On Friday, Feb. 27, Dr. Charles Perry, chair of the University Oversight Steering Committee on Positioning the University for the Future Initiative, submitted the committee’s report to my office.

Having taken the opportunity over the weekend to review the report and the supporting documentation that accompanied it, I believe that the Steering Commit-tee, with the support of the four Strategic Work Groups, did an outstanding job in completing its charge. The recommendations in the report that are now under consideration will not only help us effectively address the critical budget challenges that lie ahead of us but also provide direction for the future of the institution.

The report in its entirety is on the “Positioning the University for the Future” Web page for your review and feedback. I have also included several other documents, which were provided by the committee, that I thought would be helpful in your understanding of the recommendations as presented. As I have reminded the university community throughout this process, I have not yet approved any recommendations and have not made any final decisions, and I will not do so until our faculty, staff, students and other key constituents have had an opportunity to offer feedback not only on the Steering Committee’s recommendations but also on my preliminary recommendations as president.

Over the next several weeks, I will be meeting with key constituent groups to listen to their concerns regarding specific recommendations that are under serious consideration and to review other alternatives to our long- and short-term budget challenges. As you can see from the tentative schedule below, I have asked the Faculty Senate to provide me with their formal response to the academic related recommendations by Monday, April 6. I also will host universitywide forums on Wednesday and Thursday, April 1 and 2, to give the campus community an opportunity to provide me with direct feedback about the recommendations.

Tentative Schedule for Developing Final Budget Recommendations

• Friday, March 20—Faculty Senate to be provided with president’s preliminary recommendations for review and feedback; president’s preliminary recommendations posted to university Web site.

• Wednesday and Thursday, April 1-2—President to conduct open forums to provide an overview and rationale for preliminary recommendations.

• Monday, April 6—Receive report from Faculty Senate on preliminary recommendations.

• Friday, May 1—Submit final set of recommendations to the Tennessee Board of Regents; post recommendations to university Web site. (Note: The president will meet with various constituent groups to obtain feedback between March 20 and April 10.)

It is important to note that some of my final recommendations may not come directly from any of those suggested by the Steering Committee or the Strategic Work Groups, but you will have an opportunity to offer feedback on these recommendations as well before any final decisions are made. Please continue to use the electronic suggestion form on the “Positioning the University for the Future” Web site to submit additional concerns or feedback regarding the recommendations. At this stage of the process, your responses will be sent directly to me for review and consideration.

While I realize that this process has created quite a bit of anxiety and uncertainty for many individuals and departments across campus, I appreciate the support and patience that you have demonstrated as we have worked together to address these challenges as opportunities brought on by the current financial crisis. The Steering Committee, Strategic Work Groups and countless others have been diligent in their efforts to get us to this point in the process, and I am extremely grateful for all of the hard work that has been extended for the benefit of positioning this outstanding university for the future. I look forward to your continued involvement in this process as I seek to now develop and finalize my decisions.

This is a reprint of recent e-mail communications from Dr. McPhee to the university community.

Imagine taking classes in a major and then realizing that it is not right for you. Then imagine that the one you chose next wasn’t right either … and then the next one … and the next.

For roommates Rachel Elkins and Sierra McMillan, this is exactly what happened. Each senior changed her major—five times.

According to Bill Fletcher, director of the Career Development Center at MTSU, most students will change their major at least once before they graduate. Many will change at least twice. And the largest major for entering freshmen is “undeclared.”

Finding the right major and career near the beginning of college is important for many reasons. First, students who extend their college stay by changing majors cost themselves and the university additional money. Research by the U.S. Department of Education and American College Testing shows that the cost to a student for an additional year of school at a public in-state university averages about $16,400. The cost to MTSU for each student who attended beyond his or her four-year stay last year was $4,878.

Students who haven’t taken action on major and career planning also have a higher dropout and transfer rate than students who have put the work in to find the right choice. Fletcher says this is due in part to the fact that students who have found the right choice have a goal to attain, while the ones who haven’t finalized their choices tend to be unsure of what they’re working toward and become more easily discouraged.

Internships, job-shadowing and co-op program participation also can be crucial factors in landing a job. Students who don’t discover their majors until late in their college stay may miss the opportunity to participate in these programs and lose jobs to other candidates who get more on-the-job training.

Despite the advantages of finalizing a major, some students still are undecided and others change their minds. Why? Elkins and McMillan’s cases mirror some of the reasons that students have difficulty choosing a major.

As the youngest child in her family, Elkins entered college with a great deal of family influence and no clear direction of her own. “I am a very driven person at what I do, but decision-making has always been my weakest ability,” she says—a response that Fletcher says is typical for entering students and often affects even those who come to the center looking for guidance.

