Welcome to WLP @ GW

The Elizabeth J Somers Women's Leadership Program (WLP) is a freshmen, residential, year-long, academic program and is true to the legacy of Elizabeth J Somers. This program explores issues relative to women's leadership, its nature, its expressions, and its exercise in various intellectual, artistic, social, political, and technological contexts while meeting some of GW's general curriculum requirements, school requirements and prerequisite courses for many majors. Students selected to participate in each program take two courses and a symposium together each term, and live together in a residence hall community on the Mount Vernon campus. Students experience the political, economic, and cultural resources of Washington as an integral part of their courses and program activities.Each of the following WLP adjectives describes an important feature of WLP.

First and foremost, WLP is an intellectual program design around 4 different areas of study: arts and culture, development (economics), politics, or science. Each area is accompanied with appropriate Humanities and writing courses. The unifying academic experience, that makes WLP much more than a set of courses, is the WLP seminar designed to provide knowledge about, and experience in, leadership as relates to women. The WLP faculty meet regularly to insure that there is a connection among all aspects of the program. The faculty is supported by a graduate student in each cohort.

The program offers guest speakers, special events, and field experiences that bring the students together with women of achievement and leadership from many areas. These programs also have external links with relevant outside organizations which work on issues of significance for women in the focus area, and which provide opportunities for connections, mentors, and future internships for students.

WLP is a year-long program. Each semester students enroll in classes and participate in the seminar. The fall term is devoted to learning the theories and components of leadership with some 'hands-on' activities. The spring term provides many 'hands-on' activities with continued opportunities to define and refine the concept of leadership.

WLP students live together by cohort in dormitories on the Mount Vernon Campus. Mount Vernon campus of the George Washington University is a campus of rolling green hills, federal style academic buildings, libraries and housing units, broad sports fields, and all the other support facilities necessary for a true university experience. The graduate students who support the academic program also live with the students thereby providing additional academic and social leadership.

WLP is designed for 1st year students. The intimacy of the program and the campus provide 1st year students with a small, close-knit community within medium size university within a large city. This setting is a wonderful way for a student to be introduced to life and learning at a major university. Students enjoy the access of the WLP with the full features of the university.

All first year women applicants applying to any undergraduate school of the University and interested in any academic major are eligible to apply to the Elizabeth Somers Women's Leadership Programs. Programs for the Academic Year 2007-2008:

    > International Arts and Culture
    > Globalization, Economics and Business
    > Science, Health and Medicine
    > U.S. and International Politics

Please be sure to review our calendar of events and news section to learn about many more of our academic outreach and activities.

Thank you for taking the time to review the rest of the material about this program. Please send me an email message at sheller@gwu.edu if you have further questions or just want to chat.

Rachelle S. Heller, PhD
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Mount Vernon Campus
Director of the Elizabeth J Somers Women's Leadership Program

Sincerely,
Rachelle S. Heller