Classmates: With the big news that Sian Leah Beilock will be the College’s new president, our class president Naomi Baline Kleinman rapidly went to work to be sure that our class could adopt the new president. This is a formal College process and a rare one. Naomi wrote to President-elect Beilock, noting that we are, of course, the first Dartmouth class to have admitted women as freshmen. She will be Dartmouth’s first female president. Classmate Ann Fritz Hackett served as Dartmouth’s first alumna trustee, Martha Johnson Beattie was the first female vice president for alumni relations, and the president-elect was born in 1976. The great result is that President-elect Beilock agreed and our special relationship will be formalized by the time you read this. She will always be known as President Beilock ’76A. Also in progress is how we will welcome the members of the class of 2026, who will be graduating when we have our 50th reunion. The connection program between the classes who graduate 50 years apart has long been a special tradition. Please see Judy Burrows Csatari’s letter in Jim Burns’ latest class newsletter, and it’s worth reiterating part of that here: “The class of ’76 holds a unique position in all of Dartmouth College history. Our arrival on the Hanover Plain in the fall of 1972 marked the first time women matriculated to the College. Through the years, we have experienced other firsts, but there can be no denying that our arrival in 1972 was auspicious and audacious. At the time of our matriculation, members of the class of 1926 reached out to the women of the class of ’76, presenting each with a flower and letter of welcome. Four years later, at the time of our graduation from the College, some women of the class of ’76 reached out to the 50-years-older class members who were in Hanover celebrating their 50th reunion and presented them with flowers in gratitude for their support and encouragement at the outset of our historic arrival. Now it is our turn to reach out to our 50-years-younger counterparts in the class of 2026.” All of this takes on greater emphasis with our new connection with President-elect Beilock. Rich Horan is spending a lot of time these days in Winnetka, Illinois, helping care for his first grandchildren—twins, a boy and a girl—born to his son and daughter-in-law, who are both Dartmouth grads. Our first double-double legacy among the grandchildren of ’76 perhaps? The class of ’97 paid tribute in its spring newsletter to the pioneering women of our class. Editor Rebecca Siegel Baron ’97 interviewed Sara Hoagland Hunter and Martha Johnson Beattie about their choice of Dartmouth in 1971-72, their College experience, their lives since, and what it all meant to them. It was a lovely tribute, through their experiences, to all the women of ’76. Please send news of you, yours, or ours, to steve@stevebellcommunications.com.

—Steve Bell, 15 Harbour Pointe, Buffalo, NY 14202; steve@stevebellcommunications.com