Upward Mobility From incoming students to outgoing graduates, brighter days shine for MTSU community Page 6
Winter 2021
Rock the Vote May graduate Abbie Garrett and senior Andy Modaff rehearse with Shelter Cove bandmates and seniors Ethan Forrest and Andrew Shields in MTSU’s Chris Young Café for Rock the Vote, live-streamed Sept. 22 from Nashville.
Table of Contents Departments 05 Editor's Letter 06 Five Minutes 09 #MyMTStory 10 Old School 12 New School 14 Faculty Spotlight 17 Required Reading 18 Campus Culture 37 Midpoints 43 By the Numbers 44 MTSUNews.com 45 Class Notes 52 In Memoriam 54 Baby Raiders 55 Last Word
Features 20 Uplifting and Lifting Up 28 A Rodeo with Reba 30 Distinguished Alumnus
Middle Tennessee State University Winter 2021, Vol. 25 No. 2 University President Sidney A. McPhee University Provost Mark Byrnes Vice President for University Advancement Joe Bales Vice President for Marketing and Communications Andrew Oppmann Senior Editor Drew Ruble Associate Editor Carol Stuart Senior Director of Creative Marketing Solutions Kara Hooper Designer Micah Loyed Contributing Writers Skip Anderson, Stephanie Barrette, Gina E. Fann, Allison Gorman, Jimmy Hart, Gina K. Logue, Randy Weiler University Photographers James Cessna, Andy Heidt, J. Intintoli, Cat Curtis Murphy Special thanks to Lynn Adams, Donna J. Baker, Ginger Freeman, Jon Jackson, Megan Jones, Joe Poe, Marsha Powers, Michelle Stepp, Yvonne Torres Address changes should be sent to Advancement Services, MTSU Box 109, Murfreesboro, TN 37132; alumni@mtsu.edu. Other correspondence goes to MTSU magazine, Drew Ruble, 1301 E. Main St., MTSU Box 49, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. For online content, visit mtsunews.com. 132,000 copies printed at Courier Printing, Smyrna, Tennessee. Designed by MTSU Creative Marketing Solutions.
Cover photo Graduates celebrate at a modified commencement during the pandemic (more on page 12). photo by Cat Curtis Murphy
0920-9177 / Middle Tennessee State University does not discriminate against students, employees, or applicants for admission or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, age, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or any other legally protected class with respect to all employment, programs, and activities sponsored by MTSU. The Assistant to the President for Institutional Equity and Compliance has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies and can be reached at Cope Administration Building 116, 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132; Marian.Wilson@mtsu.edu; or 615-898-2185. The MTSU policy on non-discrimination can be found at mttsu.edu/iec.
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EDITOR'S LET TER
Speaking Up
by Drew Ruble
Software engineer Blake Merryman (’13) shares a photo on screen of himself at the Apple campus.
This edition of MTSU magazine highlights an especially large number of accomplished alumni making an impact on the world. They are proof that armed with an MTSU education, the sky is the limit in terms of finding success in life. But they are just a few of the nearly 140,000 MTSU graduates living today. Many of you readers, too, are making a difference and have professional experience to share that could help guide future graduates along their paths in life. The MTSU Alumni Relations team recently created a new outreach, MT Talks, that offers speaking engagement opportunities to graduates of the University wishing to give back to today’s students. Especially now in the COVID age, where much of the higher education being delivered to students is done so virtually, there arguably has never been a better time for alumni around the globe to offer to speak to a class about important industry topics or career advice in their field. From the Apple campus in California, for example, alumnus Blake Merryman (’13) recently gave a talk to English students titled “Software Engineering at Apple: Where STEM and Liberal Arts Intersect.” Merryman, now
a software engineer for the big tech company, was active as a resident assistant/director, student ambassador, and intramural sports competitor while at MTSU. In his virtual visit with current students, he shared his journey from being an Aerospace and Mathematics double-major to his career in technical writing on the Health App team at Apple. Chances are you had a great experience at MTSU and want to give back to current students as they prepare for graduation. A financial gift would be greatly appreciated, but the gift of your time is also valuable. So too is participating again—perhaps for the first time in many years—in the life of your University. If you want to share your professional expertise with current students, the MTSU Alumni Association hopes you will consider applying to be a part of MT Talks. Our students have much to learn from you and enjoy connecting with MTSU alumni. Heck, you might even find a great new future employee for your business!
Find out more: mtalumni.com or 615-898-2922
Winter 2021 5
FIVE MINUTES WITH THE PRESIDENT
Upward Mobility
Despite the pandemic, MTSU actually increased enrollment over Fall 2019.
A brief conversation on recent events with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee Colleges and universities across the country experienced significant enrollment declines in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Tennessee is certainly no exception, as students and parents considered issues of safety, value, and the remarkable uncertainties created by COVID-19 and wondered if a gap year or other alternative to a four-year college experience might not make sense. Due to the exceptional work of our faculty and staff, MTSU appears to have weathered this storm. Tell me more about that.
The University reported the largest year-over-year gains in enrollment last fall among the state’s locally governed higher education institutions. With a 1.7% overall increase, MTSU also remains the largest undergraduate institution among the locally governed institutions (LGIs), which include Austin Peay, East Tennessee State, the University of Memphis, Tennessee Tech, and Tennessee State. 6 MTSU Magazine
Our official head count reported for Fall 2020 is 22,084, an increase of 369 students compared to numbers from Fall 2019. MTSU’s undergraduate enrollment of 19,192, while down 1.35% over last year, still places the University tops among the LGIs. Also, in converting head count into full-time equivalencies, MTSU’s 17,905 number was up just shy of 1%. MTSU was the only LGI to show increases in both head count and full-time equivalencies. The University’s surge was fueled by an almost 28% growth in our College of Graduate Studies and by record retention efforts of currently enrolled undergraduates by our faculty and advisors. New graduate enrollment at MTSU outperformed our LGI peers, jumping by 631 this
369 more students in 2020 than in 2019 $3.5 million investment in AV upgrades Top state university for social mobility Among top 13% of Best Colleges in U.S. Advisors helped retain 350 more students this year over last year $3.4 million for new equipment
We welcomed new and returning students to campus for Fall 2020 with a virtual Convocation ceremony.
year to 2,982 total. Student success efforts led by deans and academic advisors helped MTSU retain 350 more students over last year, a 2.56% increase. Our growth during these challenging times was not an accident—it came from deliberate, focused, and relentless work by our faculty and staff during a global crisis. How is MTSU working to build on this achievement as the pandemic has continued?
MTSU’s admissions and recruitment staff have a whole new set of challenges this year, as our partners in the high schools and community colleges either moved to online learning or dramatically reduced the accessibility of their schools to outside recruiters. In normal times, our recruiters would have been visiting schools, hosting information sessions, and staffing tables at college fairs. We developed a new program focusing on MTSU’s 70 highest-priority feeder schools, conducted remotely. We also created a series of virtual get-to-know-us sessions geared to students in many of the cities our True Blue Tour visited in past years. We created signature, new True Blue Recruitment boxes to get information and promotional materials into the hands of our high school recruiting partners—who, in turn, helped share those with students. We also offered our in-person campus tours a little differently this year, hosting a smaller number of guests. And we created a new, one-year-only scholarship plan called Bridging the Gap to draw back any student who was offered one of our guaranteed scholarships for Fall 2020 but decided to take a gap semester or year. Those students are able to roll over their initial awards to this spring or fall.
Many classes in the Fall 2020 semester were hybrid in nature, meaning students met both on campus in classrooms and remotely online. How did you prepare for this new method of curriculum delivery in a way that ensured MTSU continued to deliver a high-quality education?
MTSU recently invested $3.5 million in video/audio upgrades to our classrooms so that all class meetings can be captured electronically. The University devoted another $3.4 million toward faculty laptops, online exam proctoring, and other software and equipment needs. This technology enables faculty to make sure that all students, including those unable to come to class because of the virus or quarantining, continue to receive the same highquality education they enjoy during normal times. Much of this money comes from the federal CARES Act, but the University put in considerable dollars as well. We are determined to persevere in our educational mission. MTSU continues to receive accolades for its impact. Please highlight some of the good news recently about the University.
News of MTSU’s growth comes as the campus celebrates a trio of national rankings: • U.S. News and World Report ranked MTSU as the top public school in Tennessee (and No. 80 nationally) in social mobility for its track record of success in helping “economically disadvantaged students” graduate. • For the second consecutive year, MTSU was the only LGI included in The Princeton Review’s national Best Colleges list, an honor only afforded to 13% of the nation’s higher education entities. • MTSU was the state’s top public university ranked by Forbes among America’s Best In-State Employers. Thank you, Mr. President. Winter 2021 7
#MyMTStor y
What are your favorite Homecoming memories? MTSU alumni shared top times and past photos via Facebook and an online contest as 2020 Homecoming looked different during a pandemic. Here’s hoping for a parade and reunions again this fall!
Tanya L. ’94, ’97
Erica G. ’16, ’17
Genna L. ’18
Parade Watching
2016 Homecoming, MTSU vs. Vandy with my dad Eric King.
Homecoming parade in 2017. The theme was Back to the 90’s, so we had a Mario Kart themed float and I decided to to fit the theme. We (Kappa Delta) were partnered with Phi Kappa Tau, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. I do not remember what we placed, but I remember that was the most fun time we all had during homecoming by far. Go Blue Raiders!!!
parties at Dean Judy’s house April C. ’18, ’19
Mine all revolve around
helping to plan and execute homecoming!
