FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 26, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE UNIVERSITY PLANS SPECIAL EVENTS FOR TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK DAY Deborah R. Jospin, director of AmeriCorps, will be the featured speaker at a Take Our Daughters To Work Day luncheon at Drake University on Thursday, April 27. Jospin will discuss careers in public service. The luncheon will start at noon and Jospin will speak at about 12:15 p.m. in Parents Hall at Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. As director of the domestic Peace Corps, Jospin oversees the service of more than 40,000 AmeriCorps members each year. Working in communities across the country, AmeriCorps members are helping teach children to read, making communities safer, closing the digital divide, building homes for people in need, and doing other things to strengthen communities. The Drake University Women's Forum is sponsoring the luncheon along with many other special activities on Take Our Daughters To Work Day, which was created in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women. Drake students will be hosting approximately 10 students from Callanan Middle School for the day. West Des Moines resident Emily Cheney, a member of the National Girls' Council for Take Our Daughters To Work Day, will speak at a career workshop from 11 a.m. to noon at Drake's Career Center, 1331 27th St. She is the daughter of Karen and Michael Cheney, associate provost and director of research at Drake. Participants will register for Drake's Take Our Daughters To Work Day from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on the upper level of Olmsted Center. At 9:30 a.m. "Introduction to Exceptional Children" will be taught by Kathy Fejes-Mendoza, associate professor of education, in room 214 of the School of Education, 3206 University Ave. She will discuss gifted and talented children and conduct some fun activities for girls. At 11 a.m., Carol Spaulding, assistant professor of English, will lead a discussion and writing exercise about a short story called "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. The story examines how girls learn their roles in society through the ways in which their mothers define them. This session will be held in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall, 1317 28th St. The issue of gay and lesbian marriage will be discussed at a session on contemporary ethics. This session, led by Drake students and Daniel Spencer, associate professor of religion and ethics, will start at 11 a.m. in room 221 of Medbury Hall.