This is my final issue as editor of Hollins magazine. I started the job in January 1993 and have had the privilege of being the magazine’s editor as Hollins changed presidents, programs, and even its name. When I started the job, graphic design was gradually moving from light tables to computers, and sending documents through email seemed an improbable dream. It’s tempting to think we’ve come very far from those nondigital days, and in some ways we have. This e-version of the magazine is just one example of the many additional methods of keeping in touch. The changes in communication are so rapid, however, that it can be dizzying. That’s why the folks who contribute to the magazine share some common values that help us keep our balance: high standards for text (always paramount at Hollins) and design; a belief in collaboration as the key to quality; and a commitment to stay true to the Hollins spirit—which you absorbed while you were here and take with you wherever you go.

This issue is a good one to go out on, in part because it celebrates, starting with the president’s essay, Hollins’ 175^th anniversary. We also look back in the “Then and Now” photo essay and in Brenda McDaniel’s moving article about Hollins’ third president, Bessie Carter Randolph (class of 1912), who bravely navigated the vicissitudes of change during the 1930s and 40s.

Two articles—“Summer Magic,” by Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11, and “From the Outside In”—switch gears to focus on the present: Hollins’ six-week summer programs in children’s literature, playwriting, and screenwriting and film studies; and a rising star in the university’s literary sky, Balli Kaur Jaswal ’04.

I will end this note with bottom-of-my-heart thanks to the many people whose hard work goes into the production of each issue. They will continue to support the magazine’s new editor, Cecelia Crow.

Advisory Board
President Nancy Oliver Gray, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Audrey Stone, Director of Public Relations Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11, Executive Director of Alumnae Relations Nikki Johnson Williams ’98, M.A.L.S. ’13

Contributing Editors
Ann Atkins Hackworth ’82, M.A.L.S. ’95; Mary Ann Harvey Johnson ’67, M.A. ’71; Lucy Lee M.A.L.S. ’85, C.A.S. ’03; Linda Martin; Brenda McDaniel HON ’12; Sharon Meador; Kathy Rucker; Kate Stackpole

Class Letters Editor
Olivia Body ’08

Designers
David Hodge, Sarah Sprigings
Anstey Hodge Advertising Group, Roanoke, VA

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11