Alumnae Association Award Winners

During Reunion weekend, the Alumnae Association shines a spotlight on those distinguished graduates who have achieved renown for their professional accomplishments, or those who have dedicated themselves to the College as volunteers. Here, we present highlights of their careers and contributions.

Woman of Achievement

Beryl Benacerraf ’71

Developed the genetic sonogram...Original research changed screening protocols for pregnant women…Work in diagnostic ultrasound recognized by the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Institute of Ultrasound, Association of Women Radiologists, and the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound…Medical director and president, Diagnostic Ultrasound Associates, PC…MD from Harvard, where she’s clinical professor of ob-gyn, reproductive biology, and radiology

Millicent C. McIntosh Award for Feminism

Bonnie Sherr Klein ’61

Author and documentary filmmaker, focusing on disability rights after a catastrophic brain stem stroke in 1987…Created radio features about her stroke treatment and rehabilitation…MA from Stanford in broadcasting and film…Emigrated to Canada with her husband as Vietnam War resisters…Director and producer for the National Film Board of Canada…Lifetime achievement award from Women in Film and Television Toronto... YWCA Women of Distinction Award

Claudia Ford ’76

Advocate for improving social and medical conditions for women in the developing world…Director of the Office of International Programs at Rhode Island School of Design since 2008…Founder and director of The Princess Trust…Former program manager and country director for the Asia Foundation…Supervised health and education services at a Rwandan refugee camp...Honored by USAID, University of Witwatersrand, and George Mason University

Service to Barnard

Adair Brasted Gould ’36

Former president of the Barnard Club of Wilmington, Delaware…25 years as class fund chair, renowned for her personal, hand-written thank-you notes…PhD in biology from University of Rochester…Retired professor of biology, University of Delaware…Member of the Genetics Society of America…Expert in Renaissance art, teaching at the University of Delaware’s Academy of Lifelong Learning and at the Delaware Art Museum

Nora Lourie Percival ’36

75 years of continuous devotion to Barnard…Three-terms as class president…Reunion chair for the 55th reunion…Class correspondent for the past 20 years…Member of the Barnard Fund Committee, as well as contributor since the Fund was launched…Former director of Alumnae Affairs…Former editor of Barnard Magazine…Author of the autobiography Weather of the Heart: A Child’s Journey Out of Revolutionary Russia

Janet Bersin Finke ’56

Former chair of the Fellowship Committee…Served on the AABC Board…Former vice president of Barnard-in-Bergen Club…Founding member of Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative…Two terms as class president…Vice president/reunion chair for her 55th reunion…Former class correspondent and treasurer…Caller for Barnard Phonathon…Member of Class Reunion and Reunion Fund committees…Jewish Family Service of North Jersey

Distinguished Alumna

Alessandra Comini ’56

Author, lecturer, and university  distinguished professor of art history emerita at Southern Methodist University…14-time winner as “outstanding professor”…1996 recipient of the United Methodist Church Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award…SMU established Comini Lecture Series in 2005…Expert in German Expressionists…Awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor by Republic of Austria in 1990…Lifetime Achievement Award from Women’s Caucus for Art…MA from UC-Berkeley, PhD with distinction, Columbia

Tamar Lewin ’71

New York Times writer/reporter since 1982…Contributor to the Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning series, “How Race is Lived in America” in 2000 and “Class Matters” in 2005…Columbia Law ’74…National reporter on issues such as day care and equal pay…Ground-breaking reporting on sexual harassment and insider trading…Former legal affairs reporter for the Bergen Record…Investigative research on behalf of Common Cause… Former Washington bureau chief and managing editor of the National Law Journal

Young Alumna

Erinn Smart ’01

Silver Medalist women’s fencing, 2008 Olympics…Competitor, 2004 Olympics…Alternate, 2000 Olympics…Second woman fencer to win three gold medals, 1996 Junior Olympics…Captain, Columbia fencing team junior and senior years…Three-time All Ivy League and All American…Five-time U.S. National Champion...Member of Bronze medal team, 2001 Senior World Championships…Columbia Athletic Hall of Fame, 2010…Teacher/mentor, Peter Westbrook Foundation…MBA candidate at Wharton School

—by Merri Rosenberg ’78

—Photographs (except Gould) by Dorothy Hong

—Illustration by Alex Eben Meyer