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By Jan McCoy Ebbets
 
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The profiles on these pages about distinctive people and provocative projects and programs at Smith go some way toward suggesting the vitality, exceptional leadership and unprecedented opportunity that exist within the Smith community at a time in the college's history when Smith is preparing women to lead challenging lives in a new century.
 
This fall, starting with a special event in October, Smith celebrates the beginning of its 125th year and honors a group of outstanding alumnae who embody the college's legacy of leadership (see page 7). At the same time, Smith launches the public phase of a $250-million comprehensive campaign, a four-year effort to secure its position among the finest liberal arts colleges in America in the 21st century. According to Karin George, chief advancement officer and vice president for development, this will be the largest campaign to date among liberal arts colleges. (It already includes the largest announced gift to a Seven Sisters college-$14 million from the Houston-based Brown Foundation Inc.)
 
"Smith is certainly the sum of some very incredible parts," notes George, herself a Smith alum, class of 1986. "This is a perfect time to be proud of ourselves, and of what Smith is, and a perfect time to further brighten and shape Smith's future by raising the bar on the level of alumnae participation in annual giving to at least fifty percent. That participation is one of the truest indicators of the value alumnae place on their Smith education."
 
The campaign embraces a full range of initiatives, from restoring the botanic garden's century-old glass houses to support for the launch of an engineering program, the first of its kind at a women's college. Funding support is sought for a variety of other objectives, including: financial aid, interdisciplinary programs, faculty excellence, the Praxis internship program, science and technology programs, the Ada Comstock program, a new campus center, and major renovation of the Museum of Art and the performing arts center.
 
These goals grew out of an intensive Smith self-study completed two years ago under the leadership of President Ruth Simmons, who challenged the college to envision its character in the next century. The campaign, she says, is not "simply about capital improvements or new programs. It is much larger than that. This campaign is about an opportunity that is extraordinary in its scope and exciting in its implementation-the opportunity to move a truly outstanding college to a new level of excellence."

Following a Map to the 21st Century

Whether they're fly fishermen, feminists or fledgling scriptwriters, they're charting a course to the future

The day promises to be hot and humid. There is no breeze as two Smith students navigate the winding roads of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, some 15 miles north of the Smith campus. Burke Murphy drives; Kerry Timlin peers back and forth from the windshield to the two maps spread on her lap, one a geological survey map, the other hand-drawn by a professor.

Then here it is, just what they're looking for: a small trickle of brown water meandering through a cow pasture-Bloody Brook, the site of a 1675 ambush of colonial settlers by Native Americans. Today it is just a narrow stream of nearly idle water banked on either side by tall grass and nettles.

Here's where Murphy and Timlin will gather samples of invertebrates-bugs and snails, for instance-as part of an important conservation study now under way to assess the impact of human activity within the Mill River watershed. Funded by a $115,000 grant from the Krusos Foundation Inc., the research project involves six towns in Western Massachusetts and is being conducted by interdisciplinary teams of Smith College and other Five College faculty and students.

The July heat has already burned off the early-morning fog. Timlin and Murphy park and begin unloading the car. They grab buckets of equipment gathered earlier at Smith's Clark Science Center, notebooks and hip waders, a digital camera, and a long-poled net that looks something like a lacrosse stick.

Timlin, a neuroscience major, and Murphy, an anthropology major with a special interest in environmental science, are Ada Comstock Scholars-women ranging in age from their 20s to their mid-70s who are enrolled at Smith to complete their bachelor of arts degrees at a realistic pace. Both are single mothers living in apartments while studying at Smith. Murphy is from northern California, Timlin from Pennsylvania.

Now by the side of Bloody Brook they begin checking their gear, which is spread out on a bright orange tarp on the stream's grassy bank. Despite the 100-degree heat and humidity, they step into rubber hip waders and prepare for their walk into the murky water.

"Do we have the paperwork ready?" Timlin asks Murphy. "Markers? Tweezers? Scrubber? Timer? Three bags with reference site numbers ready?" Murphy answers "check" to each call.

Gripping the net pole, Timlin steps cautiously into the slow-moving stream and immediately sinks into a shaggy underwater carpet of muck. "Yuck!" she utters. She plunges the net into the brown waters in an arcing half-circle, sweeping deep for the macro-invertebrates.

"This is hardly a pristine reference site," Timlin says. "It's very impacted by the cow pasture. We'll see what we find. Some invertebrates can live in environments that are more toxic than others. This one seems pretty toxic."

Murphy agrees: "This is so different from the sampling we've been doing in the other two tributaries. Yesterday we were sampling the Deerfield River and it was very fast-moving and clear water. Pristine. And we could barely hear each other speak over the roar of the river."

Murphy points out the swarm of birds watching the activity from nearby power lines. "But look at all the swallows. They must know there's something good about this site. After all, they eat about 800 mosquitoes a day." (Even the swallows will be noted by Timlin and Murphy in their final report, among the site's habitat details-plants, animals, even houses in the area.)

It's a full-time summer job, this Mill River study, but both women say they've loved the work. "We've had the chance to really experience the habitat along the river," notes Timlin. "It's been a plus-point to this job."

Studies have shown that undergraduate exposure to scientific research is critical in guiding students toward successful science careers, and Smith is among the leading institutions in the nation preparing women for careers in science. Smith students major in the sciences at nearly three times the national average for college women. Thirteen percent of Smith graduates go on to earn Ph.D.s in science.

Students like Murphy and Timlin and projects like the Mill River study illustrate the extraordinary scope of people, unique projects and new initiatives at Smith.

Murphy and Timlin, two of four Adas who worked this summer on the biomonitoring of the Mill River watershed, also share the latest tales of their respective offspring, a 3-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son, while they work. On this day, they also celebrate the recently received news that they both made the Dean's List for the academic year.

The portion of the Mill River study Murphy and Timlin worked on this summer focused on collecting invertebrate samples from the various brooks flowing into the river. Other teams checked water quality and the bacteria present in the environment. Through a microscopic study of their samples, the teams hope to determine the health of the streams. Ultimately the study, coordinated through Smith's environmental science program, will contribute data that will have a direct bearing on environmental policy and management throughout the Connecticut River watershed system.

"I'm a fly fisherman, so I've been spending my time in rivers for a long, long time, but I didn't have any lab experience before I started this job," notes Murphy, who expects to graduate from Smith within the next two years. "I'm finding that the learning curve in the lab has been steep for me, but I've been happy to have the challenge."

Timlin, who will graduate in 2000, agrees. Born in England, she recalls one aspect of the river study that was especially savory: "At 3 p.m. we always stop for high tea, no matter where we are. There is something really nice about sitting by a roaring stream, under a canopy of lovely trees, sipping tea."

Give Me Milton or Give Me Ally McBeal

Nothing else Holly Burke '01 did this past summer quite matched the thrill of going to work. Never mind that just to get to her job, funded through Smith's unique new Praxis internship program, she spent three hours a day commuting to Manhattan Beach, California, from her parents' home in Chino Hills. The commute paled in comparison to the opportunity to work behind the scenes in the corporate production offices of David E. Kelley, creator and producer of the television hits Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope and The Practice.

Through the Praxis program, Burke received funding for a 10-week internship assisting in Kelley's offices. Burke's immediate supervisor was a Smith alumna and Kelley's assistant, Mindy Farabee '95.

Burke spent much of her time at the office reading-not so unusual for a Smith student, especially an English major who favors the works of Milton and Shakespeare. But for television, Burke's reading turned from the high-water marks of classic literature to the scripts-"stacks and stacks of them"- submitted to David Kelley.

Often reading six to eight scripts a day, each 50 to 100 pages long, Burke had to summarize them, note their strengths and weaknesses, and rate them on a scale of 1 to 10.

It's relevant work for someone who'd like to someday write her own scripts and who is seeking a practical outlet for the writing, editing and communication skills she's fine-tuning at Smith. In June, after five weeks on the job, she told NewsSmith, "I really love this internship, and I think it's good for me because I've learned so much already about what the business of writing and producing a television show is all about."

Burke, a sociology minor, also wants to learn how an initial idea is transformed into a completed television show and how that show can provide an entertaining forum for the discussion of cultural or social issues. Nor can it hurt, Burke reasons, to have a new line on her résumé about having worked in the offices of a high-profile producer.

Her experience illustrates what Praxis is about: putting the liberal arts to work for students who want to explore career options while still in college. Career experts report that internships have become increasingly critical because many organizations, whether museums or Fortune 500 companies, now see them as the first stage in recruiting new employees.

Before Praxis was launched in 1998, internships typically were short-term and often unsalaried. But the program now offers every qualifying Smith student, beginning with the class of 2002, the opportunity for a $2,000 stipend to cover the expenses of a 220-hour summer internship, linked to her academic studies and supervised by a professional practitioner.

This summer Praxis supported some 430 internship opportunities that might otherwise have gone without interns because the offering organization did not pay stipends. In most cases, students found their own opportunities and developed their own internship proposals. Praxis made it possible for:
· English major Sarah Leinicke '00 to serve as Kosovo Project Volunteer Leader for the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta
· Anthropology major Jennifer Campbell '00 to conduct clinical research with Dr. Carolyn Kaelin '83 at the Comprehensive Breast Health Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston
· Shannon Herber '00, an English major, to intern in the New York offices of MTV Networks, assisting in the News and Specials Department with research, pre-production and post-production of television shows.

