Women of Influence Gallery | Mount Holyoke College

The gallery consists of women who were nominated for this distinction and selected by a College committee. Aware that all Mount Holyoke alumnae are women of influence in their communities and careers, the committee selected a group that represents the broad array of arenas in which Mount Holyoke women have been influential trailblazers throughout the decades. More alumnae will be added to the gallery on an annual basis.

Nominate a Woman of Influence

Name	Class	Summary	Last Name
Sadiqa Basiri Saleem	2009	Cofounder, Oruj Learning Center	Saleem
Gabrielle Gregg	2008	MTV's first Twitter jockey	Gregg
Priti Rao	2008	Executive director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (MPWC)	Rao
Maile Martinez	2003	Program manager for Reel Grrls; Gates Cambridge Scholar	Martinez
Jade McCarthy	2002	First female sports reporter for Philadelphia's major TV network	McCarthy
Katey Walter Anthony	1998	National Geographic 2009 Emerging Explorer	Anthony
Sonali Gulati	1996	Award-winning filmmaker	Gulati
Miriam Aschkenasy	1994	Public health specialist and ER physician	Aschkenasy
Mei Hong	1992	Award-winning chemist	Hong
Heather Harde	1991	Former CEO of TechCrunch	Harde
Mona Sutphen	1989	Former deputy chief of staff, Obama administration	Sutphen
Deborah Harkness	1986	Best-selling novelist and professor	Harkness
Kavita Ramdas	1985	Ford Foundation representative in New Delhi; former CEO of the Global Fund for Women	Ramdas
Maria Cirino	1985	Information technology leader	Cirino
Suzan-Lori Parks	1985	Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright	Parks
Kim Grant	1984	Photographer and travel writer	Grant
Olga Maria Sacasa	1984	First woman to represent Nicaragua in the Olympics	Sacasa
Mary Mazzio	1983	Award-winning film director, Olympian, and lawyer	Mazzio
Mallika Dutt	1983	President and CEO, Breakthrough	Dutt
Lan Cao	1983	Law professor	Cao
Janet V. Lustgarten	1982	Cofounder and CEO of Kx Systems technology company	Lustgarten
Barbara Cassani	1982	Founder - European airline and London Olympic bid	Cassani
Harriet (Holly) Metcalf	1981	Olympic gold medalist; founder, Row as One	Metcalf
Priscilla Painton '80	1980	Editor-in-chief, Simon & Schuster	Painton
Lynn Pasquerella	1980	President of Mount Holyoke College	Pasquerella
Leocadia Zak	1979	Director, U.S. Trade and Development Agency	Zak
Sandy Fulton Rosenthal	1979	Post-Katrina Activist in New Orleans	Rosenthal
Nancy Gustafson	1978	Winner of Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco national competitions	Gustafson
Debra Martin Chase	1977	Movie and television producer	Chase
Elizabeth Scheibel (Boudreau)	1977	First woman district attorney in Massachusetts	Scheibel (Boudreau)
Barbara M. Baumann	1977	President, Cross Creek Energy Corporation	Baumann
Susannah Sirkin	1976	Deputy director, Physicians for Human Rights	Sirkin
Anne M. Gaffney	1976	Fellow of the American Chemical Society	Gaffney
Jody Cohen-Gavarian	1976	First woman rabbi in Connecticut	Cohen-Gavarian
Barbara Byrne	1976	Vice chairman at Barclays Capital	Byrne
Linda Yu Bien	1975	CEO, North East Medical Services	Bien
Robin Chemers Neustein	1975	Retired partner and senior director, Goldman Sachs	Neustein
Susan Kare	1975	Designer of original Apple icons and typefaces	Kare
Elaine Chao	1975	Secretary of labor, director of Peace Corps	Chao
Barbara Dombkowski Desoer	1974	2009 Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World	Desoer
Pamela Maffei McCarthy	1974	Managing editor of Vanity Fair and New Yorker	McCarthy
Glenda Hatchett	1973	Georgia's first African American chief presiding judge	Hatchett
Leslie Anne Miller	1973	Former general counsel of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	Miller
Nancy Novogrod	1971	Editor-in-chief, Travel & Leisure	Novogrod
Wendy Wasserstein	1971	Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright	Wasserstein
Lila Gierasch	1970	Biomedical researcher	Gierasch
Merrill Wasserman Sherman	1970	Rhode Island's only female CEO of a publicly held bank	Sherman
Linda J. Melconian	1970	First woman majority leader of the Massachusetts State Senate	Melconian
Janet Hall	1970	U.S. district judge, District of Connecticut	Hall
Helen Donovan	1969	Managing editor, Boston Globe	Donovan
Karen LeFrak	1969	Author, musician, composer	LeFrak
Barbara Smith	1969	Groundbreaking publisher of women of color	Smith
Elaine Tuttle Hansen	1969	Executive director, Center for Talented Youth at John Hopkins University; former president, Bates College	Hansen
Sheryl McCarthy	1969	First female columnist, New York Newsday	McCarthy
Nancy Button Nathan	1968	Executive producer, NBC's The Chris Matthews Show	Nathan
Astrid E. Merget	1967	Endowed professor in the Public Administration Institute of the E. J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University	Merget
