Mills Quarterlyn e w e d u c a t i o n d e a n a l u m n a t r u s t e e e l e c t i o n f a v o r i t e p r o f e s s o r s

spring 2011 alumnae magazine

ofjoy

the

math

Establish

’m in my third year at the UC Davis School of Medicine. I wouldn’t be in med school if I hadn’t returned to Mills for my pre-med certificate after my BA. I was able to interact with faculty, ask questions, and visit them during office hours—just like I did as an undergraduate music major.

By giving to the College, I want to help the next generation of students. Alumnae may think they have to wait until they’re established before they give, but I think it’s important for recent graduates to get in the habit of contributing right away. You don’t have to break the bank—giving the cost of a couple of movie tickets or a tank of gas makes a difference.

Every little bit counts when everybody chips in. That’s what the Mills College Annual Fund is all about.

Join Meghan in making a difference for today’s Mills students.Give to the Mills College Annual Fund by calling 510.430.2366, picking up the phone when a student calls you, or visiting www.mills.edu/giving.

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

It’s important to Meghan McClure ’03 that patients get the healthcare they deserve. That’s why she’s studying to become a physician.

In fact, she made her first gift just a few months after she graduated.

It’s also important to Meghan to assist current Mills students. That’s why she gives regularly to the Mills College Annual Fund.

I

your support today. You don’t have to wait until you’re “established.”

Mills Quarterly

contents Spring 2011

3212 14

4 Speaking with a bigger voicePresident Janet L. Holmgren has championed the Mills approach to women’s education at local, national, and international levels.

8 Listen and learn by Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04 Katherine Schultz brings expertise in urban education and teacher preparation to her new role as dean of the Graduate School of Education.

10 The education effect by Linda Schmidt Exemplary School of Education graduates are creating real change at all levels of education.

11 Virtual world, real world by Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04 As young people increasingly find a sense of community online, what are the effects on their participation in civic life? Education professor Joseph Kahne explores the question.

12 Around the world in 80 years by Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04 Across three continents and multiple careers, the life of Lienfung Li Ho ’43 has been marked by passion, humor, and success.

14 Integrals and inspiration by Susan McCarthyMathematicians are a rare breed—female mathematicians are rarer still. But what attracts women to math, and how is Mills cultivating those who hear the call? Plus: Professor Zvezda Stankova

18 Alumna Trustee electionsVote for your representative on the Mills College Board of Trustees and the AAMC Board of Governors. Your ballot is on the inside back cover.

32 Sound off! Who has been your most influential professor?

Departments

2 Calendar

6 Mills Matters

17 Bookshelf

20 Class Notes with Notes from Near and Far: Alumnae Activities Report

29 In Memoriam

On the cover: Members of the

Möbius Band, the Mills College math

club. Photo by Keith Lewis.

2  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Saturday, May 14, 9:45 am, Toyon Meadow

Join Mills alumnae and the entire campus community as President Holmgren presides over graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2011— the final time she will lead this fun and momentous event.

• Enjoy continental breakfast and robe up to march in the Commencement procession, 8:00 am, Reinhardt Alumnae House.

• Alumnae/i lunch, following Commencement.

• Alumnae Association of Mills College annual meeting, 1:30 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall, Aron Art Center.

RSVP to alumnae-relations@mills.edu by May 10. For more information, call

Commencement 2011

Save the Date Reunion 2011: September 22–25Celebrating class years ending in 1 and 6 and the 50th Reunion of the Class of 1961

Volume XCIX Number 3 (USPS 349-900)

Spring 2011

PresidentJanet L. Holmgren

Vice President for Institutional AdvancementCynthia Brandt Stover

Senior Director of CommunicationsDawn Cunningham ’85

Managing EditorLinda Schmidt

Design and Art DirectionNancy Siller Wilson

Contributing WritersRachel Leibrock, MFA ’04 Susan McCarthy Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04

Editorial Assistance

Allison Marin ’12

The Mills Quarterly (USPS 349-900) is published quarterly by Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Periodicals postage paid at Oakland, California, and at additional mailing office(s). Postmaster: Send address changes to the Office of Institutional Advancement, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613.

Copyright © 2011, Mills College

Address correspondence to the Mills Quarterly, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613. Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity or length.

Email: quarterly@mills.edu Phone: 510.430.3312

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

CalendarMarch29 Contemporary Writers Series: M. NourbeSe Philip5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, freePhilip’s recent poetry project, Zong! exca-vates the story of some 150 Africans who were murdered aboard a slave ship in 1781 so the ship’s owners could collect an insurance payout. For information, call Stephanie Young, 510.430.3130.

29 Senior Thesis ExhibitionMills College Art Museum, free; opening reception April 2, 6:00 pmSenior undergraduate students present their final thesis projects in studio art. On view through April 17. For information, see mcam.mills.edu or call 510.430.2164.

April1–2 Charming Cottages of Palo Alto 20th Annual House Tour11:00 am–4:00 pm, Palo Alto, California, $30 per ticket (advance purchase)Houses on this year’s tour, organized by the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club (PAAMCC), include a cottage near a creek and a converted infirmary. Proceeds benefit the PAAMCC Endowed Scholarship Fund. For information, see www.charmingcottages.org.

2 Nurse Networking Luncheon12:00 noon–2:30 pm, Reinhardt Alumnae House, RSVP requiredConnect with alumnae and current students of Mills’ Nursing Program and with nurses practicing throughout the Bay Area. RSVP to alwong@mills.edu or 510.430.3363.

2 Robert Ashley: Foreign Experiences8:00 pm, Littlefield Concert Hall, $15 general, $10 seniors and non-Mills students, free with AAMC cardIn conjunction with the San Francisco Opera’s Ring Festival, the Mills Music Department and the Center for Contemporary Music present Foreign Experiences, sung by Sam Ashley and Jacqueline Humbert. For information, see musicnow.mills.edu.

3 San Diego Crew Classic regatta alumnae gathering11:30 am–1:30 pm, Mission Bay, San DiegoFollowing the heats, alumnae will enjoy lunch with the Mills crew team and their families at a tent reserved just for the group. RSVP required to cmcgarty@mills.edu or 510.430.2123.

5 Contemporary Writers Series: Chana Bloch5:30 pm, Mills Hall Living Room, freeRecently dubbed “Best East Bay Poet” by the East Bay Express, Bloch is professor emerita of English at Mills College, where she taught for more than 30 years and directed the Creative Writing Program. For information, call Stephanie Young, 510.430.3130.

8 Center for Socially Responsible Business Third Annual Conference8:30 am–6:30 pm, Lokey Graduate School of Business Gathering Hall, freeHear from leaders whose businesses promote a sustainable and equitable society by empower-ing entrepreneurs, incorporating sustainability principles, reinvigorating communities, and supporting fair trade supply chains. Speakers include Fiona Wilson, professor at Simmons School of Management, and Greg Miller,

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 3

Gilena met her scholarship recipient at Reunion.

“I enjoyed such a remarkable education at Mills, and I want to make certain that other women have the opportunity to attend the College,” says Gilena Vazquez Simons ’90. She created the Gilena Vazquez Simons Scholarship “to keep Mills a thriving, healthy institution, just like the College I knew as a student.”

During Reunion 2010, Gilena met Alondra Maciel ’11, who received the Gilena Vazquez Simons Scholarship last year. “The first thing I noticed about Gilena was her vibrant smile,” Alondra says. “I was fortunate to meet her in person because she contributed so much to my Mills education.”

Gilena recalls, “I was excited to meet Alondra! I remember how thankful I was when I received a Trustee Scholarship as a Mills student. It was much more than a scholarship—it was a vote of confidence from the College. I told Alondra that Mills has the same confidence in her too.”

To find out how you can create a named scholarship at Mills, call 510.430.2366 or email mcaf@mills.edu.

celebrate your mills experience by supporting today’s students

Name a scholarship with a gift of $5,000 or moreHonor the influence Mills College had on you by funding a $5,000 scholarship, which you may name as you wish. The entire amount of your scholarship will be awarded to one Mills student in the next academic year. When possible, the College will arrange a meeting between you and your scholarship recipient.

Gilena Vazquez Simons ’90 and Alondra Maciel ’11

At Mills, for Alumnae

Alumnae Relations

Alumnae.mills.edu

510.430.2123

Alumnae-relations@mills.edu

Career Services

510.430.2130

Alumnae Admission Representatives

Joan Jaffe, Associate Dean of Admission

510.430.2135 ..........................Joanj@mills.edu

Giving to Mills

www.mills.edu/giving

510.430.2366 .......................... mcaf@mills.edu

Alumnae Association of Mills College (AAMC)

510.430.2110 ...........................aamc@mills.edu

Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92,

President ..................................... 510.430.3374

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

To contact the AAMC, please write to:

AAMC, 5000 MacArthur Blvd.,

MB #86, Oakland, CA 94613-1301

advisor at Google.org. For full program details, call 510.420.2261 or see www.mills.edu/csrb/conference.

8–9 X Sound Festival 8:00 pm, Littlefield Concert Hall, freeA festival of works by seniors from the Mills Music Department and Intermedia Arts Program. For more information, contact Kathleen Baumgardner at kbaumgar@mills.edu or musicnow.mills.edu.

15 Concert Series: Yasunao Tone8:00 pm, Littlefield Concert Hall, $15 general, $10 seniors and non-Mills students, free with AAMC cardThe Center for Contemporary Music presents Yasunao Tone—Fluxus composer, manipula-tor of malfunctions, and champion of experimentalism—performing MP3 Deviations. For information, see musicnow.mills.edu.

18–22 Earth WeekVarious times/locations, Mills College campus, freeEarth Week kicks off with Creek Care Day on April 16 followed by special events through-out the week. For more information, contact Christina McWhorter at cmcwhort@mills.edu or call 510.430.2230.

21–23 Dance Department Graduate Thesis Concerts8:00 pm, Lisser Theater, $10 general, $8 seniors and non-Mills students; additional performance April 23 at 2:00 pmGraduate dance students present the culmination of their work. For details, contact 510.430.2175 or dance@mills.edu.

22 Concert Series: Robert Schwarz 8:00 pm, Littlefield Concert Hall, $15 general, $10 seniors and non-Mills students, free with AAMC cardSchwarz performs Iberia, the masterpiece by Isaac Albéniz, in the Dewing Piano Recital. For information, see musicnow.mills.edu.

23 Oakland–Berkeley dinner and opera 6:00 pm–10:30 pm, dinner at 7:00 pm Colombo Club, 5321 Claremont Avenue, Oakland, $30 per ticket (advance purchase)Socialize over a four-course meal with live entertainment. RSVP by April 1 to Georgine O’Connor ’81 at georgineoconnor@aol.com or 510.339.3920.

