Uncategorized – Page 8 – Office of the President

Spring 2025 Blue Print

January 21, 2025

Visit Blue Print, our on-campus printing services operations, at its new storefront location inside the Student Union!

From large-format mounted posters to yard signs to brochures and booklets to class projects, Blue Print specializes in printing, laminating, binding, and assisting you with your project or printing needs. Recently, Blue Print also became an on-campus outlet for low quantity, customized T-shirts for campus events and activities!

Blue Print welcomes personal projects, too! Need a service they don’t currently offer? Let them know. They want to grow with you.

The Blue Print Student Union location is the retail site of Blue Print and serves as the front door to the much larger printing operation on Greenland Drive. Blue Print Greenland encompasses a wide range of high- volume, state-of-the-art equipment that produces the vast majority of the MTSU’s printed materials.

Students, faculty, and staff can order through our online portal using your FSA credentials. You must be on campus or connected through MTSU’s firewall to access. If you have issues connecting, contact Blue Print.

Learn more about Blue Print at mtsu.edu/blueprint.

Questions? Call 615-898-2100 or email [email protected].

Spring 2025 True Blue Give 2025

January 21, 2025

Febuary 11, 12, and 13

Give to anything you love on campus, including:

A department or program
A student organization
Blue Raider athletics

Or give to support students in need:

Scholarships
Students emergency support fund

Feeling the love right now?

MTSU.EDU/TRUEBLUEGIVE

Make your impact today!

Spring 2025 MTSU Arts

January 21, 2025

Artistic rendering of a treble clef between comedy and tragedy masks

Theatre

Our Town

February 27–March 2, 2025 Tucker Theatre

This timeless drama first appeared on Broadway in 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Don’t miss MTSU Theatre’s production of this great American classic!

MTSU ARTS

Celebration Concert

April 5, 2025 Tucker Theatre

Save the date for the annual celebration of the best of MTSU Arts. Stay tuned for updates about this year’s special guest host and our MTSU Arts Hall of Fame inductees.

MUSIC

Steel Pan Ensemble

April 23, 2025 Hinton Hall

Don’t miss the opportunity to savor the unique sound of the School of Music’s talented Steel Pan Ensemble.

DANCE

Proudly Presented By

Spring Dance Concert

April 24–26, 2025 Tucker Theatre

Come see original choreographic work from guest artists and our talented faculty! The concert will feature collaborative work with design, technical, and stage management students from the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Just as our students enrich their lives by showcasing their skills, we invite you to enrich yours by becoming an MTSU Arts Patron. You can join the MTSU Arts Patrons Society and view our events calendar at mtsu.edu/mtsuarts. Questions? Call 615-898-5223

Spring 2025 Academic Achievements

January 21, 2025

MTSU President McPhee, shakes hands with Nashville School of Law Dean William C. Koch Jr. following the institutions’ joint announcement outlining a partnership in which a new MTSU master’s degree in legal studies will be taught in part by NSL faculty.

Each of the colleges and academic units at MTSU maintains a high level of activity and produces news worth crowing about. Here are just a few examples from last fall.

Campuswide

A new report found that MTSU alumni, including alumni- owned businesses, generated more than $15.2 billion in business revenue in the state over the course of a single year. The 2024 MTSU Alumni Impact report by the Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) in our Jennings A. Jones College of Business detailed the positive financial impact made by the University’s graduates throughout Tennessee. It also reflected how MTSU particularly bolsters the economies of its home and surrounding counties. Rutherford County alone recorded more than $4.1 billion in business revenue, the highest among all counties. MTSU released the full report to local and state officials; numbers in the report were from 2022, the base statistical year of the study.

Retired U.S. Marine four-star Gen. Jim Mattis saluted the work of the MTSU Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center during a breakfast fundraiser for the center at Nashville’s Hutton Hotel last October. A captivated audience was treated to a one-hour conversation between longtime friends Mattis, a former U.S. secretary of defense, and former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, of Nashville, who previously served as Senate majority leader. Businesspeople from around the Midstate helped raise almost $500,000 for MTSU’s Daniels Center at the event.

