Alumnae Awards

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Newcomb Alumnae Association Awards. These alumnae have represented Newcomb with distinction since their graduation, and all alumnae are invited to celebrate their achievements at the Under the Oaks Ceremony. See the date, time, and location details located under the Events Tab.  

Last year’s recipients are:

Outstanding Alumna:

Alexandra “Ally” Coll, J.D. (NC ’07)

Since earning her B.A. in History and Political Science from Newcomb College in 2007, Ally Coll has dedicated herself to advancing civil rights and equality under the law. After working in electoral politics for several years, Coll earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Board of the Harvard Women’s Law Association and as the Executive Policy Editor of the Harvard Law and Policy Review. A native of Washington D.C., she also spent time working on Capitol Hill in both chambers of Congress as the Press Secretary for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and Elections Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Administration.

In 2017, Coll joined the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, LLP as a litigation associate. Six months into her time at the firm, Tarana Burke’s longstanding #MeToo movement went viral, and the news broke that Coll’s firm had been representing Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company. She ultimately left the firm to launch the Purple Campaign, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing workplace harassment. In the five years since its founding, the organization has formed partnerships with corporations representing millions of workers around the world, successfully advocated for the enactment of state and federal laws to address workplace harassment, and provided tools and resources to empower employees to create change in their own workplaces.

Coll is now an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, where she teaches Constitutional and Civil Rights Law.

Community Service Award: 

Susan Friedlander Keith (NC ’68)

Susan Friedlander Keith’s community involvement has been long-term and impactful. Keith graduated from Newcomb College in 1968 with a B.A. in French. After completing her education, she lived in Washington D.C. with her family for twenty years, where she established her business, Culture to Culture. Through Culture to Culture, Keith provided training and marketing services hat emphasized cultural variables and the value of international expansion to businesses.

After relocating with her family to Albuquerque, Keith was able to provide similar services for several companies in New Mexico. In 1997, she was asked to help a group of farmers create a marketing plan for their business. Keith secured funding from the Mid Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) to conduct market research for local agricultural products. When said research indicated that there was a viable market opportunity, Keith created the Agriculture Collaborative, which brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including agriculture extension agents, restaurants, water specialists, pueblos, schools, academics, and political representatives, for monthly meetings related to local agriculture.

Keith managed the Agriculture Collaborative from 2003 to 2008. In 2007, MRCOG decided to fund the initiative as a permanent program. Today, almost twenty years after it began, the program is still in operation, providing an opportunity for producers to gain critical information about factors influencing their work and raising awareness in the general Albuquerque community about the importance of local agriculture.

In 2019, Keith began volunteering with Project ECHO, a research organization in Albuquerque, to help the organization reach its goal of expanding access to healthcare knowledge to one billion people by 2025.

Young Alumna Award: 

Brittney Sheena (SSE ’18)

Brittney Sheena is building momentum in the fields of medicine, public health, and health equity. After graduating from Tulane in 2018, Sheena accepted a global health research fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, while pursuing her Master of Public Health at the University of Washington. She researched the global burden of hepatitis and cirrhosis, and collaborated with the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination and World Health Organization to track progress toward elimination goals. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheena used seasonal trends of pneumonia to develop a novel seasonality covariate that expanded temporal and geographic projections. Her work contributed to accurately predicting rising cases and deaths in colder months, and helped guide policy for the Pan American Health Organization.

In 2021, Sheena worked as a Program Director with the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Houston-Galveston. She mentored medical students on community-based projects that addressed unmet health needs in underserved populations in Houston. Sheena began her own medical education in 2022 at the Tulane University School of Medicine. She serves as a Student Clinic Leader at Ozanam Inn, providing free medical care to community members at one of the largest homeless shelters in New Orleans. Sheena is also a Civic Health Alliance Ambassador, and works to increase civic participation among healthcare workers, students, and patients, and break down the systems that often bring patients to them in the first place. Sheena is passionate about advancing health through patient-centered care, public health, and advocacy.

Outstanding Alumna
1974    Elizabeth Wisner    N'14    
1975    Bessie Margolin     N'29    
1976    Corinne Claiborne Boggs     N'35    
1977     E. Lucille Smith     N'35     
1978     Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer    N'33     
1979     Ruth Rogan Benerito     N'35     
1980     Betty Werlein Carter     N'31     
1981     Lanier Allingham Simmons     N'50     
1982     Mary Lou Mossy Christovich     N'49     
1983     Odaline de la Martinez     N'72     
1984     Evalyn Stolaroff Gendel     N'43     
1985     Betty Stevens Sherrill     N'44     
1986     Hilda Arndt     N'32     
1987     Lynda Benglis     N'64     
1988     Rosa Freeman Keller     N'32     
1989     Martha Crenshaw     N'67    
1990     Marion J. Siegman     N'54     
1991     Barbara Y. E. Pyle     N'69     
1992     Deirdre Melessa Phillips, M.D.     N'69     
1993     Vivian Gussin Paley     N'50     
1994     Lois E. DeBakey     N'40     
1995     Eugénie Ricau Rocherolle     N'58     
1997     Susan Gold Willard Schorin     N'67     
1998     May Hyman Lesser     N'47    
1999     Martha Walters Barnett     N'69    
2003    Marsha Sidel Firestone     N'65     
2004    Cheryl A. Nickerson     N'83      
2005    Elizabeth A. Weaver    N’62    
2007    Jane Davis Doggett     N'52    
2008    Carol Lavin Bernick    N'74    
2009    Florence Weiland Schornstein    N’56   
2010    Berthe Lathrop Marks Amoss    N’46   
2011    Dee Unglaub Silverthon   N '70 
2012    Marlene Esking Moses N '72 
2013    Margaret Burr Leonard N '63 
2014    Merri Steinberg Ex N '73
2015    Regina Rogers N '68
2016    Jennifer Brush N '78
2017    Sally Kittredge Reeves N'65
2018    Meria Carstarphen NC '92
2019    Marcela Villareal de Panetta  NC ’67
2020    Carter Flemming  NC ’70
2021    Dr. Mara E. Karlin  NC ’01
2022    Pamela A. Geller, Ph.D. NC ’88

Young Alumna
2005    Jennifer Grotz N’93 
2007    Melissa Ekin Kizildemir N’02 
2008    Erica Trani  N’06
2009    Rebekah Dobrasko N’01
2010    Theresa Schieber N’95
2011    Meaghan K. Callahan N'08
2012    Karoun Bagamain N'01
2013    Elizabeth Bellino N'98
2014    Johanna Gilligan N'03
2015    Jane Kellum N'01
2016    Dr. Mara E. Karlin N'01
2017    Demetria Christo N'06
2018    Lindsey Childs-Kean NC '04
2019    Paula Eichenbrenner NC ’04
2020    Nicole Hutchinson SLA '07
2021    Mwende "FreeQuency" Katwiwa NC '14
2022    Saira A. Mehmood, Ph.D. SLA ’08, SLA '09

Newcomb Community Service and Loyalty Award
1987    Sybil Muths Favrot N’56 
1988    Jane Kelleher Riess N’38
1989    Nellie Mae " Bartlett Kelleher N’30
1990    Carol Downes Cudd N’59
1992    Louise Hoehn Hogan  N’35 
1993    Winifred Delery Hills N’75
1994    Polly Phelps Durham N’52 
1995    Harriet Barry Schupp N’59 
1997    Regan Alford Forrester N'71
1999    Carolyn Robbert Davis N'42
2000    Andrée Keil Moss N'59
2001    Helen Schneidau N'67
2002    Patricia Greene N'67
2003    Karen Deener Depp N'66
2004    Virginia Niehaus Roddy N'60
2005    Barbara Bartlett Haddad N'53
2007    Cynthia Roosth Wolf N'68
2008    Eugenie Jones Huger N'53
2009    Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin N’54

Community Service Award
2010    Adele Redditt Williamson N’45
2011    Sharon Kozlowski Bourgeois N'69
2012    Suzy Guichard McDaniel N'83
2013    Newcomb Sisters & Friends Build
2014    Sylvia Klumok Goodman N'62
2015    Julie Schwam Harris N'74
2016    Roberta Guillory N'59
2017    Rhonda Kalifey-Aluise N'92
2018    Millibeth Currie NC '89
2019    Lisa Helfman NC ’96
2020    Nancy Godecke NC '81
2021    Isabel González Whitaker NC '94
2022    Amy Gatzemeyer NC ’06

Katrina/Rita Recognition Awards - October 27, 2006
Pamela Montgomery Bryan N'80             
Barbara Gott Bush  N'71    
Beverly Reese Church N'67    
Lea McIntosh Ellison N'69    
Mignon Faget N'55    
Virginia Saussy N'88    
Ruthie Jones Frierson N'62
Patricia Heatherly Gay N'65    
Barbara Barry Hammett N'64    
Leslie Brupbacher Kramer N'77    
Nancy Meyers Marsiglia N'75    
Anne McDonald Milling N'62    
Marcelle D'Aquin Saussy N'61    
Louise Fergusson Saenz N'94    
Cynthia Roosth Wolf N'68    

Newcomb Centennial Awards - Awarded October 11, 1986
Mildred D. Christian N'22, Education/ English
Lucile Jacoby Blum N'24, Music, Performing, & Visual Art
Perrine Dixon McCune N'24, Music
Angela Gregory N'25,  Sculpture
Rena Wilson N'29, Early Childhood Development
Mary Ethel Dichmann N'35, Education
Margaret Pace Willson N'43, Art/ Glass Blowing/ Business
Mary Hanemann Lystad N'49, Social Psychology
Shirley Ann Grau N'50, Author
Mignon Faget N'55, Art/ Jewelry Design
Linda Smith Wilson N'57, Chemistry/EducationalAdministration/Research
Frances F. Switt N'59, Foreign Service/ Cultural Exchange
Emily Watts Card N'63, Financial Management
Shelly Johnson Errington N’66, Anthropology 
Marilyn Thomas Bernard N'68, Music
Janina R. Gerth Galler N'69, Pediatric Mental Health

Alumna of the Year (discontinued)
2005     Helen Carney Evans N’65
2007     Ruthie Jones Frierson  N’62
2007    Anne McDonald Milling N’62