Hollins Theatre, Playwright’s Lab rack up Kennedy Center honors

In March, the Hollins Theatre production of Natasha Trethewey’s (M.A. ’91) Bellocq’s Ophelia was awarded four high national honors by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival: “Distinguished Production of a New Work, “Distinguished Performance and Production Ensemble,” “Distinguished Scenic Design,” and “Distinguished Choreography,” the last by Lexi Martin Mondot ’12.

In addition, Meredith Levy ’12 (now a student in Hollins’ M.F.A. program, Playwright’s Lab) received the high honor of the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award and the regional David Shelton Award for her original script, Decision Height. Kevin Ferguson, also a student in the Playwright’s Lab, was named a national finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play for his work, Losing Sight.

The awards were presented in April at the national Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C. The annual event recognizes outstanding theatrical work by colleges and universities from eight regions throughout the country.

Chanice Holmes, a sophomore in Visiting Assistant Director of Dance He Jin Jang’s Movement III class, dances inside the huge installation Deep Six (crimson), by artist Liz Miller, in the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum. Museum Director Amy Moorefield and Jang collaborated to bring the class to the museum in February. Students danced in all three galleries, devising movements appropriate to each exhibition.

Visit www.youtube.com/hollins to see the dancers in action.

Milestones

This year we celebrate the anniversaries of four signature programs. The January Short Term, which offers students the option of internships, classes, or travel/study excursions, began 45 years ago; the Jamaica Service Project marks 25 years of making a difference in the lives of the citizens of Lucea; and the Hollins Critic celebrates 50 years of publishing literary essays, book reviews, and poetry. The Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest also celebrates its 50th anniversary. Read more about the contest in A Responsive Ode to Nancy Thorp.

Associate Professor of Classical Studies Tina Salowey and students outside the Aphaia Temple on the island of Aegina during the J-term 2013 trip to Greece.

Darla Lindsey ’15 participated in this spring’s Jamaica Service Project, volunteering in Lucea Primary School. All alumnae, regardless of class year, are invited to celebrate the Jamaica Service Project’s 25th anniversary at a reception on June 1, 2013.

Go to www.youtube.com/hollins to see the 2013 Short Term videos.

Johnna Henry ’15, an art history major, spent January at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in an internship sponsored by Judy Lambeth ’73.
Photo: Olivia Body ’08

Communication studies major Kristina Akers ’13, editor of The Hollins Columns, spent J-Term at The Roanoke Times in an internship sponsored by Erica Myatt ’97, M.A. ’98.
Photo: Olivia Body ’08

Marissa Shelton ’14 gets friendly with a serpent during the Snakes, Science, Superstition, and Society Short Term class taught by Associate Professor of Psychology Bonnie Bowers.

Courtney Chenette ’09 (right), a lawyer with Newman Ferrara LLP in New York City, sponsored Emily Wood ’13, a double major in international studies and gender and women’s studies.

Trudy Stevens ’14 in the Short Term Installation class taught by Assistant Professor of Art Jennifer Anderson.
Photo: Olivia Body ’08

The following books were published by Cortney Bledsoe M.F.A. ’06 (as C.L. Bledsoe):

The following books were written by Charles Molesworth M.A. ’64:

The following books were published by Marly Youmans ’75:

By President Nancy Oliver Gray

One can hardly pick up a newspaper today without reading an article that is critical of liberal arts education. Some of our critics seem to think that the only purpose of education is to get a job, while others question the value of residential undergraduate education in an era where students can take massive open online courses, or MOOCs, or choose nonprofit institutions or less expensive institutions than private colleges and universities. While perhaps some of this criticism may be justified, and certainly we must be more willing to change than we have previously been, it is important for all of us to appreciate and claim the value of liberal arts education.

In a world in which we are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, in which they will be using information technology applications not yet invented, the very best preparation for leadership, service, and lifelong learning is not just teaching job-related skills, but that which comes from liberal education: effective communication, critical thinking skills, creative problem solving, the ability to work well in groups of diverse people, the ability to think for oneself. Not only are those abilities essential for effective professional preparation in a time of rapid global and technological change, but they are also the very skills needed to educate those who will be leaders and citizens in our democracy.

“The very best preparation for leadership, service, and lifelong learning is not just teaching job-related skills, but that which comes from liberal education.”

