Events:

Buffet Lunch

- Welcome: Dr. Bonnie Higginson

- Musical Selections: Dr. Tana Fields

- Poetry Readings: Samuel Hawkins, Sarah Wang

- Keynote: Dr. Kimberly Barrett

- Awarding of the Celebrate Women Scholarship

- 8th Annual Margaret Simmons Female Student Athlete of the Year Award

Background music provided by Eleanor Brown

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Dr. Kimberly Barrett currently serves as Vice President Student Affairs at the University of Montevallo. Prior to coming to Montevallo, Barrett was Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Development and Diversity at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has held a variety of administrative positions in higher education related to instruction and student support ares including vice provost, dean of students, director of Multicultural Affairs and coordinator of a graduate program and prepared students to work on Student Affairs. One of her accomplishments of which she is most proud is being the founding director of Murray State University's Women's Center 20 years ago. She has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels and holds graduate degrees in psychology and education. Her professional and research interests include adult development, the relationship between moral reasoning and modern prejudice, prejudice reduction, and general issues related to diversity and social justice.

Murray State's 24th

Celebrate Women 2012

Featuring: Dr. Kimberly Barrett

Tuesday March 27, 2012

12:10 - 1:30 p.m.

Curris Center Ballroom

2012 Theme: Women's Education - Women's Empowerment

In 1987, the U.S. Congress designated March as National Women's History Month. The next year Murray State's Celebrate Women began. Each year, we pay tribute to the millions of women whose efforts have made possible many opportunities we have today and examine challenges and inequities that persist.

Although women now outnumber men in U.S. colleges, the reversal of the gender gap is fairly recent. Tenacious women waged a valiant struggle for many years to give women the chance to learn. Pioneers of education for young women faced arguments from physicians and other "experts" who claimed either that females were incapable of intellectual development equal to men, or that they would be harmed by striving for it. Similarly, experts argued that coeducation must not be permitted as it would surely be an assault on femininity and purity.

The first U.S. college, Harvard, was founded in 1636; they did not admit women. In 1833, almost two centuries later, Oberlin became the first college to admit women. Even as coeducation appeared, women's courses of study differed from men's. In addition, women had few role models since most faculty members were male. When Harvard opened its "Annex" (Radcliffe) for women in 1879 rather than admit women into the school, single-sex education emerged and remained the elite norm in the U.S. until the early 1970s. As coeducation took hold in the Ivy League, women's colleges decreased. The ones that remain still answer the need of young women to find and nurture their voices.

The equal opportunity to learn, taken for granted by most young women today, owes much to the 1972 passage of Title IX of the Education Codes of the Higher Education Act Amendments. This legislation prohibits gender discrimination by federally funded institutions and has become the primary tool for women's fuller participation in all aspects of education from scholarships to facilities to classes formerly closed to women. It transformed the educational landscape.

Please join us as we celebrate the women who've gone before us, the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX and the Murray State Women's Center 20th year, and welcome back Dr. Kim Barrett, founder of the Women's Center. May the event enlighten, inspire, and empower you.

Register online below and join us as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the MSU Women's Center, the accomplishments of women throughout history, and explore the challenges facing women today.

Please submit by Tuesday, March 20.

Cost: $14 for faculty, staff & community; $10 for students

If you need to cancel your reservation, you must email a notification of cancellation to: celebratewomen.murraystate@gmail.com by March 21, 2012. Cancellations or no-shows after that date will not receive refunds and payment must be rendered.

**Please make your check payable to Celebrate Women.

*Please include an Interaccount form with a completed registration form for each person.

You will receive a confirmation email upon registration.

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Women's Center Mission

Via education, advocacy, resources, and services, the Women's Center supports and empowers women and men to unite as equal partners and become leaders on campus and beyond. The Center works to reduce violence against women and sex discrimination, to promote women's physical and mental health and well-being, to celebrate the past and present achievements of women, to highlight the struggles of women on campus, nationally, and all around the world, and to generate dialogue about women, gender, and sexual politics. Ultimately, the Center strives to encourage students' engagement as informed citizens here and beyond so that MSU's campus is safer, more inclusive, supportive, and equitable community.

Consistent with the mission of the University, the Women's Center supports and enhances a student-centered learning and living environment. We strive to offer challenging and engaging educational experiences, form partnerships with various community agencies, and reach out to local public schools via a mentoring program and/or other each opportunities. The Center values service learning, supports student activism, and encourages creative endeavors aimed at awareness and prevention.

Celebrate Women Mission

The purpose of Celebrate Women is to encourage and enhance gender equity by honoring the past, present, and potential accomplishments of women from diverse ages, ethnicities and backgrounds through education, enlightenment, and inspiration.

Objectives:

To educate women of all ages concerning the role and contributions of women historically within the culture.
To raise awareness of issues and powerful societal trends that are affecting women's lives today.
To provide an opportunity for networking and sharing ideas for today and the future.
To inspire women of all ages to acknowledge their self worth/potential.