Simmons Alumnae/i Referral Program For Graduate Students
We all have a relative, friend, acquaintance, or colleague who we know would benefit from a graduate degree at Simmons. We want to help make that a reality by offering a $500 referral scholarship* for any enrolling student who is nominated by a Simmons alum. Fill out the Simmons Alumnae/i Referral Form and if the person you nominated enrolls, they will receive the $500 Simmons Friend Scholarship.
- Nominate a potential Simmons graduate student by filling out the form.
- If the person you nominate enrolls**, they will receive a $500 award during their first term*** at Simmons.
* The Simmons Friend Scholarship is currently available for the 2023-2024 academic year. Scholarships are subject to change and restrictions may apply. Students enrolled in partnership/employer programs are not eligible to receive the Simmons Friend Scholarship.
** Students may be nominated by multiple Simmons alums, but are limited to one $500 award. Simmons alums are not eligible to refer themselves.
*** The referral form must be completed prior to the incoming graduate student’s first term. The scholarship cannot be applied retroactively.
Alumnae/i features

Kyle T. Ganson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. As part of his studies at Simmons, he created the course “Social Work Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders,” to be taught in Spring 2024. We spoke to Ganson about his doctoral experience at Simmons and the inspiration behind the course.

Deborah (Cheetham) Mattheus, MSN, PhD, APRN-Rx, CPNP, FAAN, is the Nancy Atmospera-Walch Endowed Professor in School Health at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Under her leadership, the Hawaii Keiki (child): Healthy and Ready to Learn program has expanded healthcare access to hundreds of K–12 public schools throughout the state.

Karen Pierre-Louis is a school social worker at the East Boston Early Education Center, a Boston Public School serving children in Pre-K through first grade. As the school’s first full-time social worker, Karen collaborates closely with the school psychologist, teachers, and administrators to support students’ social-emotional needs.

Karen Boss ’95 ’13MA earned a double Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Sociology and returned to Simmons twenty years later for her Master’s in Children’s Literature. She is a senior editor at Charlesbridge, where she works on fiction and nonfiction picture books, and middle-grade and young adult works.

Author Marivi Soliven shares how her work as a Filipino interpreter inspires her writing and philanthropy, and her motivates her to share the Filipino experience in her work.

Lynne Kaplan ’73 has enjoyed a long career in business consulting. A common thread that links her work is the commitment to support individuals in personal and professional development.

What made you choose to study Mathematics at Simmons? Simmons had a great, small, close-knit community, with the bonus of being in the larger city of Boston — it had a little of everything! When I first visited Simmons, I...

An interview with Peggy (Florence) Adelson Saslow, Class of 1944, who has supported Simmons and fellow alumnae/i with generous gifts of her time, effort, and funds, and began a multi-generational tradition of Simmons graduates within her own family.