COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (March 2, 2007) – Tennessee Tech University is hosting several events in celebration of March as Women’s History Month, the highlight of which will be two presentations by a leading expert on women’s educational equality.

This year’s theme is “Generations of Women Moving History Forward,” and TTU’s Women’s History Month events kicked off on March 1 with a panel discussion by four female faculty members — whose employment ranges from two to 40 years — about ways TTU women are moving history forward.

Other TTU Women’s History Month events will include:

• A TTU Women’s Center open house, cosponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women, in Pennebaker Hall, Room 203, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 15.

Titled “Women Make History Sweet,” the open house will provide nametags of women’s history predecessors, meant to encourage role playing as attendees sample a selection of sweets.

“I hope that all visitors will enter into the spirit of the person whose name they select and communicate with other visiting predecessors,” said Gretta Stanger, director of TTU’s Women’s Center.

Of the sweets that will be available for sampling, she said, “A few of them have noteworthy stories to go with them.”

• A presentation titled “Effective Teaching Strategies to Warm Up the Chilly Classroom Climate for Women,” is planned for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27, in the Roaden University Center, Room 342. The presenter will be Bernice Sandler, senior scholar at the Women’s Research and Education Institute in Washington, D.C.

• Sandler will also be the featured speaker at the month’s highlight event, a presentation titled “How Even the Best of Us Often Treat Males and Females Differently in the Classroom,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27, in Derryberry Hall Auditorium.

Referred to by the New York Times as the “godmother of Title IX,” (the landmark 1972 federal law commonly applied to school athletics that prohibits educational discrimination based on sex) Sandler is an expert on women’s educational equality.

Associated with the Title IX ruling for longer than any other person, Sandler played a major role in the development and passage of it and other laws prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

She has given more than 2,500 presentations and written more than 100 articles about women’s educational equality, formerly wrote a quarterly newsletter titled “About Women on Campus” and is an adjunct associate professor at Drexel University College of Medicine.

A Center Stage event, Sandler’s presentation is free and open to the public.

For more information about any TTU Women’s History Month event, call the Women’s Center at 931/372-3850.

--Tracey Hackett
This information posted 7 March 2007