A team of scholars at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College is creating a list of the top 1,000 "Women of the Millennium," Rita Nakashima Brock, director of the Institute, announced today. The list -- scheduled for release in January 2000 -- will include remarkable women who lived in each of the past 10 centuries.

"The conclusion of the millennium gives us a wonderful opportunity to showcase hundreds of extraordinary women who have shaped and added immeasurable value to our world," said Brock. "Unlike other lists that have recently been compiled, the Bunting Institute list will highlight women who lived hundreds of years ago -- not just in the 20th century."

The "Women of the Millennium" list will be drawn up by a group of scholarly researchers and reviewed by a panel of historians, including many former Bunting Institute fellows.

When completed, the list will be accessible on the Bunting Institute's Website (http://www.radcliffe.edu/bunt ing). The list will be catalogued alphabetically, geographically, chronologically, and by areas of achievement.

"There is no place better suited to identify remarkable talent than the Bunting Institute," said Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson, noting that since 1960 the Institute has awarded up to 40 highly coveted fellowships each year. The Bunting Institute's former fellows include author Alice Walker, poet Anne Sexton, composer Augusta Read Thomas, and former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin.

The "Women of the Millennium" list is not the first of its kind at Radcliffe. Last summer, students in the prestigious Radcliffe Publishing Course compiled a list of the "Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century," at the request of the Random House Modern Library. The list generated international attention and fostered healthy debate about the century's greatest works of fiction.