May1 MFA Thesis ExhibitionMills College Art Museum, free; opening reception April 30, 6:00 pmFeaturing works by studio art graduate students, a promising group of emerging artists. On view through May 29. For information, see mcam.mills.edu or call 510.430.2164.

A look back at the tenure of President Holmgren

photo by dana davis

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

In the last 20 years, Mills’ recommitment to women’s education has raised the College to the top tier of women’s colleges

in the nation. President Janet L. Holmgren has been a strong and vocal advocate for advancing the interests of women in

education at both single-sex and coed institutions, in this country and abroad. In January, Mills College Trustee Margaret

Wilkerson interviewed Holmgren on how Mills has achieved this stature and the President’s own far-reaching influence.

Wilkerson chaired the Department of African American Studies as well as the Department of Dramatic Art and Dance at the

University of California at Berkeley and served as director of Berkeley’s Center for the Study, Education, and Advancement

of Women. She has been a Mills Trustee for more than a decade.

This is the last of a four-part series of conversations with President Holmgren in her final year as the head of Mills College.

Speaking bigger voicewith aMills College Trustee Margaret Wilkerson and President Janet L. Holmgren

systems—and achieving success. Stories about what our alumnae do as result of a Mills education still seem to surprise people.

I’ve felt a great responsibility—one that I take very seriously—that, no matter what the forum, I speak not only as an educator, but also as a leader and the President of Mills. I speak with a big-ger voice, for a larger group of people: the students and alumnae of Mills.

As a member of the Princeton Board of Trustees, how does your

Mills experience influence the course of that institution?

There are areas of Princeton University that lag behind Mills; particularly its curriculum in the arts. Princeton also is still learning to understand the capacity of women and to see that supporting women’s interest in engineering, for example, will help open up the whole curriculum. In my years on their board, Princeton finally achieved an undergraduate student body com-prised of 50 percent women and 50 percent men. It’s still 37 percent women at the graduate level, but I’m pushing for the university to further engage women at all levels.

You’ve also disseminated the Mills model internationally.

What insights does Mills provide for women and educational

institutions in other countries?

For the last seven years, Mills has been a part of the Women’s Education Worldwide group, which brings together leaders in women’s education from around the world. Other institutions look to us to understand how education for women works in the United States. How do women gain access to education? What is the value of women’s education, particularly in a part of the world as progressive as the United States?

We demonstrate that women’s colleges provide a “value-added” model. Women in many countries see that going to a women’s college propels you more quickly into the managerial and leadership ranks. In some places, like Korea, women’s edu-cation is thriving. In other places—like the Middle East, where there are so many barriers—we provide an example of how to break down barriers.

What are the most important issues to bear in mind that will

keep Mills on the leading edge of women’s education?

One of the issues is economics: we have to continue to do a very thoughtful balancing of access for students and investment in the quality of a Mills education. We need to continue fundrais-ing and to partner with donors and organizations to maintain access and quality.

A second issue has to do with creating every possible oppor-tunity for success for our students. We need to ensure that every single student has the financial means and the academic sup-port to complete her degree—and to move on to graduate and advanced education.

Finally, we need to maintain and always enhance the quality of our faculty, because that is the core of any academic insti-tution. We want extraordinary, cutting-edge teaching, research, and creativity. I think Mills has always had that, and we need to remain competitive into the future.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 5

Wilkerson: Just before you arrived as President in 1991,

Mills almost joined the ranks of former women’s colleges

that became coeducational. Last year, Mills was named by

Forbes.com as one of the top 10 women’s colleges in the

country. What makes this college so respected in the field

of women’s education?

Holmgren: First of all, Mills has always been willing to take risks—both academically as well as in terms of social change and social development. In my tenure, Mills has capitalized on a willing-ness to engage a diverse community across all issues of race and class and sexual orientation. The College is a leader in bridging the world of academia and the world of social activism and in engaging students in real questions about real communities.

But the fundamental reason Mills is ranked so high is that we have remained committed to our mission as a liberal arts col-lege focused on women, with full-time residential students and with outstanding graduate programs. We haven’t strayed from this mission, as some colleges have, by adding on a lot of week-end programs and part-time students to increase enrollment. We have expanded programs strategically, in areas of strength. We have consistently supported our students so they can pursue focused academic and creative work. And we have developed our faculty in terms of both quality and diversity.

People sometimes ask me, how did you achieve this? We nur-tured our faculty and encouraged them to engage in our mis-sion. We built a consensus among the Board of Trustees, donors, and faculty to make the necessary financial investments in our core mission. It was a lot of hard work, but it’s that level of com-mitment that really makes us outstanding.

What experiences, organizations, or people in your background pre-

pared you to move Mills into the respected position it now enjoys?

I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Office of Women in Higher Education at the American Council on Education (ACE). When I was at the University of Maryland, I became interested in the way higher education is organized as well as the need for women’s studies and curricular change. I was then asked to rep-resent a state-wide commission for the National Identification Program—a program ACE instituted in 1977 to identify and sup-port talented women in advancing to policy-making levels of administration. I got to know leaders in the Office of Women in Higher Education as well as women in other universities, other organizations, and in government. I learned to use those external resources to put pressure on the flagship campus to make cur-ricular changes on behalf of women. Through the power of that network, I became effective in making real change institutionally.

What lessons have you learned from Mills and how do you

communicate those lessons?

The most fundamental lesson is, “Women matter.” And that is sometimes very hard for the world to absorb. Women are still struggling to have their voices heard in many leadership circles, particularly in business. Another lesson is that the women who go to Mills are brilliant and ambitious. They are challenging

bigger voice

Steve babuljak

6  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly6  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Mills MattersA Message from the Mills College Board of Trustees

We are pleased to announce that Alecia A. DeCoudreaux has been selected to serve as the 13th president in the College’s 159-year history. She will assume leadership of Mills on July 1, 2011.

Ms. DeCoudreaux was selected by a 15-member Presidential Search Committee (see below) from a field of candidates representing a diversity of backgrounds and accomplishments in a comprehensive national search. She brings a unique mix of leadership experi-ence, passion for women’s education and the liberal arts, talent for strategic think-ing, and success in fundraising—quali-ties that will be invaluable to the future growth and success of Mills College.

President-elect DeCoudreaux is herself an alumna and an experienced leader of a women’s college. She received a bachelor of arts degree in English and political science from Wellesley College in 1976 and, since 2007, has served as chair of its board of trustees (she will step down from this role prior to begin-ning her tenure at Mills). She has been a trustee of Wellesley since 2002 and has also served as a director of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association.

Ms. DeCoudreaux honed her talent for managing large, diverse teams and engaging in strategic planning in a complex, changing environment through

her three-decade career at Eli Lilly and Company, one of Fortune magazine’s “Global Top Companies for Leaders.” She is currently vice president and deputy general counsel at Lilly. She launched her legal career with a doctor of laws degree from the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington in 1978, followed by employment as an attorney at Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. She joined Lilly as an attorney in 1980 and since then has directed the company’s community relations, government relations, medical research administration, and research planning and scientific administration. She has played a major role in guiding Lilly to

value diversity among its employees.Meanwhile, Ms. DeCoudreaux has

demonstrated a commitment to serve the communities in which she has lived and worked. She has served most recently as a member of the United Way of Central Indiana Women’s Initiative; a member of the Economic Club of Indiana Board of Governors; a board member of The Mind Trust; honorary director of Indiana University Foundation; and an emeritus board member of the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington Board of Visitors, the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, and Indianapolis Downtown, Inc.

We are enthusiastic, too, about our president-elect’s reputation as a strong

The 10-month national search that resulted in the appointment of Alecia A. DeCoudreaux as the next president of Mills College was conducted by a Presidential Search Committee composed of alumnae, students, faculty, staff, and Trustees. The committee, with members of its support team, is pictured at left on the last day of deliberations. Standing, from left: Trustee James Fowler; Trustee Margaret Wilkerson; Trustee Thomas Ehrlich; Ilene H. Nagel of the search firm Russell Reynolds Associates; Trustee Wendy Hull Brody ’68, chair of the committee; Vice President for Operations Renée Jadushlever, who staffed the committee; graduate student Jennifer Lin ’11; Trustee Gordon Chong; Trustee Alexandra Widmann Rinde ’08; Trustee Barbara Ahmajan Wolfe ’65; Professor Ajuan Mance; undergraduate student Marjan Soleimanieh ’11. Seated: Trustee and AAMC President Linda Jaquez-Fissori ’92; Professor Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker; Chair of the Board of Trustees Kathleen Burke; Mills staff Dawn Cunningham ’85; and Professor Dan Ryan.

Introducing the next president of Mills College

Alecia DeCoudreaux meets campus community members following the announcement that she will become president of the College on July 1.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 7

Jak

ub

Mo

su

r

The mayor speaks

Walkup curates national book arts exhibition

mentor and role model. Like many of our students at Mills, DeCoudreaux comes from a family with recent immigrant roots—her grandmother immigrated from Cape Verde—and she has used her education and intelligence not only to achieve successes for herself, but also to make a better world for those she has served through her volunteer activities.

President-elect DeCoudreaux will build on the 20-year legacy of success of current President Janet L. Holmgren. We are deeply thankful to President Holmgren for giving us the foundation on which to build a strong future.

The support of Mills alumnae and friends will be essential to the success of our next president. You will have many opportunities to learn more about Ms. DeCoudreaux and meet her per-sonally after she takes office on July 1; interview videos and additional infor- mation are available at www.mills.edu. We are confident that you will find her to be an inspiring partner in our shared work of advancing Mills’ mission.

Sincerely,Kathleen J. BurkeChair, Board of Trustees of Mills College

Wendy Hull Brody ’68Trustee and Chair, Presidential Search Committee

Newly elected Oakland mayor Jean Quan took the stage at Mills on January 24 to thank some of the constituents who voted her into office and to outline her hopes for the city’s future. Education, jobs, and community organizing are among her top priori-ties, and she called on the Mills community to be an active partner in achieving those goals—including her aim to recruit some 2,000 mentors for the city’s youth.

Quan, a longtime city councilmember for the Laurel District, sees improving edu-cation as a vital component in fighting the city’s pressing problems. Mills College President Janet L. Holmgren has been named as a member of Quan’s transition advi-sory committee as an expert in K–12 and higher education. The two worked together previously on the Oakland Education Cabinet, a group initially organized in 1996 that included members of the school board, city council, PTA, faith groups, nonprofit policy organizations, and higher education institutions to improve educational systems and community involvement throughout the Oakland schools.

