Credit Where Credit Is Due

Diane Chamberlin Starcher '54 left Colby with a degree in biology and although her career has not dealt with the study of life, she has sought ways to improve human lives ever since. Starcher, who earned a certificate from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program of Business Administration in 1955 and a master's degree from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1994, currently is conducting research on how small loans (also called micro-credits) given to women entrepreneurs without collateral or credit histories can close the gap between the wealthy and poor.
"Most of the [world's] five hundred million poor, self-employed people are women," she said. "In Africa, eighty percent of the food is grown by women. A micro-credit to help women bring food to market can fuel economic development as well as improve the quality of their lives. They have a very low default rate and generally reinvest whatever profits they realize in their business enterprises and their families."
At a United Nations conference on social development last year in Copenhagen, Starcher spoke about fostering women entrepreneurs through micro-credit lending. In February she will join thousands of participants at the Micro-Credit Summit in Washington, D.C. The summit's goals are to bring micro-credits to 100 million poor people by the year 2005 and encourage commercial lenders to offer more small loans to fledgling entrepreneurs and the self-employed.
One motive for improving social and economic conditions stems from Starcher's Baha'i faith, which she says emphasizes self-realization, world unity and world peace. She and her husband, George, became acquainted with Baha'i in the late '50s when his service in U.S. Army Finance Corps took them to Orleans, France. While raising two sons, Loren and Bruce, Starcher has held several administrative positions in Baha'i, including secretary-general to organize the 1976 international Baha'i conference in Paris. She and George currently live in Chambery, France, where she leads Baha'i classes for adolescents and is active in the European Baha'i Business Forum, a non-governmental organization that gives micro-credit loans to the needy.
"If we limit our goals to materialism, we will have the same societal and economic problems we have today," she said. "By serving others and the community we become more spiritually developed."
Starcher maintains regular correspondence with former Colby roommate Barbara Esterbrooks Mailey '53 and visits her whenever she's stateside. Oral exams and finishing her master's thesis prevented Starcher from attending a 40th class reunion in 1994, but she says she's hopeful about making the 45th in 1999.
Starcher, who fondly remembers afternoon tea with her first-year biology professor and spaghetti picnic suppers with music students at the home of Professor Peter Ré, has only one regret about her course work at Colby. "Had I known I would live in French-speaking countries, I probably would have made even more effort in my classes in French language and civilization," she said.