Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Political activist and feminist Gloria Steinem will be the keynote speaker for Mississippi State's March 21 observance of Women's History Month.
The 7 p.m. public program in the Colvard Union ballroom is sponsored by the university's Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, University Honors Program and Women's Studies program. "Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams" will be Steinem's topic.
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem spent much of her childhood caring for her ill mother. She entered Smith College on a scholarship in 1952 and later was elected to the campus chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Following graduation in 1956, she worked in India for two years before returning to the United States, where she became a freelance writer and editor.
Steinem was the founder of both the National Women's Political Caucus and Women's Action Alliance. In 1972, she led in launching Ms. Magazine, for which she also wrote until the publication was sold in 1987.
Her writings have garnered numerous honors including the Penney-Missouri Journalism, Front Page and Clarion awards, as well as an Emmy citation for excellence in television writing. She also has been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, and, most recently, University of Missouri's Distinguished Service Award in Journalism.
Steinem's books include "Moving Beyond Words: Age, Race, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender" (1993), "Revolution from Within" (1992) and "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions" (1983).
Currently, she is working with the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College on a project to document the grassroots origins of the U.S. women's movement.
For more information, telephone the Holmes Center at (662) 325-2033.