Bryn Mawr College

Alumnae Bulletin
November 2010

Archways

TREASURES

Chinese petal-shaped bowl from the Song dynasty (960–1279), porcelain with an incised decoration (Qingbai ware). Chinese standing tomb figure of male dignitary from the Tang Dynasty (618–907), partially glazed pottery. Early Zhou dynasty yu (1050–256 BCE), a bronze ritual vessel for food offerings that incorporates zoomorphic masks, dragon motifs, and stylized geometric designs.
An indefatigable cyclist, Helen Burwell Chapin '14 once pedaled from Hangshow to Shanghai, before the railroad was built to link those cities. With her bicycle in China, ca. 1925 (Helen Burwell Chapin Papers, Bryn Mawr College Library).

Scholarship & connoisseurship

The library and collection of Helen Burwell Chapin '15 embodies her passion for the cultures of eastern Asia.

Bryn Mawr's collection of treasures from East Asia comes largely from Helen Burwell Chapin '15, who donated nearly 1,000 art objects, scrolls, and books to the College shortly before her death from cancer in 1950. A leading scholar of Buddhist iconography, her interest in the Far East began with a course in oriental art she took at Bryn Mawr.

Chapin wrote that she had "lived in Chinese, Japanese and Korean inns and temples...slept beside argol fires within the felt walls of a yurt on the Mongolian plans, and hobnobbed with Chinese farmers, merchants, soldiers, and monks...."

She found a variety of ways to educate herself for some 20 years before she was able to do postgraduate work. After taking courses in stenography, she obtained a place at the Oriental Department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as secretary and assistant to John E. Lodge, who later became curator of Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C. Under his inspiration, her enthusiasm for Chinese art became a driving force, and she began to study classical Chinese.v After seven years in Boston, Chapin was determined to go to China and in 1924 made the first of her many visits to Asia to work as a clerk for the American Consulate in Shanghai.

Her interest in studying Asian culture firsthand was unrelenting. As the Journal of American Oriental Studies (JAOS) described, "on every vacation [from her work in Shanghai] she traveled throughout the country... investigating temples and studying the life of the farmers and villages. Much of her travel was done on bicycle, as she was always an indefatigable cyclist. On one occasion she pedaled the whole distance between Hangshow and Shanghai, before the railroad was built to link those cities."

In 1926, Chapin took a position with the Japanese Government in Tokyo and also lived for seven months in the temple of Yakushiji in Nara, Japan. She was the first woman to climb its famous 8th-century pagoda.

From 1929 to 1932, Chapin again lived in China and Japan as a traveling fellow of Swarthmore College. After her return to the United States, she earned a masters from Mills College in 1935, and a doctorate in oriental languages and literature from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940. From 1946 to 1948, she returned to Asia, this time working in Korea as consultant to the United States Government on the Arts and Monuments of Asia.

In describing her experiences in East Asia, Chapin wrote that she had "lived in Chinese, Japanese and Korean inns and temples... slept beside argol fires within the felt walls of a yurt on the Mongolian plans, and hobnobbed with Chinese farmers, merchants, soldiers, and monks...."

The books that Chapin donated to the College were described as a rich working library of modern scholarship and connoisseurship, covering the whole Far East, by Alexander Soper, professor of the history of art at Bryn Mawr from 1939 to 1960.

Among the art objects in the collection are Chinese and Korean ceramics, including a group of celadons from the Koryu dynasty, considered to be the golden age of Korean ceramics, and a number of Tang dynasty Chinese tomb figures, including guardian figures, dignitaries, a warrior, and an elegant figure of a female dancer. Most of the items are not major museum pieces, but study materials reflective of the current culture, now of greater value because ephemeral.

Having at times had great difficulty finding books and art examples, Chapin was anxious that the library and collections she had accumulated on her travels should be made available to future Far Eastern scholars, according to an obituary in JAOS and she gave them to the College even before she recognized the seriousness of her illness. They continue to provide an invaluable resource for Bryn Mawr students to explore and learn through engagement with original materials.

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Integrating student services

New Dean of the Undergraduate College Michele Rasmussen wants every Bryn Mawr student to have some experiential learning.

New Dean of the Undergraduate College Michele Rasmussen wants every Bryn Mawr student to participate in some form of experiential learning, be it an internship, externship, service work, volunteering, or a job.

