Fall in Tennessee is one of nature’s great wonders!

In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, sourwood, dogwood, maple, sassafras and birch trees are the first to make the change, turning red, orange and yellow. There is just a hint of color change among those early fall starters. More notable are the fall wildflowers; cardinal flower, black-eyed Susan and southern ironweed, as well as the bright fruits on trees and shrubs, such as hearts-a-bustin'.

For a great fall hike in the Smokies, take Albright Grove or Sugarland Mountain Trail.

Spot some splashes of autumn color which have begun to appear in the woods around Land Between the Lakes, in Middle Tennessee. The bright red leaves of sassafras and sumac, highlighted by yellow tulip trees, are dotting the landscape.

Recent rains in Hardin County, in West Tennessee, have provided a promising color forecast. The leaves have just begun to turn around Pickwick Lake and along the Tennessee River.

Visit tnvacation.com for more information.

Nashville, TN – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam applauded the passing of HB 2010/SB 1529, which allows students eligible for the HOPE scholarship to apply the funds to summer school and caps the total number of hours based on required degree completion.

“Our lottery scholarships have retained the best and brightest students in our state, and this allows eligible students who might not be able to attend summer school without this assistance to continue their course work,” Haslam said. “In our push for more college graduates in Tennessee, this enables students to earn their degrees more quickly, and I appreciate the General Assembly’s overwhelming support for this bill.”

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville), Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick (R-Chattanooga) and Rep. Jim Coley (R-Bartlett) sponsored the legislation that passed the Senate in a vote of 27 to 1 and the House 96 to 0.

The legislation impacts HOPE scholarship recipients that enrolled in the fall of 2009 or later.

The lottery scholarship bill is part of Haslam’s strategic legislative package focused on making the state the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs through meaningful education reform and improvements to Tennessee’s already attractive business climate.

Murfreesboro, TN - MTSU’s Eta Kappa chapter of the Gamma Sigma Sigma national service sorority will present its third annual Prom Dress Collection Drive from Monday, Feb. 14, through Saturday, Feb. 25.

The sorority is asking for donations of prom dresses for distribution to high-school junior and senior girls who are on the free and reduced lunch programs in surrounding counties. The distribution is slated for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Calvary Baptist Church, 431 Dejarnette Lane in Murfreesboro.

Dresses must be from 2002 to the present, must be dry-cleaned and on hangers and must be prom dresses, formal gowns or fancy party dresses. Garments that were purchased before 2002 or have not been dry-cleaned, wedding dresses, casual or semiformal clothing and tuxedoes are unacceptable.

Claressa Johnson initiated the prom drive as “Archie’s Promise” in 2009 when she was a senior at MTSU and a member of the Eta Kappa chapter. Still an active member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, Johnson now belongs to the White Rose Alumni Chapter.

A 2009 Hearst Teen survey found that teenage girls spent an average of $220 on a prom dress and $893 total on the prom night experience.

“In 2009, we distributed more than 50 dresses to Rutherford County girls who were on the free and reduced lunch program,” says Johnson. “Last year, we reached an ultimate goal and helped over 100 young women from Rutherford and Williamson counties find a dress for a prom.”

Dresses should be donated at Holiday Cleaners, 911 Memorial Blvd. in Murfreesboro. To make an appointment for donating a dress or to make a monetary donation, contact Johnson at 615-427-1816 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Murfreesboro, TN - Anyone who has ever wanted to write the Great American Novel—or poem, short story or nonfiction book—can gain insight and perspective in The Writer’s Loft, the topic of discussion of “MTSU on the Record” at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Jan. 23, with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org).

Dr. Rami Shapiro, director of The Writer’s Loft and adjunct professor of religious studies at MTSU, will talk about the non-residency creative writing program in which students work one-on-one with mentors to hone their skills. Students also learn how to get their works published and how to use social media to their best advantage.

Shapiro is the author of more than 20 books on religion and spirituality and writes a regular column for “Spirituality and Health” magazine. He also blogs regularly at rabbirami.blogspot.com.

To listen to previous programs, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/news/podcast/podcast2010.shtml. For more information about “MTSU on the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Murfreesboro, TN - Dr. Sean Foley is putting his third Fulbright Fellowship to use in a relatively little-explored but highly relevant area of scholarship as he continues to investigate religious connections between the Arab Gulf States and Southeast Asia under the auspices of International Islamic University Malaysia.

