Winter 2021 – Hollins Magazine

Lessons Learned from a Life of Good Trouble: Katy Barksdale ‘77

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:31:40 +0000

Civic leader, film producer, attorney, and activist Kathleen “Katy” Mitchell Barksdale ’77 has crafted a fascinating journey through politics, law, service, and social justice. She recently coproduced the Netflix documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble about the life of her fellow Georgian, civil rights legend and Congressman John Lewis. Katy is cofounder of the Rockdale Foundation, which funds education projects in Sierra Leone, and has served her community of Atlanta on nonprofit boards and as a two-term member and chair of the Atlanta Public School Board.

Hollins Abroad—Paris gave me a global perspective that everyone is the same. It was pivotal in my life. I see a much bigger picture because of it. As human beings, we all really want the same things: healthy, happy families, education for our children, peace. That’s where everyone is coming from, but people don’t always connect the dots on how to get to these places. People are the same, but experiences have given them different hands to play.

Katy Barksdale ’77 (right) and her daughter Kat Pattillo campaigning in the recent Georgia runoff.

Politics was in my blood, and I was encouraged to be part of the process. My grandfather was in the [Georgia] state legislature, and my father was behind the scenes. I worked in D.C. for Democratic and Republican Senators from 1976 until 1983. The voices were mostly men. Having women’s voices changes things and changes the process. Women tend to see the long game and don’t have a need for short-term gratification.

In order to affect systemic change, you’ve got to change policy. And to affect policy, you need to affect lawmakers. I went to Emory University Law School and practiced real estate law at my father’s firm after he passed away, because that was what was needed. I practiced until my third child was born. I got involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta and chaired the board.

In 1999, I ran for the Atlanta Public School Board, served two terms, and was board chair for the last two years of my final term. Education is the biggest lever for change. This was the hardest job I’ve ever done. If a country can’t educate its people, democracy can’t prosper. We have great public schools in the U.S. and brilliant teachers. We focused on teacher training – that’s what changes things when teachers are well trained. I also work in Sierra Leone supporting teacher training.

What drives me is thinking about the past and the future, about all the people who have worked for years in Georgia to get voters registered. I feel like it’s my turn to do that. I think about all my great nieces and nephews and see how the laws passed now will affect their lives. We all have a responsibility to make things better. I poll watch, I canvass for candidates. I like to be hands-on and for people to see that I care about these issues.

Storytelling and images also affect change. I wanted to create a documentary about Sierra Leone, which I started in 2017. My niche is to fund start-up grants for first-time filmmakers and to help promote stories of racial justice. I had known John Lewis my whole life – he was my congressman – but no one knew his story.

John Lewis never gave up. He had this peace about him. He wasn’t driven from ego, was hopeful, and always kept his eye on the longer-term goal of justice. Sometimes I think about what has been lost in the political process is the ability to collaborate and to maintain hope through ups and downs. John was an incredible man filled with love and hope and humor. I want people to be inspired to be hopeful, not to give up, and to realize that a lot of people have worked so hard to get us here. Everybody wants peace. How do you get there? A person like John Lewis can inspire you to do that.

To make change, you really want to be strategic. Great civil rights leaders used strategy. It goes back to Hollins and the [lesson] of trying to affect change everywhere you are. It doesn’t have to be big demonstrations, but we all need to be involved in the political process.

President Mary Dana Hinton’s��Big Vision��for Hollins��

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A strong liberal arts advocate, Hinton also plans to focus on educational equity and reimagining how the university serves future students.��

By Jeff Dingler��

When Hollins’ new president, Mary Dana Hinton, Ph.D., first attended an all-women’s educational institution back in high school, the moment was nothing short of life-changing for her. “It was in that space at St. Mary’s (School in Raleigh, N.C.) that I developed the belief that I’m not in competition with other women, that another woman’s success is actually my success,” Hinton told Hollins magazine. “Even if we don’t believe the same things, I need to support and cheer for other women. I’ve held on to that, and it’s helped me not see life as a zero-sum game.”��

Now Hinton is bringing that equitable attitude, and years of experience in educational administration, to Hollins as the school’s 13th president and the first Black woman to lead the university. Officially taking over in August 2020, Hinton commands the helm of the nearly 200-year-old institution at an interesting juncture in its history—during a once-in-a-century pandemic that’s demanded swift and significant restructuring of campus spaces and adjustments to a greater online learning component, and also in the midst of some of the worst political tension and racial unrest the country has seen in decades. In spite of these formidable obstacles, Hinton pushed ahead not just with Hollins’ regular schedule of classes for the fall term, where 30 percent of courses were taught virtually and roughly one quarter of students attended remotely, but also with events and other plans to make educational equity one of the centerpieces of her presidency. “My mission in life is around educational equity,” explained Hinton. “I want any person who desires an education to be able to get the deepest, richest education that they can.”��

So what exactly does educational equity translate to on Hollins’ campus? Alumnae/i and students should look to two key events that took place during the Fall 2020 semester. First was a special dialogue, part of the university’s Distinguished Speaker Series, held on September 22 between Hinton and bestselling author of The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander. During their hour-long, virtual sit-down, which was livestreamed via Zoom to the full Hollins community, Hinton and Alexander discussed the 10th anniversary of The New Jim Crow in addition to racial tensions in the U.S. and social activism both on and off college campuses. The second important event that Hinton helped spearhead was Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice Day (Leading EDJ) on October 23 (see article on page six). This first-of-its-kind, all-day conference included 35 different “sessions” of seminars, talks, and discussions, all related to the inaugural year Leading EDJ theme of racial justice and presented by guest speakers and members of the university community. Classes were called off, and all employees were granted the opportunity to participate in the day. More than 550 students, faculty, staff, alumnae/i, and trustees participated.��

“I’m proud of what our community was able to accomplish with Leading EDJ,” said Hinton about the new initiative. “Inclusion impacts every single student we serve, and if we don’t address issues of inclusion, we are not helping our students thrive. They’re going to be leaders, community members, volunteers, teachers, and doctors, and for them to do any of those things well, they have to be able to see that inclusion is essential. So we are going to talk about it a lot, and that’s not about my personal agenda—that’s about how Hollins prepares students to be successful. That’s a priority much like embracing the liberal arts is a priority, much like amplifying women’s voices is a priority.”��

Started in 1842, originally as Valley Union Seminary, Hollins became Virginia’s first chartered women’s college just a decade later, making it one of the oldest women’s colleges in the country. And Hinton knows her stuff when it comes to women’s education. In addition to her time at St. Mary’s School—Hollins’ new president hails from the Tar Heel State—Hinton spent the previous six years as president of the College of Saint Benedict (Saint Ben’s) in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, an all-women’s college partnered with the all-men’s Saint John’s University. Under her leadership, Hinton helped complete a comprehensive fundraising campaign, which ended up raising $110.4 million for Saint Ben’s, the largest fundraiser in the school’s history. Hinton was named president emerita upon her departure from Saint Ben’s.��

Securing a sustainable financial position, leading a national conversation about the enduring value of the liberal arts, and enhancing Hollins’ market position—leadership tasks familiar to Hinton—are priorities in her work at Hollins. And, Hinton notes, there is a special leadership call as it relates to Hollins and inclusion. Hollins has long wrestled with the role of the enslaved in its founding and how to incorporate that legacy into its history. Hinton encourages the work of engaging that acknowledgment and embracing the steps needed to reconcile our past as we look to our future. “And that’s really going to be my goal moving forward: To recognize our legacy and to figure out what our future needs to be. What do we owe our mission, our history, and ourselves as we plan for a vibrant future?”��

Regarding that future, Hinton is planning on turning Leading EDJ into an annual, campus-wide happening. She’s already met with faculty and university leaders to look at feedback from this year’s event and to figure out next year’s theme and schedule. Also, in December and January, Hinton held a series of discussions with faculty and staff about a new, ambitious campaign to imagine “who we need to be” to serve the next generation of students.��

“We’re in a wonderful moment for Hollins,” said Hinton about this new project, which is still in its early planning stages, “a moment when we can take our 179-year legacy of courage and inclusion and reimagine it for the changing national demographic makeup of college students.” For the undergraduates, Hinton said, that entails examining what the university’s diverse and talented students need to thrive, especially given that the next generation of students will have had their educational progress meaningfully disrupted due to COVID-19. For the small but eclectic group of graduate programs at Hollins, Hinton said that the school must reimagine how these programs are supported and how to more meaningfully engage with graduate students and faculty. Hinton even wants Hollins to reimagine its place in the broader Roanoke region. “When we think about being inclusive, part of that has to do with our location in Roanoke, being an active part of that community,” said Hinton. “Because I firmly believe that private education is and must be a public good.”��

Having made educational equity a priority throughout her career, Hinton does not view this campaign or its goals as hers and hers alone. Far from it, actually. “I have the privilege of leading that conversation and cultivating and stewarding that vision but, ultimately, it will come from the Hollins community and the faculty, staff, and students, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels,” said Hinton. “However we emerge out of this crucible moment, it will be a reflection of everyone in the community, not a single leader, because I believe a leader’s responsibility is to help a community live up to its grandest aspirations. That will be my job, and I’m really excited for that work.”��

“So we are going to talk about it a lot, and that’s not about my personal agenda—that’s about how Hollins prepares students to be successful. That’s a priority much like embracing the liberal arts is a priority, much like amplifying women’s voices is a priority.”��

Jeff Dingler is a current creative writing M.F.A. student and marketing intern.��

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Converting Passion & Purpose Into Advocacy & Activism��

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By Sarah Achenbach ’88��

Whatever your political leaning, 2020 felt like an endless civics lesson.��

Mary Catherine Andrews ’86 served as President Bush’s director of democracy for the National Security Advisory and as his director of global communications.

