LWVAL Convention
April 26 - 28, 2013
Now accepting registration for non-meal events only.

About the Convention Speakers and Panelists

• Luncheon Speaker: Dr. Leigh Ann Poole
• Q and A with LWVUS 2nd Vice President: Mary Klenz
• Energy and Water Panel Discussion
• Banquet Keynote Speaker: Robert "Bob" McCurley, Jr.

Luncheon Speaker: Dr. Leigh Ann Poole

Saturday, April 27, 12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Hotel Capstone
We are pleased to have Dr. Leigh Ann Poole address us on health care issues at our luncheon at the Hotel Capstone. The LWVAL recently published its Facts and Issues: Health Care in Alabama. Although our publication does not take a position on the issues, it does present some solutions currently being considered, including inadequate health care in poor, rural areas in Alabama. One solution receiving both positive and negative attention involves the expansion of the scope of practice of nurse practitioners to address these underserved populations. As the Coordinator of the of the Nurse Practitioner Concentration in Mental Health and Primary Care for Rural Populations at the University of Alabama Capstone School of Nursing, Dr. Poole is well qualified to speak on this topic.

Dr. Leigh Ann Chandler Poole earned her PhD in Nursing from Duquesne University, her MSN with specialization as a Family Nurse Practitioner from UAB , her BSN from the University of Alabama, her ADN from Jefferson State, and her PN degree from Shelton State Community College. Her busy schedule includes being a primary care provider-- in addition to serving as a nursing professor and being responsible for curriculum and program development at UA. Her clinic research includes telehealth and “health seeking behaviors in vulnerable populations.” She is married to former Senator Phil Poole, who, along with his mother, were long-time members of the Tuscaloosa League.

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Q and A with LWVUS 2nd Vice President: Mary Klenz

Saturday, April 27
Hotel Capstone

Mary Klenz is 2nd vice president of the League of Women Voters of the United States (LWVUS) and 2nd vice chair of the League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF). She also served for two terms on the LWVUS Nominating Committee. As a director and trustee, Ms. Klenz has chaired the Council and Convention Committee and the Membership Committee. She has also been a member of the Education, Advocacy, Development, and Communications Committees.

State and local LWV leadership includes LWVNC co-president and president and Action chair of the LWV of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. During her tenure Ms. Klenz chaired the successful statewide campaign to repeal the state food tax, advocated for campaign and election reform and other tax reform issues. In Charlotte she was one of two people to found the LWVCM Civics 101 Program, a program on local government which just completed the fifteenth year.

In 2011, North Carolina Governor Perdue appointed her to serve on the NC Social Services Commission. She currently serves as chair and founding member of the Mixed Income Housing Coalition and is a member of the Board of Directors for the NC Center for Women in Public Services.

Ms. Klenz has a BA in Business, 1978, and an MA in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She and her husband, Bill, lived in Milwaukee, suburban Chicago and Indianapolis before moving to Charlotte, NC in 1973. They have a son and daughter.

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Energy and Water Panel Discussion

Saturday, April 27, 2:15 - 4:00 p.m.
Hotel Capstone

Alabama is in the process of developing a state water management plan and a state energy plan, both tentatively scheduled to be presented to the Governor by the end of the year. Each plan must take the other into account: It takes water to create energy and energy to process, deliver and manage water.

Our four panelists have experience in different arenas with energy and water issues and bring different perspectives to the challenges and opportunities we face. Their presentations should provide ample information with 30-45 minutes for fruitful discussion. If you know ahead that you have specific questions for the panelists, please submit them to Joyce Lanning at jalanning@bellsouth.net. Otherwise come prepared to engage in the dialogue. FYI, some background reading… A four-page summary of the Alabama Environmental Council's December, 2012 POWER-UP Forum can be found here. It includes a few paragraphs summarizing a presentation by Cindy Lowry, Exec. Dir. of Alabama Rivers Alliance, on the water and energy connection.

The program will be held in the Governor’s room at the Hotel Capstone in Tuscaloosa, Saturday, April 27, 2:15-4:00 p.m., and is free and open to the public. The registration form and agenda can be downloaded here. Please email shelly.murray@eamc.org to reserve a place.

Banquet Keynote Speaker: Robert "Bob" McCurley, Jr.

Saturday, April 27
5:30-6:30 Wine and cheese, Temple Emmanuel, music provided by Jeanine ("Dr. Jazz") Normand
6:30-8:30 Banquet, Temple Emmanuel

Robert McCurley, Jr., will be our featured banquet speaker on Saturday, April 27 at 6:30 P.M. at the Temple Emanu-el (409 4th Avenue, due south from the Hotel Capstone). Originally from Gadsden, he he Director of the Alabama Law Institute from 1975-2012, Mr. McCurley was involved in drafting legislation for the Alabama Legislature, providing orientation to new and returning legislators prior on the legislative process, reporting about legislative sessions in reports and by speaking around the state to groups like ours, writing numerous books and articles about legislative issues, and teaching courses at the University of Alabama Law School. Recently, he has been actively involved with the Alabama Constitutional Revision Commission. A speaker who is much in demand, Mr. McCurley is certainly well qualified to speak to us on the implications of recent legislative activity, including passage of the infamous HB84, and an update on the progress of the Constitutional Revision Commission.

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