MTSU event-management class organizes course to help women ‘stay alert, stay alive’

An MTSU event management class in the Jones College of Business aims to create a course with lasting benefits for those concerned with safety and self-defense.

Students in Dr. Virginia Hemby’s “Professional Meeting, Event, Exhibition and Convention Management” course presented “Stay Alert, Stay Alive” Nov. 6 in MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building.

Students in Dr. Virginia Hemby’s “Professional Meeting, Event, Exhibition and Convention Management” course in the MTSU Department of Marketing are preparing for a special Nov. 6 public class on safety and self-defense. Class members are, standing from left in the front row, Robin Gillette, Courtney Eckerle, James “Trey” McCloud and Alexus Mitchell; and in the back row, Robert Grubb, Zach Webb, Brad Templeton and Amber Puckett. (Photo submitted)

Students in Dr. Virginia Hemby’s “Professional Meeting, Event, Exhibition and Convention Management” course in the MTSU Department of Marketing pause for a photo while planning a public class on safety and self-defense. Class members are, standing from left in the front row, Robin Gillette, Courtney Eckerle, James “Trey” McCloud and Alexus Mitchell; and in the back row, Robert Grubb, Zach Webb, Brad Templeton and Amber Puckett. (Photo submitted)

Organizers wanted the class to make women on the MTSU campus more aware of their surroundings and ways to protect themselves. Retired Murfreesboro police detective Amy Dean lectured, and retired U.S. Navy Seal Chris Lunsford demonstrated self-defense techniques.

Dr. Virginia Hemby

Hemby, a professor in the Department of Marketing, says 55 percent of the students’ grades for the special community-service class will be based on planning the event — booking the venue, soliciting sponsors and providing refreshments, among other logistical details.

“They have to do evaluations of the people who attend to see if they got anything out of it,” said Hemby.

“I have to see a written project report on every phase, every step that they took in this process.”

Robert Grubb, a junior business education major from Murfreesboro, said the management course is preparing students for careers in a profession that needs more practitioners in the Middle Tennessee area.

“There’s a tremendous need for these folks, particularly in Nashville and surrounding communities,” said Grubb. “They have to go out of state in order to find qualified meeting planners, and that’s ridiculous.”

The class, an experiential learning course that also falls under MT Engage, the university program that emphasizes integrated thinking to enhance students’ educational experiences to improve retention and graduation.

For more information about “Stay Alert, Stay Alive,” contact Hemby at 615-898-2369 or Jaye Kiblinger, executive aide in the Department of Marketing, at 615-898-2902.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)