JUNE 2025: Undergraduate Women’s Leadership Institute

Goals

• Develop and strengthen women’s leadership skills, creativity, and respect for collaborative skills, and diversity;
• Establish a network of women throughout the PASSHE and promote existing networks of women at each of the fourteen universities;
• Encourage mentoring relationships among women in the PASSHE;
• Provide for informal learning opportunities for students to interact with faculty members, staff, and administrators;
• Expand the practical understanding of women’s issues and the potential for women’s leadership in society;
• Help students develop campus projects to practice skills learned at the Institute under the direction of a mentor on their campus.

Format of the Institute

The three-day Institute brings together approximately fifty (50) female students, faculty, and staff from the fourteen (14 ) State System Universities in an informal setting. The agenda includes workshops ranging from icebreakers and self-discovery exercises to concrete skill-building sessions on topics like leadership styles, managing career and family, networking with other women, utilizing resources, and women’s health issues. The approximate price per student will be $800.00.

Instructional sessions are conducted by talented women who serve as both educators and potential mentors. All sessions are interactive, requiring participants to engage in discussions, role plays, simulations, and case study analysis. Students meet in small groups to process and apply information and learn from each other’s experiences. Guest speakers, outdoor recreation, and team-building exercises also create multiple learning opportunities.

Student Application Information

All PASSHE undergraduates are welcome! While Universities determine their own criteria for selecting students, we especially encourage students identifying as women/non-binary persons with diverse backgrounds and interest in or experience with the Gender Studies, Social Justice to attend.  Universities are strongly encouraged to select applicants who exhibit the potential for leadership, rather than those female undergraduates who already possess the requisite leadership skills to positively affect their campuses and communities. When each university has completed the form with students’ names, email addresses, and phone numbers of student participants to the Consortium, students will be contacted to provide additional information.

The consortium encourages each campus to send two students to the institute; depending on space and availability, we are happy to accommodate more participants. We request that the selection process on your campuses identify two selected participants and two alternate participants, should the winners be unable to attend the institute for any reason.

We also request that campus selection process concretely ask for and identify the transportation requirements to and from Shawnee Inn in The Poconos for your selected participants. Travel is the responsibility of the participants.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Campuses canceling their student attendance at the institute after June 1^st will be required to pay a cancelation fee of $800 dollars (the full institute fees). The PASSHE Women’s Consortium is contracted with Shawnee Inn in The Poconos for the duration of the institute based on the information you provide us. Breaking the contract with the retreat center results in penalties for the consortium.

Participant Responsibilities

After being selected to participate in the Institute, students are expected to complete all participant registration forms and releases. These forms and releases indicate the student’s understanding that she will make and pay for travel arrangements to and from the Institute and will stay at Shawnee Inn in The Poconos for the duration of the Institute. Participants also agree to adhere to all rules and regulations of Shawnee Inn in The Poconos, including no consumption or furnishing of alcohol or other drugs. Violation of any regulation may result in immediate dismissal of the participant from the Institute and eviction from the Shawnee Inn in The Poconos at their own expense. Any judicial or legal charges brought by Shawnee Inn in The Poconos because of policy violation will be directed to the students and not the PASSHE Women’s Consortium.

Participants are expected to read the materials provided before attending the Institute and be active participants in discussions. Upon returning to their universities for the 2025-2026 Academic Year, participants are expected to report back to their campus contacts and organize a project that enriches the climate for women on their campus. Participants are expected to provide a final written report to the PASSHE Women’s Consortium about the success of their project.

Costs

Student participant costs include lodging, meals, and educational materials. Participants are responsible for transportation to and from the Institute, as well as personal expenses incurred during the week. The cost per student is $800.