I served on Homecoming Committee and was 2017 Parade Director! Julie L. ’01
Kappa Alpha and Chi Omega Homecoming 1998! Best memories
pomping all night!
Niki R. '00, '07
Homecoming 2019, MTSU Majorette Coaches Niki and Erica—“A little” rain couldn’t keep us away
cheering on a Blue Raider win!! from
My dad loved visiting for homecoming every single year and I had no idea then, but it was the last homecoming performance he ever got to watch. Mary “Beanie” S. ’74
In 1993 “my crew” was known on the parade route on Main Street. This was the year “the Blue Dog” came over to get loud and celebrated with us. This is also the year I jumped on the floats, just to wave! Calvin W. ’83
1982 Homecoming. I was Ole Blue and a KA pledge the fall semester. I remember taking a break in Murphy Center at halftime due to the heat and coming out to the fire. We did put a lot of work into the floats. Actor Jim Varney of Ernest fame I believe was the Grand Marshal for the parade that day.
banana suit
wear a
Lyndi L. ’98
Three MTSU and ADPi Alumnae meeting up at
Homecoming Parade 2005
after we had all had our first children. Jimmy W. ’97
Marching in the parade with Kappa Alpha Order!
Fight Song night! Winter 2021 9
OLD SCHOOL
Old School A look back at MTSU’s past from our photo archives— Registering for classes c. 1965 was a bigger ordeal and a more official occasion than in the digital age.
NEW SCHOOL
New School
photo by Cat Curtis Murphy
Socially distanced and masked for 2020 commencement— Over 2,100 graduating students from spring, summer, and fall celebrated under True Blue skies in a trio of November open-air ceremonies.
FACULT Y SPOTLIGHT
Modern Justice
Criminal Justice professor and former officer Ben Stickle tackles timely research topics such as porch piracy by Carol Stuart theft to analyze crime scripts—steps a criminal would take to steal delivered parcels—and recommend more effective practices to interrupt the thievery.
As a former law enforcement officer on the front lines, Associate Professor Ben Stickle readily recognizes research topics relevant to current crime trends and mentors MTSU students beginning to make their mark in the field. After his recent innovative work on the 21st-century problem of “porch piracy,” which was jumpstarted by and in collaboration with a student, Stickle studied new ways to look at changing patterns of crime during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such cutting-edge research exemplifies excellent efforts emanating from MTSU’s Department of Criminal Justice Administration (CJA). New labs, classrooms, and offices in the recently opened $39.6 million Academic Classroom Building give further impetus to scholarly achievement. “Having experience as a practitioner really is a lens that I view research through, because I’ve been out on the streets as a police officer and engaged in trying to catch criminals and prevent crime,” Stickle said. “My research is intended to be useful and helpful to practitioners, other researchers, and the public." The porch piracy research developed out of a mentoring relationship with master’s candidate Melody Hicks and the realization there was no scholarly research on the issue. Published in Criminal Justice Studies in 2019, the project studied YouTube videos of unattended package 14 MTSU Magazine
Publication has led to presentations in Estonia, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Nashville—and an invitation to a United Kingdom conference cancelled because of COVID-19. The study also ranks in the 99th percentile on a media attention scale for scholarly work, appearing in over 20 news outlets, on a couple of podcasts, and in articles Stickle authored for practitioners such as in Loss Prevention. Hicks was a co-author, along with University Studies math lecturer Amy Stickle (Stickle’s wife) and CJA undergraduate Zachary Hutchinson, plus completed her thesis on a separate project on package theft victimization that is under review for publication. During the COVID-19 shutdown last spring, Stickle ended up collaborating with worldrenowned criminologist Marcus Felson of Texas State University on another groundbreaking study, “Crime Rates in a Pandemic: The Largest Criminological Experiment in History." Some crime rates dropped significantly early on (such as home burglary, for instance), while others rocketed 50% higher (like retail burglary in places). Usually, criminologists and sociologists look at factors such as socioeconomics, gender, age, unemployment, and increase in stress, Stickle said. “None of that changed during the first few weeks of lockdown. What is it that changed, what we argue, are our routine activities that we do on a daily basis,” Stickle said. “So much of crime is based on routine activities.” Therefore, future studies should focus more on how and where people are, such as land usage and Google mobility data trends, than personal characteristics to help develop prevention methods, he said.
Ben Stickle in front of Criminal Justice Administration’s new $39.6 million home
Winter 2021 15
L
2021
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REQUIRED READING
Required Reading The Boy from the Swamp Kenneth Gilstrap, MTSU assistant football coach CHILDREN’S FICTION
Former Blue Raiders football player (2009–13) and current cornerbacks coach Gilstrap recently self-published this fictional children’s book, which is based on Gilstrap’s own life experiences growing up in Atlanta. The book chronicles some of the challenges a young black man faces in middle and high school. Gilstrap began writing the book a few years ago while coaching in Arkansas. He hopes it can serve as a powerful new motivational tool to help inspire his players. “Through the Black Lives Matter movement and everything, I’ve told my players I want them to be more than just a football player,” Gilstrap said. “I want them to do something outside the box and show them they can do more than just be a football player or a coach.” Gilstrap played on three bowl teams (2009, ’11, ’13) and was a two-time conference track champion in the 55 meters.
Worship the Pig
How to Transform Workplace Bullies into Allies
Witness to History
Gaylord Brewer, Professor, Department of English
Jackie Gilbert,
B.B.A., Marketing (’78)
POETRY
Professor, Department of Management
HISTORY
Brewer’s 11th collection of poetry begins from his Tennessee home, then travels to Alaska, Costa Rica, and finally Brazil. Brewer, who has published more than 800 poems in journals and anthologies such as Best American Poetry, is the author of 15 previous books of poetry, fiction, criticism, and cookery. A professor at MTSU since 1993, where he founded and edits the literary journal Poems & Plays, he also has taught in Russia, Kenya, England, and the Czech Republic.
BUSINESS
According to Gilbert, many companies assume that professionals “come pre-packaged with internalized personal codes of ethics when, in fact, that may not be the case.” Her new book includes exercises that supervisors and employees in private sector businesses, universities, and other institutions can use to increase overall emotional intelligence and promote greater civility and respectfulness in the workplace. Gilbert says this kind of training is valuable because businesses might not realize they need to change their internal cultures.
Jeff Pack,
Pack, a marketing professional behind several technology companies, including Griffin Technology, Chase Research, and, most recently, Beam Mobile, recently published this history of The Gideons International. Pack, who sits on a number of nonprofit boards serving Nashville’s refugee and immigrant communities, has been a member of The Gideons International since 1998, serving in a marketing capacity. He also is involved with merger and acquisition consulting. When not writing, Pack is collecting vintage guitars (55 and counting) and traveling abroad (40 countries and going).
Winter 2021 17
CAMPUS CULTURE
Collage: A Journal of Creative Expression is a biannual publication of MTSU’s Honors College. Each semester a student-led committee receives entries of creative work, such as art, photography, short stories, essays, short plays, song lyrics, poetry, audio, and video from students and recent alumni. mtsu.edu/collage
Peace In the Quiet Digital Photography
Noah Halford 18 MTSU Magazine
Strangers by ZoÍ Haggard My brother and I grew up and left home, so Mom and Pop redecorated the house. First they cleaned out our bedrooms into guest rooms, so we would always be guests. They cleaned out my closet where I stored half-finished drawings of our Rottweilers, well-thumbed volumes of Lovecraft and Wells, boxes of rocks with calamites, arrow heads, train nails, tear-stained letters, and dead flashlights we used to find Sasquatch. They threw out the Wilson glove my brother used in his first pitch with the Hawkeyes, and the radio he never fixed, his Johnny Cash records, and the G.I. Joe figurine with a missing arm from a fight over who it really belonged to. They threw out the sofa where my brother and I stuffed dollar bills and pictures of Jayne Mansfield beneath the cushions. Then they ripped up the stained carpet and laid down a clean gray shag from Ashley’s Home Furnishings store. They peeled off the dark green Chester wallpaper in the dining and living rooms, painted them Seashell Gray and Ocean Blue even though we lived in the mountains. They knocked down a kitchen wall. Our height markings crumbled to dust. The house lost its smell. When I came home that Thanksgiving, the acrid smell of paint and carpet and cleaner replaced the years of dust and stains, while the closets gaped open, empty and unfamiliar.
Already Dead Inside Digital Painting
Ox Zante
Seeki the Hide and Seek Robot Video
Little Faces
Julian Brown
Digital Photography
Kelly Parker Winter 2021 19
20 MTSU Magazine
UPLIFTING LIFTING UP A N D
First-generation graduate Darrell Freeman exemplifies MTSU’s legacy of changing lives and empowers others to climb higher story by Allison Gorman and photography by J. Intintoli
Winter 2021 21
Darrell Freeman’s first flying lesson left him wobbly kneed. After being blown around in a strippeddown four-seater that felt as solid as a soup can, he crawled out of the cockpit vowing never to get back in. Yet he was on the Smyrna airstrip the next morning—and the next—fueled by a single thought: I can’t let this thing beat me. He had a growing business and a growing family. With a pilot’s license, he could be there for them both. "There were so many baseball, football, and soccer games I made because I could go from Nashville to Knoxville and Memphis and back by 5 o’clock,” he said. Getting that license was a poetic close to a decade in which Freeman’s IT company, Zycron, had taken off. He launched it in 1991, maxing out his wife’s credit cards when he couldn’t get a business loan and making a hundred cold calls a day from an office that felt like a closet. “I’d call 100 folks and get 97 noes, two yeses, and a ‘Come to my office,' " he said. “Then I’d get to the office and they’d tell me no. But by doing that every day, persistently, the business grew and grew and grew.” Over the next 25 years, Zycron went from $10,000 to more than $40 million in annual revenue. Zycron’s rise took Freeman to new heights: an unprecedented two terms as chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; founding roles at Reliant Bank and Pinnacle Construction Partners; and membership on several boards, including as vice chair of the Board of Trustees at MTSU, his alma mater. Wherever he’s landed, he’s used his leverage to lift others up and to be a relentless advocate for education as the door to the American Dream. That door was closed to him in his hometown, where he had better odds of going to jail than going to college. How he beat those odds, and then beat new ones as a minority college student whose parents didn’t even graduate from high school, is a story about tenacity. But it’s also about serendipity when there should have been opportunity. Freeman has devoted his life to creating opportunity for others and telling them his story: I’ve been where you are, he says. The barriers are real. But don’t let them beat you.
