With Hollins Know-How and Connections, Recent Grad Gains Opportunity at Major Strategic Communications Firm

Written by

Just a few months after graduation, Tegan Harcourt ’17 is working with a company globally renowned for strategic planning and communications consultation, thanks to her Hollins experience and the backing of a dedicated alumnae network.

The international business major is a market research associate with New York City’s Berland Strategy & Analytics, which gauges public opinion, attitudes, and behaviors and crafts strategies for businesses and organizations to effectively compete in a range of venues worldwide. Berland has worked with the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as well as such diverse clients as the Estée Lauder Companies, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the National Hockey League.

Harcourt’s journey to Berland began during her senior year at Hollins. “I was looking into what I wanted to do post-grad and there were so many things I was interested in that I wasn’t sure what to prioritize in my search,” she recalls. “But I was fortunate enough to be on the Presidential Search Committee last year as well as a guest member for Hollins Board of Trustees meetings in my role as president of the Student Government Association (SGA).”

Harcourt reached out to the committee and the board and “received an overwhelming amount of help and support. I am so grateful to everyone who contacted their network for me.” Committee member and trustee Alexandra Trower ’86 talked with Harcourt about her interest in market segmentation and her background in cultural studies and politics, and connected her with Berland Strategy & Analytics CEO Mike Berland. Their conversation resulted in an in-person interview in New York City over spring break in March, and “after meeting some of the team and few more phone interviews we worked out plans for a three-month internship with the potential for full-time employment if both sides felt it was a good fit by the end.”

Harcourt started her internship in late June and was “immediately fascinated. It’s a fierce, tight-knit group of intelligent, creative, and dedicated people taking on massive projects with very quick turnarounds. It was really great to start contributing to the work in a meaningful way right from the start.”

To mark her internship’s one-month anniversary, Harcourt’s supervisors took her out to breakfast. “They said it was great having me there to jump on any project that needed help and complimented my willingness to put in the time and effort.” Her supervisors asked her to stay at Berland in a full-time position, two months before the completion of her internship, and she signed her official offer letter on August 11.

In her role as market research associate, Harcourt helps facilitate projects from start to finish, working with conceptualizing and background research and doing everything from field work and data analysis to insight development and suggestions for next steps. “When my supervisor is out of the office, I coordinate the project work flow to make sure everything is moving along as it should,” she explains. “We do quantitative research through surveys and social media analysis and qualitative research with focus groups.”

Harcourt enthusiastically credits Hollins with “propelling me to this opportunity and making me ready and confident enough to accept it. My education in business, Spanish, and women’s leadership is what allowed me to take on this position and be as successful as I have been.”

She also emphasizes the importance and impact of her activities outside the classroom. “My Hollins internships not only shaped my understanding of what kind of work I would be interested in but also gave me the opportunity to learn new skills, network, and fall in love with cities like my new home, New York City. My work in SGA pushed me to work hard, learn more, listen more intently, trust my dreams, and value the people around me.”

 

Stay up-to-date on university news. Sign up for the bi-monthly Hollins News email.

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipients Are Honored

Written by

Hollins has recognized Suzanne Hubbard O’Hatnick ’67, Callie Virginia “Ginny” Smith Granade ’72, Jill Wright Donaldson ’92, and Tiffany Marshall Graves ’97 with the university’s Distinguished Alumnae Award, and Alexis Davis King ’02 with its Distinguished Young Alumna Award.

Established in 2006, the Distinguished Alumnae Award pays tribute to individual alumnae who have brought distinction to themselves and to Hollins through broad and inspiring personal career achievements, volunteer service, or contributions to society. The Distinguished Young Alumna Award honors a member of Hollins’ fifth, tenth, of fifteenth reunion year class who has earned extraordinary accomplishments after graduation.

O’Hatnick founded Interfaith Action for Human Rights, an organization that advocates for improving prison practices in Maryland. Previously she served with peace and human rights groups around the world, including work with the Peace Corps in Peru, Christian Peacemaker Teams in Central Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the United States Agency for International Development in Sarajevo.

Granade achieved several firsts for women in law in Alabama. She was the first female prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Alabama; Alabama’s first female fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; and the first female federal judge in southwest Alabama.

Donaldson’s work as a neurosurgeon focuses on the treatment of complex disorders and neoplasms of the brain and spine, trigeminal neuralgia, hydrocephalus, and peripheral nerve entrapment. She was named a Top Doctor in a listing of leading physicians in Indianapolis, and is a member of the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Graves is the executive director of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, advancing  access to civil justice for roughly 700,000 Mississippians living below the poverty line. She is also an adjunct professor and the interim director for the Pro Bono Initiative at the University of Mississippi School of Law, providing law students with an awareness of the legal needs of the area’s underserved.