Professor of Book Art Kathleen Walkup has curated Hand, Voice, and Vision: Artists’ Books from Women’s Studio Workshop, a retrospective featuring works by some of the most influential contemporary book artists in America. Walkup also edited the accom-panying catalogue. The exhibition opened in New York City in December, is currently on view in Portland, Maine, and will travel to locations around the country over the next two years.

Walkup selected the 40 works in this comprehensive exhibition to illustrate three distinct facets of the book program at Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW). “By ‘hand,’ I was focusing on the idea that the women of the Women’s Studio Workshop are makers—the founders wanted to make art,” she says. “For ‘voice,’ I wanted to explore not just women’s voices, but the diversity of women’s voices.” Other works on display explore the visionary nature of artwork that forges new directions in the medium of book arts.

The Women’s Studio Workshop, located in Rosendale, New York, provides studio facilities and technical expertise to produce limited-edition artists’ books. Nearly 200 artists have participated since the workshop was established in 1974.

A fully illustrated catalogue is available with essays by Walkup, artists, teachers, and others on the topic of artists’ books and WSW’s role in the field, as well as interviews with the four founders. More about the exhibition, catalogue, and related events can be found at www.handvoicevision.com.

Kathy Walkup rests during the installation of the exhibition. Inset: Don’t Bug the Waitress, by

Susan Baker, one of the artists’ books on display.

Katherine Schultz

photo by steve babulJak

The implications of gender bias in educa-

tion resonate with Schultz’ own experience. As a student in one of the first waves of female undergraduates to enter Yale after that university went coed in 1969, Schultz noted how she and her female peers struggled. “The men I knew at Yale all gained confidence through their expe-riences, while the women lost confidence because there were so few role models,” she says.

In fact, Mills’ commitment to women’s education is one main reason she joined the faculty. Now, Schultz says, being a part of the Mills community has both reinforced and expanded her philoso-phies about access and education.

“The College provides access for many kinds of students who haven’t tradition-ally had access to higher education,” she says. “The way we think about diversity at Mills encompasses equity and access in very broad ways.”

Providing such access is especially cru-cial in the School of Education. Expanding the pool of students who are preparing to teach, says Schultz, broadens the range of viewpoints in the classroom and provides role models for the diverse students in today’s classrooms.

Schultz takes her own role as a men-tor seriously. “I often think about what it

The new dean of the School of Education shares insights from urban classrooms

Listen and learn

means to be a woman dean and how I can provide opportunities and conditions for others to thrive and grow.”

Schultz’ expertise in diversity and access has deep roots in her class-

room practice. After receiving her bach-elor’s degree in environmental education from Yale, she earned a PhD in educa-tion from the University of Pennsylvania. She taught elementary science in Philadelphia area schools and was a prin-cipal at a Quaker school in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania—experiences that led to her ongoing study of conditions in urban schools.

“I became interested in figuring out how we teach in urban settings—particu-larly with teachers who come from white, middle-class backgrounds—and how we cross those lines of race and class and age.”

It isn’t easy. New teachers, especially in urban settings, face overcrowding, poverty, language barriers, and other complex social, cultural, and economic dynamics that can overwhelm even the most experienced educator. Giving new teachers the resources and support they need is key when it comes to ensuring job satisfaction, Schultz says.

Whatever the city, she adds, low-per-

By Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04

8  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Long before she arrived at Mills, Katherine Schultz looked to the College for ideas about education, leadership, and gender.

Schultz, who joined Mills in September as the new dean of the School

of Education, used the College’s famed 1990 Strike, in which students

successfully rallied to reverse the Mills administration’s decision to admit

undergraduate men, as a crucial teaching point in her class on gender and

education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 9

forming, high-poverty schools are usually characterized by a high teacher turnover rate, and the correlation between teacher retention and improved student perfor-mance is well documented. “The research is clear,” Schultz says. “After about five years, a teacher hits her stride in under-standing how to teach—so the longer we can support teachers to stay in a school the stronger teachers we’ll have.”

In fact, it was the possibilities inher-ent in the Mills School of Education’s

ongoing partnerships with East Bay schools that helped lure Schultz from her life in Philadelphia, where she had spent the last 12 years teaching at University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Schultz was also director of Penn’s Center for Collaborative Research and Practice in Teacher Education, which brings together teachers, teacher edu-cators, researchers, policy makers, and activists to reinvigorate policy and prac-tice for teacher education locally, nation-ally, and globally.

“The opportunity to focus on educa-tion with schools in the surrounding areas is another of the things that drew me to Mills,” Schultz says. Many classes in the three graduate study programs at the School of Education—Early Childhood Education, Teacher Preparation, and Educational Leadership—offer field-based components that place Mills student-teachers in local classrooms. Mills also has begun to cultivate a closer relation-ship with officials in the Oakland Unified School District. But the partnerships, she points out, are hardly a one-way street.

“It’s not simply that we want to bring our ‘experts’ to the schools and use them as a laboratory; we want to build collab-orative partnerships where we can share resources and work together towards a vision of educating all children,” says Schultz.

Schultz has conducted extensive research on topics as wide-ranging as

effective literacy learning at elementary, high school, and adult levels; the educa-tional uses of storytelling and fiction writ-

ing; combating racism and gender bias in the classroom; and teacher preparation and mentoring. She has authored or co-authored some 20 refereed journal arti-cles, three books, and dozens of papers. Her decidedly feminist stance embraces education as a powerful tool for pro-

moting social justice—a basic tenet that is reflected in the School of Education’s guiding principles, which state that teaching is a political act.

“Kathy’s interest and values match those of Mills and the School of Education,” says Mills Provost and Dean of the Faculty Sandra Greer. “We antici-pate new energy and new ideas, and a continuation of Mills’ academic excel-lence coupled with community engage-ment and service.”

“The idea of teaching as a reflective, principled practice is central to our mis-sion at Mills—and also our distinctive-ness,” adds Schultz. “The program here is urban-focused, inquiry-oriented, and built on the principles of social justice.”

Y et one of schultz’ core educational philosophies is rooted in a simple,

overlooked classroom resource:Silence. “It’s about listening and recognizing

who students are in the classroom,” says Schultz, who has written two books on the subject, Listening, a Framework for Teaching Across Differences and Rethinking Classroom Participation: Listening to Silent Voices. Her concept is built on four funda-mentals: listening to individual students, taking note of the rhythm and balance of a classroom, tuning in to students’ lives outside the classroom, and, finally, being aware of silence—“what is said and what isn’t said.”

Though there may be a perception that students are a rowdy, noisy bunch, most classrooms are actually comprised of chil-dren with varying approaches to learn-ing—and it’s the quieter students who are often overlooked in the hustle and bustle of a typical classroom, she says.

“Students are silent for different rea-sons,” Schultz says. “Teachers can look at silence as a whole to help their under-standing of a classroom and classroom interaction.”

As schultz Moves forward as leader of the School of Education,

her philosophy of silence will augment the already outstanding scholarship in teacher education at Mills. She looks ahead to strengthening the existing part-nerships with Oakland public schools and to collaborating with faculty throughout the school.

“It’s all about our ideas coming together,” says Schultz. “My goal is to gather various research programs and fund additional projects that address crit-ical educational issues.” She’s also clear about her goal of providing the best pos-sible preparation for the next generation of teachers—and the best possible educa-tion for their students.

Although the Oakland schools where Mills student teachers do their fieldwork are “a very challenging place to work,” Schultz says the Mills curriculum and ongoing professional development pro-gram go a long way to helping a teacher feel supported—an important foundation in building their long-term success.

“A teacher’s own education doesn’t end when they’re done taking courses,” Schultz says. “When teachers go into the classroom, they’re continuing to learn.”

Students are silent for different reasons.

Teachers can look at silence as a whole to help their understanding of a classroom and classroom interaction.

10  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

the true Measure of the School of Education’s success is in the lasting change being created by its graduates: from primary school

through college, at the front of their classrooms or behind the scenes in administration. Each of these graduates shows the difference one person can make—and how skills learned at Mills are improving education for many.

When Alberto nodAl, MA ’08, stumbled into a job as a kindergarten classroom aide, his career plans suddenly came clear. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is what I want to do,’” he recalls. When he decided to pursue a teach-ing credential, the Mills education program offered the same sense of certainty.

Nodal now teaches at Colonial Acres Elementary in San Lorenzo, which is in its fourth year of an academic improve-ment program. He is adamant about the

need to provide his students with a broad education, despite the mandate to focus on preparing students for standardized achievement tests. “Teachers are torn between knowing what’s right and good for children and meeting the demands that come from the district or the state or the federal level,” he says. “But I incorpo-rate art, dance, and drama wherever I can. Learning should be fun, and I do try to integrate things—if it’s art, it’s also math or reading or social studies.”

Nodal builds relationships with parents to make them partners in education. He creates meaningful learning opportuni-ties, in which kids actively puzzle out answers to arrive at their own under-standings of things. And, he says, “I try to instill a sense of respect in my students. Respect each other, respect this world.”

“Teachers often isolate themselves in their classroom,” he notes. “You need the support of others—and Mills gives you a network.” Since graduation, Nodal has participated in the Mills Teacher Scholars Program, which allows working teach-ers to investigate a pedagogical topic within their classroom. He is presenting results of his inquiry studying the aca-demic success of his bilingual students at the California Association for Bilingual Education conference in March.

“I feel like I’m making a difference in the community where I work,” says Nodal. “As a Latino male, I can be a role model to these kids. Although some days are hard, I go home happy that I’m there.”

ttttttttttttttt

reginA StAnbAck Stroud, MA ’08, edd ’09,

already had an impressive career in higher education before she ever set foot on the Mills campus. With more than 20 years of experience in community college teaching and administration, she had served as pres-ident of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) and as vice president at Skyline Community College in San Bruno, California. The ASCCC had

even established the Stanback Stroud Diversity Award in her honor to recognize community college faculty members pro-moting the success of the diverse student population.

“I was very interested in working on a terminal degree,” says Stroud, who knew a doctorate would give her the knowl-edge and skills to continue to the next professional level. “Mills offered that opportunity with a real commitment to social justice. The school is a wonderful enclave of authenticity around educa-tional leadership,” she says.

And what, exactly, is educational lead-ership?

“For me, it’s about using my position to move the institution or organization in a direction that upsets the status quo,” says Stanback Stroud, who was named presi-dent of Skyline College in November. “I call this idea ‘leading to transgress.’”

