A selection of recent mentions of 乐播传媒 and 乐播传媒 people in the news media.

Karen Hastie Williams 鈥66

Karen Hastie Williams, barrier-breaking lawyer, dies at 76 鈥 The New York Times

News outlets around the country reported on the trailblazing achievements of Black lawyer Karen Hastie Williams, who died July 7 at age 76.

In 1974, Hastie Williams became the first Black woman hired as a clerk on the Supreme Court, working for Justice Thurgood Marshall.

New York City, 9:47 a.m. , Nov. 3, 2005

DUAL OF LAW At a Manhattan hotel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund board secretary James M. Nabrit III '52 and fellow board member Karen Hastie Williams '66 take a quick break from the group's annual meeting. Nabrit is a former LDF litigator who argued numerous important civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court; Williams is a retired partner in the Washington law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP.  Photo by Michael Appleton for 乐播传媒 College

From the Winter 2006 issue of 乐播传媒 Magazine photo essay capturing 乐播传媒 people around the world photographed at the same moment on the same day: 9:47 a.m. Eastern Time (or 14:47 Greenwich Mean Time, if you wish) on Nov. 3, 2005.
In 2005, NAACP Legal Defense Fund board members Karen Hastie Williams ’66 and James Nabrit ’52 pose for a photograph during their annual meeting. Williams, who died in July, was a “barrier-breaking lawyer,” said The New York Times. Nabrit, who died in 2013, was an NAACP Legal Defense Fund litigator who argued landmark civil rights cases before the Supreme Court. (Michael Appleton for 乐播传媒 College)

鈥淪he was the first woman and the first person of color to make partner at Crowell & Moring, a white-shoe law firm in Washington, D.C., and she repeated the same achievement on a series of corporate and nonprofit boards,鈥 according to The New York Times.

She and her husband were 鈥渁mong the capital鈥檚 power elite, part of a generation of Black professionals who had entered the establishment in the post-civil rights era. Mrs. Williams made it a point to give back. At Crowell, on corporate boards and in a long list of nonprofit positions, she set herself up as one of the city鈥檚 leading mentors for women and people of color in legal and government circles, propelling dozens of promising young lawyers into successful careers.鈥

Read the stories:

  • 鈥,鈥 The New York Times, Aug. 8, 2021
  • “” The Washington Post, July 24, 2021
  • “,” LDF, Aug. 11, 2021
  • “,” DC Bar, July 27, 2021


Al Fereshetian and Curtis Johnson, 乐播传媒 athletics

Curtis Johnson taking baton from Al Fereshetian as 乐播传媒 men鈥檚 track and cross country coach 鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal

Speaking to Wil Kramlich of the Lewiston Sun Journal, Al Fereshetian used a track analogy to explain his decision to retire after 26 years as head coach of men’s cross country and track and field.

鈥淵ou know, you want to pass that baton,鈥 said Fereshetian, who has been .

Head coach Al Fereshetian (left) encourages his cross country runners to the finish of the 2015 Maine State Championship at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

If one of the runners in a relay race gets too tired, Fereshetian explained, 鈥渢hen you almost are stumbling to pass that exchange, and that doesn鈥檛 make for…a very successful relay. 

鈥淪o, I feel like I鈥檝e been able to maintain a good pace up to this point, but I can see if I hung in there too much longer I鈥檇 probably be hitting that point where I wouldn鈥檛 be able to keep moving that baton the way I want to 鈥 and the way it needs to for the team to be successful.鈥

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal, June 26, 2021
Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College
Curtis Johnson succeeds Al Fereshetian as head coach of men’s cross country and track and field. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

John Baughman, politics faculty

Celebrities running for office are boosted by the political moment 鈥 Teen Vogue

Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman tells Teen Vogue writer Tyler Baum that celebrities with little political experience who run for office can take advantage of the growth of 鈥渘egative partisanship.鈥 

That鈥檚 the tendency, explains Baughman, of many voters 鈥渘ot simply to support their own party…but to actually vote against the other party鈥檚 candidates.鈥 

When a voter is motivated to vote against one candidate, it lowers the bar for what it takes to earn the vote, says Baughman, opening the door for a celebrity or other newcomer.

