Friday, October 9, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Kabuling a plan together

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has stated publicly that he needs up to 40,000 more American troops in that country. But Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has leveled a thinly veiled broadside at McChrystal, asserting that aides should counsel President Obama “candidly but privately.” Dr. Sean Foley, history professor and Middle East expert, says, “Clearly, there’s a delicate dance that is going on between the generals and the Obama administration. The Obama administration seems to be thinking much longer about this. The problem with what’s been going on in Afghanistan is that there are no good options.” As the war enters its ninth year, the casualty count is up to 865 Americans and 570 allied troops.

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

Women’s work

Dr. Paula England, professor of sociology at Stanford University and an affiliate of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, will be the guest on “MTSU On the Record” with host Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, Oct. 11, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). On the program, England will discuss possible reasons for the continuing wage gap between men and women and changes in the ways college-age men and women connect socially. She also will talk about the admission by television star David Letterman that he has had sex with women staffers. England will be one of the speakers at the 2009 Tennessee Undergraduate Social Science Symposium, which is scheduled to take place at MTSU on Nov. 10-11. She will deliver the Senior Scholar Lecture titled “Gender Equality: What’s Changing? What’s Not?” at 11:30 a.m. on Wed., Nov. 11, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building.

Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Before-the-job training

The National Association of Athletic Trainers (NATA) has bestowed the 2009 Bill Cramer Professional Development Award on MTSU’s Athletic Training Education Program. The $2,000 award will be used to enable students to attend professional meetings and seminars. Dr. Helen Binkley, associate professor of health and human performance and director of the program, says, “There are many good athletic training programs, so it is quite an honor to be chosen. I always encourage our students to take advantage of professional development opportunities. This award will help because students have to raise the money to cover their expenses or come up with the money on their own.” MTSU student Dustin West is the Tennessee representative to NATA’s new student organization and will attend the national conference in June.

Contact Binkley at 615-904-8192.
hbinkley@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE TOOTH, THE WHOLE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH--Dr. Lowell Levine, DDS, one of the top dental experts in the United States, will deliver a lecture at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. Levine, a forensic odontologist, is director of the New York State Police Medicolegal Investigations Unit. He has been a consultant to the POW/MIA Accounting Command—Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. Dr. Levine also was a forensic consultant to the U.S. House of Representative’s Select Committee on Assassination Investigation regarding the death of President John F. Kennedy. He testified in the case of serial killer Ted Bundy, identified the remains of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, identified the remains of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, and was a member of the team of scientists who examined the remains of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family. This event, presented by MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education (FIRE), is free and open to the public. Contact FIRE at 615-494-7896 or rsnow@mtsu.edu.

IT’S FALL, YOU ALL--The October edition of “Middle Tennessee Record” is on the air and on the Web. Featured this month: the MTSU virtual tour, which allows anyone with access to a computer to wander around the campus without actually being there; Camp ENRGY, an innovative way to help children with physical disabilities participate more confidently in home- school- and community-based physical activities; interviews with Dr. Gerhard L. Weinberg, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Whitwell Middle School Principal Linda Hooper, initiator of the Paper Clip Project, two attendees at MTSU’s Holocaust Studies Conference later this month; and a look at True Blue TV through the eyes of host and creator Steven Mizell. To find out where “Middle Tennessee Record” airs in your area, or to watch it online, go to http://www.mtsunews.com/. Contact producer John Lynch at 615-898-2919 or jlynch@mtsu.edu.

A TRIPLE PLAY--The Epsilon Tau Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi sorority at MTSU will sponsor the inaugural “Alpha Delta Pi-athlon: A Unique Triathlon Challenge” starting at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11. Participants will compete in a 300-meter swim, a 10-mile bicycle race and a 5K (3.14 miles) run. The swim will take place at the MTSU Health, Wellness and Recreation Center. The 5K run will happen on campus. The bike race will start and end on campus, but the bulk of the course will be off-campus. “Teams comprised of three people (one for each event) must enter under a team name,” writes Laura Cooper, the sorority’s philanthropy chair. “The teams may be comprised of both male and female participants.” All proceeds from entry fees will benefit the Ronald McDonald House and the Alpha Delta Pi Scholarship Program. Pre-registration is available at http://www.active.com/ (keyword: Pi-athlon). Day-of registration will start at 6:30 a.m. at the Recreation Center. For more information, contact Cooper at adpiathlon@gmail.com.

ORDER IN THE COURTYARD--Randy O’Brien, director of News and Public Affairs for WMOT-FM, will discuss his first published novel, Judge Fogg, at the 2009 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. O’Brien will speak from 3-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11, in Room 29 of the Legislative Plaza building in downtown Nashville along with fellow authors Scott Pratt and Peggy Ehrhart. Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Othello,” Judge Fogg tells the fictional story of the first African-American criminal court judge in Nashville, his rise to power as a youthful corruption fighter and his downfall. O’Brien will sign copies of his book in the courtyard following the panel discussion. Free and open to the public. Contact O’Brien at 615-898-2800 orrobrien@mtsu.edu.

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.