[636] MTSU professor named Fellow of international psychology association

MURFREESBORO — Dr. Thomas Tang, a professor in the Department of Management and Marketing in the MTSU Jones College of Business, was recently named a Fellow of the International Association of Applied Psychology.

“This is quite a prestigious award and is in recognition of his professional accomplishments and the high regard in which he is held by colleagues around the world,” said Dr. Peter Cunningham in the Office of the University Provost at MTSU.

Founded in 1920, the International Association of Applied Psychology is the oldest of its kind and includes scholars and researchers from more than 80 countries around the world. Tang, who has a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology, has been a member of the IAAP since 1981 and currently serves as an associate editor of “Applied Psychology: An International Review,” the official flagship publication of the IAAP.

Tang will receive his Fellow’s Award at the closing ceremony of the quadrennial meeting of International Congress of Applied Psychology on July 13 in Paris, France.

“This is the highest honor I have received in my career,” said Tang, who holds both master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and has taught at MTSU since 1983.

While in Paris, Tang will also participate with other editors of top psychology journals in a special panel on “How to Get Published,” chair two symposia on money intelligence, and present several papers during the symposia.

According to the Journal of Business Ethics, Tang is being honored for his work in economic psychology and is best known for his research on the meaning of money, love of money and monetary intelligence.

At MTSU, Tang received Outstanding Research Awards twice — in 1991 for his work in psychology and in 1999 for his research in management, Distinguished International Service Award (1999), Outstanding Faculty Member in the Jones College of Business (2008), and Outstanding Career Achievement Award (2008).

[635] Murphy named assistant director of annual giving at MTSU

MURFREESBORO — Trisha Murphy has been named assistant director of annual giving at Middle Tennessee State University.

Murphy, who assumed her new position this month after serving in an interim role, began working in the MTSU Development and Foundation Office several years ago as a student intern. She went on to serve as a graduate assistant for two years, working mainly with the office’s telephone fundraising campaigns, and has served as interim assistant director for the past year.

“During this time she repeatedly demonstrated her hard work and her commitment to her alma mater,” said Nick Perlick, director of development. “We have great hopes to elevate annual giving further during the final 18 months of the Centennial Campaign and beyond, and I could not be more pleased that Trisha will be leading those efforts.”

Murphy, a native of Murfreesboro, graduated from MTSU with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in education administration and supervision.

To learn more about university giving, visit www.mtsu.edu/development.

[634] MTSU Aerospace partners to present Great Tennessee Air Show in Smyrna

University is the presenting sponsor of the Blue Angels performances 

SMYRNA — The Aerospace Department at Middle Tennessee State University was out in full force Saturday, June 14, at the Great Tennessee Air Show. 

MTSU was the presenting sponsor for the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team. And about 25 faculty and students worked a display tent about the Aerospace Department that featured two training aircraft. The air show continues Sunday.

“It's important not only to expose our Aerospace Department, but our school,” said Tyler Babb, an assistant professor of aerospace and organizer of the Air Show effort for MTSU. 

“There are a lot of people in the community who know about us, who know that we're there, who know we're a big school,” he said. “But to actually show up (at the Air Show) and hand them information about our school is a very direct link.”

See a video from Saturday’s activities, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMU0PHqVW_Q.

President Sidney A. McPhee and Bud Fischer, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, toured the Air Show on Saturday and spent time with students and faculty at the MTSU Aerospace tent. 

“It's very appropriate for MTSU, one of the premier aerospace universities in the country, to have a very visible and prominent role at one of the nation's top air shows,” McPhee said. 

The President also was pleased to see two of the Aerospace Department's Diamond DA40 aircraft at the show. Show goers were allowed to climb behind the controls of the aircraft. 

“We have made considerable investments in our Aerospace Department,” McPhee said. “I'm pleased our partnership with the Great Tennessee Air Show allows us to showcase our program.”

McPhee and other MTSU representatives toured the flight line following the Blue Angels' show and met with the Navy and Marine pilots and crew members. 

For more information, go to greattennesseeairshow.com. 

For more information about the aerospace department, go to mtsu.edu/aerospace. 

[633] MTSU partners with Bonnaroo and The Tennessean to provide multimedia coverage experience for students

College of Mass Communication students and faculty at world-famous music festival

MANCHESTER, Tenn. — MTSU students John Coulston and Kimi Thompson are enjoying this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival from a unique vantage point.

They are among a select team from the College of Mass Communication providing multimedia coverage of the world-famous music event for The Tennessean and other media platforms, thanks to a partnership initiated by Dean Ken Paulson.

“They are having a terrific time,” Paulson said of the student team. “It’s a great educational experience for them and they get to cover the music they love up close.”

To see a video report about MTSU’s partnership, go to http://youtu.be/hnvEABLmJKs.

Coulston, a journalism sophomore, was making the most of the experience on Thursday, roaming the festival grounds and capturing photos and videos for The Tennessean through an iPad.

“I’m covering all kinds of events going on — all the bands, interviewing some Nashville acts that are playing the festival and looking for interesting people to profile,” he said.

The same could be said for Thompson, a public relations sophomore, who was working to highlight interesting people she met as she traveled between music venues.

“I’m looking for great stories and situations worth reporting,” she said. “And it’s a chance to prove myself and show what I can do.”

That’s what Paulson and the other faculty mentors at Bonnaroo want to hear from all the students on the team.

“Our hope is that students will get first-hand experience on what it is like to cover a music festival,” he said. “It’s about… using cutting-edge tools, multimedia, and making sure you capture the story.

Paulson brokered the partnership earlier this year between the college and Bonnaroo. In April, Bonnaroo partners Ashley Capps, owner of AC Entertainment, and Rick Farman, co-founder of Superfly Presents, came to MTSU to work with students in the college.

The partnership also includes a symposium that MTSU will host this fall on the “Anatomy of a Music Festival: The Bonnaroo Story and the Future of Festivals.”

“We are delighted to have this partnership with Bonnaroo and The Tennessean, giving our students real-world experience covering the festival, talking to artists and looking behind the scenes at what really goes on at a world-class festival,” Paulson said.

“MTSU has a unique college: We’ve got recording industry, we’ve got journalism, we’ve got electronic media communication. All of that makes Bonnaroo a perfect laboratory for what we do.”

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.

A survey by Radio Television News Association, published by TV Week’s NewsPro magazine, recently listed the college among the nation’s top 20 programs. More information about the college can be found www.mtsu.edu/masscomm.

[632] MTSU professor puts Middle East in perspective on ‘MTSU On the Record’

MURFREESBORO — A fresh look at the Middle East is in store on the next edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Sean Foley will air from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Monday, June 23, and from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Sunday, June 29, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org).

Foley, an associate professor of history, will offer his views on the arrest of a suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya, and the escalation of violence in Iraq by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

In addition, he will discuss his past year’s work in Saudi Arabia, conducting research all over the kingdom to assess its politics and cultures with the help of MTSU’s Saudi alumni.

“There are many Saudi students who come to campus,” said Foley. “It’s been a tremendously rewarding exchange, not only for them, but for us.”   

To listen to previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, go to www.mtsunews.com/ontherecord/.

For more information, contact Gina Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.