Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Sax appeal

The 2007-2008 MTSU Jazz Artist Series will get the first of two 2007 concerts underway at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 15, with world-class saxophonist Greg Osby, who will perform in the T. Earl Hinton hall of the Wright Music Building. Don Aliquo, coordinator of jazz studies at MTSU, says Osby is working with student ensembles in workshops. “(Osby) is truly one of the most original and cutting-edge voices in jazz today,” Aliquo says. During the Nov. 15 concert, Osby will perform his original compositions alongside members of the MTSU jazz faculty. In addition, Osby will perform in a free and open second concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, with various student ensembles, including the MTSU Graduate Studies Combo.

For more information, contact Tim Musselman at 615-898-2493.
tmusselm@mtsu.edu

Chaos in the classroom

Teachers often have to take time away from instruction to deal with students’ noncompliant behaviors. Unfortunately, these compliance issues can impact achievement. What starts out as a “won’t do” problem (performance deficit) soon becomes a “can’t do” problem (skill deficit). Dr. Zaf Khan, elementary and special education, will discuss several behavior management strategies in a workshop titled “Positive Behavior Supports: Behavior Management Strategies That Work” from 3:30-4:30 p.m. CST (4:30-5:30 est) tomorrow, Nov. 15. This professional development program for teachers and administrators, grades K-8, will be presented through MTSU’s Satellite and Webcasting Center.

For more information, call 615-898-2737 or send an e-mail to:
vmoxley@mtsu.edu

You can’t do better than Sears.

Dr. Mary Hoffschwelle, history, has won the 2007 Best Book Award from the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH). Hoffschwelle’s book, The Rosenwald Schools of the American South (University Press of Florida, 2006), highlights the remarkable partnership that built model schools for black children during the Jim Crow era in the South. The Rosenwald program, which erected more than 5,300 schools between 1912 and 1932, began when Booker T. Washington, principal of Tuskegee Institute, turned to Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, to help build schools to educate the South’s black children.

Contact Hoffschwelle at 615-898-5806.
mhoffsch@mtsu.edu
To hear an October 15, 2006 radio interview with Hoffschwelle about The Rosenwald Schools of the American South, go to http://www.mtsunews.com, click on “Podcasts,” then click on “2006 Podcasts.”

TR EXTRA

DEPENDING ON THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS--The Center Players will perform their inaugural presentation, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, tomorrow 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.

IT’S ALL RIGHT, MA, I’M ONLY BLEEDING--Cindy Rehm, assistant professor of art at MTSU, will present “Spontaneous Bleeding: The Performative Video Works of Cindy Rehm,” the latest lecture in the Fall 2007 Women’s Studies Research Series, at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 15, in Room 100 of MTSU’s James Union Building. The lecture is free and open to the public. Rehm will present and discuss a selection of her video works, which explore female identity, eroticism and hysteria. “The works express visceral manifestations of female desire through private acts of ritual,” Rehm says. “The images oscillate between the beautiful and the grotesque and aim to diversify the erotic possibilities of the female body.” For more information, contact Dr. Jane Marcellus at 615-898-5282 or jmarcell@mtsu.edu or the Women’s Studies office at 615-898-5910 or
womenstu@mtsu.edu.

MIGRATIONS--“Migrations” is the theme of the 16th annual Tennessee Undergraduate Social Science Symposium at MTSU tomorrow and Friday Nov. 15-16. 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.