Thursday, April 10, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

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 tomorrow, 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 tomorrow, 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.
ksadler@mtsu.edu

Home, honorable home

When the spring semester ends, Wood/Felder Hall no longer will be the home of the Honors Living and Learning Community at MTSU. The building was first opened as a dormitory in 1964. It has been the home of the Honors community since 1996. Beginning in fall 2008, newly renovated Lyon Hall will become the community’s new home with 236 resident spaces for Honors students. Lyon Hall will look a little different. The main lobby will have a 24-hour desk and computer lab. Each floor will have its own living room, study space, laundry room and kitchen. There will be a huge staircase in the center of the building, and sunlight will fill the area, beaming into the building thought a skylight over the staircase.

For more information, contact Dr. Scott Carnicom, associate dean of the University Honors College, at 615-494-7611.
carnicom@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

TO YOUR HEALTH--MTSU students, faculty and staff are invited to the 2008 Health and Education Fair today, April 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the first- and second-floor lobbies of Keathley University Center. The event is presented by the MTSU School of Nursing Student Nurses Association, the Tennessee Office of Minority Affairs and the MTSU Student National Medical Association. Among the services available will be HIV testing, STD information, body statistics, cancer information, blood pressure screening and vision screening. For a small fee, blood chemistry and cholesterol testing will be performed from 8 to 10 a.m. in the McFarland Health Services Building.

THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY--Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, a professor of chemistry at MTSU, will receive, the 2008 King-Hampton Award at a luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, April 10, in the Hazlewood dining Room of the James Union Building. The honor was established by the June Anderson Women’s Center and the Association of Faculty and University Women in 1990. It is bestowed upon an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of women who work and study at MTSU. For more information, contact Kippy Todd at 615-889-5756 or ktodd@mtsu.edu.

AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE POSITIVE--“Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer” is the title of a talk to be delivered by Dr. Phillip Furia, chair of the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, at 5 p.m. today, April 10, in the T. Earl Hinton Hall in MTSU’s Wright Music Building. “One of the things I want to talk about is that Johnny Mercer was the only songwriter of that era to come from the South,” says Furia. “As a Southerner, he (Mercer) brought a difference to the lyrics he wrote.” This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call 615-494-7628.

ASSALAM ALAIKUM—The Muslim Students Association (MSA) at MTSU concludes its celebration of Islamic Awareness Week (April 7-10) at 6 p.m. tonight, April 10, with a potluck dinner and MSA elections. This event is free and open to the public. To learn more and to find out about the rest of the week’s activities, contact Dr. Saleh Sbenaty at 615-494-7667 or ssbenaty@mtsu.edu or MSA President Nida Shirazi at nfs2c@mtsu.edu.

SING, SING, SING—Thirteen student organizations are slated to compete in the All Sing Competition at 7 p.m. tonight, April 10, at Murphy Center at MTSU. The participants will be judged on vocal quality, choreography, creativity and overall performance. Each performance, which will last a maximum of eight minutes, will have its own theme. The Lion King, The Sound of Music and Sister act are some of the themes used in prior years. All proceeds from the All Sing Competition will benefit the Child Care Lab and Playground on Womack Lane, an on-campus day care facility for the children of students, faculty and staff. Tickets are $7 at the door. For more information, contact Josh McKenzie at 256-318-2219.

THE WILD BLUE YONDER—The Blue Angels will be on campus from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, 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.

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. tomorrow, 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.