Thursday, July 6, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

NOTE: TR will take the day off tomorrow, Friday, July 7. TR will resume Monday, July 10.

Show us your stuff!

The students who have attended the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts at MTSU this summer will showcase their talents at the Finale Festival Thursday, July 13 and Friday, July 14. The July 13 event will include performances in opera and theatre. The July 14 event will feature dance and music. Performances on both evenings will begin at 7 p.m. and will be presented in Tucker Theatre. Tickets are $20, a price which includes admission to both nights of entertainment. A fundraising reception will take place at 5:30 p.m. and will include an hors d’oeuvres buffet in the Todd Gallery lobby prior to the July 14 performance. The cost to attend the reception is $100 per person, which includes tickets to the performances.

Contact Brenda Batey at 615-352-5184 or b.batey@comcast.net

Immigration and the economy

More than 500 economists and other scholars have signed an open letter to President Bush and all members of Congress stating their position on the immigration issue. One of the signatories is Dr. Bill Ford, holder of the Weatherford Chair of Finance at MTSU. The letter reads, in part, “Immigrants do not take American jobs. The American economy can create as many jobs as there are workers willing to work so long as labor markets remain free, flexible and open to all workers on an equal basis. In recent decades, immigration of low-skilled workers may have lowered the wages of domestic low-skilled workers, but the effect is likely to have been small, with estimates of wage reductions for high-school dropouts ranging from eight percent to as little as zero percent.” (Read the entire letter at http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1727.)

Contact Ford at 615-898-2889.
wfford@mtsu.edu

Taking stock

Now that our nation is 230 years old, how far have its communications media come? The Declaration of Independence was announced from a balcony on July 4, 1776. “Now, CNN would bring us the event live, CBS would have instant analysis, and USA Today would run two paragraphs of insightful comment, plus three charts and a graph. Oliver Stone would start a movie production and G. Gordon Liddy would warn of impending doom,” says Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism. But Burriss stresses that, despite all the technological advances of the last 230 years, the media still are people-based. “One of the thing we stress to our students is that, although there is a ‘mass’ in mass media, we are still reaching an audience one person at a time,” Burriss says.

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

FROM CAMP TO COLLEGE--Kayley Kravitz is a veteran of all three years of Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp. She studied guitar, bass and piano. In the fall, the 18-year-old graduate of The Webb School in Bell Buckle will attend Boston’s Emerson College, where she will major in journalism with an eye to becoming a music journalist. Simultaneously, Kayley will minor in music at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. She encourages parents to enroll their daughters (ages 10-18) in this year’s camp, which is slated for July 31-Aug. 5. “Not only will they get to learn the ins and outs of the music business—they will gain a self-confidence that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” Kayley says. Contact Kelley Anderson, Anna Fitzgerald or Courtney Sharpe at sgrrc05@gmail.com or call 615-898-8140.

GROWING YOUNG MINDS--More than 300 people are expected to attend this year’s “Growing Young Minds,” a dinner/live/music/silent auction fundraiser to benefit Project HELP, July 13 in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Registration is at 6:15 p.m. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Live music by the Boomers will follow at 7:30 p.m. The silent auction bidding will close at 8:15 p.m. Founded in 1983, Project HELP provides early intervention and family support services to high-risk children, children with disabilities and children with developmental delays.Contact Project HELP at 615-898-2458 or at http://www.mtsu.edu/~projhelp.

TEACHING ANDREW JACKSON--MTSU and The Hermitage are collaborating in a “Landmarks of American History Teacher Workshop” funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson, and “America 1801-1861” will be offered July 10-14 at The Hermitage. These workshops will enable K-12 educators to intensify their study and increase their knowledge of important historical topics through direct on-site experiences. Topics to be explored include “Growing Democracy,” “Cotton Economy and Slavery,” “Indians and Westward Expansion,” “Reform and Religion,” “Women’s Lives in a Changing America,” and “Developing a Distinct American Material Culture.” Contact Dr. Janice Leone, history, at 615-898-5580 or jmleone@mtsu.edu.

GET ACCUSTOMED TO IT--Nine sessions of orientation for new students, called CUSTOMS, will be offered in July for freshmen and transfers on a first-come, first-served basis. Students pursuing majors in the colleges of Basic and Applied Science and Mass Communications and undeclared majors will have CUSTOMS July 11-12 and July 24-25. Students pursuing majors in the colleges of Education and Behavioral Science, Liberal Arts and Business and undeclared majors will be held TODAY and TOMORROW and July 20-21. Transfers may complete CUSTOMS online and be cleared by their advisers to register for fall classes. For more information, call the Office of New Student and Family Programs at 615-898-5533 or visit http://www.mtsu.edu/~customs.

HEAD FOR THE MOUNTAINS!--Some 16 MTSU alumni and several faculty members have contributed to the newly published “Encyclopedia of Appalachia.” The title has more than 2,000 entries which provides ready reference to information about the people, culture and history of Appalachia. MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation was contacted by scholars at East Tennessee State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Services about collaborating on the project. CHP Director Dr. Carroll Van West says he agreed to participate because of his interest in southern architecture and because the Applachian region suffers from stereotyping. Contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.