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February 4, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Editor's note: For photos of the honorees, call (413) 585-2190 or e-mail mhobbes@smith.edu.

FIVE ACCOMPLISHED SMITH ALUMNAE TO BE
RECOGNIZED AT RALLY DAY

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-For their extraordinary professional achievements and outstanding service to their communities, five Smith College alumnae will receive the Smith College Medal, an award presented each February on Rally Day.


The event, which honors distinguished alumnae, will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, in John M. Greene Hall. It is free and open to the public.


The Smith College Medal was established in 1962 to recognize and honor alumnae "who, in the judgment of the trustees, exemplify in their lives and work the true purpose of a liberal arts education." This year, an exemplary group of accomplished professionals and public servants has been selected to receive the award. They are Lucile Reid, Class of 1972; Sandy Skoglund, Class of 1968; Marilyn Ray Smith, Class of 1965; Susan Moldow, Class of 1967; and Constance Laurence Brinckerhoff, Class of 1963.


Reid, a bank executive and entrepreneur, will deliver the Rally Day address.


M. Lucile Reid has developed an impressive record of offering financial support to small businesses, particularly those owned by minorities and women. She has been president of BigStep.com, an award-winning company that has provided marketing solutions to small businesses. Before joining BigStep.com, she served as executive vice president of the Consumer Banking Group at Wells Fargo Bank, where she spearheaded the Women's Loan Program, the Latino Loan Program and the African-American Loan Program for small business owners. Prior to her banking career, Reid founded a small private school for disabled children and has served as the chairperson and on the board of directors of Enable, Inc., a program in Canton, Mass., that assists handicapped children and their families.

Artist Sandy Skoglund has been called "reality's rebel"-and with good reason. As a photographer and sculptor, Skoglund has become famous for creating unique room-sized installations that twist and turn seemingly innocuous scenes from everyday life (a restaurant dining room, a child's bedroom, a walk in the park) until they resemble something out of the "Twilight Zone." Life Magazine named her one of the world's top 100 photographers, and her images have become part of popular culture. She has exhibited her work in every major museum and private collection in the country. In 1998, the Smith Museum of Art hosted a provocative retrospective of her work titled "Reality Under Siege," which broke attendance records at the museum.

Marilyn Ray Smith has dedicated most of her professional life to ensuring the financial well-being of children in single-parent families. As deputy commissioner and chief legal counsel of the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Smith has been passionately committed to ensuring that children have the financial support of their parents, including guaranteeing that children born to unwed parents have the same rights as children born to married parents. In the 1980s as a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Child Support, Smith helped draft and implement the Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines as well as other comprehensive child support reform legislation in the Commonwealth. These reforms went on to serve as a model for other states as well as for Congress in 1996, when it enacted child support provisions that were part of federal welfare reform.

As senior vice president of Scribner publishing house, Susan Moldow has published some of the world's greatest and most important literary works, including the National Book Award-winning "The Noonday Demon" by Andrew Solomon and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt. In addition, she has been active on the Freedom to Publish Committee of PEN, an association of prominent literary writers and editors, and she was a significant force behind the success of the effort by Goddard Riverside Community Center in New York City to promote reading and libraries with a book sale that raised more than $350,000 in one year.

Medical researcher Constance Laurence Brinckerhoff is the Nathan Smith Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Dartmouth Medical School. She is also associate dean for science education at the medical school and has served as acting provost of Dartmouth College. Her research on collagenase has contributed significantly to the understanding of joint destruction in arthritis and the invasiveness of cancer. She has been honored by the Arthritis Foundation of America and her research has earned her a prestigious MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. After losing her sister to cancer in 1996 as well as being a cancer survivor herself, Brinckerhoff has been a crusader for further research and treatment of the disease as well as serving as a role model for women suffering from breast cancer.

Rally Day began in 1876 as a celebration of George Washington's birthday. Since then, it has evolved from a social occasion into a day-long celebration, at which seniors are permitted to wear their caps and gowns for the first time. The Smith College Medal-which was designed by art professor Elliot Offner and depicts the Grécourt Gates and the Smith College motto, "To Virtue, Knowledge"-has been awarded at Rally Day since 1973.


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