Colby-Sawyer College has been selected to join the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network, a highly selective national program of female scholars, and was awarded a three-year, $1.1 million grant for scholarships and transformational campus projects.

The BOLD initiative is funded by The Pussycat Foundation, a private foundation established in the spirit and legacy of the late Helen Gurley Brown, the legendary editor of Cosmopolitan magazine. The pioneering program cultivates leadership in young women by facilitating opportunities for women’s career development and networking through financial aid awards, financial support for community-based projects and unpaid internships, and fellowship grant funding upon graduation.

Colby-Sawyer joins Middlebury College, Ithaca College, Rutgers University-Newark, the College of Saint Rose and the University of Connecticut as just the sixth active higher education member in the network. Each institution is led by a female president who has shown a longtime commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Colby-Sawyer’s initial cohort of BOLD scholars are seven juniors who are female or identify as female, as stipulated by the program, and are first-generation students from rural locations in northern New England who are in good standing at the college.

“Colby-Sawyer is honored to be one of the institutions selected for the BOLD Scholars program. The primary benefit of the program is that our students will receive additional aid from BOLD that will enable them to reduce, or even eliminate, their debt during their junior and senior years,” Colby-Sawyer President Susan D. Stuebner said. “Other critical resources from this network include internship grant funding and opportunities to build leadership and professional networking skills. We will look to our BOLD Scholars to share their leadership on campus, and this program will enable on-campus programming that will be open to and benefit a broader student audience.”

Colby-Sawyer’s first cohort of BOLD scholars, all members of the Class of 2020, is composed of Leah Dupuis, an exercise science major from Claremont, N.H.; psychology majors Taryn Fairbrother from Orleans, Vt., and Jordan Hewes from Charlestown, N.H.; Lexie Hamilton, a biology major on the pre-med track from Sunapee, N.H.; Samantha Hardy, a public health major from New London, N.H.; Katie Shippa, a communications studies major from Lebanon, N.H.; and Tianna Sugars, a sport management major from Oxford, Maine.

Jennifer Tockman, the college’s director of Career Development in the Harrington Center for Experiential Learning, will oversee the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network at Colby-Sawyer.

“I am beyond thrilled to be a part of leading this innovative program at Colby-Sawyer that will expose our students to career opportunities and professional connections while encouraging them to be leaders on campus and, later, in their own communities,” Tockman said. “Our cohort will meet regularly to discuss topics in women’s leadership as well as identify and work on a project that connects with their passions and goals. I look forward to working with these women and am excited by the opportunities that await them.”

About BOLD

Funded and supported by The Pussycat Foundation, the BOLD Network was established in the spirit and legacy of Helen Gurley Brown, legendary editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine. A trailblazer, Helen was unapologetically herself and believed that every girl and woman should have the space to do the same while pursuing an education, building a career and achieving her life's ambitions.