Friday, February 19, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Trailing in the fourth quarter

If the economic recovery has started, someone forgot to tell Tennessee. An analysis of the fourth quarter by MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) states, “Although the recession has likely ended from an economist’s perspective, improving conditions have not yet resulted in job growth. Employment continued to decline during the fourth quarter, posting losses in every industry except health care and social services. Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined, signaling that employers are laying off far fewer workers than earlier in 2009. However, fewer layoffs have not led to additional hiring. The Tennessee unemployment rate dropped, but that was caused by a decline in the labor force—fewer people are looking for work. Employers are very cautious about hiring given the level of uncertainty regarding demand for goods and services.”

Contact Dr. David Penn, BERC director, at 615-898-2610.
dpenn@mtsu.edu

Soldier, seaman, scholar

Cathy Delametter, coordinator of the MTSU Military Center, will be the guest on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Feb. 21, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). The mission of the center is to provide a comprehensive support structure to serve military personnel and veterans choosing to attend MTSU. This includes programs and services to ensure a positive and successful experience for veteran students. The center offers access and referral for educational opportunities and veterans’ benefits; personal interaction, peer support and guidance; orientation and assimilation into the MTSU community; use of military credit toward degree completion; career counseling for job market transition; veteran communities and family activities; and access to organizations like BRAVO and ROTC.

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

Happy History Day!

MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Department of History will co-sponsor the annual Middle Tennessee District History Day Competition on the MTSU campus on Friday, Feb. 26. The daylong event is one of four district competitions in Tennessee that lead to a statewide competition in April and culminate in a national competition each June at the University of Maryland in College Park. This year’s event is expected to attract more than 200 middle- and high-school participants from as many as 30 area counties. Judging will be conducted from 10 a.m.-noon in the James Union Building (JUB), the Keathley University Center (KUC) and the Tom Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall with a 2:30 p.m. awards ceremony for students in the KUC Theater. Exhibits will be open to the public for viewing in the JUB until 1 p.m. Media welcomed.

Contact Dr. Rebecca Conard at 615-898-2423.
rconard@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

RESPONSIBILITY—WHAT’S YOUR POLICY?--Author and educator Hilde Hein will speak on “The Responsibility of Representation” at 3:30 p.m. today, Feb. 19, in Room 304 of MTSU’s James Union Building as part of the Department of Philosophy’s annual Applied Philosophy Lyceum. This event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Hein will discuss the ethics of museum representation, the role museums play in constituting the objects they seek to exhibit and the possible consequences of this role for the educational value of museums. Hein has served as curator for numerous exhibitions and has written several books on museum theory and practice. Her current project seeks to reassess the basic teaching of western philosophy in the U.S. in light of feminist theory and practice. Contact the Department of Philosophy at 615-898-2907.

HELP FOR HAITI--“Restoration Haiti,” an informational benefit concert planned and performed by MTSU students to help the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake, will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, at MTSU’s Wright Music Hall. Admission is $10 for non-students and $5 for students with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross. In addition, MTSU student Ertha Luma, a Haitian native, will share photographs and stories of catastrophic conditions in the Caribbean nation. As of Feb. 11, the official death toll stood at 230,000. Some one million Haitians have been rendered homeless by the quake. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates it will take 10 years to rebuild his country. The concert is the brainchild of MTSU junior Jasmine Pratt, a 20-year-old English major from Atlanta, Ga. For more information, contact the Office of Leadership and Service at 615-898-5812 or contact Pratt at princess.jasmine213@gmail.com.

MAKING A FASHION STATEMENT--MTSU’s Eta Kappa Chapter of the Gamma Sigma Sigma national service sorority will present its second annual Prom Dress Collection Drive from through Saturday, Feb. 27. Drop off your prom dresses at Holiday Cleaners, 911 Memorial Blvd. in Murfreesboro, for distribution in March to high school junior and senior girls in Rutherford and Williamson counties who are on the free/reduced lunch program. Dresses must be from 2002 to the present, must be dry-cleaned and on hangers, and must be prom dresses, formal gowns or fancy party dresses. Garments that were purchased before 2002 or have not been dry-cleaned, wedding dresses, casual or semiformal clothing and tuxedoes are unacceptable. To make an appointment for dropping off a dress, or to make a monetary donation, contact Claressa Johnson at 615-427-1816 or claressa0467@hotmail.com.

LEARNING FROM THE LANDSCAPE--MTSU history students produced the exhibit “Listening to the Landscape: The Stories of Stones River National Battlefield,” which is on display at Linebaugh Public Library, 105 W. Vine St. in Murfreesboro, through March 9th. The exhibit highlights the changes that occurred on the battlefield landscape prior to the Civil War through the present. One of the four exhibit panels highlights the African-American community known as “Cemetery.” It formed around Stones River National Cemetery after the Civil War. Linebaugh also will feature books that are related to the exhibit. “Listening to the Landscape” is sponsored by Eastern National, the Public History Program at MTSU, the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and Stones River National Battlefield. Contact the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area office at 615-898-2947 or the MTSU Department of History at 615-898-2536.

SOMEDAY YOUR PRINTS WILL COME.--The Todd Hall Art Gallery will present “PRINTS: Through the Collector’s Eyes,” an exhibition that brings together a wide variety of original prints, through Sunday, March 4. Among the works that will be displayed are wood engravings, etchings, lithographs and screen prints, all of which are primarily from area collectors. “Included are prints from the 17th to the 21st centuries with work by famous artists as well as those who are less known,” says Christie Nuell, exhibit curator and MTSU art professor. The gallery is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Fridays. Call Eric Snyder, gallery curator, at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@mtsu.edu.

HOME IS WHERE THE VOLUNTEERS ARE.--MTSU students are building a second Habitat for Humanity home for a Rutherford County resident. Building dates will include Wednesdays, Fridays and some Saturdays. There will be two shifts per day—in the morning from 8:30 a.m. to noon and in the afternoon from noon until 4 p.m. The home dedication is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 25. The Office of Leadership and Service is rounding up volunteers from student organizations for this humanitarian effort. The future resident’s family also will be helping to build their home, and Central Middle School and Jason’s Deli are pitching in. Media welcomed. Good photo opportunities throughout the construction process. For more information, contact Jackie Victory at 615-898-5812 or mtleader@mtsu.edu.