"It doesn't matter if they've already picked out their career path and think that they don't need to worry about trying new things," Rasmussen told alumnae attending the Volunteer Summit in September.

"This is an opportunity for students to apply their learning to real life situations," Rasmussen said.

"They often confront challenges that can be scary and frustrating, but ultimately very empowering to solve intelligently. They also get to engage with people with different backgrounds or value systems who may approach the same problems from another perspective."

Rasmussen said she wants to help students understand that their college experience should be "integrated, not something that they can put in a bunch of different buckets—my courses, my major, my summer job, my semester abroad, my career aspirations. We as a college are obligated to help make sure that happens by not siloing off our services for them."

Next academic year, Eugenia Chase Guild Hall will house the offices of the deans, registrar, and residential life. (Information Services moved the public computer lab from Guild to Canaday Library last year and may consolidate its staff there.)

"Our goal is for Guild to be a welcoming and appealing place for students to visit, as much a destination as the Campus Center or Schwartz Gym," said Rasmussen. "It's also very important to house the advising deans and other critical student-support offices in a building that has an elevator and is accessible to everyone."

The Career Development Office is another major resource. "The CDO wants to work with students from the first few weeks they're here," she said, "to help them explore possible careers; learn how to present themselves effectively at a networking event, interview and put together a great resume; how to find an internship; and yes, ultimately how to find that great first job." Alumnae can be particularly important in offering externships that expose students to a particular industry or job.

Michele Rasmussen received a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University in 1999 and a B.A., summa cum laude, from UCLA's College of Fine Arts in 1992, where she majored in history and art history.

How did she get from art history to primate ecology and behavioral primatology, her specialties?

"I often use myself as an example of why having a liberal arts education is so important, personally and professionally," Rasmussen said. "I disliked science but had to find two palatable courses to take as a requirement for my fine arts degree. One was an introduction to world archaeology. At the time I wanted to be a filmmaker, which is why I was at UCLA, and I thought, ‘Well, I love the Indiana Jones movies, that's archaeology, so this will be really good!'

"Needless to say, the class had nothing to do with Indiana Jones, but it was fascinating. My teaching assistant, a grad student in anthropology, told me about primatology. ‘You study non-human primates in their natural environment,' he said. ‘They can be very insightful in showing us how early humans might have been because they're our closest living ancestors in the animal world.' So the next quarter, I took some introductory primate behavior classes. These animals were so incredible, so diverse, so beautiful. It literally opened up a whole world of knowledge for me. I did continue my art history major. One of my anthropology professors said, ‘Just make sure you take the coursework and do some research with us, and graduate schools will take you seriously.' Now I tell my students not to get too hung up on thinking that their major has to be connected to their graduate plans."

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Top: picnic on the Wyndham lawn. Above: international members of the Class of 2014.
Photo by Paola Nogueras '84

International flavors open school year

Bryn Mawr's class of 2014 is the largest in the College's history and its most thoroughly international: 98 students from 32 countries make up 25.6 percent of the class, breaking last year's record of about 20 percent.

The rest of the class come from 36 states and the District of Columbia.

The College also welcomed five transfer students and five Katharine McBride Scholars, students of nontraditional age.

First-generation college students make up more than 20 percent of the class, and women of color from the United States 33 percent of the class.

Seven of the 25 alumnae daughters currently enrolled are freshmen: Catharine Harter (Julie Alford-Harter '87), Christina Lisk (Penelope Tsaltas Lisk '81), Karen Manzone (Holly Trenchard Manzone, Ph.D. '87), Eliza Perocchi (Joyce Guglielmino Perocchi '75), Emily Rosenblum (Elaine Fondiller '80), Marianne Wald (Jane Hinson Wald '80) and Faith Westdorp (Joy Cordell Westdorp '89).

After the College's 125 anniversary opening was celebrated at fall convocation on August 20, the community gathered on Wyndham lawn for an international picnic featuring stalls of appetizers, main meals and desserts from Africa to Australia, and musical performances.

