“Wellesley at 150,” Saturday, October 25, 2025
Welcome, everyone, to Friends and Family Weekend—which this year, happens to be the opening ceremony of Wellesley College’s 150th Anniversary Celebration.
I am so happy that we are joined by so many parents, friends, and students today—as well as alumnae from across New England. We are particularly delighted to have President Emerita Nannerl Overholser Keohane of the Wellesley Class of 1961 with us—Wellesley’s 11th president and the first woman president of Duke.
You are all part of Wellesley's remarkable journey. Today, in what feels like a defining moment for higher education, it’s worth thinking about Wellesley’s past and formulating some wishes for Wellesley’s future.
It’s clear that the vision of our founders Pauline and Henry Fowle Durant was truly extraordinary for its moment—and for its durability. When Wellesley was first chartered in 1870, the country was just five years past the Civil War. The 15th Amendment had just given men of all races and colors the right to vote, but it would be another 50 years before the same right was extended to women.
In the 1870s, educated men were still arguing without embarrassment that higher education for women was a mistake—because women didn’t have the right intellectual or physical capacities to absorb a lot of knowledge, or because advanced education would lead women outside the domestic sphere, where they belonged.
Wellesley’s founders, on the other hand, were certain that women were the intellectual and spiritual equal of men.
And they intended to prove it at Wellesley by offering a first-rate education equal to that of any male institution—with an excellent library, superbly equipped laboratories, and a faculty of brilliant women scholars and scientists, whom the Durants would give a rare opportunity for academic careers.
Katharine Lee Bates of the Wellesley Class of 1880 indicates the caliber of the early Wellesley faculty. After a few years of teaching English at Wellesley, she wrote a prize-winning young adult novel and used the funds to study at Oxford. She returned to Wellesley where she helped to establish the field of American literature, co-founded the Denison settlement house in Boston to aid immigrants, was a war correspondent for the New York Times during the Spanish-American War, and wrote essays, travel books, and poems. One of those poems was “America the Beautiful,” which became the country’s most beloved patriotic song. Even before they could vote, Wellesley women dwelled among spacious skies.
The Durants’ vision was not just about paying young women’s intellects the respect they deserved. They saw educated women as the single most powerful force in the world. In a sermon that Henry Durant delivered in Wellesley College’s early years, he discounted the idea that Wellesley existed merely to offer “a college education for girls.”
Instead, he called higher education for women one of “the great world battle-cries for freedom”—preparation “for great conflicts, for vast reforms in social life, for noblest usefulness.”
In other words, the Durants expected Wellesley graduates to be agents of democracy and champions of justice. And in that democratic vein, the Durants made it possible for young women from all socioeconomic backgrounds to afford a Wellesley education.
The early catalogs stated that “The College is intended for young women of moderate means.”
Long after Henry died—even after Wellesley had become popular with wealthier students—Pauline Durant fought furiously to keep Wellesley’s tuition affordable. She also made sure that the presidents of Wellesley were all women.
One hundred and fifty years after Wellesley College first opened its doors, I wonder what our founders would think if they returned today.
I think they would be proud to see that, thanks to the love and generosity of generations of Wellesley alumnae, Wellesley is one of the few colleges in the United States that is able to admit students regardless of their financial circumstances—meaning we are “need blind.”
Wellesley is also tuition-free for students from families earning less than $150,000 a year.
Our founders would surely delight in the diversity of our students today. They come from 47 different states, as well as from Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico. About 13% come from other countries. More than 20% are the first in their families to attend a four-year institution, and 52% come from a home where at least one language other than English is spoken. They are also all brilliant students ready to take advantage of a first rate liberal arts education and to gain the skills to lead in our complex world.
Of course, if our founders returned today, the campus might be a little unfamiliar to them. The magnificent College Hall they designed for Wellesley—one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in the United States—burned during the night in 1914. Today, only a few columns remain.
What they would recognize is the competence of Wellesley’s students, who all survived the fire. Because the student Fire Chief had insisted on unannounced nighttime fire drills, the students knew exactly what to do when they were startled out of sleep by a warning gong. Within 10 minutes, student fire lieutenants had accounted for everyone and gotten them all out of the building safely.