“The counselor isn’t telling you what you need to do; the counselor is talking to you in an advising process to get you to take the next steps,” Fletcher explains. “And that’s why this is so challenging for students. A lot of times they’ve been told what they need to do in high school … and now they have a choice—that’s the challenge.”

During her college career, Elkins has changed her major from sociology to nursing, then to an undeclared major (with an interest in education), then psychology. She’s now a speech and theatre major.

Elkins says she’s indecisive because she’s interested in many things and wanted to make sure she picked a major that’s right for her.

“Having to actually make a decision in such a short time span that would influence the rest of my life always weighed heavily on my mind,” she says. “I enjoyed getting to experience different possibilities and finding out for sure if a certain direction felt right for me.”

Fletcher says that a student like Elkins falls into a category called “high undifferentiated.” In the field of career development, this means that she is high-functioning with many abilities and also has a wide range of interests. This type of student is good to work with, he says, because she’s open-minded and willing to explore many educational and career options.

He also notes that Elkins’ college-major changes were not random.

“A lot of hers tended to revolve around the health and caring profession. So that was not unusual. She may have changed her major five times, but she didn’t really go too far off-course,” he explains. “The other thing that struck me was that she was looking for the right answer—THE right answer. She probably could have done any of those (majors) and been successful to some degree.”

Fletcher cautions students not to look for the “perfect job” and career. That’s because depending on one job to utilize all one’s skills is a problem. “That job doesn’t exist,” he says, adding that students tend to want to be ready for a job right out of college, believing that first job will remain their vocation.

“We know through a longitudinal survey by the (U.S.) Bureau of Labor Statistics that between the ages of 18 and 42 years of age, the average person is going to have 10.8 jobs. And those jobs may cross over to different career fields. So the act of making the right decision between the ages of 18 and 21, that’s not [going to be] the case,” he explains.

In McMillan’s case, her major selections were a little more varied. She majored in art education, theater, English and biology before deciding on public relations. When working with a student with diverse interests, Fletcher usually asks for background information and suggests career exercises such as structured and unstructured autobiographies as well as daydreaming and visualization exercises.

“Usually you can find things that sort of link together. Theater, art education, English and public relations are creative types of fields—different, but still creative types of fields,” he says.

“This (PR) major meant that I could do anything I wanted to do,” McMillan explains. “Now I can work in entertainment, maybe not acting, but I could be close to the stage again. I can work for a nonprofit organization to fill my hunger for being a humanitarian. I can write and write and write. And I can design brochures and newsletters. I can even throw parties and organize events to change the world!”

Now that Elkins and McMillan have found their niches, though, they face a new problem.

“The one challenge with these two students, who have a lot of interests, is getting them accelerated in the process,” Fletcher says. “Here she (McMillan) is at the conclusion of her undergraduate studies, having chosen public relations. And key for her gaining employment is going to be not one internship but several internships. So she could still find herself behind the eight ball in terms of employment, satisfaction in terms of her career, getting into her career.”

Fletcher says students should get active in finding the right major.

“The reasons I see that [students] select the wrong majors are a lack of information or a lack of correct information … also lack of initiative. It’s not that they haven’t thought about it, but they haven’t really put their thoughts into action,” he explains. “A lot of students think it will just happen naturally.

“It’s harder to do the action-oriented approach where you have to network with people and … find where you want to be and find what you want to do, at what institution, in what type of environment, and make the connections and research the institution. That type of major and job search is more challenging … but the benefits, the return on investment, is much better.”

Fortunately, Elkins and McMillan did find their way to majors they enjoy.

“I am 100 percent confident that I have (found the right major),” says Elkins. “I really enjoy the work I am doing now and the people I am in classes with. I seem to have found my niche.”

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TIME FOR CHANGE—Seniors Sierra McMillan, left, and Rachel Elkins, who have changed their majors multiple times, chat with Career Development Center Director Bill Fletcher. photo by Andy Heidt

Transportation changes are ahead for the north and west sides of campus this month as the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s annual high-school basketball tournaments return to MTSU.

TSSAA girls’ games are scheduled March 11-14 at Murphy Center, while MTSU is on spring break, and the boys’ games are planned March 18-21. Faculty, staff and students are being encouraged to plan ahead for parking and driving alternatives.

During the tournaments, MTSU’s Greenland Drive lot will be reserved for TSSAA ticketholders, who’ll pay $5 per vehicle to park there.

As in the past, team buses will be parked along the east side of Middle Tennessee Boulevard, creating a single lane of traffic heading north. The traffic change also will close Faulkinberry Drive at MT Boulevard and at Normal Way during each tournament.

