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Lee Cuba to become Dean of the College |
Professor of sociology and Associate Dean Lee Cuba will be the next Dean of the College. The appointment was approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting January 29 and announced to the Wellesley community by President Diana Chapman Walsh shortly thereafter. "Lee Cuba exemplifies the special blend of outstanding scholarship, gifted teaching, and unstinting service that distinguishes the Wellesley faculty," stated President Walsh. "His remarkable ability to inspire efforts to make a great education even better make him an ideal person to help lead Wellesley into the next millennium." When he assumes office on July 1, 1999, Cuba will become the 17th Dean in the history of the College. He will succeed Nancy Kolodny, who has served as Dean since 1992. A Wellesley alumna who joined the faculty in 1969, Kolodny will resume her teaching and research activities as Nellie Zuckerman Cohen and Anne Cohen Heller Professor of Health Sciences and Professor of Chemistry. Cuba joined the Wellesley faculty in 1981 and has served as Associate Dean since 1995. He has been instrumental in a recent revision of Wellesley's curriculum and in developing innovative academic initiatives. One such initiative is the Ruhlman Conference, a day-long campus-wide celebration of student research and faculty-student collaboration, launched by Cuba in 1997. Last year more than 250 students, supported by nearly 100 faculty members, made presentations of their independent studies in papers, panel discussions, and performances that were attended by their peers and teachers and by staff, alumnae and trustees of the College. |
A recognized authority on the connections between aging, retirement, and migration patterns, Cuba's research on communities in Cape Cod and Alaska focuses on the role of place in the construction and maintenance of identity, what places mean to people and how people, especially the elderly, come to feel at home in places to which they move.
Cuba has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is the author of numerous articles on the nature of regional retirement migration, decision-making models of elderly migration, and the effects of retirement migration on family life.
Cuba received a B.S. degree from Southern Methodist University in 1976 and an M.A., M.Phil. and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1977, 1978, and 1981, respectively. Before joining the Wellesley faculty, he was an instructor in sociology at Yale and at the University of Alaska.
Wellesley's historic ties to Asia have received a boost with the recent $2 million gift from the Henry Luce Foundation to strengthen and expand the College's academic programs in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The contribution was made in honor of Elisabeth Luce Moore '24, in celebration of her 75th reunion year. Beth Moore, who was born in China, has been a persistent voice for women's leadership, international education, and increased understanding of Asia.
"This generous gift supports global education and experiential learning, two areas that are increasingly important priorities for Wellesley," noted President Diana Chapman Walsh in announcing the grant. "Women trained in international studies today &emdash; with direct experience in other countries, cultures, and languages &emdash; will have unprecedented opportunities to help shape the course of global policy, business, and development."
Three-quarters of the Luce Foundation's gift will create a permanent endowment to fund international internships and teaching fellowships in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, beginning in the fall of 1999. Seven to nine undergraduate students annually will be able to participate in summer internships in Asia, in placements ranging from international corporations and scientific laboratories to public policy and service organizations. On their return, students will undertake projects designed to link their internship experiences with their studies at Wellesley. The fund also will support at least three year-long teaching fellowships for recent Wellesley graduates at Chung Chi College in Hong Kong and Ginling College for Women at Nanjing University.
In addition, the gift will create an Asia Opportunity Fund to provide five years of seed money to seek and support good ideas for expanding Wellesley's relationships with Asia through the Wellesley-Yenching program. This support will allow the College to explore initiatives such as student-faculty research partnerships, faculty-led January courses in Asia, and exchanges of faculty and professionals in residence. Successful projects will be incorporated into the Wellesley-Yenching program.
"Student-faculty research has long been a hallmark of a Wellesley education, and we place a high value on the close mentor-student relationship fostered by these collaborations," noted President Walsh.
The Wellesley-Yenching Program was established in 1923 to support an alumna to teach English for three years at Yenching University in Beijing. Beth Moore, whose father had been vice president of Yenching, was instrumental in mobilizing support from Wellesley alumnae for the program. While the relationship with Yenching was discontinued in 1949 when all Western-style colleges on the mainland were closed, it was revived in 1961 at Chung Chi College. In 1993 the exchange was expanded back to the mainland, to Ginling College, a women's college at Nanjing Normal University.
Wellesley's links to Asia extend back to 1907 when the first Chinese woman to attend college in the United States came to Wellesley under a scholarship established by the Board of Trustees to foster "friendly relations between women of the oldest and youngest civilizations in the world." In 1908, a group at Wellesley began raising funds to send to the institution that would become Yenching University, which was formally adopted as Wellesley's sister college in 1919.
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The Second Annual Women in Political Activism (WAPA) conference, Feb. 19-20, will highlight women currently seeking or holding political office as well as trends in political activism. All events will take place in the Jewett Arts Center and are free and open to the public. For more details, call: x4479. Friday, February 19 5 p.m. Opening Remarks and Speaker: 7 p.m. Speaker: Nadine Strossen, president, |
Saturday, February 20 10 a.m. Panel Discussion: Mary Rogeness (R) Mass. state rep.; Cheryl Jacques (D) Mass. state senator; Victoria Budson, JFK School of Government; Laurel MacLeod, Concerned Women of America; Anita Rosewater, Health and Human Services; Gertrude Mokotoff, mayor, Middletown, NY 11 a.m. Speaker: Patricia Ireland, president, National Organization for Women, followed by a book signing of Ireland's What Women Want 12 p.m. Workshop: led by Jennifer Becker, National Organization for Women
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The Board of Trustees has approved a more generous financial aid policy that will increase annual aid by up to $2,000 for each eligible student and decrease her overall debt. Wellesley will continue its proud tradition of need-blind admission, making admission decisions without regard to a family's financial situation. The College is one of the few most selective institutions that also meets 100 percent of a student's demonstrated financial need.
Wellesley is the first liberal arts college and the first women's institution to announce such an increase in financial aid. The policy will take effect in the next academic year and will apply to all incoming and returning students who are eligible for financial aid from the College.
"We recognize the sacrifices that parents and students make to attend Wellesley and to benefit from one of the finest educations in the country. These policies are an effort to help ease their financial burdens," stated President Diana Chapman Walsh in announcing the new policy. "Keeping a Wellesley education accessible and affordable is one of our top priorities, and we're fortunate to be in such a healthy financial position to do this. The entire Wellesley community benefits from a strong financial aid policy."
The new policy follows Wellesley's decision last March to enable students to receive the maximum benefit from outside scholarships and enable families to receive the full benefit of new federal tax credits (HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning).
Under the new plan, eligible students will receive, on average, $2,000 more in annual grant aid, thereby decreasing a student's overall debt by as much as $8,000, or 41 percent, over her four years at Wellesley.
The new policy represents a 13 percent increase in Wellesley's annual financial aid budget, which totals $15.5 million for the current academic year. Half of all Wellesley students receive financial aid in some form of grants, loans, and income from student employment.
"This more generous aid policy means that Wellesley will continue to be able to attract the best students, regardless of their financial resources," said Janet Lavin Rapelye, Dean of Admission. "We are aware that financial aid is playing a more critical role in the decision-making process of students and families than in the past."
Sensitive to the cost of a Wellesley education and continuing its commitment to hold down annual increases, the Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase in the College's comprehensive fee. For the 1999-2000 academic year, tuition, room, board, and fees will total $30,554. This is the lowest percentage increase in the comprehensive fee in more than 15 years.
