Endowed Directorship to Honor Wilson

At a gala dinner celebrating outgoing Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson last night, Chairman of the Radcliffe Board of Trustees Nancy-Beth G. Sheerr '71 announced that the directorship of the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute (RPPI), established under Wilson's tenure, will from now on bear her name.

Sheerr explained that the endowed position was made possible in large part by gifts from Radcliffe trustees past and present. Current RPPI Director Paula Rayman will be the first person to hold the title.

Members of the board also presented Wilson with a crystal bowl and announced that the board has commissioned an oil painting of Radcliffe's seventh and final president.

"It's been quite a ride--lots of ups and lots of downs, but it's been wonderful," Wilson said while accepting the honors.

Wilson will step down on June 30 after exactly 10 years at Radcliffe's helm. At last night's dinner, members of the Board of Trustees announced that Wilson will for now on carry the title of 'president emerita.'

In presenting Wilson's new title, Board Vice Chair Jill T. Cheng '67 noted that the 63-year-old leader will hold the title for as long as she "shall remain faithful to Radcliffe...or, in other words, for as long as she shall live."

Friends and colleagues of Wilson offered glowing toasts for the president who has headed Radcliffe during negotiations with Harvard that resulted in a merger of the two schools and the creation of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

President of Wellesley College Diana Chapman Walsh, a former Harvard professor and a friend of Wilson, noted in her toast that being the president of a college is little like being a funeral attendant.

"You have a lot of people under you, but none of them are listening," she quipped.

Yet, she told Wilson "somehow you got the 10,000 men of Harvard to listen to you."

One of those 10,000 men, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles, drew an analogy between Wilson's dissertation on the silicon-oxygen bond and the new relationship between Harvard and Radcliffe.

Like Wilson, Knowles is a chemist.

"One or two of you might not remember that the silicon-oxygen bond is one of the strongest there is," he said.

Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine was not able to attend the event, but sent a letter to Wilson that was read aloud.

"I wish you Godspeed and a well deserved rest as you embark on new adventures," he wrote.

Friends of Wilson also remembered personal moments with the president at the reception and dinner in Radcliffe's Cronkhite Graduate Center.

Trustee Pendred E. Noyce '77 spoke warmly of Maine sailing trips with Wilson and her husband Paul. Noyce, a Maine resident, lives near Wilson's summer home. Noyce remembered a side of Wilson not seen everyday in Cambridge.

Noyce explained that Wilson at times plays soccer with Noyce's children--always as goalie. Noyce called Wilson a "brave" goalie, despite Noyce's fears that one of her children might send a particularly hard kick Wilson's way.

"This would be a great stain on my career as a trustee, to knock down the president," she joked.

Also in attendance was famed culinary expert and Cambridge resident Julia Child.

"I admire and like her vary much indeed," Child said of Wilson. "Because of her personality, she's made Radcliffe an attractive place that people know something about."