Dear readers,

Welcome to the latest issue of the Hollins magazine, where we embark on a journey through the realms of innovation, vision, and transformation.

Artificial intelligence, once confined to the realm of science fiction, is now a tangible force shaping our world. In this edition, we delve into the intersection of AI and academia, exploring how Hollins is approaching, and sometimes harnessing, this technology to revolutionize learning, research, and creativity. The piece looks to uncover how our institution is leveraging AI to empower students and faculty alike, and how and where to put up guardrails to ensure authenticity and the importance of individual agency and effort in learning.

But innovation doesn’t stop inside computers. At Hollins, we’re proud to unveil our new and bold strategic plan—a roadmap for the future that charts a course toward excellence, inclusivity, and sustainability. This plan is not just a document; it’s a manifesto of our commitment to pushing boundaries, embracing change, and nurturing a community where every voice is heard and valued.

Amidst these forward-looking endeavors, we also take a moment to celebrate the past meeting the present. Our library, a cornerstone of knowledge and exploration, has undergone a remarkable transformation. Through a captivating photo essay, witness the evolution of this beloved institution as it evolves to meet the needs of 21st-century learners.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our community. In our brief annual financial and fundraising report, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the donors, alumnae/i, and friends who continue to invest in Hollins’ mission. Your generosity fuels our aspirations and enables us to embark on ambitious endeavors that shape the future of education.

As we navigate the ever-changing landscape of higher education, let us embark on this journey together—fueled by innovation, guided by purpose, and inspired by possibility.

Warm regards,
Billy Faires
Executive Director of Marketing and Communications
Hollins University

At Hollins, women have been the central theme, and played a central role in the plot since its earliest days. Her agency. Her empowerment. Finding and using her voice.��

Hollins’ recently approved, updated – and significantly shorter – mission statement reflects the institution’s need to honor its founding vision while creating space and embracing the societal challenges and opportunities that have arisen since 1842. “We lift our eyes, Levavi Oculos, to create a just future as we build on our past,” it concludes. Our understanding of what a “just future” looks like has evolved, and it will continue to evolve in the decades to come.��

This summer issue is, perhaps more than usual, focused on honoring the past upon which Hollins continues building. We remember a beloved professor, Richard Dillard, and the indelible influence and inspiration he provided for so many of his students over almost 60 years. We honor the legacy of the lacrosse program that endured for slightly longer – almost 70 years – celebrating its peak of success, falling just shy of a national championship in 1979, to the recent years-long struggle to field a full team. And, finally, we raise a glass (full of whatever liquid you may prefer for the occasion!) to the Williamson Road Apartments, which were demolished this summer after over 50 years of housing happy Hollins students. Sarah Achenbach ’88 was a proud inhabitant during her later student years and took on a piece that meant so much to her and a great many others who cherish their memories in those apartments.��

So, while I am obviously proud of the amazing individuals featured in this Winter 2023 issue of the magazine, I would like to begin this little editor’s note by honoring the amazing Hollins people behind the pages bringing their talents to bear. Their efforts in this magazine highlight the promise of tomorrow’s alumnae/i.

“Raising Lazarus and Coming Home,” a piece about Beth Macy M.A. ’93’s fall visit to the campus, was cowritten by two current students, Julia Mouketo ’23 and Marin Harrington M.F.A. ’23, who has worked two years as a graduate assistant for the marketing and communications office.

Harrington also wrote our spotlight on Elizabeth Kolmstetter ’85, “A People-Centered Approach,” as the current trustee discusses her recent transition from NASA to the first-ever chief people officer for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

First-year graduate student Ruby Rosenthal M.F.A. ’24 spoke with two Hollins women who have given most of their professional lives serving in higher education, Michelle DeRussy Dodenhoff ’85 and Christa Davis Acampora ’90, and wrote “’Just Remind Yourself Why You’re Here’” for the current issue.

Finally, in “Nearer to Vital Truth,” you’re invited to journey through a sampling of poems from Thorpe Moeckel (professor), T.J. Anderson III (professor), Cathy Hankla ’80, M.A. ’82 (professor emerita), and Annie Woodford ’99, M.A. ’00 (alumna), all of whom had books of their work published since last fall.

