IU Northwest Women’s and Gender Studies Program presents Celebrating Our Students conference March 12

Gary, Ind. – Indiana University Northwest invites the campus and community to its annual Celebrating Our Students event, a student research conference hosted by the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Program.

The conference theme is Women in Popular Culture, and the event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, March 12 in the John W. Anderson Library Conference Center.

Throughout the day, students will showcase their research on gender-related topics from a variety of disciplines, including English, sociology, anthropology and women’s and gender studies.

At 11:30 a.m., Crystal Taliefero will deliver the keynote address, “Breaking and Entering the Male-dominated World of Pop, Rock and Blues.

Taliefero, a world-renowned performer and IU alumna, is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Raised in Hammond and Gary, she began recording and touring with John Mellencamp in 1985, and has been a member of The Billy Joel Band since 1989. Other famous artists she has worked with include Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, and Michael McDonald, among others.

She served as director of the IU Soul Revue and received the Herman C. Hudson Award for Artistic Excellence. Her goal is to establish a “Journey with the Arts Program” to empower youth through live musical performance.

This annual student research conference, hosted by the IU Northwest WGS Program, is co-sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs.

For more information, contact the WGS director, Tanice Foltz, at tfoltz@iun.edu or 219-980-6786.

About Indiana University Northwest

One of eight campuses of Indiana University, IU Northwest is located in metropolitan Northwest Indiana, approximately 30 miles southeast of Chicago and 10 miles from the Indiana Dunes National Park. The campus has a diverse student population of approximately 4,000 degree-seeking students and 1,500 dual-credit students. The campus offers Associate, Baccalaureate and Master’s degrees in a variety of undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional degree options available from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Health and Human Services, the School of Business and Economics, the School of the Arts and the School of Education. The campus is also host to IU School of Medicine-Northwest-Gary, which actively involves students in research and local healthcare needs through its four-year medical doctorate program. IU Northwest emphasizes high-quality teaching, faculty and student research and engagement on campus and in the community. As a student-centered campus, IU Northwest is committed to academic excellence characterized by a love of ideas and achievement in learning, discovery, creativity and engagement. Indiana University Northwest is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer committed to achieving excellence through diversity. The University actively encourages applications from women, minorities, veterans, persons with disabilities, and members of other underrepresented groups.