Claire Sullivan ’25

Clubs, sports, and activities you’d like to mention: 
Madeleine Yearbook Editor-in-Chief, The Sophian Layout Editor 

Describe your major for someone who has never heard of your field before. 
The Study of Women and Gender (SWAG) looks at the influences that are so often neglected in all fields of study. It takes a very interdisciplinary approach about issues of gender throughout time and space and culture and medium. SWAG is about examining how identity impacts experience. Examining issues of violence against women, reading religious texts, looking at focuses of modern activism, and producing oral histories all are topics that this field of study encompasses. 

Did you ever have trouble deciding on a major? What, ultimately, helped you decide? 
No, I came to Smith because I really wanted to work with experts in the field of women’s studies, and what I found was beyond what I could have imagined. 

What is one preconception about your major that people often get wrong? 
That there are no jobs. I think this major gives you really good research and critical thinking skills, and asks you to think about how systems of powers interact with the world. All of these skills are very transferable and needed in many industries. 

What advice would you give another Smithie? 
Take advantage of all the campus has to offer. There is so much funding and access to new experiences that are so special. There are opportunities everywhere for learning and new experiences: at lectures, in the gym, and at dinner. 

What’s your all-time (big or small) favorite Smith memory? 
Skiing on Paradise Pond and the river with my best friend when it froze in January of my first year. Magical and so very New England! 

Describe a moment from a class that particularly sticks with you. 
Seeing a page of the Gutenberg Bible during a visit to Special Collections. 

What’s your Big Dream for your future? 
To work as a registrar in a collection focused on women's history. 

Who was your favorite professor and what did you most like about their style of teaching? 
Doug Patey. I loved his lectures and the readings he assigned about the history of reading and writing. Each week we wrote a response paper. It was a wonderful way to communicate to him my thoughts and get his responses to them. 

What was most interesting or unique about your house and what will you miss about it? 
I lived in Lamont. People on my floor congregated in the ironing room—a peak 1950s aesthetic! It was such a wonderful place to hang out and build community, my best friends come from sitting in there and chatting. 

If you could tell an incoming first-year anything about Smith, what would it be? 
There are so many resources and opportunities at Smith. You just have to be open to the possibilities and ask for help. 

What is your proudest accomplishment? 
Being on the Madeleine, producing three good yearbooks already and being deeply involved in the creation of my senior yearbook. It has been such a unique and memorable experience to contribute to a lasting part of Smith history and culture. 

What do you wish older alums knew about your class? 
How drastically the pandemic changed Smith. Being on the tail end of that, our class had to work hard to reinstate the community and traditions of Smith College and maintain that vital continuity.