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.
| Photo | Name |
Class |
Summary | Last Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Sadiqa Basiri Saleem | 2009 | Cofounder, Oruj Learning Center | Saleem |
 |
Priti Rao | 2008 | Executive director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (MPWC) | Rao |
 |
Gabrielle Gregg | 2008 | MTV's first Twitter jockey | Gregg |
 |
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 |
 |
Suzan-Lori Parks | 1985 | Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright | Parks |
 |
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 |
 |
Olga Maria Sacasa | 1984 | First woman to represent Nicaragua in the Olympics | Sacasa |
 |
Kim Grant | 1984 | Photographer and travel writer | Grant |
 |
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 |
 |
Barbara Cassani | 1982 | Founder - European airline and London Olympic bid | Cassani |
 |
Janet V. Lustgarten | 1982 | Cofounder and CEO of Kx Systems technology company | Lustgarten |
 |
Harriet (Holly) Metcalf | 1981 | Olympic gold medalist; founder, Row as One | Metcalf |
 |
Lynn Pasquerella | 1980 | President of Mount Holyoke College | Pasquerella |
 |
Priscilla Painton '80 | 1980 | Editor-in-chief, Simon & Schuster | Painton |
 |
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 |
 |
Elizabeth Scheibel (Boudreau) | 1977 | First woman district attorney in Massachusetts | Scheibel (Boudreau) |
 |
Barbara M. Baumann | 1977 | President, Cross Creek Energy Corporation | Baumann |
 |
Debra Martin Chase | 1977 | Movie and television producer | Chase |
 |
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 |
 |
Susannah Sirkin | 1976 | Deputy director, Physicians for Human Rights | Sirkin |
 |
Elaine Chao | 1975 | Secretary of labor, director of Peace Corps | Chao |
 |
Robin Chemers Neustein | 1975 | Retired partner and senior director, Goldman Sachs | Neustein |
 |
Linda Yu Bien | 1975 | CEO, North East Medical Services | Bien |
 |
Susan Kare | 1975 | Designer of original Apple icons and typefaces | Kare |
 |
Pamela Maffei McCarthy | 1974 | Managing editor of Vanity Fair and New Yorker | McCarthy |
 |
Barbara Dombkowski Desoer | 1974 | 2009 Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World | Desoer |
 |
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 |
 |
Wendy Wasserstein | 1971 | Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright | Wasserstein |
 |
Nancy Novogrod | 1971 | Editor-in-chief, Travel & Leisure | Novogrod |
 |
Linda J. Melconian | 1970 | First woman majority leader of the Massachusetts State Senate | Melconian |
 |
Merrill Wasserman Sherman | 1970 | Rhode Island's only female CEO of a publicly held bank | Sherman |
 |
Janet Hall | 1970 | U.S. district judge, District of Connecticut | Hall |
 |
Lila Gierasch | 1970 | Biomedical researcher | Gierasch |
 |
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 |
 |
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 |
 |
Nancy Button Nathan | 1968 | Executive producer, NBC's The Chris Matthews Show | Nathan |
 |
Ginny Berson | 1967 | Radio broadcaster, journalist | Berson |
 |
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 |
 |
Janet Bond Arterton | 1966 | U.S. district judge | Arterton |
 |
Joanne R. Lupton | 1966 | Nutrition expert, professor | Lupton |
 |
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 |
 |
M. Eileen Shanley Kraus | 1960 | Former president of Connecticut’s largest bank; Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame | Kraus |
 |
Elizabeth Kennan | 1960 | Mount Holyoke College’s 16th president | Kennan |
 |
Nita Melnikoff Lowey | 1959 | U.S. representative for New York's 18th District | Lowey |
 |
Maryanne Trump Barry | 1958 | Senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals | Barry |
 |
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 |
 |
Alice Stone Ilchman | 1957 | Assistant secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter | IIchman |
 |
Dulcy Singer | 1955 | Award-winning producer, executive producer | Singer |
 |
Eleanor Graham Claus | 1955 | Healthcare CEO | Claus |
 |
Imogene Opton Fish | 1955 | Captain of U.S. Women's '52 Winter Olympics ski team | Fish |
 |
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 |
 |
Vera Kistiakowsky | 1948 | Nuclear physicist and MIT professor emerita | Kistiakowsky |
 |
Jean E. Sammet | 1948 | Developer of the FORMAC programming language | Sammet |
 |
Claude Du Granrut | 1948 | Deputy mayor of Senlis, France | Du Granrut |
 |
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 |
 |
Beryl R. Collins | 1940 | 1976 Business Week Top Corporate Women | Collins |
 |
Ella Tambussi Grasso | 1940 | First female governor elected in her own right | Grasso |
 |
Florence Schorske Wald | 1938 | Mother of the American Hospice Movement | Wald |
 |
Janet Brewster Murrow | 1933 | Writer for her husband, Edward R. Murrow | Murrow |
 |
Margaret K. McElderry | 1933 | Legendary figure in children's literature publishing | McElderry |
 |
Virginia Hamilton Adair | 1933 | Poet | Adair |
 |
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 |