The Durants would also certainly recognize the commitment to this lovely site they chose—evident in the sensitive way that campus was rebuilt with the advice of Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. I think they’d be proud that today, Wellesley is widely considered one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States—with this landscape serving as an essential part of the education of our students.
If the Durants returned, they clearly would be very happy to see that our academics remain world-class and that our students receive an extraordinary form of preparation for life.
In honor of Wellesley’s 150th anniversary, we joined forces with a labor market analytics firm to see if the famous “Wellesley effect” could be quantified.
We learned that Wellesley graduates do indeed develop the confidence to break barriers—entering fields where women are traditionally underrepresented, such as finance, tech, science, engineering, and politics.
Wellesley’s graduates go on to earn doctorates in science and engineering at higher rates than the women graduates of any other liberal arts college in the country.
More than 500 Wellesley alumnae have launched startups.
Within 15 years of graduating, over 40% of our alumnae have ascended into management roles. The most common titles are CEO, President, and Executive Director.
Our study found that Wellesley graduates succeed and lead more often than the alumnae of other women’s colleges and of highly selective co-ed liberal arts institutions.
They are more likely to be employed at Fortune 500 companies.
They are more likely to serve in government roles.
They are more likely to serve on corporate and nonprofit boards.
Our study also confirms that the liberal arts education Wellesley offers allows our graduates to go anywhere:
Since 2016, Wellesley has ranked first or second among selective colleges for first-destination career outcomes. Six months after commencement, 97% of the members of the class of 2024 were employed, attending graduate school, or participating in military or service programs.
And Wellesley graduates who have reached the executive level were just as likely to have majored in humanities as in the social sciences or STEM.
So, parents—have no fear. That medieval and renaissance studies major is a fine path to power in the 21st century.
How have our students achieved these outcomes? First of all, our outstanding faculty have not only provided an outstanding classroom experience, but they have helped by championing experiential learning. In 2024, they approved a new degree requirement to ensure that all students have access to—and complete—opportunities such as internships and research before graduating.
Second, we have made tremendous investments in career education. From the moment they arrive to the day they graduate, Wellesley students are supported by staff and industry-specific advisors, who guide them as they begin to sharpen their focus on potential careers.
Finally, these outcomes reflect the brilliance and determination of our alumnae. The most powerful women’s network in the world, they have opened doors and held them open for the generations of Wellesley women to follow.
The Durants, however, did not intend to educate women merely for self-sufficiency and professional success. They wanted to develop women ready, willing, and able to create opportunities for others. What would they think of Wellesley in 2025, on this front?
Our analysis found that Wellesley alumnae are much more likely than the graduates of peer colleges to serve their communities as public servants, and many more devote their lives to something bigger than themselves.
One such young alumna is Chantale Zuzi Learner of the Wellesley Class of 2025, who was recently profiled in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof. When Chantale was 13, her parents were killed in ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She and her nine siblings fled to a refugee camp in Uganda. Eventually, she made her way to Massachusetts and Wellesley. While still a student, she founded a nonprofit called Refugee Can Be that works to uplift other girls forced to flee their homes in the same refugee camp that Chantale survived.
In a few moments, we will enjoy a panel of three other women who exemplify such civic engagement. They are…
Karen Grigsby Bates ’73, longtime NPR Correspondent, and Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity;
Jocelyn Benson ’99, Secretary of State of Michigan, who braved death threats in the wake of the 2020 election and is currently running for governor; and
Sue Wagner ’82, cofounder and director of investment giant BlackRock. She blasted through gender barriers on Wall Street and inspired Wellesley to create the Wagner Centers for Wellesley in the World, which focuses on connecting the College much more directly with the world through outward facing faculty research, through connecting with our alumnae around the world, and through connecting our students with the world they will enter.
I am sure these remarkable women will have some very insightful things to say about leadership, and about Wellesley.
