Actor and philanthropist Geena Davis will serve as this year’s Park Distinguished Visitor. One of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Davis will speak on “Gender Equality in The Modern Media” on March 31 at 8 p.m. in Ford Hall, Whalen School of Music. The lecture is free and open to the public.
NOTE: Limited seating is available. The event will also be live streamed in Textor 102 and online at: http://www.livestream.com/parkmedianetwork. Doors will open approximately 30 minutes before the event. Students enrolled in the Media for Social Responsibility course will be seated ahead of time, as this lecture is part of their course hours.
About Geena Davis:
Davis broke ground in her portrayal of the first female President of the United States in ABC’s hit show Commander in Chief, earning the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama. She currently plays Dr. Nicole Herman on Grey's Anatomy.
She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the offbeat dog trainer Muriel Pritchett in Lawrence Kasdan’s The Accidental Tourist.
She was again nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance as Thelma in Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise, in which she co-starred with Susan Sarandon. Davis went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of baseball phenomenon Dottie Hinson in A League of Their Own. Her other credits include Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Earth Girls are Easy, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Stuart Little.
Davis is also recognized for her tireless advocacy of women and girls nearly as much as for her acting accomplishments. She is the founder of the non-profit the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and its programming arm See Jane, which engages film and television creators to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters — and reduce gender stereotyping — in media made for children 11 and under.
Davis serves as a chair to the California Commission on the Status of Women, and is a partner with UN Women in the effort to change the way media represents women and girls worldwide. She is currently the Special Envoy for Women and Girls in the field of technology for the United Nations.
She holds honorary degrees from Boston University, Bates College and New England College.
Her lecture will also serve as the keynote to this year’s Media for Social Responsibility course focusing on Media and Body Image. Special thanks to Carl Daikeler ‘86, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Beachbody, for his generous gift to support this year's course.
About the Park Distinguished Visitor Series:
The Park Distinguished Visitor series is sponsored by the Roy H. Park School of Communications and is made possible through the generosity of the Park Foundation. Past visitors have included Dan O'Shannon, Randi Zuckerberg, James Carville, Arianna Huffington, Tom Wolfe, Christiane Amanpour, Ken Burns, and Bill Moyers.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Melissa Gattine at mgattine@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1023. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
To view this event on the college event calendar, click here.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20150303152208138