2025 Alum Award Winners

KATE KRUEGER, PH.D., CLASS OF 2011, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Mary Lyon Award. This award is presented to an alum who graduated no more than fifteen years ago and who has demonstrated sustained achievements in their life and career consistent with the humane values that Mary Lyon exemplified and inspired in others.

Kate, you have demonstrated exceptional promise in the field of cellular agriculture. 

While a student at Mount Holyoke, you served as a research assistant and mentored fellow students in genetics and molecular biology. Graduating with high honors in biochemistry, you went on to earn a Ph.D. in cell biology from Yale University. You started your career as research director at the nonprofit research institute New Harvest, beginning your work in cellular agriculture and supporting the commercialization of animal-free meat. You also worked at Perfect Day Foods, the first precision fermentation company to make milk proteins, contributing to the development of their foundational patent. In 2020 you founded Helikon Consulting, a technical advisory firm that specializes in evaluating cutting-edge biotechnology across disciplines including precision fermentation, cell-based meat, alternative proteins, molecular farming and carbon capture. You have contributed to multiple patents and publications and share your work through lectures, articles and podcasts. 

Passionate about using technology for the betterment of society, your continued success could lead to major improvements to our climate and to hunger relief. 

In recognition of your exceptional early career achievements and in anticipation of your future contributions to cellular agriculture, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Mary Lyon Award. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College
 

LACHANDA C. GARRISON, MAT, CLASS OF 2019, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Mary Lyon Award. This award is presented to an alum who graduated no more than fifteen years ago and who has demonstrated sustained achievements in their life and career consistent with the humane values that Mary Lyon exemplified and inspired in others.

Lachanda, you are unparalleled in your commitment to student learning and teacher education. 

Receiving an undergraduate degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland Global Campus, a Master of Arts in mathematics teaching from Mount Holyoke College, and a Master of Education in instructional technology from Troy University, you are currently pursuing a doctorate in organizational leadership and development at Walden University. With almost two decades of experience in education, you have worked as an elementary classroom teacher and instructional coach and served as an advocate for federal legislation. 

Your familial ties to the military community allow you to uniquely understand the challenges faced by children in military families. You are dedicated to supporting students in a trauma-informed, resilience-focused and culturally responsive manner. In 2020 you received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and were named the Department of Defense Education Activity’s State Teacher of the Year in 2021. In 2023 you were selected for the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow program, serving as a policy advisor and Capitol Hill Fellow in the U.S. Senate. Your continuous pursuit of further education makes you poised for a lasting impact and promises to establish a remarkable legacy. 

In recognition of your exceptional early career achievements and in anticipation of your future contributions to education, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Mary Lyon Award. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13 
President 
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College 

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director 
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

CLAIRE LILLIS BARNETT, CLASS OF 1965, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Claire, as a leader in the national healthy school environments movement, you have achieved sweeping reforms on both the state and federal levels by partnering on research, articulating a comprehensive policy agenda and building coalitions.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke with a degree in psychology, you interned and worked in political polling, then worked as a reporter at TIME magazine in New York City. Next came stints serving as a rural health administrator and assisting with sustainable development in the Adirondacks region. You completed a Master of Business Administration at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a specialty in health systems finance. But you found your calling after your child was exposed to pesticides in school. Your work as a representative of the Westport, New York, PTO led the New York State Board of Regents to issue its first advisory report on school environmental quality. A year later, in 1995, you planted the seed that would become the Healthy Schools Network, which grew from its New York roots to a national powerhouse protecting the health and well-being of children in pre-K through twelfth grades.

In 2017 you were recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an Indoor Air Quality Champion; by the American University School of Public Affairs Center for Environmental Policy as a recipient of the William K. Reilly Environmental Leadership Award; and by the American Public Health Association with the David P. Rall Award for contributions to public health through science-based advocacy.

Claire, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your sixtieth, reunion. 

W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SARAH MILLER COULSON, CLASS OF 1975, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Sarah, in both your career and community service, you have centered your work on building connections among people.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke with a degree in art history and a brief stint on Wall Street with Bank of New York, you earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University in 1982. For the next eighteen years, you worked in a variety of financial roles with Time Warner Inc. Most notably, you were vice president of financial services for HBO and then chief financial officer and executive vice president of Comedy Central, where you were a member of the original start-up team. In 1998 you left New York City to become an entrepreneur in the emerging field of telecommunications. You helped start and build ClearShot Communications, LLC, a wireless cell tower company, and then became director of Limitless Mobile, which, among other initiatives, provides mobile service to rural Pennsylvanians.