How can words and photos capture what moved dozens and dozens of people sitting in the duPont Chapel pews to shed tears during the inauguration celebration for President Hinton? Can you read the speech excerpts, can you see a photo of soprano Helena Brown ’12 singing, and truly feel, through your ears and down to your bones, the gravity of those spoken words or the power of her voice?

In light of that, let me be the first to acknowledge that very little in this summer issue of Hollins magazine beats being there. Because how could it? Our goal, therefore, must be to provide the next best thing. Perhaps, generations from now, we’ll learn that print – even today, a quarter of the way through this 21st century – helped us experience an event far more compellingly than YouTube or TikTok ever could.

A significant portion of this issue is about the glorious experience of being in community together for special moments, something that has been far too limited in the last two plus years. In addition to the inauguration, we celebrated two commencements, and we witnessed perhaps the largest collection of different class years of alumnae/i in Hollins history at Reunion Weekend.

In addition, we showcase some of our brilliant alumnae. “Women In Law” offers an interview with three distinguished law professors, Jane Aiken ’77, Keeshea Turner Roberts ’96, and Courtney Chenette ’09, as they discuss the contemporary news and challenges of the current legal environment in America. You can also meet Michelle Watt ’93, director at Vascular Perfusion Solutions, which has become a life-changing internship experience for an increasing number of Hollins students.

Finally, you can celebrate the achievements and highlights from our campus. Our “In the Loop” section offers you a great assortment of news and concludes with a fond farewell to six retiring faculty members. We also spotlight the great community collaboration happening between Hollins and Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke for events like the recent Overnight Sensations.

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver (Animal Dreams)

The marketing and communications staff hopes you enjoy our new look for the online magazine. The new design offers a much friendlier adaptive experience that looks and reads easily on whatever device you choose, from your desktop to your smartphone. Even so, all new things in the land of technology can have bumps and imperfections, so please let us know your thoughts, what you like or don’t, what is easier, or what is confusing. We welcome and appreciate all your feedback!

If there is a theme to this Spring 2022 issue of Hollins magazine, it is hope, a thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.

The record-breaking $75 million gift from an anonymous alumna donor was based in hope and confidence – hope that Hollins’ best days are ahead of her, and confidence in the progressive vision and leadership of President Mary Dana Hinton. Our story, “Making HERstory,” explores the ways this gift has inspired and excited the larger campus and alumnae/i community. It is a story of how individual generosity breeds hope in others.

The Imagination Campaign, which is neither a strategic plan nor a long-term campaign, was President Hinton’s idea for attempting to kick-start a different way of looking at Hollins by seeking out new or improvable avenues for revenue-generating programs in the hopes of creating a more fiscally sustainable and healthy university in the coming decades. A key new program launched this year thanks to the Imagination Campaign is the HOPE Scholarship. The Hollins Opportunity for Promise through Education was created to generate and reward hope in new generations of students in the Roanoke Valley, and early indications are it is doing exactly that.

In “Roads to After,” writer Sarah Achenbach ’88 takes on the heavy topic of domestic and relationship abuse, a national plight that has only become more problematic during the pandemic. But the heaviness of the matter cannot dull the inspiring actions of the many Hollins alumnae who have made it part of their life’s work to support the victims and work to educate for a better tomorrow. The women interviewed are living testaments to the power of hope.

As an undocumented Black immigrant in America Patrice Lawrence ’11 keeps hope alive in her work with the UndocuBlack Network, work highlighted exceptionally by creative writing graduate student assistant Jeff Dingler M.F.A. ’22.

I invite and encourage you to read these and other great pieces in this issue! The Rock got a much-needed cleaning, pulling away 40 years’ worth of paint layers and ensuring its status in Hollins lore for generations to come. Professor of English Julie Pfeiffer and retired professor and children’s literature program director Amanda Cockrell ’69, M.A. ’88 are both finding their written works gaining attention. And our In The Loop section reveals a campus full of accomplishment and activity.

