GARDEN PARTY
Saturday, September 12th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
home of Sarah Bagwell
Stanford Campus

Look for your paperless post invitation….

SUWC promoting friendships and welcoming newcomers since 1896!

Our 2014-15 year concluded on May 15th with a beautiful afternoon in the lovely garden of Deirdre Lyell, daughter of long – time member Ruth Lyell. We enjoyed enchanting music by the Altair String Trio. The delightful refreshments were  organized by Yoshiko Amemiya, Patricia Chao and Letitia Lai. The beautiful centerpieces were arranged by Gerda Wilson, Nancy Rubenstein and Patricia Chao. Thank you to Program Committee members Audrey Gold and Ronna Widrow for planning the event. Mary Anne Kochenderfer was our photographer. Please enjoy the pictures posted on the left side of our web site.

If you have the “thyme” and enjoy delicious food, consider Cuisine Club. This wonderful section has been around for many years planning incredible meals around a wide array of interesting ideas, countries and themes.    Don’t worry if you aren’t a cook, you are still welcome to participate.

Luncheons this year mixed it up with a Mexican Taco Bar, Hungarian, West African, South China, and Spanish foods. Also featured was an English High Tea and a 50’s style luncheon.  And that’s not all…  they had their annual appetizer/hors d’oeuvre and brown bag exchanges too.    Thank you to Diane Levin for coordinating this group this past year.  You can contact her at dianelevin@hotmail.com or call her at 650 494-4991 to learn more.

Abi Fafchamps, Evi Byers, Diane Levin, Letitia Lai, Carol Kornfeld, Maxie Mark, Nancy Rubenstein savor a feast of fine food

Please let us know if you have a favorite memory from Cuisine Club to share.   You can add a comment on this post or sent me a note and I’ll do it for you.

The Stanford University Women’s Club was founded in 1896 by Jessie Knight Jordan, wife of then Stanford President, David Starr Jordan. The real value of our club remains true to our founder’s goal.   Mrs. Jordan’s goal was to create a club that would promote good friendships, welcome newcomers to the university, and enable women to share mutual interests.

Recently, our club lost long time member, Marianne Marx.   At her service, a former student described her as “Facebook before Facebook.” Marianne was someone who enjoyed getting to know others and had a remarkable memory for relationships.     For many years she coordinated the teaching associates (TAs) in the Electrical Engineering department and matched them with professors.  Marianne made everyone feel welcomed and important.

My wish is that all of us make an effort to be part of our vibrant club. On-line social networks such as Facebook, Nextdoor, and Yahoo Groups do not replace the warmth of a smile, a friendly hello or a pleasant in-person introduction of a new acquaintance.   We all need to feel important and wanted.   As the 2014-15 academic year concludes, YOU are most warmly invited to attend the Open Board Meeting with Professor Paul Oyer on Wednesday, April 22nd, and our annual Spring Tea on Friday, May 15th.   Please come “Relax, Connect and Enjoy.”

As well, please remember we have many small special interest groups, known as “sections,” that meet on a more regular basis. All the details are found in the “Preview” newsletter that comes out about once a month between October and May. It is never too late to check one out.

Marianne would have been delighted to know when someone met a friend through the Stanford University Women’s Club.

Tour of the new Stanford Hospital on Friday Feb. 20^th 1:00 – 2:30 pm

Special Convenient Free Parking!    

Please RSVP here or call Ronna at 650-857-9151.

EVENT: We’ve all seen the cranes and grid irons.  Now is your chance for an up-close look at the plans and construction for the new 824,000 square- foot Stanford Hospital facility that will include 368 private patient rooms, a new Level 1 Trauma Center, five gardens and a new parking structure.  The project overview presentation will last about 30 minutes.  Following the presentation, construction managers will escort our group to the viewing platform.

LOCATION: 1190 Welch Road Palo Alto CA 94304, at the corner of Pasteur and Sand Hill.  We will meet in the Shumway Conference Room.

PARKING: We have 30 free parking places for the tour.  Please consider carpooling.  We will share a list of people that have RSVP’d a few days before the event and you can look for friends or neighbors to share rides.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS & PARKING INSTRUCTIONS:

• Turn onto Pasteur Drive, turn left onto Welch Road, go past the flag men that are directing traffic.  You will see an open gate labeled Gate 2, on your right  (on your left are the 1100 apartments)
• The flag person will direct you into the designated garage.  First start with parking in the parking structure Gate 2 – a flag person will be there to direct you to the designated parking spots.
• Walk over to the trailer complex.  It is less than 5 minutes from parking structure, and use the 2^ndentrance (you will see outdoor furniture along with bike racks to main entrance).
• Check in at the front desk with Jessica Epstein, who will escort you to the Shumway Conference Room .

   Join us for an exciting evening with Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Anne Kornblut.  Ms. Kornblut is Deptuy Assistant Managing Editor for National News at the Washington Post and a current Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford.

Ms. Kornblut’s extensive career covering three national presidential campaigns, her research on women in politics and her award-winning coverage of the Snowden revelations are sure to stimulate an interesting discussion!     She has written a book “Notes from the Cracked Ceiling.”

When:  NEW DATE!  Wednesday, March 25, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm.   Light refreshments at the conclusion of remarks.

Where:  Stanford Humanities Center  Levinthal Hall  424 Santa Teresa Street  (near the Faculty Club).    Closest parking is Tressider or the small lot at the corner of Lomita and Santa Teresa Streets.

Who:  Members and their guests are welcome. Bring your curiosity and questions.   Please click here to RSVP or call Ronna at 857-9151.   Room Capacity 100 people.

SUWC members are a diverse and fascinating group of women.   One goal in the coming year is to learn more about some of the amazing people that make a difference in our club.

It is a pleasure to share these words from Betty Cohen who co-leads the French Literature section with Daniele Archambault.

” I studied French in high school and in college, both in New York City. In 1956, my musicologist husband Albert and I went to Paris on his Fulbright Grant. It was shocking to learn that my French was totally inadequate, as I was having great difficulty following the language spoken so rapidly. I realized then that I had been taught to read, write, and translate French but that we never did have conversation practice. Fortunately, several French families befriended us, and we shared many dinners together while being forced to converse in French. Those evenings left me with my head throbbing from concentrating and making supreme efforts to participate. I used French as one of the two foreign language requirements for my PhD (virus laboratories, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health of the University of Michigan). In 1975, I was able to join Albert for three months of his longer stay on another grant and did an intensive program (four hours of classes and numerous hours of homework) at the Alliance Française in Paris. I passed the exam for the certificate for spoken French but missed obtaining the certificate for written French by two points. Between 1956 and 1975 I had returned to France several times for shorter stays to join Albert who had various grants to do his research there on 17th century French music. In the mid 1980s, I was able to leave my Palo Alto Syntex Pharmaceutical’s office to work with the Director of the Paris Syntex branch for a month.

I joined the SUWC when we moved to Stanford from the East in 1973. However, I soon became engrossed at Stanford in a post doc program and then went on to work in the Stanford Research Park, first at ALZA Corp. (drug delivery systems) for five years and then at Syntex for 14 years. When I retired at the end of 1994, I continued to do consulting and writing for biotech and pharmaceutical companies for 10 years. At the start of 1995 I rejoined the SUWC because now I had the freedom to manage my own time. Joining the French Conversation Group was a delight enabling me to get back to my love of the French language. Awhile later I learned about the existence of a French Literature Group. After some time I suggested that it become a section of the SUWC where it thrives today. I’ve discovered that I have greater pleasure reading in French than in English; the challenge entices me, and I love the sound of the words.”

Please join Betty if you enjoy French literature. This section usually meets on the first Monday of the month at 1:30 PM.  They read, review, and discuss French books in French. Each member chooses the book she would like to review.   During the critique and discussion of the selected book, they eat, drink, and have a jolly good time together.

The pictures tell the story…..    Chop Chop’s latest cooking class was wonderful.   All the gals and galettes are gorgeous.    Thank you Chef Toshiko Ueda  www.binkoueda.com