A Pennsylvanian yourself, you devoted yourself to your community. In addition to serving on the Mount Vernon Ladies Association Board of Regents and as vice regent of Pennsylvania, you are a board member of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. You and your late husband established the Frank L. and Sarah Miller Coulson Foundation, which supports a wide array of organizations in and around Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, you and your family created the Academy of Clinical Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, where you also funded the Sarah Miller Coulson and Frank L. Coulson Professorship in Medicine.

Sarah, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your fiftieth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College 

SUZAN-LORI PARKS, CLASS OF 1985, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Suzan-Lori, you have shaped the American theater landscape, from your early play, “Betting on the Dust Commander” through “TopDog/Underdog,” which won the Pulitzer Prize and, for its recent twentieth-anniversary revival, a Tony Award.

You switched your major at Mount Holyoke from chemistry to English and German literature, rediscovering a love of poetry and prose. You studied at the Drama Studio London and worked secretarial jobs in New York City to support your craft. To date, you have written more than a dozen works for theater and an array of screenplays. You are also credited with creating one of the largest grassroots collaborations in theater history when, in 2007, your project 365Days/365Plays was produced by more than 700 art groups worldwide.

Your notable accolades and awards include a 2001 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. In 2001 you received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Mount Holyoke, which last year announced a faculty chair in the arts named in your honor. You were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2022 and serve as a writer in residence of the Public Theater and a professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In your spare time, you are a singer and songwriter for your band, Sula and the Joyful Noise.

Suzan-Lori, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your fortieth, reunion. 

W. Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SUZANNE A. GEORGE, CLASS OF 1990, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Suzanne, you have built a formidable career in international affairs and public policy spanning three presidential administrations and, in between, running a worldwide anti-poverty organization.

With a major in politics from Mount Holyoke and a Juris Doctorate from George Washington University Law School, you stepped onto the path of public service as special assistant and assistant counsel to Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. When Albright became secretary of state, you served as her deputy chief of staff. You later founded and served as a principal at The Albright Stonebridge Group LLC, a global strategic advisory firm, and were a member of the Operating Committee of Albright Capital Management, a global investment firm. You reentered government service as deputy assistant to the president, executive secretary and chief of staff for the National Security Council, working under National Security Advisor Susan Rice during the Obama administration. From 2018 to 2021, you were chief operating officer for Bono’s ONE Campaign, managing the organization’s $37 million annual operating budget and supporting an international staff of roughly 200. You then joined the Biden-Harris transition team and were named chief of staff at the Department of State in 2021.

In 2002 you received the Alum Association’s Mary Lyon Award. You also have been recognized as a board member of the National Security Education Board, National Security Action and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. 

Suzanne, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your thirty-fifth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

AIMÉE EUBANKS DAVIS, CLASS OF 1995, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Aimée, for more than a decade, your nonprofit, Braven, has built bridges from higher education to meaningful careers and impactful lives for more than 10,000 young people from low-income backgrounds or who are the first in their families to attend college.

A Chicago native, you joined Teach for America after graduating from Mount Holyoke with a major in history and a minor in politics. In thirteen years with the national nonprofit, you moved from teaching sixth-graders in a New Orleans public school to managing director of regional operations in Chicago to chief people officer to executive vice president of public affairs and engagement. When you learned that a promising student of yours had interviewed poorly and didn’t get a job with Teach for America, you connected them with a mentor — and planted the seed for your own nonprofit, Beyond Z, now known as Braven, founded in 2013. Supported by academic skills building, networking and coaching, Braven Fellows have a 92 percent graduation rate, and they are more likely to participate in internships.

For your work, you were named a 2019 Obama Foundation Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on Opportunities After High School. In 2023 you were named a McNulty Prize Laureate, with a $150,000 award, for “restoring the promise of economic mobility across the U.S.”

Aimée, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your thirtieth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

KELLEY CALVIN, CLASS OF 2005, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Achievement Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments and service to society exemplify the values and virtues set forth by the College.

Kelley, your activism has centered on breaking down barriers — first for women in tech and now for anyone seeking to exercise their right to vote.

