STEERING COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED FOR HEPBURN CENTER

A year after the death of screen legend Katharine Hepburn '28, her family and the executors of her estate named Bryn Mawr College the only organization authorized to commemorate her life and achievements. President Nancy J. Vickers recently announced that planning for the College's Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center has begun.

Katharine Hepburn '28 during a 1973 visit to the Bryn Mawr campus

"Our agreement stipulates that Bryn Mawr would recognize not only Ms. Hepburn but also her mother, Katharine Houghton Hepburn, Class of 1899, an early suffragist and family-planning advocate," Vickers said. "As we thought about ways to honor both Hepburn women, we considered as one idea a center named for them whose focus would connect thematically to their life work — film and theater, civic engagement and women's health. Most important, we felt that any permanent tribute to the Hepburns ought to inspire future generations of women to challenge conventions, just as they did."

Professor of Chemistry Michelle Francl will serve as director of planning and development for the Hepburn Center, a two-year appointment. Francl will lead a steering committee charged with developing the Center's programming. Members of the Hepburn Center Steering Committee are:

• Linda Caruso Haviland, Associate Professor and Director of Dance
• Nancy Collins, Director of Public Affairs
• Anne Dalke, Senior Lecturer in English and Coordinator of the Program in Gender and Sexuality
• Marc Diamond, Chief Advancement Officer and Secretary of the College
• Paul Grobstein, Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Science in Society
• Christine Koggel, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for International Studies
• Melissa Pashigian, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
• Leslie Rescorla, Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for Ethnicities, Communities and Social Policy
• Jenny Rickard, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid
• Lisa Saltzman, Associate Professor of History of Art and Director of the Center for Visual Culture
• Janet Shapiro, Associate Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center for Child and Family Well-Being
• Sharon Ullman, Associate Professor of History

The committee anticipates an ambitious year of planning, with a projected launch date in the fall of 2006.

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