by Kelly Rogge
Kansas City Kansas Community College is holding a presentation this week that focuses on encouraging girls and women in today’s society.
“Encouraging Talent in Girls and Women: Questions of Resiliency and Grit” is at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in Room 2325 in Lower Jewell on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave. The event is open to all KCKCC students, faculty and staff as well as the community. Light refreshments will be served.
Barbara Kerr, the Williamson Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Kansas, is leading the discussion. Kerr is an American Psychological Association Fellow and has a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research focuses on the development of creativity and talent. She is also the founder of the Guidance Laboratory for Gifted and Talented at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently, she directs the Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States at KU, which works to identify and guide creative adolescents.
Kerr will speak about her new book, “Smart Girls in the 21st Century: Understanding Talented Girls and Women.” The book focuses on what it means to live, work and be a smart, modern girl. This includes addressing the topics of giftedness and achievement, generational differences, barriers to achievement, education, gifted minority girls and women.
The co-host of “Encouraging Talent in Girls and Women” is the Counseling and Advocacy Center at KCKCC, the Women’s Resource Center and the American Association of University Women. For more information, contact Jennifer Gieschen, coordinator for the Women’s Resource Center at [email protected] or by calling 913-288-7193.
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.