Scholarships & Awards

Photography by Gar Travis © / www.garphoto.com

District 12, Area 3
Charter No. 42-1927

Scholarships & Awards

Jane M. Klausman Women In Business Scholarship

Women have made great strides in the pursuit of education, careers and leadership roles they were once denied; however, today, women are still more likely to be pouring the coffee in global boardrooms than sitting on the boards. In 2012, women held only 18.1% of the senior officer positions at Financial Post 500 companies and 6.9 % of senior officer top earner positions at public companies according to the 2012 Catalyst Census. The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship program helps women pursue undergraduate and master's degrees in business management and overcome gender barriers from the classroom to the boardroom. Since the program’s inception, Zonta has awarded 314 scholarships to women from 44 countries.

Established in 1998 from a generous bequest by Jane M. Klausman, a member of the Zonta Club of Syracuse, New York, the Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship is awarded annually to women pursuing undergraduate or Master's degrees in business management.

The Zonta Club of Denver will award a scholarship of $1,500 for the 2013-2014 academic year to the successful applicant. The club scholarship recipient also will be entered to win two scholarships totaling $1,500 ($500 from District 12 and $1,000 from Zonta International) awarded at the district level and one of 12 international scholarships in the amount of $7000 each. The Zonta Club of Denver is in Zonta International’s District 12, comprising 20 clubs in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. The scholarships may be used for tuition, books, or living expenses at any university, college, or institution offering accredited business courses and degrees.

ELIGIBILITY

Women pursuing a business or business-related degree who demonstrate outstanding potential in the field are eligible. Online students are also eligible. Members and employees of Zonta International or the Zonta International Foundation are not eligible.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship program operates at the club, district and international levels of Zonta International. To apply, please complete the application and submit it via email to: scholarships@zonta-denver.org.

Verification of enrollment must be sent by mail to:

Zonta Club of Denver
Attention: Jeanette NewVille
Address PO Box 2665
Denver, CO 80201
303-730-3537

DEADLINE

Applications must be completed and received no later than May 3, 2013.

2012 Scholarship Winner, Jiwei Gu

Jiwei Gu Jiwei Gu was chosen as the Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship recipient. She is a first generation immigrant from China who came to the U.S. five years ago. It is her goal to graduate from the University of Denver with both a Finance and International Business major along with a Business Ethics and Legal Studies minor. She is enthusiastic about getting into the financial industry and doing business internationally. Jiwei would like to find a niche in the market that will allow her to combine her legal and finance background in business.

Ms. Gu, who was born and raised in China, also has a goal of gaining experience in the global business world to start a social enterprise that allows her to utilize her expertise to help end the “lost girls” tragedy in China and to get more girls into school in other Asian countries that have similar social issues.

2011 Scholarship Winner, Georgina White

Georgina White obtained her undergraduate degree in international business in France, and won the Zonta Club of Denver 2011 Jane M. Klausman Scholarship while seeking her master’s in finance at the University of Colorado at Denver.
Georgina had been involved in many volunteer activities and wanted to make a difference in the lives of people who do not have access to financial services. She had heard of a woman in Haiti who had two mango trees on her dry field and could not make a living from her production because she didn’t have the money to construct a canal for irrigation. Giving the Haitian woman access to a $2,000 loan could improve her well-being and have a long-term positive impact on the Haitian economy. Georgina felt that this story is just one of many and, as a result, she chose to pursue a master’s degree in finance. She believed that financial institutions engaging in this issue will improve their image, bring about change, and significantly impact the world economy and the lives of millions.

Following her graduation, Georgina worked in Frankfurt, Germany, for the European Central Bank on a short-term contract. She was then offered a position at ProCredit Holding, a group of 21 banks operating in transition economies and developing countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. Its core business is the provision of credit and other banking services to very small, small and medium-sized enterprises and lower and middle income savers who have previously had limited access to formal financial services. She remains committed to assisting the underserved.

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