28th Annual All-University Conference for the Advancement of Women in Higher Education

Conference

This year's conference theme, "Women and Global Change: Achieving Peace Through Empowering Women" was inspired by the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winners Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Bbowee, from Liberia and Tawakkol Karman from Yemen. The peace-building work each of these three women have endured and continue to work on to this day, has set in motion an empowering movement for social, political and economic change. This year's conference is sure to inspire, educate, and transform how global movements are local movements.

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Pre-conference Event

Conference Program

Morning Keynote Speaker

Dr. Chandler has addressed cabinet officials and diplomatic circles from Turkey and Brazil to South Africa and China, as an advocate for women's issues, gender development, religious rights, educational technology innovation, and cultural development as key policy requirements for the Millennium Development Goals. Among online media professionals, Dr. Chandler has been interviewed around the world as "the people's sociologist". She is a CIES Fulbright Roster Gender-in-Development specialist. educator, and sociologist with expertise in applied field research in international development, gender and human rights, and program development.

Chandler's recent co-edited book, Women, War, and Violence: Personal: Perspectives and Global Activism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) also features her Introduction, a chapter on Liberia's challenges with gender-based violence, and the book's cover art. She recently led a capacity-building team in Liberia to develop a Gender Studies Program and Women's Resource Center at Grand Bassa Community College (2010-2011), the first of its kind in Liberia. The first course, Gender Literacy, is now a core graduation requirement and will be launched as an online course in September 2012. As a tenured professor with leadership experience as former Women Studies director and Department Chair in African American Studies at Northeastern University (1989-present), she has also served on numerous national boards including the National Association of Ethnic Studies (NAES).

A widely published and keynote speaker, author, consultant, and advocate for human rights on six continents, Robin Chandler has been a CIES Fulbright Scholar to South Africa (University of Witswatersrand) and a National Science Foundation grant recipient and is an award-winning educator. She has been a featured speaker at Ford Hall Forum, Chautauqua, the USIA Speaker's Bureau, the Royal Commonwealth Society (London), Dalian University (China) and numerous colleges, universities, and women's organizations across six continents. She is the recipient of numerous grants including the Fulbright Scholars Program. As a Visiting Scholar at the University of Puerto Rico/Rio Piedras Chandler conducted research on micro-enterprise in artisan industries as strategic initiatives that promote rural development and the preservation of indigenous ways based on best practices through partnerships between government and NGO sectors.

As a member of the Baha'i Faith since 1969, Dr. Chandler has been a persistent advocate and public speaker for the human and the religious rights of persecuted minorities, of girl and women victims of gender-based violence, educational freedom, and the applications of spiritual principles to scholarly research and social action.

Chandler has also been a practicing studio artist and poet for more than 30 years, has exhibited in the U. S., abroad, and with the U.S. State Department Arts in Embassies Touring Program, currently in Mauritius. Currently she is working on two books; first, a new vision of global development entitled, Changing Ourselves, Changing the World.

Visit "the people's sociologist" blog at http://thepeoplessociologist.blogspot.com/

Afternoon Keynote Speaker

Jensine Larsen is a social media expert, international journalist, and recognized leader in the movement for global women's empowerment. At age 28 she founded World Pulse – a global media network bringing women a global voice– after working as a freelance journalist covering indigenous movements and ethnic cleansing in South America and Southeast Asia.

After successfully launching a print magazine, in 2007 Larsen turned her eyes to the future of communications technology in the developing world. She pioneered an interactive global women's newswire where women worldwide – including those using internet cafes and cell phones from rural villages and conflict zones– can speak for themselves to the world and solve global problems.

Most recently, Larsen has launched a new program that is training women in web 2.0 citizen journalism and empowerment and fostering a network of women citizen journalists from some of the most forgotten regions of the world.

Today 40,000 women in over 185 countries are connecting through World Pulse and producing a multiplier effect of change. Women previously unknown by the global public are having their stories picked up from World Pulse by the BBC, PBS, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, the UN, and the Huffington Post and beyond. In addition, by networking through World Pulse's website grassroots women leaders are finding job opportunities, starting new programs and businesses, launching women's cybercafés, and finding international speaking opportunities that are changing their lives and lifting their communities.

With her finger on the pulse of women's voices globally, Jensine is increasingly sought after for inspirational keynotes, current affairs lectures and radio programs and has appeared on NPR and PBS and presented keynotes and panels at TED, Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship, Bioneers Global, Digital Earth, WebVisions, Women in Technology International, the Women's Funding Network, and the Conference on World Affairs, to name a few.

Holding a degree in Comparative International Studies from the University of Wisconsin Madison (1999), Larsen is also a Young Leaders Fellow with the National Committee on United States-China Relations. She was appointed to Portland, Oregon's Vision Committee, which was established by Mayor Tom Potter to chart the city's 30-year vision by listening to the visions of its citizens. Read more here.

For more information about World Pulse use the following link: www.worldpulse.com

Guest Speaker

STAR works in four thematic areas, which are: Child Sexual Abuse, prevention, response and treatment, Gender Based Violence, Empowerment on Street Skills and STAR operates both online and offline resources which provides valuable materials on the highlighted subjects. With ample experience on NGO Management, STAR explores the avenue to sustains its activities.

Olutosin believes in equality of women and men also that every adult in the community is responsible for the protection of children, therefore everyone must be empowered on prevention of violence, in all forms. she loves to protect women and children, speaking out against social injustice, corruption and prevention of sexual while at the same time repairing lives that are at the verge of destruction by sexual violence and poverty.

Educationally, she studied English Language at the University of Lagos (1997) Masters in English Language (2001), after which she did Diploma in Computer. The struggle Violence against women led her to End Violence Against Women.org, where she was trained. Later on she was among the selected participants of VOF and was trained on Citizen Journalism by Worldpulse, Diploma in Gender, Diversity and Transformation at Visthar in Bangalore-India (May 2010) under the tutelage of, Mercy Kappen, David Selvaraj etc presently she is pursuing a 3-5 years training for Transformation at the Institute for Transformation in Kleinmond,Cape-Town, South Africa under the watchful eyes of Ma Ntombi Nyathi, Anne Sally and Hope Timmel etc.

She has written four manuscripts on sexual violence, widowhood and infidelity. Waitinf for the Publication of her first book which will be out by October 2011. The first book is a collection of poems addressing issues concerning women and human rights. Watch out Please!

She is blessed with two lovely daughters; Angel and Divine

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