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The
Wells College Alumnae Association has selected Karen Smith Rosenbaum, Class
of 1960, of Arlington, Va., for its 2008 Alumnae Award. Karen is being
honored at a campus convocation in May for her distinctive contributions
in the field of education and technology.
For over 40 years,
Karen has been actively involved with education. After receiving an M.A.T.
from Oberlin College, she taught secondary school English in Ohio and Massachusetts.
In 1966, she developed a new basic studies program for Lexington High School
focusing on under-served high school students. Eager to be involved
in educational reform, Karen earned a Ph.D. in education from Johns Hopkins
in 1973. Her doctoral dissertation compared youth programs of the Depression
era with those under the poverty programs of the 1960s. |
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While her own children were
young, she did substitute teaching and volunteer work for the Arlington
schools. As local schools chair for the League of Women Voters, she chaired
a major community forum on school reform. In 1977, Karen was appointed
chair of the Arlington Schools Task Group on Responsible Student Conduct
and Attendance, recommending more stringent policies which were adopted
by the school board. Returning to work for Vice President Mondale’s Task
Force on Education during the Carter Administration, she was project director
for Making Youth Programs Work, a 1980 publication for out-of-school, out-of-work
youth distributed to 16,000 school districts across the United States.
In 1982, Karen founded Technology
Instruction Corporation and set up a day camp in Washington, D.C. for 7
to 16-year-old campers. When “computer camps” were all the rage, Karen’s
vision was to offer a place where learning technology was balanced by active
athletics. TIC summer camp uses the classrooms and sports facilities of
college or school campuses, and offers a unique “spontaneous curriculum”
developed for and by each individual camper, and taught in small groups
with a 1:4 ratio of counselors to kids. The projects are designed by the
campers, paired on computers so that they stimulate each other and learn
more by articulating their learning. From the beginning, under the motto
“Kids learn by having fun!,” every camper took home a project they had
written—often a game they could play with their friends—after two weeks
at TIC.
Karen’s educational philosophy
of "intellectual rigor, independence, appreciation, creative learning and
fun" underlies all camp activities. Campers are encouraged to set their
own goals and then find a way, with the help of technologically expert
counselors, to make that goal a reality. The learning process leads campers
to gain a sense of their own ability and self-worth as they conquer new
technologies. Social and physical skills are developed within the multi-sports
program. Campers have diverse backgrounds and abilities.
Karen’s success with TIC
summer camp relies greatly on the development of an exceptional staff;
many campers have gone on to become counselors. Karen’s educational philosophy
of letting people learn by doing carries over to the counselors responsible
for daily camp activities. One of Karen’s strengths is selecting, training
and managing this vital group of high school and college students, some
recruited from other countries. The group is given a strong orientation
and opportunities to attend workshops for increasing their understanding
of child behavior as well as independence and guidance from Karen.
Counselors have gone on to
make their mark in many careers, including college professors, software
programmers, patent holders in manufacturing, engineers, teachers, professionals
in the performing arts, and managers in Internet-related businesses such
as Google. Many former counselors acknowledge Karen’s influence on their
post-camp lives. As one director noted, "I cannot overstate Karen’s role
in shaping the lives of thousands of children, including my own."
From that first summer camp
established 25 years ago, TIC now has expanded to two locations, Bethesda,
Md., and McLean, Va., together serving the large metropolitan Washington,
D.C., area. In its 25 years of operation, Karen Rosenbaum has exhibited
strong business sense as well as a solid educational foundation. Because
there is no ownership of camp property, each year she finds schools or
other institutions which offer appropriate facilities for camp use. Camp
is a full-time, hands-on job for Karen, and its success is due to her vision,
enthusiasm, and ability.
With excellence a goal in
all aspects of the camp in mind, Karen insisted that TIC meet the stiff
requirements for accreditation from the American Camp Association. TIC
met that goal under Karen’s leadership. Her interest in the ACA led to
two terms as president, Virginia’s section, and ongoing participation in
ACA activities.
At Wells, Karen’s interests
focused on the performing arts. An English major, she staged and directed
a performance of Waiting for Godot during junior year. She was in a quartet
known as "The Fourmost," belonged to Henry’s VIII, and was a bell ringer.
A classmate says "In everything she did, Karen brought enthusiasm and energy
and was usually the driving force behind any of the ventures she undertook."
Karen’s love of music continues—she is a 20-year member of the Master Chorale
of Washington (formerly the Paul Hill Chorale), which performs in such
venues as the Kennedy Center.
Karen Rosenbaum is married
to Dr. David Mark Rosenbaum. They have two adult children, Benjamin and
Shoshana.
The Wells College Alumnae
Association has selected Joanne Lowell Johnson, Wells Class of 1970, of
Newbury, Mass., for its 2008 Alumnae Award. The College will honor
Joanne in May for nearly four decades of remarkable service to her alma
mater and her community.
A career banker and a leader
of the Alumnae Association, Joanne generously contributed her time and
expertise to reinforcing the position of Wells College during a pivotal
period for women’s education. She has shared her wisdom and leadership
equally generously with other organizations she loves, in particular, the
Girl Scouts of Spar and Spindle Council and the Newburyport Choral Society.
In 1970, Joanne graduated
from Wells Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude with distinction in economics.
She was elected as Wells College’s first collegiate trustee. In this position,
she served a two-year term on the board upon graduation, helping to make
policy and other significant decisions about the College. The experience
was “tremendous,” but challenging, she said in an interview last spring—“I
had to jump from being a student to being a steward of the College.”
