TTU Women's History Month events set for March 23, 28

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (March 17, 2006) – It’s still not too late to attend a Tennessee Tech University event in observance of March as Women’s History Month.

A broadcast reporter from Knoxville’s NBC-affiliate television station will discuss what it’s like to be a woman competing in a traditionally male-dominated profession on Thursday night, March 23.

And a presentation by an internationally recognized expert in family studies on Tuesday night, March 28, will conclude Women’s History Month events at TTU.

Broadcast reporter Robin Murdoch, of Knoxville’s WBIR Channel 10, will present a talk at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, in Derryberry Hall Auditorium, about the requirements, responsibilities, rewards and difficulties of her job.

A graduate of Boston’s Emerson College with a degree in mass communication, concentration in broadcast journalism, Murdoch is a two-time winner of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters “Best Hard News” category.

She is also the winner of several Associated Press awards, including honors for spot news, feature story, individual reporting and news documentary.

Her presentation is sponsored by TTU’s departments of history and English and communication, Committee on the Status of Women, Women and Gender Studies, Minority Affairs and Women’s Center.

Family studies expert Stephanie Coontz will lead a presentation titled “Diversity in American Families: Myths and Realities” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, in Derryberry Hall Auditorium.

Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., has written four books and edited another about social concepts of American families.

She is director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, and her expertise has led to appearances on the Today Show, the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN’s Talk Back Live, CBS This Morning and other national television shows.

Coontz serves as a marriage consultant to The Ladies Home Journal, and her work has also been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Harper’s, Vogue and Mirabella.

Her presentation is a Center Stage event hosted by TTU’s Women’s Center.

Both Murdoch’s March 23 presentation and Coontz’s March 28 discussion are free and open to the public.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 17 March 2006