As my tenure as president of Spelman College comes to a close, I am often asked, “What is your legacy?” While that is a question better answered by others, in response, one could point to a new residence hall like the recently named Beverly Daniel Tatum Suites (an honor bestowed by the Board of Trustees for which I am deeply grateful), or the numerous campus renovations that were completed over the last 13 years. One could highlight strategic plans and the milestones of progress, like more students traveling abroad or doing undergraduate research, more faculty positions or resources to support them, or maybe new and unanticipated developments like the Wellness Revolution and a new and improved Read Hall.
Sometimes I imagine how Spelman founders Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles might answer that question. They said they were building for 100 years, and they did. Rockefeller Hall and Packard Hall were built in 1886, Giles Hall in 1895 – all more than 100 years ago, but I don’t think those buildings would be their answer. Did they anticipate that the place they created would be the source of the first women educators to build schools in the Congo like Nora Gordon, C’1888? The first Black female physicians to provide health care in Georgia like Georgia Dwelle, C’1900? The source of history-making attorneys and judges like Dovey Johnson Roundtree, C’38, and Bernette Joshua Johnson, C’64? Aviators like Janet Harmon Bragg, C’29, and military leaders like Marcelite Harris Jordan, C’64? Social justice activists like Marian Wright Edelman, C’60, and Sarah Thompson, C’2006? Pioneers in every field imaginable?
If they were here, I think Sophia Packard and Harriet Giles would say that women like these were their legacy, their gift to the future. At the end of the day, an educator’s most important legacy lies in the lives we touch. The legacy lies in what happens to the ideas shared – how are they transformed and used by others? Who is inspired by them? Who takes action because of the experience that has been provided? Who truly makes a choice to change the world?
It is the women of Spelman who are the living legacy! Where our alumnae go and what they do will be the legacy that we will all point to for years to come. When Alia Harvey Jones, C’95, was a dual degree engineering major, she did not know she would be the only woman of color producing plays on Broadway. When Roz Brewer, C’84, was doing research in the lab as a chemistry major, she had no inkling that she would one day be featured in Forbes magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in business, as the CEO of Sam’s Club. When Laurie Cumbo, C’97, was majoring in art at Spelman, did she anticipate that she would open her own museum in Brooklyn – or one day be elected to the NY City Council?
When Kiran Ahuja, C’93, transferred to Spelman from Emory in her sophomore year, did she ever imagine that she was on her way to becoming the executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, appointed by President Obama? When LaShonda Holmes, C’2007, was doing her community service as a Bonner Scholar, did she imagine that she would be the first Black female helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard? When Marta Sanchez, C’2000, graduated from Spelman, and went off the University of Virginia for law school, did she imagine that her passion would be advocating for victims of sexual violence, and her poetry and her artwork would be her tools? When her dream job offer at Lehman Brothers crumbled with the economy for Littane Bien-Aime, C’2009, did she know her resilience and Spelman training in international relations would lead her to success in the Foreign Service?
Somewhere at Spelman a seed was planted, an idea cultivated, an experience had –that changed a life trajectory – and that is what a Spelman education does, preparing women for those life-changing moments, creating life experiences that will open up multiple pathways of possibility – possibilities that may lie beyond our current imagination. A Spelman education can make so much possible, and women of Spelman are needed in our society now more than ever.
That is why when I am asked what accomplishment gives me the most satisfaction I always say, “increasing alumnae participation” because the growth in alumnae engagement and financial support of Spelman College has made it possible for the next generation of Spelman women to face the future with confidence.
I have said that being president of a college is like running a relay race. You get the baton from your predecessor, you run as fast as you can to make as much progress as you can, until it is your turn to pass the baton. The same can be said for the women of Spelman. Our students get the baton from the women who came before them, alumnae pass it and ask the next generation to run with it – to make their contribution, not just to this community, but to the world. And they do.
The Class of 2015 is getting ready to join the ranks of alumnae on May 17, 2015, and as they leave they have set a high bar for those who come after them. More than 70 percent of the Class of 2015 has made a gift to the College, raising more than $7,000 to support their younger sisters with emergency scholarship support. If I have a legacy to claim, I want it to be that one – that the women of Spelman have fully embraced their responsibility to support Spelman College and its future – the students who come after them – so that our living legacy will endure forever. That is a legacy we can all claim with pride! – Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., is the president of Spelman College.
This post originally appeared on InsideSpelman.com.
