Mechanical engineer. Management consultant. College professor. Social entrepreneur. Darcelle Lahr, MA ’17, EDD ’18, has held a variety of different jobs, but they’ve all led her to a life spent helping those the system has left behind through “transformative social action.”

The fall 2025 issue has landed! This issue is themed on social entrepreneurship (and how it's interpreted among Mills alums!). Spoiler: a quote from Professor Darcelle Lahr, MA ’17, EDD ’18: “I see social entrepreneurship as the vehicle through which individuals and communities can build hope.”

Wrapping up our coverage of the summer issue as we prep to put the fall edition online brings us this pic from 1917. When we decided on a performing arts theme for summer, we knew that we had to include an image illustrating the deep roots they have on the Mills campus.

Samantha Lake ’17 was originally going to major in computer science at Mills—that is, until she tried out a campus theater workshop. Years later, after switching programs and trying out film acting, she finds herself a puppeteer in Los Angeles, working at the renowned Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

It’s only natural that our cover story for the summer issue is Commencement 2025!

Now premiering: our summer issue! Visit quarterly.mills.edu for coverage of Commencement 2025 as well as a variety of Mills alums who make their living in the performing arts.

The research process for the spring Throwback, about alum memories of going off-campus for extracurricular activities, took us to the Oakland History Center. At the link below, read recollections about "The Ave," as well as other memories about going off to Berkeley and San Francisco.

The surreal world of “The Sims” includes a score of jazzy, New Age-style piano pieces that Vice in 2018 said is “likely one of the most widely heard album-length collections of music to be released so far this century.” The composer, Jerry Martin, earned his MFA at Mills in 1981.

Looking for something to read over the long weekend? Try “It’s About Women in Gaming” from our spring 2025 issue.

Professor Cliff Lee began teaching in the Mills School of Education in 2019, and he now also instructs future video game developers through his joint appointment with Northeastern’s College of Art, Media, and Design, building off his dissertation on teaching programming at an East Oakland school.

It’s happening!!!...later than we’d expected, but spring 2025 is finally online. Visit quarterly.mills.edu for features about gaming, looks back at off-campus hotspots and the origins of fencing at Mills, and celebrations of the season through photography and poetry. Print edition arrives soon!

Elwin Cotman, MFA '12, is on this list! Cotman's book of short stories, "Weird Black Girls," came out in 2024, and he has a novel scheduled for release later this year. Congratulations!

Thanks to the Mills College Art Museum for allowing us to feature the work of Professor Emerita Hung Liu in our winter issue! Tomorrow at noon PDT, join Museum Director Stephanie Hanor for a virtual tour of MCAM’s 100-year history. Register here: eventregistration.northeastern.edu/event/7315a5...

For the winter 2025 issue, we caught up with members of the Mills cross-country teams from 2009 to 2011. One of our newest columns checks in with a different student group from over the years and sees what sticks with them even now: quarterly.mills.edu/legacy/catch....

The website www.poetsreadingthenews.com is the brainchild of Elle Newton '12. She began the project in 2016 after finding herself dispirited by increasing numbers of mass shootings in the U.S. With input from writers from around the world, the site's offerings are more and more poignant these days.

These gorgeous, hand-drawn illustrations by Kate Swartz ’08 accompanied our winter 2025 feature on alum authors who have found comfort or catharsis (sometimes both) through their writing.

“With self-publishing, you can protect your voice!” . When we spoke to alum authors who put out their works beyond the traditional paradigm, this is what we heard. In our latest issue, they spoke about the journeys they took—and we outlined terms and processes that aspiring authors should know.

Even in this era of book bans, Young Adult (YA) literature is exploding in popularity—and according to Mills alums who are YA authors and fans, the topics that have made these titles controversial to some also draw readers of all ages.

The fires that have devastated the Los Angeles area over the past two weeks are difficult to comprehend. We now know of at least nine alums who have lost their homes, and the psychological impact on everyone affected can’t be overstated.

Our winter issue is online! Visit quarterly.mills.edu for all sorts of stories relating to writing and literature: Mills YA authors, self-publishing, writing through trauma, and much more.

Another change we made to the new Mills Quarterly is the more intentional use of campus and archive photography. For the first edition, that meant autumnal images of the Music Building. (Though the colors are likely similar to the look of campus right now; these photos were shot last December!)

When we set out to cover alums working in agriculture, we weren’t sure what we'd find. “What Starts in the Garden Can Heal the World,” in our fall issue, discovered that those folks are optimistic about the future—as long as things stay small. Read more: quarterly.mills.edu/what-starts-....

This poem by Jazkia Phillips '24 first appeared in the fall 2022 issue of The Womanist and is the inaugural entry in Salon, our new section for creative writing and artwork by Mills alums and professors. To submit your work for consideration, email us at [email protected]!

Great feature highlighting teaching professor Mariana Valencia Mestre’s work! What Starts in the Garden Can Heal the World quarterly.mills.edu/what-starts-... via @millsquarterly.bsky.social @northeasternu.bsky.social

“We didn’t want to be a normal little restaurant. We wanted to offer oysters to people who had never tasted them,” says Romney Steele ’02, MFA ’04, co-owner of The Cook and Her Farmer in Old Oakland. Read the fall 2024 story about her on our website: quarterly.mills.edu/community-at...

