LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Challenging young women to excel and encouraging them to explore "Different Perspectives, New Insights" about the world today is the theme for the 17th annual Women's Studies Colloquium at Rider University.

The colloquium will be held on Wednesday, March 24 in the Student Center Fireside Lounge on the University's Lawrenceville campus, and will feature the presentation of top student papers dealing with women's studies, the bestowal of the 1999 Sadie Ziegler-Bernice Gee Rider University Woman of the Year Award, and a distinguished keynote speaker from a renowned women's leadership institute.

The program begins with the presentation of student papers from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again from 1:10 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. Selected students will present outstanding papers submitted as course work over the past year that deal with women's studies topics such as women's achievements, life challenges, and triumphant women. Rider faculty members will moderate the presentations.

"Both leadership and scholarship are demonstrated by Rider students who speak at the annual Women's Studies Colloquium," said program coordinator Dr. Judith Johnston, professor of English at Rider. "Each of the winning speakers, who are among our best and brightest students, presents a new perspective on women. The diversity of women's lives is represented in the 1999 papers.

"We've been selecting the best papers for the past seventeen years, and each year the quality improves," she added, noting that the winning papers come from students in varied academic programs in Rider's College of Business Administration, College of Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences, and the College of Continuing Studies.

The 1999 Rider University Woman of the Year Award will be announced and presented at 12:30 p.m. Two recipients from the Rider community will be honored this year.

The finale of the day's events will be a keynote presentation at 4:30 p.m. by Jodi Heintz, director of the Young Women's Leadership Institute at Rutgers University's Center for the American Woman and Politics (CAWP). Heintz's program is titled "See Jane Run -- And Other Audacious Political Acts by Women."

Heintz oversees the CAWP's program development, internships, and fundraising for education programs for young women. She manages NEW Leadership New Jersey, an award-winning leadership program, and advises students on leadership projects they undertake after their participation in the program. She also consults with young women across the country about political careers and projects, and is currently involved in the creation of a new technology project for educators with an interest in politics and aspiring women politicians -- a project that promises to be a leading Internet resource.

Holder of a M.A. in political science from the University of Louisville, Heintz regularly gives intriguing presentations dealing with women, politics, and leadership to students across New Jersey.

All colloquium events are free and open to the public. For further information, contact Dr. Johnston at (609) 895-5580.

Rider University's Lawrenceville campus is located five miles south of Princeton and three miles north of Trenton on Route 206 in Lawrence Township, NJ. The campus is one half mile south of exit 7A of Interstate 95.