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A small cohort of Middle Tennessee State University students recently convened at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville to learn about local government, exchange ideas and opinions and propose legislation at the 55th General Assembly of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, also known as TISL.
A small cohort of Middle Tennessee State University students recently convened at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville to learn about local government, exchange ideas and opinions and propose legislation at the 55th General Assembly of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, also known as TISL.
Universities across the state attended this four-day event, allowing 360 students the opportunity to debate and vote on public issues. Students served in various roles by choosing one of four programs — the legislative, media or lobbying programs or the appellate moot court collegiate challenge, where students assume the roles of attorneys in a court simulation.
MTSU student Denzel Harris, a 22-year-old senior marketing major from Nashville, served as a student legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives for the fifth year in a row. He oversaw the MTSU student delegation as the head delegate and received a Carlisle Award, presented to 10 delegates for being outstanding student legislators and named after Douglas Carlisle, who was instrumental in the founding of TISL in 1966.
“I like the genuine, healthy debate that’s in the Senate,” Harris said. “However, I like the realism of the representatives because without that realism of the representatives of the actual chaos that we have in the House, a lot of the people wouldn’t know what actually goes on. They’d just hear what they hear on the news.”
Danny Kelley, assistant vice president for student affairs, accompanied a group of 10 MTSU students that included Harris; Katrina Aguilar; Trevor Carriveau; Hannah Ferreira; Kennedy Garrett; Rakhmat Lampkin; DeAsia Powell; Farrah Renfroe; Hunter Thornhill; and Joshua Wheaton.
“By participating in TISL, students are provided opportunities to engage in many facets of Tennessee state politics with students from across the state,” Kelley said. “From researching, writing, presenting and debating legislation as a part of the mock Senate or House of Representatives to serving as a lobbyist, Supreme Court justice or part of the media, these opportunities allow our students to acquire real life experiences in the life of Tennessee politics.”
Former state Rep. Beth Harwell, the state’s first female speaker of the House of Representatives as well as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in political science at MTSU, spoke at the opening ceremony on the House floor in late November.
“As I look out, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’m looking out at future statesmen — future leaders of our state that will do just as great of things as those three individuals that I mentioned did,” Harwell said. “What a wonderful opportunity to learn about the legislative process.”
Almost 1,600 grads to receive degrees at Dec. 14 fall commencement ceremonies
Middle Tennessee State University is preparing to celebrate almost 1,600 new graduates receiving their degrees Saturday, Dec. 14, during 2024 fall commencement ceremonies.
Held in Hale/Earle Arena inside Murphy Center at 2650 Middle Tennessee Blvd., the first of two public ceremonies will be held at 9 a.m. Central when degrees will be conferred to graduate students and undergrads in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and College of Education.
The afternoon ceremony begins at 2 p.m. Central when degrees will be conferred to graduate students and undergrads in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business, College of Liberal Arts, College of Media and Entertainment and University College.
Of the 1,593 students set to graduate, 1,319 are undergraduates and 274 are graduate students, including 240 master’s candidates, 20 education-specialist recipients and 14 doctoral candidates. In addition, seven graduate students will be receiving graduate certificates, and 16 undergraduate students will be receiving undergraduate certificates, according to the university’s Registrar’s Office.
For those unable to attend in person, the event also will stream live at https://mtsu.edu/live and on the university’s Facebook channel, https://facebook.com/mtsublueraiders, and will be broadcast on MTSU’s “True Blue TV” station on local cable channels and at https://mtsu.edu/TrueBlueTV.
The keynote speaker for the morning ceremony will be alumna Peggy Chabrian, a longtime aviation enthusiast and educator who is the founder of Women in Aviation International and served as its president and CEO for 25 years. Chabrian received her bachelor’s degree in aviation management and master’s in aerospace education from MTSU in 1980 and completed her Ed.D. degree from the University of Tennessee in 1985.
Peggy Chabrian
The afternoon speaker will be alumnus Byron Smith, managing director of the Mountain Group Partners who boasts a distinguished career across a variety of industries, including time in Silicon Valley where, as a senior executive at Asurion, he led the company’s headquarters relocation to Nashville. Smith is a 1984 graduate of MTSU, where he double majored in economics and political science. He earned his M.B.A. from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago with an emphasis in economics and strategic planning.
Byron Smith
With the fall 2024 commencement ceremony, MTSU will have awarded approximately 187,700 degrees to its students, including associate, bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist and doctoral degrees, since its 1911 founding.
MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Students get taste of lawmaking at state Capitol, grads to receive degrees