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News from the Women in Public Service Project

This past March, I told you about an exciting partnership with a critical goal. The Women in Public Service Project—a collaboration among the State Department, Wellesley, and four of our sister colleges: Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Smith—seeks to advance women in public service and government leadership around the world. Over the past few months, the collaboration has taken shape in a number of exciting ways, and I’m thrilled to share some major news:

–On December 15, the U.S. Department of State will present the inaugural Women in Public Service Colloquium. As the project’s first global event and launching pad for future programs, the colloquium will convene public officials and policy makers as well as alumnae and students representing each of the founding colleges. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver the keynote address.

–Wellesley will host the pilot Women in Public Service Summer Institute that will help train the next generation of the world’s women leaders. From June 11 through June 22, 2012, we will welcome to our campus promising women leaders from across the globe, including regions undergoing political and social transformation.

The project could not have come together at a more crucial moment in our history. Women hold only 17.5 percent of the world’s elected offices—and that percentage is even smaller in the U.S. In these complex times, we need strong and capable leadership that includes more women. And in our increasingly interdependent world, young women who will go on to lead must be given the opportunities and tools to build networks and engage with peers and mentors from near and far.

By sharing Wellesley’s extraordinary network, and by joining our resources with the State Department and the sister colleges, we can overcome the barriers that prevent more women from entering positions of public leadership, not only for the sake of women, but for the sake of the world. That’s why I’m so proud that Wellesley is playing a leading role in the Women in Public Service Project—it’s a natural extension of what we do: educating and empowering women who will make a difference.

I will join our students, faculty, and alumnae in representing Wellesley at the State Department in December—and I look forward to sharing the progress of this important endeavor with you.

Trick-or-Treat at the President’s House

I spent a delightful Sunday evening with hundreds of Wellesley students.  They came to the President’s House for Halloween, dressed in costumes of every imaginable type—I saw Cat in the Hat (along with Thing One and Thing Two), Princess Leia, characters from Harry Potter, a Starbucks logo, and even a group that came as a Scrabble game.   The inventiveness of Wellesley students never ceases to amaze me.

As for me, I greeted students dressed as Marie Curie, complete with glowing radioactive test tubes in my pockets.

The house was decorated with cobwebs, skeletons, spiders, flickering lights and many other creepy things, thanks to the help of the College Student Government leaders who not only conceived of the idea but assisted with the decorating.

There were cauldrons of candy, cisterns of hot apple cider, and hundreds of cupcakes.  Everyone had a great time!

Wellesley’s Davis-United World College Scholars

Last night, I was delighted to host at the President’s House a remarkable group of young women—Wellesley’s Davis-United World College Scholars. It was an informal event with no real agenda other than to welcome the new class of Scholars to Wellesley, and to enjoy one another’s company, something that often gets lost in our fast-paced world. It was fun to watch the older students reconnect and to watch the first years being drawn into the fold of what I think of as a sisterhood-within-a-sisterhood at Wellesley.

The Davis-UWC Scholars program provides need-based scholarship grants to students from around the globe, bringing some of the world’s brightest minds to select U.S. colleges and universities. As one of this program’s five founding institutions—along with Colby College, College of the Atlantic, Middlebury College, and Princeton University—Wellesley has educated more than 100 Scholars since 2001, in addition to the 42 students, hailing from 29 countries, who are on campus now.

Our UWC students—past and present—are natural leaders before they even step foot on campus. And at Wellesley, they shine. They add an invaluable dimension to the classroom and to our campus community.

As Nelson Mandela said, “The striking thing about UWC is that they embrace the entire world across all divides of race, history, culture, wealth, religion, economic status and political belief: they are unique and they are conscious of their responsibilities.”

Last spring, many of us on campus were pleased to meet with and thank the supporters of the Davis-UWC program, Shelby and Gale Davis. When Shelby spoke, it was clear to all that this program was something he felt passionate about. Shelby and Gale’s inspiration and philanthropy have made an enormous difference in the lives of a large number of young people all over the world.

Wellesley is fortunate to have so many talented young women with such diverse experiences on our campus. I was honored to spend an evening with some of them.

Nobel Women, Noble Women

I was delighted to learn yesterday that the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three women. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman serve as role models to us all for their leadership in promoting peace and gender equality in Africa and the Arab world.

Awarding the prize to not one but three women sends an important message to the world about the role of women leaders in achieving just, humane, and peaceful societies. It is an illustration of the message that we live by here at Wellesley: that women can and do make a difference in the world.

On Single-Sex Education

Last March, as part of the annual Wellesley Debates, two teams of students debated the merits of single-sex education. It was—and it remains—a timely topic, as a recent New York Times article again reminded us.

The Times article reported on a position paper—“The Psuedoscience of Single Sex Education,” which was published in the magazine Science—the gist of which is that K-12 single-sex education is futile and leads to further stereotyping.

From time to time, I am moved to respond publicly to such reports—especially those that are based on subjective views, rather than scientific data. My response, in the form of a letter to the editor, was printed in today’s New York Times.

Remembering

As Wayne and I walked back to the President’s House from the Chapel last night, each of us carrying a candle, I was struck by the ability of even two small candles to vanquish the darkness. Dispelling this darkness was a theme of the September 11 service that we had just attended in Houghton Chapel.

The service opened with a moving speech by Dean Victor Kazanjian, remembering a Wellesley alum he knew well—one of the many who perished that day. The service was simple and powerful. As I listened to readings and recitations by students—interspersed with selections by the Wellesley College Choir, the Backbay Ringers Handbell Choir, and the Carillon—I recalled, as one does, where I was on September 11, 2001, and all that has happened in the world since then.

I was especially moved by hearing from the many voices of Wellesley last night: the Jewish voice, the Christian voice, the Muslim voice, the Unitarian Universalist voice, the Buddhist voice, the Hindu voice. It is important that all of these voices are heard, and continue to be heard here on campus and in the world.

Then, as the Wellesley College Choir sang “Hope,” all of us in the audience picked up a small candle and formed a large circle inside the Chapel. We held onto those candles as we left.  Walking home, as I looked behind me, I took comfort in seeing the small points of light illuminating the darkness, dispersing all over campus.

Why Choose Wellesley?

I am always interested in the story behind why a student chooses to attend Wellesley. Does she choose Wellesley because of our stellar faculty? Our picturesque campus? Our network of amazing alumnae? Is it for a specific program or an opportunity she will have on– or off– campus?

Sometimes it’s all of the above.

Earlier this week, an incoming first-year student wrote a thoughtful piece in Ms. Magazine on this very topic.

I look forward to welcoming the entire Class of 2015 to Wellesley on Monday and to hearing all of their stories.

Summer Research

I always enjoy attending the annual student Summer Research Poster Session, which is the culmination—and celebration—of a summer’s worth of research in the sciences and social sciences at Wellesley. This event always generates so much excitement and energy, which is infectious!

On Thursday, I stopped by the Science Center Library and was impressed by the depth and breadth of research presented this year—from a computer science lab that investigated political speech and manipulation on Twitter, to a geosciences lab where a student looked at childhood lead poisoning from a socioeconomic perspective, to a sociology lab that studied the social constructs of bullying, and a chemistry lab working on developing a multipurpose nanoparticle to treat pancreatic cancer.

Most of our Summer Research students are Wellesley students, although some come from other colleges. There is also a group of high school students who spent the summer doing research with their Wellesley mentors.

The scholars I spoke to on Thursday were grateful for the opportunity to spend a summer doing research—to test out a hypothesis that they formed in a class this past year, to get a head start on their upcoming senior thesis, or to determine if a particular field or discipline is really for them.  They are all most appreciative of the opportunity to work directly with faculty researchers in an active professional endeavor.  One student expressed it this way to me:  In a classroom, you feel like a student, but in this summer research program, you feel like a collaborator—you are one.

I was pleased to encounter a number of students who have no intention of majoring or working in a science field. One good example of this is a history major who worked in a chemistry lab this summer on a complex project. Faculty encourage all of our students to try their hand at real research.

The number of students participating in Summer Research at Wellesley has increased tremendously over time. The program has become increasingly competitive, as student interest exceeds capacity. Such opportunities are important for students, and we need to make sure these experiences continue to be available.

I am particularly pleased with the increased interest because I know this program is exactly the right program to help fill the science pipeline for the world and the right kind of program to overcome the stereotypical biases that convince so many capable young women that they can not do science.  All of them leave this program knowing that they can.

Wellesley Faculty: Number 1

We just learned that The Princeton Review has ranked Wellesley College No. 1 in the country for having the best faculty. This is fantastic news! Certainly, our faculty are most deserving of this recognition, which is based on a survey of 122,000 college students around the country. (Earlier today, The TODAY Show aired a segment highlighting this news.)

Generations of Wellesley women have benefitted from the teaching and scholarship of our stellar faculty. You have only to look at the news headlines to see how fabulous our faculty are.

But that’s only half of the story. Time and again, when I speak with alumnae around the world, they share with me an important Wellesley memory that so often involves a relationship or experience that they had with a faculty member.

Congratulations to our Wellesley faculty.

A Wellesley Welcome

In about a month, we will welcome our incoming class of 2015 to campus. We already know quite a bit about them—where they are from, what their interests are, why they want to come to Wellesley.  We are looking forward to meeting them in person in August.

In the meantime, the Wellesley community has been sending this incoming class a fabulous Wellesley welcome.  I thought you might enjoy seeing what a number of our students, faculty, and staff have been saying to this new yellow class.