Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Affirmative counteraction

The ruling in Ricci v. Destefano released yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court is characteristic of the Roberts Court, says Dr. John Vile, Dean of the University Honors College and Constitutional law expert. “The 5-4 decision, authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, rested on an interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 rather than directly on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,” says Vile. “Kennedy argued that governments needed a ‘strong basis in evidence’ when they use racial classifications, even when such classifications are designed to aid minorities. The majority paid particular attention to the fact that many of those who had taken the test had studied for months; the lead defendant, Ricci, was dyslexic and had to take special measures to prepare for it.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

Spanning the globe

In competition with students from universities all across the United States, two more MTSU international relations majors have landed prestigious scholarships that will enable them to nourish their own aspirations while improving others’ futures in far-flung regions of the globe. Murfreesboro native Aaron Shew will celebrate his 22nd birthday in India in July. Shew landed a Critical Language Scholarship to study the Urdu language there this summer. The CLS is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Tullahoma’s Patrick Pratt captured a Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program to study international relations and Swahili at United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya. “We have students here who are as good as students at any Ivy League university in the United States, hands down,” says Dr. Karen Petersen, political science, who mentored both young men.

For more information, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081.
gklogue@mtsu.edu

A break in the action

In the week ending June 13, seasonally adjusted weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 12,454, a decline from 14,041 in the previous week and more in line with previous months. The decrease is attributed to fewer layoffs in manufacturing and trade. Since the first week of January, initial claims have averaged 13,651 per week. Continued claims for unemployment insurance (insured unemployment) increased to 114,696 from 114,492 in the previous week. Insured unemployment has averaged 109,589 since January 1.

Contact the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

TR EXTRA

CLEAN AND GREEN--How can Middle Tennessee gain nearly 15,000 new jobs? A report from the University of Massachusetts asserts that a $150 billion national investment in a green economy could not only boost the employment picture. It could provide pathways out of poverty for many low-income workers. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, is a volunteer for a Nashville-based task force on green jobs. He says mass transit is an important part of the equation. “We need a broader public transportation system that links Nashville to Murfreesboro to Cookeville so that low-income workers can get to work and also to reduce fossil fuels, to reduce people using cars, spending money on gas (and) oil that are released into the environment.” Hear Franklin’s other comments and read the radio-ready stories that accompany them in the latest edition of MTSU Audio Clips at www.mtsunews.com. Click on “Audio Clips” on the right side of the page. Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

ATTENTION: TODAY’S RESPONSE WILL TAKE THE DAY OFF ON FRIDAY, JUNE 26 AND MONDAY, JUNE 29. TODAY’S RESPONSE WILL RESUME ON TUESDAY, JUNE 30.

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Getting blogged down

A federal appeals court panel has sided with a Washington state school district that transferred a curriculum specialist to a teaching position after reading her blog. Tara L. Richerson wrote about a union official, “What I wouldn’t give to draw a little Hitler mustache on the chief negotiator.” Richerson claimed her First Amendment rights had been violated, but the court found that her speech did not touch on matters of public concern or importance. David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says, “The district court also ruled that even if Richerson’s speech did touch on a matter of public concern, it was not protected under the Pickering-Connick balancing test, which asks whether an employee’s free-speech rights are outweighed by an employer’s right to an efficient, disruptive-free workplace.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1342.
dhudson@fac.org

“Angels are never too distant to hear you.”—author unknown

Members of the “Between the Lines: Reading about the Civil War” book group will conclude its summer reading sessions with a discussion of “Gettysburg in American History and Memory” at 7 o’clock tonight, June 25, at the Heritage Center, 225 West College St., in Murfreesboro. The session is free and open to the public. This summer, the group has been discussing Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The novel is set in the Battle of Gettysburg and is told through the eyes of both Confederate and Union military characters. The book discussion group is sponsored by the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, Linebaugh Public Library and the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.

For more information, contact Antoinette van Zelm at 615-217-8013.
avanzelm@mtsu.edu

Hankering for Ankara?

Umut Ermec is an MTSU student interested in sharing his knowledge of his native Turkey with youngsters in Tennessee. “I take it as a mission because I love my country, and I want to explain it to young students,” says Ermec. A 29-year-old pursuing his master’s degree in recording industry, Ermec plays the darbuka, a goblet drum which is struck while positioned under the musician’s arm or between the knees and a potential prop for school demonstrations. Turkey, a uniquely positioned country that unites Europe and the Middle East both literally and culturally, is a parliamentary democracy that is strategically important to the United States. Ermec and other MTSU students bring faraway lands to life through Culture to Culture, a feature of MTSU’s Office of International Programs and Services (IPS).

