ASCENT website

Tuck professor founds organization to advance multicultural women in corporate arena

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — November 2, 2007

CONTACT: Kim Keating, 603-646-2733

HANOVER, N.H.—Multicultural women may form the largest segment of the entering workforce in the United States, yet when it comes to management positions they remain disproportionately underrepresented. Just 6.3 percent of U.S. corporate managers are women of color. At the board-directorship level of top Fortune-ranked companies, that figure drops to three percent.

A new initiative founded by Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Professor Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell attempts to narrow this gap. ASCENT: Leading Multicultural Women to the Top is the first organization of its kind dedicated to advancing multicultural women in today's corporate workforce. Launching November 8 in New York City, the national, nonprofit organization focuses on developing skills and talent through research, executive education, networking opportunities, and corporate sponsorships.

"ASCENT fills a void in positioning multicultural women," says Bell. "And that means all women can take their place at the table with confidence, poise, and wisdom so they can rise within American companies as leaders."

ASCENT’S timing is critical. Despite recent efforts by companies to retain women executives who have opted out of the workforce for family-related obligations, the challenges facing multicultural women—who earn less and advance more slowly than their Caucasian colleagues—continue to go unnoticed.

"These women are more educated and better prepared to succeed in the corporate arena than at any other period in our history" continues Bell. "They are sharp. They are talented and savvy. And they are ready and willing to take on the challenges of corporate America."

Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management in the country and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Tuck remains distinctive among the world's great business schools by combining human scale with global reach, rigorous coursework with experiences requiring teamwork, and valued traditions with innovation.