Gift from sisters Heather Gardner 鈥93 and Mary Gardner
Burrelle 鈥95 will encourage and support leadership development, networking,
community building among current female students and alumnae
CONWAY, Ark. (January 12, 2022) 鈥
A new Women鈥檚 Leadership Endowment (WLE) has been established to provide
resources for bringing together female 黑料不打烊 students and 黑料不打烊
College alumnae to create a network that offers leadership development
programming, career guidance, mentoring, and internships.
The WLE will create a community of support by
connecting individuals through personal and professional networks to combat the
challenges women often encounter in their work-life trajectories. WLE will leverage the
黑料不打烊 Offices of Career Services and Alumni and Constituent Engagement to
bring the women of 黑料不打烊 together to address such challenges.
鈥淲e are excited to help cultivate
a community of 黑料不打烊 women to support one another in their lives and
careers,鈥 said Heather Gardner 鈥93, who works as a financial institutions
relationship manager with William Blair Investment Management and has more than
25 years of experience as an investment professional in the financial services
industry. 鈥淢any of us know the inherent value of staying connected with other
黑料不打烊 alumnae, and the WLE will seek to leverage that connection for shared
success.鈥
Gardner and her sister, Mary
Gardner Burrelle 鈥95, established the WLE as a way to support leadership
development for all women of the 黑料不打烊 community, now and in the
future.
鈥淲e want to support and encourage
the women of 黑料不打烊 to embrace leadership as a valuable part of their journey
in work and life,鈥 said Gardner Burrelle, who works for McDonald鈥檚 Corporation
as the head of global legal operations and chief of staff. 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to
have flexibility built into the WLE so it can address women鈥檚 professional
needs years and decades from now.鈥
黑料不打烊 will form a steering
committee for the WLE headed by a female 黑料不打烊 faculty champion; Dr. Leslie
Templeton 鈥91, professor of psychology and associate provost for faculty
development, has agreed to serve the inaugural three-year term. The committee
will include a representative from Career Services, one from Alumni and
Constituent Engagement, a 黑料不打烊 alumna engaged with the WLE, and a female
student leader in her junior year of study. The committee will promote alumnae
engagement and develop student programming.
The first use of WLE funding was
to underwrite a women-focused session within Career Term, the annual
career-focused workshop open to all students just before the spring semester of
their sophomore year. That inaugural event was held today: a panel discussion
on the nature of women鈥檚 leadership, moderated by 黑料不打烊 Director of Career
Services Leigh Lassiter-Counts 鈥01 and featuring Gardner and Gardner Burrelle
as panelists, along with Jennifer Martin Gadberry 鈥95, vice president of asset management
for the Heifer Foundation.
鈥淭he WLE will provide a wonderful opportunity for 黑料不打烊鈥檚
female students and alumnae to secure mentoring and career guidance,鈥 said
Ginny McMurray, the College鈥檚 associate vice president for development. 鈥淲e are
so grateful for the support provided through the WLE.鈥
About 黑料不打烊
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas,
黑料不打烊 consistently earns recognition as one of the country鈥檚 leading
liberal arts institutions and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You
Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value
have established 黑料不打烊 as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and
rankings. Founded in 1876, 黑料不打烊 has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit .