Tuesday, September 25, 2007

116 GUEST BASSONIST PETER KOLKAY PERFORMS AT MTSU OCT. 8

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

GUEST BASSONIST PETER KOLKAY PERFORMS AT MTSU OCT. 8

(MURFREESBORO)—Peter Kolkay, MTSU’s guest bassoon artist, will perform a free and open recital at 8 p.m. Oct. 8 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
"Peter Kolkay is a musician known throughout the world,” said Maya Stone, instructor of bassoon at MTSU. “His playing is mesmerizing, displaying flawless technique with breathless musicality.
Kolkay will perform Franz Berwald’s Concertpiece, Elliott Carter's Retracing, George Perle’s Bassoonmusic, Camille Saint-Saens’s Sonata and Vivaldi’s E-minor Concerto.
In addition to his Oct. 8 public performance, Kolkay will give a free master class at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 7, Stone noted.
Currently an assistant professor of bassoon at the University of South Carolina, Kolkay previously spent four years as visiting assistant professor of bassoon at West Virginia University and holds a doctoral degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. Kolkay earned a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
A native of Naperville, Ill., his performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on New York’s WQXR-FM. He has also appeared on the A & E Network’s Breakfast with the Arts, with host Elliott Forrest.
“No one should miss this recital!" Stone exclaimed
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.


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115 EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS REGISTRATION DEADLINE, OCT. 1

Release date: Sept. 24, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
EYH contacts: Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, 615-904-8253
Dr. Rebecca Zijlstra, 615-898-5776
Karen Claud, 615-504-8587 (high-school coordinator)


EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS IN MATH AND SCIENCE REGISTRATION DEADLINE WILL BE OCT. 1


(MURFREESBORO) — Openings remain for girls in grades 5-8 to register online to attend the 11th annual Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science, event director Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross said today (Sept. 24).
EYH will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at sites across the MTSU campus.
About 100 openings remain for the girls in grades 5-8 category. There is a $12 registration fee, but scholarships are available. For the first time, high-school girls will participate with a separate EYH event, Iriarte-Gross and high-school coordinator Karen Claud said. As of Sept. 24, about 20 openings remained. Their registration fee is $15.
EYH is a hands-on science and math conference, event organizers said. During the day, they will participate in hand-on activities, learn more about science and math careers from MTSU faculty and off-campus professionals and attend a conference with other girls interested in math and science.
Girls in grades 5-8 will attend three workshops. The high-school girls will attend two hands-on labs, have a mentoring lunch with women already in science and math careers and participate in a college and careers workshop. Dr. Kaylene Gebert, MTSU provost and executive vice president will be the keynote speaker.
Interested parents can attend a panel discussion about gender and pay equity led by Ayne Cantrell, president of the Murfreesboro branch of the American Association of University Women and a retired MTSU faculty member, and a hand-on science badge workshop.
To register, visit mtsu.edu/~eyh. For more information about the girls in grades 5-8 EYH, call Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or Dr. Rebecca Zijlstra at 615-898-5776. For more information about the high-school girls conference, call Claud at 615-504-8587.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.
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114 JEWISH AND MUSLIM STUDENTS UNITE FOR FEAST AT MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Lon Nuell, 615-898-2505
Dr. Saleh Sbenaty, 615-898-2966

JEWISH AND MUSLIM STUDENTS UNITE FOR FEAST AT MTSU
Sukkot and Ramadan to be Observed at a Meal Emphasizing Brotherhood

(MURFREESBORO) – To mark the convergence of two religious holidays, Hillel, the Jewish student organization at MTSU, will provide a meal for the Muslim Students Association at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, on the Keathley University Center (KUC) knoll.
The meal will be an opportunity for Muslim students who have been engaged in Ramadan, a month-long observance during which Muslims fast in the daylight hours, to break their fasts.
The Jewish students will celebrate Sukkot, which commemorates the 40-year period during which the Jews wandered in the desert, living in temporary shelters. The students will build a tabernacle called a sukkah on the lawn in front of the KUC.
Dr. Lon Nuell, professor of art, says this practice had been a tradition earlier. “It’s a tradition that we are renewing here in hopes that it will be a way of building a bridge between the two religions,” Nuell says.
For more information, contact Nuell at 615-898-2505 or lnuell@mtsu.edu or Dr. Saleh Sbenaty, professor of engineering technical and industrial studies and adviser to the Muslim Students Association, at 615-898-2966 or ssbenaty@mtsu.edu. Media welcomed.


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113 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES HENRY COUNTY FARM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 21, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES HENRY COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
186-Year-Old Homeplace Farm Becomes County’s Oldest Century Farm to Date

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Homeplace Farm in Henry County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
In 1821, the same year that Henry County was established, William Nored purchased 252 acres from Peter Kendall of Virginia. With wife Nancy and their five children, the Noreds cleared timber from the land and raised cotton, tobacco, garden produce, and cattle.
John W. Nored purchased the property from his parents. He and his wife, Jenc,y had eight children, and the primary crops grown by this generation were cotton and tobacco. In 1850, their son, Aaron Lafayette, acquired the property. Aaron married Margaret McFarland; they had 10 children. Family history records indicate that two of their daughters, Emma, 11, and Ara, 8, died in 1872 when they were burned while trying to light a lamp. A son, James, died at the age of 18 in 1881.
John W. Nored and his wife, Sarah Hasseltine, became the owners of the farm after his parents, Aaron and Margaret. John and Sarah had nine children and produced cotton, tobacco, corn and timber on the land. Eventually, the land was inherited by their children; however, daughter Edna and her husband, Will Linsman, bought most of the farm from the other heirs. Edna and Will were the parents of Effie Mae, Plase, Clint, and Paul. The family recalled that excess vegetables and eggs were sold in Paris for extra cash during and after the Depression years.
In 1947, Plase purchased the farm from his parents. Along with his wife, Prentyce, they raised sweet potatoes, corn, tobacco, cotton, beans and dairy cattle. The milk was sold to Pet Milk Company of Mayfield, Ky. In 1995, Prentyce died.
Currently, Plase—who is now almost 93—maintains the 215-acre farm, which produces corn, beans and timber. He and Prentyce’s only child, Shirley Lineman Flanagan, manage the farm business and research the family history.
“Both Henry County and the Homeplace Farm, the oldest of the county’s 17 certified Century Farms, are 186 years old this year,” HanKins observed.
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today. the TDA provides a
metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owners or obtain jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.

112 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES FRANKLIN COUNTY FARM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 21, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES FRANKLIN COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
105-Year-Old Mountain Cove Farm Becomes County’s 12th Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Mountain Cove Farm in Franklin County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
Located four miles South of Winchester, Mountain Cove Farm was founded by T. A. Roberson in 1902. This farm, advised the family, is a portion of a tract of about 1,000 acres that was earlier homesteaded by David Roberson. T. A. and wife Maggie had one child, Mable Roberson. On 116 acres, the family produced corn, hay, wheat, oats, cattle, horses and hay.
The next owner of the property was the grandson of the founder, John Thomas Wilkerson. Married to Alma Wilkerson, they were the parents of two children, Glenn Thomas and Kenneth James. John and his family cultivated corn, wheat, hay and soybeans and raised cattle, horses, mules and hogs. In the 1940s, the farm experienced many improvements and acreage was added to the operation. Electricity came to the area in 1944 and a county road was built in 1948.
In 2004, Glenn Thomas Wilkerson, the great-grandson of the founders, acquired the property. Today, Glenn and his sons, Paul and Mark, produce cattle, hay, corn, wheat and soybeans. A granary that was constructed in 1910 and a tenant house dating from 1906 are used for storage.
“Mountain Cove Farm is recognized along with 11 other certified Century Farms in Franklin County,” Hankins said.
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today, the TDA provides a
metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owners, or to obtain jpegs of the farm’s founders the general store and barrel-making factory mentioned herein, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.

