Midpoints

A look at recent awards, events, and accomplishments at MTSU

compiled by Stephanie Barrette, Gina E. Fann, Jimmy Hart, Gina K. Logue, Drew Ruble, and Randy Weiler

Steady Leadership

Sidney A. McPhee, MTSU’s 10th president, recently marked his 20th year of leading the University. McPhee has presided over one of the most remarkable periods of growth and progress in the institution’s century-plus years of service.

During his tenure, the University has grown in both student numbers and physical facilities, with today’s campus hosting more than 22,000 students, covering almost 1,000 acres, and benefiting from over $1 billion in construction and renovation.

Among those projects is MTSU’s state-of-the-art Science Building, a 250,000-square-foot teaching and research facility that opened in fall 2014 with a cost of $147 million, including renovation of Davis and Wiser-Patten science facilities. It represented the largest single investment by the state for an academic building.

Since McPhee’s arrival, MTSU has successfully raised admission standards and significantly increased enrollment of high-ability students. McPhee also has overseen the addition of almost 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, two colleges (Behavioral and Health Sciences and University College), and more than a dozen institutes and centers.

More Than a Mere Slogan

2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of the slogan “I am True Blue.” MTSU is a community committed to learning, growth, and service— values the University holds dear—and the simple phrase “I am True Blue” has become the mantra that conveys those values.

New students at Convocation take the True Blue Pledge. It underscores MTSU’s core values of honesty and integrity; respect for diversity; engagement in the community; and committing to reason, not violence. These words express not only the ideals the University wishes to share with its students but also its devotion to student success.

The True Blue Pledge was written by a task force appointed by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee in 2011. Coming after the tragic death of Lady Raider basketball player Tina Stewart, the pledge encouraged nonviolent conflict resolution within the student body.

Bringing Home the Gold

Two MTSU graduates won Grammy gold for helping create 2021 best country album Wildcard by Miranda Lambert. In fact, Department of Recording Industry alumnus Jason A. Hall (’00) and Audio Production grad Jimmy Mansfield (’14) almost could’ve bet the house on this year’s country album category, thanks to their teamwork on three of the five nominees. Along with Lambert’s winning effort, announced from Los Angeles’ Staples Center, engineer Hall and assistant engineer Mansfield also were part of the crews nominated for Brandy Clark’s Your Life is a Record and Ashley McBryde’s Never Will. A third MTSU-trained pro, Audio Production graduate Jeff Braun (’12), was Hall and Mansfield’s friendly country- album competition. His mixing work on the project by Ingrid Andress, Lady Like, earned him a Grammy nomination.

After the March 14 ceremony, the number of MTSU-connected Grammy winners since 2001 has risen to 13 with a total of 33 Grammys, including eight repeat recipients, in categories from classical to pop to country to gospel. Whether they created the words or captured the music, MTSU alumni’s work stood out throughout the 63rd annual Grammy Awards.

School of Music alumnus and producer/songwriter Wayne Haun (’00) competed against himself again with recognition for three of the five best roots gospel album nominees in a repeat of the 2018 Grammys ceremony.

Former student and multi-Grammy winner Lecrae Moore, known professionally as Lecrae, was back in the golden circle for two new efforts: nominations for best contemporary Christian music performance, “Sunday Morning,” with gospel icon Kirk Franklin, and a best gospel performance/song co-writing nod for “Come Together” for Rodney Jerkins Presents: The Good News.

The Secret Sisters

Music Business alumna Laura Rogers (’09) and her sibling, Lydia Slagle, who perform as The Secret Sisters, were nominated for two Grammys: best folk album for their fourth release, Saturn Return, and for writing a best American roots song on it, “Cabin.”

And former student Hillary Scott and her bandmates in Lady A were nominees for best country duo/group performance for their song “Ocean.”

Filling the Gap

The General’s Fund, administered by MTSU’s Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, helped MTSU graduate student Keyann Reaves, a Jackson native and military dependent, continue her education as she works to become a pediatrician.

Reaves, who sought her degree at MTSU through her father’s GI Bill benefits, was the first student to receive support from the fund.

Created in partnership with the Nashville Predators professional hockey club, the fund helps student veterans and military dependents at MTSU whose educational benefits have either expired or been exhausted. MTSU proudly serves more than 1,100 military-connected students, yet about 20% of them no longer have the educational benefits that were earned through service to our country.

Industry Titans

Several MTSU graduates were nominated for awards at the 56th annual Academy of Country Music Awards. Michael Hardy (’13), a graduate from the Commercial Songwriting program who uses only his last name professionally, was nominated as the ACM songwriter of the year for the second time.