King is Magistrate on the Denver County, Colorado, Court bench and former Deputy District Attorney of the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Jefferson County, Colorado. For more than ten years as deputy DA, she was a member of the Special Victims Unit, focusing on human trafficking, crimes against children, and family violence.

Photo (from left to right): Hollins Alumnae Association President Trisha Rawls ’74; Hollins University President Nancy Gray; Suzanne Hubbard O’Hatnick ’67; Callie Virginia “Ginny” Smith Granade ’72; Tiffany Marshall Graves ’97; Jill Wright Donaldson ’92; Alexis Davis King ’02; and Hollins Board of Trustees Chair Judy Lambeth ’73.

Photo credit: Michael Sink

 

Cecili Weber ’17 Is Crowned Miss Virginia

Written by

A Hollins University graduate is on her way to compete in the Miss America Pageant this September as the new Miss Virginia.

Cecili Weber ’17 captured the title June 24 at Roanoke’s Berglund Performing Arts Center. She graduated this spring from Hollins with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and plans to pursue a career in public relations with a top fashion or beauty brand. The native of Ironton, Ohio, who competed as Miss Arlington, will receive a $20,000 scholarship.

Weber’s platform was “Born Leaders.” She won the swimsuit and evening wear category on June 22 and also performed a contemporary dance piece to Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” in the talent competition.

Roanoke’s WDBJ-TV (News 7) talked to Weber on the morning of her first full day at Miss Virginia 2017. Watch the interview here.

 

Alumna, Renowned Portrait Artist Is Featured in “Covert Autobiography”

Written by

The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is featuring a solo exhibition of recent work by a member of the class of 1967 who is also an internationally recognized portrait painter and photographer.

Annette Polan: Covert Autobiography is on display in the Wilson and Ballator-Thompson Galleries through Sunday, September 17.

The exhibition features an unusual combination of media including sculpture, painting, drawing, mixed media, and videos.  It “incorporates images of nature to explore issues of gender and age in our culture as well as in [Polan’s] own life. It investigates aspects of a single, mature woman who although powerful and confident, can feel disenfranchised, invisible, or muffled.”

Polan studied at the Tyler School of Art, Corcoran College of Art and Design, and École du Louvre. A noted instructor of contemporary American portraiture, she painted the official portraits of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton, and other leaders of government and industry.

Polan chaired and founded Faces of the Fallen, an exhibition of 1,323 portraits by 230 American artists that honored American service members who died in Afghanistan and Iraq between October 10, 2001, and November 11, 2004. In recognition of her leadership on that project, she was awarded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Outstanding Public Service Award.

The Wilson Museum is open Tuesday – Sunday, noon – 5 p.m., and Thursday, noon – 8 p.m. Admission is always free.

Three Hollins Authors Are People’s Choice Award Finalists

Written by

Books written by a Hollins University faculty member and two Hollins alumnae have been named finalists for the 2017 Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award.

As Close to Us as Breathing by Associate Professor of English Elizabeth Poliner was nominated for the People’s Choice Fiction Award, while Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy M.A. ’93, and Dimestore: A Writer’s Life by Lee Smith ’67, are finalists in the People’s Choice Nonfiction category.

“These awards, which are part of the Library’s annual Literary Awards celebration, recognize the finest among Virginia authors and works about our great Commonwealth,” said Amy Bridge, executive director of the Library of Virginia Foundation.

Truevine

Anyone can participate in the voting for the People’s Choice Award by visiting this link. Voting is open until July 15. There is also a ballot on the site that can be printed and mailed to the Library (it must be received by July 15 to be counted).

Dimestore

The People’s Choice Award winners will be announced at the 20th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards Celebration in Richmond on  October 14. Winners of the People’s Choice Fiction and Nonfiction prizes will each win a cash prize of $2,500.

In November, As Close to Us as Breathing, Truevine, and Dimestore were selected among Amazon.com’s Top 100 Editors’ Picks for 2016.

Hollins Alumna and Celebrated Neuroscientist Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Written by

In acknowledgment of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, Mary Elizabeth “Mary Beth” Hatten ’71 has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Hatten is the Frederick P. Rose Professor in the Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology at The Rockefeller University in New York City. After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at Hollins, she earned a Ph.D. in biochemical sciences from Princeton University and did her postdoctoral research in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. She subsequently served with the New York University School of Medicine and the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.

In 1992, Hatten joined Rockefeller and was appointed the university’s first female full professor and the first female to lead a research laboratory there. Her work has implications for conditions that are partially due to developmental abnormalities in the brain, such as learning disabilities, childhood epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism. Her work on cerebellar development may one day inform research on treatments for childhood cancers.

The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Investigator Award, the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, and a Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation are among Hatten’s many accolades. In 2015 she was presented the prestigious Max Cowan Award, which honors a neuroscientist for outstanding work in developmental neuroscience. She is a recipient of the Hollins Distinguished Alumnae Award.

