News

Wellesley’s 2026 commencement speaker Ruth J. Simmons received the 2026 Radcliffe Medal. President Paula Johnson gave a tribute to the pioneering educator during Harvard’s Radcliffe Day festivities.

Nearly 40 small colleges no longer pay endowment tax due to a 2025 law. Some are using the savings for financial aid, including Wellesley, which covers tuition for families earning less than $150,000.

Music professor Claire Fontijn’s article about composer Antonia Bembo, whose 1707 opera “Ercole Amante” will be staged at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, was translated and published by The Conversation France.

Laura Pappano, Wellesley Centers for Women writer-in-residence, writes for Slate about former Oklahoma superintendent of schools Ryan Walters and the chaos he sowed for more than two years.

Why do institutions invest in peer writing support for students but not staff? Writing professor Anne Brubaker makes the case for a more formalized approach to faculty writing support.

Economist Phillip Levine talks to GBH about how colleges and universities are working to communicate affordability. The College Board has just acquired his college cost estimator, MyinTuition.

When a college is in deficit, its leaders may try to liquidate land and other assets. But selling land is “the equivalent of raiding your endowment,” economist Phillip Levine told the Boston Globe.

The story of Boston’s valedictorians is one of defying the odds. They will attend schools including Harvard, Stanford, Northeastern, Wellesley, and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio CE/DS ’11 has no shortage of political enemies. But it doesn’t seem like that will stop her from cruising to reelection.