MURFREESBORO,
Tenn. — The summer 2016 edition of MTSU Magazine profiles an English major whose designs on being a
classroom teacher has taken an unexpected detour after her first album lit up
the indie rock world over the past year.
As an
MTSU underclassman with a minor in secondary education, Julien Baker penned a
batch of heartfelt songs during late-night writing sessions in the piano
closets housed in the Saunders Fine Arts building on campus. The subsequent
album that emerged from those sessions, “Sprained Ankle,” eventually led
Rolling Stone magazine to name Baker to its list of “10 new artists you need to
know” in 2015.
Readers
may download the latest MTSU Magazine
for their iPads and Android devices through the new MTSU Mag Stand app, which
replaces the previous MTSU Magazine app. MTSU Mag Stand is available in the iTunes store and now at Google Play and includes special
multimedia content built into every issue that’s not available in the print
editions.
Such
special multimedia content is included in the digital version of the latest
profile on Baker. Since the Rolling Stone magazine kudos, hundreds of media
outlets have profiled her, including National Public Radio, The New Yorker, and
The New York Times, while scads of other music-specific outlets placed
“Sprained Ankle” on their annual lists of top albums for 2015 (alongside, in
some cases, names like Adele and Kendrick Lamar).
In
almost overnight fashion, Baker, 20, from Memphis, achieved bona fide
indie-music-darling status, a designation that has since taken her across the
globe to perform her music.
What
makes Baker’s story all the more remarkable is that for most of her meteoric
musical rise, she remained enrolled and taking classes at MTSU (Baker recently
announced a hiatus from her studies to concentrate on her career). Baker’s
recollections of concerts, travel agendas, and promotional schedules are
vividly interspersed with names of professors who saw her desire to learn
amidst her rise in fame and who did everything they could to make sure her
efforts to succeed weren’t in vain.
With a
laser focus on student success, the university staff’s emphasis on retention
and graduation is obvious in Baker’s student experience. Baker’s ability to
balance the pursuit of her degree and career opportunities offers proof that
MTSU’s student success emphasis is more than just lip service.
Other
articles in the new edition of the magazine include:
- A glimpse of
MTSU head football coach Rick Stockstill’s message to recruits and their
families;
- The story of an MTSU
student’s central role in reviving hemp production in Tennessee, which
promises to yield a lucrative harvest of university research ;
- A wrap up of
MTSU’s recently concluded $105-million Centennial campaign, one of the
most important occurrences at MTSU in decades;
- A look back at
the MTSU men’s basketball squad’s stunning upset of the Michigan State
Spartans in the 2016 NCAA tournament, and the global attention the
university benefitted from as a result;
- An interview with
recording industry chair Beverly Keel, who kick-started a national public
discourse about the need for greater female involvement in country music.
Printed
copies of MTSU Magazine are
distributed twice annually to more than 110,000 alumni readers. The publication
also is distributed to interested community members, including state lawmakers
and members of the Tennessee Board of Regents.
No comments:
Post a Comment