FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2007

Women’s Spring Leadership Conference set for March 1-2

By Jill D. O’Bryant
  
COLUMBUS, Miss. -- The 2007 Mississippi Women’s Spring Leadership Conference will be held at Mississippi University for Women’s Plymouth Bluff Center March 1-2.
   
The two-day conference, which is sponsored by Women in Higher Education – Mississippi Network (WHEMN) and MUW’s Southern Women’s Institute (SWI) and the Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship (WCE), includes speakers such as Jill Rigby, president of The Business of Manners; Nancy Hunter Denney, a nationally-recognized speaker who is dedicated to helping others reach their potential; and Dr. Betty Siegel, the first women to head an institution in the University System of Georgia.
   
“This is MUW's second year to host this conference, and with the co-sponsorship of the Women's Center for Entrepreneurship, it will be even bigger and better than last year's,” said Dr. Bridget Pieschel, director of the Southern Women’s Institute. “We're very pleased to have this continued partnership with the Women in Higher Education in Mississippi Network because they share our mission of developing leadership skills in every aspect of women's lives.”
   
Other speakers for the conference are Dr. Claudia Limbert, president of MUW; Dr. Suzanne Bean, director of MUW’s Roger F. Wicker Center for Creative Learning; Dr. Joyce Yates, associate professor, Emma Ody Pohl Endowed chairholder and coordinator of the graduate program in health education at MUW; Dr. Tonjanita Johnson, executive assistant to the president at Mississippi Valley State University; and Debbie Montgomery, director of public relations at MVSU.
   
The heads of the three sponsor organizations--Dr. Debbie Norris (WHEMN), Lucy Betcher (WCE) and Pieschel (SWI) – also will speak.
   
Participants will hear about topics such as communication, manners, balancing being a woman in a leadership role, getting your message across, total health and planning for the future.
   
General and breakout sessions will be held both days. There will be a dinner on March 1, and the conference will conclude with lunch on March 2.
   
For more information or to register for the conference, which is $50 per person, please go to www.muw.edu/swi/WHEMN.htm.
   
The Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA’s funding should not be construed as an endorsement of any products, opinions or services. All SBA-funded projects are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.