Ann Martha Chmielewski, class of 1959
Ann Martha Chmielewski was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1938, the daughter of Alice Elizabeth O'Connor '28, a social worker, and Alexander Chmielewski, who worked as Banking Commissioner for the State of Rhode Island. Her family moved from Providence to Cranston at age twelve, and Chmielewski graduated from Cranston High in 1955. She attended Pembroke College for two years as a commuter student before moving on campus.
The daughter of Alice Elizabeth O'Connor '28, Chmielewski begins her interview by relating childhood memories of accompanying her mother to Pembroke College reunions. She then describes her social and academic life as as a student herself, a city girl – a female day student who attended Pembroke but did not live on campus, who later lived on campus. The experiences she recalls include spending time at West House and the Gate as a commuter student, inviting her future husband, Jack Anderson '58, to the Pembroke Christmas Dance, her somewhat reluctant participation in the 1958 Miss Cranston Pageant, and developing an academic interest in Psychology.
Chmielewski also describes her life after college, including her decision to pursue social work, serving as an administrator at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, her decision earn a Ph.D. while raising two children, and her private psychotherapy practice. To conclude the interview, Chmielewski discusses how she has stayed connected to the University as an alumna and how academics at Brown had changed by the time her son, Brian Anderson '90, entered as a student.
Pembroke Hall, Brown University