2009
Alum Award Recipients
Left to right: Stephanie Mills '69; Leone La Duke Evans, MA '45; Angela Adams DeMoss, MA '99
Stephanie Mills ’69
Distinguished Achievement Award
Stephanie Mills’ valedictory address at the College’s 1969 Commencement, “The Future is a Cruel Hoax,” made national headlines and brought attention to the crises of overpopulation and environmental degradation. Since then she has helped define the environmental movement’s avant-garde through her teaching and writing—including the books On Gandhi’s Path, Tough Little Beauties, and Epicurean Simplicity. She was featured in Earth Days, a 2009 documentary film about the origins of modern environmental activism. Mills—a self-described bioregionalist who emphasizes the importance of harmonizing with the natural systems of the locations where we live—exhorted the campus community to meet the ecological and societal challenges of our time by instituting "conscious cultural change."
Leone La Duke Evans, MA ’45
Outstanding Volunteer Award
Leone La Duke Evans studied music history at Mills, where she interacted with such luminaries as Darius and Madeleine Milhaud and Dave Brubeck. Evans headed the Mills Music Training School until 1964. She has been an energetic fundraiser for Mills College and the AAMC; served as Alumna Trustee on the College’s board; held all offices of the Oakland-Berkeley Branch, Mills College Alumnae Association; and was president of the AAMC Board of Governors, of which she is now an honorary lifetime member.
Angela Adams DeMoss, MA ’99
Recent Graduate Award
Angela Adams DeMoss, an English instructor at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, California, is president of Los Angeles Mills College Alumnae. She has shown tremendous leadership in organizing events to engage the branch membership, collaborating with Orange County Mills College Alumnae, and planning activities that reach out to recent graduates. DeMoss described her time at Mills as "a renaissance." She said, "Joining the Los Angeles branch gave me an instant network of friends and supporters."