Public meeting: 24 October 2012
Location: Baha’i Center
5 Ravenscroft Drive, Asheville
Time: 7 p.m.
Help us celebrate United Nations Day on 24 October by -
“Celebrating Women and the United Nations”
Featuring: The Sahara Peace Choir
A Panel Including: Dr Amy Knisley, Dr. Lyndi Hewitt, and Karen Oelschlaeger
with Moderator Betty J. Letzig
The Sahara Women’s Peace Choir will be opening the evening, with a variety of songs: The group of women, led by
Womansong founder Linda Metzner, sings in venues promoting world peace. Their music draws from Jewish, Muslim and
Christian traditions.
Panelist Dr. Amy Knisley is a specialist in environment and the law. She has a PhD in Philosophy from University of
Colorado and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. She manages Betsy's Farm in Canton,
NC (a small organic produce farm) and recently returned to teaching as a Professor of Environmental Studies at Warren
Wilson College. Her teaching and research background blends environmental ethics and the law. She has researched and
critiqued legislative and policy efforts to establish and protect wilderness; protecting wilderness and working agricultural
values on private land, through establishment of conservation easements. Amy will be speaking on the role of women in
organizing grassroots activity that so often influences environmental policy.
Panelist Dr. Lyndi Hewitt's specialties include social movements, human rights, globalization and development, and
research methods. Currently, she is a professor of Sociology at UNCA. Under scholarship, she has examined framing and
mobilization in U.S. state women’s suffrage movements, strategic adaptation among U.S. state women’s jury movements,
and the utility of the World Social Forum as a space for transnational women’s activism.
Panelist Karen Oelschlaeger is one of the youngest League of Women Voters presidents in the history of the
organization. She has a Masters degree in social work from UNC-Chapel Hill and has been involved in organizations such
as the Sierra Club and a Charlotte-area Fund for Public Interest Research. As a media specialist, she helped the LWV
engage a younger audience through social media tools and now reaches out to local women to get a sense for issues that
are important to them.
Moderator Betty J. Letzig is a current board member of the UNA, WNC Chapter and representative of our co-sponsor,
Church Women United. She is a retired deaconess and former staff of the United Methodist General Board of Global
Ministries. She has a Master's degree in Christian Education from Scarritt College in Nashville, TN. Her extensive
experience representing women's interests for a number of regional, national and international organizations and her
vacations on all continents where she always seeks to visit as many projects as possible that serve the needs of women,
children and youth provide helpful background for her role as moderator.
This event is sponsored by the Western North Carolina chapter of the United Nations Association. The event is co-sponsored by Church Women United, The Baha’i
Community and other organizations to be announced. The United Nations Association of the USA is a membership program of the UN Foundation and is dedicated
to building understanding of and support for the ideals and work of the UN among the American people. Its education, membership and advocacy programs
emphasize the importance of cooperation among nations and the need for American leadership at the UN. UNA-USA is affiliated with the World Federation of
United Nations Associations, which began in 1946 as a public movement for the UN.
Questions? Need more information?
Please email: unawnc@gmail.com ~ Website: www.una-wnc.org ~ Phone: 828.367.7636
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