SUNY Chancellor to Speak at National Conference at SUNY Cortland

10/06/2009 

Nancy L. Zimpher, who became the State University of New York’s 12th chancellor on June 1, will give an address during an Oct. 24 reception in her honor at SUNY Cortland’s “Succeeding as Women in Higher Education” conference.

Presented by the College’s Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS) and the Women's Studies Program, the conference takes place Oct. 23-25 in various locations on campus.

Registration to attend the conference is $140. The full schedule and registration form are available on the conference Web site at www.cortland.edu/swhe. For more information, contact the conference at gender@cortland.edu or the CGIS at (607) 753-5784.

Zimpher, who previously served as president of the University of Cincinnati since 2003, will be welcomed at a reception from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge.

Other conference highlights include:

• Conference keynote speaker Sarah Fenstermaker, a professor in the Sociology Department at University of California, Santa Barbara, and author on gender inequality, who will speak on “Ivory Towers, Playing Fields and Glass Ceilings: Beyond Metaphor to Best Practices.”

• Featured speaker Ibipo Johnston-Anumonwo, a professor of geography at SUNY Cortland, who will present on “Never a Dull Moment: Charting Transformational Spaces of Service, Teaching and Research in an Academic Career.”

• Guest speaker Lori Quigley, a Wolf Clan member in the Seneca Nation and associate dean in the School of Education at Buffalo State College, who will lecture on “Bridging Two Worlds: A Native Woman’s Perspective.”

• Plenary speakers Dolores Battle, a senior advisor to the president for Equity and Campus Diversity at Buffalo State College; Patricia Francis, associate provost for institutional assessment and effectiveness at SUNY Oneonta; Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of Wells College; and Deborah L. Sydow, president of Onondaga Community College.

• Grammy Award-winning artist Joanne Shenandoah, who will perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Conference speakers will explore, through presentations, workshops, and artistic presentations, essential questions concerning the reasons women are not in leadership positions in higher education in general. They will discuss: the institutional practices that exist to support, enhance, and cultivate gender equity in higher education; the values that impede or promote women in leadership positions; and the attributes or credentials that are required for women in leadership positions.

Philosophy Professor Mechthild Nagel, who chairs the SUNY Cortland Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS), organized the conference.