For more information, contact the IPS office at 615-898-2238.

TR EXTRA

A WELL-PLACED SOURCE--Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism professor and First Amendment expert, will dissect a variety of topics related to the news media on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, June 28, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Burriss and Logue will discuss coverage of the worldwide swine flu outbreak, reporting during spates of severe weather, and the transition from analog to digital television. A former lieutenant colonel and public affairs officer with the U.S. Air Force, Burriss holds five degrees, including a doctorate in communication from Ohio University and a law degree from Concord Law School. To hear last week’s program on the fall class titled “The Philosophy of Happiness,” go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2009.html and click on “June 21, 2009. For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

CLEAN AND GREEN--How can Middle Tennessee gain nearly 15,000 new jobs? A report from the University of Massachusetts asserts that a $150 billion national investment in a green economy could not only boost the employment picture. It could provide pathways out of poverty for many low-income workers. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, is a volunteer for a Nashville-based task force on green jobs. He says mass transit is an important part of the equation. “We need a broader public transportation system that links Nashville to Murfreesboro to Cookeville so that low-income workers can get to work and also to reduce fossil fuels, to reduce people using cars, spending money on gas (and) oil that are released into the environment.” Hear Franklin’s other comments and read the radio-ready stories that accompany them in the latest edition of MTSU Audio Clips at www.mtsunews.com. Click on “Audio Clips” on the right side of the page. Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Roger’s rings around Saturn

Roger Penske is one of the most respected names in auto racing, but can he keep the Saturn brand from running out of gas? Penske’s purchase of the GM auto brand could be its salvation or its swan song. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “The Penske plan essentially transforms the marketing function for an automobile company and becomes more like the apparel industry. Saturn becomes a marketing organization, involved with the design, distribution and promotion of its brands. Manufacturing will be handled by sources outside the company. … Saturn will have to lean on its already established reputation initially. Once cars are produced by external sources, the marketplace will decide if their quality is consistent with Saturn’s reputation.”

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

Darwin and the deity

Have you ever heard of a “theistic evolutionist?” Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, says that how his father referred to himself. Oliver says of his dad’s beliefs, “He said he got the idea from a Baptist minister who probably didn’t cotton to it himself, but Dad ran with it as an acceptable reconciliation of the handed-down faith of his fathers and the medical science he learned in vet school. His sense of loyalty to forebears and gratitude specifically to his good-hearted pious Midwestern mother took atheism and agnosticism off the table for him, though he was still a free-thinker by the standards of that time and place. I remember him plucking Ken Miller’s book Finding Darwin’s God from my shelf once and musing that he didn’t understand why there was any controversy at all on this topic among the devout: of course religion and science are compatible; of course a God should be expected to work His will through the laws and processes of a rationally ordered nature.”

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

A well-placed source

Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism professor and First Amendment expert, will dissect a variety of topics related to the news media on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, June 28, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Burriss and Logue will discuss coverage of the worldwide swine flu outbreak, reporting during spates of severe weather, and the transition from analog to digital television. A former lieutenant colonel and public affairs officer with the U.S. Air Force, Burriss holds five degrees, including a doctorate in communication from Ohio University and a law degree from Concord Law School. To hear last week’s program on the fall class titled “The Philosophy of Happiness,” go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2009.html and click on “June 21, 2009.

For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

TR EXTRA

CLEAN AND GREEN--How can Middle Tennessee gain nearly 15,000 new jobs? A report from the University of Massachusetts asserts that a $150 billion national investment in a green economy could not only boost the employment picture. It could provide pathways out of poverty for many low-income workers. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, is a volunteer for a Nashville-based task force on green jobs. He says mass transit is an important part of the equation. “We need a broader public transportation system that links Nashville to Murfreesboro to Cookeville so that low-income workers can get to work and also to reduce fossil fuels, to reduce people using cars, spending money on gas (and) oil that are released into the environment.” Hear Franklin’s other comments and read the radio-ready stories that accompany them in the latest edition of MTSU Audio Clips at www.mtsunews.com. Click on “Audio Clips” on the right side of the page. Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Carbon copy

