MPI Gives Thousands of Dollars for Learning

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 9/6/2004

Dallas-based Meeting Professionals Intl. recently awarded scholarships totaling $45,000 to eight women in the industry who may have postponed their personal educational goals.

Presented for the second year in a row, MPI's Women's Leadership Initiative scholarships are aimed at members, both planners and suppliers, who are interested in advancing their educations — be it via traditional undergraduate or graduate degrees, or nontraditional pursuits such as MPI's executive certification programs. Although both male and female MPI members are eligible for the awards, women are at an advantage since 75 percent of MPI members are female, and awards are distributed on a gender ratio basis.

Recipient Diane Bowman plans to apply her $10,000 award toward her quest for a bachelor's degree — something she's been working on part-time since 1996.

Bowman said her vision of establishing her own meeting planning firm has become clearer through business and event planning courses at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

"It's been a process," said Bowman, an assistant conference planner contracted with the U.S. Department of Transportation. She added, "I know that my labor is not in vain."