This isn’t another article about the recent U.S. presidential election, don’t worry. But it is about how political awareness and activism—on both sides of the aisle—are nurtured at Hollins University.��

Last year, Hollins, once again, made The Princeton Review’s list of colleges with the “Most Politically Active Students.” Nestled between American University (#5) and Syracuse University (#7) and based on student ratings of their own political awareness, Hollins is the only women’s college on the list.��

How does a women’s university focused on the liberal arts and the smallest higher educational institution by far on the annual ranking make the cut along with Columbia University and Reed College?��

Simply by being a small, liberal arts women’s college, that’s how. Turns out that Hollins’ educational mission, approach, culture, and size have been the perfect incubator to turn passion and purpose into advocacy and activism. And Hollins has been doing it for generations.��

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Fostering an��Environment of Respect��

Courtney Chenette ’09 isn’t one to let a teachable moment go to waste. Last November, Chenette, a civil rights attorney specializing in constitutional cases, worked as a recount observer for the Wisconsin vote recount for the presidential election.��

Chenette

In the evening, from her laptop in a Milwaukee hotel room, she hosted Zoom conferences with her Voting Rights and Election Law class at Hollins. Chenette, assistant professor of political science and gender and women’s studies at Hollins since 2018 and pre-law advisor, led students in analyzing the potential ballot recount challenges that Chenette and her legal colleagues reviewed earlier in the day.��

“Students crafted arguments for and against the challenges and applied our class readings,” she explains. “I teach that the best advocates know the rules and anticipate a plurality of arguments, requiring students to develop strong foundational knowledge and see beyond their own perspectives to make their strongest cases.”��

When students can anticipate the strongest counterarguments to their beliefs, Chenette says, they become better advocates. “Understanding what the systems are and having the language to explain what is happening around you is not specific to one party,” Chenette adds. “If I were an attorney who refused to think about the other side, I wouldn’t be a very good attorney. Critical thinking and respect for the people behind the issues is important.”��

Berny

Colleen Berny ’10, a self-described “token Republican” in political science classes at Hollins, felt the same level of respect: “My viewpoints were carefully considered and debated, and other viewpoints helped me figure out where I stood on the issues.”��

“In order for things to move, you need to work across the aisle and around the table,” says Berny, who is a staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and advisor on critical infrastructure security and cybersecurity issues.��

She’s been interested in security issues since September 11, 2001, a day that inspired her duty to serve. At Hollins, Berny, who is cochair of the Washington, D.C. Hollins Alumnae/i Association, majored in history with a double minor in English and political science, then earned an M.A. in public and international affairs (major: security and intelligence studies) from the University of Pittsburgh.��

Mary Catherine Andrews ’86, senior advisor on communications, management, and international affairs for Vianovo and a former senior advisor to President George W. Bush, experienced the same level of respect among students of different political leanings.��

Two pivotal events sparked her political career. “Jake Wheeler inspired my interest in politics,” she says, recalling her first class with the late, legendary political science professor. “He had a box of Ritz crackers and jar of peanut butter on his desk,” she remembers. “He put peanut butter on the crackers, passed them around, and told us to take a cracker and wait. Then he told us to eat our crackers, which was when he explained that the federal government does lots of things, including regulating the amount of rat hair in peanut butter.”��

Andrews, a political science major with a concentration in computational sciences, dove into campus politics, and was elected as vice president of the Student Government Association (SGA) her junior year. Each week, she presided over robust Senate meetings filled with different viewpoints, ideas, and agendas from across the campus.��

She lauds those meetings and her love of the science behind the politics with inspiring her next step to Capitol Hill and her first job working for Sen. Cass Ballenger (R.-NC). Andrews, who earned an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, quickly found a passion for international relations. During the Bosnian War, she worked in the Balkans for the International Republican Institute, has observed more than 25 elections in 12 countries, and is the author of eight books on democratic development in Central and East Europe.��

Her greatest honor, she says, was serving as President Bush’s director of democracy for the National Security Advisory and as his director of global communications, experiences that reinforced her Hollins’ SGA bipartisan approach. “One of the big lessons I took from the Bush White House is that you have to get along with everyone,” she adds.��

Today, Andrews continues to seek that center. Part of her work is advocating for climate change with Republicans and, last November, she was one of the Bush officials who signed the Statement by Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden (NatSecforBiden.com). “[In politics] you have to seek the middle ground.”��

Connecting Passions and Disciplines to Effect Change��

While naming factors that place Hollins among the nation’s most politically active student bodies, Chenette shares a quality not often described in admission material. “The moxie of Hollins students is unparalleled, but they also deliver on substance,” adds Chenette, who serves as pro bono general counsel for Reconstructing Hope, a nonprofit providing victims of relationship violence with surgery to remove signs of prior violence. Relationship violence was the cause that sparked Chenette’s passion at Hollins. A political science and gender and women’s studies major, Chenette was a campus counselor and chair of the Coalition Against Sexual Assault.��

“Hollins taught me that change can come from within systems and from outside of those systems,” Chenette says. “Politics is inherently interdisciplinary, making Hollins leaders and problem solvers uniquely qualified to effectuate change with a liberal arts education.”��

Davis

Mollie Davis ’22 came to Hollins deeply passionate and vocal about one cause: gun reform. She also has a title—school-shooting survivor—that commands attention when she speaks on campus and nationally as a recognized gun-
reform activist.��

On March 20, 2018, Davis was sitting in math class in Great Mills High School in southern Maryland when she heard students screaming in the hallway. One of her classmates had just shot his ex-girlfriend (she later died at the hospital) and wounded a bystander before shooting himself in the hallway. Ironically, five days earlier, Davis had organized a peaceful school walkout with 250 classmates to bring attention to gun reform.��

“The shooting made me angry,” Davis says. “It’s so frustrating that this continues to occur in this country. Sharing my personal story makes me feel that the terrible thing my community went through can be used to change things.”��

As she wrote in The Nation in February 2019, “March 20 lit a spark in me that will never fade away.” At Hollins, she is honing her advocacy skills and exploring other disciplines to express her voice.��

A double major in political science and theatre, Davis is a playwright deeply influenced by the works of Larry Kramer, pioneering AIDS activist and writer. “Theatre is important to the human condition, and there are so many things it impacts,” she says. In addition to her powerful essays about gun reform for national publications and her speeches at rallies and for campus voter registration drives, Davis has started three different versions of a play about a school shooting. “It’s far from finished,” she says, a comment that also speaks to her post-Hollins political career plans.��

Politics at Hollins, Chenette adds, flourishes in the many academic intersections and personal opportunities that Hollins students can explore: “It’s not only about making change but seeing political possibilities everywhere, from science and public health to art-making and theatre.”��

Jdid

Maria Jdid ’21 intends to become a neurosurgeon, but her double major—international studies and biochemistry—
speaks to her global perspective. Her family moved from her home country of Syria when she was a toddler and settled in Saudi Arabia, where Hollins caught her eye for its very active Model UN Club—Jdid co-founded her high school’s Model UN Club—and for its single-sex environment. “I wanted to be in a place that kept my voice and strengthened it,” she explains. “I come from a minority sect of Islam, which was condemned in Saudi Arabia,” she adds. “I had to hide my identity. When I first came to the U.S., Hollins was the reason I got comfortable identifying as Arab.”��

Her ability to cross disciplines and to “think beyond the lab” proved beneficial during her 2019 Summer Term and J-Term 2020 internship at NYU Langone Health researching acute lymphoid leukemia: “It was eye-opening that the Hollins skill set really helped me excel.”��

Pre-COVID-19, she led talks to increase campus awareness of the Arab world and on issues between Palestine and Israel. On April 17, 2019, Syria Independence Day, with the help of her Hollins Model UN friends, she led a fundraiser and presented a poster on the war in Syria.��

“It meant a lot to me to see the entire team come together,” Jdid, who was copresident of Hollins Model UN, reflects. “Not everyone in Model UN is a liberal, but everyone is extra-politically driven. Our views are always to help each other confront situations through different ways.” Hollins annually hosts the Model UN Model Arab League Team (this year, virtually), and Jdid has attended the national conference sponsored by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.��

Because of the pandemic, she plans to work in a hospital for a year before applying to medical school. Her plan? Become a doctor and work for a U.S. institution that sends doctors abroad to help underserved populations. “Political activism is individually driven but goes beyond your interests,” says Jdid, who hopes to return to Syria one day. “It’s less focused on goals and more on progress and the journey to enact change.”��

The journey for Monica Huegel ’09, a campaign researcher for various candidates including Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016, began her first semester when she joined the College Democrats. “We were a small, scrappy group that volunteered for Roanoke-area campaigns,” she explains.��

Huegel

She knocked on doors and manned phone banks, activities that weren’t the easiest fit for the self-described introvert. What came naturally was the comparative research she conducted on candidates in early voting states as an intern at EMILY’s List in Washington, D.C., the political action committee to increase the number of pro-choice female candidates, which was founded by Ellen Malcolm ’69.��

After earning her M.A. in political science from American University, American Bridge, a political action committee, hired Huegel, which led to jobs doing research for various campaigns. “Research in the political world gets a reputation for mudslinging, but we look at policy and if a candidate’s voting record matches the rhetoric,” Huegel explains. “We vet donors, speakers, and campaign surrogates.”��

After Clinton’s loss in 2016, Huegel took some time off before looking for a research position not tied to the mercurial cycle of a political campaign. She now conducts strategic analysis for the research firm IMS, Inc.��

Fostering Community through Politics��

Laura Smith ’88, chief of staff for Pennsylvania State Representative Todd Stephens, laughs that working in politics was never on her career radar. After graduation, Smith, a sociology major, worked for a computer software company in South Carolina until 2003, when her father’s terminal illness brought her home to Lansdale, Pennsylvania—and what has become a rewarding career in the state legislature and as an elected official.��

Smith

Smith, who is in her second term as one of five elected board members and vice chair of the Towamencin Township Council, sees her political career as public service and the confluence of her problem-solving prowess and her love for her hometown.��

“After my dad died, I needed a job,” Smith explains. A friend was the recorder of deeds for Montgomery County (near Philadelphia) and needed someone to make inroads in the community. “I am the Queen of Connect-the-Dots,” she says. “I made a point of meeting everyone.”��

Her networking expertise led to administrative jobs for different Pennsylvania state representatives and a love for helping constituents. “I love it when I can fix an issue for someone,” Smith says. “Once, a father came into our office in tears. He needed a waiver for an independent living placement for his son, who was severely autistic. These waivers are hard to come by, but I realized that the issue was about keeping his family intact. We made the case to the Department of Human Services and got the waiver that changed their lives.”��

Her second campaign in 2019 was challenging. “It was interesting running as a Republican,” Smith says. “People told me that they couldn’t vote for me because of Trump, but I explained that at the local level, it’s about managing services and tax dollars for infrastructure, first responders, parks—all the things that make our township such a great place. In my job and on the council, I teach civics. I educate people every day on the difference between local, state, and federal government.”��

She’s found her niche as a “senior whisperer,” she says, taking great satisfaction in helping retired constituents solve problems, from tax issues to demystifying technology. Smith, like every alumna interviewed for this article, lauds Hollins for helping her find her voice: “I’m not afraid to stand up and say something. My experience was empowering, and I learned that I could do what I set my mind to.”��

Huegel, too, credits Hollins’ size for helping her find and use her voice. “Hollins is a small community, so you need more voices to speak up. You could build coalitions.” At Hollins, Huegel served as president of the College Democrats. “The president and vice president of the College Republicans were also political science majors [with me], and we combined our efforts on voter registration drives.”��

Creating Change��

“Hollins taught me that change can be transformative and transgressive: it can look like advocacy within existing systems like lawmaking and lawyering, but it can also come from the outside, through demonstrating, innovating alternatives, creating art, developing research, galvanizing community, and educating,” notes Chenette. “Hollins students are among the most politically active because they see the opportunity to make change both in systems and beyond them. They see political possibility everywhere.”��

Hale

Those possibilities began in high school for Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale ’75 when she and the late Rev. Alvord Beardslee, emeritus professor of religion and former chaplain, volunteered together on Roanoke’s National Council of Christians and Jews and attended an antiracism conference together before she enrolled at Hollins. “He was recruiting me for Hollins, but I realize now that he was recruiting me to ministry,” says Hale, a Roanoke native who has been a Hollins trustee for the past decade.��

She immediately became involved in the Religious Life Association at Hollins, chose a music major, and became a vocal voice for change on campus. “I didn’t go to Hollins to be politically active, but the crisis of the moment pushed us there…it was Black power, white power, Kent State, women’s power,” she explains. “I think we were more active then, [though] there’s always been a core group at Hollins who are activists.”��

“It was a racist place, which was part of that time,” explains Hale, who founded Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia, serves as senior pastor, and works for numerous social justice issues. “I vowed to change Hollins and thought I was going to eliminate racism by graduation. It wasn’t eliminated, but I kept going. I’m still going.”��

“My activism was born of the fact that we find courage at Hollins to do what we need to do. Women have that [spark] in them, but Hollins flames the fire,” Hale adds. “The faculty wouldn’t allow us to say, ‘We can’t do this.’”��

Her c.v. is a primer on how to create change across communities. Hale created two nationally recognized pastoral development ministries, Elah Pastoral Ministries and Women in Ministry Conference. Among her numerous national awards is Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” list of the nation’s most influential Black leaders, and in 2009 President Barack Obama appointed her to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. For the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Hale served on the Platform Committee and delivered the Invocation at the Convention. For President Biden’s Inauguration, she led one of the prayers during the Inaugural Prayer Service at the National Cathedral.��

Hale is an optimistic realist: “Change is slow—external change is one thing, but internal change allows diverse groups to work together.” She proudly cites Hollins’ first president of color, Mary Dana Hinton, Ph.D., a selection for which Hale served on the search committee.��

By providing such visible opportunities to work together, from presidential search committees to Zoom conferences about real-life ballot recounts and healthy, respectful (and, yes, sometimes heated), political dialogue, Hollins, Chenette says, shows students how to make change sustainable: “Telling people that they are wrong and you are right is rarely the most convincing argument. Humanizing politics, remembering it’s about people, inspires diverse perspectives.”��

“It’s easy to feel you don’t have a voice when you are young, but getting involved in politics [at Hollins] does help you see how that voice gets channeled,” Huegel adds. “You learn that compromise is how things get built, and sometimes there are things that are hard to compromise on, but we have a dynamic system, and we can keep creating change.”��

Sarah Achenbach is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.��

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Immediate & Adaptive��

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:10:24 +0000

Are Zoom and hybrid classes the wave of the future?��

By Jeff Dingler

While the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly been a game-changer for pretty much every level of society in 2020, one group that had to adapt the fastest were educators and institutions of learning. Last March, when the country entered its first lockdown phase due to the spread of COVID-19, teachers all across the country moved entirely to remote learning or online classes. Most made the switch in a matter of weeks or, in some cases, just days. Since then—almost a year later—educators at Hollins and around the globe have been continuing to adapt to the ever-changing reality wrought by COVID-19. But when it comes to the performing arts in academia, the question remains: How exactly does one teach dance through hybrid classes or present a theatrical reading via Zoom? Hollins magazine asked the directors of three different performing arts programs to find out how they got creative with remote learning. Surprisingly, the results of educating in the era of COVID-19 aren’t all doom and gloom.

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Playwriting M.F.A.��

Ristau

In addition to its respected undergrad theatre program, Hollins has a renowned, highly intensive playwriting M.F.A. that meets for six weeks every summer. Unlike a lot of other low-residency master’s degrees, which focus more on distance learning, Hollins’ playwriting programming offers a truly immersive workshop experience where student playwrights cover a full semester’s worth of work in just six weeks. Now imagine trying to do all that online. “There were a tremendous number of challenges to transitioning to full online learning,” said Todd Ristau, director of the M.F.A. in playwriting. “But one of the things that we stressed over the summer is that theatre, by its very nature, is immediate and adaptive.”��

To Ristau’s point, the playwriting program last June and July had its own digital liaison to offer technical assistance and ensure that the program provided an experience for audiences and student playwrights that maintained some of the in-person feel. “We welcomed people into the Zoom waiting room as though it were the actual lobby,” said Ristau. “We continued to make references to the experiences as though we were in the theatre building. And it really did help. We even had people remark after our festival of student readings that they didn’t remember it as though they were on Zoom, but rather they remembered it as if they were in the theatre.”��

Moreover, in addition to being able to “digitize” the summer courses and schedule of events, Hollins’ playwriting program was actually able to expand upon some of its offerings. For instance, the M.F.A. turned its unified local auditions—usually restricted to regional Virginia actors—into Zoom auditions, opening up the auditions to a national pool of actors and allowing student playwrights to work with performers from all over the country. “We were also able to get guest speakers that we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford before, given the distance [to bring them to Hollins],” added Ristau. That included a Zoom talk by esteemed English musical director Neal MacArthur about his life in the arts, as well as a live Zoom conference on applied theatre, which drew between 50 and 75 people per day. “We’re really happy about the way this summer came out,” said Ristau, adding that he and the faculty are currently thinking about what online components could still be useful when they return to in-person classes, such as the use of Moodle or Zoom. “Because of COVID-19, we’re trying a lot of things that we normally wouldn’t have,” said Ristau. “And it’s a been a productive and useful learning experience for the faculty as well as for the students.”��

Dance Department and Dance M.F.A.��

Bullock

While Hollins’ playwriting program may have found a good fully digital approach to remote learning, not all performing arts, or the way they’re taught, are created equal. “Obviously, it’s been a major adjustment for dance,” said Jeffery N. Bullock, director of the dance M.F.A. “It’s a communal practice. It’s about people being together, and moving together, and I would even say thinking together. That’s just how our form operates.”��

When the shutdowns hit last March, what complicated Bullock’s job even further was that Hollins’ dance M.F.A. offers multiple tracks of study: two low-residency degrees and one year-round program with classes over the summer. In addition to this, as chair of Hollins’ dance department, he was responsible for the educational experience of the undergraduates as well. “I had some resistance to this notion that we could just keep doing what we were doing but in our houses,” recalled Bullock. “So I tried to have critical discussions with my faculty about how we could adjust to everybody’s different needs.” Bullock mentioned one student who told him that he likely couldn’t take a dance class online because he lived in a one-room cabin in the hills in California. “So I was thinking about all those social and cultural kinds of questions about what does it mean to ask people to dance at home in their living spaces,” explained Bullock. “And I think we came up with some really good solutions and tried to work through that.”��

Bullock took two different approaches. With the undergrad students, the dance program created a hybrid approach to its movement classes, in which students still met in person but were instructed by a teacher or faculty member via Zoom. As for the summer graduate students, Bullock allowed them to determine their own movement routines and then had the student dancers meet weekly online to share experiences and critical thoughts. “Overall, we tried to accommodate different populations and different needs,” said Bullock. “Certainly, all the students would prefer that we were together, but under the circumstances, I think we dancers have adapted quite well. It’s pushing us as practitioners and as critical thinkers to extend and reimagine what we’re already doing—to add to the possibility or potential of what dance can be.”��

Speaking of that potentiality, the department still held its annual Fall Dance performance on November 13, only this year streamed on Zoom. Both undergrad and graduate students made digital performances, or dance films, that were edited together for a private online screening. “This was the first go-around where we asked undergrad and grad students to make work via a digital platform, and we weren’t sure how it would go,” said Bullock. “But it turned out great!”

