Women’s Colleges—Fun Facts and Figures
About.com recently named Mount Holyoke among a few “women’s colleges that have educated some of the finest minds.” Fun Facts they list about MHC: 2,183 students are enrolled at Mount Holyoke and the College boasts a 10:1 student to faculty ratio. In 2011, the Princeton Review reported that Mount Holyoke ranked first in the category of “best classroom experience.” Notable students and alumnae include former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, renowned poet Emily Dickinson, playwrights Wendy Wasserstein and Suzan-Lori Parks, and Frances Perkins, former Secretary of Labor under the FDR administration and… Read More
Women’s education can change the world. 10,000 strong and growing.
What an incredible year it’s been! Over 10,000 in the MHC community have joined our movement, strengthening the global impact of an MHC education. Throughout the year, we’ve celebrated those who are making change in their communities and beyond, sharing stories of the power of women (and one chicken) here on campus and around the world. In case you missed them, here are just a few of the highlights: “If we are to see any change in our world, the women must be involved.” Watch Nobel Peace prize laureate Leymah Gbowee P’16… Read More
Notable women and their alma maters
Although only 2% of women who graduate from college attended a women’s college, graduates of women’s colleges make up 33% of women on Fortune 1000 boards and 20% of women in Congress. 80% of women’s college graduates are strong supporters of their alma mater including serving as trustees, mentoring students and young alumnae, hiring interns and recruiting from their alma mater. And, women’s college graduates are twice as likely as female graduates of co-ed institutions to earn a Ph.D., attend medical school, be involved in philanthropic activities, attain higher positions in their careers,… Read More
A Woman on the $10. #TheNew10
Earlier this year, Women On 20s campaigned for a woman to replace Jackson on the $20 bill, with MHC alum Frances Perkins as one of the nominees. The US Treasury recently announced that a woman will be put on a new $10 bill, set to be unveiled in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who introduced the Women On Twenty Act, said: “Young girls across this country will soon be able to see an inspiring woman on the ten dollar bill who… Read More
“Frances Perkins combined activism with reticent traditionalism, hesitancy, and a puritanical sensibility.”
In The Road to Character, author David Brooks explores good character and human nature through the lives of ten great people, including MHC alum Frances Perkins: If you look back at her college yearbook photo, you see a small, timid young lady. It would be hard to foresee from that vulnerable expression that she would be able to endure so much hardship—the mental illnesses of her husband and daughter, the ordeal of being the solitary woman in a hypermasculine world, the decades of political battles and negative press. But it would also be hard… Read More
Careers in Public Service: MHC’s Lynk goes on the road to the Massachusetts State House
A daylong event at the Massachusetts State House brought current students with an interest in public service together with alumnae working in the field to strengthen their connections and help launch them into careers that will make a difference in the world. Distinguished speakers, Judith Kurland ’67 and Senator Kathleen Connor Ives ’99 (pictured above near center, in green) inspired students with their keynote speeches. In her welcome, President Pasquerella noted the “staggering achievements” of Frances Perkins, class of 1902, saying that “Today, we continue the experience that so galvanized Frances Perkins. We are taking Mount… Read More
MHC’s Frances Perkins on the $20 bill?
This Women’s History Month, we support the national campaign to put a woman on the face of the $20 bill! Women On 20s aims to compel historic change by convincing President Obama that NOW is the time to put a woman’s face on our paper currency. But who should it be? We believe that’s for you, the public, to decide from a slate of 15 inspiring American women heroes. Welcome to the voting booth. Here you may learn things about the candidates you never knew and get your questions answered about the whys… Read More
Who’s Your Mary?
by Rebecca Brenner ’15 Yale legal scholar Adam S. Cohen wrote: “If American history textbooks accurately reflected the past, Frances Perkins would be recognized as one of the nation’s greatest heroes—as iconic as Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Paine. Like Franklin, Perkins was a brilliant self-creation: There had not been anyone like her before and there has not been anyone like her since. Like Paine, Perkins helped to start a revolution.” I grew up reading biographies of Franklin, Paine, and other historical figures, but I did not know much about Perkins until my… Read More
I Joined the Movement. #mhcten
“My life has been forever transformed by my time at MHC! As an FP who just graduated this May (2014), I am now looking toward a future that only a few years ago would have seemed impossible! I am a proud alumna who wants to help make the MHC experience possible for other women on the verge of something spectacular!” – Isolde Maher ’14 #mhcten
$10 Million for MHC 