Alumnae of the University of Rhode Island have accomplished great things, and the Women in Leadership lecture series aims to showcase their achievements.
Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement Sarah Bordeleau believes it’s about time these women’s accomplishments are given the attention they deserve. As women are seldom shown in high-ranking positions in male-dominated industries such as those in STEM or finance, Bordeleau hopes this series can showcase these alumnae’s impact on their respective fields.
“The idea is to showcase [the] amazing talent and leaders that we have among our alumnae and really help both alumni and students gain insight in the world, especially women, as they look to advance their careers,” Bordeleau said.
The first lecture in the series was on Oct. 9 with Margo Cook, chair of the URI Board of Trustees, and hosted by Nikki Noya, an alumna of the Harrington School. Bordeleau said that this was well-received by the community.
Bordeleau hopes the University can set a standard for other universities and inspire them to hold their own series to showcase their own alumnae’s accomplishments.
Amy Sullivan, chair of the URI Women’s Leadership Council, said this increased visibility could lead to an increased interest by women in the fields of math and science that women may not have typically gravitated towards. As a woman in the business industry, Sullivan said it would have been nice to have more mentorship from other women when going through school. She also said that in this field she noticed that women weren’t as willing to lend a hand to other women as men were to help other men in the industry.
“One of the things I’d like to see is women helping women,” Sullivan said, “and that’s part of our scholarship [called] ‘Women Transforming Women’ because of that. We have the ability to help each other up, and we just ended to tap into that more”
The Women Transforming Women Endowed Scholarship is endowed by the Women’s Leadership Council to create visibility for successful women leaders at the University. Women leaders on-campus at URI can be nominated for the scholarship. These women are then selected and invited to a dinner where they introduce themselves and detail what they are involved in on campus. Sullivan said the leadership and diversity among these women is inspiring to hear.
“It makes me very hopeful towards where we’re headed, both as a campus and as a country,” Sullivan said.
With the opportunity to host a virtual lecture series brought to the forefront of community activities during the pandemic, Bordeleau said this has allowed programming to be easier and more cost-effective without the overhead of an in-person event. The opportunity for audience interaction from home was another positive aspect of the new Zoom-formatted events at the University.
“We can reach a much broader audience, and we are very excited about where this is headed and perhaps continuing it as we move forward in a non-COVID-type environment,” said Sullivan.
Bordeleau also said the virtual format attracted more speakers.
“I do think that it is enticing to speakers to do these things from the comfort of their own homes, not have to get on a plane and travel; there’s certainly that element that’s attractive for them,” Bordeleau said.
The lectures are held at lunchtime so that people can tune in at their leisure. Throughout the academic year, Bordeleau said that the community may see three to five more lecture installments in the series.
“I hope it changes how people perceive some of these male-dominated industries and know that there are women that are rising to the occasion and taking on these major leadership roles,” said Bordeleau, “and this series is designed to bring that to light.”
The second installment of the series will be held on Oct. 21 at 12 p.m. with Dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography Paula Bontempi hosted by The Good Five-Cent Cigar’s Editor-in-Chief Theresa Brown.