Women of Vision fill eight new Advisory Board seats

The Flagler College Women of Vision Advisory Board, which provides scholarships and opportunities for women who attend the college, recently welcomed eight new members per an announcement received by Historic City News.

To date, the Women of Vision Fund has raised over $171,000, established a Women of Vision Scholarship Endowment Fund and provided five scholarships to four women.

“After two very successful Power of the Purse fundraising luncheons, I believe that these new members will help the Women of Vision Advisory Board continue to raise scholarship money for deserving young women at Flagler College,” said Board Chair Robin Cooper. “Their enthusiasm and commitment bring a new energy to the Board, and I look forward to the event in May of 2017.”

The new members are Lisa Bond, Linda Allen Hawkins, Kathi Keller, Diane Key, Kristy Kurowski, Janice Long, Sheia Pleasant-Doine and Lou Ann Irby Willis. Each was elected by majority vote of the 21-person Board.

The new members represent various constituencies, including friends of Flagler College, alumni, donors and community leaders from the greater St. Augustine area.

The role of young women in the college stretches back to its founding in 1968, when the college opened as a small, private college for women and welcomed 160 female students to its first class. In 1971, it officially became a co-educational institution.

Today, 63 percent of the 2,624 Flagler students are women. According to Flagler’s Office of Institutional Advancement, while institutional aid for females has increased 84 percent since 2004, the number of financially needy female students remains higher than the total amount of aid available. The Women of Vision Fund aims to fulfill this financial need.

The Fund was spearheaded in 2014 by Cooper and Dr. Beverly Copeland Carmichael, a member of the college’s first graduating class and vice president of Institutional Advancement.

• Photo credit: Monarch Studio
• Photo caption: Top row (left to right): Sue Freytag, Sheia Pleasant-Doine, Linda Mignon, Sue Hale, Linda Allen-Hawkins; second row from top: Janice Long, Holly Hill, Ann King, Lisa Bond; third row: Kristy Kurowski, Kathi Keller, Susan Abare, Karen Glenos; fourth row: Lynda Kirker, Lou Ann Irby Willis, Teresa Taylor, Robin Cooper; front row: Beverly Carmichael, Barbara Cone, Elsa Brader, Cathy Burkhardt; Not pictured: Laura Stevenson-Dumas, Diane Key, Donna Matthews, Julie McGuire, Philadelphia Shoop, Deborah Thompson, Jean Tucker