Alpha Phi is proud of all of our distinguished alumnae. The following is only a sample of Alpha Phis who have distinguished themselves in their careers and state, provincial, national or international communities. If you know a distinguished alumna who should be listed, send her name, affiliation and contact information to quarterly@alphaphi.org.
Julee Rosso (Βeta Βeta-Michigan State) |
Founded Silver Palate gourmet food shop. Co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook, The New Basics Cookbook, The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook and Parade magazine column. Co-owner of Wickwood Inn in Saugatuck, Mich., "one of the top 50 small resorts, inns and spas in the US," according to the Zagat Review. |
Nancy Austin (Βeta Delta-UCLA) |
Business consultant, author, lecturer. President of Nancy K. Austin, Inc., Northern California (since 1985). Contributing editor and management columnist for Working Woman magazine. Co-author of 1989 best-seller Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference. Contributing editor and writer for Inc. magazine. |
Mabel Cooper Haeberly Lamb (Omega-Texas) |
Magazine/newspaper writer in 1920s. First woman to fly over Mexico and Central America in a single-engine plane. Established Mabel C. Lamb, Inc., a multi-million dollar real estate business (1951). First woman member, later secretary and vice-president of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. International director of programs (1948-52), international vice president of Alpha Phi (1952-54). Alpha Phi Foundation trustee. Established an Alpha Phi undergraduate scholarship. Recipient of Frances E. Willard award (1990). |
Andrea Wong (Zeta Phi-MIT) |
President and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services with ABC Entertainment®. Former executive vice president, alternative programming, specials and late night with ABC. Helped launch popular TV reality series "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette," "The Mole," "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," "Wife Swap" and "Extreme Makeover." |
Carolynne Bond Kent (Gamma Lambda-Houston) |
Elementary teacher. Birmingham Outstanding Panhellenic Woman of the Year (1982). Listed in Who’s Who in American Education and The World of Who’s Who of Women. |
Dr. Sophie DeAberle Brophy (Lambda-UC/Berkeley) |
First practicing applied anthropologist in the United States. Superintendent of the United Pueblos Agency (1935). Research director at the University of New Mexico. Director of the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Education Survey (1963-67). Executive director of the Commission on the Rights, Liberties and Responsibilities of the American Indian (1959). Elected to New York Academy of Science. |
Edris Rice-Wray Carson, M.D (Delta-Cornell) |
Public health doctor, primarily in Central America and Mexico. Birth control pioneer who headed the first large-scale clinical trials of the birth control pill. Founded Mexico's first family planning clinic, located in Mexico City. Medical director of the Puerto Rico Family Planning Association. Recipient of Planned Parenthood® Federation of America Margaret Sanger Award (1978). |
Ann Bigby McFarren (Βeta Βeta-Michigan State) |
Lobbyist and public advocate for programs in reproductive health. Developed Alpha Phi’s AIDS Peer Education Program. Former executive director, AIDS Action Council, Washington, D.C. |
Ruth Stafford Peale (Αlpha-Syracuse) |
Co-founder, publisher and chairman of the board of Guideposts, Inc. First woman president of the National Board of North American Missions. First woman chairman of the planning and program committee of the National Council of Churches (1966). National president of the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church in America. Vice president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York. |
Elizabeth "Liz" Sutherland Carpenter (Omega-Texas) |
Press secretary and staff director to Lady Bird Johnson (1963-69). A founder of the National Women's Political Caucus and of ERAmerica. Recipient of Frances E. Willard Award (1980). |
Barbara Blakemore (Gamma-DePauw) |
Former fiction editor of Redbook. Former deputy editor of Family Circle. Former executive editor of McCall's. Past president of Women's Media Group. Recipient of Frances E. Willard Award (1982). Past president of QUEST, a Community for Lifelong Learning in Manhattan (2000-01). |
Nan Robertson (Βeta-Northwestern) |
Pulitzer Prize-winning (1983) reporter and feature writer for the New York Times (1955-96). Winner of Page One award from the Newspaper Guild of New York (1983). Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation (1993). Author of Getting Better, Inside Alcoholics Anonymous (1988) and The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men, and the New York Times (1992). |
Dorothy Wright Nelson (Βeta Delta-UCLA) |
Senior judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter (senior judge since 1995). Winner of the American Bar Association’s D’Alemberte/Raven Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dispute Resolution (2000). Former dean of the University of Southern California Law Center. Inspired the creation of the Dorothy Wright Nelson Justice Award at the University of Southern California. |
Louise Grant Smith (Οmicron-Missouri) |
First woman assistant attorney general of Missouri (1944). Past president of Kappa Beta Pi international law fraternity. Delegate from Missouri to the National Women's Conference in Houston (1977). |
Georgia Neese Gray (Upsilon-Washburn) |
First woman treasurer of the United States (1949-53), appointed by President Harry Truman. Past president of Alpha Phi International. |
Polly Cutler Rosenbaum (Βeta Gamma-Colorado) |
Arizona state representative continuously for 46 years (1949-94). |
Lynn Robinson Woolsey (Sigma-Washington) |
Elected to her eighth term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the Sixth Congressional District in California (since 1992). |
Becky Cook Cain (Βeta Ιota-West Virginia) |
Past national president of the League of Women Voters (1992-98). President and CEO of the Greater Kanawha Valley Community Foundation (see Fall 2001 Quarterly). Named one of the most powerful women in politics in Ladies’ Home Journal (1996). Worked to achieve campaign finance reform in Congress as the president of Campaign for America. |
Bishop Catherine Maples Waynick (Εpsilon Ζeta-Central Michigan) |
One of only eight women bishops in the U.S. Episcopal Church. |
Claire Waters Ferguson (Βeta Βeta-Michigan State) |
First woman president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. President during the 1994 Olympics and the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding incident. First woman elected to the International Federation for Figure Skaters. Serves on the International Skating Union Council, the first U.S. woman to do so. Recipient of Alpha Phi Frances E.Willard Award, 1994. |
Julie Clark (Gamma Beta-UC/Santa Barbara) |
Awarding-winning veteran pilot and air show performer. North America’s only solo T-34 acrobatic performer. Captain for Northwest Airlines (since 1984). Inducted into the International Women’s Air and Space Museum. |
Dr. Quincalee Brown (Gamma Xi-Wichita State) |
Executive director of the Water Environment Federation and the Water Environment Research Foundation (since 1986). Former chair of the American Society of Association Executives (ASEA) (1992-93). Former executive director of the American Association of University Women (1980-86). Recipient of ASEA’s highest award, the Key Award (1995). Named “Association Executive of the Year” by Association Trends Newsletter (1999). Recipient of Alpha Phi Frances E. Willard Award, 1994. |
Mildred Dunnock Urmy (Ζeta-Goucher) |
Broadway actress. Received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in Death of a Salesman (1951) and in Tennesse Williams’ Baby Doll (1956). Originated the role of Big Mama in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1956). |
Kimberly Williams-Paisley ((Βeta-Northwestern) |
Actress, writer, director. Movies: Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride: Part 2, Indian Summer, How to Eat Fried Worms, Eden Court. Stage credits: Vagina Monologues, The Last Night at Ballyhoo, All in the Timing, Speed the Plow. Television credits: Jake's Women, Relativity, The 10th Kingdom, Lucky Seven, Identity Theft, The Christmas Shoes, Follow the Stars Home, and Hallmark commercials. Currently appears on ABC®’s According to Jim (Fall 2001 Quarterly). Wrote and directed two short films: Shade and Numero Dos. |