108 WRITER DAVE HICKEY MAKES FIRST MTSU VISIT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 25, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919, or lrollins@mtsu.edu

INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN WRITER DAVE HICKEY MAKES FIRST MTSU VISIT
Free Nov. 12 Lecture Will Appeal to Local Arts Community & Others, Say Organizers

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—Dave Hickey, a freelance writer of fiction and cultural criticism, will make his first visit to the MTSU campus when he presents a free and open lecture, “Artfair Culture: Playing Fair without the Referee,” at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business Aerospace Building.
Characterized as one of the best-known American art and cultural critics currently practicing, Hickey’s upcoming visit was made possible by sponsorship from the university’s art and English departments, the College of Liberal Arts and MTSU’s Distinguished Lecture Fund.
“The art department is excited to host Dave Hickey’s first visit to MTSU,” said Cindy Rehm, assistant professor of art. “Hickey is one of the most preeminent critics of our time … (and) his insightful and accessible writings and spirited lectures offer fresh perspectives on art and culture.”
A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, also dubbed the “genius grant,” Hickey was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2003. He has written for most major American cultural publications, including Rolling Stone, Art News, Art in America, Artforum, Interview, Vanity Fair, The Village Voice and both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times newspapers, to name but a sampling. He currently serves as contributing editor to Art Issues magazine in L.A.
Hickey's critical essays on art have been collected in two volumes published by Art Issues Press; namely, The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty (1993), which is in its sixth printing, and Air Guitar, Essays on Art and Democracy (1998), now in its third printing. In 1989, SMU Press published Prior Convictions, a volume of his short fiction, and hiis most recent book, Stardumb (Artspace Press, 1999), is a collection of stories with drawings by artist John DeFazio.
A one-time staff songwriter for Nashville’s Glaser Publications and former arts editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Hickey has enjoyed a varied career, but his writing lectures are credited with helping him gain a “substantial international reputation.”
Regarding his foray into art criticism, Hickey has said, “I began writing about art because I was interested in the gap between what we see and what we see. Also, I wanted to write about things in the world that stayed in the world after I had written about them so (that) whatever I wrote would remain in a live relationship with its subject. If you write about a concert or a play or a public event, that event is gone and nothing remains but the writing. Works of art, however, survive as an ongoing critique of the critique you have written; I like that.”
Currently a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Hickey has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin; The University of California, Santa Barbara; the Otis Parsons Institute; and The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Hickey also has served as owner-director of A Clean Well-Lighted Place, a short-lived but influential Austin, Texas, art gallery that he opened in 1967, and as director of the Reese Palley Gallery in New York City.
Rehm said the acclaimed writer/cultural critic’s Nov. 12 talk, will likely find favor with many.
“Hickey’s plain-spoken style will appeal to the local arts community as well as anyone interested in the state of contemporary culture,” she observed.
For more information regarding Hickey’s talk, please contact Rehm at 615-904-8386.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For editorial needs, including to request a black-and-white jpeg of Hickey or a color jpeg of the cover of his latest book, Air Guitar, please e-mail your request to Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at MTSU at lrollins@mtsu.edu.

107 MTSU WILL SERVE AS HOST FOR CONFERENCE ON POET MILTON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919

MTSU WILL SERVE AS HOST FOR 9th BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON POET MILTON
Oct. 25-27 Event Attracts Attendees from Across the U.S. & Beyond, Say Organizers

(MURFREESBORO)—The Department of English at MTSU will serve as the sponsor and host of the ninth biennial Conference on John Milton, renowned English poet, on Oct. 25-27 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro.
The conference, which was first held in Murfreesboro in 1991, attracts
scholars of the great English poet Milton, who is best known for his epic titled Paradise Lost. In fact, notes Dr. Kevin Donovan, MTSU English professor, past conference participants have traveled from throughout the U.S., as well as from Japan, Australia, Korea, Norway and Canada.
“Since its inception, the conference has attracted most of the leading American scholars in the field of Milton studies,” Donovan said. “(And) this year’s plenary speakers are Richard J. DuRocher of St. Olaf College and Laura L. Knoppers of Pennsylvania State University.”
Moreover, the MTSU-based Milton conference also has resulted in a series of collected essays, edited by Dr. Charles W. Durham and Dr. Kristin A. Pruitt, two of which have won the prestigious Irene Samuel Prize from the Milton Society of America, reported Donovan, who—along with MTSU professor emeritus Durham, past president of the Milton Society of America, and Pruitt, professor emerita of Christian Brothers University and the 2008 president of the Milton Society of America--will serve as co-directors of the event.
Past conferences have drawn participation from prominent American scholars in the field of Milton studies such as John Shawcross, Joseph Wittreich, Annabel Patterson, Michael Lieb, Stella Revard, Diana McColley, Barbara Lewalski, Stanley Fish, and Paul Stevens.
Registration and an opening reception for Milton conference participants will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at the DoubleTree Hotel. The official welcome will be delivered at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 26, by Dr. Tom Stawman, MTSU English professor, followed by DuRocher’s opening address, “’Tears such as Angels weep: Passion and Allusion in Paradise Lost.” Knoppers’ concluding address is titled “’Hidden Lustre, Gems and Gold’: Excavating the Margins of Milton’s 1671 Poems.”
Throughout the two-day event, numerous Miltonists from across the U.S. will speak on the poet and his works, including within the areas of Milton and the Classics, Milton: Past and Present, Milton and the Visual Arts, Milton’s God, The Divorce Tracts, Milton in the Classroom, Milton and Ecocriticism, Milton in the Classroom, “Reading” Milton, Samson Agonistes, Milton and the Environment, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Miltonic Sources, Milton’s Sonnets, Milton in Print and Milton and Religious Issues, among other topics.
In addition to Donovan, Strawman and Durham, other MTSU English faculty participating in the conference will include Peter M. McCluskey, Warren Tormey and William Badley.
“We're expecting at least 120 people to attend the conference,” predicted Donovan. “There are about 100 named individuals on the program, and we always have people attend who are not on the program, including MTSU faculty and students as well as other Miltonists from the region.”
The registration cost of this year’s event is $120 per person. In addition to admittance to all conference session, this fee includes the catered Oct. 25 opening reception; coffee and pastry on Oct. 26-27; and dinner on Oct. Oct. 27.
For more information on the conference, including a full list of scheduled speakers and registration materials, please visit the conference Web site at http://www.mtsu.edu/~english2/milton.htm or contact Donovan directly at 615-898-5898.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For editorial needs, including interview requests with conference co-director Donovan, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu or at 615-898-2919.

Friday, September 21, 2007

111 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES CANNON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 21, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES CANNON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
105-Year-Old Cooper Farm Becomes County’s 6th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Cooper Farm in Cannon County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU.
In September 1902, Joseph A. and Margaret King Cooper established a 150-acre farm in the Ivy Bluff community. With their seven children, they raised horses, mules, cattle, sheep, corn and hay. In February 1913, Joseph sold 75 acres to his son, J. Taylor Cooper, and his wife, Nancy.
When the heirs of Joseph and Margaret sold their portions of the farm, J. Taylor purchased the remaining 75 acres and returned the farm to its original 150 acres. During his ownership, J. Taylor raised mules, horses, cattle, chickens, corn and hay. J. Taylor, married first to Nancy and then to Minnie Bowman, fathered five children.
The third generation to own the farm was Everett R. Cooper, who obtained the property in 1953. Everett married Gladys N. Mingle Cooper and they had three children, June, Nancy and Raymond. Under his ownership, Everett operated the farm as a dairy until 1975 when he and son Raymond Cooper began to cultivate corn, soybeans and wheat and raising beef cattle. Everett, a Progressive farmer, made many improvements and followed conservation practices. In 1971, the Cooper Farm was the first in the county to plant by the “no-till method.”
In 1971, the great-grandson of the founder, Raymond, became the fourth generation to own the farm by securing some of the acreage, and by 1984, he had the full 150 acres. Today, Raymond, wife Patricia Campbell Cooper and their son, Andrew and wife Amy, live and work on the farm.
In 2007, the Cooper Farm won the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Agriculture and Forestry. This award is given for the “soil conservation efforts that had taken place on the farm and the protection of habitats for endangered species.”
“The Cooper family continues the legacy of successful farming begun by its founders, Joseph and Margaret, 105 years ago this year,” Hankins noted.
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today the TDA provides a
metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families. To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.

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110 GET JAZZED UP! SUPPORT WMOT-FM’S ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, Sept. 21, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Keith Palmer, 615-898-2800

GET JAZZED UP! SUPPORT WMOT-FM’S ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
MTSU’s Public Radio Station Celebrating 39 Years of Service

(MURFREESBORO)—WMOT-JAZZ89’s annual membership appeal and on-air fundraising drive gets under way Oct. 3 to help the station bolster its budget and continue providing its award-winning local news, features, commentary and, of course, great jazz.
The campaign, which runs through Oct. 18, will benefit MTSU’s nonprofit public broadcasting radio station. This year also marks the station’s 39th anniversary—and its 25th year as an all-jazz format station. In addition, this is the first fundraiser under the direction of John Egly, longtime staffer and new general manager and director of broadcasting for WMOT-JAZZ89.
”The station also has paid student workers on- and off- air, as well as scholarship students,” said Keith Palmer, WMOT director of development. “Some of WMOT’s professional staff teaches classes in the College of Mass Communication.
“Those who listen to and enjoy WMOT must support it financially. Pledge so that radio in Middle Tennessee keeps swinging.”
WMOT-JAZZ89, a National Public Radio affiliate, is located on the FM dial at 89.5 and online at www.wmot.org. It also now simulcasts on HD Radio, which provides better fidelity via digital technology. As a public broadcasting station and a public service of MTSU and its College of Mass Communication, WMOT relies on funding through federal government, MTSU and the public through membership dollars, business support underwriting and fundraising ventures.
For information on how you can help, visit www.wmot.org anytime or contact 615-898-2800 or 615-255-9071.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color TIFF of the WMOT-JAZZ89 logo, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Thanks!

109 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MOORE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 21, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MOORE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
114-Year-Old Rock Creek Farm Becomes County’s 6th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Rock Creek Farm in Moore County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
For the sum of $207, Thomas Shaw Holt purchased a parcel of land north of Lynchburg near the community of County Line in 1893. Once a part of Bedford County, the name came from its location on the Bedford and Lincoln County lines. After Moore County was formed in 1871, the community continued to carry its name.
Hankins said that during the late 19th century, County Line was a small but thriving community with the Tolley and Eaton distillery, a school, two churches, two general stores, a blacksmith shop and a post office. The Old Shelbyville Turnpike ran through the farm and T. S. Holt operated a general store that also served as a barrel-making factory.
Thomas was married to Sarah Tennessee Wiseman, and they had one daughter, Tommie Shaw Holt Ervin, who became the second generation to own the property in 1942. During her ownership, the farm supported cattle, mules, tobacco, corn and cotton. Tommie was married to Walden Jackson “Jack” Ervin; their children were Guy Holt, Horace William, Sarah Nel, and Mary Walden.
According to the family’s reports, during World War II, the family grew “Victory Gardens.” Following the war, a new barn was built in 1949. Additionally, the Holt family was active in the Home Demonstration Club and the County Line Community Club in the 1940s and 1950s.
Guy Ervin and wife Mary Louise Owens Ervin, the next generation to live and work on the farm, produced cattle, mules and horses. They donated a half-acre of land for the construction of the County Line Church of Christ.
In 2005, the grandchildren of Guy and Louise Ervin, Todd F. and Walter B. Jennings III, sons of Buford and Nancy Ervin Jennings, acquired the property from their grandmother. Today, Todd and Walter, along with their father, are involved in the farm’s management and operation. They raise cattle and hay and continue to use the 1949 barn.
The Rock Creek Farm is the sixth Tennessee Century Farm to be certified in Moore County, Hankins said.
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.




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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owners, or to obtain jpegs of the farm’s founders the general store and barrel-making factory mentioned herein, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.

106 RUTHERFORD COUNTY COLLEGE NIGHT WILL BE HELD OCT. 8

Release date: Sept. 21, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Office of Admissions contact: Heather Arrington, 615-898-2848


RUTHERFORD COUNTY COLLEGE NIGHT WILL BE HELD OCT. 8 AT TENNESSEE MILLER COLISEUM


(MURFREESBORO) — The MTSU-hosted Rutherford County College Night will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 8, at Tennessee Miller Coliseum, 304B West Thompson Lane, an Office of Admissions official said recently.
This event is free and open to the public. Any student and their parents or guardians from public or private high schools in Rutherford and surrounding counties are welcome to attend, said Heather Arrington, an admissions assistant director.
Representatives from more than 50 colleges, universities, community colleges and other organizations from across Tennessee and the South have requested booth space, Arrington said.
Seminars will be given on “Financial Aid 101: A Guide to Financial Aid and Scholarships; “HOPE Scholarship;” and “Choosing the Right College Choice for You.”
As of Sept. 20, colleges and universities and other organizations planning to participate include:
Aquinas; Austin Peay; Belmont; Bethel; Carson-Newman; Cumberland; East Tennessee State; Free Will Baptist; Freed-Hardeman; Harvard; Hiwassee; Lees-McRae; Lipscomb; Martin Methodist; MTSU; Motlow State; Nashville State; Nossi College of Art/Business & Technology Center; The University of the South; Sullivan;
Tennessee Student Assistance Corp.; Tennessee Tech; Tennessee Wesleyan; The Art Institutes; University of Alabama-Huntsville; University of Memphis; University of Tennessee; University of Tennessee-Chattanooga; University of Tennessee-Martin; Trevecca Nazarene; Union; Vanderbilt; Virginia Intermont; Watkins College of Art & Design; Western Kentucky; and Xavier.
Students can ask their guidance counselor for details or call 615-898-2111.
The event is endorsed by the Tennessee Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.
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105 MAY WE SPEAK FREELY? NOT ALWAYS IN THE WORKPLACE!

MAY WE SPEAK FREELY? NOT ALWAYS IN THE WORKPLACE!
Author to Address State of Free Expression Sept. 27 at MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, Sept. 21, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Beverly Keel, 615-898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu

(MURFREESBORO)—Discussing the latest political brouhaha during your coffee break can get you into more than a debate with a co-worker; it can get you into the unemployment line.
Professor and author Dr. Bruce Barry will address the topic on Thursday, Sept. 27, when he delivers the lecture, “Will Work Leave You Speechless? The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace,” in the Keathley University Center Theater on the MTSU campus. The 9:45 a.m. event is free and open to the public.
The event is co-sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and MTSU’s American Democracy Project.
In his new book, “Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace,” Barry, a professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University, examines the history of free expression in the workplace, how and why Americans have come to take free speech for granted and how employers can legally punish employees for speaking their minds.
As Barry reveals in his book, employers often can legally fire workers whose speech makes them uncomfortable, even if the content has nothing to do with their jobs. He describes situations such as the factory worker who was fired because her boss disagreed with her political bumper sticker and the stockbroker who felt pressure to resign from an employer who disapproved of his off-hours political advocacy.
“What a lot of people don’t understand is our rights to free speech, which we think of as very broad, are actually quite limited, especially in the workplace,” Barry said. “Constitutional law and employment law conspire, if you will, to really limit those rights and give employers very broad discretion on how they choose to regulate or even punish employee speech.
“There are all kinds of complications and exceptions to it. That is, there’s not one answer to the question, ‘Is there free speech in the American workplace?’ It depends on where you work, what kind of speech and where you live. The laws vary from state to state.”
Barry added that employers’ power to silence their workers’ speech has a chilling effect on society. “This is a big problem,” he said. “It encourages people to tune out participation in the community and civic engagements and democracy for fear of losing their jobs.”
Barry teaches courses on power and influence in organizations, business and society, negotiation, and the sociology of media and technology. His research on behavior at work, including power, conflict, justice, and negotiation, has appeared in many scholarly journals and volumes. He also writes about business ethics, workplace rights, and public policy issues at the intersection of business and society. He is co-author of three books on negotiation that are used in courses at universities worldwide.
A past president of the International Association for Conflict Management and a past chair of the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management, Barry also is a member of the editorial boards of the journals “Business Ethics Quarterly,” “Work and Occupations,” and “Negotiation and Conflict Management Research.”
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in organizational behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has also taught at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill and has been a visiting scholar at the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Barry lives in Nashville, where he is president of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and a contributing writer and blogger for the “Nashville Scene.”
For more information about the lecture, please call 615-898-5150 or e-mail bkeel@mtsu.edu.

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IN BRIEF: Dr. Bruce Barry, author and professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University, will present a lecture, “Will Work Leave You Speechless? The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace,” on Thursday, Sept. 27, in the Keathley University Center Theater on the MTSU campus. The 9:45 a.m. event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and MTSU’s American Democracy Project. For more information about the lecture, please call 615-898-5150 or e-mail bkeel@mtsu.edu.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.




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NOTE: Media needing a color headshot of Dr. Barry, or a color image of the “Speechless” book cover, should contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385.

Thanks!

104 WILD HORSES, BURROS STAMPEDING TO MTSU TO FIND GOOD HOMES

WILD HORSES, BURROS STAMPEDING TO MTSU TO FIND GOOD HOMES
Adoption Event Slated Oct. 12-14 at Tennessee Livestock Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Bill Davenport, 703-440-1720

(MURFREESBORO)—Four-footed friends who need good homes will return to Murfreesboro Oct. 12-14 for a three-day adoption event sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management.
Approximately 80 wild horses and burros from America’s rangelands—healthy mustang yearlings, mares, horses, geldings and a limited number of sturdy jack and jennet burros—will be available for adoption at the Tennessee Livestock Center on the MTSU campus, located at 1720 Greenland Drive.
This time the BLM is offering a bonus: Any applicant who is approved to adopt two or more animals and adopts a full-fee ($125) animal first may adopt a second “buddy” animal for just $25.
Minimum adoption fees start at only $125 for animals 2 years old and younger and $25 for animals 3 years old and up.
The application process is simple and can be completed on-site throughout the event. Visitors may inspect the herd, pick out their favorites and fill out an application beginning Friday, Oct. 12, from 1 to 5 p.m. Head on back Saturday, Oct. 13, and be ready to adopt your favorite through the oral-bid adoption, which will begin around 9:30 a.m. Following the oral bid adoptions, remaining animals are available for adoption on a walk-up basis until 5 p.m. on Saturday and again on Sunday, Oct. 14, from 8 a.m. to noon.
For more information on the application process, call 866-4MUSTANGS
(866-468-7826) or visit wildhorseandburro.blm.gov to download an application.

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IN BRIEF: Wild horses and burros from America’s rangelands will be available for adoption Oct. 12-14 at MTSU’s Tennessee Livestock Center, 1720 Greenland Drive in Murfreesboro. Adoption fees start at $125 for animals 2 years old and younger, and applicants may be able to adopt a second “buddy” animal for only $25. The Bureau of Land Management sponsors the event. For more information on the wild horse and burro application process, call 866-4MUSTANGS (866-468-7826) or visit wildhorseandburro.blm.gov to download an application.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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103 MTSU FACULTY RECITAL FEATURES MUSIC FROM UPCOMING ALBUM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 20, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

MTSU FACULTY RECITAL FEATURES MUSIC FROM UPCOMING ALBUM
Bela Says Creating Music from Father’s Book Was “Deeply Moving, Personal Experience”

(MURFREESBORO)—Marcin Bela, assistant professor of theory and composition at MTSU, will present a free and open faculty recital at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Joining Bela will be Randy Boen (electric guitar), Russell Wright (electric bass) and Curt Redding (drums). Boen, Wright and Redding are members of the local music project known as the Johnny Neel Criminal Element.
Bela said the group will perform songs from his upcoming album titled One Spin of the Sun.
Bela's performances have entered a wide array of contexts, including cabaret shows, jazz concerts, rock sets and classical recitals. He and his collaborators have performed in concert venues such as Jordan Hall in Boston and the Max M. Fisher Hall in Detroit, as well as in rock clubs such as the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, the urban-gallery environment of Tenri Institute in Greenwich Village, and the ambient and reverberant Holy Trinity Chapel in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Bela said his father, Zbigniew, wrote One Spin of the Sun between 1981 and 1983, when he was a small child and his father was an emerging writer in Poland.
“The book is essentially a series of short observations of daily life occurrences, with my 3-year-old self appearing in many chapters,” Bela said. “Needless to say, translating it into English and setting it to music has been a deeply personal and meaningful experience.
“It offers an exceptionally honest insight into the logistics of life during the last decade of European communism, as it was collapsing before our eyes,” he said.
The Oct. 7 performance is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.


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102 STUDENT REVIVES LEGACY OF NATIONAL CHAMP FROM TENNESSEE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 20, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

STUDENT REVIVES LEGACY OF NATIONAL CHAMP FROM TENNESSEE
“Pop” Geers, Harness Racing Pioneer, Modest Forgotten Hero of Sports History

(MURFREESBORO) – He once graced the sports pages of national newspapers, but he has yet to be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He and his horse were the first to break a two-minute barrier and set a new record, but no one hails him as the Roger Bannister of his era.
He advanced his sport by strengthening horses’ bloodlines and introducing the use of the pneumatic tire. Yet the major existing tribute to his memory is a solitary granite spire in a small park that bears his name in Columbia, Tenn.
Edward Franklin “Pop” Geers (pronounced JEERS) was the “Grand Old Man” of harness racing, a sport that elevated the spirits of downtrodden Reconstruction-era Tennesseans and filled the idle hours of elite Northeasterners. Now an MTSU graduate student is bringing his life and his legend into focus with her master’s thesis.
History major Sarah Elizabeth Hickman, a Columbia native, was steered toward Geers by Maury (pronounced MURRAY) County Historian Bob Duncan, an old family friend. She knew immediately that she wanted to tell Geers’ story.
“It just amazed me how a country boy from Tennessee … was known up in New York like he was and how he was known throughout the harness racing industry,” Hickman says.
Geers was born in Lebanon, Tenn., in 1851, the son of a storekeeper and a homemaker. He satisfied his first fascination with racing animals by yoking two calves, tying their tails together with a rope. When one of the calves lost half a tail, Geers traded them for a horse and threw $50 into the deal.
While training in Columbia, he met and married a local girl and accepted the town as his own. Geers raced at local fairs throughout middle Tennessee as spectators wagered their hard-earned savings for a few seconds of excitement. In 1875, he competed outside the midstate for the first time, and he traveled north to take on the sport’s premier circuit the following year.
“He never said a harsh word to a horse,” says Hickman. “He never used a whip. They said he had something in his voice, something in his demeanor that made the horse go. I can just see this little short man from Tennessee just talking to the horse, sort of like a horse whisperer.”
Geers’ genteel tactics paid off handsomely. Hickman’s research shows he made more than one million dollars in his career. The pinnacle of his success was the record he
achieved with Napoleon Direct, a former plow horse with whom Geers broke the two-minute barrier. The team was timed at 1:59 and ¾ seconds on Aug. 14, 1916, a paramount achievement.
Tragically, the glory came to an end at a race in Wheeling, W. Va., on Sept. 3, 1924. At the start of the second heat, Geers urged his mare, Miladi Guy, to speed up to keep pace with two other teams.
“The horse tripped,” Hickman says. “Then the sulky started twisting and wailing and the horse fell. Pop was thrown from the sulky. Other sulky drivers tried to miss him, but when they tried to miss him, one of them hit him on his shoulder.
“He laid there on the track unconscious. They took him back to his stable, and the horses, as a rider put it, seemed to know something was wrong with their master. They all sort of stuck their heads out of their little stalls and looked to see what was happening.”
The trade publication Trotter and Pacer reported that “Pop” Geers’ final words were “I had a fall.”
To find out as much as she could about Geers and harness racing, Hickman traveled to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame and Museum in Goshen, N.Y. She says the staff was delighted to enlighten her about Geers, a 1958 inductee, allowing her to touch Pop’s racing jacket and one of his sulkies.
A local racer took Hickman riding around the track in one of his sulkies so she could get the feel of harness racing. Since she was brought up on a farm, Hickman was no novice around Jagger Blue Chip, a horse valued at $100,000, but this was unlike anything she had experienced at home.
“You’re right on the horse,” Hickman says. “There’s no room for error or anything.”
In addition to materials from the hall of fame and the Maury County archives, Hickman’s sources include various books, newspapers and magazines, and Geers’ granddaughter, Jane Janus, as well as the Margaret Lindsley Warden Collection at MTSU’s Albert Gore Research Center, where Hickman also worked on the Hurricane Katrina Oral History Project.
However, Hickman, ever the historian, wants to know even more about Pop. In fact, she wants to publish her thesis as a book someday. For now, graduating this December with a master’s degree in public history will suffice.
“I need a break from school,” Hickman says. “I need to let my career start to take off and to decide what I actually want to do.”
In the meantime, anyone with any additional information about “Pop” Geers and his legacy can contact Hickman by e-mail at sarelibeth@yahoo.com or by phone at the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna at 615-459-2341.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For jpegs of rare historic photos of “Pop” Geers and/or an interview with Sarah Elizabeth Hickman, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.

101 MTSU POLICE TO SET UP SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS ON CAMPUS

MTSU POLICE TO SET UP SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS ON CAMPUS

Sept. 18, 2007

CONTACT: Police Chief Buddy Peaster; Associate Police Chief Roy Brewer, at 615-898-2424

MURFREESBORO—The Department of Public Safety at Middle Tennessee State University will set up field-sobriety check points on and/or around campus the early morning of Saturday, Oct. 6, from midnight to 2 a.m. This will be the third such checkpoint over the last year.
MTSU Police are joining local and state law-enforcement agencies, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, to help make Tennessee streets and highways safer for everyone. The goal is to reduce alcohol- and drug-related fatalities to 35 percent in 2006 from a baseline of 41 percent in the year 2000.
A grant awarded to MTSU’s Public Safety department, financed with funds administered through the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, assisted in providing the necessary personnel and time to make this effort possible.
“Our goal is to reduce the number of impaired drivers by being proactive,” commented MTSU’s Associate Chief Roy Brewer. Even when the grant funds run out, Brewer said the department will continue with the checkpoints now that it has acquired the necessary equipment and training. “These checkpoints have prepared us, and the precedent has been set to continue.”
According to a 2004 report from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a Web-Based Encyclopedia, Tennessee ranks 11th for overall alcohol-related fatalities on the highway. Additionally, with MTSU’s enrollment increasing 2 to 3 percent each year over the last several years, Public Safety records indicate there also has been a steady rise in the number of alcohol-related incidents and arrests on campus.
Brewer adds, “We have been fortunate that with the university’s growth, we have not had a fatality crash on campus as of yet. We are aware of numerous fatality crashes off campus involving MTSU students. If being more visible on campus can save just one life, our efforts will be worth it.”
It takes more than enforcement measures to protect the community from drunk drivers, Brewer acknowledges. “We also have many education programs that we present to interested groups on campus, such as Drunk Goggles.”