Stanback Stroud sees herself as an advocate for those who may benefit most from education. She argued against a recent proposal to eliminate English lan-guage development classes in the com-munity college system, pointing out the significant effect this would have on a large segment of students.

“You have to recognize the implica-tions of policies,” she says, “as well as the implications of all the assumptions within an institution.”

“Leadership is about having a con-sciousness,” she continues. “I want to do my part, to be a part of necessary change.”

educationeffect

the

Regina Stanback Stroud

By Linda Schmidt

Alberto Nodal

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 11photo by dana davis

By Rachel Leibrock, MFA ’04

Virtual world, real world

Kahne has long studied the connection between youth and civic engagement in the traditional classroom setting, and his insights have been cited in publications from the Chronicle of Higher Education to the New York Times. His research examines what courses and experiences best encourage young people to take action such as voting, volunteering, working with others on community issues, or contributing to charity—actions that many thinkers argue are necessary for a healthy, democratic society.

In recent years, some of his focus has moved from the classroom to the computer.“A great deal of young people’s civic engagement is going online, but what we don’t

know is how that will change the overall quality of participation,” he says. “Do people become better informed online? Do they hear more divergent perspectives?”

Kahne—who is also director of the campus’s Civic Engagement Research Group, which investigates civic learning opportunities both in and out of school—has already logged considerable time contemplating such questions. (See more about CERG at www.civicsurvey.org.) In a 2008 survey of 1,000 teenageers, conducted with the Pew Internet and American Life Project and funded by the MacArthur Foundation, he studied the quantity and quality of their civic engagement and their time spent playing video games of all sorts.

Study results exploded a persistent myth: “We examined the image of video games being socially isolating—that the kids who are most into them are loners and a little strange,” he says. “But in fact we found that kids who play video games tend to be more socially engaged than those who don’t.”

Some games, such as the complex role-playing game Civilization, offer what Kahne calls “civic gaming experiences,” such as creating a virtual nation, helping or guiding other players, exploring a social problem or ethical issue, or organizing game groups or guilds. Teens who had these experiences were “more likely to report interest and engagement in civic and political activities.” Kahne’s most recent studies further sug-gest that such interest-based online communities often expose members to people who differ widely in other regards.

Now, as chair of the nationwide Youth and Participatory Politics (YPP) research network, Kahne plans to expand upon his previous work. Funded by the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative, the YPP network (ypp.dmlcentral.net) will investigate how the Internet and digital media influence political engagement. Kahne and his colleagues will explore such topics as the intersection of social network-ing and activism or the effects of digital literacy training.

“So much civic and political life is online. We’ve got to pay attention to new media when we think about civic learning,” says Kahne. The crux of his research, he adds, highlights a striking and fundamental contrast. “For some adults, the online world is new and not fully accepted,” he says, “but for youth, it’s just a part of their lives.”

These interactive Internet communities and games aren’t just ways for kids to pass time online, says Professor of Education Joseph Kahne, they may also be helping to transform the ways youth learn about and participate in civic and political life.

Facebook. Twitter. World of Warcraft.

Joseph Kahne

M

12  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

“My lifelong work is still what I learnt in the chemistry building at Mills, but literature has encouraged me to write in my spare time,” Lienfung Li Ho ’43 says with typical mod-esty. After fleeing her childhood home in Shanghai following the Japanese invasion of 1937 and pursuing her education at Mills, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Cornell University, Ho has conquered several careers on three continents and raised three successful children. “Mills and MIT taught me how to use my head and my hands,” says the woman who turned a rag-tag warehouse with untrained workers into a respected chemical analysis lab—and followed her passion for literature to write books and newspaper columns in both English and Chinese.

After graduating from Mills, Ho worked briefly as a laboratory assistant in an aluminum smelting plant in New Jersey before pursuing a master’s degree in organic chemistry at MIT.

“One year later, I realized my heart was elsewhere—my interest was not in chemistry, but in literature,” she says. But instead of balking at the idea of a change in vocation, she transferred from MIT to Cornell University, where she acquired a master’s degree in literature in 1946 and a lifelong love of writing. She also soon acquired a husband—Ho Rih-hwa, who was then a doctoral stu-dent at Harvard. “I personally think it might have been easier to stick to chemistry at MIT, but I had so much more fun reading poets and essays,” Ho says, a bit mischievously.

It was chemistry, though, that paid the bills. Her father soon sent Lienfung and her husband to Bangkok, Thailand, to buy tungsten and other ores being exported from that country. The Hos also set up a lab to analyze the ores. “I became chief chem-ist—or rather, the only chemist, since Bangkok in 1948 was still short of skilled workers,” Ho says wryly.

Working conditions were rough: Although the lab had been stocked with American equipment, there was no electricity or gas to run the burners. Ho built her staff from the ground up as well. “I had 12 girls under me, but none of them even had pri-mary school education,” she recalls. “They were anxious to learn and do well, and before one knew it, I had a wonderful team.” The accuracy of their work allowed local ore exporters to receive

the bulk of payment immediately, rather than waiting months for payment to be received after their ores had been shipped overseas and verified by labs on the receiving end.

At her husband’s suggestion, Ho then set her sights on another local product: tapioca flour. “I would never have both-ered with this product because my head was full of unwritten poems,” says Ho. “But a challenge was a challenge, so I set my mind and thought about it.” In the end, the Hos built 12 modern tapioca factories to supply American and European consumers. She also went on to devise industrial production of bean starch

From the chemistry lab to the writing desk, Lienfung Li Ho ’43 has forged successes throughout her life’s journey

Around the world in 80 yeArs

By Sarah Stevenson, MFA ’04

1943

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 13

have treasured,” says Minfong. “What did she write? Chinese poems? Letters to her mother? Short stories? I never knew, but the sense of her immersed in a vibrant, mysterious world apart from us—and yet so integral to her—came through strongly. Her writing was a bridge to her ‘other’ life.”

Lienfung’s two other children, sons Kwonping and Kwoncjan, jointly lead the Banyan Tree Hotel group, with resorts in more than two dozen locations worldwide.

For 67 years after her graduation, Ho had been in the Bay Area often, but never returned to campus. “I did not want to lose the Mills I loved,” she says. “I realized that changes were inevi-table and told myself: ‘Let the future generation have their own memories, but let me keep mine.’”

vermicelli, which previously had been made only by hand. “I spent a whole year studying this process, separating super-

stition from facts, and came up with a modern factory by pure logical reasoning,” Ho says proudly. “This factory is still operating; the packaging department alone employs 1,000 workers. This is probably my proudest achievement . . . and it certainly pays well!”

In 1967, Ho’s husband was appointed Singapore’s ambassador to Thailand. He went on to serve as ambassador to Belgium, the European Common Market, Switzerland, and Germany, leading the couple to live in many of the great capitals of Europe. Despite the gravity demanded at state receptions, palace dinners, and other official business, Mrs. Ho retained her sense of mischief and humor.

“As an ambassador’s wife, I was a total wash-up—I knew noth-ing of diplomatic spying,” she jokes. But she was certainly a hit among their diplomatic friends. “I was just myself, making a lot of my ambassador friends laugh. It was said that they all liked to sit next to me at a banquet because I could crack more jokes than the protocol officers allowed.” They remained in Europe until the early 1970s, when the couple returned to Singapore for good and Mrs. Ho started her writing career in earnest.

She published her first collection of short stories in 1965 and, in 1979, began writing weekly columns in Chinese and English for two Singapore newspapers. By now, she has more than ten books under her belt—the most recent a semi-biography about her parents titled A Daughter Remembers. She wrote the story in Chinese, and then translated it into English.

Her daughter, Minfong Ho, an accomplished fiction writer her-self, retains vivid childhood memories of her mother writing late at night, under the lamplight, after she thought her children were asleep. It was “a rare moment of quiet and solitude that she must

But during a family reunion in San Francisco last summer, Lienfung’s three children and their spouses, along with six grandchildren, persuaded her to make a long-overdue visit to the College. Minfong says this may have been Lienfung’s first real homecoming after a lifetime of peregrinations, adventures, and achievements. “She left her Shanghai home at age 15 and didn’t go back until decades later, to find it burnt down and replaced by a bank building. Her home in Bangkok has changed so drastically that she only visited once,” says Minfong. “But coming back to Mills was quite a revelation to her: she was able to return and find the room she used to live in, and show us how she climbed out the window of Mills Hall to the ledge outside. ‘Nothing has changed!’ she kept saying, and this was a source of visceral satisfaction to her.”

Upon returning to her old stomping grounds, Mrs. Ho admit-ted, “I am glad that my children insisted. It was heartwarming to look at Mills Hall and to be in my old dormitory room, listening to the chimes once again.”

1968 2011

1943: Jennie Yee Lau ’46, Lienfung Li Ho ’43, Betty Chu Wo ’46, Winifred Ching Chau ’45, and Lillian Yung Ching ’45 at Mills; 1968: Son Kwoncjan, daughter Minfong, husband Rih-Hwa, Lienfung, and son Kwonping at the Singapore embassy in Thailand; 2011: Lienfung and her children, Kwonping, Kwoncjan, and Minfong.

Math is fundamental: Maia Averett, in striped sweater at right, plays Blokus with Möbius Band members.

Taylor Tate and Shivangi Bhatnagar, above right, face off in a game of Qwirkle.

inspiration

By Susan McCarthy

Photos by Keith Lewis

Integrals

Mathematicians are a rare breed, and female mathematicians are rarer still. What attracts women to math—and how does Mills encourage this pursuit?

late in the seMester, the atmosphere in Assistant Professor Maia Averett’s Calculus 1 class is jaunty, jokey, casually focused. But serious learning is going on: calculating the volumes of solids using the definite integral. There are brownies and cookies. The task includes sketching solids created by revolving a two-dimensional region around an axis. “I understand the concept, I just don’t understand doing the drawing,” a student grum-bles as she taps her pencil in frustration.

Averett does an example. “Just set up the integral,” she tells the class. “Draw your pic-ture and set up your integral and eat cookies.” She moves through the room, looking at the work. “You guys are doing great!” Back at the whiteboard, she often calls on students who’ve been too shy to speak up—but whose work has shown her they know the answer. This is one example of how Mills excels at teaching math. No student gets lost in a crowd, no voice is drowned out—and no one is allowed to take their ability for granted.

A few nights later, in the same room, there’s an exuberant meeting of the Math Club, which Averett started this year. Club meetings may feature an invited lecturer, but tonight it’s math games (and more cookies). Play is enthusiastic, punctuated with laugh-ter and exclamations. “Why isn’t there a purple solid diamond?” someone wails. The club is named the Möbius Band (for the looping, one-sided surface also called a Möbius strip), and students present Averett with a knitted Möbius scarf to “thank you for everything, and for starting math club.”

