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TH ISSUE ANNIVERSARY Welcome 150 Editor’s Letter

Volume 137, No. 1 Fall 2020

The Key is the first college women’s fraternity magazine, A Continued Usefulness published continuously since 1882. Editor Kristin Johnson Sangid, Georgia Southern

Associate Editor and Prosperity Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana Contributing Editors Melisse Campbell, Mississippi Stacy Warren Flannery, Drake — Katie Mills Giorgio, Drake Jodi Noding, Florida Kait Smith Lanthier, Marist 150 years and women that defined an era Laura Vinci, Kansas Editorial Board Chairman Judy Stewart Ducate, Texas Tech

Executive Director pon the long-awaited publication of kappa’s Kari Kittrell Poole Director of Marketing and Communications 1930 history, the last two living Founders wished Ashley Gilbert Moyer, Purdue Copy Editor for Kappa a “continued usefulness and prosperity.” Cailin Cooney, Central Florida Design In the strange world that has been 2020, my own Em Dash Printed by wish is no different. Lane Press The Key (ISSN 1063-4665) is published by the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity The 1930 History of Kappa 150 Kappas who dared to dream It’s been our aim to connect and Foundation, 6640 Riverside Drive, Kappa Gamma wasn’t pub- boldy and live fully. From six members since 1882 when Tade Suite 200, Dublin, Ohio 43017. Printed U in the United States of America, copy- lished until 1932. Likewise, this college students who founded Hartsuff Kuhns, Butler, and right Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity Sesquicentennial issue of The Kappa in 1870 to members who Minnetta Taylor, DePauw, 2016. Subscription price is $3.

Key met a delay. continue to innovate and advo- suggested a magazine and POSTMASTER: Send address changes to This issue should have been cate, this issue is an homage to Minnetta became its first editor. The Key 6640 Riverside Drive, Suite 200 in Kappa hands in June for the those who inspire us. As a modern editorial board, we Dublin, Ohio, 43017 kickoff of our 150th anniversary, As we echo our Founders’ wondered how we’d measure up Kappa Kappa Gamma beginning with Convention in hope for a continued usefulness to these powerhouse predeces- Headquarters Boca Raton, Florida. But in light and prosperity, my hope is this: sors. We didn’t want to rehash 6640 Riverside Drive, Suite 200 Dublin, Ohio 43017 of COVID-19, the Fraternity that you will be inspired by the history, so we decided to do pivoted to a virtual business Kappas on these pages. That you what we do best: Tell our mem- Phone: 866-554-1870 (866-KKG-1870)

meeting hosted on the tech- will see yourself in their courage bers’ stories. Email Kappa: [email protected] nology platforms Zoom and and their kindness. That you This issue is not a mission Email The Key: [email protected]

Whova. It was disappointing not will continue your own engage- accomplie. We know our mem- To change your address or stop receiving The Key, email kkghq@ to gather in person to distribute ment with Kappa, or rekindle bers have stories to tell. So, kappa.org or call the number above. our Sesquicentennial issue, but the bond you may have lost. consider this a starting point, an Please include full name. we made the safer choice to hold And that you will pay your $25 opportunity to start a conversa- a virtual election of officers. On dues—through your local alum- tion about who you’d like to see a bright note, the virtual event nae association or at kappa.org/ in the pages of your magazine. facebook.com/kappakappagamma made attendance more feasible dues—and/or make a donation Tell us which stories you loved facebook.com/thekeymagazine twitter.com/kappakappagamma and held the promise of making to the Foundation. Creating, (and why). And tell us what linkedin.com Keyword: Kappa Kappa Gamma future Conventions more acces- printing, and mailing The Key you’d like to see in future issues. www.kappa.org sible. Lemonade from lemons, does not come without consid- Here’s to usefulness, prosperity as they say. erable cost. Nor does running an and another bold 150 years. In this special double issue, international Fraternity. Your six bold words—Trailblazing, commitment to Kappa—in word Truth, Connection, Optimism, and in deed—helps to drive the

Respect and Knowledge—define future of our sisterhood. —Kristin Sangid, Editor

GET INVOLVED | 1 Trailblazing Illustration by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 1999

DYNAMIC DUCHESS

An actress whose professional career started in 2002 on soap opera “General Hospital,” Rachel “Meghan” Markle, Northwestern, landed her breakout role as Rachel Zane on the television drama “Suits.” But in 2018, she became a worldwide sensation as the Duchess of Sussex—a title conferred upon her by Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II when Meghan married Prince Harry, the monarch’s grandson. Their union made Meghan the first American—and the first woman of color—to marry into Great Britain’s royal family. An outspoken feminist, Meghan has used her role to advocate for gender equality and social justice. “Women don’t need to find their voice,” she told guests of The Royal Foundation in 2019. “They need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.” As a guest editor for the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, Meghan highlighted the works of women whom she described as “forces for change.” “For this issue, I imagined, why would we swim in the shallow end of the pool when we could go to the deep end?” Meghan wrote in her editor’s letter. “A metaphor for life, as well as for this issue. Let’s be braver. Let’s go a bit deeper.” —KRISTEN DESMOND LEFEVRE, Indiana

2 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 3 Alice and INITIATED 1976 Pete Dye

RISK TAKER Virginia “Ginni” Rometty Northwestern

Ginni Rometty— IBM’s first female CEO (2012–20)—says that women who aim to suc- INITIATED 1945 ceed to the highest lev- els—regardless of their business sector—need to “accept risk, aim big and Queen of the Greens never let anyone else tell Alice O’Neal Dye was the driving force behind some of the most iconic golf courses you what’s possible.” It’s a lesson Ginni learned early in her career. When By Ann Graham Schnaedter, Missouri a manager wanted to pro- mote her, she hesitated because she thought she nown as the championships. She won two needed more time to be “first lady of golf United States Golf Association ready. Even though she architecture,” senior championships, two didn’t feel prepared, she Alice O’Neal Canadian senior championships, returned to work the next Dye, Rollins, and a gold medal in golf at the day and accepted the job. andK her husband, Paul “Pete” Senior Olympics. She led a “I learned that growth Dye, designed and built some victorious 1970 Curtis Cup team and comfort never coex- of the world’s most famous and served as captain of the ist,” Ginni says. “It’s the golf courses—including TPC 1992 World Cup team. same for people, coun- Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, At Rollins College, Alice was tries and companies. Ask PGA West, Crooked Stick Golf a pre-med student and captain yourself when you learn Club, and the Ocean Course at of the women’s golf team. She the most? I guarantee Kiawah Island. also played on the men’s squad, it’s when you felt at risk.” Alice began playing golf at age where she met Pete. “I drew —KRISTEN DESMOND 11 and was a formidable compet- amoebas in class and they even- LEFEVRE, Indiana itor throughout her life, winning tually became designs for golf 11 Indianapolis titles, 11 state greens,” she once joked. They titles (nine in Indiana and three married in 1950, the beginning in Florida), and 50 amateur of a partnership that spawned OUR HISTORY

< 1853 Monmouth < 1857 Monmouth’s College opens as first literary and a co-educational debate society for institution of women—Amateurs higher education. des Belles Lettres (A.B.L.)—is founded.

4 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE nearly 130 important golf from the audience, “You know, courses across North America. this is the second time she’s Alice is credited for designing done this!” one of golf’s most iconic holes— Serving as the first female the island green par-3, 17th director of the PGA of America hole, at TPC Sawgrass Stadium in 1999 was less of a struggle. “It Course. As crews were bulldoz- was a wonderful experience,” ing around a green and taking Alice said later in life. “When sand to use elsewhere, Pete they asked me to serve, I didn’t realized he was left with a huge think about being the first pit with no place for a green to woman, but of course, I was. I go. Stumped, Pete went to Alice felt, at the time, that it didn’t with his dilemma. “Well, you’ve occur to the PGA about how taken all the sand out,” she said. many women players they had. “Make a lake and just leave the The PGA … had a lot of courage green on sand out there.” Today, to invite me to come on that Alice’s island green continues board.” In 2004, the PGA hon- to intimidate and delight the ored Alice as its first lady of golf. world’s best golfers. In the last interview Alice Alice’s influence on Dye gave—at 92 to Golf Digest—she course designs was omnipres- was asked if she’d ever wanted ent. When she and Pete were to design a course by herself, building the Ocean Course at from start to finish. “I’ve already INITIATED 1950 Kiawah, she persuaded her done that,” she said, referring to husband to raise the fairways. “I Maple Creek Golf and Country KEEPING CAMPUS SAFE can’t see the ocean on the back Club Hills in her hometown nine,” she told Pete, as related by of Indianapolis. Completed in When Constance “Connie” Benjamin Clery, The New York Times. “I don’t 1961, the course was billed as Massachusetts, and her husband, Howard, just want to hear it; I want to Pete’s first 18-hole design, but it returned from vacation April 5, 1986, police cars see it.” Pete agreed, raising the was Alice who spearheaded the waited in their driveway. Officers delivered the fairways by 6 feet. project. While Pete was chasing shocking news that their 19-year-old daughter, Determined to make golf more work across the Midwest, Jeanne, had been sexually assaulted and mur- inclusive, Alice developed and Alice was on site, handling the dered in her dorm at Lehigh University. promoted the two-tee system, government negotiations, bank As the circumstances surrounding Jeanne’s death which created forward tees that loans and construction supervi- emerged, the Clerys learned that 38 violent crimes had better accommodate the differ- sion. She deferred to Pete only occurred on campus in the three years prior. “If Jeanne ent skill sets of women golfers. in the contouring of the course’s had known about the history of violent crime, she might She has often been called “the greens. Still, upon completion of still be alive today,” Connie and Howard wrote in a 2003 patron saint of the forward tee.” the course, the press referred to op-ed for the Harvard Crimson. They also learned about When she was elected as the her as Mrs. Paul Dye, Jr. security lapses that may have contributed: The perpetra- first woman president of the But the couple knew better. tor, a student, entered Jeanne’s dorm through doors that American Society of Golf Course In his memoir, Bury Me in a Pot had been propped open by pizza boxes. Architects in 1997, there were Bunker, Pete wrote, “Alice may To advocate for safe campuses, the Clerys founded the whispers of discontent. Some have taken a back seat to what- Clery Center and began to draft legislation. In 1990, President preferred to keep the status ever publicity I’ve had over the George H.W. Bush signed the Clery Act, requiring colleges and quo of the old boys’ club. But as last 30 years, but everyone in the universities receiving federal funding to collect and publish Alice walked to the stage to be golf industry knows how import- data about crimes on campus.” Connie says Jeanne would installed, Pete—who had already ant her contributions have been be pleased. “She would be so thrilled that so many lives were served a one-year term as since she has such an intuition being saved as a result.” —NINA BAHADUR, Princeton ASGCA president in 1988—qui- for what makes a golf course

photography greens ibm;ken may/rolling from left: courtesy page, facing cheong-ah hwang. this page: eted those complaints, shouting challenging but playable.”

< 1867 Mary Louise < 1868 Mary “Minnie” “Lou” Bennett and Moore Stewart enrolls at Hannah Jeannette Monmouth College and “Jennie” Boyd enroll joins A.B.L. at Monmouth College and later join A.B.L.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 5 Jean Bartel, Miss America 1943, proposed a scholarship for contestants.

Jean pitched the idea of scholarships for contestants and was instrumental in convincing the Miss America organization to make the shift.

INITIATED 1942 Crowning Glory

Jean Bartel took Miss America from a beauty pageant to a scholarship program

By Judy Stewart Ducate, Texas Tech

hen Jean reigning Miss California, she to stardom. An accomplished Bartel, hoped it would help launch soprano, Jean’s performance UCLA, a career on Broadway. She’d helped her clinch the crown. kappa archives entered heard a Broadway director was As Miss America, Jean set out the 1943 a competition judge and she on a tour of the United States. WMiss America pageant as the aimed to wow him as her ticket But before she left Atlantic

< 1869 Anna Elizabeth 1870 Lou Bennett < 1870 Martha Louisa Willits and Susan “Sue” and Jennie Boyd “Lou”Stevenson enrolls Burley Walker enroll at meet on a bridge at Monmouth College. Monmouth College. and conceive the idea for Kappa Kappa Gamma.

6 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE City, New Jersey, she refused INITIATED 1951 to model in the bathing suit photo opportunity for Catalina Swimwear—a major pageant sponsor. “I never intended to be a pinup,” Jean told the Los Angeles Times. “I only use a bathing suit to go swimming in.” (Catalina Swimwear responded by dumping the event and start- ing the Miss USA pageant.) SHE’S THE MAN The first Miss America to win the title as a collegian, Jean Jane Cahill visited campuses and heard Pfeiffer young women express interest Maryland in pageants that awarded higher education opportunities. Jean Jane started her pitched the idea of scholar- career at IBM in 1955 ships for contestants and was as a systems engineer instrumental in convincing trainee, and her lead- the organization to make the ership impressed IBM shift. Today, Miss America is Chairman Thomas the world’s largest provider of INITIATED 2007 Watson, Jr. Jane repre- scholarships for women. sented IBM as the first Crowned during WWII, Jean ONE GOAL IN MIND female White House promoted war bonds and sold fellow in 1966 and was more Series E bonds in 1943 “People always ask, ‘What’s your favor ite win?’” picked by President than any other U.S. citizen, Soccer phenomenon Kelley O’Hara, Stanford, Johnson as one of 18 totaling over $2.5 million. told ESPN in 2019. “That’s like asking somebody up-and-coming leaders Over 80% of them were sold to name their favorite child. They’re all awesome. in business, research, to women. In a 1943 interview I love them all the same but differently.” and engineering. By with The Associated Press, Jean Kelley sat down with ESPN in 2019 to offer insights on 1972, she was promoted noted she was most successful what it feels like to be a FIFA World Cup champion. She’s to IBM’s vice president when pitching sales to women well-versed on the subject, having competed in the event of communications and since “men usually ask their with the U.S. Women’s National Team three times—taking government relations. wives before they spend money.” home a silver in 2011 and golds in 2015 and 2019. Her trophy In 1978, Jane became Musical theater was Jean’s case includes a coveted Hermann Trophy from her days as a NBC’s first female chair- passion. After her reign, offers forward on Stanford’s soccer team in 2009, and an Olympic man, the highest-ranking came from movie studios and gold medal from the 2012 London Games. woman in broadcasting. male suitors. But Jean turned Aside from her athletic prowess, Kelley is an advo- The “man” part of her down both, calling them “com- cate of equal pay for women athletes, looking to level the title never bothered her. ical.” She held out for musical financial playing field in women’s professional soccer. “I think ‘chairman’ is a opportunities. Broadway came She admits that the sport is not as glorious as it looks on great term. I wouldn’t calling and Jean landed roles in TV. “From everyone’s perspective from the outside, they want to change it,” she 1946’s “The Desert Song” and look in and see us just win game after game. No one sees said. “Besides, I have 1952’s “Of Thee I Sing.” how hard it really is,” she says. “The nerves and weight of more important On or off stage, Jean was more expectation is not always enjoyable.” Then Kelley’s trade- work to do.” than a powerful songstress with mark grin sneaks across her face. “But it’s worth it.” —STACY FLANNERY, a megawatt smile. She not only —STACY WARREN FLANNERY, Drake Drake made the most of her opportuni-

ibm archives live news; media/alamy cal sport ties, she redefined them.

1870 Lou Bennett and Jennie 1870 The first 1870 At a cost of $5 each, 12 Boyd ask Minnie Stewart and business meeting to badges are ordered from a Pittsburgh Sue Walker to join them in discuss the badge jeweler called Stevenson’s. forming a women’s fraternity. and select a jeweler Later, they ask Anna Willits and is held at Anna Lou Stevenson to join. Willits’ home.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 7 INITIATED 1931 Winging It June Braun Bent helped the Allies soar to new heights during WWII

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana

“We proved une Braun Bent, nearly 25,000 applicants to be and her fellow WASPs flew Drake, had been work- Women Airforce Service Pilots dozens of 15- to 20-minute test women could ing as a legal secretary (WASPs)—the first women ever flights each day, troubleshoot- be taught in Des Moines, Iowa, to fly U.S. military aircraft, ing and reporting any service when she decided her flying noncombat missions needs to the crews on the to fly the same J life could use a little from 1943–44. ground. “You did it every day, as men.” excitement. Years earlier, she’d Assigned to an airbase in like pounding a typewriter,” loaned money to a cousin who Sweetwater, Texas, June began she said. “You just took your worked at a local flight school. advanced instrument training. turn and tested the plane.” She phoned him one day in 1941 When a new aircraft needed a June says servicemen on base with a bold idea: He could repay test flight or an older plane had didn’t know how to handle the his debt by setting her up with to be checked after repair work, WASPs. Sometimes, they were flying lessons. she took to the cockpit. Whether unsure of the correct protocol “They called me the flying it was a fighter jet, a cargo plane on whether or not to salute secretary,” she said in a 2009 or a B-26 Marauder—known as a woman. Other times, they interview with the Worcester the “widow-maker” due to its made crude remarks. June says Telegram & Gazette. reputation for crashing on take- she was too busy to care. “We But that didn’t deter June off—WASPs like June made sure proved women could be taught

from using her new piloting each airplane was safe enough to fly the same as men,” she said. texas woman’s university skills to help win World War for male pilots to use in overseas Many women lost their II. June had just 35 hours of combat. “It was like being a husbands during World War cockpit time and one solo guinea pig,” she said. “That was II; June found hers. Jack Bent flight to her name, but she part of the fun.” was a fighter pilot who had just was chosen as one the 1,101 In a 2010 interview with The returned from flying combat women selected from a pool of Key, June revealed that she missions in North Africa. He

< 1870 Alpha’s 1870 Six < 1870 Now celebrated charter is signed in Founders are as Founders Day, the the parlor of Minnie initiated into Founders wear their golden Stewart’s house. Kappa Kappa key badges to chapel at Gamma. Monmouth College for the first time on October 13th.

8 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE noticed June while she was INITIATED 1969 sitting with a friend at an air force base in Merced, California. “He asked, ‘May I sit with you?’” June recalled. Nearly three months later—in July of 1944—they were married in their uniforms at the chapel on base. “I didn’t have any civilian clothes with me,” June recalled. The first thing she did BEAUTY BOSS on her honeymoon was buy a purple suit, a matching hat and Thia Breen black suede sandals. Minnesota WASPs were considered civil- ians even though they had similar Starting at a training as the male cadets they department store makeup served alongside. They received counter, Thia worked her none of the benefits due to other way to the top of the cor- U.S. service members. Thirty- porate beauty business. eight WASPs were killed in But it all started when service. Each of their families had her first job at Dayton’s to pay to bring their bodies home INITIATED 1899 department store (now for burial. No flags were draped Macy’s) was downsized. over their coffins. JAILED FOR FREEDOM “There was an opening As World War II began to in cosmetics, and since I wind down, the WASP pro- An advocate for the right for women to vote,Amelia was newly unemployed, I gram was officially canceled “Mimi” Himes Walker, Swarthmore, joined the threw my hat in the ring,” in December 1944. June and Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage in 1913 she says. When a man- her band of female flyers were and marched in its inaugural suffrage parade. By ager asked Thia what she released from duty. They had to 1916, she joined the National Woman’s Party, argu- knew about cosmetics, pay their own bus fare home. ing for a constitutional amendment to give women she told him, “I can learn WASPs weren’t recognized as the right to vote on the federal level. everything I have to know U.S. veterans until 1977. But in July 15, 1917, Mimi was arrested while protesting in front of in three months.” In 2009, March 2010, this group of brave the White House. She and her fellow suffragists, known as the Thia was named the first women was honored with the “Silent Sentinels,” used banners to ask, “Mr. President How president of Estée Lauder Congressional Gold Medal, the Long Must Women Wait for their Liberty?” Mimi defended North America. She was highest accolade a U.S. civilian the Silent Sentinels: “President Wilson said in 1915 that he promoted to president can receive. believed in woman suffrage. We are only asking him, by of Estée Lauder Ameri- June—at age 92—was on hand the silent appeal of our banners, to convert his words into cas and head of Global to receive her medal alongside deeds.” Mimi was sent to the Occoquan Workhouse for 60 Business Development 200 fellow WASPs and their days when she refused to pay the $25 fine after her arrest. in 2012—overseeing families. “Nobody thought about After the 19th Amendment gave women the right to more than 30 individ- awards when we were doing vote, Mimi continued her work. “One joins the National ual brands. “I loved the this,” June said as she clutched Woman’s Party because one has a firm belief in equality of beauty business from the a framed photograph of her rights for human beings,” she wrote in December 1944 arti- minute I got into it,” she friend Doris Duncan Muise, cle in The Key. Mimi was rarely seen without her “Jailed says of her more than 40 who died in WASP service. “We for Freedom” pin—crafted in the shape of a prison door years in the industry. just thought about the feeling of with a heart-shaped lock. —FRAN BECQUE —LAURA VINCI, Kansas being able to fly those

archives kappa cheong-ah hwang; great airplanes.”

1871 Adopting a Grand 1871 Beta Chapter 1871 Sue Walker leaves Monmouth Chapter form of government, is founded at St. College before graduation, becoming Alpha Chapter serves as the Mary’s Seminary. Kappa’s first alumna member. first Grand Chapter.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 9 Florence, seated in the front row (in plaid), was the delegate from Eta Chapter, Wisconsin, to the 1882 Convention.

INITIATED 1881 Rock Solid The pioneering work of geologist Florence Bascom has stood the test of time, helping modern scientists understand what lies beneath

“I have consider- By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana

able pride in the fact that some of eoscience pio- Because of Florence, we the men had been seated. She neer Florence know what lies beneath. Her graduated with a Bachelor of Arts the best work done Bascom, work was so respected by her in 1882, a Bachelor of Science in in geology today Wisconsin, saw colleagues that, in 1906, the 1884, and a Master of Science in more than the not-entirely-accurately named geology in 1887. by women, ranking surfaceG of a place. Her trail- American Men of Science rated After working as a college blazing work in the field of her among the U.S.’s top 100 professor, Florence returned with that done by petrography—a branch of geol- geologists—a field that clearly to school at Johns Hopkins

men, has been done ogy dedicated to the description wasn’t ready for Florence. University. Despite being forced bryn mawr; kappa archives (3) and classification of rocks—gave Florence attended the to sit behind a screen during by my students.” science a clear understanding University of Wisconsin at the lectures (so as not to distract of the origins and formation of age of 15 in 1877. It was a time her male counterparts), in the Appalachian Mountains, not when male and female students 1893, Florence became the first to mention a set of geologically couldn’t visit the school library on woman to be granted a Ph.D.—in accurate maps covering a good the same days and when women any field—from Johns Hopkins. portion of the United States. could only enter a classroom after Florence was the first woman

< 1872 Gamma Chapter is 1872 Minnie Stewart, 1873 Epsilon Chapter founded at Smithson Jennie Boyd and Lou is founded at Illinois College. Delta Chapter is Bennett graduate from Wesleyan University. founded at Indiana Monmouth College. University. Ritual and bylaws are recorded in Delta’s Red Book.

10 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE to be elected a fellow of the department of geology at Bryn American Men of Science (the INITIATED 1891 Geological Society of America in Mawr College in 1901. When magazine stuck with that title 1894. By 1896, the U.S. Geological she arrived on campus, there until 1971) included many of Survey appointed her as the first were no geology facilities—not her female students—women woman assistant geologist on its a library, nor laboratory, nor she actively recruited into the staff. She was assigned to research specimens. She scrounged and study of geology. “I have always the mid-Atlantic Piedmont area supplied everything she needed claimed there was no merit in of the U.S. and spent summers to build her program. Still, being the only one of a kind,” on horseback, collecting speci- Florence managed to train the Florence wrote in a 1931 letter mens and mapping the geological most American women geol- discussing her students’ prow- underpinnings of the region. Her ogists working in the world at ess. “I have considerable pride CURRENT EVENTS findings are still used by geologists that time. By 1937, eight out of in the fact that some of the best working to explain how mountains 11 of the women named fellows work done in geology today by Jessica and other geological formations of the Geological Society of women, ranking with that Garretson developed in the region. America claimed Florence as done by men, has been done by Florence founded the their mentor. Later editions of my students.” Finch Cosgrave Barnard

INITIATED 1939 When Jessica taught the Greek lan- MAKING THE CUT guage near the turn of the 19th century, a student Golfer Patty Berg, Minnesota, had a rule she lived threw her textbook in by: “Don’t think you really win until you live up to protest to the outdated that high thing within you that makes you do your topic. It was a seminal best, no matter what.” moment for Jessica, who Her “best” set a high bar. After a spectacular amateur career in felt college prepared her which she won 29 titles, Patty turned pro in 1940. In all, she won to do little more than 60 professional events with 15 major titles—including the first U.S. teach Greek. “I lectured Women’s Open (1946), the Western Open, and the Titleholders. in drawing rooms to Patty still holds the record for the most major tournament wins give the lazy rich current by a female golfer. Though she continued competing until she history in a capsule,” was 62 years old, hip replacement surgery finally ended her com- she told the Louisville, petitive career in 1980. Courier Journal in 1943. No figure in women’s golf spanned as many eras or did as Jessica opened the Finch much for golf as Patty. While her ferocity as a player was well- School in 1900 and the known, she also per formed in over 16,000 exhibitions and Lenox School in 1916 clinics known as the “Patty Berg Hit Parade.” in New York City. On a As one of the driving forces in the growth of women’s golf in the mission to teach women mid-20th century, Patty remained a lifelong ambassador for the “current events”—a term game she loved. A founding member of the Ladies Professional she’s widely credited for Patty Berg led Golf Association (LPGA), Patty served as the organization’s first creating—her schools Wilson Sporting president in 1950. She was inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame prepared students for Goods’ golf in 1951, was one of six original inductees into the LPGA Teaching careers, social activism clinics known as the “Patty Berg and Club Professional Hall of Fame in 2000, and received the Bob and leadership, not to be Hit Parade.” Jones Award—the highest award given by the USGA—in 1963. “idle fashionable women.” —JUDY STEWART DUCATE, Texas Tech —TARA MCANDREW, Illinois Wesleyan

< 1874 Anna Willits 1874 Monmouth 1874 Zeta Chapter is 1875 Eta Chapter is and Martha Louisa College bans founded at Rockford founded at the University Steven son fraternities. Alpha Female Seminary. of Wisconsin. Iota graduate from Chapter begins Chapter is founded at Monmouth College. operating in secret. DePauw University. Theta Chapter is founded at the University of Missouri.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 11 INITIATED 1896 Daring Delegate Whether in a classroom or at the United Nations, Virginia Gildersleeve saw that women had a seat at the table

By Kristin Sangid, Georgia Southern

irginia When Virginia graduated Crocheron with a degree in English, teach- Gildersleeve, ing was one of few professions Barnard, has been available to women. In 1900, called the first 88% of Barnard graduates were ladyV of academia. teachers. Over the course of Her alma mater, Barnard her career, Virginia sought to College, opened to women in a advance professional work plain brownstone on Madison opportunities for women. INITIATED 1890 Avenue in New York City in Barnard’s secretary and 1889. Virginia graduated first in assistant to the dean, Katherine COOL CUSTOMER her class of 1899, of which she Doty, Barnard, class of 1901, had been class president, with a was appointed by Virginia Bacterial chemist and refrigeration engineer degree in English. She went on to run the Barnard College Mary Engle Pennington, Pennsylvania, proved to complete a master’s degree Occupation Bureau, which that foods can stay fresh for long periods of time in 1900 and her Ph.D. in 1908, provided vocational information when kept at a constant low temperature. both from Columbia University. to its students and alumnae, of In 1905, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) In 1911, Virginia was teach- which Ms. Doty meticulously commissioner Harvey Wiley hired Mary to lead his Food ing English at Columbia when maintained addresses and Research Lab. When Mary realized that the Civil Service she was offered the position as professional information on exam she’d need to take to land the job barred female Barnard’s dean. She was reluctant alumnae. Companies, the gov- applicants, she registered under the gender-neutral name, at first to leave the co-educational ernment and the military called “M.E. Pennington.” environment at Columbia to go to upon Barnard for recommenda- By 1908, Mary was the first female lab chief of the USDA’s Barnard, which was Columbia’s tions of women to fill positions. food safety laboratory, developing the first set of standards college for women. Columbia’s Besides academia and for refrigerated railcars. During World War I, she over- President, Nicholas Butler, con- women’s vocation, Virginia saw the inspection of 40,000 railcars that would be used vinced the 33-year-old Virginia to had a keen interest in interna- to deliver food to the U.S. Army. Only 3,000 of them were take the position, promising her tional affairs. In the lead-up to deemed suitable to keep food safe, and she was awarded a full professorship. World War I, she led Columbia Notable Service Medal by President Herbert Hoover. Even though she had been University’s Committee on In a 1940 interview with the Detroit Free Press, a reporter reluctant, at Barnard Virginia Women’s War Work. As World asked Mary, “Why aren’t there more women chemists? Does found a purpose and a passion War II approached, she contin- it take a man’s mind to succeed in this science?” that kept her in the role for 36 ued that work.

