At U.S. colleges and universities, men are twice as likely as women to major in economics. But a team of three Wellesley economists has concluded that among students admitted to Wellesley, those who ultimately enrolled at the College were 94% more likely to receive an economics degree than those who chose to study elsewhere. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently released the team’s findings in a working paper: “Women’s Colleges and Economics Major Choice: Evidence from Wellesley College Applicants.” “At the College we often say that Wellesley encourages women to go into fields that they might not have had access to if they had gone to another school,” said Kristin Butcher, Marshall I. Goldman Professor of Economics and one of the paper’s co-authors. “[We] set out to see if that was really true.”

One 2022 Jeopardy! clue read, “Feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died shortly after giving birth, and this daughter, are the subject of Romantic Outlaws.” Who is Mary Shelley? And also, who is Charlotte Gordon—National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Romantic Outlaws—and Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Endicott College?

When Haydée Hernandez, M.Arch'23, logged onto Zoom from her home in San Antonio, Texas, a Boston Architectural College black commencement gown, purple hood, and black beret were pressed and hanging on her closet door in the background. The next week she would venture to Boston for the first time in her life to attend her BAC commencement, walk across the stage to the applause of the 158 other Class of 2023 graduates, and receive her Online Master of Architecture degree. For the 55-year-old single mom who had worked her way through the BAC while parenting a teenager through the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a tremendous amount to celebrate...

Founded by Aspen Golann CF ’19, the Chairmaker’s Toolbox is determined to give everyone the skills and inclusive environment needed to craft their own seat at the table. There is an old photograph of Aspen Golann CF ’19 standing in the back of a woodshop in 2019, her hands clasped over her mouth as she peers into a cardboard box and screams with joy. Inside, is a toolbox. The image foreshadows Aspen’s launch of The Chairmaker’s Toolbox (CMT), a project that works toward more equitable access to chairmaking skills and tools across the United States and Australia...

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many hospitals ran out of beds and ventilators, the fingertip pulse oximeter — a $20 neighborhood drugstore purchase — became a primary arbiter of whether a patient was “sick enough” to gain admission to an emergency room. This spring, surrounded by antique telescope models in a classroom tucked inside the MIT Museum, 10 students bent over a square-shaped seminar table. They were building basic pulse oximeters from low-cost do-it-yourself (DIY) kits...

In a practical exercise, she runs classes through a series of activities including, one student sitting in a borrowed wheelchair, while others observe as they simulate everyday tasks like boarding the "T", accessing a public bathroom stall, or just ordering a coffee. Simple activities are either impossible or take a frustratingly long time due to a lack of thought in the surrounding built environment...

“A few weeks ago, everything was in pieces, and nothing was complete,” Yu-Wen Wu says from the artist co-op where she lives and works in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Work in progress hung from the ceiling, covered every table, and lay in disarray on the floor. “But now everything has come together.”

Last spring, Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Matelski made national news when she uncovered a disturbing truth hidden in plain sight on the College’s scenic Mingo Beach. She discovered that the beach was named for Robin Mingo, an enslaved man who lived in Beverly in the 1700s...

Octavia Pinckney, M.Arch'23, has seen, “Minorities in this country have been hit disproportionately hard by environmental disasters.” Growing up in Texas, Octavia’s own family was seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “I understand firsthand what not being prepared for a disaster can feel like,” they say. Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, which left so many people unhoused, motivated Octavia to build a mission-driven career in architecture...

For Melanie Casey, jewelry making started out as a hobby but turned into a dream come true. She took a leap and launched her own eponymous company in Andover, Massachusetts, and her handcrafted jewelry line sales grew exponentially in just a decade. In 2020 and 2021, Inc. Magazine named Melanie Casey as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America...

“I thought I was in over my head, that I was out of my league and didn’t deserve the job,” he admitted. But everything worked out and then some...

A civil engineer by training, Isaura Sagredo M’23 previously worked in Qatar’s futuristic capital city of Doha as a Lead Project Engineer, helping to plan the construction of the driverless metro rail system that ultimately transported three million spectators to the soccer stadium during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Sagredo was so entranced by the innovative ways that traditional Qatari design elements were incorporated into the 37 stations’ vaulted interiors, that she decided to switch tracks herself and become an interior architect...

While other parents limited screen time, growing up in Mesa, Arizona Demitrious Matus’ dad took his three boys to the now extinct Blockbuster Video, let them pick out what they wanted, and then binge watch it as a family late into the night. “That was all we did,” he said simply. It wasn’t long before Matus wanted to make his own movies too. A product of the YouTube vlog era he started all his videos from 2013 onwards with the predictable opening, “What’s up guys…” That’s still how he opens many of his films, albeit now ironically and with the alter ego of Meech, the name and persona under which Matus directs and often appears in the vlog-based fake documentaries that have become his genre...

“I’ve never had an offseason. I’ve always loved the constant busyness of going from one tournament, game, or challenge to another,” said Rian Schwede ’23, a right-handed pitcher who graduates this May with a B.S. in criminal justice. Schwede spent his whole childhood lacing on his cleats in the backseat of his parents’ car between Little League practices, working his way up to the Masters All-Star senior year of high school in Whitman, Mass...

For Jackie Ruggiero ’23, the most important lesson she learned in college was to enjoy the moment and “try not to take life too seriously.” Ruggiero’s favorite place to do that is Endicott’s Hempstead Stadium in between the goalposts with her cleats digging into the turf and her eyes trained on the ball. “Soccer has been therapy for me. It gives me the opportunity to tune everything out and focus on playing, hanging out with a good group of girls, and pushing myself to compete,” said Ruggiero, a nursing major and the goalie for Endicott’s women’s soccer team...

Senior Ryan Curley has some parting words of advice for next year’s first-year class: “Keep your dorm room door propped open as much as you can. You’ll make friends with all of your neighbors that way.” It worked for Curley, after all. “All of my current roommates were also my neighbors freshman year. We met because we propped our doors open. I’m going to miss coming home and just being able to hang out with my favorite people,” he said...

Abigail Clemens’, MFA '23, SMFA studio walls are papered in math equations and mind maps, all scrawled in Sharpie pen. Her writing in permanent marker is a testament to Mrs. Choi, an influential high school art teacher who instructed Clemens to keep notes and to “never to erase a thought” in case it might come in handy later...(Images: Alonso Nichols)

Jamie Brewton, BFA + BS, MS ’23, questions the ethics of design and technology. Whether it’s hiring an actress to perform under the name of “Jamie Brewton” or programming a sex robot to chat, the multidisciplinary artist’s work examines issues related to exploitation, surveillance, and ownership... (Images: Alonso Nichols)

Miles Wotorson is a proud Tweep. That’s Twitter-speak for an intern at the bird app. In the summer of 2022, the Marketing Communication & Advertising Program major worked as the lone intern on the close-knit Global Content Partnerships team at Twitter’s New York City headquarters right as Elon Musk was closing in on his $44 billion buyout of the tech giant...

Last August in New York City, Amanda Pickler, a self-proclaimed introvert, had to push past the deep discomfort of canvassing strangers to ask if she could take their photos as a basis for a new body of paintings. A SMFA Dean’s Research Award supported her research trip to Henrietta Hudson, New York City’s oldest continually operating lesbian bar. “I went up to strangers, identified myself as an artist, and asked if I could take their picture and eventually paint them,” she said. (Images: Alonso Nichols)