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By Craig Newmark*

The culture of the internet, at its best, involves people working together to make life better. Sometimes called cooperative capitalism or social entrepreneurship, it is practiced every day by millions of individuals and a small but growing number of for-profit companies. For years, Robin Chase, a co-founder of Zipcar, has run such a business, in which people share a community-based pool of vehicles. Customers use Zipcar, which rents cars by the day or hour (when public transportation won't quite do the job) and makes smart use of technology like GPS to connect people with autos and trucks that are parked near them.

Trinity Washington University Class of 1970

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Trinity graduate and former governor of Kansas Kathleen Gilligan Sebelius '70 was confirmed today by the full U.S. Senate to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Just hours later, she was sworn into office by President Barack Obama in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House, and officially joined his Cabinet on the eve of his 100th day in office. Secretary Sebelius was nominated to the position on March 2; her confirmation hearing was held by the Senate Finance Committee on April 2.

By A. FRANCESCA JENKINS
April 20, 2009
During the next four years, 20 promising students of biology at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., will garner support from a $574,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that is funding a BioScholars program, the first of its kind at the college. The financial support will benefit primarily Latinas and African-Americans, a group largely under-represented in the sciences.

by Tom Edwards
April 27, 2009
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that workers with a bachelor’s degree earned about $26,000 more on average than workers with a high school diploma, according to new figures that outline 2008 educational trends and achievement levels.

By Christa Desrets
April 13, 2009

On most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between classes at Sweet Briar College, sophomore Sam Britell searches the bike racks for bubble-gum pink. It’s one of the school’s colors. And also the shade of 20 bicycles the college introduced this semester as part of a commitment to environmentally sustainable practices.

April 4, 2009

Now in its third year, our 20s program highlights young professionals making their marks in the region. Crain's had nearly 300 nominees and spent the past several months evaluating them to come up with the final list.

Of the seven women in Crain’s Detroit Business 20 in their 20s, two are graduates of women’s colleges: Kate Baker is a graduate of Smith College and Kelli Coleman is a graduate of Spelman College.

Three Women’s College Students Among Fellows
March, 2009
The Thomas J. Watson Foundation has announced its 2009-2010 Watson Fellowship awardees. The mission of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program is to offer college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.

Three Women’s College Students Among Scholars
March 26, 2009
Madeleine K. Albright, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, announced that 60 students from 55 US colleges and universities have been selected as 2009 Truman Scholars. They were elected by seventeen independent selection panels on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability, and likelihood of “making a difference.”

By Amy Brantley
March 23, 2009

March is National Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating by sharing a lady we admire each weekday.

A photographer's unsettling look at girls' culture
By Mark Feeney, Globe Staff | March 22, 2009
NORTHAMPTON - There were 1,600 people in my college freshman class, so it took a lot to stand out. One woman did. Among all those well-fed young faces, she looked as though she could have been her own grandmother: face drawn, skin wizened, fingers as bony as claws. Her appearance seemed strange, of course; but being your basic 18-year-old guy - meaning, a dolt - I thought nothing further of it. When she returned next fall, moon-faced and pudgy, even I understood. She had been anorexic.

By Dina Habib Powell
Special to CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As we mark International Women's Month in March, it is encouraging to see that the movement to recognize the vital role that women play in families, nations and economies has been building for more than a decade and that developments in the past few years have shown that real progress has begun to take hold.

Students at Seven Women’s Colleges Receive Funding
March 16, 2009
Kathryn Wasserman Davis Projects for Peace has announced the grassroots projects it will fund and that college students will implement during the summer of 2009.

2008 was a spectacular year for women in politics. But the sober reality is that the race has just begun.
By Vanessa Gezari » March 15, 2009
Barack Obama's election is a dramatic reminder that a nation can transcend its past, and perhaps even its expectations for the present. But for women, the highest executive offices -- president and vice president -- still lie out of reach.

Magazine

by Lisa Belkin » March 11, 2009

President Obama has just signed an executive order establishing the “White House Council on Women and Girls.” The purpose of the new group “is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy,” he said at the signing. “Our progress in these areas is an important measure of whether we are truly fulfilling the promise of our democracy for all our people.” He defined those areas as economic security, a balance between work and family, violence against women and women’s health.

March 11, 2009

An all-female cadet corps and support for students who are mothers show women's colleges' new appeal
By Jessica Calefati

March 11, 2009

By Jessica Calefati

Gloria Steinem, Martha Stewart, and Hillary Clinton share educational background ...

Three Women's College Alumnae Among Honorees
March, 2009
Launched in March 1999, The Network Journal's 25 Influential Black Women in Business Awards honors women whose professional achievements have significantly impacted an industry or profession, and who also have made an important contribution to their community.

ON THIS DAY
On March 4, 1933, the start of President Roosevelt's first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins.

It is for whom Frances Perkins that Mount Holyoke College’s specially designed program for women of non-traditional age (i.e., over the age of 24) who wish to complete the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree, is named. From Mount Holyoke’s website:

Grimmer Than Ever
By Laura Fitzpatrick, March 04, 2009
Smith College's career office sent its jittery job-hunting seniors a letter last month with a reassuring message: "There ARE jobs, and you can find employment." Unfortunately, there are far fewer jobs than anticipated, according to a report out today from the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE).

March 4, 2009
By YIGAL SCHLEIFER
ISTANBUL — On a recent cold, gray Sunday, two Turkish premier league soccer teams enthusiastically ran onto the field of a small stadium on the outskirts of Istanbul.

March 3, 2009
Posted by Republican teen editor
Documentary photographer Lauren Greenfield, whose exhibits "Thin" and "Girl Culture" are on view at the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, will speak in the college's Wright Hall from 5 to 6:15 p.m. on March 6, 2009.

by Anna Quindlen*, March 2, 2009
Mary Todd may have been the first to see greatness in her husband. But once he was a legend, history saw only the worst in her.
As a Catholic schoolgirl I supplemented the obligatory "Lives of the Saints" with the biographies of famous women, searching for the possibility of a future that did not include an apron.

Georgian Court University Staffer Helps Inspire the Leaders of Tomorrow
by Gwen Moran for Garden State Woman
Karen Souffrant’s presence on the Georgian Court University campus has a touch of déjà vu. Newly promoted to assistant dean of student development, Souffrant first traveled the walkways of the idyllic women’s university campus in Lakewood, over 10 years ago when she was an undergraduate.

By MARY ANN COOPER
Today’s Hispanic women in higher education and in the workplace have a similar set of challenges as they strive to overcome economic and social barriers to get an education and excel in the professional work force. But the baby boomer generation could be what boosts Latinas into management and executive positions as well as leadership positions in higher education.

By A. FRANCESCA JENKINS
The Hispanic Outlook interviewed representatives from each of the five sisters to see what each institution is doing regarding minority and particularly Latina recruitment and support.