Vehicles and visitors with the appropriate MTSU permits will be allowed to park in the Woodfin, Horseshoe, Maintenance, Corral and S-Curve/CKNB Parking Lots during the tournaments. Those attending the games will be routed to the outer lots surrounding campus, including the Tennessee Livestock Center and Rutherford lots.

The Raider Xpress Shuttle Service will run its normal schedule during TSSAA tournaments, with the exception of the Green Route. During the tournaments, Raider Xpress Green Route shuttles will not serve the Greenland Drive lot. Instead, they’ll make normal stops along Crestland Drive, re-enter campus behind the James Union building and travel around Old Main Circle past Peck Hall and Kirksey Old Main. Green Route shuttles will then take a right onto MTSU Boulevard and head out of campus via Champion Way back to Greenland Drive.

“The TSSAA tournaments attract thousands of prospective students, their families, alumni and other university supporters to campus for these high-school events,” said Byron Barnes, special-events supervisors for transportation and parking services. “We appreciate your cooperation and assistance in helping to make our visitors feel welcomed on campus as well as keeping everyone in our university family safe and on time to classes and work during this busy period.”

For more information, visit www.tssaa.org.

Applications are being accepted for the 2009 Student Recognition Awards through Tuesday, March 17. All members of the MTSU community are encouraged to nominate students who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and meet the award criteria. Awards descriptions and information can be found at www.mtsu.edu/~mtleader/awards.htm.

The June S. Anderson Foundation, now entering its 26th year of operation, has awarded 116 scholarships, with the total award amounting to more than a quarter of a million dollars. Named for its founder, the first female full professor at MTSU, the continuing success of this scholarship program is a testament to Dr. June S. Anderson’s determination to “do something for women.”

Realizing that the gender gap in earnings was in part a result of the careers into which women were traditionally tracked, June, who taught chemistry at MTSU from 1958 until 1983 and founded an academic support service for women in 1975, the Concerned Faculty and Administrative Women, decided to find a way to encourage women to enter fields in which they were underrepresented. She was concerned, as well, to find a way to help women who were re-entering or just beginning higher education after working or raising a family.

Based also upon financial need, the June S. Anderson scholarships award full tuition to MTSU to women age 23 and up who are pursuing degrees in nontraditional fields.

In 1997, I was honored to be asked to be a member of the JSA Board of Directors by Dr. Ayne Cantrell, now professor emerita of the MTSU English Department. When Ayne retired from our university, I replaced her as president of the board in 2005. I did so with not only a bit of trepidation—Ayne’s legacy of gracious and committed feminist leadership on this campus is well known!—but also with a great deal of enthusiasm for the work of the foundation. To my mind, this is feminism in action at its best.

This is not simply because its work is a concrete way to address the gender gap in earnings. Even in the year 2009, the average American woman must work into late April of the next year to match the previous year’s income of the average American man. The situation is even worse for African-American and Latina women, who average only 53 cents for every dollar made by the average American man.

It is also because the Foundation encourages women to pursue fields of study—like chemistry (Professor Anderson’s field) and philosophy (mine)—that spur and reward our innate human capacity for wonder. And, because I am the first and only female member of MTSU’s Department of Philosophy, the Foundation’s efforts to support women’s passion for knowledge resonates deeply with me.

If the readers of The Record would like to continue and strengthen Professor June S. Anderson’s mission, donations to the Foundation may be sent to Box 73, MTSU. The deadline to submit applications for the annual June S. Anderson Scholarships is Sunday, March 15. Please see our Web site, http://frank.mtsu.edu/~jsa, for further information.

Dr. Mary Magada-Ward is a professor of philosophy at MTSU and president of the June S. Anderson Foundation. See related women’s articles, page 3.

Young readers have more books in hand thanks to the MTSU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi honor society, which has launched a literacy project to promote reading in the community.

Recent activities include placing 44 books in Smyrna Primary School’s library for its kindergarten and pre-K readers and providing books to the Dede Rucker Memorial Library at MTSU’s Project Help.

Believing that it is important to give students opportunities to work in the community in support of academic excellence, the Phi Kappa Phi board developed the literacy project with the help of Cindy Morgan and Charis Brown, student vice presidents of the chapter. The group is exploring additional ways to promote literacy in the community.

“We are excited about an opportunity to partner with Read to Succeed on an upcoming project: to place a small bookcase and a few essential books in Habitat for Humanity houses built in Rutherford County this year,” Lucy Langworthy, PKP board president, explained.

