Friday, July 11, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

All over the map

A team under the guidance of Dr. Tom Nolan, director of MTSU’s Laboratory for Spatial Technology, will depart from the Stones River Battlefield parking lot off Old Nashville Highway in Murfreesboro at 8 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday en route to Harding House, a former Confederate hospital. There the group will conduct a geospatial archaeological survey to recover and map artifacts from the Battle of Stones River and create a permanent spatial record of their locations for future study. Dr. Hugh Berryman, director of MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education (FIRE), will join the group in search of skeletal remains. The work is slated for 8 a.m.-12 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday as well as the weekend of July 19-20.

NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: The date and time information is for media planning purposes only, not for dissemination to the public at large. Thank you.

History in the making

Dr. James H. “Jim” Williams, a 12-year veteran of the history faculty, will become the third director of the Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU on Aug. 1. Williams will take over the directorship of the center, which is a facility dedicated to preserving research materials related to Tennessee history, from Dr. Lisa Pruitt, who has overseen the archive since July 1, 1999. Regarding his goals for the center, Williams says, “By bringing along (my) coordination of the American Democracy Project (ADP) at MTSU, a campuswide program in the Office of the Provost, I expect new synergies to emerge between the Gore Center’s collections and its focus on political and civic engagement and the mission of the ADP to increase the levels of civic engagement among MTSU students.”

For interview requests, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.
lrollins@mtsu.edu

Treated like royalty

A company called Last.fm is paying unsigned musical artists for songs that are played on its site. The Washington Post reports that 450,000 tracks have been uploaded by 170,000 artists and small music labels to date. The money goes directly to the artists. The Web site designated by the federal government’s Copyright Royalty Board to collect and distribute digital royalties, SoundExchange.com, is bypassed. Theoretically, that means the artists get more money. Ken Sanney, adjunct recording industry professor and licensed attorney, says this is a totally different scenario from the one which governs the other part of the industry. “The mechanical royalty rates the government sets are usually avoided by free-market negotiated deals between artists who want to ‘cover’ a song and one of several agencies that represent the copyright owners of the song," Sanney says. "It is a more elegant and cost-effective system for both.” (Although royalty rates for music streamed on the Internet went up last year, raising concerns that many Web sites would declare bankruptcy, Last.fm is owned by CBS.)

Contact Sanney at 615-456-6502.
ksanney@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

GOING STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE--A grant of $300,000 to the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation will provide Tennessee educators with opportunities to access some of the most important historical documents of the American experience. The money comes from the Library of Congress through its Teaching with Primary Sources program. Some of the primary sources available through the Library of Congress include the complete papers of Abraham Lincoln and the complete papers of Thomas Jefferson. The Age of Jackson, the Civil War and Reconstruction period, the Depression Decade and World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement will be the first four eras on which the center will focus, says Dr. Stacey Graham, research professor at the Center for Historic Preservation and project coordinator. “Those are points in Tennessee history that are also important in American history,” Graham says. Contact Graham at 615-494-8783 or sgraham@mtsu.edu.

ATTACK THE TAX!--The MTSU College of Continuing Education and Distance Learning and the Tennessee Department of Revenue will offer a Tennessee Business Tax Seminar from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro. Continuing Education and Distance Learning Director David Foster says, “This seminar is extremely valuable and pertinent to anyone who prepares or pays taxes. In this economic environment when we all have to tighten our belts, we want to make sure we’re paying our legal obligations but no more. One idea from here could save thousands of dollars.” Online registration is $155, a savings of $10 per registrant over other methods. Registration includes all materials, breakfast, lunch and refreshments. For more information or to register, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/learn.
Contact Foster at 615-898-5033 or dfoster@mtsu.edu.

THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT--You can spend part of your summer examining the fascinating Native American history and prehistory of the Southwest and get geography or history credit for it at MTSU! The class is titled “Geography of Native Americans” and will be conducted for the 15th consecutive year by Dr. Doug Heffington, professor of historical geography and director of the Global Studies Program. “The class focuses on the examination of the human/land relationships between the native peoples of New Mexico and their natural environment,” Heffington says. “Most of our base camp is in the small colonial village of Truchas, which dates to the mid-1700s with its blend of Genizaro, Mestizo and Hispano cultures. The trip/course starts July 21st and takes about nine days to complete.” The cost is approximately $400 per student and includes transportation, two meals a day, lodging and entry fees. Contact Heffington at 615-898-5978 or jheffing@mtsu.edu.

DAD, TAKE THE LAMPSHADE OFF YOUR HEAD WHILE THE CAMERA’S ROLLING!--Working with perhaps the most technology-savvy generation of young adults ever, Dr. Lorne McWatters, history, will teach a class titled “Genealogy and Documentary Film: Doing Your Own Family History in Film” to undergraduates for the first time at MTSU this fall. “The fall class will have 15 students, and each student will make a film about 10 minutes long on either some aspect of his/her family (genealogy) or some aspect of the history of MTSU,” McWatters says. “In speaking to students about the class, I found the undergraduates to be very enthusiastic, much more so than the graduate students, in general.” Contact McWatters at 615-898-5805 or dmcwatte@mtsu.edu.

ROCK THE HOUSE!--Bolstered by an all-time record enrollment of 90 participants, the sixth annual Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp will shake up the MTSU campus July 14-19. As usual, the camp will culminate in a powerful showcase concert when the girls will form nearly 20 bands and show off their talents at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19, in the Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building. Girls ages 10-17 will receive instruction in guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, vocals, hip-hop and electronic music. In addition, they will learn about songwriting, recording, music “herstory,” DIY arts and crafts and zine making in workshops. Independent female performers slated to lend their expertise include Michelle Malone, Anne McCue, Kelly Shay Hicks and Caitlin Rose. Admission to the Saturday night showcase is $8 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m. Concert begins at 7 p.m. The camp is a flagship program of Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit organization. Contact the camp office at 615-849-8140 or
sgrrc05@gmail.com.

