Laurentian University and Thorneloe University are celebrating Women's History Week Oct. 15-19 with a series of events, all of which are free and open to the public. 

The keynote speaker for Women's History Week this year is Karen Balcom of McMaster University, author of the award-winning book “The Traffic in Babies.”

Balcom will present a lecture on “Exploring Child Adoption Across the U.S.-Canada Border,” exploring the history of cross-border adoption and its impacts.

The lecture will be at Thorneloe University’s Ernie Checkeris Theatre Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., with a reception to follow.

Balcom will also present a talk entitled “Birth Mothers, Adoptive Parents and Children in Histories of Adoption” at 10 a.m. Oct. 17 in room A226 (Arts Building, Laurentian).

Women’s History Week is sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies (Laurentian University), the President’s Office of Thorneloe University, the Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities (Laurentian), the Department of Women’s Studies (Thorneloe) and the History Department (Laurentian).