Great Book Signing Party for "Raising the Race" by Professor Riche' J. Daniel Barnes at Deerfield Academy

Yesterday, was the last day of classes at UMass Amherst for the Fall semester  and there were two special occasions - one was our Reindeer Seminar, which is a party at the Isenberg School of Management following the faculty and staff meeting. Both the Faculty meeting and Reindeer Seminar were filled with positive energy and the great sense of community that Isenberg is.

The other special event took place at Deerfiel Academy, another truly special educational institution at the high school level.

My husband and I were invited to a book party and signing there by Dr. Riche' J. Daniel Barnes. She is the author of the recent book, "Raising the Race," which was published by Rutgers University Press.

The book is about Black career women redefining marriage, motherhood, and community.

This was a party that we could not miss.

Not only is Dr. Riche' J. Daniel Barnes a professor at Smith College, but she is also a Bement School trustee (as is my husband), plus her husband, Mr. Darnel Barnes, was my daughter's Algebra II teacher at Deerfield Academy.  I knew she would be in great hands since he holds both undergraduate and Master's degrees from Georgia Tech with one Master's being in Operations Research!

The venue was the Caswell Library at Deerfield Academy and it was replendant with holiday decorations.

We enjoyed a reading by the author and the Q&A part. As a mother of 3 children I think that Dr. Daniel Branes should also write a book on how she managed to write this book!

The book we purchased, had it signed, and when I got back to Amherst I immediately started to read it.

 

 

It was great to see neighbors at the event, as well as Mr. Thomas-Anderson, another amazing teacher at Deerfield - of English - at the party. He was a Rhodes Scholar and I know of one former student, who is now a Professor at Northwestern University, who still has dreams about his vocabulary tests!

Dr. Margarita Curtis, the Head of Deerfield Academy, came up to chat with us, and I told her and thanked her about the great education my daughter received there. My daughter is now a college senior - hard to believe and is a STEM major - I could not be prouder.

The reception was also fabulous including the desserts!

Congratulations to Dr. Riche' J. Daniel Barnes on the publication of "Raising the Race!" Thanks for such a memorable evening.

Those Great Commencement Speeches

I always enjoy this time of year in which we celebrate the successes of our students, friends, and children, through various graduation ceremonies.

Some graduations, both high school ones and college ones, are still taking place and it is fun to follow the various commencement speakers, the coverage of their speeches, and even to learn from some of them.

Although I am back in Sweden, I am still following many graduation events and speakers and trying to capture any pearls of wisdom.

The reporting on commencement speakers starts several months before the actual graduations and this year I especially enjoyed the list of Most Notable Commencement Speakers for 2014 compiled by Business Insider. Alright, I am a bit biased since both UMass Amherst's speaker, Governor Deval Patrick, made the list as well as my husband's undergrad alma mater's, Lafayette College's, which featured the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller. The fomer mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg,  also made the list and has been quite busy, just recently having given a provocative speech at Harvard. He is also the scheduled commencement speaker for Williams College.

Interestingly, two originally scheduled female commencement speakers, former Secretary of State Condi Rice, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, who were to speak at Rutgers University and Smith College, respectively, ultimately, because of demonstrations, never spoke at the commencements. Bloomberg at his commencement speech at Harvard assailed the lack of suppiort for the diversity of ideas at universities, and even pointed out what happened at my alma matter, Brown University, when his former police chief, Kelly, tried to speak there a few months ago.

And, when it comes to great high school commencement speakers, just the other day, the 2014 Deerfield Academy graduation took place. When my daughter graduated from this outstanding school I could not resist blogging about it and posted a lot of photos. Even former President Bill Clinton made a suprise appearance in a video.  The 2014 Deerfield Academy commencement speaker was H. Rodgin Cohen, a renowned financial lawyer. Interestingly, on a USAir flight to Washington DC a few years ago,  I sat next to "Rodge," if  I may. I had noticed this very well-dressed gentelman wearing a bowtie in the boarding area for our flight at Bradley Airport and, honestly, I was hoping that he would be seated to me. (I tend to have amazing seatmates on many of my flights, and this was another one of those cases).  I got the window seat towards the front of the plane and Rodge sat right next to me in the aisle seat. Before long, a conversation ensued, with business cards exchanged. When he told me that he was a member of the Deerfield Academy (DA) Board of Trustees and had gone to Harvard (including Harvard Law), we talked almost nonstop. He even mentioned Ms. Carole Pennock, the Head of the lower school of The Bement School, who had also served on the DA board (and was a wonderful influence on my daughter and her cohort when they went to Bement).