Club attendees include math majors and minors, calculus students, and a few students who just come for the fun of it. It’s a place where students are in the company of other women who enjoy math, a setting many have never encountered before. It helps to transform math from a subject you have to pass to a field that is delightful to explore.

14  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

the nuMber of woMen entering mathematics fluctuates. Currently, numbers of both men and women majoring in math are increasing, but the number of women majors is rising much more slowly. Across the country women make up around 40 percent of undergraduate math majors, a percentage that plunges in graduate studies. Teaching makes a tremendous difference in the number of women studying math. At Mills, with small classes, the encouragement of dedi-cated professors, and deeply engaged students, math is flourishing.

Math students at Mills don’t take a narrow view of mathematics, but perceive breadth and depth in the field and its history. Sophomore Emily Searle-White calls math “a global thing. It’s not specific to California or to this country. It’s eternal.” She likens the study of math to learning a new language. “I’m not sure I ever understood how beautiful it was when I was growing up.”

Shivangi Bhatnagar, vice president of the Möbius Band, says, “Math connects thousands of years’ worth of history in one line of thread. To think I am learning the theorems and works of mathematicians and logicians from so long ago is so touching and inspiring.” Bhatnagar is in a dual-degree engineering program that will result in a BA in math and a BS in industrial engineering to be completed at the University of Southern California.

Club secretary Erika Refsland ’14 notes that “every problem is filled with opportunity—different ways to perceive it, understand it, and solve it. Sometimes, when things get overwhelming, it’s stress-relieving to completely focus in on a long problem. Once I figure it out, I feel so triumphant.”

These are the attitudes Mills professors aim to nourish in their students. But the College’s focus on math is a relatively recent development. When Professor Lenore Blum came to Mills in the early 1970s, mathematics courses were folded into science departments. Blum was assigned to teach College Algebra, a “dead-end course” that didn’t prepare students for more advanced math. Concerned by that course’s lackluster content, she saw a chance to “really change the tra-jectory of people’s lives. If I could quickly get people into pre-calculus work-shops—where students could get the preparatory material in one semester, no matter what their background—they could be prepared for calculus.”

Students responded enthusiastically, and in 1974 Blum founded the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. Professor Steven Givant, who still teaches at Mills, also helped set the course of the department early on. The positive effect on students was psychological as well as educational: “If you can do calculus, you think, ‘Wow! I can do real mathematics,’” says Blum, who is now a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Barbara LiSanti, professor of mathematics and computer science, says many students take math as a requirement for a science major. “Our job is to pat them on the shoulder and say ‘Hey! Notice that you’re good at this. Maybe you should do more!’”

inspirationBy Susan McCarthy

Photos by Keith Lewis

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Zvezdelina Stankova entices people into math. She poses a mathematical problem—a theorem, or a puzzle. It’s easy to understand the question, but how to solve it is mysterious. Then Stankova will talk about a relevant area of math, and explain how it’s done. “I show them the magic transformation into a new problem that they can solve. At the end we come back to the problem and kill it!” she says with zeal.

Professor Stankova uses this snare in her Problem Solving Techniques class at Mills and at the Berkeley Math Circle, a kids’ after-school program modeled on the study circles Stankova joined while growing up in Eastern Europe. In that culture, Stankova says, “I never felt that because I was a girl I was not supposed to go into mathematics.” Math circle training led Stankova to compete in two International Math Olympiads, the world championship competition for high school students.

When she began teaching, Stankova was dismayed to find that most US high school math students don’t prove theorems. Some encounter proofs in geometry, but in a constricting format that Stankova says “misses the beauty of mathematics.” The problems are boringly obvious. “Enthusiasm gets drained by such a course.”

Today, she delights in passing on her enthusiasm and her sense of ability and, in January, Stankova received the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics, the highest teaching award from the Mathematical Association of America (pictured below). This honors “extraordinarily successful” teachers who have demonstrated “influence beyond their own institutions.”

At Mills, Stankova often encounters students who’ve had the uninspiring pre-college math experience her style of teaching combats. She encounters women who “did not have the opportunity before to be drawn into mathemat-ics. By chance, they walk into a math class, and their view of mathematics changes immediately.”

Stankova has even used the power of math to show that the number of math majors and minors at Mills dipped following periods when calculus was taught by a non-permanent faculty member. The department now includes a tenure-track position to lead that class.

As a result, she exults, “There are more math students, more double majors, and more students ‘defect’ to mathematics. Math at Mills is a subject to be loved, explored, and ultimately conquered by women.”

Circles aren’t for squares

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 15

a sMall liberal arts college can be a superb place to study math. Averett says her experiences as a student at the University of California at San Diego and Santa Barbara, with their notoriously huge class sections, discouraged her about the potential of math teaching. Then she found Mills. “I came here because I thought that it would be a great place to get women interested in math, to foster women’s love of math in a stress-free envi-ronment, and to support their learning.”

Junior Savannah Smith, a math major who is strongly considering a math grad-uate program, agrees. While people often think of mathematics as solitary, she says, she’s found it unexpectedly interac-tive. “It’s really integral to be able to ask questions. I’ve had classes as small as five people. You can talk in a normal voice. You’re not going to be left behind in these classes—and you’re also being kept on your toes.”

“Students are not allowed to just sit back and watch. We’re on their case all the time,” says LiSanti. “At bigger schools there’s so much emphasis on research and so little on teaching. At Mills, teach-ing is primary.”

Studying math is valuable to stu-dents with diverse career plans. Math courses help students get into gradu-ate school and get jobs, says Professor of Mathematics Zvezdelina Stankova. “A lot of students realize the advantage that mathematics gives them in economics, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, or envi-ronmental studies. They are all develop-ing mathematical methods.”

“If you have a bachelor’s degree in math everyone will think you are smart!” Averett points out. More seriously, “It’s one of the subjects that teaches you to think analytically in a really structured way.”

Savannah Smith agrees that math study has altered her thinking. “I think

I’ll always have the learning skills and the ability to problem-solve and to think in the abstract. It’s helpful in working in groups, it’s helpful in projects, it’s help-ful in presentations.” Proving theorems is a useful model in non-math classes. “I’m able to rearrange things and put it out in a really logical way and end it properly.”

Sophomore Emmalena Illia, a math major planning to go to medical school, has already made connections between the mathematical study of probability she encountered in Professor Stankova’s Problem-Solving Techniques and the genetics she’s studied in biology.

First-year student Tala Councilman had hated math in high school, but needed to take at least a year of math at Mills. Then, in Calculus 1, she fell in love with the subject the first day. “It took having such a wonderful professor who really loves math to help me come to love math as well.”

Math is “a global thing. It’s eternal. I’m not sure I ever understood how beautiful it was when I was growing up.” —Emily Searle-White ’13

16  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 17

Bookshelf

The Baby of BellevilleBy Anne Marsella ’86 Portobello Books, 2010

When her French composer-husband brings a few co-workers home from the Paris carwash where he is working to earn some money, Jane de la Rochefoucault gets the feeling that something odd is about to happen. When these co-workers steal a secret prototype car to fund a res-cue plan for members of their Muslim brotherhood being held hostage, Jane’s mother-in-law hides them in her chateau while they work their plans—and Jane is embroiled in an adventure that will put her family in a bit of a predicament. Little does she know that her own famiglia con-nections will help save the day.

Anne Marsella’s novel combines the trials and tribulations of first-time moth-erhood, culture clashes, and marriage with an international crime caper. Mafia uncles, upper-crust communists, absent-minded avant-garde composers, and feminist academics are just some of the wonderful characters she has created to enliven her tale of raising a baby in Belleville, a multicultural, mainly immi-grant section of Paris.

While the plot features some imagina-tive flights of fancy, there are wonderfully real depictions of events and issues that many mothers will recognize: concerns about whether or not to breastfeed, bal-ancing work and family, setting up your home with limited income, and learning how to fit into life in a foreign country all come up in both serious and hilarious situations.

The Latte RebellionBy Sarah Jamila Stevenson, MFA ’04 Flux, 2011

“Latte. It’s two things. Coffee mixed with milk. Sometimes with cinnamon on top. Just like us. We’re living, breathing, lattes,” says brainy senior Asha Jamison—half Indian, a quarter Mexican, and a quar-ter Irish—to her friend Carey, who is half Chinese and half Caucasian. After find-ing themselves on the receiving end of a stupidly racist taunt from the head of the Asian American Club at school, Asha and Carey hatch the Latte Rebellion, a scheme to sell t-shirts championing the rights of mixed-race people everywhere, with a marketing angle that includes a witty and, some might say, seditious “manifesto.” Though their initial aim is simply to finance a post-graduation trip to anywhere else, the manifesto soon takes on a life of its own and Asha finds herself facing expulsion. She also comes to realize what it means to commit to a cause that is meaningful and important.

Stevenson’s headstrong, complicated, and thoughtful protagonist deals with a wide variety of teenage issues, from the high expectations of her parents and the stress of college admissions to the tragedy of growing apart from a best friend and, of course, the panic and thrill of young love. But the novel doesn’t pander to young readers, assuming instead that they will relate to Asha’s swings from self-doubt and guilt to determination and triumph—and will understand, in the end, how the path you were meant to take isn’t neces-sarily the one you planned to follow.

Blue ShyBy Barbara Meyer Link, MA ’77 Order at www.blueshy.net

It is perhaps a parent’s worst nightmare: a child has been brutally attacked and is fighting for her life. For Barbara Link, this awful scenario became real when her 18-year-old daughter “Ellie” was the victim of a violent assault. (Names in the book have been changed to protect Ellie’s anonymity.) After more than two weeks in a coma, she emerged with a severe brain injury and an uncertain future. This well-written, true saga is compelling and heart-wrenching as it follows both mother and daughter as they negoti-ate medical, personal, and bureaucratic obstacles on the long path to recovery. From anger at the crime itself and the frustrations that accompany the difficul-ties of her daughter’s battle to heal to the gratitude at the unexpected support of acquaintances and delight in Ellie’s suc-cesses, the author shares her emotional turbulence with searing honesty.

The book serves as a ray of hope for those who are affected by traumatic brain injury, but it’s an inspiring story in its own right. The strength of the bond between mother and daughter is tested and transformed throughout the story, and Ellie’s determination and spirit are nothing short of extraordinary.

AAMC involvement: Member, AAMC Board of Governors Human Resources Committee; Alumnae of Color Committee; Nominating Committee; executive director; Mills College Transition Team; interim director, Alumnae Relations; member, AAMC Writing Group.

