Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Willkommen!

MTSU will welcome a delegation of university student affairs professionals from Germany today, Feb. 24, as part of their week-long tour of institutions of higher learning in the area. The visit is made possible under the auspices of NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education), a Washington, D.C.-based professional association for student affairs administrators, faculty, and graduate and undergraduate students. “Our staff will be exposed to some new thoughts about how schools abroad are structured,” says Dr. Deb Sells, Vice President of Student Affairs and Vice Provost of Enrollment and Academic Services. “That’s not a chance we get very often. It will prompt us to think about why we do what we do, which will be beneficial in and of itself.”

Contact the Division of Student Affairs at 615-898-2440.

Make a joyful noise (even in the library)

Before Black History Month draws to a close, take a moment to check out “The Beautiful Music that Surrounds You,” a celebratory exhibit on the first floor of the James E. Walker Library at MTSU. The nine-panel array is a tribute to Tullahoma native John W. Work III, who earned degrees from Columbia and Yale before teaching and directing the internationally acclaimed Fisk University Jubilee Singer. The papers, photographs and records shown in the display are archived at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, located in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. The exhibit was created by the Arts Center of Cannon County with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission. A companion CD of music recorded by Work has been released by Springfed Records, a project of the Arts Center.

Contact the Walker Library at 615-898-2772 or the Center for Popular Music at 615-898-2449.

It’s on the house.

As we examine the economy for any signs of life, the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) at MTSU documents something of an upturn in the Tennessee housing market. A recent BERC report states, “Single-family home construction permits rose again in the fourth quarter, climbing to 13,500 from 12,700 in the third quarter. Although single-family construction has improved for four consecutive quarters, the level of activity remains substantially lower than most of 2008. Compared with the Southern states and the U.S., however, Tennessee’s single-family construction is progressing more rapidly. Single-family permits increased 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter for Tennessee compared with just 2.5 percent for the South and 3.2 percent for the U.S.”

Contact the BERC at 615-898-2610.

TR EXTRA

THE POWER AND THE GLORIA--Writer and lecturer Gloria Steinem, whose pivotal role in the women’s rights movement has resulted in great strides toward equality, will deliver the keynote address of MTSU’s National Women’s History Month celebration at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Mar. 2, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. This event is free and open to the public and will be followed with a reception and book signing. Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. magazine in 1972, raised the public profile of feminism with her writing, lectures and public appearances. “Gloria Steinem is an icon!,” says Terri Johnson, chair of MTSU’s Women’s History Month Committee and director of the June Anderson Women’s Center. “Her place in the women’s movement is one that will always be respected and honored.” Contact the Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

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 or rconard@mtsu.edu.

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.