“We are in the process of outfitting the first house as a pilot project to determine the cost and time involved. If all goes well, we will then apply for a grant from Phi Kappa Phi to provide funds for the remainder of the Habitat houses built this year. There are usually eight to 10 houses built, and we would like to place books in all of them. What better way to share with these new homeowners and the community the PKP belief that literacy is a lifelong process that can build self-respect and hope for a better life!”

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest, largest and most selective all-discipline honor society with chapters on nearly 300 college and university campuses in North America and the Philippines.

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SWEET TREAT—Project Help students receive books donated to their library by the MTSU Phi Kappa Phi Chapter as part of the group’s literacy project during trick-or-treating last fall. Shown are Lucy Langworthy, president of Phi Kappa Phi, left, and Susan Waldrop, director of Project Help. The children, seated left to right and front to back, are Cade and Fiona, Bree and Lea and Ryan and Dawson. photo by Andy Heidt

The late U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) said, “I am, was, and always will be a catalyst for change.” Her words form the theme for the 2009 National Women’s History Month celebration at MTSU with events scheduled throughout March and into April.

Chisholm, an African-American lawyer from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York City, was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1972, she became the first African-American woman to run for the presidential nomination of a major party. Her face graces the 2009 MTSU National Women’s History Month button.

“The reaction from faculty, staff and students is so gratifying,” says Terri Johnson, chair of MTSU’s National Women’s History Month Committee and director of the June Anderson Women’s Center. “The whole campus is engaged in National Women’s History Month. It’s not just a month. All year long, they’re learning about women’s history.”

The keynote speaker for this year’s celebration is feminist author bell hooks, who will deliver a presentation, “Feminism Forever: Continuing the Struggle,” at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in the Keathley University Center Theater. Her appearance is sponsored by the JAWC, the National Women’s History Month and Black History Month Committees, the Distinguished Lecture Fund and the Virginia Peck Trust.

Acclaimed as one of the nation’s leading public intellectuals by The Atlantic and one of “100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life” by Utne Reader, hooks’ first book, Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism (South End Press, 1981) was named one of the “20 most influential women’s books of the last 20 years” by Publishers’ Weekly in 1992. Her most recent books include Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics and Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism with Amalia Mesa-Bains.

Dr. Peggy McIntosh, associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, will present “Recognizing and Lessening Systems of Privilege with Regard to Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation,” a workshop for administrators, faculty and staff, as part of the Women’s Studies conference at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the Tom H. Jackson Building.

She also will guide a workshop for students, “Coming to See Privilege Systems: The Surprising Journey,” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in the State Farm Lecture Hall. McIntosh’s events are co-sponsored by the President’s Commission on the Status of Women; the National Women’s History Month Committee; the Women’s Studies Program; the Distinguished Lecture Fund; the Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technologies Center; the American Association of University Women; and the Holocaust Studies Committee.

“The excitement of having two nationally and internationally known intellectuals here invigorates the entire campus community and ignites our desire for change and activism,” Johnson says of hooks and McIntosh.

Other highlights include “Tennessee Women for the Vote: A Suffrage Rally, 1913,” dramatized by Ayne Cantrell, Elvira Casal, Ann Funkhouser, Elyce Helford and Kris Pruitt on Thursday, March 5; the International Women’s Day Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 18; the Interdisciplinary Conference in Women’s Studies on Thursday and Friday, March 26-27; a lecture by The Hon. Martha C. Daughtrey of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Thursday, March 26; and “Daddy’s Scrapbook: Reflection of a Negro League Daughter” with Harriet Hamilton on Friday, March 27.

All events are open to the public, and all are free except the International Women’s Day Luncheon. For complete information, go to www.mtsu.edu/~jawc or contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

“Sexuality” is the theme of the 2009 Interdisciplinary Conference in Women’s Studies at MTSU, which is slated for Thursday and Friday, March 26-27, in Cantrell Hall in the Tom H. Jackson Building.

Learned scholars from across the country, as well as the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, will present research on topics representing the vast panoply of perspectives on sexuality, including biology, culture, and sexuality; sex trafficking; feminism and sexuality; and gender construction and sexuality. In addition, undergraduates will gain valuable experience in presenting their own research and obtaining feedback from conference participants.

“I am very pleased that an undergraduate research forum is included in the conference program this year,” says Dr. Diane Miller, vice provost for academic affairs. “This event supports MTSU’s effort to develop a campus culture that fosters and celebrates student research activities. I hope that faculty will attend the conference and encourage their students to attend.”

The keynote speakers for the event will be Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner, co-founders of Soapbox Inc., a feminist speakers’ bureau. Richards, who also is co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, is co-author with Baumgardner of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (2000) and Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism (2005). Baumgardner was the youngest editor at Ms. magazine from 1993 to 1997. The pair will address the conference at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 27.

