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Tonnie Schwartz Katz ’62
In your college recommendation, Mr. Dietel described you as a student who “has the courage to stick up for her convictions.” Your “quick tongue and an independent attitude” ensured your voice would always be heard in your “mischievous group of friends.” Courageous, quick-tongued, independent, and mischievous: qualities which have served you well in your career as a reporter and editor.
You have devoted yourself to mentoring women and minorities in each newsroom where you have worked, providing wise, straight-talking counsel. Young reporters you have mentored have gone on to excel at major newspapers across the country, to win Pulitzer Prizes, to teach at prestigious universities.
You led an effort at the Orange County Register to better serve the county’s growing minority populations while maintaining the paper’s traditional readership. You did this in straightforward, pragmatic ways: teaching Spanish in the newsroom, sending reporters and editors out into the community to ask what people want from their newspaper, offering radio and television programming in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. You were the first female publisher of the first Spanish-language newspaper in Orange County.
Mr. Dietel also described you as ambitious, and right he was. You were among the first women to be named editor of one of the top 25 largest newspapers in the country. Under your leadership, The Register won a Pulitzer Prize, a Polk Award, and numerous other prizes for revealing how well-known fertility doctors from the University of California, Irvine were stealing eggs from patients and implanting them in other patients, resulting in numerous births. The series led to a major overhaul in the laws governing fertility clinics in California and nationwide.
For your groundbreaking work as a newspaper reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and your commitment to supporting and developing the careers of women and minorities in the newsroom, the Alumnae Association Council proudly bestows upon you the Life Achievement Award.
Lyne Johnson Pitts ’72
A colleague puts it succinctly: “Lyne Pitts is simply one of the most remarkable people I have met in my 47 years on the planet.” Another describes you as someone who “excels at providing warmth, humor, and genuine love to every task” you undertake. Yet another calls you “an amazing leader, teacher, mentor, and advocate.” We are proud to call you an alumna.
Speaking at graduation in June, you urged the Class of 2007 to be bold and humble as they journeyed from Mount Ida. These qualities have taken you far, from Emma Willard to Stanford and on to the top of your profession. You began your career in journalism at a small newspaper in East Palo Alto, California, right after you graduated from college. From there you moved on to a station in San Francisco and then to the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles in 1980. You spent the next 23 years moving up the ranks with CBS News, winning numerous national news and documentary Emmy awards along the way and culminating in a stint as senior broadcast producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. You were the executive producer of "The Class of 2000" (1996–97), a four-year ongoing project of CBS News begun in September 1996, which examined America through the eyes of that year's high school freshman class via reports on most CBS News broadcasts. During that period, you also served as executive producer of "Before Your Eyes," a series of critically acclaimed CBS News primetime specials.
In 2006 you moved to NBC News to become executive producer of Today, Weekend Edition, a position now held (coincidentally enough) by your fellow alumna and awardee, Amy Chiaro ’92. Earlier this year you were named vice president of NBC News, a testament to your knack for news judgment, your high standards, and your capacity for innovation and ingenuity in a rapidly changing industry.
For your skill and eloquence as a journalist, producer, and manager, and for your award-winning editorial expertise that shapes information for millions of Americans, the Alumnae Association Council proudly bestows upon you the Accomplished Alumna Award.Amy Chiaro ’92
Described by colleagues and friends as “light years ahead of the curve,” “talented, determined, and dazzling,” and “warm, dynamic, very smart, very generous, and very purposeful,” you identified your passion for journalism early in life, pursuing it relentlessly during your years on Mount Ida—where you served as editor of The Clock—and ever since.
Your intellect, perseverance, and people skills have taken you far: you are the only executive producer in network news under 40, and one of three women holding the executive producer title at NBC News. You manage a broadcast staff, anchors, and live television broadcasts with skill, grace, and a great sense of fun. Your gifts of “immense integrity, great strength, and genuine humanity” described by one of your teachers during your time at Emma now benefit the much wider audience of Today and Today, Weekend Edition.
For your zeal for getting the story straight and presenting it well as a national news producer, and for attaining this role so early in your career and in a field dominated by men, the Alumnae Association Council proudly bestows upon you the Outstanding Young Alumna Award.
Nancy Van Wie ’82
As a student at Emma Willard, you were an active, contributing citizen of the community, both in and out of the classroom, committed to improving your world. You undertook two independent projects that focused on developing relationships with those less fortunate in Troy, helping change lives one person at a time.
Since leaving Mount Ida you have continued on a journey of positive change, working to protect the Adirondacks and founding Crane Mountain Valley Horse Rescue in 2003, a completely volunteer effort that has rescued more than 50 horses and given them a safe, healthy home. Your colleagues wonder at your ability to give more than 100 percent of yourself to your job with the Nature Conservancy while giving more than 100 percent of yourself to horse rescue, rising at 5 a.m. each day and finishing long past dark.
It is clear that your passion drives you. Your concern for the just and humane treatment of all living things shows through in every aspect of your life, leading a colleague to comment that you are “completely dedicated to living life fully and rightly, a role model for all of us.”
