Midland College student selected for leadership programApril 10, 2019

Midland College (MC) student Ruby Stuard has been accepted into the NEW Leadership™ Texas class of women for 2019. 

NEW Leadership™ is a national non-partisan program developed by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University to address the underrepresentation of women in American politics. There are NEW Leadership™ programs in about 25 states. The program has been at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin since 2012.

NEW Leadership™ Texas is a six-day residential summer institute sponsored by UT’s Center for Women’s & Gender Studies that educates college women about the important role that politics plays in their lives and encourages them to become effective leaders in the political arena.

NEW Leadership™ Texas 2019 will bring together college women from across the political spectrum to the UT Austin campus on June 1-6 to discuss the roles of women in leadership and politics. The program exposes young women to new ideas and opportunities as they consider their future careers.  

Participants are undergraduate women representing a wide range of socioeconomic, ethnic, racial and educational backgrounds and academic majors.  

Entry into the program is a competitive selection process based on the individual’s leadership potential, ability to deal with challenges, capacity to reflect on one’s own personal strengths and weaknesses, special interests and interest in politics, public service and/or public policy. The institute normally accepts only 20-25 female students each year.  Most of the participants are from four-year universities.

“Not only am I wanting to improve my leadership skills, I’m also hoping that the institute will afford me the opportunity to engage with other young women who share my interests in public service,” said Stuard.  “I will graduate from Midland College in December, and I hope to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science or social work.  My ultimate goal is to work with a nonpartisan service organization or nonprofit organization.”

Stuard grew up in Hobbs, New Mexico.  In 2017, she moved to Midland and took courses toward her high school equivalency diploma at Midland College.  She successfully passed the high school equivalency exam and then enrolled in Midland College.  She currently has a 3.5 GPA, is in the Midland College Honors program and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

“I’ve wanted to have a Midland College student in this leadership program for years and am thrilled that Ruby has been accepted,” said Terry Gilmour, MC Government professor and Director of the MC Honors program.  “This is going to be a great opportunity for Ruby, and she will represent Midland College well.  It is entirely possible that she will be the only community college student there.”