A Tacit Message Freeman grew up in a duplex in Orchard Knob, one of Chattanooga’s historically Black neighborhoods. His grandmother lived in the duplex behind him. “At one point in the ’70s, four of my relatives lived in four other duplexes in the same area,” he said. By then the Fair Housing Act had made redlining illegal. 22 MTSU Magazine
But the unofficial limits of where African Americans could rent or buy a home in the city might as well have been embossed on the map. The segregation of Chattanooga’s neighborhoods confounded its modest efforts to integrate public schools, and a protracted legal effort to force compliance with Brown v. Board of Education fizzled and then fossilized in the 1980s. “There are beneficiaries to racism,” Freeman observed. “They don’t want their names taken off the insurance policy.” Meanwhile, new generations of kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods were sent to the same underfunded schools, where textbooks were tattered, classrooms were freezing or sweltering, and college “wasn’t for everyone.” Freeman studied electronics at Kirkman Technical High School downtown, where thousands of teens from urban neighborhoods went to learn trades leading to living-wage jobs.
I’ve been where you are, he says. The barriers are real. But don’t let them beat you. Not long after Freeman graduated, however, vocational schools fell out of favor. Manufacturing was drying up, and Chattanooga hoped to be a tourist town. In 1991, the year Freeman launched Zycron, Kirkman was torn down to make room for a children’s museum and Imax theater. A promised replacement never materialized. Freeman sees a larger promise broken in his hometown, where “the whole experiment of desegregation never did take hold.” In 1969, the testing ground was Brainerd High School, home of the Rebels. Results were conclusive: When Black students moved in, white families moved out. In 2015, an article about Brainerd High caught Freeman’s attention. The school was turning out graduates with abysmal ACT scores. He went back home to take a look. “I walked through the entire school and there was not a single computer in the classrooms,” he recalled. “The principal said, ‘We can’t afford them.’ ” Freeman donated 100 computers—two per classroom. A poorly equipped school sends a tacit message to students: “College isn’t for you.” Students believe that message, Freeman says. But he doesn’t buy it. “I know college is for Black kids in the ghetto, because universities believe it too,” he says. “If a kid can run a 4.2 in the 40 or slam-dunk a basketball, college is for them.”
Winter 2021 23
Everything But the Traffic As two-term chair of the Nashville chamber, Freeman was less interested in boosterism than in joining the push to improve Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS). He knew good public education would be rewarded with fresh investment in the city. Marc Everett Hill, who served as the chamber’s chief education officer (a position Freeman helped create), notes the MNPS graduation rate was 56% in Freeman’s first year as chair in 2005. Eight years later, it reached 80%. “It was groundbreaking at the time for a chamber of commerce in a major city to put a flag in the ground, to say improving public education is the No. 1 priority of the business community,” said Hill, now president of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City. Freeman likes to say good public education “fixes everything but the traffic.” In Orchard Knob, a lot of things remain unfixed: high unemployment, chronic illness, addiction, incarceration. His old neighborhood is a patchwork of low-slung rooflines, chain-link fences, and empty lots—one where his childhood home stood. But the telephone pole where he and his friends were “safe” when playing hide-and-seek still stands. The irony isn’t lost on Freeman: “I know now that I had a one-in-three chance of going to jail, which is still true 24 MTSU Magazine
today, and that I had an increased chance of [experiencing] police brutality.” The real safe space in Orchard Knob was Carver Recreation Center, where a man named Joe Johnson kept kids like Freeman and best friend Kevin Smith in check. Smith eventually became Chattanooga’s new Mr. Johnson, establishing a nonprofit youth football program that lasted 20 years and put some on the path to college. But it’s hard for one good individual to reverse bad statistics. Neither Johnson’s nor Freeman’s family was immune. Around the same time Zycron was getting off the ground, one of Freeman’s cousins—a kid he played with every summer—was shot to death in Brainerd. “The sadness for me in visiting my hometown is that I was able to escape it, but it wasn’t a planned escape,” Freeman said. “It happened, but it wasn’t planned. And I see all the people that it didn’t happen for. These are bright people, but the dark system prevented them from living their best life. It didn’t show them what was possible.”
His Escape Freeman escaped by serendipity, in his friend Jeffrey’s car. Jeffrey had escaped by going off to college, but lasted a year. Freeman almost repeated that pattern. DeVry University, a for-profit college that recruited Kirkman’s best and brightest, offered him a spot at its Atlanta campus. Campus turned out to be a building.
No dorm, no cafeteria. Freeman did well at DeVry; his wallet did not. After eight months, he moved back home, enrolled in community college, and hit a different wall: actual college-level coursework. When he tells his life story (something he’s often asked to do, not just because he’s inspiring, but also because he’s disarmingly funny), Freeman doesn’t gloss over the gruesome details: “I flunked out of Chattanooga State after one quarter with a 1.234 GPA. Do you know how hard it is to get the numbers to line up like that?” That’s when Jeffrey came along, another academic casualty. He’d returned to Chattanooga but could only fit half his stuff in his car. Freeman rode to MTSU with him to bring back the rest. “We got to his dorm and I said, ‘Do you mean to tell me that this is your own room, with your own phone on the wall, and there’s a place you can go eat every day?’ And he said yes. So that fall I took out student loans, got Pell grants, and enrolled at MTSU,” Freeman said. “I didn’t give them my Chattanooga State transcript. I just started all over again.”
Rising to the Challenge Even today, 30% of American college students fail or drop out after freshman year. Minority and first-generation college students are at higher academic risk than others. With a long history of welcoming nontraditional students, MTSU created the Office of Student Success in 2015 to support at-risk students in a comprehensive way after years of a more incremental approach. But none of that infrastructure existed when Freeman enrolled at MTSU in the 1980s as a Computer Technology major. He spent the next 3½ years on and off academic probation.
Richard Redditt agreed to teach at an accelerated pace to bring everyone up to speed. Freeman, barely clinging to a 2.0 and needing to pass to graduate, asked Redditt to make an exception. Redditt declined. “Here’s this Caucasian guy with a big long beard, and I’m the only Black guy in the class, so I accuse him of being a racist,” Freeman recalled. “Where I grew up, if you weren’t performing or getting what you wanted, you blamed somebody else. You didn’t blame yourself. That was my thought process.” You know how this movie ends. Redditt rejects the premise that he put Freeman on the path to graduate: “The path was set in the curriculum, and I followed it. What Darrell discovered was that I did not bend the requirements since the computers were unforgiving and reported errors without bias.”
In his hometown . . . he had better odds of going to jail than going to college. But that spring and summer, he gave Freeman every opportunity to succeed. He assigned Freeman a peer mentor, allowed him extra lab access, and gave him two incompletes so he could retake the courses. Freeman rose to the challenge. “I worked my butt off,” he said: When he wrapped up his senior project the night before graduation—designing, building, wiring, and writing an operating system for a complete motherboard—“I knew he had changed his path toward learning,” Redditt said. Freeman says he’d changed his thinking too. “It was that whole process of saying, ‘It’s not him, it’s me,’ and then taking that further to say, ‘It’s not the world, it’s me.’ Yes, racism does exist. But whether or not Darrell Freeman is going to be successful is going to have more to do with me than anybody else.”
He found stability in Omega Psi Phi, a historically Black fraternity. But Freeman says the chapter in general, and he and fellow member Vincent Windrow in particular, were frequent targets of one administrator who was determined to kick them off campus.
Paying It Forward
“We caused our fair of trouble—we were 20-year-old college kids doing 20-year-old college kid stuff—but we had a dean who was racist and magnified everything we did to make it seem like a criminal offense,” he said.
Now Freeman’s wrapping up another big project: his autobiography. He’ll donate copies to schools, so kids in neighborhoods like Orchard Knob can see someone like them succeed.
A lifetime of challenges can leave you in a defensive crouch. In spring of 1987, Freeman was midway through a senior-level computer tech course series when the instructor quit unexpectedly. Realizing the class was seriously behind schedule, replacement instructor
“I started with nothing, but here I am and here are some of the steps I took to get here,” Freeman said. His book focuses on four men he considers mentors. There’s the late Joe Johnson, who helped him stay safe in Orchard Knob. There are Nashville business legends
Winter 2021 25
Jack Bovender and the late Sam Howard, who helped him navigate the corporate world as a young entrepreneur. In between there’s Redditt, who helped him develop the skills and confidence to fly. Redditt knew Freeman wouldn’t travel far with a bachelor’s degree and a 2.0, so he helped get Freeman into graduate school in MTSU’s Industrial Studies program and made him his teaching assistant. One of Freeman’s tasks was to set up and troubleshoot computers for a weekly class Redditt taught for engineers at Whirlpool. Freeman says the experience gave him critical thinking skills he still applies to everything he does. Freeman also signed on as faculty advisor to Omega Psi Phi, where Windrow was chapter president. In an approach that would become his habit, Freeman used the opportunity to mentor younger students. “Darrell and I had long talks about how to motivate students to study,” Redditt said. “It was my impression that his requirements for the fraternity’s in-house study hours were among the most demanding on campus.”
