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Interim President Nancy Oliver Gray kicks off this issue with an essay titled “Hollins Strong,”in which she outlines the many reasons for optimism—robust fiscal health and academic and career development initiatives among them—about Hollins’ future.

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