Wheaton College Massachusetts Alumni Association

“ Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart” -Elizabeth Andrew
Thank you volunteers for your time and all you do for Wheaton.

2022 Pay It Forward Challenge

🎉Wheaton's Pay It Forward Challenge is underway 🎉

Since the launch last Friday, the Challenge Fund has already matched over $110,000 from more than 200 donors!

Donate today before the dollar-for-dollar match runs out: https://www.givecampus.com/f9dkeb

2022 Pay It Forward Challenge I just had my donation matched dollar-for-dollar through Wheaton's 2022 Pay It Forward Challenge!

Throwback Thursday 🎓

Take a stroll down memory lane and check out a few photos of our alumni who are celebrating a reunion this year!

Pictures 1-2: Class of 1947 [75th Reunion]
Pictures 3-4: Class of 1952 [70th Reunion]
Pictures 5-6: Class of 1957 [65th Reunion]

Don't forget to register for Reunion Weekend 2022!
Link to register: https://bit.ly/WCReunion2022

🚨 Giveaway Closed 🚨

As great weather is upon us, we are getting ready to "lounge in the dimple," one of our community's favorite pastimes! Whether you are on campus or the other side of the country, you have the opportunity to win a 🌤️Wheaton Day-on-the-Dimple🌤️ bundle to showcase your Wheaton pride.

The rules are easy!
1. Like or follow our Wheaton College Massachusetts Alumni Association page.
2. Like this post.
3. Tag your Wheaton friends!

Enter by 9 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 21, to win. The winner will be picked at random. Best of luck!

🌤️Wheaton Day-on-the-Dimple🌤️ bundle includes: Wheaton branded blanket, umbrella, hot/cold tumbler, inflatable neck pillow, journal, car plate frame, decal, and Wheaton M&Ms!

Save the date for one of the most inspiring days in Wheaton's history. One hundred eighty-seven years ago—on April 22—the Wheaton Female Seminary opened its doors to its first 50 students.

In honor of 187 years of transforming lives, 40 generous alumni, parents, and friends have established the 2022 Pay It Forward Challenge Fund that will match donations made through the Wheaton Fund dollar-for-dollar—up to $187,000!

Learn more: https://www.givecampus.com/okstgj

Join Wheaton faculty for a virtual panel on what is happening in Ukraine on 4/19 @ 6 pm. Register Now: https://cvent.me/r04wAE

Alumna praises Wheaton in Boston Globe

Alumna—Christine Koh ‘95—praises Wheaton College Massachusetts in the Boston Globe.

We always appreciate hearing from fellow alumni about how Wheaton has impacted their personal and professional career growth!

Share with us in the comments how your experience made an impact on your life 💙

Alumna praises Wheaton in Boston Globe The official news source for Wheaton College (MA). Read articles about students, faculty, alumni, staff and all the exciting things happening here every day.

: Evelyn Danzig Haas

Evelyn Danzig Haas, Wheaton trustee from 1977 to 1989, had a passion for sports and recognized the importance of athletics at Wheaton.

Haas Athletic Center, built in 1991, was named in honor of Evelyn Danzig Haas. Evelyn and her husband, Walter, donated $4 million to the athletic center. In 1991, she was interviewed by the Wheaton Alumnae Magazine:

“The center is going to make a difference in the spirit on campus, and in the college’s admission of men and women… As an individual, succeeding at a sport gives you a feeling of fulfillment. Sports are also a way to share something, to meet others.” said Haas.

Haas was also a trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and a member of the San Francisco Wheaton Club. She was an important catalyst in the college’s effort to keep a Wheaton presence alive on the west coast.

: Caroline Cutler Metcalf

Mrs. Caroline Cutler Metcalf, principal at Wheaton from 1850-1876, was one of the few truly historically influential members of the Wheaton community. Hired in 1850, she remained at Wheaton for 26 years, providing superior leadership. During her tenure, she significantly strengthened Wheaton’s faculty, curriculum, and enrollment and inspired rapid and significant growth in student enrollment.

Mrs. Metcalf was an innovator in education. She created teacher training and correspondence courses, which proved helpful for alumnae and students planning to become teachers, since this was one of the few careers open to educated women during the 19th century. In the 1870s, she also agreed to register young men from Norton in the regular Seminary program. This unusual step was taken because Norton lacked any other means to prepare young men for entrance to college. She had a knack for discovering and keeping excellent educators. These teachers, such as Lucy Larcom, Mary Jane Cragin, and Clara Pike, were responsible for establishing impressive educational programs in literature, math and science that became widely recognized as innovative and inspired departments across New England.

: Professor Emerita Hilda Geiringer

Professor Emerita Hilda Geiringer, born in Vienna to Jewish parents, was a pioneer in applied mathematics and as a woman in the field. She was the first woman to teach applied mathematics at a German university, and she mentored a large number of Wheaton students in pursuing advanced studies in math during the 1940s and 50s.

She came to the United States in 1939, after being forced to leave Germany with her young daughter due to the growing Nazi threat. She took an unpaid position at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania while she searched for a university position. Eventually, in spring 1944, she was hired as a math professor by Wheaton College, under the leadership of President J. Edgar Park.

While at Wheaton, she published more than 80 articles, reviews and books on pure and applied mathematics, and during World War II, Geiringer conducted classified research for the National Defense Research Council. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1955, and was also a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Mathematical Society and other similar groups.

She retired from Wheaton in 1959, earning the title of professor emerita, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the college the following year.

Save the date! ⛳

The 13th annual Lyons Athletic Club Golf Tournament is scheduled for Monday, June 13, at Blue Hill Country Club in Canton, MA.

Registration coming soon!

: Shio Sakanishi

Shio Sakanishi, Class of 1925, was the first Japanese student at Wheaton. She was a prolific essayist, author and lecturer.

Born in Oiso, Japan, near Tokyo, Shio purposely sought out an American college where there were no other Japanese students. While a student here, she gained renown for her speaking role at a conference on women writers at Mount Holyoke College, where she announced her intention to translate a biography of Mary Lyon into Japanese.

She went on to obtain a PhD in Aesthetics and Literature from the University of Michigan in 1929 and became a specialist in Japanese literature at the Library of Congress’ Division of Orientalia. She was the first Japanese citizen to be appointed there. During World War II, she assisted Kenneth Langdon and “Wild Bill” Donovan of the Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner to the CIA, in their attempts to gather strategic information on Asia for the war effort. She went on to participate in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Councilors of the Japanese National Diet, the National Public Safety Commission and the Broadcasting Review Board of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).

Rose Weaver ’73 returns to the stage at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI, to perform in the production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. Weaver will play the role of Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old former slave and the matriarch of the household on 1839 Wylie Avenue.

The show is currently running at Trinity Rep until March 27. Wheaton's Visiting Assistant Professor in Theatre and Dance, Joe Wilson Jr, is also cast in the show as Caesar. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3tjBPQS

Wheaton community responds to Ukraine crisis

The Wheaton community is finding constructive ways to better understand, process and respond to the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine through various campus events and initiatives led by students, faculty and staff. https://bit.ly/3tv9yXw

Wheaton community responds to Ukraine crisis The official news source for Wheaton College (MA). Read articles about students, faculty, alumni, staff and all the exciting things happening here...

www.pbc.guru

Today is National Read Across America Day! If you are looking for new reading recommendations or a place to chat about books with other members of the community, consider joining the Wheaton College Book Club!

Beginning on March 18, the club will read and discuss the book The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. Sign up today! https://www.pbc.guru/wheaton

www.pbc.guru

: Alice Frey Emerson

In 1975, Wheaton named its first woman president, Alice Frey Emerson. During her 16-year tenure, President Emerson continued the tradition of campus improvement and curricular innovation. In her first year, she instituted a Budget Advisory Group and a Long-Range Planning Committee to tackle a deficit and set goals and priorities. The changes around campus included a major addition to the Library (1979-80), a complete renovation of Wheaton’s oldest building, Mary Lyon Hall (1983) and the renovation of the Student Alumnae Building into the Balfour-Hood Student Center (1986).

During her tenure, Wheaton achieved national recognition as a pioneer in the development of gender-balanced curricula, and overseas faculty internships became the cornerstone of Wheaton’s Global Awareness Program.

In 1985, Wheaton awarded Emerson an honorary degree and the gymnasium in the Haas Athletic Center was named in honor of President Emerson upon her retirement from Wheaton.