Carbon sequestration is one of the chemical technologies being developed to control the emission of greenhouse gases. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, “In a typical process, hot CO2 emissions react with calcium oxide … to form rock stable limestone. Limestone has the chemical formula you would expect, CaCO3. But you can think of it as carbonated lime just as carbonated water results from the reaction of CO2 and water, or H2O.” MacDougall says the resulting compound, carbonic acid, “tickles your nose when you drink solutions of it. That’s because unlike limestone, carbonic acid is only stable under high pressure, such as in a can of Coca-Cola before you open it. When you open the can, the pressure drops and the carbon sequestration reaction is undone, releasing thousands of tiny carbon dioxide bubbles up your nose.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

Malice aforethought

Although the investigation is still in its infancy, the white supremacist suspect in the slaying of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum on June 10 apparently acted alone. But should James von Brunn’s prior federal criminal record have prompted law enforcement to keep closer tabs on him? Carter F. Smith, criminal justice administration, says, “The problem that government investigators have with monitoring individuals and groups that espouse such radical ideologies is that there usually has to be a crime committed or being planned. In most cases, the government agents have neither the authority nor the time to follow up on suspicions that someone may be planning to commit a crime—even a heinous one.”

Contact Smith at 615-424-8375.
carterfsmith@gmail.com

Who’s your daddy?

Did you know that in some parts of the world there are female husbands and male wives? Dr. Marilyn Wells, professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology, says female husbands are found mostly in central southern Africa. She says they found in families of wealthy patrilineage that have no sons to inherit the wealth. In those situations, the daughter enters the status of a male member of that lineage, and she will control the wealth even though she might also be the wife of another man with children by that man. “You sit down and try to dream up the wildest, most ridiculous combinations of how marriages could be, and I guarantee you, somebody out there has tried it,” says Wells.

Contact Wells at 615-895-4385.

TR EXTRA

CLEAN AND GREEN--How can Middle Tennessee gain nearly 15,000 new jobs? A report from the University of Massachusetts asserts that a $150 billion national investment in a green economy could not only boost the employment picture. It could provide pathways out of poverty for many low-income workers. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, is a volunteer for a Nashville-based task force on green jobs. He says mass transit is an important part of the equation. “We need a broader public transportation system that links Nashville to Murfreesboro to Cookeville so that low-income workers can get to work and also to reduce fossil fuels, to reduce people using cars, spending money on gas (and) oil that are released into the environment.” Hear Franklin’s other comments and read the radio-ready stories that accompany them in the latest edition of MTSU Audio Clips at http://www.mtsunews.com/. Click on “Audio Clips” on the right side of the page. Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at http://www.southernfolklore.com/. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at http://www.mtsunews.com/. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Earning and learning

Dr. Murat Arik, associate director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, conducted a study of the educational attainment of the workforce in a 14-county area in Middle Tennessee. In the latest edition of Tennessee’s Business, Arik writes, “Although the 14-county region showed some improvement between 2000 and 2006 in the bachelor’s degree and higher educational categories, it is still significantly behind the U.S. average and Tennessee. For example, the number of those over age 25 with a bachelor’s degree or higher increased 2.75 percent in that period. However, the region lagged behind the U.S. 13.6 percent in 2006 for the same educational attainment level.”

Contact Arik at 615-898-5424.
marik@mtsu.edu

The line grows longer.

In the week ending June 6, seasonally adjusted weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance in Tennessee was 14,041, a sizable increase from 12,531 in the previous week. The increase is attributed to layoffs in manufacturing. Since the first week of January, initial claims have averaged 13,703 per week. Continued claims for unemployment insurance (insured unemployment) also rose from 113,482 in the previous week to 115,643. Insured unemployment has averaged 109,321 since January 1.

Contact the Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2601.

Clean and green

How can Middle Tennessee gain nearly 15,000 new jobs? A report from the University of Massachusetts asserts that a $150 billion national investment in a green economy could not only boost the employment picture. It could provide pathways out of poverty for many low-income workers. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, is a volunteer for a Nashville-based task force on green jobs. He says mass transit is an important part of the equation. “We need a broader public transportation system that links Nashville to Murfreesboro to Cookeville so that low-income workers can get to work and also to reduce fossil fuels, to reduce people using cars, spending money on gas (and) oil that are released into the environment.” Hear Franklin’s other comments and read the radio-ready stories that accompany them in the latest edition of MTSU Audio Clips at www.mtsunews.com. Click on “Audio Clips” on the right side of the page.

Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232.
franklin@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Happiness is a warm puppy—without the fleas and vet bills.

Everyone seeks the elusive quality of happiness, yet different people define it in different ways. What is the key? Money? Success? Beauty? Sex? Fame? Solitude? Family? Freedom? Great minds through the ages have pondered this matter and arrived at widely varying conclusions. Dr. Phil Oliver, professor of philosophy, will teach a class titled “The Philosophy of Happiness” at MTSU beginning this fall. He’ll talk about it on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, June 21, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). To hear last week’s program on the future of the national Republican Party, go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2009.html and click on “June 14, 2009.”

For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

“If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”—Eubie Blake

An independent World Health Organization commission takes note of enormous differences in life expectancy worldwide. A woman in Botswana can expect to live to be 43; in Japan, 86. Is life expectancy all about the difference between living in industrialized nations and developing countries? Dr. Brandon Wallace, sociology, says, “Most of the world has seen dramatic increases in life expectancy over the last century. However, parts of Africa have not seen such advances in large part due to HIV and AIDS as well as other diseases. Further, recurring droughts and resulting famine have plagued parts of Africa. The spread of AIDS in this part of the world can be blamed on an inadequate health care system, lack of education and knowledge, and limited financial resources.”

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

Candor about cancer

Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in Tennessee, which is one reason why the Center for Health and Human Services at MTSU has been working with the Tennessee Department of Health for the past five years to compile and distribute the state’s first control plan through the Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition. “The (CDC) tells us that colorectal cancer screening saves lives,” says Dr. Martha Jo Edwards, CHHS director and holder of the interdisciplinary Adams Chair of Excellence in Health Care Services at MTSU. “If everyone 50 years and older were screened regularly, as many as 60 percent of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.”

Contact Edwards at 615-898-2905.
mjedward@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

A FRESH FEAST--Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe. Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Out of the mouths of minors

Are students’ First Amendment rights really taken seriously in the courts? David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says, “Students possess First Amendment rights in the public school setting. However, there is much disagreement and a muddled legal morass as to just how much free-expression rights they possess. School officials obviously must ensure a safe learning environment and an environment that is conducive to education. Students must learn about the enduring values of a constitutional democracy, including the fundamental freedom of expression. If students do not learn and appreciate First Amendment values, there is a danger that these future leaders of the country will not protect those fragile freedoms in schools and elsewhere in society.”

Contact Hudson at 615-741-1600.
dhudson@fac.org

The Chinese finger puzzle

With a worldwide recession plaguing the markets, can the United States afford to continue to be in debt to China? Dr. Steven Livingston, senior associate of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, writes, “The dilemma is that, in the short run, there is no way out. The eventual solution is to bring federal spending under control, place American entitlement programs on a sound footing, and return Americans to their earlier savings habits. Unfortunately, if we did this right now, our weakened economy might collapse altogether. Ending spending when the economy is in the midst of a rapid decline is madness. Hence, the stimulus plan, among other policies. Yes, this will pack more debt on top of the mountain we already have. And yes, China will be buying a lot of it. But what’s the alternative?”

Livingston’s article first appeared in The Tennessean. Read it in its entirety in Tennessee’s Business at http://frank.mtsu.edu/~berc/tnbiz/stimulus/livingston.html.

A fresh feast

Locally grown produce is available in bounty at the MTSU Farmers’ Market each Friday this summer from 1-5 p.m. in the Horticulture Center off Blue Raider Drive on the MTSU campus. Students enrolled in a vegetable gardening class and members of the Plant and Soil Science Club grow all plants and produce from seed to maturation. “We grow our own transplants in the greenhouse on campus and then transfer them to a quarter-acre plot on the Guy James Farm (off Halls Hill Pike in Murfreesboro),” says Dr. Nate Phillips, professor of horticulture, who began the market last year. While the risk of salmonella and E. coli outbreaks made headlines last year, MTSU’s market was able to offer locally grown products that were guaranteed safe.

Contact the Department of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523.

TR EXTRA

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Danica’s detour?

The rumor mill has it that Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick is considering switching to NASCAR. This move has its pros and cons, says Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing. “Danica Patrick is a pretty big fish in the rather small pond known as the Indy Racing Series,” Roy says. “A move to NASCAR would make her a distinctive fish as the only female driver (in the Nextel Cup Series—two women are in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity development program), but she would have to win the loyalty of fans by her performance on the track. If she succeeds in that regard, her marketing potential soars even higher. If not, she would join Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti as drivers whose jump from the IRL to NASCAR sounded like a ‘thud.’”

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

The control group

Last week’s tragedy at the U.S. Holocaust Museum put Dr. Preston MacDougall of theDepartment of Chemistry in mind of chemistry student Hans Leipelt, a victim of Nazi barbarism. “(Leipelt) had been expelled from the University of Hamburg because his mother, who had a doctorate in chemistry, was from a Jewish family,” MacDougall says. “Hans continued his studies at Munich, where the director of the Chemical Institute, Nobel laureate Heinrich Wieland, ignored Nazi rules regarding race. Wieland knew bilious behavior when he saw it—his 1927 Nobel Prize was for the investigation and chemical identification of the bile acids.” Leipelt was arrested and executed for raising funds for the widow and children of another professor who had distributed anti-Nazi leaflets.

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

“The Front Page” in the digital age

You might have noticed that the Web sites of major newspapers (washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com, etc.) feature more than just text in an effort to attract and keep Internet-savvy readers. They include audio and video as well as live chats with columnists and reporters. Dr. Robert Spires, electronic media communication, says of today’s newsgathering agencies, “They want journalists who are familiar with doing that, who can write a story, maybe report it … digitize it, get it on the Web site, may be interviewed live on local television or radio, have streaming video and write the story.”

Contact Spires at 615-898-2217.
rwspires@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

A little less conversation?

Does revving up hate speech and spewing it into the mass media push the buttons of deranged people prone to violence, and, if so, should government do anything to control it? Last week’s fatal shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum prompted a renewal of this timeless topic. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism professor and First Amendment expert, “There are already laws that prevent conspiracy, and numerous court decisions have distinguished between speech and action. After the shooting, both liberals and conservatives were calling for more restrictive laws on speech. I really have to wonder how much of this was simply posturing in response to a senseless killing. All too often free speech makes a convenient target, as if controlling speech will really control violence. But do we really want to start putting people in jail only for what they think and say? I certainly hope not.”

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

You can’t tell a CD by its cover.

One of the major selling points of a 33-and-a-third rpm vinyl record album was an eye-catching cover. With a CD, what little cover art exists is too small to be terribly eye-catching. Dr. Mike Alleyne, recording industry, laments this development. “Although some new releases still come with ambitious visuals, many album covers are now consumed mostly onscreen,” says Alleyne. “If this seems like an exaggeration, make a quick visit to the iTunes store—just keep your magnifying glass handy. The link between sound and vision has entered a new era, and even former designers of acclaimed LP packaging are declaring the imminent death of album art. And that’s a shame because the album cover and its visual possibilities have been part of the popular musical experience for decades. For millions, the recollection of the songs is inseparable from the resonance of the graphics.”

Contact Alleyne at 615-904-8336.
dr.mike.alleyne@gmail.com

Time for an oil change?

In the latest edition of Viewpoints from The Middle East Institute, Dr. Sean Foley, history, introduces two other scholars’ differing views on attempts by certain Arab nations to broaden their economies beyond their chief asset--oil. “To shield themselves from the volatility of global oil markets, these states have sought to diversify their economies by investing in a host of non-oil industries, especially services, commerce and manufacturing,” says Foley. “No Gulf community has been seemingly more successful at achieving this balance than Dubai. Starting in the 1970s, Dubai built a thriving economy focused on transportation, tourism, real estate, commerce and a host of other non-oil industries.”

Contact Foley at 615-904-8294.
sfoley@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

A DIFFERENT BRANCH OF THE FAMILY TREE--A training session on Heritage Quest, the Tennessee Electronic Library’s ancestry database, has been moved to Room 137E of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. The James E. Walker Library will host this session from 3:15-4:30 p.m. today, June 16. Heritage Quest includes the U.S. Federal Census images from 1790-1930, more than 24,000 family and local history books, the PERSI index of more than 2.1 million genealogy and local history articles, Revolutionary War-era pension and bounty-land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank (1865-1874) records, and memorials, petitions and private relief actions of the U.S. Congress in the LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set. Linda Cubias of Proquest will conduct the training session, which is free of charge. However, seating is limited. Contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376 or kkeene@mtsu.edu.

DEAL OR NEW DEAL?--Dr. Kris McCusker, history professor, will present “’But Mr. Roosevelt was gonna save us all’: The New Deal and the South” at 7 p.m. tonight, June 16, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be about the effects of the New Deal on Murfreesboro and Tennessee and will include a presentation on selected American life histories and slave narratives. McCusker’s presentation is part of a series of programs sponsored by Linebaugh Library System in conjunction with “Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story,” a new television documentary about the Federal Writers’ Project. The documentary is being produced by Spark Media and will be broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel HD later this year. For more information, contact Linebaugh Public Library in Murfreesboro at 615-893-4131 or go to http://www.linebaugh.org/soul.htm.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Stranger than fiction

The persecution and genocide of Jews during the Holocaust perpetrated by Germany’s Nazi regime has been documented with reams of evidence, but some people still don’t believe it happened. Dr. Nancy Rupprecht, history professor and chair of the Holocaust Studies Committee, says, “Several of the perpetrators, including Rudolf Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz/Berkenau (concentration camp), and Otto Ohlendorf admitted their crimes and testified to those of others. SS General Ohlendorf, commander of an Eizensatzgruppe (special task force), testified on January 3, 1946, at Nuremberg to a variety of unspeakable crimes that he ordered and witnessed. In his own trial in 1947, he coldly and methodically explained why all Jewish children had to be murdered.”

Contact Rupprecht at 615-898-2645.
nrupprec@mtsu.edu

A different branch of the family tree

A training session on Heritage Quest, the Tennessee Electronic Library’s ancestry database, has been moved to Room 137E of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. The James E. Walker Library will host this session from 3:15-4:30 p.m. tomorrow, June 16. Heritage Quest includes the U.S. Federal Census images from 1790-1930, more than 24,000 family and local history books, the PERSI index of more than 2.1 million genealogy and local history articles, Revolutionary War-era pension and bounty-land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank (1865-1874) records, and memorials, petitions and private relief actions of the U.S. Congress in the LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set. Linda Cubias of Proquest will conduct the training session, which is free of charge. However, seating is limited.

Contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376.
kkeene@mtsu.edu

The lowdown on the labor market

In the week ending May 30, seasonally adjusted weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance in Tennessee was 12,531, a decrease from 12,848 in the previous week, the third consecutive weekly decrease. Since the first week of January, initial claims have averaged 13,688 per week. Continued claims for unemployment insurance (insured unemployment) declined to 113,482 from 113,878 (revised) in the previous week, the second consecutive decline. Insured unemployment has averaged 109,033 since January 1. The trend for initial and continued claims is improving, but the levels remain extremely high.

Contact MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

TR EXTRA

DEAL OR NEW DEAL?--Dr. Kris McCusker, history professor, will present “’But Mr. Roosevelt was gonna save us all’: The New Deal and the South” at 7 p.m. tomorrow, June 16, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be about the effects of the New Deal on Murfreesboro and Tennessee and will include a presentation on selected American life histories and slave narratives. McCusker’s presentation is part of a series of programs sponsored by Linebaugh Library System in conjunction with “Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story,” a new television documentary about the Federal Writers’ Project. The documentary is being produced by Spark Media and will be broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel HD later this year. For more information, contact Linebaugh Public Library in Murfreesboro at 615-893-4131 or go to http://www.linebaugh.org/soul.htm.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The horror of the Holocaust

The suspected gunman in Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., has a long history of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Why, in the face of overwhelming evidence, do some people still insist that the Holocaust never happened? Dr. Nancy Rupprecht, history professor and chair of the Holocaust Studies Committee, says the proof includes, but is not limited to “Photographs and Visual Media: Eisenhower and the Allied commanders took thousands of photographs and shot nearly as many rolls of film to document the fact of the camps at liberation; Official Documents: Tons of captured German records are available in the National Archives and elsewhere to anyone who cares to look. Almost all of the Nuremberg documents are available online as are the trial transcripts.”

Contact Rupprecht at 615-898-2645.
nrupprec@mtsu.edu

The elephant in the room

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is now a Democrat. Most respondents in a recent poll see Rush Limbaugh as the voice of the Republican Party. If it isn’t Limbaugh, is it Sarah Palin? Mitt Romney? Newt Gingrich? Can the minority party regain its footing in time for the 2010 Congressional elections? Should Republicans emphasize the conservative values of their base or attempt to expand the base by moderating their positions? Dr. Robb McDaniel, associate professor of political science, will discuss the search for leadership and direction in the GOP on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, June 14, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). To hear last week’s program on the CSI camp slated for June 16-19, go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2009.html and click on “June 7, 2009.

For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Deal or New Deal?

Dr. Kris McCusker, history professor, will present “’But Mr. Roosevelt was gonna save us all’: The New Deal and the South” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be about the effects of the New Deal on Murfreesboro and Tennessee and will include a presentation on selected American life histories and slave narratives. McCusker’s presentation is part of a series of programs sponsored by Linebaugh Library System in conjunction with “Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story,” a new television documentary about the Federal Writers’ Project. The documentary is being produced by Spark Media and will be broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel HD later this year.

For more information, contact Linebaugh Public Library in Murfreesboro at 615-893-4131 or go to http://www.linebaugh.org/soul.htm.

TR EXTRA

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

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 REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Quiet, class!

How free is free speech for students? A 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling declared that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” However, David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says the high court has carved out exceptions since that decision and lower courts have applied those exceptions differently. Hudson says, “The reality is that when lower courts evaluate First Amendment challenges involving topics such as student online speech created off campus, censorship of message T-shirts, school dress codes, removal of books from school libraries and others, the results are far from predictable.”

Contact Hudson at 615-741-1600.
dhudson@fac.org

Great expectations

Have you ever signed up for a college course not knowing quite what to expect, even after you receive the syllabus? Dr. Thomas Brinthaupt, psychology, has designed what he calls a Realistic Course Preview (RCP) based on the realistic job preview (RJP) concept in organizational psychology. “The RCP consists of a list of comments from former students about their experience in my course and with me,” says Brinthaupt. The comments are based on anonymous responses to a question posed to former students by Brinthaupt on their final exams. “One advantage of including this information is that it comes from fellow students and not the instructor,” says Brinthaupt. “Based on RJP research, students should perceive such information as more accurate, believable and balanced than if it came from the instructor.”

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

Post-recession penny-pinching

When the recession is over, will consumers maintain their newfound frugality or will they slip back into old habits? Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “According to an article in Advertising Age, marketers fear that the pull back on spending could last long past the end of the recession. Once we realize we can exist with spending less on certain products and eliminating other products altogether from our lives, little incentive exists to revert back to previous buying behavior. If this prediction comes to fruition, marketers will be forced to make significant changes to their approach to customer relationships.” Roy says marketers should re-examine how customers connect with their brands to improve the promotion of their products and/or services.

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

TR EXTRA

IT’S A HOOT--Former NASA astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson will deliver a presentation at 1 p.m. today, June 11, in Room 326S of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. Gibson will address teachers attending the Tennessee Aerospace Workshop. Gibson, who lives in Murfreesboro with his wife, former astronaut Dr. Rhea Seddon, contributed to five missions that totaled 36-and-a-half days in space. Eighty teachers from Tennessee are attending the three-week workshop. Fifty teachers are in the basic workshop, and 30 are in the advanced workshop. Reporters are welcome to attend and cover the workshop and/or interview workshop attendees. For more information, contact Phyl Taylor at 615-898-5874.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

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 REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” is accessible at www.southernfolklore.com. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

TELL A VISION--The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at www.mtsunews.com. The stories also have been posted to YouTube. For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Education and labor

Southern Middle Tennessee has a problem—an education gap. A study by Dr. Murat Arik, associate director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, concludes, “The workforce in the southern middle Tennessee counties has a deficit in educational attainment compared to the U.S. In order for these counties, already experiencing significant economic decline, to emerge as a globally competitive manufacturing region, they should develop policies to upgrade skill and education levels of the existing workforce. In doing so, these counties are likely to increase employment opportunities as well as income level for the unemployed and underemployed labor force. Now is the right time to invest in human capital to create a globally competitive regional workforce.”

Read Arik’s complete study in Tennessee’s Business at http://frank.mtsu.edu/~berc/tnbiz/stimulus/arik.html.

In the city

The latest city-by-city unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) show figures that still hover around or above the nine percent mark. Clarksville had the highest jobless rate in April at 9.4 percent, followed by Memphis at nine percent. Chattanooga and Nashville each posted jobless marks of 8.7 percent. Knoxville continues to show the “best” figures with an 8.2 percent unemployment rate. Statewide, 9.7 percent of the labor force is out of work, compared with 8.6 percent for the country as a whole.

For more information, contact the Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

Tell a vision

The June edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” includes features on the job market for graduates, a student’s charitable work for ill and abused children, national plaudits for a couple of top-notch alumni, educational opportunities for older learners, a student’s 10-week internship in Bangladesh, the work of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, and the future of online degrees and distance learning. The monthly television program is available for viewing on NewsChannel5+ and Murfreesboro Cable Channel 9, as well as 16 different cable TV outlets in the region. Check your local listings or watch the show at http://www.mtsunews.com/. The stories also have been posted to YouTube.

For more information or to obtain a DVD, contact John Lynch at 615-898-5591.
jlynch@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

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 BEST POLICY--About 25 guidance counselors from Rutherford, Davidson and other counties across Tennessee are attending the third Insurance Education Institute Workshop through today, June 10, at MTSU. The workshop’s purpose is to familiarize counselors with insurance career opportunities they can share with students at their schools. Dr. Ken Hollman, holder of the Martin Chair of Insurance, invites reporters to attend any of the following sessions: 9 until 11 a.m. today in Room 316S of the Business and Aerospace Building; 1:30-2 p.m. today in Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors College Building; or the graduation dinner at Parthenon Steak House, 1935 S. Church St., at 5:30 p.m. today. Contact Hollman at 615-898-2673 or khollman@mtsu.edu.

THE REV’S RECORDINGS--Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, is playing a major role in preserving the legacy of the Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor for the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis. The new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor” debuts to the general public today, June 10, at http://www.southernfolklore.com/. The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format. Contact Fisher at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The Rev’s recordings

Martin Fisher, Manager of Recorded Music Collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, will be among those making presentations on the legacy of Rev. Lonzie Odie Taylor at reception for invited guests from 5-8 p.m. today, June 9, at the Center for Southern Folklore, 119 S. Main at Peabody Place Trolley Stop, in Memphis. The reception is a prelude to the launch of the new online exhibit “TAYLOR MADE: The Life and Work of the Rev. L.O. Taylor.” The minister was a Renaissance man whose talents as a photographer, filmmaker, writer, recording artist and producer—all from his home “studio”—made him an invaluable chronicler of life in the African-American community of Memphis. Fisher’s role in the preservation of artifacts in the exhibit was to transfer 90 audio lacquer disc recordings produced by Taylor to a digital format.

The exhibit will be made available to the general public beginning tomorrow, June 10, at www.southernfolklore.com. Contact Fisher then at 615-898-5509 or wmfisher@mtsu.edu.

Undergraduate overachievers

The Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Committee awarded $65,900 in April to students who applied to pursue research or creative activity in their field of interest. This amount was awarded in stipends, supplies and travel to 25 students who applied to be either an assistant or a scholar. The three students funded at the assistant level will contribute to a faculty member’s project, and the 22 students funded at the scholar level will take more ownership of their projects while collaborating with one or more faculty members.

For more information about MTSU’s Undergraduate Research Center, call 615-494-7666.

The best policy

About 25 guidance counselors from Rutherford, Davidson and other counties across Tennessee are attending the third Insurance Education Institute Workshop through tomorrow, June 10, at MTSU. The workshop’s purpose is to familiarize counselors with insurance career opportunities they can share with students at their schools. Dr. Ken Hollman, holder of the Martin Chair of Insurance, invites reporters to attend any of the following sessions: 9 until 11 a.m. tomorrow in Room 316S of the Business and Aerospace Building; 1:30-2 p.m. tomorrow in Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors College Building; or the graduation dinner at Parthenon Steak House, 1935 S. Church St., at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Contact Hollman at 615-898-2673.
khollman@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS--Running through late July, incoming MTSU students and their families will start familiarizing themselves with their new academic home through the CUSTOMS orientation process. “So many parents and students comment on how friendly folks are and how comfortable they feel about their choice of coming to MTSU,” says Gina Poff, director of New Student and Family Programs. “Although CUSTOMS is a lot of work for the staff and the new students, it really pays off in the end. It is a great way to start off the new journey into MTSU, and the freshmen really get a sense of what it is like to be part of the MTSU community.” Poff says officials expect 50 to 75 more students at each session this summer than in previous years. Contact Poff at 615-898-2454 or gpoff@mtsu.edu.

THE TOUR DU JOUR--MTSU’s Office of Admissions will offer student-led campus tours at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding holidays) through July 31. The tours are by reservation only. Plenty of openings remain for all of June and July. No tours will be given July 3 because the university will be closed for that holiday. To make a reservation, call 615-898-5670 or visit mtsu.edu/admissn/tour_admissn.shtml and click on “Schedule Campus Tours.” For more information, contact Michelle Arnold at 615-898-5280 or maarnold@mtsu.edu.

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

CLIMBING THE FAMILY TREE--The James E. Walker Library will host a training session on Heritage Quest, the Tennessee Electronic Library’s ancestry database, from 3:15-4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16, in Room 272 of the library. Heritage Quest includes the U.S. Federal Census images from 1790-1930, more than 24,000 family and local history books, the PERSI index of more than 2.1 million genealogy and local history articles, Revolutionary War-era pension and bounty-land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank (1865-1874) records, and memorials, petitions and private relief actions of the U.S. Congress in the LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set. Linda Cubias of Proquest will conduct the training session, which is free and open to the public. Contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376 or kkeene@mtsu.edu.