How Mills affected my life: Mills gave me the freedom to be creative without boundaries; to turn youthful mistakes into a lifelong focus on learning; to use my voice to effect change and help others; to know when silence has great impact; to enjoy the blessings of eternal friendships; and to present myself to the world with confidence.

The Alumnae Association and its relationship to the College: I see the AAMC as a true partner with the College with a stronger voice to enhance the participation of alumnae in the Mills community in an open, transparent alliance with a shared mission.

The future of Mills College: To increase support for the students and programs of the College by successfully obtaining additional resources. To maintain the excellent academic reputation currently enjoyed by continuing to retain and attract the best and brightest in academia and operations. Because the playing field is still not level, it is vitally important to maintain places where women can learn, use their voices and talents, support each other, and exhale unfettered.

Alumna Trusteeone of the three women described

on these pages will be your next Alumna Trustee. Help

determine who it will be by casting your vote now.

Serving for three years (July 1, 2011, through June 30,

2014) as a full member of both the Mills College Board of

Trustees and the Board of Governors of the Alumnae

Association of Mills College (AAMC), this Alumna Trustee

will help ensure that alumnae are well represented in the

leadership of the College by conveying the views of the

AAMC board to the College board. She will join continuing

Alumnae Trustees Gayle Rothrock ’68 and Julia

Almanzan ’92.

We are pleased to present this slate of accomplished and

dedicated women: Sheryl J. Bizé Boutté ’73, Lyn Flanigan

’65, and Diana Birtwistle Odermatt ’60. Please note that

Flanigan is currently serving as Alumna Trustee; her term

is set to end on June 30, but AAMC bylaws allow her to

serve consecutive terms if re-elected to the position.

The ballot is printed on the inside back cover of

this Quarterly and must be received by the Alumnae

Association of Mills College (AAMC) by May 11, 2011.

elect your

18  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Sheryl J. Bizé Boutté ’73

Oakland, California

Major: English

Student activities: Columnist for Mills Stream (now The Campanil), Black Student Union, work-study at the West Oakland Health Center, administrative assistant in Admission Office.

Employment/volunteer experience: 1970: board member, Volunteer Bureau of Alameda County; 1970–1973: director, administrative services, West Oakland Health Center; 1974–1975: Oakland Schools Scholars and Achievers; 1973–2004: US Department of Energy (various, including director, HR, IT, and security); 2005–2007: executive director, Alumnae Association of Mills College; Women’s Leadership Institute, Advisory Board; interim director, Alumnae Relations, Mills College; 2007–present: VP strategic planning, Expanding Your Horizons Network; 2009–present: owner, Bizé-Boutté Organizational Solutions.

AAMC involvement: Alumna Admission Representative; Hawaii Mills Club; AAMC Board.

How Mills affected my life: For three years, I have been honored to serve as an Alumna Trustee, working with staff, faculty, alumnae, and students. From a small mid-western town to a multicultural, multiethnic international community, I have made the Mills journey. Mills prepared me for higher education and challenging professional and leadership positions, enabling me to serve the Mills Board on the Finance, Trustee, and Alumnae Relations Committees. Mentoring wonderful current Mills women is a bonus.

The Alumnae Association and its relationship to the College: The AAMC provides informed and involved alumnae leadership, shaped by shared experiences and diverse perspectives—a strong partner with a dedicated board and a new College president who is commit-ted to women’s education and who understands the critical impor-tance of alumnae. I am excited to contribute to this process.

The future of Mills College: Alumnae of women’s colleges excel as leaders, and Mills is answering the challenge to develop professional and leadership programs for women, built on a liberal arts founda-tion. As an Alumna Trustee, I am very proud to be a product of Mills and hope I have the opportunity to continue to contribute to Mills’ growth and development. We have many challenges and a very bright future with the help of Mills alumnae.

afforded to me by receiving a full scholarship to Mills. I blossomed in its encouraging academic life and developed a clear vision of all that I could accomplish with hard work and dedication.

The Alumnae Association and its relationship to the College: AAMC is the voice of 22,000+ alumnae across the country and the world. AAMC retains its independence in developing programs and outreach opportunities for the needs of current and future Mills graduates. The AAMC maintains a strong bond between alumnae and the College. I am confident that Mills and its new president, Alecia DeCoudreaux, understand the great value of alumnae contributions and will strengthen the partnership with the AAMC to create stronger programs for all alumnae/i.

The future of Mills College: Mills’ future glows with promise as we step into a new era of leadership. My hope is that Mills will continue at the forefront of education in preparing undergraduate women and graduate women and men for a lifetime of opportunity and change.

What is the role of women’s colleges in higher education? Women’s colleges create a place for women of all ages to discover their talents. Students find a strong community, learn to think analyti-cally, write and speak effectively, prepare for a career, and become socially aware. Women’s colleges create future women leaders.

Lyn Flanigan ’65

Honolulu, Hawaii

Major: Religion/Asian Studies MA Asian studies, JD, University of Hawaii

Student activities: ASMC Judicial Board chair; ASMC Social Board chair; Mary Morse social chair; other committees and activities.

Employment: Executive director, Hawaii State Bar Association; previously vice president/general counsel/corporate secretary, Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.; senior counsel, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate; Goodsill Anderson Quinn Stifle law firm; federal clerkships; East-West Center staff.

Volunteer experience: Mills College Alumna Trustee; East-West Center Board of Governors; Red Cross/Hawaii board; YWCA of Oahu Board; Friends of William S. Richardson School of Law; East-West Center Alumni/Foundation boards; other boards/commissions on leadership, mentoring, professionalism, and civic education.

Diana Birtwistle Odermatt ’60

Berkeley, California

Major: Psychology

Student activities: Orchard Meadow Hall president, orientation chair, social chair, junior class program chair, many drama productions.

Employment: Mills dean of admissions and financial aid; development director positions with Head-Royce School, UC Berkeley, Bentley School; educational fundraising consultant.

AAMC involvement: Vice president AAMC; chair, Resource Development; chair, Annual Fund; Committees: Finance, Reunion, Human Relations, Alumnae Relations Advisory Committee; class secretary; created the Alumnae Admission Representatives Program, designed the Alumnae Awards Program.

How Mills affected my life: As the first in my family to be born in the US and to attend college, I appreciate the enormous opportunities

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 19

e did ourselves a big favor

by opening up two charitable

gift annuities with Mills. These

gifts return a higher rate than we

could get any other way, and the

quarterly payments are predictable

and guaranteed. At the same time,

we’re supporting education, which

we believe is the key to making

a difference in the world. A Mills

education, in particular, prepares

women to exert a profound

influence on every aspect of life.

ooking for income you can count on but nervous about the stock market? Consider investing in the future of Mills College.

Sample Gift Annuity Ratesas of January 31, 2011, based on $15,000 cash gift and one income recipient

Income is guaranteed for life; gifts are irrevocable; not available in some states.Rates, amount of tax free income, and charitable deduction are subject to change.

Kay Gilliland ’50 and Rhea Babbitt

L

W

With a Mills College charitable gift annuity, you receive a fixed income for life at attractive rates. The remainder of your gift benefits Mills as a meaningful legacy. A portion of your income is tax free, and your gift qualifies for a considerable charitable deduction.

Our annuity rates are generous and your income is protected from market fluctuations. You can fund a gift annuity with cash or securities.

Mills College offers a variety of planned giving opportunities, including gift annuities. Nancy Fowler ’69 and April Hopkins, MFA ’03, are available to help you. Contact them at 877.PG.MILLS (toll-free) or planagift@mills.edu.

ANNUITY ANNUITY TAX-FREE CHARITABLE AGE RATE (Annual Income) INCOME DEDUCTION

65 5.5% $825 $574 $3,573

75 6.4% $960 $724 $6,024

80 7.2% $1,080 $841 $7,091

85 8.1% $1,215 $994 $8,240

AlumnaeMargaret Page Greenleaf Buckley ’29, September 20, in Hanover, New Hampshire. She was 102. She grew up in San Jose and, following graduate work at Stanford and Berkeley, taught school in Alameda; several of her fifth graders kept in touch with her throughout their lives. She is survived by her daughter, a son, and five grandchildren.

Margaret Thompson Gannon ’35, September 16, in Bakersfield, California. A preschool director and family counselor, she was a lifelong advocate for children and, with her daughter, established a telephone out-reach program to support parents. She is survived by her daugh-ter, Mary Lee Hutson-Burt ’58; a son; and four grandchildren.

Dorothy Haugh Greiner ’35, December 27, 2009, in La Jolla, California. A patron of the musical arts, she served 12 years as district director of the San Diego Metropolitan Opera auditions and was named director emerita for her support of that organization. Survivors include two children, four grandchildren, and her cousin Elizabeth Tyler Escobar ’75.

Beverly Simpson Raley-Gantz ’38, November 2, in Underwood, Washington. She is survived by two daughters and five grandchildren.

Margaret Goold Slater ’38, October 25, in Placerville, California. She taught elementary school and, with her husband, started the first

Notices of death received before December 20, 2010

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

recreation department in El Dorado County as well as the county’s first teaching program for children with special needs. She is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.

Elizabeth Alexander Bonell ’39, June 14, in Reno, Nevada. She supported her community through work with the PTA, as a hospital volunteer and fundraiser, and as an active church member. Survivors include two children.

Helen Frank Sandack ’39, October 3, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was deeply engaged in the arts, democratic politics, the Jewish community, golf, and bridge. She is survived by her husband, A. Wally; five children; nine grandchildren; and her niece Sally Weinstock Fabian ’55.

Betsy Moors Goldsmith ’41, November 23, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She was a gifted watercolorist, a dedicated hospital volunteer, and a talented gardener. Survivors include two sons and a granddaughter.

Mildred “Mid” Olsen Moore ’41, December 3, in Paradise, California. She owned Ridge Realty Company and was a leader of the Elks Wives Club, National Parliamentarians, Garden Club, and the Paradise Poker Club. She is survived by her daughter, Christine Moore Anderson ’74, and five grandchildren.

