Ascend: Empowering Female Students for Success Webinars

Ascend language with a multitude of fists raised.

After the success of their Leadership in Times of Crisis webinar series, the University of Delaware’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has teamed up with the Lerner student group Women in Business in order to offer a new webinar series. This new series, Ascend: Empowering Female Students for Success, was created to offer support to female Lerner students.

According to the WLI webpage, “Students grow tremendously in the classroom, but workplace challenges can still be surprising. In particular, female students who encounter implicit biases often lack the awareness and skills they need to successfully navigate them.”

Thus the goal of the one-hour online sessions in the Ascend: Empowering Female Students for Success series is to equip female students with the tools they need to be more effective in the workplace. Students will be introduced to successful female executives who serve as advisors and role models and teach critical leadership skills.

Each of these online sessions will include a 15-minute talk from a successful female executive and a facilitated breakout discussion so that students can meet one another and deepen their learning and connection. The dates and topics for the Ascend: Empowering Female Students for Success webinars are:

Outstanding Lifelong Lerner: Mark ONeill

Mark ONeill graduated from the Lerner College of Business in 1983 with a degree in business administration. After a successful 20-year career at Pfizer, he recently retired and now resides in Bluffton, S.C. In retirement, ONeill has embarked on a new path as a...

Outstanding Lifelong Lerner: Sarah Mailloux

Sarah Mailloux graduated from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics in 2018 with a master's of science in international business, and then with her MBA in 2021. She currently resides in Douglassville, PA and works as a state director for the Pennsylvania...

UD’s Vita Nova Restaurant Featured in Delaware Today

Delaware Today recently posted an article highlighting Vita Nova Restaurant, part of the Department of Hospitality and Sport Business Management in the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. The student-run restaurant located on the...

Lerner Co-op Program Intern: Kaylee Chau

Throughout the summer and 2025-26 school year, students in UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics are comprising the initial class of the Lerner Co-op Program, a new year-long work-based learning initiative launched with a grant from the Delaware...

UD students gain fashion retail skills at Ross

Piper Goldstein entered the University of Delaware as a fashion merchandising major and said she has loved every class she’s taken. Eve Chapman, a marketing major, declared fashion merchandising as a minor early in her tenure at UD and said that through those courses...

Lerner Welcomes New Faculty, Largest Class in 2025

On behalf of the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, Dean Oliver Yao is pleased to welcome a distinguished group of new faculty and instructors for the 2025–26 academic year. Their expertise spans entrepreneurship, finance,...