Hollins University will conduct its 170^th Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 20 at 10 a.m. on the university’s Front Quadrangle.

Elizabeth Kolmstetter, a member of Hollins’ class of 1985 and the deputy associate director of national intelligence for human capital within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in Washington, D.C., is the guest speaker. An industrial and organizational psychologist, she is responsible for developing and implementing innovative and transformational human capital policies, procedures, and programs across the 17 departments and independent agencies that make up the intelligence community. In May 2010, the director of national intelligence awarded the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal to Kolmstetter in recognition of her leadership, contributions, and service. Of note is her contribution as a co-lead of the National Cybersecurity Workforce Initiative commissioned by the White House.

 Prior to joining ODNI, Kolmstetter served as the director for human capital development with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the Department of Homeland Security. She was one of the very first federal employees tapped in January 2002 to be part of the creation of the TSA in the aftermath of 9-11. She was directly responsible for establishing and managing the new standards and hiring system that resulted in the largest civilian workforce mobilization in U.S. history – the hiring of over 55,000 security screeners at 430 airports across the nation in less than one year. She has been recognized with innovation and leadership awards for her work at the TSA.

 After graduating from Hollins with B.A. degrees in psychology and computer science, Kolmstetter earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Virginia Tech. She is the daughter of Paula Brownlee, who served as president of Hollins from 1981 to 1990.

The communication studies major and dance minor from Clinton, North Carolina, was crowned Miss Commonwealth on April 13 in Roanoke and is now preparing to vie for the title of Miss Virginia during the week of June 25, also in Roanoke.

Coble has been involved with pageant competition since elementary school, but notes her family has always given her the choice of continuing to participate in pageants or engaging in other pursuits. “I competed for two or three years, off and on, but my mom made sure my sister and I enjoyed our youth and got involved with sports or other activities if we wanted,” she explains. “She encouraged us to make our own decisions about competing again. I started back my junior year in high school and won my high school’s pageant, but then I took another break because I wanted the time to adjust to college. I got into it again this year and now I’m thrilled to be Miss Commonwealth.”

Coble competed against 12 other young women from across Virginia in interview, swimsuit, talent, and evening gown categories to win Miss Commonwealth, which she says is “a sweeps pageant for anyone who has competed in any other regularly scheduled pageant during the year. The Miss Commonwealth pageant is held on the last weekend you can qualify to compete for Miss Virginia.”

 Coble took part this year in the Miss Smith Mountain Lake, Miss Lynchburg, and Miss Roanoke Valley pageants, and while they entailed a lot of work, she says the knowledge she gained was invaluable. “Those were kind of my practice pageants to get back into the swing of things. I learned a lot, especially from the other contestants who had much more experience. You have to have endurance – it’s not something you can start preparing for two weeks ahead of time. You have to be in the gym every day, you have to keep up with current events, and you have to be committed to your talent and focusing on making it the best you can, because you only get a minute and thirty seconds to show the judges what you can do.”

Coble is drawing on her dance minor for the talent portion of the Miss Virginia pageant. “I’ll be performing a jazz dance to Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ mixed with Alicia Keys’ part in ‘Empire State of Mind.’ It’s classic with a twist of modern, which I think Miss Virginia and Miss America are seeking. It used to be glamour, poise, and grace, but nowadays, I think it’s more about being approachable and a real person that women can relate to, no matter what their age.”

Coble emphasizes the importance of finding a platform you truly believe in and pursuing it with a passion. Her cause is teen pregnancy prevention. “I’ve had a lot of friends and young girls I’ve mentored growing up who have ended up pregnant. Watching them and helping them through that situation makes my heart ache. We have an epidemic of teen pregnancy right now.” She adds she’s always enjoyed doing community service in general, and at Hollins she lives in Sandusky Service House, which is devoted to fostering service learning opportunities and community service projects.

During her first year at Hollins, Coble got to know senior Hannah Kiefer, who was Miss Virginia 2007. She looks forward to talking to Kiefer about this year’s competition. “I know she’ll definitely be of help because she’s a Hollins sister. I’ll be working with a lot of the same people who prepared her.”

If Coble is crowned Miss Virginia, she says she will have to take a year’s leave from Hollins because fulfilling her duties will be a full-time job. In the meantime, she relishes the opportunities she has as Miss Commonwealth to dispel some of the misconceptions about pageant competition. “It’s not about what size you are or how beautiful you are, it’s who you are. You have to be yourself and you have to be true to yourself.”

