Meet some of Stephens' Amazing Women...

Nominate your own amazing woman

"I was looking for a change ... An awakening."

Sara Jane Johnson '56

She hadn’t been camping since she was a little girl in Riverside, California, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the 42-year-old, newly divorced mother of three signed up to trek through the mountains with a 40-lb. pack for 30 days with a group of total strangers. But this tiny, quiet woman has no shortage of what most people call courage.

Studying a tribe of Northwest coast Native Americans, while in a boat off the coast of Queen Charlotte’s Island, a terrible storm began to rage and the boat sank. Huddled in lifeboats in the pounding rain,
they waited hours for rescue. In spite of it all, the very next year she was back. She has spent her life fearlessly advocating for the enivornment, for affordable housing and for education.

Sara Jane Johnson, Class of 1956, compassionate, brave, and just one of the amazing women
of Stephens College.

“I’ve always been curious about how democracy transitions into different places, how it is
adopted and interpreted, and whether or not it can truly be promoted as a human right.”

Catherine Withrow ’05

9 weeks ago, Catherine was welcoming internationally known eco-journalist Simran Sethi to Stephens.
9 months ago, she was defending her thesis while living in Buenos Aires.
1 year ago, she was deep in the heart of the Amazon, swimming with pink river dolphins, traveling
by boat and trying to grasp the wisdom and generosity of the people of the rain forest.
1 1/2 years ago, she was in New York, working at the US Mission to the United Nations, attending meetings and events with Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton and negotiating resolutions on economic development and globalization.
3 1/2 years ago … she was just beginning her senior year at Stephens.

Cat Withrow, Class of 2005, just one of the amazing women of Stephens College.

In case you’re curious, 3 months from now, she will be in Ghana, working with the Asanti youth in a democracy and human rights campaign in a part of the world where both are crucial to a better future. Then she will return to Stephens in the fall to teach liberal arts and Spanish.