Mills College Shatters the ''Glass Ceiling''

Women's College Challenges Workforce Gender Barriers
OAKLAND, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The "glass ceiling" literally shattered at Mills College today,
materializing the 22-year-old metaphor by breaking through the
symbolic impediment to women's success and serving as a platform to
announce a new name for the College's MBA program: the Lorry I. Lokey
Graduate School of Business. The newly named Lokey Graduate School of
Business is the first MBA program designed for women in the West, and
one of only two in the country.

The event, entitled "Breaking Barriers," celebrated Mills'
accomplishments of breaking barriers and preparing women for
leadership for more than 150 years. With assistance from Mills
President Janet L. Holmgren and lead donor Lorry I. Lokey, current
Mills MBA student Jackie Antig climbed a ladder and broke a six-foot
by 12-foot glass ceiling made from Hollywood-style breakaway glass.

While the nature of the "glass ceiling" has evolved since the
phrase was used in a 1986 Wall Street Journal article, it still
exists, Holmgren said. In fact, women still comprise less than three
percent of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, as reported in Fortune's
annual list.

"We are shining new light on this still relevant and meaningful
metaphor," Holmgren said. "What Senator Hillary Clinton has done
rhetorically in her presidential campaign, with frequent references to
shattering the 'highest and hardest glass ceiling,' we did literally
both to celebrate the many successes of women and to draw attention to
the continual need to bring equity and parity to the workplace."

Keynote speaker and Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman offered
her perspective on "The Glass Ceiling: Fact or Fiction?"

The event also served as a groundbreaking for a new home to the
women-focused MBA program. The program's rapid growth in the past few
years spurred plans for a new, environmentally friendly,
28,500-square-foot building that will be completed by the fall of
2009. The building, designed by world-renowned architect Peter Bohlin,
of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, who also designed several award-winning
Apple stores around the country, is anticipated to receive Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification.

The Mills MBA Program was specifically designed to train women to
enter the highest levels of management while simultaneously welcoming
them into an extensive network of female professionals. The
combination of tangible skills and invaluable personal connections
empowers Mills graduates with the ability to break the glass ceiling
in any field, and in any organization.

Holmgren and Nancy Thornborrow, Dean of the Lokey Graduate School
of Business, are strong advocates of gender-focused education, and led
the creation of the MBA program in 2001. In fact, it was Thornborrow
who successfully led the charge to keep Mills a women's college during
a 1990 student-led strike.

"Our mission today is as relevant as it was in 1852 and in 1990:
to prepare women for leadership roles," Thornborrow said.

Thornborrow believes that to shatter the metaphorical glass
ceiling, women must enter the workforce empowered with the
fundamentals of how to manage people and numbers. Those skills begin
with the right tools and an educational curriculum that meets women's
needs. The Mills curriculum has a strong underpinning of economics,
which Thornborrow believes is essential for ultimate business success.

The new Business School was named for Lorry I. Lokey, the founder
of Business Wire and a Mills College Trustee. Lokey sold Business Wire
to Berkshire Hathaway in 2006, and credits his business success to the
many talented women he employed throughout the growth and evolution of
his company. He has long been a champion of women in the workplace and
is a noted philanthropist in the educational arena. His daughter
graduated from Mills in 1985. Lokey has contributed more than $30
million to Mills, including $20 million for the Graduate School of
Business.

"This gift is an investment in the future because education and
women's advancement are the future," Lokey said. "Mills gives women
the opportunities they dream of and empowers them to work on
eliminating discrimination against women."

Mills College, founded in 1852, is an independent liberal arts
college serving 900 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and
men. The College is ranked as one of the top colleges in the West by
U.S. News & World Report and one of the Best 366 Colleges by the
Princeton Review. Visit Mills College at www.mills.edu.

Mills College
Quynh Tran, 510-430-2300
Media Relations Manager
qtran@mills.edu
or
MacKenzie Communications, Inc.
Kathryn Pellegrini, 415-403-0800 ext. 26 or 415-716-7976
kpellegrini@mackenziesf.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008