A New Scholarship Helps Women Over 30 Break into the Business World

When Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett ’53, MS ’61 was in business school, she was often the only woman in the room.

“But I persevered,” she says.

She also never forgot. After a long and successful career in marketing and a second career as an archaeology professor, Beaudry-Corbett decided to give back: She has made a $4 million gift to the USC Marshall School of Business to fund scholarships for female MBA students who are age 30 and older.

Studies show that MBA programs struggle to attract women, in part because of the age of students who typically pursue the degree. They’re usually in their late 20s or early 30s. Most programs mandate at least several years’ worth of work experience, but that may conflict with some students’ desires to marry and start a family.

After earning her undergraduate degree in business at what was then known as the USC School of Business Administration, Beaudry-Corbett went to Radcliffe College to attend the Harvard-Radcliffe School of Business Administration. She also holds a master’s in industrial sociology from USC. She built her career in the then-nascent field of marketing research and rose to chief operating officer at Audience Studies Inc., a marketing and advertising research firm. She later pursued archaeology, earning a doctorate in the field in 1983.

Now retired, Beaudry-Corbett is looking to the future. “I knew I wanted the money I raised through my investments to do some good,” she says. “I decided on philanthropy and supporting the things I’ve enjoyed in my life.”

Interested in starting a scholarship at USC? Visit the Campaign for USC to learn how.