Gallaudet’s Department of Business to Honor Marilyn Smith

From: Gallaudet - Mar 31, 2004

For Immediate Release
March 31, 2004
Contact: Mike Kaika, Director of Media Relations
Phone: 202-651-5050
Email: mike.kaika@gallaudet.edu

Gallaudet's Department of Business to Honor Marilyn Smith

Washington, DC—Gallaudet University's Department of Business will honor Marilyn Smith, founder and executive director of Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS), on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Student Union Building.

Every spring, the Department of Business hosts a social event known as Business After Hours (BAH) to recognize and applaud deaf entrepreneurs and professionals for their work and service, while exposing Gallaudet students and the community to role models and potential networking contacts. BAH is planned by students in the Business Management and Organizational Behavior class, with support and guidance by the events' founder, assistant professor Bernie Brown.

This year, the students voted to honor Marilyn Smith for her work in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault. Smith established ADWAS in 1986 in the basement of her home in Seattle, Washington and now ADWAS has a staff of 12 persons which provides education and training to deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing women. ADWAS has affiliate offices around the country. To learn more about this agency, visit its website, http://www.adwas.org

Smith received her bachelor's and master's degree from Gallaudet University in 1974 and 1977 respectively. This May, Gallaudet will award Smith an Honorary Doctorate Degree. She is also vice president of the National Association of the Deaf and travels throughout the United States and Canada doing workshops on leadership, grant writing, sexual assault, domestic violence and women's issues. Her work in the field of anti-violence brought her many awards including one from President Clinton, the NAD, the Gallaudet University Alumni Association as well as the Phi Kappa Zeta Woman of the Year Award. She is one of the 17 winners of the Ford Foundation's "Leadership for a Changing World" award.

For more information about BAH and the awards program, contact Jennifer.Keener@Gallaudet.Edu or Bernard.Brown@Gallaudet.Edu