Athens, Ga. – The Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia is hosting the inaugural conference on Women and Girls in Georgia, October 12-14, at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. Funded in part by an endowed gift from an anonymous donor, IWS plans to make this an annual conference on the status and concerns of women and girls in the state.

“As the women’s studies research center at the state’s flagship institution, we have an important role to play in stimulating questions about the well-being of the women and girls of Georgia, generating influential research, and bringing that research to the attention of policy makers and activists across the state,” said Chris Cuomo, director of the Institute for Women’s Studies, who sees the gathering as central to the mission of the institute.

The theme of the 2007 Women and Girls in Georgia Conference is “Violence.” The conference will include keynote lectures by influential scholars and anti-violence professionals from across the state, including Julia Perilla, president of TAPESTRI: The Refugee and Immigrant Coalition Against Domestic Violence and associate professor of psychology at Georgia State University, on Sunday to talk about the ways that violence impacts refugee and immigrant women. The panel sessions throughout the conference will highlight issues currently affecting women and girls in Georgia, including Deborah Richardson, CEO of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, who will speak Friday evening on efforts to eliminate child trafficking in Atlanta.

The conference is open to academics, advocates, activists and community members. The full conference program is available at www.uga.edu/iws/events/wagg_program.html. Other keynote speakers include Phaedra Corso, associate professor of health policy at the University of Georgia; Beck Dunn, policy director of Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Sarah Cook, interim director of Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault; Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights; and Dázon Dixon Diallo, director of SisterLove: An Organization for Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health.

For more information about the conference and registration, visit www.uga.edu/iws and click on the state of Georgia.

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