Six current and two incoming Marymount University students have been awarded the Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) Scholarship for Women in Science and Mathematics for the 2018-19 academic year. Marymount is one of only 13 institutions nationwide designated in Luce’s bequest to receive funds in perpetuity.
Scholarships for all current Marymount CBL scholars were renewed for the upcoming academic year. Recipients are: Theresa Buscemi, Weston, Florida; Sabrina Koumoin, Owings Mills, Maryland: Jennifer Martin, Columbia, Maryland; Jasmine Roy, Springfield, Virginia; Amanda Sciorillo, Yardley, Pennsylvania; and Victoria Stadtmueller, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Incoming freshmen recipients are Brooke Balducci, Great Falls, Virginia; and Maia Pappadakis, Woodland Park, Colorado.
Since making its first grants in 1989, the Clare Boothe Luce Program has become one of the most significant private sources of STEM support for women in the United States. The CBL Scholarship is a competitive program that provides awardees full tuition, along with room and board, for up to four years. Per the benefactor’s wishes, the application process is open to U.S. citizens with a record of high academic achievement and who are interested in teaching or research in math or science. Also, the program funds a Clare Boothe Luce assistant professor. Currently, Dr. Susan Agolini holds that position.
Clare Boothe Luce was a journalist and playwright who became the first woman elected to Congress from Connecticut. Married to magazine magnate Henry R. Luce, she was named by U.S. Ambassador to Italy by President Dwight Eisenhower. In her bequest establishing this program, she sought “to encourage women to enter, study, graduate, and teach” in science, mathematics and engineering. To date, the program has supported more than 2,300 young female scholars.
In her book College to University, A Memoir, former Marymount president Sister M. Majella Berg, RSHM, wrote, “In 1962 Mrs. Luce was nominated to receive the Mother Gerard Phelan medal which is awarded to women of exemplary achievement who would serve as role models for our students. She asked if it could be delayed until 1963 when a friend would be graduating. She also made her first gift to Marymount – a Baldwin grand piano for the new auditorium in Butler Hall. Clare Boothe Luce continued correspondence and visits until her death in 1987.”
University officials were notified after her death that Luce had included Marymount in her plans to support young women pursuing careers in science, mathematics and computer science. The program’s endowment has also funded research opportunities and brought to campus visiting professors and Clare Boothe Luce scholars.
