Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Once upon a career

Beginning Monday, Aug. 25, the first day of the fall semester, the writing lab located in Room 325 in MTSU’s Peck Hall will be known as the Margaret H. Ordoubadian Writing Center. Dr. Margaret Ordoubadian, a scholar of children’s literature and the oral traditions surrounding fairy tales and folk tales, was awarded the rank of professor emeritus Aug. 8 during summer commencement. She taught full-time at MTSU for 34 years until her retirement in 2003. Dr. Tom Strawman, chair of the Department of English, says she had adopted a “psychoanalytical approach to the study of children’s literature and folk/fairy tales (that) became so influential with so many students at MTSU … that the department began to hire more professors to teach in this area because Professor Ordoubadian had created such a demand for it in the university as a whole.”

To request an interview with Ordoubadian, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.
lrollins@mtsu.edu

Tea for two or more

The media are invited to an availability this Sunday, Aug. 24, with Greg Mortenson, co-author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace and speaker at this year’s MTSU University Convocation. Reporters will have an opportunity to ask Mortenson questions at 11:30 a.m. in Murphy Center. At 2 p.m., Mortenson will address the convocation and talk about his “Pennies for Peace” campaign and his efforts to create educational opportunities for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His quest began in 1993, when, to honor his late sister’s memory, Mortenson climbed Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain in the Karakoram range. While recovering in a local village, he met a group of children writing with sticks in the sand and made a promise to help them build a school.

Contact Tom Tozer in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5131 or 615-542-0444 by Friday of this week if you plan to meet with Mortenson at the 11:30 a.m. event.
ttozer@mtsu.edu

Welcome to Tennessee

A study by Dr. Murat Arik, associate director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, finds that the number of foreign-born individuals in the state is approximately 233,386 persons, or 3.86 percent of the population, as of 2006. Furthermore, the entrance of foreign-born persons into Tennessee is a relatively recent development compared with other states. The study shows that nearly two-fifths of Tennessee’s foreign-born population came to the Volunteer State between 2000 and 2006. How well-educated are they? Arik writes, “In Tennessee, 14 percent of the native-born and 29 percent of the foreign-born population have less than a high school education. However, at the other end of the spectrum, 31 percent of the native-born and 45 percent of the foreign-born population have at least a bachelor’s degree.”

Contact Arik at 615-898-5424.
marik@mtsu.edu

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.

BUILDING A PROGRAM FROM THE GROUND UP--The unveiling of MTSU’s new Commercial Construction Management concentration in the Department of Engineering Technology will take place when fall semester classes begin Monday, Aug. 25. Dr. Walter Boles, department chair, says, “Current construction management programs in Tennessee are unable to supply enough graduates for the region. The Commercial Construction Management program is designed to prepare graduates for entry-level supervisory and estimating positions with commercial construction firms, material manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.” Boles adds that the goal “is to become a leading program graduating 50 to 100 entry-level managers per year who would stay in Tennessee. However, our focus is on a quality program. The numbers are secondary.” Contact Boles at 615-898-5009 or wwboles@mtsu.edu.

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.