News & Updates

Luna Wang ’24J is deepening her understanding of people and strengthening her future.

Smith’s Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs welcomes 60 teams from across the country for two days of learning and competition. 

Join Smith in honoring the senior class with 2,023 gifts to The Smith Fund. The trustees will match up to $500,000!

Lâle Burk, who taught chemistry at Smith for nearly five decades, is being honored with an endowed scholarship inspired by her superb teaching career.

An intergenerational suggestion ignites excitement and action for the 25th Reunion class.

Smith College has received a $50 million gift to its endowment to transform and support financial aid and career development programs. The gift—from an alumna who wishes to remain anonymous—is the largest gift from an individual donor in Smith’s history. 

Sending care packages is one of the most popular activities for many Smith Clubs across the country, each club putting their own spin on what they send, and when.

Smith’s cherished tradition of sharing stories over afternoon tea offers time and space for reflection and camaraderie with fellow Smithies. Imani Missouri ’08, owner of Faith Forward LLC, elevates this concept through her podcast, Forward 40 (4tea).

It’s already impossible to fit Madeline Turner ’21’s resume on one page. The anthropology major from Garrettsville, Ohio, has served as president of the Smith Debate Society and principal trumpet in the Smith College Orchestra. And she recently co-authored a book, The Land of Milk and Money: Lessons Learned From Ohio Women in Dairy, inspired by her own childhood growing up on a dairy farm.

Diane Alvarez Benitez ’22, a first-generation engineering and architecture student at Smith, learned the value of education from her father. Smith’s Here for Every Voice initiative to raise $75 million for scholarships is giving students like Diane an opportunity to find their voice at Smith—and change the trajectory of their lives and communities in the process.

When President Kathleen McCartney announced that students would be finishing their spring semester studies remotely beginning March 30, Smithies did what they do best—rallied in support of others in need.

For Mary Grant ’70, Smith and family are intertwined. Four generations of women in her family—from her grandmother to Mary’s now-grown daughter—are or were Smithies. “Never in my early life, except for my family, did anyone take my brain seriously,” she says. “The faculty at Smith, however, thought of us as young women who were capable of analysis and critical thinking.”

More than 1,700 alumnae returned to campus in May 2019 for Reunion and Commencement weekends. Old friends reconnected, and new friendships were made, as Smithies visited their former houses, went on campus tours and attended faculty lectures.

In 2012, Smith College, Tim Draper and Melissa Park Draper ’77, forged a groundbreaking partnership to establish the Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs and level the playing field for aspiring undergraduate female founders. The competition is designed to hone the skills undergraduate women need to launch business ventures. 

It was an ambitious goal: Raise $3.1 million in 31 days for scholarship aid. Thanks to 5,105 generous donors, Essential Smith: The December Giving Challenge surpassed that goal, raising $3.25 million and helping to empower hundreds of Smith students to launch bright futures.

Priscilla Carter Fort ’69 received an education both inside and out of the classroom at Smith. For her last three years, she lived in Tenney House, the co-op dorm on campus. “Living and working in Tenney was a unique form of financial aid at Smith,” she explains. “Sixteen of us earned our keep by rotating through a daily work schedule that included scrubbing tubs, baking bread and getting dinner for sixteen on the table every night.”  

For many Smith students, the opportunities offered through study abroad are the deciding factor when choosing to attend the college. Unique cultural experiences, being immersed in a foreign language and forging lifelong friendships abroad are just a few of the motivating factors. To celebrate these special opportunities, two gatherings were held this past summer in Paris to honor and connect with two beloved supporters of Smith’s study abroad programs, Anita Wien ’62 and Ann Sanford ’75.

Lisa Black ’81 learned the importance of investment early on. Growing up, she and her siblings were given shares of stock by their parents and grandparents, but the “real gift”, she says, was that “we learned about investments and the importance of giving back.” Recently she has invested in Smith College through a generous gift establishing the Smith Athletics Program Endowment Fund.

On Friday, April 6, 2018, 52 teams from 34 schools around the country, including 18 teams from Smith, converged on the Indoor Track and Tennis Facility for the sixth annual Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs.

In naming Smith to their top 10 list for Schools for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Change the World, College Magazine said “This all women’s college in the Boston area gives female entrepreneurs a once in a lifetime experience.”

As a philosophy major, Elissa (Lisa) Getto ’69 had no idea that her education was preparing her for a rich series of careers as an educator, musician and ultimately president of such renowned performing arts centers as Florida’s Ruth Eckerd Hall; Stamford, Connecticut’s, Palace Theater; and Virginia’s Wolf Trap.

Now Lisa is giving back by leaving a bequest to the college in her estate.