Friday, August 1, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Political peril or panic in print?

An Associated Press report of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s announcement that he would not seek re-election stated that Olmert’s move was “throwing his country into political turmoil.” The Financial Times asserted that it plunged the country “into a fresh state of flux.” Dr. Karen Petersen, political science, doesn’t see the situation in quite those dire terms. “I think most people in Israel anticipated this and certainly many welcome his departure,” Petersen says. “I do think the quote from AP is off-base. Olmert could remain at the helm for some time as the process unfolds. Even if no new government is formed and new elections have to be held, I see this as a function of the electoral arrangement and, if not normal, certainly not alarming.”

Contact Petersen at 615-494-8662.
kpeterse@mtsu.edu

The message mess

If you’re tired of deleting e-mail solicitations for everything from flowers to erectile dysfunction drugs from your inbox, you’re picking up on an interesting trend. A study by Forrester Research indicates that U.S. businesses are expected to have sent 158 billion e-mail messages by the end of this year and 258 billion messages by 2013. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says consumers eventually might demand a National Do Not E-mail Registry similar to the data bank created to reduce the hassles caused by telemarketers. “If e-mail marketers want to avoid strict government regulations, they must become more adept at sending relevant messages,” Roy says. “The goal should be to improve the quality and reduce the quantity of messages. The ability to access customers via their inbox should be viewed as a privilege that should not be abused with too many sales offers.”

Contact Roy at 615-904-8564.
droy@mtsu.edu

A really big shew

The August edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” is packed with fascinating stories and compelling video of MTSU sights and sounds. Watch the Plant and Soil Science Club’s members as they grow and sell farm-fresh produce to raise funds. Check out the art deco-style Jazz Age mural painted by professor Erin Anfinsson at the Heritage Center in downtown Murfreesboro. Return with MTSU alumni to those thrilling days of yesteryear at the inaugural Alumni Summer College. And celebrate the success of the Center for Environmental Education, whose latest video to promote clean water in Tennessee won a Silver Telly Award. “Middle Tennessee Record” airs on NewsChannel5+ at 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. For a complete listing of other cable outlets that run the program, go to http://www.mtsunews.com/.

Contact John Lynch at 615-898-2919.jlynch@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

HOMETOWN HEROES--“Revisiting and Re-visioning the Hometown” is a unique opportunity for MTSU Honors students to learn more about the history, people, traditions, and future of their respective hometowns. The class, which is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays in the Fall 2008 semester, will require students to write journal entries and finished essays. They will make contacts in their communities, forming partnerships with schools, senior centers and other socially important groups or entities. Under the guidance of Dr. Ron Kates, English, each student will synthesize what he or she has learned in other classes to create a suitable and effective approach to the topic. Participants will create and refine the history-making and re-visioning processes as they learn while teaching others. Contact Kates at 615-898-2595 or rkates@mtsu.edu.

“A POLITICIAN IS A STATESMAN WHO APPROACHES EVERY QUESTION WITH AN OPEN MOUTH.”—ADLAI STEVENSON--Has a particular turn of phrase in a politician’s speech caught your ear and made you wonder why he or she chose those particular words? What is the speaker really saying? How do the candidates get their messages across to the voters? To figure all this out in this presidential election year, students can sign up for “Political Communication,” a class to be taught this fall at MTSU by Dr. Russell Church, speech and theatre professor. Participants will take on questions of whether race and gender are still issues, who votes and why, whether candidates are now more important than parties, whether the media now call all the shots, the power of interest groups, and how parties can increase turnout. The class will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:20 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Contact Church at 615-494-7958 or rchurch@mtsu.edu.

TO THE “NTH” DEGREE—A projected 832 degree candidates will graduate during the 96th annual summer commencement ceremony at MTSU. The single-ceremony graduation will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, in Murphy Center with Dr. Kevin E. Smith, professor for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the current MTSU representative of the Tennessee Board of Regents’ Faculty Subcouncil, delivering the commencement address. At 8:30 a.m., Aug. 9, Murphy Center doors will open for the commencement ceremony. Candidates are expected to be in their assigned areas, dressed in their caps and gowns, no later than 9 a.m. Officials report that students who are not in their assigned places at the proper times will not be allowed to participate in the ceremony. Because commencement rehearsals are no longer conducted, timely attendance is mandatory for students to receive important instructions. Contact the Records Office at 615-898-2600 or go to http://www.mtsu.edu/~records/grad.htm.

THE SOUNDS OF SYRIA AND SAUDI ARABIA (AND MORE) --You can be transported to fascinating locales this fall without ever leaving home. Explore the fascinating, diverse “Music of the Middle East” in a new course at MTSU. Dr. David B. Pruett will take you on a “trip” through various Middle Eastern cultural soundscapes, including the relationship between folk, classical and popular musical traditions. Students also will examine music’s role in religious expression in the region. The class will take place from 6-9 p.m. on Mondays in Room 205 of the Saunders Fine Arts Building. Contact Pruett at 615-904-8354 or dpruett@mtsu.edu.

BALI HAI MAY CALL YOU--Dr. Derek Frisby, who is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, will accompany students on an exploration of the Central Pacific World War II battlefields of Guam, Iwo Jima and Pelelieu in the spring 2009 semester. This MTSU study abroad course not only will give students a chance to earn college credit. While in the Pacific region, students will film portions of a documentary honoring MTSU veterans. Additionally, Frisby and his group will honor those Tennesseans who fought in the three engagements under study, including the three known MTSU fatalities. Frisby will talk in detail about this extraordinary opportunity on “MTSU On the Record,” a 30-minute public affairs program hosted by Gina Logue, at 7 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 3, on WMOT-FM (89.5 or wmot.org). Contact Frisby at 615-494-8620 or dfrisby@mtsu.edu. For more information about “MTSU on the Record,” contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

MICKEY MOUSE MEANS BUSINESS!--MTSU and the Jennings A. Jones College of Business are pleased to present Disney Institute’s professional development program, the “Disney Keys to Excellence,” to the greater Nashville community. The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Sheraton Downtown Nashville, 623 Union Street. “Participants will discover Disney success stories and learn about management philosophies and behind-the-scenes operations that have made the Disney Parks and resorts a benchmark for businesses around the world,” says George Aguel, senior vice president for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “MTSU is preparing young men and women to become ethical, entrepreneurial successes in the business world, and the Disney Keys program is clearly in sync with our educational philosophy,” says Dr. Jim Burton, dean of the Jones College of Business. For more information and to register for the program, go to http://www.keysnashville.com/. Contact Burton at 615-898-2764 or eburton@mtsu.edu. For press credentials and interview arrangements, contact Tom Tozer in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919 or ttozer@mtsu.edu.

“POVERTY IS LIKE PUNISHMENT FOR A CRIME YOU DIDN’T COMMIT”—ELI KHAMAROV--MTSU student Steve Sibley will realize the educational experience of a lifetime this fall when he interns for 10 weeks in Bangladesh with the Grameen Bank, the financial institution founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former MTSU professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Sibley is the first recipient of the Kawahito Scholarship for Experiential World Poverty Studies. Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, for whom the scholarship is named, says he created it to give students a chance to live in some of the most debilitating conditions on the planet, examine why these areas are impoverished and witness conscientious efforts to fight the poverty. “You have to jump into the midst of poverty and really observe and feel how poor people live and struggle,” says the professor emeritus of economics and finance and former director of the U.S.-Japan Program. For interviews or photos, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.