Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“This is my opening farewell.”—Jackson Browne

Emmett Kennon’s $3.6 million bequest to MTSU will be put to good use. “Of the total $3.6 million, about $3 million was earmarked for scholarships, and $600,000 was given to the athletic department to use at their discretion to meet program needs,” says Joe Bales, vice president for Development and University Relations. Of the $3 million for student scholarships, $1 million will be put in the new Centennial Scholars program, which will ultimately support 10 students throughout their college career. The remaining $2 million will go into a general scholarship endowment that will be unrestricted and allow the financial aid office tyo support the needs of many students each year. Kennon (’38) passed away in October 2009 at the age of 94.

Contact Joe Bales at 615-898-5818 or Athletic Director Chris Massaro at 615-898-2450.

Pentagon Papers: The 21st Century Edition

A new edition of Operation Dark Heart, the story of U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, is slated to go on sale this week containing some 200 deletions courtesy of the Department of Defense. DOD initially had cleared an unedited edition. Then, in an about face, it offered to buy all 10,000 copies of the book already printed. The publisher and DOD settled on the edited compromise. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “Now it is absolutely true we need to pay attention when government officials play the national security card. But, in too many instances in the not-so-distant past, such claims have been used to cover up embarrassing information or to promote pet projects or send us to war, rather than protect real secrets. One has to wonder if that is happening again.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

A leap of faith

People of faith have wondered for ages how so much there can be so much pain and suffering if God is as good and all-powerful as we have been told. Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, says, “It seems quite clear: a transcendent and benevolent Deity will need all the help we mortals can give in pursuit of a better—not the best, by a long shot—world. That’s what William James meant in inviting us to consider ourselves co-creators with a less-than-omnipotent God. Suppose that the world’s author put the case to you before creation, saying: ‘I am going to make a world not certain to be saved, a world the perfection of which shall be conditional merely, the condition being that each of several agents does its own level best. I offer you the chance of taking part in such a world. Its safety, you see, is unwarranted. It is a real adventure, with real danger, yet it may win through. It is a social scheme of co-operative work genuinely to be done. Will you join the procession? Will you trust yourself and trust the other agents enough to face the risk?’”

Contact Oliver at 615-898-2050.
poliver@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can share knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class is based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK/A WONDERFUL TOWN—MTSU’s Baldwin Photographic Gallery is proud to play host to “New York, September 11” by world-renowned photographic cooperative Magnum Photos through Oct. 18. This stunning exhibition of 39 rare photographs began touring the nation five years after the terrorist attacks on the United States. These pictures capture images as they happened—many from an intimate, street-level perspective. Also included are beautiful photos of the World Trade Center twin towers before their fall. The Baldwin Gallery is in the McWherter Learning Resources Center. Exhibitions are free and open to the public. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 12-4 p.m.