Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Eight days a week—er, make that twelve

Where does a week equal 12 days? At MTSU, where the 2007 Week of Welcome will begin this Friday, Aug. 24, with the all-day We-Haul (moving into the dorms), dinner and music at the Quad, a performance by Floyd the Barber at 6 p.m., and a free movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” at 8 p.m. We-Haul continues Saturday, Aug. 25, when there will be information booths set up from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., a dinner and a street fair starting at 6 p.m. behind Corlew Hall. The culmination of the Week of Welcome will be the Blue Raiders’ second football game of the season. They’ll take on the University of Louisville Cardinals in Louisville, Ky. Thursday, Sept. 6.

Contact Rob Patterson, Coordinator of New Student and Family Programs, at 615-898-2454.
rpatters@mtsu.edu

Take care.

Along with a word of welcome comes a word of warning to students moving into dormitory rooms this week. Sarah Sudak, Executive Director of Housing Administration, says, “We advise (students) to lock their cars and not keep valuables out in the open in their cars (i.e., don’t lead CDs, cell phones, change on the front seat). We encourage them to meet their Adopt-a-Cop so they have a point of contact to report suspicious activity, and we encourage them to call the hall staff or the police when they see anything out of the ordinary on their floor or their building.”

Contact Sudak at 615-898-2860.
ssudak@mtsu.edu

Grumpy Old Party?

None of the Republican candidates for president appears to have captured the imagination of the party faithful, says Dr. John Vile, chair of the Department of Political Science. “(Rudolph) Giuliani … does not seem to have captured the hearts of the party activists,” Vile says. “John McCain is perceived as a maverick, and is older than the typical candidate. (Fred) Thompson could be very well positioned in this situation. In contrast to (Al) Gore, I believe he would easily carry Tennessee. He would likely have wider appeal throughout the South. He does not give the impression of being as ambitious as Hillary Clinton (His decision to step down from the Senate after eight years could be a real plus here.), which could provide a good contrast in a head-to-head competition. He is older and arguably more mature than Barack Obama, allowing voters who wanted to ‘pass’ on Obama until he had more experience to do so.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

FROM RUSSIA WITH MUSIC--MTSU’s budding relationships with Russian institutions of higher learning will come into full flower Aug. 21 with the arrival of five graduate students from State University of Management in Moscow. The Russian students will enhance their pursuit of master’s degrees in music management under the auspices of the Department of Recording Industry. Next summer, several MTSU students will reciprocate by going to Moscow and St. Petersburg to study. “We hope it is just the beginning of large-scale cooperation with Russian schools,” says Dr. Andrei Korobkov, associate professor of political science and a member of the MTSU delegation that visited Russia last summer. Some 12 agreements have been signed with institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. Contact Korobkov at 615-898-2945 or korobkov@mtsu.edu.

AUDIO AUGMENTATION--Give your kids a wholesome, fun extracurricular activity this school year. Enroll your child in the Youth Culture and Arts Center’s (YCAC) next recording workshop at MTSU. The current enrollment period is in effect through Sept. 7 for the upcoming Sept. 13-Oct. 12 workshop in MTSU’s John Bragg Mass Communication Building. The workshop is for youngsters ages 12-17, and the fee is $125 per student. Classes are taught by Ryan York, a 21-year-old MTSU student and teacher of guitar, bass, and drums lessons at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro. Ryan will provide instruction in cassette four-track instruction, digital eight-track, computer recording and electronic music. All proceeds will benefit YCAC, a program of Youth Empowerment Through Arts and Humanities (YEAH), a nonprofit organization. Call 615-631-9479 or contact York at bororecording@gmail.com.