“Nonsense,” Mary replied. There’s no such thing as a years. Barnard faculty Joseph “It seemed as if Hitler were hwangcheong-ah ‘man’s mind.’” Gerard Brennan recalled, “Miss about to plunge Europe into —KRISTEN DESMOND LEFEVRE, Indiana Gildersleeve was Barnard.” After war and I … was profoundly her time as dean, the position distressed,” wrote Virginia, an title changed to president. adviser to women graduate

1876 Beta 1876 Kappa’s first 1877 Lambda Gamma Chapter Convention is held in Chapter is founded is founded at Greencastle, Indiana. at the University Wooster College. of Akron.

12 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 1985

POWER PLAYER Gretchen Carlson Dean Gildersleeve quietly but Stanford doggedly advocated for women’s opportunities in graduate and Gretchen Carlson professional schools and vocational spent over a decade roles. She cut a striking figure with a as a journalist before penchant for fancy hats. becoming an icon and #MeToo advocate. In Economic and Social Council 2016, the former Miss (ECOSOC). Virginia set to America and former “Fox work drafting the structure, & Friends” co-host filed powers and functions of the a sexual harassment suit ECOSOC, which she valued as against Fox News’ CEO, the body charged with “doing Roger Ailes, who later things, rather than preventing resigned. Gretchen told things from being done.” The New York Times, Her work on the charter “I wanted to stand up included words of hope for for other women who people around the world: maybe faced similar cir- “higher standards of living, full cumstances.” Gretchen’s “I felt that we ought to do something employment, and conditions of 2017 New York Times’ economic and social progress bestseller, Be Fierce: Stop about it. I was intensely interested in the and development.” Beyond her Harassment and Take problem and the enormous contribution work on the ECOSOC, Virginia Your Power Back, tells persuaded her fellow delegates the stories of women that women might make.” to adopt the following aim for who have experienced the United Nations: “funda- sexual harassment. students at Columbia. “I felt that delegate at the U.N.’s Charter mental human rights, in the “When one person we ought to do something about meeting in San Francisco in dignity and worth of the human has immense courage, it. I was intensely interested in April 1945 and one of only four person, in the equal rights of it can be passed along,” the problem … and the enor- women to sign the U.N. Charter men and women.” she says. mous contribution that women in June 1945. The clause had lofty and —KRISTEN DESMOND might make.” The key postwar commission benevolent aspirations for LEFEVRE, Indiana In February 1945, President had two directives: Prevent human welfare and lasting Franklin D. Roosevelt named future wars by creating a peace. It set a precedent for Virginia to the U.S. delegation to Security Council and pro- women’s work, aligned with write the United Nations char- mote global human welfare by goals she’d promoted

gretchen carlson courtesy archives (2); kappa ter. She was the only woman establishing the United Nations doggedly in academia.

< 1878 Convention is 1878 Mu Chapter < 1879 The Grand Seal held in Bloomington, is founded at of Kappa Kappa Illinois. The first Butler University. Gamma is issued by known photograph is Epsilon Chapter, taken as five delegates Illinois Wesleyan. head home.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 13 INITIATED 1985

MARCHING DOUBLE-TIME Jane Swift Trinity

True to what her mother told the Boston Globe, Jane is a woman who can do “two times as much as anyone else in half the time.” In 1991, Jane was the youngest woman elected to the Massachusetts Senate. INITIATED 1900 By 1998, she was elected lieutenant governor. When Gov. Paul Cellucci was named U.S. ambas- Strong Medicine sador to Canada in 2001, Pioneering surgeon Mary Crawford Schuster Jane became the young- put her life on the line to save lives est female governor in U.S. history. She was also the first governor to By Dr. Mary Osborne, Monmouth give birth in office—to twins—causing a media sensation. In 2019, Jane ary When Mary graduated from compromise. Most internships took the helm of tech- Crawford Cornell University in 1904 and stipulated that applicants must nology nonprofit organi- Schuster, subsequently entered its medical be men. Noting that Brooklyn’s zation LearnLaunch. “At Cornell, program, there were only eight Williamsburg Hospital left off

the core of our country’s described other women in her class. Mary that requirement in its ad, Mary kappa archives; cornell university library promise of opportunity reachingM the coast of France worked hard, but as she later applied. She received the highest is our commitment to a in 1914 as “the most wonderful admitted, “I wasn’t an outstanding grade out of 35 applicants on her high quality public day and night” of her life. The scholar … I didn’t make any honors entrance exam. education,” Jane says. only woman contract surgeon in scholarship, but I got through.” She took a post as Brooklyn’s “It’s an issue of assigned to the American She received her M.D. in 1907. first female ambulance surgeon, fundamental fairness.” Ambulance Hospital during Mary aspired to be a surgeon with one catch: She had to —ANN GRAHAM World War I, Mary made and join an ambulance service. furnish her own uniforms (since SCHNAEDTER, Missouri history—first as an ambulance Hospitals made it difficult for the only available alternates surgeon and later as a pioneer in women physicians to secure were made for men). She went industrial medicine. positions, but Mary refused to on her first ambulance call

1879 Nu Chapter is founded 1880 Total Membership: 333. 1880 Four chapters are at Franklin College. Chapters–14; Alumnae founded: Omicron, Simpson; Associations–0. Chi, Minnesota; Pi, UC Berkeley; and Rho, Ohio Wesleyan.

14 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE in May 1908 by horse-drawn “I wasn’t an gave her charge of four hospital INITIATED 1917 ambulance. During her stint wards, each containing between with the ambulance service, outstanding scholar 20 and 40 wounded men. Mary treated burns, broken … I didn’t make After a year overseas, Mary bones, and other injuries, returned to New York, where sometimes risking her health any honors in she volunteered with the and safety for her patients. She American Women’s Hospitals. was bitten several times and scholarship, but I Once the United States entered nearly choked to death. Still, got through.” the war in 1917, she established Mary worked her way up the and directed the medical ladder at Williamsburg Hospital, Duchess of Talleyrand, pledged department at the Federal SERVING HUMBLY rising to the rank of house sur- $1,000 to send six surgeons to Reserve Bank of New York. She geon, supervising three France, Mary applied for the devoted the next 30 years to Clara O. male physicians. funding. The selection com- the field of industrial medi- Pierce Mary was eager to participate mittee chose her as one of the cine—supervising the health Ohio State in relief efforts when World six—and the only woman. of the bank employees and War I began in 1914. Though she Administrators initially overseeing sanitary conditions Without Clara, was determined to go to France, turned Mary away when in its cafeteria and dining room. Kappa’s history would the Allied armies refused to she arrived at the American By the time she retired in 1949, read much differently. accept women physicians in Ambulance Hospital in Paris. the medical department she Thanks to her business their ranks. When New York After proving herself useful as directed was caring for a work- acumen, Kappa went City socialite Anna Gould, the an anesthetist, the staff surgeons force of 4,600. from a small home-based operation to a national business headquartered in central Ohio. With poise and determi- nation, she helped secure Kappa’s future—keeping the books as Treasurer, overseeing legal incorpo- ration, filing for nonprofit status, and trademarking the Greek letters KKG. She suggested bonding chapter bank accounts, saving the organization from the 1929 stock market crash. Under Clara, Kappa saw a world of possibilities. When she retired in 1969, Kappa had grown from 16,000 members to over 82,000. Fifty-eight chap- ters became 94 chap- ters. Clara lived to “aspire nobly ... adven- ture daringly ... but Dr. Crawford with her patients serve humbly.” —EMILY BENCH archives kappa wikimedia commons;

< 1881 Convention is held in 1881 Three chapters are Bloomington, Indiana. Delegates founded: Tau, Lasell; Kappa, adopt a Grand Council form of Hillsdale, and Beta Beta, government. Tade Hartsuff, St. Lawrence. Butler, is elected as the Fraternity’s first Grand President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 15 INITIATED 1966

SWIMMING UPSTREAM Donna de Varona Pinto UCLA

At 13, Donna was the youngest member of the U.S. swimming team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In 1964, she won two gold medals and set a record in the women’s 400-meter individual relay in Tokyo. At 17, Donna held 18 world records and The Associ- ated Press had named her its Female Athlete of the Year in 1964. At the time, collegiate sports for INITIATED 1931 women were rare and- Donna was left without a from left: kappa archives; central press/hulton archive/getty images swimming program. She told ABC’s Wide World Catch Her if You Can of Sports, “I can’t bear to quit my sport. But I could After surviving a plane crash, Olympian if I knew I could be near Elizabeth “Betty” Robinson Schwartz, Northwestern, it, and I’d like to work pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of all time with your announcers to cover the events.” Donna By Katie Mills Giorgio, Drake became the first female sports broadcaster on network TV. In 1974, she etty was the Thornton Township High and Betty’s track career was co-founded the Women first American School was riding a train that launched. “I had no idea that in Sports Foundation to woman to win an Betty was running to catch. women even ran then,” she open up opportunities on Olympic medal (And catch it she did.) told the Los Angeles the educational level. in track and field. Back at school, he asked the Times in 1984.

—MADISON SYKES, Loyola BA track coach at Chicago’s 16-year-old to run 50 yards, Three weeks later, Betty

< 1882 The first 1882 Four chapters < 1882 Convention women’s fraternity are founded: Upsilon, is held in Madison, magazine, The Golden Northwestern; Beta Wisconsin. Key, is published. Zeta, Iowa; Phi, Boston; and Xi, Adrian.

16 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 1931 INITIATED 1910 American athlete Betty Robinson (second from left) wins the final of the women’s 100 Metres event during the Olympic Games, Amsterdam 1928.

HOLDING COURT Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman UC Berkeley

Hazel was the West Coast girl whose infec- tious attitude, skilled chop shots, and net attacks took the East Coast game of tennis by storm. From 1902–54, Hazel ruled tennis. After having her first child, Hazel’s husband encour- aged her to return to the courts—something no female tennis player had done before. She went ran her first official race—a “Bobbed hair flying to the breezes, the on to win a Wimbledon regional meet where she championship, an Olym- finished just behind the 100- Chicago girl sped down the straightaway pic title and was elected meter U.S. record holder. flashing a great closing spurt to beat the to the International Ten- Her second race was at the nis Hall of Fame. In 1919, Chicago-area Olympic trials, Canadian favorite, Fanny Rosenfeld, by 2 feet.” Hazel created the Wight- where she equaled the world man Cup—an interna- 100-meter record of 12.0 sec- tional women’s tourna- onds. At her third meet—the wrote: “Bobbed hair flying to she became its first woman to ment held between the U. S. final trials—she finished the breezes, the Chicago girl receive a varsity letter. United States and Great second, making the 1928 sped down the straightaway In 1931, Betty nearly died in Britain. She told The Olympic team. flashing a great closing spurt a biplane crash. She suffered Boston Globe that she The 1928 Olympic Games in to beat the Canadian favorite, head injuries, broken limbs, and valued the “wonderful Amsterdam were the first time Fanny Rosenfeld, by 2 feet.” missed the 1932 Olympics. rivalry filled with good women were allowed to com- Betty is the youngest athlete Three years later, she made a sportsmanship” that her pete, a controversial decision. to win Olympic gold in the comeback. In 1936, she qualified tournament offered. Betty took the gold medal in the 100-meter race. for the 1936 Olympics as the —MADISON SYKES, Loyola 100-meter with a time of 12.2 Betty continued running at third leg of the 4x100 relay team

archives kappa from left: wikimedia commons; seconds. The Associated Press Northwestern University, where that captured a gold medal.

1883 Three chap- < 1884 Convention 1884 Sigma Chapter ters are founded: is held in Canton, is founded at the Uni- Beta Tau, Syracuse; New York. versity of Nebraska. Psi, Cornell; and Charlotte Barrell, Alpha Chapter offi- Omega, Kansas. Boston, is cially closes after elected Grand secretly operating for President. a decade.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 17 INITIATED 2009 INITIATED 1894 A Doctor Defying the Odds She was barred, bullied, and harassed. But against all odds, Emily Dunning Barringer persisted in becoming a surgeon ROCKING THE BOAT Elle Logan By Meg Butler, North Carolina Stanford distinguished “When I got to high expert in gyne- school, I didn’t even cology and the know what rowing was,” world’s first says three-time Olympic female ambulance gold medalist Eleanor physicianA and surgeon, Emily “Elle” Logan. The sport Dunning Barringer, Cornell, first piqued her interest was not the kind of woman who during the 2004 Olympics. let “no” stop her from achieving “Things evolved from her goals. there,” she says. Elle was After graduating from admitted to Stanford medical school in 1901, Emily on a crew scholarship, took examinations in 1902 for where coaches honed a residency program at the her natural athletic Gouverneur Hospital in New abilities. In the 2008 York. Emily told the New York Beijing Olympics, she Tribune in 1915, “Just two or won a gold medal in the three days before the examina- women’s eight event. tion, I received word from the In the 2012 and 2016 hospital that if by any chance I Olympic Games, Elle should win a position, I should added two more gold not be allowed to hold it.” She u.s. olympic committee; connecticut women’s hall of fame medals to her collection. earned the second-highest She’s a World Champion score of those who completed too—with gold medals the exams, but Emily was not in the women’s eight offered a spot in the program. (2010, 2011 and 2014), When Emily put Gouverneur and silver medals in the Hospital under the public women’s four (2009) and spotlight with support from the women’s pair (2015). local religious and political After she retired from leaders, the hospital reversed Emily Dunning Barringer in the back of a horse-drawn ambulance the sport, she was named its decision—making Emily the Pac-12’s Rower of the not only the first woman ever female medical resident and then that was just the situation Century in 2017. accepted for post-graduate sur- ambulance physician in 1903. I wanted to remedy.” —NINA BAHADUR, gical training at a hospital but “I had to admit that there was Fellow doctors tried to stand Princeton also Gouverneur Hospital’s first no precedent,” Emily said, “But in her way, saying a woman

1885 Beta Rho Chapter < 1886 Convention is is founded at the held in Akron, Ohio. University of Cincinnati.

18 | TRAILBLAZING | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE wouldn’t be able to handle gynecologist at the New York WWII, Emily had more political “I had to admit the rough rides in the horse- Polyclinic Hospital and as an clout, having been elected pres- drawn ambulances. But on her attending surgeon at the New ident of the American Medical that there was no first ride, Emily refused help York Infirmary for Women Women’s Association (AMWA) precedent,” Emily climbing into the ambulance. and Children. in 1941. She met with President From then on, her work earned She developed a special interest Roosevelt on behalf of the said, “But then the respect of city police and in studying and treating sexually AMWA and lobbied Congress firefighters as well as nurses transmitted infections, and she to allow women physicians to that was just the and patients. published her extensive research join the Army and Navy Reserve situation I wanted Still, she experienced harass- in a number of scholarly journals. Corps. Her campaign led to the ment from fellow residents and As an expert in surgical interven- passing of the Sparkman Act of to remedy.” physicians. Sometimes they tions for women’s health issues, 1943, giving women physicians the assigned her the most difficult Emily soon became the director right to receive commissions in all on-call schedules and ward of gynecology at Brooklyn’s branches of the armed forces. duties. Other times, they went Kingston Avenue Hospital. For her lifetime of work into unnecessarily graphic Emily was a champion of in advancing women’s medi- details of sexual assault cases a woman’s right to serve her cine, Emily received the 1954 to try to make her uncomfort- country as a medical professional Elizabeth Blackwell Citation, able. But Emily persevered in the military. During WWI, she an award for scientific work in and finished her residency raised funds to send ambulances honor of the first female in 1904 and landed a job as a to serve troops overseas. By doctor in America.

INITIATED 1870 Mary Louise “Lou” Bennett entered Monmouth College in 1867 as a sub-freshman and, in 1869, FEARLESS she joined Amateurs des Belles Lettres (A.B.L.)— FOUNDER Monmouth College’s first literary society for women. Lou had a reputation for being helpful and was an active debater in A.B.L. Still, she felt the group lacked a certain something. She longed for a new group “not only for literary work, but also for social development.” “On a little wooden bridge spanning a small stream that flows through the northeastern corner of the campus, two college girls one day held a schoolgirls’ conversation out of which grew the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity.” That’s how Thomas H. McMichael, president of Monmouth College 1903–36, described Kappa’s earliest days. It was the late 1860s and that now-famous conversation between Lou and co-Founder Hannah Jennette “Jennie” Boyd was the beginning of something big. “The world seemed to be moving too slowly and nothing short of a Greek-letter fraternity … would satisfy us,” Lou wrote. Lou graduated from Monmouth with a Bachelor of Arts in 1872, and later earned a master’s degree. She taught in local schools before marrying Rev. Joseph Boyd, brother of co-Founder, Hannah Jeannette “Jennie” Boyd. Lou attended the reinstallation of Alpha Chapter in 1934 and lived until the age of 94. —KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Simpson

1888 Convention is > 1888 Gamma Rho Chapter is held in Minneapolis. founded at Allegheny College. Beta Nu Chapter is founded at the < Kate Bird Ohio State University. Minnesota, is elected Grand President.

WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 19 Truth

Illustration by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 1963 WRITING LIFE STORIES

Maureen Orth, UC Berkeley, has a slogan on her web- site: “It’s a wonderful life.” One look at her career and it’s easy to see why she might feel that way. She’s interviewed the likes of Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Taylor Swift. And she’s also interviewed world leaders like Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, and Angela Merkel. Maureen admits that she fell into a career as a journalist, becom- ing one of the first female writers at Newsweek. She has worked as a senior editor at New York and New West magazines, a contributing editor at Vogue, a columnist for New York Woman, a network cor- respondent for NBC News, and a special correspondent for Vanity Fair—a role she still fills today. Never afraid to tackle a tough story, Maureen wrote investigative pieces regarding the allegations of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson and child abuse by Woody Allen. “From the unrest of the 1960s to the turbulence of today’s world, I feel blessed that, throughout my life and travels—including more than a few into unchartered territory—I have had family, friends and faith to support me,” Maureen says. “It’s been a wonderful life!” —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake

20 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 21 INITIATED 1987 Ashley Judd addresses a crowd at the Women’s March in March 2017.

BRAIN TRUST Katherine Sloan Snedaker Kansas

Despite the fact that women get concussions at higher rates than men and suffer more severe and persistent symp- toms, little is known about concussions in women. Founder and executive director of Pink Concussions, Katherine advocates for research, awareness and improved medical care for women with con- cussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). “If INITIATED 1987 concussion is the invis- ible injury,” Katherine says, “Then females are the invisible population An Act to Follow within that injury.” What

began as a website offer- Onscreen and off, actress and activist Ashley Judd defines her own roles chris sorensen; paul morigi / getty contributor ing a clearinghouse of information has become By Kait Smith Lanthier, Marist a worldwide effort to bring new awareness and research to what or an actress, That’s Ashley Judd, three-decade career, she’s been Katherine calls #pinkTBI. there’s something Kentucky. She’s an actress and cast as the leading lady in films —KRISTEN DESMOND to be said for being an advocate—and it’s hard to we love, earning Emmy and LEFEVRE, Indiana just as recognizable say which is her strongest suit. Golden Globe nominations. But, for your work off Luckily, Ashley doesn’t see it as she wants her voice to be used Fscreen as you are for your roles an either/or choice. for more than reciting lines on on screen. Over the course of Ashley’s screens big and small. In her OUR HISTORY

1890 Total < 1890 Convention is held in 1890 Beta Alpha Membership: Bloomington, Illinois. Delegates adopt Chapter, Pennsylvania, 1,658. Number the fleur-de-lis as the flower and the and Beta Delta of Chapters– sapphire as the jewel. The official Chapter, Michigan, 24. Number colors are reaffirmed as light and dark are founded. of Alumnae blue. Evelyn Wight, St. Lawrence, is Associations–0. elected Grand President.

22 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE memoir, All That Is Bitter and INITIATED 1931 Sweet, Ashley details her desire to bring a voice to the voiceless. For more than a decade, she’s been a dedicated humanitarian, championing gender equality as well as the sexual and reproduc- tive rights of women and girls. That humanitarian work includes serving as the Goodwill Ambassador for the AN ARMY OF ONE United Nations Population Fund, meeting with women and Emily girls in Jordan, Turkey, Ukraine Gorman and Bangladesh. As a Global Cornell Ambassador for YouthAIDS, Ashley has traveled to countries Emily was working affected by illness and poverty. as a teacher when she She works with Women for enlisted in the Women’s Women International to help Army Auxiliary Corps women to rebuild their lives during World War II. That after war and Equality Now, INITIATED 1966 act of service started protecting the human rights of a military career that women and girls globally. SEEING THE GLASS CEILING lasted 24 years, including Ashley has always seen achieving the rank of col- herself as an activist, but it When Marilyn Downey Loden, Syracuse, worked onel and serving as the wasn’t until she came forward at AT&T in the 1970s, she suspected the rea- director of the United with allegations of sexual son she and her female colleagues were being States Women’s Army harassment against Hollywood paid 20% less than their male counterparts had Corps (WAC). When Emily mogul Harvey Weinstein that nothing to do with performance. “There was joined the corps, there the rest of the world started something in the atmosphere that was holding were only four jobs open to see her that way as well. In women back,” she says. to women. While at the 2017, Ashley was one of the At that time, there was no term to describe the invisible helm of the organiza- first women to publicly accuse barriers women face. That is, until Marilyn coined a new tion—and as an adviser Weinstein of sexual harass- term: the “glass ceiling.” When Marilyn spoke on a panel to the Joint Chiefs of ment and the first to go on at the 1978 Women’s Exposition in New York, using the Staff—she opened hun- record with reporters working phrase to explain what she thought was the reason women dreds of positions to on a New York Times story were being held back in the workplace, it lit a spark. women and advocated that ignited the #MeToo and “All the other women talked about was self-image and for military housing that #TimesUp movements. how that kept them from being successful,” Marilyn says. provided the security Ashley says she’s is hopeful “By the time it was my turn, I decided I needed to say some- and privacy needed by that her story—combined with thing different.” female soldiers. After the stories of other women who Today, Marilyn helps companies address diversity and her return to civilian have faced similar violence— equity in the C-suite. The term she coined continues to life in 1966, Emily was will finally change abuses dominate headlines more than 40 years later. awarded the Distin- of power in Hollywood and Still, she hopes the issue becomes obsolete. “I’m con- guished Service Medal. beyond. “This is the moment,” tinuing to learn that being quiet and letting things go by —FRAN BECQUE she told Diane Sawyer in an doesn’t change anything,” she says. “It just means the ABC News interview in 2017. “If problems persist.” —EMILY BENCH we want it to be the moment, it

archives ; kappa cheong-ah hwang will for sure be the moment.”

< 1891 Kappa invites 1891 Beta Epsilon < 1892 Convention is representatives from six Chapter is founded at held in Indianapolis. other sororities to meet Barnard College. Emily Bright, for the first Panhellenic Boston, is elected Convention in Boston. Grand President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 23 INITIATED 1897 INITIATED 1916 Using Words to Change the World Nora Waln used words to show the world humanity’s best and worst qualities SUPPORTING SUFFRAGE Alice Duer By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana Miller ora Waln To a girl who grew up in appealed to Reichsführer-SS Barnard Osland-Hill, Pennsylvania Dutch country, Heinrich Himmler, who told Swarthmore, the country’s customs made her, “You never wrote such a Alice studied couldn’t help her- their new home feel familiar. manuscript. You must have mathematics and astron- self. If there was But something was brewing that dreamed it.” omy in the 1890s. But to aN story to be told—particularly increasingly unnerved Nora: the After being deported to help pay for her educa- one that no one else was willing rise of Nazism. Raised a pacifist, England, Nora rewrote the tion, she wrote stories to tell—the bestselling writer she was friendly with those who manuscript from memory, and essays for Harper’s and journalist was on it. Nora were in support of the Nazis and publishing Reaching for the Stars Magazine and Scribner’s covered cultures, conflicts and those who were not. in 1939. Nora mailed a copy to Magazine Her work sold cruelty with unparalleled empa- She hoped the divisiveness Himmler, inscribed with the so well that she devoted thy and accuracy. Along the way, would blow over. But while words, “I have dreamed herself to it full time. Her she witnessed (and reported on) attending a Christmas Eve another dream.” support for women’s history in the making … and not right to vote influenced all of it was comfortable.

her writing. Alice’s Inspired by a family trading this page: kappa archives, facing page from left: kappa archives; jason doiy/the recorder column, “Are Women connection that her Quaker When the Reichstag learned what she was People?” appeared in the ancestors had established with a writing, the manuscript she’d been working New York Tribune from Chinese family during the early 1913–17, addressing gen- 19th century, Nora left college on disappeared from her home. der inequality at a time in 1920 and set out for China. when many saw women What began as a childhood as second-class citizens. fascination evolved into 12 dinner at an aristocratic family’s Himmler was enraged. Alice wrote over 25 years living as an expat with chateau, she began to realize Though Nora had not used novels, but she was best the Lin family. She was the first that might not be possible when anyone’s real name, the Gestapo known for her poetry foreigner to set foot in the Lin the butler abruptly refused to quickly figured out the identities and Hollywood scripts. home in more than 650 years. serve the meal. His reason? of the people in her book. Two In 1940, her play “The In her acclaimed 1933 memoir, There was a Jewish person boys that Nora and George had White Cliffs” sold over House of Exile, she gave Western present among the guests. befriended were killed. Seven 700,000 copies. As a film, readers a view of post-Qing Nora could no longer stay children of Nora’s friends were it grossed over dynasty culture and customs, quiet, and she became one of arrested and placed in “pro- $6 million and received offering exquisite details of the first journalists to report on tective custody.” In her later a 1942 Academy everyday life in a Chinese the spread of Nazism. When the writings, Nora admitted that Award nomination. household. Reichstag learned what she was taunting Himmler “was a fool- —MARY E. OSBORNE, In 1934, Nora moved to writing, the manuscript she’d hardy thing to do. I shall never Monmouth Germany with her husband, been working on disappeared cease blaming myself.” George Edward Osland-Hill. from her home. Incensed, she Nora traveled to Germany to

1892 Beta Eta 1893 Beta Iota < 1894 Convention is held Chapter is founded Chapter is founded at in Ithaca, New York. Kate at Stanford University. Swarthmore College. Sharp, Northwestern, is elected Grand President.

24 | meet with Himmler, offering later learned that a full third of Children. The fund would be INITIATED 1970 herself as a substitute hostage. her 300 anti-Nazi friends were seeded by money that had been He agreed under two con- murdered by Hitler’s regime. pre-budgeted for Nora’s travel ditions: She’d be required to Although she was invited arrangements and matched with remove all political criticisms to speak at Kappa’s 1940 donations from Kappas across from her book, and she’d need to Convention, Nora was unable North America. The funds remain in Germany and work as to obtain a travel visa. Then- would be distributed by Nora to a pro-Nazi writer. Nora refused, editor of The Key, Helen Bower, the families of children who had telling Himmler before she Michigan, suggested the cre- been bombed out of their homes returned to England, “Words ation of a charitable fund—the during WWII. The project live longer than we do.” She Nora Waln Fund for Refugee became a Fraternity-wide cause, LEGAL EAGLE and money poured in. Helen notified Nora of the fund by M. Margaret Entering East cable with this message: “Be of Berlin in 1961 McKeown good cheer. Do what you can to help those near you. We will fill Wyoming your hands.” Because of her willingness As a judge on the to cover stories that most 9th U.S. Circuit Court writers shied away from, Nora of Appeals, M. Margaret found consistent work after McKeown, Wyoming, the war as a writer for Atlantic is known as one of the Monthly. On an assignment country’s leading legal to Scandinavia in 1945, Nora minds. But to her clerks, witnessed the destruction left she’s simply known behind after the occupation as “M3.” Appointed to of Hitler’s army, including the bench by President destitute mothers wrapping Bill Clinton in 1998, their babies in newspaper for Margaret is recognized swaddling clothes. Incensed, for her work on judicial Nora again relied on the help ethics, gender issues, and of her Kappa sisters to clothe international law. When these tiniest of war survivors. #MeToo hit the judiciary, American and Canadian Kappas Margaret was chosen to answered her call, creating and lead a key committee on shipping 5,000 infant layettes workplace environments, to the war-ravaged country. For and Chief Justice John her efforts, the government of Roberts named her to Norway awarded Nora the King the Federal Judiciary Haakon VII Freedom Cross. Workplace Conduct Nora continued her work Working Group. In 2019, as a journalist into the 1960s Margaret received the as one of the few correspon- American Bar Associa- dents who reported during the tion’s prestigious John Korean War from Communist Marshall Award for her China and Mongolia. Ever a impact on the U.S. teller of human stories both justice system. brutal and beautiful, no matter —JUDY DUCATE, where her work took her, Nora Texas Tech dared to speak while others were silent.

