First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will address issues of women's leadership and her view of women leaders in the 21st century at Cornell Friday, March 10.
Clinton will appear on campus as first keynote speaker at a conference, "Cornell Women: Celebrating Leadership," sponsored March 10-12 by the President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW), in honor of the alumnae group's 10th anniversary.
Her speech, for which free tickets will be distributed to the campus community, will be held in Barton Hall at 4 p.m. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Willard Straight ticket office after Feb. 24.
Former astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly on the space shuttle, will present a second keynote address on "Reality Leads Fantasy" March 11 at 3:30 p.m. in Statler Auditorium. A limited number of free tickets will be available to students. Jemison, who earned her medical degree from Cornell Medical College in 1981, has been named to the National Women's Hall of Fame.
In addition to Jemison's speech, the session will include the premiere of "The Women of Cornell: A University of Individuals," a film sponsored by PCCW and supported by Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems. The 20-minute production features interviews with six noted Cornell alumnae: Jemison; Attorney General Janet Reno; Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Abby Joseph Cohen, market analyst and partner at Goldman, Sachs; New York Times foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize recipient Sheryl WuDunn; and New York Times personal health columnist Jane Brody.
Sixty-eight women student leaders nominated by deans for their leadership and involvement will attend the entire conference as guests of PCCW.
In addition to the keynote speeches, several other conference events will be open to students with tickets. Free tickets will be available at the Willard Straight ticket office after Feb. 24. Those events are:
"This conference is an opportunity to bring together a broad spectrum of alumni leaders from all over the world and to look at both research findings and practical experience in women's leadership roles in society," said Toby Kleban Levine, chair of PCCW.
Cornell, a notable pioneer in women's education, was the first major institution in the eastern United States to admit women along with men (1872), to establish scholarships specifically for women (1884), to award the doctor of science degree to a woman in the United States (1895), to develop an innovative educational program for married women through reading courses for farmers' wives (1900) and to establish a state-supported College of Home Economics (1925). This anniversary conference will honor outstanding Cornell women from throughout its history who have led change in the world.
The President's Council of Cornell Women was founded in 1990 by then-President Frank H.T. Rhodes. The organization has grown to more than 300 members, selected for achievement in their individual professions. PCCW's mission is to increase the involvement of women at all levels of the university, provide financial support for chosen initiatives and serve as an adviser to the university's president on issues of concern to women.
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