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 the Alumnae Directory, 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

• See all letters from President Kathleen McCartney to the community.
• Explore your NEW alum website here at smith.edu/alum. Bookmark the site, then check back often to watch webinars, learn about upcoming events, see what fellow Smithies are up to and much more.
• Meet the new Smith College trustees. 
• Learn about Smith's plans for an in-person fall semester.
• Read about Lisa Howie, Smith's new Chief Investment Officer.
• Discover how Smith is one of this year’s top 10 Fulbright-producing institutions then meet some of our Fulbright recipients.
• Read President McCartney's letter about how we will honor former Smith presidents in our new library, January 20, 2021.
• Learn about the 2021–22 Year on Democracies.
• Read about Smith receiving the largest gift in its history, October 2, 2020
• Read a letter from President McCartney about Smith's commitment to dismantling structural inequality, June 4, 2020.
• Read President Kathleen McCartney's letter to The New York Times on the purpose of the endowment.
• Learn how the Smith community came together to support the Student Emergency Aid Fund.

Learn Something New

• President McCartney regularly invites influential thought leaders to share their expertise and inspire discourse on key topics. Learn more and watch past events, including Jennifer Ho speaking about Anti-Asian racism and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging Smith students to contribute with confidence.
• Smith staff member Jessica Bacal share six ways to manage job uncertainty, ambiguity and disruption. 
• Ida Offenbach Abbott ’69, author of Retirement by Design: A Guided Workbook for Creating a Happy and Purposeful Future—a 2020 pick by The Wall Street Journal for best book on retirement—shares some tips on how to approach retirement. 
• Professor Loretta Ross discusses "cancel culture" on Texas Public Radio.
• Learn about the Writing and Public Discourse program at Smith, including reading about projects students conducted with faculty.
• Learn about Smith's new Data Science Corps, funded with support from the National Science Foundation.
• Meet Camille Bacon '21, Smith's first Cromwell Fellow. 
• Learn how attorney and scholar Deborah Archer '93 uses the law to combat racial injustice.
• Sign up for one of Smith’s 2021 webinars and check out the Smith College Alumnae YouTube Channel for one of our previously recorded webinars, including:
• Explore Julia Child '34's former home in the south of France
• Smith's Global Changemakers and Entrepreneurs
• Human Connection in Virtual Spaces
• Watch Smith College faculty share their expertise.
• View this workshop on using LinkedIn and the Alumnae Directory for your job and internship search. 
• Check out Smith Executive Education, including upcoming free programs.

Feel Good

• Download a beautiful Smith-themed Zoom background.
• Join Get Fit Smith for an exciting line-up of virtual fitness classes led by current graduate and undergraduate students. Or Try a new workout from Smith Athletics. You can also watch the game of the week from the archives, attend virtual events, read interviews, and more—it's all in the Pioneer Press, a new weekly publication from the Department of Athletics and Recreation.
• Watch Pam Victor 88’s webinar "Establish a Resilience-Building Happiness Practice."  
• Watch Laura Holmes Haddad ’97's webinar "Sustaining Our Creative Selves in Times of Crisis."
• Check in with your local club to see what programs are offered in your regional community.

Connect on Social

• Follow us on Facebook. For a much-needed distraction, check out #PetsofProfs.
• 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.
• Get the latest news on Twitter.
• See the amazing notes of empathy and support Smithies sent to students in March 2020. Send your own kind words or a message of support.

Connect with Campus

• Learn about the new student-run common goods resource center.
• From pressing for increased assistance for undocumented students to finding ways to make college resources more accessible, the Advocacy for Equity Council has been a major catalyst for student organizing around social justice issues at Smith.
• Miss Virtual Reunion 2021? Watch the great programming!
• Catch up with everything Commencement 2021:
  • View the Commencement ceremony
  • Read about poet Joy Harjo's Commencement speech
  • See Illumination Night on campus
  • Learn about Global Illumination
  • Watch Ivy Day
  • See Senior Night in the new library
  • Read about new graduates
• Carolina A. Miranda '93 on the art and architecture of Maya Lin.
• The Wall Street Journal describes Maya Lin’s redesign of Neilson Library as defined by transparency, accessibility and luminosity.
• Sign up for our new virtual Alumnae Book Club. 
• Read this New York Times article about the new Neilson Library, then take a video tour.
• The Poetry Center had an incredible lineup of virtual readings this year including Mark Doty, Tracy K. Smith, Carmen Giménez Smith and John Murillo. Watch the recordings. 
• Explore the Smith College Museum of Art from home. You can check out the blog, the YouTube channel, the new Look and Listen series and more.
• Watch student videos at The Narratives Project. 

