By Ariana Johnson, student news writer

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky.- Eleanor Jordan, executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women in Frankfort, Ky., will be speaking at the Kentucky Heartland Institute on Public Policy (KHIPP) event Tuesday, March 1 at 5 p.m. in the Banquet Hall of the Badgett Academic Support Center on the campus of Campbellsville University, located at 110 University Drive, Campbellsville.

The event is free and open to the public as well as CU faculty, students and staff. Students will receive chapel credit.

Jordan will be honored as one of the Women of Distinction by the Center for Women and Families in Louisville on Feb. 23.

Her address at CU is in conjunction with Women's History Month.

As executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Women, Jordan works with local, state and national leaders to improve the economic status of women and girls in the Commonwealth. Jordan is the first African-American to be appointed to this post since the commission's initial creation in 1964.

During her time in the Kentucky legislature, Jordan gained a reputation for being a strong advocate for women and children. From 1996 to 2000, she served in the Kentucky General Assembly representing House District 42.

Jordan is recognized as an outstanding leader in the community and profiled on the Music Television (MTV) and the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) networks. She has appeared in Black Journal and MS magazines, as well as profiled in “Kentucky Women” by Eugenia Potter.

In addition to her service with the state legislature, Jordan has spent her career dedicated to public service. She has served as the executive director of the Iroquois Child Development Center and the Baptist Fellowship Childcare Ministry in Louisville, the Elder Abuse Commission, the Jefferson County Domestic Violence Prevention Coordinating Council, the Library Commission and the Community Coordinated Child Care Board. She serves on the board of directors of the California Child Care and Iroquois Child Care Centers.

In 2001, Gov. Paul Patton appointed Jordan as ombudsman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children, where she served the next three years. Since then, Jordan has worked as a principal assistant in the office of the Attorney General. In this capacity, she acted as the minority affairs liaison and coordinated consumer affairs outreach. She also chaired the Kentucky Child Support Enforcement Commission.

Jordan has often been recognized as an outstanding leader in the community. Among her many honors are the Public Advocate of the Year Award, the Stand Up for Children Award from Jefferson County Schools, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award from the University of Louisville and the Women's Advocate of the Year Award from the University of Kentucky.

Jordan attended Western Kentucky University. She resides in Louisville and has three grown children.

John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president, and who is the founder of KHIPP,  said KHIPP focuses its attention on “facilitating public policy study and issues debate, while encouraging the involvement of Christian leaders in the public and civic arenas.”

“KHIPP invites you, the concerned citizen and student of the American political process, to attend one or more events to be presented this spring on the campus of Campbellsville University,” he said.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with over 3,000 students offering 63 undergraduate programs, 17 master's degrees and five postgraduate areas. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.