By Haley Costen
Staff Writer

President Drinan recently announced that Simmons will be joining two other women’s colleges, Mount Holyoke and Smith, to co-host a two-week-long institute for mid-career women in leadership positions across the globe.

The program, “Reconstructing Societies in the Wake of Conflict: Transitional Justice and Economic Development,” is in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and will be held May 25 to June 6, with consecutive sessions at all three college campuses.

The Institute is also part of the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) founded in 2011 by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State.

According to Provost Katie Conboy, the program will begin at Mount Holyoke, continue at Simmons, and end at Smith, with about four days spent at each college.

“We’re really just facilitators to bring the women together with experts. We want to pool people from the right places to get the curriculum to move forward in a logical way,” Conboy said. “The main goal will be facilitating rather than teaching.”

“The Mt. Holyoke, Simmons , Smith Women in Public Service Project 2014 Institute received over 600 applications from mid-career women in the public sector from all over the world,” Lynda Connolly, director of pre-law advising, said in an email interview.

According to Connolly, 52 were accepted, including applicants from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, and Colombia.

Conboy said that the Simmons portion of the program will have an emphasis on management. “We have a liberal arts core, but also the School of Management.”

Professor Mary Shapiro, the academic leader of the Simmons programming, said in an email interview that Simmons’ unique emphasis on women’s leadership and “real-world” experience will play a role in the program.

“Our faculty bring that real-world experience into their classrooms, and have done so over many years of working with women executives in our SOM Executive Education programs. This means Simmons can offer to WPSP participants’ skills, ideas, and strategies, which have been tested and used effectively, for implementing real change in their own countries,” Shapiro said in an email interview.

The location of the college is also unique and beneficial.

Conboy and Connolly both confirmed that the female leaders in the Institute will have a session at the Massachusetts State House with elected women from the Legislative and Executive branches and women leaders from the Judicial branch.

Conboy also mentioned that there may be some high-profile speakers.

According to Shapiro, the Simmons’ curriculum will be finalized in the next month after they have identified how to integrate across the other two campuses. Then they’ll be asking faculty, across the full Simmons’ campus, to be involved. There will be many opportunities for faculty, as presenters, co-presenters, and facilitators of regional group discussions.

Potential student involvement with the program is to be determined.

“We are exploring opportunities in how to engage Simmons’ undergrads and grads,” Shapiro said through email. “We would love to see our students exposed to these accomplished women from around the globe.”
The Institute is Simmons’ fifth program through the U.S. Department of State and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

“Simmons has made a name for itself for women in leadership and we are demonstrating that not only to our students, but to the world,” Conboy said.