OXFORD, Miss. – The Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender
Studies at the University of Mississippi kicks off Women’s
History Month this weekend with the eighth annual Isom
Student Gender Conference.
Next up is a guest speaker Monday (March 3) to recognize
International Women’s Day. Programing concludes with the
Porter L. Fortune Jr. History Symposium March 19-20.
Gender Conference programs, all held in the Tupelo Room of
Barnard Observatory, are scheduled 2:30-8:30 p.m. Friday
(Feb. 29) and 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday. Friday’s closing
session, “Interlude: An Evening of Creative Writing,”
begins at 6:30 p.m. and features presentations by master’s
of fine arts candidates in the English department. The
original works by the students are judged and awards are to
be presented.
Conference programing includes six sessions Saturday. A
highlight is a 12:30 p.m. workshop focusing on steering
federal government funding toward human and environmental
needs. It features Bobbie Wrenn Banks, member of the
National Organization for Women’s Action for New
Directions, and includes lunch.
The conference is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal
Arts and all events are free and open to the public. For a
complete schedule, go to
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/sarah?isom?center/gsconference.htm.
Shifra Armon, associate professor and graduate coordinator
for Spanish at the University of Florida, is the speaker at
6 p.m. Monday in Bondurant Hall, Room 204C. Her address,
“Don Quijote and the Construction of the Imperial Subject,”
focuses on the changing role of men in leading the Spanish
empire 1516-1655. It is scheduled to recognize
International Women’s Day, which is March 8.
Armon’s lecture is co-sponsored by the departments of
modern languages and history, Croft Institute for
International Studies, University Lecture Series, Sally
McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Office of
International Programs.
The Porter L Fortune Jr. History Symposium is co-planned by
history professors and gender studies affiliates Sheila
Skemp and Elizabeth Payne.
“So impressed was the Isom Center with the symposium’s
plenary lecturers that we decided to adopt all 10 of them
as our 2008 Women’s History Month speakers,” said Mary
Carruth, director of the Isom Center. “Among these stellar
historians is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the 300th Anniversary
University Professor at Harvard. Her March 19 presentation,
titled ‘A Quilt Unlike Any Other: Rediscovering the Work of
Harriett Powers,’ will truly honor the spirit of Women’s
History Month.”
For a complete schedule of the Porter L Fortune Jr. History
Symposium events, go to
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/history/symposium/Events?Symposium.htm.
For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-5916.