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New faculty bring breadth in domestic social-policy and poetics

Recent work of Jonathan Lanning, assistant professor of economics, has evaluated the effects different types of economic discrimination (hiring, wage, non-market) have on workers, and how policy can best be targeted to reduce them in labor markets.. As an economist with the Federal Trade Commission in 2008–09, Assistant Professor of Economics Matthew C. Weinberg contributed to research that guides the U.S. government's consumer-protection efforts, including analysis of the economic impact of government regulation. The interests of Asya Sigelman, assistant professor of Greek, Latin and classical studies, range across genres and periods from archaic Greece to the early Roman empire and include Greek and Roman novels and biography.

Two assistant professors in the economics department will give students access to courses in the domestic social-policy arena of economics.

Jonathan Lanning's research focuses on applying economic theory and econometric techniques to analyze discrimination in contemporary and historical labor markets. His recent work has evaluated the impacts that different types of economic discrimination (for example, hiring discrimi - nation, wage discrimination, non-market discrimination) have on workers, and how policy can best be targeted to reduce discrimination in labor markets.

Lanning received his Ph.D. from University of Michigan. He taught for four years at Albion College and is a faculty research associate at the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. He won the University of Michigan's Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award as well as Albion's New Teacher of the Year Award.

This fall, he is teaching two sections of Introduction to Economics (Econ B105). As an economist with the Federal Trade Commission in 2008–2009, Matthew C. Weinberg contributed to the research that guides the U.S. government's consumerprotection efforts, including analysis of the economic impact of government regulation.

He has recently published papers on the price effects on consumers of business mergers and on foodconsumption patterns in recipients of Social Security benefits.

Weinberg received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and taught at the University of Georgia before going on to the FTC, where he helped train regulators from developing countries for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. This semester, he is teaching one section of Introduction to Economics (Econ B105) and Public Finance (Econ B214). "I enjoy interacting and learning from individuals with different backgrounds from my own, and Bryn Mawr's small classes, diverse and engaged students, and long-standing commitment to cross-disciplinary learning makes this easy and fun," he says.

Assistant Professor of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Asya Sigelman received her Ph.D. in classical studies this spring from Brown University. Her dissertation examined the circular structure of time in the Victory Odes of ancient Greek poet, Pindar. She argues that Pindar's poetic vocabulary and syntax show that "far from being a short-lived experimentation in an obscure poetic genre," his odes "are a fundamental building block in the development of Greek— and ultimately Roman—poetics." Sigelman is also fluent in Russian. She plans to extend her study of the themes explored in her dissertation beyond lyric and epic poetry to Greek tragedy; her interests are broad, ranging across genres and periods from archaic Greece to the early Roman empire, and including Greek and Roman novels and biography. This fall she is teaching Traditional and New Testament Greek (Greek B010) and Herodotus (Greek B101).



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a light goes on
(sometimes literally).

UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER SCIENCE RESEARCH

By Dorothy E. Wright

Graphics by Jenny Chen ‘13. "DAY 1: And It Begins!!!! — 5/20/10 — Today, we began the day with a brief light bulb tutorial. Jim McGaffin, [Bryn Mawr College] Assistant Director for Energy and Project Management, explained to us the different overhead interior light bulb types. The two bulbs that are most prevalent on our campus include the 4ft T-12 and T-8 models. From some basic calculations, we found that the T-12 requires about 48 W and the T-8 requires 32 W of power to operate. Jim proceeded to show us the benefits of LED [lightemitting diode] comparable replacements for these bulbs. Such replacements use about 1W per foot. Therefore, a 4 foot bulb would need about 4W of power, a significant decrease for the less efficient fluorescent alternative."

And so begins the blog posted by Yufan Wang '11 and Kathryn Link '12, which details the trials and tribulations (and calculations) of their summer science research project, "Math and Sustain - ability: GREEN Analysis of Bryn Mawr's Campus and Beyond" [http://bmc sustainability.blogs.brynmawr.edu/].

Wang, an economics and mathematics major, and Link, a mathematics major minoring in chemistry, used applied mathematics to analyze LED lighting replacement in 11 buildings on the College's campus. Based on their count of lighting fixtures and bulbs, they calculated the return on investment and carbon emission savings for each building if it were converted to LED lighting and developed an investment schedule for the conversion of all 11 buildings.

The project was among 43 in Bryn Mawr's 2010 Summer Science Research Program. Each summer since 1989, the College has provided 35 or more students with 10-week research stipends to conduct independent research under the guidance of Bryn Mawr faculty members in the sciences and mathematics. All science majors are encouraged to conduct mentored research projects during the summer and/or academic year, and each year over half of all science majors do so.