He’s rushed delivery of critical medical supplies—most recently COVID tests. Freeman probably received more appreciation for lifting his brothers up in a different way: helping lead the effort to remove a 600-pound medallion from Keathley University Center engraved with a likeness of Confederate soldier Nathan Bedford Forrest. The first step was to get a little leverage. Freeman, Windrow, and fellow fraternity brother Chris Taylor founded a campus chapter of the NAACP, then met with MTSU President Sam Ingram and asked him to remove the plaque. If he didn’t, they would lead a protest on MLK Day—and invite other NAACP chapters. Ingram was noncommittal. The medallion was still there when campus emptied at Christmas break. But when January rolled around, it was gone. It’s hard to say which Freeman was prouder of: that accomplishment or his 4.0 GPA. He earned his master’s in 1990, took the requisite industry job, and went solo in 1991. Windrow, who joined Zycron as vice president in 1992, says the challenges he and Freeman overcame as fraternity brothers helped them overcome similar ones as they built the company. “What we applied in business we learned in the fraternity together. It was: How do you communicate with people 26 MTSU Magazine
who may not be open to you because of who you are, or who you’re not, and what do you do? We had to figure it out,” he said. They figured it out. The business that began in a tiny room in Murfreesboro evolved into an IT staffing company with hundreds of employees. By the time Freeman sold Zycron for $20 million in 2017, Windrow had been retired from the company for a decade. He returned to MTSU as director of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs and is now associate vice provost for student success. At Zycron, Windrow says he and Freeman lifted up talented people who might otherwise have been overlooked because of who they were—or were not. “The person we hired as a secretary? She became director of operations. The person we hired as a recruiter? She became COO. The person we hired as accounts receivable? She became CFO. That’s reflective of what we thought and how Darrell led,” he said.
Back in Business That’s still how Freeman thinks and leads: Get some leverage, lift someone up. Last May he bought a majority stake in Springfield-based S3 Recycling Solutions. He spends about 15 minutes a day on the new business, leaving it in the hands of talented young CEO Rod McDaniel, 32. “I told Rod three years ago that if he would stick with me, I would make him a millionaire,” Freeman says. “He grew up in the projects in Nashville and just bought his mama her first house.” For Freeman, being “back in business” just means having more resources to do his work of lifting up. He’s known for his philanthropy, such as establishing scholarships with his wife, Gloria; in honor of Redditt; and in memory of his parents, Howard and Jimmie Freeman. Freeman also mentors MTSU students, even providing flying lessons. But much of his giving happens spontaneously, under the radar. “When you grew up in a place where you needed a lot of help, you have sympathy for people who may be where you were,” he said. “I love being in a position to help people.” Freeman is well positioned to do that on MTSU’s Board of Trustees, where he understands the real-world consequences when an at-risk student runs up against a wall. “My perspective is from that of a first-time college student, from a place where kids don’t have their financial needs met, where every day is a struggle. Because it’s those MTSU students whose education is going to mean the most to them,” he said.
Darrell Freeman (r) now mentors MTSU students such as senior Malcom Horton.
Because he broke through those barriers, Freeman’s four kids didn’t have to. They attended school in Williamson County, where “college is for everyone.” Ebony is working on her M.B.A., Kenya has been studying for the bar, Darrell Jr. is in law school, and Nathaniel is finishing college. Still, when each son got his driver’s license, he also got a talk from Dad and two envelopes containing identical insurance and registration papers: one for the glove box, one above the sun visor. Now Nathaniel wants to fly. Freeman says he held him off as long as he could. “I didn’t think he was afraid of anything yet, and I didn’t want him to fly a plane if he wasn’t afraid of flying. So he took his first lesson last week, and the first thing, he called me and said, ‘Man, I was scared!’ And I said to myself, Perfect. That's exactly what I need.”
A Key to the Door In the 20 years since obtaining his pilot’s license, Freeman has bought four planes. They’re great for ferrying around friends and family as well as helping strangers in need. He’s rushed delivery of critical medical supplies—most
recently COVID tests—as a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight, and he helped establish MTSU’s Raider Relief program that delivered food and medicine to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Freeman also has flown relief missions on his own. He shares details like he tells his life story—candidly, energetically, as if he’s still a little surprised himself. On flying to Haiti with cholera medicine after the 2010 earthquake: “One plane landed that day, and it was mine. The airport had been taken over by some people who were not officials. I landed and the arrangement was American cash. I had to pay them to let me get the medicine to the people who needed it.” On flying home from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017: “The next thing you know, I’ve got people and cats. People I’ve never met.” Somehow the most surprising detail is that he’s scared of heights—and claustrophobic. “Every time I get in a plane, it’s a challenge,” he says. “But I’m OK if I’m in control. Even if it’s a really tiny room, if I’ve got a key to the door, I can overcome it.” MTSU Winter 2021 27
MTSU alumni, students help produce music video at Tennessee Miller Coliseum story by Stephanie Barrette and photography by Andy Heidt
Since the music video for legendary country singer Reba McEntire and rising artist Cody Johnson’s single “Dear Rodeo” is set after the rodeo season ends, MTSU graduate Christen Pinkston (’11) needed an arena. She searched online for arenas in the Nashville area, and when she came across Tennessee Miller Coliseum, she realized it was part of MTSU.
McEntire—who comes from a rodeo family—became a part of the documentary, too. Silva called on Pinkston to produce the video as well.
Shooting the video at her alma mater last fall was “really a full circle moment,” said Pinkston, the video’s producer.
“I knew that once they [McEntire’s team] saw the Tennessee Miller Coliseum that they would fall in love with it and that it would be their choice,” said Keel, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment.
Not only did the Miller Coliseum, located on MTSU’s equestrian campus, serve as the set for the music video, but University students and alumni supported production on the day of the shoot. “I am so super appreciative of the University allowing us to be here,” Pinkston said. “They’ve been so accommodating, and it’s been really nice to see students and people excited about a video and an opportunity.”
Collaboration and Teamwork Pinkston had previously worked with music video director Shaun Silva to produce a film showcasing the story behind the song: Johnson’s previous career in the rodeo.
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After Pinkston discovered the horse arena, Warner Music Group’s Shane Tarleton, senior vice president of artist development, reached out to MTSU’s Beverly Keel about the project.
Within minutes, multiple campus teams came together to help make it a reality, including the Division of Marketing and Communications, the Media and Entertainment and Liberal Arts colleges, Production Services, and the staff that manages the coliseum, which is about 6 miles away from the main campus. Including students came up in conversation “right away,” Keel said. “That’s our main goal always. . . . People especially love our students because they’re so scrappy and hardworking. Our students know how to behave in these settings. They’re here to work. They’re not fans.”
Erin Featherston, a senior pursuing a degree in Theatre, worked on lighting and was excited about “getting that real hands-on experience.” “This is something that looks great on a résumé,” said Jo Litzenberger, a senior majoring in Video and Film Production. As a production assistant on set, he added that the work exposed him to professional camera gear and equipment and that it was good to observe professionals in their element.
Producer Christen Pinkston, an MTSU alumna, with director Shaun Silva and first assistant director Tim Kloete
From the experience, students see that “videos are very hard work,” Keel said. “You work 12 hours to get a three-minute video. . . . They’ll watch how everybody else works. It may spark a career path that they didn’t know about yesterday.”
A True Blue Video While student workers hustled around manipulating spotlights, running cameras, and dealing with sound, they weren’t the only True Blue representatives on set. MTSU alumnus Nic Dugger, technical producer of TNDV Television, ran a livestream chat with the artists before filming. His company now has 52 employees, many of them MTSU graduates “because the core study is so relevant to what we’re doing in the industry. It’s not similar to what we do—it’s what we do. When graduates come out of the program, they have the skillsets that I actually need.” Sean Collins (l), first assistant camera, with seniors Jo Litzenberger and Brea Robbins (r)
Making the Dream Work The video’s concept required turning the coliseum into a dream-like setting. Students hung black paper over all of the windows, cloaking the venue in darkness. At the song’s climax, McEntire and Johnson, followed by camera crews, strode toward the center of the dirt floor, each illuminated with spotlights operated by MTSU students. With fog machines creating a soft haze, the singers met in the middle while belting out the lyrics. Students weren’t informed about the identity of the musical artists until they arrived on set—and all involved had to keep the production under wraps until the video’s December release, said Kobe Hermann (’20), a marketing assistant who hired the student crew and coordinated MTSU’s support. The production also adhered strictly to COVID-19 protocols. “It’s great for students to get an experience like this,” Pinkston said, while adding it’s also “great for production to have these locations and have these students who are willing to help and hungry to learn.”