< 1894 Designed by Carla < 1896 Convention is held 1898 Convention is held Fisk, Northwestern, in Evanston, Illinois. Bertha in Lincoln, Nebraska. the Sigma within Richmond, Boston, is elected the Delta is adopted as Grand President. a symbol and signature of the Fraternity.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 25 INITIATED 1992 INITIATED 1982 Talent in Spades Kate Spade built a fashion empire around clothes and accessories that made shoppers smile

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana BREAKING BARRIERS

Susan ate Brosnahan prompting of her then-boy- mashup of Kate’s first name and Harrell Valentine Spade, friend, Andy Spade, in 1991, Kate Andy’s last name. Along with Kansas, was more began designing her own line of two other business partners, Black than a fashion handbags, constructing her boxy they launched their first collec- Florida State designer. Sure, prototypes out of heavy paper tion in 1993 and opened their herK handbags are immediately and Scotch tape. first boutique in Manhattan’s When Susan Harrell identifiable on the arms of the The new brand was known SoHo neighborhood not long Black was an aspiring women who carry them—dis- as Kate Spade New York—a afterward. Soon, Kate Spade lawyer, she was advised tinctive for their modern, sleek against going into the look, pops of color and utili- field. “You’ll change your tarian shapes. But beyond her mind,” a law dean told iconic bags, Kate was a fashion her. If she had listened talent with an eye for items that to him, she may have simply made women feel happy, had an entirely differ- pretty and powerful. The New ent career path. Today, York Times described buying Susan is a senior circuit a Kate Spade handbag as “a judge of the U.S. Court coming-of-age ritual for a gener- of Appeals for the 11th ation of American women.” And Circuit, nominated to the so it was. Her designs weren’t post by President George just wearable status symbols: H.W. Bush in 1992.In They were joy taking the form nearly 50 years on the of fashion. Season after sea- bench, Susan has been son, she served up irreverent, a part of life-changing modern-vintage accessories that legislation and has made made consumers smile—and history as Florida’s first helped define the look of an era female federal judge. “I in the process. “Even if it’s the enjoyed the courtroom,” simplest shoe, it has to have Susan says. “I enjoyed something that says, ‘Oh, I have the entire process. And I to have you,’” she told CNBC’s more than enjoyed a trial “SquawkBox” in 2016. when I had two really After working as a temp in odd good attorneys.” jobs across New York City in the —EMILY BENCH mid-1980s, Kate scored an edi-

torial position at Mademoiselle, boston globe eventually becoming the fashion magazine’s senior fashion editor and head of accessories. At the

1899 Beta Lambda Chapter 1900 Total Membership: < 1900 Convention is is founded at the 3,428. Number of Chap- held in Columbus, University of Illinois. ters–28. Number of Alum- Ohio. Jean Penfield, nae Associations–7. DePauw, is elected Grand President.

26 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE products were featured in away from the spotlight, Kate With a nose for hard news, Nancy luxury stores like Barney’s, launched luxury accessories Dickerson turned down offers to Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth brand Frances Valentine in cover traditional women’s fare. Avenue and Neiman Marcus. 2015—a business she founded As the popularity of Kate’s with her best friend from bags grew, so did her company, college because the pair missed which expanded into a veritable wearing the kind of cheeky- accessories empire—offering a but-chic accessories they used range of products from eye- to produce together at Kate wear to shoes to housewares Spade New York. “Our cus- and paper goods. She shared tomer is someone who has a her personal style and philoso- very personal sense of style and phies in three books: Manners, is really buying what they like,” Occasions, and Style. In many she says in a video interview ways, she was a brand visionary, posted to the Frances Valentine building what ended up becom- website in 2017. “I think that’s ing a lifestyle brand—before the always who I’ve spoken to and term “lifestyle brand” was I think that’s who’s always been even coined. attracted to my designs.” Never In 1995, Kate was honored by one to do things halfway, Kate the Council of Fashion Design- legally changed her name to ers of America (CFDA) with a Kate Valentine Spade in 2016 to Rising Talent Award. Two years distinguish her second act later, she was named the CFDA’s from her first.

INITIATED 1947 “I hope that people remember me not just NOTABLE NEWSWOMAN as a good businesswoman but as a great friend—and a heck of a lot of fun.” One of the first female faces of television news, Nancy Hanschman Dickerson, Wisconsin, moved from the Midwest to Washington, D.C., Accessory Designer of the Year. Kate’s death in 2018 sent in the 1950s to pursue a career in broadcast jour- She was named best accesso- shock waves through the world nalism. Although Nancy was offered a job as the ries designer at the Accessories of fashion. Designers, critics editor of the women’s section at the Washington Council’s ACE Awards in 1999, and consumers alike mourned Daily News, she turned it down. “It seemed out- the same year she and her the loss of a woman whose landish to try to change the world by writing partners sold a portion of their sunny designs and effervescent shopping and food columns,” she wrote in her shares of Kate Spade New York personality had lit up catwalks 1976 memoir, Among Those Present. to the Neiman Marcus Group. and lives. That’s just who Kate She landed a job as a correspondent at CBS News, cov- The year before, her eponymous was. “If you’re as honest and ering topics deemed characteristically “male” for that brand had garnered $28 million fair as you can be, not only in time—the Middle East, the tumultuous presidential elec- in sales with 450 stores world- business but in life, things will tion of 1960, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the wide. Kate remained an active, work out,” she told Glamour in Watergate scandal. At NBC News, Nancy covered the White creative force within the brand 2002 after the magazine hon- House. In 1960, she became the first female correspondent she built. But in 2006, she and ored her as one of its Women on the floor of a political convention. “I think my job is the her partners sold their remain- of the Year. “I hope that people most fascinating one in the world,” she told the New York ing shares to Neiman Marcus remember me not just as a Daily News in 1965. Group for a reported $93 million. good businesswoman but as “I wouldn’t swap it for anything else.” —EMILY BENCH After nearly a decade of a great friend—and a heck

archives kappa time spent with her family of a lot of fun.”

1901 Beta Mu Chapter 1902 Beta Xi Chapter < 1902 Convention is held is founded at the is founded at the in Ann Arbor, Michigan. University of Colorado. University of Texas. May Westermann, Nebraska, is elected Grand President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 27 Audiences have tuned in to Jane Pauley’s news INITIATED 1969 broadcasts since 1972. Morning Maker For nearly five decades, Jane Pauley has been the face of morning news cait oppermann/the new york times/redux By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana

unday morning is a up on the couch with a mug of Today, Jane is a broadcast time for rituals. For coffee to watch Jane Pauley, news icon and an Emmy-winner. some, it’s a morn- Indiana, at the helm of “Sunday But she got her start doing TV ing jog or a yoga Morning”—the CBS program news—first in her hometown session. For others, that has dominated Sunday of Indianapolis and later as Sit’s attending a worship service. morning television ratings Chicago’s first female news But for news junkies, it’s curling since 1979. anchor. In 1976, Jane was tapped

1904 Beta Omicron < 1904 Convention is held 1905 Beta Pi Chapter is Chapter is founded at in Columbia, Missouri. founded at the University Tulane University. Elmie Warner, Akron, is of Washington. Beta Sigma elected Grand President. Chapter is founded at Adelphi University.

28 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE to co-host NBC’s “Today Show.” She was just 25 years old. After 13 years on the “Today Show,” Jane left the pro- gram in 1989. Where Jane went, audiences followed, including programs like “Real Life With Jane Pauley” and “Dateline NBC.” But in 2001, her life changed. To combat a life-threatening case of hives, she was prescribed a high dose of steroids, triggering epi- sodes of mania and depression. Doctors diagnosed Jane with bipolar disorder. Since my diagnosis, I had a “It unmasked what doctors daytime show, I wrote two described as a genetic vulner- books … and now I’m on ‘Sunday ability to a mood disorder,” Morning.’ The best part of my Jane explained on “CBS This life happened after the worst Morning” in 2019. “By that time, diagnosis of my life.” I was in pretty deep trouble.” Jane began her CBS “Sunday Jane took time off, stepping Morning” hosting gig in 2016. INITIATED 1973 out of the public eye to focus Presenting stories with a nimble on her health. She followed blend of factual and folksy, she WAR CRIME CRUSADER her doctor’s advice on what says the show offers an anti- medicines to take, but she dote to the negative headlines Nancy Paterson, Miami (Ohio), prosecuted shrugged off the story he sug- and gloom-and-doom coverage domestic and international crimes—both as a New gested she tell people to avoid that tend to dominate today’s York assistant district attorney and as a prosecu- becoming tabloid fodder. 24-hour cable news cycle. tor for the United Nations’ war crimes tribunal. “I experienced what stigma Jane says she relishes finding In 1994, as the chief strategist for the United Nations was that day. Day one: When the human stories that lie International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, I realized that my doctor was beneath the headlines—whether Nancy wrote the indictment for then-Yugoslav President giving me a cover story to tell she’s interviewing Supreme Slobodan Milosevic. It was the first indictment for war employers that I was being Court Justice Ruth Bader crimes against a sitting head of state. treated for a thyroid disorder, Ginsburg or singer/songwriter Nearly 100,000 people were killed and thousands of women which was true, but it wasn’t James Taylor. “There are the were raped in the Bosnian-Herzegovinan conflict. Nancy the whole truth,” she said. gotta-ask questions on your list gathered enough evidence through interviews to prosecute Since her diagnosis, Jane as a journalist,” she says. “But Milosevic, who died in prison before his trial ended. has become a vocal advocate I’m after more than that. I’m After leaving the U.N., Nancy joined the World Bank, con- for mental health issues. In after the human story. I’m after sulted for the Department of Institutional Integrity, and served 2009, she opened Indiana’s the life. I’m after the connection. as counsel to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors. Jane Pauley Community Health These are the things that make But her work in the Balkans never left her. “On one level, Center, helping underserved someone a person.” you think, I am doing this from a professional standpoint. patients get mental health care After years honing her craft, Then, these are men, women and children,” she told The and support. Jane says having the confidence Guardian in 2001. “I remember going down the steps to a Advocacy helps her to stay to do things her way results in a cellar in which 19 women and children had been burned; positive, Jane says, but main- unique brand of storytelling that there was a child’s slipper burned on the step. These things taining her medications is audiences respond to. “Nobody you remember.” —MEG BUTLER, North Carolina imperative. “It is what has looks through the prism quite

archives; cheong-ah hwang kappa enabled me to be productive. like I do,” she says.

1906 Beta Upsilon < 1906 Convention is Chapter is founded at held in Madison, West Virginia University. Wisconsin. Mary Griffith, Pennsylvania, is elected Grand President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 29 INITIATED 1990

“The path that I had planned out for myself was kind of

FOOD FIGHTER thrown off-kilter, Robyn obviously in a really McCord great way.” O’Brien of the group—Pentatonix—was Washington & Lee to compete in the third season of NBC’s television show “The During a breakfast Sing-Off.” But for Kirstin—then of waffles, yogurt and 19 and fresh off her first year eggs, Robyn was horrified in college—the contest seemed as her youngest daugh- like little more than a group ter’s face swelled from bonding experience. When the an allergic reaction. Her show wrapped, she figured the daughter survived, but group would go its separate since then, Robyn’s goal ways and she’d return to college has been making safe to study musical theater. food accessible. Dubbed But Pentatonix proved to “food’s Erin Brockov- have electrifying chemistry, and ich” by the New York they scored the show’s champi- Times, Robyn created onship title. A month after the the Allergy Kids Founda- competition, she put school on tion. She’s a bestselling hold indefinitely, moved to Los author, speaker, and strat- Angeles, and joined her fellow egist on cleaning up the Pentatonix members in a quest food supply. Co-founder INITIATED 2010 to see how far the group of rePlant Capital, Robyn could go. works with suppliers and Since then, Kirstin and policymakers to create Pentatonix have parlayed their from left: courtesy robynobrien.com; katie levine a smarter food system. Songbird win on “The Sing-Off” into “Courage is contagious,” Kirstin Maldonado is an a capella chart topper something rare for an a cap- she says. “Be brave pella group: They’ve become enough to speak the bona fide pop stars, building an truth and others will By Rachel B. Levin early following by putting out do the same.” cover songs and medleys on —MELISSA PRICE, their YouTube channel, which Florida State hen mez- joined four high school friends has garnered over 17 million zo-soprano in forming an a cappella singing subscribers and 4 billion views Kirstin group in the summer of 2011, to date. Online buzz led to a Maldonado, she didn’t have any grand ambi- contract with RCA Records in WOklahoma, tions. Sure, the ultimate goal 2014. They’ve now recorded < 1908: Convention is held in 1909 Beta Phi Chapter 1910 Total Membership: Meadville, Pennsylvania. is founded at the 5,786. Number of Chapters– Edith Stoner, Missouri, is University of Montana. 37. Number of Alumnae elected Grand President. Associations–20

30 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 10 albums (2014’s “That’s INITIATED 1967 Christmas to Me” went double platinum) and toured the world several times over, picking up three Grammys along the way. The quintet has racked up eight top 10 titles on the Billboard 200, including a pair of chart-toppers. Even amid astonishing success, Kirstin talks about AIRTIME ANGEL her experience as a member of Pentatonix as more of a fabulous Kate detour than a final destination. Jackson “The path that I had planned Mississippi out for myself was kind of thrown off-kilter, obviously in A TV mainstay in a really great way,” she says. the 1970s and 1980s, Since Pentatonix took off, she’s INITIATED 1960 Kate was one-third of often struggled to harmonize pop culture’s famous two dissonant realities: her utter FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM trio, “Charlie’s Angels.” delight at the group’s incredible Kate portrayed Sabrina opportunities and the difficulty Phyllis Eason Galanti, William & Mary, had Duncan with wit and of holding onto her own “voice” always been shy—until her husband, U.S. Naval intelligence. Contract as a young woman maturing Lt. Cmdr. Paul Galanti, was captured during the disputes led to Kate’s in the spotlight. Vietnam War in 1966. departure but delivered With the songs “Water” She learned that Paul was being held prisoner, but she her to the mid-1980s and “Take Me Home” on didn’t learn much more. Phyllis—like other family members hit “Scarecrow and Mrs. Pentatonix’s fourth studio of prisoners of war (POW) and soldiers missing in action King,” a series she acted album, Kirstin has scored (MIA)—became frustrated with the lack of information. in and produced. While her first songwriting cred- Together, they formed the National League of Families of filming, Kate dreamed its—something she wants to American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. Phyllis that something was continue to pursue. The success became its chairman, leaving her shy personality behind. wrong with her body. of Pentatonix also has given “We’re mad and we want the whole world to be mad,” She was diagnosed Kirstin options to explore vari- Phyllis told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1969. “We with breast cancer in ous side projects as a solo artist. want people in other countries to be enraged about North 1987, and again in 1989, In 2017, she released her debut Vietnam’s violation of the Geneva Accords on the treatment undergoing successful EP “L O V E.” She also returned of prisoners.” treatment. As an advo- to her musical theater roots Phyllis initiated the “Write Hanoi” campaign that resulted cate for early screening, the same year with a Broadway in over 750,000 letters sent to the North Vietnamese gov- “Listen with your ears, debut as Lauren in the musical ernment. She met with North Vietnamese and American but hear with you heart,” “Kinky Boots.” With a Tony leaders, appealed to the United Nations, and raised aware- proves to be her Award-winning score by pop ness on national media programs. mantra even today. hit-maker Cyndi Lauper and a In 1973, Paul was released from six and a half years — STACY FLANNERY, script by Tony-winning actor in captivity. “I think our group of MIA and POW wives Drake and writer Harvey Fierstein, changed history,” Phyllis later told the Veterans History

Kirstin says the experience was Project at the Library of Congress. “Never before have the a thrill. “It was such a dream wives of military men taken a stand like we did publicly.” come true … I hope to go back —TARA MCCLELLAN MCANDREW, Illinois Wesleyan and do it (again) at some

archives kappa point,” she says.

1910 Beta Chi Chapter < 1910 Convention is held < 1911 The Coat-of- is founded at the in Bloomington, Indiana. Arms design is approved University of Kentucky. Florence Roth, Michigan, is by Grand Council. elected Grand President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 31 INITIATED 1971 INITIATED 1929

STANDING AGAINST CENSORSHIP Makeup Maven A cosmetics calling for beauty-biz Emily Wheelock Reed, Indiana, grew up a vora- icon Robin Burns-McNeill cious reader. Upon finishing her college degrees, she worked in libraries from Michigan to Hawaii to Louisiana, and taught library science at the By Emily Bench University of Florida. Emily was the director of the Alabama Public Library Service Division in 1957 when her acquisition of Garth Williams’ The Rabbits’ Wedding—an illustrated children’s picture book—put her at odds with state legislators and segregationists. The Rabbits’ Wedding depicts a marriage between a white rabbit and a black rabbit. The White Citizens’ Council of Alabama attacked the book as “communistic” and for pro- moting racial integration. Emily refused to remove the book from the library and defended her position during legislative hearings. “We have had difficulty with the book, but we have not lost our integrity,” Emily said in her testimony. “A library must be a repository of all sides of a question.” To protect the book, Emily placed it on the “by request only” shelf. Her refusal to ban it angered segregationists, but Emily stood firm. In 2000, the American Library Association honored Emily, ensuring her legacy of anti-censorship will live on. —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake

eauty, it’s said, Beauty—a consulting firm that kappa archives; courtesy of ballature beauty runs skin deep. helps brands like Christian But to get to the Louboutin, Abercrombie & top of the game Fitch, and Kohls success- in the cutthroat fully expand their reach into Bbeauty business, your skin has the cosmetics and fragrance to be thicker than most. Just markets. But over the course ask Robin Burns-McNeill, of her cosmetics career, Robin Syracuse. She’s a beauty industry has been at the helm of some legend who is chairwoman of the top beauty brands in the and co-founder of Batallure world, including stints as the

1911 Beta Psi Chapter is < 1912 Convention is founded at the University held in Evanston, Illinois. of Toronto—the first Kappa Eva Powell, UC Berkeley, chapter established outside is elected Grand President. of the United States.

32 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE president and CEO of Calvin up the nerve to ask her boss if in the beauty industry, including Klein Cosmetics, president and she could try something new. He the wildly popular Eternity and CEO of Victoria’s Secret Beauty suggested Robin try her hand at Obsession fragrance lines. Company, and president and the men’s fragrance counter. Robin says her success has CEO of Estée Lauder—North “I knew nothing about cosmet- come by never taking no for an America’s largest manufacturer ics, but I loved it,” Robin told the answer. “If you run up against of department store cosmetics. Chicago Tribune. “In cosmetics, an obstacle, don’t make the So where did she develop I was like a kid in a candy store. the grit and gumption to climb I loved the creativity required to to the top of the beauty biz? build a successful campaign.” “In cosmetics, I was like a kid in a candy Robin credits her upbringing in Her passion and determination Cripple Creek, Colorado—a gold quickly gave Robin the opportunity store. I loved the creativity required to mining town gone bust, where to rise through the ranks, and soon build a successful campaign.” her mode of transportation to she was hired as head of the beauty school was a horse. department at Bloomingdale’s. She Dubbed a “frontier girl” by left retail behind in 1983 and took a mistake of accepting the first close friends, Robin grew up with position with Calvin Klein, where ‘no’ that you hear. Find another a single mom who taught her she worked her way up to becom- way to achieve the result you’re how to be independent at a young ing president at age 30. after,” she said. “If you’re pas- age—encouraging her to land her It was a time of struggle for sionate enough, you’ll succeed.” first job at the fresh age of 13. Calvin Klein. But, in her seven She’s all beauty and business After college, Robin moved to years at the helm, Robin helped at work, but she keeps it simple New York City and was hired into grow the company from $6 at home. Robin says her own the executive training program at million a year in sales to $600 beauty routine isn’t fussy. She Bloomingdale’s—working 10-hour million. Beyond revenues, admits to taking just 10 to 15 days, seven days a week—as a Robin’s leadership resulted in minutes to apply her makeup. buyer in the home furnishings the creation and promotion of “I spend more time drying my department. Eventually, she got some of the most iconic products hair every morning,” she says.

INITIATED 1948 TURNING TRAGEDY INTO TREASURE

In the years that followed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lindalyn Bennett Adams,, SMU was troubled as she watched the site morph into a tourist trap. When the longtime Dallas resident was asked to help pre- serve the area, she rose to the challenge. As chairman of the Dallas County Historical Commission, Lindalyn spearheaded efforts, with little money, to preserve the Texas School Book Depository building where assassin Lee Harvey Oswald posi- tioned himself and Dealey Plaza where Kennedy was shot. Lindalyn’s work helped establish the Sixth Floor Museum, which chronicles the history of the assassination and attracts 450,000 visitors annually. —JUDY DUCATE, Texas Tech news the dallas morning

1913 Beta Omega < 1914 The Sigma within the 1914 Beta Theta Chapter is founded at the Delta symbol is adopted as Chapter is founded University of Oregon. the new member pin. at the University of Oklahoma.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 33 INITIATED 1955 INITIATED 1985 POTUS Potential A senator who advocates for women and families, Kirsten Gillibrand made an Oval Office run during the 2020 primaries

By Kait Smith Lanthier, Marist FIGHTING FOR FASD FAIRNESS t’s not every day a been a supporter of “Medicare While she did not emerge as Kathryn Kappa runs for pres- for All” since 2006. She helped the Democratic challenger, her ident of the United pass the James Zadroga 9/11 path inspires us. To think bigger “Kay”Kelly States. It’s not every Health and Compensation and more boldly. To get involved. LSU four years, either. Act and is leading the charge To make ourselves heard. IIn reality, it’s not ever. Until to extend the September 11th She wrote in her 2014 mem- As a probation 2019. In more than 200 years, Victim Compensation Fund that oir, “If women in all stages of officer in the 1970s, Kay not a single one of the nation’s would aid emergency responders life don’t get involved and fight noticed that people with 45 presidents have been women, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome let alone members of Kappa. Disorder (FASD) were Kirsten Gillibrand, Dartmouth, charged with crimes at had hoped to change that. a high frequency. “I was Kirsten was one of six amazed by the lack of women in a field of more than knowledge about this 20 Democratic candidates seek- disability,” she says. ing the 2020 party nomination. Now the project director Though she decided to leave of FASD Legal Issues the race, the fact of the matter Resource Center at the is: She tried. That’s something University of Washing- worth celebrating. ton, Kay has influenced Kirsten’s career as an elected courts to recognize FASD official began in 2006 when she as a form of brain dam- won a House of Representatives Kirsten Gillibrand (far right) age. “Everybody with this seat as a Democrat in a tradition- poses with supporters during disease has brain dam- ally Republican region of upstate the official kick-off rally of her age. And their judgment New York. In 2009, she was campaign for U.S. president on is flawed because of appointed to the Senate. She won March 24, 2019, in New York. that brain damage,” she reelection in 2012 with 72% of the explains. “Unless we do vote, the largest victory margin and other victims of the World for what we want, plans will be a better job of educating for a New York candidate. Trade Center terrorist attacks. made that we may not like, and court professionals and Throughout her career, Beyond her legislative accom- it’ll be our own damned fault. johannes eisele/afp via getty images modify our strategies, Kirsten has been an advocate for plishments, Kirsten brings a sense I think about this every day. this population is always women and families, leading the of confidence, bravery and self It’s true at every level, from the going to fail.” fight for paid family leave and to her office. She doesn’t neglect Capitol to your city’s town hall —KRISTEN LEFEVRE, advocating for sexual assault her role as a mother. She regu- to your neighborhood school. Indiana survivors—especially those in larly invites followers behind the We need to participate, and we the military and on college cam- scenes of her morning workout need to be heard. Our lives, our puses. She helped lead the repeal routine on Instagram. She’s real— communities, and our world of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and has as real as any candidate can be. will be better for it.”

< 1914 Convention 1916 Beta Kappa Chapter is founded at the is held in Estes University of Idaho. Gamma Alpha Chapter is Park, Colorado. founded at Kansas State University.

34 | TRUTH | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 1971 INITIATED 1870

INVESTIGATIVE KAPPA’S FIRST JOURNALIST CAREER WOMAN Erin Hannah Moriarty Jeannette Ohio State “Jennie” A nine-time Emmy Boyd winner, Erin has reported Monmouth on tough topics like DNA evidence in death-row Jennie entered cases, abortion, conver- Monmouth College in sion therapy for LGBTQ INITIATED 1982 1867 and joined A.B.L. people, and battered in 1869. At 20 years women’s syndrome. PULITZER PRIZE WINNER old, she was the oldest Drawing on her legal Founder. She is listed training, Erin’s focus is “As soon as I understood that books were man- on the Kappa roster as often on murder trials ufactured objects and not magical emanations Alpha 2. Described as the and prosecutions gone issuing directly from Oz or whatever, I started “balance wheel” of the awry. “Those really are trying to illustrate my own books on stapled con- group with “a keen and the kinds of cases that struction paper,” Donna Tartt, Mississippi, told analytical mind,” Jennie keep me keep doing Town & Country in 2013. was Alpha Chapter’s what I do,” she says. Donna’s English professors at the University of first recording secre- In 2005, Erin began Mississippi encouraged her to enroll in a graduate-level tary, presiding over the covering the case of short story course. Writer and editor Willie Morris advised meeting where badges Ryan Ferguson, a Mis- her to transfer to Bennington College. were first ordered from souri man convicted of In 1992, Donna’s first novel, The Secret History, spent 13 Stevenson’s Jewelers murder. Her reporting weeks on The New York Times’ bestseller list. The Little in Pittsburgh. She is spurred new testimony Friend followed in 2002. In 2014, Donna’s third novel, The credited with selecting and a new attorney to Goldfinch, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in the duo of blues as the take the case. The verdict Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize. That year, Donna made Time colors. After graduating was vacated in 2013, magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” with a B.A. in 1872 and after Ferguson spent a Donna’s writing process is literary legend. She is said an M.A. in 1875, Jennie decade in prison. “I’ll to research extensively and prefer writing in longhand. became Kappa’s first go to my grave feeling so “You’re building layer upon layer; it’s like a Chinese lacquer career woman, working good about that,” box,” she told NPR in 2002. “All your experience just kind as a teacher in Illinois, she says. of accumulates, and the novel takes a richness of its own Kansas, Nebraska and —KRISTEN LEFEVRE, simply because it has the weight of all those years that one’s South Carolina. Indiana put into it.” —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake — KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Simpson archives (2) kappa cheong-ah hwang;

< 1916 Convention is held 1918 Gamma Beta Chapter 1919 Gamma Delta Chapter in Ithaca, New York. Lydia is founded at the University is founded at Purdue Kolbe, Akron, is elected of New Mexico. Gamma University. Gamma Epsilon Grand President. Gamma Chapter is founded Chapter is founded at the at Whitman College. University of Pittsburgh.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 35 Connection

Illustrations by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 2008 THE DATING DISRUPTOR

Call Whitney Wolfe Herd, SMU, a busy bee. She’s the founder and CEO of Bumble, a social and dating applica- tion boasting 50 million users, and valued at $3 billion. Whitney’s message of empowerment echoes throughout her brand. On the app, women make the first move. Billboards for Bumble read: “Be the CEO your parents always wanted you to marry.” It’s Whitney’s mission to put power into the hands of women in the world of dating (and beyond). Her mission stems, in part, from personal experiences. Two years after co-founding Tinder—a competitor dating app—she filed a lawsuit against the company alleging sexual harassment and dis- crimination. Her public departure made Whitney the target of hateful online posts. But that energy fueled her return to the dating app space and Whitney’s decision to start Bumble. That’s a decision we can all swipe right on. —KAIT SMITH LANTHIER, Marist

36 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 37 INITIATED 1970 INITIATED 1915 Magazine Maven Beatrice Blackmar Gould made Ladies’ Home Journal a journalistic powerhouse

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana

DESIGN DARLING espite degrees 1935. Beatrice wrote later that it pioneer as a mother balancing Carolyne in journalism from took some persuading for her to a high-profile career, Beatrice Smith the University accept the job. “If I could have worked in the Journal’s New of Iowa and chosen my own pattern, I would York office three days a week Roehm Columbia have stayed at home until our and out of her home office the Washington DUniversity, Beatrice Blackmar daughter was older,” she admit- other two days. Univ. (St. Louis) Gould, Iowa, started out like ted. “But … it was then that Even though they were hired many a cub reporter: on a lowly opportunity offered.” An early as equals, Beatrice received A rhinestone tiara beat with low pay. For Beatrice, it purchased for $7 from was the Ottumwa Courier, where Sears cemented Car- she wrote obituaries for $8 a olyne’s fashion dreams. week in the early 1920s. Later, she’d have a She married her college Manolo Blahnik shoe sweetheart and fellow jour- named after her and be nalist Bruce Gould in 1923. dubbed “the ultimate They moved to New York City tastemaker” by Bill Blass. with dreams of becoming a After working alongside famous playwriting team but Oscar de la Renta for 10 found their success writing years, Carolyne launched for newspapers—Beatrice her own fashion line in at the New York World and 1985. As the president of Bruce at the New York Sun. In the Council of Fashion 1927, while editing “women’s Designers of America, news,” Beatrice gave birth to she collaborated with the couple’s daughter. Already co-chairs Donna Karan established as a writer, Beatrice and Anna Wintour on the continued to write for major first Seventh on Sale— magazines like Cosmopolitan, raising over $4 million Vanity Fair, and the Saturday for HIV/AIDS research. Evening Post.

