Past Events

Bring on the New Year with New Food. For our January Supper Club, bring a new recipe or try a new food.

Holly Heap '64 will moderate our February discussion on Monkey: A Folk Tale

For all our classmates from the 40s and 50s, join us for our book discussion on Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.

Join us for virtual supper club. Our theme is apples, apples everywhere!

Our discussion this month will focus on Part II of Homer's The Odyssey and Daniel Mendelsohn's An Odyssey: A Father, a Son and an Epic.

Join the Supper Club for a socially-distanced in-person dinner at the home of Sarah Longley '04.

August's Supper Club theme is Food During Travel.

Join us to discuss Mama's Last Hug, by Frans de Waal.

July's Supper Club theme is Campfire Dinner for July 8, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

On May 2nd the Chicago Wellesley Club will host our flagship spring event - CWC Celebrates (and Annual Meeting)! using a virtual format.

Join us for Korean bibimbop and burgers! RSVP to supperclub@chicagowellesleyclub.org.

For March, we're taking a restaurant recommendation from a Supper Club regular and heading to a BYOB restaurant for Korean bibimbop and burgers.

Note - we've switched the March and April books. Becoming, by Michelle Obama will be our April book now.

Naomi Roth '85 hosts a special walk-through of the art studio of her late mother and local Chicago artist, Judith Roth. Commentary by Professor David Sokol of UIC will also be featured.

We are one of 80+ alumnae clubs around the world with the mission to connect alumnae to each other and the college.

Celebrate your love for your fellow Wellesley ladies and enjoy brunch at Little Goat Diner! 

For February, we'll be braving the cold temperatures and warming up with pho and other amazing Vietnamese cuisine. 

Classes of 40s and 50s, we hope you'll join us to discuss American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee. 

Please join us for the last Thursday night Supper Club as we move to Wednesdays in the new year.

CWC Book Club: In the Midst of Winter, by Isabel Allende

CWC Book Club: Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark T. Sullivan

Cookies, Recipes, Books, Singing and Fun!

As the holidays approach, we are headed to a more casual (less expensive), hole-in-the-wall restaurant with awesome food.

From the best-selling author of The English Patient, a new novel that tells a dramatic story set in the decade after World War II through the lives of a small group of unexpected characters and two teenagers whose lives are shaped by their unwitting involvement.

The Chicago Wellesley Club is proud to support its own Scholarship Fund.

Come for dinner at Las Palmas for November's Supper Club.

A novel about middle-class values, illegal immigration, xenophobia, and environmental destruction.

The Chicago Wellesley Club is excited to welcome acclaimed Professor Raymond Starr to the club's annual meeting and luncheon!

The Chicago Wellesley Club is excited to welcome Michael P. Jeffries to the club's annual meeting and luncheon!

The 12th annual CHA Operation Warm event will take place at the UIC Forum and over 3,000 CHA families from nearly every Chicago neighborhood are expected to attend this one-day four-hour event.

Wildlife scientist Delia Owens has crafted a beautiful and intriguing story that is a celebration of nature, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a murder mystery. 

Join us as at Chicago Q for September's Supper Club.

We are having dinner at 7:30 pm and then (free) Drag Queen Bingo at 9:00 pm.

Exclusive Expo Chicago Events hosted by Wellesley College Friends of Art  With the Davis Museum's Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director

After our summer hiatus we will meet to discuss The Lowland, by Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri.

Please join alumnae in the Western Suburbs for a visit to the Morton Arboretum.

Join us as we sample delicious Thai street food at Immm Rice & Beyond. 

Wellesley alum, Jennifer Tennican '88, brings her documentary film "Hearts of Glass" to Chicago. Join us for the screening (68min) and a short Q&A session. After the show, we'll walk to a great Thai restaurant with whoever wants to join us for dinner.

Join us for an opening weekend showing of "The Kitchen" and lunch at Nando's Peri Peri afterwards.

Classes of 40s and 50s, we hope you'll save the date and join us to discuss Madame Fourcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson.

For July, we're taking a restaurant recommendation from a CWC alum and will be heading north for Turkish fare.

Bring a picnic and join us for an eclectic evening of music in downtown Chicago. 

Burrata so good that it is life-changing? Amazing pizza? Yes, please! We are going back to a neighborhood classic for some authentic Neapolitan-style pizza.

Private Tour of Modern By Design: Chicago Streamlines America

The amazing Helen Marshall '77 will be hosting a Tiki party at her home's fully decked-out lounge/art installation/museum space, aka The Trade Winds Lounge.

Exclusively for adults 21+, Adler After Dark offers you open access, unlimited shows, and unique entertainment at Adler Planetarium. 

