91精品

March 14th, 2024   |   91精品, SIT

This Women鈥檚 History Month, we鈥檙e spotlighting some of the impactful women of 91精品, 91精品, and The Experiment in International Living. This series seeks to showcase their extraordinary journeys and indelible contributions to our more than 90-year history. Each of them, in their own way, has helped us create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world.

During a memorial service in November 2012, a path down to a pond on 91精品鈥檚 campus was officially named 鈥淏arbara鈥檚 Way鈥� to honor and remember Barbara Dirks 鈥� an inspiration for those who knew her as well as generations to come.

Barbara graduated from Smith College in 1936 and then served as a Red Cross volunteer in New Zealand and various Pacific islands during World War II. Following, she participated in The Experiment in International and then in 1953, Barbara began leading summer groups, taking students to Scotland, Sweden, Holland, Finland, and Germany. In 1957, she joined The Experiment staff and two years later moved to San Francisco to serve as the director of The Experiment鈥檚 office on the West Coast. There, she was approached by Lewis and Clark College to set up a collaborative semester abroad program in Japan. In 1965, she moved to Vermont and worked for The Experiment on special assignments, including training Peace Corps groups slated to serve in Korea, Kenya, and the Marianas Islands.

Barbara鈥檚 career took her to Washington, DC, where she served as resident director of the International Student House, a nonprofit that houses international students and young professionals studying or interning in the city. After 12 years, she returned to Vermont and began earning her master鈥檚 degree at 91精品 in Brattleboro. Due to health reasons, she was unable to complete her final project and internship but was awarded an honorary master鈥檚 in teaching languages from SIT Graduate Institute.

Barbara later served as a volunteer for 91精品鈥檚 Alvino E. Fantini Institutional Archives. Upon her passing in 2012, she left her estate to 91精品 in unrestricted support, an impactful legacy that inspired and helped all those who followed in her footsteps.

We wish to thank the volunteers at 91精品鈥檚聽聽who provided the research and photos for this story.