New lecture series slated
Ex-Joint Chiefs chair to discuss U.S. role, tasks in Middle East

by Doug Williams

Shelton

A highly decorated military leader and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will discuss the many challenges facing America as it tries to understand and build lasting relationships in the Middle East at a special lecture on the MTSU campus April 13.

Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, will be the inaugural speaker for a new lecture series, the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors College Lecture Series. The new lectureship will bring renowned artists, politicians, military leaders, corporate executives, scientists and leaders of all types to speak to the university and local community.

“I believe America can be successful in the Middle East, but there are many, many challenges far beyond the current military action,” Shelton said.

“There are many underlying causes that affect how the Middle East views the United States, and I believe there are things we can do diplomatically, politically and through information channels that can achieve positive results.

“First and foremost, Americans don’t totally understand the many subtle issues involved in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. This is by far our greatest challenge. To be respected in this region, we must work with both parties to find an equitable solution.”

Shelton’s lecture is titled “America’s Challenge: Dealing with the Middle East, Terrorism and an Uncertain Future.” The free lecture is open to the public and will begin at noon in the State Farm lecture hall in the Business-Aerospace Building on campus. Tickets are required and can be obtained by calling (615) 898-2152.

The new lecture series is funded by Dr. H. Lee Martin and supported by the entire Martin family, said Honors College Dean Philip Mathis, adding that the lectureship will allow the University Honors College to bring two outstanding speakers to campus each year.

“This lectureship will be a new avenue by which students will be able to escape the blindness of provincialism and reach out to the bigger world,” Mathis said.

“The entire university will benefit from this gift, and we are grateful to Lee Martin and the Martin family.”

Mathis added that the new series will complement the long-standing Honors Lecture Series featuring MTSU faculty. The theme of this year’s Honors Lecture Series is titled “Understanding Terrorism.”

Shelton spent 37 years in a variety of command and staff positions in the Middle East, Vietnam and the United States. A former assistant division commander in the 101st Airborne Division, he participated in the liberation of Kuwait during Operation Desert Shield/Storm and served two combat tours in Vietnam.

Shelton became the 14th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 1997, and served two two-year terms under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Among his many military awards are four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, two Army Distinguished Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and the Purple Heart. For his exemplary service to his country, the 107th Congress bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal on Shelton on Sept. 19, 2002. He also has been decorated by 15 foreign governments and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.

Highlights of his civilian awards include North Carolina’s highest award for Public Service, the Eisenhower Award from the Business Executives for National Security and recognition as National Father of the Year.

Shelton received his bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University and a master’s degree from Auburn University and has attended Harvard University, the Air Command and Staff College and the National War College.

Budding Creativity

SETTLING IN —Sophomores Scott Batson, left, and Caitlin Roston take advantage of late-winter sunshine to work in a painting studio in the renovated Todd Hall. The facility, which now houses the art department and the Gore Research Center, was rededicated on Feb. 25.

photo by J. Intintoli

Up ‘Til Dawn fund-raiser nears $80K


by Randy Weiler

While falling short of their $100,000 goal, MTSU Up ’til Dawn committee members said they were amazed to raise nearly $80,000 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

Following 2004, when the students raised a record $62,000-plus, “the students got really excited this year and set a goal of (raising) $100,000,” Jackie Victory, coordinator, MTSU Student Organizations, said. “Friday night, we were three dollars and 50 cents shy of $78,000. I know we are over $78,000.

“We are about $16,000 up from last year. The students were a little disappointed they didn’t make $100,000, but the reaction I got from them was, ‘Holy cow, we raised $78,000!’”

Up ’til Dawn student Executive Director Chris Roach echoed Victory’s sentiments.

“To raise $80,000 in about three months and surpass last year’s total by (nearly) $20,000 is unfathomable,” Roach, a senior from Hendersonville, said. “I’m in awe of what we accomplished.”

“I expect us to hit $80,000 before April 1, and we hope to get $83,000,” he added. “In October, we found out the executive director was not going to be the director. That gave us all of November to work on it; we lost December (because of the semester break) and did not start the spring semester until Jan. 18.”

The full-time committee of about 24 students was joined by about 400 students (63 teams with six members on the teams of fraternities, sororities, student organizations and groups of friends) for the Up ’til Dawn finale event Feb. 25-26 at the Campus Recreation Center.

Roach, a marketing major who said he plans to apply for an event marketing position with St. Jude, spoke of the core committee’s “willingness to be cooperative and give up their free time to help me out.

“There were four guys; the rest were all women. They were shy, not outspoken. They came to meetings, would listen to what we had to say, shake their heads (in approval) and quietly do their job. Twenty girls recruited 400 students to raise money for cancer research. I can’t say enough about their effort.”

He said he would tell the 2005-06 executive director and committee to “start the first day you get a chance. Realize the responsibility and commitment.” A jump-start would include “getting corporate sponsorship in the summer, have the committee in place in the summer and initiate the committee letter writing campaign early.”

Next year’s executive director will be selected in April, Victory said.

Of four primary awards presented by the committee, the Pink Raider Knitting Brigade carted off the two biggest: The Love Award for collecting the most money (more than $3,000) and Top Fund-Raising Sales Award.

The Most Spirited Team Award went to “the ladies of Kappa Delta for being involved in all aspects of Up ’til Dawn (letter writing, team meetings and producing a banner),” organizers said.

The Most Unique Fund-Raiser Award went to the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs, which held a fashion show Feb. 7 that generated over $1,000, Victory added.

