Events

On April 8, 2025, the National Marriage Project is hosting its Spring Conference discussing the nature and consequences of marriage and motherhood today.

Event Details

A Research Discussion will be held at 3:30 PM in room 254 in Rouss Robertson Hall.

The Keynote Panel be held at 7:00 PM in Old Cabell Hall. It is free and open to everyone and will not be ticketed. The event will be recorded and uploaded to this website the following week.

Please reach out to Anna Katherine Ireland (buz2sb@virginia.edu) if you have any questions.

Keynote Speakers

Kate Bachelder Odell will be the moderator of the Keynote Panel. She is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board. She joined the Journal in 2013 as a Robert L. Bartley Fellow. Ms. Odell writes on a range of policy issues, including national defense, health care and taxes. She is a graduate of Hillsdale College and lives in Virginia with her husband and two sons.

Michelle Goldberg has been an op-ed columnist for The New York Times since 2017. Her books are Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (2006); The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World (2009); and The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West (2015).

Michel Martin works for NPR and is a host of Morning Edition. Previously, she was the weekend host of All Things Considered and host of the Consider This Saturday podcast, where she drew on her deep reporting and interviewing experience to dig in to the week's news. Outside the studio, she has also hosted "Michel Martin: Going There," an ambitious live event series in collaboration with Member stations.

Brett Cooper is an American conservative political commentator, media personality, and actress. She hosted the YouTube channel The Comments Section with Brett Cooper, produced by The Daily Wire, from March 2022 until December 2024. Since January 2025, she hosts The Brett Cooper Show, produced independently on her new channel.

Louise Perry is a British journalist, author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, and the host of the podcast Maiden Mother Matriarch. She is a featured writer for the Daily Mail and a columnist at the New Statesman. Perry co-runs the charity We Can't Consent To This which campaigns around problems with the rough sex murder defence. She is the co-founder and research director of The Other Half, a non-partisan feminist think tank which was founded in 2022.

Visiting Charlottesville

Hotels: There are a number of great hotels in the Charlottesville area. The Graduate, the Hampton Inn and Suites, and the Marriott on Main Street are all conveniently close to UVA's Central Grounds, where we will be holding our Conference. The Boar's Head Resort is farther away, but it is also a good option if you want to stay somewhere with more extensive amenities.

Parking: The best place to park for this event is the Central Grounds Parking Garage, near Newcomb Hall.

Getting Here: The closest airport to Charlottesville is the Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport (CHO). It is serviced by a number of registered taxi companies as well as both Uber and Lyft.