Friday, April 11, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The blue lagoon

Why would a “blue lagoon” be located in the center of a nuclear reactor? That’s what the nuclear reactor at McMaster University in Canada has. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry professor and McMaster alumnus, explains that it has to do with the uranium-bearing fuel rods that are submerged in water. “As the uranium atoms undergo nuclear fission, many forms of ionizing radiation are emitted, including electrons ejected at nearly the speed that light travels in a vacuum,” MacDougall says. “However, light travels slower in water, which is why a glass of water seems to bend light. This unusual situation of light traveling slower than the object emitting it gives rise to the unforgettable sight of the ‘blue lagoon.’”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

From Russia with curiosity

Dr. Vladimir Ilin, a professor of sociology at St. Petersburg State University in Russia, is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at MTSU for the 2007-2008 academic year. Dr. Ron Aday, interim chair of the MTSU Department of Sociology and Anthropology, says Ilin “will be providing occasional lectures on global inequality and conducting research on consumption patterns in the U.S.” Ilin, who will be in Murfreesboro through October, says he wants to conduct research on the typical life of America’s consumer society. “I hope to find here people who will help me to better understand this country,” Ilin says. To learn more about Ilin, listen to him discuss his work and his impressions of Tennessee on “MTSU On the Record” with Gina Logue at 7 a.m. Sunday, April 13, on WMOT-FM (89.5) and at http://www.wmot.org.

To interview Ilin, contact Lisa L. Rollins at 615-898-2919.
lrollins@mtsu.edu
To learn more about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Gina Logue at 615-898-5081.
gklogue@mtsu.edu

All things being equal

Are you aware that print media and broadcast media are not held to the same standards regarding political candidates? Section 315 of the Communications Act, the so-called “Equal Time” provision, requires a radio or television station that offers time to one candidate for public office to offer time to all other candidates for that office. But newspapers don’t have to obey that rule. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “A newspaper can editorialize as much as it wants about this or that candidate and does not have to make an offer of equal space to the other candidate.” While Burriss says most newspapers are fair in how much attention they give political candidates, “there is no real reason to have the broadcasting equal time provisions, and there is likewise no way to force newspapers to be totally equal in the amount of space they devote to this or that candidate.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE WILD BLUE YONDER—The Blue Angels will be on campus from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. today, April 11, in Room S118 of the Business and Aerospace Building to show a video and speak to a group of aerospace students. Reporters are invited to attend this rare gathering of aerospace students and the Blue Angels. For more information, contact Dr. Wayne Dornan at 615-898-2788.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS--It’s the annual invasion of the business people at MTSU! The 17th Annual University Takeover/Executives-in-Residence program will take place today, April 11, when business executives take over some of the 10:15 and 11:20 a.m. classes. CEOs, company owners, directors and managers will share their experiences and answer questions from students on topics such as job interviewing and climbing the corporate ladder. “The classroom experience will also give visiting executives an opportunity to know more about the quality of the students that we’re making available to them as future employees,” says Dr. Jim Burton, Dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business. John R. Ingram, vice chairman of Ingram Industries Inc. and CEO of Ingram Content Holdings, will be the speaker at an invitation-only luncheon at 12:30 p.m. in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Contact the College of Business at 615-898-2764.

“WILDFLOWER LANDSCAPES CAN HELP US SAVE WATER. WILDFLOWERS ALSO CAN SAVE TIME AND MAINTENANCE MONEY.”—LADY BIRD JOHNSON--The MTSU Center for Cedar Glade Studies and Tennessee State Parks will present the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Festival today, April 11, through Sunday, April 13, at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. The Lebanon Limestone Glades of the Central Basin are home to plant species not found anywhere else in the world. The event will bring together the finest ecologists, botanists and naturalists in the country to present the beauty and uniqueness of the glades in the spring. Hikes, lectures, workshops and field trips are on tap for the festival. Most events will proceed rain or shine. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call the park office at 615-443-2769, or contact Dr. Kim Cleary Sadler at 615-904-8283 or ksadler@mtsu.edu.

BODY LANGUAGE--“White Looks/Black Bodies” will be the title of a lecture by Dr. George Yancy, assistant professor of philosophy at Duquesne University, at 3:30 p.m. today, April 11, in Room 304 of MTSU’s James Union Building. This event, part of the Applied Philosophy Lyceum at MTSU, is free and open to the public. Yancy works primarily in the areas of critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and philosophy and the black experience. At present, he is engaged in a philosophical project that explores the theme of racial embodiment, particularly in terms of how white bodies live their whiteness, the philosophical identity formation of whites and questions of white privilege and power formation. The author of Black Bodies, White Gazes, Yancy is an editor of eight books and co-editor of The American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience. Contact the Department of Philosophy at 615-898-2907.

READ ALL ABOUT IT--In celebration of National Library Week, Linebaugh Public Library is planning a local authors’ book-signing event for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 13, on the second floor of the library at 105 West Vine Street in Murfreesboro. One of the local authors being spotlighted is Randy O’Brien, News Director of MTSU radio station WMOT-FM and author of Judge Fogg, a fictional account of an African-American court judge’s rise and fall. This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. Books will be available for sale, and the authors, including O’Brien, will sign them. For more information, contact Patty Metcalf at 615-893-4131, extension 119. For more information about Judge Fogg or to read a sample part of the novel, go to http://www.literaryroad.com.

THE FIGHT AGAINST VIOLENCE--To generate awareness of the ongoing problem of violence against women, the June Anderson Women’s Center will present the annual Clothesline Project April 14-17 and “Take Back the Night” on Tuesday, April 15, on the MTSU campus. The Clothesline Project is a display of T-shirts decorated to symbolize fear, anger or other emotions associated with sexual assault. These T-shirts will be displayed Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the KUC Knoll. “Take Back the Night,” which is slated for 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, is an evening rally that will feature concerned members of the campus community and the community at large speaking their minds on the issue of violence against women during an open microphone segment. The rally will be followed by a brief march on campus and a candlelight vigil. For more information, contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

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.