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Volume
2, No. 2 Visiting Scholars Energize Students and Faculty
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From the Director
I want to thank all of you who contributed to the challenge. As always,
your support is invaluable. I also want to extend my gratitude to President
Sidney McPhee for his leadership during the last months of the campaign.
He made sure that a successful completion to the Martins' challenge was
our only option. Finally, I thank the Martin family who made all of this
possible. A new building for the Honors College is just one of the happy results
of the Martin challenge. The challenge also gave us the opportunity to
strengthen some important relationships with area corporations. Such relationships
are crucial as state support for the University dwindles. As we continue
to foster these relationships, we will need the help of our Foundation
Board members, alumni, and other friends. Individual supporters are our
strongest advocates in the corporate community. Confidence in MTSU is
exactly what we have to project in order to enlist more of our corporate
neighbors as University partners. In fact, fostering partnerships is one of the broad University initiatives
that Dr. McPhee has articulated, along with encouraging quality and maintaining
a student-centered environment. He has made it clear that fundraising
will be particularly important for achieving these goals and moving the
University to the next level, especially in light of the problems with
the state budget. As this issue goes to press, Dr. McPhee is finalizing
his list of fundraising priorities, and I look forward to the Spring Foundation
Board meeting where I can discuss our strategies for addressing them.
Visiting Scholars Energize MTSU Students and Faculty
When students are spellbound as they listen to a historian talk about the declassification of old government records, you know that something special is going on. The historian in question was Dr. Gerhard Weinberg, a world-renowned scholar of the Holocaust and MTSU's first Strickland Visiting Scholar, who came to campus in the spring semester of 2000. The Strickland program is one of several opportunities--made possible by private support--for students, faculty, and members of the community to learn from distinguished scholars and professionals who come to campus. In 1998, Lucy Strickland and her children established the Roscoe L. Strickland, Jr., Endowment to enhance the quality of history education at MTSU. A founding member of the History Department and a specialist in 20th-century Europe, Dr. Roscoe Strickland taught at MTSU from 1949 to 1972. "Roscoe came here with a classic liberal arts education from three fine universities where he had been inspired by three great teachers/mentors," says Lucy Strickland of her late husband. "He loved learning and respected scholarly excellence." Dr. Jerry Brookshire, professor of history, recalls that his former colleague "always tried to set higher goals for students and to inspire students." Stimulating both students and faculty in the pursuit of excellence is one of the primary purposes of the Strickland Visiting Scholar Program. The art of inspiration is also a key element of other programs that bring distinguished visitors to MTSU. The William and Westy Windham Lecture Series in Liberal Arts, endowed in 1989, features speakers in the humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. Dr. William Windham, retired professor of history, and his late wife, Westy, established the series to bring outstanding speakers to campus and foster collegiality among faculty. "My main motivation was to bring liberal arts faculty closer and to foster esprit de corps among them," says Dr. Windham. Dean John N. McDaniel describes the Windham Lecture Series as "one of the crown jewels of lecture programs in the College of Liberal Arts." He adds, "Since its inception, the series has annually provided the University with high quality, intellectually stimulating, lively, and entertaining speakers." Lecturers have included Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robert Olen Butler and Reformation scholar Richard Marius, a Tennessee native. MTSU graduates who have distinguished themselves professionally are the lifeblood of the Political Science Department's Frank Essex Visiting Practitioner Program. Dr. Jack J. Turner established the program in 1993, the year Dr. Essex retired from the department after twenty-six years. According to Dr. John Vile, department chair, the Essex program brings high-achieving political science graduates back to campus to provide inspiration and practical advice to current students. "The program expands the horizons of our current students in terms of what they can do," says Vile. The two most recent practitioners, Charles R. Ray, (B.S.'70), and Mary Susan Flipse, (B.A. '89), were both graduates of MTSU's pre-law program. Ray is a highly respected attorney of criminal law in Nashville, and Flipse is a founding partner in the only law firm in the country of Lao (formerly Laos). Both Essex practitioners, who visit for a day, and Strickland scholars, who are on campus for two weeks, interact with MTSU students