News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 2/23/05   Click on image for publication quality photo National Book Award-winning author Ellen Gilchrist, left, and Rep. Diane Winston, right, are among the guest speakers for the Southeastern Women's Coalition's Women's History Month 2005. AUTHOR ELLEN GILCHRIST HEADLINES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH AT SOUTHEASTERN       HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University will celebrate March as Women=s History Month when the Southeastern Women's Coalition hosts a lively series of faculty and guest lectures headlined by National Book Award-winning author Ellen Gilchrist.       Gilchrist, who has been called one of the finest storytellers in modern southern literature, will present a public reading at 7:30 p.m., March 15, at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond. She also will offer a creative writing workshop for Southeastern students and guests the following morning.       Women’s History Month 2005 will also include presentations by Mississippi poet and playwright Angela Jackson, a health fair sponsored by North Oaks Health System, and an original play, “Lyzzi Strata,” by Southeastern theater faculty member Selisa Hue.        The heart of the celebration is the series of daily lunch time lectures by faculty and guest speakers on topics ranging from quilting to Mary Magdalen to women and politics.        As has become a Southeastern Women’s History Month tradition, Rep. Diane Winston will open the lecture series with “The State of Women in Louisiana” at 12:30 p.m., March 1 at the library. The free lectures are all scheduled for Sims Memorial Library at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.       A complete schedule of Women’s History Month is available on line at www.selu.edu/whm05 and will also be available at Sims Memorial Library.       Guest lecturers include Sheryl L. Shirley, associate professor of political science at Plymouth State University; June Dunn, visiting assistant of English at Southern Connecticut State University; Maryellen Jenkins of North Oaks Health System; Jeff Day and Julie Boutwell of Hammond’s Spoga Studio; and Joe Delatte, a Baton Rouge psychologist.       Faculty lectures include Jeanne Dubino, Natasha Whitton, and Robin Norris, English; Alice Gibson, Kinesiology and Health Studies; Celina Echols, Educational Leadership and Technology; Margaret Gonzalez-Perez, Bill Robison, Judith Fai-Podlipnik, and David Benec, History and Political Science; and Karen Fontenot, Communication.        Southeastern honors student Jeanne Northrup will also join the schedule with a talk on Native American women, while three Southeastern retirees – former Vice President for Student Affairs Patsy Causey, Fanfare Director Harriet Vogt, and English Department Head Sue Parrill – will reminisce about their roles in Southeastern history at the Center for Faculty Excellence’s March “Lyceum Lights” luncheon.       Women’s History Month 2005 is dedicated to one of the coalition’s founding members, KSLU 90.9 FM News Director Mary Pirosko. A north shore broadcast journalist and civic activist for three decades, Pirosko is moving to Newport News, Va.       Women’s History Month is also sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of History and Political Science, English, and Communications. For additional information, contact the Southeastern English Department, 985-549-2100.