WLP meets Dubai

The WLP delegation to the Women as Global Leaders Conference - March 2008

Good news!!!

The students were prepared and ready for their presentations. There was a bit of milling around as we got started. Both student groups gave outstanding presentations this morning. There were reviews all around for the clarity and excitement of their presentations.


The students received a special visit from Helen Thomas.




Oh, yes! All luggage has arrived! (Turns out, almost all!)

We have arrived!

Our trip to Dubai will go down in the annals of flight history. We were stuck in Paris for hours after a diverted flight to Lyon.



Everything that could possibly go wrong with connecting flights did but we arrived safely - tired and in need of showers but safe! Oh yes, as of Tuesday evening - no luggage.

We went immediately to the conference. The hotel facility is over the top - flowers everywhere, helpful staff and fabulous food.


We went through security, had to hand over phones and cameras to attend an all-women session to hear the Shaika (wife of the Sheik) deliver a speech, enjoyed a round of sessions and then many of our resourceful students went off to find something to wear for the presentations on Wednesday morning.

The evening barbeque in the desert was amazing - and not a hamburger or hot-dog in sight. We were greeted by a ceremonial dance troop, rode camels, ate well, made friends with falcons and watched a 'stage show' and fire works.




The trip is now safely behind us and everyone is ready for a great day.

Not there, yet!

The best laid plans of mice and (wo)men often go astray. We meant to leave for Dubai on Saturday afternoon on a flight form DC to Atlanta and then on to Dubai. Unfortunately, the weather conspired against us. So, we will try again this evening, getting to Dubai Monday evening and missing one day of the conference. Wish us luck!

WLP travels to Women as Global Leaders Conference 2008

Based on our success in 2006, WLP is again travling to the Womena s Global Leaders Conference in Dubai. Ten students, two graduate student assistants, a facuty member and the associate dean will leave on March 8 for the three day conference. Two of our student presentations have been accepted by the conference, so each team will have about an hour and a half to make thier case concerning women, leadership and the WLP experience. We will try to post comments and photos often. Wish us luck!

Links to Other Comments by our Students

Many of the students who traveled to the Women as Global Leaders Conference have written articles and posted photos of our trip. They are eager to share them with you. Check out a few of the articles.

Spring Break in the UAE: Day 1 - The Trip, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in the UAE: Day 2 - Zayed University, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in UAE: Day 3 - Conference Kickoff, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in UAE: Day 4 - Desert Extravaganza, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in UAE: Day 5 - Hanging with the Boys, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in UAE: Day 6 - Shop till You Drop, by Gillian McHale

Spring Break in UAE: Day 7 - Gold Sook or Sick, by Gillian McHale

And, a few photos from Kanika

To read our students' journal entries, view the comments to this page

Could it be that the conference is over?

The last day of the conference arrived - how can it be only three days? So much has happened, we have heard from so many fabulous speakers, met folk from just down the street at Georgetown University, from miles away, even from worlds away. And yet, we discovered, we are more similar than different, concerned with the same issues of opportunities for leadership at all levels for women.

Our panel concerning the WLP went well. A bit of irony, though, is how much we learned about our own program. There was an excellent interchange among the students and with the audience. We are even more committed to the program and have new ideas for resources and activities.


The panel: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: stakeholders views of the Women's Leadership Program. Participants included Catherine Villnave, Gillian Robinson, Megan Shea, Sara Al Asfoor, Mary Buckley (Professor) Rachelle Heller (Associate Dean) Konika Metre and Allison Kreutzjans

Coming here to present our program, share our university experience.- tell them how we do our thing.

Who would have thought the most surprising thing I encountered were the preconceptions I found within myself. And that the most wonderful thing I found was the change in me.

The first day after visiting the Zayed University I was fascinated to hear from an articulate and engaging student, only eyes exposed, that she was a Communications major.

A bit ruffled, I nodded. Communications to me is a combination of skill sets- self presentation, us and incoproatoin of cutting edge technology and marketing among other things. Coming from behind a hajib for me was unusual.

After only three days here, it hardly seems unusual, or novel at all. Except perhaps to what we think, in our 'cutting edge' western world.

The students we have met, Arab, European, African, America, have been the most exceptional and educationally rich part of what has been and continues to be an eye opening and expanding trip.

Our students at their roundtable presentation

GW students - Amalfi Parker, Veronika Pensiakova, Alison Meuse, Andrea Katz and Gillian McHale wowed the conference with their roundatable discussion on "Are only extraordinary woman capable of being a leader?"
To a standing room only crowd, they opened by asking everyone to introduce themselves, asked who they thought a leader was, what the characteristics were of a leader. They moved to their planned discussion and kep the session going for an hour with excellent comments, guiding questions to the audience and wonderful wrap up - here are few photos of the session

And to celebrate - a desert barbeque, Abu Dhabi style. If you look carefully you can see the whirling dancer on the stage. The night was filled with fireworks, camel rides, Arabian horses, and of course food - something for everyone including those that desire goat roasting on an open spit. And, if you are not quite full, there is always dessert.