Future Students
Undergraduates
Graduates
Current Students
Undergraduates
Graduates
MTSU Alumni
Faculty and Staff

The Record, Feb. 28, 2011, V19.16



Read the PDF version here!


>>Top of Page




Traffic is changing along MTSU Boulevard

The final and possibly the most challenging phase of construction has begun on MTSU Boulevard, which connects the interior of campus to Rutherford Boulevard.

The work will cause some changes in traffic and parking along the thoroughfare, said Ron Malone, assistant vice president for events and transportation services.

Plans are to maintain one lane of traffic along the construction route, Malone said, but vehicular travel between the Blue Raider Drive/MTSU Boulevard intersection and the Rutherford Boulevard campus entrance/exit will be affected until the project is completed this fall.

Workers have placed new fencing along both sides of the street between the roundabout and the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building. A pathway north of the fencing now allows pedestrian access from the parking lots to campus buildings located within the fenced area.

Malone said all parking along the street, and even some parking in adjacent parking lots, will be affected and will be temporarily relocated. Campus officials are recommending that commuters park in perimeter lots, such as those along Rutherford Boulevard, and ride the Raider Xpress shuttle bus into campus. Faculty and staff will find white-decal parking available in the lot south of the Honors Building.

"MTSU will provide periodic updates concerning future road closures, and we appreciate the cooperation from the campus and community as we continue to improve our campus accessibility," Malone said.

For more information, contact the Office of Events and Transportation at 615-898-5002.


>>Top of Page



Aerospace unveils ATC simulator lab

by Randy Weiler

Because of the darkened room conditions, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro thought President Sidney A. McPhee had moved the weekly President's Cabinet meeting to a location near Orlando, Fla., instead of across campus.

"It was one of the most impressive things I have seen on a college campus," Massaro said of the Department of Aerospace's unique Air Traffic Control Training and Research Facility. "It was easy to see the practical applications of the lab and the value it brings to a student interested in this field.

"When we first walked into the lab, I felt like I was entering something at Disney World, but that feeling soon ended when the students began their demonstration. It was very involved and very technical. We have some incredible students on our campus."

Fourteen other cabinet colleagues joined Massaro Feb. 14 as some of the first administrators to tour the facility, which is located in Room S113 of the Business and Aerospace Building.

In both classes and laboratory training, students are gaining practical experience in the three-phase air traffic control simulators that resemble ATC facilities in a variety of major airports, including Nashville, Memphis, Oklahoma City and Atlanta.

Upon entering the room, visitors first view the pseudopilot positions. They next go into the tower lab, a seamless 360-degree fiberglass screen that rises to nine feet with a diameter of 29 feet.

Ten high-definition digital projectors "create the most realistic tower simulator available today," said Gail Zlotky, an associate professor of aerospace and coordinator of MTSU's Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative.

"This tower simulator will contain seven operational positions: two local, two ground, flight-data, clearance-delivery and cab-coordinator."

Computer Science Corporation, which won the contract to provide the tower and radar simulators to MTSU last summer, has delivered a simulated-tower environment for the Memphis and Nashville air traffic systems, Zlotky said.

The third tour stop is the 10-suite radar lab, which "can simulate both en- route and radar-approach control environments," she said. Each position contains a touch-screen communication panel, digital radar display, flight-progress strip bay and more.

Josh Curtis, a senior aerospace major from Douglas, Ga., had high praise for the facility.

"The new ATC simulators and training facility means more than any non-ATC student can imagine," he said. "There is a huge difference between learning classroom material and actually putting it into play in a simulated environment. While we had technology to help put what we learn into practice, this new technology far surpasses what the school used to have.

"Our new tower simulator really gives the feeling of what it's like to actually be in a real-world tower and being able to see in every direction, as opposed to some tower simulators that would only give you 180 degrees of visibility. Not only can we see planes landing on the runways, but we can see the planes that are coming in from behind us and put in perspective what we see on the radar screen.

"If it wasn't for MTSU's awesome ATC program and the new simulators, I wouldn't live 3 1/2 hours away from my wife," Curtis continued. "To know that I, along with my classmates, am among the first participants in this new age of ATC training is something I will be proud of all of my life."

Aerospace Chair Dr. Wayne Dornan told cabinet members that MTSU's facility is "the only simulator of its type in the world" and can create "any kind of weather—-rain or snow" for training.

"It is just one example of the many high-quality and unique academic programs available at MTSU. I am proud of the aerospace faculty for working so hard to bring the facility to our campus," said Dr. Warner Cribb, geosciences professor and president of the MTSU Faculty Senate.

"The air traffic control simulator ... is an outstanding example of MTSU being out in front with new technologies for use by our faculty and students," added Dr. Pat Geho, director of the MTSU Small Business Development Center and an associate professor of business communication and entrepreneurship.

Dornan, Zlotky, MTSU staffers (and Federal Aviation Administration retirees) Ed Johnson and Bill Stewart, new Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations Director Kyle Snyder and AT-CTI assistant Adam Gerald joined students to talk about their various roles with the cabinet members.




CONTROLLING THE TRAFFIC—MTSU junior aerospace major Josh Anderson, seated, shows MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee how to operate a terminal on Feb. 14 while members of the President's Cabinet tour the new $3.4 million air traffic control simulator lab in the Business and Aerospace Building. Administrators inspecting other equipment are, from left, Kim Edgar, McPhee's executive assistant; Dr. Wayne Dornan, aerospace chair; Joe Bales, vice president for development and university relations; John Cothern, senior vice president; and Dr. Pat Geho, director of MTSU's Small Business Development Center.

MTSU Photographic Services photo by J. Intintoli


>>Top of Page


RI professor, alumni bring home Grammys

MTSU made a splash at the Feb. 13 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Recording-industry professor John Hill won a "Best Engineered Album, Classical" Grammy for his audio-engineering work on the CD "Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony; Deus Ex Machina," while alumnus Clarke Schleicher (B.S. "80) received his "Record of the Year" Grammy as engineer/mixer on Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" single.

The same single nabbed MTSU history grad Josh Kear ('96) two more Grammys to add to his collection: "Song of the Year" and "Best Country Song." Kear also won the 2007 "Best Country Song" Grammy for "Before He Cheats," a chart-topper for Carrie Underwood.

Hill and Schleicher also were nominated for second Grammys, Hill for "Best Classical Album" for "Metropolis" and Schleicher for "Album of the Year" for the entire "Need You Now" CD.

Hill's award-winning CD featured works by contemporary composer Michael Daugherty as performed by Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Hill has been the Nashville Symphony's recording engineer since 2000 and was nominated for a "Best Classical Album" Grammy in 2007 for engineering the symphony's CD "Ravel: "L'Enfant et les sortileges" ("the Child and the Spells") and "Sheherazade."

Schleicher designed and supervised the installation of three recording facilities at Warner Bros. Records and manages the company's day-to-day operations of two studios and an editing suite. His responsibilities include studio booking, billing, maintenance and inventory.

He also runs his own company, L. Clarke Schleicher Engineerin in Nashville, as an independent audio recording engineer.

Kear, who minored in recording-industry management, currently writes for Big Yellow Dog Music in Nashville and has had songs recorded by Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride and Gloriana. His "Need You Now" co-writers, the Lady Antebellum trio, included Hillary Scott, also a former MTSU student.


>>Top of Page


In Brief: AFLAC on campus March 1

An AFLAC representative will be on campus on Tuesday, March 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Human Resource Services Conference Room in the Sam Ingram Building. No appointments are necessary. AFLAC provides both cancer and intensive-care benefits. For more information, contact AFLAC representative Jane Tucker at 931-703-5134 or Tucker.jane1@gmail.com.


>>Top of Page


Alumnus' gift will help make history for MTSU

by Tom Tozer

Giving back has always been part of Jim Gaines' DNA. The 1969 MTSU graduate with a bachelor's degree in history recently reaffirmed not only his generosity but his unwavering devotion to his alma mater by establishing the Jim Gaines Endowed Chair in American History through his estate.

The gift ultimately will enable MTSU to recruit a renowned historian to the faculty.

"One thing that I would say to every MTSU graduate and to those who will be graduating is to look back at your experience; you probably had one or more people who helped you," Gaines says. "If you love (MTSU) like I do, think about giving back. I want MTSU to be even greater after I'm gone. Whether you want to give regularly during your lifetime or give something in your will, there is something each of us can do to give back."

A former six-year board member of the MTSU Foundation, Gaines understands the importance of private giving.

"The alumni from MTSU are going to have to reach into their pockets and start donating more money," he says. "I have been told that the amount of state support has decreased over the years. With greater financial support, we'll be able to hire the best professors and build new facilities."

"Jim exemplifies what we wish all our alumni would aspire to—-someone who stays involved, engaged and committed to the institution and really only wants what's best for us," adds Joe Bales, MTSU vice president for development and university relations.

"Even though he literally lives about as far away from campus as any alumnus, being out in California, he does stay connected and in touch. Jim's goal is to see MTSU better tomorrow than it is today, and he's willing to invest in that goal. We are grateful for his tremendous generosity."

Gaines' responses to questions about himself dissolve into fond reflections of people at MTSU whom he admired and who influenced him. His personal "professors' hall of fame," he says, would include Drs. Richard Peck, Robert Corlew, Roscoe Strickland Jr., Bart McCash and his favorite, William Windham. Dean Hayes, MTSU head track coach, remains a good friend, he adds.

