MCL A Beacons & Seeds WINTER 2010 maryǒgrant MCLA’s Dynamic Leader Represents Alumni Strengths and Accomplishments Beacons & Seeds WINTER 2010 OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT CONTENTS Marianne Drake From the Offi ce of Institutional Advancement ...............................................1 Chief Advancement Officer President, MCLA Foundation, Inc. Mary Grant: Right from the Start .............................................................................2 Tracy Bassette Reunion .................................................................................................................................8 Systems Coordinator Long time College Alumni Director Retires ....................................................8 Lydia Benyo ’05 Women’s Soccer ...........................................................................................................10 Advancement Office Assistant Athletic Hall of Fame ..................................................................................................11 Ashley Berridge Alumni Association ......................................................................................................12 Conference Coordinator College Alum Receives Prestigious Award.....................................................12 Amey Blackburn ’09 Assistant to the Chief Advancement Officer Class Notes ......................................................................................................................13 Nina Garlington Donor Profi le .........................................................................Inside Back Cover Director of Donor Relations Jocelyn Merrick Director of Annual Giving Interim Director of Alumni Relations ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Marc Morandi ’90 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Advancement Operations Officer Members Beverly A. Low ’84 Adrian Trabakino ’10 Cheryl Starr Boillat ’79, M.Ed. ’97 Hamilton, NY Intern North Adams, MA [email protected] [email protected] George T. Malone ’83 William J. Caprari ’75, M.Ed. ’80 Hudson, MA BEACONS & SEEDS COMMITTEE North Adams, MA [email protected] [email protected] Christina Barrett ’03, Marianne Drake, Steve Green, Alison McGonagle ’05 John McIntyre ’90, Jocelyn Merrick, and Janice Messer Pamela Kenny Connolly ’82 Amesbury, MA Westford, MA [email protected] [email protected] Brandon Pender ’07 MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS Carol Cushenette Corrigan ’76 Allston, MA Adams, MA [email protected] 375 Church Street [email protected] North Adams, MA 01247 Michael A. Reopell ’85 Tony Dolan ’84 North Adams, MA Acton, MA [email protected] 1-888-677-MCLA [email protected] Fax: 413-662-5260 Christine Reynolds Robare ’94 [email protected] David R. Flint ’78 Stamford, VT [email protected] President [email protected] www.mcla.edu/alumni Plymouth, MA [email protected] Alyssa Sporbert ’92 North Adams, MA Cecelia Hamrock Kennedy ’78 [email protected] Madison, NJ [email protected] Andrew Zaback ’80 Farmington, CT On The Cover: President Grant (fourth from the right) greets incoming Cynthia Barrow Kuliga ’63 [email protected] students during Opening Days at the annual hike up Mt. Greylock with Ware, MA Jamal Ahamad ’11, Marcelle Bastille ’09, Esther Fan Fan ’11, Justin [email protected] Members Emeriti Vanderpool ’11, and Ben Warren ’11. Alma Benedetti ’37 Buffy Duringer Lord ’98 North Adams, MA Vice President Beacons & Seeds is published twice a year by Massachusetts North Adams, MA Paul Egan ’67 College of Liberal Arts. Feature writer, Joanna Krotz; Writer, Adrian [email protected] Essex, MA Trabakino ’10; Graphic Design, LAC Design; Photographers, Matt [email protected] Sheehey and Ian Grey; Editor, Jocelyn Merrick. From the Office of Institutional Advancement Dear Alumni: IN NOVEMBER, over 200 friends of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts — including alumni, students, faculty members, trustees, foundation directors, members of the alumni board and community — came together for the College’s 115th anniversary celebration. This truly special event gave us the opportunity to look back at the history of this wonderful institution and to anticipate everything we will achieve in the years to come. In addition to sharing good company and wonderful memories, the celebration raised close to $23,000 to support scholarships for MCLA students. These scholarships help to ensure that today’s students can make the most of the educational experience MCLA offers, both in and out of the classroom. One alumna who knows fi rsthand about the potential of an MCLA degree is President Mary K. Grant ’83. In every issue of Beacons and Seeds, we focus on the accomplishments of a noteworthy member of the alumni community. In this issue, we profi le President Grant. Now in the