Women of Wisdom 2014 Lecture Series Brochure

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I don’t know what I enjoy more—–the lectures or the scintillating lunchtime conversations they spark.

The thinking woman’s alternative to just doing lunch...

In 2001, a group of Loyola Academy mothers established the Women of Wisdom Society (WOW) to bring women in the school community together to share in the pursuit of knowledge and the life of the mind. Every year since then, we’ve sought out some of the area’s most distinguished and visionary professionals, educators, entrepreneurs and innovators for a Tuesday morning lecture and lunch series that’s lively, entertaining, sometimes provocative—and always enlightening.

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WOW is one of my favorite fall events. I always feel edified and enriched by the lectures and more connected to the school community.

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WOW subscriber since 2008

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wow wo m e n of w i s d o m s o c i et y

autum n 2014 L e cture S eri es

Co-Chair

9:15 a.m. — Motor coach departs from Loyola Academy Noon — Lunch and lecture at the Tortoise Club 2:30 p.m. — Motor coach arrives back at Loyola Academy $65 for WOW subscribers who register for the two- or fourlecture series. Please note that the motor coach tour is not available as a stand-alone event.

Tour fee:

Limited to 45 participants. Please register early to reserve your seat.

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WOW’s 2014 Season at a Glance

hicago has always been renowned for its scenic lakefront, but the Chicago River has recently been making waves as the focus of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ongoing $6 million initiative to transform the polluted and neglected waterway into the city’s next “recreational frontier.”

Our first destination will be the Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown. Award-winning landscape architect Ernie Wong, president of the Site Design Group, will personally guide us through the 12-acre park, with its Chinese landscape design elements, pagoda-inspired pavilion, outdoor plaza, boathouse and stone walkway leading to a floating dock offering access to a kayak and canoe launch.

After our tour of Ping Tom, we’ll head over to the Tortoise Club, a classic American dining club on the Chicago River. While we eat lunch in the club’s famed Red Room and Library, Betsy Hands, director of outreach and community relations for Friends of the Chicago River, will share her historical perspective on the Chicago River and its continuing ecological and recreational revival.

Next, we’ll head north to the Clark Park Boathouse in Roscoe Village, which was designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects to represent the “poetic motion and rhythm of rowing” with its architectural roof form. Designers from Studio Gang will lead us on a private tour of the boathouse, which Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin lauded as “a stunner that befits Chicago’s status as the first city of American architecture.”

Sign up for two lectures or the entire series.

Bring a guest and share the wisdom!

Tuesday, October 7 Chicago Victory Gardens, Yesterday and Tomorrow LaManda Joy

Director of Special Events

Joan Schniedwind Special Events Coordinator

Beth Aldrich

Barbara Goschi

Jill Rueth

Gloria Athanis

Loretta Kenny

Donna Suhey

Cathleen Bottini

Danielle Mergner

Amy Thalmann

Pam Cirignani

Tracie Michalek

Ann Waris

Marcia Desmond

Kathy Pappas

Lisa Faremouth Weber

Dawn Dooley

Mary Petit

Jody Weschler

Mary Ellen Fausone

Mary Ann Quinn

Anne Williams

Mary Rafferty

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WOW offers what many of us are hungering for: an opportunity to connect with other women in the Loyola community while engaging in intelligent discourse about some of the most intriguing topics of our time.

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A longtime WOW subscriber

WOW Co-Chairs Mimi Brault (left) and Jennifer Gonzalez

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The Revitalized Chicago River: A Tour of the City’s New Recreational Frontier

If you’re a longtime WOW subscriber, we’re thrilled to welcome you back for our 13th season. If you’ve never experienced our lecture and lunch series, why not start a new autumn tradition that will broaden your horizons and change the way you think about the world?

With its mission to connect and inspire women with engaging speakers, lively lunches and intelligent debate, WOW makes autumn one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking seasons of the year.

After each Tuesday morning lecture, join us for a catered lunch and conversation with friends old and new. We look forward to seeing you at the lectures!