Now a resident of La Jolla, Calif., Gaines grew up in Kingsport, Tenn. As a youngster, he learned how to work and save money by mowing lawns and later working at a church retreat during the summer while attending and eventually graduating from Dobyns-Bennett High School.

"My mom kept urging me to go to East Tennessee State," he recalls. "I said no; I wanted to get away and be on my own. Then she suggested UT, and I said that it was really too big for me. I had never been to Middle Tennessee State. So I took the bus to freshman orientation and stayed at the old James K. Polk Hotel across the street from the First Baptist Church. I walked the campus.

"There was a pay phone in front of the old library. I called my mom and said I was going to Middle Tennessee. She asked why. I told her it was 4a beautiful campus, I was impressed by the other students, and besides, there were some good-looking girls here."

During his college years, Gaines worked in the school library and, during his junior year, served as a residence-hall counselor. ("I think I'll write a book on that experience.") He also worked in a men's clothing store in the College Heights area called The Caboose "because it was in an actual caboose." Gaines also was instrumental in co-founding MTSU's Beta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

"The men and women who were students with me at MTSU have all turned out to be really good people," he notes. "If you were to ask me what I remember most about MTSU, it was the transformation from Middle Tennessee State College to Middle Tennessee State University. It was beginning to grow. It was transforming from a teachers' college to students majoring in business and mass communication. "

Gaines was and is an avid reader. After graduating from MTSU, he immediately went into the insurance business in management training with a large company—a business he has been in ever since. He read about successful men and women, and he learned early on that successful people stood on the shoulders of those who came before them.

In 1993, he established a scholarship at Dobyns-Bennett High School for a graduating senior who planned to attend MTSU. The criteria for winning the scholarship was not only achieving academic success but also being involved in school and community activities.

"There have been 17 or 18 scholarships so far, and it's really rewarding because the recipients will send me letters," he says. "It doesn't matter what their economic status is. I am convinced that in our world without a college education you're going to have a difficult time. My mission is to get as many kids in high school into college."

Gaines also serves as a tutor in a program called Reality Changers in his church. Originally established for Hispanic youth, it is open to anyone willing to sign an attendance contract and maintain a 3.0 GPA.

"We tutor the kids for the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), and we have some kids who come close to acing it," he points out. "Our best success story is a kid from a gang in San Diego with a GPA of something like 0.0006. Three years later, when he graduated from high school, he had a full academic ride to Dartmouth College."

In 2000, Gaines was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Following several chemotherapy treatments and a bone-marrow transplant in 2001, he was out of commission for a year and a half. Because he had no one to run his brokerage agency, he sold it, but rather than retire, he looked around for another enterprise.

"I almost bought a vitamin company, but I didn't know anything about that business," Gaines says with a laugh. His original insurance agency, Insurance Designers of San Diego, which he formed in the mid-1980s, sold in October 2001, right before he had his bone-marrow transplant.

In 2003, he formed his second company, Jim Gaines Insurance and Financial Services.

"You've always heard that you should do what you're good at. So I started an Internet insurance business from my home. People contact me by going on the Internet. I work about four days a week. I love what I'm doing."

"I'm very sentimental. I tell people that if I had to do it over again, I would still go to MTSU," he reflects.


>>Top of Page


School of Journalism receives $40,000 McCormick grant for media conference on Islam

The MTSU School of Journalism has received a $40,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation to host a conference to help reporters across the South cover issues involving Islam in their communities.

The conference, "Covering Islam in the Bible Belt," will bring journalists together with experts and academics to help them better explain the controversial and complicated issues that can arise during community conversations on the topic.

Tentatively scheduled to take place in Nashville in August, the two-day conference will include a variety of session topics, including facts, statistics and misconceptions about Islam; First Amendment issues vs. threats of terrorism; and the quality of media coverage of Islamic issues in the South, such as the Murfreesboro mosque.

The Chicago-based McCormick Foundation funds up to eight such conferences, called Specialized Reporting Institutes, each year, to provide journalists with subject-specific training. The Poynter Institute administers the program.

The conference proposal was written and submitted by Philip Loubere, assistant professor of visual communication, and Dr. Deborah Gump, the College of Mass Communication's Professional in Residence, who also directs the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies. They were assisted by Dr. Sanjay Asthana, associate professor of visual communication, and Dr. Dwight Brooks, director of the School of Journalism.


>>Top of Page


Genre-bending Fleck set for Windham Lecture March 15

Grammy-winning, genre-bending musician Béla Fleck will play MTSU's Windham Lecture Series in Liberal Arts into its second decade when the renowned banjoist serves as guest speaker on Tuesday, March 15, in Tucker Theatre.

"A Conversation with Béla Fleck," which will mark the Windham Lectures' 20th year, will begin at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the general public.

