Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The price you pay

Consumer confidence is at a 15-year low, according to Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. Dr. Tim Graeff, director of MTSU’s Office of Consumer Research, says decreased spending can have negative effects on the economy. “Two-thirds of the economy is consumer spending,” Graeff says. “So, if consumers truly are worried about the economy, reduced spending becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in that it slows down the economy. On the other hand, if consumers increase their spending, this tends to grow the economy. This is why we hear so much about consumer confidence as it relates to the future of the economy.”

Contact Graeff at 615-898-5124.
tgraeff@mtsu.edu

The working world

One of Bill Fletcher’s goals as director of MTSU’s Career and Employment Center is to grow the center’s employer base by making employers aware of curriculum additions or changes, new majors or configurations of departments. “Employers expect that of us,” Fletcher says. “They expect to be able to go to a career center and effectively network throughout campus and reach the various constituents whom they need to reach. I want to improve the student experience and the employer experience when they come into the center.” Before coming to MTSU, Fletcher spent four years as associate director for employee relations in Vanderbilt’s University Career Center. He received his B.B.A. degree in marketing at the University of Mississippi and his M.Ed. in college student personnel at Ohio University.

Contact Fletcher at 615-898-2500.
bfletch@mtsu.edu

When the student does the grading

MTSU’s Pedagogy Task Force has been disbanded, having completed its charge of finding ways to improve teaching across campus. The newly established Ad Hoc Pedagogy/Student Evaluation of Faculty Instrument Committee will focus on the successful implementation of the new instrument for student evaluation of professors, which will be implemented in the fall semester of 2008. The new instrument will ask students to agree or disagree on a scale of one (disagree) to five (agree) with statements such as “has a genuine interest in students,” “lectures easy to outline or case discussion well organized,” “gives assignments and exams that are reasonable in length and difficulty,” “discusses recent developments in the field,” “invites criticism of own ideas,” and “motivates me to do my best work.”

Contact Dr. Vic Montemayor at 615-898-2108.
vjm@mtsu.edu


TR EXTRA

JAZZ IT UP!--Award-winning jazz pianist Geri Allen will perform a free and open concert at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Feb. 26, in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus. “Allen is currently one of the top jazz pianists in the world,” says Don Aliquo, coordinator of jazz studies and professor of saxophone at MTSU. “She has been at the forefront of some of the most creative jazz to be performed in recent years.” Allen has been hailed as “a jazz pianist who dares to follow an unmarked road” by The New York Times and was honored for ‘her extensive music education and a devotion to the swinging roots of jazz” by the Los Angeles Times. For more information, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com.

CHOOSE TO THRIVE—“Choosing to Thrive, No Matter What” is the theme of the 2008 Association of Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education (ANTSHE) Conference, which MTSU will host on the weekend of Feb. 29 and Mar. 1-2. A gathering of adult students who are striving to balance the responsibilities of work and family life while enriching their education and the career academics who serve them, the conference will give the students and the professionals a chance to come together and share strategies. Dr. Cara DiMarco, a licensed psychologist and counselor at the Lane Community College’s Transition for Success Program in Eugene, Ore., will deliver the keynote address. For more information, contact Dr. Carol Ann Baily at 615-898-5989. Specific conference information and a detailed itinerary are available at http://www.antshe/org/2008/Conference/index.htm.