If you didn’t attend the state con­ven­tion, here is a pre­sen­ta­tion from AAUW that offers an update of pro­grams and activities.

AAUW Macon Branch is hold­ing a Book and Author Lunch April 10 at 1:00 p.m at St. Paul’s Epis­co­pal Church at 753 Col­lege Street, Macon, GA 31207. The pro­ceeds from the event fund schol­ar­ships for non-traditional stu­dents. Tick­ets are $10.00.

This year’s book is Tell Them We Are Singing for Jesus: The Orig­i­nal Fisk Jubilee Singers and Chris­t­ian Recon­struc­tion, 1871–1878, by Dr. Toni Ander­son. Dr. Ander­son is pro­fes­sor of Voice and Chair of the Music Depart­ment at LaGrange Col­lege, GA. She didn’t know much about the Fisk Jubilee Singers until she started teach­ing at Mor­ris Brown Col­lege in Atlanta, a his­tor­i­cally black institution

“Being on the music fac­ulty, of course the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers came up, and I was intrigued,” she said. She was so intrigued that she made the group the topic of her doc­toral dis­ser­ta­tion at Geor­gia State Uni­ver­sity. And now, 15 years later, she pub­lished the book.

The book tells the story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Between 1871 and 1878, the Jubilee Singers pre­sented con­certs fea­tur­ing the Negro spir­i­tu­als that won the applause and admi­ra­tion of the West­ern world. The rise and renown of the orig­i­nal Fisk Jubilee Singers form one of the most cel­e­brated sto­ries of post-Civil War America.

If you are inter­ested in attend­ing, call Joyce Hud­son, Co-President and Trea­surer at 478–745-8637. Joy Bernard can also tell you if there will be space. Call her at 478–714-1000.  The $40 book will be avail­able for sale for the spe­cial price of $25 at the luncheon.

Two posi­tions are open for offi­cers on the  AAUW Board of Direc­tors. The elec­tion will take place at the annual meet­ing April 17, 2010. Here is infor­ma­tion about the two nominees.

Mem­ber­ship VP nom­i­nee – Lau­rie Shaw, Warner Robins Branch

A Min­nesota native, Lau­rie Shaw received her B.A. in Psy­chol­ogy from South­west State Uni­ver­sity in 1982. To escape the cold and snow, she moved to New Mex­ico and received her M.A. in Coun­sel­ing and Guid­ance from New Mex­ico State Uni­ver­sity in 1987. Lau­rie has worked in var­i­ous Stu­dent Ser­vices posi­tions in col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties in Ari­zona, Ken­tucky, West Vir­ginia, Arkansas and Geor­gia. She is cur­rently employed with Macon State Col­lege as the Coor­di­na­tor of the Robins Res­i­dent Cen­ter at Robins AFB in Warner Robins.

Lau­rie has been a mem­ber of AAUW since 1990. While liv­ing in Ari­zona, she along with oth­ers, char­tered a new AAUW Branch at the Col­orado River Val­ley Area and was their 1990–91 Mem­ber­ship Vice Pres­i­dent and their 1991–92 Pro­gram Vice Pres­i­dent. West Vir­ginia saw Lau­rie serve the Mingo-Pike Branch as Pro­gram Vice Pres­i­dent from 1997–99. She served as Mem­ber­ship Vice Pres­i­dent from 2003-05 and Record­ing Sec­re­tary from 2006-08 at the Warner Robins Branch. Lau­rie has served as EF/LAF (now AAUW Funds) Chair at the Warner Robins Branch as well as for Geor­gia AAUW from 2008–2010.

Lau­rie also main­tains mem­ber­ship in the National Asso­ci­a­tion of Stu­dent Per­son­nel Admin­is­tra­tors (NASPA) that she joined in 1986. She has been included in sev­eral years of Who’s Who of Amer­i­can Women, Who’s Who in Amer­ica, Who’s Who in the South and South­west, and Who’s Who in the World.

Sec­re­tary, Erma Banks, Colum­bus Branch

Erma Banks is cur­rently an Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor /Librarian at Colum­bus State Uni­ver­sity in Colum­bus, GA.  Born in Florida she grad­u­ated from Florida A& M Uni­ver­sity in 1967.  She migrated to Boston, Mass­a­chu­setts and received a grad­u­ate degree from Sim­mons Col­lege in 1971  She worked for sev­eral years as librar­ian at Boston Pub­lic Libraries and later at Uni­ver­sity of North Florida before mov­ing to Geor­gia in 1980.

Join­ing AAUW Colum­bus branch in 1984, she has held var­i­ous posi­tions dur­ing her mem­ber­ship: Pres­i­dent, Vice-Presidents Mem­ber­ship, Pro­gram, Trea­surer, and Sec­re­tary.  Banks has served on the Asso­ci­a­tion Pro­gram Devel­op­ment Board dur­ing the Sharon Schus­ter (Jackie Fazio) Admin­is­tra­tions. In 1993 she was selected Geor­gia AAUW Woman of Achievement.

Cur­rently, she is the Mem­ber­ship VP for the Colum­bus Branch and GA AAUW Record­ing Sec­re­tary.  She also serves as University’s CU Rep­re­sen­ta­tive and Colum­bus Branch’s Schol­ar­ship Chair­per­son.  She has embraced the mis­sion and out­look of AAUW and has worked dili­gently to for­ward the edu­ca­tion of women and girls.