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

100 HITLER LIKED WOMEN TOUGH, TENDER, ULTIMATELY SUBSERVIENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

HITLER LIKED WOMEN TOUGH, TENDER, ULTIMATELY SUBSERVIENT
MTSU Women’s Studies Research Series Examines Girls in Nazi Germany

(MURFREESBORO) – The first presentation in the 2007-2008 Women’s Studies Research Series, “Daughters in the Fatherland: Behavioral Socialization of German Girls in Nazi Germany,” will be delivered at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, in Room 100 of MTSU’s James Union Building.
Dr. Nancy Rupprecht, professor of history, says she will discuss “the Hitler Youth Organization’s attempt to resocialize German girls to accept and embody the aggressive, male-oriented behavioral values of Nazi ideology, yet embrace the second-class citizenship designed for them as ideal German wives and mothers.
“Adolf Hitler considered feminism to be a symptom of depravity ‘on a par with parliamentary democracy and … jazz opera,’” says Rupprecht. “To socialize German children, Hitler planned to ‘create a new being who will set aside personal ambitions in order to be totally loyal, unconditionally obedient and utterly submerged in the ideology.’”
"The MTSU Women's Studies Research Series has something for everyone interested in women's experience,” says Dr. Jane Marcellus, professor of mass communication. “By bringing together scholars from across campus, we touch on a wide variety of feminist viewpoints in an informal monthly gathering.”
Topics for future lectures include women and war, elderly women in prison and the presidential quest of Hillary Clinton.
For more information, contact Marcellus at 615-898-5282 or jmarcell@mtsu.edu, or contact the Women’s Studies office at 615-898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

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098 MTSU TENOR STEPHEN SMITH PERFORMS FACULTY RECITAL SEPT. 24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493


MTSU TENOR STEPHEN SMITH PERFORMS FACULTY RECITAL SEPT. 24
In-Demand Pianist Caleb Harris Returns to Campus to Provide Accompaniment

(MURFREESBORO)—Stephen Smith, tenor and associate professor of voice at MTSU, will perform in a faculty recital with collaborative pianist Caleb Harris at 8 p.m. Sept. 24 in the T.
Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Smith and Harris will begin the recital by performing Benjamin Britten’s song cycle titled Winterwords. Other composers featured on the program will be Richard Strauss, Henri Duparc and Gabriel Fauré.
“There is a little something for everyone,” Smith said. “It’s interesting stuff.”
Smith, who has a master’s degree vocal performance from the Eastman School of Music in New York, has performed leading roles on numerous opera stages with artists such as Renée Fleming, June Anderson, Elisabeth Söderstrom, Hillevi Martinpelto, Katarina Dalayman and Tom Krause, to name a few, and while residing in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1989 to ’98 he studied privately with Nicolai Gedda.
Collaborative pianist Harris—who was a member of the music school’s faculty from fall 2005 to spring 2007—will return to MTSU for this special recital.
Currently a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music, Harris is an in-demand competition accompanist and vocal coach who is known for his abilities both technically and musically at playing orchestral works on the piano.
“We’re lucky to have him back with us for this performance,” Smith said. The Sept. 24 recital is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please call 615-898-2493 or visit www.mtsumusic.com.

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097 MTSU FACULTY PIANO RECITAL FEATURES PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

MTSU FACULTY PIANO RECITAL FEATURES PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

(MURFREESBORO)—MTSU faculty pianist Lynn Rice-See will give a public recital at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Rice-See will perform Chopin’s Nocturne in B major and Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 7, and Schubert’s Sonata in A major. Additionally, a special feature will be the premiere of In the Tower of Sleep, a new work by Paul Osterfield, associate professor of music composition and theory at MTSU.
Osterfield’s compositions have been performed from coast to coast in the United States, with recent performances in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ljubljana, Slovenia. His music has been performed locally by ensembles such as the Stones River Chamber Players (MTSU’s faculty chamber ensemble) and the Blakemore Trio, whose members are on the faculty at Vanderbilt University.
Regarding In the Tower of Sleep, Osterfield said, “This work is inspired by the title of André Masson’s painting, although the music does not reflect the tone of this vivid work of art. My work, on the other hand, is more subdued, blending the pianistic tones like watercolors or pastels, reflecting more of a dream-like state. I am very pleased that my friend Lynn Rice-See asked me to write this work for her.”
“A first performance of a piece is always exciting, and it is doubly exciting to perform a new work composed especially for me,” Rice-See remarked.
Regarding the other works, Rice-See said the Sonata in A major dates from the last two months of Schubert’s life, and the Scriabin Sonata No. 7 is also from his late and highly experimental period.
"Both works exhibit the most mature style of their composer," she explained. "The Schubert exhibits great depth and dignity in the face of his death, while the Scriabin includes wild, expressionist shrieks contrasting with other-worldly, almost Impressionist passages of great delicacy.
"The central section of the Chopin Nocturne in B major, Op. 15, No. 3, is also a great scream of anguish, although in a more familiar style," she continued.
"The Chopin Barcarolle, Op. 60, is also from his mature output, and has been called his greatest nocturne, even though not titled as such. Audiences usually enjoy these lyrical compositions,” she noted.
Since her 1982 Carnegie Recital Hall debut, Rice-See has appeared as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Asia and Europe. She has appeared three times with the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Her new CD, Evocacion, will be available from Americus CD (www.americuscd.com) in fall 2007. This recording will include European piano works from the 20 years prior to World War I.
The Sept. 23 recital is free and open to the public.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of Music, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.
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096 ECONOMIC CONFERENCE AT MTSU IS PILLAR OF THE JONES CHAIR OF EXCELLENCE

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE AT MTSU IS PILLAR OF THE JONES CHAIR OF EXCELLENCE IN FREE ENTERPRISE


Dennis P. Lockhart, 14th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, served as keynote speaker at the 15th annual Economic Outlook Conference at Middle Tennessee State University, Friday, Sept. 28.
“The Economic Outlook Conference has become an MTSU tradition because it delivers what it promises—substance, expertise, and an opportunity for business and industry professionals to share common concerns," commented Dr. Jim Burton, dean of MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business. The basic premise of the conference, Burton says, is to promote the idea of free enterprise and to promote events that proudly wave that banner.
The event traditionally draws national media interest, including Dow Jones, Bloomberg News and Reuters.
Previous keynote speakers have included William Poole, president, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (2006); Mark W. Olson, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (2005); David M. Darst, managing director of Morgan Stanley (2004); and Dr. Susan S. Bies, member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (2003).
Burton noted that the conference is targeted especially to bankers, business owners and managers, community officials and leaders, as well as business and economics faculty and students—“and to anyone interested in economic growth in the region and nation.”
The business dean recalls the early days at MTSU when the concept of a Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise was being discussed. At that time, faculty and administrators felt there was a tremendous need across the nation for additional educational activities that would explain the system that helped shape America’s economic prowess. Thus, the Free Enterprise Chair was born, and its purpose was to educate and enlighten students across the educational spectrum through workshops, conferences, research and publications.
The Economic Outlook Conference became the flagship program of the college’s Chair of Free Enterprise, and philanthropist Jennings A. Jones became its namesake.
Aubrey Harwell, Nashville attorney and holder of the Jennings A. Jones Chair of Free Enterprise, calls Jones one of his personal heroes. “To be the holder of a chair that bears his name is something that is very important to me."
In 1992, Jones was named Business Legend by the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. In 1998, he received honorary lifetime membership in Phi Kappa Phi, a national honor society. At the 1999 Spring Commencement, he was presented with the Middle Tennessee State University President's Award. The following year, the Tennessee Board of Regents approved the naming of the college in Jones’ honor. Jones passed away in 2003.
Continuing its tradition of providing substantive information, the conference also featured Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, who provided a mid-state/regional economic update. The BERC maintains significant databases of regional, national and international information and provides research resources and databases for the MTSU community.
Following the presentation of the Jennings A. Jones Champion of Free Enterprise Award, another mainstay of the annual conference, Dr. Donald Ratajczak, Regent's Professor of Economics Emeritus at Georgia State University and nationally known economic forecaster, addressed the luncheon audience. Ratajczak has become a staple of the annual event.
The MTSU Economic Outlook Conference is co-sponsored by the Jones College, the Jones Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise, the College’s Business and Economic Research Center, and the Jack O. Weatherford Chair of Finance.
Please visit http://business.web.mtsu.edu.

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095 GREENE COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

GREENE COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Southerland Farm Becomes 42nd Farm in County to be Recognized by Program

(MURFREESBORO)—The Southerland Farm in Greene County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
Known as the Southerland Farm today, at the turn of the 20th century this property was owned by John Bowers. In 1900 he transferred a portion of that land to Mary Bowers, and in 1901, Mary married Thomas H. “T. H.” Foreman. On 76 acres, they and their nine children raised tobacco, hay and cattle. T. H. was also a mail carrier and taught school in the Meadow Creek community.
In 1939, Hugh Foreman acquired his parents’ farm. Married to Flossie Foreman, the couple had three children—James H. “Bobby” Foreman, Lowell Foreman and Charlsie Foreman Wilson.
Gwyn Southerland, the current owner and granddaughter of Flossie, recalled her grandmother as “a wonderful, hard-working woman.” When workers came to the farm to cut tobacco, she would cook “chicken and gravy and homemade light bread with all the trimmings.” The men would eat their fill, then go sit or lie “under the two 100-year-old pecan trees in the yard.” Flossie and Hugh are buried in the cemetery of the Meadow Creek Presbyterian Church.
Bobby Foreman was the next generation to own the land. He and his wife, Marlene Goins Foreman, and their two children, Beverly Gwyn and Jamie, raised tobacco, corn and black angus cattle. In October 1997, Beverly Gwyn and her husband, Jerry A. Southerland Jr., became the owners of the property. They and their son, Jeremy, live in a 1920 house while their daughter Annie and husband Chris Bailey and their children, Preston, 4, and Autumn, 2, also live on the farm.
Gwyn and Jerry work and manage the farm selling hay, fodder and pumpkins in season. This is their third year to hold a fall crafts fair on Southerland Farms.
Hankins said this farm is the 42nd certified Century Farm in Greene County.
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.

