Title IX, the law that secured gender equity in
educational institutions across the United States, will be discussed in a
year-long series of lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The series marks UW-Stevens Point’s hosting of the NCAA
Division III Women’s Basketball Final Four in March 2014, and centers on the
“Access to Opportunity” that Title IX gave to young women playing scholastic
sports.
“The ‘Access to Opportunity’ series shows the connection
between our diverse academic disciplines and the sport of basketball as we host
the tournament,” said Nancy LoPatin-Lummis, series organizer. “It really
highlights what the university believes, that breadth in one’s education makes
everything more meaningful.”
The series will conclude with a talk by Pat
McKinzie-Lechault, the first female athletic scholarship recipient in Illinois,
one of the first Women’s Professional Basketball League draftees, and the
author of “Home Sweet Hardwood: A Title IX Trailblazer Breaks Barriers Through
Basketball.”
“’Home Sweet Hardwood’ tells an inspiring story of one
woman chasing her dream,” said LoPatin-Lummis. “I’d like to encourage community
members and book clubs to read the book in hopes of generating discussion and
awareness for the author’s visit and the NCAA Final Four in March.”
The lectures will be held on select Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
in the Laird Room of the Dreyfus University Center on campus. The public is invited
to attend free of charge. The schedule is as follows:
- Sept. 17 - “How We Got To Title IX: A
Short History of Women’s Rights,” Teresa Kaminski, professor of history
- Oct. 8 - “Personal Reflections on Title
IX and Women’s Collegiate Basketball,” Shirley Egner, UW-Stevens Point
basketball coach
- Oct. 29 - “The Politics and Law of Title
IX,” John Blakeman, professor of political science
- Nov. 19 - “Competitive Athletics and
Changing Gender Roles,” Helena Alden, assistant professor of sociology
- Jan. 28, 2014 - “The Psychological
Effects of Participation in Sports for Girls and Women,” Jeana
Magyar-Moe, associate professor of psychology
- Feb. 18, 2014 - “Playing the Game:
Women’s Sports in Fiction, Prose and Poetry,” Robert Sirabian,
associate professor of English
- March 18, 2014 - “A Mother’s Inspiration,
A Daughter’s Destiny – Four Decades, Three Generations, Two Continents, One
Game,” Pat McKinzie-Lechault, player, first Women’s Professional
Basketball League; teacher/coach, International School of Geneva, Switzerland