Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“Tonight, tonight won’t be just any night.”—Maria in West Side Story

West Side Story, the musical that took Romeo and Juliet out of Elizabethan England and put them on the mean streets of urban America surrounded by rival gangs, debuted on Broadway 50 years ago tonight. When it was first performed in 1957, it was edgier and more ethnic than anything the New York stage had ever seen. “Even though we see the production as a brilliant idea, when it opened 50 years ago, there was much fear the show might bomb,” says Dale McGilliard, speech and theatre. Why has it endured? “West Side Story remains a popular musical today because it has the solid story of love and tragedy, just as Romeo and Juliet does,” says McGilliard. “Just as with Romeo and Juliet, we love to see young people in love, we love to see them join together, and we cry to see them as star-crossed lovers.”

Contact McGilliard at 615-898-2274.
dmcgilli@mtsu.edu

Money matters

Dennis P. Lockhart, 14th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will be the keynote speaker at the 15th annual Economic Outlook Conference at MTSU Friday, Sept. 28. Dr. Jim Burton, dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business, says the conference is targeted especially to bankers, business owners and managers, community officials and leaders, as well as business and economics faculty and students. Continuing its tradition of providing substantive information, the conference also will feature Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, who will provide a midstate/regional economic update.

Visit http://business.web.mtsu.edu/ for more information.

“Pop” goes the history

Edward Franklin “Pop” Geers (pronounced JEERS) was the “Grand Old Man” of harness racing, a sport that elevated the spirits of downtrodden Reconstruction-era Tennesseans and filled the idle hours of elite Northeasterners. Now an MTSU graduate student is bringing his life and his legend into focus with her master’s thesis. History major Sarah Elizabeth Hickman says, “It just amazed me how a country boy from Tennessee … was known up in New York like he was and how he was known throughout the harness racing industry.” Geers, a native of Lebanon who adopted his wife’s hometown of Columbia as his own, made more than a million dollars in his career and became the first harness racer to break the two-minute barrier in a race. More amazing is the fact that Geers never used a whip or harsh words with his horses. “They said he had something in his voice, something in his demeanor that made the horse go,” Hickman says.

Contact Hickman by calling her at the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna at 615-459-2341.
sarelibeth@yahoo.com
For an interview with Hickman and more info, go to http://www.mtsunews.com and click on “MTSU Audio Clips.”

TR EXTRA

BONJOUR!--Any student whose summer was no more exciting than spending endless hours lying by the pool frying to a crisp can prepare now for an unforgettable summer 2008. There’s no time like the present to register for the annual general education study abroad program in Cherbourg, France, which will run from June 2 to June 27. At this beautiful port town in the Normandy region of northwest France, students will experience the history, art and culture of the area. “With the general education program, a student can spend four weeks in Cherbourg and in Normandy, and they can begin studying French while they’re there if they choose to, but they don’t have to already know any French,” Dr. Anne Sloan, Assistant to the Provost for International Education, says. Contact Sloan at 615-898-5091 or asloan@mtsu.edu or Jennifer Campbell, Director of International Education and Exchange, at 615-898-5179 or jjcampbe@mtsu.edu.

THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY--“Colleagues: A Community College Art Faculty Exhibition” is the title of the upcoming diversity-rich art exhibit that is being presented through Oct. 4 in the Todd Gallery on the MTSU campus. “This exhibition recognizes the talented faculty who serve students enrolled in community colleges across the state that are often far removed from major population centers,” says Lon Nuell, professor of art and gallery curator. Nuell says each of the participating artists work and teach in traditional studio areas such as painting, photography, printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture, and graphic design and visual communication. The Todd Gallery, located on the first floor of the Todd Building, is open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays. Admission is always free, and the exhibit is open to the public. For more information, please contact Eric Snyder, gallery assistant, at 615-898-5653.

LET’S GIVE ‘EM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT.--Vanderbilt University professor and author Dr. Bruce Barry will deliver a lecture titled “Will Work Leave You Speechless? The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace” on Thursday, Sept. 27, in the Keathley University Center at MTSU. The 9:45 a.m. event is free and open to the public. In his new book, Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace, Barry examines the history of free expression in the workplace, how and why Americans have come to take free speech for granted and how employers can legally punish employees for speaking their minds. Barry’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and MTSU’s American Democracy Project. Contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT--To mark the convergence of two religious holidays, Hillel, the Jewish student organization at MTSU, will provide a meal for the Muslim Students Association at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, on the Keathley University Center (KUC) knoll. The meal will be an opportunity for Muslim students who have been engaged in Ramadan, a month-long observance during which Muslims fast in the daylight hours, to break their fasts. The Jewish students will celebrate Sukkot, which commemorates the 40-year period during which the Jews wandered in the desert, living in temporary shelters. The students will build a tabernacle called a sukkah on the lawn in front of the KUC. Media welcomed. Contact Dr. Lon Nuell at 615-898-2505 or lrnuell@mtsu.edu
or Dr. Saleh Sbenaty at 615-898-2966 or ssbenaty@mtsu.edu.

THERE’S STILL A CHANCE--Openings remain for girls in grades 5-8 to register online to attend the 11th annual Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science through the registration deadline of Oct. 1. EYH will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at sites across the MTSU campus. About 100 openings remain for the girls in grades 5-8. There is a $12 registration fee, but scholarships are available. For the first time, high-school girls will participate with a separate EYH event. As of Sept. 24, about 20 openings remained. Their registration fee is $15. EYH is a hands-on science and math conference. Participants will learn more about science and math careers from MTSU faculty and off-campus professionals. To register, visit mtsu.edu/~eyh. For more information about the girls in grades 5-8, call Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-825 or Dr. Rebecca Zijlstra at 615-898-5776. For more information about the high-school girls, call Karen Claud at 615-504-8587.