Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Change we can wear with pride

The late U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) said, “I am, was, and always will be a catalyst for change.” Her words form the theme for the 2009 National Women’s History Month celebration at MTSU with events scheduled throughout March and into April. Chisholm, an African-American lawyer from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York City, was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1972, she became the first African-American woman ever to run for the presidential nomination of a major party. Her face graces the official MTSU National Women’s History Month button.

For more information, contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193, or go to www.mtsu.edu/jawc.

Future shock

Nobel Prize-winner Niels Bohr is reported to have said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” That said, Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, is cautious about recent predictions that newspapers in print form are on their way to extinction because many predictions have turned out to be silly. Burriss says, “In 1916, for example, Charlie Chaplin said, ‘The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.’ Said science fiction writer H.G. Wells about broadcasting in 1928, ‘I have anticipated its complete disappearance—confident that the unfortunate people, who must now subdue themselves to listening in, will soon find a better pastime for their leisure.’

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

Trading on our reputation?

The overall picture for Tennessee’s trading prospects with other nations is rather mixed. Dr. Steven Livingston, author of Tennessee’s Global Commerce, says, “The big picture is one of solid growth across the large majority of Tennessee’s export industries but continuing problems in the transportation and computer sectors, the state’s largest and third-largest exporting industries. Until they return to health, it is unlikely Tennessee will return to the dynamic export growth of three or four years ago. There is little to suggest that either sector will regain its footing in the near future. Indeed, even flat export numbers may be a significant achievement for many automotive products.”

Contact Livingston at 615-898-2720.
slivings@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

TO TELL “THE TRUTH”—Jeff Johnson, host and producer for Black Entertainment Television’s “The Truth with jeff Johnson,” will speak on “The Quest for Black Citizenship” at 7:30 p.m. tonight, March 3, at Tucker Theater in MTSU’s Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building. This event is free and open to the public. Described by Source magazine as one of hip-hop’s political leaders, Johnson is former Vice President of the Hip-Hop Action Network and former National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division. He is senior Adviser for Media and Youth Outreach for People for the American Way. In addition to his television show, Johnson is a regular commentator on Tom Joyner’s syndicated radio program. For more information, contact Dr. Sekou Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

RAD STREET CRED--A series of six Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes will be offered at no charge every Thursday through Mar. 26 from 6-8 p.m. in the MTSU police training room located at 1412 East Main Street. The class will be open to all female MTSU students, faculty and staff as well as to the general public. For more information or to enroll, call RAD instructor David Smith at 615-692-2424.

MONEY FOR SCHOOL--Applications materials are being accepted through March 15 for the Ruth Houston Memorial Scholarship. The Murfreesboro Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will award a $1,000 scholarship each semester—Fall 2009 and Spring 2010—to the MTSU undergraduate student who best demonstrates academic promise and financial need. To be eligible for consideration, applicants must have successfully completed their freshman year at MTSU. Returning adult students, in particular, are encouraged to apply. The scholarship is renewable each semester as long as full-time status and a 2.5 GPA are maintained. AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research. For complete scholarship criteria, contact Dr. Tanya M. Peres, chair of the Ruth Houston Scholarship Committee, at 615-904-8590 or tperes@mtsu.edu.

YOUNG MCDONALD TOOK A CLASS--MTSU is the first four-year university in the state to be included in the Perkins IV Reserve Fund Grant that allows high school students to take a Career Technical Education class for high school and college credit simultaneously. High school agriculture students taking Greenhouse Management will receive dual credit for the Introduction to Ornamental Horticultural Science course (ABAS 1101). Dr. Cliff Ricketts, professor, and Alanna L. Neely, instructor, will explore how this new dual credit program works in a professional development program for teachers from 3:30-4:30 p.m. CST (4:30-5:30 p.m. EST) on Thursday, March 5. This presentation will be delivered by the Satellite and Webcasting Center. For more information, call 615-898-2737.

STARVE A COLD WAR COUNTRY, FEED A FEVER--The McNair Program, the University Honors College and the International Education Office at MTSU will present Fulbright Scholar Jan Jires at 9:40 a.m. today, March 3, in Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building. Jires, A Ph.D. candidate in political science at the Charles University in Prague, will speak on “The Role of Central Europe in U.S. Foreign Policy after the Cold War.” Jires believes that the clash between the strategic environment that the nations of Central Europe face and their post-Cold War identity largely shapes their security attitudes toward Russia. “As long as the Central Europeans have legitimate reasons to believe that they are treated like third-class passengers by their Western fellow travelers, … they will tend to feel the need to affirm their Westerness by opposing Russia vigorously and pursuing identity-driven policies toward Moscow,” Jires says. Contact the University Honors College at 615-898-2152.