The Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) Program, part of the Henry Luce Foundation, has awarded Cornell two two-year fellowships, including tuition and stipend, for women graduate students studying engineering, the foundation recently announced.

The recipients will be drawn from this year's graduate school applicants, according to Rick Allmendinger, associate dean for diversity and faculty development in the College of Engineering. The fellowships will be awarded to female students in electrical and computer engineering, materials science and engineering, or mechanical and aerospace engineering.

"The College of Engineering has moved successfully over the last decade to diversify its student body," Allmendinger said. "These prestigious fellowships from the Clare Boothe Luce Program will help us extend that progress into the new decade by providing yet one more reason for talented women to pursue graduate students in engineering at Cornell."

The receipt of the CBL fellowships falls in line with the college's ongoing efforts to increase the presence of women Ph.D. candidates and faculty members in the traditionally male-dominated engineering fields. Efforts have paid off: For example, from 2000 to 2009, enrollment of female Ph.D. students in engineering at Cornell increased from 20.4 percent to 26.5 percent, according to the graduate fellowship proposal.

The remarkable turnaround, according to the proposal, can be attributed to two equally important factors: An increase in the number of women faculty (from 18 to 28 since 2000) in the college, and the emergence of strong women graduate student groups across the college. Among them are the Women@ECE programs, including Women's Travel Conference Grants, Women's Professional Development Grants and Women's Technical Exposure Grants. Also, Women in Materials Science and Engineering (WIMSE) provides career development, social events and mentoring, and the Sibley Women's Group, which includes social and professional development as well as a well-attended annual dinner.

The increased priority of diversity in the college's strategic objectives has also helped bolster this trend, beginning with leadership by former Dean Kent Fuchs (now provost), who encouraged departments to examine their gender breakdowns and institute changes to address inequities when appropriate.

In addition, Cornell has several institutional initiatives dedicated to increasing diversity, including the National Science Foundation-funded ADVANCE grant awarded in 2006. The five-year grant funds efforts to increase the recruitment, retention and promotion into leadership positions of women in engineering and the sciences.

The CBL program first awarded such grants in 1989 and has since become the most significant source of private support for women in science, mathematics and engineering.

Clare Boothe Luce, the widow of Henry R. Luce, was a playwright, journalist, U.S. ambassador to Italy and the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut. In her bequest establishing this program, she sought "to encourage women to enter, study, graduate and teach" in science, mathematics and engineering.

For more information: http://www.hluce.org/cblprogram.aspx.