With a degree in theater from Mount Holyoke, you received a law degree at the University of Michigan Law School in 2010. Three years later, you were named to BET’s list of Blacks on the Brink of Greatness and the Grio 100 List for your work matching aspiring Black women programmers with women mentors in the field. In response to changes to the Voting Rights Act, you then turned your attention to founding Spread The Vote + Project ID and co-founding the Project ID Action Fund. Your efforts have helped more than 13,000 people obtain the IDs necessary for voting that are also crucial for accessing jobs, housing and health care. Of the 92 percent of eligible clients who have registered through Spread The Vote, 40 percent turned out at the polls. Your Vote By Mail in Jail program resulted in a 90 percent turnout rate for incarcerated voters. You continue to work toward passage of the IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act. 

A public speaker, author — your book “American Identity in Crisis: Notes from an Accidental Activist” was published in 2023 — and guest commentator, you have been recognized by Time magazine, Fast Company and many other organizations.

Kelley, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Achievement Award on this, your twentieth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

PATRICIA HOLLAND DRAVES, CLASS OF 1985, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments in the field of education exemplify the values set forth by the College.

Patricia, you have distinguished yourself as an accomplished scholar and a pathbreaking leader, dedicating your career to serving students and to the liberal arts.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke with a degree in chemistry, you earned a Doctor of Philosophy in the same field from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. You then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, where you researched chemotherapy drugs. Your career in academia began at the University of Central Arkansas, where you spent nearly a decade as a faculty member and associate dean of undergraduate studies. Next you served as an associate professor in chemistry at Monmouth College. Though you spent only four years there before you were tapped to take on leadership roles at other institutions, you would return.

First, though, you were named vice president for academic affairs and dean at the University of Mount Union, where you oversaw the creation of fourteen new academic programs and the university’s first graduate programs. Then you became the president of Graceland University, with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri. At Graceland, you worked to enhance the student experience, improve the student union and athletic facilities and home in on the fundamentals of a liberal arts education. With nearly twenty years of successful leadership at two institutions, it’s no surprise that, after an extensive national search, you were the Monmouth College Board of Trustees’ unanimous choice to lead the college as Monmouth’s fifteenth president — only the second woman in the role.

Patricia, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award on this, your fortieth, reunion.

ELIZABETH L. TIGHE, CLASS OF 2010, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award. This award is presented to alums whose accomplishments in the field of education exemplify the values set forth by the College.

Elizabeth, you have distinguished yourself as an accomplished scholar and educator, using your expertise to understand and help eliminate barriers to adult literacy.

You discovered what would become your research focus at Mount Holyoke, where you graduated with highest honors in psychology and wrote the thesis “Original to Originality: Morphological Accuracy and Rates of Word Recognition in Low Literate Adults.” You went on to receive a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy, both in cognitive psychology, from Florida State University. During that time, you also completed an Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Interdisciplinary Training Fellowship through the Florida Center for Reading Research. 

After a year as a postdoctoral research scholar at Arizona State University, you joined the faculty at Georgia State University in 2016. Now an associate professor of developmental psychology, you hold a variety of positions, including as lab director of the Adult Language and Literacy Learning Lab and assistant director of the Adult Literacy Research Center. You continue to devote yourself to understanding the literacy skills and instructional needs of adults who require extra support in reading, including those enrolled in adult literacy programs, post-secondary students, incarcerated adults and multilingual adults. With grants from Georgia State University, the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Center for Education Statistics and the American Educational Research Association, among others, you have helped develop better instructional materials and interventions. In 2021 you received a Mary Lyon Award from the Alum Association. In January 2025, your work was recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed on outstanding, early career scientists and engineers by the U.S. government. 

Elizabeth, for your outstanding accomplishments, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award on this, your fifteenth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SILVIA MAULINI, CLASS OF 1980, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Medal of Honor. This award is presented to an alum for eminent service in promoting the effectiveness of the Alum Association and/or College. Significant leadership, specific accomplishments and stellar service have been consistent over an extended period of time and broad-based across multiple areas of involvement, which include classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association and the College.

Silvia, you are a dedicated leader and mentor who has nurtured the Mount Holyoke community in Europe for many years. 

You have been an active volunteer since shortly after your graduation, serving as president of the Netherlands Alum Region since 2011 and as chair of the Mount Holyoke European Alumnae Council (MHEAC) since 2016. By all accounts, you have done a truly outstanding job, working tirelessly to build and support the Mount Holyoke community in Europe and beyond. You are also a founding member of the Global Alum Alliance. 

Colleagues and fellow alums describe you as innovative, competent, diplomatic, gracious and well organized. They applaud your commitment to being inclusive and welcoming, both in your personal approach and through establishing structures and processes that serve all constituents. You have been called “a foundation builder” and someone who “doesn’t let roadblocks get in her way.”

