Clare Boothe Luce Scholarships

Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) was a remarkable woman whose career spanned seven decades and nearly as many professional interests: e.g., journalism, politics, the theatre, diplomacy, and intelligence. In each of those fields she excelled. Not content with her own achievements, Mrs. Luce was always eager to consider new topics, to test new hypotheses, and to encourage other women to achieve their own potential. Characteristically, she declined to restrict her vision to the fields in which she had established her reputation. Under the terms of her will, she chose instead to establish a legacy that would benefit current and future generations of women with talent and ambition in areas where they continue to be severely underrepresented—the sciences and engineering. The Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) Program strives to increase the participation of women in the sciences and engineering at every level of higher education and to serve as a catalyst for colleges and universities to be proactive in their own efforts towards this goal. The CBL Program is the single largest private source of funding for women in science and engineering. As stated in her will, the Program is intended “to encourage women to enter, study, graduate, and teach” in fields where there have seemingly been obstacles to their advances.

Studies have shown the women experience a combination of financial, social, and professional barriers when pursuing science and engineering degrees. The cost of education is high for all, but for a science student or a dual-degree engineering student, the costs can rise even higher. Since there are few women in these areas, students may feel isolated from liberal arts or professional degree students. The lack of social interaction with similarly minded and skilled students causes some women to question their pursuit in these fields. Also, many science, math and engineering students are not completely sure what they will be doing with their degree. This lack of professional identity is another reason that women decide to leave science and engineering for majors with which they are more familiar.

A Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship strives to remove these financial, social and professional barriers by offering the following benefits:

Financial

• the cost of tuition, room, board, fees and books for the last two academic years at the College of St. Catherine
• child care for the term of the scholarship, if needed

Social

• pairing with a faculty mentor in the science, math or engineering area of interest
• social events and opportunities with Science Salon seminar speakers and visiting scholars
• social events with other women in science, math and engineering

Professional

• travel stipends to present posters or papers at national conferences
• field trips to the University of Minnesota to visit computer science, engineering and other science labs to learn more about those career options
• paid summer internships or research jobs in science, math or engineering