Students to Present on Youth Violence, Sex Trafficking, Social Justice

Oakland, CA - The Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) at Mills College will present a Grant Conference from March 31–April 2, 2006 for students from the ICL Class of 2004. Krishanti Dharmaraj, executive director and co-founder of the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights (WILD), will be the featured conference speaker.

Dharmaraj uses international human rights treaties and grassroots advocacy to affect public policy, and she designs and conducts training on human rights and leadership. With her leadership, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to pass legislation implementing an international human rights treaty to eliminate gender- based discrimination against women.

ICL students will give grant presentations on the following topics:

• Changing Habits: Educating Women to Our Environmental Role (Alice Kaiser, Mills Class of 2005)
• Controlling the Fire: Youth Violence in South Sacramento, CA (Tamina Alon, UC Berkeley, Class of 2005)
• Sex Trafficking in Cambodia (Karoline Kemp, University of Calgary, Class of 2005)
• Creative Life Circles (Terri Martin, Mills Class of 2006)
• Examining the Role of Faith in Social Justice (Mari Villaluna, Mills Class of 2005
• Does Carleton College Truly Recognize and Affirm Difference in the Classroom? (Heather Jackson, Carleton College, Class of 2006)
• Pregnancy Information Booklet for Women in Prison (Caitlin Miller, Oberlin College, Class of 2006)
• Loving Your Body at Any Size (Heather Powers, UC Berkeley, 2005)
• Writing Workshops for Incarcerated Women (Beatrice Sullivan, Oberlin College, Class of 2006)
• The surFACES Project (Diane Tran, College of St. Scholastica, Class of 2006)
• Studying Leadership Styles (Josephine Tsui, University of Calgary, Class of 2005)

WILD is an organization advancing human rights in the U.S. through the leadership of women and girls.

The Mills Institute for Civic Leadership promotes the civic and democratic purposes of education and sponsors programs and activities that advance the civic leadership capacities and commitments of women.The semester program in civic leadership runs each fall semester and is open to women in their junior or senior years at Mills and colleges around the country.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges in 2005. Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

PRESS CONTACT:
Deborah Dallinger
Communications Consultant
925.788.9131