Barbara Niedland McCarthy '73 returns to Randolph College Board of Trustees

Barbara Niedland McCarthy ’73 is no stranger to the Randolph College Board of Trustees. McCarthy, one of two alumnae recently elected to the Board, first served from 2009-12 as part of her role as president of the Alumnae and Alumni Association. 

McCarthy, a psychology major from Richmond, Virginia, is the director of the Library and Resource Center for the Commonwealth’s Department of the Blind and Vision Impaired.

“The College gave me the foundation upon which I built my career, developed into who I am today, started a family, and became passionate about service to others,” McCarthy said. “I want other young people to have similar amazing opportunities at this wonderful College. I wish I could have another go at it!”

McCarthy earned her Master in Education from the University of Virginia and has been heavily involved with the College for years. Among other duties, she served as chair of the finance committee, the Richmond Chapter president, and as a district director.

She believes her experience in the education spectrum will serve her well on the Board, and she hopes to build relationships with fellow Board members as well as faculty and staff.

“I see blue skies ahead for Randolph College,” McCarthy said. “I envision a College renowned for the integration of its liberal arts curriculum with more real life experiences and internships. I expect the size and diversity of the student body to continue to grow, but the intimate campus atmosphere will remain intact. The College’s fine faculty will continue to inspire students and produce important research and projects. 

“Randolph College,” she added, “has grown with the times, and is, quite frankly, better than the College I attended from 1969-1973. The world is virtually smaller now, and thankfully Randolph has changed to meet the new global challenges.”

McCarthy is an active volunteer in her community and has served as board president of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Vision Impaired. A long-time board member and trustee emeritus for the American Foundation for the Blind, McCarthy has also volunteered in an advisory capacity with both the American Printing House for the Blind and with Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

She and her husband, Jim, have two sons, a daughter, and five grandchildren.

Kathryn Heath Graves '76 begins tenure as new member of the Randolph College Board of Trustees

One of three daughters of an Episcopal priest, Kathryn Heath Graves ’76 never took college for granted.  “I was very fortunate to go there, and I loved it from day one,” said the Atlanta, Georgia, resident. Graves, an honors graduate in art history/art studio/psychology and long-time supporter of the College, was one of two new members recently elected to the Randolph College Board of Trustees.

“So many things that have mattered to me in my life were enhanced by my being at Randolph-Macon,” she said.

Graves currently serves as the associate dean for development and external relations for the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. After graduation from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College), Graves earned her Master of Education from the University of Georgia and her Master of Public Health from Emory University. 

 Her interest in higher education began during her time at the College. She worked in the admissions office all four years and traveled throughout the United States with members of the admissions staff during her junior year.  The close proximity of the development, career services, and president’s offices provided opportunities to build close relationships with College administrators.  Graves entered the real world as a banker but quickly gravitated back to higher education. 

She took on the challenge of building financial resources for Rollins when the entire program didn’t fill one floor of a building.  Today, Rollins has taken its place among the leading schools of public health in the world, attracts more masters applicants than any other school of public health, and recently moved into its second 10-story building. 

Graves believes her experience in higher education will prove to be an asset as a Board member. “It is second nature to me,” she said. “I feel very fortunate to join the Board along with the new president. We deal with many of the same issues and I expect each experience will enhance the other.  I have great optimism for the College, and I hope that I can help bring into our community new friends for the College and people who have drifted away for whatever reason.”

A perennial volunteer, Graves has served as a district director, class agent, class secretary, and president of the Atlanta Alumnae and Alumni Chapter. She returned to campus multiple times to share her expertise with staff as well as students. Most recently in 2013, she and her husband, Judson, provided funding to support the Heath Student Government Suite in the new Student Center.

Graves’ two sisters, Susan Heath ’79 and Elizabeth Heath Hershey ’80, are also alumnae of the College.

“I moved a lot growing up, and R-MWC is the one place I have come home to since 1972,” Graves said. “When I was in college, my father used to say, ‘Let’s take Kathryn back to heaven. I thought it was the perfect place to be educated, and I still do.”

Alumna's unprecedented exhibition Receiving more national attention

Anne Wilkes Tucker '67

An exhibition curated in part by alumna and Board of Trustee member Anne Wilkes Tucker '67 is receiving more national attention, this time on PBS NewsHour.

Tucker, curator for photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) worked with colleagues to create War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. The exhibition opened last year and explores the experience of war through the eyes of photographers. The show features 480 objects and photos from more than 280 photographers from 28 nations. The powerful exhibition spans 165 years of conflicts all over the world, beginning with the Mexican-American War in 1847.


The PBS piece is available here

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365077119/

To read more about Tucker, please see the article in the November 2012 issue of Randolph magazine:
http://www.randolphcollege.edu/magazine_2012_4_1_eye_of_the_beholder.xml.

Belief in Randolph's future prompts Allison Gulick Muller '71 to accept nomination to Board of Trustees

Editor's Note: This is the fifth in a series of articles on the five new members of Randolph College's Board of Trustees.

During her first-year at R-MWC, Allison Gulick Muller ’71 took an art history course at the urging of a friend. That class helped Muller rediscover a love of art that ended up shaping her college career. “It set me on a path to the total joy and passion of learning,” she said. “I continue to be energized by my field of study. I find that all of the things I enjoyed academically in college are things that have stood me in good stead as an adult learner.”

