The Bryn Mawr Club of Southern California Newsletter: Summer 1999

Dear All,

• May Day on the Beach 1998 and 1999, expanded in 1999 to include both SantaMonica and Newport Beach, with the promise of San Diego and Santa Barbarajoining us in 2000.
• Our first trip to the Getty Center, hosted by Judith Leone '96 and guidedby Kristin Kelly '74.
• The first annual Continuing Education Tea, featuring Peter Beckmann, Professorof Physics at Bryn Mawr and David Fogelson HC '73, Professor of Psychiatryat UCLA at the home of Gwen Babcock '57.
• A delightful afternoon enjoying tea with visiting BMC President Nancy Vickers.
• Two lovely evenings at the home of Eve Lubin '52, who hosted the Play-ReadingGroup.

The Club has also strengthened ties with the local Haverford alumniand with Ivy League alumni through the Ivy League Alumni Association, furtherexpanding our network of friends and increasing the number of events thatwe can offer our membership.

The Executive Board has undergone some changes during this first year.We were sad to lose Laura Cannon '93 as Co-President and Anne Gershenson'87as Career Development Coordinator, but have been delighted to welcomeSusan Wood '94 as Community Service Coordinator, and Margaret Nee Tatar'80 andSaskia Subramanian '88 as Career Development Coordinators. My thanksto all the members of the Executive Board, past and present, for theirdedicationand commitment to making the Club a success.

We are greatly encouraged by all of our accomplishments this year andhope to do even better next year. We are still hoping to foster the developmentof regional clubs, to increase our fundraising for scholarships, particularlythrough our new affiliation with the Bryn Mawr College Library, and toestablish contact with many more of you out there. Please keep us informedof your needs and interests, for our primary goal remains to serve theCollege and you, its graduates.

Warmly,
Kristine Westover MacRae '94
 

"The Year 1,000: Did Anyone Notice?"  Continuing Education AfternoonTea

Professor Charles Brand (Ph.D., Harvard University) is a specialistin medieval history and culture. His particular interest is the ByzantineEmpire in the era of the Crusades, when there was a great deal of interactionwith the West. He is currently researching the Byzantine city and urbanriots in the 11th-12th centuries as well as medieval and Byzantine culture.He teaches courses on medieval women, cities, and the interactions betweenChristian, Muslims, and Jews in the Mediterranean. Hehas also published in the field of women's history.

For those who are interested, Professor Brand plans to send us a readinglist in September so that we may actively participate in the discussion.Please RSVP to Kristine MacRaeif you plan to attend.

Admissions Update

As we are gearing up to recruit the Class of 2004, I wanted to let youknow about your opportunities to get involved. I am always looking foralumnae to interview prospective students. Interviews are normally aboutan hour long, can be conducted at your convenience, and the students cometo you. I match candidates to interviewers that live in the same area.In most cases, a volunteer will only interview one or two prospective studentseach year, if any. Interview season starts in late September and continuesthroughout February.

I organize a small handful of social events throughout the year. Theseevents allow prospective students and their parents to interact with alumnaeand current students. If you would like to attend these events or if youwould like to open your home to host an event, please let me know. Theseevents are small, cozy affairs, and the college will reimburse the hostessfor her expenses.

Finally, I need some volunteers to represent Bryn Mawr at local collegefairs. Last year we attended 6 fairs. I hope to add more this year, asI hear about them. Fairs tend to be 2-3 hours long. I try to schedule apair of volunteers to sit at our table, hand out literature, and talk tointerested students. Fair organizers feed the volunteers generously. Ifyou know of an upcoming college fair that Bryn Mawr should attend, pleaselet me know.

This year, I make a special call to residents of Orange County. TheAdmissions Office has expanded my area of coverage to include Greater LosAngeles. Working with prospective students is a great way to further yourconnection to the college. If you would like to help, please call or e-mailme. The Admissions Office is always looking for alumnae to interview students.Even if you live outside of my area of responsibility, you can contactme and I will forward your name to the Admissions Office.

Amy S. Hughes '95

Community Service Activities

Susan E. Wood '94

Dear All,

Worthy of note:
 

• We received 63 donations from 54 alums (about 12% of our membership).
• We have brought down newsletter costs for the coming year by nearly 30%,thanks to many, many hours of on-going efforts by our volunteers. We have     brought down our May Day costs also, while expanding to two sites in 1999.
• Thanks to the resource and ingenuity of our Southern California AdmissionsRepresentative, Amy Hughes, we sent off our 12 Southern California pre-freshmenat minimal expense.
• The Alumnae Association very generously provided start-up funds for ourfirst  year of operation.
• We were able to donate $500 to the scholarship funds this year. The moneywas split evenly between the two funds, per the vote of the membership.
• Our reserves were increased to $1708.

We hope to continue in this vein in the coming year!  We will needyour participation more than ever as we launch our partnership with theLibrary and become truly self-sufficient this year. We are committed tomaking the Club a benefit to both alums and current students, through CareerDevelopment seminars, Continuing Education lectures by Bryn Mawr faculty,and other Cultural Events, and by supporting the Admissions process andthe Scholarship Funds so vital to the undergraduates.

It has been a real pleasure to work as your treasurer this year. Ithas been a treat to meet so many fascinating women and I look forward tokeeping up these new friendships as well as renewing old ones. Please keepin mind all the ways, large and small, in which you can support the Club- by hosting or organizing events, by helping to fold and sort newsletters,or by a simple donation.

Most sincerely,
Maria Davila Rudolph '81

Annual Report