��

Screenwriting and Film Studies M.A. and M.F.A.��

Gerber-Stroh

As for Amy Gerber-Stroh and Brian David Price, who both codirect the low-residency screenwriting and film studies graduate programs at Hollins, online learning wasn’t much of a change for them. “To be honest, when we got the word that we were going to be moving online, it didn’t really affect us too greatly,” laughed Price. “The writing classes all lend themselves really easily to being on Zoom. Because [regularly] on campus, it’s just eight or 10 people sitting around a table and workshopping those pages, and it wasn’t all that different when we were on Zoom.”��

Last summer’s screenwriting program did have to cut one production class�� that required utilizing equipment on campus, but the rest of the program’s curriculum migrated easily over to the web. Price and Gerber-Stroh were actually able to take advantage of a number of online opportunities that likely wouldn’t have been available to the program or its students had they been meeting on campus. For example, every summer the screenwriting program invites a guest speaker to lecture and spend time with the students. This year, because the university didn’t have to pay to fly anybody in, the program was able to afford eight guest speakers, including professionals from all facets of the entertainment industry, writers, producers, and agents, speaking to the group via Zoom. Hollins alumnae/i and some undergrads also got to join the talks, another option that wouldn’t have been available without the new online component. “And we still had a fantastic wrap party,” added Gerber-Stroh. “We sent everybody packages filled with popcorn and other goodies, and instructed everyone to open them at the same time, experiencing the party together even though we couldn’t be physically together.”��

Gerber-Stroh went on to say that e-learning was already a feature of Hollins’ film department that she chairs. “To teach screenwriting, we’ve had to go online to get working Hollywood writers and other professionals to teach the courses,” she said. “So COVID-19 happened, but we were already sort of doing this for a while.”��

Price

In fact, going forward, both Gerber-Stroh and Price predicted that online learning would become a regular component of the program’s educational offerings. “I think our program, just like many of the others, learned so much through the experience of being online,” said Price. “When we go back to campus, we’ll continue to utilize all the lessons we’ve learned and kind of have a hybrid experience going forward.”��

“Hybrid’s the way to go,” agreed Gerber-Stroh. “I think that even if it hadn’t been for COVID-19, that’s the future of the program and, probably, the future of education in general.”��

Jeff Dingler is a current creative writing M.F.A. student and marketing intern.��

Class of 2020

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:09:39 +0000

During their final spring semester, Hollins seniors hardly come up for air.��

By Beth JoJack ’98

Hundredth Night. The spring theatre production. One last proofread of that honors thesis. Spring Cotillion. A final trip downtown for a slice at Benny Marconi’s. The Senior Banquet.��

Sadly, the 162 members of the class of 2020 didn’t get to experience that cyclone of celebrations and goodbyes. Their college careers ended abruptly March 20 when Interim President Nancy Oliver Gray announced classes would be held online for the remainder of the semester to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Commencement had to be postponed.��

When the students returned to their homes to weather the pandemic, it quickly became apparent that their post-Hollins lives might take a different shape than they’d spent four years envisioning. All across the country, governors imposed COVID-19 restrictions, shutting down some businesses and banning public gatherings. The coronavirus crisis prompted an economic downturn which left the country with 20.5 million unemployed Americans in April 2020—a rate of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression.��

A handful of members of the class of 2020 talked about what it was like to graduate from college during such a turbulent year.��

Learning to breathe��

Nya Monroe had big plans for after graduation—plans that required a mouse-ear headband. “I am probably Disney’s biggest fanatic,” she says.��

Monroe

Monroe, who majored in creative writing with concentrations in creative writing and multicultural U.S. literature, had signed up to enter the Disney College Program, a five- to seven-month program for college students and recent graduates who want to work at the park, complete some coursework, and live on a Disney campus.��

“They don’t accept everybody,” Monroe says. “You can only imagine how many people apply. I was fortunate to be one of the few people granted the chance to work with them.”��

Not long after Hollins transitioned to online classes, Monroe received an email explaining the Disney program had shut down due to the virus. She shrugged off the sting. “It’s a pandemic, so you expect things to fall through because it’s unprecedented,” she says.��

Even after all these months of social distancing, Monroe remains determined to stay positive. “Honestly,” she says, “everything with this pandemic I’m taking as a blessing in disguise.”��

As a college student, Monroe maintained a meticulous, color-coded planner. “I am very set on what I have planned,” she says. “Everything has an order to me.”��

The pandemic forced Monroe to take her intensity down a notch. “I’ve become more grounded, which is good for someone coming straight out of college because I feel like in school we’re like chickens with our heads cut off because we’re moving around really fast all the time,” she says. “I was able to relax and get a gauge on what I’m interested in and what I want to do.”��

For now, what Monroe wants to do is to teach English online to elementary-age kids in China. Because of the time differences, Monroe begins teaching at 5:30 a.m. “As someone who designed their entire college schedule around not getting up before 10 a.m., it’s a bit of a struggle,” she admits. “But I enjoy it.”��

Even so, Monroe plans to spend the next few months thinking about what other avenues she might pursue with her career. “I want to be open to every possibility,” she says.

No more normal?��

��“I haven’t been able to find a job in my field,” says Rowan Cloud, who majored in art history and psychology at Hollins.��

She had hoped to go to work in one of Washington, D.C.’s many museums after graduation.��

Zechiel

Instead, Cloud and her partner Ava Zechiel, also a member of Hollins’ class of 2020, moved in with Cloud’s family in Elkton, Maryland. A communication studies major at Hollins, Zechiel had hoped to work at a nonprofit after graduation.��

“I was nervous,” Zechiel says about making the move. “I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know when anything would get back to normal, if that makes sense.”��

When state restrictions eased, allowing retail stores to open in May, Cloud went to work at a gift shop in nearby Chesapeake City, where she’d worked, off and on, since her sophomore year in high school.��

In June, a member of the Chesapeake City District Civic Association approached Cloud with an invitation. A woman who’d been active in their group had recently died. She’d spent years collecting items to include in a museum celebrating the city’s history. Would Cloud be willing to help turn the woman’s dream into a reality?��

“Chesapeake City’s history goes back hundreds of years,” Cloud says. “There are a couple of books here and there about Chesapeake City, but nothing where you can walk in and actually learn about it.”��

Cloud said yes and recruited Zechiel to help with archiving the hundreds of items already in the collection.��

“Did I think I would be opening a museum at the age of 21?” says Zechiel. “Am I ecstatic about it? Yes.”��

At the end of September, the pair had to take a break from their efforts when Cloud’s father contracted COVID-19 from a coworker. Both Cloud and her mother tested negative for the virus, but both felt sick. “We were lucky enough to have very mild symptoms,” she says.��

Zechiel, fortunately, never tested positive and never experienced any symptoms. “Thank God she didn’t get it,” Cloud says.��

After quarantining at their house for about a month, the pair again began working with other volunteers to archive items and raise funds for the new museum. The group hopes to open the museum in May. “It’s really slow, but we’re getting it done,” Cloud says.��

While both women have enjoyed working to preserve the city’s history, they feel like their lives have been put on pause. “Nothing is back to normal, and we’re this far out,” says Zechiel.��

“I love my hometown,” Cloud says. “But it is time for me to move on to D.C.”��

Dog days��

Grace Miller spent 2020 with the cutest possible traveling companions, ranging from the tiniest Pomeranian to a 150-pound mastiff to a kitten so fluffy she looked like a miniature cloud.��

Miller

Miller, who double majored in psychology and theatre at Hollins, decided to put her plans to get a master’s degree in drama therapy on hold during the coronavirus crisis. Instead, she’s helping her father run his pet transport business.��

“A few weeks ago I went to North Dakota,” says Miller, who lives in Woodbridge, Virginia. “I’ve been down to Texas, up to Maine, down to Florida, and everywhere in between.”��

The business, cheekily named Let Pop Do It!, took off during the pandemic. “Everyone is stuck at home,” Miller explains. “They all decided, ‘I have six weeks to train a puppy or kitten.’”��

It didn’t hurt that Miller’s unconventional father recently blew up on TikTok (@ralphmilleriii), where he regularly showcases the cute animals he’s transporting. “Business has been booming,” Miller says.��

For most of her work hours, Miller is in the car with the animals. When she does get out, she always wears a mask. She figures her work is safer than a lot of other jobs. Plus, it’s fun.��

“I get to see a lot of cool places in the country,” she says. “I get to meet a lot of cute animals. Just last week we were dropping off a dog in Naples, Florida, and I got to see the sun set on the Gulf of Mexico, so that was really beautiful.”��

Her favorite transports so far? Six St. Bernard puppies who needed to get from Kentucky to Pennsylvania. “They’re just such little hams,” she says.��

As much as she enjoys the work, Miller sees this as a temporary pit stop. “I’m planning on working for him until COVID-19 calms down, and I can do grad school the way I want to instead of doing it online or under COVID-19 restrictions,” she says.��

Miller feels less sad about graduation being postponed than missing out on spending the last weeks at Hollins with her friends. “We thought we had so much more time, and we had so many things we wanted to do,” she says.��

That said, Miller makes a point of not dwelling on what she lost. “I feel like if I put too much energy into being negative about anything and everything, I’m just going to end up bitter,” she says. “So I’m trying to keep a positive outlook. It’s just hard sometimes when I’m traveling around the country and I still see people without masks.”��

Virtual learning��

When Hollins closed the campus in March, Josepha “Epa” Cabrera returned home to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. She visited with her family until August, when Cabrera, who double majored in business and economics at Hollins, moved to Rhode Island, where she’s now working toward a master’s degree in public health at Brown University.��

Cabrera

So far, all of Cabrera’s courses have been taught virtually. “I feel like I’m part of the program, but I also feel a little disconnected just because there’s not that personal connection,” she says.��

Classmates sometimes gather for socially distanced picnics, and Cabrera lives with two other students. Still, her days often seem to bleed into one another. “It’s difficult to just be on your computer the entire day,” she says.��

Cabrera is a Gates Millennium Scholar, which is a prestigious program that provides financial aid for undergraduate and graduate studies for promising students of color. Eventually, she plans to complete a Ph.D. in public health, but she’ll probably take a few years off to work in the public health field after finishing her master’s. Long term, Cabrera hopes to work as a global infectious disease analyst or a database administrator for global public health research.��

It’s been interesting, she says, to be studying the many factors that affect human health while watching the U.S. government battle COVID-19. “Politics has played a huge role in it,” she says. “I think COVID-19 could have definitely been handled in a different way.”��

Keep going��

��Kalyn Chapman wanted to begin climbing that career ladder after graduation. “My dream job would have been event planning for the big rodeos that go on across the country,” she says.��

But then, COVID-19 prompted the world economy to plunge into recession. Chapman, who double majored in business finance and economics at Hollins, decided to return to the Wyoming ranch where she’d worked the summer before.��

Chapman

“I pretty much took people on trail rides,” she says. “I was 30 minutes outside of Yellowstone, so that was pretty cool.”��

In Wyoming, Chapman could sort-of pretend the world was still normal, but that ended when she returned home to West Jefferson, North Carolina, at the end of the summer.��

“When I was in Wyoming,” she says, “they’re so rural there and spread out that I forgot about it sometimes. And then, coming back home, it was kind of like waking back up and seeing ‘Oh, this is still going on.’”��

Chapman feels lucky she was able to find a job working remotely in billing for a multispecialty medical practice group. “Working in my pjs is always a plus,” she says.��

That said, Chapman hopes to soon be able to move into a career in the event planning field. She’s currently completing a remote internship with the National Western Stock Show, where she’s helping stage a virtual art exhibit and sale. “I’m hoping the internship will lead to bigger things and be a gateway for my career,” she says.��

While Chapman acknowledges the year has been difficult, she also wants her Hollins classmates to keep their chins up.��

“A lot of people focus on the negative parts of what has happened,” she says. “But we all did make it through it. And there’s a way to keep trucking and see this thing to the end, even if life doesn’t look exactly the same as it did when we started.”��

Staying Positive��

��Like a lot of members of Hollins’ class of 2020, Victoria Trumbo goes out of her way to be positive when asked what it was like to see her college graduation postponed due to an unprecedented, worldwide pandemic.��

“The bitterness—and I say bitterness lightly—was definitely not being able to have family around and really celebrate the journey that led me to graduation,” says Trumbo, who majored in English with concentrations in creative writing and multicultural U.S. literature.��

A virtual offering, titled “A Prelude to Commencement,” made by Interim President Nancy Gray and members of the Hollins faculty and staff also helped ease the sting, Trumbo says.��

“It was a joy to get the individual message from President Gray and to see my name scroll across the screen,” Trumbo says. “It was still very fun even though, yes, I would have enjoyed the party celebration that would have happened in person, but it just gives me something even more wonderful to look forward to when it’s safe to gather with family and friends.”��

Trumbo

Trumbo’s journey toward earning her college diploma included a short detour.��

After high school, the Broadway, Virginia, native attended Roanoke College for a year before dropping out. “It was not the right time, nor the right place for me to be pursuing an undergrad degree,” she says.��

Over the next four years, Trumbo worked in retail and food service. Then, one day, she had an epiphany: “I think I’m ready to go to school.”��

As a high school student, Trumbo had toured the Hollins campus. She decided to visit again.��

During her trip, Trumbo met with Mary Ellen Apgar ’12, M.A.L.S. ’19, then the director for the Horizon program. Apgar told Trumbo she would make a perfect fit in Hollins’ Horizon program for adult women.��

While it wasn’t christened with the Horizon name until 1987, Hollins launched the program for nontraditional-age women who’d put off obtaining their bachelor’s degrees to work or raise a family back in 1974.��

Horizon students get extra support from Hollins’ faculty members and staff who understand the needs of students who’ve taken a break from formal education. It’s a symbiotic relationship, as the Hollins community also benefits from the perspectives of Horizon students who, over the years, have ranged in age from twentysomethings to senior citizens.��

“The experiences and thoughts and ideas they bring to the classroom really help to enrich the environment,” says Patty O’Toole, Hollins’ vice president for student affairs and dean of students.��

For Trumbo, being a part of the Horizon program meant she felt like she fit in from her first day on campus—even if she was a few years older than many of her classmates. “I had the great privilege of getting to know some absolutely wonderful human beings,” she says of her Horizon compadres, who often hung out in Eastnor, the stately two-story brick house on campus where the program is housed.��

While Horizon students all bring different experiences and backgrounds to Hollins, Trumbo says she and her peers in the program shared so much in common. “It was that aspect of it, the community aspect, that’s probably one of my favorite things.”��

After working for a few months as the interim director for student engagement programs at Hollins, Trumbo moved to Pittsburgh in August to begin work toward a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at Chatham University.��

“The program is wonderful,” Trumbo says. “It’s similar to Hollins in that it’s a very intimate, small cohort of students and faculty, which I love.”��

Although classes have been held over Zoom, Trumbo, who wants to eventually write and teach at the college level, feels connected to the other students and her professors.��

“The faculty have all been wonderful and so understanding that this semester is not like anything else we’ve ever experienced,” she says.��

Beth JoJack ’98 lives and writes in Roanoke.��

In the Loop: Winter 2021

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:06:59 +0000

Despite Pandemic Challenges, Student Energy, Spirit Persevered This Fall��

By Julia Polk ’21, Student Government Association President

Photo: Billy Faires

When leaving campus back in March of last year, we had no way of knowing if or when we would come back, and what things would look like when we did return. Nothing about that situation was “normal,” and nothing about this fall appeared to be “normal” on the surface, either.��

With the new Culture of Care guidelines, the opportunities we typically expect to have to spend time with our friends and attend campus events were much more limited. With more online and hybrid classes, and many of our peers completing the semester remotely, our academic experience changed drastically as well. The most notable difference that seemed to have the greatest impact on students was the lack of celebrating our traditions, and the modifications that were made to the few we did have. There was a general sense of uncertainty going into this semester; just like everyone else in the world, none of us had any idea what to expect.��

However, despite the challenges and changes facing us, one thing did remain “normal” this semester—the energy and spirit of the Hollins community that was brought back to campus with our return last fall. Even though students were no longer able to visit other residence halls or gather in large groups, we still found ways to connect safely. More students spent time outside, taking their meals from Moody and having picnics with friends or hosting social events for their club or organization on Front Quad. Professors met the challenges of teaching during this time and found new ways to keep students engaged and learning, even with their students spread out across campus and the world. Most importantly, we found ways to celebrate our favorite traditions, even if they looked a little different than normal. For example, in place of the typical Tinker Day festivities, a “Prelude to Tinker Day” was organized in which students were encouraged to wear their best Tinker Day costume to class, doughnuts were still served at breakfast, and the traditional Tinker Day lunch was prepared, which a friend and I enjoyed by “climbing’’ up the hill by the soccer field and eating together. The entire Hollins community—students, faculty, and staff—all worked together to make the most out of a scary and overwhelming situation.��

A specific moment that I always think of when asked about how our community has shown resilience and strength in the face of this crisis is First Step. Being the first major tradition we celebrate in the fall term, I’ve always felt as though it sets the tone for the rest of the year. This was absolutely true for last fall’s event, and I’d argue it was more important this year than ever. First Step looked very different from how it normally does. With limitations on how many individuals can be on Front Quad at a time, and the requirement to have six feet of physical distance between each person, it was a challenge to organize. Nevertheless, our incredible Senior Class President Emma McAnirlin and her cabinet (Megan Bull, Molly Sullivan, and Andi Brown) worked together to plan a very memorable event.��

Rather than having every senior on Front Quad at once, they organized the event so that 50 seniors at a time could sign up for one of four sessions to take their First Step. Students could thus take part in this important moment with their friends while also ensuring everyone’s safety. Small rubber dots (which have become vitally important parts of event planning these days) were used to space students out and show them where to stand around Front Quad. Other students were asked not to attend to ensure that seniors could safely enjoy this moment on their own, but underclassmen still found fun ways to be involved. Students living in the East residence hall sat on their porch, looking out on Front Quad to see the fun, and my own roommates and I organized our own mini passing of sparkling cider bottles outside of our apartment before First Step.��

What was most impressive to me, especially as SGA president (and her best friend), was Emma McAnirlin’s dedication and attention to detail. Both she and President Hinton provided excellent leadership at each of the four First Step sessions. Emma painted seven extra bottles of sparkling cider so that both she and President Hinton would be able to pop a new bottle open at each session and take part in the fun. She also decorated a beautiful robe for President Hinton, which has become a tradition in welcoming new presidents to the university; I am sure she will continue to wear it at many First Steps down the road.��

What stood out the most, though, was the attention to detail surrounding the students who were off campus for the semester and thus could not participate in First Step. Emma and her cabinet wanted to be sure that these students still felt involved and appreciated during this important milestone in our time at Hollins. So they made little paper dolls of students who were off campus with popsicle sticks and photos of their faces that were then placed on Front Quad—taking their own First Step in place of their real-life counterparts. We made sure to spray them with a bit of cider for the full First Step experience.��

First Step may have looked different from previous years, but it felt exactly the same. Everyone still showed off their beautifully decorated robes and bottles, taking photos together and sharing memories from our years at Hollins. There was still the same excitement for the new year and our final moments as students. This event truly embodied the innovative spirit that students have shown in handling this challenging semester, and it set a tone that allowed for a wonderful and safe semester to unfold.

