Women’s College professor establishes scholarship in honor of her late grandmother

"I’m looking for students who have all the skills necessary to be a leader, who are academically strong, deeply professional and driven to achieve,” says Tiffani Lennon, who has established a scholarship in her grandmother's name.

Carmella Lucia Fredo Lennon was a tenacious woman who made a lasting impact on many people, especially her granddaughter, Tiffani Lennon, chair of the law and society program at the University of Denver Women’s College.

“I’ve never known a stronger, more powerful woman,” Tiffani Lennon says.

In her grandmother’s memory, Lennon recently donated $25,000 to the Women’s College to endow a scholarship for undergraduate law and society majors. DU will match her $25,000 gift.

Carmella Lennon, who was born in 1904 in Calabria, Italy, was 85 when she took on the task of raising then-10-year-old Tiffani. “She grew up in a time when women couldn’t vote and couldn’t drive. She entered into an arranged marriage at 16,” Tiffani says. “By traditional markers, she wouldn’t be considered a woman leader—but she was deeply respected, extraordinarily selfless and incredibly driven. She saved my life in a lot of ways.”

Lennon sees many parallels between her grandmother and the women she teaches in the interdisciplinary law and society program. Students in the program are headed for law school, the public sector or advocacy work, she says, and they are attracted to the program’s strong focus on social justice.

Lennon says administrators from the Women’s College will select scholarship recipients based on criteria she has established.

“My grandmother taught me how to succeed in life, so I’m looking for students who have all the skills necessary to be a leader, who are academically strong, deeply professional and driven to achieve,” she says.

Lennon intends to continue to donate to the scholarship fund over the years, and she dreams of being able to fully fund a number of Women’s College students.

“Professor Lennon’s expression of support for her students sets a leadership example among the members of the DU community,” says Women’s College Dean Lynn Gangone. “Through her deeply generous gift in establishing the Carmella Lucia Fredo Lennon Endowed Scholarship, Professor Lennon epitomizes the college’s mission of bold leadership in celebration of and on behalf of women.”