Bertha Chang, SB ’88, PhD ’95
Raleigh, NC
While Chang has faithfully contributed to her class gift ever since graduation, she saw her first gift to the MIT Libraries as a way to benefit an even larger portion of the MIT community: “I can see the impact an academic library has on its entire campus —the students, faculty, and staff.”
Chang, who frequented the Music Library and the Barker stacks as a student, now has unique insight into the Libraries’ “behind-the-scenes” impact in her role as research librarian for Engineering at North Carolina State University: “By providing access to journals, books, and other materials that are vital to research, teaching, and learning, the Libraries contribute to all of the great discoveries and innovation you see coming out of MIT.”
Sze-Wen Kuo, SB ’73
Bedford, MA
Connecting MIT to its past is clearly important to Kuo, a retired software engineer and active volunteer who has served as president of the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), class officer, and coach for the Community Catalyst Leadership Program. The mathematics major, who spent time in the Music Library as a student, now enjoys the Maihaugen Gallery exhibits, especially “Tell Her to Go To It”: Women’s Experiences at MIT and The Great Stride: MIT Moves to Cambridge.
She sees keeping MIT history alive as a crucial part of the Libraries’ mission. “Our amazing Special Collections contains insightful information about our MIT past in rare books, research, and oral histories, especially of the women in the Margaret MacVicar Memorial AMITA Oral History Project,” she says. Equally important for this first-time donor is looking ahead: “We need to incorporate the past, present, and future forms of information in print, digital, and any new forms of data.”
Shastri Sandy, SB ’01, SM ’02, and Heather Moulaison Sandy
Cambridge, MA
Shastri Sandy’s first MIT job was opening and closing the Lindgren Library, the former home of the earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences collections. “Everyone there treated me like family,” says the associate at the Brattle Group. Today, librarianship really does run in the family for Sandy—his wife, Heather, teaches information science to master’s students.
“It was personally important for us to support the MIT Libraries, especially since they are showing such a leadership role among libraries in general. I’m proud to say that some of the best new innovations in librarianship come from the MIT Libraries.”
When he wasn’t working or staring out Hayden’s floor-to-ceiling windows, Sandy found the MIT Libraries an ideal place to study and to have group meetings. Now that he’s an alumnus, it offers a lasting connection to the Institute: “Libraries events provide an entertaining and informative way of learning about new research and helping me feel as though I am still part of the MIT community.”