MTSU will whet audiences' appetites for Fleck's lecture on Monday, Feb. 28, when the Student Programming Films Committee offers a free public showing of the documentary on Fleck's pilgrimage to Africa to learn about the banjo's origins. "Throw Down Your Heart" will be screened at 4 p.m. in the Keathley University Center Theater.

Fleck just received his 14th Grammy Award, the "Best Contemporary World Music Album" for "Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks."

Fleck began his career on the guitar, but he was struck by the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs, particularly Earl Scruggs' banjo style, while watching "The Beverly Hillbillies" on TV. He began playing a banjo his grandfather bought him when he was 15 and, taught by artists as varied as Erik Darling, Marc Horowitz and Tony Trischka, Fleck was soon playing in bands and made his first solo album, "Crossing the Tracks," at age 19. His second album, "Natural Bridge," teamed him with David Grisman, Mark O'Connor, Ricky Skaggs, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall and other great players.

In 1981, Fleck was invited to join New Grass Revival, reuniting with an old pal, mandolinist Sam Bush, and adding Pat Flynn on guitar and John Cowan on bass to chart new territory with their blend of bluegrass, rock and country. During Fleck's nine years with NGR, he continued to record solo albums for Rounder Records and collaborated with Bush, O'Connor, Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer in an acoustic supergroup, Strength in Numbers.

Toward the end of the New Grass years, Fleck met keyboardist and harmonica player Howard Levy and connected with bassist Victor Wooten and his brother, percussionist Roy "FutureMan" Wooten. That one-shot appearance on the PBS "Lonesome Pine Specials" became the first performance of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, whose "blu-bop" jazz-bluegrass synthesis has led to best-selling CDs, multiple Grammy nominations and international tours. Levy left the Flecktones after three albums and was replaced by saxophonist Jeff Coffman. The group will be touring again this year with Levy as Béla Fleck and the Original Flecktones; Coffin will join the tour later, and the Flecktones plan a stop at Bonnaroo 2011 in Manchester, Tenn., on Friday, June 10, as well.

In the midst of tour preparations and countless side projects, Fleck also is working on his first standalone banjo concerto, commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, which is set for a September premiere.

Fleck's most recent Grammy came as a result of his 2005 excursions to Mali, The Gambia, Tanzania and Uganda to study the African origins of the banjo. He has been nominated in more different categories than anyone in Grammy history—bluegrass, classical, contemporary Christian, country, gospel, jazz, pop and spoken-word.

MTSU's Windham Lecture Series in Liberal Arts was established by William and Westy Windham through the MTSU Foundation. Dr. William Windham was a member of the MTSU faculty from 1955 to 1989 and served as chairman of the Department of History the last 11 years. The late Westy Windham (1927-91) earned a master's degree in sociology at MTSU and was the founder of the Great American Singalong.

For more information, please contact the College of Liberal Arts at 615-494-7628.


>>Top of Page


Students with disabilities can get better workout in Rec Center's new Adaptive Recreation Room

by Randy Weiler

Nearly 10 students are already making use of the new Adaptive Recreation Room, the latest addition to MTSU's Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center.

The room features three primary pieces of equipment—MOTOmed, Easy Stand Glider and Easy Stand—that will give students with disabilities more access to the Rec Center's facilities.

To show off the room, Campus Rec, Disabled Student Services and Student Affairs are planning an open house. It will be held Thursday, March 3, starting at 2 p.m.

"I was excited when I heard about this," said Wes Becker, a senior computer-science major from Mt. Juliet who uses a wheelchair. "There's not a lot of equipment like this—hand cycle and cardio—that we can use."

Disabled Student Services Director John Harris, Campus Rec Director Charlie Gregory and others began discussions on the topic after a student, Jennifer Austin of Cowan, Tenn., told them how recreational equipment is a part of the Tennessee Rehabilitation Center in Smyrna.

"It's something that's been on my mind a year or two," Harris said, adding that his office 'strongly supports this program."

Harris and Gregory agreed on the project and received the administration's support. The room opened Jan. 13, the first day of spring-semester classes.

Caleb Paschall, a former employee of Disabled Student Services, came on board to "develop the program, recruit volunteers and assist students with the equipment," said Jenny Crouch, Campus Rec's marketing and adaptive recreation/exercise coordinator.

The MOTOmed promotes pedaling and using the arms and legs, Paschall said. The Easy Stand Glider helps in blood circulation, using the participant's arm and leg muscles and relieving pressure sores from sitting and reclining. The Easy Stand also "relieves pressure sores and is great for bone density," he added.

Gregory said the three pieces of equipment, which were purchased in December, cost more than $17,000.

Crouch added that the Rec Center is trying to "encourage people with any disability to come and be physically more active."

