New University for Asian Women Planned

The Asian Women’s Leadership University in Malaysia aims to teach a wide cross-section of women from different backgrounds to become leaders in the professions, business, and government. The university hopes to enroll its first students in 2015.

Barbara Hou, a 2003 graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, is spearheading the project and raising funds. Hou says, “The university aims to attract students who value a U.S.-style liberal arts education, who are attracted to the university’s institutional mission to educate and empower women, and who benefit from a cost advantage of studying in Asia.”

Carol Christ, president of Smith College, and Lynn Pasquerella, president of Mount Holyoke College, are both on the AWLU board of advisers.

For more information on the project, click here.