Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Unity heroes

MTSU will celebrate Black History Month with the Unity Luncheon, an annual event which recognizes and honors select “unsung heroes” in the community, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. TODAY in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room. The speaker will be Dr. Gilman W. Whiting, director, Undergraduate Studies, and senior lecturer in the African American and Diaspora Studies Program at Vanderbilt University. This year’s honorees are Mrs. Barbara Murray Alexander, Mrs. Marilyn Massengale, Mrs. Lillie W. McCrary, Mrs. Kathryn McCroskey, and Mrs. Susie Mae Simmons. The honorees will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Room 100 of the James Union Building for a group photo. Media are invited to come to the early photo session and/or to the banquet.

Contact Tom Tozer or Gina Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

Sing a song of freedom

Dr. Cedric Dent, music, will present a black gospel history lecture as well as original piano performances in a lecture/recital at 6 p.m. TONIGHT in the T. Earl Hinton Hall of the Wright Music Building. “The presentation is quite unique in that I present the history of black gospel music in a relaxed setting, encouraging audience participation,” Dent, a member of the Grammy Award-winning group Take 6, says. “The idea is to create a call-and-response atmosphere that is common in the black church.” Dent says the presentation will begin with blacks’ manipulation of European-derived hymns while slaves in the United States. It also will show how the slaves’ creative use of African retentions in the 17th and 18th centuries not only influenced structural developments in the European-style hymn, but also led to the invention of the Negro spiritual. This event is free and open to the public.

Contact Tim Musselman at 615-898-2493.
tmusselm@mtsu.edu

High flight

MTSU students are invited to attend the Aviation Careers/Jobs/Experience/Scholarships Conference from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. TODAY in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building. This event will provide information on full- and part-time jobs, careers and scholarships for students who might consider this path. “You can get 100 percent tuition assistance,” Maj. Chuck Giles, military science, says. “And there are part-time jobs in aviation in Smyrna and other reserve locations like West Tennessee.” Giles says representatives of the Tennessee National Guard and Army Reserve will be on hand, and refreshments will be served.

Contact Giles at 615-898-2470.
cgiles@mtsu.edu


TR EXTRA

WISE WOMEN—Dr. Rebecca King, an English professor with a B.S. in biology, will speak on “The Status of Women in Today’s World” at a meeting of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at 6 o’clock TONIGHT in the James Union Building. For more information, contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu

THE SUNO ALSO RISES--Hurricane Katrina virtually obliterated Southern University of New Orleans. The temporary campus that was constructed by FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sits on 36 acres of land owned by the university. That is why MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo will sign a memorandum of understanding at 10 a.m. TODAY in the President’s Conference Room that will create a partnership to help restore SUNO. The agreement will include an exploration of student-exchange progams in certain disciplines, the sharing of academic expertise, and discussion forums on diversity, technology, e-learning, university security and more. Media welcomed. Contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

“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. TODAY 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 or jawc@mtsu.edu
For a color jpeg photo of Freeman, contact Gina Logue at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu

WHERE YOU LEAD, I WILL FOLLOW--Dr. David Foote, management and marketing, will discuss “The Myth of Understanding Leadership” from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. TOMORROW in Room 206 of the James Union Building. Foote says, “Leadership has been described as the most researched, yet least understood subject in behavioral disciplines. Behavioral scholars have devised a variety of approaches to defining leadership and identifying leadership potential in subjects, all the while failing to separate clearly the concept of leadership from that of effective management. A basic myth about leadership pervades our understanding of it in both research and teaching. Not until we break free from this conceptual myth can we begin to realize that each of us has the same potential for leadership.” This event is free and open to the public. Contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@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) 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

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

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.