For Women Only

More than 370 alumnae returned to Hanover for the weekend of November 9-11 to attend a very different kind of reunion. The event, called Celebrating 35 Years of Women at Dartmouth, drew women from each class since the College officially went coed in 1972. They traveled from across the United States (and even the Atlantic Ocean) to commemorate their accomplishments, reminisce and celebrate.

Patricia Fisher '81, an officer in alumni relations who was the mastermind behind the event, believes it was the biggest reunion of Dartmouth alumnae in the history of the College. Every coed class was represented.

Throughout the weekend 68 alumnae who are leaders in their fields offered their wisdom in panel discussions and speeches that covered topics from entrepreneurship to spirituality (see the full list at http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/default.aspx?id=418). Speakincluded Gretchen Teichgraeber '75, Tu'79, president and CEO of Scientific American Inc.; Eileen Chamberlain-Donahoe '81, national chair-woman of the Barack Obama finance committee; Dawn Hudson '79, president of PepsiCo North America; and Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord '79, surgeon and author of The Scalpel and theSilver Bear.

"The speakers we've heard have all been fabulous," said Beth Haffenreffer Sholle '82, who attended panels with classmate Maty Thomson Renner '82.

Julie Stiles Mamschak '81 that left at least a third of the hundred-person audience in tears. At the same panel Susan Dentzer '77, health correspondent for The News HourWith Jim Lehrer, covered the biggest threats to women's health—heart disease, cancer, bone health and obesity—in less than 10 minutes. One panel featured a speech given by cancer survivor

Kirsten (Rutnik) Gillibrand '88, the first Dartmouth alumna elected to Congress, delivered the keynote address at a dinner Saturday night. Before and after her speech hundreds of alumnae mingled, took pictures and talked about how much the College has—and hasn't—changed since their time at Dartmouth.

Renner appreciated the intellectual nature of the weekend. "It's unlike a typical reunion, to participate in seminars like this," she said. "It gives you a chance to come back and be with other women and learn from them. It's more contemplative."

Alumnae at the opening reception November 9

The Required Reading List for students who arrived at Dartmouth in 1908 included Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice; the Sir Roger de Coverly Papers from theSpectator, Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and The Lady of the Lake; Washington Irving's Life of Goldsmith; Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alfred Lord Tennyson's Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot andElaine and The Passing of Arthur, and George Eliot's Silas Marner.

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