Motor coach tour with lunch and lecture at the Tortoise Club

Julie Fischer

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Motor coach tour and lunch

Jennifer Gonzalez

Co-Chair

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Tuesday, September 30

Tuesday, September 30 The Revitalized Chicago River: A Tour of the City’s New Recreational Frontier

2014 WO W Co mm i tte e

g o e s

A unique opportunity for WOW Lecture Series participants

A pa s t s e a s o n pa r t i c i pa n t

Wisdom. Camaraderie. Community.

Mimi Brault

W O W

Author, national speaker, master gardener and founder of the Peterson Garden Project

Tuesday, October 14 ARZU Means Hope: Innovation, Empowerment and Risk-Taking to Fight Global Poverty Connie Duckworth ARZU founder, social entrepreneur, author and activist

Tuesday, October 21 Balancing the What and the How: The Critical Nature of Effective Leaders and Strong Culture in Business to Drive Results Mary Dillon Chief Executive Officer, ULTA Beauty

Tuesday, October 28 Reclaiming the Divine Feminine: Re-Reception of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Economy Paul Pasquesi PhD candidate in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity, Marquette University

Clark Park Boathouse

Bring a GUEST if space permits: Motor coach tour participants are

invited to bring a guest for $65 if seats are still available one week prior to the tour date. Please contact Joan Schniedwind at 847.920.2765 or jschniedwind@loy.org after September 22 to inquire about availability.

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I’ve been to nearly every WOW lecture since the series began. It’s a fascinating, fulfilling way to spend a Tuesday morning.

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Wow series Subscriber

T u e s d a y, O ctob e r 7

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Chicago Victory Gardens, Yesterday and Tomorrow

ARZU Means Hope: Innovation, Empowerment and Risk-Taking to Fight Global Poverty

Balancing the What and the How: The Critical Nature of Effective Leaders and Strong Culture in Business to Drive Results

Reclaiming the Divine Feminine: Re-Reception of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Economy

Co nni e Duckwo rth ARZU founder, social entrepreneur, author and activist

Mary Dillon CEO, ULTA Beauty

9:30 a.m. — Lecture in the Loyola Theater 11:30 a.m. — Lunch in the Marillac Room

9:30 a.m. — Lecture in the Loyola Theater 11:30 a.m. — Lunch in the Marillac Room

LaManda J o y Author, national speaker, master gardener and founder of the Peterson Garden Project 9:30 a.m. — Lecture in the Loyola Theater 11:30 a.m. — Lunch in the Marillac Room

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uring World War II, more than 20 million Victory Gardens were planted by American families to help prevent a food shortage. By 1944, these Victory Gardens—also called War Gardens—were producing 40 percent of all the vegetables grown in the U.S.

In four short years, Chicagoans planted 1,500 community Victory Gardens—and more than 250,000 of the city’s residents started home gardens as well. Ninety percent of these city dwellers had never gardened before.

In this engaging and media-rich presentation, LaManda Joy will discuss the pivotal role that Chicago played in the Victory Garden movement. She’ll also talk about the resurgence in community food gardening taking place on the city’s North Side through the Peterson Garden Project—a community gardening program that transforms empty urban lots into organic gardens and teaches thousands of people each year how to grow their own food.

We know you’ll be charmed by this delightful presentation by one of urban gardening’s most enthusiastic advocates, whose rallying cry “We can grow it!” celebrates the influences of the past and the American can-do spirit to change the future.

Recognized as the “Best Urban Farmer in Chicago,” LaManda Joy is an author, national speaker and master gardener who wants to teach everyone she meets about a better way to eat, a better way to garden and a better way to sustain our natural resources. Inspired by the World War II Victory Garden movement, she founded the Peterson Garden Project in 2010.

LaManda has appeared on PBS and other media outlets, spoken at the Library of Congress and shared her passion for urban food gardening at national conferences, garden shows, festivals and libraries. Her upcoming book, Start a Community Food Garden: The Essential Handbook, will be released in December 2014.

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n early 2003, Connie Duckworth embarked on a fact-finding expedition to gain a firsthand view of the life circumstances of Afghan women in the wake of 9/11. What she encountered there changed her life—and led the intrepid social entrepreneur on a journey that has fortified her faith through service to others and bolstered her belief in the possibility of peace.