"I'm really proud the University stepped up and is doing this," Harris said. "Therapy actually is good for them. " It will allow them to navigate this big campus better. "





GETTING A WORKOUT—MTSU senior Wes Becker, a computer-science major who uses a wheelchair, works out on the MOTOmed in the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center's new Adaptive Recreation Room as Caleb Paschall watches. Paschall, a former employee of MTSU's Disabled Student Services, developed the new program for Campus Recreation and now helps students use the equipment.

photo by News and Media Relations


>>Top of Page


Another great team player



GREAT WORK!—Betty Weigant, second from right, secretary for Construction and Renovation Services at MTSU, displays her plaque as the most recent Quarterly Secretarial/ Clerical Award winner. Celebrating with Weigant are, from left, Michelle Blackwell, chair of MTSU's Employee Recognition Committee; Terri Carlton, CRS senior project manager; and Betty Smithson, ERC member. For more information about nominating a co-worker for exemplary job performance, go to www.mtsu.edu/hrs/relations/recog.shtml .

MTSU Photographic Services photo by J. Intintoli


>>Top of Page


Invention Convention 2011 (online exclusive)



GETTING CREATIVE—McCall Decker, 11, a student at T.W. Hunter Middle School in Hendersonville, Tenn., shows Dr. Lana Seivers, dean of MTSU's College of Education, her "Mobile Makeover Center" project at MTSU's 19th annual Invention Convention, held Feb. 17 at Murphy Center. The event, sponsored by State Farm Insurance, drew more than 300 participants from schools across middle Tennessee to compete in two categories: "Games" and "Something to Make Life Easier."

MTSU Photographic Services photo by J. Intintoli


>>Top of Page


Nominate a colleague now for Outstanding Teacher Awards

There's still time to nominate an MTSU faculty member for the 2010-11 Outstanding Teacher Award: the deadline for submissions is Monday, March 7.

The MTSU Foundation has funded the Outstanding Teacher Awards for the past 45 years, presenting five awards annually with an accompanying prize of $3,000 each.

Alumni, faculty and students make nominations each year, and students and tenured faculty then base the final selections upon evaluations.

Guidelines, along with student, alumni and faculty nomination forms, for the Outstanding Teacher Award are available online at www.mtsu.edu/provost/ota_award/index.shtml .

All nominations must be in the Office of the University Provost, Room 111 of the Cope Administration Building, before close of business March 7. They may be e-mailed directly to pthomas@mtsu.edu or printed and sent in hard-copy form via campus mail to CAB 111.


>>Top of Page


Help recognize top students for leadership and service

Applications are being accepted through Tuesday, March 15, for the 2011 Student Recognition Awards.

The Division of Student Affairs will honor four undergraduate students for their exemplary character and achievements in scholarship, leadership and service. All members of the MTSU community are being encouraged to nominate students who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and who meet the award criteria.

The awards include the President's Award, the Provost's Award, the Robert C. LaLance Jr. Achievement Award and the Community Service Award. Descriptions and information about the application and selection process are available online at www.mtsu.edu/mtleader/awards_mtleader.shtml .

Nominating a student for one of these awards is easy: e-mail sjtravis@mtsu.edu and include the student's name, M number, contact information and the award to be considered. Deadline for completed applications is 4:30 p.m. March 15.


>>Top of Page


Film festival returns to campus April 4-8

The MTSU Films Committee will conduct its 11th Annual MTSU Student Film Festival Monday through Friday, April 4-8, in the Keathley University Center Theater. Deadline for submissions to the festival is Friday, March 25.

The festival will have nightly screenings at 7 p.m. that showcase MTSU's best up-and-coming student filmmakers. The MTSU Student Film Festival has been running since 2000.

"We are glad to continue the tradition of upholding an event where students can put their academic and extracurricular skills to use and showcase their talent," said Tyler Adkins, chair of the MTSU Films Committee. "We look forward to the eleventh year of the festival and hope it will be our best yet."

Submission packets are available now in the Office of Student Unions and Programming, located in Room 308 of the KUC, or online at www.mtsu.edu/events .

The festival will accept entries only from projects in which a current student holds a substantial role. Prizes, which will range from gift cards to a Nashville Film Festival patron-level pass, are being donated by the Nashville Film Festival. The prizes are subject to change; entrants will receive prior notification.

For more information about the film festival, contact Adkins at 615-898-2551 or mtsufilms@yahoo.com or visit www.mtsu.edu/events .


>>Top of Page


Campus Rec plans trip to Stone Door for faculty, staff

Get to know your MTSU colleagues and enjoy the beauty of Tennessee's wilderness with the help of Campus Recreation's Outdoor Pursuits staff!

A faculty/staff backpacking trip is planned to the Stone Door in South Cumberland State Park, located near Monteagle, Tenn., on Saturday and Sunday, March 26 and 27. Cost is $25 per employee and $30 each for spouses and includes transportation, backpacking equipment, trip coordinators, permits and camping fees.