Foley, an assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University, is working and studying mostly in Malaysia with a stipend from the Fulbright Program, which is sponsored by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. However, his experiences in other countries in the region are yielding future benefits not only for academia in general, but for MTSU specifically.

On Foley’s visit to India last month, the historian built ties with both Muslim and non-Muslim universities on the subcontinent, including Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

“My trip will lay the foundation for future classes on Indian history, Islam generally and Islam in South Asia, including India and Pakistan,” Foley writes via e-mail. “This trip will also cement ties between MTSU and its history department with universities in India to facilitate the work of department scholars who are interested in work on India.”

Building partnerships with institutions of higher learning around the globe and facilitating international exchange and study-abroad opportunities for both faculty and students are high-priority goals at MTSU.

“Sean’s travel and research presentations in India will highlight the name ‘Middle Tennessee State University’ throughout the region,” says Dr. Amy Sayward, chair of the MTSU Department of History. “We hope that Sean’s contacts today will lead to a more international graduate-student body in our department and on our campus in the years to come.”

Foley delivered a lecture on the Arab Gulf States at the Indian-Arab Cultural Center at Jamia Milia University in New Delhi on Dec. 20 and on Dec. 21 at the Indian National Seminar, which was held at the Centre for West Asian Studies at Aligarh University in Aligarh, India.

“The seminar is India’s premier annual national conference on Middle East studies and included the top scholars in the field,” Foley writes. “It was covered in

India’s English- and Hindu-language newspapers … While at the conference, I also chaired a panel on conflict and peace resolution in South Asia. I also built close ties to Indian faculty and graduate students.”

As of fall 2010, 400 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 60 countries were enrolled at MTSU, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research Fact Book.
“As we continue to build our Ph.D. program in Public History, we believe this will draw an international student body, as every country and region is interested in preserving and presenting its history to a public audience,” says Sayward. “We're already seeing our Ph.D. students thinking about their own research more broadly, as we've had students from Iran and Libya join the program this year.”
Foley’s itinerary includes trips to Singapore and Thailand. He will return to New Delhi in April to deliver another lecture at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

For more information, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Dr. Amy Sayward at 615-898-2569 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Following the 150th anniversary of the end of the conflict that nearly tore the United States apart, the MTSU Black History Month Committee will present “African Americans and the Civil War: The Struggle Continues,” a slate of artistic and educational events in February.

Black History Month originated in 1926 with the first celebration of Negro History Week, which was created by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Only the second African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard University, Woodson’s brainstorm raised awareness of blacks’ contributions to the American experience. MTSU’s chapter of Omega Psi Phi will sponsor a display in Woodson’s honor from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, on the second floor of the Keathley University Center (KUC).

Activities include the annual Unity Luncheon honoring five neighborhood heroes at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building (JUB). The keynote speaker will be Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, a nationally recognized pedagogical theorist and teacher educator. Ladson-Billings, the author of The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children, will deliver a Campus and Community Collaboration address that evening at 6 p.m. also in the Tennessee Room.

Dr. H. Richard Milner IV, the Betts Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University, will deliver the Brown Bag Tenure Lecture from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the JUB’s Faculty Senate Room. Milner has consulted about diversity issues, the achievement gap, curriculum development, goal-setting, developing leadership skills and effective teaching in public and private schools, universities and organizations.

Dr. Quito Swan, author of Black Power in Bermuda and the Struggle for Decolonization, will speak on “Black Power in Bermuda and Beyond” at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, in the KUC Theater. Swan is an assistant professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He specializes in the global African diaspora.

Other Black History Month events in February at MTSU include:

• Campus Sing, noon, Tuesday, Feb. 1, KUC Theater;
• Keith Craig Musical Medley, 5-6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 1, Wright Music Hall;
• “Omegas in the Military” Display, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 8, second floor, KUC;
• John Pleas Faculty Recognition Award, 4-6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 8, Tom H. Jackson Building;
• “Evolution of Black Music,” 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 17, Tom H. Jackson Building;
• “Omegas in the Laboratory” Display, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, second floor, KUC;
• Black History Mobile Museum, 5 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 23, KUC Knoll;
• “Black Girls Rock!” 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 24, Tom H. Jackson Building.

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. For more information, contact Vincent Windrow, director of the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs and chairman of the MTSU Black History Month Committee, at 615-898-2238 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Murfreesboro, TN - Intrigued by a documentary in which a young woman was ostracized by her parents for two years because she realized her dream of attending college, Tara Perrin set out to find out how other first-generation college students handle the challenges of their unique educational lives.