Nancy J. Vickers	1967	Former president of Bryn Mawr College	Vickers
Ginny Berson	1967	Radio broadcaster, journalist	Berson
Joanne R. Lupton	1966	Nutrition expert, professor	Lupton
Janet Bond Arterton	1966	U.S. district judge	Arterton
Joan E. Biren	1966	Photographer and filmmaker	Biren
Jameson A. Baxter	1965	President, Baxter Associates	Baxter
Mary G. Davis	1965	President, Davis Consulting Group, New York	Davis
Joyce Pascoe Bohn	1965	Oceanographer	Bohn
Julia Miller Phillips	1965	First woman producer to win an Academy Award	Phillips
Carol Hoffmann Collins	1963	Philanthropist	Collins
Adrienne Arsht	1963	Lawyer, business executive, philanthropist	Arsht
Barbara M. Rossotti	1961	Senior counsel with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw and Pittman, Washington, D.C.	Rossotti
Elizabeth Kennan	1960	Mount Holyoke College’s 16th president	Kennan
M. Eileen Shanley Kraus	1960	Former president of Connecticut’s largest bank; Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame	Kraus
Nita Melnikoff Lowey	1959	U.S. representative for New York's 18th District	Lowey
Harriet Levine Weissman	1958	Philanthropist, trustee	Weissman
Jean Picker Firstenberg	1958	Director and CEO of the American Film Institute	Firstenberg
Margaret Claytor Woodbury	1958	Physician; medical school professor	Woodbury
Gloria Johnson Powell	1958	One of the first African American women professors tenured at Harvard	Powell
Maryanne Trump Barry	1958	Senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals	Barry
Alice Stone Ilchman	1957	Assistant secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter	IIchman
Eleanor Graham Claus	1955	Healthcare CEO	Claus
Imogene Opton Fish	1955	Captain of U.S. Women's '52 Winter Olympics ski team	Fish
Dulcy Singer	1955	Award-winning producer, executive producer	Singer
Nancy Skinner Nordhoff	1954	Winner of National Philanthropy Day award for Outstanding Philanthropist	Nordhoff
Mary McHenry	1954	MHC professor emeritus; introduced African American literature to MHC	McHenry
M. Elizabeth P. Tidball	1951	Author of extensive research on women's education	Tidball
Dorothy Rooke McCulloch	1950	Philanthropist, trustee	McCulloch
Joanne Alter	1949	Politician, social activist, trustee	Alter
Claude Du Granrut	1948	Deputy mayor of Senlis, France	Du Granrut
Vera Kistiakowsky	1948	Nuclear physicist and MIT professor emerita	Kistiakowsky
Jean E. Sammet	1948	Developer of the FORMAC programming language	Sammet
Hattie Kawahara Colton	1943	Recipient, State Department's Superior Honor Award	Colton
Marjorie Fisher	1942	First U.S. woman to head security analysts group	Fisher
Ella Tambussi Grasso	1940	First female governor elected in her own right	Grasso
Beryl R. Collins	1940	1976 Business Week Top Corporate Women	Collins
Florence Schorske Wald	1938	Mother of the American Hospice Movement	Wald
Virginia Hamilton Adair	1933	Poet	Adair
Janet Brewster Murrow	1933	Writer for her husband, Edward R. Murrow	Murrow
Margaret K. McElderry	1933	Legendary figure in children's literature publishing	McElderry
Amy Cattley Rock	1932	First female board-certified physician in Maine	Rock
Virginia Apgar	1929	Developer, Apgar Score to evaluate newborns	Apgar
Helen Sawyer Hogg	1926	Astronomer; former program director for the National Science Foundation	Hogg
Ruth Muskrat Bronson	1925	U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs official	Bronson
Lucy Pickett	1925	Chemist	Pickett
Rachel Fuller Brown	1920	Researcher and developer of first useful antifungal antibiotic, Nystatin	Brown
Florence M. Read	1909	Fourth president of Spelman College	Read
Frances Perkins	1902	Secretary of labor and first woman to hold a cabinet post	Perkins
Caroline Boa Henderson	1901	Homesteader, writer	Henderson
Anne W. Armstrong	1893	First woman to lecture for Harvard and Dartmouth Business schools	Armstrong
Jane B. Hitchcock	1886	Pioneer in public health nursing	Hitchcock
Hortense Parker	1883	First African American to graduate from MHC	Parker
Alice J. McLellan Birney	1879	Cofounder, National Parent Teachers Association	Birney
Cornelia M. Clapp	1871	Renowned zoologist	Clapp
Alice Gordon Gulick	1867	Founder of the International Institute for Girls, Spain	Gulick
Olympia Brown Willis	1856	First woman to graduate from U.S. theological school	Willis
Ada Howard	1853	First president of Wellesley College	Howard
Ellen Whitmore Goodale	1850	First teacher at Cherokee Female Seminary	Goodale
Emily Dickinson	1849	Poet	Dickinson
Esther Howland	1847	First designer to commercialize Valentine's Day cards	Howland
Susan L. Tolman Mills	1845	Founder, Young Ladies Seminary (now Mills College)	Tolman Mills
Fidelia Fiske	1842	Founder of a school for girls in Ooroomiah, Persia	Fiske
Lucy Stone	1839	Organizer, first National Women's Rights Convention	Stone
Mary Lyon	1837	Founder of Mount Holyoke College	Lyon