Kersti Yllo, a 1974 Denison University graduate, and a feminist-sociologist professor investigating domestic violence, will present "Understanding Domestic Violence: How Gender, Race, and Class Affect Victims, Perpetrators, and Institutional Response," at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday (March 23), in Slayter Auditorium at Denison. The convocation, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Provost Alumni Scholar series.

Each year in the U.S. hundreds of thousands of women are battered in their homes, and more than 2,000 are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. Yllo will provide an overview of domestic violence and discuss the ways that gender, race, and class shape this social problem. She also will reflect on how her interest in the subject began when she was a student in sociology and women's studies at Denison.

A member of the inaugural women's studies program at Denison, the feminist perspective Yllo learned as part of her Denison education still informs her work. Earning her doctoral degree in sociology from the University of New Hampshire, Yllo went on to conduct research at Boston Children's Hospital and with the U.S. Marine Corps.

She has been teaching at Wheaton College (Norton, Mass.) since 1981, where she is also an associate provost, holds the Henrietta Jennings Chair in Sociology, and serves as the coordinator of women's studies and family studies. Yllo has written 20 articles and chapters, and is the author ofLicense to Rape: Sexual Abuse of Wives(1985), andStopping Family Violence: An Agenda of Research Priorities for the Coming Decade(1988, with D. Finkelhor and G. Hotaling).

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- Lecture by Kersti Yllo, "Understanding Domestic Violence: How Gender, Race, and Class Affect Victims, Perpetrators, and Institutional Response"; 7:30 p.m. Thursday (March 23), Slayter Auditorium (200 North Road). Free and open to the public. Contact 740-587-6297 to confirm information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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