WCSU to host Women’s History Month program:
‘Celebrating Women Past and Present’
Western Connecticut State University will host a Women’s History Month Program sponsored by the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury, the Danbury Public Library and the Danbury Museum and Historical Society in early March.
The full-day program will begin at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, March 5, in the Student Center theater on Western’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury, and will conclude at the Danbury Library, 170 Main St., at 4 p.m. The program is free and open to the public. Lunch will not be provided. Attendees may bring lunch, buy lunch at the WCSU cafeteria, or go to any of the restaurants surrounding the Midtown campus.
Dr. Darla Shaw, education and literary professor at WCSU, has organized this program.
“People who attend will be taken from being a Colonial wife to taking part in the Danbury Fair to fighting for women’s rights,” Shaw said. “Each program will be engaging and interactive. People who attend will come away with a better perspective of both the struggles and successes of women.”
Speakers in the Student Center Theater will include:
- Terry Buzaid, author of “The Great Danbury State Fair,” will speak about the great Connecticut tradition at 9:30 a.m.
- Ann Rodwell-Lawton, program director of the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury, will speak at 10 a.m. about the history of women’s centers and their growing importance today. Rodwell-Lawton is a certified domestic violence and sexual assault councilor. She has conducted many presentations on child abuse and facilitated workshops on sexual health and training to develop political advocacy skills.
- Velya Jancz-Urban, a teacher and the author of “Acquiescence,” will present “The Not-So-Good Life of the Colonial Goodwife” at 11 a.m. Research for Jancz-Urban’s novel, a story about women bonding through the centuries, spurred the idea for her presentation, which she has done at many universities across the country.
- Lucy Beard, executive director at the Alice Paul Institute in New Jersey, will present about the famous heroine of gender equality. Beard has been with the institute since 1994 and has served on the boards of the Girl Scouts organization and the Pennsylvania Museums. She currently is the secretary on the board of trustees at the New Century Trust.
The program will move to the Danbury Library at 2:30 p.m. for a dramatic presentation of “Women of Character, Courage and Compassion; Sojourner Truth, Louisa May Alcott, and Clara Schumann” by actress Gretchen Trapp. The conference will conclude with a 3:30 p.m. tribute to the young woman of today by Christine Roberts and the WCSU Kathwari Honors Program.
For more information, contact Shaw at (203) 837-8412.