Scripps College President Lori Bettison-Varga on Tuesday will lead a community celebration of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ ’93 continued recovery by lauding the national release of the congresswoman’s memoir, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.
At Tuesday’s public event, Bettison-Varga will read a personal letter from Giffords’ husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Scripps alumnae will share stories and remembrances of Giffords.
In January, Scripps students joined alumnae and community members for a campus Candlelight Circle of Hope service following a rampant shooting at an Arizona congressional event that left six dead and that injured Rep. Giffords.
Following the tragedy in Tucson, Scripps College President Lori Bettison-Varga said: “Gabrielle is a role model, not just for our students, but for all women and for all Americans. She did not shy away from her calling to be a leader. With grace and determination, she has become an outstanding and courageous public servant. Gabrielle Giffords’ career shows that she is fiercely independent — framing her positions on issues thoughtfully and humanely, and, in the words of our founder, Ellen Browning Scripps, ‘with confidence, courage and hope.'”
The 2009 Scripps Commencement speaker, Giffords is the College’s first graduate elected to a national office. In 2006, the Democratic congresswoman won the seat to represent Arizona’s 8th district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She became the first woman to represent Arizona in Congress in more than a decade. As a Fulbright Scholar at Scripps, Giffords spent a year in Chihuahua, Mexico, researching Old Colony Mennonites.
The mission of Scripps College is to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently, and the ability to live confidently, courageously, and hopefully.
The Southern California event will begin at 10:30 a.m. PST at Holden Court, Malott Commons, on the Scripps campus in Claremont, Calif. A mariachi band is scheduled to perform.
Pictures of Gabrielle Giffords
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Fact Sheet
- 1993 graduate of Scripps College
- Major: Latin American Studies/sociology (double major)
- Thesis Title: Wish Books and Felt-Tipped Fantasies: The Sociology of Old Colony Mennonite Drawings
- Dean’s List: fall 1989, spring 1991, fall 1991
- Esterly Award: spring 1992
The awards are granted to students who combine the qualities of good scholarship, effective service in student activities, and responsible citizenship who also “present worthwhile educational projects to be conducted during the summer for which they do not have readily available funds.” - Slocum Award: spring 1992
The Slocum Awards are given each year to the seniors who have assembled the best personal libraries during their four years at Scripps College. - Fulbright award recipient 1993-1994, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to study fertility, fecundity, mortality, morbidity, and migration rates among Old Colony Mennonites. Giffords collected, analyzed, and mapped demographic data for Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups among colonies in Northern Mexico.
- 2004 recipient of the Outstanding Recent Alumna award from Scripps College
- 2007 Scripps Magazine article “Woman on the Move” excerpt: Eli Winkelman ’07 helped Giffords set up her office in Washington, D.C., during winter break. When asked about her impression of the congresswoman, Eli said, “Gabrielle is thoughtful, hardworking, and concerned with how the decisions she’ll make in Washington will affect people in her district, in our country, and the world.”
- 2009 Scripps College commencement speaker. Excerpt from her 2009 speech:
“The safety of the world depends on your saying ‘no’ to inhumane ideas. Standing up for one’s own integrity makes you no friends. It is costly. Yet defiance of the mob, in the service of that which is right, is one of the highest expressions of courage I know.”
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