For The Record

Ruminations along rue de la Bucherie on The Writer’s Loft

Burkhead

PARIS, February 2005 —The cold wind blows and flaps my shirtsleeve as the man across the courtyard plays his violin. As unfamiliar as the song is to me, I enjoy it. I’m happy to be here, and I’m glad he’s here, too: “Here” is rue de la Bucherie on the Left Bank of La Seine River, just in front of the famed Shakespeare and Company booksellers. Sylvia Beach opened the original Shakespeare and Company at 12 rue de L’Odeon, Paris, in 1921, and for two decades, she fostered the arts and the writings of such artists as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Shaw, Pound, Stein, Joyce and so many more.

The place that I am about to enter has been around since ’51. The owner (American bibliophile George Whitman) changed the name of his shop—then known as Le Mistral—to Shakespeare and Company in 1964, with Sylvia Beach’s permission, of course. According to the shop’s Web site, the purpose of the shop is to “honor and continue the ethos and traditions of the former famous bookshop.” The fact that I am standing here with back issues of “The Trunk” verifies the honesty of this mission, regardless of geography. Starting with the Fall 2004 issue, Shakespeare and Company has agreed to make “The Trunk” available to its patrons in the bookshop.

A couple days ago, the first group of aspiring writers in Nashville graduated from The Writer’s Loft, MTSU’s low-residency certificate in creative writing. And in a couple more days, I will turn the program over to a new member of the continuing studies team. In the meantime, I am here in Paris, promoting the fiction, poetry and nonfiction of my fellow writers, all done with respect to Sylvia.

As I focus on my own fiction, giving the program up is a necessity. Energy and time are finite, and being in Paris is (among other things) therapy with a view for me. The Writer’s Loft is now in its second year and fourth semester, and much has happened since the days when I sketched the program out on yellow legal pads in my living room at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night.

Over the past three semesters, 12 instructors from six states have converged in Nashville and at MTSU four times to mentor 27 aspiring writers from nine cities throughout Middle Tennessee, as well as one student from Canada. After a journey that has included 14 workshops, 10 lectures, five panel discussions and nine packets of original writing each, the Loft’s inaugural class of seven have transformed into alumni, our first alumni.

An essential ingredient to the program’s survival has been the many people and organizations across the Midstate (and now across the planet) who have come together to help us transform this abstract idea into something real and meaningful.

Please join me in thanking Dr. Rosemary Owens, the dean of Continuing Studies and Public Service at MTSU, for believing in this vision and allowing her people to start The Writer’s Loft. And there’s the MTSU English Department, the Nashville Public Library, the Tennessee Writers Alliance, Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Linebaugh Public Library, and so many authors, editors and literary agents in Nashville—all of whom donated their time, facilities, energy and creativity. And we shall not leave out Shakespeare and Company!

I am excited about the arts in my community and about the future, and I know that I will continue to slip into the Loft’s literary events for as long as there is a Loft. But for now, I am going to give the man across from me a couple of euros and stick around for a few more songs before I go forth, too.

Roy L. Burkhead is coordinator of marketing and development for the Division of Continuing Studies and Public Service and is founder of The Writer’s Loft.

New scholarship established

by Randy Weiler

NEW SCHOLARSHIP — Dr. Earl Pearson, left, chairman of MTSU's Department of Chemistry, presents a scholarship check to Marcie M. Duggin, center, of Murfreesboro as MTSU Dames Club President Nancy Smotherman looks on. Duggin, a junior special education major, received the Dames Club Scholarship of $400 and a new $500 scholarship from Dr. Pearson in honor of his late wife, Nancy Pearson, a former Dames Club president.

A junior majoring in special education at MTSU is the recipient of a new scholarship established by Dr. Earl Pearson, chairman, chemistry, in memory of his late wife, Nina Pearson.

Marcie M. Duggin of Murfreesboro recently received the $500 award from Dr. Pearson, along with a $400 scholarship from the Middle Tennessee State University Dames Club.

The MTSU Dames Club, an organization of university women, offers an annual scholarship to female Tennessee residents who have earned a minimum GPA of 2.8 on a 4.0 scale and who are enrolled as full-time college juniors at MTSU.

Mrs. Pearson was a former Dames Club president.

“I was overjoyed,” Duggin said. “I have been trying to pay for my education by myself. My parents help, but I pay for my tuition. I felt very fortunate to get them [the scholarships].”

Home-schooled by her mother, Janet, Marcie Duggin said she has been the recipient of an academic scholarship from the university for several years.

Duggin said her immediate family also consists of her father, Rick, a 1974 alumnus who is minister at Westvue Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, and older brothers Matt and Dan Duggin. Matt Duggin also graduated from MTSU with a B.S. degree in English and is a pastor in the Ukraine. Dan Duggin is an MTSU senior who will graduate in May with a bachelor of science in mathematics (actuarial studies).

This semester, Duggin has observed a resource math class at Central Middle School. Last fall, she volunteered to work at Project HELP.

Warren County, Ky., native Nina Pearson died Nov. 7, 2003, from a rare form of stomach cancer. She is survived by her husband of 41 years, three sons and three daughters-in-law.

The Nina Sue Pearson Memorial Endowed Scholarship at MTSU was established for the purpose of providing scholarships for chemistry students.

Visiting scholar dives into language, discovers English/Tibetan likenesses

by Gina K. Logue

Zhou

Which is more difficult—learning English as a second language or learning Chinese as a first language?

To visiting scholar Zhou Man (pronounced “joe man”), it’s largely a matter of socialization. Zhou (the surname is spoken first in Chinese) has been auditing courses at MTSU since the fall semester and will continue to do so through August.