Another alum on set, Nic’s wife Leslie Matthews Dugger, works as McEntire’s brand manager and full-time employee. “Reba’s at the top of her field, so it’s cool to see young people learning from those who have been around a little bit,” she said. “MTSU seems to be getting to be more of a part of our [entertainment industry] world. They’re churning out so many majors and backgrounds and industries.” Another MTSU grad, Tony Reyes (’07), was a freelance Steadicam owner and operator on the video shoot. Reyes, saying MTSU provided him “massive” hands-on activities and networking, has worked for the Tennessee Titans and other big-name musicians. “Being at MTSU gave me the time to grow up and mature a little bit and also find more of what I wanted to do in production as opposed to just jumping in and being locked into a position for a very long time,” he said. From one of the folding theater seats, Keel reflected on “a great day . . . in an unusual year.” She hopes that word from the shoot will spread amongst the influential and active industry people on set: “I love having industry people spend time on campus because it’s impossible not to fall in love with MTSU once you’ve been here.” MTSU Winter 2021 29
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Introducing the 2020–21 MTSU outstanding alumni
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Distinguished Alumnus
The MTSU Alumni Association recognizes alumni who represent excellence and distinction through their careers, loyal support, and community service.
by Skip Anderson
Pat Duke (’81) has a voice to remember, from Kool-Aid Man to Swamp People to Halo Pat Duke’s voice is deep and expressive, with a hint of Southern twang that he can ramp up or shut down completely. Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes watching TV over the past three decades has undoubtedly heard his voice. Duke, a Nashville native who earned his Music Theory-Composition degree from MTSU in 1981, is a voice actor who has appeared in more than 10,000 television commercials. For five years, Duke’s voice boomed Kool-Aid Man’s distinctive catch phrase, “Ohhhhh, yeahhhh!” He is the memorable low-rumble voice that growls “Coors” while crushed ice slides down the dark-brown bottle. Duke additionally has voiced dozens of characters in cartoons, animated features, and video games. As the voice of Col. Urban Holland, he guided tens of millions of players through Halo: Reach, the fourth installment of the top-selling video game franchise. Perhaps most notably, Duke has narrated the History Channel reality series Swamp People since its launch in 2008. But before Duke became one of America’s best-known voice actors, he was an MTSU student craving all the acting, singing, and music opportunities he could find—excelling in all classes in the music curriculum. In retrospect, this shouldn’t be a surprise. His father, John Duke, is a professor emeritus of Music who taught at MTSU for more than 25 years. As a student, the younger Duke spent nearly all his time focusing on the arts—from music classes to playing xylophone in the Band of Blue, to portraying lead roles in musicals staged by Dorethe “Dot” Pigg Tucker, and to drumming in the Blues Crusade, MTSU’s big band. He also co-founded the high-energy musical group Contraband, which helped launch several alumni to careers as top studio musicians on Music Row. During summers, Duke sang in Opryland shows such as I Hear America Singing!, Showboat, Jimmy and the Jets, and The Sh-Booms. “I was performing seven days a week when I was at MTSU,” Duke said. “Contraband played all over the South on weekends, which made my voice sound tired come Monday morning, so I switched my major from Vocal Performance to Music Theory-Composition. MTSU truly was the key that unlocked my future.”
Duke, recently named MTSU’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2020–21, worked for Pat Patrick Productions at Audio Media in Nashville as a writer, singer, and musician after graduation. The company specialized in music for commercials, and his audition was to write two jingles. “I learned to work quickly and accurately in the studio, which is critical in the music business,” he said. Duke then co-founded 615 Productions with fellow MTSU alum Randy Wachtler (’84), which later became one of the biggest music production libraries in the world. After moving to Chicago to continue his career, Duke met his late wife, Sally Hewlett, who passed away in 2019 following a short battle with cancer. “We fell in love at first sight and were never separated after that,” he said. “We went to concerts, stage plays, comedy clubs, and art shows constantly. And we both loved movies.” In Chicago, Duke sang with such mega-stars as Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Josh Groban, and Gladys Knight. Through his ad agency connections, he helped Sony Music launch the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks). His voice-acting career led him to New York and Los Angeles, and Duke voiced seven Super Bowl commercials—one winning the coveted PromaxBDA award for best voiceover. After 10 years as narrator for Swamp People, Pat moved with Sally to Murfreesboro to live near his parents, John and Bobbie, who are now in their 80s. Pat’s sister, Renee Duke Miller (’82), also graduated from MTSU. “I always knew I’d be coming back home,” Duke said. “It’s good to be close to my family again.” Duke continues his work for Swamp People and many other clients from his home studio, and he recently founded an L.A.-based film production company, Duke Films, with his cousin, D.W. Duke. “We have a big-budget film in the pipeline about the Jewish resistance in Warsaw, Poland, during the Holocaust,” Duke said. “This is another career path for me to go down, and I’m super excited about it.” To hear some of Duke’s work as a voice actor, visit patduke.com.
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Young Alumni Achievement Award LaShan Mathews Dixon (’07, ’10, ’11, ’14) uses her many skills developed at MTSU in her personal, professional, and pageant world to help improve the quality of life in the community. The recipient of this year’s Young Alumni Achievement Award, Dixon works as assistant public health director for the Rutherford County Health Department. She has completed four programs at MTSU: a bachelor’s in Exercise Science, graduate certificates in Health Care Management and in Gerontology, and a master’s in Health and Human Performance. A Murfreesboro resident, Dixon also is the founder of Walking With a Purpose and co-founder of H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Excel Every Day) with her husband, Lamar Dixon, and daughter, Londyn Dixon. She has been a Rutherford County community leader for the past 10 years, hosting multiple events while contributing toward several grants for women and underserved populations. Dixon is active in a number of organizations, including as graduate advisor for MTSU’s Eta Psi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, which partnered with the University to make and distribute 5,000 COVID-19 care packages for students last fall. In addition, she serves as board examiner for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, Resolutions Committee chair of the Tennessee Public Health Association, board member for the Prevention Coalition for Success Committee and Heart of Tennessee American Red Cross, and member of the Community Wellness Council of Rutherford County.
courtesy of Motelewa Smith 34 MTSU Magazine
True Blue Citations of Distinction Achievement in Education (MTSU faculty)—Odie Blackmon, popular Recording Industry faculty member and Grammy-nominated songwriter from Nashville Blackmon is regarded as one of Nashville’s most talented and diversified creative forces. On Music Row, he has more than 31 million units in combined sales across multiple genres and the Country Music Association’s 2005 Single of the Year (“I May Hate Myself in the Morning”) to his credit as a songwriter, plus is a successful producer and publisher. His songs have been recorded and performed by such artists as Lee Ann Womack, John Legend, and Martina McBride, with No. 1 hit singles by Gary Allan and George Strait. At MTSU, Blackmon is an associate professor whose innovative approach is helping to launch a new
generation of songwriters and musicians in their own careers. He is coordinator of the Commercial Songwriting concentration and has raised $40,000 in funding for the program’s growth. Blackmon was awarded the Experiential Education Rising Leader Award from the National Society of Experiential Education in 2018, Distinguished Creative Activity Award from the MTSU Foundation in 2017, and Outstanding Faculty Award from MTSU’s Experiential Learning Scholars Program in 2016. After previously holding a seat on the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association board, Blackmon currently serves on the Library of Congress/ U.S. Copyright Office’s mechanical licensing collective and is a board member for the Association for Popular Music Education.
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Service to Community—Ladawna Parham (’98), CEO of Nourish Food Bank in Murfreesboro who has been in nonprofit management for over 15 years Parham’s current role is far removed from a former journalism career in east and middle Tennessee, where she earned numerous accolades after graduating from MTSU. Parham eventually pursued her passion for supporting nonprofit and community efforts to aid those in crisis through management positions for many years. At Nourish, Parham has grown the food bank to include multiple sites, offer more than 400,000 meals annually, partner with dozens of organizations to address food insecurity across the region, and create a network of support to ensure the longevity of the agency’s reach. Parham, who also holds a Master of Education in Nonprofit Management from Belmont University, works in real estate with Advantage Realty of Middle Tennessee. She is a Leadership Rutherford graduate, Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce diplomat, and member of Junior League of Murfreesboro and Rutherford CABLE. Parham also co-founded Spread the Positives Women Nourishing Our Community Series to honor local women making a difference and is on the Rotary Club of Smyrna board of directors.
Achievement in Education (non-MTSU)—Jo Ann Hood (’72), former band director at five schools, including 30 years leading the John Overton High School band Overton’s football stadium field in Nashville was named Jo Ann Hood Field following her retirement. Hood, an Antioch resident, guided the band to Fiesta Bowl, Tournament of Roses, and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades, along with representing the USS Tennessee and state of Tennessee at three commemorations of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, with performances at the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri, and Waikiki Holiday Parade. Hood retired in 2011 after directing Overton’s band for parts of four decades and serving as band director at Giles County High, Wright and Bellevue junior highs, and Bellevue High School before that. In a distinguished music education career, her honors included induction into the MTSU Band of Blue Club Hall of Fame in 1986, selection as an Outstanding Young Woman in America in 1987, serving on the jury for the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield Award, and participating on various executive and advisory boards.
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©P.D.I. 2010
Since retiring, Hood has supervised music student teachers as an adjunct faculty member at both MTSU and Tennessee State University. She also works with the Metro Nashville Public Schools Side by Side mentoring program and serves extensively as an adjudicator and clinician of marching and concert bands.
