Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Don’t know much about history

According to a survey by the group Common Core, half of American teenagers questioned by phone knew when the Civil War was fought. One in four said Columbus sailed to the New World sometime after 1750. Four in 10 knew what Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man was about. About half knew that Job is known in the Bible for his patience while suffering. This does not come as a surprise to Dr. John McDaniel, dean of the MTSU College of Liberal Arts. “College teachers are not (alas) stunned by what Common Core calls the ‘ignorance’ exhibited by teenagers who, by chance or design, have migrated to higher education,” McDaniel says. “It is indeed the patience of Job that is called for, more often than not, in making the Invisible Man visible, assisting students in discovering anew the Discovery of the New World and having a more civilized understanding of the Civil War.”

Contact McDaniel at 615-898-2534.
mcdaniel@mtsu.edu

The paper chase

The James E. Walker Library and the MTSU Department of Art are joining forces again this year to raise student awareness of paper usage through an imaginative project that will remain on display in the waning days of the spring semester. The “Paper Rewind” project will remain in place through Wednesday, May 7. While students are studying for final exams and preparing research papers, they will be surrounded by paper animals, trees and people created by Professor Thomas Sturgill’s 3D design classes. In fact, students might find themselves sitting next to a paper person or look up to see a paper person sailing a paper airplane off the fourth floor balcony. “Students are printing 6,500,000 copies a year from computer printers, and this art project is intended to raise awareness on the part of the students to conserve natural resources and think before they print,” says Bill Black, library professor in charge of administrative services.

Contact Black at 615-898-8378 or wblack@mtsu.edu
Contact Sturgill at 615-898-2460 or sturgill@mtsu.edu
For more information, go to http://www.paperrewind.com.

The seniors’ moment

Entering the spring semester, efforts to reach the $10,000 goal for the Senior Gift Program stood just $2,000 shy of achieving the mark, says Meredith Edington, coordinator of annual giving for the MTSU Office of Development. “Our goal is to get $10,000 so we can endow it and every year give up to a $1,000 scholarship,” Edington said. The program began in 2005. "The overall purpose of the Senior Gift Program is to raise funds for the Foundation Graduate Scholarship, which is awarded (each fall) to a student who is attending graduate school at MTSU,” Edington adds.

For more information, contact Edington at 615-898-2728.
edington@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

A SENSE OF COMMUNITY--Dr. Gloria Bonner, current dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Science, has been chosen to lead the Office of Community Engagement and Support, a newly created administrative office initiated to support MTSU’s overall mission as it relates to addressing the ever-growing needs of both MTSU and the surrounding community at large. Bonner’s new appointment will become effective May 1, and the university will begin a national search later this year to fill the deanship role that Bonner has held for a decade. According to its proposed mission statement, the primary aim of Bonner’s new office will be to articulate the university’s mission and activities to the surrounding communities, providing an ear to the needs and concerns of MTSU’s neighbors as it relates to the actions and activities of the university. Contact Tom Tozer or Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.