Retired Capt. Martha Kotite will present “Telling Their Stories: A Celebration of Women Veterans” at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 22, at Chao Auditorium in ���Ǵڳ�’s Ekstrom Library. Veterans advocate Heather French Henry will emcee.

Admission is free but RSVPs are needed by email at women.veterans@ky.gov. The Kentucky veterans affairs department also will furnish parking for the first 100 people who RSVP.

Kotite will discuss the importance of the female veteran experience and its significance in relating military history, drawing upon the stories she collected in writing five books: “Changing the Rules of Engagement: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership from Women in the Miltary,” “My Name is Old Glory: A Celebration of the Star-Spangled Banner,” “Legacy: A History of the Coast Guard Foundation,” “So Others May Live: Coast Guard’s Rescue Swimmers” and “Innovators: Rock Stars of STEM”. The program will conclude with a book-signing event with Kotite.

For more information, visit the .

About Martha Kotite

Kotite’s leadership style empowered her to be one of the first female officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters with all male crews.��Patrolling the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as the Caribbean Sea, she remained true to herself while changing the rules of engagement.

A graduate of the��U.S. Coast Guard Academy��with a masters from Harvard University, Kotite rose to the senior rank of captain and is an award-winning author of five books. Her presentations are influenced by her 29-year career serving at sea and ashore and the courageous trailblazers she has profiled in her books.

Kotite earned numerous personal and team awards for her mobilizations during national disasters, missions saving lives at sea and work as a public relations spokesperson for the Service, the Commandant’s Press Secretary and as a New York City public relations firm’s account director for IBM.

Kotite lead the Coast Guard’s development of emergency crisis management liaisons across the FEMA regions and nation. She deployed on scene for significant national events like the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and numerous catastrophic hurricanes including Sandy and Maria. Hand-picked by the Commandant, she worked in Washington as the Commandant’s Press Secretary and served at sea on a cutter sailing the Pacific Ocean and as executive officer of a patrol boat patrolling the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Today, she lives in Florida with her family.

The free event, at the Speed Art Museum’s Speed Cinema, is open to the public and boasts an agenda packed with workshops, speakers and other fun activities for aspiring and current founders.

“Our goal with the AWARE:ACCESS program, and this event, is to help entrepreneurs and startups grow,” said Jessica Sharon, director of Innovation Programs at UofL. “At the summit, we’ll have a lot of resources to help them do that, from advice on applying for federal grant funding to how to make the perfect elevator pitch.”

In addition to workshops and speakers, attendees can also participate in a “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition. They can also speak one-on-one with experts in finance, accounting, marketing, human resources and pretty much any other topic a budding entrepreneur might need to know about.

More information and registration are .��

While the summit is open to all, the AWARE:ACCESS, or Accelerating Women and Underrepresented Entrepreneurs: Accelerate Entrepreneurial Success, program has a special focus on women and underrepresented entrepreneurs.��

The program, a National Science Foundation-backed partnership between UofL and Indiana University, provides support to help these entrepreneurs submit more competitive proposals for SBIR and STTR grant funding.

Women entrepreneurs represent only , despite making up some 51 percent of the total population. Collective minorities represent only 10 percent of awardees, combined.

“Diversity unlocks so many new perspectives, ideas and potential innovations,” said Robert S. Keynton, interim executive vice president for Research and Innovation. “In accelerating the success of women and underrepresented entrepreneurs, we hope to improve that diversity of thought and spur new growth and opportunities for all.”

AWARE:ACCESS is one of UofL’s suite of�� dubbed the “Superfecta,” to support the translation of research into viable commercial products.��UofL is one of only a handful of universities in the country to receive each of these, and is��the only one to receive all of them.

The grant will be used for a three-year, campus-wide initiative called Advancement Through Healthy Empowerment, Networking, and Awareness (ATHENA), to help promote success for women faculty in STEM fields.

“This grant will help the University of Louisville meet its strategic goal of promoting equity for all faculty,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The STEM fields play such a critical role in the future of our commonwealth. We must ensure that our female faculty have every opportunity to progress in their careers so they can inspire the next generation of leaders and innovators.”

