Friday, November 16, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The business of Russia is business.

MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise and the Jennings and Rebecca Jones Chair of Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning will sponsor the Bilateral Conference on Urban Land Use Resources all day Monday, Nov. 19, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. This gathering will allow community and business leaders, faculty members, students and interested public participants to hear outstanding speakers from both the public and private sectors. Dr. Andrei Korobkov, political science, says he believes the conference will provide insights not only for research but also for practical application in developing cities. Many of the goals of the New Eurasia Foundation, a group dedicated to using outside expertise to increase growth and development in Russia, will be topics for discussion.

For more information, call 615-898-2764 or visit http://business.web.mtsu.edu and click on the link at the bottom of the page.

Winter wonderland

The Stones River Chamber Players (SRCP), artists in residence at MTSU, will present a program of music titled “Winter Delights” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, in the T. Earl Hinton Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus. This concert is free and open to the public. ‘The program consists of a blend of chamber works from Renaissance to modern times,” says Todd Waldecker, co-director of the SRCP. “The music is full of beautiful melodies that are very pleasing to the ear.” The works that will be performed include Frank Martin’s Trois chants de noel, Anthony Holborne’s A Suite of Renaissance Dances, selections from J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Gunter Moll’s Transition Man and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Quartet in d minor from Tafelmusik II.

For more information on this and other events in the music school at MTSU, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com.

On the road again

Rich Barnet, a professor of recording industry, is the co-author of This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring: A Practical Guide to Creating, Selling, Organizing and Staging Concerts (Billboard Books). With co-authors Ray Waddell and Jake Berry, Barnet covers numerous topics, including booking agencies, concert promotion, ticketing, marketing, rehearsals, contracts, tour management and merchandising. Barnet teaches concert promotion and advanced concert promotion at MTSU. Waddell is executive director of content and programming for touring and live entertainment at Billboard Information Group. Berry is co-owner of Production Alliance and has worked as production manager for acts including The Rolling Stones, U2, AC/DC and Metallica.

Contact Barnet at 615-898-5869.
rbarnet@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

DEPENDING ON THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS--The Center Players will perform their inaugural presentation, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, through Saturday Nov. 17 at the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Center for the Arts, 110 West College Street in Murfreesboro. Blanche DuBois will be portrayed by Dr. Elyce Helford, director of Women’s Studies and professor of English at MTSU. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.. Contact the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Center for the Arts at 615-904-ARTS (2787) or http://www.boroarts.org.

MIGRATIONS--“Migrations” is the theme of the 16th annual Tennessee Undergraduate Social Science Symposium at MTSU concluding today Nov. 16. The gathering is expected to attract 800-1,000 undergraduates and educators from the local campus as well as from across the state. “Papers presented by students will include a variety of topics (such as) immigration, social problems, social and cultural theory, hate crimes, race and ethnicity, Appalachian studies, health, family and work, sociology of emotions, and experiential learning in archeological studies and study abroad,” says Dr. Vicky MacLean, associate professor of sociology at MTSU and the event’s co-director. Contact Connie Huddleston at 615-494-7628 or chudd@mtsu.edu.

TUNE IN NEXT TIME--The December edition of the television program “Middle Tennessee Record” will present MTSU homecoming highlights; the groundbreaking at the site where a veterans memorial will be erected on campus; the dedication of a new home built by MTSU students volunteering for Habitat for Humanity; the annual Expanding Your Horizons conference to encourage girls who are interested in math and science; a new television program from the Department of Recording Industry that offers professional advise on songwriting; and other features that highlight MTSU faculty, students and events. To find out when “Middle Tennessee Record” airs in your area, go to http://www.mtsunews.com and click on “Middle Tennessee Record” on the right side of the page. For more information, contact John Lynch, Director of Marketing Technologies, at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

A FIRST AT THE FRIST--The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will feature “Mid-State Art Majors,” an aptly titled exhibit that will include works by eight MTSU art students through Dec. 31. “I’ve been here four years and there’s never been a show put together like this,” says Erin Anfinson, assistant professor of art and liaison for the exhibit. “They came to us with the opportunity, and we were thrilled.” The show’s opening, which is a free event, will be from 7-9 p.m. tonight at the Frist, 919 Broadway in Nashville. Art professors nominated MTSU students to be featured in the exhibit. Then a panel of faculty chose students to represent each of the concentrations of the art department—printmaking, ceramics, paintings, sculpture and graphic design. For more information about the exhibit, including driving directions, please visit the center’s online site at http://www.fristcenter.org.

I’LL GRANT YOU THAT--The President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) at MTSU is accepting applications from faculty for its 2008 Curriculum Integration Grants. The 2007 grants, which have been awarded to three professors in allocations of $1,800 each, are being used to infuse courses at MTSU with an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of women. Dr. Jane Marcellus, journalism, will teach a course in the spring semester titled “Women in Journalism History.” Dr. Karen Petersen, political science, used her grant to create a version of her “Foundations of Government” general education class that would be applicable in a study-abroad context in Cherbourg, France. And Jeremy Rich, history, fashioned a course on “Women in Africa.” For more information on how to apply for this year’s grants, contact Dr. Tina Johnson, PCSW chair and associate professor of English at 615-898-2705 or ntjohnson@mtsu.edu.