The Women's Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and has a number of events planned.
The Women's Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and has a number of events planned.

Standing in the midst of the Women’s Center’s 25th anniversary party Thursday, Valerie Casey, director of the center, couldn’t help but gush about plans for celebrating throughout the year.

“It’s going to be a great year,” she said.

The Women’s Center hosts 52 events a year.

Just a few of the dozens of activities planned:

  • The 2017 Women’s Empowerment Luncheon Nov. 9 with Nikki R. Jackson, Senior Vice President and Regional Executive, Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as the keynote speaker.
  • The Center is hosting a new essay contest with a significant financial reward from David Tachau, who wanted to honor his mother.
  • KentuckyOne Health will honor Casey with an “Excellence in Mental Health Award,” this fall for work the center has done with human trafficking.

Looking back, Casey noted the center has grown exponentially since it started in 1992. It now has 85 participating students, many through its six student groups, and hosts 52 events a year, and raises $25,000 a year for student programming.  

“We have so much potential. We’re half the student population here. If we band together, the possibilities are endless,” she said.

Click here to read highlights from the Women’s Center’s 25-year history or here to log a memory. 

For more pictures of Thursday’s celebration, which also marked Women’s Equality Day, click here.

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Niki King
Niki King Jones is positive she has the best job at the University of Louisville, serving the communication needs of the departments of fine arts and theatre, the School of Music, University Libraries and Alumni – all the fun, creative stuff. Before coming to UofL in 2015, Niki held communication positions in both private and nonprofit sectors in Louisville, Ky., including at Heaven Hill Distilleries and the Jewish Community of Louisville. For 10 years prior, she was a reporter at various newspapers across the country, most recently The Courier-Journal. Niki graduated from the University of Memphis with a BA in journalism and has a masters degree in community and leadership development from the University of Kentucky.