Women of Achievement 2012

Meet the Honorees!

Stephanie Barnes  • Frances "Bitsie Clark  • Claire Criscuolo  • Tricia Lin

Stephanie R. Barnes has committed her life to service to the community and the empowerment of underrepresented youth and families.  Ms. Barnes is currently is the Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven (BGCNH) and has over 14 years experience in non-profit administration, fund development, health and human services, and community relations.  Joining BGCNH in 2008, Ms. Barnes is charged with leading a transformation of the organization. In her time with the organization, the Club has demonstrated success in increasing positive outcomes for youth, increasing club membership and expanding to include a new satellite site. 

Ms. Barnes’ prior experience includes work with the City of New Haven as Project Director for the Youth @Work Partnership, during which time she provided strategic direction for the program and coordinated fundraising campaigns to increase program funding by over 50% and facilitated the placement of over 1000 youth into summer and academic year internships.  She has also worked with United Way of America, the City of New Haven Health Department, and AIDS Interfaith Network.  

Ms. Barnes received a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of New Haven and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Hampton University.

Ms. Barnes serves on various boards and is involved with many community service groups. She is the 1st Vice President of the CT Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs and Secretary of the Tau Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. She is also a recipient of the New Haven Business Times “40 Under 40” Award.

Stephanie’s most important job and proudest achievement is being a mom to her 4-year old son, Ellis.

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Frances “Bitsie” Clark is the Executive Director of East Rock Village, a nonprofit organization that helps people remain in their own homes as they get older. On December 31, 2011 she completed her fourth term on the City of New Haven’s Board of Aldermen representing Ward 7, which covers much of downtown New Haven. For 19 years she was the Executive Director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven until she retired in 2002.

Since her retirement, she has worked part time as an arts and community development consultant with such clients as The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, New Britain Museum of American Art, The Waterbury Arts and Cultural Collaborative, and the cities of Meriden and Willimantic. She currently serves on the Boards of CAPA/ Shubert Theater, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and the Creative Arts Workshop.

She came to New Haven in 1956 and worked for the local Council of Girl Scouts for 10 years, training volunteer Girl Scout Leaders and directing camp. Upon her retirement from the Girl Scout staff, she was elected to the Council Board of Directors and between 1978 and 1982 served as President of the Connecticut Trails Council.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Vassar College, holds an Honorary Degree of Dr. of Humane Letters from Albertus Magnus College, and is an Associate Fellow of Branford College at Yale University. She has two children and five grandchildren under the age of 11.  

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Claire Criscuolo cofounded Claire’s Corner Copia, a New Haven, Connecticut, landmark vegetarian restaurant, in 1975 with her husband, Frank Criscuolo. Located at 1000 Chapel Street near the New Haven Green and Yale University, the vegetarian restaurant is hailed as one of the best in the state and the region, serving organic, sustainable vegetarian food.

In 2004, they opened Basta Trattoria, featuring organic and sustainable Italian foods. Ardent supporters of organic and sustainable farming, they proudly buy and serve as much locally grown organic produce and products as possible. In 2007, Claire and Frank began growing organic arugula and heirloom tomatoes for their restaurants from their home gardens, Giardino del Mare, as part of The Growing Connection exhibition garden, after helping to bring this U.N. FAO program to two New Haven schools.

Philanthropy and community support is a big part of the ongoing mission at both restaurants, and the success of both restaurants has allowed the Criscuolos to collect and donate many thousands of dollars to charities that include: Aids Project New Haven, Clifford Beers Clinic, Domestic Violence Services, Haitian Relief, The New Haven Diaper Bank, St. Jude’s, NOFA, Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, and the Connecticut Food Bank.

A certified culinary professional, Claire is also a registered nurse and the author of three cookbooks, including Claire’s Corner Copia Cookbook, Claire’s Italian Feast, and Claire’s Classic American Vegetarian Cooking. She has been featured in Vegetarian Life, Vegetarian Times, and Bon Appetit, as well as the Food Network and numerous other TV and radio stations across America.

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As a 17th-generation daughter of Taiwan, Yi-Chun Tricia Lin was expected to follow a life pattern prescribed for her, her mother, her grandmother, and her foremothers: to live a life of obeisance and submission to the Confucian patriarchal order. In the Confucian order, women and girls are at best ancillary to men: as daughters, wives, and mothers.  Far from what she was expected to be, she lives a full life in submission to none but peace and justice. 

While she once escaped to graduate school from teaching, today she’s found her calling in teaching for the liberation of the mind, hers included. Her decade of teaching at Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York (1994-2004) showed her some of the finest moments in this teaching life: teaching and learning go hand-in-hand and grow together.

She is Director and Professor of the Women’s Studies Program at Southern Connecticut State University. In that position since August 2004, she continues her work for gender, racial, socio-economic, and other forms of justice. She has worked with communities throughout the state and nation. . These include the African American Women’s Summit; the Coalition of Women’s Studies in Connecticut and Rhode Island, a collective she co-established in 2004; the Connecticut Health Equity Leadership Council; New Haven League of Women Voters; and Veteran Feminists of America, Connecticut. She has served as a member of the Girls of the Greater New Haven Community Foundation since 2006; a member of the Consulting Scholars of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame since 2005 and as a trustee on the Board since 2006.  Nationally, she was President of Women’s Caucus for Modern Languages, 2005-2005; Vice President of National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), 2006-2010; and co-chair of the NWSA Gloria Anzaldúa Book Prize Committee since 2010.  She was a recipient of the Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa O’Peqtaw Metaehmoh-Flying Eagle Woman Peace, Justice, and Sovereignty Award in 2011.

Lin holds a B.A. in English and American Literature, from National Taiwan Normal University; an M.A. in Western Languages and Literatures, from Tamkang University, Taiwan; and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, from State University of New York, Stony Brook.

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