For your compassion and commitment to rescuing horses and your conservation work in the Adirondacks, the Alumnae Association Council proudly bestows upon you the Humanitarian Award.
Susan Blackwell McNamara ’57
In the five decades since you graduated from Emma Willard, you have made the school a central part of your life, spending countless hours compiling and writing class notes, urging classmates to come back to Reunion, serving as a “big sister” to a recent Emma graduate, emailing and calling alumnae across the country to let them know about Emma Willard events in their area, and even providing rides to events to fellow alumnae without means of transportation.
Your multiple terms on the Alumnae Association Council ended this past June. In your time on the AAC, you played an integral role on the Governance Committee, Activities Committee, Reunion Committee, and Awards Committee. As you wound down your tenure on the AAC, you started up a regional alumnae club in Los Angeles, creating an Emma Willard community where there previously wasn’t one in your new home on the West Coast.
You’ve also served as bulletin reporter for your class for the last 25 years, keeping your class in touch so well that only eight classmates are lost (which must be a record). The impressive attendance at this Reunion weekend is proof positive of the lifelong relationships you have helped cultivate between your classmates.
You have been an invaluable resource, remaining a constant, dedicated, and steadfast volunteer throughout your life. For your wise and tireless commitment to your alma mater, the Alumnae Association Council gratefully bestows upon you the Service to Emma Willard Award.
Margaret “Mags” Caney Conant ’67
For 40 years, you have kept the Class of 1967 connected, concerned, and engaged with what is going on in the world, at Emma Willard, and in each others’ lives. From your very first bulletin column in November 1967, you have been a steady constant through your class’s good times and bad times, humorous and whimsical at the high points, an anchor at the low points, and always, always emotionally honest.
In 1970, you observed to Emily Dauchy, then director of alumnae relations, that the columns “take a lot of time to write, as well as a lot of thought. Second-hand news of someone just isn’t good enough.” In this spirit, you spend many hours to tracking down lost classmates, soliciting news, and composing thoughtful columns that share news of those who have been in touch and prompt those who haven’t to reconnect. Your classmates describe you as a good, dear friend who loves Emma Willard and every woman you have ever met through the school. Your devotion shines through in your dedication to your reporting duties, unwavering after 40 years.
For all you have done to keep the members of the Class of 1967 connected to each other and to Emma Willard for 40 years, the Alumnae Association Council gratefully bestows upon you the Service to Emma Willard Award.Diane Drew ’67
As a volunteer for Emma Willard, you have always brought a cheerful, down to earth, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done attitude to everything you do. You have made a positive impact on your alma mater wherever and whenever you have applied your talents, be it as a longstanding AAC member and chair of the AAC Awards and Giving Committees, two terms as national chairwoman of student and alumnae services, a class agent and reunion gift chair for 10 years, or a dynamo on the phone as a loyal and talented phonathon caller.
In each of your positions, you have steadfastly worked to raise awareness within the greater alumnae community of the evolution of Emma Willard School throughout the decades. Your efforts have resulted in an alumnae body that is engaged and energized about the school’s future, while honoring its past.
Informally, your classmates describe you as the “direct line” that keeps everyone engaged and invested in each other’s lives. Your class has remained close in the 40 years since you left Mount Ida, and you and your fellow awardee, Mags Caney Conant, are a large reason why.
You once said of your volunteer work that you are “here to make a great school the best and keep her future bright.” You have certainly done so. For your wise and tireless commitment to your alma mater, the Alumnae Association Council gratefully bestows upon you the Service to Emma Willard Award.
Kathrin Phelan Midgley ’92
In your application to Emma Willard, you wrote “I feel best when I am actively involved in a variety of events. Not only do I enjoy being involved, but I also feel most complete when I am playing a large role in these activities.” As a student at Emma, you certainly jumped into a variety of activities, serving on the student council, as a proctor, and as co-captain of the varsity crew team, among many other roles.
In keeping with your own self assessment, you have taken on a large role as an alumnae volunteer. You have served as a class agent for the past nine years, and you served on the Alumnae Association Council from 2002 to 2006, including a stint as secretary from the 2004 to 2006.
In 2004, you also became national Annual Fund co-chair and a member of the board of trustees at the young age of 31. As co-chair, you put equal energy into the nuts-and-bolts responsibilities of keeping the Annual Fund on target while delving into the more theoretical task of fostering a culture of philanthropy among Emma Willard’s young alumnae. You provided a quiet, calm, and thoughtful voice in this role, drawing on your own experience as a professional fundraiser, as well as your understanding of Emma Willard’s unique alumnae body.
Your passion for Emma Willard is evidenced by your dedication, service, and generosity. For your wise and tireless commitment to your alma mater, the Alumnae Association Council gratefully bestows upon you the Service to Emma Willard Award.
Read the citations of the 2006 Distinguished Alumnae Award recipients.
Read the citations of the 2005 Distinguished Alumnae Award recipients.
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