Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Good night, Grandma. Good night, John-Boy.

A couple of economists (one at the University of Michigan and one now at Dartmouth) studied why the proportion of elderly widows who lived with an adult child plummeted to 20 percent by 1990 from nearly 70 percent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They concluded that the big downturn started in 1940 with the first Social Security payments. Dr. Brandon Wallace, sociology, says, “It is true that Social Security and the general prosperity that followed WWII made it easier for the elderly to maintain households separate from their children. However, I would argue the emphasis here is misplaced. In traditional agricultural societies, it was children who lived with their parents in adulthood, not the other way around. Children stayed and worked on their parents’ farms expecting to inherit that farm when the parents died.”

Contact Wallace at 615-898-5976.
jbwallae@mtsu.edu

The silver lining

There were two bright spots in the Tennessee export picture in the previous economic quarter. Dr. Steven Livingston, editor of Global Commerce, writes, “The medical industry continued to forge gains, picking up an additional $59 million in exports for the quarter. However, this occurred in October and November; it, too, suffered losses in December. The agricultural sector grew by 48 percent to $230 million as the state sold significant amounts of soybeans overseas (along with the usual cotton) for the first time in years.” Also, Mexico came through as a trading partner. Livingston says Tennessee exports to Mexico grew from $611 million to $659 million. Mexico is Tennessee’s second largest market for exports.

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

The cost of doing business

Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, finds wisdom in a warning from Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics. Tapscott believes that some colleges could become as vulnerable as newspapers are now if they fail to integrate technology and innovative teaching methods. “As someone who teaches at a large public university, Tapscott’s prediction is both unsettling and energizing,” says Roy. “The parallel between what has happened to newspapers and trends impacting higher education has a great deal of validity. Businesses in any industry should take note of what has happened to financial services (quest for profits hurt financial positions), auto manufacturers (inability to make quick changes to customers’ needs), and airlines (unwieldy cost structures) and learn from their mistakes.”

Contact Roy at 615-904-8564.
droy@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

PEDAL PUSHERS--Saturday, April 11, is the deadline for registering online for the 3rd annual Tour de Boro, a Century Cycling Event sponsored by the MTSU Department of Recreation and Leisure Services. The event 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. Participants may register online at www.mtsu.edu/~tdb for $25 through April 11; 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.

THE TOUGHEST JOB YOU’LL EVER LOVE—MTSU this year entered the Peace Corps’ Top 10 list of Tennessee colleges and universities producing Peace Corps volunteers. Since the organization’s inception in 1961, MTSU has produced 66 volunteers. Nine alumni currently serve in the Peace Corps, working in Samoa, the Kyrgyz Republic, Ukraine, Gambia and St. Lucia. Representatives from the Peace Corps will be on the MTSU campus today, April 8. Today at 5 p.m., recruiter Toby Rowell, who served recently in Zambia, will present an information session in Room 313 of the Keathley University Center. This session will include the Peace Corps application process, what it’s like to live and work overseas, and the long-term career advantages of services. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about the Peace Corps, contact David Leavitt in the organization’s Atlanta office at 404-562-3472.

“A GOOD DECISION IS BASED ON KNOWLEDGE AND NOT ON NUMBERS.”—PLATO—Dr. John Lachs, professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University, will present “Education in a Time of Crisis” at 4 p.m. today, April 8, in Dining Room C of MTSU’s James Union Building. This timely lecture will address issues such as what it means to become an educated person, the function of the University, and the role philosophy and the humanities play in the institution. This event is free and open to the public as part of the MTSU Department of Philosophy’s annual Applied Philosophy Lyceum. The purpose of the Lyceum is to provoke philosophical reflection by bringing distinguished scholars to the MTSU campus to address crucial contemporary issues. A discussion period and an informal reception will follow. For more information, contact the MTSU Department of Philosophy at 615-898-2907.

T.J. STANDS FOR “TOUGH JOB”--Terrell “T.J.” Johnson, president and chief executive officer of the Wake Up Youth Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at MTSU’s 18th annual Intercultural and Diversity Affairs Awards Banquet at 6 p.m. tonight, April 8, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Johnson, a former gang member and drug dealer, is the first former felon to be hired by the Memphis Police Department. After being appointed by Mayor Willie Herenton as Prevention and Intervention Coordinator for the city’s Juvenile Justice Abatement Project, Johnson launched an anti-violence initiative in the city school system. Tickets are $11 for students and $20 for adults. For more information, contact Valerie Avent at 615-898-2718 or vavent@mtsu.edu.

A LAFFER MATTER--Arthur Laffer, supply-side economist who served on President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board and is best known for the “Laffer Curve,” will be guest speaker at this year’s MTSU Executives-in-Residence program, today, April 8. Laffer will speak from 10:20 to 11:15 a.m. in Tucker Theater on “A Supply-Side View of the First 75 Days of the Obama Administration.” This executive briefing will be open to classes and to the public. There is no charge, but interested parties should reserve seating by calling 615-898-2764. The “Laffer Curve” theory asserts that in certain situations a decrease in tax rates can result in an increase in tax revenues. For more information, contact Tom Tozer in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919 or ttozer@mtsu.edu.

TO THE SUN--The work of Boston photographer Stella Johnson is on display through April 16 at the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in MTSU’s Learning Resources Center. The exhibit, titled “Al Sol,” is comprised of 30 black-and-white prints, each 24” by 36”. Johnson teaches at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University and at Boston University. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico in 2003-2004 and a Fulbright Senior Specialist to Mexico in 2006 for photographing and teaching, respectively. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 6:00-9:45 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085 at tjimison@mtsu.edu.

THE ART OF THE DANCE--For the first time ever, the Black College Dance Exchange will be held at a university that is not an historically black college when the annual festival gets underway tomorrow through Sunday, April 9-12, at MTSU. This year’s “Crossroads: Dancing with Legends” event will feature master classes for students, as well as a number of dance performances that will be open to the community. In addition, the prestigious Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey II, a dance company universally renowned for merging the spirit and energy of the country’s best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding emerging choreographers. For more information, contact Angela Armstrong at 615-898-5847 or aarmstro@mtsu.edu. Tickets are available for purchase now. Contact Tucker Theatre at 615-494-8810.