eighth year of her presidency, she continues to oversee the evolution and transformation of the College. You can read her story on the following page. Thanks to President Grant and the dedicated faculty and staff who work with her, more and more students are coming to MCLA to take advantage of our academic programs, internships, service learning, and undergraduate research projects, and to develop their leadership skills through campus clubs, organizations, and athletic teams. Students know that the College will challenge and support them, and that our cultural programs, lectures, and campus events will refl ect and enhance their academic course work. MCLA’s value and academic excellence continues to attract prospective students and their families. This fall, enrollment was up by nearly 100 students. During Opening Days in September, over 200 students hiked up Mount Greylock. President Grant greeted the hikers at the summit, and invited each of them to face the experiences and challenges ahead of them with the same gusto and commitment they showed on the climb. As applications stream in and enrollment continues to rise, scholarship support has become crucial, especially in these challenging fi nancial times. The Advancement Offi ce has called on alumni, community members, and other friends of the College to dig deep in support of student scholarships through gifts to the Annual Fund. (If you have not already, please make a gift online at www.mcla.edu/giving.) This is an exciting time at MCLA. We are working together to prepare the next generation of innovators, leaders, lifelong learners, or even another future college president. Best wishes for the New Year, Marianne Drake Chief Advancement Offi cer, President, MCLA Foundation, Inc. President Mary K. Grant and Brian Fitzgerald ’75 at MCLA’s 2009 Commencement, where Fitzgerald received an honorary degree. Fitzgerald, executive director of The Business-Higher Education Forum, presented at the campus-wide Strategic Planning Session in 2008. 2 ■ BEACONS & SEEDS maryǒgrant Right from the Start Now in her eighth year as MCLA’s dynamic leader and celebrating the College’s 115th anniversary, President Mary K. Grant represents the strength and accomplishments of so many NASC and MCLA alumni. likeĴanyĴleaderĴworthy of her title, Mary K. Grant, President of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, knows how to recruit, motivate, and inspire. She is as comfortable sharing a story with a student or a cup of coffee with a staff member, as she is cultivating the vision needed to advance the mission and the excellence of the College in spite of declining public dollars. “Mary Grant has an astute knowledge of human nature,” says Matt Harris, a former MCLA Trustee and a managing general partner at Village Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fi rm. “She has a level of empathy that’s off the charts.” No one understands that better than Andy Mick, president of New England Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Berkshire Eagle, and 2009 MCLA graduate. In 2006, Grant approached Mick and asked him to chair the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education. Launched the previous year, the Compact began as a vehicle to support the educational component of the region’s transition from its manufacturing past to its future in technology, innovation, and the creative economy. The goals of the Compact align with the work being done on the local, state, and national levels to reexamine the entire educational pipeline, from early childhood to higher education and lifelong learning. Governor Deval Patrick’s Readiness Agenda refl ects many of the key components of the Berkshire Compact, which harnesses the talent and skills of key academic, business, and political groups to develop training and education that will boost opportunities for young people. Mick, who was fl attered by Grant’s invitation and certainly Commencement is an important time of year as the institution celebrates our newest alumni. eager to serve, felt compelled to say no. He had a secret that he’d President Grant plays a pivotal role, conferring degrees on every one of the graduates. Gladys Byrd and her mother Mary Montgomery both completed the Certifi cate of Advanced Graduate Study harbored for decades: he had never completed his college edu- in education, furthering their careers. cation. At age 60, he couldn’t imagine steering a group focused WINTER 2010 ■ 3 “I’m a believer in public education. I look at what it did for me. I look at what public education does for the students I see here every day at MCLA.” says President Mary K. Grant. on the needs of higher education when he didn’t have a degree “I’m one of six kids,” says Grant, “and I’m a middle child.” himself. “I would classify this as a huge personal inferiority com-