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July 18, 2011
By Aileen Cho

Smith Engineering Professor and Author of Engineering and Social Justice Featured in Story About the Construction Industry
Where a New Inclusiveness Is Changing the Face of the Construction Industry

The idea of workplace diversity is nothing new, but its progress in the engineering and construction world is, well, diverse. Some firms take a minimal approach, adhering to federal rules regarding minority and disadvantaged businesses or anti-discrimination laws. Others cite diversity and inclusion as a core value and business imperative.

July 12, 2011

Former First Lady Betty Ford asked Cokie Roberts, ABC News political commentator and NPR analyst, some five years ago to be one of the speakers at her funeral. Today in Palm Dessert, California, Roberts delivered the eulogy below for Ford, who passed away Friday at age 93. Former President Gerald Ford, a Republican, was House minority leader when Roberts' father, Democratic congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana, was majority leader. They had known each other since Ford's election to Congress in 1948. Boggs died in a plane crash in 1972 and Roberts' mother, Lindy Boggs, now 95, took his seat in Congress after a special election.

July 6, 2011
By Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, Pew Hispanic Center

The sluggish recovery from the Great Recession has been better for men than for women. From the end of the recession in June 2009 through May 2011, men gained 768,000 jobs and lowered their unemployment rate by 1.1 percentage points to 9.5%.1 Women, by contrast, lost 218,000 jobs during the same period, and their unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5%, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Click Here to read the words of wisdom given at women’s college commencements

Sheryl Sandberg
Chief operating officer, Facebook
Barnard College

From the New York Times
June 11, 2011
For Life’s Next Stage, Gallows Humor and Sage Advice By LISA W. FODERARO

They spoke of courage in an uncertain economy, warned against technology overload and tried to redefine success for a new generation. They railed against fear, conformity, stasis and self-involvement. And they asked row upon row of young men and women to do nothing less than save the world.

Harvard President – Drew Faust, Bryn Mawr ’68 – on the enduring fascination with the Civil War.
May, 2 2011
By Jennifer Howard

Washington

War is hell—and it's a helluva story. Throughout history, from Homer's time on through the Civil War and into the present-day war on terror, we've been powerfully drawn by war narratives.

Drew Gilpin Faust, the president of Harvard University and a prominent historian of the Civil War, made that bloody fascination the subject of her 2011 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, delivered here Monday night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Jefferson Lecture is the federal government's most prestigious award for intellectual accomplishment in the humanities.

April 24, 2011
By MaryAnn Baenninger
     President of the College of Saint Benedict

An April 11 Newsweek article "Dead Suit Walking"; focused on the problem of greater unemployment for men during the recent recession and men’s challenges adapting to the new economy.

This is the latest news report about the shifting challenges faced by men. People are still talking about a sensationally titled but well-researched article on a similar theme, "The End of Men,"; published in The Atlantic last summer.

Shuling Yong

April 17, 2011
By Libby Sander

More than two decades ago, the folks at Kartemquin Films spent several years following the lives of two young basketball players from Chicago. Their efforts resulted in Hoop Dreams, an acclaimed three-hour film now firmly lodged in the canon of sports documentaries.

Now Kartemquin, the nonprofit organization behind dozens of award-winning documentaries, is turning once again to an urban neighborhood for a film about sports and society. This time the focus is on the impact that Title IX, the federal law best known for swelling the nation's sports teams with women, has had on inner-city girls.

Leadership Without the Limelight
March 22, 2011
By Steve Kolowich

Women dominate higher education enrollments. But based on the most visible students on some campuses, you would never guess it.

At least that is the case at Princeton University, where female undergrads tend to eschew high-profile executive positions at the most prestigious student organizations in favor of less glamorous -- but often equally labor-intensive -- leadership roles, according to a new study by researchers at the university. And the sorts of behavior and attitudes that have given rise to this trend have led the authors of the study to suspect that this may not be just a Princeton phenomenon.

Bryn Mawr Professors of English Katherine Rowe and Jane Hedley, and students Jennifer Cook ’11 and Jen Rajchel ’11 featured in New York Times article about humanities courses that employ a new array of powerful digital tools and vast online archives.

March 21, 2011
Giving Literature Virtual Life By PATRICIA COHEN

BRYN MAWR, Pa. — Prof. Katherine Rowe’s blue-haired avatar was flying across a grassy landscape to a virtual three-dimensional re-creation of the Globe Theater, where some students from her introductory Shakespeare class at Bryn Mawr College had already gathered online. Their assignment was to create characters on the Web site Theatron3 and use them to block scenes from the gory revenge tragedy “Titus Andronicus,” to see how setting can heighten the drama.

Critical Perspective: Named Reactions Discovered and Developed by Women

March 18, 2011
By Julie A. Olson and Kevin M. Shea

Named organic reactions. As chemists, we’re all familiar with them: who can forget the Diels−Alder reaction? But how much do we know about the people behind the names? For example, can you identify a reaction named for a woman? How about a reaction discovered or developed by a woman but named for her male adviser? Our attempts to answer these simple questions started us on the journey that led to this Account.

Dr. Helene Gayle

By By: Rahim Kanani, Editor-in-Chief of World Affairs Commentary, Interviews Dr. Helene Gayle, Barnard College ‘76, President and CEO of CARE USA
Posted: March 7, 2011 04:51 PM
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rahim-kanani/helene-gayle-president-an_b_832020.html

In a recent in-depth interview with Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA, we discussed empowering women and girls around the world, the efforts and initiatives of CARE towards this end, non-profit leadership and management, the new digital CARE Package, innovations in development, her advice to President Obama on foreign aid, and future challenges and opportunities for the international development sector.

