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This evening, when we celebrate that which is best about
Smith, I want to take the opportunity to recognize an individual whose quiet and
yet powerful leadership has, in so many ways, led to our gathering here tonight.
Since
1980, Smith College has bestowed the John M. Greene Award upon those individuals
who have rendered service to the college “beyond the call of duty” and
who personify the Smith motto, “To virtue, knowledge.”
It is my distinct
pleasure to present this award—Smith’s highest recognition
of service—to an alumna whose leadership and dedication have marked a period
of extraordinary expansion of our campus. I am speaking, of course, of Jane Chace
Carroll, class of 1953, trustee emerita, former chair of the buildings and grounds
committee of the board, longtime member of the Museum Visiting Committee...and an
unequalled friend to Smith College.
Jane’s 10-year service on the Board of Trustees
began in 1998. As chair of buildings and grounds, she played a direct and formative
role in no fewer than seven major new or renovated buildings that define our beautiful
campus today:
- The Campus Center
- The Brown Fine Arts Center
- The Lyman Conservatory renovation
- The Olin Fitness Center
- The Center for Early Childhood Education, at Fort Hill
- Conway House
And of course Ford Hall.
I won’t make Jane take credit for the parking garage
nor the temporary engineering building—the so-called Green Monster—although
both were realized during her board tenure. Jane has a fine and sophisticated aesthetic
sensibility—but
she is also capable of great pragmatism.
When I was first appointed to the Smith
presidency, I was told that the role of the board of trustees was “to help
the president succeed.” I could have no
better partner in that effort than Jane. Jane was an ideal board member—engaged,
steady, thoughtful, generous as a host and supporter, and always focused on the big
picture. When she spoke, it was with clarity and concision; without fanfare, her
insights always moved the conversation forward. She has a particularly keen eye for
selecting architects, a decision that can bring a lesser board to blows. The campus
you see today bears her stamp in innumerable ways.
Jane’s Smith ties are many
and deep. Her mother, Beatrice Oenslager Chace ’28,
instilled in her a lifelong interest in the fine and performing arts, and in architecture.
Her aunt, Eliot Chace Brady, was a member of the class of 1929. Her sister, Eliot
Chace Nolen ’54, is a longtime supporter and friend to Smith. Jane’s
stepdaughter, Judith Isham Carroll ’74, and daughter-in-law Whitney Ann Fite
Clay ’86, are also part of the Smith family. Together, Jane, Eliot, and their
brother Malcolm “Kim” Chace share a passion for bringing the arts to
the public; they have been described as “among the most knowledgeable and generous
contributors in America today.”
In Jane’s 12 years on the Museum Visiting
committee, Smith has had the benefit of her deep knowledge of the operations of museums
and their cultural roles and significance. In her counsel and her philanthropy she
is governed not by ego but by a genuine interest in understanding the needs and goals
of an institution and helping to advance them.
I’m pretty sure that Smith is
first in Jane’s heart, but we’ve
had to share her with other organizations interested in enlightened governance, among
them the Rhode Island School of Design and the RISD Museum; the New York City Ballet;
the New York Studio School; and the Orthopaedic Scientific Research Foundation. She
is a lecturer, docent and member of the executive committee of volunteers at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she also serves on the visiting committee for modern
art. In 2004, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education named Jane a “Distinguished
Friend of Education.”
In celebration of her dedicated, wise and enlightened
service, to the arts, to higher education, and most of all to Smith, please join
me in congratulating John M. Greene Award recipient Jane Chace Carroll.
Cornelia Mendenhall
Small ’66
Chair, Board of Trustees
October 16, 2009 |
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