Robb Rolfing ’00 excelled on the soccer field in his four years at Vassar. Seven years later, U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant Robb Rolfing was killed by enemy fire during a raid on an insurgent compound in Baghdad. Vassar has honored his legacy ever since.
The Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC) has announced its 2021 awardees: a professor emerita and four alums who have all had a lasting impact on the College and beyond. They are Dr. Patricia James Jordan ’72, P’17; Marie (Dugo) Dilemani ’11; Professor Emerita of Greek and Roman Studies Rachel Kitzinger; retired Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ’74; and Meryl Streep ’71, P’08, ’13.
As AAVC celebrates its 150th year, we are highlighting a few notable alums—this month, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jon Fisher, a self-described “ideas guy” who founded his first tech company before he had even graduated.
Buoyed by a $10-million gift from alumna Dede Thompson Bartlett, Vassar College today unveiled plans for a new building that will house the offices of Admission and Career Education, President Elizabeth Bradley announced.
One of Vassar’s oldest traditions—gathering together for Convocation—resumed for the first time in 747 days on September 22. On a beautiful fall day on Commencement Hill, the campus community celebrated the start of the fall semester. President Elizabeth Bradley’s summed up the occasion succinctly: “I’m so thrilled to be with all of you—on campus, together, at last!”
Writer and activist Lila Nordstrom ’06—one of the many students attending the nearby Stuyvesant High School on 9/11—was inspired to found StuyHealth, an advocacy group representing former students who were in lower Manhattan on that day in 2001. She recently published a chronicle of the 20-year battle to ensure permanent funding for the health needs of 9/11 survivors.
Two days before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a top editor from the Wall Street Journal traded observations with student journalists and media experts about the evolving ethics of news photography at a forum at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.
