Joyce and Cliff Penner, sex therapists, will address the USC Trojan Affiliates at their Year-End Celebration on Thursday, May 4, at Mijares Mexican Restaurant, 145 Palmetto Drive in Pasadena. The meeting will begin with a social at 6:30 p.m., followed by the dinner and program at 7 p.m.
Cliff and Joyce Penner met at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1959 and married in 1963. Joyce earned her RN in St. Paul and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington. She then went on to earn her master’s degree from UCLA and taught nursing studies at Cal State Los Angeles.
Cliff earned his bachelor’s degree from Bethel College, his master’s degree in theology and his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1971 from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
They were launched into the world of human sexuality and sex therapy when Cliff was asked to teach 60 women about sexual adjustment. After training with Masters and Johnson and others, they both joined their professional lives working as sex therapists as well as leading seminars called “Birds and Bees,” weekends for preteens and parents, and professional training workshops. Their first book “The Gift of Sex” has become a classic sex manual worldwide.
They have appeared on television talk shows from the “700 Club” to “Sally Jesse Raphael” and hundreds of radio shows. They are dedicated to helping people discover lasting happiness and freedom from the emotional pain of unhealthy thoughts, practices and relationships. They work together counseling with couples, teaching sex education within various school systems, leading sex enhancement weekends for couples, lecturing on human sexuality at universities and training fellow professionals.
The evening will also include USC Trojan Affiliates Scholarship recipient, Jamie Kwong, daughter of Pasadena residents Liz and Ray Kwong, who will address the group on behalf of the other USC Trojan Affiliates scholars and will share some of her experiences at USC. Kwong, a current junior and member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, is also serving as president of the Intersorority Panhellenic Council at USC.
The members of USC Trojan Affiliates invite all interested women to attend this special evening to hear the Penners, make new friends, install the 2017-18 board of directors and to recognize the new members.
USC Trojan Affiliates, a women’s organization located in the San Gabriel Valley, supports USC and welcomes all interested women to attend its meetings and events. All women parents, alumna and friends of USC are encouraged to attend. Meetings are held the first Thursday evening in October, December, February, March and May. The first meeting of the 2017-18 year will take place on Thursday, Oct. 5.
If interested in being a speaker for USC Trojan Affiliates, contact the speakers chair, Jacqueline Goodman, at jgoodman@aol.com.
The dinner and program is priced at $30 per person. For information and reservations, contact Trojan Affiliates Reservations at sisarah@verizon.net or (626) 303-7284 by Thursday, April 27.
