288 ADULT LEARNERS “CHOOSE TO THRIVE” AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 15, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

ADULT LEARNERS “CHOOSE TO THRIVE” AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
For First Time Ever, MTSU Hosts Non-Traditional Students From Across the Country

(MURFREESBORO) – “Choosing to Thrive, No Matter What” is the theme of the 2008 Association of Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education (ANTSHE) Conference, which MTSU will host on the weekend of Feb. 29 and Mar. 1-2.
A gathering of adult students who are striving to balance the responsibilities of work and family life while enriching their education and the career academics who serve them, the conference will give the students and the professionals a chance to come together and share strategies.
“The board of ANTSHE is half students, half professionals,” says Dr. Carol Ann Baily, director of Off-Campus Student Services and a founder of the organization. “The annual conference is designed to have programs that will be good for the professionals as well as good for the students.”
Dr. Cara DiMarco, a licensed psychologist and counselor at Lane Community College’s Transition for Success Program in Eugene, Ore., will deliver the keynote address at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 29, in the Heartland Ballroom of the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro.
In addition, DiMarco will serve as facilitator for an opening session and a wrap-up session on Saturday. Throughout the conference, DiMarco will lead participants in identifying and claiming the things which stimulate and support an ability to thrive through the use of her “Big Yes” model.
DiMarco is the author of Moving Through Life Transitions with Power and Purpose and Career Transitions: A Journey of Survival and Growth. Her third book, Inconvenient Women: Choosing to Thrive No Matter What, is slated for release in mid-2008.
On Saturday, the venue will shift from the DoubleTree Hotel to the James Union Building on the MTSU campus. Topic for break-out sessions include: “All the World’s a Classroom;” “Conflict Resolution Skills;” “Building Collaboration Skills;” “Counteracting Learned Helplessness in the Classroom;” and “What Can I Do With This Degree? How Institutions Can Assess the Effectiveness of a Nontraditional Degree Program.”
For more information, call 615-898-5989 or send an e-mail to owls@mtsu.edu. Specific conference information and a detailed itinerary are available at http://www.antshe/org/2008/Conference/index.htm.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg photo of Dr. Cara DiMarco, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.