The first MHC convocation of the twenty-first century, held on a chilly evening in Abbey Chapel January 26, resounded with the message that students are the shapers of their own destiny and of the world's future. Speakers used the occasion to encourage students to make their mark during the new century, when women have more opportunities and resources than ever before to accomplish, lead, and inspire.
Sara M. Hines '00, senior
class president, offered the first address of the evening. Hines
likened the MHC experience to the adventures of Lewis Carroll's Alice
and urged her classmates to "take risks and be open to possibilities"
like the inquisitive heroine of Wonderland fame. If they embrace new
experiences, Hines said, students will find that during their time at
MHC they will gain a new perspective on themselves and on the
world--changing in unexpected ways just as the ever-shrinking and
growing Alice did. In her speech, President
Joanne V. Creighton offered the view that this moment in history,
when the world is evolving into one global community and its
challenges seem surmountable, is "an auspicious time to be a college
student" and "an especially good time to be a woman." "There's an unmistakable
sense that we are entering a virtual renaissance of human
possibility," Creighton said. "No generation of women before has had
the opportunity you have to be accorded full partnership in shaping
human history." Creighton emphasized that MHC students should work to
improve the lives of women in the many parts of the world where they
not only lack the opportunities of the West, but live in conditions
that the president characterized as "dismal, a disgrace." Said
Creighton, "Advancing the dignity, respect, and opportunity for women
of the world must be our collective agenda in the twenty-first
century. Mount Holyoke women will help to lead the way." She
described the College's goal as "preparing students for active
citizenship and leadership when [they] leave this campus,"
encouraging students to participate in upcoming Weissman Center for
Leadership events as a first step toward heightening awareness and
realizing this objective. Penny T. Gill, Mary Lyon
Professor of Humanities, focused her remarks on why students should
"claim" their education rather than being merely "consumers." Gill
encouraged students to pursue the education that they desire and
need, making choices "rooted deep in the core of who you are and what
you value." She discussed the central question--how communities form,
organize, and increase --that has motivated her educational direction
and choices since girlhood. Gill urged students to define "the one
thing that you want to understand before you die," and to orient
their studies around that central question. In closing, Gill noted,
"All you need is present here in this blessed place that we call
Mount Holyoke." Music for convocation, which
was provided by College organist Larry Schipull and the Mount Holyoke
Cantamus, conducted by Christopher Aspaas and accompanied by Mark
Gionfriddo, added to the festive air of the ceremony. At Convocation, awards were
presented to students in recognition of academics, leadership, and
service. Six students were honored with special awards. Leah L. Kane
'00 won the Maurice L. Rabbino Award, which recognizes a student "who
has made an especially significant contribution to the life of Mount
Holyoke College." Sheena L. Panoor '00 received the Helen Warren
Smith Award, which honors a student "whose interest, involvement, and
service to the Mount Holyoke College community have been
outstanding." The Frances H. Williams Award went to Michelle Deryn
Avritt '00 and Crystal Cee Latham '00. This award is presented
annually to a minority member of the student body "who best
exemplifies the ideals to which Frances Williams's own life has been
dedicated--the capacity to create a dream and the passion to pursue
it; the ability to soar with that goal whether it be academic
excellence, social justice, or service to others." The MHC Community Service
Award went to Dilrukshi H. Fonseka '00. The award, made possible by
the College Bookstore, honors involvement in the community beyond the
campus that demonstrates a high level of personal commitment. The
Karen Snyder Sullivan Award was shared by Annemarie O. Farrell '01
and Jessica S. Liese '01. It provides assistance for a student who
has not previously traveled abroad to plan a trip that satisfies her
curiosity and heightens her awareness of other cultures. Recipients of other student
leadership awards were Raluca Z. Dalea '01, Dilrukshi H. Fonseka '00,
Sophia T. Ghebremicael '01, Leah L. Kane '00, and Kathryn A. Miller
'00. Also announced were Sarah Williston Prize winners, MHC's
"academic leaders who are energetic in their pursuit of knowledge,"
said Beverly Daniel Tatum, dean of the College. For the class of
2000, they are Josipa Roksa, first; Ashley Noelle Biser, third;
Jennifer Lynn Christie, third; Catherine E. Herrold, fifth; and Priya
Pradip Vasa, fifth. For the class of 2001, they are Rachel Michelle
Coll, first; Leigh Taliaferro Denault, first; Wei Chen, third; Nitya
Jacob Kallivayalil, fourth; and Kathryn Leah Sandretto, fifth. The following students were
elected into membership of Phi Beta Kappa, by the Theta Chapter of
Massachusetts, October 6, 1999. These elections were based on four to
six semesters of study at Mount Holyoke. The new members of Phi Beta
Kappa are Ashley Noelle Biser, Suzanne Kathryn Hasselback, Dessislava
Romanova Issaeva, Lubomira Ivanova Ivanova, Maya Dobrolyubova Miteva,
Parveena Pakkiasamy, Raya Borislavona Raitcheva, Josipa Roksa, and
Hannah Elizabeth Weisman.
