ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
MEMO: NOTE: Also ran in Current.
The Olympic gold medalist will speak tonight on gender equity.
Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee will speak at 7 tonight at Burruss Hall on the campus of Virginia Tech. The speech will be free and open to the public.
Joyner-Kersee will be addressing the issue of gender equity, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that prohibits federally funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex in an education program or activities. Her speech will look at the issue in relation to women on the athletic field, in the workplace and owning their own businesses.
A question-and-answer period will follow her lecture.
A world-class track and field athlete, Joyner-Kersee is the founder of JJK Community Foundation, an organization that supports the development of leadership programs in urban areas across the United States. She is one in a series of successful women who have been chosen to speak at Tech to commemorate Women's Month.
The program is sponsored by the Virginia Tech Athletic Department, Black Student Alliance, the President's Office, Womanspace, Women's Studies and the Virginia Tech Union.
Two years ago a federal judge in Roanoke approved the settlement of a Title IX-related class-action lawsuit filed by a dozen students against Virginia Tech. The settlement ensured more money and more programs for female student-athletes at the university.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB