In March, students & faculty from Wellesley College, including Treya Pember ’25, Rosario Avila ’28, Anna Stone Ewing ’28, and Whitin Observatory Manager Jonathan Kemp, visited Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, stopping at overlooks to measure the darkness of the sky.
cardinalnews.org/2026/03/31/p...
“I knew that I wanted to find a way to give back to a place that had already given so much to me,” said Alexis Griffin Bonhomme ’15. And she did just that.
www.wellesley.edu/news/this-is...
Four people kneeling on a curling rink, holding gold medals and displaying a trophy. They are wearing matching curling outfits with logos, and there are curling lanes in the background.
A person wearing a sports jacket crouches on an ice curling rink, holding a broom. The jacket displays logos for ABC World Vacations and North Curling Supplies. Two curling stones rest on the ice ahead.
In an indoor curling rink, a person in a dark jacket is focusing while sliding a curling stone with a pink-handled broom. Yellow curling stones and Olympic rings logo are visible on the jacket.
Two people holding a large trophy on a curling rink. They are wearing matching uniforms with medals around their necks. The rink features logos including Essential Health.
Julia Pekowitz ’27 and her teammates competed last week in Bismarck, North Dakota at the Under 21 USA Curling Nationals Championship. Team Pekowitz came away from the week winning gold and Julia and team will be Team USA at the 2027 Junior Worlds in February. Congrats, Julia! 🥌
This image shows a Pew Research Center graph about U.S. teens' use of AI chatbots. The bars represent percentages: 57% for information, 54% for help with schoolwork, 47% for entertainment, 38% for summarizing content, 19% for ideas, 19% for casual conversation, and 12% for emotional support.
More than half of U.S. teens use chatbots to answer questions and help with schoolwork. Linda Charmaraman, director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing research lab, runs digital media workshops for teens: “Some of these teens can teach the adults a thing or two about AI.”
https://bit.ly/4smpfNe
Bad Bunny
🎧 Kiss 95.1 FM in Charlotte, North Carolina featured a segment on American studies professor Petra Rivera-Rideau and co-author Vanessa DĂaz’s new book on Bad Bunny and their Bad Bunny syllabus.
Read more: https://bit.ly/48kCjvf
📸 Frazer Harrison via Getty Images
In this Governing op-ed, Tamanika Ferguson of @wellesley.edu argues that state and local governments should create required, paid, voting seats for formerly incarcerated women on the bodies that shape jail and prison policy.
👉 Learn more: www.governing.com/policy/what-...
Mfoniso Udofia '06
A group of individuals stands on stage in front of music stands, under bright pink lighting. Musicians are seated in the background with musical instruments.
A group of five people standing together indoors, smiling. They are dressed in colorful and varied attire. The background suggests an event setting.
Two individuals on stage are giving high fives, standing in front of music stands. A table with a potted orchid is between them. The background is a vibrant pink.
Wellesley Repertory Theatre’s final performance of the play-in-process Lifted, written by Mfoniso Udofia ’06, was presented on campus on March 29. The event was preceded by a reception celebrating 150 years of creativity on campus.
📸 Annielly Camargo
This image features a person smiling and standing in front of a turquoise background. Text reads: "The Energy of the Future. Meet Janina Shivdasani '26, Economics, Wellesley College." The MIT Energy Initiative logo is in the corner.
As a part of her MITEI Energy Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) appointment, Janina Shivdasani ’26 analyzed climate and energy research conducted at MIT and then translated those findings into something digestible for an audience outside of academia.
https://bit.ly/4maOCju
Ruth J Simmons
Pioneering educator Ruth J. Simmons will deliver the address at Wellesley College’s 148th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15. Throughout her distinguished career, Simmons has championed the value of higher education and the importance of expanding opportunities for all students.
Wellesley is known for producing secretaries of state and global ambassadors, but the College is less known for its role in educating Deaf women who have gone on to be top academic researchers in their fields. Read more: https://bit.ly/4s16oXL
✍️ Chaewon Han ’29
Iris Zhan ’27 writes for the Swellesley Report about the debut of American studies professor Petra Rivera-Rideau and co-author Vanessa DĂaz’s book “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.”
Read more: https://bit.ly/47YWK0y
Students who choose to go to Wellesley know the College offers a world-class education, a serene campus, and a powerful alum network. But it also provides many perks and amenities they may not have heard about, such as free laundry and a lifetime of career advice.
www.wellesley.edu/news/from-la...
A visitor looks at calligraphy by Luo Sangui of the Daodejing, the classic Daoist text, during the Nanjing 2014 Grand Art Exhibition in Nanjing, China.
In the Conversation, Stephen Chen, associate professor of psychology, writes that the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi can inspire us to shift our focus from competition to contentment.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4rHSppy
📸 Getty Images
Traders at a market in Nakuru, Kenya. Oil price hikes will push up the price of food.