You are widely praised for your mentoring skills, recruiting alums for essential positions in MHEAC and supporting them to help them succeed. You have brought new energy to the Mount Holyoke community in Europe and actively engaged the next generation, encouraging students, recent alums, and others new to Europe to participate in MHEAC activities. As one colleague notes, “Silvia appreciates that communities matter now more than ever.”

Silvia, for your eminent service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Medal of Honor. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P”13
President 
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SABRINA L. MAURER, CLASS OF 1990, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Medal of Honor. This award is presented to an alum for eminent service in promoting the effectiveness of the Association and/or the College. Significant leadership, specific accomplishments and stellar service have been consistent over an extended period of time and broad-based across multiple areas of involvement, which include classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association and the College.

Sabrina, your decades of service to the College, the Alum Association and your classmates have earned the profound respect of your fellow alums and College and Association staff. You have bettered the entire Mount Holyoke community.

You have supported development efforts since your graduation, serving as a class agent, head class agent, reunion gift caller and reunion gift chair. These efforts, and your work on the Annual Funds Committee and The Mount Holyoke Fund Volunteer Steering Committee, earned you a Loyalty Award in 2015. Since then, you branched out, taking on the role of class treasurer for five years, serving a three-year term on the Internal Achievement Awards Committee and stepping up as chair of the Classes and Reunion Committee, leading reunions out of the changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. After completing your term as treasurer for your class, you resumed your role as head class agent in 2020 to drive giving.

Peers recognize you as an exemplar of volunteering and praise you for your patience and clear expectations. Members of the Classes and Reunion Committee note that you always volunteer for the harder jobs and lead with a strong and patient presence. A fellow Loyalty Award recipient praises your “true passion for MHC” and calls you a “quietly dedicated person.” Your love of the College is contagious. As one College trustee says, “She makes you want to do more. I want to do it for Sabrina, not just for MHC.”

Sabrina, for your eminent service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Medal of Honor on this, your thirty-fifth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

JULIE A. GREEN, CLASS OF 1995, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Medal of Honor. This award is presented to an alum for eminent service in promoting the effectiveness of the Association and/or the College. Significant leadership, specific accomplishments and stellar service have been consistent over an extended period of time and broad-based across multiple areas of involvement, which include classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association and the College.

Julie, you have dedicated yourself to the College, your class and the Association for twenty-five years, inspiring others with your joy, passion and inclusivity.

You are celebrated for your many roles, including with the Mount Holyoke Club of Washington, D.C., the class of 1995 and, most recently and notably, with the Alum Association Board of Directors, Alum Trustee Committee and the Nominating Committee, of which you were chair.

Your classmates say that you are always ready and willing to take on a task, whether serving as a scribe or head agent, or making calls for reunion gifts. One classmate notes your skill at recruiting and encouraging volunteers, adding that you are “friendly, inclusive, outgoing and kind.” A board member praises your “ability to create a space where everyone feels respected and heard.” And an Association staff member highlights how you “embraced the values of the College and the spirit of inclusion.”

Your most significant contributions were as chair of the Nominating Committee, work for which a former Association staff member calls you a “transformational change agent.” You collaborated with leadership to reimagine the process, streamlining candidate recommendations and welcoming self-nominations. You are credited with being the “ultimate connector,” injecting “a renewed level of energy” and “lifting the committee through a rather daunting task,” resulting in stronger slates of diverse and qualified candidates. As one recent Clubs and Groups Committee chair says of you, “She can lead no matter where she is, asking insightful questions and setting the right tone.”

Julie, for your eminent service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Medal of Honor on this, your thirtieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SUSAN NUTTER KELLER, CLASS OF 1955, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Susan, you have served your class for nearly four decades, never wavering in your support and taking on even more work as a class agent and class scribe in preparation for your seventieth reunion.

Since 1987, you have held a variety of volunteer positions for development and your class, including as a lead gift volunteer and serving several terms as reunion gift caller, class agent and Nominating Committee member. In 2020, you became a co-scribe. At a time when engagement and enthusiasm naturally dip as classmates age, you have been a critical connector, encouraging participation and rallying classmates. You created the “Class Newshounds” to help you gather news, ensuring extensive coverage of your class while growing the pool of dedicated volunteers working for 1955. 

