Women's Studies Conference

NEW HAVEN -The 18th annual Women's Studies Conference will be held at Southern Connecticut State University on Oct. 17and 18.

The conference, "Girls' Culture & Girls' Studies: Surviving, Reviving, Celebrating Girlhood," is organized and sponsored by Southern's Women's Studies Program. It will offer panel discussions and plenary sessions; spoken word performances, a flamenco performance choreographed by young women and girls; film screenings, and a women and girls' fair.

A highlight of the conference will be a keynote address at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 by Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of the Practice of Public Health and Associate Dean for Diversity at Harvard University. Prothrow-Stith, shown above, is a nationally recognized public health leader. As a physician working in inner-city Boston, she broke new ground with her efforts to have youth violence defined as a public health problem; not just a criminal justice issue. With others, she created a social movement to prevent violence that has made an impact on Boston and the nation. In 1987, then-Gov. Michael S. Dukakis appointed her as the first woman Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In that role, she established the first Office of Violence Prevention in a state department of public health, expanded prevention programs for HIV/AIDS and increased drug treatment and rehabilitation programs.

Conference fees range from $20 to $120, with discounted rates for students and young girls. For more information or to register, visit http://www.southernct.edu/womensstudies/ or call (203) 392-6133.