Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
818/677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

CSUN to Honor Four Extraordinary Women

Billie Heller, founder and current chair of the National Committee on the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; Dolores Huerta, co-founder and secretary-treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America; Sheila James Kuehl, Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly; and Betye Saar, artist, will each receive the university's "Phenomenal Women Award."

"We think that they really are phenomenal women who provide inspiration to everybody as to what women can do and the changes they can make in society," said Elizabeth Say, chair of the Women's Studies Department.

The department gives out the awards each year to raise money for student scholarships, program development and faculty research.

The reception and auction will be held in the Cleary Court of the Business Administration and Education complex on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge.

Heller is a women's rights advocate and community activist. She was a founding board member of the California Women's Law Center and is a national board member for both the National Women's Conference Committee and the U.S. Committee for UNIFEM. As a journalist, she attended both the 1980 Copenhagen United Nations Mid-Decade for Women Conference and the 1985 Nairobi United Nations End-Decade for Women Conference.

Huerta has spent more than 30 years working to secure and protect the rights of agricultural workers in the United States. She has been the recipient of many awards and honors for her achievements, including induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame, the ACLU Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award, and the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award.

Kuehl is the first woman to be named Speaker pro Tempore and is also the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to the California Legislature. She chairs the Select Committee on California's Women and serves on the State Commission on the Status of Women and the Domestic Violence Program Advisory. As a political and community activist, she has been a champion of the rights of women and children.

Saar grew up in Pasadena and spent summers with her grandmother in Watts, where she watched the construction of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers. The now-famous towers made an impression, which is evident in her work today. Saar takes found objects and transforms them into assemblages, collages and installations. She has had shows in major museums around the world, and her works are in the collections of more than 20 major museums, including the Metropolitan in New York and the Hirshhorn in Washington D.C.

Tickets for the reception are $40. To make a reservation or for more information, call 818/677-3110.