100 Notable alumni of
Smith College
Updated:
Smith College is 278th in the world, 118th in North America, and 111th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Smith College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- Occupations
- literary editormodelwritersocialitejournalist
- Biography
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Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of president John F. Kennedy. A popular first lady, she endeared herself to the American public with her devotion to her family, dedication to the historic preservation of the White House, the campaigns she led to preserve and restore historic landmarks and architecture along with her interest in American history, culture, and arts. During her lifetime, she was regarded as an international icon for her unique fashion choices, and her work as a cultural ambassador of the United States made her very popular globally.
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Sylvia Plath
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in literary studies
- Occupations
- essayistwriterautobiographerchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Sylvia Plath was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for The Colossus and Other Poems (1960), Ariel (1965), and The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her suicide in 1963. The Collected Poems was published in 1981, which included previously unpublished works. For this collection Plath was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 1982, making her the fourth to receive this honor posthumously.
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Barbara Bush
- Occupations
- politicianpresident
- Biography
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Barbara Bush was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of the 41st president of the United States, George H. W. Bush. Previously, she had been Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, and founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Among her children are George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, and Jeb Bush, the 43rd governor of Florida. She and Abigail Adams are the only two women to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another. At the time she became First Lady, she was the second oldest woman to hold the position, behind only Anna Harrison, who never lived in the capital. Bush was generally popular as First Lady, recognized for her apolitical grandmotherly image.
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Nancy Reagan
- Occupations
- film actorpoliticiantelevision actorstage actorlawyer
- Biography
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Nancy Reagan was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan.
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Julia Child
- Occupations
- typistcookcopywritertelevision presenterclerk
- Biography
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Julia Carolyn Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.
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Gloria Steinem
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writerhuman rights activistactorjournalistlecturer
- Biography
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Gloria Marie Steinem is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Piper Kerman
- Occupations
- memoiristwriter
- Biography
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Piper Eressea Kerman is an American author. She was indicted in 1998 on charges of felonious money-laundering activities, and sentenced to 15 months' detention in a federal correctional facility, of which she eventually served 13 months. Her memoir of her prison experiences, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), was adapted into the critically-acclaimed Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013). Since leaving prison, Kerman has spoken widely about women in prison and problems with the federal prison system. She now works as a communication strategist for non-profit organizations.
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Margaret Mitchell
- Occupations
- screenwriternovelistprose writerwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel Gone with the Wind, for which she won the National Book Award for Fiction for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Long after her death, a collection of Mitchell's girlhood writings and a novella she wrote as a teenager, titled Lost Laysen, were published. A collection of newspaper articles written by Mitchell for The Atlanta Journal was republished in book form.
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Sara Haines
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Sara Hilary Haines is an American television host and journalist. She is known as one of the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk shows The View and Strahan, Sara and Keke and the host of the game show The Chase. For her work on the first two series, she received Daytime Emmy Award nominations. She has also worked as a correspondent on Today, ABC News, and Good Morning America.
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Yolanda King
- Occupations
- film actorhuman rights activisttelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Yolanda Denise King was an American activist and campaigner for African-American rights and first-born child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, who pursued artistic and entertainment endeavors and public speaking. Her childhood experience was greatly influenced by her father's highly public activism.
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Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Occupations
- visual artistwriter
- Biography
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Julie Nixon Eisenhower is an American author who is the younger daughter of former U.S. president Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat Nixon. Her husband, David, is the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie Eisenhower.
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Tammy Baldwin
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and political science
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2013 as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, she has also served as the Secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017 and is the dean of the United States congressional delegation from Wisconsin.
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Betty Friedan
- Occupations
- psychologistsociologistwomen's rights activistwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Betty Friedan was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now fully equal partnership with men."
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Hanya Yanagihara
- Occupations
- magazine writerwriternovelistjournalist
- Biography
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Hanya Yanagihara is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. She grew up in Hawaii. She is best known for her bestselling novel A Little Life, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize, and for being the editor-in-chief of T Magazine.
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Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- Occupations
- poetglider pilotdiaristwriteraircraft pilot
- Biography
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Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh was an American writer and aviator. She was the wife of decorated pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, with whom she made many exploratory flights.
