Published: Sept. 13, 2004

Jackson Katz, a nationally recognized leader in fighting men's violence against women, will lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 21, in Macky Auditorium.

The lecture, including audiovisuals, is intended for students, faculty and staff and is titled "Challenge Your Perspective: Changing the CU Culture."

Katz has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Good Morning America," "Montel Williams" and "20/20" on topics including gender violence prevention and the relationship between images of popular culture and stereotypical gender identities.

He is the creator of award-winning educational videos for college and high school students, including "Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity." His video "Wrestling With Manhood," a collaboration with Sut Jhally, examines the gender politics and sexual politics of professional wrestling. And his video titled "Spin the Bottle" looks at gender in the marketing and pop-cultural representation of alcohol.

"We see this as an opportunity to have a nationally recognized presenter work with the campus to impact changes in the culture," said Judy Poynter, assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs. Katz also will conduct other events with CU-Boulder faculty, staff and students during his four-day visit.

Katz's visit has been in the works for more than a year and is the result of collaboration between the Student Affairs office, the athletics department, the Office of Victim Assistance and COURAGE, the CU Rape and Gender Education Program sponsored by the Wardenburg Health Center.

Katz is the author of numerous articles in academic journals and popular newspapers that are widely used in undergraduate and graduate courses. Topics include violence and masculinity in advertising, working with student-athletes in gender violence prevention, men's use of pornography, Eminem, working with adolescent males in juvenile detention, men's leadership in K-12 gender violence prevention education and "masculinities" in media.

A former three-sport high school athlete and all-star football player, Katz was the first man at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to earn a minor in women's studies. He also holds a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Since 1990, he has lectured at more than 700 colleges, prep schools, high schools, middle schools, professional conferences and military installations in 43 states.

Since 1996, Katz has directed the first worldwide gender violence prevention program in the history of the United States Marine Corps, the first such program in the U.S. military. From 2000-03 he served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense's Task Force on Domestic Violence in the military. Since the Columbine tragedy in 1999, Katz has been working with several schools in the Jefferson County school district, including Columbine High School.

Katz has long been recognized as one of America's leading anti-sexist male activists. In 1993, he founded the Mentors in Violence Prevention, or MVP program, at Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

The multiracial, mixed-gender MVP program is the first large-scale attempt to enlist high school, collegiate and professional athletes in the fight against rape and all forms of men's violence against women. Today MVP is the most widely used gender violence prevention program in college athletics.

For more information on Katz's visit to CU-Boulder call (303) 492-8476 or visit . For information on Jackson Katz visit his Web site at .