Women in leadership focus of McConnell Center talks
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville’s McConnell Center will present three free public talks this spring as part of a focus on women in leadership.
“As we mark the centenary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, our students are exploring important women authors and leaders and the impact they’ve had—and are having—in our world today,” said Director Gary Gregg. “It is our privilege to share a little bit of this work with the Louisville community this spring.”
All events start at 6 p.m. in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium on Belknap Campus. Details are as follows:
- Jan. 28 – Pioneers of the Court: Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barbara Perry, former researcher at the U.S. Supreme Court and director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, will examine O'Connor’s and Ginsburg’s paths to the Supreme Court and how they have shaped its decisions.
- March 24 – Indigenous Futurism: Native American Women and the New Literature of Hope. Amy Sturgis, adjunct assistant professor of liberal studies at Lenoir-Rhyne University, will consider how a new generation of Native American storytellers is changing the field of science fiction literature and how such creative works draw on lessons from the past to imagine an empowered future.
- April 16 – The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan will discuss “Becoming Mrs. Lewis,” her historical novel about their marriage. The talk will focus on Davidman’s journey from New York to Oxford, her influence on Lewis and the achievements of her own writing.
The center will also present a Feb. 18 public panel on “The Future of Health Care: Single Payer and Its Alternatives” featuring Thomas P. Miller, a health care policy expert at American Enterprise Institute, and Ed Weisbart, chair of the Missouri chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.
The nonpartisan McConnell Center, created at UofL in 1991, prepares Kentucky’s top undergraduate students to become future leaders; offers civic education programs for teachers, students and the public; and conducts strategic leadership development for the U.S. Army.