ANN ARBOR—As reported recently in the New York Times, leaders from nine of the nation’s top universities, including University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger, have vowed to address gender inequities in higher education.

“Institutions of higher education have an obligation, both for themselves and for the nation, to fully develop and utilize all creative talents available,” the leaders said in a unanimous statement issued after the gathering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We recognize that barriers still exist.”

On March 25-26, the Center for the Education of Women (CEW) hosts some of the country’s most innovative thinkers on women’s issues for a conference called “Bridging Gender Divides: Educational Access, Leadership and Technology.”

[Conference schedule]

Sessions on Monday (
[Central Campus map, Michigan League #15, near center]

Researchers, educators, advocates and leaders in higher education will focus on current policy debates and strategies regarding women’s access to higher education and achievement within the academy. Individual panel sessions will explore the current legal and political landscape; women’s role in institutional transformation and the leadership challenges they face; current trends in admission, financial aid and welfare policies as they pertain to educational access; and the impact of technology on women in education.

National experts serving as conference speakers include: Nancy Cantor, U-M provost and executive vice president of academic affairs; Dolores Cross, president of Morris Brown College; Jane Fountain, associate professor of public policy, Kennedy School of Government and Fellow, Public Policy Center, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University; Heidi Hartmann, president and founder of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; Sylvia Hurtado, director of U-M’s Center for Higher and Postsecondary Education; Jacqueline E. King, director of federal policy analysis at the American Council on Education; Nichole Pinkard, assistant professor at the U-M School of Education; Kathy Rodgers, president of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Bernice Sandler, senior scholar at the Women’s Research and Education Institute.

Two University of Michigan student leaders, Elise Erickson and Lisa Williams, also will serve as speakers at the conference.

In addition to the conference activities, a pre-conference program, “Gender Culture in Our Schools: A K-12 Perspective,” takes place Sunday (
Carol Hollenshead, director of CEW, has herself spent more than a decade addressing and working to bridge gender divides. “It is vital we continue to consider the questions of equity in education, the significance of gender in attaining degrees and the long-term economic impact of higher education on both individuals and the nation at large,” said Hollenshead.

For more information on both events, call (734) 998-7080 or visit on line at http://www.umich.edu/~cew.

The Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan was established in 1964. One of the first women’s centers of its kind on any American campus, CEW has become a leading model for a comprehensive, university-based women’s center.

Lee C. BollingerCenter for the Education of WomenConference scheduleCentral Campus mapNancy Cantorhttp://www.umich.edu/~cew