Monday, November 30, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“Cool is a rule, but sometimes bad is bad.”—Huey Lewis and the News

Is it possible to be happy and be sinister at the same time, or does moral depravity go hand-in-hand with unhappiness? Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, says, “Sure, from my point of view (and from yours, I hope), the happiness of bad people is a degraded and inferior brand. Aristotelian eudaimonia (the good life) is not supposed to be subjective, but people’s estimations of their own well-being certainly are. Plenty of people are as bad as they want to be, and they seem plenty happy, too. While that’s an affront to the rest of us, it’s just too bad. But I don’t guess many of the rest of us will be lining up to join the scoundrels club, anyway. The institutions of morality are safe. We’re all gonna be what we’re gonna be.”

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

Costco fizzles out

Costco is refusing to restock its shelves with Coca-Cola products on the grounds that the beverage giant won’t provide “competitive pricing.” Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says Costco’s executives might think they look like they’re standing up for the consumer, but they might have picked the wrong battle to fight. “Coca-Cola is a high equity brand,” Roy says. “It has more leverage in the marketplace than Costco. Customers who are unable to buy Coke products at Costco will likely make their purchases at another store. How does that help Costco? Coca-Cola has profit responsibilities to its stakeholders, and it is resisting efforts by one of its customers to alter its business strategy. Manufacturers have been pushed around a great deal by retailers in recent years. It will be interesting to see how, or if, Coca-Cola pushes back in its feud with Costco.”

Contact Roy at 615-904-8564.
droy@mtsu.edu

Crunching the numbers

The first annual Department of Accounting CPE (Continuing Professional Education) Day at MTSU will be held Thursday, Dec. 10, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building. Seminars during the conference include presentations on Ponzi schemes and fraud, international financial reporting standards, accounting and financial reporting, auditing and taxation. Participants can earn up to eight hours of CPE credit. The cost is $150, which includes all seminars, materials and lunch. Due to limited seating, participants should register early.

Visit http://www.mtsu.edu/accounting or call the MTSU Department of Accounting at 615-898-5306.

TR EXTRA

SAY IT TO THE SECRETARY—“Student Voices on Education: A National Town Hall Meeting with Arne Duncan” has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, live on the Education Resource Channel@Middle Tennessee. Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, will serve as moderator for the broadcast, which will air live in Murfreesboro on Comcast Channel 9. The program is part of the monthly “Education News Parents Can Use” series that airs evenings on ERC@MT during the K-12 school year. Gail Fedak, director for Instructional Media Resources at MTSU, says the program’s town hall-focused format will allow for call-in and e-mail questions. In turn, schools in Rutherford County that normally receive the university’s K-12 programming on ERC@MT, as well as interested community members, may tune in to participate in the live discussion. Contact Fedak at 615-898-2740 or gfedak@mtsu.edu.

BERRY INTERESTING--The acai (a-sigh-EE) berry is being hailed as a wonder fruit for its antioxidants. It is being marketed in the United States in everything from dietary supplements to fruit juices. This past summer, Dr. Richard Pace, sociology and anthropology, took MTSU students to the Amazon rainforest to conduct research on the ecology, production and consumption of acai. The students examined the claims of weight loss and nutritional health as well as claims that production of the berry can contribute to rainforest preservation and sustainable development. They recorded how acai is grown, consumed and exported and how it is understood in environmental, economic, medical and symbolic terms by the native community, which has used the palm fruit for centuries. The students presented their findings at MTSU’s Undergraduate Social Science Symposium Nov. 10-11 and will make another presentation at the American Anthropological Association’s national meetings in Philadelphia Dec. 2-6. Contact Pace at 615-904-8058 or rpace@mtsu.edu.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIBRARY!--To celebrate the James E. Walker Library’s 10 years of service to MTSU, students may enter a drawing for an iPod and other prizes by explaining their favorite thing about the library. Entry cards are available at desks located throughout the building, or students can e-mail their answers to favorites@ulibnet.mtsu.edu. The deadline is today, Nov. 30. The drawing is slated for tomorrow, Dec. 1. The James E. Walker Library, named for the university’s eighth president, opened in 1999 with nearly 645,000 volumes, 3,500 journals and a budget of $269 per student. Today, the library has almost a million books and e-books, nearly 20,000 journals and databases and 350 desktop and laptop computers. The budget is $332 per student. For more information, contact the library at 615-898-2817 or go to http://library.mtsu.edu/.

BOOK IT!--The University Writing Center at MTSU is joining forces with Project Help and Murfreesboro City Schools Outreach during the holiday season to encourage children’s literacy. In its team effort to promote the cause, UWC staff will accept new and gently used children’s books now through Wednesday, Dec. 9, as well as money donations, which will go toward the purchase of youth titles. Meagan McManus, a peer mentor and UWC writing assistant, says members of the UWC staff will attend Project Help’s fall semester celebration on Thursday, Dec. 17, to share some of the donated books with the lab’s children. Donations are accepted in Room 325 of Peck Hall from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays, and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, contact the UWC at 615-904-8237 or e-mail McManus at mcm2r@mtsu.edu.

HAIL THE HEROES!--MTSU’s Black History Month Committee is accepting nominations for unsung heroes to be honored at the annual Unity Luncheon, which is slated for Feb. 3, 2010. Nominees must be individuals who have made outstanding contributions to their community, are age 60 or older and have lived in the Middle Tennessee area for 25 years or more. The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, Dec. 11. To nominate a person worthy of this great traditional honor, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/aahm/nominations/shtml and fill in the online questionnaire. For more information, contact Valerie Avent, assistant director of the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs at 615-898-2718 or vavent@mtsu.edu.

I’LL GRANT YOU THAT.--The MTSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women is offering three grants of $1,800 each to faculty members who want to integrate the experiences and perspectives of women into the curriculum. The grants are intended for use in the summer of 2010. The 2009 winners include Dr. Gretchen Webber, sociology, for her new undergraduate course “Gender, Work and Family in the 21st Century; Dr. Meredith Huey Dye, sociology, for her special topics course “Women in Prison;” and Dr. Tricia Farwell, journalism, for her “Advertising and Social Media” course. The deadline for faculty to submit applications for the 2010 grants is Tuesday, Jan. 19. For more information, contact Dr. Samantha Cantrell at 615-494-8751 or scantrel@mtsu.edu.

PICTURES OF YOU, PICTURES OF ME--A different take on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is on display in Stan Strembicki’s exhibit “Memory Loss/Lost Library” in the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the Learning Resources Center at MTSU. Strembicki has been photographing the streets, people and events of New Orleans since 1984. Returning after Katrina, he was drawn to photograph not the ubiquitous crushed homes or overturned cars, but the subtler tragedy of washed-away personal ephemera in the debris of the Lower Ninth Ward. “Memory Loss/Lost Library” will be on display until Wednesday, Dec. 9. Exhibitions are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085 or tjimison@mtsu.edu.

MICKEY MAKES A SCHEDULE CHANGE--The date of the Disney Keys to Excellence Conference hosted by MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business at the Sheraton Downtown Nashville has been changed to tomorrow, Dec. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This is a rare opportunity to take an exclusive look at the "business behind the magic" from Walt Disney World© insiders, who will share the successful business practices and unique philosophies that have made the Disney name synonymous with creativity, quality, and innovation the world over. To learn more and to register, go to http://www.keysnashville.com/ or call 877-544-2384.