Alumnae Spotlight

Jennifer Tao '02
Asian Alumnae Network

Jennifer Tao '02 is chair of the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College's newest network, the Asian Alumnae Network (AAN). The network supports and fosters a community among alumnae and students of Asian cultures, including but not limited to: Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, Japanese, Korean, Bangladeshi, Filipino, and Sri Lankan.

Alumnae and students responded with interest, attending AAN's lively Open House at the Ruth Schilling Hennessy Alumnae Center in February.

"We enjoyed refreshments and music, and sharing our Douglass experience. We also shared ideas about future events and hope to meet again soon," says Jennifer. The AAN Committee is busy making plans. Committee members include Douglass student Sonia Sharma '10, and alumnae Anu Khare '00, Margie Hinonangan-Mendoza '00, and Renu Singh '06.

Jennifer became involved with AAN after reading about plans for this new network in the Douglass Alumnae Magazine and online at the Associate Alumnae's Web site.

"I wanted to renew my connections with Douglass," says Jennifer, who is a technical assistant in the Office of Disability Support Services at the Kreeger Learning Resource Center at Rutgers. She is excited to strengthen alumnae ties begun during their Douglass days, and to meet current students.

Jennifer moved to New Jersey from her native Taiwan when she was just three years old. She grew up in Middlesex County and the New Brunswick area. A campus visit to Douglass that allowed her to meet students and stay overnight in a dorm convinced Jennifer that Douglass offered a special opportunity. At Douglass she majored in computer science.

"My time at Douglass was rewarding and challenging," says Jennifer. "As a student I enjoyed being involved with the Governing Association as a Class Representative, working on the annual Yule Log Ceremony, and helping with Quair."

Jennifer also participated in the AADC's Extern Program, working with an alumna in technology at a major communications corporation in Colorado.

"I look forward to growing the Asian Alumnae Network and encourage everyone to get involved with the Associate Alumnae and Douglass," says Jennifer.

Joan Snyder '62
Named 2007 MacArthur Fellow

Douglass College alumna Joan Synder ’62, is the recipient of a 2007 MacArthur “genius grant,” announced by the MacArthur Foundation on September 25. The grant is generally considered one of the most prestigious intellectual and creative honors. The MacArthur Fellows Program awards five-year, unrestricted fellowships to individuals across all ages and fields who show exceptional merit and promise of continued creative work.

Joan Snyder is an accomplished artist whose abstract paintings defy categorization and traverse genres. Over the four decades of her prolific career, Snyder’s body of work has continually evolved in style and form.  Beginning with her early “stroke” paintings – intense swaths of color painted over pencil-drawn grids – her works have been essentially narratives of both personal and communal experiences.  In these paintings, each brush stroke is like a character in a story, pulsing with emotion and vitality.

After abandoning formal grids as the basic structure of her paintings, Snyder’s work became more explicitly gestural and rooted in memory, while at the same time more complex materially.  She began to incorporate text scrawled into the paint or frames, as well as found objects such as herbs, sticks, feathers, mud, and nails, to create works saturated with feeling.  In The Cherry Tree (1993), for instance, a work expressing Snyder’s grief surrounding her father’s death, she uses paint, papier-mâché, and straw to render an image that is both elegiac and thriving.  While her paintings mirror her personal experience, the visual messages she provides through her images convey universal and readily understood emotions.  Through a fiercely individual approach and persistent experimentation with technique and materials, Snyder has extended the expressive potential of abstract painting and inspired a generation of emerging artists.

Joan earned a bachelor’s degree from Douglass College in 1962, and a master’s degree in fine arts from Rutgers University in 1966. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such national venues as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  In 2005, the Jewish Museum in New York presented a retrospective of her work.

Julissa S. Germosen '93, LAN Chair
Vision and Leadership: The Latina Alumnae Network Moves Foward

Julissa S. Germosen ’93 is passionate about giving back “particularly to women and young girls in the Latina community.” As chair of the newly formed Associate Alumnae of Douglass College’s Latina Alumnae Network (LAN), Julissa hopes to encourage others by example. LAN supports and fosters a community among Douglass College Latina alumnae and students.

“I am thrilled to chair LAN,” Ms. Germosen says. “I think LAN plays a critical role in building the community and drawing alumnae back to Douglass College. I am also excited that LAN will help build relationships with current Latina students.”

During the summer, LAN got underway with an open house at the Ruth Schilling Hennessy Alumnae Center to boost membership and discuss upcoming program ideas. This spring, LAN will host a career panel composed of Latina women from a range of professional backgrounds. Alumnae and students will have an opportunity to interact with some high-profile leaders on the panel.

