Of the many loyal alums who have stayed close to the University over the years, few rival Karen Gordon Mills '75.

From her earliest days growing up in Boston, Mills bled pure Crimson. Her father, former running back Mel J. Gordon '41, instilled the love of Harvard football into his daughter. "We went to every Harvard football game all through high school," she recalls.

Mills graduated from the College, went on to attend Harvard Business School and, after a hiatus from Harvard to pursue her business career, was a Radcliffe trustee from 1985 to 1993. She was elected to the Board of Overseers in 1999.

But Mills says a lot has changed at Harvard since she first arrived on campus.

When Mills came to Harvard in the fall of 1971, the integration of women into College life was just beginning. There was only one woman for every four men at the College; Mills says that ratio was even more skewed in her concentration--economics.

"There were very few women," she says, "but at the time, I didn't feel a difference. It was almost seamlessly integrated. Even though it wasn't perfect, there was a big initial flush of optimism when co-ed housing started to work. Unfortunately, Harvard had a longer way to go than we realized at the time."

The main problem, she says, was that there were few faculty members to whom she could relate. "There were no role models for women," she says. Struggling with her first concentration, government, Mills says she was fortunate to find a teacher who changed her life.

One day, Mills, who lived in Dunster House, ran into Elizabeth Allison, her introductory economics section leader who was also affiliated with the House, in the dining hall.