Siena welcomed students and faculty to campus for the 10th annual Capital District Feminist Studies Consortium Conference on April 8. The event featured academic panels on Definition & Inclusion, Storytelling & Performance, Global Action & Advocacy, and Harm & Well-Being; poster presentations and networking; and the panel “Future Visions: Mapping a Post-Pandemic World.”
The day-long conference concluded with the keynote presentation and book signing sponsored by the College’s Spirit of ’68 Committee. Lois Herr, a former executive with AT&T, spoke about her activist experience in groundbreaking affirmative action in the corporate world. She also signed copies of her book Women, Power, and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace.
“Did we make a lasting impact?” she asked of the activist work she and her colleagues did in the early 1970s. “I hope so, because it was a marvelous thing to be involved in. I had to create my own career plan because I did not fit the accepted pattern.”
She told attendees: “Change structure, change behavior and the attitudes will follow.”
The event was co-organized by Laurie Naranch, Ph.D., professor of political science, and Beth DeAngelis, senior director of Siena’s Sr. Thea Bowman Center for Women.