As a result, the columns you submit to the alum magazine are full to overflowing, so much so that the online version of the magazine often contains news that did not fit in print. Says one class board member, “Classmates look forward to her chock-full-of-news column, which is much appreciated.” You are also cited for the care you take in writing tributes for classmates, “which can be a difficult subject for many,” notes one Association staff member, adding, “Susan has been a joy to work with.”

Susan, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your seventieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

LUCY TRIPP EUBANKS, CLASS OF 1960, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Lucy, you have served your class for more than four decades, driving fundraising efforts and forging connections with and among your classmates.

Since 1984, you have held a variety of positions for your class, including as a Cornerstone representative and special gifts volunteer. You have served several terms as a reunion gift caller and class agent. In 2010 you leveraged your decades of fundraising experience to take the reins as 1960’s head class agent, a position you hold today. Because of your efforts, the class of 1960 continues to be an active, highly engaged class. 

Your classmates describe you as “a very caring person who stays in touch with everyone” and comment you “are steady as a rock.” A development office staff member calls your outreach efforts “incredible,” adding, “She is very dedicated and always willing. I have learned so much from her.”

Lucy, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your sixty-fifth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

ROBERTA E. ABER, CLASS OF 1965, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Roberta, in an active, highly engaged class, you are a standout, serving the Alum Association and your class for more than four decades.

You began volunteering in an official capacity in 1983 as president of the Mount Holyoke Club of Akron, Ohio, and you held a variety of leadership positions for the Association over the next decade-plus. You also became an engaged class volunteer, serving several terms as a reunion gift caller, class agent and Cornerstone representative. Thanks in part to your dedication as a fundraiser, 1965 has had the highest participation rate of any class in the 1960s. In the run-up to your fifty-fifth reunion, as class vice president and reunion co-chair, you helped organize and host several mini-reunions and successfully helped pivot planning — and ultimately the entire reunion — online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Your successor as reunion chair notes that you eased her transition into the role by being “very organized” and sharing your “good notes.” Another class board member calls you a “fabulous person” who is “willing to help out in any way.” And an Alum Association board member says you are a “true class leader.” 

Roberta, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your sixtieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

JACQUELINE E. BERKOWITZ, CLASS OF 1965, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Jacqueline, in an active, highly engaged class, you are a fundraising powerhouse, helping the class of 1965 to achieve the highest participation rate — 75 percent — of any class in the 1960s.

You first became a volunteer in 2001, serving as a class agent, a position you held until you became head agent, overseeing twenty-three class agents in 2020 and serving as a member of The Mount Holyoke Fund Beyond the 50th Committee. Your focus extends well beyond fundraising into forging supportive connections with and among your classmates. 

As one College staff member notes, you are “really good at rallying classmates at the end of the fiscal year” as a “great advocate and cheerleader.” You are also extremely successful during March4MHC challenges and reunions. Meanwhile, a trustee points out that you are “sensitive to understanding … classmates’ circumstances” in soliciting gifts, and a class board member says you are “very good at anticipating what you need to know about each classmate being contacted.” Others call you a “dynamo” and “the captain,” someone who “has a strong commitment to the College and her class.” 

Jacqueline, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your sixtieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

JEAN L. OLSON, CLASS OF 1970, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Jean, you have been a force in fundraising for the College and your class since your graduation, stepping up in a variety of ways whenever you are needed and always making an impact.

You made a mark as treasurer and first vice president of the Mount Holyoke Club of Greater Baltimore and as a reunion scribe. But it is your fundraising acumen, particularly when it comes to major donors, that gets the most notice from classmates and class agents. Since 1970, you have served in nearly every development role, from class Cornerstone chair to class agent to head class agent to reunion and special gifts chair, among others — for multiple terms. You have cultivated a cadre of donors who give consistently and generously to the College. And as co-head class agent leading up to your fiftieth reunion, you and your team raised $1.9 million for The Mount Holyoke Fund. During that same period, you led a fundraising effort in support of your class’s treasured fiftieth reunion book.

Two class board members say of you, “[She] steps up and leads.” Classmates describe you as “gracious,” “loyal,” “dedicated” and a “quiet leader.” They commend you for being “exceedingly good” at both planning and goal setting. And they note your deep love of and respect for both the College and the class of 1970.

Jean, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your fifty-fifth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

EILEEN ML EPSTEIN, CLASS OF 1975, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Eileen, you have served your class with distinction and dedication for three decades, most notably as scribe, where you have forged deep and lasting connections among classmates.

