[545] Jefferson County Farm Joins Ranks of state's Century Farms Program

Ellison-Webb Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO — The Ellison-Webb Farm in Jefferson County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU.

The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.

James R. Parrott and his wife, Amanda, purchased 40 acres from J. S. Wells in 1907 and added 13 more acres in 1911. Their farm was situated in the Shady Grove community west of Dandridge. As part of the 1911 purchase, Parrott and Wells agreed to share equal access to the Shadden Branch “for the water of stock and other purposes.”  The Parrotts, who had three children, primarily grew hay and corn and also raised swine.

When Amanda passed away, James struggled to work the farm and pay the mortgages so he gave the land to the couple’s youngest daughter, Lillie Ray Ellison, in 1925. Lillie paid the mortgage with money from a life insurance policy that came to her when her husband, Ome Ellison, died in 1921. Lillie, who had two young daughters, Lottie Lee and Eleanor Vermontrude, never remarried. Though the land belonged to Lillie, her father retained the use of it for the rest of his life. James passed away in 1944 and was buried at the Shady Grove Cemetery.

In 1957, Eleanor V. “Trudy” Ellison Webb acquired the property.  She and her husband, Charles Webb, worked the farm, clearing land and raising hay and beef cattle. Their children, Johnny Ome Webb and Teresa Charlene Webb Gentry, are the current owners. Teresa oversees the operation of the farm, while Johnny lives on the land where their great-grandparents’ home remains.

  

Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

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

[544] Greene County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

Milburn Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO — The Milburn Farm in Greene County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU.  

The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.

         In the 19th century, it was rare that a Century Farm was founded by a woman, but in 1882, Sarah Ann Creamer Milburn purchased a farm of 84 acres in the Milburnton community. Her husband, the Rev. William Elbert Milburn, had died in 1877, leaving Sarah with their three children, John, George and Flora. Sarah sold the farm to her daughter and son-in-law, Flora and F.K. Tadlock, in 1890. When the Tadlocks moved to South Dakota in 1893, Flora sold the farm to her brother, Dr. John J. Milburn. Milburn and his wife, Laura Mattie Baskett Milburn, and their 12 children lived on the farm for more than 30 years.

         In 1925, John J. Milburn sold the farm to three of his sons, and in time, John Milburn Jr. bought out his brothers’ shares. He and his wife, Anna, had three children. The oldest, John Paul Milburn, received a farm deferment during World War II to raise vegetables, including acres of Irish and sweet potatoes. Paul and his wife, Ruth Baskett Milburn, also ran a small general store in the Pleasant Hill community and continued to operate the farm after Paul’s father’s death. Paul and Ruth had two sons, Terrill and Robert, and the family raised beef cattle, hay and also tobacco until 1988. Ruth was a 50 year member of the Pleasant Hill/Jearoldstown Home Demonstration Club, and both she and Paul were members of the West Pines Ruritan Club.

   

         Terrill Milburn, the owner of the farm since 2001, was a member of the North Greene High FFA Club and maintains the beef cattle and hay operation on the original acreage purchased by his great-great grandmother. He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Smith Milburn, are the parents of Craig and Jonathan, who assist with the farm’s operations. Craig, who has a degree in animal science from Tennessee Technological University, and his wife, Kim, are the parents of four children who are learning about farming on the acreage that has been in the Milburn family for 131 years.

   

         Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

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

[543] Dickson County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

England Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO — The England Farm in Dickson County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU.

The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.

 

Timber is a traditional industry on Tennessee’s western Highland Rim, and Robert Lee England, who founded a farm northwest of Dickson in 1899, owned and operated a sawmill with his brothers. They also cut and supplied crossties for the railroad. Robert and his wife, Olive Myrtle Baker England, were the parents of seven children. The family raised row crops, including tobacco and livestock and vegetables for their table on 50 acres.

Malcolm Robert England, who was born in 1908 and died in 1987 lived his entire life on the farm, which he acquired from his parents, Robert and Olive in 1946. He married Loretta Davis and had two sons, Randall and Phillip. Randall died in 1964, but Phillip, the current owner along with his wife Judy Smith England, continues to make his home on his family’s land. Their sons, Randall Scott and Nathan Todd England, share ownership with their parents. The family primarily raises beef cattle and hay. Randall Scott’s son Sam England, is also involved in the farm’s operations and represents the fifth generation of Englands who have lived and worked on this land.

Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

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

[542] Wilson County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

WILSON COUNTY FARMS JOIN RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

J. R. York and Julius H. Williams Farms Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO — The J. R. York and Julius H. Williams Farms in Wilson County have been designated as Tennessee Century Farms, reports Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU.

The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.

 

Both of these farms are owned by J. Lain N. Eskew of Lebanon. The oldest of the properties dates to 1818, when Julius H. Williams purchased 50 acres south of Norene on Fall Creek. He and his wife, Margaret Cason Williams, had nine children and operated a diverse farm for decades. In 1862, Joshua F. Williams acquired the farm, which his father had expanded to around 130 acres. He and his wife Kitty Fields Williams, were the parents of six children.  During the Civil War, the family recalls that Union soldiers stole all their horses, but the Williamses buried their silver and kept it safe.

 In the early part of the 20th century, Joshua and Kitty’s children inherited the farm, and one son, Richard, bought each of his siblings’ interests to keep the property intact. He and his wife, Callie Bass Williams, and their daughter, Mary Angie, grew row crops and livestock. The family reports that the Great Depression did not affect the Williamses very much because they raised most of what they ate. They did, however, see many transients who asked to sleep in the barn and work for food during those years. Mary Angie York, who married Luther Lamar York, became the owner of the farm in 1966. Mrs. York was involved in the Green Hill Home Demonstration Club, and their daughter, J. Lain N. Eskew, was a 4-H Club member.

  The second farm owned by J. Lain N.  Eskew comes through her father’s family, the Yorks. The 200 acres, located north of Mt. Juliet on Cedar Creek, was deeded to J. R and Mary E. Jackson York in 1897. Luther Price York, one of their four children, became the owner in 1926. During his ownership, he and his wife, Johnnie Johnson York, and their son, Luther Lamar York, grew row crops, livestock and poultry and also had timber. Like many of the neighboring farms, World War II maneuvers were conducted on the Yorks’ acreage. Luther Lamar York was at Omaha Beach on D-Day and received a Bronze Star for his service. He and his wife, Angie Williams York, became the owner of his family farm in 1960.

Their daughter, J. Lain Eskew, who also acquired this farm in 2000 taught home economics in Lebanon for more than 30 years. Her husband, Don Eskew currently serves on the board of directors for the Wilson County Farm Bureau and is a Wilson County Fair Board member.

Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

[541] White County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

K & M Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO — The K & M Farm in White County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU.

The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years. 

Robert Wesley Howard purchased 300 acres north of Sparta on April 15, 1900. He and his wife Mary Ray Howard, and their seven children raised a tobacco crop as well as hay and corn for beef cattle. After more than 25 years, their son Turney acquired the farm and is remembered for growing “the first burley tobacco in the community.” Married to Roxy Ann, this second generation of Howards had six children. 

Sam Merrill Howard, a son of Turney and Roxy Ann, became the owner of the intact original acreage in 1989. With his wife, Lucille, and their four children, Merrill Vaughn, Gary Lee, Dennis and Diane, the family continued to raise the traditional crops and livestock. The Howards were active in 4-H and FFA and showed cattle, hogs and crops at the local and state fairs Sam also was on the county committee of the Farm Service Agency.  

Merrill Vaughn Howard acquired 57 acres of the original farm in 1995. Three generations including Merrill and his wife Ruth, and their son Merrill Howard II, his wife, Jennifer, and their children, Holden and Hanna, live on the farm today. Merrill II manages and works the farm, where he continues to raise row crops and beef cattle in the second century of the family’s farm ownership.

 

Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

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

[540] Saturday’s Etowah Music Festival created by MTSU student

MURFREESBORO — With a last name like “Tallent,” perhaps it was inevitable that MTSU student Lukas Tallent would create his own entertainment event.

The second annual Etowah Music Festival, created and promoted by Tallent, is scheduled for 2 to 9 p.m. this Saturday, June 22, on the lawn of the historic L&N Railroad Depot in Etowah, Tenn., about 159 miles southeast of Murfreesboro in McMinn County. The event is free and open to the public.

Performers include Six String Lightning Rods, Lily Adams, Gillie Roberts, Tim Hughes Quartet, Bo Swafford, Summer Poteet, Wayne Guthrie, Site 109 and Tallent himself performing with Scott Lombard.

Every act in the lineup either lives in McMinn County or has very close ties to the area.

Tallent says there’s a little bit of everything in store, including gospel, bluegrass, country, rock and pop.

“There’s superb talent in this city, some that radio or TV will never hear,” Tallent said. “The idea was to give these performers their due.”

It all started last summer when Tallent was taking time off from his studies as an MTSU English major.

“I rented the depot grounds, hunted down sponsors and vendors and called in every favor I could,” Tallent said.

This year, he had more preparation time, but his schedule also includes two MTSU classes. Somehow, he managed to pull it all together.

“Before any artist enters the lineup, I have to hear (the) material, either a recording or a live audition,” said Tallent. “I try to understand what he/she is trying to say with these songs. You have to put personal tastes aside and appreciate the music — and, consequently, the artist — for what it is.”

Scheduling the festival immediately after Bonnaroo, the mammoth outdoor music festival near Manchester, Tenn., doesn’t faze Tallent at all. He says the Etowah Music Festival is family-friendly and caters to both young and old.

The festival offers all kinds of refreshments for sale, including hamburgers, hot dogs, barbeque, ice cream, snow cones, Italian ice and sandwiches. One vendor will provide water free of charge to help attendees beat the heat. 

Instead of going into concert promotion, Tallent said he plans to continue his studies in graduate school. He said he stages the festival for the enjoyment and the challenge.

“I believe it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said ‘every generation must write their own books for the next,’” Tallent said. “He was being metaphorical, of course. The Etowah Music Festival is my gift — or book — for this town. I owe this place and these people at least that much.

“And I want people to know how great this town is! This place is my home.”

For more information, contact Tallent at 423-368-5962 or at lukastallent@gmail.com.

[539] MTSU professor’s study shows income inequality largely permanent

MURFREESBORO — Those taxes you paid to the federal government in April are coming from less and less pretax income, and change is not in the offing, according to an MTSU economist.

Dr. Jason DeBacker, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and Finance, is the co-author of a new report that shows income inequality in the United States is more permanent than it is subject to periodic fluctuations.

In other words, the rich are staying richer and the poor are staying poorer.

Of course, it’s not really that simple. It never is with economics.

The study that DeBacker and his four co-authors conducted for the Brookings Institution shows that income inequality between 1987 and 2009 increased more because of “permanent” factors like technology and globalization than because of “transitory” factors such as changing jobs or being laid off for a few months.

What makes this study different is the unique authenticity of its data. DeBacker, a former Treasury Department employee working with another ex-Treasury colleague and two employees of the Federal Reserve Board, had access to the federal tax returns of 34,000 households.

“They take very strong precautions to make sure these data are not released,” DeBacker said of the Internal Revenue Service. “You can only use them at a computer physically located at Treasury (in Washington, D.C.) or connected to a server that’s located there.”

With access to such precise information, DeBacker and his colleagues discovered practically all of the 23 percent rise in income inequality for male workers was due to permanent factors.

They also determined that about three-fourths of the increase in total household income inequality, which includes women’s wages, small-business income and capital gains income, was due to permanent factors.

The study focused on male heads of households, not because of sexism, DeBacker said, but because “women transition in and out of the labor force more, and there’s just statistical difficulty oftentimes dealing with those transitions.”

The federal stimulus checks that were disbursed in 2008 threw something of a monkey wrench into the scholars’ calculations.

“People who wouldn’t normally have filed (were) filing to get this check,” DeBacker said. “So there was a huge jump up in the number of filers, and these were mostly people who didn’t have any labor-market earnings and have, typically, very high Social Security benefits.”

However, overall, the scholars dropped exceptionally low-income individuals because so few of them file tax returns. Those who made less than a quarter of a year’s worth of full-time work at minimum wage were removed from the sample.

The study has been the subject of reports in the Washington Post, Bloomberg News, The New Republic, National Review, Financial Times of London, and Forbes Magazine, among others.

While DeBacker is grateful the research has received so much attention, he shies away from policy recommendations. That’s not his job as an economist.

“It all depends on what you think of inequality — whether it’s a terrible thing or a not-so-bad thing or nothing to worry about at all,” said DeBacker. “It’s important not to take a strong stance because you don’t want the research agenda of those who can access these data to be defined by who’s in office. You want, really, to use these data to make basic research that other researchers can build off of.”

To read the entire study, go to http://tinyurl.com/incomestudy2013.

[538] Help address area needs at Community Assessment Project forums this month

MURFREESBORO — If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to tell area leaders what you think should be done to improve your community, your chance is just around the corner.

Several public forums are scheduled in Rutherford County as part of a program to gather information that will help guide efforts for effective community development.

The Community Assessment Project is facilitated by the MTSU Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness in partnership with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties and the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.

“In order for the assessment to be a success, we need you to participate in a public forum in your local community,” said Dr. Rick Moffett, associate director and senior consultant for the MTSU center.

“You will be asked for your perspective regarding the most important issues and needs of Rutherford County,” Moffett added. “All you will need to bring is yourself, your opinions and a willingness to have your voice and your perspective heard.”

The goal of the project is to enhance the quality of life and sense of community and to increase engagement across a broad spectrum of concerned citizens.

Each forum will use a structured and facilitated process to provide people with opportunities to offer input.

Forums are scheduled for:

• Saturday, June 15, 10 to 11:30 a.m., Lascassas United Methodist Church, 4665 East Jefferson Pike, Lascassas;

• Thursday, June 20, 5:30 to 7 p.m., Crossway Baptist Church, 4194 Shelbyville Highway, Murfreesboro;

• Saturday, June 22, 10 to 11:30 a.m., Patterson Park Community Center, Meeting Room C521, Mercury Blvd., Murfreesboro;

• Tuesday, June 25, 5:30 to 7 p.m., Murfreesboro City Hall, Room 218, Second Floor, 111 West Vine St., Murfreesboro;

• Thursday, June 27, 5:30 to 7 p.m., Smyrna Assembly Hall, 112 Front St., Smyrna.

For more information, contact Moffett at 615-898-2686 or rick.moffett@mtsu.edu.

[537] Paulson receives honorary doctorate from Buena Vista University

Incoming dean of MTSU’s College of Mass Communication, Ken Paulson, recently received an honorary doctorate degree from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

Paulson, president and CEO of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C., received the Doctor of Humane Letters on May 25 during spring commencement for the private university, where he was the keynote speaker.

Paulson starts his MTSU post on July 1, replacing Roy Moore, dean of the college since 2008, who will remain with the college as a professor.

A member of The Recording Academy and a former music journalist, Paulson is active in the Nashville music community, serving as vice chair of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame; a member of the Music City Music Council, convened by Mayor Karl Dean; and a Leadership Music board and executive committee member.

Paulson served as editor-in-chief of USA Today from 2004 to 2009. He was on the team of journalists who founded USA Today in 1982 before moving on to manage newsrooms in Westchester County, N.Y.; Green Bay, Wis.; Bridgewater, N.J.; and at Florida Today in Brevard County, Fla.

He is now a columnist on USA Today’s board of contributors, writing about First Amendment issues and the news media.

MTSU boasts the fifth-largest mass-communication college in the nation and is the only one that features departments of recording industry, journalism and electronic media communication. It also is home to the Center for Popular Music, which maintains a large research library and archive and interprets various aspects of American vernacular music.

[536] MTSU, Nashville State partner on criminal justice program Pact allows NSCC students to get bachelor’s degree at southeast Davidson campus

ANTIOCH — Some students attending Nashville State Community College’s satellite campus in southeast Davidson County can now turn their associate degree into a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University — without the commute.

MTSU and Nashville State announced today (June 11) a transfer agreement that will allow NSCC students with associate degrees in criminal justice-related majors to earn an MTSU bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration or liberal studies.

Beginning this fall, MTSU professors will teach the classes at Nashville State’s satellite campus at The Crossings, the area now home to the community college’s branch campus and a variety of retail stores.

School officials made the announcement at the campus during a morning meeting of Crossings Nashville Action Partnership, or CNAP, a local community group focused on enhancing the area.

MTSU officials said offering the criminal justice program at the NSCC satellite campus helps students and prospective students in the nearby community by providing more convenient and affordable access to an advanced degree within a popular program.

Mike Boyle, dean of MTSU’s University College, said the partnership is a strategic decision in line with the university’s efforts to increase the number of college graduates in the state of Tennessee — in this case graduates ready to enter a career within law enforcement and the burgeoning area of homeland security.

“Along with courses leading to the degree, University College will also help provide those services that will make transition from NSCC to MTSU easier and quicker,” Boyle said. “MTSU is excited not only to partner with NSCC, who has for years been a good partner in other areas, but also to be invited to offer courses and services in this beautiful new facility.”

Nashville State, one of the fastest growing community colleges in the state, hopes the new program will add to the 1,000-plus students already attending classes at the southeast campus. The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the new partnership with MTSU.

“We are delighted to partner with MTSU in this program at our beautiful new campus in southeast Nashville,” said Kim Estep, vice president of academic affairs at Nashville State. “MTSU has consistently been among the top two transfer destinations for our students for many years. This partnership will provide even more convenience for students who want to move from the associate to the baccalaureate degree quickly and easily.

“This is the beginning of great new educational opportunities for students in East Nashville and up and down the I-24 corridor.”

Under the agreement:

• An NSCC student with an associate degree in police science (police administration or crime scene investigation) can earn a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from MTSU with a concentration in organizational management. The student would need to complete an additional 68 to 71 credit hours to earn a bachelor’s degree.

• An NSCC student with an associate degree in criminal justice administration can earn a bachelor’s degree in that same major, with a concentration in either law enforcement or homeland security. NSCC students would need to complete an additional 60 credit hours and must have a minimum C or 2.0 GPA to transfer into MTSU’s program.

Nashville State and MTSU will host an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 27, at the NSCC southeast campus to provide prospective students with more information about the new program and other offerings. Advisers will be on to help start the application process for those who are interested.

The new agreement deepens the cooperation between the two institutions and follows last spring’s announcement that expanded a previously established dual admission program to facilitate transfers. That agreement added advising, registration priority and admission to MTSU while a student still attends NSCC.

For more information and help, NSCC students may contact:

·         MTSU’s Department of Criminal Justice at 615-898-2630;

·         Cathy Delametter, via email at Cathy.Delametter@mtsu.edu or 615-494-8952;

·         University College at 615-494-7714;

·         or go to www.mtsu.edu/transfer.

[535] Pictures are worth a thousand words on next ‘MTSU On the Record’

MURFREESBORO — The next edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program tackles the alteration of images in order to manipulate the news.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Chris Harris, professor in the MTSU Department of Electronic Media Communication, will air from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Monday, June 17, and from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, June 23, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org).

Harris, a veteran photographer who teaches courses in digital imaging and media ethics, asserts that some journalists are so enthralled with compelling images that verification and context are ignored.

Some of Harris’ former clients include Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Paris Match, and Der Spiegel.

To listen to previous programs, go to the “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

[[534] FirstSTEP seeds help MTSU students grow in STEM areas

MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s FirstSTEP summer research experience continues to plant seeds that are growing more productive students in the STEM disciplines.

In this year’s experience, more than 40 students on nine teams were challenged by College of Basic and Applied Sciences’ faculty to perform research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects.

“They learn incredibly valuable skills to move them forward in the disciplines of their interest,” said Ginger Holmes Rowell, a professor in the department of mathematical science and program director.

FirstSTEP program is a five-year, $2 million grant funded by the National Science Foundation. It is an enrichment program that provides financial and academic support for students majoring in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering technology geosciences, mathematics, physics and astronomy.

“This is a really great experience. It’s an opportunity most people don’t get to have,” said Lindsey Smith, a sophomore physics major from Chattanooga, Tenn.

Looking at a robot she built that will test a Wi-Fi shield, Smith added, “This right here is going to help me tomorrow, and what I mean is I’m wanting possibly to have a military career and I want to work with robots in the military. And now I have some prior knowledge about how robots work and the kind of hardware that they use.”

Jordan Peyton, an MTSU freshman computer engineering major from Memphis, Tenn., also has learned a great deal from the program.

“There’s a lot of things that I’ve done in this program that I can put on my resume, learned how to build a robot, learned how to do a lab report and learned a whole lot about applications that I’m going to be using in the future,” Peyton said.

Rowell said the participating students, nearly all of whom scored between 19 and 23 on their ACT and are needing help in science, technology, engineering and math, gain "incredible confidence and skills that are valuable" from FirstSTEP "that will help them move one step further" in their progress as researchers and college students.

“The students demonstrated their research results with amazing confidence at the end of the program in presentation,” she said. “Some of the students will continue to work with faculty in this line of research.”

Professors Tony Farone (biology) and Daniel Erenso (physics), James Robertson (biology), Jeff Leblond (biology), Saeed Foroudastan (engineering technology), Ahad Nasab (engineering technology), Dennis Walsh (mathematics) and Rebecca Calahan (math) oversaw the FirstSTEP students through their projects.

The three-week program concluded June 7.

A video of the FirstSTEP program is available at http://youtu.be/Lh_fCrcfDAo.

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[533] MTSU Student Farmers Market open noon to 3 p.m. Friday

MURFREESBORO — The MTSU Student Farmers Market will be open from noon to 3 p.m. Friday, May 14, at the Horticulture Center on Lightning Way across from the Tennessee Livestock Center. The event is open to the public.

Because of road construction at the intersection of Champion and Lightning ways, people attending the farmers market should arrive via Blue Raider Drive on the north side of campus or MTSU Boulevard on the east side of campus. A printable campus map can be found at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.

Available to customers will be early vegetables (lettuces, radishes, kale, spinach, onions, beets, strawberries, carrots, crookneck squash and more).

“We even have our first red tomatoes,” said Dr. Nate Phillips, assistant professor in the School of Agribusiness and Agriscience, who oversees the project at the MTSU Experiential Learning and Research Center off Guy James Road in Lascassas.

Also available will be MTSU honey and nursery plants, mainly perennials and shrubs.

The produce is grown and harvested by students, faculty and staff at the university’s farm and dairy.

Accepted forms of payment are cash and checks. No debit or credit cards are accepted.

The Student Farmers Market is expected to continue every Friday until late summer and into early fall.

For more information, call the School of Agribusiness and Agriscience at 615-898-2523 or Phillips at 615-494-8996.

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[532] New funds help MTSU Center for Popular Music save, share history

MURFREESBORO — Dr. Dale Cockrell of MTSU’s Center for Popular Music gently holds a weathered palm-sized journal filled with musical notations in one hand and a parchment-like handmade flier with newspaper clippings and music about the battle of Fredericksburg in the other.

His colleague, musician and archivist John Fabke, displays an old open-reel tape full of tunes from “Fiddling Bob Douglas,” a Chattanooga gem who made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2000 at age 100.

These small treasures, unique to the center’s archives, are part of two new projects, funded by grants from the Grammy Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, that will allow the MTSU center to preserve, digitize and put online more of America’s music.

The $127,956 NEH grant will catalog and archive more than 9,000 pieces of early 18th- to 20th-century fiddle, fife and flute dance tunes, hymns, songs, ballads and keyboard pieces on a searchable website of “American Vernacular Music Manuscripts” in partnership with the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass.

The $19,993 grant from the Grammy Foundation will preserve, inventory and digitize more than 3,850 cassette and open-reel tapes of music, oral histories and field recordings of the late MTSU folklorist Dr. Charles Wolfe — more than four decades’ worth of work called "the premier collection in the American Mid-South" — for the first time.

These are just the latest in the Center for Popular Music’s efforts to preserve and share American music. Earlier grants helped the center present a special six-week “Celebration of America’s Music” program of documentary films, scholarly discussions and live concerts this spring and launch a new website focusing on songs about Tennessee last fall.

“Musicians in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century would regularly inscribe musical notations in books,” Cockrell said of the new NEH project. “It was a way of preserving music they particularly liked or were interested in learning. These little books actually are important because they're books that mattered to people. They wouldn't have gone to the trouble to write these things down if they weren’t.”

The weathered little journal, which once belonged to a man named Kohler who lived in Jamestown, Pa., is dated 1875. The next owner, a fellow named Roth, wrote his own name over Kohler’s and continued inscribing the music he loved in the book.

What was their connection? Were they neighbors, perhaps members of the same church or family? Although paper was still precious then, why would someone reuse another’s journal?

“I suspect (some scholar) can figure it out,” Cockrell said, “perhaps by going back to the family or using Ancestry.com.”

The homemade flier, which features music composed in the wake of the Civil War battle carnage, is dated Jan. 1, 1863, and shows the notations of a “chanting style” tune called “Hark! The Cry of Death is Ringing.” That’s also the title of a poem, “Ode,” by author-abolitionist William Henry Burleigh.

Such historic documents are scattered around the world, including 150 in the MTSU center’s archives, but there’s never been a way for scholars to find them before, short of an Indiana Jones-level search from libraries to basements to historic association archives to attics.

That will change by the end of next year, when the MTSU and American Antiquarian Society collections are digitized, archived and put on the Web. To see an example of the digital archive that will be created, visit http://popmusic.mtsu.edu/AVMM/vernacular.html and follow the demonstration directions.

“Just to say ‘cataloging’ makes it a little too simple, because we're coming up with cataloging standards to do these things,” Cockrell explained. “We're going to be setting the model for the way libraries and archives and historical societies will deal with these things forever. There's never been a standard for doing this.

“If you want something from the 1860s, you can find it, something from Massachusetts or New England, you can find it. You'd click on that (site) and it would take you immediately to the Internet Archive website and that page in that manuscript, and then, using Internet Archive features, you could flip back and forth through the book as if you were using it right there.”

Another preservation, inventorying and digitizing project is underway for Wolfe’s audiotape collection, which stretches across decades of the late professor’s research.

Wolfe, a professor emeritus of English at MTSU, was one of the world's most respected and prolific writers on traditional folk and popular American musical genres. He wrote more than 20 books on American music and annotated more than 100 record albums, earning three Grammy nominations for his album liner notes.

“Maybe about a quarter of it is in open-reel tapes, but the majority of it is in cassette tapes,” Fabke, himself a music historian and researcher, explained. “What we're doing is organizing it, making transfers to preserve it. A lot of the tapes, especially the old open-reel tapes, are endangered media. They have a backing that makes the tape stick to itself.

“We have a great audio engineer, Martin Fisher, who is able to work wonders with old tapes using techniques such as baking the reels in a food dehydrator to be able to coax one more play out of them … so we can digitize the music. There’s a great variety of stuff: recordings of concerts, recording session outtakes and unissued test pressings, interviews, field recordings and transcriptions of decades-old radio shows.”

The Grammy Foundation grant to the MTSU center is one of 14 announced nationwide earlier this year. The grants aim to preserve musical history at sites as varied as the New York Philharmonic, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and the American Organ Institute Archive and Library at the University of Oklahoma School of Music.

“That'll be the role of scholars: to take this material and make something of it,” center director Cockrell said of the projects. “What we're doing here in the Center for Popular Music is providing them with the information that will enable them to construct knowledge.”

For more information on the Center for Popular Music and its projects, visit http://popmusic.mtsu.edu. You also can watch a video about these new grants at http://youtu.be/Szi93OgkmAM.

[531] MTSU alum Guyes accepts Israel Fulbright Scholar offer

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MURFREESBORO — MTSU spring graduate Eric Guyes visited Israel in 2012 as part of a 10-day Jewish Birthright trip. He was certain he wanted to return.

Guyes (pronounced GUYS) will get his wish … in a major way. After applying, he was offered and has accepted a prestigious Fulbright Scholar award. He will study and perform research at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Kesalsaba for 10 months starting in October.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs funds the Fulbright Program, one of the world’s most prestigious educational exchange programs. Recipients are chosen on the basis of academic or professional achievement and demonstrated leadership potential. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program sends American scholars, professionals and artists abroad to lecture and/or conduct research for up to a year.

“I am very excited to go and very grateful the (Israel Fulbright) committee selected me,” said Guyes, who was a physics major and aerospace researcher in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences. “It’s a huge honor. I know what’s expected of me. I’m looking forward to working with the researchers in Israel and the Fulbright committee, and make it beneficial not only for me but for the Fulbright itself.”

"Eric actually had the choice of two major fellowships — what’s called a DAAD award, a 10-month award to study in Germany, as well as a Fulbright to study in Israel," Honors College Dean John Vile said. "Although he went with the one in Israel, and the Fulbright is a great choice, either would’ve been a great choice.

“Both are a testament to the fact that national and international organizations are recognizing one of our students as among the best."

Guyes said there are two primary reasons he is excited about the Israel opportunity: He will get to perform aerospace engineering research and, being Jewish, he will get to “explore Israel as a Jewish person” and “explore my Jewish identity.”

“I have been studying Hebrew for the past year on the hope I’m accepted for this scholarship and, very luckily, I have been,” he said. “I’m very excited to be able to go over there and be a part of the scientific community and explore just a thriving and flourishing Jewish community and culture.”

With his travel covered, the Fulbright grant will provide a stipend for his living expenses while in Israel, he said.

Guyes was featured in the MTSU Honors Magazine this spring. A licensed pilot, the Roanoke, Va., native used a $2,500 Undergraduate Research Experience and Creative Activity grant to develop a laboratory module designed to give aerospace technology students practical and theoretical understanding of the physics employed by jet engines.

Guyes entered MTSU as a Buchanan Fellow, the highest academic award offered by MTSU and the Honors College. He graduated May 11 magna cum laude.

This marks the fourth consecutive year MTSU has had at least one student be awarded a Fulbright opportunity. Guyes is the eighth student in the past four years to receive a Fulbright.