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence spoke to a packed house at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre on Sept. 17, to round out the University’s annual Constitution Day activities. The event drew nearly 900 audience members comprised of students, staff, community members, and local dignitaries.

College of Education

The Center for Educational Media in the College of Education recently hosted more than 350 people for targeted professional development for teachers of English learners, school counselors, and special education teachers. The collaboratives are comprised of practitioners in preK– 12 schools in Tennessee and are offered at no charge to the participants. The collaboratives are also made available to local, state, national, and global communities of educators via distribution through the web, satellite, and cable TV.

Middle Tennessee Electric gave $40,000 to MTSU’s College of Education to outfit future teacher classrooms each semester for the next four years. The College of Education awarded the first $2,500 Spark Awards to two student teachers—Lyric James and Natalie Burridge—which allows these future educators to jumpstart their careers without the financial strain of properly setting up their classrooms.

The College of Education recently hosted a banned book awareness event, “Let Freedom READ,” to facilitate public discussion around the increasing occurrence of book banning affecting libraries in local communities. The event primarily focused on the legal ambiguity of the laws that determine which books are deemed too graphic for K–12 schools, with many of the books banned as too graphic to be made available in school libraries discussing topics such as race, religion, and sexuality. Participants included MTSU students, retired and current librarians, classroom teachers, and other community members.

The 12th Annual MTSU Literacy Research Conference will be held March 1 at the College of Education. Conference registration opened Jan. 13. Visit mtsu.edu/literacy-conference for more information.

College of Basic and Applied Sciences

MTSU representatives recently accepted a $100,000 grant from global device care company Assurant Inc. that will go toward a new laboratory in the University’s new Applied Engineering Building, scheduled to open this fall. Assurant recently opened its new 259,000-square-foot Innovation and Device Care Center in Nashville and chose to commemorate the opening by awarding MTSU the grant over two years. This $100,000 grant will support the construction of a new Assurant Engineering Innovation Lab inside the Applied Engineering Building and expand the company’s partnership with MTSU’s Mechatronics Engineering program, of which several Assurant employees are alumni.

Aerospace Professor Paul Craig was honored with MTSU’s 2024 Career Achievement Award. Craig was the University’s first flight instructor for MTSU’s renowned aviation training program. Aside from his time in the cockpit, Craig has authored 15 books on aviation safety and flight training, worked for NASA, and received numerous other University and industry awards.

The Aerospace Department has launched a new Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technology concentration that will allow students to explore the engineering and technology side of drone aircraft.

James E. Walker Library

Walker Library confirmed from recent student surveys an insufficiency of individual study rooms. Funding from the Library Enrichment Fund supported the acquisition of five new study pods. The pods are designed to mitigate external noise up to 32 decibels, creating an almost soundproof environment for students. This will provide students spaces to take online courses and conduct interviews without using headphones. Additionally, each pod has motion-activated lights and fans to ensure good air circulation while the space is in use.

College of Behavioral and Health Sciences

MTSU announced a planned public-private partnership to build a campus hotel on campus that will serve the campus community, bolster tourism in the area, and be a favorite destination for visitors to campus. On- or near-campus hotels at other universities accommodate sporting events, graduations, parent visits, speaker appearances, and more. MTSU’s facility also will provide educational opportunities for students, serving as a learning laboratory and a place for practical experience for students in our newly accredited Tourism and Hospitality Management program, the only such program in the state accredited by the national Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA). The University hopes to begin construction this year and open the hotel in 2026.

College of Liberal Arts

The Telly Award-winning “Joys of the Season” performance had its Nashville PBS premiere on Dec. 20. Nashville PBS aired both the 2023 and 2024 specials in a primetime spot and made the episodes available for streaming nationwide on the PBS app and website.

Professor Joan McRae of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures received two nationally recognized honors last semester. In October, McRae landed a $121,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The French language professor also received the national Online Teaching Award from the Distance Learning Special Interest Group of the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages, a professional organization that connects foreign language teachers from all educational levels.

