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Smith makes headlines, bylines and features............................ By Sally Rubenstone '73 ............................
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It's no surprise that the Smith name is often mentioned in local newspapers and on area radio and television broadcasts. Yet the college commonly turns up, too, in publications and on programs that originate far beyond the Grécourt Gates. From the New York Times to the Naperville Sun, from the Chicago Tribune to the Charleston Gazette, Smith students, faculty, alumnae and staff can be spotted in headlines and bylines, in features and photographs. ............................ Associate Professor of English Michael Gorra may be more familiar to Smith alumnae for his regular critiques in the New York Times Book Review than for his passionately argued lectures on George Eliot and Salman Rushdie. Recent offerings by Gorra included a look at William Kennedy's The Flaming Corsage and Paul Theroux's My Other Life. Gorra's own book, After Empire, a study of postcolonial fiction due out soon, is one review assignment he's sure not to get. ............................ Smith took a big step forward five years ago with the inauguration of the STRIDE program, designed to encourage the college's most highly rated applicants to matriculate. In "Sweetening the Pot for the Best Students," the May 17 Chronicle of Higher Education highlighted varied new enrollment initiatives at several schools, including Vassar, Stanford and Connecticut College, and noted that Smith's STRIDE had served as a model for some of the others. And speaking of super students, the Columbia, South Carolina, State was one of many publications nationwide to report that a local high school standout was soon bound for Smith. Rebecca Whitin '00 shared top academic honors with three other members of Irmo High School's graduating class of more than 400. The Ellsworth (Maine) American applauded Bucksport High School's 1996 valedictorian, Ellen Cottrell, also en route to Smith. And Whitney Weitzel '00 smiled from the cover of the June issue of Guideposts magazine--a national nondenominational religious publication--which announced her first-place finish (out of 7,000 entrants) in their Young Writers Contest. ............................ Career Development Office Director Barbara Reinhold has received coast-to-coast kudos-and media attention-for her recent book, Toxic Work: How to Overcome Stress, Overload and Burnout and Revitalize Your Career. In "How to Cope If Work Is Killing You" (USA Today, June 4), Reinhold noted that "there has been more stress in the workplace in the past five years than at any time since the industrial revolution." Reinhold was also spotted by TV-viewers on ABC's "Good Morning America" and CNN's "Just in Time," both in June. ............................ A panel of politicians and media experts gathered in the nation's capital last spring at a forum that asked "Is television demoralizing America?" While the June 7 Washington Times reported optimism among the group that network executives are finally trying to clean up their raunchiest shows, the Times also noted that one panelist, Smith's Stanley Rothman, Mary H. Gamble Professor Emeritus of Government, suggested that plans to reimpose the traditional "family hour" may, nonetheless, "fall flat." Moreover, Reader's Digest seems to think that movies are demoralizing America, too. The October issue cited a Rothman survey that found that, while 52 percent of the general population claim to attend church or synagogue at least once a month, for writers, producers and directors of top-grossing films, that figure plummets to only 6 percent. And speaking of the cinema, the June 26 Boston Globe announced that Cambridge resident Maureen Foley '76 is the author and director of Home Before Dark, starring Katharine Ross (of Butch Cassidy and The Graduate fame) and Patricia Kalember (from TV-land's "thirtysomething" and "Sisters"). The coming-of-age story, due out in several months, was shot in the Boston area but is based on Foley's Northampton childhood. ............................ Another alum on summer newsstands was Shelly Lazarus. The Smith trustee and 1968 grad was featured in a Fortune magazine cover story called "Women, Sex & Power." At the time, the publication speculated that Lazarus would soon be named CEO at advertising empire Ogilvy and Mather. Sure enough, in September the rumor was confirmed when Lazarus stepped up to the chief executive's desk at the world's sixth-largest ad agency--the only firm its size with a female chair and CEO. ............................ In "Late Entrants: College Students Grow Up," the October issue of Working Woman magazine applauded several colleges--including Smith--that offer special programs "geared to the needs of older students." Likewise, the September/October issue of Friends magazine, a national publication for older readers, selected Evelyn Clark AC as its "cover girl." The accompanying story--with a full-page photo of Clark in Neilson Library--profiled three ambitious adults who are all pursuing college degrees. Clark, at 58, was the baby of the trio. ............................ Although President Ruth Simmons has been a familiar face at Smith for more than a year, she's still in the midst of the media maelstrom that heralded her appointment and arrival. Ebony magazine profiled the prez in its June issue. "I would love to live in a world where people are valued on the basis of what qualities they offer as a person, rather than on the means that they happen to have at any given time. Those are the values that I want the students at Smith to understand and appreciate," Simmons told Ebony readers. The New Orleans Times-Picayune proclaimed that the "Jackie Robinson of college presidents" has established a scholarship at Dillard University, her alma mater, honoring Vernell A. Lillie, a beloved former high school teacher who helped Simmons go on to college. The December issue of Glamour also selected Simmons as one of the magazine's 1996 Women of the Year. She shared the honors with eight others--including talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell, author Terry McMillan and astronaut Shannon Lucid--as well as with the entire women's Olympic basketball team. |
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