Perrin, a 36-year-old sociology major originally from Tallahassee, Fla., is writing her master’s thesis on first-generation students’ perceptions of changing family relationships due to the acquisition of higher education and how they feel these changes impact their college careers.

“For some people, it’s a really smooth transition, and, for others, it’s a very, very difficult transition to go to school and to stay in school because your family can be quite antagonistic toward you,” says Perrin, a first-generation student who says she had her parents’ total support.

In 1996, surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, bolstered by data from follow-up surveys in 1998 and 2001, found that approximately 40 percent of all college freshmen are the first in their families to attend college.

In performing her qualitative research, Perrin is analyzing her interviews with students and comparing them to the existing academic data. While there is a great amount of quantitative research in which grade-point averages and retention and graduation rates are assessed, Perrin finds little research is available on the family dynamics of the first-generation student’s experience.

“Without really hearing qualitative stories about their struggles and how they deal with things and how these instances do come out, I feel like the literature’s really lacking in that regard,” Perrin says.
Even if academia has little to say on the subject, personal anecdotes abound. Some of the recurring themes include parents who say they are supportive but never ask their sons or daughters about their studies or, worse yet, rebuke or dismiss students who try to initiate a conversation about what they’re learning in college.

In one of the few qualitative studies Perrin has found on the subject, a student was criticized by her parents for playing classical music in the home, saying they resented what they perceived as an attempt to try to make her family “better” than it is. In an argument unrelated to school, one parent criticized a student interviewed by Perrin for using language the parent didn’t understand.

“A lot of parents who have not been to college can’t relate to what their children are doing,” says Steve Saunders, interim director of MTSU’s McNair Program, a federally-funded endeavor that strives to help low-income, first-generation college students prepare for doctoral study. “They have no point of reference.”

Saunders, a first-generation college student himself, says students who are the educational groundbreakers in their families also have stressors that students from more educated families don’t understand, such as worrying about finding money for food, rent and utilities while trying to concentrate on studies.

“I think what (first-generation students) see are hurdles that other students don’t see because they don’t exist for those other students, those who come from families that have a fairly high level of education,” Saunders says.

Perrin thinks universities have a role to play by asking students on admissions forms whether they are the first in their families to go to college so that they can be counted and their progress documented. She thinks the information gathered might even become a marketing tool that can be used to promote the university to a potential clientele that is not necessarily targeted for solicitation.

“People don’t come here with the goal of failing,” Perrin says. “They want to be successful. Sometimes you have to give some students a little more support in order for that to happen, and I just feel like we need to know who those students are. Quantifying first-generation status would be a good step toward figuring that out.”

Perrin’s thesis is due in March. She is on track to graduate from MTSU with her master’s degree in sociology in May 2011.

Murfreesboro, TN - “How to Win at the Game of College,” a three-part seminar series to equip students and parents with the tools and strategies to ensure college success, will begin at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the State Farm Lecture Hall (Room S102) of the Business and Aerospace Building (BAS) at Middle Tennessee State University.

A dynamic, interactive and audio-visual presentation by Dr. Ryan Otter, assistant professor of biology at MTSU, and based on his book How to Win at the Game of College: Practical Advice from a College Professor, the opening installment of the series is titled “The Benefits of the ‘Be Weird’ Strategy.” It will focus on how college is different from high school and how being “weird” will lead to success.

“In today’s global economy, higher education has never been more important or competitive,” says Otter. “Success depends on using unique tools and strategies, as well as having a basic understanding of how to interact with key professionals on campus.”

Drawing on his own experience as an aimless youth who very nearly whiled away his college career, Otter directs this enlightening guide to finding one’s path in life without falling prey to the stresses and misconceptions that prompt many fledgling collegians to give up. His method for success helped him earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology from Michigan State University and a doctorate in environmental toxicology from Clemson University.

The 31-year-old Otter is still young enough to remember his own struggles and now grapples with his students’ indecision and lack of direction.

“Three million new freshmen enroll in college every year, and most have no idea about the game they are about to start playing,” says Otter. “A failure to understand that the game of college is different from the game of high school is the cause of most issues faced by incoming freshmen and is a major reason why one-half of all students who start college never finish.”

In addition to the January seminar, Otter will present “Exploit the Expected and Unexpected Tools” at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 23, and “Capitalize on the Campus Pros” at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23, both in BAS S102. Question-and-answer sessions will follow each 45-minute seminar. All three events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Otter at 615-898-2063 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Gina Logue of the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or go to www.thecollegegameproject.org.

