Spring 2007
Event reunites women leaders, honors HLP
professor
The synopsis of Professor Betsy Alden’s public policy course
“Women as Leaders” reads, “The art of leadership
involves embarking on a personal journey in and through which you
will discover the qualities, passions, interests, goals, and vision
which will best serve you and those whom you serve.” To celebrate
this concept of leadership fostered in Alden’s class, former
and current “Women as Leaders” students gathered at
Duke March 3 for an alumnae reunion.
Entitled “100 Women Who Dared,” the reunion commemorated
the leadership course’s legacy as well as Alden’s retirement
from Duke. A long-time faculty affiliate of the Hart Leadership
Program, Alden taught “Women as Leaders” for seven years,
engaging several generations of Duke women in leadership, reflection
and research-service learning. She stepped down from her teaching
role just after the March 3 event.
The reunion brought together about 45 of Alden’s students.
They came from as close as Duke’s campus and as far as Las
Vegas, Boston and Manchester, England. Another 25 who could not
attend sent letters describing their experiences in Alden’s
class and the paths their lives have taken since.
At the event, participants engaged in reflections on lessons learned
in Alden’s course and how they have applied those lessons
in other venues. Alumnae also discussed new horizons for women leaders,
both at Duke and beyond.
“The most meaningful moments for me were learning from the
alumni how much the course had affected their thinking about women’s
leadership and activism (particularly the collaborative and inclusive
nature of it) and also influenced their career choices in the social
service and public policy sector,” Alden says.
The event was organized by Alisa Nave, a 2001 Duke graduate and
“Women as Leaders” alumna who is now a lawyer in Nevada,
the new political director for Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential
campaign in the Nevada’s southern region, and a member of
the HLP Advisory Board. Nave notes that an important goal of the
reunion was to honor Alden by expressing appreciation for her teaching
in the reflection sessions and by toasting her at a lunch in her
honor.
“She has been and continues to be a crucial mentor for all
of the women that took her class. We wanted to bring them together
to say thank you,” Nave says.
Other organizers and moderators included Brendan Ballard, ‘03,
Kate Mitchell and Jill Hopman, both ‘04, Megan O’Flynn
‘07, and Sarah Gordon, ‘08. Mitchell, who is planning
on entering law school soon, says that like many reunion participants
she appreciated the opportunity to celebrate Alden’s “guidance,
faith, and friendship.”
“Women were able to share and to learn from one another
regarding a
wide spectrum of personal experiences from finding mentors at college
and in
the workplace to balancing career ambitions with having a family,”
Mitchell says. “The whole day was so inspiring that I almost
feel like scrapping law school plans and becoming a professor.”
- - Seyward Darby, March 2007
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