The Eighth Biennial Phenomenal Woman Awards ceremony will take place from 2-5 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the University Student Union on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

The honorees are: Jane Bayes, professor of political science and director of the Institute of Gender, Globalization and Democracy at Cal State Northridge; Susan Burton, founder of A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project; Graciela Limón, a Latina/Chicana writer, educator and activist; Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and School of Social Work and Public Welfare, Hebrew University-Israel; and Karen Slade, vice president and general manager of the only African-American-owned radio station in Los Angeles, KJLH.

"This Biennial award ceremony is a wonderful community outreach for our university," said Nayereh Tohidi, chair of CSUN's Department of Gender and Women's Studies. "It has brought important and inspiring female role models from different fields to campus to interact with students. Previous awardees have included such truly phenomenal women as Congresswoman Maxine Waters; journalist Patt Morrison; gynecologist and health care advocate Laila Al-Marayati; artist Donna Brown Guillaume; community organizer Karen Bass; and human rights advocate and Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum, just to name a few."

The Phenomenal Woman Awards event raises funds to support the programmatic offerings of the Gender and Women's Studies Department. Specifically, the money goes to support special programming, student and faculty research and scholarships. In addition, contributions support the Women's Resource and Research Center, the oldest continuing women's center within the California State University system.

The award gets its name from Maya Angelou's poem, "Phenomenal Woman," which recognizes the strengths, abilities and integrity of women. Event organizers say this year's five recipients truly embody the spirit of the poem.

CSUN political science professor Bayes is director of the university's Institute on Gender, Globalization and Democracy. She also is the director of the International Social Science Council's Research Programme on Gender, Globalization and Democratization.

A former chair of CSUN's Department of Political Science, Bayes is the co-author of "Women, Democracy and Globalization in North America" and co-editor of "Globalization, Gender and Religion: The Politics of Implementing Women's Rights in Catholic and Muslim Contexts" and "Gender, Globalization and Democratization and Comparable Worth, Pay Equity and Public Policy."

Since 1998, A New Way of Life Re-Entry Program, a grassroots, nonprofit, sober-living home for formerly incarcerated women, has provided resources to more than 250 individuals. The organization stands out because Burton, its director, was once herself entrapped by the criminal justice system.

Since the late 1990s, she has dedicated her life to helping other women break the cycle of incarceration, homelessness, addiction and despair. The agency has been honored for its unique accomplishments by such organizations as the Los Angeles Multicultural Collaborative, California Wellness Foundation, the Women's Policy Institute and KCET's Black History Month Unsung Heroes Award.

Writer, educator and activistLimón is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a native of Los Angeles. She has a master's of arts degree from the University of the Americas in Mexico City and a doctorate from UCLA. Now retired, she spent time as a professor in Loyola Marymount University's departments of modern language and literatures and Chicana/o studies. She has authored six books and her newest work, "The River Flows North," will be published next spring.

As a lecturer at the Faculty of Law-Institute of Criminology and School of Social Work and Public Welfare, Hebrew University-Israel, Shalhoub-Kevorkian's main theoretical and research interest focuses on the study of women in conflict zones, mainly in Palestine.

Her work examines the limits and the power of law, the obstacles facing local social policies and international law when addressing violence against and victimization of women and children. Her research on "honor crimes" made many women's organizations and activists change their approach and accept her naming of the crime as "femicide." Her recent studies examine the effects of militarization on violence against women, in addition to Internet crimes.

Slade, vice president and general manager of KJLH Radio, is committed to the true essence of broadcasting-serving the public good. As head of KJLH, which is owned and operated by Stevie Wonder, Slade for the past 20 years ensured the station's commitment to serving the community. KJLH won a George Foster Peabody Award and an NAACP Image Award for its humanitarian efforts in response to the 1992 L.A. Riots.

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Slade sent KJLH staff with trucks filled with listener-donated clothing and toiletries to Louisiana. She has led the station's efforts to address local and national issues in the African-American communities, including education, women's health, politics and business.