“Better Educators and a Stronger Institution”: How the Pandemic Brought to Hollins a New Era of Learning and Growth��

By Darla Schumm, John P. Wheeler Chair and Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Faculty��

Darla Schumm

Last March, the now seemingly easy, lazy days of wandering into a classroom, perusing the library stacks, disappearing for hours into the art studio or science laboratory, or debating the pressing issues of the day around a table in Moody vanished. The standard ways of learning, as familiar to us as that favorite old comfy sweater, were snatched away, literally overnight.��

COVID-19 catapulted us into a dizzyingly disorienting period of education and learning. The transition was hard, and it was exhausting. We grieved the disappearance of our campus routine. Yet, amidst the loss and sadness, there have also been glimmers of hope, and even joy. Whether we wanted it or not, COVID-19 ushered in a time of new learning and growth that is making us better educators and a stronger institution in the process.��

Prior to COVID-19, I was an online learning skeptic. I was so steeped in the benefits of face-to-face instruction that I was unable to ascertain the value of an online educational experience. COVID-19 forced my faculty colleagues and me to explore the vast array of technological resources now available to educators. While Zoom, Google Classroom, and Moodle (the Hollins Learning Management System) became our primary modes of interacting with students, we were also introduced to many other innovative teaching and learning technologies.��

For example, Hypothesis is an open-access annotation tool that enables students to read web-based and electronic texts and insert marginalia, thus creating a virtual discussion of a text. This type of flexibility for exchanging ideas about course readings allows students in vastly different time zones to engage intellectually with one another (and the wider public), even if they are in separate parts of the world.��

Kaltura, another resource introduced to us during COVID-19, is a tool for recording and uploading video content for students to access at their convenience. Some faculty use Kaltura for recording lectures for their asynchronous or flipped courses. Students also use Kaltura for class presentations and other course assignments.��

Another tool, Flipgrid, is a website that functions like a message board where professors can pose questions to the class and students can respond with a video, an image, or text. All responses to prompts appear on a grid, and the instructor can create as many grids for a class as desired. Professors experimented with these technological resources and many more to discover what worked best for their specific classes. There was a lot of trial and error, but many of us discovered tools that we will continue to integrate into our courses even after the pandemic.��

Photo: Billy Faires

COVID-19 also underscored educational values and commitments that we often discuss but that can be difficult to capture in concrete terms. We talk about being innovative, creative, and flexible, and our pivot from face-to-face instruction to remote learning last spring demonstrated these qualities in bold relief. With little to no warning or preparation, faculty members adjusted course plans, expectations, and assignments to fit a new way of teaching, learning, and being together. This shift was unthinkable even two weeks before we did it. And though our pivot may not have been perfect, faculty certainly demonstrated their dedication to both their students and academic excellence. Together we modeled for our students adaptability, nimbleness, creativity, resiliency, and extraordinary problem-solving skills. These are characteristics that we always strive to teach our students, and COVID-19 provided the crash course. Perhaps the most significant
philosophical shift the pandemic introduced is that we now recognize some forms of online instruction are here to stay. Cynics like me were forced into unknown pedagogical frontiers, and what we discovered is that online learning can be a valuable tool for building a more inclusive educational experience. While we are eager to return to the in-person classroom, we know it will look different after COVID-19.��

Although we all wish the coronavirus crisis could have been avoided, it has been an extraordinary opportunity. It has cracked open new ways of learning and engaging one another. However, the many lessons we have learned will be especially meaningful if we incorporate them into our post-pandemic reality. These lessons are helping us ask new and different questions that will shape the future we build for Hollins. How might online teaching and learning and/or tools help us advance educational equity, inclusion, and justice? How might we incorporate an online component to existing programs or curricula such as graduate studies or the Horizon program? How can we mobilize technology to further improve on what we already do well, while also challenging us to think outside familiar pedagogical boxes? How can we take what we are learning from COVID-19 to create even more transformational educational experiences for our students? If we seek answers to these questions with serious deliberation and curiosity, we can rise to the occasion and transform the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity that will renew and strengthen our mission to provide an excellent liberal arts education for every student.��

University Chaplain Finds Creative Ways to Offer Religious and Spiritual Services During Pandemic��

After Catina G. Martin became Hollins’ new chaplain and director of religious and spiritual life last August, her mission was to figure out how to provide religious/spiritual guidance to 600-plus students of all faiths and backgrounds in the midst of one of the most challenging academic years in recent memory.��

“I felt for the students, especially the incoming first years, who were hoping to have a more typical college experience [starting] in the fall,” Martin said. “As a chaplain, my first call to service was to get to know the students along with the culture and the climate at Hollins, because when [the students] leave here, for most of them they’re going to enter the workforce. So it’s very important that I help them find all the spiritual and religious resources that they’re interested in while they’re here.”��

Martin said that her first academic chaplaincy has been “like a dream. I’m so grateful for life and to be here and to be a part of these students’ paths. I’ve learned so much already.” Previously, she worked as a grief counselor and bereavement coordinator with Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care, headquartered in North Carolina.��

Catina Martin

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has obviously limited events and activities on campus, Martin hasn’t let the pandemic get in the way (too much) of the in-person component of her mission. In fact, every Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., Martin hosts a masked and distanced interfaith “Sanctuary” time in duPont Chapel. Martin described Sanctuary as “renewal for our spirits and rest for our souls,” and said that all students, even the nonreligious, are welcome. “It doesn’t have a main religious component,” she explained, “but it is rather spiritual as we are turning inside and letting go of things that are causing us great anxiety, [and] meditating and making space for gratefulness for things we’re able to share and enjoy.”��

In addition to the Sanctuary services, Martin, along with the student group Better Together, hosted in October a socially distanced get-together called “Positive Vibes.” The event included free snacks and button making, as well as an hour for club presidents and other students to speak on the theme of positivity. Martin noted, “It was a time to put some positivity in the air for our Hollins community, for our new president, and for everything that is happening in our world.”��

As for the online portion of her chaplaincy, Martin added a virtual component to the university’s guide to religious communities in the Roanoke Valley, providing clickable links to connect students to local faith-based communities that offer virtual services and other offerings. Martin’s also been periodically hosting live “mini” Sanctuary services—10- to 15-minute refreshers or inspirers—on the Facebook page for the Hollins University Chapel and Office of Spiritual and Religious Life.��

Ordained through the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, Martin’s responsibilities as university chaplain include everything from providing religious and spiritual resources to advising a number of student-run religious organizations and clubs (such as the Muslim Student Association, the Jewish Student Association, and Better Together, an interfaith group). She said that the underlying goal is caring for students spiritually and religiously. “I especially want to help those who’ve left a specific religious community back at home that was really instrumental in their life. My job is to keep them connected to a community here on campus or by providing resources online.”��

Regarding the future of spiritual and religious life on campus post-pandemic, Martin wants to focus on inclusivity of all faiths and even nonfaiths—that includes gathering outdoors and in places that are not thought of as traditional religious spaces. “I’ve had conversations with students who profess to be atheists or agnostic just so I can get close to them and see what they think about love and life and God,” she said. “I love having those conversations because it means we can find common ground, even if we have differences.”��

Martin’s other big goal as Hollins’ chaplain will be encouraging students to embrace and appreciate those differences and diversities. This, she believes, is key to creating a loving and healthy spiritual community on campus. “My heart is for us to know that we are one big family. We have a lot of similarities, but our differences are what make us so special and valuable both to the campus and [to] the bigger world. We want our students to appreciate those differences, both in themselves and in each other.”