Joanne has served Wells in
positions of leadership and support ever since. As a member of the Wells
College Alumnae Association Board, she was elected second vice president,
serving from 1983 to 1989, and then president from 1989 until 1995. As
president of the WCAA, she served as a full member of the College’s board
of trustees and sat on the executive committee of that board. Following
her term as WCAA president, she served a third term on the College board,
eventually sitting on nearly all committees. Joanne was elected an honorary
trustee in 2004.
With characteristic strength,
vision and fairness, Joanne led the Alumnae Association through an evolution
that included a comprehensive bylaws revision and consequent reorganization.
In addition, she recruited and inspired new leaders, alumnae who would
contribute needed strengths to the Association.
As a banking executive and
as a volunteer, Joanne has mentored young women for more than a generation.
After pioneering the position of collegiate trustee, she mentored subsequent
young alumnae elected to that post, to help her meet or exceed the responsibilities
of a trustee. In addition, she hosted students during the College’s January
term, placing them in banking internships or offering them housing while
ensuring their introduction to professional women and to the business world.
Joanne is a lifelong resident
of Boston’s North Shore. A strong believer in the “old girl network,” she
has always been active in the Wells Club of Boston. She has served as a
Boston area admissions representative, and chaired the Region I division
of the Wells College Capital Campaign. In 1998, she was a leader-in-residence
at Wells, speaking on the potential threat of the millennium bug in a world
increasingly dependent on computers.
“Joanne’s first love is Wells,
and the College’s best interests are her top priority,” says former Wells
President Robert Plane, whose presidency coincided with Joanne’s final
three years as head of the Alumnae Association. “She has worked for constructive
change in the Association and at the College, and strived to make the Association’s
work relevant to alumnae.”
After graduation, Joanne
worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and
in late 1971, was hired as Essexbank’s first woman management trainee.
In 1983, she was named senior vice president of marketing and administration.
Subsequently, through more than two decades of turmoil in corporate banking,
she was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility—with the Bank
of New England, Fleet, and the Bank of America, from which she retired
as a change management executive in personnel technology. She received
a degree in credit and loan administration from the American Institute
of Banking in Boston, and a master’s degree in retail bank management from
the University of Virginia. She was one of 50 outstanding professional
women in the Boston area selected for the Vanguard Award.
Involved in the Girl Scouts
since her youth, Joanne has served on the board of directors of the Girl
Scouts of Spar and Spindle Council (northeastern Massachusetts) for over
20 years, including terms as vice president and president. Currently, she
is the first vice president. As board member, president and member of the
resource development and strategic planning task forces, she lent her business
acumen to sustaining the Council’s strong governance and sound finances,
also volunteering as a fundraiser and grant writer. In 2003, she received
the Thanks Badge, the highest honor the Girl Scouts can award to an adult.
Since mid-2006, she has been working on the merger of the three Girl Scout
Councils in eastern Massachusetts. She is one of nine adult volunteers
serving on the Council Realignment Committee (CRC) to effect this merger.
“Joanne has been key to keeping
us focused on getting the merger done in as timely and professional a manner
as possible,” says Margaret Stevens, president of the Girl Scouts of Southeastern
Massachusetts and a fellow CRC member. Stevens also recently announced
Joanne’s selection as president-elect of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts,
with some 47,000 girl members and 17,000 adult volunteers. The merger initiative
in eastern Massachusetts is part of the Girl Scouts of the USA Council
Realignment Project that will reduce the number of Councils nationwide
from 317 to 109 by the end of 2009.
Joanne and her husband, Ralph,
are longtime members of the Newburyport Choral Society and have served
in nearly every leadership position in the group. A generous sponsor of
the Society, she has put her heart and soul into fundraising efforts, in
part so that every member can participate in the Society’s activities,
including foreign tours.
“Joanne has great talent
for observing the organizational needs of the Choral Society and takes
the initiative to see that they are met, whether through board-building
or fundraising,” says Society President Nancy Ames. “Joanne also has a
great talent for spotting skills and strengths in others and quietly helping
them to use those skills to work for the causes they (and she) believe
in.”
Still, adds Ms. Ames, speaking
for many who have known and worked with Joanne Johnson, “She never asks
anyone to do anything she herself would not willingly do.”
The Alumnae
Award Committee is actively seeking nominees for the Wells College Alumnae
Award. The Award honors Wells women of high achievement in professions
and careers, in volunteer and community work, in service to their alma
mater, or in some combination of these endeavors. Only living alumnae are
eligible, and no alumna may nominate herself. Both graduates and non-graduates
are considered alumnae. Points to be considered in making a nomination
are as follows: quality of performance in her field of creativity, continuity
of effort, leadership skills, willingness to accept responsibility, recognition
by her community, and loyalty to Wells. Please bear in mind that the research
process is lengthy and not all candidates who are reviewed will receive
the award. Hence, your nomination must remain confidential. The Alumnae
Award is a significant honor. Its meaning lies in selecting those who have
been uniquely empowered by their undergraduate experience – those who see
their Wells education as providing a special foundation or sense of direction
and whose subsequent contributions reflect distinction on them as well
as the college.
2007
Award Recipients
2006
Award Recipient
2005
Award Recipients
2004
Award Recipient
2003
Award Recepient
2002
Award Recipient
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