UGA’s Institute for Women’s Studies is hosting its sixth Women and Girls in Georgia conference Oct. 9-10 in the Miller Learning Center.
The theme of this year’s conference is sustainability. Presentation topics will explore the intersections of social, economic and environmental challenges as they relate to women and girls in the state, including environmental justice, local food, food insecurity, climate change, environmental health, recycling and conserving on college campuses and protecting Georgia’s honeybee population.
This year’s conference will include an opening-night keynote lecture by Carolyn Sachs, a professor of rural sociology and head of the women’s studies department at Pennsylvania State University. Her lecture, “Gender Networking for Environmental Sustainability: From the Local to the Global,” will be given Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Lauret Savoy, a professor of environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College, will present Oct. 10’s keynote address on “Sustainability of the Heart: Restor(y)ing the Land and a Life.”
The conference also will feature workshops facilitated by the State Botanical Garden and Georgia WAND, a film screening of eXXpedition followed by a question-and-answer session with Jenna Jambeck, an associate professor of environmental engineering at UGA. A plenary roundtable discussion on “Women’s Leadership in Georgia’s Environmental Movements: Current Work and Opportunities” also will be held. It will focus on the significance of women’s leadership in Georgia’s environmental advocacy, activism, outreach and education. Panelists will include Makara Rumley, Jacqueline Echols, Suki Janssen, Cassandra Johnson Gaither and others.
