Press Release

Oglethorpe University to Host Gender and Power Conference
State Senator Mary Margaret Oliver to Deliver Keynote Address

ATLANTA— Oglethorpe University will host an undergraduate interdisciplinary conference on "Gender and Power" Saturday, April 25 from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in Phoebe Hearst Hall on campus. State Senator Mary Margaret Oliver will deliver the keynote address at 1 p.m. in the Great Hall of Hearst.

The conference is free and open to the public.

Today, questions stemming from the intersection of "gender" and "power" are relevant to virtually all academic fields of study. This conference will explore what gender is and how it shapes opportunities, ambitions, and identities. Oglethorpe students will present papers that raised questions about the ways educational, political, business and personal institutions are shaped by gender norms and expectations. Oglethorpe faculty will moderate 15 student panels which explore a range of topics from stories of immigrant women in the U.S. to women’s social movements in cyberspace.

State Senator Mary Margaret Oliver will deliver the keynote address at 1 p.m. Oliver, a Democrat from DeKalb County, was first elected to the Georgia Senate in 1992 and is now serving her third term. She is chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice-chair of the Education Committee and is a member of the Rules and Appropriations Committees. Since her election to the Senate, Oliver has been a strong advocate for children and business and has been honored for her legislative work by the National Association of Independent Business, the Georgia Municipal Association, the Parents Support Network, the Georgia Psychological Association, the American Association of Retired Persons, and the Academy of Pediatrics.

A native of Georgia, Oliver earned her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a law degree from Emory University. She has served as an adjunct law professor at Emory School of Law and an assistant professor of law at Boston College Law School.

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