What do you think of what Radcliffe has become—an institute for advanced study?

Well, I think that when Drew Faust explains to us that the Radcliffe Institute is now one of Harvard’s tubs, and that Radcliffe now has a place at the Harvard table, I think that is a good thing.

Do you think Radcliffe’s identity has changed? How?

It is no longer a women’s college...Though we are no longer a college, we haven’t been Pembroked. We live on in the name of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the college lives on in each of us.

What do you think is in Radcliffe’s future?

In all fairness, I haven’t been following it all that closely. I have only been exposed to information given to me by Drew Faust talking, but I am well impressed by what they are doing. I expect that the Institute will flourish and the Radcliffe name will live on. I do think the spirit of the founding of early Radcliffe and of the merger lives on.

Alice C. ‘Acey’ Welch ’53

Welch majored in architectural sciences in college. After graduation she went into graphic arts. Now mostly retired except for occassional consulting jobs, she resides in Concord, Mass.

Did you maintain contact with Radcliffe after graduation through donations, reunions, etc?

I did. I went to most of my reunions, especially from the 15th reunion on. I have been very involved in the Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard (CEWH), which evolved out of our 35th reunion. Part of the class discussion that year was whether Harvard was as sexist as when we were in college. We were charged with trying to research this and report back at the 40th reunion. That subgroup became quite a little family.

Did you follow the merger at all? In the late 70s? 1999?