2000-2001 Revisited: September

WOMAN OF THE HOUSE
Representative Nita Melnikoff Lowey '59 of New York was tapped to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a position that will be key in party efforts to take back the House of Representatives in 2002. Lowey is the first woman to head the committee and is now among the highest-ranking women in the House Democratic leadership.

HONORED IN WASHINGTON
In October, Chrystie Solis '01 attended the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Youth Gala, where she was honored for receiving a NIAF 1999-2000 study-abroad scholarship and met President Clinton. Solis used her award to study in Florence, where she pursued her interest in Italian literature.

INFORMING THE MEDIA
Beverly Daniel Tatum, dean of the College, and Andrea Ayvazian, dean of religious life, led a two-day workshop with representatives of major news outlets, including the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, and the Miami Herald, as part of the annual James K. Batten lecture and workshop series hosted by the Newspaper Association of America. The series was held in Saint Petersburg, Florida, January 21-23, and this year's theme was "The National Silence on Race: The Role of the Media."

January Term 2001

During J-Term, MHC students took classes for credit in areas ranging from ballet, American theater, and Virgil's Aeneid to English grammar and the importance of food in Chinese culture. Students planning a career in teaching got their feet wet in middle-school classrooms--completing supervised fieldwork at schools in the Five College area and beyond. And for those who wanted a less academic January, noncredit classes on identity questions, lapidary and silversmithing, and catering filled the bill. In addition, students participated in a wellness workshop series, a leadership series, and a three-day "Passport to Reality" workshop series, complete with sessions on making career and life decisions and managing money. Special events included "Cooking with Chef Jeff," films, and skiing. MHC students also spent January speaking with high school students about college and providing homework help and working in a local soup kitchen and food bank. Off campus, more than eighty students tried out careers at internship sites that included Meet the Press, Action for AIDS, the Anne Frank Center, Boston University Medical Center, Corning Incorporated, and Goldman Sachs.

Alumna Chosen as Labor Secretary by Bush


Elaine L. Chao '75.

On January 11, then president-elect George W. Bush announced that Elaine L. Chao '75, a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative, Washington-based think tank, was his choice to become labor secretary. Chao, who was later confirmed, is former head of the Peace Corps and the United Way and was deputy transportation secretary under former President Bush. She is the first Asian American woman to hold a cabinet post and the second MHC alumna to become labor secretary. Frances Perkins, a 1902 graduate of the College, was the first woman to hold a cabinet post and served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945.

SATisfaction!

In a January 3 opinion piece in the Washington Post, President Joanne Creighton raised questions about the role that the SAT plays in college admissions and discussed the tremendous support the College has received from prospective students and educators in response to its decision to make submission of standardized test scores optional for applicants to Mount Holyoke.

Creighton wrote, " SAT scores have assumed a central role in the admissions process disproportional to their value (at many colleges and universities). While this test has some ability to predict student performance in the first year of college, it falls far short of predicting overall academic or career success and a host of other aptitudes that educators and society value, such as intellectual curiosity, motivation, persistence, leadership, creativity, civic engagement and social conscience."

The SAT-optional policy, announced last June, has placed the College in a leadership position in the ongoing national debate regarding the SAT. Over the course of the year, MHC's revaluation of the test has received notice in articles, editorials, and opinion pieces in newspapers and magazines throughout the country. Among these stories was a March 12 feature in Time magazine examining how MHC's new SAT-optional policy attracted hundreds of highly qualified applicants this year. This spring, the SAT continued to be the subject of scrutiny. The University of California system announced it was considering making submission of test scores optional, and the National Urban League issued a call to college presidents to rethink the weight they place on standardized tests.

Lyon at the State House


(L to R) President Joanne Creighon, Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci, and trustee chair Eleanor Graham Claus '55 at a State House ceremony to celebrate the hanging of a portrait of College founder Mary Lyon.

President Joanne Creighton, Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci, and trustee chair Eleanor Graham Claus '55 joined other MHC alumnae January 31 to celebrate the hanging of a portrait of Mary Lyon in the State House in Boston. The Boston Globe, Springfield Union-News, Daily Hampshire Gazette, and WGGB-TV covered the ceremony. The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum loaned the circa-1845 portrait of the College's founder to the governor at his request as part of his efforts to promote the accomplishments of Massachusetts women in a State House where the walls are covered with portraits of men.