours of nine to five are
A working mother of two young boys, Kellie
Buckley ’91, ’99GS is vice president of marketing at H3.com, a Cambridge-based start-up in
the recruiting and social network space. She
has extensive experience building successful
marketing and communications programs for
diverse businesses including the Olympics, Super Bowl, NCAA, the Monster Employment
Index, Converse, ESPN, Nike, Rockport, and
ZoeFoods. Buckley lives in North Kingstown,
R.I., with her husband, David, and sons
Zachary (left) and Nicholas.
5IJTJTNZMFHBDZGPS
SIMMONS
My commitment to Simmons is much more than
nostalgia for my own experience as a student. What
excites me is how we’ve evolved as an institution. As
a trustee, I’m more aware than ever of how Simmons
instills a sense of capability in its students. You leave
here knowing that you possess the skills and the
courage to do great things with your life. I want young
women like my daughter, Morganne, to know this.
That’s why I’m so passionate about Simmons.
I encourage you to contact the Office of Planned
Giving to learn how you, too, can build a strong future
for Simmons and enjoy the benefits of a charitable
gift annuity, or deferred charitable gift annuity, at the
same time. I’m glad that I did!
JJA%K@O@KJ’75, ’77GS,IAI>ANKBPDA0EIIKJO KHHACA
K=N@KB1NQOPAAO
=J@DAN@=QCDPAN
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