IVCC’s Women’s History Month Celebration is made possible through the combined dedication of the Diversity Team, SAGE, the Student Nursing Association, Sigma Kappa Delta, the World Language Association, and the Student Government Association. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise specified.

Art Contest sponsored by Sigma Kappa Delta
Entries of poetry, short stories, essays, pictures, paintings, etc., that relate to women and women’s lives should be submitted to professors Kimberly M. Radek or Delores Robinson by March 6. Winners will be announced, prizes awarded, and the winning art read or displayed in a Brown Bag Lunch session on March 30.

Monday, March 2 – The Cultural Center
Noon – 1 p.m.
Presentation: Jimmie Briggs, founder of the Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to mobilize young people to stop violence against women and girls.

Tuesday, March 3 – CTC 125
Noon – 1 p.m.
Brown Bag Lunch: Women in Mathematics throughout History
The struggles and successes of women in mathematics.
Sponsored by Indefinite Limit math club.

Wednesday, March 4 – Building C, Room 316
Noon – 1 p.m.
Brown Bag Lunch: Discussion of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” the story of a turn-of-the-century Southern woman’s struggle with her personal desires, sexual awareness and society’s strictly defined gender role expectations. The text is considered one of the best short American novels ever written as well as a foundational piece of feminist literature, and it is available for free online through Project Gutenberg. Refreshments provided by Sigma Kappa Delta.

Wednesday, March 25 – CTC 124
Noon – 1 p.m.
Brown Bag Lunch: “Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Her Sojourn in Illinois’s Bellevue Place”
Professor Betsy Klopcic will present on the life struggles of the widow of President Abraham Lincoln, especially her experiences in Batavia, Ill., when she was committed to the Bellevue Place asylum.

Monday, March 30 – Building C, Room 316
Noon – 1 p.m.
Brown Bag Lunch: “Fantastic Feminism” and Sigma Kappa Delta Awards Ceremony
Awards for the art contest will be presented.
Professor Kimberly M. Radek and Sigma Kappa Delta President Kelly McDonough will debate and discuss issues of sex roles and gender equity in fantasy fiction, using George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire saga (AKA the Game of Thrones series), particularly considering the issue of whether a male writer can weave stories of fully believable and empowered female characters.

Tuesday, March 31 – CTC 125
Noon – 1 p.m.
Brown Bag Lunch: “Female Confederate Spies”
A study of the Civil War reveals women as wives, mothers, sisters and daughters, nurses and charity workers but also shows that women were active in both combat and in intelligence. Professor Amanda Cook Fesperman will bring the lives of some of these women and their heroic efforts for their cause to light.