Her goal is to learn from faculty members in the Department of Educational Leadership, concentrating on English as a Foreign Language, her main area of interest.

“When I take classes in English literature and American literature, there are so many beautiful poems and so many famous poets,” Zhou says. “When you read (iambic pentameter), it is quite rhythmic and it sounds very beautiful.”

Zhou’s visit here is reciprocal. Dr. Diane Miller, associate dean, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, visited the People’s Republic of China in October 2003. Miller toured Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, where Zhou earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. As a member of the faculty there, Zhou earned the Honor of Excellent Teachers in 2002.

Miller says getting to know Zhou can be quite a plus for students.

“The benefit in the global sense is we as an administration want our students to live in a global society,” Miller says. “We want to help make our students better citizens, and Northwest Normal feels the same way.”

Zhou says her main task here is to learn language teaching methodology and language acquisition. She says that as well versed in the basics of English as they are, Chinese students still have difficulties communicating in western countries because of our reliance on colloquialisms. Zhou and her fellow teachers in China feel hampered somewhat in teaching English by their reliance on formal grammatical structure.

“Sometimes we worry about our English,” Zhou says. “Perhaps we will make mistakes. If we make mistakes, then our students will be influenced. So sometimes we’re not quite confident about ourselves.”

Yet Chinese youngsters are more familiar at young ages with English than most westerners are with Chinese, Miller notes.

“I met many people who spoke English in kindergarten and first grade,” Miller says of her visit to China.

“Chinese students, even when they’re in middle school or high school, are required to learn English,” Zhou explains.

Some of Zhou’s scholarship has been focused on how Tibetan students in the Gansu province learn language. With financial support from the Gansu government, Zhou has observed that many Tibetan youngsters consider it easier to learn English than Chinese, even though Chinese and Tibetan belong to the same language system.

“I still find that on some questionnaires, some Tibetan students said there are some similarities between Tibetan and English,” Zhou says. “In Tibetan, they also have some letters (perhaps 36) like the English alphabet. Sometimes they find that, because of these similarities, it will facilitate the English language learning.”

Chinese has a phonetic alphabet, which is used as a tool to aid in pronunciation. There are 2,000 to 3,000 commonly used characters, but those who are fluent in the language know at least 10,000 characters. The sides of characters, which sometimes are combined, are syllables, not letters.

“When I was a little kid, we had to learn these characters, and we also had to learn phonetic transcriptions,” Zhou says.

In order to study here for a year, Zhou left her husband, self-employed mechanical engineer Ren Zhiwei, and five-year-old son, Ren Jaingzhou, at home in Lanzhou.

“For my husband, it is a dilemma,” Zhou admits. “He is reluctant to let me go abroad. On the other hand, he encourages it because it is good for my career. Not everyone like me has such a valuable chance.”

But Zhou says her first trip outside China has been a tremendous communication experience.

“If you are really ready to master a certain kind of language, you have to plunge yourself into that language environment or that language culture,” Zhou says.

Co-hort program aims for convenience

by Lisa L. Rollins

Terrell

Build it and they will come,” someone once said. And in a similar approach to education, members of MTSU’s educational leadership faculty have built a co-hort degree program that meets graduate learners in their own back yards.

The program, which saw its first group graduate in May 1999, was initiated when one Tennessee school principal approached the leadership of MTSU’s College of Education and Behavioral Science about bringing its master’s program to that school’s elementary teachers.

Dr. James Huffman, chairman of educational leadership, said the principal “had a group of newly hired teachers, recent graduates just starting out, and he wanted them to get their master’s degrees, so he asked us if we could bring the program to Lewisburg.”

On evaluating the feasibility of teaching one of the college’s graduate programs off-campus, Huffman said, MTSU education faculty members agreed that there was enough student interest to merit taking the program “on the road,” so to speak. Thus, the college offered its first co-hort education program off site—a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction—in Lewisburg, Tenn.

About the same time, Huffman said, “Columbia State had just started a new site at Clifton, Tenn., and the director of that site called me and said he was interested in getting us to that site, too.” Hence, MTSU took its curriculum and instruction master’s program on the road once more.

The idea of the co-hort program, Huffman explained, is that there “is a group of people, of students, who are all in the same program, all taking courses together and completing a degree program all the way through as a group.”

Regarding the scheduling of classes, “We typically offer two courses per semester and two courses per summer,” he added. “Once we start, we just continue until we complete the program.”

Ellie Terrell, who was among the co-hort program’s spring 2003 graduates, said the convenience of taking classes close to home was key in her decision to pursue a master’s degree in curriculum in instruction.

A member of a Centerville-based co-hort group, Terrell was a teacher in Hickman County when she began the program. And as a bonus, most of the co-hort group’s classes were held in her own third-grade classroom.

“It was very convenient for me and everyone else in my co-hort group,” she recalled of the M.Ed. program. “Even though I lived in Franklin at the time, there was no drive for me on the Friday afternoon class, and the Saturday class was still closer than if I’d driven to MTSU.”

Before MTSU can offer any of its master’s-level courses in education at an off-site facility, however, there must be a potential enrollment of 18 to 24 students—all of whom must be willing to complete the entire 33-hour degree program, Huffman said.

As for the degree-completion time for co-horts, “I think it takes 18 to 20 months to complete the entire coursework, from start to finish, on their site,” remarked Dr. Marvin Peyton, professor, educational leadership.

“They may not be on our main campus when they are taking their classes,” he added, “(but) they are full-time MTSU students who ... are fully eligible to attend graduation ceremonies on our Murfreesboro campus.”

To date, the educational leadership faculty at MTSU has offered co-hort classes in not only Lewisburg and Clifton, but also in Tullahoma, Centerville and even at Murfreesboro’s Cason Lane Academy. Most recently, five new co-hort groups, with an enrollment of about 104 new graduate students, began in the Fall 2004 semester.

“The general geographic areas that we serve with the co-hort program encompass the whole southern Mid-state,” Peyton said. “Our learners are not only at Motlow and Columbia State, but from Pulaski, Hohenwald, Dickson, Waynesboro, Manchester, McMinnville, Summertown, Clifton—just all over the map.”

Many professional educators see added value in pursuing their graduate degrees as part of an MTSU co-hort group, because program organizers try to work around their school schedules.

“One accommodation the (co-hort) program is making for year-round K-12 educators is the creation of special course scheduling that can be worked into these teachers’ fall and spring break vacations,” said Huffman, adding that during one summer, co-hort students were offered “two courses, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., back-to-back, just for them.”

In general, however, “for regular semesters, we’ve offered one of the co-hort courses as a weekend course, which helps the students,” Huffman continued. “That may seems like a minor deal, coming to campus, but those students talk about how hard it is to park here, and it’s so much easier to take it to them.”

Although a few other colleges and universities currently offer off-site degree programs for education students, MTSU is the exception in that it uses only its full-time faculty to teach its co-hort programs in education, not adjunct or temporary faculty.

“I felt that the professors who were willing to make the effort to come to us were also more understanding of ‘the real world’ of teaching,” observed Terrell, who’s now a third-grade educator at Nashville’s Buena Vista Enhanced Option School.

“While keeping the program solid, they didn’t assign projects with an unrealistic amount of work,” she noted. “More often than not, the assignments could easily be tied in to things we were doing in the classroom.”

“We are proud of the fact that we use our regular faculty to teach the co-hort programs,” said Peyton, who is among the MTSU faculty who teach the co-hort students.

“We can only do so much with the staff we have, but we do work to go where the interest is in our program.”

TSSAA tourney time again

It’s TSSAA time again, and that means traffic changes on campus! The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association girls’ basketball tournament got under way March 9 in Murphy Center, and the boys’ competition is scheduled March 16-19.

MTSU Parking and Transportation Services officials say that during the tournaments, the Greenland Drive parking lot will be reserved for TSSAA ticket holders. There will be a $5 charge to park in that lot.

Other traffic and parking changes to expect during TSSAA time include:

• Team bus parking along the east side of Tennessee Boulevard, closest to campus, during the tournaments. This will create a single lane of traffic for a brief stretch heading north on Tennessee Boulevard; use caution in that area.

• Closing the Faulkinberry Drive entrance from Tennessee Boulevard for the duration of each tournament. Faulkinberry Drive also will be closed at Normal Way.

• Reserving the Woodfin’s, Maintenance, Horseshoe, Corral and Jones Field lots for vehicles displaying appropriate MTSU permits.

• Routing tournament visitors to outer parking lots, including the Tennessee Livestock Center and Rutherford lots. The Raider Express Shuttle service will run its normal schedule during the tournaments.

Appropriate signs will help advise visitors and MTSU students, faculty and staff of tournament-related changes, officials said.

“The TSSAA Tournament brings thousands of prospective students and their families, alumni and other university supporters on campus for the events,” said Cindy Koepfgen, field supervisor, Parking and Transportation Services.

“We regret any inconvenience this may cause. We appreciate your cooperation in helping make our visitors feel welcomed on campus.”

Access to art

DRAWINGS ON DISPLAY — “Rocks in the Woods,” a watercolor by Boston artist Iso Papo, is part of the “Direct Access’’ exhibit in the Art Gallery at Todd Hall continuing through Wednesday, March 23. Papo’s work is on display alongside his fellow Bostonians Nathan Goldstein and Harriet Fishman and works from Long Beach, Calif., artists Dominic Cretara, Lara Nguynh and Yu Ji. The exhibit is the first in the art department’s new Todd Hall home. “Each artist presents the viewer with ‘direct access’ to the subject represented that leads to a more complete understanding of the event, place or person,” said Dr. Lon Nuell, professor of art and curator of the exhibit. Hours for “Direct Access: An Exhibition of Drawings” are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday through March 23. For more information, please contact the gallery at 615-898-2455 or 615-898-5653.

artwork courtesy MTSU Department of Art

Blue Raiders announce ’05 schedule

by Mark Owens

The Blue Raiders will face three teams that played in bowl games last year, two SEC programs, and will play two of their first three games at home for the first time in the I-A era in the upcoming 2005 football schedule.

“It’s a great schedule, but a very challenging one,” Middle Tennessee Interim Athletic Director Diane Turnham said of the 11-game agenda.

“We begin the season and end the season in the state of Alabama, and in between, we have what I believe to be one of the top home schedules in school history. There should be some exciting football at Floyd Stadium this year.”

The Blue Raiders will open the 2005 campaign like they did in 2002— at Alabama on Sept. 3. However, this time it will be on campus in Tuscaloosa and not at Legion Field in Birmingham. The Crimson Tide returns a team that is expected to be ranked in the Top 25 and a serious threat to play for the SEC Championship.

The home opener the following week against Sun Belt power North Texas is the most intriguing start to a home schedule since the Blue Raiders became I-A members. The Mean Green, four-time SBC Champs, have won 25 consecutive conference games and return as the NCAA rushing leaders from 2003 and 2004.

For the first time since 1985, the Akron Zips will come to Murfreesboro on Sept. 17. The Blue Raiders upset the MAC school last year in the season opener at Akron.

The Blue Raiders will then embark on a three-game road swing that begins Sept. 24 at Temple. The trip to Philadelphia is a return game from the 2003 season, when the Owls played at Floyd Stadium.

Middle Tennessee will then head up the road to take on neighboring rival Vanderbilt on Oct. 1. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2002.

SBC action will get cranked up again on Oct. 8 as the Blue Raiders head to the Sunshine State to take on Florida Atlantic, the newest member to the league.

The Blue Raiders will finally return home on Oct. 22 against Louisiana-Lafayette in what is usually guaranteed to be an exciting game—and it will be homecoming! Two of the six meetings between the schools have resulted in overtime.

Middle Tennessee will then head back to Florida to take on Florida International in a non-conference game on Oct. 29 before returning home to face Arkansas State on November 5 and Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 12.

The Blue Raiders will close out the regular season for the second straight year at Troy on Nov. 19.

Game times will be announced at a later date. Home games are in bold in the schedule below.

2005 SCHEDULE

Sept. 3 at Alabama
Sept. 10 NORTH TEXAS
Sept. 17 AKRON (Family Weekend)
Sept. 24 at Temple
Oct. 1 at Vanderbilt
Oct. 8 at Florida Atlantic
Oct. 22 LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (Homecoming)
Oct. 29 at Florida International
Nov. 5 ARKANSAS STATE
Nov. 12 LOUISIANA-MONROE
Nov. 19 at Troy

Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society inducts 37 at MTSU

by Tom Tozer

Chi Alpha Epsilon, an honor society for students who started college in an academic assistance program and have maintained a 3.0 grade point average for at least two semesters, recently inducted 37 members into Alpha Theta Chapter at MTSU.

New members are Patricia L. Belew, Stephen J. Belk, Keisha L. Bell, Austin J. Bennett, Patricia M. Bias, Randy E. Buckner, Jeanie M. Chambers, Brittany K. Clark, Matthew L. Collins, Lauren A. Fox, Misty D. Frederick, Stephanie N. Frey, Misty A. Glenn, Rodney V. Golden, Mary A. Hamner, Parisia L. Harp, Dustin P. Heiland, Shelly L. Higdon, Mieko Honda, Tia E. Lanauze, Nicole A. Lipscomb, Wesley A. Lonergan, Farris L. McDowell, Joy L. Medley, Gerald R. Mushi, Trenton J. Poynter, Sara E. Raibley, Katy J. Reynolds, Bryan F. Robar, Davia C. Roby, Mallory M. Schulz, Linda G. Selby, LaSjhondra T. Simmons, Ellen M. Stevens, Jessica F. Watson, Bobby J. Williams and Rebecca L. Wilson.

“We are proud of these students who have demonstrated that with the provisions of academic assistance programs like developmental studies, they have the ability not only to succeed but to excel,” said Dr. Marva Lucas, interim chair of the developmental studies department.

“The distinction that participation in this honor society bring speaks positively about the academic potential of these students, and it speaks positively about the importance of the academic program that made this opportunity possible.”

The officers of Alpha Theta include Katie Warren, president; Barbara Murray, vice president; and Holly Fitzgerald, secretary. Carla Hatfield is faculty advisor.

Dr. Elbert Saddler founded Chi Alpha Epsilon in 1989 at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

National Women’s History Month keynote: Former Human Rights Campaign chief to speak

by Gina K. Logue

Birch

Gay and civil rights activist Elizabeth Birch is scheduled to deliver the keynote address for National Women’s History Month (NWHM) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business Aerospace Building.

Birch has discussed sexual orientation issues on television programs such as “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “20/20,” “Crossfire” and “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.” She has been profiled in the New York Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Los Angeles Times, among other major newspapers.

“Ms. Birch has been a driving force in corporate America and in the nation’s struggle for civil rights for gays and lesbians,” said Greg Simerly, director, speech and theatre, and chairman, National Women’s History Month Committee. “Ms. Birch has delivered keynote addresses for some of America’s top companies, including Disney, and for many national associations. It’s a privilege to have her on campus.”

As former head of litigation for Apple Computer, Inc., and general counsel for its software subsidiary, Claris Corporation, Birch was one of the first openly gay corporate executives in the country. In 1995, she left Apple to lead the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest advocacy group for gays and lesbians in the United States. Under her guidance, the HRC’s annual budget increased from $6.5 million to nearly $30 million and its ranks grew from 100,000 members to more than one million members and supporters.

“In an atmosphere of homophobia and sexism enhanced by misguided religious zealotry and political power-mongering, what could be more productive and inspiring than welcoming to our campus—this place where rational argument and an empowering exchange of ideas may reign—Elizabeth Birch?” said Dr. Elyce Helford, professor, English, and director, Women’s Studies Program.

Birch is widely credited with persuading many of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies to develop nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits. Some of the businesses with which Birch has worked include IBM, Target, General Mills, American Airlines, Citicorp and Wells Fargo. In 2002, Birch was presented with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Award, the highest civil rights honor in the United States.

She earned her law degree from the University of Santa Clara, graduating with honors. Prior to joining Apple, Birch was a commercial litigator with the San Francisco firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her partner, Hilary Rosen, and their two children.

Sponsored by the NWHM Committee, the Women’s Studies Program and the Distinguished Lecture Series, Birch’s speech is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the SunTrust Room. For more information, contact Simerly at 615-898-5607 or Women’s Studies at 615-898-5910 or go to www.mtsu.edu/~womenstu/.