This year's projects represented a wide range of disciplines and topics, including:

• genetics: understanding mechanisms of gene expression by studying the inherited basis for pea aphids' development into either sexually- or asexually-reproductive adults;
• geochemistry: distribution and mobility of heavy metal contaminants in the Delaware River Estuary, which affect fish and drinking-water quality;
• geology: field collection in Wyoming and lab analysis of rock material to study the formation of the Rocky Mountains;
• mathematics: application of Fourier analysis, which simplifies complex mathematical equations, to improve telecommunications efficiency;
• neurobiology/psychology: understanding the relationship between the way individuals learn, social organization, and culture to improve classroom teaching methods; and
• robotics: building "Gort," a humanoid robot and simulating its movements to improve its ability to interact with made-for-human tools or environments.

The summer program is enriched by professional development workshops, the Ann Lutes Johnson '58 Speaker Series, talks by Bryn Mawr faculty, and a poster session at which students present their research to the College community.

Gender and Knowledge

In "Examining Gender Differences," Alexis Egan '11, a psychology major, researched differences between men and women in general knowledge scores.

The scientific literature suggests that men and women differ in general knowledge due to men's higher levels of competitiveness. "My research examined whether differences exist in general knowledge scores between female participants who identify as highly competitive versus those who identify as less competitive," she explains.

Egan used Survey Monkey, an online survey program, to create a questionnaire consisting of 100 general knowledge questions and a scale to measure competitive traits. She analyzed the data using the software program, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

Only one domain—discovery and exploration, which assesses knowledge relating to topics such as explorers, inventors, and the space race—was affected by competitiveness, and the difference between the two groups of women was relatively small. "My results were a little surprising," Egain said. She is working on another pilot study that will investigate similar goals using different methods and measures. "I'm optimistic about finding a stronger relationship between competition and general knowledge scores," she said.

Is Digital Art "Real" Art?

Computer science major, Jenny Chen '13, created visualizations using Processing, an open-source programming language that was developed to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context. Processing has evolved into a tool that enables artists and designers to create images and animation.

"I am using Processing to learn different ways of making images as well as exploring the role of algorithms in creative media," Chen explains.

Chen is particularly interested in computer graphics and animation. "I have always enjoyed drawing and making art and I wanted to explore another way to make art while combining my interest in computer science," she says. "Also, in recent years there has been increased controversy whether digital art is ‘real' art in comparison to traditional art made by artists such as Van Gogh or Picasso. I am interested in exploring both ways of making and seeing art."

So, is digital art "real" art? "Many different media are used to create traditional art," Chen says, including paint, clay, and film. "I think that the digital medium is just another way to express your imagination.

"I discovered how much breadth there is in digital art, from television billboards to screen savers and electronic greeting cards," Chen says. "It was amazing."

The LED Odyssey

Meanwhile, back at Thomas Great Hall, Wang and Link were slogging through another light-bulb count.

"Dearest Athena," they beseeched, "please grant us a speedy count, high wattage bulbs, and numerous operation hours so that we may conduct a superb building analysis. Your devoted women of Bryn Mawr, Katie and Yufan."

With so many nooks and crannies as well as offices, classrooms, and underground passageways, this task seemed endless. T12s dimly lit the majority of the passageways.

Wang and Link decided to research campus sustainability issues when they learned of the College's Climate Action Plan, which calls for a 10 percent decrease in overall college emissions over the next 10 years.

The Climate Action Plan was generated by the Bryn Mawr College Sustainability Committee as part of a broader plan to support and increase environmental awareness and sustainability efforts. For example, in 2008, the College began replacing low-efficiency light bulbs with LED lighting in residence halls and other major buildings to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Practical Applications

Last spring, Wang and Link calculated carbon emission, energy, and life-cycle cost savings for a proposed geothermal heating and cooling system for the Haverford Township Recreation & Environmental Center, which was unanimously approved by the township's commissioners. The students also wrote a successful application on behalf of the township for a $300,000 Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority Grant to finance and install the system.

Undergraduate research initiatives are central to the College's approach to science education. Working with faculty mentors on an intensive research project and "rubbing elbows" with other students at the bench puts scientific research in a whole new light.

