The Kopenhaver Center annually sponsors a national conference, which is now in its fourth year in 2019, Women in Communication: Shattering the Ceiling. This conference brings together outstanding women in all the fields of communication, to talk about the topic of the conference and to share their expertise with those attending. Nearly 1,000 have attended at this point, and we reached several thousand through our Livestream service. The conference is also archived on the center’s website.

The center has an ongoing project to put together a multi-media Experts List highlighting women thought leaders in all the communication industries as well as the academy who can serve as expert commentators, opinion sources, and speakers for media, information outlets and other sources seeking experts in the field.

The Kopenhaver Center Leadership Virtual Workshops and podcasts feature top national leaders in the field of communication who have spoken on topics related to the mission of the center. These virtual workshops can be accessed here at any time.

The Kopenhaver Center Leadership Boot Camp is an intensive training course for young women at the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts at Florida International University.

The center’s Leadership Fellows Program matched young minority women with five or fewer years of experience working in the media with mentors who had more than 10 years of experience. This was a limited grant-funded program for three years which graduated 30 leadership fellows and involved an equal number of professionals who acted as mentors.

South Florida Journalism Day is a one-day annual conference for middle and high school students in South Florida. The event is co-sponsored by the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA), the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at FIU and FIU CARTA.

Each year the center offers webinars and seminars with a diverse group of expert speakers on leadership topics. The webinars are live-streamed and then archived on the center’s website.

Meet the LLK Center team.

Dr. Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, Lillian Abreu MSW, MSFM and Carla Zensen MS.

The Center’s Leadership Council brings together outstanding leaders in communication and related fields who serve in an advisory capacity to the Kopenhaver Center team in developing programs, in helping realize the Center’s mission, in advancing the Center’s network, in providing advice and support for the work of the Center, and in assisting the Center in its outreach to young women across the country and internationally.

The Kopenhaver Center is the nation’s premier hub for growing the next generation of exceptional women leaders in communications who make an impact, drive innovation, and fuel diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As South Florida’s only public research university, FIU aspires to be recognized as a top 50 public university to achieve exceptional student-centered learning and upward economic mobility, produce socially impactful research and creative activities, and lead transformative innovations locally and globally.

The Kopenhaver Center is proud to partner with the Women’s Media Center to highlight the distinguished female speakers featured in Shesource.

Kopenhaver Center News

In 2016 the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center Leadership Fellows launched Chicas Poderosas FIU in collaboration with Mariana Santos, SJMC Knight Innovator in Residence and Founder of Chicas Poderosas.

The Kopenhaver Center presented at the launch of FIU in Washington D.C. in June 2016 with a thematic series of relevant discussions, networking events and opportunities that engaged students, alumni and national thought leaders.