As the Tennessee General Assembly continues its 109th session, local university women will be learning how to lobby their lawmakers at a special Thursday, Feb. 12, meeting.

“Tips of the Trade: Lobbying the Hill and the Congressional Delegation” is the theme of the next meeting of the Murfreesboro Branch of the American Association of University Women. It’s from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 12 in Room 101 of MTSU’s Sam Ingram Building.

Joyce McDaniel

Jane Grigor Ferrell

Joyce McDaniel and Jane Grigor Ferrell, founding partners of The Ferrell-McDaniel Company in Nashville, will deliver the presentation.

Ferrell-McDaniel is “an association management and political action committee development firm,” according to the company’s website.

Ferrell, a former president of the Nashville Women’s Political Caucus and former member of the Davidson County Election Commission, has consulted on strategy, fundraising and organization for political campaigns in eight Southern states. She also was one of the key players in the formation of the Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee and served as its executive director.

McDaniel was administrative assistant to the late state Sen. Anna Belle Clement O’Brien for 11 years and is a former press secretary for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

In 1997, McDaniel started two businesses: Perennial Services Management, which offers consulting, event planning and management, and Perennial Services Network, which provides nonmedical personal services to the elderly.

The attendees’ new knowledge will come in handy Tuesday, Feb. 24, which is Lobby Day on the Hill for Tennessee Academic Standards, and Wednesday, March 4, which is Lobby Day on the Hill for Women’s Issues.

The public is invited to the Feb. 12 MTSU meeting.

Dinner will be served at the meeting at a cost of $5 per person. Reservations may be made by Thursday, Feb. 5, by calling 615-893-1786. The organization also is requesting donations of personal hygiene products for Murfreesboro’s Domestic Violence Center.

For more information, contact Dr. Ayne Cantrell, MTSU professor emerita, at acantrell@comcast.net.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)