“This academic conference brings together esteemed scholars and MTSU students for a learning experience that will take a holistic, multifaceted approach to the subject,” says Dr. Newtona “Tina” Johnson, director of the Women’s Studies Program and professor of English.

“None of our sessions will be conducted simultaneously to allow everyone to participate in each session and to foster a greater sense of community.”

The conference is free for all MTSU faculty, staff and students. The advance fees are $80 for nonstudents and $40 for students other than MTSU students, the unemployed and the underemployed. These fees go up to $90 and $45, respectively, on-site.

For more information, go to www.mtsu.edu/womenstu or contact 615-898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, MTSU’s Association of Faculty and Administrative Women will host an International Women’s Day Luncheon on Wednesday, March 18, from noon to 1:30 pm. in the Hazlewood Dining Room in the James Union Building.

All interested faculty and staff are invited to attend this informative event.

“Our program this year will be based on the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin,” said Dr. Carol Ann Baily, AFAW president. “An impressive panel of women from various disciplines will discuss the importance of educating young girls and women in Third World countries.”

The panel will include MTSU professors Ida Fadzillah, sociology and anthropology; Yuan-ling Chao, history; Kathy Burriss, elementary and special education; Sandra Johnson, biology; Gloria Hamilton, psychology; and Barbara Haskew, economics.

Topics within the book and areas of discussion include the development of schools for girls, supporting higher educational opportunities and training for these girls as they become women, the importance of women’s vocation centers and the societal benefits realized from educating women.

“It is our hope that this discussion will broaden our understanding of the educational needs of all of the world’s women,” Baily said.

If you would like to read excerpts from the book before the luncheon, you can find a link at the AFAW Web site at www.mtsu.edu/~afaw. Click on “calendar” to see the details about the luncheon and then click on the link to the background materials.

Luncheon cost for AFAW members is $16 each; nonmember cost is $20.

“Membership in AFAW is $20 per year, but since we are already halfway through the 2008-09 school year, we are offering to extend membership paid now until May of 2010, so new members can pay $36 for a year-and-a-half’s membership and the luncheon,” Baily explained.

“We hope that this extension of membership for 18 months, rather than 12, will provide an adequate incentive for new members to join AFAW and to attend the International Women’s Day Luncheon.”

To join AFAW and sign up for the luncheon, please visit the AFAW Web site and click on “Membership Form”; you may become a member and sign up for the luncheon on the same form. Mail a check to Kippy Todd at Campus Mail Box 109 for the $36 combined membership and luncheon fee, or bring it to the luncheon.

If you want to attend the luncheon as a nonmember, Baily said, please alert Todd via e-mail at ktodd@mtsu.edu and then either mail a check for $20 to Box 109 or bring it to the luncheon.

The dance program at MTSU has been selected to serve as host for the Southeastern Conference of the American College Dance Festival Association with “Exploring Diversity through Dance” as its theme.

The conference, which began March 7 and continues through March 10, brings representatives from 30-plus colleges and universities throughout the United States to the MTSU campus. This year, the event is expected to attract some 600 participants, said Kim Neal Nofsinger, artistic director of the MTSU dance program.

“The conference is a great opportunity for students to experience master classes and gain performance skills outside of their usual academic setting,” Nofsinger said. “MTSU’s conference will have over 100 master classes, including courses in salsa, hip-hop, modern, ballet, Pilates (and) choreography, to name a few.”

According to the ACDFA Web site, the nationally acclaimed dance conference encourages talent and creativity within the academic system. ACDFA has been held annually since 1973 and has become the largest dance conference on a collegiate level in the nation.

Nofsinger said highlights of this year’s conference are its featured concerts, all open to the public, including one at 8 p.m. Monday, March 9, in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre.

“These concerts will contain choreography and performances by 12 nationally and internationally known artists, many of whom have been guest artists in the Minority Guest Artist in Dance Program at MTSU,” he said. The concerts will include Travis Gatling, Erica Wilson-Perkins, Teena Custer, Elina Mooney, Sally Wallace, Ursula Payne, Chung-Fu Chang and Sara Semonis.

Nofsinger said the event also will feature two award-winning dances by Stefanie Bland, the current artist-in-residence with MTSU’s dance program. Adjudication concerts and the Gala Concert also will be open to the public, he said.

“In the adjudication concerts, schools present their choreography before a panel of three internationally known adjudicators, who offer feedback on their work,” he explained. “This year’s panel includes Mark Borchelt, a ballet instructor and former dancer with Ballet West; Ursula Payne, an internationally known choreographer and performer; and Dr. Maura Keefe, a dance historian and critic, who is the Scholar-in-Residence at Jacob’s Pillow.”

