Monday, March 31, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

All things to all people

“Who’s Your Hillary? Why Candidate Clinton Pushes So Many Women’s Buttons” is the title of a talk to be delivered today, March 31, by The New Yorker editor Susan Morrison at 12:40 p.m. in the Keathley University Center Theater. Morrison is editor of the book Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections by Women Writers. Morrison has been the Articles Editor of The New Yorker for 11 years. Previously, she had been Editor-in-Chief of The New York Observer, a founding editor of SPY Magazine, and Features Director at Vogue. This event, which is sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, is free and open to the public.

Contact Beverly Keel at 615-898-5150.
bkeel@mtsu.edu

The seat of learning

MTSU Scholars Week 2008 begins today, March 31, with an 11:30 a.m. kickoff in the James E. Walker Library quad and will end Friday, April 4, with faculty and student poster presentations from 12:40 to 3:30 p.m. in Murphy Center. Other performance and presentations throughout the week, sponsored by MTSU’s colleges and academic centers, will showcase work being done in these units. Each event will recognize the range and variety of scholarly research and creative activity taking place on the MTSU campus. “Scholars Week is a great celebration and demonstration of the various roles that research and creative activities play at MTSU,” says Dr. Kaylene Gebert, executive vice president and provost and Scholars Week committee chair.

Contact Dr. Andrienne Friedli at 615-898-2071. The schedule of events for Scholars Week 2008 is available on the Web at http://www.mtsu.edu/~research/scholarsweek.html.

Not a very good year

Is the legislation that would allow Tennessee grocers to sell wine dead for this session of the General Assembly? The bill has been bottled up, so to speak, in a Senate committee. Dr. Tony Johnston, agribusiness and agriscience professor and a vintner himself, says, “Liquor/wine distributors are not interested in the proposal because many grocers own their own distribution networks (read ‘are their own distributors’), and this change of law would, effectively, significantly increase their competition rather than expand their market. This proposal marks one of the few times Prohibition-era laws and sentiments have been ‘attacked’ by a non-alcohol industry. It is interesting to note that neither national nor state win industry groups are joining the fight on either side of the issue.”

Contact Johnston at 615-898-2421.
johnston@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

RAD-ICAL!--A series of six Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes will be offered at no charge every Thursday through May 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the MTSU police training room located at 1412 East Main Street. The class will be open to all female MTSU students, faculty and staff as well as to the general public. A workbook/training manual will be provided to each student. Enrollment is limited. For more information or to enroll, call MTSU RAD Instructor David Smith at 615-692-2424.

AROUND THE WORLD--In order to enhance MTSU’s burgeoning integration of international education into its academic life, Dr. Ron Messier, senior lecturer in history at Vanderbilt University and former history professor at MTSU, will return to the Murfreesboro campus in his new role as Director of International Outreach starting July 1. Messier will report to Dr. Kaylene Gebert, Executive Vice President and Provost. “Ron’s expertise and contacts in the Middle East and North Africa are wide-ranging and extensive,” says Dr. Allen Hibbard, director of MTSU’s Middle East Center. “I saw this firsthand when he visited me while I was teaching in Damascus and when the two of us recently traveled together in Morocco. He was a key moving force behind plans to create a Middle East Center on campus and has remained a strong, steadfast supporter of our work and activities.” For interviews with Messier or other MTSU officials concerned with promoting international education, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081or gklogue@mtsu.edu.

REBEL YELL--Representatives from the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area will kick off a series of public programs at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, April 1, beginning with a free guided tour of the new exhibit, The Time that Changed Everything: Murfreesboro’s Civil War Era. Dr. Antoinette van Zelm, Heritage Area historian, will share highlights from the exhibit, with a special focus on the themes of emancipation and Reconstruction. For more information, contact Melissa A. Zimmerman at 615-217-8013 or mzimmerm@mtsu.edu.

ALL THE POET’S MEN (AND WOMEN)--Ernest Suarez, chairman of the Catholic University of America’s Department of English, will lecture on the poetry of Robert Penn Warren at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Dining Room C of the James Union Building. The title of Suarez’s presentation is “Robert Penn Warren’s Conversion Narrative.” Sponsored by the Dr. Virginia Peck Trust, this event is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Dr. Kevin Donovan at 615-898-5898 or kdonovan@mtsu.edu.