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
Rollover Relief MTSU will reinstate untapped academic scholarships awarded to new freshmen and transfer students for Fall 2020 who paused their educations because of the pandemic or who chose another college or university and are reconsidering their choice. “We believed in you and wanted to recognize your academic record as new students joining the MTSU family for Fall 2020, and we still believe in you now,” President Sidney A. McPhee announced. “We want to provide a strong financial incentive to get you back on track toward your goal of completing your bachelor’s degree.” Thought to be the only such program in the state, MTSU’s “Bridging the Gap” campaign offers scholarship reinstatement for qualifying students who are ready to join MTSU in the Spring 2021 or Fall 2021 term.
Home Sweet Home
Because of COVID-19, a lot was different about MTSU Homecoming 2020. Tailgating was not allowed. The pregame Homecoming Parade became an “MTShUbox Parade,” with dozens of homemade shoebox entries showcased virtually. The limited crowd of 6,500 at Floyd Stadium also socially distanced and wore face coverings to maintain Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health protocols. But the Band of Blue played on from the stands, and the Homecoming Court was recognized on a stadium concourse on a beautiful fall afternoon. Drew Carpenter, a senior Community and Public Health major from Kingsport, and Micah Pruitt, a Business Administration major from Murfreesboro, were crowned 2020 Homecoming king and queen, respectively. Winter 2021 37
MIDPOINTS
“A” in the Classroom MTSU’s in-the-field training offered through its undergraduate elementary teacher preparation program has been ranked among the nation’s best by the National Council on Teacher Quality. MTSU’s clinical practice program stands out as among only 33 traditional elementary programs out of more than the 1,100 evaluated to earn an “A” grade in the NCTQ’s 2020 Teacher Prep Review. The MTSU College of Education works to build strong relationships with its 42 partner school districts to improve appropriate mentor teacher selection.
“Gold Standard” Status Terrapin Beer Co., owned by Molson Coors Beverage Co., is partnering with MTSU Fermentation Science to offer an annual $10,000 scholarship to underrepresented undergraduate students wanting to pursue a degree in this program. Molson Coors, which acquired the Athens, Georgia-based brewery in 2016, recently established a $25,000 endowment with MTSU and similar partnerships with Colorado State and Oregon State University. “Corporate-funded scholarships are the gold standard of academic program endorsement,” said Tony Johnston, director of MTSU’s Fermentation Science undergraduate and graduate programs, which have grown considerably since their launch in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
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Physics Is Her Business Hanna Terletska, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, experienced a special opportunity to share her research experiences along with nearly 60 of the world’s leading physics scholars. The group gathered, albeit virtually because of COVID-19, for the late summer international conference Localisation 2020 in honor of Philip W. “Phil” Anderson. Anderson, a 1977 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, died March 29 at age 96.
Like a Diamond in the Sky
The Department of Aerospace received delivery of six new Diamond Aircraft 2020 DA 40 XLT airplanes to its student training fleet, and the Austria-based manufacturer also refurbished 13 aircraft in MTSU’s existing fleet. MTSU Aerospace has grown into one of the most respected aviation programs in the U.S. It now has a fleet of 27 Diamond aircraft.
A Most-Useful Education MTSU’s Center for Economic Education (CEE), housed in the Jones College of Business, received the 2019–20 Albert Beekhuis Award from the New York-based Council for Economic Education. The award, named after a lifelong proponent of economic literacy, carries a $1,000 honorarium. The MTSU center equips K–12 students with tools and knowledge of personal finance and economics to learn how to make better decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. CEE will soon become the Tennessee Council on Economic and Free Enterprise Education at MTSU, reflecting the center’s relationship to the Council for Economic Education.
Rural Support MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center (BERC) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help improve access to financial relief for distressed communities in east Tennessee. In an effort to connect community needs to federal funding, BERC will develop technical assistance and training programs for grant and funding application processes. The BERC/USDA project is intended to serve distressed communities with a population under 10,000 and median household income less than 75% of the state's non-metro median household income. The grant will target USDA service regions out of Knoxville and Greenville offices.
Joining the Good Fight With federal funding, MTSU’s Center for Health and Human Services (CHHS) will tackle the opioid epidemic in rural Wilson County communities. The center will use a $200,000 planning grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Partners in the 18-month endeavor include Wilson County’s DrugFree WilCo, MTSU’s Department of Health and Human Performance, and MTSU’s Data Science Institute, among others. DrugFree WilCo, a nonprofit organization, was formed in 2018 when Lisa Tapley contacted local officials following the death of her son, Thomas. After suffering a work injury, Thomas Tapley began taking pills laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that the National Institute on Drug Abuse says is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Real-World Accolades A team from an MTSU public relations course is celebrating two 2020 Parthenon Awards earned for a “shoestring budget” campaign to educate their peers about the First Amendment. Using a $2,000 national grant from MTSU’s Free Speech Center, which directs the nonpartisan, nonprofit 1 for All educational project, students created the multifacted “1 for All @ MTSU: Freedom Comes First” project in Fall 2019. The experiential learning campaign was part of the Public Relations Campaign course of Hanna Park, a School of Journalism and Strategic Media professor. Class members recognized by the Public Relations Society of America at its 34th annual Parthenon Awards ceremony are: Katelyn Compton, Nolensville; Delaney Johnson, Smithville; Shelbyville native Grant Thompson, Antioch; Kintea Webster, Nashville; Jacob West, Gallatin; and Ashley Carman, Hannah Field, Donivous Odom, and James Whitaker, all of Murfreesboro.
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MIDPOINTS
“The Perfect Classroom” Teamwork by two MTSU professors on a project to help indigenous filmmakers tell their stories and share their efforts to save their Amazon rainforest earned recognition and funding for the artists from the National Geographic Society. Paul Chilsen, a Media Arts associate professor, travels with students to work alongside the Kayapó people, who live along the Xingu River in Brazil amid more than 27 million acres of rainforest. Once there, they conduct workshops in writing for film, operating cameras, designing sets and costumes, and acting. Richard Pace, an Anthropology professor, co-wrote the grant request with Purdue University’s Laura Zanotti, Kayapó filmmaker Pat-i, and a team of indigenous and international filmmakers. National Geographic awarded almost $70,000 for Pat-i and colleagues to move ahead on their project, “Indigenous Filmmaker Warriors in Defense of Biocultural Conservation.” So far, the MTSU and Kayapó crews have worked on one film, Nhakpokti. “You might say it was the perfect classroom, where the exchange was multidirectional, multifaceted, and deeply impactful for all of us,” Chilsen said.
Make a New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep (Forever)! MTSU has partnered with FreeWill to offer you the ability to write your legally binding will. Take 25 minutes and use the FreeWill online tool— free of charge—to write your will and plan for the future!
Get started at FreeWill.com/MTSU For questions about charitable giving to MTSU, contact Pat Branam, Director of Development, pat.branam@mtsu.edu or 615-904-8409 40 MTSU Magazine
More than Mere Chicken Feed Anyone who wants to study poultry science knows it takes more than mere chicken feed to pay for the education necessary to make it a career. That’s why MTSU alumnus Joseph Gulizia is fortunate to be one of 58 recipients of a fellowship from Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society. His stipend of $8,500 will help pay for his pursuit of graduate degrees in Poultry Science at Auburn University. Gulizia graduated from MTSU in December 2019 with a bachelor’s in Animal Science. Gulizia, who intends to pursue both master’s and doctorate degrees, said he wants to improve the birds’ nutrition while cutting expenses for farmers. Since feed costs can represent 60%–70% of total broiler production costs, Gulizia’s research could be quite beneficial.
Translating Health Care
Cross-discipline Conservation MTSU and University of Mississippi faculty and student researchers are collaborating on a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant project involving climate change, conservation practices, and training the next generation of environmental scientists and engineers. The three-year, $272,555 USDA grant is a research effort for Environmental Science students from MTSU’s Department of Geosciences and engineering majors from Mississippi to study the role and potential effects of climate change on conservation practices and future 21st-century agricultural challenges. Racha El Kadiri, a Geosciences assistant professor at MTSU, is the project director. She is an environmental scientist who applies machine learning, remote sensing, geographical information systems, and computational methods to address a wide range of hydrological and environmental problems. While there are many studies focusing on the effects of climate change on crop yield in regard to the observed and projected temperature changes in the 21st century, El Kadiri said there have not been enough studies on how effective the conservation being implemented today will be in the future. Answering those questions would be a step toward an adaptation to climate change, improving food security in this century, and preserving national water and soil resources. “Environmental science students and engineers are traditionally not trained in agronomy, and agronomists are traditionally not environmental scientists and engineers,” El Kadiri said. “This will act to bridge the gap between these two fields at our institutions, accomplishing this through research, curriculum development, and experiential learning experiences.”