Food is not provided, but organizers will offer a sample menu, a list of appropriate food and clothing choices and extra-equipment suggestions at a pre-trip meeting on Wednesday, March 23, at 5:30 p.m.

This trip is geared to beginners and to those who want a relaxing hike, organizers said.

The group will leave MTSU's Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center at 8 a.m. March 26, stopping en route for breakfast. Plans are to backpack most of the day and then set camp. After breakfast on Sunday, the group will finish backpacking and head back to Murfreesboro in the early evening with plans to stop for dinner on the return trip.

The Stone Door Trail is a part of the Savage Gulf area in South Cumberland State Park, one of Tennessee's newest state parks. Almost all of the park lies atop the Cumberland Plateau and, unlike most state parks, is made up of 10 different areas stretching across four counties. The area contains many beautiful vistas, rugged rock formations, wildlife and waterfalls.

For more information about this faculty/staff backpacking trip, contact Campus Rec Outdoor Pursuits at 615-898-2104.


>>Top of Page


Expert on workplace bullying to address hot topic at MTSU March 17

Dr. Gary Namie, nationally recognized expert on bullying, will speak at Middle Tennessee State University on Thursday, March 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building.

The title of his presentation is "Take a Stand: Stop Bullying." The event, sponsored by the Distinguished Speaker Series and the Jennings A. Jones College of Business, will be free and open to the public.

Namie directs a national network of citizen lobbyists, which is working to pass into law the anti-bullying Healthy Workplace Bill. He taught the first U.S. university course on workplace bullying and was an expert witness in the nation's first "bullying trial" in Indiana.

Namie and his wife, Dr. Ruth Namie, produce information on eight public websites devoted to education about bullying for citizens, lawmakers, unions and employers. Their work has been featured on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and in newspapers across the country.

To ease traffic congestion caused by construction in the area, visitors attending the event may park in the large parking lot east of Rutherford Boulevard and ride the Raider Xpress shuttle to the Business and Aerospace Building.

For more information, contact Dr. Jackie Gilbert in the Jones College of Business at 615-898-5418. You also may check out Gilbert's blog on bullying at www.organizedforefficiency.com .


>>Top of Page


Hannah travels to Bangladesh to aid university partners

by Gina K. Logue

A second shipment of books is on its way to Chittagong University in Bangladesh through the efforts of MTSU's Yunus Program and Dr. Richard Hannah, professor of economics and finance.

In December, Hannah spent two weeks in Bangladesh talking to students at CU, one of MTSU's international partners, and making contact with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, former MTSU professor and founder of the Grameen Bank in the capital city of Dhaka.

Yunus and the bank won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their success with microlending, the awarding of low-interest loans to poverty-stricken entrepreneurs. Yunus was an assistant professor at MTSU from 1969 to 1972.

Hannah says the first shipment, some 400 pounds of books, was collected with help from the Honors Student Association and sent to CU last spring.

"Here, after a student is done with a course or faculty members aren't using the books, they're of very low value," he says. "We want to transfer them to an area where they're valued extremely highly."

In addition, Hannah met with the executive staff at Grameen to discuss expanding internships at the bank. The first MTSU student to intern with Grameen, Steve Sibley, is in his second year of a doctoral program at Purdue University. Hannah says that future students, like Sibley, have to be willing to live among the poor and experience a quality of life that is probably unlike anything they have ever known.

"These have to be very resilient students who really want to get involved in world poverty studies—and I mean 'boots on the ground,'" Hannah says.

In the meantime, Hannah will join Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, manager of MTSU's Yunus Program, professor emeritus of economics and finance and adviser to the president and the provost on Asian affairs, to look for grant money to sustain the internship drive and bring another CU student to Murfreesboro.

The first student, Md. Alauddin Majumber, currently is working on his second master's degree at MTSU. Majumber is an assistant professor in CU's Department of Economics, and his graduate assistantship is funded with a grant from the MTSU Foundation and a Bangladeshi government subsidy.

Hannah says the two weeks he spent in Bangladesh has prompted him to rethink how he teaches from a cultural context, not just an economic context.

"If we truly want to internationalize, it requires something more than theorizing," Hannah says. "You have to go. You have to encourage students to go. You have to bring it back. You have to share."



SHARING INFORMATION—Dr. Richard Hannah, second from right, poses for a photo with staff members at a medical facility in rural Bangladesh that's been set up as a social business. During a two-week trip to the nation last semester, Hannah met with the executive staff at Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel Prize winner and former MTSU professor Muhammad Yunus, to arrange more MTSU student internships.

photo submitted



>>Top of Page


On the podium at MTSU




SPECIAL GUESTS—MTSU has seen a plethora of special guests in recent weeks. One was civil-rights attorney Fred Gray, shown at left speaking at MTSU's Wright Music Building Feb. 14 during a special appearance for Black History Month. Gray served as counsel to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and was also the lead attorney in the lawsuit filed on behalf of the survivors of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. The suit, filed in 1973 against the federal government, was settled out of court for $10 million and helped reform U.S. human-experimentation regulations. Gray was a guest of the MTSU Intercultural and Diversity Affairs Center, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership and MTSU Black History Month.



