Contact: Kay Fike Jones
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Lenore L. Prather is the featured speaker for a March 31 luncheon that concludes a month of public activities celebrating women at Mississippi State University.
The Women's Month program begins Monday [March 1] with displays, presentations and a film series. The MSU President's Commission on the Status of Women is primary sponsor of the annual celebration.
Prather, a West Point native and Columbus resident, will speak at a noon luncheon in the Colvard Union ballroom.
Appointed in 1982 by Gov. William Winter as the state's first female member of Mississippi's highest court, Prather has served as presiding justice since 1993. She is a graduate of Mississippi University for Women and the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Among other MSU Women's Month events and programs are:
--The Women's Film Series, Monday [the 1st], as well as the 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 7:30 p.m., Mitchell Memorial Library.
--"Exploring Dynamics in University Women's Studies Programs in the South: The Case of Mississippi," Thursday [the 4th], 4 p.m., political science professor Diane Wall, Rice Residence Hall/Ellen Bryant Center for Women's Studies.
--"Listening to Our Own Voices: Self Care and Self Definition as a Woman," the 15th, noon brown-bag lunch, counseling center director Linda Cox, Colvard Union faculty lounge.
--"Combining Knowledge with the Wisdom of Our Bodies," the 17th, noon brown-bag lunch, family nurse practitioner Ann Rizer and graduate student Karen Manzella, 301 Colvard Union.
--"Billie, Ella and Mary Lou: A Lecture-Demonstration of Women in Jazz," the 23rd, 12:45 p.m., music education associate professor Mark Applebaum, Giles Hall/Bettersworth Auditorium.
--"History of Women at MSU," the 23rd, 3 p.m., counselor education associate professor Merrily Dunn, Colvard Union small auditorium.
--"CORE Ensemble: Of Ebony Embers," the 24th, 7:30 p.m., a theatrical production about African-American poets Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay, Lee Hall auditorium.
--"Masculinity, Intimacy and Accountability Among the Promise Keepers," the 25th, 4 p.m., sociology assistant professor John Bartkowski, Rice Hall/Ellen Bryant Center.
For a complete list of Women's Month activities, consult the university calendar at www.ur.msstate.edu/news/ or telephone commission chair Georgia Lindley at (601) 325-2121.