Wilhelmina Arleen Leigh (A&S 1970), a native of Washington, DC, became a Cornell University freshman in the fall semester of 1966. In freshman year writing courses, she wrote primarily about her experiences at Cornell as a “Negro” student. In the seminar courses taken when a sophomore, she explored issues of race historically. In her junior year, she wrote book reviews and served as corresponding secretary for the student-staffed journal WATU – Journal of Black Poetry/Arts. She also wrote letters (that were published) to the editors of both The Cornell Daily Sun and Internat (a magazine launched in 1968 by Cornell’s international students). Although Wilhelmina intended to major in English when she enrolled in Cornell, by the end of her sophomore year she had decided to major in economics instead. She completed the requirements for an A.B., with distinction in all subjects, in January 1970. In May 1970, she was inducted into Cornell’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (Theta of New York). Wilhelmina Leigh later earned a PhD degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University (1978). During her career as an economist, she conducted research about and policy analyses of the longstanding race and gender differences in the United States within the areas of housing, health, and wealth.