one-on-one and in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to ask questions about how they will be able to use their degrees in the "real world." MTSU senior Pam Sheldon remembers when the second Strickland Visiting Scholar, Dr. Steven J. Ross, came to her "Historian's Craft" class in the fall semester of 2000. "Sometimes from an undergraduate point of view, we worry about finding a place outside the academic world to do the things we love and have learned about," she says. "Dr. Ross gave many examples of ways to implement a degree in history." This give-and-take is not only useful but motivational. As Dr. Vile notes, the Essex program offers "a way of letting our students see that they have the same opportunity for success as students going to pricier and more prestigious institutions." Dr. Kristine M. McCusker, assistant professor of history and current chair of the Strickland Visiting Scholar Committee, emphasizes that the Strickland scholars are down-to-earth academics, despite their success as research historians. The committee selects historians who are cutting-edge scholars and teachers. Because they teach at research universities that have large undergraduate classes, the scholars relish the opportunity to come to the smaller classes at MTSU. "The first two scholars have been challenged, delighted, and excited by MTSU students," according to McCusker. When Dr. Ross, a Pulitzer Prize nominee who specializes in labor history and film studies, visited, McCusker saw a significant phenomenon take place. "My students were exposed to a new vision of the past, one that they could compare to the one that I had presented to them," she recalls. "They critically assessed both, and came up with a third--their own." Visitors like Dr. Ross reinvigorate faculty in their mission of teaching and research. The outsiders also provide positive reinforcement for what MTSU faculty members are doing. Dr. Thad Smith, chair of the History Department, always uses the Strickland program as a selling point in his discussions with faculty job candidates. The newest visiting scholar opportunity comes as part of a faculty development program that State Farm Insurance Companies has recently funded at the Jennings A. Jones College of Business. Dean Jim Burton envisions bringing in visiting academics or businesspeople to conduct seminars for faculty members on specific topics, such as advising. "Anything that enhances the qualifications of our faculty will improve their teaching, research, and service to the University," says Burton. Please mark your calendars for events scheduled by the Windham and Strickland programs this spring. The 2002 Windham Lecturer, Ms. Jane Alexander, actress and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, will give a public lecture on March 4 at 5 p.m. in the Tennessee Room at the James Union Building. The 2002 Strickland Visiting Scholar, Dr. T.H. Breen, a historian of colonial America who teaches at Northwestern University, will give a public talk on April 4 at 7 p.m. in the State Farm Lecture Hall in the Business and Aerospace Building. To contribute to one of the programs discussed here, or to learn how
you could establish a similar program, please contact our office at 898-2502
or 1-877-444-6878.
A Gift's Eye ViewWhat happens to your gift when it arrives at the Development Office? Who is responsible for seeing that your donations are properly handled? Recently, we sent a reporter to the office to investigate. She was cleverly disguised as a check made out to the MTSU Foundation. No one suspected her true identity. This is what she found out. First Stop: Donna Reed Donna has been working for MTSU for 24 years. She has worked in the Development Office as an account clerk since 1994, and she reports to the Division of Business and Finance. If you want to see Donna smile, ask her about her teenage son, Tyler. He is his parents' pride and joy. Second Station: Debbie Judkins and Brenda Yeatts Debbie has been on our staff since 1998. In addition to being an account clerk, she also answers to the title of "Gram." Her first grandchild, Adam, is three years old, and she is looking forward to the birth of her second grandchild in March. Brenda is also an account clerk. She joined our staff this past October. When she isn't at the office, she's busy with her family. She and her husband have three girls-all of them redheads: Erin (nine), Elayna (six), and Emily (three). Final Destination: Pat Johnson Pat started at MTSU in 1988 and has worked as a secretary for Development since 1998. She has three children. Her oldest child, Angel, works as a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines. Her second daughter, Amanda, is expecting a baby, who will be Pat's first grandchild. Her youngest, Adam, works in Texas. Of course, to keep everything running smoothly, Donna, Debbie, Brenda, and Pat field a lot of questions over the phone and do a fair amount of troubleshooting. Their knowledge of the details of receiving and processing gifts is invaluable to the rest of the staff and to our donors. They are always ready to help. Please feel free to contact them if you have questions about your donations. |
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