Elizabeth Goode Rockwell ’41, September 11, in Escondido, California. She founded the dance program at New York’s famed High School of Performing Arts, started a dance school in Westchester County, New York, and launched the Westchester Dance Company (later known as the Rondo Dance Theater). After retiring, she taught at the California Center for the Arts and established an all-female troupe of dancers over 50. She is survived by her husband, Bill, and daughters Karen and Enid Rockwell ’73.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 29

In Memoriam

Gifts in Memory of

Ron Antontonioli by Jerome Oremland

Alda Nye Byron ’88 by Sharon Page-Medrich ’05

Willa Wolcott Condon, MA ’32, by Ann Condon Barbour ’69

Helene Dietrich ’58 by Sharon King Halpern ’58

Margaret Hincks Dyer ’43 by Candy Cornelius

Lori Fong by Marilyn Learn

Vera Foster by Alice McCracken ’63

Sally Foppiano Gallagher ’60 by Susan Stanton Smegal ’60

Denison Glass ’83 by Lisa Gleaton ’85

Elaine Johnson Gutleben ’44 by Chester Gutleben

Ethel Henteleff by Thomas Henteleff, Jerome Oremland

Francis Herrick ’64 by Sally Mayock Hartley ’48

Constant Mergentheimer Hopkins ’48 by Sally Mayock Hartley ’48

Edith Krassa, grandmother of Kathleen Krassa ’10, by Carol McCoy

Annette Swann Krueger ’54 by Diane Ferris Whyte ’54, Sandra Rietz Jones ’54

Edward LeFevour by Leslie Woodhouse ’90

Carol Lennox ’61 by Angelique Di Schino Felgentreff ’90

Elaine Lubisch by Karen Lubisch ’92

Received September 1–November 30, 2010

Sherman Maisel, husband of Lucy Cowdin Maisel ’38, by Leslie Stein Selcow ’63

Boitumelo McCallum ’09 by Teboho Moja, P ’09

Joan Gross McCusker ’46 by Lucile Pedler Griffiths ’46, MA ’47, Marion Hellyer King ’54, Paula Merrix Sporck ’46, Anne Nicholson Turchi ’47, Carol Lotz Wenzel ’46, MA ’47

Diane McEntyre by Tamitha Carpenter ’89

Georgiana Melvin by Mariah Imberman deForest ’59

Margery Foote Meyer ’45 by Emilie Reese Green ’45, Robert Vieregg

Evelyn Oremland by Sheri Szeles Brasher, MA ’82, Thomas Henteleff

Barbara Fairfax Phinney ’40 by Paula Merrix Sporck ’46

Clement Renzi, husband of Dorothy Ohannesian Renzi ’48, by Sally Mayock Hartley ’48

Tomme Jackson Stalker ’41 by Jean Morgan Randall ’41, Mildred Eberle Rothrock ’41

Marie Stevens ’47 by Janet Clark McCoy ’47

Susan Burnett Taha ’49 by Sally Mayock Hartley ’48

Charlene Brandt Taylor ’66 by Pamela Hunt ’68

Geraldine Stevens Toms ’44 by Maurine Martin Harkness ’71, Magen Michaud

Betty Taves Whitman ’46 by Patricia Bordonaro, Barbara Bucquet, George Chapman, Patricia Conklin, Marilyn French, Gary and Beverly Palma, Lucile Pedler Griffiths ’46, MA ’47, Joan Heyler, Barbara Johnson, Donald Moll, Lynda Taves Ogren ’54, Marjorie Schma, Antoinette Simmons, Paula Merrix Sporck ’46, Kathleen Waggoner, Donna Woods

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

Lois Heitler Hanson ’42, October 15, in Kensington, California. She taught high school in Richmond until 1978 and was a superb seam-stress. She is survived by her husband, Jack; two children; and two grandchildren.

Catharine “Kay” Damon Hopkins ’42, October 4, in Los Altos, California. Her 60-year teaching career began at a World War II relocation center for Japanese Americans and later led her to specialize in preschool and primary education. She led music workshops for children and was active in the Methodist Church. She is survived by her husband, Albert; three sons; and two grandchildren.

Barbara Besson Martin ’42, August 17, in Portland, Oregon. She participated in the Portland Junior Symphony Board, Reed College Women’s Committee, and the Waverley Country Club. She was also a golfer, calligrapher, duplicate bridge player, and fan of the Portland Trailblazers. She is survived by four children and nine grandchildren.

Marian Ready Smullen ’42, May 17, in Reno, Nevada. She learned to fly through the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) program and taught elementary school before raising her family. She is survived by her husband, John; two children; and two granddaughters.

Elizabeth Ragle Soule ’42, August 27, in Sandwich, Massachusetts. She supported her husband’s career as a Navy medical officer, was a member of the PEO, served as a church volunteer, and collected children’s books. She is survived by three sons and six grandchildren.

Mary Longmire Woodward ’43, November 15, in Prairie Village, Kansas. An accomplished pianist, she was a Girl Scout leader, PTA mom, and director of the boys’ choir at Second Presbyterian Church. She is survived by three daughters and eight grandchildren.

Elizabeth Booth Hodde ’44, September 8, in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. After raising her children, she earned her degree in interior design and worked in the field for many years. She was also involved at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, a member of the Hilton Head Art League, and a patron of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. She is survived by three children and nine grandchildren.

Beverly Henigson Mitchell ’44, October 30, in Beverly Hills, California. She was an educator and community leader, serving on the boards of the American Red Cross, the Los Angeles Music Center, the United

Jewish Appeal, United Way, and many other organizations. She is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.

Claudine Hunter Spindt ’45, October 24, in Suisun City, California.

Patricia Phillips Silleck ’46, November 21, in Littleton, Colorado. Raised in Honolulu, she settled in Scarsdale, New York, after World War II. After working as a model, she operated several antiques dealerships and was a member of the Appraisers Association of America. Survivors include two children and four grandchildren.

Hazel Ziegler Simon, MA ’48, August 12, in Palo Alto, California. She was a sculptor and faculty member at Riverside Art Center and wrote a weekly arts column in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Survivors include three sons and her niece Aleta Kennedy Hoyt ’72.

Marcia Stapp Welty ’48, June 26, in Newport, Rhode Island. She worked in television production in the early 1950s, was a member of the Conanicut Yacht Club, and was an ardent hiker. She is survived by her husband, Robert; two children; and two grandchildren.

Jeanne Harris Hansell ’49, October 3, in Washington, DC. She had a career as a mental health clinician and social worker and is survived by her husband, Herbert; three children; and two grandchildren.

Margaret Hudelson Scherer ’49, December 5, in Walnut Creek, California. She volunteered extensively on school outings, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, and in Scouting activities. She was an art docent, Art Guild president, and employee of the Oakland Museum of California. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Bill; four children; and seven grandchildren.

Patricia Henry Prindle ’50, June 24, in Los Angeles.

Constance Simi Barsotti ’52, November 5, in Madera, California. An accomplished pianist, she taught kindergarten and worked with children with special needs in her 31-year teaching career. She also was an organist for St. Joachim’s Church. She is survived by her husband, Ben; three children; and six grandchildren.

Marilyn Mason Black ’53, November 10, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She volunteered at the Oklahoma Historical Society genealogy library for over 30 years. She is survived by three children, nine grandchildren, and her cousin Betty Bryan Finley ’45.

30  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

Darl E. Bowers 1921–2011Most people will remember Professor Darl Bowers as a person who helped them learn to see the world around them. An outstanding observer, he brought a keen perception to his life as a scientist, teacher, artist, craftsman, and musician. He was the most skilled communicator of science I have known.

I first met Darl when I interviewed for my job at Mills; I observed his interactions with students and knew immediately that this was where I wanted to teach. Darl became my mentor and friend and was the same for many of my colleagues. Among the faculty, he led with quiet confidence and gentle persuasion; his integrity and charm impressed us all.

Darl Bowers received his PhD in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954; he began teaching biology at Mills that same year. In a career spanning more than three decades, he was an integral member of the campus community: he chaired the Life Sciences Department, served on numerous committees, and taught every course in the Biology Department. His scientific work, including original illustrations, is still included in publications such as Intertidal Invertebrates of California and Manual of Intertidal Invertebrates of Central California.

Darl’s enthusiasm, caring, knowledge, and wisdom influenced countless students. He helped many women enter and succeed in scientific fields which were, at the time, dominated by men.

Darl Bowers, professor emeritus of biology, passed away at home in Oakland on January 5. The campus community extends its deepest sympathy to his wife, Anita Aragon Bowers ’63; daughters George-Ann, Ondine, and Jeannette ’84; and five granddaughters.

—Remembered by John Vollmer, professor emeritus of chemistry

Sherman Maisel, husband of Lucy Cowdin Maisel ’38, former UC Berkeley economics professor and governor of the Federal Reserve system, September 29, in San Francisco.

Patrick McAvoy, husband of Caroline Bennett Fahlen ’69, October 13, in Guerneville, California.

Robert Morehead, husband of Gaylie Brockbank Morehead ’59, December 14, 2009, in Saint George, Utah.

Frank Morrison, husband of Jeanne Sterling Morrison ’45, December 6, 2009, in Los Altos, California.

Frank Podesta, father of Amy Podesta Hesla ’78, July 29, in Santa Rosa, California.

Donald Rosenberg, husband of Christa Barnes Rosenberg ’03, October 7, in Oakland, California.

Faculty and StaffJane Hohfeld Galante, December 1, in San Francisco. A major presence in chamber music in San Francisco for over 60 years as a pianist, teacher, scholar, board member, and vigorous advocate of the arts. A graduate of Vassar College and UC Berkeley, she was a protégé of Darius Milhaud at Mills; in 1988, she published the translation from the French of Darius Milhaud by Paul Coaller, for which she was decorated with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres. She was a founder of the San Francisco Composers forum in 1946, served as a board member of San Francisco Performances and the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, and was an honorary trustee of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and an honorary member of the University of California, Berkeley, Library Committee. She also formed the Lyra Ensemble which, for seven years, gave concerts in Bay Area public schools. She was a founding trustee and driving force behind the Morrison Chamber Music Center at SF State University for 54 years. Galante was a lifetime member of the Sierra Club, an avid horsewoman, and an accomplished California historian. She is survived by her husband, Clement; two sons; and seven grandchildren.

Philip Metzidakis, who taught Spanish language and literature at Mills from 1960 until 1968, died November 8 in Silver Spring, Maryland. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1953 and earned his PhD in Spanish literature from Yale University in 1960, as well as advanced degrees in Romance studies and philology from the University of Salamanca, Spain. He went on to teach at Swarthmore until 1995, authored two books in Spanish, and co-translated the 1974 novel En Este Lugar Sagrado (In This Sacred Place) by the Chilean author Poli Delano. He is survived by two children and three grandsons.

FriendsRichard Goldman, a philanthropist and environmental activist, died November 29 in San Francisco. He and his wife, Rhoda, supported numerous causes through the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, most notably establishing the global Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots environmental activists. Goldman generously endowed the Rhoda Goldman Professorship in Environmental Science at Mills College, to honor his wife and support the advancement of women in science.

