Stay Connected to Smith
The Office of Alumnae Relations and Development welcomes you to “Stay Connected to Smith,” where you can explore the vibrant tapestry of Smith’s academic, cultural, and social initiatives. Here, you’ll find a wealth of engaging content, from thought-provoking lectures to insightful articles and impactful student projects, all to keep you connected, informed, and inspired.
More Ways to Stay Connected
Get Updates
Learn Something New
- Kristin Hughes, director of athletics and recreation at Smith, has been named the 2026 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Administrator of the Year. She is only the second Division III administrator to win this award.
- Mariana Abarca, assistant professor of biological sciences, is overseeing a large-scale moth-monitoring project to better understand how insects are adapting to changes in the environment.
- Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Tanya Lama is conducting research on how wild species are able to adapt to climate change by using the science of genomics.
- Professor Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor released her new book, Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me, in June. The book dives into her research, teaching, and more.
- “‘Do a lot with a little’: How Lynn Hersey turned Smith College women’s basketball into a powerhouse” highlights how Hersey became the head coach and led the team to success.
Offerings for Alums
Feel Good
- Read a selection of little love stories to Smith, to celebrate the college’s 150th anniversary. You can submit your own story through our website.
- In honor of the college’s sesquicentennial, the Smith College Archives has compiled a series of photos capturing Smithies both in the classroom and at play. The photos span the 1880s through 2018, and they capture moments such as campus protests, astronomy classes, and one of the world’s first women’s basketball games.
- Sip, sip, hooray! First introduced during the inauguration of President Sarah Willie-LeBreton, Smith’s two custom tea blends are available for sale.
- Check out the winners of the Global Encounters Photo Contest.
- Download a beautiful Smith photo for your Zoom background.
- Miss campus? Enjoy different views of Paradise Pond through our campus webcams.
Smithies Create
- April Simpson ’06 has been chosen as 2025 Pulitzer Prize Finalist. In 2024, Simpson collaborated with fellow journalists Alexia Campbell, Nadia Hamdan, Roy Hurst, and Pratheek Rebala on “40 Acres and a Lie,” a series about how land titles granted to formerly enslaved Americans were unjustly revoked, according to a statement.
- Madelyn Sher, M.F.A. ’24 is the recipient of The Emory Arts Fellowship in Dance from Emory University. Arts fellows spend one semester teaching an undergraduate class in their field and a second semester partnering with a faculty member from anywhere in the university to co-teach a course and create a capstone project.
- In January, stand-up comedian Mina Hartong ’91 taped her solo show “Miss Personality” in Palm Springs, California. Ahead of the special’s streaming release, Hartong will perform “Miss Personality” at the Egremont Barn in the Berkshires this summer.
- Darcy Parker Bruce, M.F.A. ’16, is one of 18 theater artists selected for the 2025 MacDowell Fellowship. Founded in the early 1900s, the MacDowell program annually brings artists to its Peterborough, New Hampshire, campus for an “inspiring residential environment … to produce enduring works,” according to a statement. Bruce will spend their residency working on a new play.
- Food writer and editor Helen Rosner ’04 is the recipient of a 2025 James Beard Media Award for her profile story, “Padma Lakshmi Walks into a Bar,” published in The New Yorker magazine where she is a staff member. Rosner, who earned her Smith degree in philosophy, was formerly an editor at Eater magazine.
- Author Amy Bloom, M.S.W. ’78 has published I'll Be Right Here, a multigenerational historical novel focused on Algerian siblings in Paris during World War II. Bloom’s book was recently profiled in the New York Times.
Smithies have made their mark in literature. If you would like to have your work appear on our list of Smithie authors, please fill out this form.
Connect with Campus
Smithies in the Community
- Danielle Brian ’85 appears on a list of the 500 Most Influential People of 2025, published in a special issue of the Washingtonian. Brian, president and executive director of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), is recognized as one of the many experts and advocates influencing policy debates.
- Zoya Azhar ’20 was selected to participate in HumanitiesDC’s 14-week community journalism program where she produced an investigative report about organizing by renters in the Adams Morgan neighborhood published in Washington City Paper. Azhar earned her Smith degree in English language and literature.
- Jennifer C. Jones, M.S.W. ’00 received the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award for her commitment to the “unity of the global poor and dispossessed organizing across color lines to fight for everyone’s economic human rights.” Jones co-founded Rising Caps Collective in 2021, which supports expansive healing to address the traumatic legacies of colonization, slavery, and capitalism.
- Camille Bacon ’21, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Jupiter magazine, is one of four new trustee appointees at the Poetry Foundation. “With the addition of Camille Bacon, four poets will be serving on the board, helping to steer the foundation’s mission to amplify poetry and celebrate poets,” board chair Gwendolyn Perry Davis said in a statement. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/1683975/the-poetry-foundation…
- Founded in 2021 by Nicole Kenney ’06 in 2021, Hey Auntie! is an online community where Black women share insights about navigating various life challenges. Kenney says her real-life community of “aunties” inspired the platform, and that the goal of Hey Auntie! is empowering women.
- Olaolu Aganga ’03, Mercer U.S. CIO, joins CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” to talk about her investing playbook in a volatile trading environment.
- Hampshire College has appointed Jennifer Chrisler ’92 as its interim president. Chrisler, currently serving as Hampshire’s vice president for institutional support, joined the College in 2019 as chief advancement officer.
- Kim Noltemy ’90, CEO of the LA Philharmonic, was recently named to the LA Business Journal's LA500 2025 in its "Arts & Philanthropy" category.
- Laura Tyson ’69 is a regular contributor to Project Syndicate. Her most recent article, with John Zysman, is “The Trump Global Fallout.” Tyson is a former chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration, is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Board of Advisers at Angeleno Group.