Classes of 40s and 50s, we hope you'll save the date and join us to discuss Educated by Tara Westover.

We're watching the matinee and going out for drinks afterwards! Based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, "Love, Loss and What I Wore" by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron is a play of monologues and ensemble pieces that cover all the important subjects - mothers, prom dresses, mothers, buying first bras, mothers, hating purses and why women wear only black.

CWC Book Club: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger & Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild

We secured a reservation for 10 people at Rick Bayless's spectacular flagship restaurant, Frontera Grill.

In this fascinating novel, Susan Vreeland brings to life a woman once lost in the shadows.

Please join us for an afternoon at Second City with Ali Barthwell '10. Barthwell is a writer, performer, and teacher.

Friends of Art members are invited to tour Dimensions of Citizenship: Architecture & Belonging from the Body to the Cosmos.

The first Friday of every month, the historic Flat Iron Arts Building opens its studios from 6pm -10pm, allowing visitors to explore two floors of art displayed in over three dozen resident artists' studios and living spaces.

May's Supper Club is going to be a little schmancier, so we're going casual for April!

Some of the best lowbrow artists in the Midwest converge at Hala Kahiki to display/sell their handmade creations.

We're watching the film "Fighting with My Family" and having lunch afterward at Nando's Peri Peri just next door. 

Ali Barthwell is in the directing program at Second City and their final project is a sketch revue. The show is called "It's Not You, It's Us."

This month, the Chicago Wellesley Club will be going for Indian, a cuisine we haven't hit yet for Supper Club!

From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, this is another New York Times bestselling novel about two unforgettable American women.

Join us to discuss Jessica Shattuck's powerful and empathetic novel about rebuilding lives and community after World War II. 

Class of 40s and 50s, we hope you'll save the date and join us for our book group on An Odyssey: a Father, a Son, and an Epic, by Daniel Mendelsohn.

Happy Galentine's Day! Join us for an awesome brunch and celebrate your love for your fellow Wellesley women!

Logan Square's Fat Rice gets rave reviews! It is part of the growing 'fusion' trend and offers creative, globally inspired Macanese-style food (a blend of southern Chinese and Portuguese cuisines).

Volunteers play an essential part in the Greater Chicago Food Depository's mission to end hunger in our community. 

The New Year brings many new restaurants to try! In January we head to Virtue Restaurant for its highly acclaimed Southern American cuisine. 

We are going to the movies! We'll see "Vice", the new movie about Dick Cheney.

Private Studio Visits with Iris Bernblum and Nelly Agassi, and a visit to Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery

Cookies, Books, Singing and Fun!

For December, we are heading to Kurah Mediterranean for falafel and shawarma.

A New York Times bestseller, The Song of Achilles is Miller's debut novel that has been described as thrilling, profoundly moving, and an utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War.

This exhibition reexamines the Chicago-based design firm's innovative work for corporations like Motorola, Kimberly-Clark, and 7-Up in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and its national impact.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood.

Chicago Wellesley Friends of Art at the Davis invites you to join us for an Art Design Chicago exhibition Chicago Calling: Art Against the Flow

We enjoyed our dinner at Yassa Africa so much we are trying another Senegalese restaurant!

Class of 40s and 50s, please join us for our book group on Mothering Sunday, by Graham Swift, Booker prize-winning British author.

Our next outing is to the lovely Cantigny Park where we will tour the Robert R. McCormick house and learn about his impact on politics, media, industry, and philanthropy.

We begin at 11:00AM with a private tour of the Smart Museum of Art's feature exhibition, The Time is Now, Art Worlds of Chicago's South SIde 1960-1980.

Come join us for potluck dinner, bonfire and s'mores to close out the summer! 

Nothing says fall like biting into a crisp, flavorful apple you've picked yourself!

Please join us for this Fall's Alumna Spotlight. Dr. Melinda Ponder '66 will speak about Katharine Lee Bates, Class of 1880.

Join other Wellesley alums as we toast to the end of an amazing summer at the J. Parker rooftop bar located in the Hotel Lincoln!

We resume after a summer hiatus to discuss our vacation book and to choose books for the upcoming year. Isabel Wilkerson is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author.

Fermilab is America's particle physics and accelerator laboratory. Did you know it also has a large restored prairie, a herd of bison, a science center, an art gallery and beautiful architecture?

Please join us for a private tour with curator Ionit Behar. This exhibition presents work by nine accomplished artists, participants in Spertus Institute's first Chicago Jewish Artists Fellowship. 

We haven't hit Greektown yet with our Supper Club and figured it was high time to do so!

We are meeting at 11:00 a.m. at one end of the 606 to start our ride.

Bring a picnic and join us for an evening of music from your favorite films!

