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.