Thursday, December 10, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Kiddie care careers

Tennesseans who want to pursue an education in child care or early childhood education have a new scholarship option, thanks to the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA). TECTA will be providing scholarships for the 2009-10 academic year to cover 100 percent of a recipient’s tuition plus related expenses for Child Development Associate credentials, technical certificates and academic degrees as funds allow. These scholarships provide full tuition support to retrain displaced and underemployed workers in the child care field and those looking to make the transition to a career in child care. This is the first initiative to allow TECTA to provide full tuition support for students at both public and private two-year and four-year institutions and is designed to remove the financial constraints for adults entering and returning to school.

For TECTA information at MTSU, contact Debbie Simpson at 615-904-8318.
dsimpson@mtsu.edu

The family that multitasks together …

In the 21st century two-parent family, each parent has two full-time jobs: family and work. How will you manage the demands of your career and family in the future? Are you currently juggling the two? What is the second shift and how does it affect you? How does the balancing act of work and family create inequality between men and women? Are work and family friends or enemies? Dr. Gretchen Webber, assistant professor of sociology, and her students will explore these questions and more in “Work, Family, Gender in the 21st Century,” a new class that will be offered at MTSU in the spring 2010 semester. It’s available as either an undergraduate or graduate course. The class also qualifies as a Women’s Studies and Gender Studies elective and meets the requirements for a minor in Family Studies.

Contact Webber at 615-898-2519.
gwebber@mtsu.edu

O, come all ye secular

There will be no holiday singing in the South Orange-Maplewood School District in New Jersey this year. A federal appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that the district’s limits on religious music are not unconstitutional. The father of two children who attend school in the district challenged the policy on the grounds of violating the First Amendment’s clauses pertaining to freedom of speech and establishment of religion. David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says the appellate court determined that the school district’s “purpose of maintaining a position of neutrality toward religion and avoiding claims of promoting religion was legitimate.” Hudson says the court also ruled that “school officials must screen various policies to ensure that they maintain church-state separation and that such routine screening doesn’t cross the line into excessive entanglement.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1342.
dhudson@fac.org

TR EXTRA

THE RED AND GREEN BADGE OF COURAGE--In October 2006, Lee Ann Newton, executive aide for MTSU’s Tennessee Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Center (TMSTEC), learned that a friend’s son had lost both legs in an IED (improvised explosive device) explosion in Iraq. His tragedy and those of other wounded soldiers prompted Newton to launch Operation Christmas Care. She has placed a drop box in the hallway on the first floor of the Fairview Building, 820 Fairview Ave. in Murfreesboro, where members of the campus community can drop off holiday greetings for injured military personnel, and she is encouraging others on campus to collect cards in their buildings. Newton writes, “E-mails are nice, but a colorful card or letter with a heartfelt message of support and encouragement can beam from their walls until they leave (the hospital).” To ensure timely delivery, Newton says she will send the last batch of cards on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Contact Newton at 615-904-8573 or lnewton@mtsu.edu.

IMPULSE ART--The final Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Candidates Exhibition for the fall semester is on display through today, Dec. 10, at MTSU’s Todd Art Gallery in Room 224 of the Todd Building. Titled “follow {y}our impulse,” it is described as a show “designed around impulse and creativity.” The participants write, “Creative thought, uncurbed passion and refined talent are necessary for success, and we incorporate those ideals into our work daily. We believe as designers we tend to design off our own impulses as well as those we perceive from our audience and clients.” Todd Art Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, closing only on state and university holidays. Contact Eric Snyder, gallery director, at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@mtsu.edu.

CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS--The first annual Department of Accounting CPE (Continuing Professional Education) Day at MTSU will be held today, 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.

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.

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 tomorrow, 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.