Wellesley College

09/03/2026

Gloria Steinem has died at the age of 92. She gave two Wellesley commencement speeches, one in 1988 and one in 1993. From 1988: ”If we accept micro and mega computers, space umbrellas, and cracking the mystery of the human cell, why can't we accept things as small as changing the way we pay each other, honor each other, work together, and raise our children?“
Here are the texts of her speeches:
https://www1.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1988Commencement/commencementaddress

https://www1.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1993commencement/commencementaddress

09/02/2026

Emily Harrison, assistant teaching professor in Women’s & Gender Studies, on the recent finding that nearly 1 in 4 NFL players in a study sample had CTE at time of death. [Email registration may be required to read article.]

The latest study on CTE in football players “quantifies but does not reveal a problem,” writes Emily Harrison, a historian who studies brain injury in football.

09/02/2026

The Margaret J. Clapp Library renovation has been recognized in the 2026 American Libraries Design showcase. Photo by Marjorie Becker Photography. https://bit.ly/4qOSjxN

09/01/2026

“If I can leave in 2030 knowing I became a better student, a better friend, and a better person who is still excited to serve others, I’ll consider that a pretty successful four years.”—Arianna Muñoz Huizar ’30
Read about the newest class to join Wellesley!

The new purple class arrived on campus August 25

08/31/2026

Today is the first day of classes, but the week leading up to today was filled with activities for the newest members of Wellesley, the class of 2030! Take a look at some moments from the academic fair, the class photo, and the class picnic.

Photos by Rosa Alemán

08/20/2026

ICYMI: The Science Summer Research Program wraps up each year with a poster session where students share with the community what they learned while working on their projects. Wamda ’27 (first photo) said one thing she learned from doing research was that “a lot of it is trial and error” and that professors are open to taking suggestions from students. ”[Research] is not as intimidating as it may sound,” she said. “While you’re in the lab, it’s a lot of teamwork and getting to know yourself and the project."

08/19/2026

Due to popular demand, we are bringing back Wellesley Wordle Wednesdays!

Note: all answers have to be official NYT words, so there are no proper nouns. Words vary from 4-7 letters.

Good luck!

Play here: https://www.nytimes.com/games/create/wordle/I9Pmh9NJxI-vSYiob5Gp-yblNzJd192Wnohyc0jbxqm9JjTnbYbOz4dkriNv_kjr11EEU_1D-os=

08/19/2026

In July, Mika Taga ’22 returned to campus at the invitation of Anne Beckley, Wellesley’s senior outdoor gardens horticulturist, to create a collaborative, ecological, ever-changing installation in the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.

She invited the campus community—including children from the WCCC—to help! The result is The Nest, a site-specific woven sculpture encompassing a northeast corner of the gardens bordering Route 135. 🪹

Photos by Samara Pearlstein, Anne Buckley and Darlene Howard

08/18/2026

From Professor Ismar Volić: The founders believed self-government could rest on reason. Two and a half centuries later, that ideal remains as relevant as ever. Mathematics cannot replace politics or absolve us from the hard work of citizenship. But when nearly 80 percent of us worry about where democracy is headed, and its traditional guardians are absent or compromised, it matters enormously that rigorous, tested ideas for fairer systems exist.
https://bit.ly/4x6qtPD

Democracy, we like to think, runs on ideals like freedom, equality, the consent of the governed. But look under the hood and you'll find something less lofty – mathematics.The idea that democracy depends on math is not new. From ancient Greece onward, votes had to be counted and seats had to be di...

08/15/2026

This summer, test your Wellesley knowledge (and your word search skills!) with Strands of Wellesley!

Play this week’s puzzle: https://customstrandsnyt.com/play/StrandsofWellesleyWeek-StudyBreaksWithaView/