Thursday, November 8, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Respecting Aaron Todd

The Blue Raider basketball players will remember the late Dr. Aaron Todd at 7 o’clock tonight as MTSU unveils a commemorative seat in Murphy Center. Todd’s tickets were located there on Feb. 26, 2007, the night of “Operation Full House.” Todd, a longtime MTSU professor and season ticket-holder, died in April after a long battle with brain cancer. Shortly after being diagnosed, Todd said he wanted to see Murphy Center filled once again. Consequently, he promoted “Operation Full House,” and the Blue Raiders set a single-game attendance record with a crowd of 11,807 against Western Kentucky on Feb. 26, 2004. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, was one of Todd’s pallbearers. “I can honestly state that I have never known a scientist who embodied the scientific attitude more than Aaron Todd,” MacDougall says.

For more information about the game, contact Athletic Media Relations at 615-898-2968.
Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

In remembrance

MTSU officials will break ground on the future site of a permanent memorial to military veterans at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Tom H. Jackson Building (formerly the Alumni Building) during a day of festivities to acknowledge the contributions and sacrifices of military personnel. The memorial will honor MTSU faculty, students, staffers and administrators who served their country in the United States armed forces from the university’s inception in 1911 to the present and beyond. It will be a living memorial constructed in the form of a plaza that can be used equally well for classroom instruction, formal ceremonies or private contemplation. U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, MTSU President Sidney McPhee, numerous veterans and other dignitaries are slated to attend.
Contact Dr. Derek Frisby at 615-494-8856
dfrisby@mtsu.edu
Robyn Kilpatrick at 615-898-5223
rkilpatr@mtsu.edu
or Dr. Robb McDaniel at 615-904-8245.
rmcdanie@mtsu.edu

The apple doesn’t fall far from the restaurant.

The Applebee’s restaurant chain is going to create a new icon to deliver its message of “eating good in the neighborhood.” It’s a spokesapple. That’s right—a spokesapple. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “It’s cheaper than hiring a celebrity endorser, and at least Applebee’s does not have to worry about an apple embarrassing the company by getting arrested. That’s where the benefits seem to end. This brand is in trouble, and to expect a reversal of fortunes from an ad campaign led by a spokesapple is a stretch! The spokesapple will serve as the message source to spread the word about Applebee’s menu items, but how much credence can you give to what an apple tells you?” Roy says he does not think the Applebee’s spokesapple will go down in advertising history alongside the ALFAC duck or the Jolly Green Giant.

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

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.

WHEREFORE ART THOU?--MTSU Theatre and Dance will present one of the most famous and beloved of Shakespeare plays, Romeo and Juliet, at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 7-10 (through Saturday)on the stage of Tucker Theatre in the Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building. “This is a true classic that students read in high school and people come to the play knowing,” says Dale McGilliard, the show’s director. “They all come with a different expectation, which adds to the wonderful challenge to producing it.” MTSU alumnus Lane Davies—who has appeared in a wide variety of television series including Married with Children, Scrubs and Seinfeld—will guest star in the role of Capulet. Tickets must be purchased at the door on the evening of the performance. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for MTSU staff and K-12 students. For more information, please visit the speech and theatre department Web site at http://www.mtsu.edu/~theatre.

HOME WILL HAVE TO WAIT--MTSU students are sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity home. “The Habitat Blitz Build is moving along very nicely and the home is nearly halfway complete,” says Jacqueline Victory, Director of MTSU’s Office of Leadership and Service. “However, some much needed rain stalled some of our efforts and has pushed our dedication back to (today) Nov. 8.” The dedication originally was slated for Nov. 1, at 6 p.m. Volunteers are still needed. The construction site is located at 446 State St. in Murfreesboro, where teams working in two shifts will labor to build a Habitat home for the Bautista family. The five-member Bautista clan has lived with family, in a basement and in public housing over the years, but never truly had a place to call home. Victory says the MTSU Student Government Association has spent two years working to raise the $50,000 needed to build the Habitat home for the Bautistas. Contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919 or lrollins@mtsu.edu.

DEPENDING ON THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS--The Center Players will perform their inaugural presentation, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Thursday through Sunday Nov. 8-11 and Thursday through Saturday Nov. 15-17 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. Dr. Robert Bray, an MTSU English professor and Tennessee Williams scholar, will deliver a talk titled “Laying the Tracks for His Streetcar: The Evolution of a Great American Play” at 7 p.m. on the night of the Nov. 8 performance. A video of Bray’s talk will be played at future performances. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. for the Sunday matinee. Contact the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Center for the Arts at 615-904-ARTS (2787) or http://www.boroarts.org/.

NEVER FORGET--Distinguished scholars will join Nazi concentration camp survivors and some of the military veterans who liberated them as they explore the effects of the Holocaust on Nov. 8-10 during the eighth biennial Holocaust Studies Conference in MTSU’s James Union Building. “Questions of Memory and Conscience” is the theme of the three-day event. “This year’s conference will be a truly notable event, (and) a powerful and poignant experience is in store for both the participants and the audiences,” Dr. Nancy E. Rupprecht, chairwoman of the MTSU Holocaust Studies Committee, remarked. “In addition to the public session …, the academic sessions include scholarship in a rich variety of forms—papers, discussions and exhibits, as well as film, music and a live dance performance.” For more information on the 2007 Holocaust conference, including a detailed schedule that lists conference events that are open to the public, please access its Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~holostu.