[305] “FEMINIST NOW” IS THEME OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AT MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 26, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

“FEMINIST NOW” IS THEME OF WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AT MTSU
Speakers, Activities Reveal Diverse Perspectives on Meaning and Scope of Feminism

(MURFREESBORO) – Visual depictions of feminists, words of wisdom from women in science and visits from dynamic activists are part of the observance of National Women’s History Month, which kicks into high gear in the month of March with the theme of “Feminist Now.”
“Watching the progression of the first response to being called a feminist to the reaction now makes me feel good about the future,” says Terri Johnson, co-chair of the MTSU National Women’s History Month Committee and director of the June Anderson Women’s Center.
The keynote speaker will be author Rebecca Walker, who will deliver an address titled “Third Wave Rising: The Role of Feminism in a Rapidly Changing World” at 4 p.m., Tuesday, March 11, in the Keathley University Center Theatre. Her speech and all other Women’s History Month events are free and open to the public.
Walker is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, a nonprofit organization that “works nationally to support young women and transgender youth ages 15 to 30,” according to www.thirdwavefoundation.org. The daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker is the author of To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism; Black, White, and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self; and What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future. Her new memoir, Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood after a Lifetime of Ambivalence, is a chronicle of her pregnancy and impressions of life after giving birth to her son, Tenzin.
Activist and philosopher Angela Davis is featured on this year’s Women’s History Month buttons, which are distributed by the Women’s Center. A professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Davis is perhaps best known for her work with the Black Panthers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She ran for vice president of the United States on the Communist Party ticket in 1980 and 1984.
“When people are educated, they want to work and fight for change,” Johnson says of the opportunities for enlightenment offered during National Women’s History Month. “And even though I know there are challenges ahead, there’s a comfort in knowing we are all in this together.”
In addition to Walker’s appearance, the events slated for March and early April include:

March 10-11--“This is What a Feminist Looks Like,” Keathley University Center Knoll, Contact Dr. Elvira Casal at 615-898-2576;
March 12—International Women’s Day Luncheon, Hazlewood Dining Room, James Union Building, 11:30 a.m., Contact Dr. Carol Ann Baily at 615-898-5989 ($12 for members of the Association of Faculty and Administrative Women; $15 for non-members);
March 12—“An Unreasonable Woman: Diane versus Goliath—Taking on Politicians and Corporations to Protect Family and the Environment, presented by Diane Wilson, State Farm Lecture Hall, Business and Aerospace Building, 6:30 p.m., Contact Dr. Jim Williams at 615-898-2633 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu;
March 13—“Networking and Mentoring: Keys to Success in Science,” presented by Dr. Donna Dean, immediate past president of the Association for Women in Science, 7 p.m., Wiser-Patten Science Building, Room 102, Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu;
March 18—“They Have a Story: Feminist Views of the Self,” Dining Room C of the James Union Building, 3 p.m., Contact Riki-Lynne Spence at 615-489-5226 or rls3u@mtsu.edu;
March 19—“Women’s Health Update,” presented by Drs. Leigh Ann McInnis, Lita Warise and Suzanne Prevost, 1-2 p.m., Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building, Room 121, Contact Prevost at 615-898-5957;
March 20—“A Multidisciplinary Approach to Science and Engineering at a National Lab (a/k/a “The Life and Times of the ‘Bunny Slipper Bandit’”), a Women in Science Invited Lecture presented by Janet Bryant, 7 p.m., Wiser-Patten Science building, Room 102, co-sponsored by Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu;
March 24—Vernice G. Armour, first African-American female pilot in U.S. military history, 6 p.m., Tennessee Room, James Union Building, Contact Valerie Avent at 615-898-2718 or 615-898-2987;
March 26—Sixteenth Annual Women’s International Poetry Readings, 3:30 p.m., Tom Jackson Building, Contact Dr. Leah Lyons at 615-898-5778 or ltlyons@mtsu.edu;
April 2—Health & Safety Fair, 2 p.m., Keathley University Center Knoll (rain date: April 4), Contact June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193;
April 9—Second Annual Women in Concrete Luncheon, Noon-2 p.m., MTSU Foundation House, Contact Dr. Heather J. Brown at 615-904-8060;
April 14-17—Clothesline Project, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Keathley University Center Knoll, Contact June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193;

April 15—Take Back the Night, 6-9 p.m., Keathley University Center Knoll (rain date: April 16), Contact June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193;
April 22—Pay Equity Day, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Keathley University Center Knoll, co-sponsored by the American Association of University Women, Contact Dr. Elyce Helford at 615-898-5961.


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