To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural, and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.



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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview Hankins or the farm’s owners, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.

094 MTSU K-12 TV SHOWS EXPAND IN CONTENT, COVERAGE AREA

Release date: Sept. 14, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Instructional Technology Support Center contact: Dr. Connie Schmidt, 615-898-5191


MTSU K-12 TV SHOWS EXPAND IN CONTENT, COVERAGE AREA


(MURFREESBORO) — The MTSU Satellite and Webcasting Center continues to expand its K-12 educational television programming in both content and coverage area.
This fall, the center will be adding Memphis City Schools and Hawkins County in upper East Tennessee to the satellite viewing audience, said Dr. Connie Schmidt, director of the Instructional Technology Support Center.
“We will now reach schools in 15 urban, suburban and rural Tennessee counties by satellite or cable television,” Schmidt said. “We also plan to Webcast all of our programs again this fall, making our programs accessible to all teachers and students across the state with high-speed Internet connection.”
Schmidt added the Internet connection “service is made possible by the continued support of the Information Technology Division, which generously provides the necessary Webcasting bandwidth.”
The Enrichment Programs for Students will be held from 9 until 10 a.m. each Tuesday through Dec. 4. No programs will air live on Oct. 2, Oct. 9 and Nov. 20.
The Professional Development Programs for Teachers will air on Thursdays through Dec. 6. No shows will air Oct. 4, Oct. 11 and Nov. 22.
This fall’s topics will history, social studies, fine arts, geography, science, college entrance exam preparation, teaching strategies, classroom management and agriculture, Schmidt said. The program schedules can be found at mtsu.edu/~itsc.
She added the Oct. 23 (“English Review for the ACT”) and Nov. 27 (“ACT Mathematics Test”) “will be of particular interest to college-bound high-school students.” The Nov. 1 professional development program (“Living in Space” and “Life in the Classroom”) was produced with support from the Tennessee Mathematics, Science and Technology Center.
“The center helped fund a visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where we were able to record amazing video footage of mock-ups of the International Space Station and the space shuttle,” Schmidt said. “We even shot footage of real NASA scientists working to resolve the recent heat-resistant tile problems with the space shuttle Endeavour.”
Billy Hix of Motlow State Community College and Terry Sue Fanning of Moore County Schools will co-present the “Living in Space” program, Schmidt said.
MTSU presenters this fall include:
• Drs. Larry (journalism) and Kathy (elementary and special education) Burris, sharing their exploration of pre-Colombian Bolivia and Peru in “Machu Picchu: Lost City of the Incas” on Dec. 4;
• Karen Claud (Girls Raised in Tennessee Science program) and Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross (chemistry) presenting a program encouraging students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math careers on Sept. 25 and discussing recent developments in math and science education with K-12 teachers on Sept. 27. Iriarte-Gross will present a third program designed to get students in grades 5-8 excited about chemistry on Oct. 16;
• Dr. Zaf Khan (elementary and special education) will present three programs concerning the positive behavior supports approach to classroom management on Sept. 20, Oct. 25 and Nov. 15;
• Dr. Phil Waldrop (associate dean in College of Education and Behavioral Science) is organizing two programs for beginning teachers, particularly those on alternative licenses, on Oct. 18 and Nov. 29. He also had one Sept. 13.
Schmidt said the center is continuing and expanding “our partnerships with public and private organizations in providing educational outreach to K-12 schools across the state.
Fall presenters include experts from the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Stones River National Battlefield, Rutherford County Schools, Kilowatt Ours, Grundy and Moore county schools, Motlow State Community College, the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere and the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Viewing options include Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Davidson, Franklin, Grundy, Knox, Lincoln, Marshall, Moore, Rutherford (Murfreesboro), Warren, Williamson and Wilson counties, Memphis and Huntsville, Ala.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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Media welcomed to cover any of the live broadcasts.

093 MTSU WIND ENSEMBLE OPENS SEASON SEPT. 21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 13, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

MTSU WIND ENSEMBLE OPENS 2007-08 PERFORMANCE SEASON SEPT. 21
Free and Open Concert Will Feature Traditional and New Works for Wind Band

(MURFREESBORO)—The MTSU Wind Ensemble will open its 2007-08 season with a combination of standard wind band repertoire and new works in a free and open concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
The concert will begin with David Dzubay's Ra! Dr. Reed Thomas, director of the group, said the Egyptian sun god inspired the piece. The work features four themes of various colors and timbres, he explained, and each is performed four times at varying lengths mathematically organized into 1-to-4 ratios.
Next, the players will present the traditionally themed Suite Francais by Milhaud, a five- movement work wherein each movement depicts a French Provence.
"The overall work is dedicated to the children of United States and as a 'thank you' for the U.S. involvement in the liberation of France during WWII," Thomas said.
The world premiere of Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble by Robert Bradshaw will be next on the program. Dr. Michael Arndt, professor of trumpet at MTSU, will perform the work with the wind ensemble.
Rounding out the program will be Samuel Hazo's Ride, a fast piece based on an energetic car ride the composer had on some unknown country roads in Ohio.
The MTSU Wind Ensemble is the premier performing ensemble for wind, brass, and percussion students at the university. Members are selected through audition each semester and comprise the best musicians at MTSU.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of music, please call 615-898-2493 or visit www.mtsumusic.com.


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092 OCT. 3 DANNER GOLF TOURNEY BENEFITS SCHOLARS AT MTSU

Release date: Sept. 14, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Office of Development contact: Kippy Todd, 615-898-5756


OCT. 3 DANNER GOLF TOURNEY BENEFITS SCHOLARS AT MTSU


(MURFREESBORO) — Golfers can register to play in the 14th annual Danner Invitational Golf Tournament, which will be held Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Nashville’s Hermitage Golf Course.
Sponsored by The Neill-Sandler Foundation to benefit the Neill-Sandler Scholars at MTSU program, up to 120 golfers will compete in the event.
The tournament schedule includes registration and practice starting at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon, 1 p.m. shotgun start, and beverages, dinner and awards after tournament play ends on the President’s Reserve Course.
The golf scramble entry fee will include registration, practice, buffet provided by Crockett’s Restaurant, cart rental, greens fees, player’s gift pack, refreshments on the course, door prizes and awards.
There will be two flights and prizes for the top three teams in each flight.
Tournament prizes will be given for closest to the pin and longest drive. There will be prizes for holes-in-one at all four par-3 holes.
Entry and sponsor fees will include $195 donation toward prizes, $350 per person or $1,295 team entry and hole sponsorship (paid by Sept. 28) and $450 hole sponsorship.
Entry forms can be obtained by calling Amanda Bell at 615-785-8657, and completed forms and check can be mailed c/o The Neill-Sandler Foundation, P.O. Box 1419/2240 NW Broad St., Murfreesboro, TN 37133.
Event sponsors include Bell Construction, The Danner Foundation, Maggart & Associates, the Daily News Journal, Frank E. Neal and Company and Bank of America/Brian Austin. The Daily News Journal provides Media support.
Ray Danner of The Danner Company, MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, tournament chairman Tony Rose and Gary Neill and Mike Sandler of the Neill-Sandler Foundation extend an invitation to golfers and participants who “can help make possible a college education for several deserving young people from middle Tennessee. … Through your support, you can provide opportunities to deserving individuals who might not attend college otherwise.”
Eighty-five students have been awarded scholarships since 1999. Each spring, up to 10 scholarships are awarded to students from Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Franklin, Rutherford, Warren, Williamson and Wilson counties, and Tullahoma City Schools.
For more information, call Bell at 615-785-8657.
The 10th annual Neill-Sandler Strive for Excellence Banquet, the event where the scholarships are presented to the students who have overcome obstacles in their young lives, will be held next spring at MTSU. More details will be announced later.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.
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091 MTSU RECEPTION HELPS RECRUIT CHATTANOOGA-AREA STUDENTS

Release date: Sept. 14, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Office of Admissions contact: Scott Hurt, 615-898-2457