Photo Credit: Rick Myers

Brown, from Troy, Virginia, topped riders from the University of Colorado, Penn State, Cornell University, Boston University, and the University of Connecticut to win the Intermediate Equitation Over Fences (Individual) competition.  Her victory represents the first time a Hollins rider has won a national title in this class.

Hensly, who hails from Virginia Beach, won the Walk Trot Canter Equitation (Individual) competition, defeating riders from Penn State, Miami University, Colgate University, the University of Georgia, Virginia Tech, and Xavier University.

 Junior Emma Lane Poole of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, also delivered a standout performance, taking third place in Open Equitation Over Fences.

Founded in 1967, the IHSA encompasses 29 Regions in nine Zones with more than 300 member colleges in 45 states and Canada. The organization represents more than 6,500 riders.

“You get email after email and there’s nothing special or personal about them most of the time,” she explains. “But having something I could touch from my family helped make the transition to going to school in Virginia easier for me.”

 The experience motivated Hargreaves to become an avid letter writer herself, and now she is hoping to inspire others to take up or resume the practice of handwriting personal letters to family and friends. She’s created a Facebook campaign called “Write a Letter Day” and is inviting people of all ages from across the nation to simply write and mail a letter to someone else on April 30.

“I like getting letters and I know other people like getting letters,” she says. “On ‘Write a Letter Day’ people can write whatever they want, even if it’s just ‘Hi, I miss you.’ That’s enough. Getting that piece of mail is exciting – ‘Oh look, real handwriting on the envelope’ – as compared to just receiving a bill or junk mail.”

Hargreaves began planning “Write a Letter Day” in early 2012. “I thought about why letter writing has fallen out of fashion and I’m sure it’s because of all the technology that’s available. Technology is great, but it just takes away from that thing you can hold in your hands and say that person also touched this piece of paper. That meant a lot to me and I wanted other people to have that experience.”

Hargreaves says she chose April 30 as the date for “Write a Letter Day” to allow enough time to get the word out and because she felt it would be an easy date to remember. Since April 30 falls on a Monday, it would also give people the entire preceding weekend to write a letter. “I’ve invited over 3,000 people to take part and right now about 500 have expressed interest in participating. I’m encouraging everyone to put ‘Write a Letter Day 2012′ on the envelope so the post office can see what’s going on.”

While Hargreaves not surprisingly has seen more interest from the older generation in “Write a Letter Day” (“I received letters from two 82-year-old women a couple of weeks ago and they were just really grateful I decided to do this”), she says she has heard from lots of parents who want to get their children involved. “There are younger people who are recognizing the importance of letter writing and want to try to bring it back as well.”

Nevertheless, Hargreaves admits “Write a Letter Day” is just a first step in making the art popular once again. “I think the fascination with the archaic is still there, but we’re still getting such a flood of new technologies. Until that starts slowing down, I don’t think we’re going have that true interest come back.” She adds she realizes the irony of using social media to draw attention to a form of communication it has helped marginalize, but notes Facebook is simply the fastest, easiest, least expensive way of reaching a lot of people.

An English major with a concentration in creative writing, Hargreaves is already planning on conducting another “Write a Letter Day” campaign in October of this year.

Taylor Cannon ’13 and Lindley Taylor ’13 received awards from the VPA’s College Newspaper Contest. Cannon, one of the Columns’ co-editors-in-chief last fall, earned second place in the category of editorial writing. Taylor, who last year regularly submitted illustrations and editorial cartoons to the Columns, won third place in the illustration category.

According to its Web site, the VPA “champion[s] the common interests of Virginia newspapers and the ideals of a free press in a democratic society.” The association sponsors one of the country’s largest news contests, drawing more than 5,000 entries each year.

Hollins University and Cycle Systems, one of the region’s largest recyclers, are celebrating Earth Day with a comprehensive electronic recycling event on Saturday, April 21 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center.

Volunteers from the Hollins community, including members of the lacrosse and swim teams and the Student Government Association, will be providing safe and environmentally friendly disposal and recycling at the event, which welcomes consumer electronics, hand-held devices, kitchen and beauty appliances, tools and more.

