Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“Ninety percent of the game is half mental.”—Yogi Berra

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposes banning all NCAA intercollegiate athletic teams that fail to achieve at least a 40 percent graduation rate from post-season competition. Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says, “As an academic, I fully support the Secretary’s call for a mandated graduation rate for NCAA college teams in order to participate in the post-season. Too often we are providing ‘sports factories’ for our student-athletes who really have no interest in school, often do not show up in class or obtain acceptable grades, and coaches who approach professors privately and ask them to be ‘flexible’ in the grading process. The integrity of the whole higher education system is compromised when we are not mandating that student-athletes take responsibility for their own education and give 100 percent effort in the classroom.”

Contact Anshel at 615-898-2812.
manshel@mtsu.edu

It takes a lot of Balzac.

“Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” is the latest movie to be presented in the Chinese Film Festival sponsored by the Confucius Institute and the College of Mass Communication Dean’s Office. The film will be shown with English subtitles at 6 p.m. this Sunday, April 11, in Room 103 of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. Based on the best-selling novel set during China’s Cultural Revolution, this acclaimed 2002 film is about two young university students who are sent to a remote mountain village for a Maoist re-education, to purge them of their decadent Western education. Amid the backbreaking work and stifling ignorance of the community, the local beauties are the only respite from their miserable life. But none compare to the granddaughter of the region’s tailor. With a secret cache of forbidden books, they set about to woo her. This event is free and open to the public. Master’s degree candidate Liu Xiao will guide a discussion following the movie.

Contact the Confucius Institute at 615-494-8696 or Dr. Bob Spires at 615-898-2217.

“Is this Heaven?” “It’s Iowa.”—Dwier Brown and Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams”

Dr. Greg Heath, chairman of the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, will present “Physical Activity and the Built Environment: If You Build It, Will They Come … And Use It?” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. “Dr. Heath’s talk will address how the physical design of our communities can play an important role in reducing childhood obesity and providing children and families with greater opportunities to lead an active lifestyle,” says Dr. Don Morgan, professor of health and human performance and director of MTSU’s Center for Physical Activity and Health in Youth. This event is free and open to the public.

Contact Morgan at 615-898-5549.
dmorgan@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

DIGGIN’ UP BONES--Dr. Kathy Reichs, producer of the Fox television series “Bones” based on her work and related novels, will visit MTSU as the featured speaker of the Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 14, in Murphy Center. The lecture, titled “From Crime Lab to Crime Fiction,” is free and open to the public. Reichs, known as “Dr. Bones,” has career experience ranging from teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains to separating and identifying commingled body parts. Her novels include Deja Dead, Monday Mourning and 260 Bones. Reichs will sign books following her lecture, and copies of her titles will be available for sale in Phillips Bookstore, located in Keathley University Center, prior to her talk. For more information, contact the Forensic Institute for Research and Education at 615-494-7713.

SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG RESUME.--Dr. Douglas Brinkley will deliver the 19th annual Windham Lecture at MTSU at 7 p.m. tomorrow, April 8, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building. Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and a fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, will discuss “The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.” During the lecture, which is free and open to the public, Brinkley will lead a discussion based on his epic biography of Roosevelt, drawing on never-before-published materials to examine TR’s life and achievements. Brinkley is the author of numerous award-winning books, including The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2006) and The Reagan Diaries (2007). Contact the College of Liberal Arts at 615-494-7628.

MTSU MOVIEMAKERS--The initial public viewing of “The New, True Charlie Wu,” the fourth independent film from Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication, and a crew of MTSU students and alumni will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, at Premier 6 Theater, 810 N.W. Broad St. in Murfreesboro. In addition, there will be multiple special nighttime showings from 7-10 p.m. that evening on the first floor of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. The short movie follows the title character, a young accountant who is disenchanted with his job, on a trip into his subconscious mind, where his overbearing boss and a gospel choir compete for his soul and his future. “Charlie Wu” already has received the Remi Award out of more than 2,400 entries at the 43rd annual Worldfest, the oldest independent film festival in the country, in Houston, as well as “Best Comedy Short” awards from the Smogdance International Film Festival in Pomona, Calif., and the Fifteen Minutes of Fame Film Festival in Palm Bay, Fla. Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465 or pondillo@mtsu.edu.

INTERESTING ISLAM--The Muslim Students Association (MSA) at MTSU continues its annual Islam Awareness Week today, April 7, with a lecture on “Gender Relations in Islam” by Dr. Awad Binhazim, professor of pathology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the Hazlewood Dining Room of the James Union Building. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Saleh Sbenaty, MSA faculty advisor, at 615-898-2966 or ssbenaty@mtsu.edu or Mujitaba Alamiri, MSA President, at mtsu.msa@gmail.com.

TO YOUR HEALTH--Dr. Scott Corlew, chief medical officer of Interplast, will have an open presentation on global health issues from 12:40 to 1:30 p.m. on World Health Day, today, April 7, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. Interplast volunteers visit developing countries to provide free reconstructive surgery for adults and children with cleft palates, disabling burns and hand injuries. The presentation will be of special interest to students majoring in nursing, health and human performance, communication disorders, global studies and pre-health professions. This event is sponsored by the Adams Chair of Excellence in Health Care Services/Center for Health and Human Services and is free and open to the public. Contact Cindy Rhea at 615-904-8342 or crhea@mtsu.edu.

LULLABY AND GOOD NIGHT--In March 2006, Jaz’s Jammies was created to collect new pajamas for sick children in hospitals to help them feel appreciated and loved while staying extended periods of time. Jaz’s Jammies has collected nearly 3,000 pairs of pajamas. Originally, it was the Girl Scout project of MTSU student Jasmine Gray, a young woman who had experienced dozens of surgeries for a facial disorder and had spent up to three months in the hospital at a time. You can help Jaz’s Jammies spread love by donating during the 2010 Pajama Drive through April 29. Drop off your children’s PJs at the University Honors College, the John Bragg Mass Communication Building, the Business and Aerospace Building or the second floor of the Keathley University Center. If you’re off-campus, you can set up a drive for your community organization, business or school. For more information, send an e-mail to jazsjammies@yahoo.com.

PLAY SMART!--The Center for Physical Activity & Health in Youth at MTSU will present “Play Symposium III: Diversity, Children’s Physical Activity and Play” from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 10, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building. This workshop, which is free and open to the public, is designed for student teachers, homeschool educators, public school educators and parents who want to enhance their children’s learning through physical activity and play. Dr. Kathy Burriss, elementary and special education, says, “The value of play and physical activity, no matter a child’s physical limitations, is invaluable, but one that is often overlooked. Our symposium will help participants connect physical activity with learning that is fun but also intellectually beneficial in ways that most don’t think about.” Contact Burriss at 615-898-2323 or kburriss@mtsu.edu.

GOING TO SEE THE CANDIDATES ORATE--MTSU, in cooperation with the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce, will play host to a gubernatorial forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 29, in Murphy Center. Doors will open at 6 p.m. Free tickets will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, starting with MTSU students, followed by faculty, staff and the general public. MTSU students with valid IDs may pick up tickets now. All other university personnel and the general public may pick up tickets in advance at the MTSU Ticket Office, located at Gate 1A at Floyd Stadium on Faulkinberry Drive. For all ticket and general information, call the MTSU Ticket Office at 1-888-YES-MTSU (1-888-937-6878).