KU women's studies program announces Women's History Month speakers

LAWRENCE -- To observe Women's History Month at the University of Kansas, the women's studies program has scheduled several speakers, including:

 • Richard Jenkyns, a great-great-great-great nephew of English writer Jane Austen, Monday, March 10
 • Paula Stephan, an economist talking on retaining women and minorities in information technology fields, Thursday, March 13
 • Shirley Harkess, KU associate professor of sociology, on grounds for optimism for women in high technology careers, Thursday, March 27
 • Heidi Hartmann, founder and executive director of the Institute for Women's Policy Research on the Status of Women in the States reports, Monday, March 31

In addition to the programs scheduled in the calendar of Women's History Month events below, KU's Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center will honor women who have influenced the lives of students, staff and faculty at KU through their program, "The Women Who Shape Our Lives." Photos of those women and a brief description of their work or influence will be on display in March at www.ku.edu/~etwrc.

More information about KU's Women's History Month events and contacts for each follows:

3:30-5 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, Hall Center conference room
Speaker. Maylei Blackwell, assistant professor of women's studies, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, is a guest speaker at the Hall Center American Seminar series. Blackwell will present "Transnationalism in Reverse: The Formation of a U.S. Women of Color Political Identity and the Third World Women's Alliance Triple Jeopardy (Racism, Imperialsim and Sexism)." Her talk is sponsored by the Hall Center for the Humanities and co-sponsored by the American studies program, the women's studies program and the Multicultural Resource Center.

4 p.m. Monday, March 10, Centennial Room, Kansas Union
Lecture. Richard Jenkyns, professor of the classical tradition, Oxford University, and university professor, Boston University, will give a free, public lecture, "A Park with a View: Jane Austen's Mansfield." He is a great-great-great-great nephew of Jane Austen. Jenkyns is known for his scholarship on Virgil and his books on the classical influence on the Victorians. He will give a sneak preview of his forthcoming book on Austen. The KU English department sponsors his talk. For further information contact Marjorie Swann (864-2570; maswann@ku.edu).

3:30-5 p.m. Thursday, March 13, Malott Room, Kansas Union
Speaker. Visiting speaker Paula Stephan, economics department, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, will present "Retention of Women and Minorities in the IT Workforce." Her talk is part of the Pipeline Series, "Differences by Race, Sex and Ethnicity in Education, Training and Careers," a spring Policy Research Institute and Hall Center seminar series. Stephan's research interests focus on the careers of scientists and engineers and the process by which knowledge moves across institutional boundaries in the economy. Stephan served on several National Research Council committees. Her research has been funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Science Foundation, and she is a member of the National Science Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering. Registration is limited to 60 people per seminar. To register, please contact the Policy Research Institute at pri@ku.edu.

3:30-5 p.m. Thursday, March 27, Malott Room, Kansas Union
Speaker. The Pipeline Series: "Differences by Race, Sex and Ethnicity in Education, Training and Careers," speaker Shirley Harkess, KU associate professor of sociology, will present "Gender and High Tech.: Grounds for Optimism." Registration required. To register, please contact the Policy Research Institute at pri@ku.edu.

Monday, March 31, time and place to be announced
Lecture. Heidi Hartmann, founder and executive director of the Institute for Women's Policy Research on the Status of Women in the States reports. This lecture replaces the February Sisters Forum that was canceled because of weather-related travel complications. The Institute for Women's Policy Research, an independent research foundation in Washington, D.C., focuses on women's social and economic issues and publishes reports on the status of women in each state. In November 2002 the Status of Women in Kansas report was published.