WASHINGTON – Nontombi Naomi Tutu, the internationally recognized speaker, human rights activist, and race relations scholar, will give the keynote address at the AAUW/NASPA National Conference for College Women Student Leaders on Saturday, June 6,at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Tutu began her public speaking career as a college student in Kentucky in the 1970s, when she was invited to speak at churches, community groups, colleges, and universities about growing up under apartheid. She currently serves as a diversity facilitator and conducts Truth and Reconciliation workshops, which enable communities to deal with conflicts in a responsive, step-by-step manner.
Tutu also co-founded Sister Sojourner, which hosts retreats geared toward helping women in the United States and South Africa form connections. She is co-writing a book provisionally titled I Don’t Think of You as Black: Honest Conversations on Race and Racism, and she serves as a consultant to the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tutu’s father, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Johannesburg’s first black bishop, rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. Growing up as a “daughter of” challenged Tutu to find her own place in the world.
Tutu holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and French from Berea College in Kentucky and a master’s degree in international economic development, from the University of Kentucky. In 2007 she received an honorary doctorate from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Prudential and the Princeton Review are the Platinum Sponsors of the 2009 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, including the Women of Distinction Awards. Other conference sponsors include the National Panhellenic Conference and the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Since 1985, the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders has provided a platform to help thousands of college and university women to develop leadership skills, network with other student leaders, and interact with women who hold leadership positions. The conference is presented by AAUW and NASPA.
