Gift to aid Agnes Scott, Spelman graduates

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School has announced a $5 million endowment that will provide scholarships to Agnes Scott College and Spelman College alumnae enrolled in its graduate programs, the schools announced late last week.

The endowment is part of an effort to get more women in the Goizueta school, which is often ranked in surveys as one of the nation’s best. Both colleges educate women and are located near Emory, with Agnes Scott in Decatur and Spelman near downtown Atlanta.

Women earn more than half of all undergraduate degrees nationwide, but the percentage drops to 38% for Master of Business Administration degrees, according to the Center for American Progress, a public policy group.

Emory and the colleges also said the effort is important to get more women in leadership positions at major companies. Women comprise about 7% of top leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, the colleges noted.

“This imbalance negatively affects students, business schools, and the larger business community,” Karen Sedatole, the Goizueta school’s interim dean, said in a statement. “This generous endowment allows Goizueta to execute its bold vision to meet tomorrow’s challenges and re-imagine what business education could and should be.”

The gift to the business school came from Rosemary and John Brown. John Brown is chairman emeritus of Stryker Corporation, a Fortune 500 medical technologies firm based in Kalamazoo, Mich. Rosemary Kopel Brown is a lifelong educator who served as a math teacher for more than 30 years. Their daughters, Janine Brown and Sarah Beth Brown, both corporate executives, serve on the board of trustees Spelman and Emory, respectively. The Brown Family Scholars Program will begin to award scholarships this fall.