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Dear Wellesley Colleagues:With the holidays behind us and a new semester of possibility ahead, it is a good time for all of us to take stock in assessing our year thus far and resetting our goals for the next semester. After we get so caught up in the daily reactive demands, we often neglect this planning and assessment in both our personal and work lives. We forget to say to ourselves: "Job well done" and "Here's where I can move forward, improve, grow." In the Human Resource world I continue to look forward to the challenge of creating opportunities for us to develop and work more effectively at Wellesley. At the Leadership Development Program (LDP) in December (see article below) I learned firsthand about the need for a strong effective (and flexible) performance management program for staff at Wellesley College which will foster two-way communication in setting goals, evaluating performance and creating opportunities for skill and career development. This will be an integral component of the compensation program evaluation for staff. In the short-term, however, I would like to offer some key training opportunities to staff focused on some of the training issues raised at the LDP. In that vein, I am currently gathering proposals from local training consultants and plan to offer programs in early spring focused on the development of communication skills. I am looking at the following topics: conflict management, dealing with change, giving and receiving feedback, coaching and listening, and managing up. Some programs will be open to only supervisors, others to all staff. Stay tuned for further information. As we focus on how we communicate with one another about our work, please help me figure out more effective ways to communicate with you. Encourage your colleagues to read the Illuminator. Be prepared for the launching of our HR website later this month - and e-mail me or my staff any suggestions you have to improve our communication with one another. Sincerely, Eloise See
McGaw |
Frequently ? ?Asked ? ? ? ?Questions ??Q: How do I begin to explore career opportunities both inside and outside the College? A: Set up an appointment with Patricia Basque (x2214) or Carolyn Slaboden (x2216) to assist you in preparing for a proactive job search. Q: What career development resources are available to me? A: We will begin with a self-assessment which includes an understanding of skills, interests and accomplishments, career review and job targeting. We can assist in developing job search skills and tools, including: resume development, inter-viewing techniques, and research and networking skills. Q: Where can I find information on current job openings? A: The College's "Job Opportunities" postings are electronically posted internally on the Bulletin which can be accessed through Sallie by selecting "Faculty and Staff" or "Job Opportunities." Hard copies of the postings are distributed by campus mail to each department. Current administrative job openings can be found on-line at the following website: www.higheredjobs.com. You may search by institution or type of position. Select "Wellesley College" to view current openings. The College's Human Resources website will be up and running soon and you will be able to access open positions directly from the HR home page. Q: How do I apply for a position at the College? A: A cover letter and resume are required for each position for which you apply. Your application will be kept in strict confidence. All internal candidates are encouraged to contact Patricia Basque (x2214) or Carolyn Slaboden (x2216) to obtain more detailed information regarding the position and maintain ongoing communication throughout the search process. |
Managers, employees can benefit from leadership developmentIn early December, more than 60 administrative managers, including President Walsh and members of senior staff, met to discuss ways that they, as individuals, and the College, as an institution, can develop stronger supervisory skills. The half-day workshop was the second phase of a leadership training program that was launched two years ago with several training sessions led by management consultant Rod Napier. According to Director of Human Resources Eloise McGaw, the workshop provided her with important information about the barriers to effective supervision that exist at Wellesley and the strong desire on the part of managers to become better supervisors. "One of HR's strategic goals is to develop a stronger supervisory management program and this session was a clear indication that supervision is something for which we will be held accountable," noted McGaw. "I was impressed by the understanding that managers have of the importance of good supervision and their commitment to becoming better supervisors themselves. The workshop helped me to identify those issues that should be priorities as we develop a plan for improving supervision at Wellesley." Pattie Orr, director of IS User Services, commented that the workshop helped her to focus on her own professional development. "Like everyone else at Wellesley, I often feel there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. This workshop helped me to realize that improving my own supervisory skills and setting priorities effectively will help to make me and my whole team more productive."
