Thursday, March 1, 2007

"Today's Response" will go on hiatus March 5-9 for spring break. "Today's Response" will return on March 12.


Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Inside dyslexia

Learn about "Dyslexia: The Inside Story" in a professional development program for K-12 teachers and administrators to be transmitted from the Satellite and Webcasting Center at 3:30 p.m. CST TODAY. In this presentation, you will hear how dyslexia is experienced by individuals of different ages who have dyslexia themselves. Find out what dyslexia is and what it's like to have it. The instructors will be Dr. M. Tara Joyce, coordinator of adolescent services and adult resources, and Karen M. Jones, Ed.S., supervisor of clinical services at the Tennessee Center for the Study & Treatment of Dyslexia.

For more information, call 615-898-2737 or send an e-mail to itsc@mtsu.edu

Let's make tracks!

Don't wait until the last minute to sign up your youngsters for the next recording workshop in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. MTSU student Ryan York, who teaches guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro. The deadline for the next four-week series of lessons is March 9. For a fee of $125 per student, kids ages 12-17 will be introduced to cassette four-track recording, computer recording, electronic music, and digital eight-track recording on portable equipment in two classes each week. The recording workshops, which will take place on Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon each week, are sponsored by the Youth Culture and Arts Center.

For more information about the workshops, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com. To learn more about the Youth Culture and Arts Center, go to http://www.youthculturecenter.org. A workshop syllabus may be accessed there by clicking on “Workshops” at the bottom of the page.

By the book

Should chemistry professors be slaves to their textbooks? Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says students frequently ask him if he intends to use the text in his classes. "It is humanly possible to cover all the material in a freshman chemistry textbook in the classroom," MacDougall says. "In fact, some schools are custom ordering textbooks with major portions of general chemistry omitted just to keep the cost (and weight) of the books down. ... Students who are serious about finding chemical solutions to environmental problems are expected to read on their own outside of class and not just from the textbook (although that's the best place to start). After all, you never know from which part of the periodic table the next unexpected discovery will come. Louis Pasteur, a famous French chemist and biologist said it best: 'Chance favors the prepared mind.'"

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


TR EXTRA

BLACK AND WHITE--Bruno Marcotulli and Brian Sparks, the fathers of the families in the 2006 FX television channel reality series "Black.White," will speak about their experience at 7 o'clock TONIGHT in Tucker Theatre. In the series, two American families--one black and one white--lived together under the same roof in Los Angeles. Makeup was applied to each participant to make white participants appear black and vice versa. Their observations about how they were treated in society as members of another race made for provocative and compelling viewing. "Black.White" is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Black History Month Committee, the Student Government Association, and the National Panhellenic Council. Contact the Student Government Association at 615-904-8231.

THE CHILDREN OF INVENTION--Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae will be the motivational speaker for this year's Invention Convention. The event will start at 9 a.m. TODAY in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Now in its 15th year under the direction of founder Dr. Tracey Ring, professor of elementary and special education, the event is free and open to the public. The Invention Convention draws nearly 300 young participants from schools across Middle Tennessee. Awards are given to fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders for their innovations. Participants must create working models of their inventions, a requirement that pushes them to stretch their creativity and makes their feat more impressive, Ring says. Contact Ring at 615-898-5500 or tring@mtsu.edu.

A GAY DAY--Hohenwald native William Gay will deliver a free public reading at 4:30 p.m. TODAY in the Hazlewood Dining Hall of the James Union Building. Gay is the author of three novels--The Long Home, Provinces of Night, and Twilight--and one collection of short stories titled I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down. Randal Mackin, assistant professor of English, says of Gay, "His stories have been widely anthologized, including several selections chosen for New Stories from the South, and he has published in the Georgia Review and Missouri Review, among other notable literary magazines." A past winner of the William Peden Award and the James Michener Memorial Prize, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Gay will be available for a book signing immediately following his reading. Contact Mackin at 615-904-8155 or rtmackin@mtsu.edu.

GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME--Officials at MTSU have extended the deadline to TODAY 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, says. 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.

“THE EMPIRES OF THE FUTURE ARE THE EMPIRES OF THE MIND.”—WINSTON CHURCHILL--The cigar-chomping bulldog of Britain during World War II, Winston Churchill’s wartime leadership is legendary. But what about the other Churchills—prisoner of war, disgraced politician, painter, and Nobel Prize-winning author? MTSU is offering a July 2007 study-abroad history course which will take students to the Cabinet War Rooms underneath London, as well as Parliament, Churchill’s birthplace, his country estate, and other sites related to the life of this great statesman. The instructor will be Dr. Jim Williams, a Churchill Fellow of Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., site of Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946. Contact Williams at 615-898-2633 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu or Jennifer Campbell, MTSU Study Abroad Office, at 615-898-5179 or jjcampbe@mtsu.edu.

CUMBERLAND MOUNTAIN HIGH--Dr. Jack Justin Turner, professor emeritus of political science, will discuss his novel, The Sheriffs’ Murder Cases (Chestnut Hill, 2006), at 2:30 p.m., TODAY in Room 103 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building. This event is free and open to the public. Turner will read selected portions of his book, which is the story of Jake Herald, High Sheriff or Chief Deputy or Chinoe County from 1920-1945. “I think of Jake Herald as a kind of mixture, and it’s a strange mixture, of Hamlet, maybe, and Dirty Harry,” Turner says, referring to William Shakespeare’s tragic prince and Clint Eastwood’s vigilante movie detective. “He likes to think about things and work them out, but once he gets started, he’s capable of taking extreme action, if necessary.” Contact Connie Huddleston, events coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts, at 615-494-7628 or chudd@mtsu.edu.

BRICK BY BRICK--Each and every brick to be laid in the MTSU Veterans Memorial will represent the support of an entire community for the enlightenment and inspiration of future generations. The bricks may be reserved by all those who wish to honor a veteran or active-duty service member or merely acknowledge their support for the construction of a permanent on-campus memorial to MTSU faculty, students, staff and administrators who perished while serving their country. The bricks will be integrated into the overall memorial design. All proceeds will help to pay for the memorial, which will be an outdoor classroom that includes a wall with the names of the military personnel. To purhcase a brick with a memorial message, send a tax-deductible check of $150 payable to “MTSU Foundation—Veterans Memorial,” to P.O. Box 109, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. Credit cards also are accepted. Address any questions about brick purchases or donations to Robyn Kilpatrick at 615-898-5223 or rkilpatr@mtsu.edu.

SPIN OR SUBSTANCE?--MTSU's College of Mass Communication will host a national summit through tomorrow to address the top issues regarding media ethics in the United States. The public is invited to a lecture by Adam Clayton Powell III, former vice president of technology and programs at The Freedom Forum, a veteran newsman and a visiting professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, at 7:30 o'clock TONIGHT, also in LRC 221. Contact Cooper at 615-904-8281 or twcooper@mtsu.edu.