[166] MTSU offers Nov. 16 workplace-violence discussion with crisis management exec

FOR RELEASE: Nov. 15, 2012

EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Patrick McCarthy, 615-898-2126 or Patrick.McCarthy@mtsu.edu

MURFREESBORO — Samuel Blackstone, a crisis management executive and former federal intelligence officer, will discuss workplace violence on Friday, Nov. 16, at a special “Breakfast Series” workshop hosted by MTSU's chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Participants can share breakfast and conversation at the MTSU Foundation House, 324 W. Thompson Lane, beginning at 7:45 a.m. and then listen to and talk with Blackstone until 9:45 a.m.

Cost is $5 for MTSU students, faculty and staff and $15 for the public. Advance registration is not required.

"We welcome people from any professional background with an interest in the topic of workplace violence to join us," said Dr. Patrick McCarthy, a professor and graduate program director of industrial-organizational psychology at MTSU. He also is a senior consultant for the university’s Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness.

"This will be a morning of captivating insights from a uniquely qualified expert," McCarthy added. “You can enjoy breakfast and friendship for the first 10 to 20 minutes, then take in a dynamic session with Samuel Blackstone until 9:45 a.m. After a brief closing, you’ll be out by 10 a.m."

Blackstone, a graduate of the FBI National Academy, spent more than 20 years as a U.S. foreign intelligence officer and investigator involved in counterintelligence, counter-terrorism and criminal investigative activities. He directed and supervised dignitary protection operations globally for senior presidential Cabinet officials and foreign dignitaries, including handling personnel extrications around the world.

In the private sector, Blackstone provides security and risk-management analyses to Fortune 500 corporations, law firms, law enforcement agencies, the U.S. intelligence community and numerous federal and state government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The MTSU Foundation House is located alongside the Tennessee Miller Coliseum parking lot, just across the street from Siegel Middle School.

For more information about Friday’s workshop, visit the Industrial-Organizational Psychology Program’s blog at http://mtsuiopsych.wordpress.com or email McCarthy at Patrick.McCarthy@mtsu.edu.

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