Another guest lecturer was Stephen Moore, senior economic writer for The Wall Street Journal, shown at right as he chats with MTSU student Mousa Abuqayas before Moore's Feb. 10 lecture. A guest of the Wright Travel Chair in Entrepreneurship in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at MTSU, Moore said that he believes the U.S. government is doing everything to suppress economic growth and prosperity. He told the audience, however, that "All of you will see the most amazing future. The changes that will happen over the next five, 10 or 50 years are going to be unthinkable." Moore's appearance was sponsored by the College of Business, the Wright Travel Chair and the Young America's Foundation.

Watch the "On the Podium" link at www.mtsunews.com for MTSU lecture updates.

MTSU Photographic Services photos by Andy Heidt (top) and J. Intintoli (right)


>>Top of Page


People Around Campus: Student's path to MTSU takes nontraditional route

by Gina K. Logue

In an era that rewards homogeneity and punishes critical-thinking skills, Christopher Hamrick not only shatters the mold, he takes piercing aim at it in a rambunctious life held together by one strong thread: the search for truth.

The 32-year-old photography major from Hermitage, Tenn., served a four-year stint in the U.S. Marines from 1996 to 2000. After Sept. 11, 2001, he signed up for another four years of service—this time in the U.S. Air Force.

Between the military periods, Hamrick got married. After a tumultuous five-year relationship and a painful divorce and custody battle, he remains a devoted dad to his 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old twin boys. The experience left him with an unshakable feeling that men often are shortchanged in custody issues.

"It has been difficult to fight someone you actually care for," Hamrick says. He admits that it's also been difficult to handle the breakup of his family while juggling classes, but he finds occasional respite and relief at the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students.

"I guess I just mostly needed a place between classes to rest," Hamrick says. "There were other people my age who had been through similar experiences, whether military, single parent or whatever."

The June Anderson Center merged last year with Off-Campus Student Services. Its expanded mission is enabling the center to embrace students like Hamrick and gives them a place where they feel they belong.

"The center is a place where all kinds of students can feel welcome and secure," says Director Terri Johnson. "Christopher is an amazing nontraditional student, and there are many more who we serve every day."

Hamrick initially chose engineering technology as his major since he had performed so much electronic-engineering work in both military and civilian life. His experimentation with infrared photography during his custody dispute, however, combined with a wealth of amateur photo experience, led to a change of major—and a change of perspective.

"As I was taking these photographs, I realized how surreal and beautiful they were and very different from what anybody else was doing," Hamrick says. "I noticed that I had a very good eye for framing the shot and then getting a picture."

He says he has yet to decide whether photography is to become his latest occupational adventure. But he insists that whatever he does must be unique, whether climbing Mount Whitney in California or getting an incomparable photo that can only be achieved through great risk.

"I've already faced that whole dying aspect, and it's one of those inevitable things," Hamrick says. "Being a veteran, I don't have to worry about people fighting over it. They can just plant me and be done with it. But, up until that point, it's what you do in the world that people remember."


>>Top of Page


Faculty/Staff Update

Awards

Joe Whitefield (Facilities Services) has received the Rex Dillow Award from the Association of Physical Plant Administrators for his article, "Deferred Capital Renewal as a Spoiler for Campus Programs," which was published in the January/ February 2010 edition of Facilities Manager, the APPA's magazine. The award is for the best article published in the magazine during the previous year.

Passages

Dr. Ann Campbell (elementary and special education), 63, passed away Feb. 19. Dr. Campbell was preceded in death by her parents, Mary Ellen and Porter Campbell of Lenoir City, Tenn. She is survived by her daughter, Stephanie Campbell of Murfreesboro; her brother, Jim Campbell, and his wife, Robin, of Greenback, Tenn.; her aunt, Mary Annie Campbell of Lenoir City; friends Twanna Cantrell, Karen Carnes, Gayle Gillespie, Marsha and John Harrison, Mildred Klinner, Susan and Ronnie Simpson, Nancy and Rick Thornton, Ruthie Threat, Susan and Dr. Phil Waldrop and Karen and Mike Warren, all of Murfreesboro; Drs. Nancy and Mike Hinds of Martin, Tenn.; Gail McLain of Columbia, S.C.; and a host of cherished colleagues, friends and neighbors. Dr. Campbell was a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and earned her master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Memphis. She began her career at Arkansas State University and taught at Murray State University before arriving at MTSU in 1981 to serve as a professor of special education. Dr. Campbell was an advocate of early intervention all her professional life; in 1983 she established and became the founding director of Project Help at MTSU, now known as the Dr. Ann Campbell Early Learning Center. This early-intervention program became a model for other programs across the state. Memorials in Dr. Campbell's honor may be made to the First United Methodist Church Building Fund, 265 W. Thompson Lane, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37129; the MTSU Wesley Foundation, 216 College Heights St., Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37130; or Project Help—the Dr. Ann Campbell Early Learning Center, 206 N. Baird Lane, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37130.

