Monday, June 11, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Didn’t the USFL teach them anything?

Bill Hambrecht, founder of WR Hambrecht + Company, and Tim Armstrong, a senior executive at Google, are creating a “rival to the National Football League—the United Football League—along with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “While Cuban believes the market desires more professional football, the UFL’s potential for success seems limited. A national television contract would be a must to create exposure to build the league, and the UFL would have to overcome perceptions that it is second-rate football compared to the NFL.” The backers of the UFL are putting up $2 million each of their own money, and they’ve hired a chief executive officer and a chief operations officer from the National Basketball Association.

Contact Roy at 615-904-8564.
droy@mtsu.edu

Geezers gone wild

When law enforcement personnel talk about curbing violence, they usually don’t talk about the 55-plus demographic being a particular problem. And network television executives don’t exactly covet the 55-plus demographic for their ratings. But research shows that the most heavily exposed to television, and, therefore, to TV violence, are viewers over 55, says Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication. “This cohort watches four hours and 18 minutes of TV per day,” Pondillo says. “If the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) or Congress believes in a powerful, causal link between the heavy viewing of violence on TV and violent behavior, perhaps we should hide the next time we see a person over 55 walking toward us.”

Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465.
pondillo@mtsu.edu

The sensitivity and science of sand

The poet William Blake once wrote, “To see a world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/And eternity in an hour.” Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says Blake definitely was on to something. “Sand is mostly made out of silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen with the chemical formula SiO2,” MacDougall says. “If you examine a small grain with a magnifying glass, you will notice that it is transparent, and that its differently sized faces join at various angles, some rather acute. While your magnifying glass is still handy, examine a grain of salt. It is also transparent, but the shape is quite different—that of a simple cube.”

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

TR EXTRA

GETTING TEENS TO READ AND WRITE--The Tennessee Center for the Study & Treatment of Dyslexia at MTSU will sponsor the Adolescent Literacy Institute on Friday, June 15, in the Business and Aerospace Building. This institute is designed for middle and high school teachers (teaching language arts, English, ESL, resource reading, special education, and the content areas) who are interested in fostering and improving adolescent literacy. Dr. Steve Graham, Currey Ingram Professor of Literacy at Vanderbilt University, will deliver the keynote address on “Teaching Writing to Adolescents: Specifically-Supported Practices” at 8:15 a.m. Workshop topics include “Making the Reading and Writing Connection Effective and Fun” and “Vocabulary: Building Word Consciousness.” For more information, contact M. Tara Joyce, Ed.D., Adolescent Literacy Institute Director, at 615-494-8880 or ali@mtsu.edu.

THAT’S A TAKE!--Don’t wait to give your child an exciting, fulfilling way to spend part of his or her summer! Registration runs through June 15 for another recording workshop for children ages 12-17 at MTSU. The workshop will be conducted from June 21-July 15 in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building under the tutelage of Ryan York, who also teaches guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro. For a fee of $125 per student, York will introduce the youngsters to cassette four-track recording, digital eight-track, computer recording and electronic music. The workshop is sponsored by the Youth Culture and Arts Center, a project of Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit organization. For more information, or to enroll, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com.

THE GRIDIRON GIRLS, WHOSE THEME SONG IS “THANK YOU FOR BEING AN END”--MTSU Head Football Coach Rick Stockstill and the MTSU football staff invite you to join them for the 2007 Ladies Football Clinic on Saturday, July 14 in Murphy Center. The clinic, which will feature seminars on strategy, equipment, training and rules, will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with registration slated to start at 8 a.m. Ladies will be encouraged to take part in coaches’ drills and demonstrations. The goal is to provide a fun learning experience. Participants will receive commemorative T-shirts and lunch will be provided. The cost of the clinic is $25 dollars. For the children, the Rick Stockstill Youth Camp for rising 1st through 8th graders will be held June 4-7. For more information, contact Danny Lewis at 615-898-2311.