Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Biden--his time

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware is slated to address the Democratic National Convention in Denver tonight. Dr. Robb McDaniel, political science, says Biden’s mission is to accomplish something his running mate, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, has yet to accomplish—to draw blood. “Now that Obama’s lead has narrowed, he needs to remind voters that the race is not just about him, but is a referendum on the Bush-McCain agenda,” McDaniel says. “But he must also avoid playing into McCain’s attack strategy by smearing a sympathetic veteran. The best way to avoid the dilemma is to have McCain’s old friend, Joe Biden, turn the knife while wearing a big, warm grin. This is the traditional VP role, and Biden seems well suited to play it.”

Contact McDaniel at 615-904-8245.
rmcdanie@mtsu.edu

A house is not a home.

Permits for single-family home construction actually went up a bit in the second economic quarter in Tennessee. That’s the first increase since the fourth quarter of 2006. But, as Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, writes in the quarterly “Tennessee Housing Report,” “While favorable, a small one-quarter gain does not necessarily signal the beginning of a housing recovery. One or two additional quarters of improvement are desirable to make the case. … Multifamily permits declined during the quarter … causing total permits to drop also. After a brief first-quarter reprieve, housing sales continue their march downward with no bottom yet in sight.”

Contact Penn at 615-898-2610.
dpenn@mtsu.edu

Working out your workout

The $20 million renovation of MTSU’s Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center provides more space for exercising. Jenny Crouch, marketing and accessibilities coordinator, says, “We now have two fitness/aerobic rooms, so our aerobics class offerings for fall have easily doubled. There’s more space all around so we can offer more services and be an even more fun place to hang out. The center serves an average of 2,200 visitors per day and now houses six basketball or volleyball courts, six racquetball courts, a three-lane indoor track, an expanded free-weight room, a cardio room with selectorized machines, an indoor swimming pool with water slide and diving board, equipment check-out, locker rooms, a family changing room, a rock-climbing wall, a four-foot-deep outdoor swimming pool and sundeck with sand volleyball courts, a challenge course that also includes an alpine climbing tower and intramural fields.

Contact the center at 615-898-2104.

TR EXTRA

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.

FOR THE HEALTH OF IT--The staff of MTSU’s Health Services will welcome the community to its sparkling new facilities in the Campus Recreation Center with a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting and grand opening slated for today, Aug. 27. “We’re bringing in a stage,” says Richard Chapman, Health Services Director. “We’re going to make it a real carnival/festival-type activity.” For the first time ever on campus, X-ray services will be available as well as travel medicine to support study abroad students. Another first and perhaps the main attraction will be the drive-thru pharmacy, which is slated to open around Oct. 1. Customers will drive in the recreation center’s main entrance, turn to the right and curve around the building, where they will encounter an ATM-type kiosk with a pneumatic tube system. For more information, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.

A RAD-ICAL IDEA--A series of six Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes will be offered at no charge from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. every Thursday beginning Sept. 4 through Oct. 9 in the MTSU Public Safety training room, 1412 East Main Street in Murfreesboro. The class will be open to all female MTSU students, faculty and staff, as well as to the general public. A workbook/training manual will be provided to each student. RAD is a comprehensive course for women that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance and progresses to the basics of hands-on defense training. RAD is the largest women’s self-defense system in the United States. Enrollment is limited. Contact Officer David Smith at 615-898-2424.

“I’LL BE THE ROUNDABOUT/THE WORDS WILL MAKE YOU OUT AND OUT”—JON ANDERSON AND STEVE HOWE--A new traffic roundabout at the intersection of MTSU Boulevard and Blue Raider Drive allows motorists from each direction to loop around to continue on their desired route after yielding to any vehicles already in the loop. The change is part of the four-phase $80 million traffic master-plan construction project designed to improve traffic flow, safety and access around campus. MTSU’s roundabout is the first of its kind at a Tennessee public university, and it is accentuated by pieces of limestone columns that originated at the old Tennessee State Capitol. Contact Ron Malone, assistant vice president for events and transportation services, at 615-898-5002 or rrmalone@mtsu.edu.

TARNISHED MEDALS?--The United States track and field team collected 23 medals, including seven golds, at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. However, the high-profile failures, including the dropping of the batons by the men’s and women’s 4-by-100 meter relay squads, prompted television commentators to call the track and field team’s performance a “failure of leadership.” Dr. Andrew Owusu, assistant professor of health and human performance and a three-time Olympic athlete, says, while it’s not unusual to hear that, “There’s only so much the coaches or the technical stuff can do because once the athletes get out there, everything rests on how they perform. … At some point, the athletes have to bear some responsibility for their performance, but I am sure there will be some changes at the top.” Owusu will discuss the Olympics at 7 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 31, on “MTSU on the Record” hosted by Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.