Thursday, April 23, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

That’s enough about me. Now what do you think about me?

Online networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have been criticized as indicators of a growing narcissism in society. While cautioning that a controlled study would be needed to answer the question credibly, Dr. Tom Brinthaupt, psychology, says, “I think we always use existing technologies to meet our personal and social needs (consider the telephone, when it first became more popular). So people who are narcissistic will find ways to confirm their self-beliefs by using whatever tools are available. Whether the use of these things will make a non-narcissistic person more narcissistic is an open question.”

Contact Brinthaupt at 615-898-2317.
tbrintha@mtsu.edu

The pursuit of happiness

“People are shouting too many philosophies of health and happiness at us,” notes a commentator on the recent explosion of interest in a topic of vital interest to us all—our own perceived well-being. But long before the shouting began, philosophers like Aristotle, Epicurus, Montaigne, Spinoza, Mill, Hume and James were carefully considering the question of how to get happy and stay that way. Dr. James Oliver will lead students through an examination of this subject in “The Philosophy of Happiness,” a class slated for Tuesdays and Thursdays this fall at MTSU. “In this course, we’ll survey older philosophical ideas about happiness, the new approach in psychology, and some of the best fictional literature,” says Oliver. ”Our approach will be calm, reasonable and interdisciplinary, with no gratuitous shouting.”

Contact Oliver at 615-898-2050.
poliver@mtsu.edu

“If it’s peace you find in dying, well, then let the time be near.”—Laura Nyro (1947-1997)

“Listening to the Dying: Spiritual Growth at the End of Life” is the theme of the next Science and Spirituality Forum, a brown bag luncheon and discussion slated for 11:30 a.m. today, April 24, in the fourth floor conference room of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library (Room 475). This event is free and open to the public. Three officials from Guardian Hospice in Murfreesboro—Chaplain and Spiritual Director Scott Owings, Director of Clinical Services Rhonda Price, and Bereavement Coordinator Shawn Wright—are scheduled to participate. The purpose of Science and Spirituality Forums, which began in spring 2008, are to help us appreciate how both areas of thought can enrich the human experience without regarding them as mutually exclusive of one another.

Contact Bill Black at 615-898-2772.
wblack@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

BIOBUCKS--Media are invited to the announcement of a $2.7 million grant to fund the National Science Foundation TRIAD GK-12 partnership to improve biology education at 10 a.m. today, April 23, in Cantrell Hall in MTSU’s Tom H. Jackson Building. GK-12 is an NSF program that places graduate students in K-12 classrooms. Tennessee State University and MTSU grad students will work with students from Rutherford County schools and Metro Nashville public schools. Nonuniversity partners include Franklin-based BioTN, the Business Education Partnership Committee of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce and Pope John Paul II High School. For more information, contact Randy Weiler at 615-898-2919 or jweiler@mtsu.edu.

DIDN’T OLE HANK SING ABOUT A LOST HIGHWAY?--Megan Akerstrom, an MTSU master’s candidate in public history, will present the final springtime Community Heritage Lecture sponsored by the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area at 7 p.m. tonight, April 23, at the Heritage Center, 225 West College St. Akerstrom will talk about the history of the Dixie Highway system, its impact on Rutherford County and the highway remnants that still can be seen today. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the center at 615-217-8013 or send an e-mail to jbutt@mtsu.edu.

PEDAL PUSHERS--The 3rd annual Tour de Boro, a Century Cycling Event sponsored by the MTSU Department of Recreation and Leisure Services, is slated for Saturday, April 25. There are three routes—16.5 miles, 31 miles, and 57.5 miles. All routes are along scenic, low traffic back roads winding through southern Rutherford County. Onsite registration on the day of the event is $35 beginning at 6 a.m. For more information, contact Crystal Barnett at 615-491-4398.

GET A CLUE!--MTSU is expanding its popular CSI: MTSU four-day program for students entering the 10th, 11th and 12th grades in Rutherford and surrounding counties. This year’s event is slated for June 16-19. The goals of CSI: MTSU are: to allow students to explore many unique career possibilities in forensic science; to provide a “real life” reasons to tackle higher level math and science courses; and to develop skills in teamwork, seeing and understanding details, critical thinking and presentation skills. The student investigators will be presented with a re-creation of an actual crime scene. Each student is trained in the fundamental processes of collecting evidence, including DNA, fingerprints, hair and fibers, simulated blood spatter, and shoe prints. For more information or to register, call 615-898-2462 or send an e-mail to eshockle@mtsu.edu