Monday, June 1, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Consumption resumption

Consumer confidence in Middle Tennessee is on the rise, but it’s a slow climb. The latest Middle Tennessee Consumer Confidence Index from MTSU’s Office of Consumer Research (OCR) shows an increase from 105 in April to 113 in May. “This modest gain resulted from slight improvements in consumers’ perceptions of the current economy, their expectations for the future economy, and their perceptions that now is a good time to make large purchases,” says Dr. Tim Graeff, director of the OCR. The index scores are based on consumers’ responses to 11 questions. The poll of 200 randomly selected adult residents of Davidson, Rutherford and Williamson counties was conducted the evening of Tuesday, May 26.

Contact Graeff at 615-898-5124.
tgraeff@mtsu.edu

College melancholy

A recent Associated Press-mtvU poll finds that 85 percent of college students felt stress in their daily lives in recent months, and 42 percent said they had felt down, depressed or hopeless for several days in the last two weeks. Eleven percent said they believed they would be better off dead or had thought about hurting themselves. Jane Tipps, director of MTSU Counseling Services, says, “The AP-mtvU poll seems to accurately reflect the concerns students have presented to our staff over the last 8-10 years. The intensity of the stress reported by students seems to ratchet up each year. On a daily basis, university counseling center directors access their association listserv to discuss developing trends in the concerns presented by students in their respective centers.”

Contact Tipps at 615-898-2670.
jtipps@mtsu.edu

Tiananmen plus twenty

This Thursday, June 4, marks the 20th anniversary of the day tanks rolled into the streets of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to suppress student protesters. To this day, there remain enormous differences between the official number of dead claimed by the Chinese government and the number of dead reported by nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Yuan-ling Chao, history, says, “As we look back at the past 60 years of Communist rule in China, the Tiananmen Square incident seems like a mere blip in its history. The economic conditions that helped stir student activism then are no longer present. Chinese students nowadays seem much less driven by ideology than by concerns for securing their future and a piece of economic prosperity. Many of the younger generation do not much about the incident.”

Contact Chao at 615-898-2629.
ychao@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.

PUTTING IT ON THE PAGE--Suzanne Fisher Staples will be the visiting author at this summer’s Youth Writer’s Camp at MTSU. Staples, a former correspondent for United Press International in Asia who now writes young adult novels, is the winner of the prestigious Newberry Award for her novel Shabanu. The Youth Writer’s Camp is a two-week intensive writing camp for 4th through 12th graders Monday through Thursday June 8-18. Youngsters can expect community building with fellow writers, realistic feedback from peers and mentors, supportive writing groups, guided writing experiences, and exploration of new writing styles and topics. Each camper will get a writer’s camp T-shirt, a writer’s notebook, and an anthology of writing. Drs. Bobbie Solley and Ellen Donovan of the MTSU Department of Elementary and Special Education are camp directors. For more information, go to http://www.middletnwritingproject.org/ or send an e-mail to dianne.hall@comcast.net

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