"I think [the exhibition] will absolutely blow everyone away when they see what the history of women in this area is," Knowles says. "You feel like someone in the Renaissance: you're uncovering a new area of study that has always been there but has always been somewhat hidden."

In the Radcliffe of the future, the Institute's educational programs, including its popular seminar series, could take new research conducted at Radcliffe directly to the public.

"I like the way Tamar March [dean of educational programs] talks about the educational programs as the 'aftershock' of work at the Institute," Dunn says. "She means that the people at the Radcliffe Seminars should use the research that's being done to derive an agenda or a curriculum."

A symposium Dunn is planning for late April, titled "Gender and Inquiry," gives a sense of how a single theme might cut across a wide variety of disciplines.

The symposium--the first major conference to be hosted by the Institute--will include a keynote address and at least four panel discussions on topics as divergent as "justice," "aesthetics" and "the human organism."

Dunn envisions the conference as the first in a series of discussions and lectures that will bring together intellectuals from across the country at the Radcliffe Institute.

"That's the dream," Dunn says. "Work going on out there on the frontier, exciting ideas, buzz. Buzz everywhere."