Mr. Cohen is the senior chairman of the top law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. And his financial regulatory expertise  in major financial crises was even featured in the HBO film, *Too Big to Fail."

Well, would you believe, now, every year since our meeting on that flight, I receive a Season's Greeting card from Mr. Cohen!  His DA speech is now posted and it is inspiring - the importance of being quirky and bonding with even Lehman Brothers thrown in!

I have given 3 commencement speeches, thus far, one at the Isenberg School, and two, in Sweden. In preparing these, it was a great opportunity to reflect, to acknowledge, and also to give back. Thanks!

For anyone interested, links to my speeches, and other writings, including those in the popular press, can be accessed here.

Congratulations to all the graduates!

Summer Scenes from Old Deerfield and its Great Schools - The Bement School and Deerfield Academy

Yesterday, my daughter, who is a college student and is on a short break before returning to college, saw several of her friends from western Massachusetts with whom she had attended The Bement School in Old Deerfield.  First, they had dinner at the Thai restaurant in Greenfield and, then I suspect, got a bit nostalgic, and returned to Bement in the evening.

When she got back home I asked her whether she was happy that she had gone to school at both Bement (from kindergarten through 9th grade with graduation) and Deerfield Academy (10th through 12th with graduation) and she responded that immensely so.

Just last weekend, on a beautiful Sunday we drove to Deerfield and I took the photos below of  Bement, the historic Main Street, and Deerfield Academy.

At Bement, my daughter not only learned French and developed the love of reading and writing and art, as well as of science and math, but also learned how to skate, how to ski, and how to swim. Recesses were outdoors and physical ed could involve sleigh riding in the winter or hiking and sports in the spring. She also learned how to play field hockey which she continued to do when she "crossed the street" to matriculate at Deerfield Academy. There she had teachers that mesmerized, challenged, instructed, and that made a life-long impact. Both at Bement and at Deerfield Academy respect and kindness mattered as well as a sense of community and team spirit. Plus, she remembers fondly the wonderful meals served including the sit-down dinners.


It was also great to see that the Deerfield Inn had reopened after being devastated (along with neighboring farms, and other buildings and land) during and after Hurricane Irene and the once in a 500 years flood  two years ago. Both Bement and Deerfield Academy were affected by this natural disaster and through the resilience of their communities have recovered and are thriving.

This week, my daughter will be seeing friends from Deerfield Academy.

Scenes from Deerfield Academy and the Deerfield Craft Fair

There is nothing like the Deerfield Craft Fair to mark the "beginning" of Fall in New England and it took place this past weekend under sunny skies and a pleasant breeze.

This venue, which attracts craftsmen and craftswomen from far and wide, is not to be missed and I was especially looking forward to it since next week I will be back in Sweden and I wanted to bring some souvenirs for the staff there that have been so warm and welcoming to me at the University of Gothenburg, where I am a Visiting Professor of Operations Management.

The craft fair did not disappoint but, first, my husband and I took a stroll through Deerfield Academy, which our daughter graduated from last May. As always, we were treated to many greetings from the students, who are so polite (which I love) and even from parents who were at the varsity field hockey game, and even teachers. We had spent two Falls watching our daughter's varsity field hockey games so we were a bit nostalgic, now that she is in college.

 

 

 

And for those of you who read the "popular" press, you probably know who else was in town, which we had suspected, given certain vehicles. Our intuition, was, indeed, correct.

Another special aspect of Deerfield, besides the beauty of the landscape, is its relatively sheltered and private ambience.

Hike to the Rock -- Keeping Up An Old Deerfield Academy Ritual as You Build New Ones

As many high school graduates are preparing for their new lives as college students, it is special to see that some old traditions still matter.

My daughter will soon be off to college and, as a 2012 Deerfield Academy graduate, she has been getting together with classmates and other friends before they embark on their new journeys in life and disperse to more than 50 different colleges and universities.. It was a challenging year for many with Hurricane Irene and the flooding, almost exactly one year ago, and  the power outages during the freaky October "Halloween" snowstorm.

Yesterday, and what could be more appropriate, she and a friend hiked to the Rock, which is an old Deerfield school tradition.

The day was picture perfect and the photo below is of the spectacular view (and reward) when one reaches the top. Western Massachusetts' beauty can be appreciated from this vantage point in any season.