Carolyne is a staple in During the Great Depression, cindy ord/getty images; kappa archives design culture—styling Beatrice and Bruce found work books, clothing, accesso- at Curtis Publishing Company’s ries, fragrance, interiors, Ladies’ Home Journal—a and linens. Not a bad magazine that, despite being return on a 7-year old’s America’s top magazine for accessory splurge. women, was suffering a decline — KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, in readership. Their ideas rein- Drake vigorated the Journal and they were promoted to co-editors in OUR HISTORY

1920 Total Membership: < 1920 Kappa 1920 Gamma Zeta Chapter is 9,921. Number marks 50 years with founded at the University of Arizona. of Chapters–48; its Golden Jubilee. Gamma Eta Chapter is founded at Number of Alumnae Washington State University. Associations–39.

38 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Even though they INITIATED 1882 were hired as equals, Beatrice received a $5,000 yearly salary while Bruce earned $20,000. PANHELLENIC POWERHOUSE a $5,000 yearly salary while Bruce earned $20,000. Still, they Emily Eaton hired ambitious and talented female writers and editors in Hepburn an era when employers openly St. Lawrence discriminated against mar- ried women in the workplace In the early 1920s, (and often banned them from sorority women who employment altogether). As one came to New York City in of only 100 American women search of a job struggled granted U.S. military press INITIATED 1992 to find affordable and credentials to cover WWII over- safe housing. To ease the seas, Beatrice used her voice to SKIN CARE STARTUP transition, the National advocate for women’s continued Panhellenic Conference employment in a peacetime When Nyakio “Kio” Grieco, Oklahoma, was 8 proposed a building economy—when men would years old, the first-generation Kenyan American that could house up to return from the war front to learned a skin care recipe from her grandmother. 400 women. A suffragist reclaim the jobs that women had A coffee farmer in Kenya, Kio’s grandmother and social activist, Emily filled in their absence. It was boiled coffee beans and added oil to make a facial developed what came arguably the most progressively scrub with energizing and antioxidant properties. to be known as the feminist major publication in In 2002, Kio set out to recreate her grandmother’s for- Panhellenic House, a res- circulation in its day. mula for her new skin care line. Kio’s curiosity drove her to idential hotel with meet- Beatrice and Bruce’s success expand her knowledge of global heritage skin care, and by ing spaces for sorority at the Journal was based on 2017, Nyakio brand skin care launched at Ulta Beauty with women to gather. Emily their high regard for women. masks, scrubs and cleansing balms. purchased the property at They elevated the magazine As her brand has been embraced by celebrities, Kio has First Avenue and Mitch- and its readership by doing remained committed to empowering women who toil out ell Place, spearheaded what Beatrice called “editing of the limelight. Nyakio’s shea and African black soap is a stock sale for funding, up”—publishing in-depth, sourced from a women’s co-op in a West African village, chose an architect and analytical coverage of politics and product sales help the women become self-sustaining. watched the building rise and international relations— The company recently introduced a water irrigation system 26 stories. As the majority subjects usually ignored by into the village so the girls could attend school rather than shareholder, she invested women’s magazines. Audiences spend their days fetching water. more than $200,000 of responded. In the 32 years “My hopes are that as the brand continues to grow, her own money (about the Goulds edited the Journal, it also helps these women all over the world,” says Kio. $3 million today). Called its circulation tripled to 7.5 “I’m very conscious about moving the needle to make the Beekman Tower, the million, becoming the most world a better place.” —RACHEL B. LEVIN house Emily built is now profitable magazine the world a popular midtown hotel.

archives kappa cheong-ah hwang; had ever seen. —FRAN BECQUE

< 1920 Convention is held in 1921 Gamma Theta Mackinac Island, Michigan. Chapter is founded at Sarah Rowe, Northwestern, is Drake University. Gamma elected Grand President. Iota Chapter is founded at Washington University in St. Louis.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 39 INITIATED 2006

DEAL INFLUENCER Amber Venz Box SMU Influencer is now a career choice. But when Amber launched rewardStyle in 2011, the term didn’t exist. Now it feels like influencers are all that matters in the world of digital market- ing. When Amber devel- oped rewardStyle.com, it was the only platform offering a simple way to monetize blog posts. An Instagram-friendly ver- sion—@liketoknow.it— INITIATED 2006 allows followers to shop and search products styled on, by, and for real people. Fast forward to 1 Lighting the Way million brand partners, a stable of 50,000 top-tier Anna Stork flips the switch on seeing in the dark influencers, and a whop- ping $1 billion in online By Katie Mills Giorgio, Drake sales, rewardStyle is the world leader of influen-

tial inspiration. n a world where one response to the 2010 earth- inflatable, solar-powered courtesy amber venz box; tracy powell —STACY FLANNERY, out of every six people quake in Haiti, Anna and light source that could help Drake lacks access to stable fellow design student Andrea in disaster relief efforts or be electricity, Anna Stork, Sreshta wondered what used for outdoor recreation. Dartmouth, is shining a happened when the sun went To raise the capital needed to Ilight on humanitarian aid as the down and Haitians living go from prototype to product, co-inventor of LuminAID, a without power, water and the pair created a crowdfunding portable, inflatable, solar- shelter were also without campaign to raise $10,000 in 40 powered lantern. light. Together, they came up days. By day seven, the fledgling Moved by the global with a prototype for a small company had already met its

< 1922 Convention is held in Glacier National Park, 1922 The Rose 1922 Della Lawrence Burt, Montana. Delegates vote to change the “Grand” McGill Fund Texas, is hired as Executive prefix to “National” for Fraternity officers and is established. Secretary, Kappa’s first full- Council members, and establish a Central time staff member. The first Office, the first women’s fraternity to do so. Central Office is located in May Westermann, Nebraska, is elected her home in Bryan, Texas. President 20 years after her first term.

40 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE $10,000 goal. By day 40, it had INITIATED 1955 raised $51,000 from people in more than 25 countries. When Anna and Sreshta found themselves in the middle of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on a trip to Japan in 2011, they saw firsthand how a crisis—including the loss of electric power—can affect people’s lives. Anna says the experience gave them TRUE NORTH renewed motivation to take TRIED-AND-TRUE LuminAID to the next level. That opportunity came in Barbara 2015 when Anna and Sreshta Leamen appeared on MSNBC’s “Shark Tank.” They received offers McDougall from all five venture capital- INITIATED 1936 Toronto ists on the show’s panel and accepted Mark Cuban’s invest- MOON MAPPER A member of ment of $200,000 in exchange Canada’s Parliament for 15% equity in their company. July 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of Neil from 1984–93, Barbara Anna says Cuban really saw the Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Watching helped save millions of product’s potential. “He encour- from Houston’s space center was Mareta West, dollars in pensions and aged us to push the boundary Oklahoma, the astrogeologist who pinpointed served as secretary of with innovations in design and for NASA the spot where the fragile lunar state for external affairs, to think about what’s next for lander known as “Eagle” touched down on the minister of employment disaster relief aid,” she explains. moon in 1969. and immigration, min- “What’s next” includes an Mareta got her start in the petroleum oil industry in the ister of state for privat- expanded line of lanterns and 1940s as the first female consulting geologist in the Oklahoma ization and regulatory a new solar charger category. City area. By 1960, she moved to Arizona, working as the first affairs, and minister of Today, the company’s products woman in the state hired by the United States Geological state for finance. After have been used in relief efforts Survey, and was soon transferred to their astrogeology divi- she retired from politics during Hurricane Sandy in sion, which led to her work with NASA, mapping the moon in 1993, Barbara was the 2012, Typhoon Haiyan in landing and future lunar missions. public governor of the Southeast Asia in 2013, the In 1973, she told The Key, “I had the good fortune to be Toronto Stock Exchange. 2015 earthquake in Nepal, involved in the mapping of the site chosen for the first landing, In 2000, she was Hurricane Maria in 2017, and Apollo 11. I favor, without reservation, the American effort in appointed an officer of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2018. space. Science inherently cannot be immobilized. If we do not the Order of Canada. “It’s Through the company’s “Give go forward, we shall be left behind.” a country with big free- Light, Get Light” program, Mareta’s sister Lorene told a local newspaper, “I think doms,” she wrote in a more than 50,000 solar lan- it’s marvelous for women to have such an exciting part in a 2014 piece for The Globe terns and chargers have been space program.” When asked if Mareta would be willing to and Mail. A proud Cana- donated to families in need in fly to the moon herself, Lorene responded enthusiastically, dian, she says: “Freedom more than 100 countries around “Yes, I think she would go.” of movement, freedom of the world. She got her chance, albeit posthumously. In 1998, the political choice, freedom “It is always amazing to see Celestis Memorial Spaceflights company attempted to launch of religion, freedom from images of the lights being used in Mareta’s ashes into space on the first and second commercial arbitrary persecution.” different countries,” Anna says. attempts at lunar burial. —MEG BUTLER, North Carolina —SUSAN JOHNSTON Not bad for a company that TAYLOR

archives (2) kappa started with one bright idea.

1923 Gamma Kappa Chap- 1924 Gamma Mu Chapter < 1924 Convention ter is founded at the College is founded at Oregon is held in Lake of of William & Mary. Gamma State University. Bays, Ontario. Lambda Chapter is founded at Middlebury College.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 41 INITIATED 1879 INITIATED 1951 Illustration Icon Nancy Burkert’s technique for her famous children’s illustrations: Treat them like adults

By Dan Morrell DRAMA QUEEN

Laura n high school, nancy Dainty Ekholm Burkert, Wisconsin—one of the Pelham world’s most acclaimed Franklin children’s book illustra- tors—wroteI her first “book” as An elocutionist and part of a ninth-grade civics class actress, Laura joined Nu assignment that asked students Chapter in 1879 when what they might want to do she was invited to a liter- in life. A voracious reader, she ary performance and was thought she might like to write initiated that evening. and illustrate books. She turned With a passion for reform, in an illustrated story about a Laura joined the wom- caterpillar that didn’t want to en’s club movement and turn into a butterfly. volunteered at Chicago’s After studying fine art in Hull House, a settlement college and graduate school, house founded by Jane Nancy—in need of some Addams in 1889. Hull income—returned to the idea House provided housing, first generated in that ninth- health care and services grade assignment. “I have to immigrants. When always loved illustrated books,” Laura’s husband died, she says. She sent a pitch to she moved into Hull publishing giant Knopf—a story House and directed the called “Jefferson Brady and the Hull House Players from Aerial Lady,” which imagined 1900 until her death in what happens to kites when 1924. Called one of the they get lost in the sky. But that kappa archives; courtesy most innovative forces in project was put on hold when American theatre, Hull Nancy was selected to illustrate House Players was the a new book by Roald Dahl. first community theatre James and the Giant Peach

and a forerunner to the was Dahl’s first big foray into

milwaukee journa Little Theatre movement. children’s literature, years before the The popular amateur Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, group received interna- Fantastic Mr. Fox and Matilda tional acclaim. would cement his legacy. Up to —KRISTIN SANGID, that point, the English author

Georgia Southern was known for his adult fiction, l

1925 Gamma Nu Chapter < 1926 Convention is held 1927 Gamma Omicron is founded at the University in Oakland, California. Chapter is founded at the of Arkansas. Gamma Xi Georgia Lloyd-Jones, University of Wyoming. Chapter is founded at the Wisconsin, is elected Gamma Pi Chapter is founded University of California, National President. at the University of Alabama. Los Angeles.

42 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Emmy-winning writers Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll wrote all episodes of “I Love Lucy.”

much of it the murder mystery Book Art, following Where the variety. But in his correspon- Wild Things Are author and dence, Dahl portrayed no unease illustrator Maurice Sendak. about working with a relatively Though stylistic preferences unknown illustrator. In an August have evolved and topics have INITIATED 1939 1960 letter, Dahl responded to his changed during her more than editor’s suggestion of Nancy for five decades of work, Nancy’s SITCOM SCRIBE the book decisively: “I agree with approach has never wavered. you completely. Nancy Burkert is “This may sound very strange, but Madelyn Pugh Davis, Indiana, wrote her first our illustrator.” I don’t think too much about the play at age 10 and wrote for the school paper. Her After James and the Giant Peach child. I’m thinking about the story mother insisted she learn to type as a backup. But was released in 1961, Nancy illus- and how to illuminate it. … Let the when she graduated from college with a journal- trated Hans Christian Anderson’s chips fall where they may with ism degree in 1942, Madelyn found work writing The Nightingale, which tells the the readership. Otherwise, you for radio. She moved to Los Angeles and took a job story of a Chinese emperor who might begin to talk down or be too at CBS. “Girl writer” was emblazoned on the back is saved by a songbird, and put accommodating to what is sup- of her chair at CBS, but Madelyn didn’t let the fact her stylistic evolution on display. posed to be what children want.” that she was the only female staff writer bother her. In 1973, her work on Snow White Besides, cartoons simply In 1951, Madelyn and Bob Carroll were co-writing the was recognized with both a aren’t part of who Nancy is as an radio show “My Favorite Husband” when CBS decided to Caldecott honor (the “runner-up” artist. “I think if children aren’t transform it into a live-recorded sitcom that would become to the Caldecott Medal) and a helped to know the difference the “I Love Lucy” show. Madelyn and Carroll wrote the pilot “notable book” distinction from between a maple leaf and an oak and the next 179 episodes, earning two Emmys. Madelyn The New York Times. leaf, they’re not going to be all was the typist of the writing duo and she tried all of the skits After years of illustrating the that interested in conservation before pitching them to Ball. “The great thing about Lucy, works of others, Nancy eventu- or the love of differentiation and besides her marvelous comic talents, was that she would ally returned to the promise of uniqueness and biodiversity, do anything you wrote,” Madelyn told USA Today in 2011. her original Knopf pitch, writing and all those good things,” says But Ball was quick to credit her writers. “I am not funny. and illustrating her own book. Nancy. And children deserve a My writers were funny,” she told Rolling Stone in 1983. Lucy The result, Valentine and Orson, challenge. “It’s that same attitude attended Kappa’s 1960 Convention when Madelyn received was released in 1989. A decade across the board: They will learn an Alumnae Achievement Award. and a half later, Nancy became and have what we give them,” —KRISTIN SANGID, Georgia Southern the second-ever exhibitor at the she says. “We are the ones who

archives kappa univeresity; room, harvard houghton reading archives; courtesy kappa Eric Carle Museum of Picture mustn’t underestimate them.”

1928 The Co-Organizer 1928 Gamma Sigma < 1928 Convention Program (now known Chapter is founded at the is held in Breezy as Leadership Consultants) University of Manitoba. Point, Minnesota. is created.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 43 INITIATED 1916

CRITIC’S CHOICE Helen Bower Michigan

Helen joined the staff of the Detroit Free Press in 1914 after writ- ing about how modern Two weeks before the 1955 opening of Disneyland, girls had to choose Ruth Shellhorn Kueser between career and mar- confers with Walt Disney. riage. Helen worked her way up and, after work- ing as a feature writer INITIATED 1928 and drama and art editor, she landed the role of movie critic in 1947. For 20 years, Helen regaled Changing the Landscape readers with sharp, witty Ruth Shellhorn Kueser helped build the world’s most famous mouse house commentary of the silver screen.“I honestly get the feeling every time I see a By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana screening that I’ve never seen a movie before,” she said. But her enthusiasm f you’re one of the heavy workload and did not per- malls gave customers the feel- never clouded her ability over 730 million visitors mit her to take her final course. ing of being on vacation. Her to write about it honestly. to Disneyland since it When Ruth’s petitions were work captured the essence of “She was a good friend opened on July 17, 1955, ignored, she figured she’d give it Southern California living. of the movies,” said one you have experienced another shot the following year. When Walt Disney called theater owner. “But that the work of Ruth Shellhorn But amid the Great Depression, Becket for advice on hiring land-

I harry kueser/courtesy of kelly comras doesn’t mean she Kueser, Oregon State. Ruth’s family lacked the money scape architects for Disneyland, wasn’t honest and let A transfer student, Ruth stud- for her to complete her degree. Becket advised him to hire the chips fall.” ied horticulture, engineering, Ruth returned to her native Los “Shellhorn, and only Shellhorn.” —JODI NODING, Florida design and regional planning at Angeles and opened a landscape Just four months away from Cornell University in the 1930s. design practice. opening day, Disneyland was After six years of study, she Her big break came during still 60 acres of dirt, a dry had earned more than enough a collaboration with architect river trench, and a handful of credits to receive her bachelor’s Welton Becket. Ruth’s novel unfinished buildings. Disney degree, but the dean deemed use of palm trees, glossy foliage, had established Tomorrowland, women unfit to handle the and lush plantings at Becket’s Fantasyland, Adventureland,

1929 Clara O. Pierce, Ohio State, 1929 Six chapters are founded: Gamma Tau, is named Executive Secretary. North Dakota State; Gamma Upsilon, British The Fraternity’s Central Office is Columbia; Gamma Phi, SMU; Gamma Chi, moved to Columbus, Ohio. George Washington; Gamma Psi, Maryland; and Gamma Omega, Denison.

44 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Frontierland, and Main Street replaced it with a flagpole. From on the site called her “Mother When Disney U.S.A., but he had no strategy to then on, he trusted Ruth com- Shellhorn,” chastising her as a connect them coherently. pletely. When Disney toured the stickler for details. In the last toured the prog- When Disney called Ruth, she progress each Saturday, she was 10 days of construction, Ruth ress each Saturday, told him, “I don’t do amusement the only woman who walked kneeled in the dirt to plant seed- parks.” Still, she took the meet- alongside him. Everyone else on lings herself. she was the only ing, where she agreed to design the creative team was a man. After her work at Disneyland, the park’s pedestrian plan, Ruth’s previous projects the Los Angeles Times named woman who including the plantings around had been installed in exacting Ruth the “Woman of the Year” walked alongside Sleeping Beauty Castle and the detail but at Disneyland, plants in 1955. landscape for the Town Square, and landscape grades were Years later—with a portfolio him. Everyone else Main Street and the Plaza Hub. eyeballed into place instead of spanning nearly 60 years and on the creative Disney wanted to build a being staked out according to 400 projects—it was discovered Victorian bandstand in the approved designs. that Ruth had enough credits to team was a man. center of Town Square. Feeling On March 27, Ruth wrote in satisfy graduation requirements it would obscure the view of her diary: “I’m really scared at Cornell in architecture and Sleeping Beauty Castle, Ruth about Disneyland. … So much landscape architecture. In 2005, suggested a flagpole instead. I don’t know and trying to Cornell presented two diplomas Disney started construction of design and not being sure I’m to Ruth. She wrote that those the bandstand anyway but soon on the right track.” Soon, Ruth diplomas—which she hung on realized that Ruth was right. was making regular trips to the wall of her studio—“were He ordered its demolition and Anaheim to supervise. The men the most dear to her heart.”

INITIATED 1940 When Helen Robson Walton, Oklahoma, and her hus- band, Sam, opened a Ben Franklin “five-and-dime” in the LOW PRICE LEADER cotton and railroad town of Newport, Arkansas, in 1945, they had to borrow $25,000 from Helen’s father. But Sam and Helen made the money back—taking profits from $72,000 to $250,000 in five years. The couple relocated to Bentonville, Arkansas, where they opened Walton’s 5 & 10 in 1950, eventually expanding to 15 locations. Ben Franklin’s executives scoffed at Sam’s idea for a discount store that sold more for less, so Sam and Helen opened Walmart Discount City in nearby Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. Today, Walmart is worth an estimated $386 billion with over 11,000 stores. Sam called Helen one of his keenest business advisers, crediting her with creating Walmart’s employee profit-sharing plan. “It gives everybody a sense that they are part of the company,” Helen said. In 1970, she instituted the Walmart Foundation Associate’s Scholarship Program to help associ- ates and their children to pursue higher education. In 2019 alone, the fund awarded scholarships worth over $4 million. Helen used the fortune she and Sam built to improve the lives of oth- ers—including their employees. A favorite saying was tacked up on her desk, continually reminding Helen of the value of philanthropy. It read: “It is not what you gather in life, it’s what you scatter in life that tells the kind of life you have lived.” Hers was a life well-scattered. —LAURA VINCI, Kansas cheong-ah hwang

1930 Total Membership: < 1930 Convention is held in Mackinac Island, 17,726. Number of Michigan. Delegates vote to reinstate the Chapters–68; Number of “Grand” prefix to the titles of Fraternity Alumnae Associations–83. officers and Council officers. Florence Meyers, Drake, is elected Grand President. Alice Barney, Minnesota, is appointed Grand President after Florence Meyers resigns.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 45 INITIATED 1970 INITIATED 1879 Grand Ideas At age 22, FROM FEAR TO FREEDOM Tade Hartsuff Kuhns transformed Rosemary Kappa Kappa Gamma Dunaway By Kristin Sangid, Trible Georgia Southern Texas

As a lifelong advocate n 1879, Tade Hartsuff for victims of sexual (Kuhns) transferred assault, Rosemary has from an all-girls college helped heal her own to Butler University wounds. She was working because it was co-educa- as a local talk show host Itional. Butler was only the third in Richmond, Virginia, American university that offered when she was raped at the same education to men and gunpoint in 1975. “It women, something Tade’s father changed my life forever,” felt was important. Rosemary says. When Tade arrived at Butler, In 2011, she founded the she had no familiarity with Fear2Freedom Foun- Greek-letter organizations. dation, which provides But that soon changed. “I was clothing and toiletry kits predisposed in favor of Kappa so victims have something Kappa Gamma largely because to wear when their clothes the opposition had tried to exact are entered into police evi- from me a promise not to join dence. More than 24,000 any other than their particular kits have been distributed sorority,” she wrote in 1881. across six states, 33 uni- It was fortuitous for Kappa versities, and 90 hospitals. that Tade joined the young Mu “I’ve always said that I Chapter. The Fraternity was wanted to be a voice for only 9 years old when Tade ini- the voiceless,” Rosemary tiated in fall 1879. Tade’s natural says. “If I can do that, leadership embodied a great I feel like that is the awakening, both for Tade and greatest service that I can for Kappa. Tade’s ideas would provide others.” change the trajectory of the —ANN SCHNAEDTER, organization forever. Missouri The following year, Mu Chapter sent a delegate to Kappa’s national Convention

1930 Four chapters are < 1932 The History of < 1932 Convention founded: Delta Alpha, Penn Kappa Kappa Gamma, is held in Swampscott, State; Delta Beta, Duke; Delta 1870–1930 is published, Massachusetts. Gamma, Michigan State; and the Fraternity’s first Alice Barney, Delta Delta, McGill. complete history. Minnesota, is elected Grand President.

46 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE in 1880 in Madison, Wisconsin. INITIATED 1886 Apparently the event had been INITIATED 1999 canceled without adquate notice to all chapters, so a handful of SWINGING FOR THE FENCES delegates showed up, but there was no Convention. Tade was Racquel Russell, Miami, was playing outside at already frustrated by a seeming a relative’s house in the Bronx, when an uncle lack of structure in the orga- called her in to watch C-SPAN. Carol Moseley nization. The failure of the Braun, the first female African American sen- 1880 Convention to materialize ator, was addressing the U.S. Senate, asking sparked in Tade a resolve to legislators to discontinue a 95-year-old fed- SPEAKING OUT implement change. eral patent on a United Daughters of the FOR SUFFRAGE At the time, the Grand Confederacy insignia featuring the Confederate Chapter system was in place, flag. The moment inspired Racquel to work Eliza whereby the president of the toward a political career. “Jean” Grand Chapter served as the “I just thought that was the coolest thing I have ever seen,” Fraternity President. For 11 she says. “Everyone’s perspective and experience matters, and Penfield years, this system rotated from without Carol Moseley Braun, they would just continue renew- DePauw Alpha Chapter, Monmouth, to ing the patent with unanimous consent. She gave voice to a Delta Chapter, Indiana, and group of people who have been voiceless.” Jean won the 1892 then to Epsilon Chapter, Illinois Racquel has served as an adviser to Sens. Bob Graham Interstate Oratorical Wesleyan. It is a testament to and Tom Carper before working as deputy assistant to Contest in Minneapolis these early leaders that the President Barack Obama. “You can’t map out that you want against 30,000 students organization survived at all. to work for the president of the United States in the White representing 63 colleges The Grand Chapter oversaw House,” she says. “But that occurred—and it was pretty in 10 states. Her oratory expansion and general business. amazing at the time.” gifts helped lead Kappa But it wasn’t just Tade who As the vice president of government relations and public into the new century as recognized this system was not affairs at Zillow Group, Racquel says her day-to-day in the pri- the Fraternity’s Grand sustainable for a growing orga- vate sector is similar to politics, even if the topics and issues President (1900–02), and nization. At the 1881 Convention at hand are different. One of the changes she has embraced: its Panhellenic Delegate in Bloomington, Indiana, Tade Realizing it was acceptable, or even encouraged, to fail. “Taking (1904). Jean co-founded proposed the Council form big swings and failing is OK,” she says. “If you’re not failing, the Woman’s Suffrage of government. The plan was you’re not trying hard enough.” —NINA BAHADUR, Princeton Party of Greater New adapted from Phi Delta Theta York. In 1912, the Sac- Fraternity, which had imple- ramento Bee called her mented it the previous year. advocacy “tireless,” add- Not only was Tade’s proposal ing, “Every year she goes approved, she was elected before the New York Leg- Kappa’s first Grand President. islature and argues on Beginning her senior year in behalf of equal suffrage. college, she served as Grand Every year she suffers President until 1884, during repulse, only to return to which time eight new chapters her work with redoubled were established and Kappa energy.” Alongside Pi published the first women’s Beta Phi’s Carrie Chap- fraternity magazine. man Catt, Jean helped Tade believed in the “grand establish the League of possibilities of our Fraternity as Women Voters in 1920. a whole,” and led Kappa Kappa —KYLIE SMITH, Simpson Gamma to implement a struc-

archives and special collections university depauw journal; archives; puget sound business trible; kappa rosemary courtesy ture that enabled it to thrive.

1932 Delta Epsilon Chapter is < 1933 Eleanor 1933 Delta Theta Chapter is founded at Rollins College. Delta Bennet, UC Berkeley, founded at Goucher College. Zeta Chapter is founded at Colorado is appointed Grand College. Delta Eta Chapter is President after the founded at the University of Utah. sudden death of Alice Barney.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 47 INITIATED 1958

EXHIBITING HERSTORY

Edith “Edie” Petersilia Mayo, George Washington, curator emerita of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, is changing how we think about women’s history. As a leading historian of the women’s suffrage movement, she’s transforming the way women are portrayed in history, ensuring their sto- ries are accessible and included as a part of America’s narrative. Beyond her groundbreaking Smithsonian exhibits, Edie led the development of “Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business” for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. The exhibit was the first (and maybe still the only) comprehensive history of women in business. In August 2020, Edie’s latest project was unveiled in Occoquan, Virginia. The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial was dedicated on the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment. The monument’s location is the former site of the Occoquan Workhouse, where suffragists were imprisoned for demonstrat- ing in Washington, D.C., in support of women’s right to vote. Her tip: “Show up. Be recognized. Speak up for yourself … and watch out for your sisters.” —MELISSA PRICE, Florida State INITIATED 2002 Down for the Struggle For Rosita Najmi, the fight against global poverty is personal

By Laura Vinci, Kansas

hwang;cheong-ah courtesy rosita najmi ike many of us, the U.S. from Iran in 1984 with earliest memories three suitcases and $3,000. “At of Rosita Najmi, a tender age, I began to under- Wake Forest, are of stand what it means to struggle,” her family. But for Rosita wrote in an essay for LRosita, those memories reflect a Harvard Business School, where refugee experience. As religious she earned an MBA in 2009. refugees persecuted for their Stateside, Rosita learned Baha’i faith, Rosita, her mother English, started public school

and her siblings came to the and began to navigate her place

< 1934 Alpha Chapter < 1934 Convention is is re-established at held in Yellowstone Monmouth College. National Park, Wyoming.

48 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE in her new country. She recalls to financial services for the portfolio, Rosita makes grants “There’s a certain her family’s daily financial diffi- world’s poorest populations. and partnerships on behalf of culties with painful clarity. It’s a job that has its chal- BMGF to create sustainable justice issue about “I have a personal relation- lenges and its rewards. “These programs that help poor peo- how long the poor ship with poverty,” Rosita says. are people without IDs, people ple enroll in formal financial It’s a relationship that has led to that don’t yet exist to their services—collaborating with have to wait to be a commitment to social equity, governments,” Rosita explains. governments, nongovernmental economic development, and jus- “They are contributing to their organizations, private sector able to graduate tice for the poor and vulnerable. households, their communi- companies, and multilateral out of poverty. I’ve As a senior program officer ties, and their economies, but groups like the G7 and G20. for the Bill and Melinda Gates because they’re in the informal Rosita says it’s not about felt that myself.” Foundation (BMGF)—the system, they don’t count.” She the titles or the high-powered world’s largest private founda- says that helping poor people contacts. It’s about a refugee girl tion with a trust endowment of join the formal system brings and her family starting over— $46.8 billion—Rosita works to with it a host of empowerment. and those who are in the same bring her commitment to fru- “Once a person gets an ID, they shoes she once wore. “There’s a ition. With a focus on extreme exist. They count,” she says. certain justice issue about how poverty, Rosita serves over 700 “That ID becomes a passport long the poor have to wait to be million people worldwide living not only to the financial system able to graduate out of poverty. on less than $2 per day, creating but also the ability to partici- I’ve felt that myself,” she says. influence and providing finan- pate in society.” Behind every project is a human cial assistance to increase access Leading a $10 million heart. That’s my bottom line.”

INITIATED 1870 Founder Minnie Stewart’s family moved to Monmouth in 1861 when she was 9 years old. In 1865, they built a PREEMINENT home across from Monmouth College, where Minnie PRESIDENT entered as a sub-freshman. She joined A.B.L. in 1868. Suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton gave a speech called “Our Young Girls” at Monmouth’s Union Hall in December 1869. It is said that Minnie attended the event, where Stanton urged the development of women’s abilities. Perhaps moved by Stanton, Minnie met with fellow A.B.L. mem- bers Lou Bennett and Jennie Boyd to discuss founding what Lou called “something new”—an organization they considered to be the first fraternity for women. Minnie served as Kappa Kappa Gamma’s first President, presiding over the first Initiation held April 1, 1870. She is listed on Kappa’s per- manent membership roll as Alpha 3 and is credited with selecting the iris as the Fraternity’s flower. After graduating from Monmouth College in 1872 with a Bachelor of Science, Minnie taught at Monmouth public schools and later became a high school principal in Florida—earning a salary higher than most of her male contemporaries. The home her parents built in Monmouth is now The Stewart House Museum, owned and operated by the Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. — KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Simpson archives kappa

< 1935 Passing of the < 1935 Helen Andres, 1935 Delta Iota Light ceremony is Washington, is appointed Chapter is founded initiated by Charlotte Grand President upon at Louisiana Barrell Ware, Boston. the resignation of State University. Eleanor Bennet.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 49 INITIATED 1877 Editor Extraordinaire Minnetta Taylor established the first college women’s fraternal magazine

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana

s delegates Key,” she wrote. “Death itself Neff, Butler, had told Minnetta to Kappa’s 1881 could not; for love is stronger that The Key should strive Convention, than death.” to resemble The Crescent, Minnetta Taylor, Minnetta hadn’t seen any Minnetta disagreed. “I shocked DePauw, and Tade other fraternity magazines until her by saying I had never heard HAartsuff Kuhns, Butler, had an 1881 trip to an Indianapolis of, much less seen, a magazine an idea. Several of the men’s printer, where she spied The that I wished to make one like,” fraternities were publishing Crescent of Delta Tau Delta atop she later wrote. magazines. If Kappa was to be a table of samples. The inaugural issue of The the equal of those organizations, Although magazine commit- Key—the first women’s col- why not start a magazine? tee member Louise Landers lege fraternity magazine ever “We both believed with all our hearts and minds and souls in the new woman and her “Next to having future. Could the Fraternity be for that? Could The Key help no Convention that?” Minnetta wrote in 1898. or a poor one, the The pair agreed it could, ral- lying their fellow delegates to greatest fraternity appoint a magazine committee. calamity is to have Minnetta was chosen as the editor. no publication or “That was really the forge of a poor one.” where The Key was hammered out of shapeless metal. After that, everything was a matter of detail,” Minnetta wrote. But the details were tricky: To pay for the publication, delegates voted to assess

each chapter $5. With only kappa archives; cory klein photography 16 chapters (three of which were in “perilous” financial circumstances), that amounted to $65 to finance a quarterly 60-page magazine. But the budget wasn’t going to stand in Minnetta’s way. “There was no force on Earth except death that could have stopped The

< 1936 Convention is held in 1936 Undergraduate Montebello, Quebec. Rheva scholarships are established. Shryock, Pennsylvania, is elected Grand President.

50 | CONNECTION | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE published—appeared in May of INITIATED 1990 1882. Minnetta was the singular force that made the magazine happen. When an issue was two weeks late because the printer claimed his staff was sick, Minnetta was unmoved. “I wrote him that if I did not receive the books the next day, I would take my medicines with me and be their physician,” she MARKETING MAVEN later recounted. The magazines came on the early train the Carolyn following day. Everson After producing 12 issues, Villanova Minnetta asked to resign as editor at the 1884 Convention. As vice president After no one agreed to take over of global marketing solu- for her, she continued in her tions at Facebook, Car- role until Phi Chapter, Boston, olyn coordinates seven accepted editorship in 1886. But million advertising part- it was Minnetta’s enduring vision ners. Named “40 Under about the purpose and value of 40” twice and listed The Key that set the standard INITIATED 1934 annually on “AdWeek for what is today the longest 50” since 2013, it wasn’t continuously published women’s POETIC LICENSE always easy. While an college fraternity magazine. MBA student at Harvard, “One who takes much interest Encouraged that she might be able to make it Carolyn co-founded in Fraternity affairs soon dis- as a writer after she sold a few poems, Phyllis pets.com which she covers that the magazine is one McGinley, Utah, moved to New York City. She says “defined the inter- of the most important factors in published poems in The Atlantic and The New net boom and bust.” fraternity growth and consoli- Yorker. In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for When revenues crashed, dation,” Minetta wrote in 1886. poetry for her book Times Three: Selected Verse Carolyn was fired. “It’s “It brings in the leading ideas from Three Decades. It was the first time that the become a badge of of the best fraternities, it unites prize had been given for “light verse.” honor in Silicon Valley to and disciplines the chapters, it Phyllis championed being a housewife and mother. Her have gotten fired from expresses the fraternity policy, 1964 essay collection, Sixpence in Her Shoe, was viewed my own tech startup,” it determines the fraternity’s as a response to the second-wave feminism embodied by she told Business Insider general rank. Next to having Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique (1963). Her writing and in 2019. “Careers aren’t no Convention or a poor one, opinions sparked debate, landing her on the cover of Time always up and to the the greatest fraternity calamity in 1965. Phyllis was a progressive social democrat, but she right. When you have is to have no publication or a believed you could be a feminist and a mother or housewife. major failures, they teach poor one. There is scarcely any Phyllis’s goal was not the destruction of the working you a lot about resil- fraternity of any importance at woman, but the elevation of the homemaker and mother. She iency.” In 2011, she joined

all that does not now have its advocated for respecting mothers as people with legitimate Facebook, which makes publication, and the better the life goals: “Love with a casual touch never says, ‘My children nearly 99% of its revenue publication, the better the fra- are my life,’” she wrote. “That mother makes a life of her own from the marketing and ternity as a rule. The care of its which is full enough and rewarding enough to sustain her.” advertising that magazine is something Kappa —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake Carolyn oversees. Kappa Gamma cannot afford —LAURA VINCI, Kansas

holland archives; trey kappa to neglect.”

< 1938 An alumna < 1938 Convention 1938 Delta Kappa clubhouse called Boyd is held in Hot Chapter is founded Hearthstone opens in Springs, Virginia. at the University Winter Park, Florida. of Miami.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 51 Optimism

Illustration by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 1995 THE FUTURE IS ACCESSIBLE

For architect Georgia LaNasa, LSU, accessible design is a blueprint for the future, especially for the one in four people who have a disability. Georgia was paralyzed by a spinal stroke in high school. When she went to LSU in 1994, the campus renovated the sidewalks for wheel- chair access. But she wasn’t able to live in the two-story Kappa house. Now, Georgia ensures that her designs and spaces are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) In the 30 years since the ADA was enacted, Georgia has seen prog- ress. But she finds shortcomings: a restaurant without an accessible bathroom or a sidewalk without curb cutouts. “It can be frustrating,” she says. While it’s something that able-bodied people don’t necessar- ily have to think of, she told the Baton Rouge inRegister, Georgia makes sure accessibility isn’t an afterthought. When asked what accessible building she’s most excited about, it’s the new LSU Kappa house. Her favorite feature? The elevator. —KRISTIN SANGID, Georgia Southern

52 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 53 INITIATED 1937 INITIATED 1901 Engineered Justice After nearly a century, all-around barrier breaker Nora Stanton Blatch Barney gets her due

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana DETERMINED DOCTOR

Marguerite he was the first as any of the men in her class. … chalked up to boyish taunts. But “Peggy”Hill American woman to She is the equal, at least, of any when Cornell’s president hon- earn a degree in civil of her engineer classmates.” ored Nora by bowing to her as Toronto engineering and the On her graduation day in she crossed the stage to collect first female member 1905, Nora made her way her groundbreaking diploma As a young doctor, Sof the American Society of Civil toward the stage to the sound of (cum laude, no less), the crowd Peggy was told by a Engineers (ASCE). But in 1916, her all-male classmates stomp- went silent. “I started back to supervisor: “I don’t like Nora Stanton Blatch Barney, ing their feet—a ruckus Nora my seat fully expecting another working with women. Cornell, was stripped of her They cry.” “He learned membership because of her gen- that I didn’t cry,” she der—a wrong that took 99 years wrote in her biography, A to make right. Life of Teaching and Heal- As the granddaughter of ing. During WWI, Peggy suffragist Elizabeth Cady served as a psychologist Stanton, Nora was raised with in the Canadian Wom- high expectations for abolishing en’s Army Corps. Later, gender barriers. In her memoirs, she attended medical Nora recounts how, in 1902, she school at the University sat at her ailing grandmother’s of Toronto.Graduating at bedside, promising to carry on the top of her class, Peggy the fight for women’s equality. the miss margaret robins archives of women’s college hospital; kappa archives became the first female Nora was just 19 then, a chief medical resident at math whiz planning to study Toronto General Hospi- civil engineering at Cornell tal and the second-ever University. She sought to female physician-in-chief immerse herself in a course of medicine at Women’s of study that no other women College Hospital. Her dared to pursue—and civil pioneering work spear- engineering “was the most headed the establish- male-dominated field” Nora ment of a rape and sex- could find. Upon reviewing ual assault center and the her application, the dean of first birth control center Cornell’s engineering depart- in Toronto. In 1994, she ment ordered professors to was named to the make Nora’s entrance exams Order of Canada. harder than usual. “The plan —EMILY BENCH failed utterly,” the Pittsburgh Press reported. “Miss Blatch entered with as good a record OUR HISTORY

1940 Total < 1940 Convention is held in 1940 Delta Membership: Sun Valley, Idaho. Delegates Lambda Chapter is 29,689. Number vote to drop “Grand” as a founded at Miami of Chapters–74; prefix to Fraternity Council University (Ohio). Number of Alumnae officers’ titles. Elizabeth Associations–124. Schofield, Butler, is elected President.

54 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE demonstration of tramp, tramp,” Company, designing high-rise Nora wrote later, “but complete buildings, factories, and schools silence reigned.” in New York City. Her devo- After graduation, ASCE tion to civil engineering was inducted Nora as a junior matched only by her passion for member—its first female mem- the women’s suffrage move- ber. She took a job designing ment. She campaigned tirelessly steel bridges in New York and for the cause, succeeding her New Jersey for the American mother, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Bridge Company and later in 1915 as president of the worked on subway tunnels and Women’s Political Union. key upgrades to the Catskill Although the suffrage move- Aqueduct for the New York City ment was making strides for Board of Water Supply. women’s equality, there was Nora was 23 years old and backlash, too. The ASCE began living in a New York City apart- to strictly limit its membership ment when she met inventor to men only. Once Nora turned Lee de Forest—the self-styled 32 years old—the ASCE’s upper “father of radio” who lived in age limit for junior mem- the same building. Restless in bers—her membership was her job, Nora was determined to terminated. Nora petitioned become proficient in de Forest’s the ASCE to reconsider, but field of electrical engineering. her request was denied. When INITIATED 1972 She enrolled in graduate-level she challenged her dismissal in electrical engineering courses court, the ASCE prevailed and REACHING ACROSS THE AISLE at Columbia University and the decision was upheld on sub- worked in de Forest’s laboratory. sequent appeal to the New York U.S. senator for West Virginia, Shelley Moore In 1908, Nora and de Forest Supreme Court. Capito, Duke, majored in zoology before switch- married. But soon after their It took almost a century, ing career tracks. “My joke is, it prepared me to wedding, Nora’s desire to but in October 2015, the ASCE work in the biggest zoo in America,” she says. supervise operations on de executive committee real- A Republican, Shelley was elected to the Senate in 2014. Forest’s factory floor became ized the error of its past ways She was the first woman in her state elected to the post. but the source of arguments that when it voted to posthumously she didn’t come to the job without experience, having served found no resolution. Although advance Nora to the rank of in the West Virginia House of Delegates and the U.S. House she was pregnant at the time, ASCE Fellow—a prestigious of Representatives. Shelley serves on U.S. Senate Committees Nora moved out of their marital honor held by fewer than 3% of on Environment and Public Works; Commerce, Science, & home in 1909. When Nora sued the society’s members, reserved Transportation; Appropriations; and Rules and Administration. de Forest for divorce in 1910, for those who have “developed “A lot of what I work on on the legislative side is economic he told the New York Times creative solutions that change divides and inequities of urban versus rural America,” she says. that their marriage had failed lives around the world.” “Broadband deployment, economic development, 5G deploy- because Nora was “all mental- Today, the freshmen class of ment—all of these things will be deployed in the urban areas ity and calculating ambition,” Cornell’s School of Civil and before they come to rural America. Health access is another and that she tried to “fill man’s Environmental Engineering is great example of where rural America struggles.” place, to surpass him in his own 48% female. Women represent Working across the aisle is crucial, she says. “Democrat sphere.” The story’s headline 17% of all U.S. civil engineers, and Republican women work pretty well together.” We read: “Warns Wives of Careers.” and the ASCE boasts more than don’t always agree, but we have developed these personal Their divorce was final in 1912. 20,000 female members. And relationships that go to our benefit when we want to spon- Newly single (and a single Nora—who more than fulfilled sor each other’s bills or help someone get something across mother), Nora worked as an the promise she made as a teen- the finish line.” —NINA BAHADUR, Princeton engineer and drafter for the ager to her grandmother—was

cheong-ah hwang Radley Steel Construction the first of them all.

< 1942 Convention is 1942 Delta Mu Chapter < 1944 Convention is held in Montebello, is founded at the canceled due to World Quebec. University of Connecticut. War II. An Officers’ Delta Nu Chapter is Conference is held instead. founded at the Univer- Ruth Seacrest, Nebraska, sity of Massachusetts. is appointed President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 55 INITIATED 1870

BADGE BEARER Anna Willits Monmouth

Born May 22, 1853, in Monmouth, Illinois, Anna Elizabeth Willits entered Monmouth College in 1869. She was a sub-freshman when she helped found Kappa. Many early Fraternity meetings were held in Anna’s home, where the design of the badge was determined. According to legend, it was Anna’s mother who suggested a INITIATED 1951 key because it “usually stands for something secret.” Anna later confirmed her mother Writing Against suggested it but that the Founders designed it, including the placement the Rules of the two sets of Greek letters. After Alpha Chap- Writer Ann Thayer Weldy told stories that society had kept in the closet ter closed, Anna served as an adviser to the local By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana sorority Kappa Alpha Sigma, which formed at Monmouth. Her grand- or an entire women loving women. discussed in those days,” daughter, Frances Pattee, generation, the Although Ann says she real- Ann says. “But through pulp Monmouth, was initiated series of books ized she was a lesbian in college, paperbacks, all kinds of voices with Anna’s badge when known as The Beebo she married a man when she were being heard. And one the chapter was re- Brinker Chronicles, was 22. It was the 1950s, a time of them was the voice of the established in 1934. Fpenned by Ann Thayer Weldy, of repression for people who LGBTQ community.” kappa archives — KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Illinois—also known as Ann did not identify as heterosexual. As a way to explore her own Simpson Bannon—gave American readers “There were so many aspects of sexuality, Ann wrote her first their first titles that featured life that were just not able to be novel, Odd Girl Out. It became

1944 Delta Xi Chapter < 1946 Convention is held in < 1946 Alumnae is founded at Carnegie Mackinac Island, Michigan. Achievement Mellon University. Awards are presented for the first time.

56 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE the second best-selling original INITIATED 1973 paperback of 1957. Four more books followed, printed cheaply and sold for 25 cents from kiosks in train stations, news- stands and pharmacies. Ann’s characters had a sense of belonging—something she wanted too. “There was no one to talk to about those kinds of feelings. These were the days TRIPLE THREAT when to be LGBT was to be someone with an illness,” she Hollis Stacy says. “I was really kind of des- Rollins perate to get some of the things that had been consuming me for Tiger Woods may a long time down on paper.” have been the first golfer By her fifth book in 1962, to win three consecutive Ann felt the series had run its INITIATED 1920 U.S. Junior Amateur course. She earned a doctorate titles (1991–93), but in linguistics from Stanford FOUNDATION INSPIRATION Hollis accomplished University and worked as a the same feat in the professor and ultimately as asso- Rose McGill joined Beta Psi Chapter, Toronto, in U.S. Girls’ Juniors more ciate dean at California State 1920, but financial difficulties forced her to with- than two decades earlier University, Sacramento. draw. But Rose’s ties to her Kappa sisters remained (1969–71)—and at age Ann tried to make her strong. They were devastated when she developed 15. The middle child of marriage work for 27 years but tuberculosis and was confined to a hospital bed at 10 children—several it ended in the 1980s, about Muskoka Sanitorium in Gravenhurst, Ontario, for of whom were highly the same time her books were nearly five years. ranked golfers them- republished. Perhaps because An orphan, Rose had no way to pay her medical bills. selves—Hollis says her she had used a pen name, Ann Chapter members stepped in to help, but Rose’s expenses drive to “never want to was mostly unaware of the piled up. In 1922, Beta Psi Chapter urged Fraternity-wide lose” was a natural out- impact of her books. Today, they support. They voted to establish the Rose McGill fund— growth of sibling rivalry. are standards in women’s and with an initial balance of $600. Soon, Kappas across North After turning pro at age LGBTQ studies courses. America were donating money for Rose’s care. 20, Hollis won the U.S. Ann was named an LGBTQ “Rose would have been a public charity case had not the Women’s Open three Icon by the Equality Forum in spirit of true sisterhood shown itself in concrete form,” times (1977, 1978 and 2012 and has been recognized by Marion Ackley, Michigan, Rose McGill Chairman (1924– 1984). After recovering the Lambda Literary Foundation 38), wrote. “It was only her appreciation for Kappa’s love from a back injury she for pioneering LGBTQ litera- and her strong will to regain her health that carried her sustained during a car ture. The enduring popularity on for several years when doctors said she could not live accident in 1988, Hollis of her books—and their lasting another month.” With the support of her sisters, Rose was returned to the LPGA in impact on lesbian identity—has kept in comfort until her death in August 1927. 1989 with four top-five earned Ann the title “Queen of Now 93 years later, Rose McGill Grants sustain Rose’s finishes. She retired in Lesbian Pulp Fiction.” legacy by providing financial assistance in times of need. In 2000 and was inducted Her work helped to end the 2019, the Foundation awarded over $330,000 to 44 colle- into the World Golf Hall isolation and ignorance that had gians and 64 alumnae. It stands as a testament to the power of Fame in 2012. kept generations of gay women of sisters helping sisters. —ANN SCHNAEDTER, in emotional prisons, paving the —MAGGIE SIMS COONS, Hillsdale Missouri way for the next wave of lesbian

archives kappa readers and writers.

1946 Delta Omicron 1947 Three chapters < 1948 Convention Chapter is founded at are founded: Delta Rho, is held in Sun Valley, Iowa State University. Mississippi; Delta Sigma, Idaho. Helena Ege, Delta Pi Chapter Oklahoma State; and Pittsburgh, is is founded at the Delta Tau, USC (Calif.). elected President. University of Tulsa.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 57 INITIATED 1882 A Real Lifesaver Armed only with a lantern and determination, Kate Shelley saved 200 people aboard a train bound for disaster

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana INITIATED 1957

FUNNY BUSINESS ate Shelley, eastbound passenger train was Simpson, and her on its way to cross the now- Few comedy writers can go from behind the page family lived in downed bridge. Determined to to acting on stage, but Ann Elder, DePauw, did poverty. From do something to save the people just that in the 1960s and 1970s. their house in on board, Kate grabbed a lan- As a copy writer for an ad agency, Ann’s funny commer- BooneK County, Iowa, they could tern and made her way into the cials set her apart in the corporate writer’s room. After work, see the railroad bridge spanning rainy night. this page: hwang; cheong-ah kappa archives facing page: margo moritz; courtesy ibm she honed her comedy skills as a member of Chicago’s storied nearby Honey Creek—a tribu- When she reached the site Second City improvisation group. Ann eventually moved to tary of the Des Moines River. of the bridge, what she saw Hollywood, where she wrote for comedians and commercials. The noise of trains crossing back startled her: a gaping hole in the Her experience at The Second City opened doors that led to and forth marked the days and middle of the bridge. A pusher small parts on TV—an early stint included playing a person nights of Kate’s childhood. locomotive that had been sent with a terminal disease on “Ben Casey.” More upbeat roles fol- Heavy rains during the from the nearby Moingona lowed in shows like “Wild Wild West” and “McHale’s Navy.” summer of 1881 swelled the Des Depot to test track conditions A big break came when Dan Rowan and Dick Martin Moines River until it was ready lay 25 feet below in the churn- hired Ann to write for “Laugh In.” When Goldie Hawn left to burst. On July 6, 15-year-old ing water. Spotting two crew the show, they hired Ann to replace her for three seasons. Kate watched as a thunderstorm members clutching trees on the Ann returned to writing when actress Mitzi Gaynor asked pushed Honey Creek over its bank, Kate shouted to them that her to write her NBC specials in the 1960s. She wrote for banks, the water level rising at she would get help. But first, variety shows and sitcoms, including “Mama’s Family,” “Get 6 inches per hour. When Kate she’d have to cross the nearby Smart,” and “The Smothers Brothers Show.” In the 1970s came heard a shriek of metal and a Des Moines River trestle—a the Lily Tomlin specials that earned Ann two Emmys. hiss of steam in the distance 500-foot-long bridge so high Today, Ann co-hosts a radio show about movies and hosts around 11 p.m., she realized the and dangerous that to discour- benefit shows for organizations close to her heart. railroad bridge had given out age people from walking across —ANN GRAHAM SCHNAEDTER, Missouri with a train on the tracks. it, the railroad company had Kate knew the train sched- removed much of the planking. ule by heart, and she knew an Kate’s writings recount that she

1948 Delta Upsilon < 1949 The 50-year 1949 Delta Chi 1950 Total Membership: Chapter is founded at the pins are first awarded Chapter is founded 44.664. Number of Chapters– University of Georgia. Delta to alumnae. at San Jose 82; Number of Alumnae Phi Chapter is founded at State University. Associations–212. Bucknell University.

58 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE crawled the span of the bridge was halted in its tracks with 200 after a woman. In 2009, the INITIATED 1934 on her hands and knees, nails people aboard. Kate led a team of Union Pacific Railroad built a and rusty spikes digging into her men back to the crash site, where second viaduct alongside the old flesh as the storm raged around two of the four crew members one and officially named it the her. When rain doused the fire were rescued. Kate Shelley Bridge. in her lantern, she pushed for- News of Kate’s bravery spread After completing college ward with only lightning to light nationwide. Poems and songs (partly made possible by the her way. were composed in her honor. To donations she received), Kate Back on land, Kate ran to the show their thanks, passengers worked for the Chicago and Moingona Depot, sobbing out took up a collection of several North Western Railway as the the news of the downed bridge hundred dollars for her. When station agent for the Moingona BLUE CHIP and train to the station crew. the Chicago and North Western Depot. In 1956—42 years after BREAKTHROUGH Kate’s memoirs say that she heard Railway built a new steel bridge her death—the railway indus- someone snort, “The girl is crazy.” in 1901, they named it the Boone try placed a bronze plaque at Ruth Leach But the station agent recognized Viaduct, but people quickly Kate’s grave. It reads: “Hers is a Amonette Kate and heeded her warning. A nicknamed it the Kate Shelley deed bound for legend—a story whistle was sounded to alert the Bridge—at that time, the first to be told until the last order UC Berkeley town, and the passenger train bridge in the U.S. to be named fades and the last rail rusts.” Fresh out of college in 1939, Ruth took a temporary job with IBM. But after four years of INITIATED 1986 working her way up, Ruth was elected vice THIRST QUENCHER president of IBM in 1943—the first female “What does it really take to be unstoppable?” executive in the compa- That’s the question Hint Inc. founder and CEO ny’s history. She was only Kara Goldin, Arizona State, poses at the begin- 27 years old. IBM chair- ning of each episode of her podcast, “Unstoppable man Thomas Watson with Kara Goldin.” said Ruth’s promotion The early 2000s were a time of change for Kara. She recognized the “import- had just left a stressful position as an executive at AOL, ant part which women and her expectations to deliver at work came at the cost of are playing in IBM’s her health. So Kara began exercising and watching what operations.” His support she ate. To curb cravings of sweets, she downed diet soda didn’t shield Ruth from after diet soda. While the calories on the cans read “zero,” the resentment of those Kara wondered whether the chemicals and artificial sweet- who felt that women eners could be wreaking havoc on her body. But when she were landing high-level switched to water, she found its lack of flavor boring. jobs because so many That’s when Kara began to add fresh fruit like straw- men were drafted during berries and pineapple to her water pitchers. Eventually, WWII. To combat those her creations evolved into Hint Inc., a retail leader in the sentiments, Ruth com- flavored water market since 2005. The company has since mitted to the selection expanded into sunscreen, too, featuring the same essences and training of hundreds from its flagship water products. With Kara’s insightful lead- of female employees ership and an estimated $100 million in sales last year, Hint during her tenure at IBM. Inc. proves to be a brand that truly embodies Kara’s favorite —JUDY DUCATE, adjective: unstoppable. —STACY FLANNERY, Drake Texas Tech

< 1950 Convention < 1951 530 East Town Street in is held in Murray Columbus, Ohio, is purchased as Bay, Quebec. the site of Fraternity Headquarters, making Kappa the first women’s fraternity to establish a permanent Headquarters building.

| 59 INITIATED 1882

MILKING IT Charlotte Barrell Ware Boston

Charlotte served as Kappa’s second Grand President (1884–88). She was also a pioneering dairywoman who worked to ensure the safety of commercial milk. When Charlotte received a Jersey calf as a wedding present in 1905, she and her husband, Robert, opened Warelands Dairy INITIATED 1927 Farm in Norfolk, Massa- chusetts. The dairy pro- duced the first certified milk in New England and Surviving Hollywood their innovative dairy A USO tour during WWII nearly cost Jane Froman her life school taught farmers and health practitioners By Ann Graham Schnaedter, Missouri how to safely produce

and bottle certified milk. kappa archives; state historical society of missouri Previously, hundreds lthough Jane always present except for persistent stutter, her acting of thousands of people Froman, Missouri, when she sang, so her mother career was short-lived. Still, she died annually of tuber- worked for more enrolled the 6-year-old in sing- was in high demand as a singer cular milk disease, so the than 30 years ing lessons. After years of study, on the radio, on Broadway, and impact was immeasur- as a singer and Jane’s vocal talents landed her as a recording artist. able. Charlotte revolu- actress—earningA three stars on several radio gigs. She worked As the U.S. entered WWII, tionized dairy practices, the Hollywood Walk of Fame— as a singer in New York City Jane was one of the first per- including the safe inter- it was a tragic airplane crash before moving to Hollywood in formers to entertain troops state transport of milk. that cemented her legacy in the early 1930s, where movie through the USO. On a USO —MADISON SYKES, Loyola show business. bosses noticed her exceptional trip to Europe in 1943, Jane’s During childhood, Jane voice. Jane began to land plane crashed into a river near developed a stutter. It was roles in films, but due to her Lisbon, Portugal, killing 24 of

< 1952 Convention is 1953 Delta Psi Chapter < 1954 Convention held in Hot Springs, is founded at Texas is held in Jasper Virginia. Edith Tech University. Park, Alberta. Crabtree, Wooster, is elected President.

60 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE the 38 passengers aboard. Both INITIATED 1990 of her legs were broken and badly cut, several of her ribs were dislocated, her right arm was fractured, and she was thrown from the aircraft into the river. “When I came to the surface,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1943, “I tried to swim and then I saw the head of some- PROMISE KEEPER body, to whom I called, ‘Who’s there?’” Co-pilot John C. Burn Nicole called back to Jane. Although Moretti he’d broken his back in two places, Burn helped Jane stay Hockley afloat on a piece of debris. They Trinity hung on until a Portuguese ship plucked them from the water. On Dec. 14, 2012, Doctors told Jane she’d need Nicole sent her two sons, to have her right leg amputated. 6 and 4, to Sandy Hook She refused, and less than a year Elementary School in after the accident, she made her INITIATED 1924 Newtown, Connecticut. Broadway comeback in a wheel- But only one son came chair. In 1945, she returned HOLDING COURT home. Dylan was killed to USO duty, entertaining in his classroom during 300,000 troops while wearing The greatest female tennis player of the 20 cen- a school shooting that a 35-pound cast and relying on tury, Helen Wills Moody-Roarke, UC Berkeley, left 20 children and six crutches to perform 95 shows was given a racket by her father when she turned employees dead. over three straight months. 8. She channeled champion William “Little Bill” Since then, Nicole Once she returned state- Johnston. As she swung into the ball, she would co-founded Sandy Hook side, Jane and Burn reunited chant, “Now I’m Johnston, now I’m Johnston.” Promise in 2013 to and married in 1948. The love It was unconventional, but it worked. In 1921, Helen won prevent gun violence. story spawned by a plane crash the U.S. girls’ singles championship and repeated the feat “This is my mission,” she inspired the 1952 movie “With the following year. She practiced against men to hone her says. “This is the only a Song in My Heart.” Although craft. For eight years (1926–34), she was unstoppable, win- way that I know how to the Oscar-nominated film ning every set in 158 consecutive matches of singles play. honor my son and pre- starred Susan Hayward, Jane’s Awards filled her trophy cases. From 1923–39, Helen vent these things from vocal recordings made up the captured four French Championship singles titles, becom- happening.” Sandy Hook film’s soundtrack and became a ing the first American woman to win the French Open. She Promise’s “Know the bestselling album. won the U.S. Open seven times and Wimbledon eight times. Signs” programs have Despite 39 operations and Her Wimbledon record held for 52 years until Martina served 15,000 schools bone grafts for her injuries, Jane Navratilova surpassed it with a ninth Wimbledon win in 1990. and trained 7.5 million struggled with chronic pain In doubles, Helen won 10 major championships: four at people on how to iden- and relied on a leg brace for the the U.S. Open, three at Wimbledon, and two at the French tify, intervene and help rest of her life. She retired from Championship. She won two gold medals (singles and dou- at-risk individuals. show business in 1962 as one bles) at the 1924 Olympics. In 1928, she became the first —DANIEL MORRELL of America’s best-loved per- woman to win three majors in a year. formers—not only for her vocal —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake talents but for her grit in over-

live news wire/alamy register/zuma valley napa cheong-ah hwang; coming devastating obstacles.

1954 Delta Omega 1955: Epsilon < 1956 Convention is held in 1956 Epsilon Beta Chapter is founded Alpha Chapter is Swampscott, Massachusetts. Chapter is founded at California State founded at Texas Eleanore Campbell, Colorado, at Colorado State University, Fresno. Christian University. is elected President. University.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 61 INITIATED 1998

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE Lilliana Vazquez George Washington INITIATED 1889

Emmy-winner Lilliana Vazquez is at the pinnacle of pop Dinosaur Hunter culture reporting, from Mignon Talbot followed a hunch and found a new dinosaur species the runway to the red carpet. Lilliana launched her media career with By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana her bargain-hunting blog Cheap-Chicas.com. The success of her savvy odokesaurus State, earned a Ph.D. from Mignon wrote. At the base of advice paved the way Holyokensis Yale in 1904 and became the a nearby gravel pit, a streak of for her first book, The (“swift-footed first female member of the white caught her eye. “I was Cheap Chica’s Guide to lizard from pretty sure it was only a pick Style: Secrets to Shop- Holyoke”) mark, but I went down to see.” It ping Cheap and Looking Proamed the Connecticut Valley turned out to be a bone, includ- Chic. Books, blogs, and in the early Jurassic Period 190 ing vertebrae and ribs. Lilliana’s bubbly persona to 174 million years ago, leaving Mignon returned with a crew led her to grander gigs, footprints in the soft, reddish of workmen. “Another piece of kappa archives; american journal of science, volum 31, june, 1941 (2) including a co-anchor mud that hardened to sandstone. sandstone was lying near the of E! networks’ morning In the mid-1800s, pale- one where the fossil was,” she show, a lifestyle contrib- ontologists began to study recounted. “I asked the men to utor for NBC’s “TODAY,” mysterious foot-long, three-toed turn it over, and there was the a style curator for retail tracks preserved in area rocks. rest of the fossil, almost com- giant Kohl’s, and a cor- Expeditions had turned up slabs plete excepting its head.” respondent for “Access of sandstone embedded with Further inspection revealed a Daily” and “Access prehistoric bones and fragments. species the size of a large house Hollywood.” As a Latinx But until 1910, no one had found cat with formidable claws, a woman, Lilliana takes a dinosaur skeleton in the area supple neck, a slender torso, and her role-model status to despite efforts by well-known Paleontological Society. On an elongated tail. heart, inspiring others to men in paleontology. Instead, the day she discovered a new Mignon’s discovery came lean in to professional the discovery was made by a species of dinosaur, Mignon was when women’s paleontological roles involving television woman with a keen eye. on a walk with her sister, Ellen pursuit was perceived by some and fashion. A professor of geology at Talbot, Cornell. as a hobby. It provided a coun- —STACY FLANNERY, Drake Mount Holyoke College, Ohio “It was pure accident,” terargument worth preserving.

< 1958 Convention is held 1958 Epsilon 1959 Epsilon Delta 1960 Total Membership: in Bedford Springs, Gamma Chapter Chapter is founded 62,863. Number Pennsylvania. The first is founded at at Arizona State. of Chapters–88; Loyalty Award is given. the University of Epsilon Epsilon Number of Alumnae North Carolina. Chapter is founded Associations–259. at Emory University.

62 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 1940 INITIATED 1992 INITIATED 2012 PICCING A WINNER

Entrepreneurs find inspiration everywhere. Emily Levy, Babson, found hers in a sock. As a sophomore in college, Emily was diagnosed with chronic neurological Lyme disease. A peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line)—essentially a long-term IV— STAR POWER was inserted into her arm for treatment. To protect the CYCLING SENSATION tubing, she wore a cut-up sock on her arm. Sarah Lee A sock on her arm during Kappa meetings. During class. Kristin Lippincott While out on dates. The sock served as a physical reminder Armstrong of her illness. A slight pull or tug to the sock would jeopar- Zimmermann dize the PICC line. But she didn’t let the diagnosis or the Savola Pennsylvania unsightly sock slow her down. Idaho Instead, she turned illness into opportunity. The sky was not the Emily developed the PICCPerfect PICC line cover, a Kristin is the most limit for astronomer Sarah stylish, functional accessory that led to the development decorated U.S. women’s Lippincott Zimmermann, of MightyWell, a line of medical accessories that offers cyclist in history, but director of the Sproul strength, confidence and mobility. As founder, CEO and she started out as a Observatory at Swarthmore self-proclaimed “professional patient,” Emily aspires to make triathlete. After being College. Sarah specialized MightyWell the Under Armour of the medical community. diagnosed with osteo- in astrometry: the mea- Among the pitch competitions and funding she’s won: arthritis of the hips at surements, positions and $250,000 from Breakaway Ventures, an investment from Tim age 32, Kristin turned to movements of stars and Draper of Draper Associates, and completion of the Cartier cycling at a stage in life other celestial bodies in Women’s Initiative, an international business competition that when many athletes are relation to each other. The aims to encourage women entrepreneurs to solve global chal- retiring. She’s the only purpose? To search for new lenges. All this while managing a chronic illness. She’s a patient. female U.S. athlete to stars and exoplanets that She’s a boss. She’s on a mission to change how the world thinks win the same event in orbit a star in a galaxy out- about illness. And she’s doing a mighty well job. three consecutive Sum- side the Milky Way. — KAIT SMITH LANTHIER, Marist mer Olympics—taking Sarah’s methods advanced the gold medal in the the known universe by time trial event in 2008,

identifying systems of two 2012 and 2016. When or more stars that orbit Kristin won her last around a common center. medal just one day shy Her calculations of Ross of her 43rd birthday, she 614 were critical to locate told NPR, “I think that the system’s secondary star. for so long we’ve been “If science is to progress,” told that we should be Sarah said, “you have to finished at a certain age. put yourself out on a limb.” And I think that there’s a —MEG BUTLER, lot of athletes out there North Carolina that are actually showing that that’s not true.” —SARAH KROPP WALTHER, Allegheny savola armstrong kristin archives; webb chappel; courtesy kappa

< 1960 Convention is held 1961 Epsilon < 1962 Convention in Coronado, California. Zeta Chapter is is held in Asheville, Mary Whitney, Cincinnati, founded at Florida North Carolina. is elected President. State University.

| 63 INITIATED 1949

HOLLYWOOD GOLDEN GIRL Virginia “Gena” Rowlands Wisconsin

When director Nick Cassavetes shot “The INITIATED 1879 Notebook,” he asked his mother, Gena, to reshoot a difficult scene in her role as Allie Calhoun. Life-Changing Lecturer Gena agreed to the Mary Rice Livermore used words to move society forward re-shoot: “Son, I can do anything.” That’s been the theme of Gena’s By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana six decades of work. She collaborated on 10 feature films with ary rice When the Civil War began in at all, because woman was not her late husband, actor Livermore, 1861, Mary was at the forefront recognized as a factor in the director screenwriter DePauw, of the Union’s volunteer efforts. political world,” she wrote in John Cassavetes. Since trained to be She spearheaded support her memoir. “Men and women then, she’s starred in a teacher. But efforts for solider relief through should stand shoulder to shoul- courtesy 20th century fox; library of congress; kappa archives (3) films and television Mwhile working as a tutor on a the U.S. Sanitary Commission der, equal before the law.” shows like “The Skeleton Virginia tobacco plantation in (USSC), singlehandedly secur- In 1868, she organized the first Key” (2005), “Numb3rs” 1839, she witnessed the brutal- ing donors for two-thirds of the woman suffrage convention held (2006), “Broken English” ity of slavery. By the time she USSC’s supplies and funding. In in Chicago, and launched The (2007), “Monk” (2009), returned home to New England, one year, she raised $86,000 for Agitator, a suffragist newspa per. and “NCIS” (2011). Mary had become an abolition- the Union effort—amounting to that later merged with the like- The four-time Emmy and ist and a human rights activist. over $20 million today. minded Woman’s Journal. two-time Golden Globe Mary moved with her chil- By 1865, the war was over. When Mary moved back to winner was nominated dren and husband, Daniel, to The slaves were freed. And New England, she successfully twice for an Academy Chicago in 1857, where they Mary felt it was time for women merged the paper with the Award and received an established a reform-centered to make a difference ... but first Woman’s Journal and served honorary Oscar in 2015. Universalist newspaper, the they’d need the right to vote. as president of three suffrage —STACY FLANNERY, New Covenant, that published “I became aware that a large groups—the American, New Drake abolitionist voices and furthered portion of the nation’s work England, and Massachusetts the cause against slavery. was badly done, or not done Woman Suffrage Associations.

1963 Epsilon Eta < 1964 Convention < 1966 Chapter is founded is held in Sun Valley, Convention is at Auburn University. Idaho. Frances held in Bretton Epsilon Theta Chapter Alexander, DePauw, is Woods, New is founded at the Uni- elected President. Hampshire. versity of Arkansas at Little Rock.

64 | OPTIMISM | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE In 1870, she was tapped to change. In “Concerning invited to join Kappa Kappa INITIATED 1904 join the prestigious Boston Husbands and Wives,” she Gamma. An unidentified Iota Lyceum Bureau’s lecture circuit, presented marriage as a part- Chapter member wrote in featuring speakers Frederick nership between equals. In “The The Key, “It was with much Douglass, Mark Twain and Battle of Life,” she encouraged trepidation we met her at Susan B. Anthony. Daniel people to strive for a more the appointed time for the encouraged his wife to seize the equitable society. In “What Shall initiation… . After the initia- opportunity. “‘It is preposterous We Do With Our Daughters,” tory service she talked to us for you to continue baking and she challenged listeners to give in an earnest, loving manner brewing, making and mending, young women a chance to blaze … urging us to be women in sweeping, dusting, and launder- new trails. Her lectures made the highest sense of the word. MAKING (AIR) WAVES ing when work of a better and her one of the most popular and Every one of us, I am sure, left higher order seeks you,’” she highly paid orators in America, the room feeling that she had Margaret recalled him saying. earning her the nickname, had a glimpse into a stronger Cuthbert Mary took his advice and for “Queen of the Platform.” life, and inspired with a deter- nearly 25 years she brought After a lecture in Greencastle, mination to make her influence Cornell audiences a message of social Indiana, in 1879, Mary was felt for good in the world.” When Margaret began her career in radio in 1925, the medium was in its infancy. Mar- INITIATED 1947 The good news was that doctors were able to save her garet’s programming leg. The bad news for Doris Hart, Miami—who was was so popular that MATCH POINT only 10 years old—was that the osteomyelitis would people bought radios leave her with weakness, pain, and possibly paralysis. to listen to the shows Doris’ hospital room overlooked tennis courts and, as she she produced. Margaret recovered, she watched people volley and serve. After being got her start at WEAF, a discharged, her brother, Bud, helped her learn to play. Little station that came to be did he know that the girl who almost lost her leg would be a known as NBC. As the top tennis player by 16. director of women’s and Despite weakness in her leg, Doris won 325 titles. She was children’s programming, the first player to clinch a “box set”—winning every possible she brought women’s title (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) from all four Grand voices to the air—once Slam events (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, hosting 17 women from and the U.S. Open). Only two other players—Margaret Court 17 countries. During the and Martina Navratilova—have achieved this feat. Doris’ Great Depression, Marga- biggest triumph, however, came in 1951 at Wimbledon, ret hosted luminaries like where—because of rain delays—she competed in and won all Pulitzer Prize-winning three championships in a single day: first in singles (against poet Edna St. Vincent Mil- doubles partner, Shirley Fry), then in women’s doubles (with lay. Fan mail revealed the Fry by her side), and finally, in mixed doubles. hope her programs pro- Doris played smarter not harder. She developed and honed vided during hard times. her drop shot endlessly. From behind the baseline, she floated As described by The New winners over the net. “I’d be criticized when it didn’t work,” York Times, Margaret rose Doris told The Associated Press in 2004. “I can remember los- from “receptionist, pro- ing matches, and people would come up to me and say, ‘Girl, do gram arranger, announcer you know how many times you missed that drop shot?’ And I’d and maid of all work” say, ‘Thank you.’ But I knew I had to do it. That’s what would to executive. win for me.” —MADISON SYKES, Loyola —ANN SCHNAEDTER, Missouri

1966 Epsilon 1967 Epsilon Kappa < 1968 Convention is Iota Chapter is Chapter is founded at held in Columbus, Ohio. founded at the the University of South Louise Barbeck, SMU, University of Carolina. Epsilon Lambda is elected President. Puget Sound. Chapter is founded at the University of Tennessee.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 65 Respect Illustration by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 1991 PRIDE OF A NATION

As the first woman to serve as a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice, Stacy Leeds, Washington Univ. (St. Louis), says that most people lack a full understand- ing of how tribal governments function. “Tribal judiciary systems are different but familiar to most people,” she says. “We have modern governments and institutions the way everyone else does.” In addition to leading her nation’s supreme court, Stacy is the vice chancellor for economic development, dean emeritus, and professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. “When I was shift- ing my career focus to go into law teaching, a lot of what informed that decision was the invisibility, the lack of native professors, or native women, teaching in law schools,” she says. “There was only one other native woman who was teaching at a U.S. law school when I began. There’s still a small handful, but they’re scattered. I knew very early on how powerful just my mere presence in law school or in front of a classroom just was, to change the dynamic.” —NINA BAHADUR, Princeton

66 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 67 Anna Crosslin at a press conference in September 2015 where the Interna- tional Institute announced that Syrian refugees are welcome in St. Louis.

“I saw the challenges that my mother faced earlier on —just being able to be integrated in the community.

I wanted to INITIATED 1969 be able to help ease that transition for others.” Warm Welcome Anna Crosslin helps refugees find homes—and acceptance— when they seek asylum in the U.S.

By Nina Bahadur, Princeton

t’s fair to say that knees in the apartments and working with an annual budget Anna Crosslin, scrub the floors with the vol- of $120,000. Today, IISTL has Washington Univ. (St. unteers,” she explains. Today, a staff of 90. Its $7.5 million wayne crosslin/international institute Louis), has done a little as CEO and president, Anna annual budget serves 6,500 bit of everything in her focuses on raising community clients from over 80 countries. I42 years at the International awareness. “And after 42 years “We help these newcomers Institute of St. Louis (IISTL)— here, I sign all the checks,” she through whatever phase they an organization that provides says, laughing. may be in,” Anna says. programming for immigrants When Anna started working Anna’s inspiration to help and asylum-seekers. “When for IISTL in 1978, it was a small immigrants comes for her own we started resettling refugees, volunteer-driven organiza- multicultural upbringing. “I’m I would get on my hands and tion, with nine staff members half Japanese and I was born in OUR HISTORY

1970 Total < 1970 Kappa cele- < 1970 Convention Membership: brates the 100th is held in French 85,091. Number anniversary of Lick, Indiana. of Chapters–93; its founding. Number of Alumnae Associations–287.

68 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Tokyo. My mother is a Japanese INITIATED 1967 immigrant and my father was INITIATED 1990 a member of the U.S. Air Force. He was a language special- THE GROUNDED ACTRESS ist who spoke Russian and Japanese. He met my mother on With a body of work in film and television that leave during the Korean War,” spans 35 years, Annabeth Gish, Duke, chooses Anna says. “I saw the challenges roles that keep her grounded amid the challenges that my mother faced earlier on of working in a high-profile industry. —just being able to be integrated She regularly forgoes the Hollywood party circuit for in the community ... I wanted to her couch, volunteers at her sons’ school, and serves on the THE PROMISE OF be able to help ease that transi- board of the Unusual Suspects, a nonprofit organization POLITICS tion for others.” that teaches underserved and at-risk youth how to write Easing the transition means and perform their own stories. “I don’t have the chromo- Beverly countering anti-immigrant some that is: ‘I will be famous no matter what.’ I need the “Bev” Eaves sentiments that perpetuate grounding of my family and my heart,” Annabeth says. stereotypes. She works to build It’s Annabeth’s real-deal demeanor that has made her so Perdue inclusive and mutually respect- appealing in girl-next-door roles like the 1980s cult chick flicks Kentucky ful relationships between “Mystic Pizza” and “Shag.” More recently, it’s what makes the newcomers and established edgier, darker characters she’s played on television shows— The first female gov- community members. from “X-Files” to “Sons of Anarchy”—so relatable. Annabeth ernor of North Carolina “If you look at history, in seeks to play characters that “show imperfections as a reflection (2009-12), Bev started almost every period, there was of real womanhood,” she says. “It is healing when other women her political career in the some newcomer group being know that they’re not alone in their failure, flaw, or addiction.” state’s House of Repre- disparaged by the people who If there’s any character that she feels the most similar sentatives in 1987. As a were already here,” Anna says. to, it’s Monica Reyes in “X-Files.” “She’s an open-minded state senator from 1991– “But now, with the internet and seeker,” Annabeth says of the character. “I think those are 2001, she served as the the advent of 24/7 cable ... peo- good adjectives for me.” —RACHEL B. LEVIN first female chief budget ple who might have a negative writer. Elected lieutenant feeling can align themselves governor in 2000, Bev with other people and organi- cast the tie-breaking zations in a way they couldn’t vote to create the state’s before. It becomes a movement.” education lottery. In Anna sees her work at 2018, she was appoint- IISTL—beyond welcoming and ed as the first woman integrating newcomers both chair of the National socially and economically into Assessment Governing the larger St. Louis community— Board—a nonpartisan as vital to reminding people panel that tracks U.S. stu- about the importance of foster- dent achievement. Bev ing diversity and inclusion. hopes her work will help “We live very siloed lives, and “ensure that all students, we live around a lot of people regardless of geography who are like us,” she says. “Too or circumstance, have few people have the experience access to a great educa- of getting to know someone who tion that prepares them is not like them. If you begin to for the jobs of tomorrow.” see some of the world through —JODI NODING, Florida their eyes, you can create a larger family for yourself than

wikimedia commons cheong-ah hwang; the one you had before.”

1970 Epsilon < 1972 Convention < 1973 Member Mu Chapter is held in Hollywood, records are is founded Florida. Marion computerized for at Clemson Graham, Montana, is the first time University. elected President.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 69 INITIATED 1979 INITIATED 1887 INITIATED 1988 BRICK BY BRICK

Anytime Elizabeth Hausler, Illinois, kneels in the soil, layering brick on top of brick, she’s sure to get noticed. “I’d always run bricklaying competitions with the guys on my team. They’d laugh once they realized I was pretty good at it,” Elizabeth says. MAKING BANK “And then they’d want to beat me.” PANHELLENIC PROWESS Elizabeth learned brickwork from her father, a Chicago- Kathleen area master bricklayer. She figures she’s laid about 360,000 Evelyn “Katie” bricks in her career so far … and she’s rarely lost a challenge. “Lucy” She founded BuildChange in 2004, after an earthquake Taylor shook the foundation of a town in India. Just like laying a Wight Allan Toronto foundation of strong brick, her organization began rebuild- St. Lawrence ing lives. Since then, BuildChange has responded to 29 The first woman to natural disasters and built over 61,500 homes and schools. When Lucy attended lead a major Canadian “We are putting the homeowner in the driver’s seat and Convention in 1890, she bank, Katie has served as addressing finance and policy solutions to big issues,” she did not plan to return to the chair of the board of says, explaining that she thinks about redesign holistically, college as Kappa’s fourth the Royal Bank of Can- taking local culture, climate needs and accessibility into Grand President. But her ada since 2014. Named consideration in each job BuildChange takes on. mastery of parliamen- one of Canada’s Most “The best part of it all is seeing homeowners be trans- tary law and debate was Powerful Women by the formed,” Elizabeth says. “It’s amazing to see them moving so impressive that her Women’s Executive Net- past the trauma, and getting back to a normal life.” election was all but a work, Katie developed —EMILY BENCH foregone conclusion. her business acumen During her presidency, during 25 years working the first Panhellenic for Four Seasons Hotels, Convention convened where she led the com- in Boston in 1891. Lucy pany during a period of represented Kappa at rapid global expansion, that meeting, and was eventually becoming the elected the first Pan- CEO. “I learned quickly hellenic President. In in my career that you 1892, Lucy decided to can’t count on things to attend graduate school materialize on their own. at Stanford University. In You must go out and 1908, she was hired as altas partners; autodesk, inc.; kappa archives make them happen,” she Stanford’s first Dean of told the 2019 graduates Women. Lucy developed of her alma mater in a safe campus housing for commencement address. women, established a “Seize the opportunities women’s clubhouse, cre- that lie ahead of you.” ated an emergency loan – KRISTEN DESMOND fund for women—each LEFEVRE, Indiana the first of their kind. —KAY SMITH LARSON, Washington

1973 Epsilon Nu < 1974 Convention is 1974 Epsilon Xi 1975 Epsilon Omicron Chapter is founded at held in Columbus, Ohio. Chapter is founded Chapter is founded Vanderbilt University. at California State at the University of University, Northridge. California, Davis.

70 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE She preferred writing and socializing. Julia struggled her entire life to balance a sense of “poetic indulgence and an abiding fear of frivolity.”

10 chapters to 28 women first woman to be elected to from 1874–84. The category the American Academy of Arts was reserved for “ladies who and Letters. have made progress worthy of Biographers have noted note in some department of that Julia’s writing and social science, literature or art.” The activism were greatly shaped Fraternity was young and, in by her wealthy upbringing the absence of older and wiser and her difficult married life. alumnae, offering key honorary Her husband, Samuel Gridley memberships helped to fill Howe, valued the solitude of his the gap. studies and wanted Julia to be A skilled poet, Julia traveled content with homemaking. She in social circles that included preferred writing and socializ- Ralph Waldo Emerson, ing. Julia struggled her entire Margaret Fuller and Henry life to balance a sense of “poetic Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1861, indulgence and an abiding fear she wrote her most famous of frivolity.” That she would poem, “Battle Hymn of the have an appreciation for an Republic,” set to the already organization of college women famous song “John Brown’s is a testament to the reputation INITIATED 1884 Body.” First published by The of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Atlantic for the sum of $4, the decidedly unfrivolous nature of Union Army quickly adopted our sisterhood. it as its unofficial song, making Unlike many of the other Rousing her one of the most recognized honorary members who rarely women in America at the time. participated in the activities Julia devoted her life to of the Fraternity, Julia visited the Republic writing and to the causes of her with the women at Phi Chapter favorite movements. She was a and even wrote a poem for the Julia Ward Howe wielded the pen to advance social staunch abolitionist, a supporter Convention of 1890. The very reforms we still enjoy today of women’s voting rights, and an first photographic illustration advocate for prison reform and ever used in The Key—included By Kylie Towers Smith, Simpson international peace. in the September 1890 issue— In 1872, she penned the was Julia’s portrait. rs. Julia to The Key—describing how Mother’s Day Proclamation After she died of pneumonia Ward Howe one of the most famous women and initiated Mother’s Peace in 1910 at the age of 91, Julia has conferred in America joined Kappa Day, the forerunner of Mother’s was eulogized as the “Queen of upon us the Kappa Gamma. Day. In 1881, she was elected America” and the “Dearest Old high honor There is no question that the president of the Association for Lady in America” before more “Mof becoming a member of our young women of Phi Chapter the Advancement of Women. than 4,000 mourners sang the chapter,” the sisters of Phi knew who they were inviting In 1890, she helped found the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Chapter at Boston University into their midst. Honorary General Federation of Women’s at her memorial service, held in

archives kappa wrote in a December 1884 letter membership was offered by Clubs, and in 1908 she was the Boston’s Symphony Hall.

< 1976 Convention 1976 Epsilon Pi Chapter is founded 1977 Epsilon Tau Chapter is held in Coronado, at the University of California, is founded at Mississippi State California. Jean Riverside. Epsilon Rho Chapter is University. Epsilon Upsilon Wells, Georgia, is founded at Texas A&M. Epsilon Chapter is founded at elected President. Sigma Chapter is founded at the Baylor University. University of Virginia.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 71 INITIATED 1989 Leading by Serving For Anna Maria Chávez, serving others is a path to joy

By Nina Bahadur, Princeton

grew up in a family plan to be an advocate. “Law Anna Maria was named CEO of public servants, to me was an avenue to make of Girls Scouts of the USA—the community activists, sure I was advocating for the first CEO woman of color in its people who were very interests of others,” she says. She history. In 2016, she was recog- focused on giving back,” served as counsel to the Federal nized by Fortune as one of the “Isays Anna Maria Chávez, Yale. Highway Administration, as an World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, “Volunteerism was not optional attorney adviser in the Office cited for her vision and creativ- in my family; it was just some- of the Counsel to President Bill ity to revitalize the Girl Scouts’ thing we did on nights and Clinton, and as a director of brand for a new century. weekends.” After law school, intergovernmental affairs for After leading the National Anna Maria stayed true to her Janet Napolitano. Council on Aging—which “Lead a life of purpose and invest your time in something you’re passionate about.” courtesy anna maria chavez

< 1978 Convention 1978 Three chapters are 1979 Epsilon Omega is held at Lake of the founded: Epsilon Phi, Chapter is founded at Ozarks, Missouri. Florida; Epsilon Chi, Dickinson College. Dartmouth; and Epsilon Psi, UC Santa Barbara.

72 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE helps Americans navigate the INITIATED 1938 challenges of growing older—in 2020, Anna Maria became the executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association. She works to ensure equitable public educa- tion for almost 50 million public schoolchildren. “Women I mentor are always asking me, ‘How did you choose SPECIAL NEEDS, to do what you did and how did SPECIAL SCHOOLS you know you were on the right path?’” she says, adding that she Lois Winter responds: “Don’t replicate some- Lloyd one else’s path, because that’s not what brings joy.” Monmouth “I followed my passions,” she says—referring to public service Drawing on her and women’s leadership. And experience as a mother she says her path has brought and a teacher, Lois knew her great joy. something wasn’t right “I love the fact that my career when her daughter, has been all about service to INITIATED 1942 Patricia, couldn’t sit up others,” Anna Maria says. “I’m on her own. Doctors 52 and I started my community BLOODLINES diagnosed severe mental service when I was 5. I would disabilities and recom- say to anyone thinking about As the director of the Hemophilia Treatment mended institutionaliz- the next step in their career: Center at Orthopaedic Hospital in Los Angeles ing Patricia. But Lois was Lead a life of purpose and from 1970–88, Shelby Dietrich Rector, determined to care for invest your time in something Michigan, pioneered an innovative team concept Patricia the same way you’re passionate about.” approach to patient care. Her work helped estab- she cared for her other She urges it’s never too early lish the norm of treating hemophilia patients children. When the pub- or too late to engage in public with blood concentrate—a blood-based clotting lic school refused to en- service or to shift career goals to agent—in the late 1960s. roll Patricia, Lois started align with your interests. But when HIV entered the U.S. blood supply in the a school in the basement “A common theme I’ve seen, early 1980s, Shelby’s patients were at great threat as large of her Evanston, Illinois, for people who are leading a numbers of them began contracting HIV through blood home. In 1949, Lois life of passion and purpose, is concentrate. In 1983, Shelby was appointed director of the founded the North Shore they have been able to really World Hemophilia AIDS Center, where she developed tests Association for Retarded live day to day being cognizant and procedures to make the blood supply safe. Children to connect de- of how they are a positive influ- “Those years remain in my memory as very black years,” velopmentally disabled ence and providing an impact,” she told an Irish Times reporter in 2001. “We no longer children with education Anna Maria says. “They have knew that we were doing the best for the patient, and as the and training. Now known not missed the opportunities months went on the uncertainty simply grew.” That uncer- as Shore Community today to make a positive impact tainty eased in 1984, when heat-treated blood concentrate Services, it provides ser- on others—and they are bringing was proven to be effective in protecting the blood supply vices to over 300 people along with them. I think and the patients who relied upon it. people annually. that’s success, that’s making a —MEG BUTLER, North Carolina —MARY OSBORNE, difference, and that’s what aging Monmouth

archives of america; kappa hemophilia federation well means.”

