Women of UMass Amherst Forge a Connection to the Campus

Who are the Women of UMass Amherst? They are alumnae, faculty and staff members, and other friends of the campus who feel connected to UMass Amherst for a host of reasons as individual as they are. For one alumna, it’s the memory of a professor buying her a winter coat when she couldn’t afford one. For another woman, it’s the friends she made in her freshman dorm—and still e-mails regularly. There are women who were the first in their families to go to college and those who came to campus following in their parents’ footsteps. Many of them share the belief that their UMass Amherst education made them who they are today.

One of the Women of UMass Amherst is Vira Sisolak ‘67, a senior economist at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C. She joined the economics department’s alumni advisory board about 10 years ago because there were only a few women involved, and too few women going into economics, “although it’s a great field for women.”

“We all remember how hard it was when we were students,” says Sisolak of the board, “and we know how much it would have meant to us if an adult had reached out.” So Sisolak does reach out, mentoring UMass Amherst economics majors in a variety of ways, even offering them a place to stay when they come to D.C. to look into professional opportunities.

Sisolak has also hosted an event for a Women of UMass group in her home. “It’s an entrancing, really fun group,” she says, “who believe that giving back is really, really important.” By way of giving back, Sisolak recently made a significant contribution to the Economics Alumni Scholarship Fund. She hopes “it will help those students who are very tight on cash,” especially those “with that extra bit of talent.”

“Between us, my husband and I have four or five schools in our background,” Sisolak says. “I believe, and my husband believes too, that UMass is training the kind of student we need for the future, and it’s the only school we give significant amounts to. Columbia? It doesn’t need our money. But we do whatever we can do for UMass Amherst.”

Join with other women, and men, of UMass Amherst who understand the value of giving back.