BOSTON ― The 108-year-old Harvard Club of Boston has elected its first female president, and she says her election is the beginning of many changes for the alumni group.
Karen Van Winkle was elected Monday. She tells The Boston Globe her priority during her three-year term is to make the club more welcoming to women and families. That includes upgrading the women’s locker room, designing kid-friendly programs and maybe even offering child care.
About three-quarters of the club’s roughly 5,000 members are men, yet half the university’s students are women.
The 58-year-old Van Winkle also wants to offer membership to more non-Harvard alumni. The club accepts anyone with a Harvard degree and offers associate memberships to graduates of some other colleges.
Annual dues for the club are as high as $2,700.
