About Clare Booth Luce
Clare Boothe Luce was truly a Renaissance woman. Her remarkable career spanned seven decades and nearly as many professional interests: journalism, politics, the theatre, diplomacy, and international relations. In each of these fields, she excelled and broke new paths for women to follow. By the time of her death in 1987, she had truly become a national symbol of women's accomplishments and potential.
Author, playwright, congresswoman, and ambassador, Clare Boothe Luce was born in New York City on April 10, 1903. She was educated at St. Mary's Garden City, Long Island, New York and The Castle, Tarrytown, New York. She was married to Henry R. Luce in 1935.
Clare Boothe Luce received a number of honorary degrees throughout her career, including a Doctor of Law degree from Creighton University. Highlights of her long and distinguished career include positions as associate editor of Vogue, associate editor and managing editor of Vanity Fair, newspaper columnist and playwright. In 1943, she was the first woman from Connecticut to be elected to Congress, serving Connecticut's Fourth District until 1947. Later, she was the U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1953 to 1957 and was twice a member of the President's Foreign Allegiance Advisory Board.
Clare Boothe Luce authored Stuffed Shirts (1933), Europe in the Spring (1940), and Saints for Now (1952). Her plays include Abide With Me (1937), Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1938), Margin of Error (1939), Child of the Morning (1951) and Slam the Door Softly (1970). Her most successful play, The Women, opened on Broadway in 1936.
Among the awards she received during her life were the Decorated Knight Order of the Grand Cross, Order of Lafayette, and Dame of Malta. She was the recipient of the Dag Hammarskjld medal which recognizes outstanding contributions in the fields of international cooperation and diplomacy. In addition, she received the Fourth Estate award, the International Achievement award, the Sylvanus Thayer award, the Distinguished Service to Congress award, the American Eagle award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She served as a member of the Academy of Political Science and was director of the American Security Council, the American Society of Oceanography, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. She was also a member of the National Institute of Social Science, the Hawaii Foundation of American Freedoms, the U. S. Association of Former Members of Congress, the National Federation of Press Women, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, the Center for the Book, the Committee on the Present Danger, the National Commission on U.S.-China Relations, The U. S. Strategic Institute, The Council of American Ambassadors, the Hillsdale Associates, the National Society of Literature and the Arts, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Clare Boothe Luce encouraged other women to achieve their own potential, but she declined to restrict her vision to the fields in which she had established her reputation. Her bequest to the Henry Luce Foundation established the Clare Boothe Luce Program, which awarded its first grants in 1989. The Clare Boothe Luce Program is intended to encourage women to enter, study, graduate, and teach in science, mathematics and engineering -- fields where, in our society, women continue to be underrepresented.
Creighton University is one of thirteen education institutions specifically designated in Clare Boothe Luce's will to be funded, in perpetuity, from an initial allocation. The Clare Boothe Luce Program at Creighton University funds undergraduate scholarships and graduate scholarships for women studying science or mathematics. The Program also established the Clare Boothe Luce Faculty Chair for Women in Science. There have been five Clare Boothe Luce Professors at Creighton since 1992.
For more information about the Clare Boothe Luce Program, please contact Dr. Hollyann Harris, Associate Dean, Creighton University College of Arts and Sciences.
Undergraduate Scholarship
Each year, Creighton University awards Clare Boothe Luce Scholarships for Undergraduate Women in Science to students entering their junior or senior year. The scholarships cover the full cost of tuition and fees and include a housing and book allowance. The scholarships are awarded to female students majoring in the natural sciences, mathematics or computer science and who intend to pursue graduate degrees in one of these fields. Students receiving the scholarship are expected to conduct research in their field.
Applying for a Clare Boothe Luce Undergraduate Scholarship for Women in Science
If you received a letter inviting you to apply for this scholarship and are not currently a Clare Boothe Luce scholar:
Download the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship Application. Opening the file will produce a writable PDF document that you can fill-in and save to your computer.
