The Sharen Cutting Shipley Scholarship

Criteria: (Amount Equal to One Full Annual Tuition Award) The Sharen Cutting Shipley Scholarship will be awarded to a full-time undergraduate student, working part-time, who demonstrates a need for financial assistance.

Sharen Cutting was the first born of five children to Kenneth A. and Patricia A. (O’Hearn) Cutting. Her parents set the bar high for their children, with a father whose career spanned over 50 years of service as an agent for New York Life Insurance Company, and a mother who was named to Who’s Who USFSA – ISI (United States Figure Skating Association – International Skating Institute).

Sharen grew up in Paxton, MA, and graduated from Wachusett Regional High School in 1970. In order to finance the cost of her college education at Worcester State University, she worked as a department supervisor at Jordan Marsh Company, secretary at Custom Fence Company, and housekeeper at Holiday Inn. She achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, with a double major in Psychology and Communications Disorders in 1974. Immediately upon graduation, she entered Assumption College, graduating in 1975 with a Master of Arts degree in Psychology and Counseling.

Sharen joined Beecham Products Company in 1977 and during her 13 years there, rose through the ranks of sales trainee, district manager, key accounts manager, and national accounts manager. She was awarded the Circle of Champions award for six consecutive years and won a national sales contest in 1988, resulting in a trip to the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

In 1990, Sharen joined Helene Curtis as a National Accounts Manager. In order to achieve breadth and depth of experience, she relocated to the Chicago home office as Customer Specific Promotion Manager and later as Business Planning Category Manager responsible for the Skin Care category. In October of 1995, she resumed her sales career as Director of Special Markets, including the Military Channel, and ultimately to Director Global Military and Emerging channels in 2000 following the acquisition of Helene Curtis by Unilever. She was instrumental in developing programs to enhance the quality of life for military families through promotions that funded scholarships for military children through the Fisher House Foundation and collaborated with Unilever’s laundry team to build or refurbish 20 ball fields on military installations.

Upon her retirement in 2008, former Congressman John McHugh, who was then the top Republican member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee and is now Secretary of the Army, presented Sharen with a flag flown over the United States Capitol to honor her contributions to military families.

At that time, Sharen resolved to help future WSU students finance the cost of their college education. She fulfilled that dream in May 2009 when she presented a $25,000 gift for an endowed scholarship to President Ashley at her 35th reunion class dinner.

“My education at Worcester State, which provided an ideal foundation for my business career, is something I value above all the other achievements in my life, and having financed it myself is what I am most proud of,” Sharen says. “My hope is that this scholarship will enable other students to achieve their educational ambitions."