AAUW MH Endowments

AAUW is one of the largest funders of women’s graduate education, awarding over $6M in fellowships and grants for the current academic year. The Morgan Hill Branch has established and completed two such endowments: The Irene Blaine/Barbara Cate $100,000 American Fellowship, started in 1991 in the names of two charter members to celebrate our 10th anniversary, was completed in 2002. The Wildflower Run Research and Projects Grants endowment of $75,000 was established in 2014 and completed in 2018.

Interest from completed endowments is used to fund fellowships and grants. This year 320 awards were made, including two supported by MH branch endowments.

Naomi Eigbe received a Selected Professions Fellowship, funded in part by the Blaine Cate Endowment. She is studying at Stanford University in the master’s program in Symbolic Systems. She is interested in using computers to answer social and psychological questions and to develop innovative technology that results in positive impacts on society. She did her undergraduate work at Rice University with a double major in computer science and psychology.

Rebecca Sosa is studying at Antioch University in Los Angeles on a Career Development Grant, partially funded by the Wildflower Run R &P Grant. After majoring in journalism at New York University and a career in film distribution and social-impact strategy, her passion for mental health inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in the field of psychological trauma. She is working toward marriage and family therapy and clinical counseling licensures.

By Peggy Martin, AAUW Fund VP, and Carol O’Hare

Return to January/February 2023 Newsletter