The Office of Alumnae Relations and Development is thinking of our Smith community during these challenging times and we hope you are receiving the support you need.

All across the world, alums are stepping up to help their communities, stay social and lift up the most vulnerable among us. We’ve been so inspired—but not surprised—by the thoughtfulness and generosity of our community. In that spirit, we hope this collection of resources provides a welcome source of connection, information and even entertainment during this difficult time.

Remember to also update your profile in Smith's newly redesigned alum directory, now called The Network, connect with your class and see how your local Smith club is keeping in touch. For updates on Smith’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, visit the college’s coronavirus disease page.

Get Updates

• Meet Sarah Willie-LeBreton, the 12th president of Smith College, and read her recent interview in the SAQ. Help us celebrate President Willie-LeBreton at her inauguration on October 21, 2023.
• The Smith 2035 Vision Statement forms a framework for pondering how the college’s future will unfold in relation to trends and challenges, known and unknown, in society, culture and higher education.
• In this three-part series for the SAQ, President Kathleen McCartney looks back on her tenure at Smith.
• Smith's innovative geothermal campus energy project will help the college achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
• Floyd Cheung, professor and vice president for equity and inclusion, reflects on implementing Toward Racial Justice at Smith College—a strategic plan developed to advance antiracism work and make Smith truly inclusive.
• Smith has replaced loans with grants in financial aid awards.
• Learn about the college's Here for Every Voice scholarship aid fundraising initiative, and watch students talk about how aid has transformed their lives.
• Explore your alum website. Bookmark the site, then check back often to watch webinars, learn about upcoming events, see what fellow Smithies are up to and much more.

Learn Something New

•  In the latest issue of the SAQ, Valerie Joseph, the mentoring academic director of Smith’s Achieving Excellence in Mathematics and Science (AEMES) program, talks about Grounded Knowledge Panels and the value of both speaking and listening.
• Jaime Green, a science writer and a lecturer in English language and literature at Smith, shares five insights from her new book, The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos.
• Claire Kenny '24 highlights how autism in U.S. girls is flying under the radar—and what we can do about it.
• Naila Moreira—director of Smith’s new journalism concentration, a science writing instructor and a lecturer in English language and literature—authors this article about journalism and its connection to the liberal arts.
• A Washington Post article examines how institutions like Smith College and Ohio State University are managing the challenges, benefits and sustainability of no-loans financial aid policies.
• Sign up for one of Smith’s webinars and check out the Smith College Alumnae YouTube Channel for one of our previously recorded webinars, including:
• Eunice Hunton Carter, Class of 1921: The Black Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster
• Ruth Ozeki '80: On Writing
• Explore Julia Child '34’s former home in the south of France
• Band of Sisters: The Smithies Who Brought the Grécourt Gates to Smith
• Watch Smith College faculty share their expertise.
• View this workshop on using LinkedIn and the Alumnae Directory, now called The Network, for your job and internship search. 
• Check out Smith Executive Education, including upcoming free programs.

Feel Good

• As President Willie-LeBreton begins her tenure, students, faculty, staff and alums share with her what they enjoy and value most about the college.
• Alums remember highlights from their time at Smith and the strong friendships they formed in this Memory Booth video, recorded during Reunion. Watch and laugh along with them.
• Enjoy photos from this year’s Reunion.
• Check out the winners of the Global Encounters Photo Contest.
• Download a beautiful Smith-themed Zoom background.
• Watch Pam Victor '88’s webinar “Establish a Resilience-Building Happiness Practice.”
• Watch this Alumnae Relations and Development webinar, "How to Take Action and Stay Hopeful in the Age of Climate Crisis.”
• Check in with your local club to see what programs are offered in your regional community.

Connect on Social

• Our virtual Alum Book Club offers a wonderful way to connect with Smith alums, explore important topics and broaden your network.
• Browse the Smith College YouTube Channel. You might especially like:
• The YouTube Playlist: Smith Alumnae Today, which includes the video series “How I Got that Job.” 
• The YouTube Playlist: Campus Features, which features Gloria Steinem '56, the Design Thinking Initiative, the Historic Clothing Collection and more.
• Find us on Instagram.
• Follow us on Facebook.
• Get the latest news on Twitter.

Connect with Campus

• NASA selects Smith to develop strategies that tackle the STEM gender gap. Smith will share the $5 million award with six other women's colleges.
• Members of the Smith College class of 2027 were chosen from the largest and most diverse applicant pool in Smith’s history. Learn more about this record-breaking admission season.
• Smith professor Carrie Baker and Aviva Dove-Viebahn, assistant professor at Arizona State University, recently announced the publication of their new book, Public Feminisms: From Academy to Community.
• When it comes to written exams, some Smith professors are leading with surprisingly supportive and helpful questions.
• Thanks to an anonymous gift of $3 million, Smith is establishing the Gloria Steinem '56 Endowed Chair in the Study of Women and Gender, in honor of Steinem’s work as a leader in the movement for women’s rights.
• Meet Corinna Davis '23: Smith’s first geothermal tour guide.
• Read the Insider's Guide to the Jandon Center for Community Engagement.
• Get to know our Alumnae Relations and Development staff members.
• Join Nyla Conaway '23 and Jess Buslewicz '22 as they take you on a seven-minute video tour of the new Neilson Library.
• Watch student videos at The Narratives Project.

Relax with Smith-Related Entertainment

• In this interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, musician and former national youth poet laureate Kara Jackson '23 talks about her recent debut album, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
• Cynthia Wade '89 is the director of the new Netflix show MerPeople. The four-part docuseries dives into the world of underwater performers who have turned their love for mermaiding into high-stake careers.
• Hana Videen '07 talks to NPR about her book The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English and one of her favorite words, wordhord: “A poet’s stockpile of words and phrases that they could draw upon when performing poetry.”
• The spring issue of Smith’s student-run arts and literary magazine, Emulate, is now online.
• See more. If you would like to have your work appear on our list of Smithie authors, please fill out this form.

Smith in the Community

• In this interview, Durreen Shahnaz ’89, founder of Impact Investment Exchange and author of The Defiant Optimist, talks about her childhood, being a woman of color on Wall Street, and how to create an inclusive financial market.
• Sen. Tammy Baldwin ’84 is featured in this NPR story about the bill that she and Sen. Patty Murray introduced called the Reproductive Health Care Training Act, which helps fund abortion care training for medical students.
• Hilary Franz '92, currently the Washington state lands commissioner, has announced her plan to run for governor in 2024. She will be up against fellow Democrat Bob Ferguson, the Washington attorney general.
• S. Mona Sinha ’88, global executive director of Equality Now, recently received the Horton Award for Excellence in Social Enterprise from the Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise.
• Victoria Booth '86 received the 2023 J.D. Crawford Prize for her work in nonlinear science. In this Q&A, she explains her award-winning research on modeling sleep-wake regulation and circadian rhythms and lauds the work of female mathematicians.
• Thelma Golden '87 was selected to be a member of the International Jury of the Biennale Architettura 2023, held May 20 through November 26. The title and theme of the international architecture exhibition is The Laboratory of the Future.
• In an interview with the Today show, Wendy Schmidt '77 talks about the state-of-the-art vessel provided by the Schmidt Ocean Institute that’s helping scientists explore the ocean to find ways to slow climate change.