P. Trams Hollingsworth to Recieve 2001 Washington College Alumni Service Award

Chestertown, MD, February 6, 2002 — The Washington College Alumni Association is proud to honor P. Trams Hollingsworth '75 M '95 as recipient of the 2001 Alumni Service Award. She will receive the award Friday, February 15, 2002, during the Alumni Service Award Dinner held at Washington College.

"Each year, as part of the College's week of Washington's Birthday celebrations, our Alumni Association recognizes an individual whose outstanding and continued support enriches the experience of our undergraduates and inspires our alumni," said Susan Stobbart Shapiro '91, president of the Washington College Alumni Council. "We consider Trams to be an exceptional alumni role model, and, with this award, honor her selfless example of alumni stewardship."

A 1975 graduate of Washington College, Trams worked as a travel agent and as a nightclub manager on the Caribbean island of Montserrat before making Chestertown her permanent home. She joined the Washington College staff in 1986 as a special events coordinator and one year later was named director of alumni affairs. Trams devoted the next fourteen years to the care and nurturing of the alumni body, employing a creative, energetic approach that endeared her to everyone. She reorganized the Alumni Council to operate more effectively, cultivated relationships with prominent alumni, and breathed new life into alumni programming. Among the popular outreach programs she devised were the Life After Liberal Arts series, the Birthday Toast Around the World, Wild About WC Zoo Tours and WC Odyssey Faculty-Guided Tours of Museums and Other Cool Places. In a daring mission in New York City in 1998, Trams and her associate Kristina Tatusko Henry '88 appeared on the Today Show, plugging Washington College to Matt Lauer as the home of the Division III national lacrosse champions.

Trams also raised the standards for Reunions, introducing thematic programming, dinner and dancing under the stars, and fireworks. She also worked to establish new alumni chapters and to engage chapters more fully in the mission of the college. She was instrumental in establishing the Kent and Queen Anne's Chapter Flea Market to provide scholarship support for local students.

A former English major, Trams is also a gifted writer. Her story about her experiences as an adoptive mother first appeared in the "Washington Post Magazine" and was later reprinted in the "Washington College Magazine." She briefly considered fulfilling a book contract before turning her attentions back to Washington College. Trams earned her master's degree in psychology from Washington College in 1995.