Monday, May 10, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The Duncan degree dilemma

Is it possible for intercollegiate athletes nationwide to achieve a 40 percent graduation rate? U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks so. Duncan wants to ban all NCAA teams with graduation rates that fall below the 40 percent mark. Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says, “I support the policy but would start at a relatively lower graduation rate, then work up over the next 5-10 years toward the 40 percent level. We do our student athletes no favors when we fail to promote their education, and they leave university without a degree. They need to know their sports team and the university mean business when it comes to their commitment to receiving a degree. I have no problem with setting limits.”

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

Building or bilking?

A study by Dr. William Canak, sociology, and Dr. Randall Adams of Tennessee Tech finds that 38,680 Tennessee construction workers were misclassified in 2006. This resulted in a loss of nearly $15 million in unemployment taxes and $92 million in workers’ compensation premiums, leaving honest construction companies to pick up the slack. Canak and Adams write, “The underground economy in construction has grown rapidly in recent years. Industry practices have made it difficult for public agencies to enforce employment standards and tax laws. As in the case of environmental pollution, markets on their own do not force businesses to ‘internalize’ all the costs they generate.”

Contact Canak at 615-898-5361.
wcanak@mtsu.edu

Through a glass clearly

The Hubble Space Telescope got off to a shaky start. Initially, it was stigmatized as a big bucks boondoggle because a construction flaw required an unplanned space shuttle mission to install a corrective lens. But Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says it has more than lived up to its early promotion. Images taken by Hubble “show that the universe is literally teeming with galaxies of different colors, shapes and sizes--some relatively close, galactically speaking, others unimaginably far away,” says MacDougall. “They remind me of my first exposure to the microscopic world. … Thanks to NASA’s polished public relations efforts, many of Hubble’s images have made a personal impact on a large number of people.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

WORKING WOMEN--The June S. Anderson Foundation will present the foundation scholarships for the 2010-2011 academic year to Katherine Anderson of Manchester and Rhonda Davidson of Martin, at a luncheon at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 14, at the MTSU Foundation House, 324 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The foundation awards full tuition stipends annually to full-time MTSU undergraduate women who are 23 years of age or older and who are preparing for careers in nontraditional fields for women. Anderson (no relation to June Anderson) is pursuing an undergraduate degree in accounting and is on course to graduate in May 2011. From there, she plans to enter graduate school at MTSU and earn a master’s degree in business administration. Davidson, a 43-year-old single woman majoring in construction management, says she believes she will be able to find employment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when she completes her degree in 2012. For more information, go to the foundation website at http://frank.mtsu.edu/~jsa/.

APRENDA CON ME--The University School of Nashville is hosting MTSU’s 2010 Summer Language Institute, where you can learn Spanish in a fun, low-stress environment. The methods employed are Total Physical Response (TPR) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). These methods mimic the way you learned your first language. Movement, games, songs and storytelling are all part of the instruction. Brian Roberts will teach Spanish I for ages 16 and up from July 19-23 at the University School and from Aug. 2-6 at the O’More School of Design in Franklin. Jason Fritze will teach Spanish II for ages 16 and up from July 19-23 at the University School. The cost for all language classes is $350 with a $20 materials fee due on the first day of class. Contact Dr. Shelley Thomas at 615-898-5757 or shthomas@mtsu.edu.

A FOREIGN AFFAIR--MTSU junior Aaron Shew will depart for Turkey around May 14 for study experiences that will enhance not only his education but his prestige and his portfolio. Shew, a double major in plant and soil science and international relations from Murfreesboro, will join students from other institutions in a conflict resolution course in Cyprus and Turkey at his own expense. Through June 9, Shew will question government diplomats on best practices for negotiating solutions to thorny issues between countries. From there, Shew will head back to Lucknow, India, where he studied in the summer of 2009 under a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) from the U.S. Department of State, for extensive instruction in the Urdu language. His summer studies will be funded with another CLS. The 2010-2011 academic year is covered under a fully endowed fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. For an interview with Shew, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.