Women
in Public Service Project Colloquium Sets Smith Students
on the Path to Global Leadership
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a
foyer at the State Department adorned with the flags of every
nation in the world, nearly a hundred young women from leading
U.S. women’s colleges jockeyed for a spot on a stairway.
And waited.
Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton (center) is flanked by Seven Sisters students
before the Women in Public Service Project colloquium
December 15. |
It was the morning of December
15, and they were invited guests of the inaugural , launched by the
State Department in collaboration with Smith, Mount Holyoke,
Barnard, Bryn Mawr and Wellesley colleges, to build a generation
of women leaders throughout the world.
Soon, the students
would join alumnae, faculty and staff from the colleges,
and a cohort of women in public service around the globe,
in the Dean Acheson Auditorium to hear a rock-star lineup
of global women leaders, including the president of Kosovo,
the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, and the managing director of the International
Monetary Fund.
A sudden hush in the crowded
foyer indicated that something was about to happen.
U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered and strode to
the front of the group. “I’m
so excited you’re here,” she said to applause and flashing
cameras.
After Clinton departed the room
to prepare to present the colloquium’s keynote address, Smith government major
Sarah Fitzgibbons said she couldn’t recall exactly what the
secretary had said. “I was star struck.”
At the State Department Thursday,
even government staff members seemed star struck by the historic
event that was taking place in their midst and being live
streamed around the globe to viewers attending “watch-parties” at a variety of locations,
including embassies in Brazil, Canada and Kosovo.
“This is big. With 700 folks
here it takes all hands on deck,” said Emily-Anne
Patt, 28, a financial economist at the State Department,
who shepherded a group of media to the auditorium. “In my
office, everyone’s asking me, ‘Can you get
me in? There isn’t any space.'”
And, it wasn’t just the number of guests that made the event “big.” Noted one
national news cameraman who regularly covers events at the State Department, “This
auditorium is packed with women…I’ve never seen it like this.”
“Look around you,” implored Farah Pandith ‘90, special representative to Muslim
communities, welcoming the guests on behalf of the State Department. “You are
sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with representatives from every continent and age
group.”
Throughout the program, speakers
often directed their remarks to the college students in the
audience. Time and again, they advised the young women to
be unafraid to take risks, fail and take more risks; to mentor
other women; and to take inspiration from the successes of
other women. “We want all women in
public service or aspiring to public service to know they are not alone,” said
one.
The next work for the Women
in Public Service Project steering committee includes planning
a summer institute for up to 60 women in early- or mid-career,
an event that is expected to become an annual affair hosted
by each of the founding colleges on a revolving basis. Other,
shorter-format training sessions and an online mentoring
program are also being planned. Project leaders also hope
to turn the initiative into a non-profit organization with
a director who can spearhead those and other efforts.
“The work we do here today and in the coming months and years will ensure that
[women’s] talents and passion to serve the public good are met with the educational
resources and global networks to power their success,“ said President Carol
Christ in her remarks on behalf of the founding colleges.
Eve Hunter ‘12, president
of the Smith student government association, called the colloquium inspiring. “I
hope to bring a lot of that energy back to Smith.” |
