NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women is sponsoring a daylong conference Thursday in the Holmes Student Center.

The main theme of the conference is “Empowering Women … of diversity … with dignity … through development.”

Linda Tillis, assistant director of Housing Services, said program registration will begin at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, and anyone is welcome to attend.

“We want to create a feeling of community and a positive welcoming environment for women,” Tillis said.

Program folders will be handed out during registration. Folders will contain descriptions of the individual program seminars along with a biographical sketch of each conference presenter. NIU faculty will be making the presentations.

“Our goals are to advance the personal and professional development of women, faculty and students at NIU and the surrounding communities,” said Marybeth Koos, a coordinator of the event and slides curator in the art department.

“We hope to do this by providing an opportunity for participants to share and explore insights and issues,” she said.

A wide variety of workshops will be available at the conference. Thirty seminars covering topics such as Sexuality/Body Image/Spirituality, Family Careers/Social and Professional Roles to Employment, Ethnic/Cultural Difference and Feminist Theory/Research will be offered.

Tillis said part of the conference’s objective is to make programs interactive, share ideas and help solve problems in an open atmosphere.

Workshops for the morning session are scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Also, a luncheon will be held at noon in the Clara Sperling Skyroom of the Holmes Student Center. The cost of the luncheon is $10, and reservations must be made in advance.

Zerrie Campbell, president of Chicago’s Malcolm X College and an NIU alumnus, will be the keynote speaker at the luncheon.

Campbell’s afternoon session will begin at 1:45 p.m., and the final session will start at 3 p.m.

Following the last workshop, there will be a reception from 4 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the Clara Sperling Skyroom of the Holmes Student Center.

Hersong, the Quad Cities Women’s Choir, will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium of the HSC.

NIU‘s Social Science Research Institute will sponsor a session on “Women in Careers” at 3 p.m. in the Illinois Room of the HSC.