Outlook for graduates

Martha Turner, director of MTSU's Career and Employment Center, says the employment market for spring graduates is improving. "We are still receiving requests from employers to come to campus and conduct interviews with our May graduates," she notes. "The market is good this spring for management, marketing, nursing and teaching. It has been strong all year for accounting and nursing." Turner adds that she assumes employment would be "one of the major concerns" on students' minds this time of year.

Contact Turner at 615-898-2500.
mturner@mtsu.edu

Earth-friendly fuel

John Lin, fast-food franchise owner in Los Angeles, says he's going to use vegetable oil as an alternative fuel in his Excursion. The environmentally friendly fuel is called biodiesel. Dr. Cliff Ricketts, professor, agribusiness and agriscience, says it's an excellent fuel source. "The Austrian Army ran their whole fleet off biodiesel," he notes. "MTSU has the speed record for a soybean oil (biodiesel) vehicle with the East Coast Timing Association at Maxtum, N.C. It is believed to be the world's land speed record for this class." The car is a vintage 1976 Corvette with a 6.2 Chevy diesel engine, he notes.

Contact Ricketts at 615-898-2430 or 898-2598.
srickett@mtsu.edu

Cuba conundrum

The April 18 Tennessean editorializes that the crackdown in Cuba may be "Castro's way to test the Bush administration." Dr. Michael Principe, philosophy professor and expert on Cuba, says this is backwards--that the arrests are a response to recent moves by the Bush administration. "The Cubans arrested are not charged with dissenting from É the Cuban government. I have traveled to Cuba several times and dissent is rampant ... [just as] most Americans dissent from their [government]. The Cubans arrested are charged with conspiring with a foreign power (the U.S.) to overthrow the state." Principe says James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, has stated his desire to unite Cuban dissidents to achieve a regime change.

Contact Principe at 615-898-2048.
principe@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA: EARTH DAY EVENTS THIS WEEK: TODAY at 5 p.m., Students for Environmental Action Symposium, KUC Theater; TOMORROW, April 25, Earth Day Festival, starting at noon, featuring several bands, KUC knoll; all free and open. Call Tomi Winfree at 615-898-5184. Media welcomed.
TOMORROW, April 25: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., MTSU Floyd Stadium, Special Olympics Spring Games, including schools from Rutherford and Trousdale counties as well as participants from the Adult Activity Center and Stones River Center. Free and open. Call John Harris at 615-898-2783. Media welcomed.
SATURDAY and SUNDAY, April 26 and 27, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; MTSU students, faculty and the community will come together to build a garden at Community Care of Rutherford County, 901 Country Farm Rd.; formal remarks at 11 a.m. Saturday. For more information, call the NPA office at 615-898-2919. Media welcomed.