1980 Total < 1980 Convention is 1980 Four chapters 1981 Zeta Epsilon Membership: held in Palm are founded: Zeta is founded at 110,135. Number Beach, Florida. Sally Alpha, Babson; Zeta Lawrence University. of Chapters– 107; Nitschke, Ohio State, is Beta, Lafayette; Zeta Number of Alumnae elected President. Gamma, Centre; and Associations– 321. Zeta Delta, Vermont.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 73 INITIATED 1979 INITIATED 1965 INITIATED 1987 MAKING A HOUSE INTO A HAVEN

In 2001, when doctors diagnosed her son, Ryan, with spinal muscular atrophy, Holly Busche Cottor, Arizona, knew it meant that Ryan was unlikely to live to see his second birthday. SERVING THE SPECTRUM “Driven to the brink of depression from sleep depriva- WORLD CLASS tion,” Holly says her family needed help. They were living Denise in Oxford, England, at the time and a therapist referred Mary Dreiseszun them to an organization providing pediatric hospice care Carlin Yates and respite care. Holly says it was “a lifeline of support.” Oregon State Resnik When they returned to the U.S. in 2003, the Cottors Arizona State couldn’t find comparable care, so they decided to create it As a young woman themselves. After seven years of fundraising, they opened studying in Japan and When her son, Matt, Ryan House in Phoenix in 2010. France, Mary knew that was diagnosed with Au- Ryan House offers both hospice care and respite care— living abroad was some- tism Spectrum Disorder which allows families to recharge their own batteries while thing she’d like to do in 1994, Denise used leaving their children in the capable hands of skilled health full time. “I thought I’d her C-suite skills to ad- care workers. Holly calls her work “heart-swelling.” The better be serious and vocate for people with people she works with have become like family—a family take the foreign service autism. Searching for a that in 2018 helped her grieve Ryan’s death—at age 17. exam,” she says. Mary’s place where Matt and Bright colors and a home-like atmosphere make Ryan 31-year career with the others on the spectrum House anything but depressing. “What people need to see U.S. Department of could access living and and hear is that this is so much about living,” Holly says. State took her across learning opportunities — SUSAN LORIMOR the globe—from Korea beyond traditional in- to the Philippines to the stitutionalized homes, Congo. She served as am- Denise founded First bassador to Burundi and Place AZ in 2013. It fo- Ghana, charge d’affaires courtesy hwang; of denise resnik/first place az; cheong-ah ea photography cuses on independent to Sudan, and special apartment-style housing assistant to President for people with neuro-di- Obama on the National verse abilities. Built in Security Council. 2018, the 81,000-square- “I always advise everyone foot, $15.4 million resi- that at some point in dential property is home their life, they should to 32 people. “I do it for consider public service,” two reasons: love and Mary says. “Consider fear,” Denise says. “Love doing something for for my son ... and fear your city, your state, your that if I don’t protect country so you have an and advocate for Matt understanding of this and people like him, greater body you’re a then who will?” part of.” —NINA —EMILY BENCH BAHADUR, Princeton

< 1982 Convention < 1982 The Key 1982 Four chapters are is held in celebrates 100 years founded: Zeta Zeta, West- Columbus, Ohio. of publication. minster; Zeta Eta, UC Irvine; Zeta Theta, Trinity; and Zeta Iota, Villanova.

74 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE “Women’s minds are as strong as a man’s,” she wrote in her memoirs. “Equal in all things and superior in some.”

the welfare of children and keep fellow Republicans from veterans. During his tenure as shifting their support to the governor of Ohio, she secured Prohibition Party—along with funding for an orphanage Lucy’s support of the temper- for the children of Civil War ance movement—the nickname veterans. “Women’s minds are stuck. “It is a great mistake to as strong as man’s,” she wrote suppose that I desire to dictate in her memoirs. “Equal in all my views to others in this mat- things and superior in some.” ter of the use of wine and such It has long been said that drinks,” she wrote. “I do not well-known suffragist Elizabeth use them myself … but I have no Cady Stanton helped inspire thought of shunning those who the Founders of Kappa Kappa think and act differently.” Gamma to form a society of Lucy was the first wife of their own after she spoke in a U.S. president to be widely Monmouth, Illinois, in 1869. So referred to as the first lady it is surprising that neither Lucy by the press, after a writer nor her husband supported used the term in a column in women’s suffrage—though it a New York magazine, The does explain their less than Independent, in 1877. Lucy’s favorable reception of Elizabeth appearance in the press was Cady Stanton when she visited unprecedented for the time— the White House to ask for perhaps owing to the number support for her cause. of female journalists who INITIATED 1880 Despite the Hayes’ tumultu- devoted a large portion of ous start in the White House their coverage to her. after the contentious presiden- Unfazed, Lucy wrote, tial election of 1876, Lucy—who “Sometimes I feel a little wor- Leading Lady was the first wife of a U.S. pres- ried ... this press and annoyance The first first lady to have a college degree, ident to earn a college degree going on. I keep myself out- Lucy Webb Hayes —won over the American wardly very calm, but inwardly public with her experience as a there is a burning venom and was known for more than just her lemonade nurse during the Civil War, her wrath all under a smiling or charm and intellect, and her pleasant exterior.” By Kylie Towers Smith, Simpson exceptional gifts as a political After Lucy’s death in 1889 at partner to her husband. 57 years old, her Kappa mem- While some historians have bership badge was donated to ucy Webb the most famous honorary mem- referred to her as “Lemonade the Smithsonian Institution’s Hayes, Ohio ber of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Lucy,” the nickname was not Museum of American History, Wesleyan, who Lucy took an active inter- used during her lifetime. But, where it is frequently displayed was married to est in her husband’s career. because of her husband’s in exhibits showcasing the U.S. President When Hayes served in the U.S. decision to ban alcohol from dresses and jewelry of America’s archives kappa LRutherford B. Hayes—is likely Congress, Lucy worked for the White House in an effort to first ladies.

1983 Zeta Kappa Chapter < 1984 Convention 1984 Zeta Lambda 1985 Zeta Mu Chapter is founded at Bowling is held in Scottsdale, Chapter is founded is founded at Virginia Green University. Arizona. Marian at Washington & Tech University. Zeta Williams, Missouri, Jefferson College. Nu Chapter is founded is elected President. at the University of California, San Diego.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 75 INITIATED 1974 Cancer Crusader

Deborah “Debbie” Oates Erwin paves the way for culturally sensitive cancer screenings for people of color

By Susan Lorimor

s co-founder of tragedies behind them—both- the National ered Debbie. “There’s always Witness Project, the tendency to blame the vic- INITIATED 1967 Deborah tim,” she says. “I was thinking, “Debbie” Oates ‘You know, there’s some reason. HEARING HELPER AErwin, Arkansas, is working to People don’t want to be sick. eradicate race-based There’s some issue going on.’” When Ruth Johnson Holden, Penn State, was health disparities. To understand the issue, training to be a speech-language pathologist in A medical anthropologist, Debbie conducted focus groups the 1960s, it was typical for hearing-impaired Debbie helped the American with Black women. In the safe children to be separated from their families to Cancer Society evaluate free space she provided, they shared attend special schools. Ruth had other ideas. screening mammography during their stories, telling Debbie After establishing the first school-based speech and a 1980’s study conducted in about the cultural differences hearing program in rural Pennsylvania, Ruth began tinker- Stephens, Arkansas. At a time that led them to avoid even ing with devices that might help deaf children. With input when Black people represented talking about cancer—let alone from her husband, Scott (an engineer), she invented the about 27% of the state’s popula- having access to information on Phonic Ear—a hearing aid offering an FM frequency and tion, she discovered that only two the importance of screenings— featuring a rechargeable battery. of the more than 1,000 women and a general mistrust in the More inventions followed—16 in all. The Phonic Mirror who were screened were Black. medical system as a whole. For was a lighter-weight version of a portable tape recorder with The research Debbie had many, it came down to money an automatic speech playback acoustically designed for stut- done for her doctoral disserta- and social circumstance. terers—allowing people with speech impairments to hear tion had already shown her that Debbie took what she’d their sounds quickly without having to repeatedly rewind. Blacks, Hispanics and members learned—the focus group The Binaural Speech Trainer gave patients the ability to of other minority groups expe- findings and her years of hear both correct and incorrect speech simultaneously. The rienced higher rates of cancer hands-on medical research— Automatic Computer revolutionized hearing aid testing. and that these populations had and founded the National Because of the dramatic progress of patients using lower survival rates once diag- Witness Project in 1990. The the Phonic Ear, in 1972 Ruth lobbied the Federal nosed with cancer. As a research community-based program Communications Commission to designate an FM fre- associate at the University of works to increase awareness quency range—MHz 72–76—for people who use hearing Arkansas, she’d seen Black of the importance of can-

aids. Following Ruth’s lead, more than 50 countries now women coming into the hospital cer screening among black hwangcheong-ah use similar frequencies for adaptive technologies. with large tumors because their women—empowering them —ANN GRAHAM SCHNAEDTER, Missouri cancers had advanced before to share their breast cancer they were detected. experiences with others and The trends—and the highlighting the need

< 1986 Convention is 1987 Zeta Xi Chapter < 1988 The Minnie held in Philadelphia. is founded at Yale Uni- Stewart Foundation versity. Zeta Omicron is is created to raise founded at Richmond the funds needed College. Zeta Pi Chapter to purchase Minnie is founded at the Col- Stewart’s home. lege of Idaho.

76 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE for screenings. survivors to give “witness” about “One message we often hear their experiences. is that everything causes cancer Since many of the barriers and you can’t do anything about to cancer screening are similar it,” Debbie told The Atlanta- for Black women and Hispanic/ Journal Constitution. “The Latina women, the Susan G. Witness Project is important Komen Breast Cancer Foundation because it offers direct education gave Debbie a grant to develop from trusted messengers. The her now-familiar model in a new similarity of the women telling community with programming the stories to the women they’re that teaches Hispanic/Latina talking to is extremely important. women to tell their stories and It’s like it can happen to me.” gives them the tools to be advo- The project has since been cates for one another. replicated at more than 30 “The survivor is such a institutions in 22 states and has credible witness,” Debbie says. added advocacy for cervical “They’re a resource for saying: cancer screenings to its messag- You need to get screened. You ing—using the personal stories need to find your cancer early. of breast and cervical cancer You need to get assertive.”

“The survivor is such a credible witness. They’re a resource for saying: You need to INITIATED 1999 get screened. You need to find your cancer OVER THE WALL early. You need to get assertive.” On a bitterly cold November day in Cleveland, Holly Apple Jackson, Akron, was running Debbie (far left) errands when she noticed a group of kids and receives Kappa’s an adult wearing flip-flops without socks. They Alumnae Achieve- ment Award in 2008. didn’t have gloves, hats or coats. They looked cold. Hungry. Isolated. Debbie advocates for Holly knew the look—and what it feels like—because health care access she was there once—homeless and feeling alone. “I know and screening for what it’s like,” she says. “I know how hard it is to humble minority and under- yourself. You don’t want to ask for help for fear of rejec- served populations. tion or judgments.” To pay it forward, Holly began tying zip-close bags of socks, mittens, and hygiene items to a chain-link fence at the Lorain, Ohio, police department in 2018. A sign invited people to take anything they might need. What started as a single wall soon became a mission— known as Walls of Love—which has installed over 500 walls in 110 neighborhoods, serving more than 70,000 people to date. “I want people to know that there are oth- ers that truly care,” Holly says. “I strive to make the world better one person at a time.” –LEAH BOGDAN DECESARE, Syracuse jackson holly courtesy archives (2); kappa

< 1988 Convention is 1988 Zeta Rho 1989 The Kappa Kappa 1989 Zeta Sigma held in Boca Raton, Chapter is founded Gamma Foundation is Chapter is founded at Florida. Kay Larson, at Colgate University. incorporated, featuring the University of North Washington, is four funds: Heritage Texas. Zeta Tau Chapter elected President. Museum, Rose McGill, is founded at Washington Students’ Aid and the and Lee University. Educational Fund.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 77 INITIATED 1886 INITIATED 1886 Creating Community Social reformer Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch’s legacy lives on in the communities she built

By Dr. Mary Osborne, Monmouth STOPPING SLUMLORDS

Emily orn into a fam- Bright ily that assisted runaway slaves Burnham during the Civil Boston War, Mary BKingsbury Simkhovitch , After serving Kappa Boston, was committed to social as Grand President from injustice reform. 1892–94, Emily pursued Chief among Mary’s pas- a new passion: Boston’s sions were settlement houses. North End slums. Her Established in poor urban work on the Morton areas, these communities aimed Street Improvement to improve living conditions Project—called “one of by bringing society together. the best pieces of work Middle-class volunteers lived done in the city”—took among their poor counterparts, on powerful landlords bridging gaps in understanding to remove a slum where and economics. more than 1,400 people By the late 1890s, Mary began lived on a 2-acre plot. volunteering at the College In 1929, she was named Settlement, a Jewish commu- chairman of the Massa- nity in New York City’s Lower chusetts Civic League’s East Side. She learned Yiddish Housing Committee— and studied local politics to charged with overseeing make her assimilation into state housing legislation. the neighborhood as seamless In a time when wom- as possible. “We got along en were criticized for famously, and the friendships pursuing non-domestic formed then have never been activities, Emily told The broken,” she wrote in her mem- Key, “I am really more oir, Neighborhood: My Story of domestic than the aver- Greenwich House. age. Bread is still baked Still, she dreamed of estab- in my house and floor lishing a settlement of her own. polish is made from a “It must be a group of friends, family recipe.” who, together with the neigh- —KRISTEN DESMOND bors, would through a common LEFEVRE, Indiana experience build up common enthusiasms for common

1990 Total 1990 Zeta Upsilon Chapter < 1990 Convention is Membership: is founded at Georgia held in Dallas. 146,626. Number Southern University. of Chapters–120; Number of Alumnae Associations–352.

78 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE projects,” Mary wrote. “In a world of disillusionment, INITIATED 1957 On Thanksgiving Day in 1902, Greenwich House opened in even the smallest centers of hope Manhattan’s West Village, with are to be cherished.” Mary as its director. Located in a former longshoreman’s bunk- house, Greenwich House was helping from afar. “I had seen Mary wrote, “The heart of set in the middle of New York the charitable approach to social Greenwich House is the belief City’s most congested neighbor- problems and found it wanting,” in the possibility of all human hood, where Italian and Irish she wrote. “If social improve- life that is worthwhile, and immigrants crowded into homes ments are to be undertaken by all its work is only an evi- HAVING A BALL that often lacked running water. one class on behalf of another, dence of that faith. In a world Greenwich House fostered a no permanent changes are likely of disillusionment, even the Judy Ade sense of community among its to be effected. The participation smallest centers of hope are to Levering residents—offering a kinder- by all concerned is necessary for be cherished.” garten, infant wellness clinics, sound improvements.” Doubling More than 100 years after Northwestern a library, language and cooking down on her commitment to founding Greenwich House, classes, a music school, a pottery building community and affect- Mary’s legacy lives on. Today, As the first woman school, and clubs. ing change, Mary moved into Greenwich House still serves to serve as president of At Greenwich House, Mary in the neighborhood with her as a community hub and is a the United States Tennis was determined to break the husband and young family. force for education, service Association (USTA), in tradition of wealthy volunteers In her annual report of 1924, and health programs. 1999 Judy’s vision was one of accessibility and inclusion. She played a major role in naming the USTA’s National INITIATED 1870 When Susan “Sue” Burley Walker, Monmouth, Tennis Center in honor was just 8 years old, her parents moved from of Arthur Ashe, the first MISCHIEF Cameron, Marshall County, Virginia, (now West and only African-Ameri- MAKER Virginia) to Monmouth, Illinois. Her family’s home can man to win the U.S. was the site of Alpha Chapter’s first Initiation on Open, Wimbledon and April 1, 1870. the Australian Open. In Sue entered Monmouth College in 1869 as a sub-freshman. 2001, she established the She followed the college’s scientific course of study. Sue was USTA Foundation, which 15 years old in March 1870 when she was “drawn in” (as Lou offers tennis programs to Bennett described it) by Kappa’s original organizers. She is 200,000 children in un- listed in the chapter rolls as Alpha 5. derserved communities. Unable to sign Alpha’s charter, Sue was absent because she was “Tennis reinforces the needed at home to help her mother during a formal dinner party. lessons taught in schools, Sue was considered the mischief-maker of Alpha from learning to lose to Chapter. In a 1929 letter, Lou Stevenson wrote that it was developing mental strat- fitting that Sue was sworn in on April 1, 1870—April Fools’ egies for success,” she Day, describing “a near riot” over a prank that Sue and says. “It opens the doors Minnie had cooked up, which had “all six of them shaking to new acquaintances, in their shoes.” job opportunities and Sue left Monmouth College in 1871 before completing her respect from others.” degree. She is considered the Fraternity’s first alumna mem- —CASEY GALASSO, Marist ber, and, at age 42, she was the first Founder to pass away. —KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Simpson archive / contributor news daily york archives (3); new kappa

1991 Kappa Kappa 1992 Zeta Phi < 1992 Convention is held 1993 Zeta Chi Chapter Gamma Foundation of Chapter is founded at in Scottsdale, Arizona. is founded at Marist Canada is founded. Princeton University. J.J. Wales, Ohio State, is College. Zeta Psi elected President. Chapter is founded at Wake Forest University.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 79 INITIATED 1894 Culturally Curious A pioneering anthropologist, Elsie Clews Parsons challenged the status quo

By Kristin Sangid, Georgia Southern

er clothes of sociology in America. Elsie were often became an assistant and as colorful lecturer under Giddings, who as her per- espoused theories of individu- sonality and alism that defined Elsie’s work Hideas. Considered ahead of her throughout her career. time, even by those working in Although she married and the new field of anthropology, had six children, Elsie chal- no one knew quite what to lenged Victorian norms. She make of Elsie Clews Parsons, worked outside of the home and Barnard. But by her death in in 1906, just three years into 1941, she was the first woman her marriage to congressman president of the American Herbert Parsons, she published Anthropological Association The Family, a book that argued and an expert in Native for trial marriage and divorce wikimedia commons/courtesy parsons family; facing page; hwang; cheong-ah kappa archives American and African cultures. by mutual agreement instead A pioneering feminist, Elsie of by proving adultery, abuse was born in 1874 into New York or abandonment. A scandal society. From early on, Elsie ensued—harming Herbert’s saw things differently. She often political career—so she pub- negotiated with her mother, lished her next two books under who had traditional expec- a pen name. tations, like tending to social In 1929, when Elsie asked engagements. Elsie enrolled why women were not admitted at Barnard in 1892 over her to a field school in New Mexico, mother’s objection. When she Alfred Kidder, the leading wanted to travel but her mother archaeologist of the time, wrote, required her presence at home, “A young woman because of Elsie agreed to stay in New York the likelihood of her marriage, if she could pursue a master’s is an unreliable element to build degree at Columbia University. into the foundation of a She did just that and also com- staff structure.” pleted a doctorate. Elsie became known for Elsie was influenced at funding anthropological studies Columbia by Franklin Giddings, and supporting other women in the first full-time professor her field.

1994 Zeta Omega Chapter < 1994 Convention 1996 < 1996 Convention is is founded at University is held in Atlanta. Eta Beta held in Tampa, of Waterloo. Eta Alpha Chapter is Florida. Cathy Chapter is founded at founded at Carswell, Illinois Furman University. Pepperdine Wesleyan, is University. elected President.

80 | RESPECT | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 1967

EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY Robin Wright Michigan

Robin, whose byline has appeared in the Washington Post, The New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times, among INITIATED 2000 others—has reported from 140 countries. In “IT GIRL” AND INFLUENCER 1976, she narrowly es- caped an assignment Sophia Bush, USC (Calif.), has had a long streak as with her life. “I had been an “it” girl for good reason. Her big break came in one of some two dozen the mid-2000s, starring in “National Lampoon’s people—out of over Van Wilder,” followed by a nine-season run on 300—who survived a “One Tree Hill.” But Sophia’s real fire comes from battle during the Angolan her advocacy work. Civil War,” Robin wrote in From fighting for environmental issues to co-founding The New Yorker. “I had the Time’s Up movement, Sophia is an active voice on social fled on a little tugboat media. During the 2016 presidential election, she teamed across the Congo River.” up to form I am a voter™, a nonpartisan civic engagement Despite the danger, she’s organization. Glamour made her a global ambassador to become a mouthpiece its “Girl Project,” an initiative that addresses the issues for accountability, which that prevent women around the world from graduating she says is biggest ac- from high school. Sophia received the Nelson Mandela complishment of all. “I’ve Changemaker Award in 2018. experienced the sweep In her podcast Work in Progress, Sophia features people of history from flying on who inspire her, diving deep into how they got where they Air Force One to go to are, and where they think they are still going. Guests have Vietnam, to interviewing ranged from Gloria Steinem and Henry Winkler to for- Nelson Mandela,” she mer U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and Katie Couric. says. “I’ve gotten to be an Each episode centers around Sophia’s enduring message: eyewitness the greatest “We are all allowed be both a masterpiece and a work in historical events in progress at the same time.”—STACY FLANNERY, Drake my lifetime.” —EMILY BENCH

1997 Eta Gamma 1998 Eta Delta < 1998 1999 Eta Epsilon Chapter is founded at Chapter is founded at Convention Chapter is University of San Diego. Valparaiso University. is held in founded at Johns Scottsdale, Hopkins University. Arizona.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 81 Knowledge Illustration by BIJOU KARMAN

INITIATED 1991 JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

Even as a child, Debra “Deb” Houry, Emory, envisioned herself in a white coat and stethoscope. So it’s fitting that she works as the director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—leading research pro- grams to prevent injuries from things like opioid abuse, suicide, partner violence, and childhood trauma. Deb says that if doctors aren’t armed with up-to-date solutions backed by science, many patients will seek potentially dangerous remedies from less-than-credible sources or not seek help at all. “Communities and states must increase efforts to implement evi- dence-based programs and policies to prevent injuries and violence,” she said in a NCIPC press release. It’s the key, Deb said, “To reduce not only the pain and suffering of people, but the considerable costs to society.” — MADISON SYKES, Loyola

82 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 83 INITIATED 1911 REPRODUCTIVE RESEARCHER

In 1935, reproductive biologist Gertrude Van Wagenen, Iowa, began research on reproduc- tion and contraception using a colony of rhesus monkeys at Yale School of Medicine’s depart- ment of obstetrics and gynecology. Gertrude recorded data on 1,261 monkeys, including 600 live births across 15 generations. To learn more about what a successful pregnancy needs and how it can be disrupted, she and her team exposed the colony to a variety of hor- mones and other compounds. Her research led to a major discovery in the late 1960s: the development of the “morning after pill.” Gertrude’s studies uncovered estrogen compounds that can prevent a INITIATED 1920 fertilized egg from implanting in the womb if taken within three days of conception. The pill offered the first method of birth control—other than abortion—for use after inter- course, and it wasn’t without controversy. Knocking Their The pill was hailed by some as a breakthrough and others as an abomination. While other countries readily adopted this new use of estrogen—a hormone already available in Socks Off other medications—American pharmaceutical companies were barred from producing and selling the pill in the United States until 1998. Sarah “Sally” Gibson Blanding was the —KATIE MILLS GIORGIO, Drake first female president of Vassar College

By Fran Becque

hen Sarah go to college at the same time,” “Sally” she recalled in an oral history. Gibson Kentucky agreed, and Sally took Blanding, courses between 8 a.m. and Kentucky, noon, and taught physical edu- Wrealized her family didn’t have cation from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. the money she’d need to study Upon graduation, she was medicine, she took out a loan to asked to join the faculty as act- complete a two-year course for ing dean of women. “Gracious, physical education teachers. I couldn’t think of anything In 1919, she was offered worse,” Sally replied. Still, she several high school teaching agreed to help her colleagues jobs. But when the University of out. At age 24, she was the

Kentucky offered Sally a posi- youngest college dean in the U.S. kappa archives (2) tion at half the going rate, she Despite her initial reser- saw an opportunity to negotiate. vations, Sally soon realized “I would be interested in your she loved working as a dean. job if you would allow me to “But I knew that the so-called OUR HISTORY

2000 Total Membership: < 2000 Convention is held in 2001 Eta Zeta Chapter 188,390. Number of Palm Desert, California. is founded at John Chapters–127; Number of Ann Truesdell, Ohio Wesleyan, Carroll University. Alumnae Associations–390. is elected President.

84 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE academic faculty didn’t have INITIATED 1917 much respect for people’s minds who taught in physical educa- tion,” she said. Sally borrowed money again, this time to earn a master’s degree in political sci- ence from Columbia University. With her new credentials in hand, Sally returned to the University of Kentucky as dean of women and professor RULE-KEEPER of political science and to her family’s farming roots, living on Rheva Ott a tobacco farm she purchased Shryock near campus. Pennsylvania She left Lexington for Cornell University in 1941 to become The last of Kappa’s dean of the College of Home Grand Presidents Economics. When Sally’s (1936–40), Rheva was an request for $75,000 was cut authority on parliamen- from the New York state budget, tary procedure. At the she called the governor to tell 1938 General Conven- him: “In Kentucky, we shoot INITIATED 1962 tion, Rheva convinced people for this.” He promised to the Fraternity to drop restore the funds to the budget ACCIDENTAL CHEMIST “Grand” from her title. immediately, but Cornell’s pres- It may seem like a small ident was irate that Sally had Susan Serota Taylor, Wisconsin, is one of America’s change, but it required gone over his head. most distinguished chemists. Perhaps the most extensive revisions to Five years later, she was remarkable thing about Susan’s career, however, is the Fraternity Bylaws, named the first female president that she never intended to have it in the first place. sparking in her a lifelong of Vassar College. During her Susan’s plans to study medicine were put on hold after love of parliamentary tenure, she raised $25 million her senior year in college when her then-fiancé, Palmer law. Her deep knowledge in nine years, tripling Vassar’s Taylor, accepted a job at the National Institutes of Health. of the subject put her in endowment. Susan hadn’t applied to any medical schools in the area, so demand as a parliamen- Sarah was awarded 18 honor- she enrolled in a doctoral program in physiological chem- tarian for organizations, ary degrees. A residence hall at istry at Johns Hopkins University. “Things don’t happen including Kappa Kappa Kentucky and endowed chairs necessarily how you plan them,” she says. Gamma, the National at Cornell and Vassar are named After earning her Ph.D. in 1968, Susan still planned to pur- Panhellenic Conference, for her. But Sally is perhaps best sue medicine, but serendipity intervened again. Taylor, now the American Association remembered for being strict her husband, was invited to study molecular pharmacology at of University Women, the but reasonable, espousing an England’s University of Cambridge. Susan joined him and was American Association approach that valued growth over accepted to a postdoctoral fellowship in protein chemistry. of University Professors, punishment—especially as times That’s when Susan fell in love with proteins. In 1991, her lab Girl Scouts of the United and fashions changed on campus. at the University of California, San Diego solved the structure of States of America, and “I do remember that when socks a protein kinase—a tiny molecule that helps regulate essential the 1976 convention of came in—socks for women … functions in every cell of the body. Since then, her groundbreak- the National Organiza- I just didn’t like it much,” she ing work on the chemical structure and function of kinases has tion of Women. recalled. “We decided we would laid the foundation for drug research on diseases ranging from —KAY SMITH LARSON, ban socks. After a semester, I cancer to Alzheimer’s. — RACHEL B. LEVIN Washington think, we thought how stupid this

archives kappa cheong-ah hwang; is? Let them wear socks!”