New traditions and rituals await but old school ties are strong and friendships made and lessons learned will sustain those on their new adventures.

I Will be Blogging from Sweden

Tomorrow I am flying to Gothenburg, Sweden where I will continue my faculty appointment as a Visiting Professor of Operations Management at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

I am very much looking forward to being back at the university that I spent two weeks at back in March.

On June 14, I will be giving a commencement speech there to those receiving Masters degrees form the School of Business, Economics and Law.

I have been working very hard on my speech and am putting the finishing touches on it.

Having heard various commencement speeches recently at graduations at UMass Amherst, including the special Isenberg School of Management one,  and at Deerfield Academy, just this past Sunday,  I have been enveloped by the spirit of graduations and the accomplishments of the graduates.

I will be blogging from Sweden over the next few weeks.

The Best Deerfield Academy Graduation Ever with a Suprise Appearance of a President

The 2012 Deerfield Academy graduation that took place today at which 198 students graduated was magical -- from the bagpiper to the colonial fyfe and drum corps to the pomp and circumstance.

The female graduates were resplendent in their white dresses and carried yellow roses with the male graduates all in navy blazers and ties.All the other students also took part in the ceremonies.

A special wish was granted at the graduation through the Make a Wish Foundation -- one of the graduates has been battling bran cancer and former President Bill Clinton granted his wish by speaking in a videotape to the class.You may view his speech on youtube here.


Congratulations to the class of 2012 for all of your achievements -- academic, athletic, artistic, personal, and community-wise. Special congrats to the 26 cum laude society members -- an amazing group  of high achievers in a class with special charisma, enthusiasm, and energy. I couldn't be prouder of my daughter and her fellow graduates.

As one of the speakers said -- the friendships made will last a lifetime.

Thanks for all the wonderful memories! With best wishes to the class of 2012!

The Celebrations Continue

Some of the college commencements are now over with and some will still be soon taking place but the celebrations continue.

This past week, after the spectacular UMass Amherst and Isenberg School of Management graduations, we also celebrated on a more intimate scale and took out to dinner one of my doctoral students, who is now Dr. Min Yu, and who will soon be Professor Min Yu, and her parents, who had traveled all the way from China (and her uncle did as well) to see her receive her PhD.

It was the dream of Min's grandfather, who is now in his 90s, that one of his family members would receive a PhD in the US and Min has achieved his dream. Min's parents brought me gifts in stunning packaging that they brought from China.

The card and letter from Min I have already posted in my office.

Following our celebratory dinner (not in one of Amherst's terrific Chinese restaurants but, rather, in the Persian restaurant, Moti, which Min had selected), we walked around downtown Amherst and Amherst College where the photo below was taken.

 

Next week I will also be assuming the role of proud Mom (in addition to being a very proud Academic Mom) when my daughter, Alexandra, graduates from Deerfield Academy, where there will also be pomp and circumstance. For those who would like to get a sense of  such a graduation, I have posted photos from previous graduations.

Congratulations to all the graduates of 2012 and to their family members and friends.

I do think that this generation will change the world for the better!

So Looking Forward to Graduations and Giving a Commencement Speech

May and June are the months for graduations (at least north of the equator) and with spring in full bloom the excitement surrounding the marking of such milestones is palpable.

Living and working in Amherst, Massachusetts with the 5 colleges (UMass, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire) plus numerous colleges in our knowledge corridor and in Massachusetts and neighboring Connecticut, this marks a truly special time of the year.

I am very much looking forward to the UMass Amherst graduation, both the undergrad and grad ceremonies that will be taking place on May 11, 2012.

I am so proud of all that our undergraduate students at the Isenberg School of Management have accomplished as well as the graduate students. This year, my PhD student, Min Yu, will be receiving her PhD, and her family is traveling from China for the graduation ceremony and festivities.

The Isenberg School has been graduating 25% of the UMass Amherst graduates -- an amazing number and our students are outstanding with several Jack Welch Scholars and recipients of the Leaders for the 21st Century  Award.

The Isenberg School will be sending off its  graduates in an additional special ceremony on May 12 at the Mullins Center,

I am also looking forward to high school graduations and, especially this year, since my daughter, Alexandra, will be graduating from Deerfield Academy. You can view some photos of graduations that I have enjoyed at Deerfield Academy and UMass Amherst here and here.

As for commencement speeches, which are supposed to be inspiring, Ted Koppel, the renowned journalist, will be speaking at UMass Amherst.

