Alumnae Association hosts 42nd annual Achievement Awards ceremony

The College's Alumnae Association presented Alumnae Achievement Awards to Marilyn Crandall Jones '70, Sarah Milledge Nelson '53, Reena Raggi '73 and Susan Wunsch Rice '67 during a ceremony in the Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall on Thursday.  The award is the highest honor given to alumnae for excellence and distinction in their fields of endeavor, according to the Alumnae Association.  

The only "typical path" that recipients of the award forge is the one they pursue through their passion and drive, President Kim Bottomly said.

The awards have been presented annually since 1970.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton '69, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright '59 and journalist Diane Sawyer '67 are previous recipients of the award.

The Alumnae Achievement Award Committee accepts nominations from both alumnae and non-alumnae of anyone who attended Wellesley as a degree candidate.  Nominations include detailed information about the background of the candidate, a description of her achievements and contact information of colleagues who are asked to write confidential letters of recommendation.  The committee considers candidates through several deliberation cycles.  The nominee's file is then up for review in the Alumnae Office.  Karen Gentleman '77, the president of the Alumnae Association, presented the awards.

Marilyn Crandall Jones '70, the first recipient, is an award-winning clinical geneticist.  She majored in art history at Wellesley and earned her M.D. at Columbia University. Jones also received the Alumnae Association's inaugural Master Clinician Award as part of her Achievement Award.

"It's very humbling," Jones said.  "Three of the people I respect most in the world have gotten this award."  Jones cited Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Judy Hall '61 as her role models.  Hall, also a clinical geneticist, nominated Jones for the award.

Jones has been the Director of the Genetics and Dysmorphology Department at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego since 1979.  She specializes in the treatment of cleft lip and palate.  Jones is the first physician to simultaneously be the president of the Western Society for Pediatric Research, the American College of Medical Genetics and the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.  Jones also regularly travels to Mexico to train medical professionals and care for locals.

Sarah Milledge Nelson '53 is a scholar of gender in archeology, a field of study she "provoked," according to Gentleman '77.  She majored in Biblical history at Wellesley and then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.  Nelson has written over 150 publications.  "She changed the paradigm of archeological research," Gentleman said.

Before she went to graduate school, Nelson and her children followed her husband, an army physician, around the world.  But a Wellesley alumna pushed her to continue her education when she asked in a letter, "Why are you wasting your talents?"

Nelson had thought she'd "lost [her] brain in a diaper pail," but she hadn't.  She went on to pursue field archeology in South Korea.

 Nelson spent 30 years at the University of Denver, where she was Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Vice Provost for Research, Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research and Chair of Women's Studies.  

Reena Raggi '73 has served as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2002.  She was also the first woman appointed as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.  She majored in history at Wellesley and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Raggi has managed cases including the terrorist plot to bomb a Brooklyn subway train in 1997, the retrial of one of the former police officers accused of violating the civil rights of Abner Louima and the freighter intentionally grounded by human smugglers off the coast of Brooklyn, according to the Alumnae Association.  While at Wellesley, she was a contestant on Jeopardy! and wrote about the United States Constitution for her senior thesis.   

Raggi is "considered one of the premier federal judges of the United States," Gentleman said.  Raggi thanked the faculty and advised current students to take advantage of their time at Wellesley.  "Do not be haphazard about your education," she added.

 Susan Wunsch Rice '67 is "best known for [her] impact as a banker," Gentleman said.  Rice is the managing director of Lloyds Banking Group in Scotland.  She was the first woman to head a UK clearing bank when she was appointed CEO of Lloyds TSB in 2000.

Rice has been called the banker with the "most publicly developed social conscience," according to the Alumnae Association.  She is a founding director of Charity Bank, a non-profit agency that funds charities and volunteer groups.   She is also the director of Scottish and Southern Energy.  Rice is also Chair of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.  She started her career in academia as the Dean of Students at Colgate and later became Dean of Saybrook College at Yale.

 "Banking, public policy and the arts are all synchronous for me," Rice said.  She majored in biology at Wellesley and earned a M.A. in literature from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

 Each honoree received an oak leaf pin.  The oak tree represents "the strength, quality, and durability of the College and her alumnae," according to the Alumnae Association.

 "These awards generate something else: bonds among generations of Wellesley women that strengthen us all," Raggi said.  The Blue Notes, one of the College's student-run a cappella groups, and the Wellesley College Choir performed at the ceremony.