The MTSU Arts Celebration Concert returns on Saturday, April 5, featuring the best of our MTSU Arts programs and our MTSU Arts Hall of Fame induction.

Jennings A. Jones College of Business

MTSU and the Nashville School of Law (NSL), two storied institutions founded in 1911, are now pairing their various areas of instructional expertise to train students and working professionals seeking deeper legal knowledge to enhance their careers. The collaboration for MTSU’s proposed Legal Studies master’s degree also will help fulfill a growing Midstate workforce need. Approved by MTSU’s Board of Trustees and submitted to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to consider final approval in early to mid-2025, the M.S. in Legal Studies will be offered primarily through the Jones College of Business. NSL faculty will teach initial core coursework online or at its Armory Oaks Drive campus, and students will complete the program through MTSU. Successful graduates of this program will be well positioned to fill the high-paying, in-demand legal roles for which they’ve been trained, with the vast majority of our graduates remaining in this region to invest back into the community with their time, talents, and skills. Designed for those who do not need or want to pursue a Juris Doctor degree, the 30-hour program aims to sharpen students’ and working professionals’ understanding of the law, including in the areas of contracts, critical legal thinking, legal ethics, writing, and case analysis. Coursework, which could begin as soon as summer 2025, will allow students to further develop in-depth knowledge in one of three concentrations: General Business, Compliance, or Entertainment—the last offered through MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment.

A team comprised of Jones College students took home the title of Grand Champions in their flight at a major collegiate sales competition and a biometrics research conference that together drew hundreds of participants from across the country. At the Selling with the Bulls sales competition hosted by Rob Hammond and the University of South Florida, team members Emilie Conners, Malissa Chanthavong, Chase Holmes, and Bradley Stiles took home over a dozen additional individual awards. They were coached by Thom Coats, director of the Center for Professional Selling, and Ricky Fergurson, a professor of Marketing.

In the ever-evolving field of marketing, understanding the underlying psychological mechanisms that drive consumer behavior is crucial. The Department of Marketing has created a new neuromarketing course, MKT 4200 – Neuromarketing, which provides an in- depth exploration of how insights from neuroscience and psychology can be applied to enhance marketing strategies. The department is also establishing the first neuromarketing research lab in the state of Tennessee and will be hosting Brain Behavior in the Age of AI, an international symposium exploring the topics of neuromarketing and AI, on March 19.

Honors College

MTSU senior Honors student Anna Collins of Pleasant View was recently awarded a Pioneer Award of $1,000 from the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Collins, who was initiated into MTSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter last spring, is one of 50 students nationwide to receive the award. The Pioneer Awards are designed to encourage and reward undergraduate members for developing research, engagement, and leadership skills necessary to become a successful scholar. Recipients are selected based on their academic achievement, honors and awards, relevant research experience, service, and leadership experience on and off campus. An Agribusiness major, Collins is preparing for graduate school.

Philip Phillips, English professor and University Honors College associate dean, was elected last summer to serve as president-elect for the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. During his 2024–26 term as president-elect, Phillips will serve on the society’s 12-person board of directors. His election represents a six-year commitment to PKP, including successive terms as president and past president.

College of Media and Entertainment

MTSU’s Esports NECC Division IV Rocket League team defeated the University of North Carolina–Wilmington to win the championship in our new Level Up gaming arena. This is MTSU’s first Esports championship.

MTSU’s WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 opened a new satellite studio in Nashville that will allow the station to be where the artists are and expand its live radio and video programming as the largest Americana radio station in the United States. A ribbon-cutting celebration was held in late summer at the new 800-square-foot satellite studio at the Riverside Revival events venue in East Nashville.

