|
April 10, 2007
FILMMAKER RORY KENNEDY IS SPEAKER FOR WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON MAY 2
Rory Kennedy, one of the nation’s most prolific independent documentary filmmakers, will be the speaker for the Women’s Leadership Conference at William Paterson University in Wayne on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. The event, in the University’s building at 1600 Valley Road, begins at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by the program at 6:30 p.m. and dessert and coffee at 8 p.m. The cost is $40 per person.
Kennedy will discuss the challenges for women as media producers, filmmaking as a vehicle for social change, and the importance of philanthropy. The evening’s moderator will be Maureen Conway ’66, retired vice president, Hewlett Packard Company. The event is designed to provide women with an opportunity to network and learn about leadership from women in a variety of business settings.
Kennedy is the co-founder/president of Moxie Firecracker Films, Inc. Her films, which address pressing social concerns including domestic abuse, drug addiction, human rights, AIDS and mental illness—have garnered numerous awards and been featured on HBO, A&E, MTV, Lifetime, The Oxygen Network, Court TV, TLC and PBS.
Her 2007 documentary, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, examines the abuses of U.S. soldiers at Iraqi prisons in 2003 and explores what the events reveal about American society, government and military operations. It premiered to critical acclaim at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival before being broadcast on HBO.
Other Kennedy-directed projects include: The Homestead Strike, part of the History Channel's “Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America” series; Street Fight (Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary), tracing the controversial 2002 Newark, N.J., mayoral race between Sharpe James and Cory Booker; American Hollow (Emmy nomination for Non-Fiction Primetime), illustrating the plight of an Appalachian family caught between century-old tradition and the modern world; A Boy’s Life (Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival), a dramatic portrait of the troubling forces shaping the life of a young child from impoverished Mississippi; and Pandemic: Facing AIDS, recording the triumph as well as the heartbreak of five people afflicted with the disease.
In addition to her impressive film career, Kennedy is a committed social activist and human rights advocate. She serves on the board of directors for a number of non-profit organizations including the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, the Legal Action Center, and the Project Return Foundation. She served as chairperson of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation Associate Trustees Program from 1993-1995 and has served as a member of the board of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation since 1999. She was a member of the 1999 Presidential Mission on AIDS in Africa, and developed the Teacher Transfer Program between the U.S. and Namibia after her work at the Dobra Resettlement Camp. She also has been a member of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights delegations in South Africa, South Korea, Japan, El Salvador and Poland. She is the youngest child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy.
Conway, who is a 1966 graduate of William Paterson, retired in 2005 from her position as vice president of emerging market solutions for Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) in Palo Alto, California. In this capacity, she pioneered a new approach that applied technology and business model innovation to the social and economic needs of developing economies. Her work received many awards in India and the Republic of South Africa. In 2005, the approach, results and impact were described in Thomas L. Friedman’s best-selling book on globalization, The World is Flat. Earlier, Conway served as vice president and chief information officer for HP; she received the Solomon Smith Barney CIO of the Year Award in 2002. Prior to joining HP in 1989, she spent 20 years in technical management positions at Bell Laboratories, Computer Corporation of America and Apollo Computer. Conway began her career as a high school mathematics teacher at Palisades Park Junior/Senior High School.
The conference is sponsored by the William Paterson University Foundation in conjunction with the University’s Office of Institutional Advancement and the Small Business Development Center, Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business. Additional support has been provided by BAE Systems NES, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company.
For additional information on the conference, or for reservations, contact Mary Pospisil at 973-720-2934 or pospisilm@wpunj.edu or visit the Web site at www.wpunj.edu/womensleadership.
###
www.wpunj.edu
|
|