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Bonnie Franklin
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actortelevision directortelevision actor
- Biography
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Bonnie Gail Franklin was an American actress. She is best known for her leading role as Ann Romano in the television series One Day at a Time (1975–1984). She was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe Awards.
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Patricia Wettig
- Occupations
- stage actorplaywrightactortelevision actorwriter
- Biography
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Patricia Anne Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
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Toks Olagundoye
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye Listen1Listen2 is a Nigerian actress known for playing Jackie Joyner-Kersee on The Neighbors, Hayley Shipton on Castle and Olivia Finch on Frasier. She also voices Nanefua Pizza on Steven Universe, Mrs. Beakley on DuckTales, Countess Cleo on Carmen Sandiego, Zamfir on Castlevania and Mel Medarda on Arcane.
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Mimi Kennedy
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Mary Claire "Mimi" Kennedy is an American actress, author and activist. Best known for her roles in television sitcoms, Kennedy co-starred in numerous short-lived sitcoms before her role as Ruth Sloan on Homefront (1991–93). She received wider recognition with her roles in the Chuck Lorre-created sitcoms Dharma & Greg (1997–2002) and Mom (2013–2021). For her performance in the latter, Kennedy received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series. Kennedy has also appeared in various films, including Pump Up the Volume (1990), Erin Brockovich (2000), In the Loop (2009), Due Date (2010), Midnight in Paris (2011) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012).
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Shelley Hack
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorpoliticianmodeltelevision actor
- Biography
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Shelley Marie Hack is an American actress, model, producer, and political activist. She is best known as the face of Revlon's Charlie perfume from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s, and for her role as Tiffany Welles in the fourth season of Charlie's Angels (1979–80).
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Chien-Shiung Wu
- Occupations
- university teachernuclear physicistphysicistscientist
- Biography
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Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu herself was awarded the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics evoked comparisons to Marie Curie. Her nicknames include the "First Lady of Physics", the "Chinese Madame Curie" and the "Queen of Nuclear Research".
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Joanna Barnes
- Occupations
- film actornovelisttelevision actorjournalist
- Biography
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Joanna Barnes was an American actress and writer.
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Wendy Sherman
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Wendy Ruth Sherman is an American diplomat who served as the United States deputy secretary of state from April 2021 to July 2023. She was a professor of the practice of public leadership and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, and a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Studied in 2002
- Occupations
- film directorjournalistfilm producer
- Biography
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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a Canadian-Pakistani journalist, filmmaker and political activist known for her work in films that highlight gender inequality against women.
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Bill Smitrovich
- Occupations
- film actorvoice actortelevision actoractor
- Biography
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William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr., known professionally as Bill Smitrovich, is an American actor.
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Maya Deren
- Occupations
- photographerfilm directordancerchoreographerpoet
- Biography
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Maya Deren was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and important part of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer.
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Desiree Akhavan
- Occupations
- film directorfilm produceractorscreenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Desiree Akhavan is an American filmmaker, writer, and actress. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut Appropriate Behavior, and her 2018 film The Miseducation of Cameron Post. She appeared in the found footage horror film Creep 2.
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Joan Mitchell
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1943 studied English
- Occupations
- painterartistprintmakerillustrator
- Biography
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Joan Mitchell was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artists in the 1950s. A native of Chicago, she is associated with the American abstract expressionist movement, even though she lived in France for much of her career.
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Jean Harris
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Jean Struven Harris was the headmistress of The Madeira School for girls in McLean, Virginia, who made national news in the early 1980s when she was tried and convicted of the murder of her ex-lover, Herman Tarnower, a well-known cardiologist and author of the best-selling book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet. The case is featured on the TV show Murder Made Me Famous.
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Sally Quinn
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Sally Sterling Quinn is an American author and journalist. She writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.
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Emily Webster Murphy
- Occupations
- civil servantpolitical staffer
- Biography
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Emily Webster Murphy is an American attorney and former government official who served as the administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) from 2017 to 2021. Before serving in the GSA, Murphy was an attorney for the Republican National Committee and worked for several congressional committees and executive departments in the field of acquisition policy.
