The Media Nominating Committee of Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature has selected Mary Jean Hall of UTM to serve as TISL Media Director for the 45th General Assembly.
Hall has been involved with the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature for the past three years. She has been involved with the media program during the past two years serving as lead photographer, a news writer and TISL Times Executive Editor.
Hall, who is from Covington, is currently a senior studying Communications with an emphasis in News and Editorial and a minor in Agriculture.
As director, Hall will oversee college students that participate in TISL from all across the State of Tennessee. Ā Hall has said that she wants to expand Media to other schools and has put a big emphasis on developing skills for young journalists.
“I am both excited and honored to be serving as the TISL Media Director this year, and I look forward to working with the amazing individuals across the State of Tennessee who want to improve TISL Media,” Hall said.
“During my first year of being involved with the TISL Media program, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve as the TISL Times Executive Editor. In just a four day time period I fell in love with political coverage and gained valuable hands-on experience. That experience continues to serve as a source of inspiration for me, so that maybe I can help other media members find that same sort of appreciation for political coverage.”
Hall has many plans for TISL Media this year.
“Outside of recruitment and building support for the program, we are working on creating and launching a new website that can serve not only as a source of information for media members, but also as a source for beneficial training,” Hall said. “Working with other TISL leaders and media members from across the state, I hope to encourage more participation through the website year-round, which should help with informing more individuals about the entire TISL program.”
Jeff Wilson, who is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature Foundation, serves as an adviser to the students who participate in TISL.
“TISL Media was created by students and grew organically. This year, the student Executive Council moved to solidify TISL Media as an independent news organization, which is the direction chosen by students who have participated,ā Wilson said.
TISL Media was started in 2008 by a student initiative and has grown constantly since that time. The program started that started with a blog and newsletter has now grown to incorporate social media and a broadcasting emphasis.
The media program has been previously led by Chris Davis, Jordan Hall and Megan Brantley.
The Media Nominating Commission is in its first year and was chaired by Jed Duggar of APSU. The application process was open to all college students that participate in TISL.