Six MTSU alumni and former students all received a total of eight nominations for the upcoming 67th annual Grammy Awards. Receiving nominations in multiple genres, the MTSU-trained professionals, including some previous winners and nominees, are singer-songwriter Jessie Alexander (two nominations); audio production engineers Brandon Bell, Jason Hall (two nominations), Bobby Holland, and Jimmy Mansfield; and singer- songwriter Jaelee Roberts (below). MTSU alumni, former or current students, and faculty from across the University have been a part of more than 170 Grammy Award nominations in the last two decades. The number of MTSU-connected Grammy winners since 2001 currently stands at more than 20 people, with nearly 50 Grammys in categories from classical to pop to rock to country to gospel and rap.

Spring 2025 Athletics

January 21, 2025

Our MTSU Athletics teams and student-athletes well represent the grit and determination we want our entire student body to possess.

Here are some select athletic highlights from 2024.

Competitors in the Classroom

MTSU’s NCAA Graduation Success Rate for 2023–24 was an impressive 94%, as announced by the NCAA national office. It was the sixth straight year MTSU scored 92% or better. The Graduation Success Rate (GSR) is a six-year measure of freshmen and athletic transfers who entered MTSU as freshmen in 2017–18. The Blue Raiders also ranked first out of the nine teams in Conference USA (CUSA), with Liberty University and Western Kentucky University being the only other schools to reach the 90% plateau. Seven MTSU programs scored a perfect 100%—men’s basketball, men’s tennis, women’s golf, softball, soccer, women’s tennis, and volleyball. The Blue Raiders’ score of 92% in football ranked tied for 23rd nationally among the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) and easily led the way in CUSA.

Changing of the Guard

After 17 years as the voice of the Lady Raiders, Dick Palmer stepped aside as play-by-play announcer for the women’s basketball program. Palmer remains involved with MTSU, hosting the football pre- and post-game shows and calling all Blue Raider baseball games. Palmer will resume his 43rd season of calling play-by-play action at MTSU when the first pitch is thrown at Reese Field this spring. A 1960 graduate of MTSU, Palmer has been broadcasting sporting events for the past 58 years and previously ended a 25-year run in 2005 of calling Blue Raider football. With Palmer’s departure, MTSU hired Joe Fisher, who has more than four decades of broadcasting experience with Nashville media and college sports, to become the new voice of the women’s basketball program. He has extensive experience in covering local, regional, and national news and events. Fisher has previously served as news and communications director at Tennessee Tech, director of broadcasting for Vanderbilt Athletics, and weekend sports anchor and reporter for WKRN-TV and WSMV-TV in Nashville. His distinctive voice and personality made him well-known to audience members around the state. Fisher’s public relations background also includes experience as an account executive at Dye, Van Mol, and Lawrence Public Relations in Nashville.

Spring 2025 Advancement

January 21, 2025

Our alumni base and friends of the University always answer the rallying call for our Blue Raider family to invest in the people and programs that define the character of MTSU. Here is just one example of the incredible philanthropy MTSU is blessed to receive.

Off the Bench

Chase Miller was the ultimate bench player during his days at MTSU. A non-scholarship student-athlete who gritted out hours of practices but rarely saw action, Miller became a Murphy Center fan favorite on an MTSU basketball team that upset second-seeded Michigan State and Minnesota in back-to-back NCAA tournaments in 2016 and 2017.

All the while, he was juggling studies in MTSU’s unique undergraduate Real Estate program, a concentration under the B.B.A. in Finance. After graduation, Miller turned the lessons he learned on the hardwood and in the classroom into a starring role in the commercial real estate market in his native Dallas. Miller became the youngest executive vice president ever at real estate company NAI Robert Lynn.

In 2024, the 28-year-old pledged a seven-figure donation to MTSU’s Build Blue Campaign that will transform the University’s athletic facilities. It was Miller’s second major contribution to Build Blue, following his six-figure gift in 2022. In honor of his latest gift, the practice gymnasium inside the Murphy Center is now known as Chase Miller Gym.

Spring 2025 Graduate Studies and Research

January 21, 2025

Over the past decade, MTSU has aggressively transitioned from a primarily undergraduate institution to a doctoral research university with significant research activity.

