Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award

The Alumnae Association created the Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award to honor and celebrate outstanding volunteer service to Wellesley College.

Sed Ministrare Award

The Alumnae Association created the Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award in 2014 to recognize dedicated volunteer service to Wellesley College. The outstanding efforts of these alums fulfill the Alumnae Association’s mission of supporting institutional priorities by connecting alumnae to the College and each other. They have embodied the motto, “Non Ministrari sed Ministrare.”
 
Sed Ministrare Alumnae Volunteer Award Candidate Criteria:
 

  • The nominee has made significant or innovative contributions and/or shown superior performance and leadership in service to the complementary missions of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association and Wellesley College. 

  • The nominee must be an alum of Wellesley College.

  • Current members of the WCAA Board of Directors or Trustees of the College along with current employees of the WCAA and the College are excluded from award eligibility.

 

Nominations for the 2023 award are now open here. 
 
 
Please join us in congratulating the 2022 recipients!
Audrey Mandela '80 sed ministrare award recipient
Audrey Mandela ’80 has been leading the Wellesley Club UK as president since 2017, having stepped into the position after holding both the secretary and web admin roles for several years. As president, Audrey has expanded the reach of Wellesley’s largest international club to include not only more alums around the UK, but many others who live outside the US. While the club always had a robust set of programming, during the pandemic Audrey started a monthly ”Drop-in Drinks” event on Zoom. Alums connected from all over the UK, and the world, as club members found themselves in far-flung locations. Audrey has also been instrumental in connecting alums from the rest of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. As one of the organizers of this informal group, she helps host quarterly meetings with volunteers who live in areas with smaller alum populations and shares her expertise on engagement and helps connect them with College representatives. Under Audrey’s leadership, the UK Club has supported the large number of UK-based study-abroad students by personally welcoming them and inviting them to teas with alums in London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh. She is an active participant in the HIVE, sponsoring internships, and participating in the new Mentorship Affinity Pod Program. In the words of a fellow alum “When Wellesley calls, Audrey ALWAYS steps up.”
 
 
Azizah Yasin '94 sed ministrare award recipients 2021

Azizah Yasin ’94 has a passion for making connections with alums, students, and prospective students in her work with the Shared Identity Group Wellesley Alumnae of African Descent (WAAD),and as an Admission volunteer. To fill a vacancy she eagerly became the WAAD New England regional representative and in 2021 began serving as the vice president of programming. As regional representative for the geographical area that included the College, she also spent time cultivating the next generation of WAAD and Wellesley alums by fostering relationships with the students of Harambee House. Azizah has embraced the goal of expanding the reach of WAAD as the vice president of programming, hoping to connect with alums of African descent outside of the US, while also organizing monthly WAAD programs and building relationships with other SIGs. Once an admission interviewer, she has enthusiastically stepped into the new roles Admission has created as a volunteer for the online forums and panels. Azizah is now the president of the Pioneer Valley Wellesley Club, having been their Alumnae Admissions Liaison in 2021-22. As her fellow volunteers have said, Azizah has “continually given of herself - her time and her heart - to our beloved Wellesley, its students, and her fellow alumnae.”

 
 
 

Anne Kelly Byerly '82 sed ministrare award recipient 2021Anne Kelly Byerly ’82 is described as having “infectious enthusiasm for the College and our club” by her fellow board members of the Santa Barbara Wellesley Club. Having previously served on the board of the Washington Wellesley Club, Anne eagerly volunteered to be secretary of her new club when she moved to California in 2014. She followed that with her current role as president of the club, having held the position since 2018. As president, Anne has injected new energy into the club and has grown engagement in particular by conducting individual outreach to new members who have moved to the area. She continued to keep her club connected during the COVID pandemic with book club events, cooking classes, and a Holiday party with live music, all done virtually. Anne is also a member of the Wellesley Business Leadership Council and serves as the membership chair. Anne has served twice as her class’s Reunion Chair, most recently in 2022 for their 40th Reunion when she was also elected as the class vice president for the next five years. Through each of these roles, Anne has shown her extraordinary commitment to Wellesley.

 

Sed Ministrare Volunteer Award - Past Recipients
 

2021

Pamela Boulet '87

Denny Donovan '79

Anne Kennedy '66

Michele Leonard '77
2020

Jane Helmchen '61

Mei-Mei Tuan  '88

Francine Miltenberger '78 and Mana Uchino '88
2019

Erin Corcoran '13

Lauren Young Durbin '99

Julia Griffith '71

2018

Teresita Ramos '93

Erika Spitzer '06

Jody Strakosch '79

2017

Susan Harmon '67

Erin Flannery Keith '05

Lisa Torreano '90

2016

Brooke Bryant '03

Sally Katz '78

Pamela McNeil '82

2015

Jane Dean '56

Bridget O'Connor Garsh '04

Charlotte LaRue Isaacs '68

Margaret Elizabeth Barr Wang '54

2014

Whitney Shaffer Ackerman '03

Martha Reardon Bewick '62

Charlotte Hayes '75

Helen Kriz Marshall '77