Happy New Year / Connect and Learn with Smith

Dear Friends,

As we begin a new year, I want to take the opportunity to tell you how proud I am of our alum community. As the pandemic unfolded all last spring, we had to make many difficult decisions for the safety of our campus and our community. Together, we demonstrated our courage and resiliency, and we continue to show up for each other and our students. Thank you.

Following our Culture of Care plan, we will begin welcoming some students back to campus next month. You may have seen our announcement that Reunion 2021 will be a virtual event June 3–6. Please stay tuned; many of the weekend’s events will be available online to all alums (and you won’t want to miss it!). And, while we can’t gather on campus now, you can join us in spirit with one of these custom Smith Zoom backgrounds.

We invite you to save the date for Rally Day on February 18, at 1:30 p.m. ET. We have four incredible medalists, and the program will be live-streamed. Below, you will find information on a few other highlights from our robust spring calendar. Keep your eye on your inbox for more events throughout the semester. We have a full suite of programs, including some specifically for younger alums, those in business and those looking for ongoing learning opportunities.

Finally, I want to share with you that our 2020 Global Illuminations celebration just won several awards from our professional association, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. This recognition is exceptional: Smith will be honored with two Grand Gold and a third Gold Medal for our submission capturing this cherished tradition. As alums, we joined forces to shine a light for our graduates and in doing so created a global connection and a lighted pathway for ourselves. Let’s plan to do it again this May and shine a light so bright, the world will see… #smithilluminates!

With my admiration,
Denise

Denise Wingate Materre ’74
Vice President for Alumnae Relations

Spring 2021 Event Highlights

President McCartney has lined up a terrific Presidential Colloquium series covering such topics as democracy, transgender representation and disability rights, beginning with Jill Lepore discussing "This America | That America" on February 23, at 7 p.m. ET. On March 11, at 7 p.m. ET, Bryan Stevenson will present “Just Mercy: The Movement for Justice and Redemption.” You can watch all the lectures on Smith’s Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to participate.

Our spring Webinar Series will focus on food and family. Makenna Held ’07 will even host a tour and cooking demonstration straight out of Julia Child's former kitchen! Register now for our first event: Kate Sonders Solomon ’00 will show us how to cook up homemade veggie pot pies on Friday, February 5, at 4 p.m. ET.

On Friday, January 29, at 10 a.m. ET, Baishakhi Taylor, dean of the college and vice president for campus life, will moderate a panel of four entrepreneurial alums whose mission is to catalyze positive social change in their local communities and beyond. Register now for the Zoom webinar “Smith’s Global Changemakers and Entrepreneurs: Making an Impact Through Vision and Grit.”

On March 1, at 7 p.m. ET, Kimberly Drew ’12, Thelma Golden ’87, Jenna Wortham and Amanda Williams will join in conversation about Drew and Wortham’s recently released anthology, Black Futures. The discussion will orbit around themes of art as a producer of and safeguard for Black futurity and the importance of preserving Black culture in the contemporary moment. More details to follow.

From January to March, our online alum book club will be reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson. You can join for free at any time and be part of the conversation.

Save the date for “BUILDING BOLDLY: Equity Through Womxn Entrepreneurship,” the 2021 Draper Competition April 5–9. This annual competition is designed to hone the skills that undergraduate women need to advance an idea from concept to venture creation. Through multiple rounds of competition, students demonstrate an understanding of a problem, why the problem requires a new venture to address it and how their idea presents the best solution to the problem.

You might also be interested in the Smith College Museum of Art’s SCMA from Home site, connecting people to art, ideas and each other. And the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center recorded its fall events and made them available online. The spring schedule will be posted soon.

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