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"Bryn Mawr gave me the courage to go into engineering. I had always had the typical ‘girlish' ideas that I was bad at math and science." —Veronica Lee '05


Above: Veronica Lee '05, one of five Seven Sisters graduates who talked about the effects of their educations on their professional development, said Bryn Mawr gave her the courage to become an environmental engineer. Below: students and alumnae who worked on the event.

Bryn Mawr students spearhead conference in China

The leadership, persistence and enthusiasm of Bryn Mawr students from China produced an August 7 conference in Beijing for parents and high school students interested in learning about liberal arts education and women's colleges in the United States.

"The Forum on Women's Leadership and Self-development in the 21st Century" drew 120 participants. One high school student traveled for 10 hours by train with her family just to learn more about Bryn Mawr. Three also attended Bryn Mawr recruiting events.

"Bryn Mawr has seen a tremendous increase in the number of applicants from China over the past few years," said Director of International Recruitment. Jennifer L. Russell. "In a country where the concept of a liberal arts college is relatively unknown, we are finding appeal among Chinese students who are interested in studying multiple subjects in depth. Some of the prospective students I met in China during a recent recruitment trip showed a real desire to broaden their personal experiences. Many Chinese students are eager to learn about different cultures as well as share the ancient history and traditions of their own culture."

Evelyn Pan '13 and Lingyi Sun '12 came up with the idea last February of establishing a network of Seven Sisters students and alumnae to help promising young women in China realize their potential for employment and making social change.

By May they had teamed up with Chen Jin '11, Jiajie Lu '12, Shuning Yan '13, Pan Xie '13 and other Chinese undergraduates from Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley to found Seven Sisters in China, (SSC) which now has 100 members in the U.S. and China.

The first set of panelists addressed issues of women's career development: Director of HR at Novartis (Greater China) Lihusa Jia; Chair of Horizon Research Consultancy Group Yuan Yue; Managing Director of J.P. Morgan Chase Lisa Robins; Ling Wang of Maple Women Psychological Counseling Center, and Hill & Knowlton (China) PR Consultant; and Company Director and Senior Vice-President Frances Sun.

Five alumnae of Seven Sisters Colleges on a second panel talked about the effects of their educations on their professional development.

An environmental engineer working in China, Veronica Lee '05 told the audience that Bryn Mawr's focus on academic self-improvement and the process of carrying out an independent thesis for her major in anthropology gave her independence and courage to go into engineering. "I had always had the typical ‘girlish' ideas that I was bad at math and science," she said.

Bryn Mawr alumnae pitched in to help organize. "Danny Tang '07 offered to take the lead in bringing Mawrters in China together," Sun said. "We corresponded with Xiaohang Sumner '91 and Helen Sunderland '95, who were excited to join us. Courtney Fennimore '99 sponsored and organized a fabulous cocktail party after the conference.

"Bryn Mawr really stood out at the event because we started SSC here," said Sun. "This point was also publicized in four major Chinese newspapers with daily circulations of more than 1 million and three news websites with daily page views of more than 80 million.

"We had great support from Chief Enrollment and Communications Officer Jenny Rickard and Chief Financial Officer John Griffith from the very beginning. Jenny and John coordinated the intercollegiate communication with Smith and Mount Holyoke. The trust they had in us and their willingness to help is unparalleled.

"This was a great learning experience for us," Sun said. "It took us only three months to pull together a professional and influential conference. All of us devoted significant time and passion toward this cause."

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"What we're really talking about are stories, and there are always going to be stories. There are always going to be people who want to hear the stories. And there are all of us in this room who want to tell the stories, and we can still do that." —Abbie Trafford '62


Aspiring writers turn out for advice on careers.

Writing a constant as media change

Newspapers and magazines are closing or increasingly online. People can download your novel onto their Kindle instead of buying it as a hardback. What kind of job can you expect if you want to be a writer?

Alumnae working in print journalism, book publishing and creative writing told Bryn Mawr students how they built their careers and shared their thoughts about navigating the new technologies that affect print media.

"I want to start off with a note of hope," said Abigail Trafford '62, journalist, author, lecturer and columnist for The Washington Post. "What we're really talking about are stories, and there are always going to be stories There are always going to be people who want to hear the stories. And there are all of us in this room who want to tell the stories, and we can still do that."

