Highlights from "A Freshman Comes to Smith," which was completed in 1933 by the Alumnae Association as a recruiting film shown at Smith Clubs and to prospective students and their families.

"A love affair" is how Ileana Streinu, Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science, describes her relationship with Ford Hall. It is not just the state-of-the-art facilities that she loves, says the Romanian-born scholar recognized for her groundbreaking research in computational geometry, it is also the feel and the atmosphere. "There is so much light here," and the way the space is organized is "conducive to communication and collaboration."

On any given weekday, rookies and native speakers, professors and students alike gather for lunch at tables sponsored by a variety of Smith's foreign language departments and programs. If it's Friday, it's Korean, and visitors and students at all levels of language proficiency are welcome. They tell stories, crack jokes, make weekend plans. The beginners fall back on English words when they are flummoxed. The more proficient Korean speakers talk easily and quickly.

Exploring the woods of the 200-acre MacLeish Field Station is becoming a lot easier thanks to new hiking trails designed and built by Smith students. This summer, student volunteers and a team of interns from the Botanic Gardens working with Reid Bertone-Johnson, landscape studies lecturer and field station manager, and Scott Johnson, outdoor adventure coordinator, began constructing nature trails on the property.

Related story: Where Academics Fuse with the Great Outdoors >

Two restrooms in the Smith College Museum of Art blur the boundaries between form and function as well as personal and public space. The public restrooms, located on the lower level directly adjacent to the exhibition gallery, are permanent works of art created separately by noted artists Ellen Driscoll and Sandy Skoglund. Driscoll's women's room, titled Catching the Drift, is a serene immersion in an underwater world. Skoglund's men's restroom, Liquid Origins, Fluid Dreams, is a visual blizzard of black and white that Skoglund, a Smith alumna, hopes will intrigue startled visitors into a closer look at the images on each tile.

"Smith Women in Education: Charting a Changing Education Landscape" features Smith alumnae educators, as well as President Carol Christ, discussing some of the most pressing issues in the field today.

No major organization can afford to be late to the game when it comes to fielding a first-class roster of women leaders. At Smith College, the goal of the Executive Education program is to build world-class leadership in women executives. The program provides senior level managers, directors and high-potential women with the knowledge, competencies and innovative insights to drive change and performance in their organizations.

Learn more about the Executive Education program >

Gilbert and Sullivan's famous comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance requires a cast of many, singing and dancing to lavish orchestral accompaniment in multi-layered Victorian costumes on a stage with a vast, ornate set. "It draws on so many sources," says Ellen Kaplan, professor of theater, who directs the production. The Pirates of Penzance will open on Thursday, April 14, with performances Friday and Saturday, April 15-16 (including a 2 p.m. matinee April 16) and Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23, at 8 p.m. in Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts.

Rachel Maddow, a political commentator who rose to national prominence after launching her career on local radio, was the speaker at Smith College's 132nd commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 16, 2010. Maddow and four other accomplished women received honorary degrees prior to the address.

Visit the Commencement 2010 site >