[296] MTSU personnel among nominees for ATHENA leadership awards

MURFREESBORO — The MTSU community is well-represented among the nominees for the 2017 ATHENA International Leadership Award and the 2017 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award.

Rutherford Cable, a local organization for women’s professional advancement, will present the awards at a dinner ceremony beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at Embassy Suites, 1200 Conference Center Blvd. in Murfreesboro.

University-based nominees for the International Leadership Award include:

• Lara Daniel, professor of business law and assistant dean for assessment in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business;
• Mary Hoffschwelle, history professor and director of MT Engage, a program to promote engaged learning in students’ educational experiences;
• Hilary Miller, director of the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center at MTSU;
• Liz Rhea, philanthropist, for her service on the boards of the MTSU Foundation, MTSU Alumni Board and the Blue Raider Athletic Association;
• Barbara Scales, director of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students.

University-based nominees for the Young Professional Leadership Award include:

• La’Endia Buchanan, recruiting coordinator and adviser in the Career Development Center at MTSU;
• Alicja Lanfear, lecturer in the Department of Biology and a founding officer of the Tennessee Association of Biology Teachers;
• Asheton Winborn, chapter adviser for the Zeta Theta Chapter of Chi Omega sorority at MTSU.

The keynote speaker for the awards dinner will be Martha Mertz, the founder of the ATHENA International Leadership Award program. Mertz, a recognized expert on women and leadership, worked with the Lansing, Michigan, Chamber of Commerce in the early 1980s to create the program. It is dedicated to supporting, honoring and developing women leaders and is offered in more than 500 communities worldwide.

“The ATHENA award recognizes individuals who excel in their professions, give back to their communities and help raise up other leaders, especially women,” said event chair Anne Henslee.

“The ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award, introduced to the Rutherford County community in 2016, recognizes an emerging leader under age 40 who exemplifies the ATHENA values and serves as a role model for women personally and professionally.”

Tickets to the award dinner and ceremony are $60 per person and are available online at www.rutherfordcable.org.

The awards are sponsored by Rutherford Cable; Pinnacle Financial Partners; Ascend Federal Credit Union; Deloitte, Farrar/Wright PLLC; Guaranty Trust; State Farm; NHC HealthCare; General Mills; Dempsey Vantrease & Follis PLLC; and VIP Murfreesboro.

For more information, including a complete list of nominees, contact Tosha Stoutenberg, marketing and communications chair for Rutherford Cable, at tstoutenburg@ascendfcu.org or go to www.rutherfordcable.org.