Even if you haven’t read Hollins’ latest strategic plan, you may have read (or heard) President Gray’s message about the importance of alumnae engagement to the future of the university. One of the first ways strategy was translated into action was last fall’s C3 event, which is the cover story in the winter 2013 issue of the magazine (“C3: How to Get From Here to There”). C3 stands for Career Connection Conference, and it lived up to its name, connecting more than 50 alumnae and 500 students one day last fall. Stay tuned for information about this year’s C3, which will take place on October 10, 2013.

President Gray writes about C3 in her essay and outlines several ways alumnae can help Hollins: by recruiting Hollins students and then helping them find meaningful internships and careers. If you’d like to participate in the alumnae engagement campaign, email alumnae@hollins.edu.

In keeping with one of the themes of C3—and certainly an enduring issue for women—is the essay by Sindhu Hirani Blume ’93: “Can Women Have It All?” According to Blume: yes and no.

The year 2012 was a big one in the lives of several artists featured in this issue (”An Artful Year”). Each woman had a major gallery or museum exhibition during the year. Prepared to be impressed by the range and quality of the work—and by the telling quotations collected by writer Sarah Achenbach ’88.

Last fall, students in the first-year seminar taught by Associate Professor of Biology Morgan Wilson and Hollins Outdoor Program Director Jon Guy Owens were charged with “thinking like a mountain,” a chapter title from Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. The cure for nature deficit disorder, a term coined by author Richard Louv? Get outside and get in touch with wild spaces. Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 wrote the profile of Wilson (“The Cure for Nature Deficit Disorder”).

The third and final article about Hollins and the Civil War (“The Civil War in Southwest Virginia”), this one written by Darlene Richardson ’94, M.A.L.S. ’96, C.A.S. ’99, focuses on Ellen Adair Gooch, whose diary is preserved in the archives of the Wyndham Robertson Library. Ellen writes movingly about her short time at Hollins, the deaths of loved ones, how close the war came to her family home—and, of course—falling in love with the soldier whom she would marry.

Over the years, high school classics teacher Normalee Ash ’00 has given back to her alma mater by sending us prospective students, six of whom have enrolled. The article by Jeff Hodges, “Teaching Hollins to Her Students,” pays tribute to Ash.

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11
Editor