What’s Inside 


With this issue, we welcome new Editorial Manager Abigail Beshkin who will be editing our Class Notes section as well keeping our Web site invigorated with an ongoing stream of new content. Class correspondents or alumnae with ideas for Web features may reach her at abeshkin@barnard.edu. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Beshkin has worked as a public-radio producer and reporter; most recently, she worked at Pratt Institute. 


Barnard students can choose from approximately 150 study-abroad programs in 35 countries. Many students document their off-the-beaten-path experiences and share them in the annual See New Abroad Photos (SNAP) competition at the College. Page through some outstanding shots from last summer’s entries; they provide unexpected answers to the question, “How did you spend your summer vacation?”


What was life like for the first generation of women on Wall Street; those women who didn’t make coffee, take dictation, or type at least 45 words per minute, but rather dealt with clients and made decisions? In her new book, Wall Street Women, Melissa Fisher ’85 shares insights she gleaned from interviewing these women over a period of several years.


Sharon Johnson ’85 brought to our attention that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. In commemoration, we feature two essays: Professor Monica Miller recalls Hurston’s rediscovery by Alice Walker in the Seventies; Johnson contributes an assessment of Hurston’s autobiography, offering fresh insights into what it reveals and does not.


Learning about contemporary art, a special on-campus symposium of the Women in Public Service Project, and the premiere of Professor Lee Anne Bell’s new documentary on race relations in a Mississippi high school contribute to an issue that we hope you will find thought provoking and enjoyable.


—The Editor


Latest IssueWinter 2024

Award-winning music producer Ebonie Smith ’07, museum curators on objects of interest, a dance course brings students to the stage, and more!