- 303 Haggar College Center
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574) 284-4579 - Director of Media Relations
Gwen O'Brien
gobrien@saintmarys.edu
CWIL Celebrates 10 Years with Conference
CWIL Kicks off 10th Anniversary Celebration with Conference
Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary’s College
gobrien@saintmarys.edu
(574) 284-4579
August 4, 2010 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—Saint Mary's College’s Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) will begin to mark its 10th anniversary with a national conference titled “Women as Intercultural Leaders: Imagination, Innovation, Integrity.” The three-day celebration of women’s leadership and intercultural connections will take place at this all women’s college Thursday, September 30 to Saturday, October 2. The event is open to the public and there is an early bird discount for anyone registering before Monday, August 16. For conference registration information, click here or call CWIL at (574) 284-4051.
Looking back at the Center’s 10-year history, CWIL Director Elaine Meyer-Lee said, “Saint Mary's established CWIL in 2000 to build on the College’s expertise in intercultural studies and its long history of women's leadership education. Since then CWIL has provided many transformative intercultural engagement opportunities for our own students, faculty, and staff, as well as female leaders around the country. Our new Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative, a forthcoming on-line Journal of Women's Intercultural Leadership, and this conference are all external ways Saint Mary's continues to foster the intercultural knowledge and competence critical for women to make a difference in the world.”
Conference-related activities kick off on Thursday, September 30 with a pre-conference luncheon lecture by Julie Castro Abrams, CEO of Women’s Initiative in San Francisco. The talk, titled “Power and Economic Strength through Women’s Entrepreneurship,” is co-hosted by CWIL and its Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI).
Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College, America's oldest historically black college for women, will deliver the keynote address that evening. Tatum’s presentation, titled “Educating tomorrow's global women leaders,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. in O’Laughlin Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets, click here or call the box office at (574) 284-4626.
Tatum, who joined Spelman as president in 2002, is widely recognized as a scholar, teacher, race relations expert and leader in higher education. A clinical psychologist by training, her areas of research include racial identity development, and the role of race in the classroom. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees, in 2005 Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education for her innovative leadership in the field. Her best-selling titles include Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007) and "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" And Other Conversations About Race (1997). She is also the author of Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community (1987).
“It is quite wonderful to welcome Dr. Tatum to Saint Mary's College, not only because many of our students have been reading her books in various classes for years, but because she epitomizes women's leadership in guiding others to acquire the skills necessary to live and flourish in the intercultural reality of the world today and into the future,” notes Mana Derakhshani, associate director of CWIL.
Other highlights of the conference include:
o 30 concurrent sessions with presenters from 17 states and five countries;
o “Generic Latina 2010,” an exclusive performance by Teatro Luna, Chicago's first and only all-Latina theater ensemble dedicated to creating original work honoring the lives and talents of Latinas;
o An art exhibition titled "Picturing Paradise,” featuring hand-fabricated textile artwork by Peruvian craftswomen, two of whom will be on hand;
o A photo exhibit titled Ladli (beloved daughter) that tells the stories of oppressed young girls and women in India;
o A screening of the film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which chronicles the efforts of Liberian women who brought peace to their country. The producer, Abigail Disney, will introduce the film.
This is CWIL’s second interdisciplinary conference exploring the intersections of women's studies, international and multicultural education and leadership development. The first was held in 2007 and was titled “Women as Intercultural Leaders: Collaboration at the Crossroads.”
About the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL): Saint Mary's College, rooted in its history of pioneering change, its position within the Catholic tradition and its commitment to ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, established the Center for Women's Intercultural Leadership in 2000 with the generous support of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. CWIL advances the College's mission of “preparing students to make a difference in the world” by empowering women to realize their call to leadership and to develop the intercultural knowledge and competence critical in today’s increasingly interdependent world. CWIL is pronounced, “quill.”
About the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI): In 2009, the College received $245,000 Small Business Administration grant to support women’s entrepreneurship in the South Bend community, which led to the creation of WEI. The initiative was developed through the collaborative efforts of the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) and the Department of Business Administration and Economics (BUEC). Through WEI, which got underway in the spring semester of 2010, the College is partnering with community businesses, non-profits and organizations to provide a number of financial and business education services to women entrepreneurs. WEI is pronounced, "we."
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2010 annual survey. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