Muller, who is originally from Manhasset, New York, but now lives in Greenville, South Carolina, is one of five new members of Randolph College’s Board of Trustees. After graduating from R-MWC with a major in art history and a minor in studio art, Muller worked with the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., before serving as assistant registrar for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

While working in Boston, she met her husband, Carl, who was in business and law school at Harvard University. Muller went on to serve as assistant curator for the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina. Later, she made the decision to stay home with her three children. She has been an active volunteer, both with Randolph and with her community. She has focused much of her time with advocacy in public education. She served as a chapter president, a class agent, and most recently as a class secretary for the College’s Alumnae and Alumni Association.

Muller is also a legacy. Her sister, Priscilla Gulick Tomlinson ’63, her late mother, Katherine Schaefer Gulick ’32, and an aunt, Elizabeth Schaefer Branch ’30, all share her connection with the College.

Muller is excited about the opportunity to join the Board during such an important time in Randolph’s history. “We are in such a good place after the stewardship of John Klein,” she said. “We are at a place where we can really thrive.”

Randolph, she said, still maintains the qualities she loved when she was a student at R-MWC. “There is an intensity to the educational experience, an intensity to the relationships you develop, and an understanding that a liberal arts education is about educating people to be lifelong learners and good citizens. That is taken seriously here, and it is an important way to look at your education.”

She has also enjoyed the students during her visits to campus. “The energy of the place is very positive and vibrant, and the students understand the value of the faculty we have here and of the experience they are receiving. They understand how much there is to offer, and it is almost like a palette they can choose from.”

Between the Student Center renovation, the variety of courses, and the expanded athletic offerings, Muller has been impressed with what Randolph offers its students. “There is more available than when I was at the College,” she said. “It makes me wish I could be a student again.”

Trustee Emeriti Betty Nichols Street '66 encourages husband, David, to accept appointment to Randolph College's Board of Trustees

Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles featuring the five new members of Randolph College's Board of Trustees.

Despite the honor of being asked to serve on Randolph College’s Board of Trustees, it was the encouragement of his wife, Betty Nichols Street ’66, that finally prompted David Street to accept the invitation.

A trustee emeriti herself, Betty Nichols Street felt her husband’s financial background would be an asset to the Board.

Street, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, believes Randolph has a bright future. “After a difficult transition to coeducation, the College has seen three years of increased enrollment and is positioned to continue this and the other positive trends seen in the last years,” he said.

He believes the recent improvements to the campus infrastructure, including the Student Center renovation project, have added much to what Randolph offers its students.

Street graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army after graduation, serving two years as an intelligence officer. In 1970, he earned his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

After receiving his MBA, Street worked in the investment banking industry, then the commercial banking industry, before moving to the corporate side. He held senior financial positions with two Fortune 500 companies and then became the chief operating officer of another Fortune 500 company prior to his retirement. Both before and after his retirement, he has served on numerous non-profit boards, including three secondary private schools. Currently, he is a trustee of the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs (his high school alma mater).

His family’s connection to Randolph is deep. Betty Nichols Street served on the board for ten years starting in 1992. Her mother was an alumna, Mary Davis Nichols ’37, and her late father, John W. Nichols, was a trustee emeritus.

Street and his wife have three married children and eight grandchildren.

Carol Haley '70 sees opportunity to serve on Randolph's Board of Trustees as another way to give back to her alma mater

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of features on the five new members of the Randolph College Board of Trustees.

Carol Haley ’70 knows she would not be where she is today without the influence of others in her life. When the opportunity to serve on Randolph College’s Board of Trustees presented itself to her, she knew it was another chance to give back to an institution that made a significant difference for her.

“I’ve been fortunate in my adult life, and I attribute much of my success to the College,” she said recently. “In the ‘60s, when I was a student, women were not encouraged to enter the sciences or to obtain advanced degrees,” Haley added. “R-MWC, on the other hand, offered us the opportunity to follow our interests--in my case, science--in a close-knit community of faculty and other students where our abilities were never questioned, but instead nurtured and honed. We were pushed to always do our best. That learning environment provided me with skills and confidence that have served me well in my personal and professional life.”

Haley, who is from New York, N.Y., graduated from R-MWC with a biology degree. She currently serves as a director of regulatory affairs with Pfizer, Inc. She completed her graduate work in biology and earned her M.S. from Old Dominion University and her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. Her career background has included positions with a global corporation, federal and state government agencies (including a stint at the Smithsonian), and in teaching, and she hopes to apply that experience to her work on the Board.

Haley has long been involved in the College. She currently volunteers as a class agent and recently served as the secretary for the College’s Alumnae/Alumni Association Board. She is excited to be a part of the College’s future.

“The College is definitely on the upswing,” she said. “This is an exciting time to be a part of developing the future direction of the school.”

One of her favorite experiences has been meeting current students. At her first Board meeting in October, Haley had a wonderful conversation with a student about life at Randolph. “Things are different,” she said. “But we had so many shared experiences. That is one of the things that I have always loved about being an alumna from this school. Whenever you run into someone, it doesn’t matter how old the person is, you are always able to relate to them. That is still the same, and it tells me the legacy of the school is being carried forward. That is so important to us as alumnae.”

Haley is excited about the chance to give back to her alma mater. “It is an honor to be chosen to serve on the Board,” she said. “I wholeheartedly embrace this responsibility and will do my best to do a good job for the school.”