Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Pass the salary, please.

When corporation executives’ total compensation is measured as a share of company earnings, do the results generate the same degree of public ire? You be the judge. Drs. William Ford, Kevin Zhao and Charles Baum studied CEO share of earnings at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies from 1993 through 2007. They write, “Measured as a share of corporate earnings (after-tax profits), the S & P 500 CEOs share of earnings averaged about 2.4 percent over the entire 15 years from 1993-2007. … The CEO share of earnings generally rose from around 2.5 percent in the mid-1990s to a peak level of four percent in 1999 and, surprisingly, has trended downward since then, ending at a historically low level of about 1.6 percent of earnings in 2007.”

Contact Ford at 615-898-2889; Baum at 615-898-2527; Zhao at 615-898-5473.

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”—Mortimer Adler

As summer wanes, the relaxing pastime of summer reading will give way to the more demanding, hectic fall schedule. So Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, intends to savor the remaining moments of intellectual leisure while he can. He writes glowingly about a recent trip to a used book store he hadn’t patronized for years. “I didn’t make a haul, like I used to,” Oliver notes. “But what a delight to find a bargain-priced, high-quality original (1963) edition of my favorite (John) Updike novel and two glossy illustrated tomes about ancient Greece and Rome for $4 each. … Happiness is settling into your favorite old chair, in your favorite old hiding place, with serendipitously timely ‘new’ old books, a cold beer, in the presence of undemanding friends and reassuring pastimes, and unpleasantly extreme weather on the other side of the door.”

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

The timeline for the drawdown

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on July 29 that progress in Iraq has advanced to the point that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country might be accelerated. The Pentagon plans to pull out all combat troops by August of next year. All U.S. troops in Iraq are to be redeployed by Dec. 11, 2010. Dr. Sean Foley, history, writes for the Spring 2009 Rutgers Law Record, “According to polls commissioned by the BBC and others in 2008, nearly three-quarters of Iraqis oppose the continued presence of foreign troops in Iraq, and more than 40 percent approve of attacks on U.S. and other Coalition forces. U.S. actions in Iraq have damaged America’s image throughout the Arab and Muslim world and have proven to be a potent recruitment tool for extremist groups.” Foley is the author of the forthcoming book The Arab Gulf States: When Oil is Not Enough.

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

TR EXTRA

SOLID AS A ROCK BLOK—Registration is open now for this fall’s Rock Blok workshop at MTSU. Young musicians ages 10-17 can learn music, make friends and form a band at the workshop, which is slated to begin September 5th. “When a student signs up, he or she is assigned to a band with other students,” says Ryan York, executive leader of Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities (YEAH!) and workshop leader. “Each band has two professional musicians as volunteer teachers. The students then spend two hours each Saturday learning music, working up a set list, making merchandise for their band, recording an album and writing music.” At the conclusion of the workshop, the bands will perform in concert. The fee is $40 a month ($120 total). For more information, go to http://www.yeahintheboro.org/, send an e-mail to info@YEAHintheBoro.org, or call 615-849-8140.

PRESSING ON--The legacy of MTSU’s working replica of an 18th century printing press will be explained through photos and prints as part of an exhibit at the main branch of the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St., through Sept. 27. The exhibit is titled “Telling the Story: Letterpress Printing and Community.” The university’s segment will include the story of letterpress printing at MTSU. The works of current MTSU art students; alumni; visiting artists; faculty; elementary, middle- and high-school teachers and students who printed on the James E. Walker Library’s unique device will be highlighted. A reproduction of the English common press used by Benjamin Franklin in the early 1700s, the printing press was handcrafted in 2004 and 2005 out of chestnut and white oak wood from a 100-year-old house in Virginia. Contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376 or kkeene@mtsu.edu.