MTSU’s College of Graduate Studies is one of the fastest-growing graduate schools in Tennessee. We offer 100-plus diverse graduate programs at the certificate, master’s, specialist, and doctoral levels so that almost anyone can find their right fit. Our programs are designed to help students develop skills and knowledge to be successful in their careers.

Meanwhile, buoyed by graduate students’ working hand in hand with top faculty, MTSU is producing relevant, measurable research on a daily basis on the campus.

Graduate Studies:

MTSU Board of Trustees recently gave the green light to three new master’s programs: Biomedical Sciences, Digital Media, and Legal Studies. Final approval is needed from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the University’s accrediting body. Enrollment is anticipated for fall 2025.

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs:

MTSU is designated an R2 doctoral university with high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This elite status places us among a select group of only 3% of institutions nationwide.

Faculty, staff, and students at MTSU are involved in countless research and public service initiatives that help Tennesseans in key areas of health and wellness, history and heritage, agriculture and agribusiness, and commerce and industry, to name a few.

By the Numbers

Fiscal year 2023–24

• $22 million in sponsored project funding

• 75% increase from 2022–23

First six months of fiscal year 2024–25 (July through Dec.19)

• 85 proposals submitted

• 61 unique investigators

• 59 awards

• $15,239,646 total

First quarter of fiscal year 2024–25

• CBAS alone received new external research grants totaling $8.4 million.

• That compares to $4.4 million in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Spring 2025 International Affairs

January 21, 2025

MTSU has a rich history of welcoming international students to study on campus. Embracing students from diverse cultures, religions, and backgrounds enriches our campus community and brings economic, cultural, and social benefits.

In one highlight of 2024, MTSU’s Office of International Affairs welcomed 18 students from Egypt for the fall semester through a partnership with the American University in Cairo and the U.S. Agency for International Development Scholars Activity Program. The scholars program supports high-achieving high school students from underrepresented backgrounds as they migrate into higher education. Once they are seniors in college, the program gives them the opportunity to spend one semester as exchange students in the United States.

In particular, the program aims to support the economic, social, and environmental development plans in Egypt by focusing on university studies in the fields of water, energy, agriculture, and nursing. The Egyptian students attending MTSU are rising college seniors studying engineering and agriculture.

Fall 2024 international student impact

442 undergraduate students
221 graduate students
a total of 663 international students
4.57% increase from the Fall 2023 semester
students from 75 different countries
in recent years, MTSU has experienced a notable rise in students enrolling from India, sub-Saharan Africa, and southeast Asia
during the 2023–24 academic year for education abroad, 246 students participated in overseas studies, representing six MTSU colleges.

Spring 2025 MTSU Online

January 21, 2025

MTSU’s online program experienced record growth last fall with 54% of students taking at least one MTSU Online course.

The number of fully online programs offered has more than tripled since 2016—from 20 in 2016 to 72 in 2024, with 43 of those programs launched since 2020.

The number of online students began steadily increasing in 2020, due in part to students’ being introduced to online learning during the COVID-19 outbreak. Importantly, emergency remote teaching differs from intentional and carefully designed online courses. COVID-19 was more a catalyst than a reason for the growth of MTSU Online, and

I am proud that MTSU recognized and prioritized online learning long before the pandemic began.

Now, as of last fall, MTSU Online supports 28 full-time, temporary instructors in 18 academic departments who focus on providing high-quality online teaching. A total of 545 unique online courses were introduced, leading to 27% of all MTSU student credit hours last semester coming from online courses. More than 2,800 students were fully online in the Fall 2024 semester, which comprises almost 14% of our total student headcount. MTSU even had about two dozen full-time, undergraduate MTSU students living in the residence halls, taking fully online courses! That may seem unusual now, but it will likely become more and more common.

University College, which generally focuses on nontraditional students, has been a pioneer in promoting fully online degrees, along with the Jones College of Business.

Most MTSU online courses are asynchronous (students do not have to meet at the same time), providing greater flexibility for working adults to incorporate pursuing a degree into their busy daily lives.

