The first African American woman to pilot a U2 spy plane, the first female Admiral of the Southwest Navy Region, and other female leaders in applied mathematics, aviation, biomedical research, education, engineering, film, finance, gender studies, natural resource management, nonprofit services, opera, philanthropy, and technology will be among the speakers at the Andrus Center for Public Policy’s third annual Conference on Women and Leadership, which is set for Sept. 9-11 at BSU. The conference draws an estimated 700 attendees and is expected to sell out; registration information is online here.

Although it focuses on women’s leadership roles, the conference is open to all. “Leadership is a quality that is not gender specific,” said center president Tracy Andrus, a management consultant and businesswoman and the daughter of former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus . “We think both women and men need to be part of the discussion that seeks to improve the under-representation of women in our boardrooms, our professions and other leadership positions throughout our country. Our speakers are women who have broken barriers and improved gender balance. We celebrate their achievements and hope to inspire more to follow in their footsteps.”

Cecil Andrus, a four-term Idaho governor and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, established the center that bears his name at BSU in 1995, and serves as its chairman, “to nurture pragmatic, nonpartisan discussion of issues he championed throughout his career,” the center’s website says, “education, environmental stewardship, and political leadership.”