Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Today's Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Tiger and that “spaz” jazz

After losing this year’s Masters golf tournament, Tiger Woods said in a live TV interview, “As soon as I got on the green, I was a spaz.” Following criticism from some disability rights groups, Woods apologized for using the word “spaz,” which also has been used disparagingly to refer to people with cerebral palsy. John Harris, director of Disabled Student Services, says this comment does not rise to the level of calling the disabled “retards” and “cripples.” “I think in the disability community we certainly want to be referred to as who we are, as individuals with disabilities,” Harris says. But, he adds, “I think we have to be careful not to harp on every little remark that may not be intended to be demeaning.”

Contact Harris at 615-898-2783.
jlharris@mtsu.edu

The atomic deficit

You’ve heard of the national deficit, but what about the atomic deficit? That’s the imbalance in the international trade of the U.S. chemical industry, says Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry. “As a whole, the chemical industry has been a very healthy one—economically—with chemical exports far exceeding chemical imports, when all the books have been balanced, every single year,” he notes, “until 2002, when the American chemical industry recorded its very first trade deficit of $5 billion. The atomic trade balance has been in the red every year since then, reaching $10 billion last year.” MacDougall warns, “I suspect that if our supply of highly trained chemists continues to decrease, deficits of various kinds will continue to increase and the hole will get deeper.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

Pooling the resources

Middle Tennessee State University has joined Oak Ridge Associated Universities, becoming one of the newest members of the university consortium. What does this mean for MTSU students and faculty? They can win members-only grants and internships. They also can take part in laboratory research at federal facilities, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The consortium now consists of 96 sponsoring institutions and 13 associate members. Other prestigious colleges belonging to the group include Johns Hopkins, Penn State, San Diego State, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Texas at Dallas.

Contact Dr. Robert Carlton, interim dean, College of Graduate Studies, at 615-898-2840.
carltonr@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

A FULL PLATE—TODAY, 9 a.m.—Jacqueline Heigle, electronic media communication, will lecture on “Nineteenth Century Wet Plate Collodion Photography” in a video teleconference for students in grades 9-12. Wet plate collodion was a process that revolutionized photography by producing highly detailed images, albeit by a difficult, cumbersome process. For more information, contact vmoxley@mtsu.edu or 615-898-2737.

SAY “HI” TO HIATT—TOMORROW, 7 p.m.--John Hiatt, one of America’s finest songwriters, will discuss his craft and perform a few numbers in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. This event is free and open to the public. MEDIA WELCOMED. Hiatt is this year’s participant in the Tom T. Hall Writers Series, which celebrates songwriters, authors, poets and screenwriters. He is known for such hits as “Slow Turning,” Perfectly Good Guitar,” “Riding with the King,” “Cry Love,” and “Have a Little Faith in Me.” His songs have been covered by artists ranging from Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt to B.B. King and Iggy Pop. Contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.

THE BEST DEFENSE—THURSDAY--A new Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) class for women will begin this THURSDAY at the MTSU Police Department training room, 1412 East Main Street. The program is free and open to university students, faculty, and staff, and to the community at large. The class will be held from 6-9 p.m. for six consecutive Thursdays. The teacher, Officer David Smith, says, “The beauty of the RAD system is that it teaches only self-defense techniques that have been proven to work. We put students in simulation training where an aggressor dresses up in a padded suit, and we put the women in different situations to see how they react. We teach them maximum effective targets on an aggressor and show them that they have enough strength to be effective.” Contact Smith at 615-494-8855.

SHALL WE DANCE?—THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY—The Spring Dance Concert by MTSU Dance Theatre will conclude the 2005-2006 MTSU CenterStage Series at 7:30 p.m. each evening in Tucker Theatre. Kim Neal Nofsinger, director of the dance program, says the concert will be the culmination of a year’s work with nationally and internationally known choreographers in what promises to be the event of the season. For more information, contact the Department of Speech and Theatre at 615-898-2640.

THE THRILL OF DISCOVERY—MAY 1--The May 1 deadline for registering for MTSU’s Summer Discovery Institute program is approaching quickly. Two potentially life-changing learning opportunities—“In Flight!” and “On Stage!”—await interested African American high school students who would like to learn how to pilot a plane or star in a theater production. “This program is a combination of campus projects, experiments and off-campus field trips,” Dr. Debra Sells, associate vice president of Academic Support Services, says. “Students will have time to visit and learn from topnotch faculty at our university. It is also meant to be a lot of fun.” The program is free, but students must register in advance. Contact Sells at 615-898-5342 or dsells@mtsu.edu.

MULTICULTURAL KIDS—THROUGH MAY 5--It’s time for the annual “Diverse Tales for Diverse Tots” book drive. The Diversity Committee of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women is asking for donations of children’s books that reflect or teach about any aspect of diversity and/or multiculturalism. These books may be old or new and for any age group. They will be presented in May to the MTSU Extended Evening School Program at the Homer Pittard Campus School. Dropoff locations include in the Sociology and Anthropology office (307 Todd Building), the English office (302 Peck Hall), the June Anderson Women’s Center (206 James Union Building), and the Older Wiser Learners office (320 Keathley University Center). Contact Dr. Ida Fadzillah at 615-898-8275 or ifadzill@mtsu.edu or Dr. Elvira Casal at 615-898-2668 or ecasal@mtsu.edu.


NEW WEB LOGS

We’ve made some changes on the News and Public Affairs website that will make your job a little easier. These changes won’t replace the mail, faxes and e-mails for those who prefer to get their information that way. The changes will be in addition to those methods. Beginning today, we will post TODAY’S RESPONSE and our NEWS RELEASES in a web log (blog) format. Links to TR and the news releases will be in the right column of the NPA website, http://mtsu20.mtsu.edu:880/redirect?http://www.mtsunews.com/.
One of the advantages of using the blog format is that the media will have an expanding, searchable archive of MTSU expert opinion and MTSU news releases. Thanks in advance for visiting these new features. If you have comments or questions, please contact John Lynch, director of marketing technologies, jlynch@mtsu.edu, 615-898-5591.

ATTENTION: MTSU AUDIO CLIPS

MTSU Audio Clips and radio-ready stories for your newscasts are available at:http://mtsu20.mtsu.edu:880/redirect?http://www.mtsunews.comClick on "MTSU Audio Clips" on the right side of the page.TOPIC 1—BATTER UP!: It’s spring, when every young fan’s heart turns to baseball. Dr. Ron Kates, associate professor of English and Chicago Cubs fan extraordinaire, will celebrate this annual rite of rebirth with the Baseball Literature Conference March 31st. Special guests will be East Tennessee State University’s Dr. Don Johnson, editor of the sports literature journal “Aethlon,” and former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos pitcher Bill “The Spaceman” Lee.

TOPIC 2—NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: The president of the American Civil Liberties Union, Nadine Strossen, will be the keynote speaker for National Women’s History Month at MTSU. Dr. Elyce Helford, chair of the Women’s Studies program, discusses Strossen’s upcoming appearance and the other events on tap to celebrate women’s fight for equality and justice.
Radio stations, if you need audio from MTSU, please call 615-898-2919 or email news@mtsu.edu. We will be glad to send MP3 audio via email or post the audio on our Audio Clips web page http://www.mtsunews.com/. Click on "MTSU Audio Clips" on the right side of the page.

VIDEO UPLINK

TV stations, if you need video from an event at MTSU, interviews with MTSU experts, or other specific video from the MTSU campus, please call 615-898-2919 or email news@mtsu.edu. With sufficient advanced notice, we have the capability to uplink video to stations with digital decoding equipment, or we can make arrangements to deliver tape or DVD to you.