Sponsored by the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association and the Career Development Office, "Careers in Writing in an Era of Media Turbulence," was moderated by Daniel Torday, visiting assistant professor, director of the Creative Writing Program, and book review editor at The Kenyon Review.

Above all, writers write, panelists said. You may be employed as a teacher of writing or as something entirely different that gives you something to say. Sarah E. Caldwell '09, a book publicist, media specialist, and aspiring author, urged students to stay disciplined early in their careers, to join writing groups that sets deadlines and make you stick to them.

Elizabeth Mosier '84, novelist, creative and freelance writer, and blogger, listed the different things she's done and changes that have occurred over the 26 years since she's graduated.

"The writing is the one stable thing," she said. "I keep writing and finding ways to write, and new interests that I have. It's been in different formats and for different audiences. Some things have gone away, but other things have come to replace them. I used to keep a journal, and now I write a blog," she said.

Mosier has recently had a novella commissioned that is based on her experience volunteering for the Living Archaeology project in Philadelphia.

"I was interested in the dig beneath George Washington's house where he also housed slaves," she said. "I just wanted to be a part of uncovering their stories; I wasn't thinking about it as a writing project, but now I am. Archaeology is a metaphor for writing, and I found all kinds of things in that experience that helped me as a writer.

"I also teach writing to people of all ages. There's nothing better than reading students' writing and being paid to talk to them about how to make it better."

Dorothy Silver Samuels '73, a member of the editorial board of the New York Times, lawyer and novelist, said she had wanted to be "a muckraker" since junior high. "I was involved in all kinds of campaigns, but didn't want to run for any office," Samuels said. "I wanted to write worldly stuff and change the world. I wrote at night about some issue in the news after leaving my law firm, sometimes very late.

"I can't tell you how many times I'd toss a piece over the transom at the Village Voice or some magazine. Eventually I was lucky enough to get a job at a public interest firm. We put out a newsletter on the justice department and civil liberties. I was able to package a lot of what we did there as op-ed pieces and the doors started to open. If I hadn't been involved in other things, I wouldn't have had anything to write about, because I didn't know anything!"

Good old days of journalism gone

The cycle of a print newspaper's day is gone, Trafford and Samuels said. Writers have to update stories 24/7. There is less time to analyze and develop in-depth stories.

"On the one hand, there's this hunger for news, with millions of people going to news websites, but their organizations are finding it difficult to support news gathering and writing operations," said Samuels. "Jobs for online newspapers are more likely to be freelance, with no health insurance. I'm hoping quality publications that take the time to verify facts and have writers that care about the quality of the writing and reporting will figure out a way to pay for it and protect writers, but things are very rough out there during this transition."

Trafford thought this will be a shake over in the next five to 10 years. "There is uncertainty, but it also means opportunity, especially for entrepreneurism," she said. "I think different entities will form to cover separate beats such as science, politics, the arts and theater. We can talk about whether that's a good thing or not, but there will be jobs. Kaiser Health News, for example, is a nonprofit, does wonderful stories on health care policy and politics and places them in whatever medium wants them. There can also be for-profit models."

Fiction and poetry

Torday said what's happening in the world of creative writing—fiction and poetry—is somewhat different. "It's one of the best times ever for small presses," he said. "I'm also interested in online publishing in a way that I never would have been before." A story of Torday's in an online-only journal brought more responses than he had ever had before to a piece of writing. "Stories can get 40,000 to 50,000 hits each," he said. "By comparison, McSweeney's has a print circulation of 30,000, the Paris Review about 25,000."

Mosier said she was "thrilled when a young woman sitting next to me on a plane flight downloaded my book to her Kindle. Sure, I got less money for it, but she was reading it and that matters, too.

"What has also changed is that a lot of literary-fiction authors have to do everything on their own now—editing, positioning, placement and marketing," Mosier said. "We have blogs and Twitter about our work. I still take classes. I find smart readers and other authors to critique my work. I subscribe to trade publications. You don't want to let every little whim of the marketplace dictate what you write, but you want to be aware where your work falls."

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One of the most famous Japanese ukiyo-e colorblock prints depicting Mt. Fuji: Fuji in Clear Weather (Red Fuji) 1826–1833, by Katsushika Hokusai, 1760–1849.


Early-mid 20th c. child's vest made by Plains Indian of leather, glass beads and cloth, gift of Katherine B. Twyeffort Green and Susan Twyeffort Spoor.