An expert on health, global development and humanitarian issues, Dr. Gayle spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control, working primarily on HIV/AIDS. She then worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, directing programs on HIV/AIDS and other global health issues. Dr. Gayle chairs the Obama Administration’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and serves on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

On March 6th, CARE released the "Top 10 Myths about Women" in partnership with Smith, MIT's Poverty Action Lab and The Girl Scout Leadership Research Institute. The brief is designed to celebrate accomplishments on this notable anniversary and raise public awareness about the challenges that girls and women face around the world today.

February 8, 2011
By aka Tito

Perseverance, dedication, grit, a desire to excel – these are all traits desired in a student aviator. Training in the aviation program for the maritime services is intentionally difficult to stress and push the students beyond their comfort zones so they can meet the hardships their service will entail. However, when that prospective pilot is slated to become a barrier breaker as well, those traits are not just desired, but necessary.

See also Los Angeles NBC page by clicking here

Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, Wellesley College ‘76

“I’m ready to now to follow the advice I’ve given to so many of the young women I mentor: I’m ready to now follow my passion.”
Wellesley College Alumna Named Next President of Mills College

January 20, 2011

Mills College recently announced the election of its 13th president, Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, an accomplished business leader and current chair of the Wellesley College Board of Trustees.

January 21, 2011
By REBECCA TRAISTER

In this tableau are embedded hints of other kinds of mythic female strength, rooted in collaboration, friendship and support.

These qualities should stand in no more definitively or essentially than the gun-toting profile to which women politicians have been encouraged to cling to for far too long. But the fact that it is now possible for three female congressional colleagues to cheer a fourth through a miraculous recuperative step demonstrates that it’s high time we expand our vision of how women might, and do, embody America’s spirit.

Also see: Among Women in Congress, a Bond of Friendship

January 13, 2011
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Among Women in Congress, a Bond of Friendship

WASHINGTON — Two arrived at Capitol Hill together, giddy and singled out as women to watch. Another congresswoman was a welcoming face who showed them the ropes in a place where there was not even a ladies’ room near the floor where they would vote.

January 11, 2011
By Lori Bettison-Varga

The entire nation is reeling with the devastating events in Tucson and the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords. While we do not yet know the full details of this tragedy, nor do we understand the true motivation that led to the killings, authorities indicate she was the clear target. We all struggle to understand how anyone could do something so heinous.

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University released a report that examines the differences between men and women's giving by charitable area. This report – Causes Women Support – is a follow-up to the October 2010 report Women Give 2010 – Women Give More Than Men – which reported differences in giving to charity between male and female single-headed households across income levels.

December, 2010
Causes Women Support: Are there differences in the causes men and women support?

December 20, 2010
A liberal arts education prepares you for a professional life

Smith College, a private, liberal arts college in Massachusetts, USA is the largest of the prestigious Seven Sisters. ‘The Sisters’, as they are now called, are women's colleges set up in between 1837 and 1889 to provide an equal opportunity to a liberal arts education to deserving women, since the Ivy League was single sex until the 1970s; Columbia University went co-educational as recently as 1983. Carol T Christ, the president of Smith College, talks about the benefits and dispels myths about the studying at a women's college. On a recent visit to India, as a part of an Asia tour across four countries, she spoke to FE's Nikhila Gill. Excerpts (see full stoty):

Parallels Between Findings of American Council on Education Survey and Women’s College Coalition Research About Satisfaction With Undergraduate Experience

The American Council of Education released findings of research regarding young-alumni satisfaction with their undergraduate experience that parallel the findings of research commissioned by the Women’s College Coalition. For more information, go to slides in the presentation made at NACAC, How to Get Your Girls to Consider Women's Colleges: Connecting the Dots…Finding the Right Fit, at womenscolleges.org/story/research. "Their higher education had been worth the time and money it took them" – slides 34, 35 and 40. "Prepare students for employment" and "Teaching students how to think critically" – slides 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62.

Women’s college journalists intern at start-up company featured in story in NYT.

Elana Altman ('11) and Hallie Santo ('12), both Wellesley College, and Mallory Smith ('10), Scripps College, have interned at HerCampus.com (Her Campus), an on-line magazine featured in a story about start-up companies.

December 11, 2010
By HANNAH SELIGSON
No Jobs? Young Graduates Make Their Own

Women’s College Coalition
Annual Meeting
November 16-17, 2010
At Trinity Washington University

You can access PowerPoint and recorded presentations in the body of this news item by clicking here

November 16, 2010
Dr. Peggy Drexler
THE Huffington Post, November 16, 2010 – Will Mean Politics Scare Off Good Women?

Veteran political reporter Sam Donaldson once said "Only the amateurs stay mad."

November 1, 2010
By Nicole Geary
In the world of women’s colleges: Professor travels around globe to explore role of female-only institutions

Step inside Kristen Renn’s office and it’s hard to miss the affinity for her undergraduate alma mater. There are posters and pendants from Mount Holyoke College on the wall and a calendar of campus photos near her desk.

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University released a report on philanthropic giving by gender and income

October, 2010
Women Give More Than Men