In addition to the conference, Radcliffe provides support for some women leaders through its resources, such as spring break externships and mentor programs.

Dean of Radcliffe College Philippa A. Bovet says she thinks Radcliffe's programs externship and mentor programs are particularly useful.

"I...get feedback from students who participate in externships and mentor programs," Bovet says. "I think very explicitly many have discussions with women about effective leadership."

"Unfortunately, I would say [Radcliffe programs] do seem to serve a useful purpose," she says. "We could wish there were not women feeling they have to work twice as hard to rise in their organizations."

Boyle says she has benefited from a Radcliffe Presidential Discretionary Funds grant, which she is using to write a book on how to conduct high school science research that will be distributed to Massachusetts high schools in the fall.

Boyle also says she has particularly appreciated opportunities that Radcliffe has provided for her to meet in small groups with mentors, especially as a physics major who has felt aware that she has been surrounded by men in many of her classes.

A private luncheon she attended in February allowed her and 12 other under-graduate and graduate students to talk with Bovet and June E. Osborn, dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health before Osborn gave a lecture.

"Things like that come out of Radcliffe--intimate, personal experiences that have sort of kept me going while I've been here," Boyle says. "That type of opportunity to have that type of leader, especially in science, does much."

Several undergraduate organizations deal with helping women succeed in the classroom and become leaders in traditionally male-dominated fields. Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe and Women in Government and Economics hold meetings to try to deal with the challenges of being in male-dominated fields.

Boyle has acted as a big sister to younger female science students through the women in science program. "Having mostly male professors--I've had one female science professor--things like that can make an impression on a first-year student," she says.

The Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), the official student government of Radcliffe, advocates women's rights on campus, but has consistently failed to draw significant participation from the general campus community. Nevertheless, a core group of women have found support in the organization.

"When people come to RUS, they...meet a whole network of women who are involved in other organizations, and realize that there are strong, bright women in these groups," says Deborah J. Wexler '95, an RUS co-chair.

Although many newer organization have cropped up to increase opportunities for women's leadership on campus, some other, long-established organizations seem to have escaped the gender politics that plague the Undergraduate Council and similar institutions.

Jennifer A. Goldberg '94 is president of the Phillips Brooks House Association, which organizes 1500 students working in community service programs. Goldberg says her gender has never been an issue in her organization, which she describes as "very inclusive."

"In PBH I have always had the same experience as everyone else," she says.