[407] MTSU Celebrates Re-Launch of Magazine with April 13 Party

MTSU CELEBRATES RE-LAUNCH OF MAGAZINE WITH APRIL 13 PARTY
Free Public Event Celebrates 1st Part of University’s New Communications Plan

FOR RELEASE: April 11, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Andrew Oppmann, 615-898-7800 or aoppmann@mtsu.edu

MURFREESBORO—MTSU’s Office of Marketing and Communications will celebrate the re-launch of the MTSU Magazine on Wednesday, April 13, from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Alumni Relations House on Middle Tennessee Boulevard.
The glossy magazine, which has not been published since fall/winter 2009, is returning with a 48-page issue mailed to alumni this month. It will go to alumni at least twice a year with additional special issues as needed.
Wednesday’s launch party is free and open to the public, and officials said MTSU alumni are especially encouraged to attend.
The magazine is part of MTSU’s new communications plan to deliver key messages and information to its alumni and friends. In June, MTSU plans to redesign and upgrade its digital news site, www.mtsunews.com, into a real-time source for news and information. The new site will feature breaking news about MTSU, including video and audio reports.
“We intend for our magazine to be a deeper, more premium print medium for our alumni and friends and for our revamped news site to be a way to be much faster and relevant in delivery of need-to-know information,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.
The changes require a reallocation of resources, so MTSU will end two of its long-standing print products, The Alumni Record and The Record, in late June, said Andrew Oppmann, associate vice president for marketing and communications.
“MTSU needs its news delivered much faster than every two weeks or every quarter, so our digital approach will allow us greater speed and flexibility,” Oppmann noted. “Our magazine, however, will use the printed medium in its best form with stunning graphics and compelling long-form stories.”
The Alumni Record newspaper has been published quarterly and mailed to alumni since 2003. The Record newspaper, printed twice monthly since January 1993, was circulated to MTSU faculty, staff and friends, along with local media outlets.
MTSU also is urging alumni to register on the official alumni site, www.mtalumni.com, to stay informed. “Our alumni website is among the best in the nation,” Oppmann said. “It’s so very important for all of our alums to register their e-mail with us and bookmark the alumni site as a resource.”
The MTSU Magazine’s new edition features Dr. Hugh Berryman, professor of sociology and anthropology and director of MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, on the cover. Other articles include a look at five stellar members of the graduating class of 2011 and a preview of the University’s pending Centennial anniversary.
Serving as editor is Drew Ruble, the new senior editor of university publications at MTSU. Before his appointment, Ruble was editor of Nashville Post, BusinessTN and The City Paper.
“This re-launched MTSU magazine will be compelling in its content and striking in its visual impression,” Ruble said. “Whether reporting on alumni of unusual accomplishment, on student achievers or on the frontiers of faculty-led research, the magazine will present the campus not as an isolated entity but as a place engaged with the weighty issues of the day.”

Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

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IN BRIEF: MTSU’s Office of Marketing and Communications will celebrate the re-launch of the MTSU Magazine on Wednesday, April 13, from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Alumni Relations House on Middle Tennessee Boulevard. The glossy magazine, which has not been published since fall/winter 2009, is returning with a 48-page issue mailed to alumni this month. It will go to alumni at least twice a year with additional special issues as needed. Wednesday’s launch party is free and open to the public, and officials said MTSU alumni are especially encouraged to attend. The magazine is part of MTSU’s new communications plan to deliver key messages and information to its alumni and friends. In June, MTSU plans to redesign and upgrade its digital news site, www.mtsunews.com, into a real-time source for news and information. The new site will feature breaking news about MTSU, including video and audio reports.

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

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: You’re welcome to attend this launch-party event, too! For a color JPEG of the new MTSU Magazine cover or JPEGs of those quoted in this release, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Media Relations via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Thanks!