And with a 6 percent increase in full-time female enrollment just this year, the GSB is attracting greater numbers of women to its M.B.A. programs. The trend promises to continue with help from a special task force established by Dean Robert S. Hamada.

The Women’s Task Force was created in September 1999 to develop a strategy for recruiting more women to Chicago GSB and ensuring that enrolled female students have positive experiences once they arrive on campus. Led by Carol Swanberg, director of admissions and financial aid, and administered by the Office of Diversity Affairs, the task force held focus groups in January 2000 and has since developed several initiatives for women at the GSB.

These initiatives, which will be detailed in an upcoming report to Hamada, include targeted marketing strategies, receptions and activities for female applicants and admitted students, mentorship programs, scholarships, and standards of professionalism and scholarship for all members of the GSB community.

“The new initiatives were created to get the GSB on women’s radar screens, increasing the possibility that they’ll apply, ” said Swanberg. “They also work to ensure that admitted female students enroll at Chicago. ”

Targeted marketing efforts, including a new brochure for women, are designed to put Chicago GSB in the minds of top-tier prospective students. “Focus group participants indicated a desire for a brochure that would speak expressly to women and demonstrate that the GSB specifically wants women to enroll, ” Swanberg said.

The school plans to send materials such as the new brochure to women who fit the academic profile of the GSB.

Additionally, both female applicants and accepted female students will be invited to designated receptions and activities at the school. These activities will put women new to the GSB in close contact with current students, including members of the student-run Chicago Women in Business (CWiB) group, and with alumnae and members of the University of Chicago Women’s Business Group (UCWBG).

“It is important to incorporate women into the fold on the other end of recruitment as well.––the post-admittance end, ” Swanberg stressed. “We don’t want to forget about women after they apply and are admitted. We want to continue to address the issues that are important to them and ensure their experiences after enrollment are positive ones. ”

To that end, the Women’s Task Force has proposed a mentorship and leadership program for female GSB students and developed schoolwide standards of professionalism and scholarship. The mentorship program will connect first-year women with alumnae in the business world. While Chicago GSB currently offers a second-year to first-year student mentorship program, Swanberg hopes this program will be “more global, career-oriented, and long-term. ”

Female students will be able to discuss with their mentors such issues as leadership skills, the glass ceiling, and balancing work and family, said Swanberg. The program also will include more formal leadership seminars and career-oriented conferences. “The whole idea is to make people more comfortable with the GSB earlier in their education. ”

Part of that comfort stems from the knowledge that one’s community is committed to the respect and dignity of all its members, Swanberg added. To make the GSB’s commitment to these values more visible, the Women’s Task Force has developed standards of professionalism and scholarship, which appear in the 2000­01 student handbook. The statement clearly defines the school’s expectations for its community’s behavior, she said.

Although the statement is specifically a product of the Women’s Task Force, Swanberg emphasized that “it’s a broad statement of how members in a diverse community should regard one another, and it prepares students for the expectations that will be placed upon them in the business world. ”