Student and Faculty Support

In June, Wellesley hosted the Opening Ceremonies of the first Women in Public Service Institute. Delegates, emerging leaders from around the world, gather with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton '69, who spoke and took questions at the event.

From financial aid and research opportunities to teaching salaries and academic programs, every Wellesley College student and faculty member benefits from the philanthropic support of alumnae, parents, and friends.

Your gift to Wellesley supports a remarkable array of student and faculty achievements. Need proof? Here are few student and faculty highlights from the 2011-2012 academic year:

In December 2011, Wellesley announced James D. Wolfensohn and Elaine Wolfensohn (Wellesley College Class of 1958) as the 2012 Mary Jane Durnford Lewis ’59 Distinguished Visiting Professors for the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs.

During the summer of 2011, Charlotte Hulme ’14 started Arms Around Sierra Leone, a nonprofit organization that provides prosthetics to amputees in Sierra Leone.

Kamilah Welch ’12 was one of 25 Fellows selected for the Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships for Aspiring Teachers of Color.

During the 2011-2012 wintersession, 17 Wellesley students traveled to New Orleans with leaders from the College’s Center for Work and Service where they built a home with Habitat for Humanity in an area still suffering from Hurricane Katrina devastation.

A recent study by Wellesley’s Angela Bahns, assistant professor of psychology, found that a person’s shoes convey a thin but useful slice of information about the wearer.

In February, Wellesley neuroscience faculty members were awarded grants totaling more than $2.6 million, enabling unparalleled research opportunities for Wellesley students. In the last decade, neuroscience has become one of the most popular majors at Wellesley.

This year, Wellesley’s Department of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics honored National Girls and Women in Sports Day with Title IX: 40 Years and Counting, a panel event featuring three-time Olympian and international soccer star Kristine Lilly; Carol Stiff, ESPN’s vice president for programming and acquisitions; Amy Baltzell, former Olympic rower and noted sports psychologist; and Melissa Ludtke ’73, former Sports Illustrated reporter.

Dora Carrico-Moniz, assistant professor of chemistry at Wellesley, and her students recently found a promising lead in the fight against pancreatic cancer.

Wellesley’s Davis Museum hosted the northeast premiere of Radcliffe Bailey’s "Memory as Medicine" exhibition.

The Los Angeles Times, among many others, reported on findings by Assistant Professor of Economics Brett Danaher's study that estimated that film piracy reduced international box office returns by 7 percent.

Dr. Frances Malino, Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and History at Wellesley College, was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in recognition of her outstanding academic research and teaching in French history.

Zoe Moyer ’15 and Elizabeth Haynes ’15 spearheaded "Live Below the Line," an initiative designed to raise awareness of global poverty. They led 63 students in a challenge to live on just $1.50 per day for food purchases for five days.

The New York Times reported on research by Wellesley’s Heather Mattila, assistant professor of biological sciences, that showed honeybee queens who mate with many males have more “good” bacteria in their bodies, and their promiscuity leads to healthier hives.

Elizabeth Gilmartin ’12 was one of 40 students nationwide to be awarded a prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for 2012-2013.

Shoshana Bachman ’12 and David Haines, associate professor of chemistry, published their findings on amino acids in the 90th anniversary issue of The Nucleus.

In April, the Princeton Review profiled Akila Weerapana, associate professor of economics, as one of the nation’s standout professors.

Research coauthored by Phillip B. Levine, the Katharine Coman and A. Barton Hepburn Professor of Economics at Wellesley, showed abstinence-only policies, sex-ed, and the recession have little impact on the decline in teen birth rates; income inequality is a key factor.

Wellesley’s Daniel Brabander, associate professor of geosciences, shared his expertise with Boston Magazine for the story “Build a Farm to Fit,” published in the May 2012 issue.