Thursday, May 4, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The “fight-or-flight” response

With the Robin Williams comedy “RV” being panned by the critics and mixed emotions about the life sentence administered to convicted 9/11 terrorist Zacharias Moussaoui swirling, will “United 93” do better at the box office this weekend? Dr. David Rowe, a professor of history who uses films in his classes, says he has no intention of seeing the movie because he has moved on from that point. He acknowledges that “United 93” still could be a very emotional experience for some viewers. Rowe says, “Emotions are facts, too. The Enlightenment approach to history was ‘Detach yourself from everything. Don’t have any emotional connection to anything you look at.’” But Rowe says we can’t do that, nor should we because it would be dishonest.

Contact Rowe at 615-898-2646.
dlrowe@mtsu.edu

The long, hot summer

It could be a long, hot summer for businesses expecting to benefit from the usual summertime vacationers. The Middle Tennessee Consumer Confidence Index conducted by the Office of Consumer Research , while showing an overall increase, showed drops in the purchasing situation index and the future expectations index. “Further, there were decreases in the percentage of consumers who believe that now is a good time to buy large items for the home, a good time to buy a home, and a good time to buy a car,” Dr. Tim Graeff, director of the OCR, says. “Increased gasoline prices can cut sharply into consumers’ budgets when planning summer vacations, especially if they plan to travel by car. In addition, recent storms and tornadoes have made consumers mindful of the financial costs associated with natural disasters.”

Contact Graeff at 615-898-5124.
tgraeff@mtsu.edu

Fossil fools

Is the Bush administration doing enough about high gas prices? Dr. Reuben Kyle, economics and finance, says, “The most effective thing that the Bush administration could do to reduce oil and gasoline prices is to peacefully settle its differences with Iran. Speculation in oil derived from concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf, i.e., Iran and Iraq, as well as political problems in Nigeria, not to mention Venezuela, are the major contributors to the recent spike in prices. Windfall profits taxes would do nothing to reduce those prices and neither would price regulation.”

Contact Kyle at 615-898-5617.
rkyle@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

SAVE THOSE TICKETS!—Due to illness, “Fresh Air” radio show host Terry Gross was notable to fulfill her previously scheduled commitments at MTSU. Her appearance has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 19. Marc J. Barr, electronic media communication, says new tickets will not be printed. Therefore, people with the original April 17 tickets are encouraged to keep them for the September event. For more information, contact Barr at 615-898-5118 or at mjbarr@mtsu.edu.

BELIEVE AND ACHIEVE—TOMORROW, 5 p.m.--Darrell S. Freeman Sr., president and chief executive officer of Zycron Computer Services Inc. in Nashville, will be the featured speaker for the African American Awards Ceremony in the Tom H. Jackson Building (Alumni Center). Freeman founded Zycron in 1991 after earning his master’s degree at MTSU in 1990. The firm now employs more than 100 people. For the first year, the event will recognize both student and alumni award recipients at the same ceremony. Tickets are $10 per person or $5 for students. They may be purchased by calling 1-899-533-MTSU (6878) or by visiting http://www.mtalumni.com/. For more information, contact Valerie Avent, Office of Multicultural Affairs, at 615-898-2718 or vavent@mtsu.edu.

THROUGH A LENS DARKLY—TOMORROW, 6:30 p.m.—Dr. Eric Klumpe, physics and astronomy, will lecture on “How Do Telescopes Work?” in the final First Friday Star Party of the academic year in Room 102 of the Wiser-Patten Science Building. Telescopes will be set up in the field in front of the building for observing if the weather is clear. For more information, contact the Department of Physics and Astronomy at 615-898-2130.

MULTICULTURAL KIDS—THROUGH TOMORROW--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.

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE—SATURDAY--The Right Honorable Perry Gladstone Christie, prime minister of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, will be the guest speaker for the 9 a.m. Spring 2006 commencement ceremony at Murphy Center. The guest speaker for the 2 p.m. ceremony will be Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell. This semester’s commencement marks a record number of degree candidates for a spring semester event—2,042. The doors to Murphy Center will open at 8 a.m. for the morning ceremony. Both ceremonies will be Webcast at http://www.mtsu.edu/. The link to the Webcast will not be active on the day of commencement until about 15 minutes prior to the star of each ceremony. Contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

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. We now 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.

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.