“I feel very lucky and blessed in my personal life and career,” Julissa says, “and consider it my responsibility to give back to others. It really is a pleasure.” In 2006, she established the Latina Leadership Potential Award, a scholarship for Hispanic women at Douglass College. Julissa attended the AADC’s Scholarship Dinner in April at Douglass College Center to meet the first recipient, student leader Celeste Barretto ’07.

As a board member of LISTA, the Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association of the New Jersey Technology Council, she interviewed and selected a student of Latina heritage for a scholarship. “It was such an uplifting experience,” she recalls. “I just want to encourage and inspire others.”

In her career, Ms. Germosen has been recognized for leadership and honored for contributions above and beyond expectations. At Microsoft Corporation, Julissa is the Partner Account Manager for the New York and New Jersey Small, Mid-Market Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) organization. She is responsible for developing Microsoft’s next generation partner community that will enable and support more than $360 million in revenue. In her work, she promotes sales, determines partner capacity and gap analysis, as well as marketing and technical readiness and strategies.

Julissa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and criminology. Following Douglass, she became a sales manager, and later, a sales director at Alpha Resources Corporation, where she secured key contracts for computer training.

Claire Krucher '55

Douglass alumna Claire Krucher '55 will be honored for her extraordinary service with the Rutgers Alumni Meritorious Service Award, to be given at an awards dinner on October 19, 2007. Through her steadfast volunteerism over more than five decades since her graduation, Claire has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the students and alumnae of Douglass College and to the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College.

Claire is the recipient of the Douglass Medal, and the AADC’s Alumnae Recognition Award and Margaret T. Corwin Award. She served two terms on the AADC Board of Directors, serving as secretary, treasurer, and most recently as a member. She was instrumental in the formation of the award-winning AADC Extern Program in the 1960’s, and currently chairs the AADC Extern Committee. In addition, she is a member and former chair of the Gift Planning Committee and has served on many committees including: Nominating, Administration, Investment, Long-Range Planning, Awards, and as chair of her class’s 50th reunion. As an active member of the Princeton Area Douglass Alumnae Club, Claire has held numerous offices, including president.

Claire supported students at Douglass, Cook and the Mason Gross School of the Arts as former associate director of Career Services at Douglass College. She retired in 2001, after 41 years at the University. During her tenure, she served on the University Senate.

Claire is one of four outstanding volunteers who will be honored by the Rutgers University Alumni Federation at the Alumni Meritorious Service Awards Dinner, beginning with a reception at 6:00 pm, dinner at 7:00 pm, at the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick. We will be arranging for Douglass tables at this dinner. Please call the AADC at 732-932-2880 ext. 27 for further details.

Adelaide Marcus Zagoren '40 Honored

Former Associate Alumnae Executive Director Adelaide Marcus Zagoren ’40 was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 22, 2006, for her work as a community leader and philanthropist.

Adelaide served as executive director of the AADC for more than 26 years before retiring in 1994. During her leadership she worked with seven Associate Alumnae presidents and six Douglass College deans. She has received many honors for her work including the Associate Alumnae’s highest award for service, the Margaret T. Corwin Award, and the Douglass Medal. She helped shape the AADC, initiating awards and recognition programs which brought prominence to the organization.

Adelaide was raised in New Brunswick, graduated from New Brunswick High School, and came to nearby Douglass College along with her twin sister, Ruth Marcus Patt ’40. As a student, she studied journalism. Adelaide and her late husband, Charles, also resided in New Brunswick where they raised two children, Robert and Laura. Adelaide soon distinguished herself as a leader when she entered the workforce in 1961, becoming executive director of the Raritan Valley Council of Girl Scouts and later assistant director of the United Community Services of Central Jersey, today known as the United Way of Greater Middlesex County.

Adelaide became the executive director of the AADC in 1968. She looked upon the professional staff as “my team, my friends, my extended family.” She guided the development of the Women’s Center to help women return to the workplace. Later she worked with former Dean Jewel Plummer Cobb to organize the AADC’s Black Alumnae Network, which assisted students with career advice, scholarships and fellowships. Adelaide also helped build the award-winning Extern Program and promoted leadership programs. She traveled around the country with former Dean Mary Hartman to promote the 75th Anniversary of Douglass College and to advance a successful capital campaign that reached $10.5 million.

Adelaide also played a significant role in the fundraising for the Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers. She is president and trustee of the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, a charitable foundation founded by her aunt and uncle, operating in the New Brunswick area. The foundation has been recognized for its innovative support of the arts, education, human needs and Jewish causes.