Alums

The African American Alumnae/i of Vassar College (AAAVC) Triennial XIV, held on campus April 12–14, marked the 40th anniversary of the group, created in 1984 to engage Black graduates and students. The theme of the weekend was “Storytelling: Creating Our Future, Celebrating Our Past.”

Nearly 200 alums joined dozens of others in the Vassar community to celebrate the Alumnae House’s 100th anniversary and to pay tribute to its original benefactors, sisters Blanche Ferry Hooker of the class of 1894 and Queene Ferry Coonley, class of 1896.

Jessica “Jess” Chong ’08 became the second alum contestant to compete on Survivor,” following Ethan Zohn ’96, winner of Survivor’s third season in 2002. Chong reflects on her time on the show and life after Vassar.

Over the past seven years, the President’s Administrative Fellows program has helped launch careers for dozens of recent alums.

When Screen actor Susan Elizabeth Shaw was cast in the film Oppenheimer as a recent Vassar alum, she decided to learn all she could about her character. She discovered that Laurie Schwab Zabin ’46 had a distinguished career as a champion of women’s reproductive rights.

Vassar alum Rachel Simmons ’96 has had a winding career path—and she came to Vassar to tell students that’s OK.

The two most recent appointees to Vassar’s Board of Trustees, Jennifer Haas ’94 and Delia Cheung Hom ’00, bring some unique talents and backgrounds to their new posts.