MTSU RECEPTION HELPS RECRUIT CHATTANOOGA-AREA STUDENTS


(MURFREESBORO) — Junior and senior high-school students from a five-county area around Chattanooga are invited to attend MTSU’s student reception. It will be held from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the Chattanooga Riverboat Pier 2, 201 Riverfront Parkway.
Students from Hamilton, Bradley, Marion, Grundy and Sequatchie counties are invited to attend.
MTSU Office of Admissions, faculty, staff and students will answer the high-school students’ questions about admissions, financial aid and academic programs, said Scott Hurt, an assistant director in admissions.
Interested students should RSVP by completing the online reservation form at mtsu.edu/admissn/chattanooga07.htm by Thursday, Sept. 20.
At noon EDT, guidance counselors from these counties are welcomed to attend an appreciation luncheon, which also will be held at Chattanooga Riverboat Pier 2. To attend, they should RSVP by Sept. 20 by calling 615-898-2111.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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088 PROSPECTIVE MTSU STUDENTS CAN REGISTER FOR FALL VISIT DAYS

Release date: Sept. 13, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Office of Admissions contact: Christopher Fleming, 615-898-2237


PROSPECTIVE MTSU STUDENTS CAN REGISTER FOR SEPT. 22, NOV. 3 FALL VISIT DAYS


(MURFREESBORO) — Limited space remains available for prospective students to register for the Saturday, Sept. 22, Fall Visit Day, MTSU Office of Admissions officials said today (Sept. 13).
MTSU can accommodate up to 400 prospective students and their families, but only 59 spots remained open as of Sept. 13, an admissions official said.
Sept. 22 attendees can arrive as early as 9 a.m. CDT at the Cope Administration Building to register. The tours will include stops at the Campus Recreation Center, Paul W. Martin University Honors College Building, Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building for an academic open house and visit to Phillips Bookstore in Keathley University Center. The day will conclude with a picnic in the Walnut Grove area between Cope Administration Building and Peck Hall.
Prospective students and their parents or guardians can register online (mtsu.edu/admissn, click on “prospective students” and then “campus tours”) or by calling 615-898-5670.
The second Fall Visit Day will be held starting at 9 a.m. CDT Saturday, Nov. 3, and plenty of openings remain, the admissions representative said.
For both visit days, participants should dress accordingly.
Daily tours are Monday through Friday throughout the fall, usually at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. No tours will be held Oct. 12/Oct. 15-16 (fall break), Nov. 14-16 (MTSU admissions staff attending a conference) and Nov. 21-23 (Thanksgiving holiday). Fall tours will end Wednesday, Dec. 5.
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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087 STONES RIVER CHAMBER PLAYERS OPEN 2007-2008 SEASON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 13, 2007
CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

STONES RIVER CHAMBER PLAYERS OPEN 2007-2008 SEASON
Concert Will Feature Artwork by Discover School Students, Three New Faculty Members

(MURFREESBORO)—The Stones River Chamber Players (SRCP), artists-in-residence at MTSU, will present New Faces, New Sounds, the group’s first concert of the 2007-2008 season, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1 in the T. Earl Hinton Hall of Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
Event organizers said one highlight of the free and open concert will be its finale, The Creation of the World by Darius Milhaud, a ballet score for chamber orchestra that will be conducted by Reed Thomas, MTSU director of bands .
The work, which is considered innovative for its fusion of jazz and classical styles, will be accompanied by abstract paintings projected on a screen. The artworks were painted by art students at the new Discovery School, a magnet school for high-achieving elementary students in Murfreesboro.
Mary Cunningham, whose students created the art pieces, said, “I am walking the line between ‘kid art’ and fine art (that was) done by children, but not cute.”
Regarding the children’s creativity, Todd Waldecker, SRCP co-director, said, "Their artwork blew me away. When I saw the work. I thought it could be in any fine art gallery in the country."
Waldecker said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee encouraged faculty in their opening meeting to collaborate with the local community, which is rich with resources and creative energy.
"When the new Discovery School relocated to Reeves Rogers Elementary, we saw a great opportunity to connect them with what we are doing here in the School of Music," Waldecker added.
In addition to the opportunity to take in new art, the concert will feature three new music faculty at MTSU; namely, Andrea Dawson (violin), Angela DeBoer (horn) and Leopoldo Erice (piano), all of whom will perform the well-loved Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40 by Brahms.
“This work has all the richness one associates with Brahms’ mature, harmonic language delivered by a warm combination of instruments,” commented Lynn Rice-See, co-director of the group and professor of piano at MTSU.
Dawson joined MTSU as assistant professor of violin in fall 2007. A recent addition to the Stones River Chamber Players, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and Mexico. DeBoer, meanwhile, came to MTSU from Oklahoma, where she has been a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and worked with the Tulsa Ballet and Tulsa Opera. Prior to her work in Oklahoma, DeBoer was active in the freelance community in and around Chicago, performing with ensembles such as the Milwaukee Philharmonic.
Erice graduated with honors in both piano and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid and has performed extensively in Spain, making his debut as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Madrid in 1999. He is the founder and the director of the Festival Internacional de Música Clásica de Ribadeo.
The Oct. 1 concert will also include veteran Stones River Chamber Players Michael Arndt (trumpet), Sandra Arndt (piano) and Stephen Smith (tenor) performing Eric Ewazen’s song cycle, To Cast a Shadow Again.
For more information on this and other events in the McLean School of music, please call 615-898-2493 or visit www.mtsumusic.com.
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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To secure a jpeg of the student art that will be part of the Oct. 1 concert, please e-mail your request to Tim Musselman in the music school at tmusselm@mtsu.edu.

086 MTSU’s PRESIDENTIAL ‘PRISM’ GALA CONCERT PROMISES DIVERSITY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 13, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919,
or Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

MTSU’s PRESIDENTIAL ‘PRISM’ GALA CONCERT PROMISES DIVERSITY
Oct. 4 Music Spectacular Benefits Katrina-Ravaged Southern University

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The academic partnership between MTSU and Southern University of New Orleans will be expressed via sound Thursday, Oct. 4, during The Presidential “Prism” Gala Concert, a music-filled benefit for the Katrina-ravaged SUNO
that promises to deliver “sonic surprises.”
Beginning at 7:30 p.m. in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre, an array of bands, orchestras and choral ensembles from the McLean School of Music—as well as special guests Cedric Dent of the Grammy-winning Take 6 and David Pruett, world-music percussionist—will team to present an evening of diverse musical performances that pay tribute to the historic institution whose faculty, students and staff have operated from FEMA trailers for more than a year.
Regarding the Prism concert, Dr. George T. Riordan, director of the McLean School, said, “Just as a prism diffuses flashes of kaleidoscopic colors, this gala event is designed to produce a steady stream of sonic surprises from unexpected places as our band, jazz, choral, string and world-music ensembles perform a continuous array of music in a 360-degree setting.”
“Once you experience a prism concert, you will definitely want to return,” added Dr. Reed Thomas, director of bands for MTSU. “The word ‘experience’ is well-chosen in describing this event, (because) the audience members are an integral part of the concert. You will never know where the music is coming from next, and at some point you will be literally surrounded by music and musicians—a truly up-close and personal encounter.”
The concept for the Oct. 4 prism concert, with its uninterrupted, surround-sound presentation, originated at the famed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where the first such event was stage four decades ago, Thomas observed.
“Not only does the tradition continue there,” he said, “but universities across the nation have picked up the idea and annually draw thousands to such spectaculars, where music schools can show off the wide variety of their offerings at one event.”
SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo said the upcoming Presidential “Prism” Gala Concert is but one of numerous gestures by MTSU that continues to convey tremendous support for his university’s rebuilding and long-term success.
“The relationship Southern University at New Orleans established with MTSU earlier this year greatly assists our institution with enhancing educational opportunities for our students,” Ukpolo said. “More than two years post-Katrina, SUNO remains the only institution of higher learning in New Orleans that has not returned to its original campus, a goal that is expected to be fully accomplished by fall 2009. But despite this challenge, having this relationship with MTSU is quite special.”

“When we pledged to form an academic partnership with Southern University at New Orleans in February of this year, we did so with purpose and a sustaining intent that was comprehensive in its scope,” remarked MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee,
who visited New Orleans shortly after the hurricane and toured the SUNO campus earlier this year.
“The Presidential ‘Prism’ Gala Concert is only one collaboration of what will be many between MTSU and SUNO, “ McPhee said, “and this musically rich performance is a cultural event that will benefit not only our respective students, faculty and staff, but also contribute to the boarder arts community in the area.”
A former associate vice chancellor for the Tennessee Board of Regents in 1997-99, Ukpolo has said it’s estimated that Hurricane Katrina’s total damage to SUNO had reached $60 million.
“My professional career in higher education began in Tennessee, and this outpouring of support makes me feel as though I never left the state,” Ukpolo said. “On behalf of the entire SUNO community, I again extend thanks to President McPhee and everyone at MTSU for your encouragement, thoughtfulness and heartfelt support. “
♫ TICKETS: Tickets for the prism-themed concert, $20 each, are now available through the MTSU Ticket Office by calling 615-898-5261. Tickets also will be available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. MTSU student tickets are $10 each.
“Our prism concert is destined to become an annual showcase for our music program, but this year we have the added privilege of supporting our fellow scholars in need at SUNO,” Riordan said. “Once the people of Middle Tennessee get to know this concert, they will look forward to it … and we expect that it will sell out each year.”