The Conversation asked five scholars from Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and Ethiopia to answer the question: Is the spike in oil prices hurting your country’s economy?
Tsegay Tekleselassie, Visiting Lecturer in Economics, shared his thoughts on Ethiopia:
Read more: https://bit.ly/40Ixnw8
Three individuals are seated on stage in a panel discussion. The person on the left holds a microphone, wearing a dark outfit. The person in the center has long, curly hair, wears a red patterned skirt, and also holds a microphone. The person on the right has long hair, wears a blue top, jeans, and boots. A bare tree branch decorates the stage area. An audience is visible in the foreground.
“What does the Earth ask of us—not what more we can take, but what are we asked to give?”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist, bestselling author, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, posed this question to a packed audience at a March 8 event at Wellesley. https://bit.ly/474W6OQ
“We need to mandate including [formerly incarcerated women] on the bodies that shape jails, prisons, parole, sentencing and reentry,” writes Tamanika Ferguson, a research scholar in Wellesley’s department of women's and gender studies.
https://bit.ly/3PaTXuQ
“Because I grew up [Bangladesh], right in the middle of the smoggy, light-polluted city, I do not remember seeing any star,” says Lamiya Mowla ’13, assistant professor of astronomy. That changed when she arrived at Wellesley.
magazine.wellesley.edu/issues/winter-2026/eyes-...
Wellesley has long-standing connections to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Today, three Wellesley grads are among those leading changes at the MFA—curators Claire Howard ’05, Erica Hirshler ’79, and Christina Yu Yu ’02.
magazine.wellesley.edu/issues/winter-2026/the-c...
The Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) and the Women’s Foundation of Massachusetts (WFMA) are pleased to announce their inaugural report on the Status of Women & Girls in Massachusetts.
Read the full report: https://bit.ly/47mJO4o
Africana studies professor @kcarterjackson.bsky.social said she’s seen Underground Railroad hiding spots in attics, in cellars, and beneath false floors, but prior to now, she’s never seen one inside a drawer...
Read more from @smithsonianmag.bsky.social: https://bit.ly/4b1pMNI
Next week, 3/10 at 12PM — "To Feel Well Late in Life." Part of Anthropology's Spring Colloquium Series. Presented by Aalyia Sadruddin, Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at @wellesley.edu. Learn more and explore other talks in this series:
A person is sitting on the floor of a library, leaning against a bookshelf while reading a book. Nearby, there are books titled on the carpet. The shelves behind are filled with more books.
Sick of the freezing temperatures? Tired from sledding or shoveling? Then take some time to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and a recent book by a member of Wellesley’s faculty!
www.wellesley.edu/news/a-dozen-new-books-b...
Illustration of a mobile with hanging objects, including a model house, a roll of money, a baby bottle, a calculator, and a positive pregnancy test against a gradient background.
As fertility rates plummet in much of the world, Wellesley experts explain why it’s happening and what might be done to address it, and alums tell their own stories about their winding paths to becoming parents—or not.
magazine.wellesley.edu/issues/winter-2026/where...
Two people boarding a well-lit bus on a dark street. The bus has patterned blue seats visible through the open door. A cityscape with buildings and streetlights are in the background.
Thanks to cross-registration programs, Wellesley students can take classes at several of the College’s neighboring institutions: MIT, Babson College, Olin College of Engineering, and Brandeis University.
Read more from Chaewon Han ’29: www.wellesley.edu/news/education-rooted-in...
On March 3, Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, Associate Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College, and her co-author Vanessa DĂaz will be at Harvard Book Store for a discussion of their new book:
https://www.harvard.com/event/diaz-rideau
The Department of Religious Studies at @wellesley.edu invites applications for a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in #Religion in the Americas, beginning in fall, 2026.
➡️ Indigenous religious cultures, Christianities, Black & Diasporic religions. Apply by March 9.
wd1.myworkdaysite.com/recruiting/w...
A poet and a mathematician from @wellesley.edu in the same poli sci section at Harvard Book Store.
@dchiasso.bsky.social
Wellesley Centers for Women senior research scientist Linda Charmaraman talked to PBS about a three-year study that found social media use did not predict teens’ anxiety or depression.
www.pbs.org/video/25000-teens-3-year...
Amanda Lahikainen ’02
Congratulations to Amanda Lahikainen ’02, who was recently named the new executive director of The Concord Museum!
Read more about her and her journey from The Boston Globe: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/03/arts/concord-...
Wellesley students who helped with Linda Charmamaran’s Youth, Media & Wellbeing (YMW) Research Lab workshops for middle school girls and nonbinary youth pose for a group photo.
With Linda Charmaraman, Wellesley students work with middle school girls and nonbinary youth on digital wellbeing.
Read the full story by Colleen Heaslip ’28: www.wellesley.edu/news/the-heart-of-the-yo...
📸 Vivian Huang ’26