In its August/September issue, aMagazine recognized Un Jung Lim ’02 as one of the top ten Asian American student leaders on United States campuses. The national magazine chose students “who, in serving the Asian American community, best embody qualities such as diligence, integrity, humility, and the willingness to collaborate across boundaries.”

This fall marks the twenty-fifth year that Mount Holyoke students have challenged mind and body through the College’s crew program. To celebrate, more than fifty crew alumnae, parents, and friends were on campus September 28-30. The reunion corresponded with the annual Mount Holyoke Women’s Regatta, the oldest regatta for women in the country, now in its twenty-seventh year.

Donations to the College for the new science center will have more impact than ever thanks to a challenge put forward by the Kresge Foundation. The fundraising goal for the center is $34 million for construction, renovation, and equipment and $2 million for endowment. The College has raised $30.5 million toward that goal and must raise an additional $4.5 million by January 1, 2003. At that point, Kresge will award the remaining $1 million necessary to complete fundraising.

Among the members of Mount Holyoke’s incoming class are an Ultimate Frisbee national junior champion; a black belt in tae kwon do; and a member of the Governing Council of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Chosen from the largest and strongest applicant pool (2,881 applicants) ever, the class reflects Mount Holyoke’s dedication to achieving diversity in its student body and is the most diverse group of incoming students in the College’s history. Thirty-eight percent of the first-years are either students of color or international students. The College was more selective than ever before, accepting 49 percent of those who applied.

In July, the American Physical Society named Charis Quay Huei Li ’01 one of seven finalists for the national LeRoy Apker Award, an annual award for outstanding achievements in physics by undergraduate students. The nomination and $2,000 honorarium recognized Quay’s research with College physics professor Janice Hudgings on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

The Weissman Center for Leadership is exploring the meaning of architecture and public space in a yearlong series. Fall events are focusing on shaping the public realm; spring will revolve around the architect as visionary. Building Meaning: Architecture and Public Space in the Third Millennium will include conversations with leading architects, critics, urban planners, and specialists in adaptive reuse and historical preservation.

As part of fall orientation, new students participated in discussions of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez’s best-known novel. Over the summer, the College sent the book to all entering students as part of a “common read” program. Alvarez gave a reading on campus September 7 and met with a small group of students.