Alumnae Association Award Winners

When Barnard’s extraordinary women come together during Reunion, the Alumnae Association recognizes a few especially accomplished graduates for professional achievements and exceptional volunteer contributions to the College

By Alia Persico-Shammas ’16

MARCELLA ROSEN ’55

Distinguished Alumna Award

One of the first women to hold top positions in advertising…Former president, Trager-Rosen, media director at N. W. Ayer, and first woman member of Ayer’s board…Executive vice president and director of Media Worldwide…Matrix Award for Advertising from Women in Communications…Crystal Prism Award from Advertising Women of New York…President, Network Television Association…Founder and chair of The Deciding Vote…Founder, Campus Tolerance Foundation…Founder, Untold News…Author, Tiny Dynamo…A director of 92nd St. Y, Jewish Community Relations Council of N.Y., and Heschel School…Formerly a director of the Advertising Council, Audit Bureau of Circulation, International Radio and Television Society, and Citizens for NYC…Served on the Barnard Board of Trustees, as chair of the Barnard Fund Alumnae Committee, and president of Barnard Business and Professional Women

VICKI CURRY ’90

Award for Service to Barnard

Barnard Alumnae Admissions Representative (BAAR) since 1990…Program chair of the Barnard Club of Los Angeles…Former director-at-large of Alumnae Association and chair of the Reunion Awards Committee…Current Class of 1990 vice president; cochair of its 25th Reunion committee…Worked in public communications at CNN in New York, then spent 14 years as a reporter and producer for KCET-TV, earning several Emmy and Golden Mike Awards, plus an award from the Associated Press…Served as senior press secretary for former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; now associate director, communications, for his successor, Mayor Eric Garcetti

BERL HARTMAN ’60

Award for Service to Barnard

Multi-term class president, class chair of several reunions…Developed several class books and inspired numerous successful fund-raising efforts…Senior positions in the database-software field…Senior vice president at Blanc & Otus, founding and leading the company’s first clean-energy practice…Founding member of the New England Clean Energy Council, received its first Clean Energy Leadership Award…Cofounder of the New England chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs, advocating on behalf of strong environmental policy based on economic merits…Member of the E2 National Advisory Board and Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act’s implementation advisory committee

DARA RICHARDSON-HERON ’85

Distinguished Alumna Award

CEO of YWCA, one of the country’s oldest organizations promoting solutions to empower women and girls…Former CEO of the greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure…Former special assistant to the chairman and CEO, Consolidated Edison, and chief medical officer of United Cerebral Palsy of New York City…Honored by the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers as Woman of Excellence in Philanthropy…Named by Network Journal as one of 25 Influential Black Women in Business…Named by Women’s eNews in 2013 and 2014 as one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century…Listed on the March 2015 Power & Influence Top 50 by The Nonprofit Times…Holds her MD from NYU, human resources management certificate from University of Michigan

MYRNA FAWCETT ’70

Award for Service to Barnard

Served as president, vice president, and board member of the Barnard-in-Washington Alumnae Club…Served as a member of the AABC bylaws and awards committees, vice president of the AABC, and chair of the President’s Advisory Council…Alumnae trustee…Served two five-year terms as class fund chair and as solicitor and member of the National Committee for the Barnard Campaign…Graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, practiced law with a focus on the needs of the under-privileged in the D.C. court system…Pro bono work included membership on the governing board of the Anti-Defamation League and the Washington Bioethics Network

BARBARA H. ROBERTS ’65

Millicent Carey McIntosh Award for Feminism

First woman adult cardiologist in Rhode Island…Formerly director of Women’s Cardiology Center at Miriam Hospital in Providence…Associate clinical professor at Brown University’s medical school…Works with ProCOR, an organization committed to women’s heart health in the developing world…Author of How to Keep From Breaking Your Heart and the bestselling The Truth About Statins: Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs…Member of the women’s heart health advisory board for Woman’s Day…Board of directors of Rhode Island Medical Women’s Association and Rhode Island Heart Association, which named her Physician of the Year in 2003…Selected as top cardiologist for women in Women’s Health Magazine…Nominated by former senator of Rhode Island Lincoln Chaffee as a “Local Legend” in NIH program recognizing women physicians

MERCEDES MONTAGNES ’05

Young Alumna Award

Urban studies major with a degree from Harvard Law School...Student attorney with Massachusetts Prisoners’ Legal Services and the Criminal Justice Institute…Internships with civil-rights attorney and a public defender in New Orleans…President, Harvard Law and Policy Review…Coordinator for the Hurricane Katrina Legislative Tracking Project…Established the nonprofit Promise of Justice Initiative for humane, fair, and equal treatment of individuals in the criminal-justice system, awarded seed grant by Harvard’s Public Service Venture Fund…In organization’s first year, successfully challenged inhumane conditions at the Louisiana state penitentiary, compelling the state to disclose its execution plan in the wake of drug shortage

ALICE STERLING HONIG ’50

Woman of Achievement

Professor emerita of child development at Syracuse University, with groundbreaking work in early childhood education…Taught courses in parenting, prosocial development, cross-cultural and language development, and research methods for studying children…Authored or edited more than a dozen books and 600 articles and chapters…Director, Syracuse’s National Quality Infant/Toddler Caregiving Workshop for over 37 years…Regular contributor to various Scholastic publications…Editorial board, Journal of the Society for Research in Child Development…Editorial board, National Head Start NHSA Dialog Journal and PsycCritiques…Fellow of American Psychological Association…Board of directors of International Association for Infant Mental Health…Dr. Alice Honig Early Child Development Honorary Award for excellence in service to children in Asia first presented in 2013...Cited as an “exemplary leader” by the Phi Beta Kappa Society

 

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