The Gala Concert, the final performance of the conference, will be held at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, and will showcase dances demonstrating the range of work at the collegiate level.

Tickets for the adjudications are $5 per person. Admission to the Gala Concert and the featured concerts is $10 per performance. All performances will occur in Tucker Theatre in the Boutwell Dramatic Arts Building.

For more information on the conference or the dance program, contact Nofsinger at nofsinge@mtsu.edu. A schedule of conference activities and concert times is available online at www.mtsu.edu/dance/specialevents.shtml.

The MTSU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America will serve as hosts for a regional event, “Discover Your Opportunities: Opening the Door to Your PR Profession,” March 20-22, where they will be “bringing together some of the most talented communicators in our state,” says MTSU PRSSA Vice President Sierra McMillan.

The event will provide an excellent opportunity for communications and PR students to network with industry insiders, McMillan said. Early registrants also will be paired with professionals in their preferred PR professions to participate in the job- shadowing program.

The MTSU chapter is focusing on job placement for students who will graduate in May, but members also hope to give MTSU students an advantage over other job seekers with insider tips, events and networking opportunities.

“This event demonstrates our dedication to provide students access to exclusive information about the PR arena,” McMillan says.

On Friday, March 20, participants in the job-shadowing program will go to their assigned businesses. Saturday attendees will get tips from industry leaders about how to break into the PR field; a networking luncheon also will allow the students to speak with various industry professionals and more than 90 fellow PR majors from across the Southeast.

The Career Exhibition program Saturday evening will allow students to speak one-on-one with representatives of leading firms and corporations and present them their resumes.

The event will wrap up with a brunch on Sunday featuring a keynote speech by MTSU alumnus Ronald Roberts, chief operating officer of the Nashville-based firm Dye Van Mol & Lawrence.

The event will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Nashville. Registration information can be found at www.mtsuprssa.webs.com.

The MTSU Writing Center will offer a free one-day, writing-focused public event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 21.

Organizers of the event said the tutorial will be especially beneficial to those in need of one-on-one assistance with résumé or curriculum vita development, college or scholarship applications, or completing materials related to job-hunting or returning to school, including in pursuit of an advanced degree.

The event is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, please contact Connie Huddleston at 615-494-7628.

The nomination process for the 2008-09 Outstanding Teacher Award is under way, and the deadline for submissions is Monday, March 9.

The MTSU Foundation has funded the Outstanding Teacher Awards for the past 43 years. The winner receives $3,000 from the Foundation.

Nominations are made each spring by alumni, faculty and students. Selections are based on evaluations by students and tenured faculty.

Nomination guidelines include requirements that nominees be full-time faculty in at least their fourth year of teaching at MTSU. Previous winners are eligible to compete again after a minimum of five years.

Full guidelines and nomination forms for the Outstanding Teacher Award (from alumni, students and faculty) are available online at www.mtsu.edu/~provost/otaward.shtml. All award nominations must be in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, Room 111 of the Cope Administration Building, before close of business March 9.

Have you been spring cleaning? You may have stacks of used books, CD, DVDs, tapes and records that the American Association of University Women’s Murfreesboro chapter could include in its annual book sale.

The group is now accepting donations to be sold to benefit the Ruth Houston Memorial Scholarship for MTSU Students. The book sale will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 30-31, in the Keathley University Center basement in front of Phillips Bookstore.

On-campus donations can be dropped off in a box in Room 320 of the KUC or at the Walker Library. There is a drop-off box located to the left of the library entrance, and curbside pickups can be arranged there, too. Call or e-mail Ann Funkhouser at 615-898-2538 or afunkhou@mtsu.edu for more information.

Off-campus donations will be picked up on Fridays. Call or e-mail Cathy Crabtree for off-campus pickup at 615-867-3963 or cathy_crabtree@ yahoo.com.

The Todd Gallery at MTSU will present “Dried, Cracked, Wet, Dripping and Blooming: An Exhibition of Work by Charles A. Gick” through Friday, March 20.

An associate professor of art and design in Purdue University’s Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Gick has exhibited his interdisciplinary installations nationally and internationally.

“My hybrid installations explore the intersections between memory, the body, our emotions and the sensory experience that we share with the natural environment, attempting to expose the fertility and futility of human communication,” Gick has said.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. The Todd Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each Monday through Friday and closed on university holidays. For more information, call 615-898-5653.

Some 240 people attended the Fourth Annual Interior Design Show-case, with Nashville designer Shirley Horowitz, on Feb. 7 at MTSU.