For the fall issue, we gathered three alums working in food—Jovida Ross ’00; Malena Lopez-Maggi ’13, MFA ’15; and Roberta Klugman ’74—to talk about sustainability and the various ways the concept shows up in their work: quarterly.mills.edu/three-paths-....

One of the biggest changes in the Quarterly's redesign is the addition of three new sections that are open to reader submissions! Visit quarterly.mills.edu for Salon (writing and artwork), Throwback (Mills memories), and Catching Up With... (what Mills groups have been up to since graduation).

It’s here! It’s here! The redesigned fall 2024 issue of the Quarterly and is now available to peruse online. Click here to read more about our design process: quarterly.mills.edu/redesign/. And click here for the ISSUU version, which best reflects the print experience: issuu.com/millsquarter....

And here's our new cover! 1.) The redesigned magazine is bound like a book, so the stripe on the left borders the front and back covers. The color will shift with each issue! 2.) Domaine Display is our cover font, and it will also be used in headlines inside the magazine.

A look at how Quarterly covers have evolved over the last 114 years! We'll be offering a sneak peek at the updated fall issue next week at Reunion, in the Rothwell black box theater at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, 9/27. Register for Reunion here: eventregistration.northeastern.edu/event/millsr....

A refreshed, updated Mills Quarterly is coming your way soon! We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on over the past weeks and months—even years.

Faculty Village: a gathering place. A playground. Classroom. And most of all, home. For the summer issue, we dug deep into the archives and talked to former residents about the unique spot on campus.

As we enter August, we're looking back at Commencement 2024, which—amazingly—took place more than three months ago! Check out our coverage on the Q website: quarterly.mills.edu/commencement...

The Supreme Court, you say? In our summer edition, we spoke to Assistant Professor Sahar Abi-Hassan about the research she's been conducting into the organizations that file and bankroll the amicus briefs that are filed with the nation's highest court: quarterly.mills.edu/prof-studies...

Associate Adjunct Professor of Public Policy Ashley Adams is a descendent of early settlers in Nicodemus, Kansas, a historic Black town founded in 1877 post-emancipation. That legacy informs her work now, as she helps preserve Allensworth, a similar settlement in California.

Summertiiiime and the living's easy...and there's a new issue of the Quarterly online to pass the time! Visit quarterly.mills.edu to read about Commencement, the lineage one prof can trace back to historic Black settlements, Faculty Village, Mills memorabilia, and more.

In our spring issue, we took a look at "Millsie," and how the various reactions that alums have to it reflect similar patterns of how identity-based language and terminology evolve over time. Click the link below to read the piece!

A momentous day. #classof2024 #millsgrads2024

Commencement takes place on Saturday, April 27, at 10:00 a.m. If you'd like to attend, complimentary registration is still available; visit eventregistration.northeastern.edu/event/eee26c... to sign up. The ceremony will be live-streamed at commencement.northeastern.edu/events/mills....

For our winter 2020 edition, we tagged along on one of the Mills field trips she hosted at Yelp's San Francisco headquarters. Read that story at the link below: quarterly.mills.edu/pulling-othe....

The keynote speaker at this year's Commencement for the Mills legacy Class of 2024 is Miriam Warren '02, chief diversity officer at Yelp and board chair of the Yelp Foundation. An ethnic studies major, Miriam has long worked with campus career services to mentor students.

Amanda Renee Green Wheeler '72 has retired from her first career as an attorney, and she's turning her attention to her interest in writing fiction. In "Between Dreams," from our spring issue, she talks about how Mills led her to where she is now.

We are live! Visit quarterly.mills.edu to view the spring 2024 issue of the Quarterly.

Months ago, we reached out to dozens of #MillsAlums, curious about what it takes to bounce back after professional and personal setbacks. The resulting stories and interviews were profound—and they're available to read in the Quarterly's winter issue:

Love is in the air, and #MillsAlum Joy Nordenstrom '95, MBA '07, helps channel it for her clients as a matchmaker and coach. Read more about her journey to get to where she is today with her company, Joy of Romance, on the Q website:

For some reason, though, we suddenly started getting tons of hits on the fall 1992 piece a few weeks ago, and the barrage continues! However it started, we're happy to help dispel this popular talking point about Oakland.

Bennett's story, linked below, asserts that Stein did not intend to imply negative feelings about her hometown—just the passage of time. We published this piece online last year to accompany a new story about Mills alums living and working in Oakland.

Gertrude Stein, seen here in a 1934 photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, once famously said that "there's no there there" about Oakland...or did she? In our fall 1992 issue, former editor Mary Helen Bennett did a deep dive into Stein's history and added context to the quote.

We are heading out for the holiday break, but before we go, a present! The winter 2024 issue is online and ready to read: quarterly.mills.edu.

In addition to Ariel, we spoke to Thea Orozco ’03, founder of Introvertology, and Joui Turandot ’04, whose JTM Consulting helps clients build their own brands. They offered their thoughts on the pressures of their line of work—and the freedom it allows.