Friday, February 16, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

They won the coin toss and elected to deceive.

The U.S. Mint yesterday unveiled a new $1 presidential coin featuring George Washington on one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other. To the best of our knowledge, there are no microtransmitters in these new coins. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says the Department of Defense issued a report last June expressing concern that government contractors had been slipped Canadian coins containing transmitters that could track the contractors’ movements. “Now the DOD has reversed itself and said it is trying to figure out how the incorrect information made its way into the report,” Burriss says. “But now the conspiracy underworld, a group that also spends time looking for Big Foot and interviewing alien abductees, is saying the report is true, and the fact that defense officials are saying the report is false shows it is actually true--sort of a reverse psychology thing.”

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

Beautiful biwa

The Japan-U.S. Program of MTSU will present the Junko Tahara Biwa Ensemble at this year’s Music from Japan concert at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26 in Hinton Hall in the Wright Music Building. Tahara has performed extensively in Japan and at major venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in the United States. Her instrument, the biwa, is a fretted lute frequently used in the performance of traditional Japanese music. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. To obtain tickets by mail, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Japan-U.S. Program, Box 167, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN, 37132.

For more information, contact Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito at 615-898-2229.
japan@mtsu.edu

We’re not Putin you on.

Dr. Vladimir Mukomel, lead researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will speak at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. Mukomel will discuss the ethnic aspects of migration in Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s policies in the area of civil liberties. The holder of doctorates in sociology and economics, Mukomel has published more than 120 academic works, including 13 books. He regularly comments on Russian politics for the Russian and international media. This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the American Democracy Project, GLOBAL (Get Lost Outside Boundaries and Limitations), and Americans for Informed Democracy (AID).

Contact Dr. Andrei Korobkov at 615-898-2945
korobkov@mtsu.edu
or GLOBAL President Candi Nunley at global@mtsu.edu
or AID President Angie Feeney at amf3g@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

“PERFORMING GENDER”--Discussions, performance art, and feminist films are all part of the 2007 Interdisciplinary Conference in Women’s Studies slated for Feb. 22-24 in the James Union Building. The theme of the 2007 gathering, which is held every two years, is “Performing Gender.” Special guests include keynote speaker Jill Dolan, author of Presence and Desire: Essays on Gender, Sexuality, and Performance; Marissa Richmond, historian and president of the Tennessee Transgender Action Committee; and Deb Margolin, playwright and performance artist and founding member of Split Britches Theater Company. To register, please visit http://womenstu.web.mtsu.edu and click on “Women’s Studies Conference.” For more information, call the Women’s Studies program at 615-898-5910.

YES, THERE’S LIFE AFTER COLLEGE, BUT IS THERE MONEY?--“From Student Poverty to Financial Security: Planning to Get from Here to There” is the theme of the 14th annual Adult Learning in Tennessee Conference Feb. 22-23. This year’s gathering will focus on giving “both adult students and the educational professionals who work with them some new insights about preparing for financial security after graduation,” according to conference literature. The luncheon and keynote speaker Feb. 22 will be Dallas Nichols Ruddell, a 1996 alumna who lived on food stamps while earning her degree. After graduating with a degree in psychology, Ruddell moved to the San Francisco area, where she recruits and trains insurance agents and financial advisers. For more information, contact the Adult Services Center at 615-898-5989.

COLLEGE KNOWLEDGE--MTSU will be one of more than 30 sites statewide for College Goal Sunday, which will start at 2 p.m. SUNDAY, weather permitting, in the Business Aerospace Building's State Farm Lecture Hall and SunTrust Room. Whether they plan to attend MTSU or any other college, prospective students and their parents or guardians can get answers to questions, particularly in the area of completing the federal FAFSA form, university officials said. In case of bad weather, check your local news to see if the event will be canceled. For more information, contact, Bonnie McCarty, assistant director of scholarships, by calling 615-904-8414.

IT’S GOT A GOOD BEAT, AND YOU CAN DANCE TO IT--The Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp will host an all-girl dance party from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. SATURDAY at SportsCom, 2310 Memorial Blvd. in Murfreesboro, to kick off registration for this year’s camp. The festivities will be open to girls ages 10-17. DJs Bawston Sean and Nicole Tekulve will provide the music. Admission is $10 at the door. Prior to and during the dance party, camp organizers will register girls and volunteers for the fifth annual day camp, which is slated for July 16-21 on the MTSU campus. This year’s camp will feature instruction in voice, keyboards, drums, guitar, electronic music, and vocals. A special discount tuition rate of $225 will be available through Feb. 28. From March 1 to May 1, tuition will cost $250. For more information, visit http://www.sgrrc.org or send an e-mail to sgrrc05@gmail.com.

GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME--Officials at MTSU have extended the deadline to March 1 for prospective students wanting to apply for the EdScholar scholarships and approximately 70 MTSU Foundation scholarships offered by the Office of Financial Aid, Bonnie McCarty, assistant director of scholarships, said today. The deadline was to be Feb. 15. A transition to a new computer software system from an old one is the reason for the extension. In addition to applying for the scholarships (EdScholar can be done online), students must apply for admission to the university. For information, call Admissions at 615-898-2111 or Financial Aid at 615-898-2830, or visit their Web sites at http://www.mtsu.edu.

VAUDEVILLE ISN’T DEAD!--Five current or former MTSU faculty members will help create an evening of frivolity in An Evening of Chekhov’s Vaudevilles, a presentation of the Murfreesboro Ensemble Theatre (MET) THROUGH SUNDAY at the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Center for the Arts. The entertainment will consist of three one-act farces—The Bear, The Proposal, and Swan Song—with short performances by jugglers, magicians, acrobats and singers as interludes. Times are 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 and 17 and at 2:00 p.m. on Feb. 18. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children and seniors. The Center for the Arts, a non-profit organization, is located at 110 West College Street. For ticket information, call 615-904-ARTS. To interview director Ayne Cantrell, call 615-893-1786 or write to acantrell@comcast.net. To interview MET founder and artistic director Tom Harris, call 615-895-0755 or write to millermn@comcast.net.

THE FREEDOM OF DANCE--“In the Spirit of Pearl: Using Identity and Womanist Thought to Liberate Performance” will be presented TODAY in Room 140 of the Fairview Building. Facilitated by Ursula Payne, award-winning choreographer and the artistic director of Soul Deep Creations, this performance workshop will explore issues of race, gender, class and identity. Payne has danced in the film “Beloved” and with the National Black Arts Festival. Contact Kim Neal Nofsinger at nofsinge@mtsu.edu for more information.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER--“Landscapes of Mexico,” a photography exhibit featuring the works of Hector Montes de Oca, is on display through February 28 at Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the Learning Resources Center. The exhibit is made up of 40 silver gelatine black-and-white prints. He is considered to be one of the most prominent Mexican photographers of his generation. He is especially distinguished for his black-and-white landscapes, which reveal his native country in a most striking and intimate manner. The exhibit will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Mr. de Oca will present a slide show/lecture on his work at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. Exhibitions and lectures are free and open to the public. Contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085 or tjimison@mtsu.edu.