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NEWS RELEASE

09-10-02

Contacts:
Dianne Bystrom, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, (515) 294-3181
Victoria Szopinski, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, (515) 294-9867
David Gieseke, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, (515) 294-7742
Kevin Brown, News Service, (515) 294-8986

CATT CENTER FOR WOMEN AND POLITICS TO CELEBRATE 10th ANNIVERSARY WITH SPECIAL EVENTS

AMES, Iowa -- Christine Todd Whitman, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will help the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics celebrate its 10th anniversary this month. The celebration will include a campus reception, benefit dinner and theater performances, and silent auction.

Whitman will present a free public lecture at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. She will discuss the importance and impact of women on politics and public policy and answer questions.

Prior to becoming EPA administrator, Whitman served two years as governor of New Jersey. Whitman is visiting as the fall 2002 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics, which brings a variety of experts on women and politics to Iowa State's campus. The chair is awarded and hosted by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at ISU.

Whitman also will speak at a Des Moines reception for women political leaders in Iowa from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Embassy Club at Capitol Square. The reception is free and open to the public. Iowa's Women in Public Policy and the Catt Center will host the event.

In addition to her public presentations, Whitman will speak at a luncheon hosted by the Iowa State University Foundation's Women and Philanthropy Program and the Catt Center and meet with students affiliated with the center at a private reception.

Other Catt Center 10th anniversary events include:

A 10th anniversary open house reception, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 23 the date the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved an ISU request in 1992 to establish the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. The reception in 302 Catt Hall is free and open to the public, and will include a light luncheon. A 12:30 p.m. program will feature Sharon Rodine of Norman, Okla., an ISU political science alumna who helped establish the center.
A silent auction of women's political memorabilia and services, including autographed books; paintings and other items from national and state lawmakers and officers; works by well-known Iowa artists; a dinner for six guests prepared by Kathy Geoffroy, which she and Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy will host at The Knoll; season tickets to ISU football games, including the Sept. 28 ISU vs. Nebraska game, and women's basketball games; and gift certificates to restaurants, clothing stores and salons. Bids for silent auction items, which are listed on the center's website at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cccatt/, will be accepted by mail, fax (515-294-3741), or in-person at anniversary events. Bidding ends Sept. 25.
A benefit dinner and theater performance of "The Yellow Rose of Suffrage" on (POSTPONED - DATE TBA) Wednesday, Sept. 25, in the Scheman Building, Iowa State Center. The program will begin with dinner at 6 p.m., followed by a performance by ISU theater professor Jane Cox of her one-woman play about Carrie Chapman Catt. Tickets for the dinner and theater performance are $45 per person. For more information, contact the Catt Center at (515) 294-3181 or e-mail cattcntr@iastate.edu. At 8 p.m., students are invited to fill available seats for the theater performance for free.

The Catt Center also is engaged in a 10th anniversary fund-raising campaign to establish a $250,000 endowment to support programs and activities in student leadership development, research and outreach. Gifts will be announced throughout the anniversary celebration events.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For a bio and more information on Carrie Chapman Catt, or for more information on the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics, visit the Web site at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cccatt/.

Also, a downloadable photo of Christine Todd Whitman is available online at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/photos.html.