President's Report

· mount holyoke · PRESIDENT’S REPORT · a note from the · PRESIDENT The College has always been a place where big visions take shape. For over 180 years, we have opened opportunities for students to deepen their understanding and sharpen their response to a fast-changing world with challenges both known and unknown. We prepare students to learn and to lead because in life and work, we know this is what makes all the difference. Now that we have been deeply engaged in the work for two years of our five-year Plan for 2021, I’m delighted to share our progress, including an overview of some of Mount Holyoke’s new strategic initiatives. In January 2018, we opened the Dining Commons, a part of the new Community Center, which is now also nearing completion. With the extensive renovations to Blanchard Hall we are creating a co-curricular hub in support of student leadership and programs, as well as a coffee shop and pub. We’ve also added new residential, co-curricular, and academic spaces. These spaces are the heart of our community-building efforts, giving more attention to shared endeavors and creating a sense of belonging. They represent a commitment to place at Mount Holyoke, reminding us all of the power of relationships that is in the very warp and woof of the College and the Alumnae Association. There is an energy and excitement to our being in the same space at the same times each day to eat, talk, think, and debate in companionship and cooperation. I hope the stories in these pages excite you about our current initi atives and our plans for the future. At this time in the world, we are more committed than ever to meeting the challenges of the future head on with intellectual engagement, bold vision, leadership, and empathy. We do this with the same commitment and creativity that has charac terized the College throughout its history while reimagining and reinventing a women’s college for the twenty-first century. Thank you for joining us in this next chapter, sonya stephens Excellence in contemporary liberal education. An outstanding women’s college. Intentional, inclusive community. Celebration of our diversity. Commitment to environmental sustainability. Preparing leaders for engagement on the global stage. These are just a few of Mount Holyoke’s core priorities that excite and motivate me as we work to advance Mount Holyoke. · we celebrate · DIFFERENCE Equity & Inclusion Living-Learning Communities Living and learning as one international institutionalize a day of community Since 2016 we’ve added a Unity Center community requires skills for working conversation each spring, starting and ten Living-Learning Communities across difference. In March 2017, we in 2019. We’re committed to developing (LLCs) to provide opportunities for canceled classes and adjusted staff work divisional action plans, increasing students who share common identities schedules to devote a day to a community- the number of faculty and staff of color, or educational, social, or co-curricular wide learning conference boom! and enhancing cultural competency interests to live together in residence (Building on our Momentum) focused campus-wide. halls. In addition to the Residential on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In spring 2018, boom! returned with Life staff,LLC s also have a faculty or Through a series of panels, community a week-long commitment to learning staff liaison, or department sponsor, conversations, and performances, we and exchange featuring keynote speaker, who assists with programming. These learned from each other while collabo- public scholar and Rutgers University include a First-Year Experience Com- rating on plans for systemic change professor Brittney Cooper. This culminat- munity; five language floors (Chinese, within our institution. As a direct result ed in the Women of Color Trailblazers French, German, Italian, and Spanish); of the first boom! conference, the Conference, featuring Linda Sarsour, the Arts LLC; the Outdoor Adventure College will appoint its inaugural Vice Tamika Mallory, and Carmen Perez, LLC, which provides opportunities to President for Equity and Inclusion co-founders of the 2017 Women’s March explore nature through excursions and Chief Diversity Officer in 2018 and in Washington, d.C. on campus and in the Pioneer Valley; an Interfaith LLC, which celebrates the diversity of religious, spiritual, and socially just practices observed worldwide; Mosaic, for students who self- identify as people of color; the Shirley Chisholm LLC for students who are of African descent, identify within the African Diaspora, and/or wish to foster connections between different cultures within the diaspora; MiGente, which connects students of Latinx descent; and the Mary Wooley LLC for students committed to creating a supportive and celebratory environment for LGbTQIA students. boom! is really“ having an impact on the students this year. I’m writing this from [the Dining Commons], and the conversations going on around me are so critical, thoughtful, and respectful — it’s unreal.” — PENELOPE VORSTER · we celebrate · · we open paths to · DIFFERENCE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY The Campus as a Living Laboratory Inspired by the diversity of our ecosystems, we prepare students for lives and careers that respect people and planet. Developed by the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, our 700- acre Mount Holyoke Living Laboratory makes our natural and built landscape the perfect place for hands-on, multi- disciplinary undergraduate learning and research. Restoration Ecology Our Restoration Ecology Project enables students and visitors to engage in the science, practice, and social dimensions of ecological restoration with a focus on the quality of the water entering Upper Lake and the soil health, plant biodiver- sity, and wildlife management issues on 2037: Mount Holyoke’s Carbon Neutrality Goal campus and beyond. A boardwalk makes In January 2017, the Mount Holyoke Board of Trustees endorsed the College’s the site accessible and adds new viewing goal of becoming a carbon neutral campus by 2037, the bicentenary of the points, as well as creating a trail in the College. We will pursue this goal through investing in energy efficiency and heart of campus. Through a partnership conservation, retrofitting historic buildings, and transitioning to carbon- with People’s Bank, we recently welcomed neutral heating and electricity sources. We plan to review our progress toward high school students to a Restoration carbon neutrality every five years. To that end, Mount Holyoke’s new Ecology Summer Scholars Program first community center is constructed to LEEd (Leadership in Environmental developed by alumna Jovanna Robinson- and Energy Design) silver standards — requiring less water, energy, and Hidas ’16. resources to operate. · we foster · GLOBAL MINDSETS An essential part of the Mount Holyoke Initiatives welcomed Zainab Salbi, experience is living and learning as one founder of Women for Women international community, with all of International, as the Carol Hoffmann the enhanced communication skills and Collins Global Scholar in Residence. cross-cultural collaboration that flows In January 2018, the Center hosted the naturally as a result. In South Hadley, Global Challenges Conference, “Global- Massachusetts, we connect students, Local Inequalities: Social Change for faculty, and staff from all over the world Sustainable Communities,” bringing and weave relationships that we know together alumnae changemakers, com - will change the world in the years to come. mu nity leaders, and students to discuss In 2016, the McCulloch Center for Global strategies and share solutions for promot- ing social justice worldwide. From welcoming notable leaders and hosting energizing events to ensuring that global questions and opportunities are present in all that we do, we keep our focus inherently and intentionally global. · we foster · · mount holyoke college faculty’s · GLOBAL MINDSETS GLOBAL REACH teaching research 81% 79% 61% 59% given a paper at a conference abroad (since 2012) encourage discussions incorporate teach classes that that leverage global issues into compare an issue 55% perspectives of their courses across countries conducted research abroad domestic and (since 2012) international students 51% conduct research with a global focus (since 2012) extended time abroad 78% Lived outside the u.s. for an extended period of time 31% Lived outside the u.s. for more than 5 years 27% Earned a degree from an educational institution abroad 43% Collaborated with an institution outside the u.s. since 2012 · we build ecosystems where future · ENTREPRENEURS THRIVE Making sure students receive an outstanding, contemporary liberal education is about helping them thrive in an increasingly complex world with accelerating rates of change. Through both renewal of its traditional disciplines and new curricular initiatives, a Mount Holyoke education gives students the critical thinking skills necessary to tackle 21st-century problems, find solutions, and actively embrace the creative and leadership opportunities of the future. from mentor Rick Feldman, the College’s entrepreneurship coordinator, Ye pitched her idea at competitions, participated in Maker and Innovation Lab a local college accelerator, and mounted Students work best when they share prob- a successful Kickstarter campaign. lems and collaborate openly on solutions. Featured in Forbes in January 2017, Ye is Spurred by the success of our pilot maker- excited that ZIRUI is going into produc-

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