Thursday, February 15, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“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, which is geared each year to college students ages 25 and older, 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.

My brilliant career

A new study by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) shows that Tennessee’s private for-profit career colleges supply nearly 34 percent of the workforce with a career-level college education. The report was sponsored by the Tennessee Association for Independent Colleges and Schools and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Dr. Murat Arik, associate director of the BERC and lead investigator for the study, says, “Given the fact that private for-profit colleges are racially more diverse, have more nontraditional students, and have programs reflecting demands in labor market, the economic impact of these colleges on Tennessee’s economy goes well beyond the $330 million economic impact of their operations.”

Contact Arik at 615-898-5424.
marik@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO RHYME EVERY TIME--“Promoting Student Thinking: Using Poetry to Scaffold Student Creativity,” a prerecorded professional development program for teachers in grades 6-8, will be presented via satellite, Webcast, and cable TV at 3:30 p.m. TODAY from MTSU. Dr. Bobbie Solley, elementary and special education, and Beverly Barnes of Community High School in Bedford County will demonstrate ways in which poetry from both published poets and student poets can foster creativity. They will examine poems and poets that are especially appropriate for middle grade learners. In addition, students will write their own original poems. For more information, send an e-mail to itsc@mtsu.edu or call 615-898-2737.

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.

“ALTERNATIVE FUEL DAY”--Dave Pelton with Clean Air for Tennessee will speak to the Field Crops class of Alanna Neely, agribusiness and agriscience, from 2:40 p.m. to 5:40 p.m. TODAY in the main classroom of the Horticulture Center. The subject will be alternative fuels. Drs. Warren Anderson and Cliff Ricketts of the MTSU faculty also will address the class. Ricketts is known for his electric hybrid five-speed solar-powered Nissan pickup truck. Its power is produced by a 10-kilowatt solar array. “Every day we are hearing about the future impacts of alternative fuels,” Neely says. “I am constantly asked questions like ‘What does this mean for Ag?’ and ‘Will there be many ethanol distributing plants in Tennessee?’” Media welcomed. Contact Neely at 615-898-2432 or alneely@mtsu.edu.

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 AND TOMORROW 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.