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Jaya Jaitly
- Years
- 1942-.. (age 83)
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Jaya Jaitly is an Indian politician, activist, author, Indian handicrafts curator and former President of Samata Party.
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Catharine MacKinnon
- Occupations
- university teacherfeministlawyerwriterjurist
- Biography
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Catharine Alice MacKinnon is an American feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, and the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. From 2008 to 2012, she was the special gender adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
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Jane Harman
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1966 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- adjunct professorpolitician
- Biography
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Jane Margaret Harman is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 36th congressional district from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee (2002–2006), before she chaired the Homeland Security Committee's Intelligence Subcommittee (2007–2011).
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Stephanie Cutter
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitical adviser
- Biography
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Stephanie Cutter is an American political consultant. She served as an advisor to President Barack Obama during his first presidential term, and was deputy campaign manager for his 2012 re-election campaign. She previously worked in campaign and communications roles for other prominent Democrats including Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Michelle Obama. The New York Times described her as "a popular but polarizing face of [Obama's] campaign", and a "soldier who says the things the candidate can't (or won't) say."
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Meg Wolitzer
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teachernovelist
- Biography
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Meg Wolitzer is an American novelist, known for The Wife, The Ten-Year Nap, The Uncoupling, The Interestings, and The Female Persuasion. She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
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Erin Morgenstern
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Erin Morgenstern is an American multimedia artist and the author of two fantasy novels. The Night Circus (2011) was published in more than a dozen languages by 2013 and won the annual Locus Award for Best First Novel. She is a 2012 recipient of an Alex Award. Her second book, The Starless Sea, was published in 2019.
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Ruth Ozeki
- Occupations
- television producerwritertelevision directornovelistbhikkhunī
- Biography
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Ruth Ozeki is an American-Canadian author, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. Her books and films, including the novels My Year of Meats (1998), All Over Creation (2003), A Tale for the Time Being (2013), and The Book of Form and Emptiness (2021), seek to integrate personal narrative and social issues, and deal with themes relating to science, technology, environmental politics, race, religion, war and global popular culture. Her novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. She teaches creative writing at Smith College, where she is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities in the Department of English Language and Literature.
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Kim Janey
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kim Michelle Janey is an American politician and community organizer who served as acting mayor of Boston for eight months in 2021. She served as president of the Boston City Council from 2020 to 2022, and as a member of the council from the 7th district from 2018 to 2022. As a black woman, her tenure as acting mayor made her the first woman and the first person of color to lead the city.
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Muffie Cabot
- Years
- 1936-.. (age 89)
- Occupations
- socialitewriter
- Biography
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Mabel "Muffie" Wentworth Brandon Cabot is an American heiress and socialite. During the 1980s she served as social secretary to Nancy Reagan. She is the mother of actress Ali Wentworth.
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Ann M. Martin
- Occupations
- writerchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Ann Matthews Martin is an American children's fiction writer, known best for The Baby-Sitters Club series.
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Halina Poświatowska
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
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Halina Poświatowska was a Polish poet and writer.
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Sherry Rehman
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistdiplomat
- Biography
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Shehrbano "Sherry" Rehman is a Pakistani politician and journalist who has been the member of the Senate of Pakistan since 2015. She was the first female Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from March to August 2018 and served as Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2013. She is currently serving as the Federal Minister for the Ministry of Climate Change.
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Mary Whiton Calkins
- Occupations
- psychologistuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Mary Whiton Calkins was an American philosopher and psychologist, whose work informed theory and research of memory, dreams and the self. In 1903, Calkins was the twelfth in a listing of fifty psychologists with the most merit, chosen by her peers. Calkins was refused a Ph.D. by Harvard University because of her gender.
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Antara Dev Sen
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 62)
- Occupations
- writerjournalisteditor
- Biography
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Antara Dev Sen is a British-born Indian journalist based in Delhi.
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Becca Balint
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. She served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.
