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The University of Idaho Women’s Center will be holding its second Women’s Leadership Conference on the UI campus Thursday and Friday.
The theme of the conference is “Empowering Women, Inclusive Communities” and will consist of keynote speaker Nancy Hunter Denney, lunch and workshops with a variety of themes: consciousness, communication and common purpose.
“With this conference, we hope to provide an opportunity for people to focus on their professional and personal development,” said Heather Shea Gasser, interim director for the Women’s Center.
Women on campus aren’t provided with much opportunity for professional development, so the conference brings that to them, she said.
The conference is being sponsored by the Athena Women’s Organization and ASUI Vandal Entertainment.
The goal of the Athena Women’s Organization is to support the interests of faculty and professional women at UI by providing a way professional women and faculty can get together and network.
Vandal Entertainment’s purpose was to increase the number of students who will attend the Women’s Leadership Conference, particularly the keynote address. Out of 300 registrants, 77 are students from UI and its branches.There are also a small number from Washington State University and Lewis-Clark State College attending.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of students registered for the conference from last year,” said Christina Kerns, student activities coordinator for ASUI.
In addition to helping fund the conference and increase student involvement, Vandal Entertainment will also be working the event, handing out programs and promoting the speaker.
Denney is a nationally recognized speaker, author and educator. She worked for 12 years in higher education, most recently as the assistant dean of students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., and has had her own speaking business since 1993.
Both Gasser and Kerns have seen Denney speak and have said her message isn’t unattainable.
“She illustrates ways to be successful,” Kerns said. “She’s also high energy and genuine.”
Denney will appeal to a wide range of audiences. She’ll appeal to faculty and staff because she was a higher education professional, and she understands students because she has worked with them for 12 years, Kerns said.
The Women’s Center hopes the Women’s Leadership Conference will become a regular professional development opportunity for women.
“It might turn into an every other year event,” said Gasser. “We’d like to get more involved with staff.”
Faculty, staff and community members will be holding the workshops in the Idaho Commons starting at 9 a.m. Friday.
Registration ended on Friday. However, students and faculty can are encouraged to attend the Keynote address at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Student Unior Building Ballroom. The workshops are still open to the public but are on a first-come-first served basis, with preference given to registrants.
People can still register for the workshops through Wednesday by sending an e-mail to
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or stopping by the Women’s Center.
For more information on the conference and the workshop schedule, see the conference Web site at www.womensleadership.uidaho.edu.
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