One need only open the pages of the alum magazine to see the impact of your work. Classmates note how creative and inclusive your class notes are. Through a combination of thought-provoking questions and personal outreach — especially to alums who are not very involved — you encourage broad participation. As one Alum Association staff member puts it, your care and effort and the amount of news submitted is “a testament to your ability to connect with classmates.” Adds the staff member, “It’s always a thrill to work with volunteers who are as committed to the work as staff are, and Eileen is that volunteer.” 

In addition to your role as class scribe, you have held several other leadership positions within your class. Most notably, you tapped your expertise as a lawyer to help rewrite class bylaws. One classmate notes that you always engage in “good, strategic thinking about how to make our class stronger and connected.” 

Eileen, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your fiftieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

HOLLY HUGHES, CLASS OF 1975, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Holly, you have served your class and the Alum Association with distinction for forty-five years, always going above and beyond — and even staying in roles past the end of your term to ensure the work you undertook was completed.

In addition to serving as vice president of the Mount Holyoke Club of New York City and a class reunion volunteer, you embarked on committee work in 1979 as a member of the Alumnae Quarterly Committee, which you subsequently chaired. You served terms on the Alumnae Honors Research Committee and the External Achievement Awards Committee. But it is your work with the Nominating Committee that many alums highlight. In word and deed, you’ve wholeheartedly supported the committee’s efforts to be more inclusive. To that end, you agreed to extend your term for a fourth year, tapping into your expertise as a professional writer and editor to complete initiatives to streamline Nominating Committee communications and encourage more people to consider volunteering.

Fellow committee members call you “loyal,” “a really good collaborator” and “a steadfast supporter of change.” Says one Alum Association board member, “Holly has a deep care for and understanding of the alum community.” Adds another, “She’s driven by a commitment to Mount Holyoke.” 

Holly, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your fiftieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

ALICE C. MARONI, CLASS OF 1975, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Alice, in your years as a volunteer, you have made deep and lasting impacts, most notably steering the finances of the Alum Association through uncharted waters.

You served for nearly a decade on the Finance Committee of the Alum Association, including as chair for three key years. And having been a class agent for more than two decades, you also stepped into the role of class co-treasurer in 2020. Your time in these important class and Association roles was not without significant challenges. And you met each one head-on, working to solidify the relationship between the College and the Association by managing the integration of independent Association finances with those of the College and helping to answer the call when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Association to significantly reduce expenses.

Through it all, you were “everything that you’d want in a CFO,” as one Association board member puts it. Alum Association board and committee members call you a “very thoughtful contributor,” “calm, diligent and careful,” “always prepared” and “a joy to work with.” One Association staff member notes your “ability to share knowledge with others in a collaborative and respectful way,” adding that you “transformed the role of treasurer and the Finance Committee, contributing to the financial strength of the Association.”

Alice, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your fiftieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

ANN CROFT, CLASS OF 1995, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Ann, you have served faithfully in a variety of roles benefitting your class, the Alum Association and the Mount Holyoke Club of D.C., always building on your previous experience and encouraging others to become involved.

You started by fundraising for your senior class gift and progressed to roles of greater responsibility over three decades of volunteering. You served multiple times as a head class agent and a reunion volunteer before joining the Alum Association’s Clubs and Groups Committee. Next you took on nearly every role with the Mount Holyoke Club of D.C. before becoming its president in a term that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Your leadership was invaluable as the club grappled with the difficult decisions of how to maintain connections among local alums during a lockdown and when to resume in-person events.

Fellow volunteers and staff members alike note your upbeat, inclusive leadership style. Classmates value you as someone who is “always supportive and loyal,” who “always encouraged participation” and who carried out her work with a “strong sense of dedication and responsibility.” Your “friendly, fun, creative and positive outlook” served you and your fellow volunteers well during the pandemic. One Association staff member says, “Ann is always raising her hand to do more, jumping into committee work with enthusiasm.” No matter the role you serve in, you are “delightful to work with” and someone who “gives in a good spirit.” 

Ann, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your thirtieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SEVANNE A. DEMIRJIAN, CLASS OF 1995, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/ or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College. 

Sevanne, for two decades you have created and nurtured a vibrant, active and engaged community of Mount Holyoke alums, first in Ann Arbor and now throughout Michigan. 

After serving as an officer of the Mount Holyoke Club of Ann Arbor, you became its president, overseeing — and often hosting — a jam-packed calendar of events including summer gatherings, Mountain Day celebrations, receptions for admitted students and an annual Mary Lyon Birthday Tea Party. Recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, you championed a merger with the Detroit club and, later, of all the Michigan clubs — a process you managed with skill, grace, diplomacy and vision. Today, the Mount Holyoke Club of Michigan continues to be an active and engaged multigenerational outpost of the College. 

