Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The recent release of "Life Equity" by Tennessee Republican congressman and Mississippi State alumna Marsha Blackburn will be recognized with an April 20 reception at her alma mater.
A 3:30-5 p.m. book signing in the university's Mitchell Memorial Library will be hosted in the John Grisham Room by university President Mark Keenum and wife Rhonda.
Copies of the Thomas Nelson publication will be available to purchase following comments by Mark Keenum and Blackburn, a Laurel [Miss.] native and Northeast Jones High School graduate who received an MSU home economics degree in 1973.
"Congressman Blackburn is a gifted statesman and a treasured member of the MSU family," Keenum said. "She has much wisdom to share from her experiences as a state senator and U.S. representative, and we are honored to be a part of helping her celebrate the release of this book."
Throughout the 240-page book, Blackburn encourages women to use their "life equity"--personal skills developed through ordinary, everyday experiences--to assume positions of leadership at the local, national and international levels. "It's not about demanding our rights. It's about deploying our gifts," she writes. "In a day in which we face unprecedented challenges . . . far too many women leaders are standing in the shadows." [For more, visit http://www.msstate.edu/web/temp/Blackburn/.
Blackburn [who prefers the term "congressman"] represents Tennessee's 7th Congressional District that stretches from Nashville's suburbs to the outskirts of Memphis. She earlier made history as the first woman senator in the Volunteer State legislature.
Her personal and professional papers recently joined those of other prominent officials in the MSU library's Congressional and Political Research Center.
For more information on the program, telephone 662-325-0812.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.