Rodin aids Women's Studies

As part of an award she won yesterday honoring her leadership as a woman, University President Judith Rodin announced she would give $50,000 from a Sara Lee Foundation grant to Penn's Women's Studies Program. Approximately 100 guests attended a ceremony yesterday at the White House, where Sara Lee Corporation Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer John Bryan, along with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, presented the 1999 Frontrunner Awards to four outstanding women in arts, business, government and the humanities. Along with humanities-winner Rodin, Sara Lee saluted culinary pioneer Julia Child, Kraft Foods Inc. Executive Vice President Ann Fudge and U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman. The 13-year-old awards donate $50,000 in each winner's name to a not-for-profit organization of her choice that addresses issues of concern to women. As the first alumna to lead Penn and the first woman president of an Ivy League institution, Rodin selected Penn's Women's Studies Program for the contribution. Upon receiving the award, Rodin acknowledged that the attention paid to female appointments to leadership positions is decreasing. "The day is coming when gender will be incidental to any announcement about the selection of female leaders," Rodin said. She added that educational opportunities, like Women's Studies, are key in collapsing gender boundaries. "[Penn] is nationally recognized for the quality of its teaching and research programs in Women's Studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and [the grant] will support the development of new programs to enhance women's leadership capabilities around the globe," Rodin said. Women's Studies Co-Director Demie Kurz accompanied Rodin and her family at yesterday's celebration. Kurz noted that the function assembled many notable women -- including past winners Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anita Hill. "The fact that [Rodin] won this award is a credit to her and the University," Kurz said. Women's Studies, an interdisciplinary program, offers an undergraduate major and minor and a graduate certificate through the School of Arts and Sciences. SAS Dean Samuel Preston called Rodin's grant allocation "a remarkably generous gesture." "[Women's Studies] will take great advantage of this extraordinary gift," Preston said. With the funds, the SAS program will provide support for women graduate students researching areas related to Women's Studies. "President Rodin's own career began with graduate training in Psychology," said History Professor Drew Faust, the former director of Women's Studies. "We hope to assist other women leaders following similar paths." Suzanne Verderber, a Comparative Literature and Literary Theory graduate student writing a dissertation on gender, sexuality and race, said Rodin's contribution could help fund her research. "It acknowledges that thinking about gender is still an important issue at the end of the 20th century," Verderber said, adding that the grant legitimizes such study.