[355] Trailblazer Laila Ali to give ‘knockout’ March 22 keynote at MTSU

MURFREESBORO — A trailblazing athlete will deliver the dual keynote address for MTSU’s Women’s History Month and Black History Month celebrations.

Former four-time boxing world champion Laila Ali will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the Tennessee Room of MTSU’s James Union Building. This event is free and open to the public. A printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

Ali, the daughter of the late heavyweight icon and anti-war activist Muhammad Ali, competed from 1999 to 2007, earning the female super-middleweight titles of four governing bodies of boxing and the light-heavyweight crown of the International Women’s Boxing Federation. She retired undefeated with 24 victories.

A former president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, Ali promotes equality for women in professional sports, fitness and wellness. She also is a regular panelist and contributor for “We Need to Talk,” a panel discussion program on the CBS Sports Network.

As a business entrepreneur, Ali recently debuted a signature line of hairstyling tools with Helen of Troy hair care products. Her charitable endeavors include support for Feeding America, Peace 4 Kids and the American Dental Association.

“Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business” is the theme of this year’s Women’s History Month observance. In conjunction with the theme, buttons are being distributed across campus bearing the likeness of Madam C.J. Walker, the hair products magnate who was hailed as the first self-made African-American millionaire in the country in the early 20th century.

Due to the cancellation of Terrence J., who had been scheduled to deliver the Black History Month address Feb. 23, the Black History Month Committee decided to co-sponsor the Women’s History Month keynote speaker.

Other co-sponsors of Ali’s appearance include the Distinguished Lecture Fund, the Women’s History Month Committee, the Office of Student Success, the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, Student Programming and Raider Entertainment, the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students, the Women’s Health Clinic at Student Health Services, the MTSU student chapter of the NAACP, the Student Government Association, the MTSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and the Department of Health and Human Performance.

For more information, contact Barbara Scales, co-chair of the MTSU National Women’s History Month Committee and director of the June Anderson Center, at 615-898-2193 or barbara.scales@mtsu.edu.