Wellesley College Alumnae Association Launches New, Personalized Online Portal

June 4, 2015
Artwork by Stephanie Hessler '84 depicting Wellesley Alumnae Activities

This weekend, Wellesley College will welcome Alumnae back for Reunion 2015. Reunion is an annual highlight that brings classes together on campus. Now there’s an easier way for classes to stay connected throughout the year, online.

“Connecting alumnae to the College and one another is central to the mission of the WCAA,” said Missy Shea ’89, executive director. The WCAA recently launched a new Online Community.

The new site is designed to serve as a gateway for information for alumnae and allow them to connect with their class, local club, and shared interest groups. The main page offers a portal that displays personalized information for individual users. For example, a member of the class of 1964 who lives in Philadelphia and is a member of WAAD will see feeds for all of these groups on her homepage.

“What is especially exciting about this new tool is that it offers a contemporary approach to creating connections based on class, geography, or in some cases common interests,” Shea said. “The new system is all about an alumna building her community and expanding her Wellesley network.”

The WCAA has created 103 websites with information for 45 clubs, 56 classes and two shared interest groups, so far. Additional sites are being built this summer. Each individual site is managed and maintained by the group leadership and allows groups to share news and photos, sell tickets for events, and items in a personalized store, among other features.

Stephanie Hessler ‘84 created the artwork displayed with this story, which is also the image for the main page of the home site.

Hessler said she chose to include images from campus and from the Wellesley experience, like step-singing, hoop-rolling and class colors, that are meaningful to alumnae. She included a map of the world, she said, because "Wellesley alumnae are everywhere."
 
Hessler, who works as an artist producing gift products and stationary and also works with people on personal development, has created other works using Wellesley themes. "I love my work and doing work that feels so meaningful," Hessler said.  "I treasure my Wellesley education and all the friends I have from my college years, as well as my continued association with Wellesley." 

Hessler lives in Concord, Massachusetts, and returns to campus regularly.