Hatten will be the featured speaker at Hollins’ 175th commencement exercises on Sunday, May 21.

The NAS is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership and – with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine – provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

 

 

 

 

 

Va. House of Delegates Resolution Honors Hollins’ 175th Anniversary

Written by

Betsy B. Carr, who represents parts of the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County (69th District) in the Virginia House of Delegates, has introduced House Joint Resolution No. 660, commending Hollins University on its 175th anniversary.

Delegate Carr is a member of Hollins’ class of 1968 and was elected to the House of Delegates in 2009.

 

Stay up-to-date on Hollins news and events…sign up here to receive the Hollins News email newsletter. 

Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame Inducts Hollins Alumna

Written by

Julia Voorhees Emmons ’63, former executive director of the 10,000-member Atlanta Track Club and former director of the Peachtree Road Race, the world’s largest 10K, is among the five newest members of the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame.

Emmons; former Atlanta Falcons linebacker and five-time Pro Bowler Keith Brooking; Atlanta Hawks radio broadcaster Steve Holman; high school, college, and professional basketball coach Bob Reinhart; and cable network sports reporter Craig Sager will be officially inducted at a ceremony at Atlanta’s Buckhead Theater on February 17, 2017.

The Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame’s mission is to honor Atlanta sports heroes, remember great moments in Atlanta sports history, and preserve the past from which future generations can learn and take pride.

In her 22 years as head of the Atlanta Track Club, Emmons was very active on the national running scene. She served as chair of women’s long distance running for USA Track & Field from 1990-1996. She directed the men’s and women’s marathons and race walks for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and was on the U.S. women’s track and field team for the 2004 Athens Olympics as assistant coach for endurance events. In 2005, Emmons served as an assistant manager for the U.S. track and field team at the World Championships in Helsinki.

Emmons is one of the Distinguished Graduates that Hollins is showcasing during the university’s 175th anniversary celebration in 2016-17.

Works by Hollins Authors Highlight Amazon’s Best Books of the Year

Written by

Books by Associate Professor of English Elizabeth Poliner, Beth Macy M.A. ’93, and Lee Smith ’67 are among Amazon.com’s Top 100 Editors’ Picks for 2016.

As Close to Us as BreathingPoliner’s novel As Close to Us as Breathing was an Amazon Best Book for March 2016. The story of a close-knit Jewish family that strives to cope following a tragedy is “vivid, complex, and beautifully written,” said Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World. “[It] brims with characters who leave an indelible impression on the mind and heart. Elizabeth Poliner is a wonderful talent and she should be read widely, and again and again.”

Published in October, Macy’s Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South is one of six books that have been selected in the Nonfiction category for the Kirkus Prize shortlist. Truevine has also been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence and is a New York Times Book Review  Editors’ Choice. The Amazon Book Review called it “a multi-layered story that will captivate, haunt, and challenge you.”Truevine

In Dimestore: A Writer’s Life, Smith recalls how she became a storyteller while growing up in the Appalachian South, and discusses what later convinced her to embrace her heritage. “Smith delivers a memoir that shines with a bright spirit, a generous heart and an entertaining knack for celebrating absurdity,” noted The New York Times Book Review. “Although Dimestore is constructed as a series of personal essays, it presents as full a sense of a life as any traditional narrative.”

Hollins Receives History-Making $20 Million Philanthropic Commitment to the University’s Unrestricted Endowment

Written by

Hollins University has received the largest single gift assurance in the school’s 175-year history: Elizabeth Hall McDonnell and her husband, James S. McDonnell III, have arranged a commitment through the JSM Charitable Trust of $20 million.

The pledge is intended for the university’s unrestricted endowment.

“We applaud Libby and James McDonnell for their vision and generosity, and the positive and lasting influence they are making on the history of Hollins,” said Judy Lambeth, chair of the Hollins University Board of Trustees. “We rejoice in this truly significant milestone as we celebrate this year our 175th anniversary of educating women who are leading, exploring, transforming, and inspiring our communities and the world.”

Elizabeth McDonnell is a member of Hollins’ class of 1962 and has served on the university’s Board of Trustees since 2008. She and her husband reside in St. Louis, and this gift commitment continues their legacy of giving to the university: In 2015, they committed $6.5 million through the St. Louis Community Foundation to fund renovations to the university’s Dana Science Building and Hollins Theatre and to support visiting faculty in the theatre and playwriting programs. They also gave $3 million through the James S. McDonnell Family Foundation in 2009 to transform and update the theatre space.

“I thank the McDonnells for their remarkable generosity and informed understanding of the importance of an unrestricted endowment,” said Hollins President Nancy Gray. “This designation will allow us to address priority needs or fund exceptional opportunities, wherever the impact for Hollins will be the most significant.”