Georgette “Dodie” Rosekrans, former Mills Trustee and benefactor, passed away November 6 in San Francisco. A supporter of the arts, music, and cultural centers in San Francisco and in Europe, she served three terms as a Mills College Trustee from 1989 to 1998 and created an artist-in-residence position within the Center for Contemporary Music. Rosekrans also pursued her own education at Mills, taking classes in art history, French, and music. She is survived by two sons, two stepsons, and ten grandchildren.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 31

Virginia Esquivel ’53, September 15, in Rio Dell, California.

Inez Bartolacelli Healy ’54, December 7, in San Francisco. She enjoyed horses, art, and playing the piano; was an avid stuffed animal collector; and held season tickets to the symphony and opera. She is survived by many extended family members.

Valerie Hogue Cress ’56, November 16, 2008, in Buckeye, Arizona.

Jean Mann MacDonald ’57, October 24, in Watsonville, California. She taught in K–12 schools and volunteered with Friends of the Sea Otter and the Agricultural Historical Society. She is survived by her husband, Paul; two sons; and two grandsons.

Marjorie Fast Addiego ’60, February 9, 2010, in El Cerrito, California. Survivors include a son.

Claudia Jager Spencer ’60, November 28, in Upland, California. She focused on domestic violence and children’s welfare in her career with the San Bernardino County Public Health Department and was named a canon of the Episcopal Church for her activities within the church. Survivors include her husband, Arthur; two children; and two grandchildren.

Susannah MacRae Whitty, MA ’60, October 26, in Surrey, England. She came to Mills as a Fulbright scholar and went on to teach English, music, and drama at schools in Britain, Uganda, Belgium, and Nigeria. An adventurous outdoorswoman, she served as a trustee of Restless Development, an NGO that sends young people to work in developing countries. She is survived by four sons.

Fannie Lavada Burleigh ’73, March 15, 2010, in Fresno, California. She worked for the Internal Revenue Service and later opened her own business.

Susan Grant ’83, September 16, in Agoura, California. She earned her MD and worked as an emergency room physician in Detroit before returning to California. She was also an avid scuba diver. Survivors include her parents and four siblings.

Sandra Fuentes Kellum ’90, August 28, in Piedmont, California. She lived in New York, London, and Florence, Italy, and had a long career as a paralegal before pursuing her art history degree at Mills and becoming a docent at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Survivors include many nieces and nephews.

Spouses and FamilyRobert Bunning, husband of Mary Donovan Bunning ’42, August 2, in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Donald Cheney, husband of Barbara Farringer Cheney ’46, July 12, in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Robert Dunn, husband of Virginia Winkler Dunn ’45, May 19, in Carlsbad, California.

Sherwood Finley, husband of Betty Bryan Finley ’45, father of Laura Finley Alexander ’72, April 10, in Sanibel, Florida.

Vera Foster, partner of Alice McCracken ’63, August 14, in Sequim, Washington.

Carolyn Graham, mother of Stephanie Graham ’83 and Julie Graham Zeiden ’88, September 26, in Carmel, California.

William Hussman, husband of Helen “Betty” Porter Hussman ’43, October 21, in Minden, Nevada.

Chalmers Johnson, husband of Sheila Knipscheer Johnson ’58, November 20, in Cardiff by the Sea, California.

Edith Krassa, grandmother of Kathleen Krassa ’10, July 13, in San Leandro, California.

In first-year English composition, Cynthia Scheinberg pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed. She challenged me to clarify my thinking and therefore my writing. Up until then, writing had come easily to me. I expected to sail through her class. Instead, I questioned my own abilities. I have since come to see it as one of my greatest “growth spurts” as a writer. I now make my living as a writer; my career has allowed me to travel the world and be one of the lucky people who love their jobs.

—Senta Gorrie Leff ’01

Diana Russell was an amazing woman to have access to in the 1970s when the women’s movement was maturing and morphing from the social to the politi-cal; Mills was so blessed to have her to start the women’s studies program. I always came away from her classes with my mind firing on some new wavelength because of something she presented for us to ponder. Dr. Russell embodies the education that only a women’s college could have provided at that time—she is the single most likely seed that fed my call to social activism.

—Joanne Mock ’76

Want to read more? We received so many

excellent responses to this question,

we’ll run additional recollections of your

most influential professors in the next

issue of the Quarterly.

A great teacher can open your mind to new worlds of knowledge, provide insight and inspiration, and even change the course of your life.

Although I knew I wanted to be a law-yer, halfway through my first semester of Nancy Thornborrow’s macroeconomics class, I switched my major from political, legal, and economic analysis to econom-ics. Not because I changed my desired career (I am an attorney), but because Nancy made economics seem so cool, sophisticated—even chic. I took every course she taught, was her teacher’s assis-tant, and tutored students in her classes. She inspired me to be a better person, a smarter woman, a thinker.

Nancy was a guest at my wedding and sent wonderful gifts and words of inspi-ration when my boys were born. She is more than a mentor, she is a friend.

—Deanna Brock ’92

Edward Milowicki was interesting and engaging. He really was open to our thoughts, no matter how (excuse the pun) sophomoric they might have been. I cringe when recalling some of my under-educated faux pas, but he never made me feel dumb. He just made me want to learn more. And I still want to learn more in the field he taught: classic literature.

—Susan Krzywicki ’74

Professor Alfred Frankenstein was so pas-sionate! He made American art history live for me and my roommate Marion Locke-Paddon Carter ’65. When she and I visited the National Art Gallery together in the early ’90s, we stood before paint-ings by Homer, Aikens, Harnett, and others Dr. Frankenstein had taught us

Sound off!

Who was your most influential professor?

32  M i l l s Q u a r t e r ly

about. As we recalled the context and special qualities of each, we amazed our-selves, not because of our fine memories, but because Dr. Frankenstein had so imprinted our minds. Learning from him seemed so easy, so much fun. Later, when I became a teacher myself, I learned that Dr. Frankenstein had asked me to apply higher order thinking, not merely to regurgitate facts.

—Sabra Black Hoffman ’65

Reynold Wik stands out among all my outstanding Mills teachers. The Depression period following the stock market crash of 1929 is so clear in my mind (although it happened long before I was born) because we read newspapers of the time in class. I read about society balls and breadlines all taking place at the same time and saw how different life was for different groups. I learned so much from being in his class!

—Natalie Thomas Malin ’58

Darl Bowers was inspirational, soft-spo-ken, kind, humorous, creative, and tal-ented in so many ways. He was a great scientist and always made us continue to question. He had a wonderful singing voice and woke us all up every Monday morning by having us sing in rounds, and was also a great artist and environmental-ist. He inspired me to continue to explore the sciences… so I studied art and envi-ronmental education, and still do, and have passed my passion on to others.

—Lynne Rishell Spickard ’75

Reynold Wik Diana Russell Alfred Frankenstein Nancy Thornborrow

Experience eastern European culture and cuisine as you visit marvelous Old World capitals, medieval castles, monumental cathedrals, pretty little villages, and incomparable Danube River landscapes. Stay in luxurious hotels in Thessaloniki, the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia, and Sofia, Bulgaria’s beautiful capital. Enjoy a nine-night cruise aboard the MS Amadeus Elegant, taking in the river’s spectacular scenery, including the Iron Gate Gorge and Wachau Valley, between stops in Belgrade, Budapest, and Vienna.

Your visit to eight countries and 11 cities and towns includes two lectures that offer insight into local history and culture.

September 13–27, 2011, 14 days, $4,470 plus air

For reservations or additional information, call the Alumnae Association of Mills College at 510.430.2110 or 510.430.3373, or email aamc@mills.edu.

AlumnAe trAvel 2011

Upon request, the AAMC will send a spring Quarterly to replace the one from which you have cut this ballot. Call 510.430.2110 or email aamc@mills.edu.

Nominee statements are printed on pages 18–19.

Please indicate your first, second, and third choice

for 2011–14 Alumna Trustee below:

Sheryl J. Bizé Boutté ’73

Lyn Flanigan ’65

Diana Birtwistle Odermatt ’60

IMPORTANT: • Ballots must be mailed in a private envelope. Ballots mailed in

pre-addressed Mills College Annual Fund envelopes will not be counted.

•  Only ballots cut from the Quarterly will be counted. The ballot is printed on the inside back cover of the Quarterly.

No ballot will be accepted without the mailing label on the reverse side. In order to maintain voter confidentiality, the Association’s mail opener will verify that the mailing labels are authentic and then ink out voter names before passing ballots on to the Nominating Committee chair for final count.

•  No faxed ballots or call-in or email votes are valid.

Mail your ballot to:

Chair, Nominating Committee AAMC Mills College5000 MacArthur Blvd., MB #86 Oakland, CA 94613

Ballots must  be received at 

Reinhardt Alumnae  House by 5:00 pm,  

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 

S P R I N G 2 0 1 1 33

Alumna Trustee Ballot

Danube Grand Passage

See a listing of all upcoming trips and new travel offerings online at http://alumnae.mills.edu.

Alumna Trustee election insideSee candidates on page 18, ballot on inside back cover

An exhibition launch sponsored by

the International Museum of Women

and Mills College

April 21, 7:00 pm Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall, Mills College Guest speaker Maya Soetoro-Ng

Maya Soetoro-Ng

Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Maya Soetoro-Ng is a writer and educator with a PhD in international comparative education. Ladder to the Moon, her first picture book, was inspired by her young daughter Suhaila’s questions about her late grandmother Ann Dunham, the mother of Maya and of United States President Barack Obama. Beautifully illustrated by Bay Area Mexican-American artist Yuyi Morales, Soetoro-Ng’s work emphasizes the importance of storytelling in our lives and addresses themes of global awareness, cross-cultural understanding, and intergenerational connectedness.

Young Women Speaking the Economy

Funding for the project is provided by the American Association of Museums’ Museums & Communities Collaboration Abroad (MCCA) program, MetLife Foundation’s Museum and Community Connections, and the Emma Willard School.

Meet students from Mills College and universities in the Sudan, the Philippines, and Denmark who are participating in discussions exploring gender, culture, work, poverty, and wealth as part of the International Museum of Women’s examination of women’s roles in the global economy. Experience their creativity and be inspired by their visions for the future as we launch the new online exhibition, Young Women Speaking the Economy, which showcases young women’s hopes, fears, challenges, and aspirations at a critical moment for the global economy.

See the full online exhibit, including art and conversations from these students, at www.imow.org/economica.

Reception and book signing to follow.

Seating is limited; RSVP today to rsvp-vpo@mills.edu.

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

Address service requested

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