Civic engagement is as much a part of a Wellesley education today, as it was 150 years ago. And frankly, it is just as important today as it was then. A recent survey found that a majority of American voters believe the country’s political system is now too divided to solve the nation’s problems. This country needs young people who can change that, and Wellesley is educating them.
For example, our Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership and Democracy had another outstanding Civic Action Lab this August. The Lab is designed to help students learn how to engage across differences and how to better understand those they disagree with. One hundred ten sophomores participated.
They are now continuing through a year-long fellows program that will introduce them to many “civic innovators,” people making meaningful change across professions.
Our faculty-led Pluralism Initiative, which brings challenging viewpoints to campus, is in its second year of vigorous programming. It has launched student fellowships that include a seminar that, this year, is focused on Israel and Palestine. It is taught by two experts on the Middle East, Dr. Ezzedine Fishere of Dartmouth and Dr. Derek Penslar of Harvard. We had four times as many applicants as fellowships, which is such a hopeful sign.
And Provost Courtney Coile is leading a group of faculty in profound conversations on how to ensure constructive dialogue and the free exchange of ideas in the classroom.
When the Durants decided that Wellesley should not just educate women—but also always be led by women—they created an institution that became a center for ideas about women and advocacy for women. I think they would be pleased to see that one of the pillars of our current strategic plan is a commitment to women’s empowerment and gender equality—and to advancing these fundamental values through our faculty’s research, through our alumnae, and through partnerships that advance women’s education.
One example is the founding of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh, which is dedicated to providing an outstanding liberal arts education and to developing women leaders in a part of the world where women without means often have very few opportunities. Wellesley President Emerita Diana Chapman Walsh ’66 convened the meeting on the Wellesley campus where this amazing project was conceived. Today, we send our own alumnae to AUW as teaching fellows.
I think if Henry and Pauline Durant could see Wellesley at 150, they would be proud of an institution that is still recognizably theirs—but that has grown in stature to become the preeminent women’s college in the world—as an institution and as a community of alumnae that is a force for progress around the globe.
Now, I wonder, what would we see—if we could return to Wellesley 150 years from now?
It goes without saying that in 2175, Wellesley will still be educating brilliant women ready to transform the world. The faculty will still be superb.
One hundred fifty years from now, the moment when the leadership of the United States questioned the value of higher education will be long in the rearview mirror. Higher education will be embraced as a public good—one essential in a democracy. Colleges’ sense of civic responsibility will be clear through their teaching and actions. And Wellesley will have been a leader in this movement.
The Wellesley campus will still be one of the most beautiful in the United States. And Lake Waban won’t have dried up! Thanks to energy technologies invented by Wellesley engineers, carbon emissions will no longer be a problem. Temperatures will have plateaued.
The world will be healthier than ever. Wellesley-educated physician-scientists will have made important contributions to preventing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.
Wellesley educated astrophysicists, aerospace engineers, and astronauts will have long ago planted a flag on Mars.
Thanks to Wellesley-educated physicists, the world will have found the particles that make up dark matter, and dark energy will be understood. Ingenious technologies will take full advantage of this advanced understanding.
The world will not just be better comprehended; it will be happier. Wellesley economists will have developed policies that allow the fruits of the global economy to be much more widely shared, and Wellesley political leaders will have adopted them.
Wellesley artists will confront us with truths we may not have recognized before—and spread beauty and joy.
Wellesley women will have gone from the settlement house… to the White House. In fact, over the course of the next 150 years, Wellesley will have educated so many presidents of the United States and other top leaders, it’s hardly a news story anymore.
This community has a lot to look forward to! Wellesley is that rare institution that has stayed true to its founding vision, while growing more influential than its founders even imagined. Over and over, Wellesley alumnae prove that women’s education is the single most powerful force in the world.
Wellesley matters. It is important—even crucial—at this challenging moment in the history of our country and the world. And thanks to our brilliant students, Wellesley College gives us reasons to be optimistic about a better, healthier, happier, more equitable, and more inspiring future.
I thank you all for coming to help us celebrate.
Now, please enjoy the rest of the weekend!