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At the workshop, managers worked in small groups to identify some of the existing blocks to better supervision and what Wellesley can do to encourage better supervision by its managers. The topics discussed fell into three categories: * Training issues: skills managers need to become better supervisors. For example, how to delegate authority or how to give and receive feedback in a constructive manner. * Policy issues: organizational policies and practices that support or hinder better management. For example, how salaries are administered or evaluating managers on their performance as supervisors. * Cultural issues: the unspoken attitudes that can prevent improved management practices. For example, the belief that confrontation is not "the Wellesley way" or that being a good supervisor takes too much time away from a manager's "real" job. McGaw has convened an Ad Hoc Leadership Training Committee to help her develop both short- and long-term goals for improving supervision at Wellesley. "Specific training programs are needed," said McGaw. "But it is clear that training alone is not the answer. There are more systemic changes that will need to be made." The committee met in early January to develop a plan for follow-up programs later in the spring. Members of the committee are: McGaw, Pat Byrne, Kathy Cole, Sally Linden, Barry Monahan, Rene Stewart Poku, and Geneva Walker-Johnson. |
AdmissionLorraine Cross Alumnae OfficeThelma Borey Biological SciencesRebecca Brumbaugh Center for Work and ServiceKerry Anne Santry Davis MuseumJames Olson Food ServiceGail Ackerman Champagne Health ServicesDenise Scott Human ResourcesJohn Pearson Information Technology ServicesRebecca Levine ISAndrew Warren IS/Data SystemsMichael Sullivan
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MS - PipefitterRandele Moraco Office of Religious LifeKarin Tanenholtz PERAMary Huff Physical PlantAndrea Abrahamson PurchasingScott Slaboden ResourcesKathryn Flynn Special EventsAnne Wood Stone CenterJane Siegel Treasurer's OfficeKatherine Quan Wellesley Centers for WomenIneke Ceder Wellesley College ClubRony Figueroa
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As part of developing a College orientation program for new employees, representatives of the Human Resources Office met with a focus group of new employees in October to obtain input as to what new employees would like to see added as part of their "welcome" to the College community. Focus group participants generally said that they like the current benefits orientation program. They did feel, however, that more written materials would be helpful. They suggested providing copies of the Administrative Handbook, an organizational chart of the College, information about the College-Wide Information System (CWIS), how to get technical help on campus, and a "good" campus map.
When asked what would make a "good" map, they said one that clearly identifies where key offices are located on campus. These new "good" maps are now available to everyone in the HR office and will be included in orientation packets given to new employees along with the recommended items noted above.
In conjunction with Senior Staff, the Human Resources Office has developed a mentor program. When a new employee is hired, Human Resources will assign a volunteer mentor to that employee. The mentor will serve as a resource to the new employee in a variety of ways, helping with the "who, what, where, when and how" of working at Wellesley College.
The first informal gathering for new administrative staff was hosted by the Human Resources Office in December. A continental breakfast was served in the Faculty Common Room as the participants met one another and Eloise See McGaw, Director of Human Resources.
The group viewed the Admissions video and talked about their new positions at Wellesley and how and why they chose to work here. The participants also shared their thoughts on their Wellesley College experience thus far.
Based on the initial success of this gathering, HR is planning to continue hosting 'breakfast welcomes' approximately every other month.
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A welcome back is in order for Davis
Scholar Jessica Shlasko
'98, who became the executive director of the Alumnae Association in
January. She replaces Barbara LeWin Luton '59, who retired after four
years in the position.
Prior to attending Wellesley, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with Departmental Honors, Shlasko went to the Culinary Institute of America, finishing first in her class and earning the Waldorf Astoria Scholarship Achievement Award.
She has experience in hotel and restaurant management and has been active in volunteer work. Most recently, Shlasko founded and directed the literacy program Wellesley Words on Wheels.
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WELLESLEY, Mass. - Three Wellesley College alumnae will be honored Thursday, February 11, for the significant contributions they have made to their respective fields. Biblical scholar and archaeologist Carol Lyons Meyers, economist Alice Tepper Marlin, and architect and historic preservationist Ann Macy Beha will receive the College's Alumnae Achievement Awards for 1999.
Established in 1969 to recognize excellence and strengthen relations between undergraduates and alumnae, the Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Awards are given annually to "alumnae of distinction who through their achievements have brought honor to themselves and to Wellesley College." The award winners serve as role models for students and represent excellence in their respective fields. Past award winners include Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, astronomer Martha P. Haynes, and journalists Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts.