To that end, I am grateful to be a part of the Hollins University community, because hope is alive and well here. It is threaded into the mission we pursue and the work we do day to day, and year to year. If there is a theme running through this winter issue of Hollins Magazine, I hope it is hope.

“In the Loop,” you will see news of the perseverance of our campus community in a time of . Our students and faculty continue to push through a year guided by our Culture of Care. Our stalwart C3 program and our new Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice Day both thrived thanks to the continued engagement and support of our alumnae/i.

You will learn more about President Mary Dana Hinton, her Big Vision for Hollins, and the hope she has so powerfully infused into the campus with her wisdom, experience, and leadership. The feeling that Hollins will emerge from this pandemic as a stronger university community is growing every day.

You can read “the rest of the story” of what became of The Class of 2020 after departing campus last spring. Beth JoJack ’98’s story reveals, one individual graduate at a time, the struggles, frustrations, and dogged optimism of a class that will go down in history as enduring something no other class in their lifetimes experienced in quite the same way.

Perhaps no academic area has faced a greater challenge with the move to remote learning than Hollins’ performing and creative arts programs, but adjust they did, and they have learned some “Immediate & Adaptive” lessons that have helped them chart an even more promising path forward. Thanks to graduate assistant Jeff Dingler for his excellent reporting on this and for his interview with President Hinton in this issue.

Finally, little has sapped our collective national optimism more than the political turmoil and vitriol we have endured. While this conflict is unlikely to fully dissipate anytime soon (or ever?), thanks to Sarah Achenbach ’88, you will see the hope that motivates those who enter the political realm as professionals. You will meet the kind of committed and caring Hollins women who have a belief or cause that drove them to enter the arena, “Converting Passion & Purpose Into Advocacy & Activism.”

I hope you enjoy this issue. I hope you find ways to stay connected to Hollins, a place that is committed to building better days ahead for our students of today and tomorrow. And, lastly, may you find ways to keep your own hope and optimism alive even in these trying times.

Billy Faires
Editor

Then COVID-19 began creeping into the American bloodstream.

The campus went quiet as students went home for remote learning and a large portion of employees began working from home. Seven months into this job and almost five months since COVID-19 first impacted Hollins… everything still feels ripe with possibility and promise, and I’m every bit as excited to be here now as I was back in January. Maybe even more. In this summer issue, I hope you will gain a sense of why, exactly, this might be the case.

You will be greeted by a letter from Hollins’ 13^th president, Mary Dana Hinton. You’ll learn far more about her in the next issue later this fall, and rest assured the enthusiasm for her arrival is deserved.

As we worked on the ambitious feature, “’It Feels Like There’s No Closure,’” a project organized by Beth JoJack ‘98, we found ourselves looking back to the 1918 Spanish Flu that struck the Hollins campus and resulted in the death of one student. Details of the time were incredibly difficult to locate, and the yearbooks of that day limited in what they offered. So we sought to ensure that, if someone wants to know how COVID-19 affected Hollins – not merely our campus, but our extended community of students, faculty, and alumnae/i – they would have a resource in the magazine archives. They would see stories of resilience, struggle, hope, and fear. They would see the uncertainty that we have all carried with us for half a year now, with no end yet in sight.

As the nation celebrates the centennial of the passage of the 19^th Amendment, read a fascinating piece by Guest Editor Jean Holzinger MALS ’11 on the experience at Hollins during that historic era. Further, I hope you will share with me tremendous gratitude for Jean and the work she has done so brilliantly in building out this magazine as our guest editor for the past six issues.

You can read about not only how Hollins handled the challenges of the spring as they affected our campus community, but also how the administration responded initially to the tragic death of George Floyd and the initial announcement from President Hinton regarding her plans around inclusion, equity, and justice for the university moving forward. Expect more information about this in the fall issue.

Celebrate the progress of the Student Village as it reaches the midpoint of Phase II, with three new houses coming online this fall, and read of the other impressive accomplishments of an unusual fundraising year. This update is a testament to the incredible generosity of so many of you who receive this magazine.