You are known among your fellow volunteers as a “gracious hostess,” “calm and gentle” and “the glue of the club.” Says one club member, “Her kindness knows no bounds when guiding a true community of Mount Holyoke alums.” Adds another, “She does the work and then some, always opening her home to others.” And one trustee calls you “an anchor for the club, engaging both the younger and older alums with a calm and gentle manner,” ensuring club events offer a range of traditional, fun activities appealing to everyone. 

Sevanne, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your thirtieth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

RUANI CRISTINA MARYSE ILANGAKOON, CLASS OF 1995, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Cristina, you have been an indispensable partner and leader in every place you have lived and every role you have served in, from fundraiser to regional club volunteer to admission recruiter.

Not long after graduation, you signed on as a reunion gift caller for your class and as an admission representative of the Mount Holyoke Club of Pittsburgh. You continued in a variety of development roles after moving to California, most recently serving as head class agent. You also served in positions of increasing responsibility within the Mount Holyoke Club of the Peninsula, ultimately managing the southern end of a huge geographical area, Monterey. Though a move to Sri Lanka required you to step down from these positions, you turned your attention to helping the admission office connect with prospective and admitted students there. Meanwhile, you initiated a WhatsApp chat group for your class, encouraging participation at the thirtieth reunion.

Your classmates say your love for the College is infectious and that you are “passionate and deeply committed to promoting MHC.” Development office staff say your responsiveness in setting class goals, your creativity and your effective communication helped you achieve a goal of fifteen reactivated donors during March4MHC in the midst of a pandemic. Your “willingness to go above and beyond” and your boundless enthusiasm ensured the success of regional events in California. Admission staff consider you to be “one of the more active and committed members of the international admissions volunteer program.”

Cristina, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your thirtieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

JENIFER CHANG, CLASS OF 2005, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Jenifer, in 2011 you dove into regional volunteer work with expertise and enthusiasm, ultimately transforming the Mount Holyoke Club of New York City with your inclusive and collaborative leadership.

Throughout your tenure, which included service as vice president of programs, membership chair, communications co-chair and president, you implemented sweeping changes with care. You led a period of transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, transitioning to email newsletters, moving to virtual meetings and conferences and enhancing the club website. A virtual program you oversaw as president, Navigating Career Pivots, drew nearly 200 alums and evolved into an ongoing mentorship program including one-on-one counseling, a Slack channel and a speaker series for alums. The effort expanded to include a drive for alums to donate work clothing and accessories to the Bottomless Closet, a New York nonprofit preparing women to enter or reenter the workforce. In every role and at every turn, you have ensured that your fellow officers are true partners in the work.

Club members and volunteers alike describe you as “a calm force,” “respectful and honest,” “willing to listen” and, above all, “transformative.” They note your aptitude for “recognizing and using the strengths and skills of others” and ensuring that “everyone feels warm and welcome.” As one example, while your expertise in electronic communications made you the “powerhouse of the newsletter,” you accommodated all members by mailing copies to those with less technological savvy and accepting checks for payment. As one fellow board member says, you are “committed to community.”

Jenifer, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your twentieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

JOANA I. SOUZA, CLASS OF 2005, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Loyalty Award. This award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated exceptional loyalty to the Association and/or the College through consistent effort and active involvement over an extended period of time in at least one area of service. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, the Association or the College.

Joana, you served as class treasurer for two decades, elevating a largely unsung role and freely sharing your expertise as the longest-serving member of your class board.

You stepped into the role of treasurer right after graduation and quickly demonstrated your skill with finances. As you gained extensive experience on the class board, you became a gifted mentor and the go-to volunteer new members relied on to answer questions. You also guided the process of putting together class bylaws. Your exemplary work on behalf of your class led to an invitation to serve on the Classes and Reunion Committee, where you worked with new class treasurers as they onboarded and then prepared for their complex roles during reunion years.

Staff members call you “fun, pleasant and always prepared,” and a class board member calls you “thoughtful, kind and steadfast.” You are credited with bringing communities together and stepping in to help whenever and wherever you are needed. Your “strength is working with and mentoring class treasurers,” says another class board member. As one of your classmates puts it, “Joana believes to be a part of MHC is to serve MHC.”

Joana, for your exceptional service, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Loyalty Award on this, your twentieth, reunion.

