04/13/2003

The third annual SHE conference (for Self-Esteem and Higher Education = Empowerment) has been set for Thursday, May 1 at the Nebraska East Union on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The conference for high school girls will begin at 8:00 a.m. and conclude at 1:30 p.m. The conference is free of charge and includes a luncheon.

Some 175 girls from Crete, Hastings, Holdrege, Lincoln, Macy, Minden, Omaha, Papillion, and Walthill in Nebraska, and South Sioux City, Iowa are scheduled to participate in the conference, which will feature a college fair with displays from 16 Nebraska colleges and universities.

"This conference is open to all high school girls in grades 10-12, but its focus is on multicultural girls," said Shari Clarke, Associate to the President of the University of Nebraska. "In today’s global society, we need an even stronger commitment to diversity. Our students must be prepared to live and work in a world filled with people of differing cultural, ethnic, religious, and racial heritage." To gain the full benefits of diversity, Clarke said, a rich variety of people needs to be welcomed and nurtured, both in the educational setting and in the work place.

Participants in this year’s SHE conference will be involved in a series of workshops on such topics as "Supporting the Potential of Teenage Girls," "The Mirror Has Two Faces: Development of Body Image," "Unmasking Sexual Con Games," and "Who Do You Know? An Introduction to Networking."

Keynote speaker for the event is Laurie Houseman-Whitehawk, a Native-American artist who lives on the Yakima Reserve in Washington State. Born in Omaha, she grew up in Kansas City and studied art at Emporia State University, Kansas State University, the Institute of Arts in Santa Fe, the Kansas City Art Institute and Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Nebraska owns three of her works, which are on exhibit in the UNL Center for Great Plains Studies.

For additional information contact Shari Clarke at (402) 472-3109 or Bethina Moore at (402) 472-3893.