Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The heart of the matter

After a brief history of Valentine’s Day and its traditions of hearts and flowers, students will learn how a heart works and how to find their own heart rates in “Hearts and Flowers,” an enrichment program for students from 9-10 a.m. CST today, Feb. 3. The program for students in grades 3-6 will be offered through MTSU’s Satellite and Webcasting Center. Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters of MTSU’s Department of Biology and Center for Environmental Education, will help students distinguish monocots and dicots and name the parts of a flower with a “make-it, take-it” item they assemble themselves. This presentation is prerecorded—no call-in questions, please.

Call 615-898-2737 for more information.

A felon by any other name

Guy Israel Greene, a convicted felon in Minnesota, changed his name to Ozhaawaskoo Giishig, which he calls a “spirit name” from the Ojibwa Tribe, in 1992. Now he wants to change it back. The problem is that he has been convicted of several crimes under the last name of Giishig. The county asserts that another name change would obstruct easy access to criminal records, which must be available for public safety reasons. David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says, the appellate court considering the case expressed concern about the lower court’s failure to apply four factors established in a 1992 state supreme court decision: “1) whether the claimant’s beliefs are sincerely held; 2) whether regulation burdens religious liberty rights; 3) whether the government has a compelling government interest in the regulation; and 4) whether the regulation is the least restrictive way of furthering the government’s compelling interest.”

Contact Hudson at 615-757-1600.
dhudson@fac.org

Stimulus package

Students will have a chance to network with corporate, governmental and nonprofit employers recruiting summer and fall interns at an internships fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in the Tennessee Room of MTSU’s James Union Building. Then, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, MTSU will partner with 15 area universities to host the College to Career Fair and Teacher Recruitment Fair. More than 120 employers will be recruiting for various full-time, degreed positions. A free ticket is required and a limited number are available at the Career Development Center in Room 328 of the Keathley University Center.

Contact the Career Development Center at 615-898-2500.
career@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

SEEING RED--Support the fight against heart disease in women by wearing red on National Wear Red Day, Friday, Feb. 6. The June Anderson Women’s Center will distribute red ribbons and educational information in the lobby of the Keathley University Center from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information, call the Women’s Center at 615-898-2913.

…AND I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM MY DESK!--Andranik Migranyan, one of Russia’s foremost foreign policy experts, will speak at 3 p.m. today, Feb. 3, in Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building at MTSU. This event is free and open to the public. The director of the New York branch of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, Migranyan also is a professor of political science at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He has been an acting member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation since 2005. A frequent commentator on television and radio, Migranyan has published several books and hundreds of articles in leading Russian and international publications. For more information, contact Dr. Andrei Korobkov at 615-898-2945 or korobkov@mtsu.edu.

MELTING POT, MOSAIC, OR MELANGE?--Eugene Robinson, associate editor and columnist for the Washington Post and MSNBC political analyst, will speak at 10:20 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 4, in MTSU’s Keathley University Center Theater. This event, which is co-sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and the MTSU Black History Committee, is free and open to the public. Robinson, whose twice-weekly Post column is syndicated in 145 newspapers across the country, will speak on “We’re Someplace We’ve Never Been: Race, Diversity and the New America.” The address will focus on Robinson’s upbringing in segregated South Carolina with reviews of the educational and economic progress made by African-Americans, the increase in interracial marriage, the rise of Latinos as the largest minority group in the U.S., the polarization of Americans according to class, and the scientific consensus that race is meaningless except as a social construct. For more information, contact Dr. Sekou Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

WE CAN BE HEROES FOR MORE THAN ONE DAY.--An annual hallmark of Black History Month at MTSU since 1996, the 2009 Unity Luncheon honoring “unsung heroes” in the community will be held at 11 a.m. today, Feb. 3, in the Tennessee Room of MTSU’s James Union Building. This year’s honorees are Annie M. Cox, James E. McAdams Sr., Rev. James Thomas, Carl Wade, William Washington and Katie F. Wilson. Tickets for the Unity Luncheon are $20 for adults and $8 for students. No tickets will be sold at the door. For more information, contact Valerie Avent at 615-898-2718 or vavent@mtsu.edu.

VIENTIANE VERSES--Lao-American author and poet Bryan Thao Worra will conduct an hour-long poetry reading at 7 p.m. today, Feb. 3, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This event is free and open to the public. Worra is the first Laotian-American to receive a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in literature and poetry. His first full-length book of poetry, On the Other Side of the Eye, was released in 2007. His writing covers topics from the ancient kingdom of Lane Xang to the CIA’s secret wartime activities in Laos during the Vietnam War era to the cosmic, science fiction and popular culture. Worra’s latest book, Barrow, will be released in April. Contact Connie Huddleston at 615-494-7628 or chuddles@mtsu.edu.

HIGHER ED HEAVYWEIGHTS--Best-selling health and lifestyle author Anne M. Fletcher will speak at MTSU’s McCallie Dining Hall at 5 p.m. today, Feb. 3. Fletcher will discuss her new book, Weight Loss Confidential, which is written from the perspective of young people who succeeded at losing weight and keeping it off. It is based on firsthand accounts from students and their parents about what works and what doesn’t work for weight management. “Weight is an issue that concerns college students, and recent reports indicate that many young people are overweight,” Fletcher says. “Overweight or not, they often try to control their weight in unhealthy ways.” Fletcher is a registered dietitian and has counseled hundreds of clients with weight control issues. This event is free and open to the public. Contact James Perry at 615-904-8486 or perry-james@aramark.com.

DECA DAY--The Department of Business Communication and Entrepreneurship (BCEN) will host a competition for high school students who belong to DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in Murphy Center. BCEN faculty will serve as judges. For more information, contact Wayne Rollins at 615-898-5185 or wrollins@mtsu.edu.