Why WILS was Created

The Women In Leadership Series was founded by six undergraduate women who recognized that there was a severe shortage of women in leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, there are few available institutional forums for women to meet and to address leadership roles traditionally dominated by men. We hope to create an environment for students to discuss women in leadership. Learning from other women's experiences will provide the opportunity to have an ongoing discussion about this issue.

We believe that it is only through the interaction between influential and successful female leaders from a variety of fields that we can motivate more women to strive for positions of leadership both on campus and in the workplace. We hope to create an on-going forum where women can serve as role models and mentor University women throughout their educational careers.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this lecture series is to provide a forum for students to discuss leadership. Our hope is that this series will promote a heightened awareness of the problems women face in acquiring leadership positions. In our efforts to examine these issues, we hope to provide undergraduate women with constructive and workable solutions. Speakers should be influential and successful female leaders in a variety of fields both from within the University and from the larger community. This series is intended to be an ongoing monthly series. In the future, we hope to add supplementary programs such as workshops on various women's issues in conjunction with the Trustees' Council of Penn Women.