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.