• Fall 2008: An evening with alumna Cynthia Moss '62 discussing her work with the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya.
• Fall potluck 2008 - our annual gathering is always a great event!
• Early in 2009: A visit to the exhibit Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul at the Asian Art Museum led by alumna Anne Adams '73.

Would you like to see an event? Hear a faculty speaker in the area? Email us your suggestions for possible events and let us know if you are interested in organizing!

Some ideas:

• Faculty speaker
• Spring potluck picnic
• Group hike
• Monthly happy hour or game night

• Monthly bookclub meetings
• Shaping the Future of Smith: In March, Carolyn Dundes hosted Smithies for tea and the opportunity to share our ideas about the future of Smith College with President Carol Christ. The discussions with alumnae over the past months have covered how our Smith experience influences our life, work, and values, and the conversations highlight the following:
  • What distinguishes a Smith education?
  • What intellectual abilities should Smith strive to develop in women of the 21st century?
  • How can we shape the college's future so a Smith education continues to produce generations of remarkable women?
  Other Bay Area events with President Christ were held in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Notes for this and other alumnae discussions are posted at www.smith.edu/future/shaping/notes.php.
• Annual theater outing: Live Oak Theater production of Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana in Berkeley, August 12, 2006

Alumnae turned out to hear about cutting-edge women's education in a field still dominated by men, meet Smith alums of all ages and scientific orientation, and of course for the wine, cheese, and dessert.

All of us--not only those of us intimately familiar with high-tech industries--are part of this technological age. Carol Christ was invited to talk about Smith's highly esteemed Engineering program: What is it about? How are Smith women making their mark in fields such as biotechnology, robotics, and computer science? How does research form a bridge between current students and alumnae in the field? This is an exciting field to follow in the coming years, especially as the college takes on the challenge of creating a new, eco-friendly, energy-conserving Engineering building on Green Street.

Many thanks to Lynne Withey for coordinating the receptions.

• Mahnaz Mahdavi, Associate Professor of Economics; Director, Women and Financial Independence
• Randall Bartlett, Professor of Economics
• Roger Kaufman, Professor of Economics

"The main thing I learned," Nancy reported, "was that such a program exists at Smith for current students. It is a very good thing, I think, since so many young people do not know how to handle their money. For myself, I was mainly checking to see if there is something else I should be doing regarding finances, but found that I have pretty much done the right things."

She found the keynote and presentations by the professors to be very well done, but she and Jane found the afternoon small group sessions led by members of various financial institutions to be a waste of time, particularly as some were very opinionated and there was no dialogue. "It would have been better for the faculty members to lead those sessions, too," Nancy thought. Jane would "have broken out topics differently--maybe some more lecture, some get-out-a-pen and write your next steps."