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SOM Celebrates 32nd Commencement Exercises
2006 Award Winners
SOM Researchers Look at Gender Equity in Africa
SOM Celebrates 32nd Commencement Exercises
The School of Management held its 32nd Commencement Exercises Aug. 4 at the Park Plaza Hotel & Towers in Boston. Eighty-eight freshly minted MBAs were inspired by moving remarks from SOM Dean Deborah Merrill-Sands and Simmons Trustee Lucia L. Quinn ’75, executive vice president of human resources at Boston Scientific.
Quinn, who has more than 25 years of experience in general management, marketing, operations, business planning, business development and strategy development, told graduates to “be the catalyst for change,” using courage, daring and persistence. Quinn reminded the class that to be a leader, you have to want to be followed, and that “real leadership is about serving others, sometimes quietly from the back of the room, sometimes through others.” “Courage,” Quinn noted, is a choice .” “You chose courage. You chose Simmons. And that has, and will, make all the difference."
An overseer of the Museum of Science in Boston, Quinn also is a member of The Committee of 200, an organization of leading business women, and a director of QMed, Inc., a medical information technology and disease management service firm dedicated to providing technology solutions for heart care.
Class Speakers were Maureen Honore Durkin '06 and Jean Ellis Bartholomew '87SW, ’06. Alexandra Camille Pelletier ’06 and Pamela Mary Fiorelli ’06 were the 2006 recipients of the Jane Trahey Prize, which is given to a student whose marketing project is judged by faculty most likely to achieve goals for which it was created.
2006 Award Winners
Siobhan Flynn ’93SM, senior vice president of worldwide operations and technology at The Northern Trust in Chicago, received the 2006 Phyllis Rappaport Alumnae Achievement Award. Flynn was recognized at a special ceremony held Aug. 3 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston.
Presented annually, this award honors an alumna whose “significant deeds and accomplishments have helped further the school’s tradition of creating broader opportunities for women.” The award was established through a gift from Jerome Lyle Rappaport to honor his wife, a member of the first SOM graduating class in 1975.
Flynn is the former chapter president of the Financial Women’s Association (FWA) of Chicago, the finance industry’s premier professional organization for high-achieving women. Through her leadership in the FWA, Flynn has played a key role in advancing women professionals in the field of finance, with special emphasis on the development of future women leaders. Flynn oversees and directs professional development and education programs for women leaders through FWA and organizes networking and mentoring opportunities to help women achieve their career goals.
The Susan Bulkeley Butler Award, awarded annually to two students who have demonstrated superior competence and professional promise in the field of accounting, was presented to Ana Clara Destefani ’06 and Stephanie Toews Richardson `06. The Pat Miller Award is given to a student who best personifies the late Pat Miller ’75SM who was known for her strength, leadership and willingness to help. This year’s winner was Maureen Honore Durkin ’06 and Ana Clara Destefani ’06. The William Holmes Award, for excellence in organizational behavior, was awarded to Amanda T. Thomas ’06 and Sheryl Ilene Carlsen ’06.
SOM Researchers Look at Gender Equity in Africa
Researchers at Simmons’s Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) led a series of intensive workshops in South Africa this May that focused on gender equity to address the significant under-representation of women at high levels in faculty and administrative positions. The workshops included representatives from six universities and resulted in the creation of the African Universities Gender Resource Network (AUGRN) which included a virtual space to share information and on-going communications regarding gender equity issues in sub-Saharan Africa.
“I am very proud that the CGO took part in this effort and helped to create AUGRN, which I believe will become an important tool for African universities as they continue to explore issues of gender equity in their countries,” said Senior Research Faculty Dr. Evangelina Holvino.
Based at the School of Management, the CGO is focused on advancing gender equity in work organizations worldwide. Holvino and CGO Coordinator Tara Hudson worked with representatives from Ahmadu Bello University, Makerere University, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Dar es Salaam, and University of Education, Winneba to provide support, information, and materials to the six universities to help them effectively implement gender equity changes within their institutions.
The workshops marked the final stage in CGO’s two-year project Capacity Building for Gender Equity and Institutional Change, Phase II, which was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
During the past year, CGO has provided virtual feedback to these universities, including assistance with gender language in job descriptions and with the gender aspect of proposal writing, and overall helping the universities to strengthen gender equity.