1. Identify two people to write letters supporting your application; one should be the person supervising your proposed research project. Ask your letter writers to download the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship Recommendation Form.
2. Completed applications and letters of recommendations should be returned to Terri Stutzman in the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office. The deadline for completed applications is March 12, 2012.
3. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Hollyann Harris.
If you are a current Clare Boothe Luce scholar and received a letter inviting you to renew your scholarship:
Download the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship Renewal Application. Opening the file will produce a writable PDF document that you can fill-in and save to your computer.
1. Your research supervisor will need to write a letter of recommendation for you. Ask your supervisor to download the Clare Boothe Luce Renewal Recommendation Form.
2. Completed applications and letters of recommendations should be returned to Terri Stutzman in the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office, 228 Creighton Hall. The deadline for completed applications is March 12, 2012.
3. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Hollyann Harris.
If you were asked to write a letter supporting a woman applying for a Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship:
1. Download either the Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship Recommendation Form or the Clare Boothe Luce Renewal Recommendation Form depending on whether you are recommending a student who is applying for a new scholarship or a renewal scholarship.
2. Completed letters of recommendations should be returned to Terri Stutzman in the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office, 228 Creighton Hall. The deadline for completed applications is March 12, 2012.
3. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Hollyann Harris.
Selection Criteria
Clare Boothe Luce scholars are determined based on the following:
- Very strong academic skills in the sciences and mathematics (minimum GPA of 3.4), typically in the upper 10% of her science classes during the first two academic years.
- Previously evidenced and sustained research involvement in research, indicative of an investigative mind.
- Interests in a variety of subject areas.
- Imaginative use of information, rather than simply a capacity to absorb instructions.
- Vigorous personality and certain natural assurance about herself and her capabilities.
- Demonstration of inner discipline.
- Declared major in Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics or Physics.
- Current sophomore or junior (to be funded during junior or senior year).
- United States citizen.
Selection Process
Selection starts at the end of the fall semester with a nomination by a faculty member from a Natural Science, Mathematics or Computer Science Department. Interested students should ask their advisors or one of their professors to submit their name for consideration or speak directly to Dr. Hollyann Harris. The names are sent to the Office of the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, for initial screening to eliminate any candidate who does not meet the specific criteria of the Luce scholarship.
The successful candidates at this stage are then invited by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to apply for the scholarship. Scholarship applications are due in the middle of the spring semester. Applicant's should work closely with a research supervisor (usually a professor in a science/mathematics/computer science department at Creighton or within Nebraska) to complete the "proposed plan of research" in the scholarship application. The ideal candidate would have begun, or made firm plans to begin, a research project in the fall or spring semester of the current year.
Those who respond to the Dean's invitation are evaluated by a Selection Committee comprised of faculty members from the science, mathematics and computer science departments. The committee will include active science researchers with strong representation from women scientists. The Selection Committee will review all the application materials and may desire to interview the top candidates. They will then submit the final list of names to the Dean of the College.
The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will announce the winners of the scholarships in a timely fashion (shortly before May 1) to coincide with announcements from the Office of Financial Aid.
Clare Boothe Luce Scholars
Sixty-three of Creighton's Clare Boothe Luce Scholars have gone on to graduate school in science. Of these, several have gone on to earn post-doctoral and faculty positions (including two of Creighton's Chemistry professors). Other scholars have pursued careers as high school teachers, lawyers, medical doctors, optometrists, pharmacists, science writers and veterinarians.
2010-2011
Laura Anderson
Anya Burkart
Kathryn Del Vecchio
2009-2010
Anya Burkart
Katherine Garrett
Elsbeth Klotz
Danielle Renner
Kelley Wanzeck
2008-2009
Sarah Fredrick
Katherine Garrett
Natalie German
Elsbeth Klotz
Carolyn Posey
Megan Ruhland
Kelley Wanzeck
2007-2008
Jennie Burns
Sarah Fredrick
Natalie German
Ann Jizba
Meg Marquardt
Carolyn Posey