CTAUN Atlanta Conference

The third annual CTAUN Atlanta Con­fer­ence will take place on Fri­day, March 12, 2010, at Emory Uni­ver­sity. The con­fer­ence topic is “Who Needs the UN Now?” The CTAUN Atlanta con­fer­ence will pro­vide edu­ca­tors, jour­nal­ists, stu­dents, and oth­ers with a frame­work for under­stand­ing and com­mu­ni­cat­ing the con­tin­u­ing rel­e­vance of the United Nations in the 21st cen­tury. The Com­mit­tee on Teach­ing About the United Nations Atlanta Steer­ing Com­mit­tee included Marie Shock­ley from AAUW.

Invited speak­ers and pan­elists include rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the UN, CARE, The Peace Corps, The Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol, CNN, and the Depart­ment of State, among many oth­ers. In addi­tion, local and regional pre­sen­ters will dis­cuss the impact of the United Nations on their lives and liveli­hoods. Finally, atten­dees will learn how their actions can sup­port the United Nations’ work by increas­ing global aware­ness and inspir­ing the involve­ment of others.

Reg­is­tra­tion is $35 for adults and $15 for stu­dents which includes the con­fer­ence pro­gram, boxed lunch, bev­er­ages dur­ing breaks, and cur­ricu­lum materials. The reg­is­tra­tion form and con­fer­ence pro­gram can be down­loaded at http://www.teachun.org.

Help Plan Convention Program

Lav­erne Gask­ins, state pro­gram  vice pres­i­dent, has asked for per­sons inter­ested in serv­ing on a pro­gram com­mit­tee for the AAUW por­tion of the Geor­gia AAUW con­ven­tion to con­tact her at llgaskin@valdosta.edu. (If you are typ­ing this, don’t for­get the dou­ble l). She will not be able to attend the con­ven­tion due to the wed­ding of her daugh­ter, so assis­tance is espe­cially needed this time. Please respond as soon as pos­si­ble. This com­mit­tee will be chaired by Lav­erne and she will appoint some­one to serve as her rep­re­sen­ta­tive at the con­ven­tion. The date is April 16 for the evening ban­quet and awards and Sat­ur­daym April 17 for pro­gram­ming and the busi­ness meeting.

This is a great oppor­tu­nity to help shape the Sat­ur­day pro­gram. The theme is “Women Con­fronting Chal­leng­ing Top­ics.” Here are some pos­si­ble top­ics for consideration.

  • Is the strug­gle for women’s equal­ity over? Do young women believe this?
  • Should groups of peo­ple from other cul­tures liv­ing in the US be allowed to fol­low the cus­toms of their home­land, even if they oppress women and girls? What if women and girls are injured?
  • Are there women who choose sub­mis­sion, and to what extent should this be permitted?
  • How can sub­tle dis­crim­i­na­tion best be countered?
  • What are the fac­tors that keep women from remain­ing in STEM professions?
  • What is a good work/life bal­ance for a woman today and how can we attain it?
  • What is the nature of the con­flicts in schools today between and within genders?
  • What is the rela­tion­ship between polit­i­cal par­ties and AAUW’s mis­sion? (let’s hear from the AAUW Repub­li­cans and Democrats)
  • What is the mean­ing of fem­i­nism today?
  • Is the strug­gle for women’s equal­ity over? Do young women believe this?

If you have ideas for speak­ers or panel mem­bers, please con­tact Laverne.

Voting Report Available

The Obama Administration’s First Year: A Progress Report on AAUW Pri­or­ity Issues, avail­able at www.aauw.org, and the Con­gres­sional Vot­ing Record for the first ses­sion of the 111th Con­gress, avail­able at www.aauwaction.org, out­line the AAUW pri­or­ity issues that became law in 2009. It is no sur­prise for Geor­gia mem­bers to see that the Geor­gia sen­a­tors  had a 13% sup­port of issues sup­ported by AAUW.