Monday, January 24, 2011

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

“This is ourselves/Under pressure”—David Bowie and Queen

A new documentary titled “Race to Nowhere” posits that parents who prep their children for college from the moment they enter kindergarten by pushing them to do more and more extracurricular activities on top of the usual schoolwork are doing their kids a disservice. Are kids under too much stress to succeed in school so they will have the kind of credentials they need to get into college? Dr. Kathy Burriss, elementary and special education, says, “Children today, even young children, feel stressed. But today’s schools emphasize high achievement as measured by test scores, which translate into long hours of tedious drill, leading to still more stress. And, in order to guarantee more seat time, administrators reduce or eliminate recess and other play activities children need.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2323.
kburriss@mtsu.edu

A round-trip ticket to educational success

Dr. Sean Foley is putting his third Fulbright Fellowship to use in a relatively little-explored but highly relevant area of scholarship as he continues to investigate religious connections between the Arab Gulf States and Southeast Asia under the auspices of International Islamic University Malaysia. Foley, an assistant professor of history at MTSU, is working and studying mostly in Malaysia with a stipend from the Fulbright Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. However, his experiences in other countries in the region are yielding future benefits not only for academia in general, but for MTSU specifically. “Sean’s travel and research presentations … will highlight the name ‘Middle Tennessee State University’ throughout the region,” says Dr. Amy Sayward, chair of the MTSU Department of History. “We hope that Sean’s contacts today will lead to a more international graduate-student body in our department and on our campus in the years to come.

Contact Sayward at 615-898-2569.
asayward@mtsu.edu

Make it a Happy Hundredth!

Join MTSU in celebrating its 100th birthday! Go to http://www.mtsu.edu/centennial/ and check out a full array of photos of Blue Raider athletics, scenes around campus, military pictures, aerial photos of the campus over the years and snapshots from the 1920 handbook. Learn more about the MTSU Centennial Scholars Program, which was created to help attract even more elite high-school students to the university. Reserve a table for the Blue Tie Centennial Gala, slated for Sept. 9, 2011 at the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro Hotel and Conference Center. Select from a wide variety of Centennial merchandise, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts, caps, lapel pins, shot glasses and much more.

For more information, contact the Centennial Committee at centennial@mtsu.edu.

TR EXTRA

LEARNING ABOUT COLLEGE -- “How to Win at the Game of College,” a three-part seminar series to equip students with the tools and strategies to ensure college success, will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the State Farm Lecture Hall (Room S102) of the Business and Aerospace Building at MTSU. A dynamic, interactive and audio-visual presentation by Dr. Ryan Otter, assistant professor of biology, and based on his book How to Win at the Game of College: Practical Advice from a College Professor, the opening installment of the series is titled “The Benefits of the ‘Be Weird’ Strategy.” It will focus on how college is different from high school and how being “weird” will lead to success. For more information, contact Otter at 615-898-2063 or rrotter@mtsu.edu or Gina Logue of the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.

YES, THEY CAN! -- The Center for Health and Human Services at MTSU will administer the “Yes I Can! Diabetes Self-Management Program” from February through June in Rutherford County. It will consist of six weeks’ worth of two-and-a-half-hour sessions that will be completely free to participants. The community-based protocol is derived from a model created by Stanford University and used nationwide for the past 20 years. Diabetics, their supporters and people who might have indications of a pre-diabetic condition are encouraged to participate. There will be a cap of 20 people per class, so sign up now. Doctor’s referrals are not required. Participants must be 18 years of age or older. Children will not be allowed to attend. For specific times and locations or to register online, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/achcs/YesICan.shtml.

“NOTHING HAPPENS UNLESS FIRST A DREAM.”—CARL SANDBURG--Dr. Jhon (spelling is correct) C. Akers will interpret the works of poet Carl Sandburg on classical guitar in “Carl Sandburg and the Spanish Guitar,” a lecture slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building. Akers was twice the featured lecturer for the Sandburg Days Festival in Galesburg, Ill. He is an associate professor of modern languages at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Sandburg, a poet, historian and winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, also collected folk songs and wrote children’s literature and had a lifelong love for the Spanish guitar. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. William Yelverton at 615-898-2004 or 615-898-5623.

NANU, NANU!—NO, NO! NANO, NANO!--The MTSU Chemistry Society, the Department of Chemistry and the Nashville section of the American Chemical Society invite you to attend the 15th annual Golden Goggles Invitational Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Room 102 of the Wiser-Patten Science Building. The speaker will be Professor James M. Tour of the Smalley Institute for Science and Technology at Rice University in Houston. Tour will speak on “Nanomaterials, Nanoelectronics, Nanomedicine and Nanocars.” In addition, a buffet including barbeque, beverages and cake is slated for 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Room 106 of the Davis Science Building. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Andrienne Friedli at 615-898-2071 or afriedli@mtsu.edu.