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Hollins Magazine Spring 2014

Editor’s Note: Spring 2014 Issue

springcoverNow that we’re well into the 21st century and emerging from the worst recession in decades, employers, parents, and prospective students are all asking—legitimately—whether a liberal arts education continues to make sense in a career-driven culture.

We at Hollins maintain that in fact it’s the best preparation for the ups and downs of life. As Professor of History Joe W. Leedom says in the introduction to “Living the Liberal Arts,” “One value of a liberal arts education is in the employment it helps you secure; but it is a lifelong education because it provides the elements for a richer life.”

Sarah Achenbach ’88 interviewed four alumnae—Justine Treadwell ’01, Amanda Miller ’86, Catherine Wannamaker ’96, and Sandra Frazier ’94—who are putting their broad-based Hollins education to good work. To Wannamaker, the twists and turns of her career path have helped her find a “niche that blends my science background, writing, and advocacy work. It’s helped me to see that the world is a blending of different fields and expertise. The world doesn’t work on a singular track.”

Also making the case is President Gray, who debunks three persistent myths about a liberal arts education in “Setting the Record Straight.”

Those familiar with Hollins’ theatre program know about the Legacy Series: the project devoted to adapting the work by some of our best literary lights for the stage. The latest undertaking: adapting Annie Dillard’s Pulitizer Prize-winning work of nonfiction, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, into a theatrical piece. In “Pilgrim’s Progress,” Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 describes what went into that reimagining.

In “Perfect Equality,” University Chaplain Jenny Call writes about Lottie Moon, the 19th-century Hollins woman who did missionary work in China and launched a fundraising campaign that has raised more than $3.5 billion for Southern Baptist missions.

This issue also covers various happenings at Hollins this spring: Founder’s Day, which celebrated Hollins’ designation as an All-Steinway school; three professors who received tenure; and encomiums for the late Louis D. Rubin, Jr., who founded Hollins’ renowned creative writing program.

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11

Editor