News

February 22, 2013

Rossi Lecture to Feature NOW President Terry O’Neill on Challenges Facing Feminists

Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), will discuss the past, present and future challenges facing feminists at the 2013 Rossi Lecture on Tuesday, March 5, at 12:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.The event is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow. The event is sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Sociology.

O’Neill, a feminist attorney, professor, and activist for social justice, was elected president of NOW in June 2009. She is also president of the NOW Foundation and chair of the NOW Political Action Committees, and serves as the principal spokesperson for all three entities. O’Neill oversees NOW’s multi-issue agenda, which includes advancing reproductive freedom, promoting diversity and ending racism, stopping violence against women, winning lesbian rights, ensuring economic justice, ending sex discrimination and achieving constitutional equality for women.

This event is part of the Alice S. and Peter H. Rossi Lecture series, established to honor these distinguished academics who taught in the Sociology Department at UMass Amherst for many years. Among their many national accomplishments, Alice Rossi was one of the original founders of the National Organization for Women, and Peter is the namesake of The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management's award for exemplary contributions in program evaluation.

This endowed lecture series alternates the honorees, focusing on Peter one year and Alice the next. The lecturers are prominent academic and public figures drawn from across the country and around the world renowned for pursuing one or more of the honoree’s interests.

During a typical two-day visit, the Rossi lecturer gives a public all-campus lecture, as well as a department seminar on work in progress for faculty and graduate students, visits an undergraduate class, and is available for informal meetings and social gatherings.

Click here for more information about this event and to submit questions for O'Neill prior to the event.
Click here for more information about Terry O’Neill.