NWHM events calendar:

Thursday, March 17
“America’s Pallas Athene: Women Officers in the U.S. Army”
LTC Susan Lee-Kratz
Noon-1 p.m., KUC Theatre

Tri Beta Biological Honor Society Seminar
Dr. Tiffany A. Tung, Vanderbilt University, “Bioarcheaological analysis of ancient Andean trophy heads”
4:15-5:15 p.m., State Farm Lecture Hall, BAS

Friday, March 18
AFAW Int’l. Women’s Day Breakfast
Dr. Rhea Seddon, former astronaut
7-8 a.m., JUB Hazlewood Dining Room
Buffet cost: $9 members, $12 nonmembers
For reservations, contact: 615-898-5756.

Tuesday, March 22
NWHM Keynote Lecture
Elizabeth Birch, attorney and former Human Rights Campaign executive director
4:30-5:30 p.m., State Farm Lecture Hall, BAS

Wednesday, March 23
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence Lecture
Tricia Rose, University of California at Santa Cruz, “Black Music: Resistance and Politics”
4 p.m., State Farm Lecture Hall, BAS

Documentary, “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and The Power of Women in Hollywood”
4:30 p.m., Honors Amphitheatre

The Living Feminism Discussion Series
Dr. Larry Howard, “Can Men Be Feminist?”
4:30 p.m., PH 304A
For information, contact: 615-898-5910.

Thursday, March 24
Women’s Studies Research Series
Prof. Gloria Hamilton, Psychology: “Treatment of Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder in Women,” 3:30 p.m., JUB 100

Wednesday, March 30
Rochelle Saidel, author
“The Jewish Women of Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp”
4 p.m., State Farm Lecture Hall, BAS

Women’s International Poetry Reading
4 p.m., Alumni Center
Thursday, March 31

Women in Science Annual Lecture
Valerie Kuck, “The Statue of Women in Chemistry: Are Women Reaching Parity with Men?”
11:30 a.m., DSB 100

Also, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Mark your calendar for Take Back the Night (April 14, 7 p.m., KUC Knoll) and a monthlong series of events, including the Clothesline Project, self-defense courses and the “Journey of Hope” 5K Run/Walk (April 23) for Murfreesboro’s Rape Recovery and Prevention Center. Info: 615-898-2193.

Multicultural, McNair bloom for spring

by Lauren Bullock

Mackie

MTSU serves the needs of student minorities by offering programs that represent and protect campus diversity.

“We continually broaden our focus to include a diverse and growing population,” President Sidney McPhee notes in his online greeting.

The percentage of minorities enrolled in MTSU rises annually, and the Office of Institutional Research says minorities comprised 17 percent of enrolled students in the 2005 fall semester.

To continue accommodating the growing number of minority students, MTSU is now offering more minority scholarships and programs than ever before.

Two of the most notable opportunities, the program offered through the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, encourage minority students at all levels of education to reach their full academic potential.

Newly enrolled minority students often find help first at the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The office says in its mission statement that its purpose is to “promote cultural awareness, understanding and a sense of belonging for all students at MTSU.”

The office offers services such as mentoring for first-year students, academic tutoring, and guidance in financial aid, career planning, housing and extracurricular activities.

The office also sponsors a variety of events, including an upcoming presentation and dinner directed by the McNair Scholars program. On Wednesday, March 23, motivational speaker Dr. Calvin Mackie, a prominent author, inventor and educator, will speak on “Identifying and Unleashing Innate Abilities.”

Attendees are expected to benefit from what the College Board Southern Regional Forum says is Mackie’s devotion to “helping people unleash their greatness and transcend personal and societal barriers.”

The event will be held at the James Union Building at MTSU, but because of limited seating, only select sophomores and juniors will be invited to attend. Any student, however, is invited to visit the McNair Scholars office to inquire about future events or eligibility for the McNair Scholars Program.

On Tuesday, April 19, the Office of Multicultural Affairs will serve as host for the annual Ebony Achievement Award Banquet. The banquet, said office secretary Sherrie Murray, “recognizes students of diverse culture and their academic achievement.”

The banquet will feature a yet to be named motivational speaker and an award ceremony in which students will be recognized for achievements such as athletic ability and leadership.

Starting at $10, banquet tickets are sold by individual seats or by the table.

The McNair Scholars Program, said interim program coordinator Steve Saunders, “is designed to prepare low-income, first-generation college students and students from underrepresented groups in graduate education for doctoral level study.”

Students who have been accepted into the program with a GPA of 3.0, 60 hours of college credit and a review process receive mentoring, career counseling, summer research opportunities and stipends and assistance in GRE preparation.

The program has a year-round application acceptance policy to ensure students’ individual learning and scheduling needs are met. And it’s always looking for new applicants, said Saunders.

The McNair Scholars Program and the Office of Multicultural Affairs encourage a continuous cycle of new, interested students to ensure that MTSU achieves its goal of representing and protecting campus diversity.

Students interested in the McNair Scholars Program can call 615-904-8462 or visit www.mtsu.edu/~mcnair/. To contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs or to order Ebony Achievement Award Banquet tickets, students can call 615-898-2987 or visit www.mtsu.edu/ ~stuaff/multicu/.

Priority registration begins April 4 for summer, fall terms

Priority registration begins April 4 for Summer and Fall 2005 terms. Students should check with their advisers prior to registering for classes.

Students also can use WebMT to check for their assigned registration times under the “Registration” menu bar.

Summer and Fall 2005 course information may be accessed on WebMT or on the Records home page at www.mtsu.edu/~records /sbooks.htm.