Diana Chapman Walsh, president of Wellesley College, and Georgia Sue Herberger Black, president of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, will preside at the 30th Annual Awards Banquet at Tower Court on the Wellesley College campus.
Carol Lyons Meyers
'64 is professor of religion and associate director of the
Women's Studies Program at Duke University. She earned an M.A. and
Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University and
went on to do archaeological fieldwork that has revealed a more
complete picture of women in ancient Israelite society. Meyers has
led major excavations in Israel, including the Sepphoris digs in
Lower Galilee. (Sepphoris was inhabited from the late Iron Age
through the Middle Ages and is now an Israeli national park.)
Meyers's analysis of ancient Hebrew and Greek versions of the book of Genesis challenges translations of the Bible that perpetuate notions of original sin and the subjugation of women. Her projects have been widely chronicled in scholarly journals, as well as in mass media such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Atlantic Monthly. Through textual scholarship, comparative anthropology, archaeology, and sociohistory, she has redefined "Everywoman Eve" as a hard-working matriarch with joint leadership of the family and home.
Alice Tepper Marlin '66
is founder and executive director of the Council on Economic
Priorities (CEP), an organization that promotes corporate social
responsibility and healthy environmental practices. After graduating
from Wellesley with a major in economics, Tepper Marlin worked on
Wall Street as a securities analyst. Early on, she was assigned the
portfolio of a synagogue which specified that she not invest in any
company supplying weapons for the Vietnam War. This stipulation made
Tepper Marlin realize that she might be able to convince investors
that being socially responsible also can be profitable. She founded
CEP in 1969 and since then has worked with major corporations across
the globe to rate their social accountability. CEP has had major
impact on how corporations are run by demonstrating through research
that a combination of social and financial responsibility can lead to
optimum bottom-line results.
In 1988, CEP broadened its mission from Wall Street to the general public, promoting the power of consumers to "vote with their wallets." In 1990, Tepper Marlin co-authored Shopping for a Better World, a consumer guide that rates companies producing consumer products, allowing the public to make informed decisions about the products they buy. She is a frequent lecturer and has been profiled in People magazine, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She was one of Mademoiselle magazine's Outstanding Women of the Year in 1970 and received Adweek's Woman of the Year award in 1990.
Ann Macy Beha '72 is
founding architect of Ann Beha Associates, a firm renowned for its
commitment to historic preservation. Beha earned her M.Arch. in 1975
from MIT. She stayed there for another two years as assistant to the
head of the architecture department before entering practice in
Cambridge, Mass. In 1977, she founded Ann Beha Associates. In
1987-88, she was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of
Design.
Among her firm's prominent projects have been a preservation plan for the Massachusetts State House, the restoration of H.H. Richardson's Austin Hall at Harvard Law School, the renovation of Wellesley's French House, the renovation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the creation of planning studies for the Field Museum in Chicago. Beha also takes pride in her firm's historic-preservation efforts for community buildings such as three Cambridge fire stations and several libraries, places that, she says, "real people actually use . . . every day."
Beha's focus on research sets her work apart: She believes that before instituting change, she must "understand a building's message, what it has been through, its rhythm and proportions." This approach resonates with communities and preservationists across the nation.
Beha has received numerous honors, which include the Historic Neighborhoods Foundation Preservation Award and the Victorian Society in America's Lifetime Achievement Award. She serves on a number of boards, including those of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) and Friends of the (Boston) Public Garden.
Works by Carol Lyons Meyers:
Works by Alice Tepper Marlin:
Projects by Ann Beha Associates:
The reception begins in the Tower Court Great Hall at 5:30 p.m.,
followed by the awards banquet in Tower Court Dining Hall.
R.S.V.P. to the Alumnae Office, x2331.
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The third in the five-part series of Financial Education Programs sponsored by the Human Resources Office will focus on the projection of financial needs and how to best plan to meet those needs. The program is best-suited to those interested in reviewing their financial goals as well as measuring their current progress toward achieving these goals.