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Susan Lindauer
- Years
- 1963-.. (age 62)
- Occupations
- journalistpeace activistauthor
- Biography
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Susan Lindauer is an American journalist and former U.S. Congressional staffer who was charged with "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government" and violating U.S. financial sanctions during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She was incarcerated in 2005 and released the next year after two judges ruled her mentally unfit to stand trial. The government dropped the prosecution in 2009. In 2010, Lindauer published a book about her experiences. Since 2011 Lindauer has appeared frequently on television and in print as a U.S. government critic.
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Natalie Zemon Davis
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1949 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- women's rights activistscreenwriteruniversity teacherwriterhistorian
- Biography
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Natalie Zemon Davis, CC was an American-Canadian historian of the early modern period. She was the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Princeton University. Her work originally focused on France, but it later broadened to include other parts of Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. For example, her book, Trickster Travels (2006), views Italy, Spain, Morocco and other parts of North Africa and West Africa through the lens of Leo Africanus's pioneering geography. (By 2023, the text had appeared in six translations.) Davis' books have all been translated into other languages: twenty-two for The Return of Martin Guerre. She was the second female president of the American Historical Association (the first, Nellie Neilson, was in 1943).
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Niki Tsongas
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1968 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- social workerpoliticianlawyerdean
- Biography
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Nicola Dickson "Niki" Tsongas is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 2007 to 2019. She held the seat formerly held by her husband, the late Paul Tsongas, for the district numbered as Massachusetts's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2013 and as Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district from 2013 to 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2017 Tsongas announced that she would not seek another term in the November 2018 election.
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Jane Yolen
- Occupations
- editorscience fiction writerpoetwriterchildren's writer
- Biography
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Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 400 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award−winning short story "Sister Emily's Lightship", the novelette "Lost Girls", Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, and the Commander Toad series. She has collaborated on works with all three of her children, most extensively with Adam Stemple.
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Cynthia Harris
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Cynthia Lee Harris was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in the television series Edward & Mrs. Simpson and the sitcom Mad About You.
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Susan George
- Occupations
- political scientistacademicwritereconomistsociologist
- Biography
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Susan George is an American and French political and social scientist, activist and writer on global social justice, Third World poverty, underdevelopment and debt. She is the president of the Transnational Institute, a think-tank located in Amsterdam. She is a fierce critic of the present policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (IBRD) and what she calls their 'maldevelopment model'. She similarly criticizes the structural reform policies of the Washington Consensus on Third World development. She is of U.S. birth but now resides in France, and has had dual citizenship since 1994.
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Leyla McCalla
- Occupations
- cellistbanjoistsingersongwriterfolk musician
- Biography
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Leyla Sarah McCalla is an American classical and folk musician. She was a cellist with the Grammy Award–winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, but left to focus on her solo career.
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Amy Bloom
- Occupations
- social workerscreenwriterpsychotherapistwriternovelist
- Biography
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Amy Beth Bloom is an American writer and psychotherapist. She is professor of creative writing at Wesleyan University, and has been nominated for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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Deborah Bergamini
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Deborah Bergamini is an Italian politician, manager and journalist currently member of the Italian Parliament.
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Jane Cooke Wright
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Studied in 1942
- Occupations
- oncologist
- Biography
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Jane Cooke Wright was a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells. She also pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer (mycosis fungoids).
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Corinne Ellemeet
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jkvr. Corinne Elisabeth de Jonge van Ellemeet is a Dutch politician.
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Kathleen Woodward
- Years
- 20th Century
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- academicuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Kathleen Woodward is an American academic. She is a Lockwood Professor in Humanities and in English at the University of Washington and has been the Director of the Simpson Center for the Humanities since 2000. Her areas of specialization include 20th-century American literature and culture; discourse of the emotions; technology and science studies; and age studies; digital humanities; and gender, women, and sexuality studies. She is working on risk in the context of globalization and population aging. Her writing talks about the invisibility status of older women and she advocates for an arena of visibility.
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Sandy Skoglund
- Occupations
- photographerinstallation artist
- Biography
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Sandy Skoglund is an American photographer and installation artist. Her contributions to photography have advanced the medium as a form of conceptual art. She is well known for her intricately designed environments, which utilize painterly and sculptural techniques within staged and performative scenes. Photography critic Andy Grundberg notes that Skoglund's work contains "all the hallmarks of the new attitude toward photographs: they embrace blatant artificiality; they allude to and draw from an 'image world' of endless pre-existing photographs, and they reduce the world to the status of a film set."
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Louka Katseli
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1972 graduated with bachelor's degree in economics
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianeconomistentrepreneur
- Biography
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Louka Katseli is a Greek politician and economist. She is Professor Emerita at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She served as chair of the National Bank of Greece from 2015 to 2016, as Minister for Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping from 2009 to 2010 and as Minister of Labour and Social Security from 2010 to 2011. In January 2025 she was proposed as a candidate for the Greek Presidency in the 2025 Greek presidential election with the support of Syriza.
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Olive Higgins Prouty
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
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Olive Higgins Prouty was an American novelist and poet, best known for her 1923 novel Stella Dallas and her pioneering consideration of psychotherapy in her 1941 novel Now, Voyager.
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Laura Tyson
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teachereconomist
- Biography
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Laura D'Andrea Tyson is an American economist and university administrator who is currently a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley and a senior fellow at the Berggruen Institute. She served as the 16th Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 1993 to 1995 and 2nd Director of the National Economic Council from 1995 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton. Tyson was the first woman to hold each of those posts. She remains the only person to have served in both posts.
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Elim Chan
- Occupations
- conductor
- Biography
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Elim Chan is a Hong Kong-born conductor.
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Helen DeWitt
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Helen DeWitt is an American novelist. She is the author of the novels The Last Samurai (2000) and Lightning Rods (2011) and the short story collection Some Trick (2018) and, in collaboration with the Australian journalist Ilya Gridneff, has written Your Name Here. She lives in Berlin.
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Dorothy Norman
- Occupations
- photographereditorwriter
- Biography
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Dorothy Norman was an American photographer, writer, editor, arts patron and advocate for social change.
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Gretchen Menn
- Occupations
- composerguitarist
- Biography
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Gretchen Menn is an American guitarist and composer who has her own original instrumental work and is also the lead guitarist for Zepparella, an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band. She was included in Guitar Player Magazine's '50 Sensational Female Guitarists' and Guitar Player Magazine's '50 Years of Extraordinary Players.' In 2017 she was one of 11 female guitarists selected to contribute a track onto She Rocks, Vol. 1, a compilation released on Steve Vai’s label: 'Favored Nations'. In 2017 she was nominated by readers of Vintage Guitar Magazine as 'Artist of the Year', alongside Allan Holdsworth, Steve Vai, Dan Auerbach, Rik Emmett, and Andy Timmons. She has provided lessons for Acoustic Guitar Magazine, JamPlay - an online guitar lesson provider, and has been a 3-time counselor at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camps.
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Florence R. Sabin
- Occupations
- anatomistphysicianscientistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Florence Rena Sabin was an American medical scientist. She was a pioneer for women in science; she was the first woman to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to head a department at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. During her years of retirement, she pursued a second career as a public health activist in Colorado, and in 1951 received the Albert Lasker Public Service Award for this work.
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Eunice Carter
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Eunice Roberta Hunton Carter was an American lawyer. She was one of New York's first female African-American lawyers and one of the first African-American prosecutors in the United States. She was active in the Pan-African Congress and in United Nations committees to advance the status of women in the world. She led a massive prostitution racketeering investigation, building the case and strategy that allowed New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey to successfully charge Mafioso kingpin Charles "Lucky" Luciano with compulsory prostitution.
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Cheryl Crawford
- Occupations
- stage actortheatrical director
- Biography
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Cheryl Crawford was an American theatre producer and director.
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Senda Berenson Abbott
- Occupations
- basketball playerphysical education teacherbasketball coach
- Biography
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Senda Berenson Abbott was a figure of women's basketball and the author of the first Basketball Guide for Women (1901–07). She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor on July 1, 1985, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Satya Rhodes-Conway
- Enrolled in Smith College
- 1990-1994 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in biology
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Satya Rhodes-Conway is an American politician and the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. She was first elected in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023. She previously served on the Madison Common Council between 2007 and 2013. She is the first out lesbian elected as a mayor in Wisconsin, and only the second woman to become mayor of Madison.
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Jerry Zaks
- Occupations
- theatrical directordirectorstage actorfilm directortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Jerry Zaks is an American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves (1986), Lend Me a Tenor (1989), and Six Degrees of Separation (1991) and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Guys and Dolls (1992).
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Eleanor J. Gibson
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1931 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- In 1933 graduated with Master of Science
- Occupations
- teacherpsychologist
- Biography
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Eleanor Jack Gibson was an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Gibson began her career at Smith College as an instructor in 1932, publishing her first works on research conducted as an undergraduate student. Gibson was able to circumvent the many obstacles she faced due to the Great Depression and gender discrimination, by finding research opportunities that she could meld with her own interests. Gibson, with her husband James J. Gibson, created the Gibsonian ecological theory of development, which emphasized how important perception was because it allows humans to adapt to their environments. Perhaps her most well-known contribution to psychology was the "visual cliff," which studied depth perception in both human and animal species, leading to a new understanding of perceptual development in infants. Gibson was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1971, the National Academy of Education in 1972, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977. In 1992, she was awarded the National Medal of Science.
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Jess Phoenix
- Occupations
- politiciantelevision presentervolcanologist
- Biography
-
Jess Phoenix is an American volcanologist, writer and multimedia personality. She is the Science Ambassador of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She ran as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the co-host of the Discovery series Hunting Atlantis and the author of Ms. Adventure.
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Margery Eagan
- Occupations
- journalistradio personality
- Biography
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Margery Eagan is a talk radio host and a frequent guest on CNN, ABC, Fox News, and the Imus in the Morning radio show. For many years she was a columnist for the Boston Herald. Subjects of her commentaries include gender/women's issues, Catholicism, and politics.
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Adrianne Todman
- Born in
-
United States - Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Adrianne Regina Todman is an American government official who served as the acting secretary and the deputy secretary of housing and urban development in the Biden administration from June 2021 to January 2025. Todman was previously the CEO of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials and also worked in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Todman served as acting secretary of housing and urban development upon Marcia Fudge's resignation in March 2024.
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Farah Pandith
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Farah Pandith is an American academic of Indian descent. She was appointed the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities in June 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The position was made specifically for her after she briefed Secretary Clinton about her work in the Bush administration. She had the rare distinction of being a political appointee for two Republican presidents and President Obama. When she was the Special Representative she traveled to almost 100 countries. After serving under both Secretaries Clinton and John Kerry, she left government. She said she came to Washington after 9/11 again and wanted to serve – she left after more than a decade in public service. She worked at USAID and then went to the National Security Council and then the U.S. Department of State. When she left in 2014, she returned to her home state of Massachusetts.
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Kimberly Drew
- Occupations
- writerarts administratorcurator
- Biography
-
Kimberly Drew is an American art influencer and writer. She is best known as the former social media manager for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her use of the social media handle @MuseumMammy. Drew released her first book, This Is What I Know About Art in June 2020, as part of a children's book series from Penguin, and published an anthology titled Black Futures with New York Times staff writer Jenna Wortham in December 2020.
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Euphemia Haynes
- Enrolled in Smith College
- Studied in 1910-1914
- Occupations
- educatormathematician
- Biography
-
Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes was an American mathematician and educator. She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics, which she earned from the Catholic University of America in 1943.
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Hilary S. Franz
- Years
- 1960s
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
-
Hilary S. Franz is an American politician and conservation attorney who previously served as the 16th Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands from 2017 to 2025. She is a member of the Democratic Party who was previously a member of the Bainbridge Island City Council and was elected as commissioner in 2016.
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Alice Parker
- Enrolled in Smith College
- In 1947 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- music teachercomposermusic arrangerconductor
- Biography
-
Alice Stuart Parker Pyle, known professionally as Alice Parker, was an American composer, arranger, conductor and teacher.
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Carolyn Dineen King
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Carolyn Dineen King is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Her chambers are in Houston, Texas.
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Sally Cruikshank
- Occupations
- animatorfilm directorcomics artistproducer
- Biography
-
Sarah "Sally" Cruikshank is an American cartoonist, animator and artist, whose work includes animation for the Children's Television Workshop program Sesame Street, and whose short Quasi at the Quackadero (1975) was inducted into the United States National Film Registry.
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Merrie Spaeth
- Years
- 1948-.. (age 77)
- Occupations
- actorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Merrie Marcia Spaeth is an American public relations and communications consultant.
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Edith Lewis
- Occupations
- journalisteditor
- Biography
-
Edith Lewis was a magazine editor at McClure's Magazine, the managing editor of Every Week Magazine, and an advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thompson. Lewis was Willa Cather's domestic partner and was named executor of Cather's literary estate in Cather's will. After Cather's death, Lewis published a memoir of Cather in 1953 titled Willa Cather Living.
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J. Courtney Sullivan
- Occupations
- writerjournalistnovelist
- Biography
-
Julie Courtney Sullivan, better known as J. Courtney Sullivan, is an American novelist and former writer for The New York Times.
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Brinda Somaya
- Years
- 1949-.. (age 76)
- Occupations
- architect
- Biography
-
Brinda Somaya is an Indian architect and urban conservationist.
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Saadia Zahidi
- Born in
-
Pakistan - Occupations
- economist
- Biography
-
Saadia Zahidi is a managing director at the World Economic Forum.
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María Eugenia Estenssoro
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
-
María Eugenia Estenssoro is a Bolivian Argentine politician, journalist and activist for women's rights. She represented the city of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Senate from 2007 to 2013.
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Cornelia Oberlander
- Occupations
- architect
- Biography
-
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander CC OBC LL.D. was a German-born Canadian landscape architect. Her firm, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Landscape Architects, was founded in 1953, when she moved to Vancouver.
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Sallie McFague
- Occupations
- university teachernaturalisttheologian
- Biography
-
Sallie McFague was an American feminist Christian theologian, best known for her analysis of how metaphor lies at the heart of how Christians may speak about God. She applied this approach, in particular, to ecological issues, writing extensively on care for the Earth as if it were God's "body". She was Distinguished Theologian in Residence at the Vancouver School of Theology, British Columbia, Canada.
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Katherine Stieglitz
- Occupations
- photographer
- Biography
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Katherine Stieglitz, or Katherine Stieglitz Stearns, was the daughter of Emmeline, or Emmy, and Alfred Stieglitz, an American photographer and modern art promoter. She was the subject of many of her father's photographs, particularly in her early years. They were exhibited and received praise for their wholesome sentiment. She graduated from Smith College before marrying Milton Sprague Stearns. After the birth of her son in 1923, she was institutionalized for depression and hallucinations and remained there until her death in 1971.
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Mary Berenson
- Occupations
- writerart historian
- Biography
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Mary Berenson was an American art historian, now thought to have had a large hand in some of the writings of her second husband, Bernard Berenson.
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Mary van Kleeck
- Occupations
- social workersociologisteconomist
- Biography
-
Mary Abby van Kleeck was an American social scientist of the 20th century. She was a notable figure in the American labor movement as well as a proponent of scientific management and a planned economy.
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Tinatin Bokuchava
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Tinatin "Tina" Bokuchava is a Georgian politician who has served as a member of Parliament since 2012 and as Chair of the United National Movement since June 2024.
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Jessica Brody
- Years
- 1979-.. (age 46)
- Occupations
- children's writernovelist
- Biography
-
Jessica Brody is an American author and writing educator. Her writing consists mainly of young adult fiction.
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Rochelle Lazarus
- Years
- 1947-.. (age 78)
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Rochelle "Shelly" Lazarus is the Chairman Emerita of Ogilvy & Mather.
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David Peck Todd
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterastronomerpoet
- Biography
-
David Peck Todd was an American astronomer. He produced a complete set of photographs of the 1882 transit of Venus.
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Celinda Lake
- Born in
- United States
- Occupations
- political scientist
- Biography
-
Celinda Lake is a pollster and political strategist for the Democratic Party in the United States of America.
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Angela Rasmussen
- Years
- 1970s
- Enrolled in Smith College
- 1996-2000 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- researchervirologist
- Biography
-
Angela Lynn Rasmussen is an American virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
