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WILL Program:Women Involved in Learning and Leadership
Modeled on the highly successful program at the University of Richmond, The WILL Program at UMBC engages students, faculty, and student affairs staff in a learning community that promotes academic excellence, leadership development, career exploration, and civic engagement for women. While major changes have occurred in women's social and economic roles in the last thirty years, women still lag behind men in their rates of participation and their achievement levels in historically male-dominated careers such as business. Moreover, young women often confront complex and contradictory messages from society, family, and friends about how to respond to changing gender roles. The WILL program offers students confronting such pressures with a valuable knowledge base about gender roles and practical leadership and career skills that will improve their academic and professional accomplishments.
Our Goals
- To encourage critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and active learning opportunities which empower women as leaders, professionals, and engaged citizens during and after college
- To promote the self-esteem and self-confidence of its members
- To provide opportunities in and out of the classroom for women to explore career and life choices
- To promote support networks for women students in fields where they have historically been under-represented
- To foster a deeper understanding of women's diverse roles and contributions to society
- To increase awareness of obstacles women have faced and are facing, and to foster individual and collective strategies to address these issues
- To cultivate skills for living and working with people of diverse backgrounds and opinion.
WILL achieves these goals through three components. 1) an academic curriculum of courses focused on women's diverse roles, contributions, and challenges, which results in a Gender and Women's Studies minor; 2) a co-curricular program of lectures, workshops, films, and cultural events that integrate classroom learning with out-of-the classroom activities; and 3) a student-led organization that plays a central role in the management of WILL and that participates in the shared governance of the university. Together these components provide the basis for students, primarily but not exclusively women, to engage actively in UMBC.s intellectual and community life, to gain valuable leadership skills, to make informed career choices, and to develop their core values, especially as they are shaped by the challenges and opportunities of a multicultural society.
For:
Information on the WILL Program: Dr. Jodi Kelber-Kaye, 410-455-6371.
Application for the WILL Program: Application Form