A new academic concentration at MTSU is helping students promote greater understanding of health and health care. Beginning in the Fall 2020 semester, Communication majors now have the option of pursuing a special concentration in Health Communication. In addition to taking the core communication classes, students will learn about such issues as patient-provider communication, internal hospital communication, and influencing behavior change for optimal health outcomes. “How do we do something like normalizing wearing masks in public?” said Elizabeth Dalton, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies. “How do we improve adherence to clinical recommendations or prescriptions? How do we improve telehealth delivery?” While the curriculum was in the works long before the coronavirus began to dominate headlines, the timing of the new concentration is beneficial in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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MIDPOINTS
It’s the Climb An adult learner who came back to MTSU to finish his bachelor’s degree after almost two decades is climbing the ladder at one of the largest airline companies in the world—and is nearing completion of his master’s. Now in aviation management at Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, Chad Goddard (pictured, fourth from left) knew he wanted to work in aerospace from a young age. He was driven, too, securing a job as a pilot while still attending classes for his senior year at MTSU. Getting that pilot’s job before graduation kept him too busy to finish his last semester and get his degree. Unfortunately, as he'd find out later, that degree was required if he wanted to continue moving up the ranks in aviation. A Dickson County native, Goddard, now 49, changed career paths several years ago, moving over to aircraft maintenance. He knew he was qualified for higher-ranking positions, but since many hiring processes begin online, his application was never even getting through to recruiters because he could not check the degree box. He had seen commercials and ads for online programs, but he decided to check back with MTSU about finishing his degree once and for all. Thankfully, he was able to use most of his credits from the first time he attended MTSU as well as credits he earned while in the military, helping him graduate after just one semester. It was during one of the last courses of his undergraduate studies where his life would really change. Goddard and his classmates were assigned to find a posting for a job they wanted. Not only did he find a posting with Delta, Goddard actually applied for the position—and this time, he got it. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies in May 2019, he moved his family to Atlanta and began working at the level he always knew he could. “I felt validated,” Goddard said. “It was nice to see it all pay off so quickly.” He proved invaluable in Delta’s recent shift to changing over some passenger planes to cargo-only planes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This allowed Delta to transport muchneeded medical supplies across the country.
The General’s Fund
Predators' Sean Henry (l–r), Charlie and Hazel Daniels, and MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee 42 MTSU Magazine
The Nashville Predators stepped forward in 2020 to raise money and awareness for MTSU student veterans in distress and whose educational benefits have either expired or have been exhausted. Predators President and CEO Sean Henry joined MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and country music legend Charlie Daniels to announce creation of The General’s Fund during a March 2 news conference at Bridgestone Arena. Daniels, who died July 6 following a stroke, financially supported MTSU’s Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center over the years through his foundation. The new fund, raised to help veterans at MTSU in need of support, recognizes retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, who now serves as MTSU’s senior advisor for veterans and leadership initiatives. Through this partnership, Henry said the Predators and MTSU will help Huber support military-connected students who struggle financially to reach their higher education and career goals. “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,” Henry said. “The General’s Fund that we are establishing today will help fill that gap.”
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Never Forget
The Tennessee House Republican Caucus presented the Tennessee Colonel Aide de Camp award to MTSU’s David Urban, dean of the Jones College of Business. It is given by the governor to individuals who have served the state in an exemplary manner. Colonel Aide de Camp is awarded for outstanding achievement at the request of a member of the Tennessee General Assembly. State Rep. Mike Sparks nominated Urban.
MTSU hosted its annual 9/11 Remembrance ceremony virtually in 2020 because of COVID-19. Retired Air Force Col. Doug Kreulen, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, served as guest speaker. Kreulen was inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, one of the most fateful days in U.S. history. In his remarks, Kreulen recalled “all of us instinctively knew that the United States was under attack.”
mtsunews.com/urban-colonel-aidede-camp-award
mtsunews.com/9-11-speaker-saysinvest-plan-fall20
Solid Gold
In Caricature
A Gentleman and a Scholar
Ron Messier, professor emeritus of History and co-director of the Moroccan-American Archaeological Project in Morocco, discussed his recent exhibit on Africa’s extensive global interconnections through trade in the eighth through the 16th centuries. “Caravans of Gold” is the first major exhibition revealing Saharan trade routes and the shared history of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe during that time period. Artifacts are displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.
Following a 2020 announcement of a new partnership between MTSU and the Nashville Predators hockey club to raise money for student veterans, the Predators front office surprised MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee by taking him to the Palm Restaurant in downtown Nashville. McPhee was shown a caricature of himself that joins hundreds of other prominent citizens whose faces grace the walls at the fine dining establishment.
MTSU Honors College Dean John R. Vile was named the 2020–22 recipient of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Scholar Award. Dean of the University Honors College since 2008, Vile earned the recognition for his excellence in teaching, research, and public service. Recipients receive the citation, life membership, and a $1,000 donation to a nonprofit of their choice (he chose the Honors College).
The Casualty Actuarial Society named MTSU’s Actuarial Science program one of four recipients of its international 2020 CAS University Award Program for the innovative and exemplary ways it prepares students for careers in the property and casualty insurance industry. A part of MTSU’s Department of Mathematical Sciences, Actuarial Science trains students to apply math skills and statistical techniques to manage risks and solve problems in insurance and pension programs. mtsunews.com/actuarial-sciencereceives-international-accolade-2020
mtsunews.com/messier-gold-tradesept2020 44 MTSU Magazine
mtsunews.com/mtsu-predatorsannounce-generals-fundpartnership-2020
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CL ASS NOTES
1960s Charles Reese III (’62), Jackson, was accepted into the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in February. David Cady (’68), Rocky Face, Georgia, was named a finalist for the Georgia Author of the Year Award by the Georgia Writers Association for his book Religion of Fear: The True Story of the Church of God of the Union Assembly (University of Tennessee Press). Cady also was recently honored at the 31st Annual Southern Festival of Books in Nashville.
Larry Markus (’70), Lawrenceburg, who created an original musical based on American history that has been performed multiple times over the past decade, transformed its narrative into his debut picture book, United States History in Rhyme—A Child’s First History Book: A Must Read for All Americans. A fun, easy-to-read introduction to U.S. history, this book proudly displays our country’s distinctive moments.
1980s John Wilson (’81), Decatur, Georgia, returned to MTSU in March as an international student recruiter in the International Enrollment and Services division. After
courtesy of Tennessee Titans
1970s
Kevin Byard Byard (’15), a current NFL star and former Blue Raider gridiron great, is the Tennessee Titans’ Walter Payton Man of the Year and one of 32 finalists for the league award. Presented annually to honor a player's volunteer and charity work along with success on the field, the overall NFL award will be announced during Super Bowl week in February. Byard earned the NFL Players Association’s Community MVP award for September after hosting back-to-school events to over 100 disadvantaged families in the Nashville area. He helped pack and distribute more than 300 distance-learning kits that included backpacks, school supplies, hygiene items, sporting goods, and gift cards. In 2019, the Pro Bowl safety launched the Byard Family Legacy Fund to provide families and individuals in the community a better tomorrow. Last July, Byard also was named the official spokesperson for the United Way of Greater Nashville. His first order of business was to participate in the organization's virtual Stuff the Bus school supply drive. In addition, Byard assisted teammates last March in helping clean up the greater Nashville area after a tornado ripped through the area. On the field, he has led the NFL with 17 interceptions from 2017 through 2019. Winter 2021 45
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previously retiring from the University of North Georgia as associate vice president of international programs in 2017, Wilson had most recently worked in Atlanta as an international education consultant. David G. Jolley (’82), Knoxville, was appointed as U.S. marshal for the Eastern District in Tennessee by President Donald J. Trump in 2018. Jolley is the first person to serve as U.S. marshal for two different Tennessee districts since the creation of the state’s three federal judicial districts in 1838. He previously held the position of U.S. marshal for Tennessee’s Western District after his appointment by President George W. Bush.
Hal Hardin Hardin (’66) was selected as the Nashville Business Journal’s 2020 Best of the Bar Lifetime Achievement honoree. Hardin has spent his life working to see that justice is carried out, whether that was as a U.S. attorney, as a Circuit Court judge, or in his private practice. Hardin was previously elected president of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys, an association established in 1979 to promote, defend, and further the integrity and preservation of the litigating authority and independence of the U.S. Attorney’s office as one of the principal instrumentalities through which the U.S. president carries out his constitutional obligation that laws be faithfully executed. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Hardin to serve as U.S. attorney for middle Tennessee. During his tenure, Hardin learned that Gov. Ray Blanton was preparing to grant pardons to persons suspected of buying their way out of prison. His efforts led to the removal of Blanton and the inauguration of Lamar Alexander. 46 MTSU Magazine
Allen Etheridge (’87), Sierra Vista, Arizona, was named superintendent of Shiloh National Military Park, which includes the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center as well as other National Park Service properties in the area. Susan Gulley (’87), Watertown, was hired as director of cultural and heritage tourism by the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. Karey Witty (’87), Franklin, joined Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe as an operating partner in the firm’s health care group. Most recently, Karey was the chief operating officer at Envision Healthcare.
1990s Richard Hickey (’90), Brentwood, was promoted to assistant chief of police for the Brentwood Police Department. A 28-year veteran of the department, he previously served as a patrol officer, detective, Criminal Investigations Division (CID) lieutenant, CID captain, patrol captain, and technical support services (administrative) captain. Eric Maynard (’91), Lebanon, joined LBMC Technology Solutions LLC as a field network engineer, where he will provide IT solutions to managed services clients. He formerly worked as an IT administrator for MidCumberland Community Action Agency. Chris Kelly (’92), Murfreesboro, is now Nashville market president for the Argent Trust Co. In this capacity, he serves as the senior leader of trust, estate, and retirement services administration in middle Tennessee. Dustin Miller (’93), Chapel Hill, was promoted to lieutenant of the patrol division for the Brentwood Police Department. Miller, a 23-year veteran of the police force, has worked most of his career in patrol and most recently as a detective in the Criminal Investigations Division. A certified instructor, he also has taught the field training program for the department.