< 2002 Convention 2002 Eta Eta Chapter is 2003 Eta Theta is held in founded at the University Chapter is founded at Orlando, Florida. of Central Florida. Harvard University.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 85 INITIATED 1896

EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATOR Dorothy Canfield Fisher Ohio State

On a trip to Rome in 1912, author and edu- cator Dorothy Canfield Fisher visited a series of schools established by Dr. Maria Montessori. She observed the program’s multi-age classrooms and was fascinated by INITIATED 1941 the way the children worked at their own pace and connected with nature. Dorothy was Making the Music so impressed by the child-centered method The first woman to direct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that she translated Margaret Hillis was a podium powerhouse Montessori’s books into

English and wrote her By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana kappa archives; rosenthal archives/chicago symphony orchestra own titles, including A Montessori Mother, a primer that explained argaret Hillis, journalist Bruce Duffie in a 1986 (NYCC)—a group that caught the Montessori Method Indiana, was 5 interview. “But in 1947, a woman the attention of the conductor of education to Ameri- years old when conductor? No way.” and maestro of the Chicago cans. She is credited with she began to Margaret—who founded the Symphony Orchestra (CSO), bringing the Montessori study music. Chicago Symphony Chorus Fritz Reiner, who convinced Method to the U.S., MFirst, there was the piano. Later, in 1957—says she got into the the CSO’s board of trustees to which today boasts over there were woodwinds, brass, orchestral field “through the hire Margaret and her choir to 4,500 affiliated schools. and a double bass. But, by the age back door” as a choral conduc- perform during the 1955–56 —MEG BUTLER, of 8, she knew: The only musical tor. “I wanted to prove that a season. The resulting collabo- North Carolina implement she wanted to hold in chorus could be as good as an ration was a hit. The NYCC was her hand was a conductor’s baton. orchestra,” she said. rehired for the following season. “The orchestra was my great In 1950, Margaret founded However, Reiner wanted to up

love,” Margaret told music the New York Concert Choir the ante—planning to perform

< 2004 The first Leadership < 2004 Convention is held 2005 Eta Iota Chapter Academy is held. in Kansas City, Missouri. is founded at Priscilla Gerde, Purdue, Creighton University. is elected President.

86 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Giuseppe Verdi’s “Messa da Within a decade, Margaret Sir Georg Solti became ill. INITIATED 1927 Requiem.” When he ran the idea had established the Chicago Margaret was tapped to lead by Margaret, she told him she’d Symphony Chorus as one of the the CSO in Gustav Mahler’s need double the voices to do the finest professional choirs in the “Symphony No. 8”—a piece piece justice. “It would simply be U.S. She led the group for 37 famously nicknamed “the too expensive,” she told him. years and amassed an impres- Symphony of a Thousand” Reiner returned to the CSO sive discography, including nine because it requires an enlarged trustees, pleading with them to Grammy Awards for best orchestra, a double chorus, fund a permanent CSO chorus choral performance. eight vocal soloists and a chil- with Margaret at the helm, Despite entering the orches- dren’s chorus. insisting that “there will be no tral world through the so-called By the time the curtain rose, NAVAL KNOW-HOW chorus unless Miss Hillis herself back door of choral conduct- Margaret—with just hours to is the director.” Nearly 100 voices ing, Margaret took the baton to study the piece—had completely Mary Sproul strong, Margaret’s Chicago conduct major orchestras beyond memorized the symphony. At the George Washington Symphony Chorus began the CSO—including the National end of the 80-minute perfor- rehearsals in October 1957. Symphony Orchestra, the St. mance, she received a standing After completing a Just one month later, the Louis Symphony Orchestra, ovation. Asked about the feat by master’s degree in biol- ensemble made its debut backed the Oregon Symphony and the The New York Times, Margaret ogy, Mary conducted by the full orchestra. Reiner led Minnesota Orchestra. was all confidence. “All I did was research on blood the group first, but after intermis- One of her most dramatic my job,” she said. “There’s only plasma, focusing on effi- sion, Margaret took the podium, moments at the podium came one woman I know who could cient and safe storage of becoming the first woman to by accident. At a 1977 Carnegie never be a symphony conductor, donated blood. In 1942, conduct the CSO. Hall concert, conductor and that’s the Venus de Milo.” she tried to join the U.S. Navy’s newly formed WAVES. But the surgeon general told Mary he could not spare her. Later Agriculture and the food industry contribute that year, she commis- more than $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy. sioned as a lieutenant That’s one-sixth of the gross national product, and continued her accounting for 17% of the nation’s jobs. With work in blood research. only a seven-day supply of meat in the sup- By 1950, she became ply chain at any one time, a viral or bacterial the Navy’s first female threat to livestock would quickly escalate into medical officer. As a empty store shelves. Enter Martha “Marty” commander during the Vanier, Kansas State, director of the National Korean War, she flew to Agricultural Biosecurity Center (NABC), who combat zones to oversee has made it her life’s work to keep such a sce- shipments of blood and nario from happening. collaborated with top Marty is the senior program manager for the National U.S. doctors to improve Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, where she and her team the transport of whole conduct research, develop vaccines, and provide diag- blood in plastic because nostic tools to protect against threats to the food supply. it’s light weight. Marty says it’s only natural that she was drawn to After the war, Mary her career path. “Growing up in Kansas was critically worked to develop frozen important to shaping my life and career,” she says. “I INITIATED 1975 blood products. was always interested in ranching and production Her research is still operations, which gave me valuable knowledge about FOOD CHAIN cited today. on-the-ground issues.” —STACY FLANNERY, Drake CHAMPION — KRISTIN SANGID, Georgia Southern archives kappa rom left: claire geno;

< 2006 Convention 2007 Eta Kappa Chapter is < 2008 is held in Salt founded at Knox College. Convention is Lake City. Eta Lambda Chapter is founded at held in Phoenix. Denise Rugani, Loyola University Chicago. UC Davis, is Eta Mu Chapter is founded at elected President. the University of California, Santa Cruz.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 87 INITIATED 1992 INITIATED 1948 Successful Second Act Anthropologist and archeologist Jane Stevenson Day on-ramped her way to become the first female chief curator of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

By Meg Butler, North Carolina SWEET TOOTH

Katrina ane Stevenson Day, around the exhibit halls—not was the world’s largest exhi- Markoff Colorado College, was to mention being paid for her bition of Aztec treasures, Vanderbilt the first female chief services. Jane worked her way revealing important clues about curator of the Denver up from part-time curator to the people who inhabited the After moving to Paris J Museum of Nature and full-time curator, and a few Valley of Mexico more than to study culinary arts at Science. Her path was anything years later, she was promoted 500 years earlier. Jane designed Le Cordon Bleu, Katrina but standard: Instead of start- the exhibit to make visitors Markoff, founder of ing out as a student, she started feel like part of ancient Aztec Vosges Haut-Chocolat, out as a volunteer. society by having them figura- set out on a world tour. As a mother of four daugh- tively walk from the outskirts of As she followed her ters, Jane hadn’t pursued a Tenochtitlan to the town center palate across cultures career outside the home while at the Templo Mayor. and countries, Katrina her children were young. But “Previous exhibits of Aztec discovered chocolate as as they grew, her volunteer artifacts have focused on aes- a powerful medium. work at the museum began thetic value alone,” Jane told “Chocolate is so versa- to pique her interest, and she The Associated Press. “No other tile,” she told the Robb eventually began taking classes exhibit has placed the objects in Report. “It can range in in anthropology. As an older their cultural context.” Spread its applications from woman who had not been part an impressive 35,000 square feet bitter to savory to sweet of the “working world,” Jane had and featuring over 300 objects, and beyond.”Today, her difficulty being accepted to a “Aztec” was seen by over brand—named one of graduate program. And once she 720,000 people.

National Geographic’s was accepted—at the University Jane retired in 1995 as chief from left: vosges haut-chocolat; denver museum of nature & science Top Ten Chocolatiers in of Colorado—she had to drive 70 to chief curator. Of key impor- curator emerita, but she contin- the World—boasts four miles round trip each day from tance to Jane was immersing ued her involvement with the Chicago-based stores her home to attend classes. the museum’s visitors in a museum, helping with its travel offering hand-crafted Jane finished her doctor- setting or a culture. program, lectures and continu- chocolates that are ate in 1984, specializing in Perhaps Jane’s best-known ing education program. organic and sustainably the Mesoamerican studies of project was a 1992 exhibit She also consulted as a produced. “I’ve always the ancient New World with called “Aztec: The World of curator for other museums and said it’s the most pow- an emphasis on the art and Moctezuma,” curated from continued to lecture, research erful word in the food archaeology of Costa Rica. items loaned by the Templo and write while encouraging dictionary because when After several trips to do field Mayor Museum and the mothers looking for a second you say ‘chocolate,’ peo- research in Costa Rica, Jane Mexican National Museum of act after raising children— ple always gasp,” she says. landed back where she’d Anthropology—both in Mexico always noting their maturity —MADISON SYKES, Loyola started: the Denver Museum of City—and the National Museum and the wealth of skills they Nature and Science in 1985. of the American Indian at the acquired in their roles as moth- But this time, she was doing Smithsonian Institution in ers, household managers more than showing tourists Washington, D.C. The exhibit and volunteers.

2009 Eta Nu Chapter is 2010 Total Membership: < 2010 Convention is held founded at Santa Clara. 233,990. Number of in Phoenix. Julie Leshay, Eta Xi Chapter is founded Chapters–136; Number of Colorado College, is at the University of Alumnae Associations–424. elected President. California, Merced.

88 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE INITIATED 2019 INITIATED 1896 INITIATED 1911 CHARGING FORWARD

The first woman to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1919, Edith Clarke, Wisconsin, worked as a licensed professional engineer among all-male colleagues at General PAST MASTER Electric, where she specialized in electric power. THOROUGHLY MODERN As America expanded west, longer transmission lines FIRST LADY Kristen meant system instability. Mathematical models of the day Gwinn- only applied to small systems, but Edith developed a tech- Lou Henry nique that could analyze larger systems. Her breakthroughs Hoover Becker contributed to GE’s effort to build the first transcontinental Stanford Alpha Iota telephone line from New York to California. Her patented Clarke Calculator enabled engineers to solve quickly and When Lou Henry Kristen is on a accurately analyze power grid data—a key step in developing Hoover became first lady mission to save history— and building the smart grid technology we rely on today. of the United States in and to give it a future. In 1948, Edith was the first female fellow elected to the 1929, the expectations Most historical resources American Institute of Electrical Engineers. She retired were clear: be unseen, are housed in libraries from GE and took a teaching position at the University of unheard and uninvolved. and archives. Even those Texas, becoming the first female engineering professor in Instead, Lou modernized that are digitized aren’t the U.S. “There is no demand for women engineers, as such, the role. The first first easy to use. “If it isn’t as there are for women doctors,” she told The Daily Texan. lady to speak on the accessible,” Kristen says, “But there’s always a demand for anyone who can do a good radio, her radio broad- “it’s as good as lost.” piece of work.” —MADISON SYKES, Loyola casts from 1929–33 advo- That’s why she founded cated for volunteerism HistoryIT in 2008,cre- and discussed her sup- ating digital archives port of the Girl Scouts, an backed by elaborate organization that she had search architectures served as president from that make materials 1922–25 and 1935–37. discoverable. Kristen’s A strong advocate of uni- firm has digitized the versal suffrage—ratified archives of the National nine years before her hus- Baseball Hall of Fame band took office—Lou and Museum and Kappa urged women to exercise Kappa Gamma—just to their right to vote. “Bad

name two notable cli- men are elected by good ents. “What we’re build- women who stay at home ing is big,” she says. from the polls on Election “We want to be the Day,” she said in one of Google of history.” her public broadcasts. —KRISTEN DESMOND —TARA MCCLELLAN LEFEVRE, Indiana MCANDREW, Illinois Wesleyan archives; cheong-ah hwang from top: kappa

2010 Eta Omicron 2011 Eta Pi Chapter < 2012 Convention is held in Chapter is founded at is founded at New Jacksonville, Florida. Northeastern University. York University.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 89 INITIATED 1885 CHANGING GEARS

Since she was a young girl, Catherine “Kate” Gleason, Cornell, was fascinated by machines. She was 11 years old when her brother, Tom, died of typhoid fever, and she stepped in to help run her family’s gear-cutting company. Kate had little patience for society’s disapproval, writ- ing in her memoirs: “Girls were not considered as valuable as boys; so I always jumped from a little higher barn and vaulted a taller fence than did my boy playmates, just to prove that I was as good.” Susan B. Anthony gave Kate some advice: “Any advertis- ing is good,” Anthony told her. “Get praise if possible, blame if you have to. But never stop being talked about.” In 1884, Kate became the first woman to study engineer- ing at Cornell. She went to work for Ingle Machine Co. and when it fell into financial trouble, Kate became the first woman appointed as a bankruptcy receiver. She turned the INITIATED 1904 company around, making it profitable in 18 months. In 1918, she was elected president of the First National Bank of East Rochester—the first woman (without the benefit of family ties) to head a national bank. Linguist with a The American Society of Mechanical Engineers made Kate its first woman member, named an engineering school for her (the first named for a woman), and created an award in her honor. Lasting Impact —TARA MCCLELLAN MCANDREW, Illinois Wesleyan Louise Pound was a scholar, an athlete, and a woman ahead of her time

By Katie Mills Giorgio, Drake

distinguished origin and not uniquely created scholar of linguis- by a broader patchwork of tics and literature, merging cultures. For Louise, Louise Pound, the American language was Nebraska, made a living, breathing thing. She AmericaA a subject worth studying. viewed American culture as She spent her life researching something woven together from American folklore, folk songs, conflicting ethnic, national and dialects and popular language. regional cultures. Her work helped to reveal One of her closest friends was

the diverse sources of America’s famed writer Willa Cather. The kappa archives (2) language and legends. She was two women often wrote together the first serious scholar to reject and shared the belief that people and disprove that American in general—and in their view, culture was Anglo-Saxon in Americans in particular—create

2013 Kappa creates its 2013 Five chapters are founded: < 2014 Convention is first social media Eta Rho, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; held in Houston. account (Facebook). Eta Sigma, Chapman; Eta Tau, Beth Black, Illinois Georgetown; Eta Upsilon, Wichita Wesleyan, is State; and Eta Phi, Elmhurst. elected President.

90 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE their stories and their lives by woman president of the Modern wasn’t the only sport Louise INITIATED 1921 drawing on the cultural materials Language Association, the most excelled at. She played center around them. esteemed professional association in Nebraska’s first women’s When Louise decided to in the United States for scholars of basketball game in 1898 and pursue a Ph.D. in 1900, she was language and literature. later managed the team until unable to secure a place in an But Louise wasn’t all brains the university abolished wom- American postgraduate program and no brawn. In fact, she is en’s athletics in 1908. She was due to her gender. Instead, she widely hailed as Nebraska’s first a cyclist, a figure skater and a went abroad, obtaining her sportswoman. In 1890, Louise skier. In 1915, she returned to Ph.D. in philological stud- won the Lincoln, Nebraska, city tennis to win a major doubles ies at Germany’s Heidelberg tennis championship. Wearing championship at age 43. The THE WHOLE SMEAR University in less than a year. an ankle-length skirt (but forgo- next year, she switched to golf, After receiving her Ph.D., ing the customary corset), she winning the first Nebraska Marion Louise returned to the University captured the university’s men’s women’s golf championship. Hilliard of Nebraska and worked as a pro- singles and doubles titles in both Always eager to challenge Toronto fessor in the English department 1891 and 1892—the only female social norms—on the ath- for 50 years. She led courses in in Nebraska history to receive a letic field or in the world of In 1928, Marion American literature, contempo- men’s varsity letter. academia—Louise changed became the third Cana- rary English, and comparative In 1897, Louise was rated the America’s views on women, dian woman to become literature, seeking to pass on her top tennis player in the country academics, sports and—as the a member of the Royal love for language to her students, when she won the Women’s first academic to recognize College of Surgeons. whom she treated as the children Western Championship, American English as a distinct She set up a general she never had. beating both the Canadian and language from the Queen’s practice in Toronto while In 1955, she was elected the first U.S. champions. But tennis English—even itself. also working at nearby Women’s College Hospi- tal. Known for lecturing openly about sex educa- tion, when she addressed INITIATED 1870 When Martha Louisa “Lou” Stevenson began her the women of Victoria studies at Monmouth College, she was the equiva- College, one of them SOCIAL lent of a high school senior. It is said that she was fainted at her feet. Mar- BUTTERFLY asked to join Kappa because she “put up” for the ion propped her up and other Founders during an A.B.L. debate. demanded, “Well, do you Lou was initiated at 15 years old. She is listed on Kappa’s want to hear it from me membership roll as Alpha 6. Lou was not present at the signing or from some man?” of Alpha Chapter’s charter. It was a stormy night, and when Lou In 1947, Marion was could not find her galoshes, her mother forbade her from leaving appointed head of gyne- the house for fear she would ruin her shoes. cology and obstetrics at Kappa’s first Event Chairman, Lou’s home was the site of Women’s College Hos- Kappa’s first social, held on Halloween 1872. She also hosted a pital. There, she helped meeting where the Founders discussed ordering badges, later develop a key test still in recounting how they moved the meeting to the nearby croquet use worldwide today: the grounds because of boys eavesdropping near an open window. pap smear, a first-of-its- Lou’s autograph book, titled Album of Memory, is the only writ- kind method for detect- ten document to survive from Alpha Chapter’s early years. In ing early symptoms of 1932, she lamented the lack of records regarding Kappa’s found- cervical cancer. ing. She wrote, “Forty years is a long time to remember what did — KRISTEN DESMOND not seem so very important at that time.” LEFEVRE, Indiana –KYLIE TOWERS SMITH, Simpson college hospital archives; women’s from left: kappa

< 2014 Fraternity < 2016 Convention is held 2016 Eta Chi Chapter Council creates a in San Diego. is founded at North Loyalty Award pin Carolina State University. to be given to honored recipients.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 91 INITIATED 1942 INITIATED 1947 Sentinel for SIDS Mary Shuham Dore turned family tragedy into a triumph for parents and babies everywhere

By Kristen Desmond LeFevre, Indiana ABOVE PAR

Peggy octors left wondering why. Combing decided it was time to do some- Kirk Bell couldn’t give the obituaries in newspapers thing. “We were in a situation Rollins Mary Shuham published across the Seattle where these sudden unexplained Dore, Whitman, area, Mary looked for entries of deaths had been occurring … yet Peggy was hardly a clear picture unexplained infant deaths and no one was doing any research,” a natural golfer. The first ofD what had happened when soon learned that between 30 Mary said in an interview with her three balls she hit landed her three-month-old daughter, and 50 cases of crib death hap- alma mater in 2007. “People would in the woods. But by the Christine, died in 1961. At first, pened in the area annually. talk about pneumonia and polio, 1940s, Peggy played on they told Mary that Christine had But Mary’s fact-finding but people avoided talking about the ladies’ amateur tour died from acute pneumonitis—an mission was about more than sudden unexplained infant death.” and turned pro when inflammation of lung tissue. just data. Each time she found Harnessing the power of the Ladies Professional But Mary simply couldn’t a new obituary, Mary would her husband’s influence as a Golf Association was accept that answer. Her daughter track down the family’s phone former state legislator and state founded in 1950. With had never shown signs of breath- number and call them to lend Supreme Court Justice, Mary her husband, Warren ing trouble and hadn’t even had a support. She wanted them to used the channels available to “Bullet” Bell, Peggy cough before she died. Eventually, know they were not alone and her to begin pestering politi- bought North Carolina’s the coroner told Mary something that they were not responsible cians to take action. Pine Needles golf course. shocking: Her daughter didn’t for the deaths of their children. Today, what was once called When Bullet urged her to have pneumonitis, but it was From data to dollars, Mary crib death is known as Sudden give a lesson to a woman medically preferable to record it who had inquired, Peggy that way as opposed to calling it snapped, “I don’t teach, “crib death,” the common term at I play!” But he persisted, the time for unexplainable deaths saying, “You know more of babies. The coroner revealed than she does.” That was that he understood Mary’s pain. the beginning of Peggy’s He and his wife had lost a child to Golfari programs that crib death just a few years earlier. focused on teaching golf A week after the funeral, Mary to women. “Connecting received a sympathy card from a with people and their woman who had seen Christine’s excitement about the obituary. Her own infant son had game keeps me excited,” suddenly died on the same day as Peggy told Golf Magazine Christine. His cause of death was in 2012. “It’s amazing also listed as acute pneumonitis.

where golf takes you.” Mary wanted answers— kappa archives (2) –JUDY DUCATE, not just for what happened Texas Tech to Christine, but for all the babies who had died similar deaths and for all the parents

2017 Eta Psi Chapter < 2018 Fraternity < 2018 Convention is founded at Headquarters moves is held in Denver. Pfeiffer University. to Bridge Park in Gail Owen, Monmouth, Dublin, Ohio. is elected President.

92 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)— INITIATED 1962 the sudden death of an infant INITIATED 1939 that cannot be explained by any other cause. According to the CODE BREAKER Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SIDS is one of the leading causes of death in infants one month to 12 months old. Mary’s efforts singlehandedly triggered renewed medical inter- est in crib death. She pushed for ABOVE THE INFLUENCE legislation to establish a central location where all victims could Sharon be autopsied. She raised money Carlson to support research, includ- ing the work of Dr. J. Bruce Wilsnack Beckwith, who ultimately iden- WWII cryptographers like Frances Steen Kansas State tified SIDS. She established the Josephson, Goucher, were key to deciphering SIDS Foundation of Washington the intelligence communications systems used Curious about the and helped make the Children’s by the Germans and the Japanese. In 1942, impact of alcohol on Hospital and Regional Medical Frances accepted a commission as a U.S. Navy women, Sharon dis- Center the largest SIDS research ensign and joined the Women Accepted for covered that the data center in the world. Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES). focused on men. In But no matter how widespread Frances cracked a Japanese code that allowed U.S. 1981, she wrote the first her campaign, Mary always saw intelligence services to decipher messages containing the book about women and her work as a grassroots effort. location of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had alcohol. “It was ground- She was often seen around Seattle organized the attack on Pearl Harbor. U.S. fighters used the breaking for the time in her blue station wagon, placing information from the intercepted communications to shoot saying: Maybe women empty soda cans wrapped with down Admiral Yamamoto’s plane. drink and maybe some labels that read, “Help for the During her service, Frances learned about a Japanese mes- of them drink too much Research of SIDS.” She’d leave sage outlining an impending attack on a Pacific-based ship and maybe we should them at grocery stores for cus- where her brother served as captain. The code was deci- study them,” she says. As tomers to drop in coins, sending phered but delivered too late. Her brother’s ship was hit and a distinguished professor her five children in to collect sunk, but he was one of the few on board to survive. of clinical neuroscience the filled cans and replace them Frances rose through the WAVES’ ranks—from ensign to at the University of with empty ones in memory of watch officer to lieutenant. The code name her cryptogra- North Dakota School of Christine. She continued to scour pher counterpart in the United Kingdom used for Frances Medicine, Sharon has the obituaries for victims of SIDS, was “Pretty Weather.” She requested that the Navy train her uncovered that women reaching out to their families, to fly planes, but when her request was denied, she took les- are at higher risk for the until her passing in 2007. sons to get her pilot’s license on her own. behavioral and The Fred H. and Mary S. After the war, Frances continued work in communi- physiological conse- Dore Charitable Foundation cations intelligence in Washington, D.C., and later at the quences of excessive continues to fund SIDS naval air base in Jacksonville, Florida. Still, she kept her drinking. “Which is research. “I most want the roles as a cryptographer a secret. In fact, her first husband not to say women babies to be accounted for,” died without knowing anything about it. Her son learned shouldn’t drink at all,” Mary said. “Every death must the truth only in 1992 when the Navy declassified the mis- she explains, “but we be looked at. Parents cannot sion. In 2004, the Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association need to be aware of recover without knowing recognized her contributions at a ceremony in Charleston, gender differences.” why. It’s so important that South Carolina. — MEG BUTLER, North Carolina —SUSAN JOHNSTON each occurrence is properly TAYLOR

archives (2) kappa handled and classified.”

2018 Four chapters are founded: Eta < 2019 The Minnie Stewart Van, Omega, Binghamton; Theta Alpha, a mobile museum, brings Kappa Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; and women’s history across North Theta Beta, Illinois State; and Theta America. Alpha Iota Chapter is Gamma, Long Island University, Post. founded for alumna initiates.

GET INVOLVED WWW.KAPPA.ORG | 93 INITIATED 1962 INITIATED 1974 IT’S ALL IN YOUR GENES

Geneticist Cynthia Casson Morton, William & Outstanding Mary, was inspired in seventh-grade when she wrote a research paper on twins. “That really opened that discipline to me,” she says. Enologist The structure of the human genome has been a major Acclaimed winemaker Zelma Reed Long is most focus of Cynthia’s career. As the director of cytogenetics at at home among vines and varietals Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a Harvard Medical School professor, she’s the principal researcher on a project known as SEQaBOO—short for “sequencing a By Kelly Matyas Magyarics, Pittsburgh baby for optimal outcome.” Newborn screenings detect a baby’s ability to hear, but they don’t account for each baby’s unique genetic makeup, which iss for a decade. “He showed the may affect how well a therapy or strategy works. SEQaBOO is Oblivious. American public that wine is the first-of-its-kind whole-genome sequencing for newborns That’s the a culture,” Zelma says. “It is who do not pass their hearing screen. “We want all babies moniker given meant to be enjoyed with food who have genetic deafness to get as early a diagnosis as pos- to Zelma ... and is as artistic an achieve- sible so they can be optimally managed,” Cynthia says. MReed Long, Oregon State, by ment as beautiful music or Around 150 genes are known to contribute to hearing her co-workers at Simi Winery. art.” (For her own part, Zelma loss, but Cynthia says as many as 800 more might play a But it’s a nickname that belies enjoys a chardonnay with soy role. If SEQaBOO can identify the genes during a critical its meaning. Zelma, the first sauce-glazed salmon or a con- window when the brain’s speech and language center is woman to hold a senior man- centrated cabernet alongside developing rapidly, it could help doctors refine care and agement position in a California seared duck breast.) lead to improved outcomes for hearing-impaired infants. winery, refuses to allow the After Mondavi, Zelma served —SUSAN JOHNSTON TAYLOR industry’s sexism to impede as vice president and then pres- her work. “Once a rapport was ident of Simi Winery, planting established and the male wine- new vineyards and instituting maker realized I was sharp and innovative cellar techniques. passionate and curious, the deep In the 1990s, Zelma founded conversations began and gender the American Vineyard faded away,” Zelma explains. Foundation to research enology Zelma is a female pioneer and viticulture, turning her in California wine. After gaze to the potential in other graduating from Oregon State global wine regions beyond in 1965 and a brief stint as a California. Along with husband dietitian, she set off in pur- Philip Freese—himself a pro- suit of a master’s degree in fessional viticulturist—Zelma enology and viticulture at established Vilafonté Wine the University of California, Estate in Paarl, South Africa. Davis—widely regarded as the The duo set aside two decades most renowned winemaking to find a site whose ancient program in the U.S. But she left soils and marine microcli-

to work the harvest at Napa’s mate would result in amazing hwangcheong-ah Robert Mondavi Winery, where Bordeaux-style red blends. she ascended to the role of Their 2006 Series C received chief enologist and crafted a trophy from the 2019 Six wine for the legendary figure Nations Wine Challenge.

2020 Total Membership: 2020 Theta Delta is founded < 2020 Convention is 298,773. Number of at Seton Hall University. canceled due to the Chapters–145. Number of worldwide COVID-19 Alumnae Associations–439. pandemic. Instead, an online General Convention Virtual Business Meeting is held.

94 | KNOWLEDGE | 150TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE With influence in California But—despite her years of wines and South African wines, working with the stuff—she’s Zelma splits her time between still awestruck by wine’s almost Sonoma County and the South mystical nature, as grapes African Cape. She says the express terroir and continue to American wine industry has gone evolve for years in the bottle. from being an “amusing curios- “Working with grapes to bring ity” to a world leader in the span out their best, to tease it out, is of 30 to 40 years—and notes that like working with small chil- factors including climate change dren to facilitate their growth and consolidation will continue to as individuals,” she says. “It affect the industry. is magical.”

INITIATED 1966 OCEAN CRUSADER

Marine ecologist and environmental scientist, Jane Lubchenco, Colorado College, has been nick- named the “bionic woman of good science” for her extensive research on biodiversity, rocky seashore ecology, and the human impact on the ocean. Jane served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and became the first female administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In this role, she managed the cleanup of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and implemented a congressional mandate to end overfishing in U.S. waters. In 2014, she became the U.S. State Department’s first Science Envoy for the Ocean, serving as a science diplomat to China, Indonesia, South Africa, Mauritius, and the Seychelles. Today, Jane is a distinguished professor and marine stud- ies adviser to the president at Oregon State University. Her research has evolved from identifying the basic patterns of the oceans to studying how people can be better stewards of them. “Both social and ecological systems can change rapidly, and that gives me hope we can fix the problems,” she told Hakai Magazine in 2020. “It’s a constant dance between urgency and hope.” —RACHEL B. LEVIN leighton archives; joy kappa

< 2020 Virtual Initiations are held < 2020 A Sesquicentennial for the first time for chapters with celebration began with the spring 2020 Initiations. virtual business meeting and continued through Founders Day 2020. Happy 150!

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E. Rose Gold Badge with enamel letters, #0101 | F. Rose Gold Pearl Badge, #0102 | G. Rose Gold Pearl Badge with enamel letters, #0107 | H. Sapphire Badge, #0123 | I. Double Sapphire Badge, #0120 | J. Plain Badge with enamel letters, #0125

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