Duckworth returned home and founded ARZU, a business with a social mission to transform lives by empowering Afghan women to lift themselves and their families out of poverty through artisan-based fair employment, education and healthcare. This year marks the 10th anniversary of ARZU’s operation in the “world’s worst place to be a woman,” with an all-local Afghan staff and hundreds of women artisans.

You won’t want to miss this inspiring story of one woman’s quest to make a difference with a social-benefit business model that has attracted the attention of the U.S. State Department, the Departments of Commerce and Defense, the United Nations and the World Food Program.

Connie Duckworth founded ARZU—which means “hope” in Dari, one of Afghanistan’s two official languages—in 2004. Today, ARZU employs some 700 Afghans; produces award-winning, fair-labor rugs; provides access to education and basic healthcare; and benefits the larger community by operating women’s centers, preschools and parks.

A retired partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs, Duckworth was the first woman to be named a sales and trading partner in the firm’s history. The recipient of numerous awards for leadership, advocacy, social impact and innovation, she holds a BA from the University of Texas and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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oin us for a close look inside corporate leadership and culture as one of Chicago’s key business leaders reflects on the lessons she has learned throughout her accomplished career.

As Mary Dillon shares her insights on the critical importance of leadership development and a strong business culture for corporate success, she will draw on her current experience as chief executive officer of ULTA Beauty. Under her strategic direction, ULTA has continued to see robust sales growth, gained momentum in e-commerce and completed the most ambitious annual store-opening program in the company’s history.

Dillon will also share observations from three decades of successful leadership at corporations including U.S. Cellular, McDonald’s Corporation and PepsiCo Corporation and will offer her perspective on the evolution of the retail industry—including the role of both brick-and mortar-stores and online experiences in modern retailing—as well as ULTA Beauty’s vision for the future.

Mary Dillon serves as chief executive officer of ULTA Beauty, a position she has held since July 2013. Prior to joining ULTA Beauty, Dillon served as president and CEO of U.S. Cellular, global chief marketing officer and executive vice president for McDonald’s Corporation and president of PepsiCo Corporation’s Quaker Foods division. She serves on the boards of Loyola Academy, NorthShore University HealthSystem, World Business Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Executives’ Club of Chicago. The Chicago native earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing and Asian studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Paul Pasquesi PhD candidate in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity and Master of Theology degree, Marquette University 9:30 a.m. — Lecture in the Loyola Theater 11:30 a.m. — Lunch in the Marillac Room

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heologically, God as Trinity transcends gender. Liturgically, God is emphatically and repeatedly treated as masculine. Yet, for centuries, the Holy Spirit was referred to as “Mother,” “Queen,” “Bride,” “Lady,” “Midwife,” “She” and “Her” in Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac.

In this intriguing presentation, theological scholar Paul Pasquesi will trace the Divine Feminine back to its earliest formulations and discuss its influence on the early roles of women within the Church. He will also propose the idea of reclaiming the Divine Feminine and discuss its potential to change our current-day debate about the role of women in the contemporary Church.

This lecture also provides resources for ways to explain and describe the Trinity and the role of the Divine in salvation history to a contemporary audience. Accompany this scholar on a theological journey back through time as he acquaints us with the ancient Church theologians and authors who embraced a language and a theology of a God in whose image we are made, both male and female.

Paul Pasquesi is a PhD candidate in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity at Marquette University. His research interests focus on late Second Temple Judaism and its literature (including the Dead Sea Scrolls and Pseudepigrapha) and the impact of these texts on formative Judaism and Christianity, especially Syriac-speaking Christianity, which developed outside of the Roman Empire. He completed his undergraduate degree in religious studies and anthropology at Grinnell College, worked toward a master’s degree in biblical studies at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada, and holds a Master of Theology degree from Marquette University.

WOW Registration Options

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WOW’s speakers shared valuable insights about current topics and trends and challenged me to think differently about the world.

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— 2 0 1 3 W O W att e n d e e

Want to gain all the wisdom that WOW has to offer? Register for the full four-lecture series: $200 Want to be WOWed, but can’t commit to four lectures? Register for any two lectures: $125* Please indicate your preference on the enclosed registration form. *Only registering for two lectures? You’re still eligible to join us for the motor coach tour.

Visit us at www.goramblers.org/Parents/WOW for online registration and program information.

Registration deadline:

September 22, 2014