14th Annual WLP Fall Symposium Program

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ABOUT WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP & PHILANTROPY
Dear Members, Partners, and Friends,
Founded in 2005 by a small group of individuals and Tampa Bay
area foundations and corporations, USF Women in Leadership
& Philanthropy (WLP) advanced a collective vision to create the
first women’s philanthropic organization in the Tampa Bay region
focused on developing the intellectual and leadership potential
of women through the promotion of mentorship, philanthropy,
community engagement and scholarly excellence. 14 years later,
WLP – now numbering more than 350 individual and 24 corporate
members strong – has helped stimulate numerous transformational
gifts to benefit USF; has directly raised well over $6 million to
support our mission; and has invested more than $1.5 million in
grants, scholarships, and programmatic funding to assist female
students, faculty members, and women in the Tampa Bay region.
These achievements are a clear sign that USF WLP is a trailblazer
in advancing women’s leadership and philanthropy in our
communities and is fulfilling the vision of our founding members.
Since our founding, WLP has awarded more than $1 million in
scholarships, has devoted countless mentoring hours to over
800 students, and has provided transformational grants to 35
female faculty members through the Dr. Kathleen Moore Faculty
Excellence Award program. WLP presents a wide variety of
educational and leadership development programs annually at
all three USF campuses and in the surrounding communities, and
has formed formal mentoring partnerships with numerous campus
colleges, units, and other entities.
In 2016, in partnership with Valley Bank, WLP formed the WISE
(Women Who Ignite Student Engagement) Advisory Council.
Together with the WLP Mentoring and Program Committees and
with the WLP/WISE Advisory Council, we developed and launched
USF’s first student-led women’s leadership symposium in spring
2017. Modeled after the “big” WLP Fall Symposium you are
experiencing today, successful WISE Student Symposiums have
been held annually, and we are planning for the 4th Annual WISE
Student Symposium in March 2020.
Data points are impressive, but student voices best express
the true impact of WLP. As one scholar recently shared:
“When I told my family about this gift, we started to jump
for joy because of the financial relief this scholarship would
provide. This scholarship from WLP has given me the rare
gift of time – time to engage in actively pursuing my studies,
and time (and opportunity) to grow and develop through
participating in WLP’s amazing mentoring and leadership
development programming. I appreciate the generosity of
the members of WLP and the impact they are having on my
life, and I know that I will not hesitate to give in the future.”
The continued success of WLP is the result of the collective
generosity of all of our members, who lend their time, talent,
and treasure to make WLP the impactful organization that it
has become. We thank our Founding, Lifetime, Corporate,
and Individual members for their engagement and continued
leadership and support.
To learn more about how
you can make a difference
visit USF.EDU/WLP.
LAGRETTA LENKER, ’92
Chair, USF Women in Leadership & Philanthropy
INSTAGRA FACEBOOK TWITTER @USF_WLP #USFWLP • 14 TH
ANNUAL WLP FALL SYMPOSIUM