Women's studies in the new millennium to be discussed at NAWCHE conference

(6-28-2000) Some 200 female educators, administrators and students from Catholic colleges and universities across the country will discuss the state of women's studies when the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education (NAWCHE) holds its fifth biennial conference at Boston College June 30 and July 1.

The conference, titled "Making Connections V: Women and Women's Studies in the New Millennium: Forging New Models for Leadership and Social Change in Catholic Higher Education," will feature panel discussions, workshops, paper presentations, as well as a resource room and opportunities for networking.

"The conference is a way in which those involved in Catholic higher education can listen to women's concerns and hopes for the new millennium," says Prof. Sharlene Hesse-Biber (Sociology), founder and executive director of NAWCHE. She added that preliminary results of a survey of 60 collegiate women's studies program will be unveiled during the conference. The survey looks at the funding, quality and support of women's studies programs.

The conference will open with a keynote address by Patricia Hill Collins, the Charles Phelps Taft Professor at the University of Cincinnati and author of the book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. A dinner address that evening will be delivered by feminist theologian Mary E. Hunt, co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. NAWCHE is comprised of female faculty, administrators and students from US Catholic colleges and universities.

There are approximately 100 individual members and more than 30 institutional members, including Boston College, Fairfield University, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Providence College and Villanova University.