The Naperville Sun
January 12, 2010
By Katie Foutz

LISLE -- A $250,000 federal grant will provide full or partial scholarships for at least 10 women to complete Benedictine University's new Master of Science in Leadership program.

U.S. Rep Judy Biggert, R-Hinsdale, visited the university Monday to announce she had secured the education funding as part of the 2010 omnibus appropriations bill signed by the president last month.

The new master's degree program is aimed at promoting women's leadership in business. An accelerated evening and weekend program, meeting at the university's Moser Center in Naperville, will provide women with the instruction and resources needed to launch, maintain or grow a small business.

It's an opportunity for women from areas where many kids don't go to college, Biggert said.

"I'm confident we'll have a lot of strong women coming aboard," she said.

Classes focus on mentoring and networking, financial management, ethical leadership, gender awareness, community service, conflict resolution and more. Cohorts of no more than 20 students will start and finish the program together.

Karen Chung, who served on the women's advisory council that helped to develop the initiative, said she is envious of the program's future students.

"This has taken me 20 years to learn ... and will give these women an advantage," she said.

The gender-specific bent was Benedictine President William Carroll's idea. He asked Tanesha D.H. Pittman, executive director of Benedictine's adult programs, to write a proposal for a women's college. Pittman looked at women's studies programs at Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke colleges, plus leadership programs at for-profit entities. She also led focus groups, surveys and the advisory council to find out what women needed to enter or re-enter the work force.

Melanie Griffin Pugh spent more than 17 years in communications and digital media but recently was laid off. She hopes to join the program to "re-invent" herself, she said.

"It's a tool that can help me personally and professionally in connecting with other women in the community," she said.

Pittman hopes to enroll enough students to start classes in the spring.