Friday, July 6, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The health of the dead

Why would you want to keep someone’s medical records private after they have died? Kenneth Sanney, a licensed attorney who also is an adjunct professor of recording industry at MTSU, says news media attention to the health history of the deceased could result in at least two undesirable outcomes. “First, persons of notoriety or fame would be less likely to seek medical attention or, if they did seek medical attention, they would be less than candid with their treating doctors for fear of damaging their legacy or bringing shame on their family,” Sanney says. “The loved ones of the deceased person could be traumatized by the in-depth news coverage of their deceased relative’s medical history—a history which may include drug addiction, sexual ailments, mental health conditions, or any number of stigmatizing illnesses or defects.”

Contact Sanney at 615-456-6502.
ksanney@mtsu.edu

Look what washed in with the tide!

If a cadaver is found in a body of water instead of on land, and it has been in the water for a long time, will scientists have anything left to help them determine how that person died? Dr. Hugh Berryman, forensic anthropologist and MTSU faculty member, recalls a case in which a body was found in the trunk of a car in the Tennessee River. Even though it had been there some seven or eight years, an autopsy was performed. A soapy substance called grave wax, or adipocere (AD-ih-poh-seer), as scientists refer to it, forms from body fat when a body is kept in a cool, damp environment for a prolonged period. Berryman says it is talc-like in appearance. “That stuff actually will protect the soft tissue once it forms on it,” Berryman says. “Insects don’t like it. Scavengers don’t like it. And it just sort of holds everything in place.”

Contact Berryman at 615-494-7896.
berryman@mtsu.edu

Are you ready for some more football?

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is backing a new professional football league that would play on weeknights in the fall. Now another startup pro league, the All-American Pro Football League, plans to offer football in the spring by concentrating on towns with a rabid college football following. Tennessee reportedly is one of its target states. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “The sports entertainment landscape has become very crowded with niche sports such as arena football and lacrosse. “The market potential for another professional football league may exist in markets that do not have NFL teams, but the league(s) would face numerous marketing challenges in [an] effort to avoid the fate of the USFL and XFL, upstart professional football leagues that failed quickly.” (Incidentally, NFL Europa folded just last week.)

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

TR EXTRA

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.

ROCK, ROLL, AND RECORD—It’s that time again! Registration runs through July 13 for the latest recording workshop for children ages 12-17 at MTSU. The workshop will be conducted by MTSU student Ryan York in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building July 19-Aug. 12. 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.

TRUE GRITS--Openings remain for the Girls Raised in Tennessee Science in-service teachers’ workshop, which will be held from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday, July 9, in the SunTrust Room of the MTSU Business and Aerospace Building. The free workshop for teachers in grades 6-12 will “address the need of encouraging and motivating adolescent girls to seek further education and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields,” said Karen Claud, assistant director of the grant-funded program that goes by the acronym of GRITS. The conference will be sponsored by a College of Continuing Education and Distance Learning public service grant. The College of Basic and Applied Sciences will provide lunch. To register or attend, contact Claud at 615-504-8587, or e-mail her at kclaud@mtsu.edu.

CREATIVE KIDS--Generation for Creation (GFC), a nonprofit visual and performing arts program founded in 2001, is based in Murfreesboro and housed in the local Boys and Girls Club facility. GFC’s founder, Monica Johnson, is a 1996 MTSU graduate with a B.S. in psychology and minors in speech and theatre and biology. Johnson says she created GFC to help talented children reach their artistic dreams with encouragement and positive motivation. GFC’s annual Children’s Benefit Talent Show, featuring children in the categories of art, dance, drama, music and modeling, will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Miss USA 2000, Columbia native Lynette Cole, will host the event. Tickets are $10 each with discounts available for groups. For more information, call GFC at 615-890-7116. To request interviews with Johnson or with child participants, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.