Monday, March 10, 2003

Wilmington - Terrill Petri, founder of Women Vision International, will lecture on “Changing the World One Woman at a Time,” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, in Cameron Hall Auditorium. Women Vision International is a nonprofit organization that provides microloans and training for women in developing countries.

Petri has dedicated almost two decades to improving the lives of people living in poverty. She encountered such poverty when she worked as a writer for a child sponsorship organization. In 1993, Petri founded Women Vision International. The organization works to aid impoverished women and children around the world by providing training and microloans to help women become economically self-sufficient.

Petri has a bachelor’s degree in communications studies from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is a graduate of Avila College Women Leadership Institute and is a member of the International Relations Council and the Central Exchange, a women’s advocacy organization in Kansas City.

In 1996, Petri was named World Citizen of the Year by former Kansas City Mayor Emanual Cleaver and the United Nations Association of Greater Kansas City. The award recognized Petri as an individual whose “personal initiative and partnership with other women helps some of the world’s poorest families turn their own initiatives and partnership into small businesses.” In October 2001, Petri was one of four women to receive national recognition from Woman’s Day magazine.

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For more information, go to the web site www.womenvision.org/bod_terrill_petri.htm, or contact Dr. Ervin, director of UNCW’s Women’s Resource Center, at 910/962-3650 or email ervine@uncwil.edu.