Relax with Smith-Related Entertainment

• The latest issue of Smith’s student-run arts and literary magazine, Emulate, is now online.
• In the Regency romance world—which was given a huge boost by the Netflix series Bridgerton—Sarah MacLean ’00 is a superstar. She recently published her 15th novel, Bombshell.
• Judith Raymo ’53 writes about her purchase of the little-known, recently rediscovered short story “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom,” written by Sylvia Plath ’55 during Plath's sophomore year at Smith. 
• Read Imperfect Alchemist, by Naomi Miller, professor of English language and literature, in which she brings to life the extraordinary women authors who were published and read in the time of Shakespeare. 
• Read Band of Sisters, a new novel by Lauren Willig about Smithies who risk their lives in France during World War I.
• Peg Wyant '64 discusses breaking gender barriers, and her experiences working for Procter & Gamble, in her new memoir, One Red Shoe.
• Listen to Row on Audible, a musical about Tori Murden McClure '85's 1999 quest to be the first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Read a new short story by Ruth Ozeki ’80 in T magazine's Nov. 15 travel issue.
• Curl up with your kids and neuroscientist Theanne Griffith ’08's The Magnificent Makers series, which combines great storytelling and fun STEM adventures that feature children of color. She's just released the third book in the chapter book series geared toward kids ages 7 to 10.
• Read Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan '03, which explores the friendship between a senior at a women's college and the local woman she babysits for.
• Listen to Lori Tharps ’94’s My American Melting Pot, a biweekly podcast about the ways race influences and impacts daily life. 
• View the new documentary Disclosure on Netflix, a look at transgender depictions in film and television. It's executive produced by Mona Sinha '88.
• 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

• Photographer Alison Shaw ’75 receives the Walter Cronkite Award from Sail Martha’s Vineyard.
• Cynthia Telles '74 names ambassador to Costa Rica.
• Thea Lee '80 to head labor department division.
• Wendy Sherman ’71 named Deputy Secretary of State.
• Read about Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey AC.
• Busy Burr ’83, president and CCO at Carrot, shares career advice.
• Beginning in the 1970s, A Wrinkle in Time author Madeleine L’Engle ’41 began corresponding with Ahmad Rahman, a Black Panther imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. Read about their exchange in Vanity Fair.
• In a New York Times op-ed, virologist Angela Rasmussen ’00 explains what the current COVID-19 vaccinations can and cannot accomplish right away. 
• In the latest issue of Rolling Stone, filmmaker Garrett Bradley ’07 talks about making her award-winning documentary Time, her approach to filmmaking and her plans for the future.
• Jane Yolen ’60 celebrates the release of her 400th published book, Bear Outside. 
• In this profile for the New York Times, visiting professor Loretta Ross explains the dangers of so-called call-out culture
• NPR’s Noel King speaks with Nina Lanza ’01, a geologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Adam Steltzner, chief engineer of the Perseverance Mars rover, about NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.
• Lean how Steve Williams, Gates Professor of Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, is adapting a portable testing kit for use in diagnosing COVID-19 cases in the developing world.
• Discover how Gaiana Joseph ’17 is feeding those who are protesting against police brutality.
• Read about how Dr. Annie De Groot ’78 is working on a vaccine to combat COVID-19.
• Discover how COVID-19 is reshaping the workplace, plus get tips on working from home from Dorie Clark ’97.
• Tracy Keogh '83, head of HR for HP, sets an example for corporate responses to COVID-19.
• Pam Victor '88 offers improv comedy tips to beat stress.
• Virologist Angela Rasmussen ’00 on what makes COVID-19 so unique, including the social-political ramifications.

Tell Us What You’re Doing

We want to know what stay-at-home orders look like for you. Submit your high-res #smithiesathome photos, or let us know what you’ve been doing to stay social, help your community or connect with your classmates during this unique moment in our history. Send your stories to saq@smith.edu and we’ll collect them and run as many as we can in an upcoming issue of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.