N.E.W. (National Education for Women's) Leadership
The award-winning N.E.W. (National Education for Women's) Leadership program educates and empowers undergraduate women to participate actively in politics and public service. The program connects students to policy makers and community activists to engage them in shaping the public agenda.
Launched in 2002, the program is part of the N.E.W. Leadership National Network at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
N.E.W. Leadership is an intense, five-day program that takes place each year on the University of Oklahoma campus and is designed specifically for undergraduate women from colleges and universities across the state of Oklahoma. Participants reside at the Alpha Phi House and the entire experience, including housing and meals, is offered at no cost to students.
Each year, about thirty students are selected for the institute through a competitive application process. Program faculty includes over 50 women leaders from public life. They include elected officials, business leaders, community organizers and members of the judiciary.
The curriculum includes skill building workshops, a campaign simulation, a networking day at the Oklahoma State Capitol, a collaborative action project, panel discussions and more. We bring our participants together to engage directly with Oklahoma’s top women leaders. To date, more than 500 undergraduate women from 40 different universities and colleges, and eight tribal nations across Oklahoma, have graduated from the N.E.W. Leadership program.
This year's program dates are May 19-23, 2023.
National Network
N.E.W. Leadership Oklahoma is a program of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. The Carl Albert Center is a participating partner in the N.E.W. Leadership National Network, an initiative of the Center for American Women (CAWP) in Politics/Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Before CAWP was founded in 1971, no organization or educational institution was compiling information about women in government and politics or studying and monitoring the status and prospects of those women. Today CAWP serves as a catalyst and resource, provider of data and analysis, interpreter and guide. CAWP is a leading authority in its field and a respected bridge between the academic and political worlds.