Hollins may be small, but as one of my colleagues recently said, “Our shoe size is small, but our footprint is large.” Consider these recent accomplishments:

• The Kennedy Center has awarded Hollins’ production of Natasha Trethewey’s (M.A. ’91) Belloc’s Ophelia with the equivalent of four silver medals, including “Distinguished Production of a New Work,” “Distinguished Performance and Production Ensemble,” “Distinguished Scenic Design,” and “Distinguished Choreography.” Other important awards went to Meredith Levy ’12 and Kevin Ferguson.
• We are experiencing great success with our preveterinary program. Over the last few years, every student who has applied to vet school has been accepted.
• The Hollins riding team won the 2013 ODAC Equestrian Championships to capture an ODAC-record 19th conference riding championship and the team’s third title in four years. Sarah Brown ’13 won ODAC Rider of the Year honors, the fourth straight year a Hollins rider has earned the title. In addition, Hollins head coach Sandy Gerald received his seventh ODAC Coach of the Year award.
• The CCAP (Center for College Affordability and Productivity) has named Hollins among the nation’s “25 Colleges with the Best Professors.” This list features some of the country’s most prestigious institutions, including the U.S. Military Academy, Carleton College, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr College, and Sewanee, the University of the South.

Accomplishments like these would not be possible without the faculty and dedicated staff at Hollins. As you know, at Hollins, student and faculty research is done side by side; professors spend their summers helping students complete original work; professors still entertain students in their homes, spend their weekends taking them on field trips, and continue to go the extra mile for their students. This year, a number of faculty at Hollins have announced their retirements, including Nancy Dahlstrom, Ruth Doan, Juergen Fleck, Randall Flory, Wayne Markert, and Art Poskocil. If you are a former student of these professors, please take a moment to write them a note or send them an email to let them know how much impact they had on your life. And please join with our Board of Trustees, Alumnae Board, faculty, and others as we work hard to preserve high-quality liberal arts education and exceptional teaching for women at Hollins.

President Gray writes about the important contribution these professors have made to Hollins in her essay, “Post-College Success Isn’t All About the Money.” She makes a strong case for the enduring value of a liberal arts education.

Hollins professors take the spotlight in another feature article, “How To,” in which we find out how to live better—if we take the advice of Juergen Fleck (how to prepare for retirement), Jeanne Larsen (how to read and write poetry), Jill Weber (how to relate to an audience), Renee Godard (how to reduce your carbon footprint), and George Ledger (how to improve your memory).

In “Violence Revisited,” Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 writes about how an incident that Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Writer-in-Residence Karen Osborn ’79 witnessed many years ago inspired and informed her most recent novel, Centerville—which, by the way, received this year’s gold medal in the popular fiction category from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Karen Adams M.A. ’93, M.A. ’00, M.F.A. ’10 writes about the slight—but no less fascinating—connection between Hollins and Irene Langhorne Gibson, who served as the model for artist Charles Dana Gibson’s famous Gibson Girl illustrations of the late 19th century. Irene’s famous sister, Nancy, a.k.a. Lady Astor, is profiled here.

We celebrate the life and legacy of Nancy Thorp ’60, who died when she was a young woman and whose family established the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest in her memory. In “A Responsive Ode to Nancy Thorp,” Eve Strillacci M.F.A. ’13 writes about the young poet and the contest she inspired, now in its 50th year.

In the “In the Loop” section, we celebrate other programs having milestone years: the January Short Term (45 years), the Jamaica Service Project (25 years), and the Hollins Critic (50 years).

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11

Editor

Lady Nancy Langhorne Astor

Irene Langhorne Gibson wasn’t the only famous person in her family. Her younger sister, Nancy (1879-1964), married Englishman Waldorf Astor, a viscount and one of the wealthiest men in the world, and she became known as Lady Astor. In 1919, she was the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament in Britain’s House of Commons and became a fierce champion of the rights of women and the poor. In her maiden speech, Nancy, born into poverty herself, said, “I am simply trying to speak for hundreds of women and children throughout the country who cannot speak for themselves.” She was known to venture into slums to deliver rousing speeches.

She was beautiful, bright, and brash (or “heroic, hilarious, magnetically charming, and a bully,” as described in Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia, written by her great-nephew James Fox), given to outbursts that could be unpredictably funny or scathing, or both. Fox writes, “Most people saw immediately the comedy beneath the half-insults and provocations with which Nancy greeted people, shouting across the street, ‘I want that baby!’ ‘Buzzard’ or ‘goose’ were appellations of endearment. But not to everybody.” She spent much of her time “calming ruffled feathers” and writing apologies.

Among her most famous quips were those aimed at the anti-suffrage Winston Churchill, with whom she had a rocky friendship. Once, she reportedly said to him, “If I were your wife, I would poison your tea,” to which Churchill is said to have replied, “Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it.”

Although Nancy’s father never permitted her to attend college, for which she resented him, she, like Irene, was allowed to attend finishing school. Also like Irene, Nancy was invited to visit Hollins. The Wyndham Robertson Library has two letters from her, dated November 7 and 18, 1932, respectively, written to President Joseph Turner. Both were written during a brief visit to Virginia to visit Nancy’s ill brother in Charlottesville. In the first, sent from Mirador, the family home in Greenwood, she writes: “It was very kind of you to ask me to come to Hollins, but I am afraid there is not much chance of my getting there. . . .” In the second, she writes:

Dear Mr. Turner:

I do not like holding out any hopes and there really is no chance of my coming. Every minute seems to get filled up and life is not half as pleasant as I had hoped it would be before I came!

Too many things to do. . . .

Sincerely yours,
Nancy Astor

High style combined with high function

The Career Center features a fresh new look and greater functionality, thanks to the generosity of an alumna trustee. Renovations to the center’s first-floor location in West Building, made possible by the financial support of Linda Koch Lorimer ’74 and her husband, Charley Ellis, were completed in time for the start of spring term.

“The center embodies an up-to-date, smooth-flowing, classic business atmosphere, while at the same time feeling very cheerful, inviting, and engaging,” said Career Center Director Ashley Glenn.

While new furniture, artwork, and wall colors give the center warmth (thanks to the design expertise of Elaine Stephenson ’83), the latest technology offers students access to a wide range of career-related activities and resources. In the reception area, visitors can get interview advice, tips on business etiquette, and other valuable information to assist them in a job or internship search by watching original programming produced by CareerSpots.com. In another part of the center, students have access to personal computers where they can conduct career research. A third area is dedicated to presentations and workshops that incorporate video support, and another room is set up for students to participate in online job and internship interviews via Skype.

“The renovations truly brought us into this century and we are grateful for the contributions that made them possible,” said Glenn.

The improvements build upon the comprehensive array of services the Career Center already provides, including career counseling, assessment tools, and access to Hollins’ Career Advising Network, a worldwide group of alumnae, friends, and parents who are willing to speak to students about career-planning strategies and answer questions about their own professional development and the job market in their particular cities.

Read A Responsive Ode to Nancy Thorp to learn more about Nancy Thorp and the contest she inspired.

First-year student grateful for the early recommendation

Pediatrician Wendy Ault ’72 will say that her longtime patient Caileigh Bravo “fell in love with Hollins all by herself,” but it didn’t hurt that Ault planted the idea early. “Ever since I was a little kid she’s been telling me all about Hollins and what a wonderful place it is,” says Bravo.

Bravo, a first-year student from Gainesville, Virginia, was so convinced she’d made the right college choice that she applied early decision and found out she was accepted in December of her senior year of high school. “I knew where I was going to school before my friends even applied,” she says. “I was a happy camper.”

No doubt what started the conversation going between Bravo and Ault was their mutual love of riding. “We always talk horses when I see her, and she told me what a fantastic barn Hollins has and how awesome the trainers are,” says Bravo.

Bravo enjoys riding, but she’s passionate about film, and she was drawn to Hollins’ increasingly well-known film program. She took advantage of the first-year internship program to work in January with a local photographer, and she’s pursing a summer internship with a TV production company in Bethesda, Maryland. Although she’s tentatively planning on a double major in film and mathematics, she’s wise enough to keep her options open. Her dream career is to make “movie trailers, but it’s such a specific, rare thing to do that I have to be a little open to different careers,” she says. “I have to see how my internships go.”

If a high school student were to ask her about Hollins, what would she say? “I love, love, love the small community here,” she replies. “You really get to know your professors on a personal level. You don’t feel embarrassed to speak in class.” She wonders if students at larger schools get the same opportunities as Hollins students. “Are you getting the internships, studying abroad? I tell my friends that I’ve already had an internship, and they can’t believe it.”

Bravo continues to be grateful for Ault’s recommendation. “I don’t think I would have known about Hollins otherwise, and I’m so thankful because I love it here.”

If you’d like to refer a student, go to the online form.

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11 is the editor of Hollins magazine.

In February, Linda Koch Lorimer ’74, vice president of the University at Yale, was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. Lorimer has a long list of achievements: graduate of Yale Law School, former president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, member of Hollins’ Board of Trustees, and for the past 20 years the senior counselor to Yale President Richard Levin. She has led Yale’s New Haven Initiative and efforts to make Yale recognized as a global university. She has served on the board of more than a dozen nonprofits, including current service as a director of Save the Children and Yale-New Haven Hospital. She has been a director of four public corporations and served as the first presiding director of the McGraw-Hill Corporation, one of the few women to hold such a post. Lorimer received the Order of Merit by the Government of Argentina for advancing international education (2003) and the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for board excellence (2008). She has received four honorary degrees for her efforts to advance women.

Jane Aiken ’77, associate dean for Georgetown University Law Center, received the 2013 Legal Teaching Award from the New York University School of Law Alumni Association. The award recognizes “great teachers for scholarship and for extraordinary dedication to the education and training of law students.”

Roman Candle Summer, a play by Neeley Gossett M.F.A. ’12, was one of only four finalists in the Alliance National Graduate Playwriting Competition, which showcases the work of emerging playwrights. Gossett’s play received a staged reading in early February at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta.

Ann Compton ’69 was one of eight women honored in March by the Library of Virginia as part of its Virginia Women in History program. A longtime reporter for ABC News, Compton was recognized for being the first female White House correspondent for a national news organization.