GLORIA STEINEM TO HEADLINE ODU WOMEN'S CENTER 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Writer, lecturer, editor and feminist activist Gloria Steinem will be the featured speaker for a slate of events to commemorate the Old Dominion University Women's Center 30th anniversary celebration. The lecture, which will take place at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 21 in the North Cafeteria of Webb Center, is free and open to the public.
Tickets must be picked up in advance and will be available from the Old Dominion University campus information center as well as women's center. For more information call 683-4109.
Regarded by many as America's most influential feminist, Steinem currently travels the globe addressing issues of equality. Her interests include the shared origins of sex and race caste systems, gender roles and child abuse as roots of violence and non-violent conflict resolution.
A prolific writer, Steinem has contributed to numerous anthologies and textbooks, and served as editor of Houghton Mifflin's "The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History." She is the author of "Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem," "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions," "Moving Beyond Words" and "Marilyn: Norma Jean."
Steinem, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956, first rose to fame in the late 1960s as a political columnist and founding member of New York magazine. In 1972, she co-founded Ms. magazine, serving as an editor for 15 years. She continues to serve as a consulting editor for Ms., and was instrumental in the magazine's recent move to join and be published by the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Steinem served as a founding member of Women's Action Alliance, a pioneering national information center that specialized in nonsexist, multiracial children's education, and the National Women's Political Caucus, a group that works to advance the number of pro-equality women in elected and appointed office at a national and state level.
Former president and co-founder of Voters for Choice, a pro-choice political action committee, Steinem remains politically active in a multitude of organizations devoted to women. She is the co-founder and board member of Choice USA, an organization that supports young pro-choice leadership and works to preserve comprehensive sex education in schools.
Currently, Steinem is working with the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College on a project to document the grassroots origins of the U.S. women's movement.
She is the recipient of the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, National Magazine awards, an Emmy Citation for excellence in television writing, the Women's Sports Journalism Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations.
The ODU Women's Center, established in 1976, is celebrating 30 years of programs and services that address the special challenges and opportunities for women. The center offers programs and services to empower all students to achieve their personal, academic and professional potential.