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Teen Vogue, July 22, 2021

Alexandria Onuoha ’20

Protecting Black women college students from “far-right misogynoir” 鈥 Suffolk University News

In a Q&A interview with Suffolk University News, Alexandria Onuoha ’20, a doctoral student in applied developmental psychology at the university, talked about researching the impact of far-right ideologies on Black woman college students.

Using ideas developed by feminist scholar Moya Bailey, who coined the term “misogynoir” to describe the racist misogyny directed toward Black women, Onuoha is exploring what she calls “far-right misogynoir,” the “direct hate and prejudice towards Black women from far-right groups and individuals.”

In January 2020, Alexandria Onuoha 鈥20 offered student greetings at the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote session. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College).

In her psychology studies at 乐播传媒, she says, “at first I didn鈥檛 see myself reflected as a Black woman.” As her coursework and skills deepened, “I learned I can study things about my community in a scientific way that can impact change.” 

That culminated in a senior thesis on “attitudes toward Black LBGTQIA+ individuals and whether religious commitment affects perceptions toward them. I became more and more interested in the Black women college experience.”

  • Read the story: “,'” Suffolk University news, April 8, 2021

Andrew Kennedy, chemistry and biochemistry faculty

乐播传媒 College professor guiding students through COVID-19 data 鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal

In a Q&A with the Lewiston Sun Journal, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Andrew Kennedy explains how two students inspired a data-visualization project to track COVID statistics among schools of the New England Small College Athletic Conference during the 2020鈥21 academic year.

Jillian Serrano 鈥21 and Wuyue Zhou 鈥21 were student researchers in the Kennedy lab, which focuses on epigenetics: how genes can change their function without being altered themselves.

The pair 鈥渨anted to have a sense for how outbreaks would unfold at other, similarly sized colleges that were also coming back to their campuses in-person,鈥 Kennedy said.

The result was a dashboard updated daily with information about COVID in the NESCAC. The two students 鈥渄id everything,鈥 Kennedy says. 鈥淚 would simply meet with them daily for data visualization and to discuss what the data might mean.鈥

The power of data became clear in late March, when 乐播传媒 saw a surge in student cases. Based on data from similar spikes and lockdowns at other NESCAC campuses during the year, 鈥渋t was predictable that a lockdown [at 乐播传媒] would be able to arrest the spread of the virus on campus without exceeding available isolation housing for infected students.鈥

From April 1 to 13, 乐播传媒 implemented in-room restrictions for all students, which stopped the surge.

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal, July 25, 2021

Amy Belding Brown 鈥69

An Irish immigrant saves the work of a brilliant poet in Emily鈥檚 HouseBooktrib

Author Amy Belding Brown 鈥69 is a 鈥渕aster of historical fiction,鈥 says a Booktrib review describing Brown鈥檚 new novel, Emily鈥檚 House, as 鈥渆motionally satisfying because of Brown鈥檚 exquisite writing.鈥 

The novel explores the relationship between poet Emily Dickinson and her confidante, Margaret Maher, the Irish maid responsible for saving Dickinson鈥檚 work from certain destruction, albeit against the poet鈥檚 expressed wishes.

  • Read the story: 鈥溾 Booktrib, Aug. 3, 2021

Julia Sleeper 鈥08 and Kimberly Sullivan 鈥13

Tree Street Youth celebrates 10 years of community, safety and hope 鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal

The Lewiston Sun Journal looked back at the humble beginnings of Tree Street Youth, founded as a summer activities camp in 2011 by Julia Sleeper 鈥08 and Kim Sullivan 鈥13 and now a robust nonprofit offering a range of youth-centered programs and partnerships.

