Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Mellow yellow

Project Help has a new “Yellow Room” in MTSU’s Fairview Building, which will allow the program to provide services for another 10 young children. The room was built with a $5,000 Community Enhancement Grant sponsored by state Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) and last summer’s successful “Saddle Up” fundraiser. Project Help, which began in 1983 to provide a classroom environment for developmentally delayed children from birth to three years of age and a training ground for education majors at MTSU, celebrated its 10th anniversary in its North Baird Lane facility in April 2007. Its services are in almost constant demand, and children are on a waiting list for admission into its “Red,” “Green,” and “Blue” classrooms.

For more information about Project Help, visit its Web site at http://www.mtsu.edu/~projhelp or call 615-898-2458.

Side by side with Whiteside

Dr. Harold D. “Terry” Whiteside says he is “honored and humbled” to be the new interim dean of MTSU’s College of Education and Behavioral Science. In addition to teaching popular courses in sport psychology, performance enhancement, interpersonal influence and persuasion during his 36 years at the university, Whiteside, a two-term Faculty Senate president, has served on councils, committees and boards charged with everything from choosing new administrators to ensuring proper accreditation and funding. He’s also the university’s current NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative, serving as a senior adviser on athletics to university president Dr. Sidney A. McPhee, and a partner with the university’s Athletic Department on issues of academic integrity, student-athlete welfare and NCAA rules compliance.

Contact the Office of Education and Behavioral Science at 615-898-2874.

“Language is the dress of thought.”—Samuel Johnson

MTSU’s annual Summer Language Institute will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 16-20, June 23-27 and July 28-August 1 at the University School of Nashville. Languages to be taught will include Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic and Spanish Levels 1 and 2. The innovative teaching methods used at the institute, are designed to teach students a second language the same way they learned their first—by relating vocabulary to movement and learning grammar through storytelling. Students are completely immersed in the language from the first day of instruction in a fun environment. “I can now tell people who regret never having studied a language or who had a bad experience that it is not too late,” says Dr. Shelley Thomas, MTSU associate professor and institute founder. Tuition includes instruction and course materials and must be paid in full by Thursday, May 15.

Contact Thomas at 615-898-5757.
shthomas@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

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 be on display in the waning days of the spring semester. The “Paper Rewind” project will remain in place through today, 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.

WOOF!—The See Spot Run 5K Run/Walk, a fun event for people and their dogs to support the MTSU Habitat Blitz Build and Rutherford County Habitat for Humanity will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, at MTSU. Registration will begin at 6:30 a.m. at Peck Hall. The entry fee is $25. The first 200 participants will get T-shirts, and the top age group finishers will get awards. To register, go to http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1489959. For more information, contact the Office of Leadership and Service at 615-898-5812, or send an e-mail to Meagan Flippin at camporgs@mtsu.edu.

BRINGING IT UP TO PAR--The National Advisory Board for the Scholars Academy at MTSU presents the first annual Diversity and Multicultural Golf Outing on Wednesday, May 28, at Gaylord Springs Golf Course in Nashville. Founded in 2005, the Scholars Academy was developed to support bright and talented college students who may be underachieving. The Academy generally serves minority and other underserved students who benefit from a culturally rich learning environment. Throughout their collegiate careers, students are mentored and their development enhanced in the following areas: academics, psychological, social, bio-physical, and careers. All students remain in the program until college graduation. For sponsorship, golfer packages, or more information, contact Jerry M. Whitmore, Jr., in the Office of Institutional Diversity at 615-898-5975 or whitmore@mtsu.edu.