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D E A R F R I E N D S :
Isit down to write these greetings at the start of
Homecoming. Alumnae and families are
gathering to enjoy what I’m sure will be an
enchantingly beautiful fall weekend on campus.
I’ve just had lunch with many of Sweet Briar’s most
loyal supporters, after which we enjoyed lively
presentations from faculty members and students
highlighting outstanding academic programs – the
new y:1 program, e Blue Ridge Summer Institute
for Young Artists (BLUR), and the Margaret Jones
Wyllie ’45 Engineering Program, specifically.
Homecoming always seems to strike very satisfying
“back to school” notes for me. e air is crisp and
clear, we’re just beginning to need sweaters, the trees
are starting to turn (they look spectacular from the
hockey field), and faculty members and students are
enthusiastic about the unfolding possibilities of the
year ahead.
e juxtaposition of alumnae and new students at
Homecoming is particularly meaningful. New students
are just beginning to explore what it means for them
to be Sweet Briar women; in this issue you will have a
chance to read about some of their earliest experiences
and impressions. Alumnae are reflecting on what it
means to be back on campus, with its many reminders
of their younger selves, and on how the years since
graduation have been shaped by all they learned and
achieved here. We’ve asked several of them to share
their experiences of being Sweet Briar women on
Facebook; you’ll see some of what they said in the
article on “You Went To Sweet Briar If…” in this issue.
If you weren’t able to come to Homecoming to share
reminiscences directly, we hope you’ll enjoy this
feature!
In short, Homecoming is a vivid reminder of the way
that Sweet Briar has been passed from loving hands to
loving hands for generations. Alumnae from many
decades welcome new graduates into their midst every
year: seniors, juniors and sophomores welcome new
first-year students every fall. Faculty leaders like the
late Dr. Ernest Edwards, profiled in this issue, create
intellectual legacies that are treasured and carried
forward by their younger colleagues and by their
students, who in turn pass on their knowledge and
dedication to others.
I have always found this chain of intellectual
generations, this vision of knowledge and love handed
from elder people to younger ones down the years,
deeply moving. It is, I believe, what is noblest about an
academic institution, and I never lose sight of what an
honor it is to play a role in extending it. At the same
time, of course, talking with alumnae and former
faculty reminds me more clearly than anything else
could that on a college campus the one constant is
change. So much has changed at Sweet Briar since the
class of ’45 graduated! Buildings have been added and
others have been repurposed, academic programs have
both emerged and disappeared, scientific theories have
arisen and been confirmed or perhaps discredited, the
curriculum has been revised more than once, and of
course Sweet Briar is no longer in the dairy business!
But somehow we recognize in all that change an
enduring core, a genuine connection extending from
the College’s founding to the present day. Of course,
this is the context in which our strategic planning has
taken shape. e title of our plan says it all: it is a plan
for “sustainable excellence.” We must preserve what is
excellent about Sweet Briar and we must ensure that
we can sustain that excellence through the second
century of the College’s life as those who came before
us sustained it through the first.
In coming months, and in future issues of this
magazine, you’ll be reading more about the actions we
are taking to strengthen and extend the chain that
connects past, present and future Sweet Briar women,
that connects great faculty members like Dr. Edwards
with today’s faculty members and their students, that
connects today’s donors with the foundational
philanthropy of Indiana Fletcher Williams.
I hope this issue of the magazine gives you a sense of
the vitality of your own personal connection to Sweet
Briar!
Best,
Jo Ellen Parker
SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE MAGAZINE POLICY
The magazine aims to present interesting, thought-provoking
material. Publication of material does not indicate endorsement
of the author’s viewpoint by the magazine or College. The
Sweet Briar College Magazine reserves the right to edit and,
when necessary, revise all material that it accepts for
publication. Contact us anytime!
MAGAZINE STAFF
Zach Kincaid, editor
Meridith De Avila Khan, photographer
Jennifer McManamay, staff writer
EDITORIAL BOARD
Louise Swiecki Zingaro ’80, vice president and chief of staff
Ken Huus, dean of admissions
Heidi McCrory, vice president for development and alumnae
Zach Kincaid, director of media, marketing and communications
Jennifer McManamay, staff writer
Designed by Jon Scott
Printed by Progress Printing Company
Contact information
Office of Media, Marketing and Communications
PO Box 1056, Sweet Briar, VA 24595
(434) 381-6262
zkincaid@sbc.edu
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