鈥淭he building where Tree Street Youth started in 2011 had been a paint shop,鈥 writes Sun Journal intern Ellie Wolfe 鈥23. 鈥淎fter that, it was a preschool. Then it was a big, empty building.鈥 

Julia Sleeper ’08 (left) and Kim Sullivan ’13, seen in 2013, co-founded Tree Street Youth Center in 2011. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Sleeper, who is now Tree Street鈥檚 executive director, recalls how she and Sullivan 鈥減ainted it up, designed a summer camp, and ended up running our very first summer program in 2011, with eight teenagers from the neighborhood as street leaders.鈥

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Lewiston Sun Journal, July 18, 2021

Jenn Lemkin Bouchard 鈥99

Jenn Bouchard returns to Mystic Saturday 鈥 The Westerly Sun

The Sun of Westerly, R.I., profiled Jenn Bouchard 鈥99, author of the novel First Course, when she returned to the area for a book signing at Banks Square Books in Mystic.

Bouchard spent part of her childhood in nearby Gales Ferry, Conn., when her father was executive officer of the USS Groton submarine in the mid-1980s. 鈥淐oming back is a bit of a homecoming for me,” Bouchard said. 

Bouchard鈥檚 novel tells the story of 24-year-old Janie Whitman, who after a series of life-altering catastrophes retreats to her family鈥檚 summer house in Maine, where she seeks solace and stability among family, friends, and food, and finds romance along the way.

As a notes, the book is “about food 鈥 and a lot more.”

The novel is set in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. that Maine has been a touchstone since her first college visit to 乐播传媒.

“I had moved every two or three years throughout my life due to my father鈥檚 Navy career as a naval submariner, and I was so excited about the prospect of staying somewhere for four years.”

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 The Westerly Sun, July 22, 2021

Nancy Hohmann 鈥68

Belle, the Oxford Hills therapy dog, knows when someone needs her 鈥 Advertiser Democrat

A feature story in the Advertiser Democrat of Norway, Maine, notes that 鈥淣ancy Hohmann and her therapy dog, Belle, are regulars at schools and nursing homes around the Oxford Hills of western Maine.鈥

Hohmann and Belle began their routine after Hohmann saw 鈥渉ow much pleasure a visiting therapy dog brought to her mother during her final days.鈥 The retired public school educator 鈥渄ecided doing the same would be a good way to pay it forward: by providing that joy to others.鈥 

Nancy Hohmann ’68 works with a student at Riding to the Top Therapeutic Riding Center in 2010. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Hohmann, who has long experience helping people gain confidence by engaging with animals, including therapeutic horseback riding, describes Belle as 鈥渢hree-quarters golden retriever and one-quarter Irish setter craziness, which makes her all the more interesting,鈥

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Advertiser Democrat, July 28, 2021

Allen Kendunga 鈥18

Kickstarting Rwandan careers with entrepreneurship training 鈥 Ladderworks

In a Q&A story with Ladderworks, Allen Kendunga talks about founding Talent Match in Rwanda to help college students develop entrepreneurial skills through career development programs.  

鈥淭here is a saying that 鈥榯o whom much is given, much is expected,鈥 and I believe I have been given much, so it鈥檚 high time I gave back,鈥 Kendunga said. 鈥淚 also strongly believe that the right education and platforms can transform lives. I have seen firsthand what young people can do if they are given the tools, information, and support to transform their communities.鈥

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 Ladderworks, Aug. 8, 2021

Victoria Wyeth 鈥01

Victoria Wyeth: art in action 鈥 The Hunt

鈥淪ome people might resent being charged with propagating their family legacy,鈥 writes Michael Bradley in a profile of Victoria Wyeth in The Hunt magazine. 鈥淣ot Wyeth. She covets the role and enjoys the opportunity to educate people about her grandfather [Andrew Wyeth], his father 鈥 famed illustrator N.C. Wyeth鈥攁nd her uncle, Jamie. 

Victoria Wyeth ’01 leads a gallery talk in at Reunion 2011 to mark the opening of “Andrew and Jamie Wyeth: Selections from the Private Collection of Victoria Browning Wyeth,” at the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

鈥淪he introduces them to others on her terms, not as someone whose life is tied completely to some ancestral mandate. 鈥榃hen you come from a famous family, you can change who you are or be true to yourself,鈥 she says. 鈥業 choose the latter.鈥欌

  • Read the story: 鈥,鈥 The Hunt, Spring 2021