For those who prefer printed course information, Summer 2005 schedule books are available in the Scheduling Center (JUB 123), Adult Services Center (KUC 320), the Evening School (KOM 126) and the KUC information booth. Fall 2005 schedule books should be on campus the week following spring break.

Contact the Scheduling Center at 615-898-5094 with questions.

Outstanding performer Secretarial award— Judy Cox, left, executive aide in the Department of English, accepts the fourth-quarter 2004 Award for Exemplary Performance from Lynn Palmer, chair of the Employee Recognition Committee. Cox has worked at MTSU since 1988. photo by J. Intintoli

Students get WISE to health careers

by Randy Weiler

About 40 students, mostly from the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, heard six women health professionals address their fields and career opportunities Feb. 25 in the BAS State Farm Lecture Hall.

“I thought the panel went extremely well,” senior general science major Caroline Bishop, president, Women in Science and Engineering, said of the event. “. . . The purpose of these discussions is to get women majoring in the sciences a ‘real-world’ perspective on potential career from real women.”

“They showed the humorous and serious sides of their career and gave the audience an honest picture of what it’s like to be involved in the health care industry today.

Invited guests included adult nurse practitioner Leslie Akins, nursing director Pam Taylor, MTSU psychology professor Dr. Janet Belsky, health nurse practitioner Amy Molder, dental practitioner Dr. Melanie Park and nurse (and MTSU alumna) Dara Grissom.

Medical malpractice for physicians, hospitals and nurses was a critical topic discussed by several of the participants.

“My husband’s a general surgeon and I take care of people for free,” said Akins, chair of the board of directors for the Primary Care & Hope Clinic, which is a clinic for the working uninsured and homeless in Murfreesboro.

“His malpractice (insurance) is close to $50,000 a year. With a $50,000 premium, you have to generate a whole lot more income — at least $150,000 — to pay for your malpractice and then pay your employees.”

Molder said the nursing profession “is wide open. You can do anything you want to do. . . . There are so many different avenues.”

For more information about WISE, e-mail cah3e@mtsu.edu.

Strickland lecture has glamorous focus

by Lisa L. Rollins

Banner

Dr. Lois Banner, an author and historian, will deliver the fifth annual Strickland Visiting Scholar Lecture in History at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, in the State Farm Lecture Hall in MTSU’s Business-Aerospace Building.

“Glamour and Beauty in the 20th Century: The Era of Marilyn Monroe” is the title and topic of Banner’s free public lecture. This keynote address will draw from Banner’s latest research, which she has described as an exploration of “the religion of beauty” in the 20th century.

“Dr. Banner is a leading scholar of women’s history who has written on a wide range of subjects related to gender, sexuality and culture,” notes Dr. Pippa Holloway, chairwoman of the Strickland lecture’s coordinating committee.

“Her lecture at MTSU (will) draw from a work in progress that examines visual representations of Marilyn Monroe to look at how ideas about women’s beauty and glamour developed in the 20th century.”

Banner’s upcoming public lecture and visit to history classes at MTSU was made possible by the Strickland Visiting Scholar program. The program was established through the support of the Strickland family in memory of Dr. Roscoe Lee Strickland Jr., who was a longtime professor of European history at MTSU, the first president of the MTSU Faculty Senate and, later, president of Southern Seminary Junior College in Virginia.

Each year the Strickland program brings a distinguished scholar to the MTSU campus for two weeks to engage in a public lecture, informal and formal classes, and workshops/ meetings with undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members. Each scholar conducts sessions on both the craft of history and on the scholar’s particular historical field.

The purpose of the program is to enhance students’ experiences by allowing them to meet with renowned outside scholars who represent various issues of the historical profession.

This year’s Strickland scholar currently serves as a professor of history and gender studies at the University of Southern California. Banner received her B.A. from UCLA and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

An expert on the study of gender, sexuality and culture in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, Banner published two books in 2004, including her latest title for Knopf-New York, “Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict and Their Circle.”

Regarding “Intertwined Lives,” MTSU’s Holloway, associate professor of history, calls the book “a groundbreaking biography that explores the professional and personal relationship between two of America’s most important female anthropologists, Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.”

The author of numerous book chapters and articles, Banner’s other books include “Reading Benedict/ Reading Mead: Feminism, Race and Imperial Issues” (John Hopkins University Press, 2004); “American Beauty” (Knopf, 1983); “In Full Flower: Aging Women, Power and Sexuality/A History” (Knopf, 1992); “Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Radical For Women’s Rights” (Little, Brown, 1979); “Women in Modern America: A Brief History” (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974) and “Finding Fran: History and Memory in the Lives of Two Women” (Columbia University Press, 1998). “Finding Fran” garnered an award as the best book in the Women’s Issues category in the Independent Publishers 1999 Book Awards.

The recipient of a 2004 Fulbright Experts Grant in New Zealand and a fellow in the history program at Australian National University in Canberra, Banner was the first woman president of the American Studies Association, among many other distinguished accomplishments.

Referring to the Strickland program, Thaddeus Smith, chairman of history, said, “As MTSU moves toward becoming a premier research university in Middle Tennessee, endowments such as the Roscoe L. Strickland Jr. Endowment for advancing the study of history make it possible to recruit and retain outstanding students and faculty to the department.”

Strickland died Sept. 27, 1997, after an extended illness, and his wife, Lucy, established the endowment in her husband’s name in early 1998 to advocate the study of history.

Past Strickland scholars are Gerhard Weinberg (1999-2000), Steven Ross (2000-2001), Timothy Breen (2001-2002) and Carole Levin (2002-2003).