President Hinton, Bestselling Author Michelle Alexander Envision a Multiracial, Multiethnic Justice Movement in America��

��A decade ago, acclaimed author, civil rights lawyer, and legal advocate Michelle Alexander published her first book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Some critics at the time considered the book’s subject dubious, especially since the nation had just elected its first Black president in Barack Obama. Still, The New Jim Crow would go on to spend almost 250 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and has become so influential that it’s even been cited in some judicial decisions as well as read in countless book clubs and college classrooms across the country.��

In an event live-streamed to more than 400 members of the Hollins community, Alexander had a virtual sit-down with President Mary Dana Hinton on September 22 as part of the university’s Distinguished Speaker Series. They discussed the 10th-anniversary edition of her book as well as a host of other issues, including racial unrest in the U.S. and social activism both on and off campus.��

Michelle Alexander

“It’s hard for me to believe it’s been 10 years,” said Alexander. “When I was researching this book, Obama hadn’t been elected president yet. Trayvon Martin hadn’t been killed. I felt desperate to sound an alarm about the crisis of mass incarceration, seeing up close [through my work] the victims of racial profiling and police violence. And now 10 years later, with all of the viral videos of brutal police killings and the uprisings, it feels in many ways that the whole world hasn’t changed. The [criminal justice] system continues to function in pretty much the same way as it functioned 10 years ago—or 15 years ago—or 30 years ago.”��

However, Alexander was quick to add that she did find hope in the creation of new protest movements and increased social activism, in particular movements led by formerly incarcerated and convicted people. “There’s been an explosion of movement-building and organizing and leadership, and that’s enormously encouraging to me. Until we hear from the people who’ve been most harmed, transformational change is impossible. And as long as those voices are excluded from decision-making spaces and tables, transformational change is impossible.”��

Hinton said that liberal arts colleges and universities in particular were places where students could “rehearse what it means to have courage and have a voice and step up” before engaging politically in the bigger world off campus.��

“I don’t think it’s an overstatement that our democracy will not survive without robust liberal arts education,” Alexander responded. “That’s one of the main pillars of a successful, thriving, multiethnic, multigender, multifaith democracy. It can help us learn more about our past and present so we can respond to our present moment with wise action and with greater concern and care for our fellow citizens. Without it, we are stuck in patterns of reactivity. We can be misled by demagogues and be inspired to resort to fear-mongering.”��

Near the end of the hour-long discussion, Hinton asked The New Jim Crow author, “How are we ‘midwives to this next generation’?,” borrowing Alexander’s language. “How are we midwives as we look at the [transformational] change that’s so important?”��

“It can feel overwhelming at times,” Alexander replied. “We’re at a moment where I think our democracy literally hangs in the balance. I think what’s important is for us to pause and think: How can we use our skills and our talents to their highest use for this moment? And how do we educate ourselves about history, our racial history, about the present, about how to do democracy? What’s important is not just being aware and awake, but being willing to act with some courage. Because if we see what’s happening but lack the courage to speak up or step out, we can be as awake as we want to be, but if we act without courage, it’s all for naught.”��

Hollins Earns Accolades from U.S. News, The Princeton Review

U.S. News and World Report cites Hollins’ success in blending educational excellence with affordability, while The Princeton Review places the university among the nation’s top 10 in two categories in the latest editions of their respective annual college guides.��

U.S. News 2021 Best Colleges ranks Hollins as the #44 Best Value School and #21 in the list of Top Performers on Social Mobility among National Liberal Arts Colleges.��

“To determine which colleges and universities offer the best value for students, U.S. News and World Report factors academic quality and cost after accounting for total expenses and financial aid,” the guide notes. “The social mobility ranking is computed from the two ranking factors assessing graduation rates of students who received federal Pell Grants.” Pell Grant recipients typically come from households whose family incomes are less than $50,000 annually, though most Pell Grant money goes to students with a total family income below $20,000.��

Hollins is ranked #102 overall in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, and is also considered an “A-plus School for B Students” by U.S. News.��

��The Princeton Review’s annual college guide, The Best 386 Colleges, ranks Hollins #6 in the category Most Politically Active Students and #8 on the Best College Theatre list.��

In the guide’s profile of the university, students surveyed by the publication say Hollins is “a great place for people who want life experience” and that the school provides “a lot of incredible opportunities for anyone willing to take them.” They call internship and study abroad opportunities “exceptional” and praise the faculty as “amazing, talented, dedicated, and compassionate.” The Princeton Review adds, “The alumni network is similarly solid, and many students land jobs and internships through previous graduates.”��

“We salute Hollins for its outstanding academics and we are truly pleased to recommend it to applicants searching for their personal best-fit college,” said Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief Robert Franek. Only about 14% of the country’s 2,800 four-year colleges are profiled in The Best 386 Colleges.��

New Partnerships with Graduate Programs in Health Sciences, Engineering��

To further help qualified students pursue advanced degrees and meaningful careers in high-demand fields, Hollins University has finalized admission agreements with Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences at Mary Baldwin University (MDCHS) and the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.��

At MDCHS, Hollins students who meet qualifications will be guaranteed the opportunity to interview for the following programs: Master of Science in physician assistant studies, Doctor of physical therapy, and Doctor of occupational therapy.��

Students who take an outlined course sequence at Hollins can gain early acceptance to Virginia Tech’s Master of Engineering in computer science program. The alliance between Hollins and VT Engineering seeks to increase the number of liberal arts students who are growing the tech talent pipeline in Virginia.��

“These new agreements, along with our existing partnerships with some of the nation’s most selective graduate and professional programs, provide our students with a wide range of opportunities to build upon a strong undergraduate liberal arts and sciences foundation,” said Alison Ridley, Hollins’ interim vice president for academic programs. “Our students are thus able to position themselves to thrive in the fast-paced and innovative world of the 21st century.”��

In addition to partnering with MDCHS and VT Engineering, Hollins has agreements in place with Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy; the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; the Middlebury Institute for International Studies; the University of Pikeville’s School of Optometry, School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Coleman School of Business; and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine.��

Hollins’ Community Garden Reopens to Students

Over the past year, more and more people have engaged in gardening as a way to keep healthy and minimize stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last fall, Hollins students had a chance to indulge their green thumb, too: The university’s community garden, a greenhouse containing 10 garden beds, reopened for the first time since March 2020.��

“It’s a great opportunity that gives students experience in gardening, and it’s also an outlet for activities that are a lot of fun,” said Associate Professor of Mathematics Steve Wassell, who helps maintain the garden. While the garden was closed over the spring and summer, Wassell and his wife took care of the garden beds, even planting a summer crop. In October, Wassell got the greenhouse ready for the university’s Community Garden Club to take over and plant a fall crop. “I provided guidance as a hands-off advisor while students decided what to plant and did most of the gardening work,” he explained.��

The Community Garden Club is a free, student-run club open to all students, with or without prior gardening experience. The club’s president, Mackenzie Sessoms ’24, said that the club currently has about 20 members, many of whom are first-year students. “Gardening in general is like a type of therapy for me,” said Sessoms. “I usually walk to the garden almost every day when I have the chance to, just to see how the plants are doing, and it’s something I’m very passionate about and something that I would love to pursue. I enjoy taking care of plant life and receiving a type of reward for all the work I put in, the reward being harvest!”��

Harvests from the garden are purchased by the university’s dining services, which pays for next harvest’s seeds and soil as well as some extra activities. Normally, the Community Garden Club would offer a couple of intern or work-study positions as well, but during fall term (because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced resources), all work in the greenhouse was volunteer-based. “For at least the fall, we set up a system where the students got credits for the weeding and mowing and watering and various things that needed to be done,” said Wassell. “Then with those credits, the students could have some of the produce grown.”��

“Our Profound Sense of Community will Sustain Us”: Hollins Moves Carefully Onward During Spring Term��

Guided by public health experts who advise that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to have an impact nationally well into this calendar year, Hollins is striving to ensure the well-being of the campus community with a comprehensive plan for conducting Spring Term 2021.��

Spring term classes, which are being taught in person, online, or through a hybrid mix of those forms of instruction, began on February 10.��

“Students who studied remotely last fall had the option of continuing in that mode or returning to campus for in-person or hybrid instruction,” explained President Mary Dana Hinton. “Likewise, students who lived in residence halls last fall and took in-person or hybrid courses could choose to stay at home for the spring and learn remotely.” She added that students who decided to take all of their classes remotely this spring could not live on campus during spring term.��

Because spring term started one week later than originally planned, spring break is canceled this year. Residential students are encouraged to remain on campus for the duration of spring term.��

Following winter break this year, students did not return to campus for January Short Term and residence halls remained closed. In-person, virtual, and/or hybrid seminars were not offered during this year’s session, and the J-Term academic requirement for credit was suspended for the 2020-21 academic year. Virtual internships, independent study projects, and remote theses were the only activities approved for credit during this J-Term.��

“The time away during winter break and the month of January provided a meaningful opportunity to rejuvenate from a challenging fall semester and prepare for an equally demanding spring semester,” Hinton said. “I understand how disheartening it is to anticipate disruption throughout the rest of this academic year. [But] I am confident that our profound sense of community will sustain us as we continue to make these necessary sacrifices; I know we have the character and fortitude to persevere in the weeks and months to come.”��

“Prelude to C3” Connects Students with the Green and Gold Network��

Mindful of COVID-19 protocols, Hollins alumnae/i employed a different way last fall of conveying the lifelong power of a liberal arts education to current students.��

In conjunction with Hollins Alumnae Relations and the Center for Career Development and Life Design, Hollins grads took the annual Career Connection Conference (C3) online with Prelude to C3: A Virtual Conference, September 28-October 3.��

“Students were able to hear some of our most accomplished alumnae/i share their insights on navigating life after Hollins,” said Associate Vice President for Alumnae/i Engagement and Strategic Initiatives Lauren Sells
Walker ’04. “Since most jobs don’t come from postings but through personal and professional connections, students can maximize their future opportunities by interacting throughout the week with the Green and Gold network at C3.”��

Prelude to C3 included Zoom sessions covering a wide array of topics and interests. Students could interact with professionals in health-related fields, the arts and humanities, and science and mathematics. They also received practical advice on how to successfully navigate life after Hollins; when a graduate degree is worth pursuing; how to find new business opportunities in a rapidly changing world; and what employers are seeking when researching one’s online presence and social media profiles.��

Aheri Stanford-Asiyo ’05, a software engineer at Microsoft working to create next-generation holographic computing solutions for the workplace, delivered the Prelude to C3 keynote address. The event concluded with one-on-one Zoom sessions between students and alumnae/i for the purpose of career mentoring through general networking and informational interviews.��

��

Books by Hollins Authors: Winter 2021

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Organic Matter
Chelsea Adams M.A. 1986
Self-published (Kindle edition), 2020

Child of Light: A Biography of Robert Stone
Madison Smartt Bell M.A. 1981
Doubleday, (Kindle edition), 2020

Driving Around, Looking in Other People’s Windows
C. L. Bledsoe M.F.A. 2006
Indy Pub, 2020

Goodbye, Mr. Lonely
Cyberwit.net, 2020

Grief Bacon
Cyberwit.net, 2020

Leap Year
, 2019

All that Remains
Elizabeth “Betsy” Christenberry Holleman Burke 1964
Cherry Grove Collections, 2020

The Words We Whisper
Mary Beth Burton 1983 (also writes as Mary Ellen Taylor)
Montlake, 2021

Honeysuckle Season
Montlake, 2020

Continuing the Journey 3: Becoming a Better Teacher of Language, Speaking, and Listening (with Ken Lindblom)
Leila Davis Christenbury 1972
National Council of Teachers of English, 2019

A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology (editor)
Dhonielle Clayton M.A. 2009
Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020

Our Prayer Journal: Celebrating Our Christian Faith Together
Kathryn “Katie” Richardson Clemons 2005
Sourcebooks Explore, 2020

Strike
Rebecca Dunham M.A. 1996
New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2019

Out of Nowhere
Tracy Dunham 1972
Independently published, 2020

Mannequin and Wife: Stories
Jennifer “Jen” Terry Fawkes M.F.A. 2010
LSU Press, 2020

Helping Yourself Grow Old: Things I Said To Myself When I Was Almost Ninety
Frances Fuller M.A. 1981
Self-published (Kindle edition), 2020

The Naked Prince: new and selected poems
Ben Greer M.A. 1973
Press 53, 2020

As If Suddenly Moonlight: collected poems
John Hay M.A. 1978
Self-published, 2020

Lanier’s Run
Honey Hutson 2007
Darkling Press (Kindle edition), 2020

The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South
Charles “Chip” Jones M.A. 1989
Simon and Schuster, 2020

When It Was Grand: The Radical Republican History of the Civil War
LeeAnna Keith 1990
Hill and Wang, 2020

Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina (with Lea Lyon)
Alexandria Lafaye M.A. 1998 (as A. Lafaye)
HarperCollins, 2020

Strange Skin
Christine MacConnell 1996, M.A. 1998
Independently published, 2019

The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity
Michael Matthews M.A. 1977 (with Robert Caslen Jr.)
St. Martin’s Press, 2020

Wanting Radiance: a novel
Karen Salyer McElmurray M.A. 1989
South Limestone, 2020

A Sinister Quartet
Amanda J. McGee 2010 (with Mike Allen M.A. 1994, C.S.E. Cooney, and Jessica P. Wick)
Mythic Delirium Books, 2020

Pixilated Practices: Media, Ritual, and Identity
Christopher Peyton Miller M.A.L.S. 1990; C.A.S. 2010
Wipf & Stock, 2020

The Music Book
Karen Osborn 1979
Livingston Press, 2020

How Aircraft Carriers Work
Candice Ransom M.A. 2007
Lerner Publications, 2019

How Fighter Jets Work
Lerner Publications, 2019

Pembroke Welsh Corgis
Lerner Publications, 2019

A Home for All Seasons
Danielle Rollins 1990
Rizzoli, 2020

My Private Property
Mary Ruefle M.A. 1976
Wave Books, 2020

Dunce
Wave Books, 2019

Murder Outside the Lines (Pen & Ink)
Cristina Ryplansky 1979 (as Krista Davis)
Kensington, 2021

The Diva Serves Forbidden Fruit (A Domestic Diva Mystery Book 14)
Kensington Books, 2021

Big Little Spies (A Paws & Claws Mystery Book 7)
Penguin Group, 2021

A Luke of All Ages and Fire and Ice: two novellas
Mark Saba M.A. 1983
Adelaide Books, 2020

A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy (with Mell Stanfill)
Anastasia Salter M.F.A. 2011
University Press of Mississippi, 2020

Boop and Eve’s Road Trip
Mary Helen Sheriff Raper M.F.A. 2008
She Writes Press, 2020
(Winner of the American Fiction Award for coming-of-age novel.)

Ravage the Dark (Scavenge the Stars book 2)
Tara Sim 2011
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Good Work
Matthew J. Spireng M.A. 1971
Evening Street Press, 2020
(Winner of the 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize.)

Undina’s Spell: A Sparkle Fairy Tale
Ayn Cates Sullivan 1982
Infinite Light Publishing (Kindle edition; print replica), 2020

Kachina’s Rose (A Sparkle Fairy Tale)
Infinite Light Publishing, 2020

Elevating the Human Spirit: The Architecture of Glavé & Holmes
(with H. Randolph Holmes Jr.)
Henrika Dyck Taylor 1984
Glavé & Holmes Architecture, 2019

The Postnuptial Agreement of Nomura’s Jellyfish & Anaphora
Tammy Tillotson M.A.L.S. 2008
Independently published, 2020

Game Changer
Angela Norton Tyler M.A. 2009
Fiction Cosmetics, 2020

The Scarlet Thread
Rachel Vaughan 2010
Amazon Digital Services, Inc., (Kindle edition), 2020

April Fireball
Tom Whalen M.A. 1971
Black Scat Books, 2019

Murder, in Fact
Lana Whited M.A. 1983
McFarland, 2020

Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (with Kyle Longley)
Jacqueline Whitt 2003
Routledge, 2020

A Letter from President Mary Dana Hinton

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Dear Hollins University Community,

I trust this edition of the magazine finds you filled with hope and purpose as 2021 unfolds. As I enter the new year and spring term, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the ways this community pulls together and gets things done. And we do it with patience, grace, flexibility, and good humor. Certainly, to thrive during a pandemic required all of those characteristics. But, most of all, it required a community dedicated to collective responsibility and mutual accountability. In every way, our community created a culture of caring for one another.��

As we thrived in this unprecedented and disruptive moment, it became clear that the courageous mission of Hollins University is as relevant today as it was when it was formed 179 years ago. The need to educate women at the undergraduate level, develop their leadership voices and talent, offer them experiential learning opportunities, and ignite their passion to explore and create is critical. Likewise, our coeducational graduate programs continue to prepare a generation of leaders in many arenas and bring prestige to our university.��

Indeed, the need for a rigorous education and powerful leadership—the very cornerstones of the Hollins mission—has never been more critical.��

I truly believe that Hollins is uniquely poised to embrace and amplify our mission at this moment, to capitalize on our legacy of courage, and to prepare a transformative future. To thrive at this moment, to protect our mission and ensure it is sustainable and relevant far into the future, it is essential that we not only invest in but imagine critical components of how we express and manifest our mission.��

This imagination process has been unfolding as an implicit and explicit part of the presidential transition. Since the spring of 2020, the Hollins community has had many conversations wherein I’ve asked for feedback or insights into what matters most at Hollins: what must we protect, what makes us so special, and what must we change? I am so grateful to the hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and alumnae/i who have shared their hopes, fears, aspirations, and plans. The responses have been consistent and compelling.��

In January 2021, our entire community came together to learn and think together about issues ranging from finances to enrollment to the credentialing landscape. I am so grateful for the presence of our faculty and staff as we engaged in learning as a community.��

As we imagine and create our future, it’s important to note that this process is not merely in reaction to COVID-19 but an opportunity to plan for our success well into the future. We can make decisions now that enable us to emerge stronger. The opportunity of the forthcoming post-pandemic landscape is ours for the taking, but the moment won’t last. This opportunity to magnify the power of women is ours for the ��taking, but the moment won’t last. This opportunity to pursue meaningful racial reconciliation is ours for the ��taking, but the moment won’t last.��

I am inviting the entire community, including you, into this imagination process as we plan for a thriving future.��

What matters most at Hollins��

Embrace our identity as ��
a college for women��

Ensure we remain focused ��
on our liberal arts education, ��
both in terms of content ��
and cultural ethos��

Support the rebuilding ��
of our faculty��

Embrace the sense of place ��
that gives meaning ��
to the Hollins experience��

Maintain our students’ ��
outstanding academic profile��

Become a model of inclusion��

Enhance, support, and leverage our university status by better ��
engaging, promoting, and supporting our graduate programs��

Provide the resources needed ��
to support and retain outstanding faculty and staff��

Leverage what we have learned during COVID-19, especially as ��
it relates to online learning��

Provide students the resources needed to succeed beyond ��
the classroom (student success, retention, mental health, ��
accessibility, etc., support)��

Provide needed and desired ��
professional development ��
for faculty and staff

Editor’s Note: Winter 2021 Issue

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In my lifetime, I have never witnessed a moment where hope was more needed it is right now. Hope does not require us to ignore the often harsh realities of our current moment; rather, it requires that we cling to the conviction that better days are yet to come and that we may play a part.

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