Deborah E. Harkness '86
Janet C. Hall '70, Alumnae
Association president and MHC trustee, presented the Mary Lyon
Awards, one of the highest honors the College bestows on alumnae, to
Marie Dillon Dahleh '85 (in absentia) and Deborah E. Harkness '86.
The award is given to young alumnae who have graduated fifteen years
or less before receiving the award. n their remarks, both Dahleh
(whose speech was read by Hall) and Harkness praised their alma mater
for the tools MHC gave them to succeed and for the inspiration the
College continues to provide for them. Dahleh reflected: that
"Fifteen years ago, I sat in this chapel with the class of 1985. I
was enthusiastic about life and a little scared of the future. One
thing was certain. I did not question the role of women in society.
We could do anything." Harkness said that MHC "gives
women the tools to craft for themselves the ideal life of the
Renaissance--one that mixes contemplation with activity. Six hundred
years ago it was a man's goal to lead this life, and thus become
ideal citizens of the world. Today, that Renaissance dream is equally
available to women, and it is within your grasp." Marie Dillon Dahleh
'85 Marie Dillon Dahleh '85 was
recognized for her achievements and contributions in the field of
applied mathematics and mechanical engineering and was honored for
her commitment to the education of young people. After receiving her degree in
mathematics, Dahleh went on to Princeton University to earn a
master's degree in applied and computational mathematics in 1987, and
then a Ph.D. in the same field three years later. Postdoctoral and
adjunct professorship positions at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research in Colorado and at UCLA, including a National
Science Foundation fellowship, enabled her to demonstrate more widely
her expertise in computational analyses of vortex methods as applied
to fields such as geophysical flows and numerical methods for partial
differential equations. Besides her outstanding
contributions to research, as a teacher she has made an enormous
impact on students. At the University of California at Santa Barbara,
where she has taught since 1995 and serves as the mechanical
engineering department's undergraduate adviser, her enthusiasm
resulted in her selection as one of the university's "ten most
terrific teachers" in the 1997-98 academic year. Deborah E. Harkness '86 Deborah E. Harkness '86 was
honored for her achievements in the field of history. A Renaissance
studies major at MHC, Harkness graduated magna cum laude. She
went on to graduate school in history at Northwestern University,
where she began to carve out a niche for herself in the relatively
new discipline of history of science. With an M.A. in hand, she moved
on to the University of California at Davis where she earned a Ph.D.
in 1994. She was immediately offered a
tenure-track faculty position at Colgate University, but after a
three-year stay, she returned to the University of California at
Davis. In June 1999, after two years at Davis and only five years
after receiving her Ph.D., she was tenured and promoted to associate
professor of history. Her 1996 article "Shows in the Showstone: A
Theater of Alchemy and Apocalypse in the Angelic Conversations of
John Dee (1527-1608)" was published in Renaissance Quarterly,
one of the premier interdisciplinary journals for work on early
modern history, literature, and arts. This article was the winner of
the Renaissance Society of America's Nelson Prize. In March 1997, she
returned to Mount Holyoke to present the John Lax Lecture. Her talk,
"Alchemists in the Kitchen," was an early version of the article
"Managing an Experimental Household: the Dees of Mortlake and the
Practice of Natural Philosophy," which went on to win the Derek Price
Award for best article of the History of Science Society.
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