Ladies come first with the NYU Stern School of Business’s new scholarship fund — one million dollars are now dedicated to the Advancing Women in Business Scholarship. According to the press release, this scholarship funds full-time MBA women and men in the class of 2019.

This new initiative was announced in a university press release on Feb. 2, and it is partially funded by members of the Stern School’s Board of Overseers and a number of alumnae. The press release said that recipients will receive aid for their first year of tuition and mandatory fees. Candidates will be selected based on how well they embody the scholarship’s tenet of female empowerment.

“The scholarships will be awarded to students who demonstrate a deep and abiding commitment to advancing women in business and will cover the first year of tuition and mandatory fees,” the press release said.

The popular MBA student club, Stern Women in Business also reinforces the vision behind this scholarship. SWIB president Julianne Helinek said that the new scholarship successfully demonstrates Stern’s commitment to women.

“We’ve known for a while that they are committed to getting women here and showing women that Stern is a place that they can be successful,” Helinek said. “I think that just the concreteness of the  one million dollar scholarship fund is another level of that, which is why it’s so exciting and I am so proud of my school. It makes it real.”

Stern freshman Michelle Wang said that though there are more men than women in Stern, this disparity isn’t too noticeable in her day-to-day life. She said that the support from women’s clubs in Stern helps her feel comfortable despite the school’s gender imbalance.

“Of course you can see that there are more males than females in your Stern classes, but it doesn’t really matter,” Wang said. “There are so many Stern clubs for females that are there to help us out. I would say there’s no bias towards nor against women. I really like the atmosphere here.”

Stern freshman Kelly Leong expressed similar viewpoints, and said that since she does not regularly feel discrimination or discomfort due to her gender.

“To be honest though, freshman fall is about getting core classes out of the way, so you intermingle a lot between CAS kids as well,” Leong said. “For freshman spring, even though you’re starting to be in Stern classes, you usually pick them along with your friends, so again you don’t tend to notice it a lot.”

Leong stressed the importance that Stern puts on diversity, not only for women but also for all communities that are at risk of marginalization.

“Stern is very good in terms of providing diversity programs,” Leong said. “Whether that’s for uplifting women, the LGBTQA+ community or first generation students.”

Helinek is optimistic about the scholarship’s impact for the school, and how it will affect women specifically. She also said that if the population of women in Stern increased, awareness for the issues they face would also increase.

“Can I guarantee right now that we’re going to have a different number of women next year?” Helenik asked. “Of course not. But I am optimistic, and I think it’s a really positive sign for Stern that they’re serious about this and it’s important that they’re not just putting out words but they are putting their money where their mouth is which is really cool.”

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Feb. 13 print edition. Email Arushi Sahay at [email protected].