Women’s Business: Smith, Tuck Partner on New Summer Program

A new program being held at Smith this summer aims to provide college women—and especially Smith students—with the practical skills they need to succeed in a business career.

The Smith-Tuck Bridge Program—being held at Smith for the first time from May 25­­ to June 12—will offer courses in accounting, managerial economics, marketing, corporate finance, decision-making, leadership and more. The program, run by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, also provides critical career and networking skills to help students prepare for internships and opportunities in the business sector.

The aim is to give Smith students the skills they need to compete successfully after graduation. The program will also increase the number of talented and qualified women interested in careers in business—an area in which women are still underrepresented, even though they are gaining ground.

“Smith College is widely respected for its long history of developing strong and successful women leaders,” said Smith president Kathleen McCartney. “This new program will complement the excellent liberal arts education students receive at Smith by providing them with capacities they need to pursue a meaningful career in business.”

In its first year, the program will enroll as many as 30 highly qualified students, who will be chosen through a competitive admission process. The application deadline is March 1, 2015.

Courses will be taught by Tuck faculty, and students will live in Smith College houses, just as they do during the regular academic year. This summer, the three-week pilot program costs $7,500; some financial aid is available. The Smith-Tuck offering is intentionally timed for late spring, so that after the program ends, students can participate in 10-week summer internships that will allow them to put their new skills to use in the business arena.

Maria Moscoso ’15, who participated in the Business Bridge Program at Tuck this past summer, knows how beneficial the program can be. In addition to the practical skills she gained, she said “Going through the program made it even clearer to me that a career in business is what I want. I gained new confidence and experience. I know what I’m capable of, and this program taught me to take advantage of all the opportunities out there and to not limit myself.”

Moscoso hopes other Smithies will take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the new summer program on campus.

“The energetic and collaborative environment of the Tuck Bridge program mixed with Smith’s empowering philosophy feels like the perfect mixture for success,” she said. “I’m excited to see what powerful women business leaders emerge from this program.”

Tuck and Smith are proven collaborators – since 2003, Tuck and Smith’s Executive Education teams have partnered on the Smith-Tuck Global Leaders Program, designed to give women executives the tools and leadership development they need to thrive and create change in their new roles.

More than 4,000 undergraduates have attended Tuck Bridge on the Tuck campus in New Hampshire since the program was founded in 1997. Many Bridge alumni have gone on to receive M.B.A. degrees from top-ranked business schools.