Friday, February 2, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

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) Feb. 8-18 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. The production will open at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8 with additional performances at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, 10, 16, and 17 and at 2:00 p.m. on Feb. 11 and 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

“How Safe Are You?”

How and why are victims chosen? Kimberly Freeman, former regional director and trainer with Citizens Against Crime, will answer the question “How Safe Are You?” at 5 p.m. TUESDAY at the June Anderson Women’s Center (Room 206 in the James Union Building). For more than nine years, Freeman has owned her own company, Impact Training, to teach others about personal safety. She has been trained by police officers, rape prevention experts, a certified weapons instructor, and a former FBI agent, among others. In Freeman’s 17 years of experience, she has trained thousands of people at companies such as IBM, BellSouth, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and American Airlines. This discussion is free and open to the public.

Contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193.
jawc@mtsu.edu
For a color jpeg photo of Freeman, contact Gina Logue at 615-898-5081.
gklogue@mtsu.edu

The seeds of progress

February is African-American History Month, and one of America’s largely unsung African-American heroes is Percy Julian. The scientist, who was the grandson of a slave, will be profiled on the PBS program “NOVA” on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (in the Nashville market—check your local listings). Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, “The numerous patents that he received … ranged from the first commercially viable synthesis of cortisone to fire-extinguishing foams that saved countless lives during World War II.” Julian had to overcome discrimination by his alma mater, DePauw University, which refused him a professorship after he obtained his doctorate in Vienna.

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

TR EXTRA

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

GONE WITH THE WINDS--The MTSU Wind Ensemble will open its spring semester concert series with the annual Wind Band Conference Concert, which will feature the Tennessee premiere of a composition by David Dillingham, at 8 p.m. TONIGHT in Hinton Hall of the Wright Music Building. Dillingham’s Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble is a three-movement work that explores the entire five-octave range of the Grand Concert Marimba and will feature guest soloist and world-class marimba artist She-e Wu. Additionally, Dillingham, who will be present for the concert, will guest conduct another new piece he penned titled Aerodynamics, a composition that was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight. The concert is free and open to the public. Contact Tim Musselman at 615-898-2493 or tmusselm@mtsu.edu.

THE MASTERY OF MIMIC--The grand opening for the new MTSU Interdisciplinary Microanalysis and Imaging Center will be held from 2 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. TODAY in the Forrest Hall Annex behind Keathley University Center. MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee will preside at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which is slated for 2:30 p.m. in the west wing. The center’s showpiece equipment includes a state-of-the-art Hitachi-made transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope with an X-ray analyzer. Dr. Andrienne Friedli, chemistry, says both electron microscopes are all-digital and have remote access capability. The nearly $1 million in funding came from the MTSU Office of Research. Contact Friedli at 615-898-2071 or afriedli@mtsu.edu.

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE!--The 7th annual Gospel Music Extravaganza, an African-American History Month event at MTSU, will take place at 6 p.m. TOMORROW at Tucker Theatre. This evening of uplifting entertainment will featuer all-male choirs, groups, solos, spiritual dancing, readings and modeling of African attire, as well as MTSU’s own gospel choir. The songfest is a benefit to raise funds for a study-abroad scholarship for the Fall 2007 semester and for 13-year-old Jamise Marable, who lost both hands and both feet last year due to complications from pneumonia and kidney failure. Tickets are $5 each. Children under 6 years of age will be admitted free. Media welcomed. Contact Mary Glass at 615-898-5145 or mglass@mtsu.edu

HOW TO TELL KIDS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST--The Middle East Center will present “Teaching about the Middle East,” a free workshop for K-12 educators, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. TOMORROW in the Gore Center conference room in the Todd Building. Conducted by Audrey Shabbas of Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Relations, this workshop will include topics such as cultural geography, history, family and women. Ample time will be given to discussion of impressions of the Arab world, the broader Middle East and the wide world of Islam. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. A Middle East lunch will be provided during a one-hour lunch break. For more information, contact Dr. Amy Staples, associate professor of history, at 615-898-2569 or astaples@mtsu.edu

ROCK, ROLL, AND RUN THE MIXING BOARD--If you missed the first Youth Culture and Arts Center recording workshop series of the year, you still have plenty of chances to learn cassette four-track, digital eight-track, computer recording and electronic music. It’s the hippest, smartest extracurricular activity your kids will ever enjoy. Children ages 12-17 are invited to participate under the tutelage of Ryan York, teacher of guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro for a fee of $125. Classes are taught in Room 149 of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building each Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and each Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is open now for the next session, which will last from Feb. 15 through Mar. 11. For more information, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com.