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Previous Recipients of the Distinguished Alumna Award

2007 - Gay Hart Gaines `59

2007 Distinguished Alumna
Gay Hart Gaines `59

A newly planted white ash in front of Sweet Briar House was a gift from the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to Sweet Briar in honor of Gay Hart Gaines '59 on the occasion of the College naming her this year's Distinguished Alumna Award recipient. The tree was dedicated in a ceremony following the award presentation during SBC's Founders' Day convocation on Sept. 21.

Gaines has been regent of the MVLA, which owns and maintains Mount Vernon, for the past three years. From 2000-04 she represented Florida as a vice regent of the association. These are among myriad roles that earned her one of the highest honors Sweet Briar bestows.

The award is given for distinguishing oneself and the College through volunteer or professional achievements. Gaines took both paths. She ran an eponymous interior design firm for many years and served on the boards of local and national theater associations and diabetes foundations throughout the country. She also promotes conservative public policy through membership in organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, and is active in the Republican Party.

After then-U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) recruited Gaines to chair GOPAC, the Republican Political Action Committee, in 1993, she helped the GOP win a majority in the House of Representatives the next year. In 2002, she became president of the Palm Beach Republican Club in Florida, where she resides.

In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed her to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She was confirmed for a six-year term in late 2004 and currently serves as vice chairman.

But nothing satisfies her more than her role at Mount Vernon, Gaines told those assembled during her acceptance remarks at the convocation.

“Our mission is all about preservation and education,” she said, explaining that her passion for history is rooted in her days at Kent Place School in Summit, N.J., and at Sweet Briar.

(Excerpt....read complete article)
Read acceptance speech

2006 - Elizabeth Perkins Prothro `39

2006 Distinguished Alumna
Elizabeth Perkins Prothro `39

Her connection to the College began in 1935; she and her mother, driving across the country, passed Sweet Briar. “When I saw it, I decided that's where I wanted to go.” Now, three generations of Prothro women have attended: daughter Kay Prothro Yeager '61; Kay's daughters Elizabeth Yeager Edwards '84 and Linda Yeager Beltchev '85; and son Mark's daughter Holly Prothro Philbin '95.

Elizabeth always has shown great generosity, giving financial support but also determining needs and working to fulfill them. In 1957 she served on President Pannell's Advisory Board. Actively interested in the intellectual life of the College, as Founding Chair of Friends of the Library in 1966, she built an organization that immediately enhanced the quality of the library collections. She is a Life Member of FOL.

In 2001 Elizabeth was one of 22 recipients of Sweet Briar's Centennial Award, which recognized faculty, staff, alumnae and friends who “through dedication and commitment have had a significant impact on Sweet Briar College during its first 100 years.” In 2002, she became a charter member of the Keystone Society.

She served on the Dallas Campaign Planning Committee (Our Campaign For Her World) in 2003 and also was one of three recipients of the Council of Independent College's major national awards, receiving its Award for Philanthropy, which “celebrates individuals who contribute volunteer service or financial support to independent colleges and universities.” Besides Sweet Briar, Southwestern University , Southern Methodist University, Baylor University Medical Center , Midwestern State University , Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas, and Wofford College have benefited from Elizabeth 's interest and support.

A member of the Silver Rose Society, her enthusiasm has inspired an ongoing family commitment.

2005 - Jo Ann Soderquist Kramer `64

2005 Distinguished Alumna
Jo Ann Soderquist Kramer `64

Jo Ann Soderquist Kramer graduated cum laude with an A.B. in physics from Sweet Briar before becoming the first woman to earn a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia School of Engineering.

She began her career as an aerospace engineer with Martin Marietta Corp. in Orlando, Fla., then with Lockheed Martin Corp. in Burlington, Vt. She is now director of naval defense system programs for General Dynamics Corp. in Burlington, Vt.

Read full text of Jo Ann's Convocation Speech

2004 - Anne Litle Poulet `64

2004 Distinguished Alumna
Anne Litle Poulet `64
(Photo: Christine A. Butler)

With more than 30 years of distinguished experience in the art world, Anne Poulet was named (in October 2003) the fifth Director of the Frick Collection, one of New York City's most beloved cultural treasures. The Frick Collection is housed in the New York mansion built by Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919); its sixteen galleries showcase masterpieces of Western painting, sculpture, and decorative art that Frick bequeathed to the public before his death in 1919. She was Curator Emerita of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, and headed its department of European decorative arts and sculpture, as well as oversaw the publication of 8 catalogues of the museum's permanent collection. In 2000, she received the Iris Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Decorative Arts. In 2003, she was recognized for her excellence as an author/curator of the exhibition catalogue for Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828): Sculptor of the Enlightenment, which opened in May 2003 at the Washington, DC National Gallery of Art and has since been shown at the Los Angeles J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Musse de Versailles. She is also co-founder and vice chairman of the board of the American foundation, The French Heritage Society, a post she has held since 1982.

2003 - Elizabeth Morton Forsyth `36

Visionary philanthropist; founder of Lynchburg, VA’s “Miriam’s House” (a transitional home for homeless women and their children), and “Elizabeth’s Early Learning Center” (an establishment that provides educational care for the children of Miriam’s House residents and other community children); author of three books about her family: Charlie’s Children; A Forsyth Genealogy; and C.B. Fleet, The Man and the Company; named the 1996 Outstanding Philanthropist by the Virginia Piedmont Chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives.

2002 - Nella Gray Barkley '55

President/Co-Founder of the career-counseling firm Crystal-Barkley Corporation, which conducts programs for companies internationally to better match workers to their jobs; author of two books, The Crystal Barkley Guide to Taking Charge of Your Career, and How to Help Your Child Land the Right Job; first general manager of the Spoleto Festival USA; past President of the Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.; endless board and committee service to her nation, the state of South Carolina, and her hometown of Charleston, SC.

2001 - Joanne Holbrook Patton '52

Owner/Partner, Green Meadows Farm of South Hamilton, MA; Owner/Director, Patton Consultant Services; decorated with countless honors and awards, she is the quintessential volunteer - has served on nearly thirty boards, advisory committees, commissions, or councils focused on higher education, the American Red Cross, the personnel and families of the U. S. military, mentally-challenged and aging adults, the Special Olympics, musical theatre and the performing arts, volunteerism and volunteer administration, community service, and the Episcopal church.

2000 - Connie Burwell White '34

Earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1937 from the University of North Carolina; first female teaching member of the department of philosophy at the University of North Carolina; forty-year career in public relations - senior researcher for Time, Inc., executive assistant to the Editorial Director for Time, Life and Fortune magazines; decorated with the Order of the Cruziero do Sul for "bettering U.S. - Brazil relations"; co-founder and owner of PR firm White & White, Inc.

1999 - Patricia Traugott Rouse '48

Co-Founder, Vice President, & Secretary of The Enterprise Foundation, Inc. (non-profit: creates housing for low-income American families); appointed by President George Bush to serve on board of the Commission on National Community Service; 4-year member of National Civilian Community Corps Advisory Board

1998 - Katharine Crommelin Milton '62

Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley; Researcher of Primatology in the Amazonian Rain Forest, Panama, & Papua New Guinea; Evolutionary Biologist; Dietary Ecologist; Author; Lecturer

1997 - Georgene M. Vairo '72

Lawyer; Professor of Law at Loyola University Law School; Authority on Federal Court Jurisdiction & Procedure; Chairperson of the Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust

1996 - Beryl Bergquist Farris '71

Lawyer; Field: Immigration Law

1995 - Joan Vail Thorne '51

Broadway Director; Actress; Stage Playwright; TV Teleplay Writer; Librettist; Teacher

1994 - Anna Chao Pai '57

Professor of Biology, Montclair State College; Textbook Author; Researcher in Developmental Genetics

1993 - Molly Haskell Sarris '61

Film Critic; Author

1992 - Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp '68

Pediatrician; Medical Epidemiologist of the Division of Birth Defects & Developmental Disabilities of the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta

1991 - Ann Henderson Bannard '49

Artist & Sculptress

1991 - Sadie Gwin Allen Blackburn '45

Author (book on residential architecture); Lecturer (Garden Design, National Parks/Wetlands, Chinese Porcelain)

1990 - Virginia Upchurch Collier '72

M. D., Internal Medicine, Nephrology; Teacher of Clinical Medicine at Jefferson Medical College & the Medical Center of Delaware

1990 - Katherine Upchurch Takvorian '72

M. D., Internal Medicine & Rheumatology; Associate Chief of Rheumatology at Worcester Memorial Hospital, Massachusetts; Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

1989 - Hallam Hurt '67

Pediatrician; Chairman of Division of Neontology at Albert Einstein Medical Center; Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Assistant Professor Of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Temple University's School of Medicine

1988 - Dorothy Rouse-Bottom '49

Newspaper Editor

1988 - Diana Muldaur Dozier '60

Broadway, Movie, & TV Actress

1988 - Karin Lawson '74

Attorney; International Legal Advisor

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