Alumnae and Radcliffe Forum Sponsor Career 'Externships'

The Radcliffe Forum will launch a pilot "externship" program during spring break that will allow female undergraduates to explore career options while working with alumnae.

Delda H. White, assistant director of the Radcliffe Forum, said yesterday the organization hopes to sponsor at least 11 students next month and several more during the summer in volunteer jobs that will range from working with a security analyst in Boston to assisting a city planner in Palo Alto, Calif., to spending a few weeks with a science fiction writer in Ireland.

Members of the Radcliffe Class of '47 initiated the project, which the Class chairman Grace L. Huffaker '47 yesterday described as a method of providing women with first-hand work experience that will help them select suitable professions.

Too Many Chiefs

"Women today are under a great deal of pressure to choose a career, but they don't always know where to go. There's pressure to be a doctor, a lawyer or an Indian chief. We want to help Radcliffe students look around and see the other option," Huffaker said, adding that the program should prevent students from entering a profession, "working for a week and discovering they can't stand it."

Susan L. Comstock '78, president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, said yesterday the proposal "shows that the Radcliffe administration recognizes the need for special career guidance for women."

If students and alumnae respond favorably to the pilot program, the Forum will attempt to enlarge the number of available positions and may seek funding for students working during the summers, White said.

Huffaker said that the program, which resembles existing projects at Barnard and Bryn Mawr Colleges, may eventually be open to male undergraduates as well.