Jason A. Hall (’00), a Recording Industry alumnus, was nominated in the audio engineer of the year category. The ACM 2019 audio engineer of the year, Recording Industry alum F. Reid Shippen (’94), was nominated for the top engineer award again this year for engineering Miranda Lambert’s single of the year entry, “Bluebird.”

Audio Production grad Jimmy Mansfield (’14) served as assistant engineer for two ACM-nominated albums: the Brothers Osborne’s new Skeletons and Ashley McBryde’s acclaimed Never Will.

Hillary Scott, a former MTSU student and new scholarship creator, was on the ACM’s 2021 list twice: for group of the year with her longtime partners in the band Lady A, and in the event of the year category as part of an ensemble featured on Thomas Rhett’s “Be a Light.”

Kathleen Schmand, new dean for James E. Walker Library

Happy Returns

When Kathleen Schmand was a student at the University of Pittsburgh, her father invited her to spend Thanksgiving with him in Murfreesboro, telling her she had to see MTSU during her visit. Schmand’s father, a Navy veteran, had moved to Murfreesboro in 1995 because of his interest in the area’s Civil War history and access to the Alvin C. York Veterans Administration Medical Center.

As of January, Schmand is the new dean of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library following a nationwide search. She comes to MTSU from Northern Arizona University, where she had been director of development and communications for that institution’s library since 2006.

Distilling It Down

In 2020, MTSU turned to a Nashville distillery to provide personal-size bottles of hand sanitizer for students returning to its on-campus residence halls. Big Machine Distillery produces premium, handcrafted spirits led by a signature vodka and now makes hand sanitizer that is sold nationwide. It provided MTSU with 6,000 50-milliliter bottles at a reduced rate, each branded with a special label featuring the Lightning mascot.

The spirits maker is associated with Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group, which Billboard magazine called the No. 1 independent record label in the world. Discussions are ongoing regarding ways the music label could provide future opportunities for students in the University’s College of Media and Entertainment.

“Partnering with MTSU is a natural fit for our brand and our label’s relationship with the college,” said Scott Borchetta, president and CEO of Big Machine Label Group.

On the Wing

MTSU and the 118th Wing of the Tennessee Army National Guard signed an agreement in November 2020 to collaborate in research of unmanned aircraft systems operations and computer science. The mission of the 118th Wing, based in Nashville, is to provide the U.S. Air Force with persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and combat capability, as well as support in Tennessee during times of emergency.

Matt Crews (l), retired Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, and Provost Mark Byrnes

Show of Support

The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix’s “Freedom Friday” concert Aug. 6 will include a roster of artists performing to raise money for MTSU’s Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center and other veterans causes.

Grand Prix CEO Matt Crews, an MTSU alumnus, and retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, MTSU’s senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives, announced the partnership from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry during the sold-out Opry Salute the Troops show.

Singer Chris Young, a former MTSU student, headlined the Opry that night and included a tribute to country music legend Charlie Daniels, who died in 2020.

MTSU’s Concrete Industry Management program also has partnered with the Aug. 8 IndyCar race.

Highly Decorated

MTSU Board of Trustees member Christine Karbowiak Vanek was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for her contribution to promoting friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S. The government of Japan announced the conferment of decoration in April 2020.

Karbowiak Vanek (pictured second from right) recently retired as chief administrative officer, chief risk officer, executive vice president, and board vice chair of Bridgestone Americas and as executive officer and executive vice president with Bridgestone Corp. She was a founding member of the Japan America Society of Tennessee (JAST) and later served as the organization’s board chair (2010–14).

Key milestones during her long tenure with JAST include hosting the 2010 Southeast U.S./Japan and Japan-U.S. Southeast associations annual joint meeting in Nashville; helping establish the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival; and raising nearly $200,000 for victims of the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011.

True Blue Cameo

As first reported by MTSU student news outlet Sidelines, early in Coming 2 America—the sequel to the 1988 hit that made Eddie Murphy a star— MTSU is mentioned twice, and its name is seen on a digital billboard outside of Madison Square Garden before a fictional game between MTSU and St. John’s University.

A character in the movie states, “Come on, Middle Tennessee State! Come on y’all—they got a 7-foot-5 center. Catch him before his knees pop.”

MTSU is also mentioned a second time, and a clip of the digital billboard appears for a few seconds. Director Craig Brewer, a native of Memphis, is credited with writing MTSU into the script.