Harvard-Radcliffe Women's Leadership Project
The Harvard-Radcliffe Women's Leadership Project organizes a six-day conference each year aimed at inspiring and helping undergraduate women to develop their skills and strengths as leaders. For twenty years the Conference has brought female Harvard-Radcliffe students together with successful women in academics, business, media, government, public service, health, science, and the arts. These interactive forums facilitate a dialogue that spans generations and serves to inform young women of the joys and challenges that may lie ahead. The Project also intends to provide conference participants with the opportunity to create networks and relationships to support their ambitions for the future.
Today the Project is a powerful symbol of women's achievement on the Harvard College campus. It has spawned a mentoring network for first-year women, a campus magazine devoted to gender issues, and a weekly email compilation of news, events, and fellowships as a service to nearly 1,000 undergraduate women and faculty. For the 35 participants selected to attend the Conference each year, it creates both enduring friendships and a network of peers, administrators, faculty, and local and national leaders committed to the advancement of women. This network is maintained throughout the school year through special events, panels, and receptions. Nearly all of the participants say that the Conference was one of their most amazing experiences at Harvard College and that it left them with a firmer grasp of both the scope and nature of their own leadership.
History
The Harvard-Radcliffe Women's Leadership Project was founded in 1988 by former undergraduates Amy Zegart and Meredith Lazo. Noting the absence of women in top-level positions in extra-curricular organizations and the unequal participation of women in class discussions, the founders were concerned AbOUT the scarcity of female leadership at Harvard-Radcliffe college. The Project's founders responded by organizing the first Women's Leadership Conference in the hope that such an investment would eventually increase women's involvement in public life.
Believing that lasting change required institutional support as well as student initiative, the Project's founders approached three cornerstone institutions of Harvard University for sponsorship of their endeavor: Harvard College, because of its focus on undergraduate education; Radcliffe College, because of its dedication to the advancement of women; and the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, because of its commitment to involve undergraduates in leadership in the public sphere. Currently, the Harvard-Radcliffe Women's Leadership Project is funded by the Ann-Radcliffe Trust
Harvard Women's Achievement Award
The Harvard Women's Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership affecting women in his or her professional field and has used this leadership position to benefit his or her community.
Panels
Each year, the conference includes panel discussions on: Learning to Lead, Pursuing Your Passions, Breaking the Glass Ceiling, and Defining Success.
Leadership Team
Supriya Balsekar, Co-Chair
Neha Chauhan, Co-Chair
Allison Frost
Liz Stahl
Aditi Mallick
Mackenzie Smith
Sloan Strike