Representatives from the MTSU Student Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers/International Interior Design Association served as hosts for the event, which featured a keynote address by Horowitz, “An Interior Design Journey: The Interior Renovation of Far Hills, Tennessee, Governor’s Residence,” as well as vignette presentations by students and fundraising efforts that resulted in more than $2,000 for cancer research.

“The (student event) was a great success,” said Dr. Teresa Robinson, coordinator for MTSU’s textiles, merchandising and design program. “It gave MTSU interior design students and faculty an opportunity to showcase their work in and out of the classroom. The students presented an outstanding collage of portfolios that displayed their design creativity and professionalism.”

Spring officially arrives on Friday, March 20, but a lingering chance of inclement weather could still affect classes at MTSU.

When inclement weather arises, MTSU closing information will be available online and on area radio and TV stations. The university also will send out an official text-message and e-mail alert via the RAVE system.

Class cancellations will apply to all classes, credit and noncredit. MTSU offices will be open unless otherwise stated. Overnight decisions will be announced by 6 a.m. the next day.

Learn more anytime by visiting www.mtsunews.com and clicking on the snowflake. You also can make sure you don’t miss a thing by signing up now for a RAVE text-message alert at www.mtsu.edu/alert4u.

Music from Japan, now in its 34th season, will bring its internationally acclaimed presentation of Japanese music to Hinton Hall in MTSU’s Wright Music Building on Sunday, March 15, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Murfreesboro is one of only six stops on this year’s North American tour, which includes Washington, D.C., and New York, N.Y. An award-winning nonprofit organization, Music from Japan is chaired by Hisashi Owada, a former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations and the current chief judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Owada lectured at MTSU in 2002.

“They bring the best of the best in the field every year,” says Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, adviser to the president and the provost on academic affairs and professor emeritus of economics and finance. “Music from Japan programs have received many prominent awards.”

This year’s “Tradition/E-novation” concert will include works for shamisen, a three-stringed traditional instrument similar to a guitar but with a much longer, slimmer neck and without frets, as well as violin and electronics.

Heading the lineup is shamisen player Mojibei Tokiwazu V, whose father and grandfather, both also shamisen players, were designated “Living National Treasures” by the Japanese government. Tokiwazu V has taught at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music since 1994 and at Waseda University Theatre Arts Museum since 2005. In 2004, he received special recognition from the National Theatre of Japan.

Violinist Mari Kimura is hailed by The New York Times as “a virtuoso playing at the edge” and the “plugged-in Paganini for the digital age” by All Music Guide. She is noted for her revolutionary technique, “subharmonics,” and for interactive performances of her works with computer-generated music. Kimura has taught a graduate class in computer music performance at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York since 1998. She holds a doctorate in performance from Juilliard and has been invited to international festivals in more than 20 countries, including the Other Minds Festival in Paris, Spring in Budapest and the International Bartok Festival.

Tomomi Adachi’s recent work focuses on solo performance for voice, sensors, computer and self-made instruments, sound poetry, video installation and workshop-style large ensemble pieces for nonprofessional voice and instruments. His punk-style choir, the Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus, has recorded several of his compositions. Adachi also has performed works by composers as diverse as John Cage and Dieter Schnebel.

This year’s Music from Japan concert is co-sponsored by the MTSU School of Music, the Office of Student Programming and the Office of the President. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. To obtain tickets, write to mfj@mtsu.edu, indicating the number of tickets desired and the name of each recipient. Tickets may be delivered or e-mailed in an “e-voucher.”

For more information, contact Kawahito at kawahito@mtsu.edu.

Photos p8

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE—Artists scheduled to perform at the 2009 Music from Japan March 15 at MTSU are, from left, shamisen player Mojibei Tokiwazu V, composer/performer Tomomi Adachi and violinist Mari Kimura. photos submitted

Awards

A book by Dr. Bob Hunt (history), The Good Men Who Won the War, has received the 2008 Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize from the University of Alabama Press for the manuscript “most deserving in Alabama or Southern history or culture.” 
 

Ken Middleton (James E. Walker Library) is the winner of the 2009 Association of College and Research Libraries’ Women’s Studies Section Award for Significant Achievement in Woman’s Studies Librarianship. The award, sponsored by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, honors a significant or one-time contribution to women’s studies librarianship. He’ll receive a $1,000 prize and plaque during the WSS program in July at the 2009 American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago.

Professor Bob Wood’s (recording industry) original film score for the short film “Wait” received a Gold Medal for Excellence in the category “Best Impact of Music in a Short Film” at the Park City Film Music Festival, which was held in January concurrent with the Sundance Film Festival. The film, written and directed by Dr. Bob Pondillo (electronic media communication), also was selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival; DigiFest Film Festival in Florence, Italy; and several other festivals.

