Month: May 2012

Embracing Nerdland

I have often spoken about the importance of Wellesley’s intellectual community, where we value and encourage the open exchange of diverse opinions and ideas. Our intellectual community is one of Wellesley’s great strengths. 

Our Commencement speaker, Melissa Harris-Perry, also encourages such discourse—during her weekend show on MSNBC, which she has dubbed “Nerdland.”

In fact, as we prepare for Commencement on Friday, the campus is “nerding out” in anticipation of Harris-Perry’s arrival. Students have created a Facebook page, a Tumblr, and have distributed 1,500 boxes of nerd candy around campus. (I have two boxes on my desk.)

I will be delighted to welcome Harris-Perry—and her concept of “Nerdland”—to campus on Friday.  I know she will feel right at home.

Celebrating Our Davis-UWC Students

Several times a year, I join our Davis United World College Scholars for various events in which we share stories and laughs. Last week, this special group—I like to think of them as a sisterhood within a sisterhood—gathered for a lunch at Slater International Center.

We celebrated our Davis-UWC students, especially those who will be graduating in just a few weeks, and we welcomed to campus Phil Geier, who is the executive director of the Davis-UWC Scholars Program.

Wellesley is proud to be one the five founding colleges of the Davis-UWC Scholars Program, which provides need-based scholarships to students around the world, enabling some of the brightest, most capable students to come to Wellesley and other selected U.S. colleges.