Seton Hall University Hosts Scholars and Advocates from Across the Nation for Conference on Women and Gender on February 12

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — Seton Hall University’s Women and Gender Studies Program will welcome Rifat Salam, associate professor of sociology and deputy chair of the Department of Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice at City University of New York (CUNY), to discuss “Negotiating Identity, Navigating Divides and Building Bridges: South Asian Women in Millennial America” in her keynote address at the 2016 Conference on Women and Gender. The public is encouraged to attend the all-day conference on Friday, February 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The Conference on Women and Gender is intended to foster critical independent thinking about aspects of being human,” said Karen Gevirtz, conference co-organizer and associate professor of English. “We hope the conference supports attendees in their journey of servant leadership and social justice, encourages them to embrace diversity and leaves them with excitement in the possibilities to make a difference.”

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast in Jubilee Hall’s fourth floor Atrium. Morning and afternoon sessions will take place in Stafford Hall, in which scholars, students and professionals from Seton Hall and beyond will discuss numerous themes, including: Women, Gender and Student Leadership; Gender and Feminism in Turkey and South Asia; Gender and the Making of Science; Women of Mindanao: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Female Divinity, Activism and Indigenism; Mothers, Pacifists and Other Gendered Historical Subjects; and the Life and Work of Trinidad Padilla de Sanz. Displays of faculty work will also be at the conference throughout the day and in a window exhibit at Walsh Library in the weeks before and after the conference.

An awards luncheon will take place at 12 p.m. in Jubilee Hall’s Atrium, where the Woman of the Year award, the Elizabeth Ann Seton Center for Women’s Studies writing prize and high school essay prizes will be presented.

Salam will deliver her keynote address at 3:30 p.m. in the University Center’s Chancellor’s Suite. Reflecting on CUNY’s diverse population and her personal and scholarly interests, Salam is particularly interested in connecting diverse populations with the power and possibilities that writing offers. Her keynote address will expound on the research in her recent book “Negotiating Tradition, Becoming American: Family, Gender and Autonomy for Second Generation South Asians.”

“The value of a university lies in expanding knowledge and fostering independent thought,” said Gevirtz, who is also the co-director of the Women and Gender Studies Program. “Seton Hall University’s dedication to this conference shows that the University is invested in that idea and supports rigorous, thoughtful and exciting discussion about topics that are critical in this country and around the globe.”

The conference is open to all members of the Seton Hall community at no charge, and to the public for a nominal fee, which includes a continental breakfast in the morning, keynote address and the awards luncheon. The luncheon is limited to the first 120 individuals who sign up. Registration can be completed here. The conference organizers encourage preregistration.

Seton Hall University is located at 400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, N.J. For additional information, please visit the conference’s website at http://www7.shu.edu/womens-conference.cfm or contact the conference organizers, Vanessa May at vanessa.may@shu.edu or Karen Gevirtz at karen.gevirtz@shu.edu. Stay connected at #SetonHallWomen.

ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY

One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall University has been developing students in mind, heart and spirit since 1856. Home to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous majors, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek.Seton Hall, which embraces students of all religions, prepares its graduates to be exemplary servant leaders and global citizens. In recent years, the University has achieved extraordinary success. Since 2009, the University has seen record-breaking undergraduate enrollment growth in addition to an impressive 95-point increase in the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen. In the past decade, Seton Hall students and alumni have been awarded nearly 20 Fulbright Scholarships as well as other prestigious academic honors including a Rhodes Scholar. In the past five years, the University has invested more than $133 million in new campus buildings and renovations. And in 2015, Seton Hall announced plans for a new School of Medicine as well as launched a new College of Communication and the Arts.

A founding member of the new Big East Conference, the Seton Hall Pirates field 14 NCAA Division I varsity sports teams. The university’s beautiful main campus is located in suburban South Orange, New Jersey, and is only 14 miles from New York City – offering its students a wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities. The university’s nationally recognized School of Law is prominently located in downtown Newark. For more information, visit www.shu.edu.