Reunion 2013 Award Winners

Woman of Achievement

Cyndi Stivers ’78

Newly named editor-in-chief of online publishing giant AOL.com…Journalist with more than 40 years in every publishing medium for titles including LIFE, US, Conde Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly’s EW.com…Founder of Time Out New York and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s Sirius satellite radio channel…Former chief editor at the Columbia Journalism Review...Chair of the editorial council and former president of the American Society of Magazine Editors…Member of the boards of the American Publishers of America and Consumer Reports WebWatch Advisory… Chair of the AABC Reunion and Communications Committees…member, Barnard Board of Trustees since 2005

Service to Barnard

Linda Barrows ’73

Founder and president of the Upper Midwest Barnard Club since 1981, and the face of Barnard for alumnae living in Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota…Established and presents the annual Barnard Book Award at the Blake School in Minneapolis…Annual Giving volunteer…Coeditor of the 35th reunion essay collection…Speaker at Leadership Assembly, shares insights for building successful clubs at Alumnae Association meetings…Marketing executive and published essayist; currently on staff in the Blake School college-counseling department

Service to Barnard

Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiades ’83

Successful Ob/Gyn with a private practice on New York’s Upper East Side…Published numerous academic papers and received several awards in her field...Mentor to Barnard pre-med students, conducts campus talks about careers in medicine and the sciences, assists students with medical school applications, advises students about classes and their career paths, offers internships in her successful private practice…Member, President’s Science Advisory Council

Distinguished Alumna

Susan Kaufman Purcell ’63

Leading U.S. authority on Latin American economics, politics, and international relations…Director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami…Policy-planning staff member at the State Department under presidents Carter and Reagan…Creator and director of the Latin America Project while a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, 1981 to 1988...Former vice president of the Council of the Americas, seeking to promote free trade in Latin America and the Caribbean…Writer and commentator…Director of investment funds with global interests…Board member of nonprofit organizations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, Center for a Free Cuba, and Women’s Foreign Policy Group

Distinguished Alumna

Harriet Schaffer Rabb ’63

Civil rights and civil liberties attorney…First woman dean in the history of Columbia Law School when named clinical program director and vice dean for urban affairs in 1971...George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility…General counsel to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Clinton…General counsel to Rockefeller University…Board member, The Hastings Center, the Ford Foundation, Human Rights Watch, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund…Recipient of Columbia’s Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility

Service to Barnard

Merri Rosenberg ’78

Freelance writer and editor specializing in education issues…Chair of the AABC Reunion Committee through June 2016… Previous chair of the Leadership Assembly planning committee…Former AABC board member with three years serving on the Nominating Committee…Vice president and co–networking chair of the 25th Reunion committee…Admissions representative (BAAR) and former president of Barnard-in-Westchester…Regular contributor to Barnard Magazine…As an undergraduate, was a senator representing Barnard students in the Columbia University Senate

Distinguished Alumna

Lida Orzeck ’68

Founding partner and CEO of Hanky Panky Ltd., a $50-million lingerie company focused on domestic production and eco-conscious materials and practices…Former career psychologist, researching detective-interview processes in the sex crimes unit at the New York City police department, then emergency medical services responses at the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation…Board member, Contemporary Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers…Co-executive producer of the award-winning Web series, Anyone But Me…Board member, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the International Organization for Women and Development, helping African women suffering from obstetric fistulas…Member, Athena Center’s Leadership Council

Young Alumna Award

Jieh Greeney ’03

Harvard MBA and engagement manager with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company…Recipient of Marvin Bower Award for leadership and work with McKinsey’s women’s initiative for the mid-Atlantic region…Development consultant to the Donald Trump reality television program, The Apprentice…Undergraduate entrepreneur who founded event-planning company, Gotham Events…Volunteer fundraiser and mentor at Barnard

Millicent Carey McIntosh Award for Feminism

Susan Swan ’88

Executive director of V-Day, a global effort to support educational, protective, and legislative measures meant to end violence toward women…A creator of the V-Day movement, based on the successful Eve Ensler play, The Vagina Monologues, which raised more than $100 million to support the movement in 175 countries…Launched the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) hotline and service provider to women and girls in need…A founder of Feminist.com…Member of the Feminist Majority Foundation board…Organizer who helped to bring the first “Take Back the Night” walk to campus

Millicent Carey McIntosh Award for Feminism

Janet Axelrod ’73

Equal rights leader in business, education and community organizations…Producer of a concert to benefit anti-apartheid activists in South Africa in 1979…Founder of South Africa Partners to support a just post-apartheid development in 1997…First employee of software company Lotus Development Corp….Innovative human resources leader at Lotus, creating one of the first benefits policies for same-sex partners and making it one of the top companies for working women…Creator of the Lotus Foundation, an employee-directed charity influencing other companies to sponsor anti-racist projects…Member, first board of the Barnard Center for Research on Women and its international advisory committee… Principal speaker at BCRW’s 40th anniversary conference

Young Alumna Award

Juliana Goldman ’03

White House correspondent for Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek, following the Obama presidency since the early days of his 2008 campaign…Reporter who scored the first post-election interview with President Obama in 2012…Correspondent covering presidential travels abroad, including trips to Berlin for Obama’s famous campaign speech, Oslo for his acceptance of the Nobel Prize, and his first trip to China…Weekly panelist on Bloomberg TV’s news program Political Capital with Al Hunt…Current graduate student at John’s Hopkins University