Thursday, September 24, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Your cooperation is appreciated.

Dr. Justin Gardner, assistant professor of agribusiness and agriscience, will talk about the application of the co-op model to health care at 7 a.m. this Sunday, Sept. 27, on “MTSU On the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). A co-op (short for “cooperative”) is a not-for-profit, member-owned group that bands together to achieve common goals and regulates itself through a representative panel. Farmers are familiar with the co-op as a means of providing agricultural supplies at lower prices. U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has proposed health care co-ops as alternatives to a public option. To hear last week’s interview with Professor David Hudson about his new book on combat sports, go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2009.html and click on “September 20, 2009.”

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

Murph to the max

The Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County will host the grand opening of “When Murphy Center Was KING” from 4 to 6 p.m. today, Sept. 24. Brian Dempsey, a Provost Writing Fellow at MTSU, will speak on the new exhibit that focuses on the many concerts and events at the university’s Murphy Center, from its opening in the early 1970s to the mid-1990s. Over the years, a number of big-name performers have played at the center, including Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, The Who, Pearl Jam, Garth Brooks and The Judds. The Heritage Center is open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays, and features local history exhibits and guided walking tours of the town square on the hour.

For more information, call the center at 615-217-8013.
heritage_center@bellsouth.net

Art for students’ sake

The MTSU Department of Art and its Student Art Alliance will team to present their first-ever joint exhibition featuring the juried work of MTSU students. The works will be on display through Thursday, Oct. 1, in the Todd Art Gallery on the MTSU campus. Additionally, there will be a free and open reception for participating artists, as well as an awards ceremony, from 4-5 p.m. today, Sept. 24, in the gallery area. “This show gives MTSU students the opportunity to engage in the process of submitting and showing their work in a public space, as well as competing with other artists for awards,” says John Donovan, assistant professor of art and SAA faculty adviser.

For more information or directions to the campus gallery, call Eric Snyder, gallery curator, at 615-898-5653.

TR EXTRA

THE KEYBOARDS TO THE KINGDOM--Musicians from across the region will flock to the first Music City Piano Workshop and Concert tomorrow, Sept. 25, at the Sound Kitchen, 112 Seaboard Lane in Franklin. The event is made possible by a public-service grant from MTSU. Students, teachers and aspiring professionals can learn about music production, music business, performance and more during a day of three free workshops with industry professional at the Southeast’s largest recording and production studio. Following the workshops, a Whisperings Solo Piano Concert, featuring the renowned David Lanz and guests, is planned for 8 p.m. at the same location. The intimate concert will include other artists featured on Whisperings: Solo Piano Radio, the No. 1 broadcast on Live356.com for almost four years running. The program can be heard on iTunes, the Windows Media Tuner and TiVo and streams to nearly a million piano-music fans all over the world every month. Contact Gina E. Fann in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5385 or gfann@mtsu.edu.

GET THE GIANT ECONOMY SIZE--C. Dowd Ritter, chair, president and CEO of Regions Financial Corporation, will be the keynote speaker at MTSU’s 17th annual Economic Outlook Conference, today, Sept. 24 at the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro, with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m. Ritter will speak at 9 a.m. The head of one of the nation’s largest banks, Ritter began his banking career in 1969. “Mr. Ritter will speak from the unique vantage point of the head of a bank that survived the economic storms of the last 18 months,” says Dr. Jim Burton, dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at MTSU. “He will likely have interesting thoughts about what the future of the banking industry may be. The program also will feature Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, with a midstate/regional economic update at 10:30 a.m. Dr. Donald Ratajczak, Regents Professor of Economics Emeritus at Georgia State University, will be the luncheon speaker. Call 615-898-2764 for more information.

GET THE PICTURE?--“Relics,” an exhibit by Brad Temkin, is on display at the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in MTSU’s Learning Resources Center (LRC) through Oct. 22. Temkin says of his work, “My approach builds on the sculptural foundation that integrates the object and the landscape. Remnants of humanity are abandoned amidst vast, empty and anonymous landscapes. These forms exude an energy that transcends originating intention, becoming beautiful and monumental ‘earth works’ in their own right.” Exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085 or tjimison@mtsu.edu.

CROP ROTATION--Officials in the MTSU School of Agribusiness and Agriscience will hold their second Field Day today, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m. at the Agricultural Laboratory Farm, 3301 Guy James Rd. More than 80 people had registered to attend as of Sept. 16. For more information, call Dr. Jessica Carter at 615-898-2419, the University of Tennessee Extension Office at 615-898-7710 or Dr. Warren Gill at 615-898-2404.

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 Sunday, 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.