No. 1 in a series of photographs of the loft of Kelmscott Manor, the summer home of Arts and Crafts Movement leader William Morris and pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, has a mystical aura. 1897 platinum print by Frederick Henry Evans (British, 1853–1943). Gift of Mary Peirce, Class of 1912.

Worlds to discover: treasures from BMC collections

The College is displaying some of its most treasured pieces of original artwork, cultural artifacts, rare books, and manuscripts as part of Bryn Mawr College's 125th anniversary.

The year-long exhibition, Worlds to Discover: 125 Years of Collections at Bryn Mawr College, features items that have been donated by alumnae, faculty and friends of the College over the last 125 years. Spanning a wide range of geographical areas and time period, it focuses on the astonishing resources available for teaching and student research within the collections.

"Winnowing the collection down to 100 choice pieces seemed a near-impossible task when I saw the exhibition in its penultimate stage," wrote Edward Sozanski in his preview for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "There was so much quality on the table that any exclusions would have been painful. The positive side of the curators' dilemma is that any choices made at the final cut were bound to affirm my belief that this collection deserved more public exposure. I hope the College can make that happen."

Among the pieces being shown are ancient Greek vases, African masks, medieval illuminated manuscripts, Japanese woodblock prints, European illustrated books from the 15th through 20th centuries, Native American pottery from the Southwest, and works by some of the leading European and American photographers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Highlights include original drypoint prints by Mary Cassatt, the Shakespeare First Folio, and some of the Greek painted vases and sherds that comprised the first donation to the College's archaeology collection made in 1901 by Professor Clark Hoppin.

Worlds to Discover was curated by Bryn Mawr College's Special Collections Department, with assistance from many faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students. The exhibition and a catalog have been made possible through generous funding from the Friends of the Bryn Mawr College Library and Barbara Teichert '75.

The exhibition is in the Class of 1912 Rare Book Room in Canaday Library through May 28. For additional information, call the Special Collections Department number: 610.526.6576 or visit the website: www.brynmawr.edu/Library/exhibitions.html.

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Wyndham's Blue Room. Photo by Jim Roese


Wyndham foyer. Photo by Jim Roese.

Burst of colors for Wyndham

Wyndham was refreshed over the summer, getting new windows, shutters and paint. The interior walls of the first floor rooms had been all white; now each room has a predominant color. The living room walls are warm yellow, the Ely Room's soft blue and a brick pink has been added to the portico entry hall and outside the Ely Room. The Blue room's moldings are cornflower blue. Each room has a distinct personality, but when seen from the end of the hallway, all are related, like a family. The Breakfast Room, whose walls are dark green, is the most transformed. Carpeting was taken up to reveal a wooden floor no one realized was there. All of the wooden floors throughout were refinished and lightened. Some ornaments have been removed, leaving the spaces looking less cluttered with cleaner lines. Hobson Pittman paintings that hung in the dining room have been cleaned.

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President's seminars bring professionals to students

President Jane McAuliffe launched the 2010–2011 Pen y Groes Seminar Series, which brings small groups of students together at the president's house to meet with accomplished professionals over lunch for informal conversation about their field of work, career paths, and connections to their undergraduate experience.

The first speaker, on October 25, was Elisabeth Bumiller, a senior national correspondent for the New York Times, who has covered the armed forces, U.S. presidential campaigns, and the White House; earlier, she reported for The Washington Post and the Miami Herald. She is also the author of several books, including a biography of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a study of women's roles in Indian society of the 1980s, and a chronicle of a year in the life of an elderly Japanese woman and her family.

Other speakers scheduled are: Fay Donohue '72, CEO of DentaQuest, a leading provider of dental-health programs; Susan Band Horwitz '58, a medical researcher who played an essential role in the development of Tamoxifen, a leading treatment for breast cancer; Lynne Meadow '68, the artistic director of the Manhattan Theater Club, one of the nation's most acclaimed theater organizations; Autumn Adkins, president of Girard College, a private K-12 boarding school in Philadelphia for students with limited financial resources; Lisa Caputo, Executive Vice President of Citigroup for Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs, an emerging leader in women-focused business strategies; and Catherine Kinney, the former president of the New York Stock Exchange and the first woman to serve as the NYSE's president.

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