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On the road again--The MHC Glee Club and Concert Choir took a southern swing last weekend, performing, staying with alumnae, recruiting prospective students, and generating goodwill for the College in the Washington, DC, area.

The Concert Choir sang at Sidwell Friends School (Chelsea Clinton's school) while the Glee Club performed at Walt Whitman High School (this concert was arranged by Whitman alum Emily Tuck, MHC '99). Both groups--about 130 voices in all--entertained at a Capital Hilton Hotel gala organized by the Washington area alumnae club, according to singer Erin Otte '98. The weekend's music included Salut Printemps (directed by Sarah Deveau '97), Ave Maria, Harmony of Morning, and professor Allen Bonde's Detached Sayings.

The groups' visit coincided with DC's Cherry Blossom Festival, and in addition to performing, many singers visited the Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian Institution; some interviewed for internships and jobs, and many attended a feminist conference.

New developments in child development examined--Robert Shilkret, professor of psychology and education, and Sara Vecchiotti '95 presented a paper at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in Washington, DC, on April 4, entitled "Parenting Style, Guilt, and College Adjustment." While there, Shilkret saw several of his other former students who were presenting work either on their own or with their own students. They included former master's students Jean Talbot (now in the PhD program in clinical psychology at Clark University), Shyamala Venkataraman '79 (on the faculty at SUNY-Oneonta), and Katherine Abe; and former undergraduates Maureen Callanan '78 (on the faculty at the University of California at Santa Cruz) and Jennifer West '92 (in a PhD program in clinical psychology at the University of Denver).

Web world widens for MHC thanks to grant--The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Teaching and Technology Program has awarded Mount Holyoke a $361,490, three-year grant to help the College broaden academic and administrative uses of the World Wide Web. Under this newly funded program, the College will be able to make great strides in training students and faculty in Web use and enabling faculty members to make increasing amounts of course-related and support material available to students. With the assistance of the grant, Mount Holyoke's administration will also increase Web use to streamline and improve a wide number of administrative and budgetary functions. Part of the grant will also be used to enhance use of the Web in Five College applications, allowing, for example, easier access to Five College course catalogues and library collection data. The Mellon Foundation-funded initiative will be overseen by Susan Perry, College librarian and director of LITS.

Bravo--Forty Mount Holyoke students and ten faculty members journeyed south to New York City on Saturday, April 5, to hear the Metropolitan Opera's presentation of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, courtesy of the Department of Russian and Eurasian Studies, which supplied the bus, the tickets, and the box lunches.

Supporting the Sahara--Teresa Smith de Cherif '83 was instrumental in bringing Ibrahim Ag Youssouf, a distinguished leader of Mali's Tuareg people, to lecture at Mount Holyoke. Smith de Cherif founded the Sahara Fund (which supports charitable, educational, cultural, and research work regarding Saharan Africa, and which sponsored Ag Youssouf's visit) and is currently pursuing a degree in medicine in Boston.

What's new with you?--Send news for "New & Notable" to Emily Weir, Office of Communications, or email eweir@mtholyoke.edu.