University to host third annual ‘Women in Communication’ conference

By: Nicole Stone/Assistant News Director

 

Students interested in becoming leaders in communication will have the opportunity to hear from those currently in the field on Tuesday, April 5, during the University’s third annual Women in Communication: Moving Ahead conference, at the Biscayne Bay campus.

Dr. Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver is the Dean Emeritus of the School of Communication + Journalism as well as founder and Executive Director of the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communications. She is also a member of Student Media’s Media Board.

Today, the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center is working to tackle the disparity seen in gender distribution in communications fields.

“Our vision was to work with young women to help move them into positions of leadership and to develop the next generation of visionaries,” Kopenhaver said, noting that this applies both in the realm of academics and professionalism, where too few women were moving into leadership positions.

As a strongly female dominated major across the nation, there remains an imbalance in the representation of women in the field as leaders, according to Kopenhaver.

“Historically, the broad field of communications has been a man’s world. Men were the ones who from the colonial days were the publishers of newspapers and the editors, and that has pretty much continued well into the 20th century,” She said. “One of the problems is that because women have come late to the field, they are still in entry-level or lower-level positions and haven’t gone up in position into leadership in many of the fields.”

The overarching theme for this year’s conference, “Moving Ahead” will be a continuation of the dialogue regarding the advancement of women in the communications field and the challenges women must overcome as they enter and move up in the field.

“We have brought together an awesome group of women who have made it in the field. Our whole theme of the conference, Women in Communication: Moving Ahead, is to talk to the young women and men in the audience to show them some of the ways that they can take advantage of the opportunities that are out there in the communications world,” Kopenhaver said.

The event will run from 8:30 a.m., beginning with registration and a keynote speaker address, to 4 p.m., with a closing session. Nationally renowned keynote speakers, Sharri Berg, of FOX News, and Ilia Calderon, of Univision will join the dialogue, discussing their own journeys.

“I looked for women who had made it in the field through efforts of moving up the ladder… We have two very different people but yet, folks who have both moved up the ladder and have interesting stories to tell,” Kopenhaver said.

For Kopenhaver, meeting the women invited to speak will be the highlight of the conference.

“So many of them have made their mark in the field of communications… I’m really looking forward to meeting them and providing the opportunity to those who are attending the conference to do some networking with them and to really learn from them.”

Kopenhaver encouraged the attendance of all those interested in communications, and stated that the conference is open to both men and women.

“I think that the conference brings so many wonderful people in one place, at one time that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. It’s really a unique experience for those attending,” she said.

Those interested may register from CARTA’s site, carta.fiu.edu. An online flipbook for the event is also available.

 

Featured Image retrieved from Unsplash

 

 

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