We will tour two exhibits at the Elmhurst Art Museum.

We will be holding the July Supper Club at Latinicity.

The Chicago Wellesley Club Admissions team invites you to a morning of tea, sweets, and conversation. 

Brunch at Little Goat

Please join us for a private tour of renovated areas of the WAC, with Lead Architect Joan Craig, followed by cocktails and conversation!

Spring Community Service Event at Cradles to Crayons

This month we are celebrating the start of summer with some Chicago BBQ!

The first time had to be repeated.. we are heading back to the Moth in Chicago once again!

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

April 2, 2016 was a special day when the Chicago Wellesley Club welcomed more than 200 alumnae and guests to The Wellesley Effect-Chicago Style celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the club, founded in 1891.

We are heading back to the South side for May! We will be trying out a well-reviewed restaurant (previously featured on "Check, Please!") that serves Senegalese fare, including traditional stews and whole fish. 

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

"RBG" is the revelatory documentary exploring the exceptional life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has become a pop culture icon. 

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Jane Addams, Spirit in Action

Experience the Western Suburbs and enjoy the flavors of Southern Italy

In April, we are doing fun tapas! 

A great opportunity for students admitted to the Class of 2022 to meet each other and Wellesley alumnae.

Judith Thomson Thomas '74 will share the story of the Garfield Produce Company of which she is general counsel and a co-founder.

Featuring Michael P. Jeffries, Associate Professor of American Studies

In March, we are trying new cuisine for the Club - Kurdish!

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue

Donna Seaman, the author of Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists, will give an exhibition tour focusing on Gertrude Abercrombie’s biography.

In February, Supper Club is at Spacca Napoli  Come join us for good pizza and life-changing burrata!

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh

Break out your colorful attire to enjoy an afternoon in Helen's suburban basement Tiki escape!

Class of 40s and 50s, please join us for a book discussion on Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance, a former Marine and Yale Law School graduate.

For January's supper club, we're headed to Pho Lily!

See Without Seeing and Know Without Knowing is an installation of ethereal paintings that considers that we, as living beings, are energy bodies made up of small, moving particles, which exist without edges or boundaries.

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Come join for an hour of indoor axe-throwing.

The plan is to get a big Air BNB house, and spend the weekend together - brunches, daytime activities individually or as a group, and dinners together. 

Join FOA for a private tour with Edward Keegan, ARCHITECT journal contributing editor. 

For those who haven't been to Zoolights at the Lincoln Park Zoo, this is your chance to enjoy the lights with the Chicago Wellesley Club!

  Our December supper club is heading for old school Italian at Franco's Ristorante!

This year's event features a mix of traditional and new activities. Come join the fun!

Our November supper club restaurant is Yuki Hana!

Train View presents a new body of work made during weekly 2-hour Amtrak commute between Chicago and Bloomington/Normal, IL from 2014 to 2016. The photographs record the beauty of the Midwest landscape in changing seasons and weather, and the ways in which the land is used, developed and inhabited.

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: A Gentleman from Moscow by Amor Towles

Tiki Road Trip

JOIN US FOR THE FALL PROSPECTIVE STUDENT GATHERING!

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Burr by Gore Vidal

Founded in 2013 in the lively game community of Chicago, Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery seeks to increase cultural appreciation, education and critique of video games and new media.

For October's Supper Club, we are dining at Carnivale. 

Class of 40s and 50s, come join us for a book discussion, led by Nancy Phair '55, on Citizens of London, by Lynne Olson.

Enhance your professional relationship skills in the company of other members of the strongest alumnae network in the world.

Come join us for potluck dinner, bonfire and s'mores to close out the summer! 

For September's Supper Club, we are heading out for some delicious Cuban food at Havana.  

Please join us for a curated tour at EXPO CHICAGO, the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art.  This event is open for all members of the Chicago Wellesley Club.

No one should go hungry. The Greater Chicago Food Depository is Cook County’s local food bank.

 This is an exclusive event for Friends of Art Members at Expo Chicago.  Members will be treated to a special tour of the      Aronson Collection!  

Every year, Volunteers of America Illinois holds Operation Backpack - an annual drive that takes place from June to the beginning of August.

August's CWC Supper Club will be at Sun Wah.

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Bring a picnic and join us for an evening of Broadway romance music at the 2017 Grant Park Music Festival on Friday, July 21.

"Dirty Dancing" - Movies in the Parks at Grant Park

Known as one of the world’s most provocative artists, Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957) creates work that boldly confronts contemporary political and social issues, both in China and abroad.

The Chicago Wellesley Club is thrilled to welcome President Paula Johnson as our guest and speaker at the club's annual meeting and luncheon!

The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park offers 29 master works of sculpture for public viewing situated within 100+ acres of prairie landscape on the campus of Governors State University.

Bring a picnic and join us for opening night of the 2017 Grant Park Music Festival on Wednesday, June 14. 

Pamela Robertson Wojcik is Professor in the Department of Film, TV and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame and President Elect of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. She will discuss her new book Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in Film and Fiction.

Chicago Wellesley Supper Club at Lowcountry - a Cajun style seafood boil!

Chicago Wellesley Book Club - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, by Joshua Hammer

Wellesley College Friends of Art invites you to a guided tour and viewing of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition:

Merce Cunningham: Common Time

We’ll start with brunch at Inspiration Kitchens: “At Inspiration Kitchens we’ve always believed in using food as a vehicle to change lives...

Lila by Marilynne Robinson, led by Nancy Phair '55

This year's event promises to be a stand-out as we conclude our year-long celebration of the club's 125th anniversary!

Come see the exhibition featured in this month’s ArtForum as the Critic’s Pick for Chicago

Please join the Chicago Wellesley Club for a discussion of The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Join Becca Schlossberg, exhibition manager in the Department of Photography, for an overview of the special exhibition, Moholy-Nagy: Future Present.

Regardless of political affiliation, this is a historic election - with a Wellesley alum running as the first female candidate for President of the United States!  

Hear about the fascinating science of environmental psychology and learn how you can use design elements such as color, shapes, texture and more to create an environment that helps you feel and do your best.

Hey ladies -- it's that time again! We're heading to Owen & Engine, a British-themed gastro pub.

Please join the Chicago Wellesley Club for a discussion of Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

Please join Friends of Art for an exhibition tour at the DePaul Museum of Art

It's going to be fall soon, and apple picking is *such* a fun way to ring in the fall season!

Dues-paid members will be invited as guests at a docent-led tour, followed by high tea at Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University in suburban University Park. 

Please join the Friends of Art at EXPO CHICAGO, THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION OF CONTEMPORARY & MODERN ART at Navy Pier.

Come join us for a day of giving back to the community, helping the Greater Chicago Food Depository sort, bag, and whatever else they need help with to serve our Chicago Community!

Kate Sama’s ’03 husband opened this brewery about six weeks ago. So what better way to further break it in than a crowd of Wellesley beer enthusiasts!

40 & 50s DECADES BOOK GROUP

It’s the first Clinton/Trump debate — there’s no way to not watch this go down!

Sunday, August 21, 3 p.m. gates open; 5 p.m. concert start;

This Gold Coast bar boasts creative cocktails and tasty crostini bites.

Celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the Chicago Wellesley Club 1891 - 2016

Enjoy the gorgeous weather and drink specials.

Explore the gas giant’s planet-wide storm systems, intense magnetic fields, and family of unique moons with hands-on programs.

Please join your fellow alums for Wellesley After Work at Easy Bar.

Escape to a tropic paradise in a suburban Evanston basement.

Please join Chicago Wellesley Friends of Art for a tour of the Burnt Generation: Contemporary Iranian Photography exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College led by Karen Irvine, curator and associate director of the MoCP.

Come rock out with an urban bonfire night! Sarah will be hosting a party in her courtyard, with the goal of really starting summer off with a bang.

Join Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra for Opening Night, featuring Andrew von Oeyen and Fabio Bidini in Poulenc’s jazzy Concerto for Two Pianos, followed by Mussorgsky’s popular orchestral showcase.

Join the Chicago Wellesley Book Club discussion of The 6th Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Featuring Marc J. Tetel, Wellesley College associate professor of neuroscience

From Decision Making to Deal Making:  How  Do Hormones Influence Our Brains and Behavior?  

The Wellesley College Friends of Art Chicago Invites you to join us for a tour of the Edlis/Neeson collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Join Chicago Wellesley Club's '40s and '50s Decades Book Club discussion of "An Officer and a Spy"
by Robert Harris

Join the Chicago Wellesley Book Club discussion of Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Chicago Wellesley Book Club: Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson

Day to Make a Difference in September was so successful that the Club has scheduled another one at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

On Jan. 9, 2016, join the Chicago Wellesley Book Club discussion of the book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr from 10 a.m. to noon in Wilmette.

Join the Chicago Wellesley Book Club discussion of the book The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg in Evanston from 10 a.m. to noon.

We'll be visiting Sun Wah BBQ to try their famous Beijing Duck Feast!

Join the Chicago Wellesley Book Club discussion of the book An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris.

At Ravinia Park, Highland park

Join us at the Greater Chicago Food Depository on September 12th for Wellesley's Annual Day of Service. 

The Achievement Awards, which have been presented annually since 1970, are the highest honor given to Wellesley alumnae.