Womens Studies Program to Host Annual Conference

American feminist icon Gloria Steinem will serve as keynote speaker April 3 for Texas Tech University’s 25th Annual All-University Conference on the Advancement of Women in Higher Education. The conference, sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program and titled “Innovation, Migration and Transference: Voices, Gender and Expression in the Changing World,” is part of a two-day celebration recognizing a quarter century of teaching Women’s Studies. It runs April 2-3 at the Student Union Building. “For me, Gloria Steinem represents what this conference is about,” said Tricia Earl, coordinator for the Women’s Studies Program. “She stands for our history, where we are today and where we’re going tomorrow. Her participation confirms that there is a need to continue the dialogue about gender in higher education.” Steinem, who last came to Lubbock in 1989, will speak as part of the conference’s finale at 4:30 p.m. April 3 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. An Emmy Award-winning writer, lecturer, editor and feminist activist, Steinem graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College. She is best known for co-founding Ms. Magazine in 1972. In 1993, Steinem was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y. She now lives in New York City, where she recently co-founded the Women’s Media Center. She is working on a book titled “Road to the Heart: America As If Everyone Mattered,” about her more than 30 years on the road as a feminist organizer. This year, the conference will include papers, posters, exhibits and panel discussions concerning women’s, gender and identity issues. An opening presentation highlighting the women’s history-based research of faculty members Carol Flueckiger and Jennifer Snead will begin at 5:30 p.m. April 2 in the Mesa Room of the Student Union Building, 15th Street and Akron Avenue. A reception will follow by the Women’s Studies Community Connection, a Lubbock-based advocacy group that has supported the program for more than 15 years. Academic paper and poster sessions will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 3, followed by a brown bag film viewing of the documentary film “Sisters of ’77,” which covers the National Women's Conference held in Houston in 1977. All campus events are held on the second floor of the Student Union Building. Then the conference will move to the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. The opening presentation and academic paper and poster sessions are free and open to the public. General admission tickets to Steinem’s keynote speech are $10 each. The price includes a $3 surcharge from Select-A-Seat. Tickets go on sale Feb. 20, and are available by calling (806) 770-2000 or visiting the Select-A-Seat website. Texas Tech students wishing to attend Steinem’s keynote speech can do so for free by presenting their valid student ID for one general admission ticket at the Escondido Theatre Box Office in the Student Union Building. Organizers strongly advise pre-registration for the event. People who register for the conference early will receive one general admission ticket to Steinem’s speech in their conference materials. The due date for early registration is noon on March 13 and can be made by calling (806) 742-4335, or visit the Women’s Studies website.