Murfreesboro has developed quite a booming local music scene, but that is not surprising for a suburb of Nashville. However, there is something else within the Murfreesboro city limits that also has a reputation for creating a large local music scene. MTSU. Colleges have always been known to generate a plethora of new bands, but these bands aren’t always easy on the audience’s ears. Lots of kids dream of being in a rock and roll band, but few put in the effort needed to be successful. The MTSU students that make up Lean with the Earth have both the dream and the ambition that is required to make a band worth listening to.

I was able to go to the 88.3WMTS radio benefit show last week to hear Lean with the Earth play a live set. The key word used to describe this group of musicians is masculine. Drawing influences from everything from modern Jazz to Swedish Death Metal, Lean with the Earth produces a heavy sound that has more artistic merit than simply screaming over power chords. The individual members’ influences are what really create this unique sound. The group is comprised of Marshall Taylor a drummer who records jazz sessions with the MTSU music department, Jeramy Snyder a bassist with a passion for punk and metal, Justin Harriger a guitarist and keyboardist that enjoys pushing the limits of experimental metal, and Joe Ford a new and talented vocalist.

Lean with the Earth is a new project for Jeramy, Marshall, and Justin who were all previously involved with the local band Heart and Beat. They decided to move from a five instrument setup to a trio which allows each part to be significantly more complex. The band has been performing with a vocalist for several months now, and has really begun to shape into something all of the members are proud of.

The most important thing to be said about Lean with the Earth is that it is comprised of genuine musicians. The band members are not concerned with their image or living the rock and roll lifestyle so many college groups focus on. They may not be dressed in plaid and skinny jeans, but they spend that shopping time in rehearsal. If you are interested in listening to a down to earth local rock band I strongly encourage you to check the band's webpage to see where they are playing next around Murfreesboro. The boys are also finishing work on a demo for those who are more comfortable rocking out from their computer chair.

It’s never safe to say that everyone will enjoy a specific type of music, but if you enjoy Hard Rock or musicians that work hard, I would strongly recommend taking a look into Lean with the Earth.

(ARA) - College students from L.A. to Philadelphia and all points in between will soon begin their annual moves back home. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are some 19 million students enrolled at more than 4,300 colleges and universities across the United States. Moving is never an easy task but there are some things you can do to make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

The experts at Penske Truck Rental, armed with more than 40 years of experience in helping people move, offer a few tips to help make your move home from college go a bit more smoothly:

* Don't put it off until the last moment. Springtime and graduation weeks are peak moving times for both students and families living near or around campus. Renting a moving truck will allow you to move all of your things in one easy go, so reserve one before they're all rented out - at least two weeks in advance of your move. Once you've reserved, it's guaranteed that a truck will be there for you. For most students, a 12- or 16-foot truck is a perfect fit for all they can store in a college residence or small off-campus apartment. If you can, try to move on a weekday - weekends are always the busiest moving days.

* Pack smart. Bring home only what you need. Consider donating any remaining items to charities. Load your heaviest items on the truck first. Boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap, moving blankets and hand trucks are also essential to keeping your belongings safer and making your move easier.

* Think safety. To avoid injury, always bend your knees and lift with your legs. Also, don't text or talk on your cell phone while driving. While stopped for breaks, park in highly visible, well-lit areas and always lock all doors. If you're using a moving truck, remember that it is taller, wider and heavier than cars or SUVs. So, drive a bit slower and take extra care when making turns, driving under overhangs or near low tree branches. Penske offers 24/7/365 emergency roadside assistance in case you have a problem.

* Make it fun. Keep a positive attitude during the move - play music, plan a fun dinner for after all the work is done and don't let frustration get to you. Some moving trucks, like those from Penske have CD players, radios, air conditioning and cell-phone outlet chargers - make sure you've got all the things necessary for a comfortable, enjoyable ride.

* Go green. You might be able to save on costs and be kinder to the environment by moving together with someone from your area. Check with your residence life office on campus to help find someone to share the ride. Some truck rental companies participate in the Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay program, which is devoted to saving fuel, money and the environment. Penske earned the program's highest possible rating.

* Keep the essentials with you. With most belongings packed tightly away, create a travel bag for moving day to keep important paperwork, credit cards, identification, change of clothes, drinks and snacks close at hand. More moving tips and even additional discounts through AAA can be found at www.PenskeTruckRental.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent