During the 2024-2025 academic year, the Wellesley Centers for Women is celebrating its 50th anniversary. As we look back on 50 years of advancing gender equality, social justice, and human wellbeing, we are proud of the way we’ve shaped a better world through research and action.
A banner displayed at the 1978 March for the Equal Rights Amendment in Washington, D.C.In 1974, Wellesley College President Barbara W. Newell, Ph.D., founded the Wellesley Center for Research on Women in Higher Education and the Professions. With seed funding from the Carnegie Corporation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, the center set out to create a home for feminist social scientists to do the kind of bold, audacious research and action programs that they could not do anywhere else.
In 1995, the Center for Research on Women joined with the Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies—founded by Wellesley College in 1981—to become a single organization: the Wellesley Centers for Women. Since then, research scientists and project directors at WCW have conducted groundbreaking interdisciplinary studies on a broad range of social issues, including education and child care, economic security, mental health, youth and adolescent development, and gender-based violence.
As it heads into its next 50 years, WCW will leave its longtime home in Cheever House for Simpson Cottage, an 1880 building on the east side of campus, and will hold a new position under the umbrella of the Wagner Centers for Wellesley in the World. Alongside the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs and the Hillary Rodham Clinton Center for Citizenship, Leadership, and Democracy, WCW will continue to make a global impact on women and girls, families and communities.
WCW kicked off its anniversary year with a celebration at Cheever House on September 28, 2024. We welcomed 175 guests for a magical night under the stars filled with music, poetry, and a look back at the momentous achievements of the past five decades.
WCW staff, past and present
A Womanist Affirmation
Made of womb
and water
spirit & matter
Woman, you are center
You are pillar & pulpit
You are nature
You nurture
You self-care
You care
You cease fires
You are peace
You peace our worlds together
You are language
You are musical notes
You are symphony
You are axis
You are justice
(in principle and practice)
Woman, you balance the scales
You are grace
You are time & space
You are evolution & revolution
You are Love & riverstone
Woman, you are Earth
You are God & godly
You are Church
You are purple
In you and through you
Truth & compassion reign
You are Sojourner
You are Walker
You are Harriet
You are Claudia
You are Lorde
You are June
You are Morrison
You are Maparyan
You are Wynter
You are Autumn
You are Springtime
You are Ginsburg
You are root
You are midwife
You bring life to life
You are inclusion
You are whole & holy
You are hallowed & halo-ed
You are rainbow
You are rainbow
You are rainbow
You are Sun,
You are Creation,
Woman, you are Rising!
An original poem by Liseli A. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., Trinidadian poet and professor in Africana Studies at Wellesley College, written in honor of WCW’s 50th anniversary
Excerpt from the remarks of Executive Director Layli Maparyan
There’s a saying I love, attributed to African wisdom, that captures the spirit of this moment perfectly: “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.” Over these 50 years, we have gone far, and we have gone together. We have made a difference!
Think back 50 years, if you are able, and remember what things were like for women and girls—and then bring your mind back to today. Are you free to go to work and put your child in childcare without guilt? Does your daughter’s teacher pay as much attention to her as to the boys in the class? Does your child’s or grandchild’s school have education and policies to prevent and address sexual harassment? Is there multicultural education or social-emotional learning at that school? Is there a quality afterschool program?
Do you serve on a corporate board? Are there at least a few women on it? Do you see a therapist or know anybody who does? If so, does that therapist draw from feminist perspectives and tune in to the quality of your relationships with the important people in your life? Have you noticed any digitally-based intervention and prevention programs for mental health conditions? Do you have a kid or teen who uses a cellphone? Have you ever been glad that there’s a U.S. Surgeon General’s report helping you navigate how to relate to your young person about social media usage? Do your kids get sex ed at school? Isn’t it great that there are now evidence-based sex ed curricula for schools?
Do you know anyone who has experienced relational or sexual violence? Isn’t it great that we now know to believe people who report sexual violence, even if it happened a very long time ago? And isn’t it great that accountability mechanisms for sexual harassment and violence are now so much stronger and more ubiquitous? And what about our paychecks? We know so much more about the factors affecting pay disparities, and the knowledge we have generated right here at WCW has contributed to policy changes that reduce gender pay inequities—as well as to raises for women.
We have the tools to make change, in large part because of research, theory, and action that was painstakingly and with great creativity undertaken right here at WCW over the last 50 years
Awardees
The building of any great edifice requires the careful placement of its essential structural elements: the cornerstone, the keystone, and the capstone—those elements without which the edifice could not stand, without which there would be no floor, no walls, no roof, no building within which to live and work. Over the 50 years of its existence, the Wellesley Centers for Women has stood—strong, beautiful, powerful, influential, indeed, glorious—because of the many people who have each contributed something of value to its structure, its durability, and its excellence. On September 28, WCW celebrated three individuals whose contributions have been particularly pivotal during its 50-year history. Three “lifetime achievement” awards—the Cornerstone Award, the Keystone Award, and the Capstone Award—were presented to these pillars of WCW.
The Cornerstone Award: Carolyn M. Elliott ’59, Ph.D.
Honoring her service as Founding Director of the Wellesley Center for Research on Women from 1974 to 1980. Presented by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., Executive Director of WCW from 1985 to 2010.
The Keystone Award: Kathy Stone Kaufmann ’67, M.S.W., Ed.D.
Honoring her lifetime of support for the Wellesley Centers for Women and service on the WCW Council of Advisors since 1981. Presented by Andrew Shennan, Ph.D., Professor of History and Provost Emeritus at Wellesley College.
The Capstone Award: Robin Cook-Nobles, Ed.D.
Honoring her leadership of the Stone Center Counseling Service for over three decades and achievement in translating Relational-Cultural Theory into action. Presented by Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Former Associate Director of WCW.
Watch a video retrospective celebrating WCW's history and impact: wcwonline.org/50th