These students have taken to heart the advice of Barbara Reinhold, Smith's career development director: "Exploring various career fields and workplaces and seeing whether they'll give you what you're looking for-this is a process you'll use again and again, throughout your adult life. You'd better learn to enjoy it!"

Give Me Howard or Give Me Smith

Anjail Sharrief '01 pays no heed to the siren call of television. She has other career plans.

In fact, by her senior year in high school, Sharrief, who calls both Atlanta, Georgia, and Detroit, Michigan, her homes, had already decided she wanted a medical career working with children. She was a 16-year-old senior at Warwith Deen Mohammed High School in Atlanta when she applied for admission to Smith and several other highly ranked liberal arts colleges. She hadn't yet figured out how she'd pay for such an education, but Sharrief reasoned that she'd figure it out--somehow.

She was exactly the type of talented and ambitious student Smith was interested in: a grade point average of 4.0, outstanding SAT scores and a taste for challenging coursework such as a summer biomedical program at Spelman College; she was also a member of the Mock Trial team, the Model UN and the Science Summit.

Sharrief's personal application essay also revealed her vitality and vision. It described how a 10th-grade science fair project introduced her to an early fascination with the brain and a determination to become a pediatric neurosurgeon. "It is a very complicated profession," she wrote, "and I must work hard to reach this career goal. The consideration of the children, whose lives I will eventually save, will be all the motivation I will need to achieve it."

Smith accepted Sharrief, in the belief that promising students who are willing to apply their talent and energy should be able to attend Smith regardless of their financial status. The college offered her the financial assistance, including a STRIDE scholarship, that encouraged her to consider enrolling. This, along with Smith's growing neuroscience program, prompted Sharrief to choose Smith over her other choice, Howard University.

Now a neuroscience major, Sharrief is immersed in a highly interdisciplinary field and a Smith academic program that has doubled its course offerings during the past 10 years while increasing class enrollment by 72 percent.

Sharrief's quiet confidence about her prospects in and beyond college is typical of Smith students. She is among a growing percentage of Smith students-now more than 25 percent-majoring in the sciences. Chemistry and neuroscience are showing the most dramatic increases. Sharrief is also among the more than 65 percent of all Smith students receiving some form of financial aid. (More than 56 percent of all students receive need-based grants from the college.)

This summer Sharrief refined her professional skills working with children by teaching toddlers in a Montessori school in Atlanta. During her junior year, she will be off campus, spending the year studying neuroscience at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Sharrief is quick to admit that she's grown up a bit since coming to Smith. Having skipped a grade in elementary school, she was always the youngest in her class. She arrived at Smith as a 17-year-old scared of science, and particularly of lab work, but determined to be a doctor. Her STRIDE scholarship enabled her to work as a paid research assistant to neuroscience and psychology professors.

"I'm a new woman now," she says lightheartedly after two years at Smith. "I'm more adapted. Smith was definitely the right choice. I love all my professors. And I feel very much at home at the science center; in fact, I keep all my plants in the psychology lounge now. That's a good sign."

This Inquiring Mind Wants to Know...

Smith philosophy and women's studies professor Elizabeth Spelman never seems to run out of ideas to research or questions to pose. Her intellectual pursuits have taken her on journeys far and wide, searching out answers to her questions about everything from feminism to attitudes about human suffering to the meaning of racism.

So exploring the side streets of London one afternoon in 1996, she happened upon another piece to the puzzle of her newest area of research and teaching: "the work of repair." She had found a shop crammed with sewing machines and torn clothing. A sign over its doorway read "Invisible Mending. Please come ask about our service."

Spelman never misses an opportunity to talk to the people who fix things. She immediately began asking questions of the seamstress, who, pulling a torn jacket from a pile of clothes, told Spelman, "My job is to mend this garment so you think it's never been ripped."
Aha, thought Spelman, noting how different the seamstress's work was from the intended result of another type of repair work, the apology. "With an apology, the apologizer's presence has to be felt and the intention to fix things known," she notes, recalling President Bill Clinton's "mea culpa" of November 1998.
"A curious state of affairs," she calls the nature of repair. "What are people doing when they are fixing objects, mending relationships, or repairing the social and political damage left in the wake of past events? What can we learn from examining the various human activities of fixing broken objects, of mending the social fabric?"

One important role of philosophy as Spelman sees it is to recognize and question the assumptions underlying everyday beliefs or such common activities as repair. Her other scholarly works include a book on how people perceive the suffering of others, Fruits of Sorrow: Framing Our Attention to Suffering, and an award-winning book on feminism, Inessential Woman: Problems of Exclusion in Feminist Thought.

Spelman is one of approximately 260 faculty members on the Smith campus. Her dedication to teaching and active scholarly pursuits is also reflected in the work of her Smith