The start of a new semester, like the start of a new year, carries with it so much promise. What will we learn? Who will we meet? How will we, as individuals and as the Salem community, change the world? Perhaps most importantly, how will this semester of learning, growth, and engagement change each one of us?

This semester, though, feels different. How can we embrace a new start when so many of 2020’s troubles still loom large? For nearly a year, we have been living through a once-in-a-century global catastrophe. We have suffered tremendous losses and been alienated from our usual support networks at the very time when we need them most. Nonetheless, Salem staff and faculty remain dedicated to ensuring that our students continue to not only finish their studies but actually excel in doing so. More than ever, students’ work in and out of our virtual classes is preparing them to lead in addressing the myriad challenges that we face as a society.

We are living through a momentous period in history and it is my deep hope that this semester at Salem will help us all to forge greater connections and strengthen our sense of purpose and resiliency. In these troubled times, your ongoing support for Salem enables our students to thrive academically, enjoy the camaraderie of working with colleagues, and, through it all, recognize that we are truly not alone.

Daniel Prosterman

Interim Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs
Dean of the College

Ann Cramer, C’66, is featured in January 2021 issue of Georgia Trend magazine as a member of their Most Influential Georgians Hall of Fame. Just a few short minutes into a conversation with her and you understand why. She is smart, engaged, enthusiastic, kind, open, upbeat, and full of seemingly boundless energy.

Georgia Trend dubbed her the “Great Connector” for her ability to bring people together to work for the social good throughout her career at IBM where she championed corporate responsibility and through her extensive volunteer work. A major accomplishment includes heading the massive volunteer team for the 1996 Olympics, which were held in Atlanta. We hope you will take a moment to read the excellent article about her in Georgia Trend.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Cramer is a former Salem Academy and College Trustee and currently serves on the 250th Committee as co-chair of the Health Leadership Forum. She majored in math at Salem College. She cherished her time at Salem, saying it gave her confidence and taught her how to be a leader. She credits Salem College for also instilling strong values and the importance of integrity along with the power of community.

After Salem, Cramer had an impressive career at IBM, while also doing extensive volunteer work in her community, including many leadership roles. When she graduated from college, the path for most women at that time was teaching, nursing, or being a receptionist (or marriage). Those options did not quite fit her personality, and it was one of her beloved Salem math professors, Mr. Curlee, who suggested she work for IBM.

She went from not knowing how to spell IBM to working there as a systems engineer, a job she loved. She moved with the company to Atlanta in 1968, where she met her husband. After the birth of her first child, she took a 10-year hiatus from IBM. During those 10 years, she continued to be heavily involved in the community, including serving as president of the Junior League and volunteering at the United Way. It was at a United Way Board meeting that the head of IBM in Atlanta asked her to come back to work for IBM. She returned to IBM in 1989 and worked there until 2013 as the director of IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs for the Americas. In this position, she was a member of the senior management team and helped evolve IBM’s approach to corporate citizenship, strategic philanthropy, and overall social responsibility.

Not one to rest, Cramer is currently a senior consultant with Coxe Curry & Associates, where she helps nonprofit clients strengthen their capacity in the critical areas of board development, volunteer engagement, corporate relations, and fundraising. She also continues to volunteer her time and serves on numerous local nonprofit boards.

Salem Voices: A Conversation with Salem Alumnae posts on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 12:30 p.m. The most recent episode was released on January 19 and featured Beth Mabe Gianopulos, C’97. Beth is Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department and Associate Dean of Faculty Relations and Retention in the Office of Faculty Affairs at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where she has worked since 2006. Beth is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine and is an Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest School of Law. This episode and others are available on our website. 

The February 2 episode will feature Anne Nelson Stokley, C’77 who enjoyed a long career in pharmaceutical Research and Development at a global company. She started in clinical research of antibiotics and treatments for HIV disease and moved to Regulatory Affairs. She led a transformation initiative to combine the US, EU, and Emerging Markets Regulatory Affairs groups into a global function, and then did the same with regulatory governance across larger business units: Pharma, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare.

Join us to learn more about these amazing alumnae as they engage in conversations Lucy Rose, C’76, Vice Chair of the Salem Academy and College Board of Trustees and owner and president of Lucy Rose and Associates.

This is the first in a series of columns designed to highlight the history and traditions of Salem Academy and College as we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the institution in April 2022. Beginning this fall, Salem will spend the academic year in celebration, starting with a Kick-off Concert in September 2021.

The Road to the 250th is meant to recall the 500-mile journey of the 12 Older Girls and four Single Sisters who travelled from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to the Wachovia territory in North Carolina in 1766. These young Moravian women and girls were about the same age as Academy and College students today. Their journey was motivated by their faith and the call to service. In Moravian communities, everyone was called to serve. No one was supposed to be idle, so a basic education was considered to be essential for girls and boys alike. When Moravians formed new communities, meeting spaces for worship and classes were usually the first to be built.

The first students in April 1772, all under the age of 10, met under the supervision of Elisabeth Oesterlein (born in 1749) in the Gemeinhaus on the corner of Salem Square where Main Hall stands today. For nearly 250 years, girls and women have been educated in this very same spot. The buildings on the north east corner of the square today (Inspector’s House, Home Moravian Church, and Main Hall) appear almost unchanged from the photos taken in the mid-19th century. This is a testament to the importance of education in the Salem community. 

We can learn much from the first students and teachers of the girls school. These include teachers, such as Elizabeth Oesterlein, and students who returned to teach, such as Martha Miksch, who was the first in a long line of teachers who began their Salem careers as students.

Academy students in this year’s Jan Term class The Remarkable Women of Early Salem had the following to say: The girls and women of 1766 showed courage to act on their beliefs. They were bold enough to travel far from home to an unknown place and determined to make a new life in Wachovia in order to serve others according to their Moravian faith. Each year, we ask Salem students to emulate the girls and women of Salem’s past in their dedication to education and service to others.

Michelle Hopkins Lawrence
Co-chair, The Anna Maria Samuel Project: Race, Remembrance, and Reconciliation at Salem Academy and College
History Department Salem Academy