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

MELANIE HABER GENTILE, CLASS OF 2010, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award. This award honors a recent graduate who has demonstrated strong leadership, consistent effort over time and active involvement in one or more areas of service, resulting in a meaningful accomplishment for the Association and/or the College. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association or the College.

Melanie, from leading fundraising for your class’s senior gift as a student to serving as head class agent since your graduation, you have continually focused on cultivating support among your classmates for The Mount Holyoke Fund.

As a senior, you encouraged your classmates to support the Fund rather than a special project, knowing the greater impact and reach such a gift from the class of 2010 would have. You continued to be a cornerstone of class fundraising after graduation, serving as head class agent for fifteen years and counting. You have creatively met the challenge of serving as the only head class agent during much of that time, reaching out beyond the class agent pool to enlist members of the class board in generating gifts for the annual March4MHC challenge and at year’s end. On top of these efforts, you also served on the Young Alum Committee, on the Annual Fund Review Committee and for regional clubs in Boston, Massachusetts, and Austin, Texas.

Development office staff agree that you are a “steadfast,” “calm” and “reliable” volunteer. “Melanie is one of the major reasons why 2010 has had such a strong showing of financial support for the College all these years.” Meanwhile, classmates praise you for having realistic expectations for individuals’ capacity to give and for educating the class on the importance of giving. As one classmate says, “Melanie really understands engagement and philanthropy, and she connects the dots for our classmates.”

Melanie, for your strong leadership, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award on this, your fifteenth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

SYMONE A. NEW, CLASS OF 2010, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award. This award honors a recent graduate who has demonstrated strong leadership, consistent effort over time and active involvement in one or more areas of service, resulting in a meaningful accomplishment for the Association and/or the College. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association or the College.

Symone, as a regional volunteer you have blended your love for your hometown, New York City, with your support of Mount Holyoke — to the benefit of alums and students alike.

Returning to New York right after graduation, you dove into work on behalf of the admission office. You then took a variety of leadership roles with the Mount Holyoke Club of New York City, stepping up as co-president from 2017 to 2020, always with an eye toward making the club more inclusive. You recently shifted your attention to career activities, sharing your expertise in development for Planned Parenthood with alums as part of the online Mentorship Speaker series. You then hosted thirty-two students and five staff from the Career Development Center at your office for The Lynk on the Road event.

Fellow club members describe you as “professional,” “reliable” and “empathetic,” noting that you are as adept at addressing a challenge as you are at making sure everyone feels welcome. As one member says, “Symone is a really smart, conscientious and detail-oriented person.” Meanwhile, a staff member who took part in The Lynk on the Road event notes, “Symone was a top-notch alum to work with. She was more than open to student connections and went above and beyond to engage our students.” As a result, the staff member says, “Our time at Planned Parenthood was so plentiful and profound.” 

Symone, for your strong leadership, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award on this, your fifteenth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

HANNAH M. YEE, CLASS OF 2015, the Alum Association is pleased to honor you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award. This award honors a recent graduate who has demonstrated strong leadership, consistent effort over time and active involvement in one or more areas of service, resulting in a meaningful accomplishment for the Association and/or the College. Volunteer effort may be on behalf of classes, clubs, global regions, groups, the Association or the College.

Hannah, in the time since your graduation, you have made a lasting impression both on campus and within the alum community, deftly managing challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

You have held a variety of leadership positions within your class, serving as president and then reunion chair in the lead-up to your five-year reunion. Though the on-campus event was canceled due to the pandemic, you kept spirits high, working to build individual relationships with each board member and creating a culture of inclusiveness for all class members. Before transitioning into your new roles as class agent, Laurel Chain Society chair and member of the Classes and Reunion Committee, you made sure to document the class board’s work, making the handoff easier for incoming officers. In addition to your formal roles, you started a regular informal golf outing for Boston-based alums of all ages.

College staff and classmates alike note your excellent communication and organizational skills and call you a strong leader and team player. Says one development office staff member, “Hannah is a person who is always there when you need her. She consistently gets back to you when you ask something of her and will give thoughtful consideration to what's asked of her.” Adds a classmate and fellow board member, “Hannah embodies what the Alum Association is about when they think about leadership and what it’s like to be a good volunteer.” 

Hannah, for your strong leadership, the Alum Association is honored to present you with the Alum Volunteer Leadership Award on this, your tenth, reunion. 

Rochelle Calhoun ’83, P’13
President
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College

Trisha Tanner ’00
Executive Director
Alum Association of Mount Holyoke College