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Don't let the parade pass you by--Dan Barry, the South Hadley astronaut and husband of biological sciences professor Susan Barry, will be honored by the town of South Hadley and the College on October 12 with festivities and a parade. And you, as a member of the MHC community, are invited to march in the parade, which begins at the Mosier School parking lot, on Mosier Street off Route 116. Participants will gather at 9:30 am; the parade begins at 10 am. Following the parade will be a ceremony and an afternoon of activities. If you can help with the events, would like to march in the parade, or want more information, email Linda Young in the biology department at lyoung.
Buying into the union label--Junior Claire Kennedy-Wilkins of Eagle Point, Oregon, was one of three Mount Holyoke students who participated in the AFL-CIO's Union Summer program. This effort by organized labor to bring young blood into labor organizing brought Kennedy-Wilkins to Sacramento, California, in August to help organize custodial and home health care workers. Working fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, student participants staged pickets and rallies and went door-to-door in efforts to reach out to underpaid ($4.25 an hour without benefits) home health care workers. "At the time, it was very depressing to see the conditions that people were working under," says Kennedy-Wilkins, who also heads the MHC Democrats. "But it was wonderful to be organizing them." She hopes to continue in labor organizing and to participate in an AFL-CIO labor organizing apprenticeship. Also participating this summer were Melissa Griffin '98 and Jennifer Schumacher '98. Kennedy-Wilkins is also helping to organize a Student Labor Action Coalition for students interested in working on labor issues.
Chemistry that pays--Katia Evans '99 is one of 150 students nationwide to receive an American Chemical Society (ACS) Minority Scholars Program scholarship. Annually, the program supports minority students who plan to pursue college degrees and careers in chemistry. Applicants are selected based on academic credentials and financial need. Evans, a resident of the Atlanta area, plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry and an M.D. specializing in pathology. As long as she continues to meet the scholarship's requirements, Evans can look forward to continued support through this ACS program through her senior year.
Another woman of achievement--Frances Perkins scholar Cynthia Smith-Sayre will be honored on October 17 for her volunteer work by the YWCA of Western Massachusetts. The Springfield YWCA annually presents "Women of Achievement" awards to outstanding women who have demonstrated exceptional achievements within their career or community activities. The award also honors women who exhibit personal leadership, a quality that distinguishes recipients as role models for girls and women.
A grandmother of two and a Granville resident, Smith-Sayre has served a wide variety of organizations including Springfield Technical Community College, where she received an associate of liberal arts degree last May and was a volunteer mentor and tutor. She also was a union steward and was community chair for Catholic Charities annual appeal. Nominated by her friends, she joins eleven other Western Massachusetts women in receiving this award. Fresh to campus this year, Smith-Sayre is interested in history.
European science and missionary education studied--During her 1995-96 sabbatical, professor of Asian studies Indira Peterson continued a research project on the cultural and literary history of South India in the eighteenth century. Focusing on interactions among Indian regional cultures and between Indians and Europeans at this time, Peterson examined reports, diaries, literary documents, and other archival materials in India and Germany. In particular, she investigated the exchange of ideas between German Pietist missionaries and South Indian intellectuals. A paper on this topic was given at the European Modern South Asian Studies Conference in Copenhagen, and will be presented as a lecture this month at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
How spectacular--Bettina Bergmann, associate professor of art, spent the summer codirecting (with Christine Kondoleon of the Worcester Art Museum) a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar for college teachers at the American Academy in Rome. Participants from the fields of history, classics, religion, art history, communications, film, theater history, and contemporary theater production examined "The Art of Ancient Spectacle." Among the participants was Geoff Sumi, who joined the MHC classics department this fall. He worked on crowd behavior in the Roman forum. The group spent seven weeks visiting normally closed sites and museums in and around Rome, and ended by giving a performance of Plautus' Curculio. Bergmann and Kondoleon are editing a volume on "The Art of Ancient Spectacle," and MHC students can expect courses on aspects of Roman spectacles to be offered by Sumi or Bergmann.
What's new with you?--Send news for "New & Notable" to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.