All employees and guests welcome. No registration required.
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Wellesley's Jocelyn Benson '98 has been awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford University this fall. Nationwide, 40 winners were selected for their intellectual distinction and their potential to become leaders in their fields and make a contribution to society.
A nationally recognized student leader, Benson earned her bachelor's degree in political science this winter after an accelerated three and one half years of study. She is now working full time at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Ala., where she had an internship last summer tracking and reporting on hate groups in the United States. At Oxford, Benson will study race relations and the ties between hate groups in the U.S. and Great Britain.
Benson's leadership skills recently earned her a place in Glamour magazine's Top Ten College Women for 1998. She was profiled in the magazine's October issue.
In her junior year, Benson founded the Women in American Political Activism Conference at Wellesley, which attracted 300 participants to its debut. While a sophomore, she was elected a member of Wellesley Town Meeting.
Her future career goals include attending law school and then working to ensure equal access to housing, education, employment, and health care. When it comes to activism, Benson says she encourages those around her "never to take 'no' for an answer."
Benson is the eighth Wellesley graduate to be awarded the Marshall Scholarship since its inception 45 years ago by the British government as a 'thank you' to the United States for instituting the Marshall Plan after World War II. Duke University President Nannerl Overholser Keohane '61, former Wellesley College president (1981-1993), was the first Wellesley recipient of the award.
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Associate Professor Emily A. Buchholtz and Assistant Professor Kristina N. Jones, both of the department of biological science, have been awarded research grants by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its nation-wide Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE) program.
Buchholtz's research grant "Locomotor Transition in Fossile Sirenia," will study evolutionary variations of the vertebral column and how these changes have affected limb use in the aquatic mammal order that includes the manatee and the dugong. This project stems from her research in paleontology and evolution in vertebrate morphology, topics that she teaches at Wellesley. Buchholtz also teaches courses in comparative vertebrate physiology and anatomy, organismal biology, and a seminar on evolution.
Jones teaches field botany, environmental horticulture, evolution, ecology and a seminar on plant-animal interactions. She involves her students in observational and experimental field studies, greenhouse experiments, and theoretical modeling. Jones's research focuses on pollinators as agents of natural selection. Her NSF grant, "Development of Tools for the Experimental Evolution of a Floral Trait in Antirrhinum," will focus on the plant more commonly known as the snapdragon.
The NSF established the grant program in 1997 to help ensure the vitality, quality, distribution and effectiveness of the nation's human resource base in science and engineering, and to help overcome the under-representation of women in these fields. NSF's POWRE program supports efforts to facilitate the full participation of women in the science and engineering mainstream.
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Due to the late-breaking announcements of the new financial aid program and Dean of the College, the feature "Colleagues in the News" is not running this month. A double-size column will run in the March issue. The Illuminator welcomes news of faculty and staff accomplishments, publications and other items of note via email to elawson@wellesley.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Editor-in-Chief: Mary Ann Hill, mhill@wellesley.edu
Managing Editor: Elizabeth Lawson, elawson@wellesley.edu
Editorial Staff: Eileen Devine
Editorial Interns:
Sowon Jun '99
Vielcka Mansukhani '99
Sasha Pfau '99
Kerin Reardon '98
Pel-Hsin (Michelle) Tsai '00
The Illuminator is the published monthly during the academic year by Wellesley College's Office for Public Information, a division of Resources and Public Affairs, 230 Green Hall, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Issues are published the first week of every month during the academic year, except for combined issues in September/October and January/February. Special Family Editions are also published.
Please submit editorial content to the above listed mailing address or e-mail: elawson@wellesley.edu
[ Return to Public Information home page ]
Elizabeth Lawson elawson@wellesley.edu
Sasha Pfau apfau@wellesley.edu
Office for Public Information
Date created: January 26, 1999
Last updated: March 11, 1999
Page expires: January 2000