Honors

Rebecca A. Foote (accounting) has been named “Outstanding Professor in the College of Business” in an election sponsored by the insurance fraternity Gamma Iota Sigma. The award was announced after a Feb. 3 vote by students in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business.

Passages

Mr. Harold Clinton Jewell (engineering technology, Facilities Services), 87, passed away Feb. 18. Mr. Jewell was an assistant professor of engineering technology and industrial studies for 36 years and also served as superintendent of building and grounds for MTSU’s Facilities Services Department for more than 25 years. He worked at MTSU from January 1955 until his retirement in August 1991. Mr. Jewell, who was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Mary Snider Jewell, and his daughter, Deborah Jewell Moore, is survived by his brother, Powell Jewell; his son-in-law, David Moore; and several nieces and nephews. Mr. Jewell served in the 1st and 7th Armored Divisions in the European Theater during World War II. After his discharge from the Army, he graduated from MTSU and then taught and worked here for the duration of his professional careers. Mr. Jewell was a member of Southeast Baptist Church, where he taught a men’s Sunday-school class for more than 18 years. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Lindsey Wilson English Scholarship Fund in honor of Deborah Jewell Moore to 210 Lindsey Wilson St., Columbia, Ky., 42728.

Presentations

Dr. Richard Bauer (psychology) recently presented the following papers: “Early (3,000-1,500 B.C.) Egyptian Psychology” and “Comparing Mirror Image, Language, and Intelligence Systems in the Neocortex” at the Southeastern Psychological Association in New Orleans and “Mirror Image Neurons and Educa-tional Practices” at the International School Psychology Association at the University of Utrecht.

Drs. Scott Carnicom (University Honors College) and Phillip Mathis (biology, honors dean emeritus) presented “A Community Service Opportunity for Honors Students” at the Tennessee Collegiate Honors Conference at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville Feb. 14. Gina K. Logue (News and Public Affairs) presented “Bulletin! Reporters Caught in Bed with Star-Making Machine!” at the same conference.

Cynthia Chafin (Center for Health and Human Services) made a 15-minute presentation on the Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition’s “ABC-123 Healthy Kids in Tennessee” project during a live international webcast on World Cancer Day, Feb. 4, for The International Union Against Cancer.

Drs. Michaele Chappell, Mary Enderson, Jason Johnson and Jacob Klerlein (mathematical sciences) presented “Communicating Mathematically: Preparing Literate Mathematics Teachers” at the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Annual Conference on Orlando, Fla., Feb. 5-7.

Dr. Kaylene A. Gebert (provost’s office) presented a paper on “Technology Costs, Investments, and the Academic Mission” at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Academic Affairs Winter Meeting Feb. 7 in Savannah, Ga.

Dr. Debra Rose Wilson (nursing) presented “Stress Management for Nurses” March 2 at the Franklin (Tenn.) Marriott Conference Center as part of “The Professional Nurse” conference for health care providers by Williamson Medical Center and Columbia State Community College.

Vincent Windrow (Intercultural and Diversity Affairs) presented “Across the Atlantic: From America to Africa—How Interculturalism is Approached Internationally” at the national conference of the National Association of African American Studies Feb. 9 in Baton Rouge, La.

Publications

Drs. Mark Anshel (health and human performance), Jwa Kim (psychology) and Qiwei Gan (former MTSU doctoral student) have published their study, “Sources and Cognitive Appraisals of Acute Stress as Predictors of Coping Style Among Male and Female Chinese Athletes,” in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, March 2009, Vol. 7, pp. 68-88.

A book by Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk (history), Helping the Good Shepherd: Pastoral Counselors in a Psychotherapeutic Culture, 1925-1975, has been published in the “Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context” series of Johns Hopkins University Press.

Dr. Sherry J. Roberts (business communication and entrepreneurship) co-authored “Social Networking Web Sites and Human Resource Personnel: Suggestions for Job Searches” in Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 72 (1), March 2009.

Dr. Debra Rose Wilson (nursing) is publishing a peer-reviewed book review on Patient Listening: A Doctor’s Guide by Loreen Herwaldt for the Journal of the National Medical Association, June 2009, Volume 101, Issue 6.

Dr. Rachel C. Wilson (business communication and entrepreneurship) published “Improvement of Entrepreneurship Education for Ethnic Minorities: Redesigning Postsecondary Programs to Combat Challenge Areas” in Business Education Forum, 63(3): 39-41.

See yourself in The Record!

E-mail your faculty/staff accomplishments to gfann@mtsu.edu. Deadline for publication in the March 23 Record is 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 11; deadline for publication in the April 6 Record is 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 25. Please don’t forget to include the specifics—who, what, where, when and why—with your news!