[194a] U.S. Education Secretary Broadcasts Live Dec. 15 VIA ERC@MT

ATTENTION, MEDIA: The date of the broadcast outlined below has been changed from Nov. 24 to Dec. 15, according to an update received today, Nov. 18, 2009. The original release, with the new date, is below. NPA apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this change.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 16, 2009
CONTACT: Gail Fedak, Instructional Media Resources, 615-898-2740


U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY BROADCASTS LIVE DEC. 15 VIA ERC@MT
Rutherford County School, Community May Participate Via Phone & E-mail

(MURFREESBORO)—“Student Voices on Education: A National Town Hall Meeting with Arne Duncan” will air live on the Education Resource Channel@ Middle Tennessee at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15.
Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, will serve as moderator for the broadcast, which will air live locally on Comcast Channel 9. The program is part of the monthly "Education News Parents Can Use" series that airs evenings on ERC@MT during the K-12 school year.
Gail Fedak, director for Instructional Media Resources at MTSU, said the program’s town hall-focused format will allow for call-in and e-mail questions. In turn, schools in Rutherford County that normally receive the university’s K-12 programming on ERC@MT, as well as interested community members, may tune in to participate in the live discussion.
The Dec. 15 broadcast will focus on improving the quality of student’s educational experiences; their aspirations for college and future careers; contributions to civic life through volunteer service; and, critical influences on young people’s decision-making and academic choices, Fedak said.
“The Education Resource Channel@Middle Tennessee will run this program live during school hours so students can hear and have the opportunity to participate in this national discussion,” she noted.
For more information about the program, please access http://registerevent.ed.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewer.description&intEventID=231.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.