Publications

Dr. Mark Anshel (health and human performance) has published a chapter, "The Disconnected Values Model: A Brief Intervention for Improving Healthy Habits and Coping With Stress in Law Enforcement," in the Handbook of Police Psychology (2011, pp. 525-540), edited by Jack Kitaeff (Taylor & Francis Publishers).

Workshops

Dr. Debra Rose Wilson and Professor Janice Harris (nursing) led the School of Nursing's daylong guided-imagery workshop on Feb. 15 for 44 Austin Peay State University nursing students, 59 graduating senior MTSU nursing majors and several registered nurses from the area.

Get noticed in The Record!

Submit Faculty/Staff Updates and other news to gfann@mtsu.edu by 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, for the March 14 edition of The Record. Deadline for submitting items for the March 28 edition of The Record is 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 16. For more 2011 deadlines, please visit www.mtsu.edu/news/Record/deadlines.shtml . Thanks for your contributions!


>>Top of Page


Campus Calendar

Feb. 28-March 13, 2011

Please note: Event dates, times and locations may change after press time. Please verify specifics when making plans.

TV Schedule: "MTSU Out of the Blue"
Cable Channel 9: Monday-Sunday, 7 a.m., 5 p.m.
NewsChannel 5+ (Comcast 250): Sundays, 1:30 p.m.
Visit www.mtsunews.com for other cable-outlet airtimes or www.youtube.com/user/MTSUOutoftheBlue for a complete show archive.

Radio Schedule:"MTSU On the Record"
8 a.m. Sundays, WMOT 89.5-FM
Podcasts available anytime at www.mtsunews.com . Sports @ Home
March 1: MTSU Baseball vs. Lipscomb, 3 p.m.
March 5: Women's Tennis vs. Louisiana, 11 a.m.
March 8: Women's Tennis vs. Louisiana-Monroe, 11 a.m.
March 11: Men's Tennis vs. Ball State, 1:30 p.m.
March 12: Women's Tennis vs. University of Arkansas-Little Rock, 10 a.m.
For information, visit www.goblueraiders.com .

Monday, Feb. 28
Spring Honors Lecture Series: Dr. Ron Messier, "'Jesus: One Man, Two Faiths'—A Dialogue Between Christians and Muslims"
3 p.m., Room 106, Honors Amphitheatre
For information, visit www.mtsu.edu/honors or contact: 615-898-2152.

Free Documentary Screening: "Throw Down Your Heart"
4 p.m., Keathley University Center Theater
For information, visit www.mtsu.edu/events .

Monday, Feb. 28
MTSU Women's Chorale
7:30 p.m., Hinton Music Hall
For information, visit www.mtsumusic.com or contact: 615-898-2493.

Tuesday, March 1
Black History Month: Dr. John Pleas Faculty Award Presentation
Honoree: Dr. Raphael Bundage
4-6 p.m., Foundation House
For information, e-mail blpatton@mtsu.edu.

MTSU Flute Studio Recital
5 p.m., Hinton Music Hall
For information, visit www.mtsumusic.com .

Wednesday, March 2
World Percussion Recital
7:30 p.m., Hinton Music Hall
For information, visit www.mtsumusic.com .

Thursday, March 3
MTSU Symphonic Band/Brass Ensemble
7:30 p.m., Hinton Music Hall
For information, visit www.mtsumusic.com .

March 7-13
Spring Break
No classes; campus offices open through March 10.

Wednesday, March 9
Tornado Siren Test Date
(no action needed)
11:15 a.m., campuswide
For information, contact: 615-898-2424.

Thursday, March 10
Retired Faculty/Staff Coffee
9:30 a.m., Foundation House
For information, contact: 615-898-2922.

Friday, March 11
University Holiday
University closed.

Get noticed in The Record!

Submit Campus Calendar items and other news to gfann@mtsu.edu by 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, for the March 14 edition of The Record. Deadline to submit items for the March 28 edition of The Record is 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 16.


>>Top of Page


2013 Middle Tennessee State University, a Tennessee Board of Regents institution 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132-0001 USA +1.615.898.2300

Middle Tennessee State University, in its educational programs and activities involving students and employees, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age. Furthermore, the university does not discriminate against veterans or individuals with disabilities.

Regents Online Campus Collaborative