For more information on the lecture, please call 615-898-2536.

cutline info for Monroe photo if needed: GLAMOROUS ICON – This 1956 portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Sir Cecil Beaton, plays a role in Dr. Lois Banner’s March 17 lecture on “Glamour and Beauty in the 20th Century.”

Staff, faculty bring MTSU flavor to IT Conference April 3-5

by Randy Weiler

Entering its 10th year, the MTSU Instructional Technology Conference continues to grow regionally and nationally in terms of presenters from all across the nation.

But there’s still a solid core of MTSU faculty and staff who will make presentations in tracks and workshops during the April 3-5 Building Communities of Learners conference, organizers said.

The April 4 Track 1 presentations by MTSU personnel start with “Learning Objects Video Simulations in Introductions to Nursing Practice” at 11 a.m. by Brenda Kerr, specialist, IT, and Mary Jane Lavender, nursing, in KUC 314.

MTSU’s presence in Track 2 will start at 2:30 p.m. in KUC 316 with a lecture/presentation titled “Learning Styles and Online Course Accommodations in the Pedagogy” by educational leadership personnel Drs. Dorothy Craig, Joel Hausler, Jay Sanders, Barbara Young and Kathy Patten.

At 3:45 p.m., there will be a lecture/presentation titled “Online Learning, Ready or Not Here I come: Starting at Square One” by Kerr and Dr. Brenda Rambo-Igney, psychology.

A Track 3 lecture/presentation titled “The Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technologies Center: A Partnership to Support Faculty Development” will start at 9:50 a.m. April 4. It will be led by Barbara Draude, director, Faculty Instructional Technology Center, and Faye Johnson, assistant to the executive vice president and provost.

An April 4 workshop will include “Adobe Photoshop,” which will start at 2:35 p.m. in the telecommunications-training center, and be led by Eric Jackson, specialist, IT, and MTSU Web master.

The final workshops will both start at 9:50 a.m. April 5. One is “Using MS FrontPage to Enhance Instruction and e-Portfolios,” which will be led by Dr. Ken Rushlow, elementary and special education, and held in LRC Lab B. The other will be “Simple Solutions for Universal Web-Based Information Delivery,” a hands-on workshop led by Stephanie Dennis, academic computing, in TTC.

Featured conference speakers include:

• Phillip Long, director, Learning Outreach, Massachusetts Institute of Technology iCampus, who will speak at 8:15 a.m. April 4 in KUC Theatre;

• Van B. Weigel, professor of ethics and economic development, Eastern University, who will speak at 7 p.m. April 4 at the Doubletree Hotel; and

• Tracy Mitrano, director, Information Technologies Policy and Law Program, Cornell University, who will speak at 8:15 a.m. April 5 in the KUC Theatre.

For more information, call 615-904-8111 or visit www.mtsu.edu/~itconf.

People Around Campus: Center adds 2 new counselors to lineup

by Laura Beth Jackson

MAKING THE GRADE -- New athletic academic counselors Debbie Carroll, left, and Damien Readus, center, discuss ideas to help student athletes improve their study skills and grades as freshman football player John Marc Stephens studies algebra in the Student Athlete Enhancement Center. photo by Ken Robinson

Student success and support are the goals of the latest staff additions to the Student Athlete Enhancement Center.

New athletic academic counselors Debbie Carroll and Damien Readus will assist Dr. Jeanne Massaquoi and Wynnifred Counts at the center, which is located at Gate 1 of Floyd Stadium. It offers academic advising, tutoring, learning assessments, orientation and other services for all student athletes participating in the 17 NCAA Division I-A men’s and women’s sports.

Carroll and Damien were chosen from a pool of 117 applicants because of their extensive experience with student athletes, as well as for the personal interest they take in students.

”Carroll has worked with the Academic Support Center for the last two years,” said Massaquoi. “She has the interest of the students at heart, a good personality and a great sense of humor.”

Readus worked with the University of Kentucky’s athletic department for a full year in 2001 and assisted with academic counseling for that university’s football team. He received his master’s degree in adult education from Tennessee State University in December 2004.

Massaquoi, director of the Student Athlete Enhancement Center, says the need for more advisers arose from the NCAA’s new requirements for student athletes.

The primary impact of the new regulations makes students more accountable for their GPAs. A failing student on any one of the university’s athletic teams is considered a strike against that team.

“Counseling becomes more important now,” said Massaquoi. “It requires more people to spend more time with students— not just at-risk students, but international students, freshmen and transfer students.”

Carroll, who received her master’s degree in clinical counseling from MTSU, said she was drawn to the advisor position because of the structure of the student athlete program.

“My main goal is to support what Ms. Counts and Dr. Massaquoi have already done and help students as much as possible,” she said.

“It’s a great center, it feels so welcoming. I want to help enhance what’s already here because it’s a great program already. I’m just glad to join the team.”

Readus says his enthusiasm for working with student athletes comes from his love of working with a broad range of people.

“I don’t think there’s any other department that’s more diverse as far as students and where I can interact with them on a regular basis,” he said.

“I’m not interested in [the students’] sports per se,” Readus added. “My interest is making sure that they succeed in college. It may be too lofty, but I’d really like the graduation rate to increase. I don’t think that the rate is too low now, but I’m interested in making sure that every student graduates.”

Both Carroll and Readus will be involved with the Student Athlete Enhancement Center, CUSTOMS, fall orientation for student athletes and recruiting activities throughout the year. They also will work with Counts, the center’s associate director, in the Blue Raider Athlete Skills for Success program, a life skills program that provides students with drug and alcohol education, character training and community service opportunities.