Lastly, enjoy a piece originally in Slate on “How One Librarian Tried to Squash Goodnight Moon.”

Hollins appreciates you, and I am grateful for this opportunity to help tell the story of such a marvelous institution, the community it has helped to build, and the people who continue to support its growth and explore what is possible in the future on this campus on the Blue Ridge.

Billy Faires
Editor

Indeed, two articles by Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11—“Research: ‘It’s What We Do’” and “After Four Years, Now What?”—illustrate some of those strengths, highlighting what students do on campus and off to dig deeply into their chosen disciplines.

In “Spearheading Change—with a ‘Pinch of Rebelliousness,’” Hodges profiles Bivishika Bhandari ’13, who’s building on her gender and women’s studies degree from Hollins by studying in the Nature, Society, and Environmental Governance program at Oxford University. After Oxford, she hopes to return to her native Nepal to work on women’s rights and environmental issues.

Dhonielle Clayton M.A. ’09/children’s literature has found success with her young adult novels, Tiny Pretty Things and Shiny Broken Pieces, cowritten with Sona Charaipotra, which have been turned into a Netflix series scheduled to debut in 2020. Clayton writes movingly about diversity, belonging, and what matters, as Karen Adams M.A. ’93/English and creative writing; M.A. ’00 and M.F.A. ’10/children’s literature writes in “Asking Hard Questions, But Not Providing Answers.”

“In Plain Air,” by Associate Professor of English and director of the Jackson Center for Creative Writing, is a moving meditation on beauty.

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11
Guest Editor

What’s new on campus these days? Phase one of the new residential neighborhood, located between Barbee and the upper stables, opened in August. Read more about this inviting space in “The New Village Opens Its Doors to Students.”

In “Twenty Years (and Counting) in the Life of a Library,” Luke Vilelle, Maryke Barber, and Rebecca Seipp give you a look at the vital role this living library plays in campus life. Its signature elements remain—but changes in services and in space, both physical and digital, address the evolving needs of the campus community.

Last spring, photography expert Denise Bethel ’73 spoke on campus about an exhibition at the Wilson Museum that included work by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, and others. Karen Adams (M.A. ’93 English and creative writing; M.A. ’00, M.F.A. ’10 children’s literature) tells the story in “The American Experience in Photographs.”

In “Collaborative and Pragmatic,” Beth JoJack ’98 writes about how Jennifer Boysko ’89, who moved from Virginia’s House to the Senate early in 2019, inspires voters with her “genuine desire to make the world better.”

More than 40 years after its debut issue, Artemis continues to celebrates the prodigious talents of Southwest Virginia writers and artists, including Hollins students, alumnae, and faculty. Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11 describes what’s it like “Pushing a Boulder Up a Hill.”

In her delightful essay “The Love Language of Lima Beans,” Rachel McCarthy James ’08 writes about how the humble vegetable has become a symbol of love between her and her husband.

Jean Holzinger M.A.L.S. ’11
Guest Editor

Thanks, Hollins, my alma mater, for a reminder that I need to find a balance in my grad school life. #womengoingplaces #my���Ĵ�ý

Lan Nguyen ’18, via Instagram

I just read as much as I could of the latest edition of Hollins magazine. I say “as much as I could” because the layout/design prevented me from reading the magazine in its entirety. Reason? Color choices and size of type. Most especially, I was unable to read the “In Memoriam” column on Larry Becker because the type was tiny, and black on a brown background. My level of frustration went off the charts. What were your designers thinking?

Just because a design choice is pretty, or edgy, or whatever, doesn’t make it functional.

I am a member of the class of 1974, which makes me in my (upper) mid-60s. For alumnae of my age, our eyes aren’t what they were even 10 or 15 years ago. Please keep us older alumnae in mind when you lay out the magazine.

Donna K. Hughes-Oldenburg ’74, M.A. ’75, via email

Editor’s response: We agree with you and have taken steps to improve readability by running the profiles and class letters in larger type and monitoring background colors.

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Hollins University
Box 9657
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