This morning, I accepted an invitation to be a commencement speaker at graduate graduation ceremonies at the University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law in mid-June.

Having given a Isenberg School of Management undergraduate commencement speech  a few years ago, I am very much looking forward to inspiring graduating students in Gothenburg, Sweden!  I have become enchanted by that institution.

Congrats to all the graduates and their family members!

For the Love of Education -- Chinese in US Private Schools and Deerfield Academy

The month of March is when applicants hear of decisions as to their school acceptances, whether by high schools, especially private "prep" schools in the U.S., many of which are elite boarding schools, as well as colleges and universities.

Three years ago, I was speaking in Vienna, Austria, and my family had joined me. We had revisited Innsbruck, Austria, where we had lived when I was on a Fulbright, and then traveled by train to Vienna where I was speaking on global supply chains at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. While in that gorgeous city, my daughter received notices of admittances to two private schools in the U.S. She was going to be a day student wherever she went since we live in Amherst, Massachusetts and there are enough good schools in the area.

When we returned to the U.S., as I was showering, she checked the mail and there was the letter of acceptance from Deerfield Academy (DA). Having attended the wonderful Bement School in Old Deerfield from kindergarten through 9th grade, she had learned how to swim at DA and had even had track meets and field hockey games there. Moreover, she had attended the DASAC arts summer camp there.

We visited again all the schools that she had been accepted to, and the second visit day at DA (one of these took place again last Friday at which my daughter was a day student representative panelist) , among other experiences, people, and data, convinced Alexandra that DA was the school for her.

She has loved the education that she has received and the friends that she has made at DA.

The Atlantic has an article on how the Chinese from the mainland have discovered U.S. private schools and Deerfield is singled out in the article, along with the mention of the admissions director, Ms. Gimbel. Even in elementary school at Bement, my daughter had female classmates who were from China and Korea.

The article, written by Helen Gao, who is herself a Deerfield Academy graduate, is titled: "How China's New Love Affair with U. S. Private Schools is Changing Them Both." In the article, a Chinese mother, Zhang, hopes that her early efforts will lead to a good life for her son, which she believes lies in America. She mentions the country's more leisurely lifestyle and its comprehensive healthcare system. But its greatest promise, she says, is the culture of fairness, which rewards diligence and talent first. "In China everything is based on connection. Things like getting a promotion depend on too many factors. In America, as long as you work hard and deliver results, you will distinguish yourself."

Not only are U.S. private schools now international magnets and, one must remember, that there is only so much capacity in them, but the US colleges and universities are as well.

I do not envy the hard-working high school student with all the challenges today and pressure to succeed and all the competition, which has become international. When students with 8 AP courses and grades of 5 on all such exams get rejected from elite colleges, I truly wonder.

But then again, it is, ultimately, what you accomplish after you receive your education that matters and the mark that you leave on the people, your community, and the world.

Next Friday, one of my doctoral students, Min Yu, who is from China, will be defending her doctoral dissertation on time-sensitive supply chains at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. She is an outstanding student and scholar with an exceptional work ethic and generosity of spirit as well as kindness and thoughtfulness -- all of which will serve her well as she assumes a faculty position in the Fall.

Photos and Reflections on a Great Ice Show Today

Today the Wild Weather Ice Show took place at the FMC Ice Sports Arena in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

My husband and I shuttled several of my daughter's Deerfield Academy friends to the arena to watch the show and to see our daughter, Alexandra, skate in her senior solo. There is nothing like the cheering and enthusiasm of Deerfield students!

The event took place at 2PM and the show was fabulous. Skaters skated as soloists, in pairs, and in small groups and there were several invited skaters including Junior National ice dance competitors as well as adult skaters.

Skaters skated to such songs as "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," "Singing in the Rain," "Gone with the Wind," and even "Over the Rainbow" and "Let it Snow."

The emcee and organizer of this rousing show was my daughter's truly special coach, Ms. Suzy McCaughtry. She wrote a touching tribute to my daughter who is a senior at Deerfield that was published in the program. We can't thank Suzy sufficiently for the wonderful journey that she has taken our daughter on -- as her skating coach and mentor. Because of Suzy, my daughter has medaled at regional and national skating competitions, passed additional skating tests, was an invited soloist at the ice show at the 2012 Bay State Games at Williams College, and has had the opportunity to coach young skaters, whom she adores. All such experiences in just the past two years!

I wish that Alexandra could take her coach along with her to college next Fall.

Congrats to all the skaters today for such a memorable afternoon!