Anita Hill to be Keynote Speaker

Anita Hill of Brandeis University will serve as keynote speaker for the chamber’s Worcester Women’s Leadership Conference on Thursday, April 13, 2017 at the DCU Center.

The day-long event is a popular program attracting more that 680 women from around the region. The conference features two keynote speakers, breakout sessions, a marketplace, continental breakfast, lunch, and reception. Just a few exhibitor booths remain so reserve yours today to secure your spot. The event sold out in the two years prior and is expected to do so again.

The conference is an opportunity for women to build their careers and share their experiences with other women. This year’s conference will expand on a new program titled “Reach Up & Out” to provide mentorship opportunities for conference participants.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hill is the youngest of 13 children from a farm in Oklahoma. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1980 and began her career in Washington, D.C. There she also worked at the U. S. Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1989, Hill became the first African American to be tenured at the University of Oklahoma, College of Law, where she taught contracts and commercial law. And she teaches courses on gender, race, social policy and legal history and has served as Senior Advisor to the Provost at Brandeis University. As counsel to Cohen Milstein, she advises on class action workplace discrimination cases. Hill is the recipient of numerous awards, grants and honorary degrees.

Hill’s latest book is “Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race and Finding Home” (Beacon Press, 2011). The book is an analysis of the housing market collapse of 2008 and its impact on gender and racial equality. Hill adds this work to numerous other publications on subjects ranging from bankruptcy to equal educational opportunity. In addition, she has made presentations to hundreds of business, professional, academic and civic organizations.

Pushes women’s and civil rights

Professor Hill continues to push the envelope in pursuit of women’s and civil rights. She has teamed up with MacArthur Genius Award-winning artist Mark Branford as he creates an exhibit for the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. The painting will display publicly for the first time in art form the text of women civil rights activists. And it will capture their various contributions to the iconic 1963 “March on the Mall.” Furthermore, Hill’s research, writing and public talks in connection with the exhibit will focus on restoring women’s civil rights movement experiences.

Professor Hill is engaging prominent academics and business professionals all over the country. Additionally, she is spearheading “Restoring the Vision,” a project to revive awareness of the broad agenda of Title IX, the crucial law mandating equal education opportunities for women. “Restoring the Vision” will kick start inquiry as well as legal and policy reforms that empower girls and women for success.