ATHENA is a broad initiative supported by the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, School of Medicine, Vice Provost Office for Faculty Affairs, Human Resources, the Office of Diversity & Equity and others.

Together, they will implement five key interventions:��

• Changing the search, recruitment and hiring practices to increase diversity and excellence;
• Creating a faculty mentoring program with an emphasis on improving opportunities for mid-career promotion;
• Establishing a program to support the career progress of faculty experiencing major life events;
• Implementing data collection to support evaluation and monitoring efforts;��
• Educating faculty about gender and ethnicity biases that affect the advancement of women in STEM disciplines through theatre-based workshops.

“The hope is that these interventions will help, not only women faculty in STEM, but everyone to grow, advance and succeed,” said Olfa Nasraoui, a professor in the computer science and computer engineering department and principal investigator on the grant. “We have people working on diverse subjects related to equity research all across campus. ATHENA brings them together.”

ATHENA is funded by NSF’s ADVANCE program. UofL is one of only two schools in Kentucky to be awarded under this program.

The fact that they all happen to be women ended up shaping the 2017-18 season.

“When we were selecting plays for the season, we noticed there were an abundance proposed that were written by women,” said Nefertiti Burton, department chair. “We thought, why not make it a theme and commit to it.”

So, the season became five plays, written by women.

“It’s a way for us to celebrate the new energy in our department,” Burton said.

The selections cover a wide range of experiences, perspectives and theatrical forms.��

“We’re inviting people to come and see themselves on stage, as the many, diverse women filling these roles,” Burton said.

• The season kicks off with the ’s rendition of “Miss Ida B. Wells,” Sept. 22-Oct. 1. The two-woman play, written by Endesha Ida Mae Holland and directed by Burton, powerfully depicts the life of Wells, a civil rights activist and journalist who led the fight against lynching at the turn of the century.
• ���Ǵڳ�’s , a troupe of graduate students who perform for dozens of elementary schools each year, will do a free public performance Sept. 24 of “Magic Tree,” a play��written by Burton and directed by Melissa Shepherd.
• “Our Country’s Good,” Nov. 10-Nov. 19, written by Timberlake Wertenbaker and directed by Baron Kelly, is based on the true life story of a group of convicts who’ve been deported to the colony of Australia. They found themselves required to act in a production of George Farquhar’s comedy “The Recruiting Officer,” which was staged in the penal colony of New South Wales in 1789.
• In “Eurydice,” Jan. 26-Feb. 4, playwright Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Jenn Ariadne Calvano directs.
• “Fabulation: or the Re-����ֱ�� of Undine,” Feb. 23-March 4, from the African American Theatre Program, tells the story of a businesswoman whose life spirals out of control after her husband steals her money and leaves her. It was written by Lynn Nottage, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice.
• The season wraps up with “The Long Christmas Ride Home,” April 13-April 22, in which the past, present and future collide on a snowy Christmas Eve for a troubled family of five. Geoff Nelson and Charles Nasby co-direct the play by Paula Vogel, who is also a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

All plays are at Thrust Theatre, 2314 South Floyd St., except for “Our Country’s Good” and “Fabulation: or the Re-����ֱ�� of Undine,” which will run at The Playhouse, 1911 South Third St. All plays start at 8 p.m. with 3 p.m. Saturday or Sunday matinees.

To order tickets or for more information, call 502-852-6814 or click .

The Pathways Women’s Leadership Conference will take place 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Founders Union Building, Shelby Campus. It is open to all UofL women.

The conference will feature multiple speakers:

• Kathleen McDaniel Smith, chief of staff to UofL President James Ramsey
• Eileen Davis, career coach at Ulmer Career Center
• Betty Baye, co-chair of ���Ǵڳ�’s Black Family Conference
• Jennifer Browning Holmes, President and CEO of Central Logic
• Melissa Long Shuter, UofL executive director of business operations

Session topics for the conference include problem solving and networking.

Registration cost is $99 and includes lunch. .

Conference partners are UofL Sr. VP for Finance & Administration Office, Commission on the Status of Women, Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality, Office of the University Provost, Human Resources, and the Women’s Center.��