Drop-offs are free, but there is a $5 charge for each television and monitor because of the cost it takes to recycle the equipment properly.

When arriving at Cycle Systems, cars will form a line and recyclers will be asked to complete a form showing the material they want to scrap. Cash or check will be collected for monitors and televisions.

All equipment is destroyed and recycled in an environmentally sound manner by a fully permitted recycling facility. Equipment is manually and mechanically disassembled; shredded into small pieces of metals, plastics, and glass; and separated into reusable commodity streams used to manufacture new materials.

All storage devices are completely destroyed by mechanical shredding. No equipment is reused in any manner. Cycle Systems recommends that you back up and erase all existing data on any equipment. Once equipment has been collected at the event, it will be destroyed and cannot be returned.

Accepted items for the event include:

• Keyboards and computer mice
• Printers (no toner or ink)
• Cameras
• Scanners
• Fax machines
• Phones (all types)
• Routers
• External hard drives
• Caddies
• Optical drives
• Wires and cables
• Copiers
• Switches
• Hubs
• Networking equipment
• Battery backups without battery
• Power generators
• Test equipment
• Laptops
• Typewriters
• Adding machines
• Pagers
• PDAs
• Remote controls
• Gaming stations
• Record players/stereo equipment (no wood)
• Speakers (no wood)
• Amplifiers
• Radios
• Hand-held mixers
• Food processors
• Blenders (no glass)
• Electric knives
• Toasters and toaster ovens
• Microwaves
• Hair dryers
• Razors
• Curlers and curling irons
• Hair clippers
• Hand tools
• Saws
• Drills

In addition, Cycle Systems will accept mixed paper, cardboard, newspapers, plastics (except #6) and appliances.

Not accepted:

• Hazardous material of any type
• Oil heaters unless oil is removed
• Wood
• Equipment with radiation
• PCB ballasts
• Liquids
• Ceramics (lamps)
• Light bulbs
• Smoke or CO2 detectors
• Rubber
• Cracked or broken CRT screens
• Styrofoam
• Contaminated equipment of any kind

 A news release from The Princeton Review says the guidebook “profiles institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.” The Princeton Review created the guide in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council.

 The Guide to 322 Green Colleges praises Hollins for developing a strategic plan for carbon neutrality, composting food waste, and installing energy meters in academic buildings and residence halls to monitor energy use, but devotes its biggest acclaim to the “talented students [who] are the heart of Hollins University’s commitment to sustainability….[T]he achievements of students themselves will blow you away.” The guide salutes Hollins students for their assistance in installing solar panels at the Dana Science Building, carrying out carbon reduction projects on campus, designing a wetland restoration project, and developing a native plant database for landscaping purposes. And, the Hollins Community Garden “testifies to the commitment of the gifted students of Hollins to a sustainable world.”

 The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges is available online for free and can be downloaded at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide and www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide.

 “The HSC is a setting for the university community to come together to showcase and celebrate scholarly and creative undergraduate work,” says Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Jill Weber, who along with Dean of Students Patty O’Toole coordinated the conference. “The conference scope is broad and will feature a variety of podium presentations, poster presentations, and performances from across the disciplines. Awards will be given for the top presentations and performances.”

All current Hollins undergraduate students were invited to apply to present at the conference; 35 students will take part and five of those will present more than one original work. The conference will be divided into three sessions with the following overarching themes:

Session 1: • The Politics of Memory: Heroism, Patriotism, and American History • The Global Village: Politics, National Identity, and Expression • Looking Out/Looking In: Reflection, Self-Actualization, and Cooperation • Battling Binaries: Gender, Identity, Sex, and Society

Session 2: • Digging Up the Past: Gender, God, Graves, and Gold • A Populace Divided: Capital Punishment, Abortion, and Presidential Elections • Gender at the Intersections: Power, Representation, and Media • Poster Presentations

Session 3: • Marketing Health: Rhetoric, Oppression, and Advocacy • Poster Presentations • Performances

“Presenting at the HSC provides many advantages in addition to competing for awards,” Weber notes. “Students will be acquiring valuable professional and presentational skills for graduate school or their careers, building their resumés, and gaining important feedback about their work.”

The HSC is sponsored by the Baylies Willey Endowment. Attendance is open to the entire Hollins community as well as friends, family, and other guests of the student presenters, and also the general public. For more information, visit the conference website.