With two upcoming events, MTSU will invite the campus community and the community at large to help their mental and physical health.

NOTICE: The Joshua Moore event described below and scheduled for April 7 has been cancelled. The April 12 LaShan Dixon event is still slated to take place.

• Nashville-based poet, audio producer and filmmaker Joshua Moore will lead a workshop titled “Social Justice and Resiliency Through Creativity: YOUR LIFE as ART” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, at MT Center in the Ingram Building, 2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd.

Joshua Moore

Moore is the creator, host and producer of National Public Radio’s “Versify,” a podcast in which life stories are turned into poems. His work on “Versify” was nominated for a 2020 Webby Award in arts and culture. Moore holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Vanderbilt University.

This event is hosted by the Department of Social Work, Department of Media Arts and the Africana Studies Program and is sponsored by MTSU’s student chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers.

Refreshments will be provided. However, space is limited, and pre-registration is required by emailing Dr. Vickie Harden, an associate professor of social work, at vickie.harden@mtsu.edu, or Dr. Carmelita Dotson, an assistant professor of social work, at carmelita.dotson@mtsu.edu.

• In a separate event, LaShan Dixon, director of the Rutherford County Health Department, will present “Resiliency: The Journey to Health and Wellness” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in Rooms 104 and 106 of the Academic Classroom Building, 1751 MTSU Blvd.

LaShan Dixon

An MTSU alumna, Dixon began her career with the county as a part-time outreach representative in October 2008. She was promoted to a full-time health educator in October 2011 and moved into the assistant public health director position in July 2017. Dixon was elevated to director in March 2021.

Her in-person lecture will cover a wide range of topics related to the pandemic, including issues of equity and diversity in health care and efforts to pivot from two years of a focus on illness to a focus on resiliency.

Dixon received her bachelor’s degree in exercise science, graduate certificateS in health care management AND gerontology and her master’s degree in health and human performance from MTSU.

 “An interdisciplinary group of faculty and student organizations has come together to promote resiliency and creativity in our students,” Harden said.

Dr. Vickie Harden

“As we work our way through the challenges of the past few years and are hopefully approaching a light nearing the end of the pandemic and all of its associated grief and stress, these events will support and honor the resiliency in our students.”

Dixon’s appearance is presented by the MTSU Department of Social Work, the Africana Studies Program, the Eta Psi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Department of Communication Studies, Department of English, the Department of Media Arts, Department of Recording Industry, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Theater and Dance. It is co-sponsored by the Distinguished Lecture Committee.

For more information, contact Harden at 615-898-2510 or vickie.harden@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)