Oakland, CA - Beginning Wednesday, October 11, 2006, Mills College will present a series of three lectures on the College’s landscape heritage, supported by a grant from the Getty Foundation. Mills was recently selected by the Getty Foundation to receive a 2006 Campus Heritage grant. One of only 13 2006-Campus Heritage recipients nationwide, Mills is using the grant to fund the College’s landscape heritage master plan* documenting the campus from its 19th century origins to the present. The plan will include Mills’ cultural landscape, nationally prominent architecture, and continuing commitment to innovative women’s education.

The following three lectures are free and open to the public, and will take place from 5:30–7 pm in the Mills Bender Room, Carnegie Hall, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 94613.

Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz will present the first lecture in the series entitled “The Design of Mills College: A Campus Rooted in Hope,” on Wednesday, October 11, 2006. Lefkowitz Horowitz is the Sydenham Clark Parsons Professor of History at Smith College. She will discuss the buildings and landscape of Mills College in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She will also examine the distinctive features of the College’s evolving landscape heritage plan, and how they reflect the College’s future as well as women’s colleges nationwide.

The second lecture will feature author Phoebe Cutler discussing “Mills College and Oakland’s Golden Age of Horticulture, 1918–1950” on Wednesday, February 28, 2007.

Cutler writes and lectures on garden and landscape history. During this Golden era, the campus became a botanical testing ground with Howard McMinn, chair of the botany department, plotting the growth of 2,500 native trees representing 41 species. Cutler will also discuss the campus’ first landscape architect, Howard Gilkey. Mills was prominent in Oakland’s environment that included schools, parks, exhibitions, and the Woodminster Cascade in the Oakland Hills. The boom botanical years helped make Mills the oasis it is today.

Vonn Marie May will give the final lecture on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 entitled "Reading the Cultural Landscape of Mills College: Findings from the Getty Campus Heritage Grant Project." A cultural landscape specialist and prime consultant to the Mills College Landscape Heritage Plan, May will present the findings on campus development by significant architects, landscape architects, botanists, and campus planners whose influence helped shape Mills’ cultural landscape.

For further information about the Mills lectures, contact Carrie Milligan at 510.430.2125 or email her at cmilliga@mills.edu.

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Getty Research Institute. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu. Additional information is available at www.getty.edu.

*The Mills landscape heritage master plan includes a ‘deep read’ of the 135-acre campus to transcribe existing landscapes and features, their origins and designers, and develop a contextual chronology reflecting the distinct character of Mills. This initiative will guide the College in future planning and growth, while honoring its landscape heritage values that contribute to the adjacent community, the San Francisco Bay Area, and California.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges.

This year, the Washington Monthly College Rankings (September 2006) named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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