Event News
Women MBA students hear about balancing career and family
Working women who seek a balance between career, service, and home need to make choices and set
priorities they are passionate about, panelists at the Moore School of Business's "
First Annual Women in Business Forum" said Nov. 29.
About 60 female graduate students in accounting, human resources, and international business at M
oore, along with a dozen or so women from the
Columbia community, attended the forum, sponsored by the University of South Carolina chapter of
the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA).
Panelists were J. Michelle Childs, a Moore School alumna who is now a South Carolina Circuit Court Judge for the U.S. District Court; Cindy Hartley, senior vice president of human resources for Sonoco; Judy Johnson, senior manager of university relations, Eaton Corporation; Kathy Londos, vice president, supply chain management, Bank of America; and Marie-Louise Ramsdale, a USC and Harvard Law School graduate who does training and development for Blackbaud Incorporated.
Dr. Curba Lampert, assistant professor of management at the Moore School, served as panel moderator. Lampert said that women make up 29.7 percent of the entering class at the top MBA programs in the United States - a number basically unchanged for the past 15 years. Why? Women say because of the difficulties in balancing a demanding career with a satisfying home life.
It has been shown that gender diversity improves a company's bottom line, Lampert said, and so it behooves U.S. firms to make it easier for female employees to balance work and home.
Judge Childs suggested that women seeking employment first research companies online to see "how important diversity is for them. If it is important, the companies will already have accommodations in place," such as flextime, she said.
Hartley, who has both an MBA and a Master in Human Resources degree, emphasized the importance of mentors and also a "good support structure" for female employees.
Johnson, who was trained as an industrial engineer and is married with two children, told the forum that "women can have it all, but at different times" in their lives. She also stressed the importance of having friends who can act as a support structure.
Londos recommended "learning the culture" of an organization before interviewing there. "Do they promote a work/life balance?" she asked. If not, "your success can falter if you get burned out." Besides, she added, you can "always find other opportunities."
Ramsdale, the mother of a 3-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, told the group "there will be points in your life when you are in perfect balance, and other times when you are not in balance at all. I am not in balance at the moment, and it's a hard place to be. But you need to do what's best for you," she said.
Ramsdale, who has worked for a large law firm and also began the City Year program in Columbia in the 1990s, encouraged women to network, particularly with other women. "Every consulting job I have had came from a woman," she said.
Ramdsale also encouraged the women in the audience to be organized, and to "find a skill you're really good at." That skill is usually transferable from company to company, she said, giving women more flexibility as they try to balance home and work.
Dean Joel A. Smith III and his wife, Kit, sponsored a reception at their home following the forum.
About 60 female graduate students in accounting, human resources, and international business at M
oore, along with a dozen or so women from the
Columbia community, attended the forum, sponsored by the University of South Carolina chapter of
the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA).
Panelists were J. Michelle Childs, a Moore School alumna who is now a South Carolina Circuit Court Judge for the U.S. District Court; Cindy Hartley, senior vice president of human resources for Sonoco; Judy Johnson, senior manager of university relations, Eaton Corporation; Kathy Londos, vice president, supply chain management, Bank of America; and Marie-Louise Ramsdale, a USC and Harvard Law School graduate who does training and development for Blackbaud Incorporated.
Dr. Curba Lampert, assistant professor of management at the Moore School, served as panel moderator. Lampert said that women make up 29.7 percent of the entering class at the top MBA programs in the United States - a number basically unchanged for the past 15 years. Why? Women say because of the difficulties in balancing a demanding career with a satisfying home life.
It has been shown that gender diversity improves a company's bottom line, Lampert said, and so it behooves U.S. firms to make it easier for female employees to balance work and home.
Judge Childs suggested that women seeking employment first research companies online to see "how important diversity is for them. If it is important, the companies will already have accommodations in place," such as flextime, she said.
Hartley, who has both an MBA and a Master in Human Resources degree, emphasized the importance of mentors and also a "good support structure" for female employees.
Johnson, who was trained as an industrial engineer and is married with two children, told the forum that "women can have it all, but at different times" in their lives. She also stressed the importance of having friends who can act as a support structure.
Londos recommended "learning the culture" of an organization before interviewing there. "Do they promote a work/life balance?" she asked. If not, "your success can falter if you get burned out." Besides, she added, you can "always find other opportunities."
Ramsdale, the mother of a 3-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter, told the group "there will be points in your life when you are in perfect balance, and other times when you are not in balance at all. I am not in balance at the moment, and it's a hard place to be. But you need to do what's best for you," she said.
Ramsdale, who has worked for a large law firm and also began the City Year program in Columbia in the 1990s, encouraged women to network, particularly with other women. "Every consulting job I have had came from a woman," she said.
Ramdsale also encouraged the women in the audience to be organized, and to "find a skill you're really good at." That skill is usually transferable from company to company, she said, giving women more flexibility as they try to balance home and work.
Dean Joel A. Smith III and his wife, Kit, sponsored a reception at their home following the forum.
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| From left: Curba Lampert, Marie-Louise Ramsdale, Cindy Hartley, Michelle Childs, Judy Johnson, Kathy Londos, and Jane Willis | Women MBA students at the Smith's reception
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| Jan Collins
Nov. 30, 2006 |