University at Buffalo Women’s Club

The University at Buffalo Women’s Club is an active campus and community service organization open to women with a commitment to the University and the club’s mission. For more than 70 years, its members have sustained educational and charitable activities to support the Western New York community and UB students.

Its activities have ranged from distributing clothing to needy university faculty families affected by World War II to hosting the first Scholarship Ball on campus.

Grace W. Capen, was the first honorary president of the organization in 1946 and was married to UB Chancellor Samuel P. Capen. She made an initial donation of $100 to implement a short term, interest-free loan fund for students. By 1955, the organization’s fundraising events were so successful, that an endowment was established, first to provide loans and later, to fund the annual Women’s Club of UB Scholarship.

The group’s signature program is a second fund, named for Grace Capen. Recipients of these funds are honored each year at a reception hosted by the club members.