Nontraditional and graduate students may be the majority of online students, but 18- to 24-year-olds are also participating online.

Thirty additional online programs are in active development. We’re also working on initiatives such as a virtual student union and virtual clubs—ways for students to connect and engage and feel like they belong at MTSU because they do belong at MTSU, and it’s a significant population.

MTSU Online already offers key student services for online students such as counseling services, 24/7 live subject tutoring, library services, and writing center tutors, as well as many faculty services including faculty development and training workshops and peer mentoring.

MTSU Online by the numbers:
• 54% of students (a total of 11,121 students) took at least one online course in Fall 2024.

• MTSU now has 73 fully online degrees, concentrations, and certificate programs (up from just over 20 programs in January 2020).

• MTSU had 2,831 fully online students in Fall 2024 (almost 14% of total student headcount).

• 27% of all MTSU semester credit hours in Fall 2024 came from online courses.

• 25% of all Fall 2024 undergraduate semester credit hours and 48% of all graduate semester credit hours were online.

• 62% of summer semester credit hours for 2024 came from online courses.

• Online enrollment (student credit hours) is at an all-time high and has increased for several consecutive years.

• MTSU Online supports 28 fixed-term-track faculty members in 18 academic departments who focus on high-quality online teaching.

• MTSU employs four full-time instructional designers who train and coach our faculty on effective teaching and technology use, to make sure our students are receiving high-quality online instruction.

• MTSU Online supports many faculty services including faculty development and training workshops and peer mentoring to make our online courses highly effective.

• MTSU Online courses feature engaging interaction with our faculty, which is known to increase student retention and degree completion.

• Recently, MTSU Online received awards for its graduate programs from Online Master’s Degrees and Online Master’s Colleges as well as being named one of the top online colleges by Newsweek and for offering one of the best online nursing and allied health programs by EduMed.

Spring 2025 Campus Expansion

January 21, 2025

Construction banner reading "Coming 2026" in front of a building on campus

Facilities growth represents an investment in areas of study that will solve problems, improve the social good, and supply a skilled regional workforce. MTSU has been blessed with more than $1.5 billion in campus improvements and renovations during my tenure as president.

Here are updates on our current major projects:

Applied Engineering Building (opens in 2025)

$74.8 million project
more than $1 million in automation equipment
89,000-square-foot facility
will house MTSU’s renowned Mechatronics Engineering program and Engineering Technology
will provide enhanced student opportunities for faculty-led research and labs for student teams, including the Experimental Vehicles Program and robotics competitions
represents the finishing touch to MTSU’s Science Corridor of Innovation, which also includes the $40.1 million Concrete and Construction management building, two renovated science buildings, and the 250,000-square-foot Science Building, which opened in 2014 as the single largest investment by the state for an academic facility

Kirksey Old Main and Rutledge Hall (completion expected by summer 2026)

$54.3 million renovation to two of MTSU’s original buildings
iconic columns of KOM, the first building on campus founded in 1911, will be preserved
KOM to remain home to Mathematical Sciences, Computer Science, and Data Science
Rutledge being transformed from a dormitory to an academic building that houses the University Studies Department

Student-Athlete Performance Center

$66 million project
first stage of redevelopment of the entire northwest corner of the MTSU campus envisioned in the MTSU Athletics Master Plan
small section of outdoor loge seating to be added to the north end of Floyd Stadium
75,000-square-foot facility to include training spaces, strength and conditioning rooms, locker rooms, meeting space, and offices to serve MTSU Athletics and student-athletes

Aerospace Project–Shelbyville (estimated completion by fall 2027)

$62.2 million total project cost
estimated $50.2 million construction cost
site located along Highway 231 and just west of the Shelbyville Municipal Airport
includes facilities for the Professional Pilot concentration: 50,000-square-foot net space for main academic building(s), including classroom, dispatch, faculty and staff offices, flight briefing; 28,000-square-foot hangar to maintain Professional Pilot aircraft fleet; site and utility improvements for 16-acre parcel