WAR AND REMEMBRANCE--An MTSU history professor will accompany students and members of the community on an exploration of the Central Pacific World War II battlefields of Guam, Iwo Jima and Pelelieu in the Spring 2009 semester. Dr. Derek Frisby, who is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, says the trip is part of MTSU’s Study Abroad program (MT Abroad) and will offer students college credit for studying in international settings. Participants will study the World War II Pacific campaigns in the presence of surviving American and Japanese veterans. They will tour the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, hike through the jungles of Pelelieu and meet on Guam with American and Japanese historians and Iwo Jima veterans. Participants who choose not to enroll in the course may still join the expedition. Additional information can be found at http://www.mtsu.edu/~dfrisby. Contact Frisby at 615-494-8620 or
dfrisby@mtsu.edu.

ON THE TUBE--The July installment of “Middle Tennessee Record,” a monthly TV magazine produced by MTSU’s Office of News and Public Affairs, will feature Dr. Bob Pondillo, professor of electronic media communication, who discusses his latest independent movie. Student entrepreneur Chris Purifoy unveils a new social networking Website designed especially for the music industry. With the Summer Olympics in Beijing on the horizon, Dr. Andrew Owusu, assistant professor of health and human performance, reflects on his experience as an Olympic athlete and introduces us to MTSU track star Sarah Nambawa. Dr. Kim Sadler, director of the Center for Cedar Glades Studies, takes us on a tour of a globally unique ecological habitat. “Middle Tennessee Record airs on Rutherford County cable channel 9 daily at 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Central time and on NewsChannel5+ Sundays at 1:30 p.m. Central time. For a complete schedule, go to http://www.mtsunews.com/. For more information, contact John Lynch, producer, at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

READ MAN WALKING--A partnership among MTSU, the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Great Books Foundation, enabled prisoners at three area lockups a chance to participate in a nine-week program titled “Great Books in Middle Tennessee Prisons.” The program’s weekly book discussions, which began in late March, were conducted at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility and the Tennessee Prison for Women. Dr. Philip E. Phillips, associate professor of English, and other English faculty volunteers, guided the inmates through readings by such authors as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Alexis de Tocqueville and Joseph Conrad, among others. Phillips says, “My colleagues and I were very much impressed with the dedication and interest demonstrated by all our students.” To request an interview with MTSU faculty who participated in the Great Books program in Tennessee prisons, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919 or lrollins@mtsu.edu.

LEND A HAND--Have you checked out the new gizmo in the MTSU ID office? It utilizes hand-geometry technology in bringing identification cards up to date. When you get a new ID, you place your hand into the outline on the hand scanner, which reads your own distinctive silhouette (not fingerprints or palm prints). The device turns the silhouette into an alphanumeric template, which will be linked in the system to an “M” number. That’s a personalized ID number that will be used instead of a Social Security number. Hand readers also will be installed on the turnstiles at the Campus Recreation Center, which will help folks who forget their ID cards. By this fall, each student, faculty and staff member will have a new BlueID and a “Hand Reader” scan in the system. Contact the BlueID office at 615-898-5523. If you want to know more about hand-geometry technology, visit www.biometrics.gov/Documents/HandGeometry.pdf.

TOWER OF EMPOWERMENT--An educational video produced for a program administered through MTSU’s Center for Environmental Education has won a coveted Silver Telly Award. “The Empower Hour” was made for WaterWorks!, a program designed to educate the public about how to protect water quality. The 13-minute video featured students from Brentwood High School and the Nashville School for the Arts. It was distributed to high schools, public access channels, and other outlets to enlighten viewers about the environmental impact of automotive fluids and the proper ways to recycle or dispose of them. The video was chosen from among approximately 13,500 entries and judged by more than 40 video, advertising and TV industry professionals. Broadcast Media Group of Starkville, Miss., produced it in conjunction with Nashville-based Bill Hudson & Associates. For more information about WaterWorks!, call 615-898-2660 or visit http://www.tennesseewaterworks.com/.

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.--What are the qualities of good leadership, and how can local, state and federal governments, as well as private sector concerns, recruit and train better leaders? In five sessions from January through May of this year, Rutherford County employees participated in a leadership academy sponsored by MTSU’s Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness (COHRE). To find out how this unique model saves tax dollars and helps career public servants improve their skills, join host Gina Logue for “MTSU On the Record,” a 30-minute public affairs radio program on WMOT-FM (89.5 or www.wmot.org), this Sunday, July 13, at 7 a.m. Her guests will be Alanna Sullivan, Rutherford County human resources generalist, and Dr. Michael Hein, psychology professor. For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800. To contact COHRE, call 615-217-2084.

ALUM CHUMS--Saturday, July 19 will be MTSU Alumni Day at Nashville Shores. It’s a great opportunity to meet MTSU graduates in the Middle Tennessee area. Nashville Shores is located at 4001 Bell Road. Registration will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be served from 12:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. Nashville Shores opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. The price is $20 per person, which covers admission into the park and lunch. Children under age two will be admitted free of charge. This event is pre-pay only. You must make reservations in advance. Pre-register and pre-pay for this event by calling the Alumni Relations Office at 1-800-533-6878, going online at http://www.mtalumni.com/, or e-mailing alumni@mtsu.edu.