Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Maybe it’s just a former UGA linebacker.

If you believe in the Loch Ness Monster, flying saucers, and Rosemary Woods’ explanation of the 18-and-a-half minute gap in the Watergate tapes, you probably believe in Bigfoot. Well, the media were lured last week to a news conference at which two law enforcement professionals claimed they found the remains of Bigfoot in north Georgia (the U.S. state, not the country under siege). Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “Well, once again, the pictures are too grainy and indistinct to really tell anything. The body in the freezer looks an awful lot like a gorilla suit you can buy at the costume shop downtown. If the two folks really have the body, it seems to me the best thing they could have done would have been to cart it off to the nearest university biology, forensics or medical department and let the experts have a look … while making multiple high-quality videos along every step of the way.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

A new Olympic record

Even though cell phones have become necessities for millions of people, not every cell phone owner uses text messaging. However, Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing might prove to be a tipping point in the popularity of mobile devices for media consumption. “NBC reports that just under 500,000 people per day attempted to access Olympics content via their cell phones on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18,” Roy says. “While that number is very unimpressive compared to the massive television audience the Games draw, the number of people who are using cell phones to access content is noteworthy. NBC says that 50 percent of the people requesting content over a mobile device are first-timers" (including Roy himself).

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

Dixie tricks

A federal judge in Knoxville declared a mistrial last week when a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of a high school student who claimed his First Amendment rights had been violated. Tommy DeFoe filed suit after a school in Anderson County suspended him in 2006 for wearing clothing bearing the Confederate flag. However, the jury split 7-1 in DeFoe’s favor. David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment scholar, says, “One of the most divisive symbols in public life and public schools is the Confederate flag. Its proponents extol it as a symbol of a proud heritage; opponents counter that it represents hate and racial supremacy. Public school officials across the country have found themselves embroiled in legal controversies when they punish students who wear Confederate flag clothing.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1600.
dhudson@fac.org

TR EXTRA

ONE STATE, TWO STATES, RED STATES, BLUE STATES--With 2008 shaping up to be one of the most fascinating presidential election years in recent history, the MTSU University Honors College will present “Politics and the Press: The Relationship Between Government and the Fourth Estate” as its fall lecture series. Topics to be discussed by faculty experts include “Politics, the Presidency and Film;” “Politics, Non-Traditional Media and Young Voters;” “Agenda-Setting Images in National Politics;” and “Between Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama: Race Management, Electoral Populism and Presidential Politics.” The one-hour, pass/fail course will be held from 3 until 3:55 p.m. every Monday except Sept. 1 due to the Labor Day holiday and Oct. 13 due to fall break. Contact the University Honors College at 615-898-2152.

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.

HER SONG--“Women in Music,” a brand new class to be taught at MTSU this fall, will be an exploration of the vast variety of women’s musical activities. Dr. Felicia Miyakawa, who will teach both undergraduates and graduate students, says, “The course will cover not only women composers in the western tradition, but also women performers, women patrons, and women as objects and symbols in the marketing of music.” Students will discuss cultural constructions of gender as they pertain to music, identify important women in musical history and outline their significance, talk about connections between diverse forms of feminism and their manifestations in music and much more. Women to be studied will range from Clara Schumann to Janis Joplin and from Jenny Lind to Tori Amos. Contact Miyakawa at 615-904-8043 or miyakawa@mtsu.edu.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE BRETT FAVRE TO BE A JET.--Three recent graduates of MTSU have been selected to participate in the prestigious Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) administered by the government of Japan. They are Jim Pruitt (Spring 2008, Digital Media), Paul Richards (Spring 2008, International Relations), and Joe Yount (Summer 2007, Finance). Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, former director of the U.S.-Japan Program and professor emeritus in economics and finance, says, “They will work as Assistant Language Teachers or Coordinators for International Relations for up to three years beginning this month. … Jim, Paul and Joe had all studied at MTSU’s exchange partner institutions in Japan for a year as undergraduate students.” Dr. Kaylene Gebert, vice president and provost, says, “We are extremely proud of these graduates. … I cannot believe that their study in Japan was not a key to their success.” Contact Kawahito at 615-898-5751 or kawahito@mtsu.edu.

A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL RUN--MTSU track and field coach Dean Hayes will be inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at the USTFCCA convention in Phoenix, Ariz. Hayes, who has been at MTSU since 1965, has led the Blue Raiders to 29 Ohio Valley Conference titles, 14 Sun Belt championships, and 18 NCAA Top 25 finishes. He has been named OVC Coach of the Year 15 times and Sun Belt Coach of the Year 12 times, including a run of 10 straight titles from 1977 to 1986. His fellow coaches voted him NCAA Outdoor Coach of the Year in 1981. In addition to coaching at the World University Games and other international events, Hayes worked as an assistant at the Summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988 and a referee at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Contact MTSU Athletic Communications at 615-898-2968.

CLAP FOR THE WOLFEMAN--The late Dr. Charles K. Wolfe, professor emeritus of English at MTSU and cultural historian, will be inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame at an Oct. 2 ceremony at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Wolfe, who passed away in 2006, was a respected scholar of both country music and bluegrass and the author of more than a dozen books, including The Music of Bill Monroe, co-authored with Neil Rosenberg and published in 2007. Wolfe also was one of the faculty members who came up with the idea for a Center for Popular Music at MTSU. Paul Wells, director of the center, says of Wolfe’s induction, “It’s a well-deserved honor. Charles really made some great contributions to the history and literature of bluegrass music. … He wrote about what he loved, and he loved what he wrote about.” Contact Wells at 615-898-2449 or pwells@mtsu.edu.

HOSPITALITY FROM THE HEART--Tim and Pam Keach will open their home from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. for the annual Pigskin Pregame on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 1440 Avellino Circle in Murfreesboro. Tickets are $30 per person if purchased by Wednesday, Aug. 20, and $35 afterward and at the door. The price includes food, beverages, entertainment and door prizes. Proceeds benefit the Rutherford County Alumni Chapter Scholarship Fund. Tim Keach (B.S. ’72) and Kent Ayer (B.B.A. ’99) are president and vice president, respectively, of Murfreesboro-based TDK Construction, which constructed and donated 10 open-air boxes in the north end zone of Floyd Stadium that were completed for the start of the 2007 season. Contact Paul Wydra with MTSU Alumni Relations at 615-898-2922 or pwydra@mtsu.edu.