Our Programs
Women’s Board February Luncheon
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Breakthrough Concepts in Renewable Energy
University Club of Chicago
Michigan Room, Second Floor
76 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Renewable energy can only be generated when or the sun is shining, the wind is blowing or water is flowing, making it unable to satisfy society’s constant demand for electricity. Fossil fuels and nuclear energy have to compensate unless there’s a way to stockpile renewable energy for later use. The solution to this dilemma could be new sodium-ion batteries. Join us for a discussion with Professor Y. Shirley Meng to learn how her team—supported by a $62.5 million federal grant—is working to make sodium-ion batteries commercially viable. “The world is depending on battery scientists to give us a less expensive energy storage,” says climate economist Michael Greenstone, faculty director for the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. “The world is counting on Shirley to make it happen.”
Y. Shirley Meng is Professor of Molecular Engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the founding faculty director for the Energy Technologies Initiative at the University of Chicago’s Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Growth. She serves as the chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) at the Argonne National Laboratory, where she is also director of the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA).
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Women’s Board March Luncheon
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Shaping Positive Outcomes for Chicago’s Youth
University Club of Chicago
Michigan Room, 2nd Floor
76 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Education and mental health are deeply interconnected in shaping the outcomes of youth living in high burden urban neighborhoods, where systemic challenges like poverty, community violence, and the absence of resources exacerbate the challenges of healthy development. Please join us for a panel discussion led by Deborah Gorman-Smith, Emily Klein Gidwitz Professor and Dean of the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Dean Gorman-Smith will provide an overview of her own research on risk and prevention of youth violence. She will be joined in conversation with Professors Ming-Te Wang, faculty director of the Urban Education Institute (UEI), discussing his research to address educational inequities in urban communities and Janelle Goodwill, discussing her research on the crisis of Black youth suicide in our city and around the country.
Registration coming soon
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Women’s Board April Luncheon
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Rethinking Work: Seismic Changes for the Good
University Club of Chicago
Michigan Room, 2nd Floor
76 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Work is central to the human experience and is in the midst of its greatest transformation ever. Due to a confluence of forces from AI, to the demographic changes of aging and declining populations, to the rise of the gig economy and the impact of Covid-19 on people’s mindsets as to who they work for and where they work, the future of work is undergoing seismic shifts.
Rishad Tobaccowala, the author of Rethinking Work, Seismic Changes in the Where, When and Why, will share key learnings and research that went into his book and share perspectives on how organizations will be redesigned, a new type of employee who is neither full time or freelance will arise, how leadership and management will change and why everyone will need to be retrained. The good news is that the future of work will be more meaningful, purposeful and rewarding in every way!
Registration coming soon
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Women’s Board May Luncheon
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Healthy Hearts for a Lifetime
University Club of Chicago
Michigan Room, 2nd Floor
76 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, affecting one in three women across all age groups, and most cardiovascular disease can still be prevented with education and healthy lifestyle changes. But women also experience unique life events that can impact their risk, including pregnancy and menopause. Furthermore, research shows that stress may impact health, making it important for women to understand the mind-body connection and how to focus on improving both their physical health and mental well-being.
Join us for a panel discussion with doctors Tamar Polonsky, Hena Patel and Jeanne DeCara, leading researchers and practitioners at UChicago Medicine, as they provide well-rounded insights on women’s heart health across the lifespan.
Registration coming soon
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