The Presidential “Prism” Gala Concert Participants

Large Ensembles
Wind Ensemble
Symphonic Band
Concert Chorale

Jazz Ensembles
The Band of Blue Marching Band

Small- and Medium-sized Ensembles
Chamber Winds
Flute Ensemble
Clarinet Ensemble
Brass Quintet
Trumpet Ensemble
Horn Ensemble
Trombone Choir
Low Brass Ensemble
Percussion Ensemble
String Ensemble
Hot Jazz Group

World Music Ensembles
Steel Drum Band
Salsa Band
Silviu Ciulei

Special Guests
Cedric Dent
David Pruett



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ATTENTION, MEDIA: Interview requests related to this story may be directed Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-2919. To request jpegs of any of the MTSU ensembles or bands participating, please e-mail your request to tmusselm@mtsu.edu.

085 ‘BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE’ SYMPOSIUM SET OCT. 10

‘BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE’ SYMPOSIUM SET OCT. 10
Free Event to Feature Creative Team Behind the HBO Film

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 12, 2007EDITORIAL CONTACT: Dr. Bob Wood, 615-898-2532, bwood@mtsu.edu
(MURFREESBORO)—The hearts and minds of the Emmy-nominated creative team behind HBO Films’ retelling of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will be open to the public Wednesday, Oct. 10, during a free symposium at MTSU.
Sponsored by the MTSU Distinguished Lectures Committee, the MTSU Tom T. Hall Lecture Series and Broadcast Music International, the event is set for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Keathley University Center Theater.
Featured are:
· director Yves Simoneau, who received his first Emmy nomination in 2005 for the pilot of the TV series “The 4400,” and in 2003 won the prestigious 7 d’Or Award as best director for “Napoleon”;
· screenwriter Daniel Giat, who was Emmy- and Humanitas-nominated in 2002 for “Path to War,” a 2002 HBO production and John Frankenheimer film; and
· composer George S. Clinton, an MTSU alumnus and multiple award-winner, including the 2007 BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement, whose scores have enhanced films like “The Astronaut’s Wife,” “Joe Somebody” and the “Austin Powers” series.
“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” topped all other television programs when it garnered 17 Emmy nominations, including nominations for all three of the panelists. The Emmys will be broadcast Sunday, Sept. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. on Nashville’s WZTV-Fox 17.
“George is the type of guy you’d hope all celebrities would be,” said Dr. Bob Wood, coordinator of production and technology in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry. “He is unselfish with his time and routinely comes to MTSU to present seminars on composing for film. This is great, real-world advice that our students can immediately apply to their film music projects.”
The discussion will be moderated by Beverly Keel, recording industry professor and director of MTSU’s Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, who will lead the panelists as they show scenes from the film and discuss how their ideas were translated to the screen. The working relationship between the director and the composer, and the director and the screenwriter will also be examined.
The session will conclude with an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of the filmmakers. A similar symposium for the public is planned for 5:30 p.m. the same day at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville.
“I was very fortunate to be permitted to attend the recording sessions for the film score for ‘Wounded Knee,’” Wood said. “It was there that George introduced me to Yves, who was gracious and treated me like an old friend. I was very interested to observe how involved Yves was in the recording of the music. He listened intently and made comments and suggestions that George took back to the orchestra. The interaction between the director and the composer was very congenial and relaxed, but all their conversations had a musical outcome. Yves knew exactly how he wanted the music to support the film.”
The epic film, starring Aidan Quinn, Anna Paquin, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg and Fred Thompson and produced by television veteran Dick Wolf, is based on Dee Brown’s bestseller, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” “Wounded Knee” powerfully explores the tragic impact that the United States' westward expansion had on American Indian culture, and the economic, political and social pressures that motivated it.
For more information about the symposium, contact Wood at 615-898-2532. For more information about the film and its creative team, visit www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart.

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IN BRIEF: The Emmy-nominated creative team behind HBO Films’ retelling of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will discuss the movie’s creative process at a free symposium Wednesday, Oct. 10, in MTSU’s Keathley University Center Theater from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Director Yves Simoneau, screenwriter Daniel Giat and composer George S. Clinton will discuss how their ideas were translated to the screen and answer questions from the audience. For more information about the symposium, call 615-898-2532. For more information about the film and its creative team, visit www.hbo.com/films/burymyheart.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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NOTE: Media needing color headshots of the three symposium principals should contact the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Photos from the film suitable for publication can be obtained by contacting Karen Jones directly at HBO at Karen.Jones@hbo.com. Thanks!

084 MTSU WRITING CONFERENCE INVITES TEACHERS GRADES K TO COLLEGE

MTSU WRITING CONFERENCE INVITES TEACHERS GRADES K TO COLLEGE

Sept. 11, 2007

CONTACT: Tom Tozer, 615-898-2919
Bobbie Solley, 615-898-5934

MURFREESBORO—MTSU will play host to a "Reading and Writing: Empowering Learners" conference, to be held on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Registration will be in the lobby of MTSU’s Business/Aerospace Building. Sessions will be held in the Bragg Mass Communication Building. The conference, the focus of which will be on writing, is designed to provide professional development for teachers who teach in grades kindergarten through college.
Keynote speaker will be Ardith Cole, teacher and literacy consultant from Washington, D.C., who will speak on constructed-response writing on standardized testing. Session leader Aimee Buckner, a teacher in Gwinnett County, Ga., will talk about the values and benefits of writers’ notebooks. Break-out sessions will feature sessions on all aspects of writing from kindergarten through college. There will be special sessions geared to teachers in grades nine through 16.
Pre-registration fee is $45. On-site registration is $50. If two or more teachers come from one school, registration will be $35 per person. Students may register for $10.
For more information and to register, visit www.mtsu.edu/~mtwp and click on “conference brochure.” Or call Dr. Bobbie Solley at 615-898-5934.

####For MTSU news, go to mtsunews.com.

083 Rape Aggression Defense Class for Women Offered Free at MTSU, Sept. 25 – Oct. 30

Rape Aggression Defense Class for Women Offered Free at MTSU, Sept. 25 – Oct. 30

Sept. 11, 2007
CONTACT: Tom Tozer, 615-898-2919
Officer David Smith, 615-494-8855

MURFREESBORO—The Rape Aggression Defense system (RAD) is a program of realistic, self-defense tactics and techniques. RAD is a comprehensive course for women that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, while progression on to the basics of hands-on defense training. The RAD system is dedicated to teaching women defensive concepts and techniques against various types of assault, by utilizing easy, effective, and proven self-defense/martial arts tactics. The class will provide women with the knowledge to make an educated decision about resistance to violence.

The class will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 25, and will run through Tuesday, Oct. 30. Classes will be held from 6-8 p.m. for six consecutive sessions. Sessions are being offered free of charge to all MTSU students, faculty and staff as well as the general public. A workbook/training manual is provided to each student.

Class will be held at the MTSU Public Safety Training Room, located at 1412 East Main Street. Enrollment is limited. For information or to enroll, please call RAD Instructor David Smith at 615-494-8855.

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For news, go to mtsunews.com.

082 RECORD 23,264 ENROLLMENT TOTAL ELEVATES MTSU TO NEW PLATEAU

Release date: Sept. 10, 2007


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Enrollment Services contact: Dr. Sherian Huddleston, 615-898-2828


RECORD 23,264 ENROLLMENT TOTAL ELEVATES MTSU TO NEW PLATEAU


(MURFREESBORO) — A preliminary total headcount of 23,264 students taking classes this fall at MTSU is a record number that will be submitted to the Tennessee Board of Regents, said Sherian Huddleston, assistant vice provost for enrollment services.
It marks the first time MTSU has surpassed 23,000 in a semester, university officials said. It is a 1.75 percent increase from fall 2006 and means 401 more students are taking classes this fall compared to a year ago, she said.
“We are pleased that we still are able to maintain our growth at a manageable level,” said Dr. Bob Glenn, vice provost for enrollment and academic services and vice president for student affairs. “We are not growing too quickly to outstrip our resources, and it demonstrates that students in Tennessee are voting with their feet and voting Middle Tennessee No. 1 (school of choice).”
Huddleston said the headcount and full-time equivalent totals would be submitted today to the TBR. However, other data will be submitted Sept. 21 since “this is the first time we’re using a new software system and all (TBR) schools have been granted an additional week to submit their official census report,” Huddleston said.
There are 20,899 undergraduate students and 2,365 graduate students attending this fall, she said.
Huddleston said the full-time equivalent total this fall is 19,548.53, which is a 0.9 percent increase. FTE is a “portion of a formula TBR uses for funding state institutions,” she added.
The fall 2006 enrollment was 22,863 (20,643 undergraduate and 2,220 graduate students).
For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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