Midge Rendell Praises Adult-Women Students
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The Honorable Marjorie “Midge” Rendell spoke
at a celebration honoring 21 adult women for distinguished
academic achievement. The women are recipients of Bread Upon
the Waters scholarships, a program for women older than traditional
students who are completing an undergraduate degree through
part-time study in the College of General Studies. The event
also honored donors of the first ten named scholarships for
the Bread program.
“ We have elevated balancing to an art form,” Rendell
told the group, many of whom balance their studies with jobs
along with their roles as wives and mothers. She went on
to praise the women scholars for aiming high to fulfill their
own promise while serving so many masters. “You are
a testament to what women can do when they set their minds
to do it,” she said. A passage from the Book of Proverbs
recounting the talents of the diligent wife and mother who
also sells her wares in the market and spins garments at
night helped to illustrate her point. “Charms may wane
and beauty whither,” Rendell concluded the quote, “keep
your praise for a wife with brains”
Judge Rendell has long balanced an impressive career with
her duties as mother and wife. As Pennsylvania’s First
Lady, she is the wife of Governor Edward Rendell, the former
mayor of Philadelphia and College alumnus. Currently, she
is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Third Circuit. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum
laude, at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a
member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society. After her
graduation from Villanova University School of Law, she joined
Duane, Morris & Hecksher, becoming the law firm’s
second woman partner. Rendell is a trustee of the University
of Pennsylvania, chair of the Board of Overseers of Penn’s
School of Nursing, and a board member at the medical school.
She also serves on the Trustees Council of Penn Women and
the university’s External Affairs and Neighborhood
Initiatives Committees.
The Bread Upon the Waters Scholarships were established
in 1986 to provide tuition grants to academically talented
women, 30 years of age or more, who wish to study part-time
in the College of General Studies. Since its beginning, the
program has graduated more than 35 scholars, 22 of them with
honors. Without financial assistance provided by Bread Upon
the Waters, many adult women are unable to afford a Penn
education.
The College of General Studies, established in 1892, provides undergraduate and graduate degree programs, professional certificate programs, cultural enrichment, and other continuing education programs to non-traditional students. For information on the Bread Upon the Waters scholarship program, please call 215.898.7326, visit Penn’s College of General Studies at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/CGS/ or e-mail Bread Scholarship advisor Karen Weidel at kweidel@sas.upenn.edu