April Norris (’93), Winchester, was named deputy director of schools for Tullahoma. Norris, whose 26 years as an educator include several years serving in Tullahoma schools, began her tenure in the city’s school system as a special education teacher. Chris Guy (’94), Elizabethton, was appointed vice president and commercial lender for First Bank & Trust in Johnson City. Quincey Jones (’95, ’97, ’05), Powder Springs, Georgia, a veteran health care and higher education leader, was named vice provost for health affairs at Lipscomb University. Jones oversees Lipscomb’s health science programs, providing vision for the institution’s growth in these areas and engaging more collaboratively with health care entities in the community. Gregory Lunsford (’97), Harrisonburg, Virginia, was appointed town manager for Elktown, Virginia. Jacqueline Holmes Springfield (’97), New York City, is an actor working in film, television, theater, and voiceover, as well as a director and an educator. Acting credits include First Wives Club (BET+), The Good Cop (Netflix), and several episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC). She also currently serves as voice and speech instructor at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy’s New
York campus. Her other teaching credits include New York Film Academy, Brooklyn College, the Wildwind Performance Festival at Texas Tech University, Montclair State University, and the University at Albany. Linda Baker (’98), Manchester, was appointed as director of Coffee County Probation. She joined the probation office 11 years ago and most recently was the deputy director. Michelle Thomas (’98), Murfreesboro, was named chief development director for TN Voices, a mental health support services nonprofit.
2000s Margaret “Lou” Scott Paschall (’00), Murfreesboro, a school social worker in Rutherford County for 16 years, was hired as the first school social worker in Manchester City Schools. Eddie Alford Jr. (’01), Mount Juliet, was named the first diversity and inclusion officer for Pinnacle Financial Partners. In that role, Alford has joined the bank holding company’s leadership team. Heather Stafford (’01), Lebanon, is the new chief nursing officer for Tri-Star Summit Medical Center. She started her health care career at the hospital 16 years ago as a nurse technician in the emergency department. As her career advanced, Stafford
Alan Frazier Frazier ('82), who spent many of his 37 years in law enforcement as a tactical flight officer and pilot, is now a senior fellow at Georgetown University. He is presently assigned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he is part of a team that is developing standard test methods for small unmanned aircraft systems. Frazier most recently had worked as an assistant and associate professor at the University of North Dakota for 11 years.
Winter 2021 47
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Leslie Sharp Sharp (’93) was named dean of the Georgia Tech Library after previously serving as the institution's associate vice provost for graduate education and faculty development. She has more than 25 years of administrative experience in both academic and history-related organizations. Her tenure at Georgia Tech since 2006 includes service as the assistant dean for academic affairs and outreach for the College of Design and, most recently, in a dual role as associate vice provost and interim chief executive officer for the library.
graduated from HCA’s emergency department leadership development and executive development programs. She has served in a variety of leadership roles, including director of emergency and cardiac services and associate chief nursing officer at TriStar Skyline Medical Center. William “Nicholas” Bratcher (’02), joined Floor Focus magazine as sales manager. His previous sales experience includes positions with Shaw Industries and Engineered Floors.
48 MTSU Magazine
Jamica Hines (’03), Antioch, was appointed as associate dean and director of the Southeast Campus for Nashville State Community College. James Eric Word (’03), Hermitage, commissioned through MTSU’s ROTC program in 2003, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the United States Army. Jess Eddy (’05), Gallatin, was hired as vice president of accounting for Tennessee Bank & Trust. He formerly served as assistant controller at First Bank. Richard Farmer (’05), Nashville, joined the
Penetron Sales Team as regional sales representative for the Midwest and Southern region. The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs, and floor preparation systems. B.J. Kerstiens (’06), Murfreesboro, was promoted to regional vice president of the Quadex Lining System division for the Vortex Companies, an industry-leading trenchless infrastructure solutions provider.
Holly Eslick (’07, ’11), Decherd, was named principal of North Middle School in Franklin County. Terrance Eubanks (’08, ’10), Nashville, was promoted to coordinator of student success initiatives in the Department of Student Success at Tennessee State University. In this position, he will manage major initiatives such as 15 to Finish, Freshman Block Scheduling, and Degree-in-Three. April Harrington (’08), Old Hickory, who opened her own firm of EXIT Real Estate Experts in January
Fadia Patterson Patterson (’12) launched her career in broadcasting after winning a college Emmy for a student-run broadcast. She’s now a television reporter in New York and just won an Associated Press award and the prestigious Medaille College’s Award for Excellence in journalism. After spending time reporting in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee, Patterson joined the Spectrum News Buffalo team in January 2018 and, every evening since, has been delivering the latest news to communities across the area. As an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Patterson has served on the national and local level to mentor young journalists of color. When she isn’t at the news desk, you can find her volunteering with various charities across the Buffalo area. “Fadia was selected . . . because of her focus on community, ethics, and commitment to western New York,” said Lou Pozantides, Medaille College associate professor and awards founder.
2002, has been appointed as chair of the Community Involvement Committee for the Eastern Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors. Harrington also has been awarded the Diamond Production Award from her local association and ranked fifth in the Southwest region in production amongst her peers at EXIT Corp. International. Jason Leiss (’09), Nashville, was promoted to
associate business manager at Nashville-based business and financial management firm FBMM. He joined FBMM in 2010 and was elevated to account executive in 2012. Leiss gained account manager status in 2015 and became senior account manager in 2018. Dana Sanders (’09), Spring Hill, an 11-year veteran of Pinnacle Financial Partners, received a promotion to chief audit
executive and a part of the bank holding company’s senior leadership team.
2010s Matt Clyde (’11), Crossville, was promoted to global account director for Rengo Design Corp. and now leads an international team of designers, project coordinators, and account managers from the U.S., Canada, and China. Tim Fallon (’11), Milton, was appointed vice president of manufacturing
at the Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Mississippi. He had spent 15 years at the Nissan Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant, serving in various roles of increasing responsibility, including senior manager and director of body assembly, director of paint and plastics, and director of trim and chassis assembly. David “Hatton” Marbury V (’11), Florence, Alabama, is
Winter 2021 49
CL ASS NOTES
Jessica Shotwell and Samuel “Sam” Remedios
National Science Foundation W H E R E
a project manager with B.H. Craig Construction Co. Recent projects include the $34 million Florence Middle School and renovations and additions to the area YMCA. Paul Wydra (’11), Murfreesboro, was appointed to the Grand Council of Sigma Pi Fraternity for the remainder of the 2020–22 biennium. He currently serves as the
Email alumni@mtsu.edu to share your story.
50 MTSU Magazine
D I S C OV E R I E S
Province Archon for the Sun Belt Province and is the faculty advisor for Sigma Pi, Theta-Omega Chapter at MTSU. Elizabeth Brahan (’13), Nashville, was hired as director of publishing for Sprockets Music Publishing, a sister company to Copperline Music Group. In her new role, she will continue to build the company’s catalog by enhancing its innovative approach to placing music for fill and television as well as traditional music
B E G I N
Recent MTSU graduates Shotwell (’17) and Remedios (’19) are among 2,000 U.S. students named as winners of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award. NSF Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000. They also receive a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees paid to the institution where they will conduct their research, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institutions. A Memphis native, Shotwell, 24, graduated from MTSU with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and minors in African American Studies, Political and Civic Engagement, and Spanish. Remedios, 29, of Nolensville, earned his bachelor’s in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. He is a native of San Jose, California, and attended high school in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
outlets. Prior to Sprockets, Brahan worked at Big Yellow Dog Music.
continue his music career with one of the Army’s regional bands.
Amanda Schaffer (’13), Verona, Pennsylvania, is the new executive director of the Sewickley Valley Historical Society.
Tonya Lewis (’18), Chattanooga, was promoted to director of human resources at Heatec Inc.
James Thomas Andrew “Andy” Bible (’18), Chuckey, accepted a position with the Army Band Program. After completing basic training, he will attend the Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and
Samantha Bicknell (’19), Nashville, joined PLA Media as a social media coordinator. Her previous professional experience included positions at Sony Music Global, Red Light Management, and the Country Music Association.
Matt Crews Crews (’91), once a record-setting Blue Raider kicker, is the driving force behind the inaugural Music City Grand Prix IndyCar race scheduled for this August on the streets of downtown Nashville and around Nissan Stadium. A businessman with career ties to the racing industry, Crews is the founder and CEO behind the venture that is bringing a three-day international festival of speed and sound, food, and music, to be staged on a temporary 2.1-mile grand prix circuit. Crews, a Lawrenceburg native, said the Aug. 6–8 grand prix and music festival “with star power and incredible names” will place Nashville, “a city I’m extremely proud to call home, on a true international stage with a marquee event. . . . Nashville is a huge IndyCar market. It is an amazing event city.” In another MTSU twist, Crews and a group featuring businessman/entrepreneur/ex-IndyCar racer Roger Penske welcomed the partnership of the University’s acclaimed Concrete Industry Management program, faculty, and students. Their unique expertise will help “create environmentally conscious concrete mixes while not sacrificing durability and strength for the race barriers and pit lane,” Professor Heather Brown said.
Crews, who earned a bachelor’s in Management and Marketing, wants to build a stronger relationship with MTSU. The grand prix partnership definitely sets those wheels in motion. His career had kept Crews on the road 36 weeks a year. This job keeps him home far more. Daughter Alex is a freshman standout for Ensworth High School’s state tournament golf team, while Ryan is a University of Tennessee senior after playing football for John Carroll University. At MTSU, Crews' future wife, Jenny Herring, competed in tennis and was roommates with Bunny Donnelly (’90), daughter of Crews’ head coach, James “Boots” Donnelly (’65, ’67). Against rival Tennessee Tech in 1990, Crews kicked five field goals to set school records (that he still shares) for field goals made and points scored in a game. Older brother Trab took the All-Ohio Valley Conference kicker to a NASCAR race the next day in Atlanta, and Crews became hooked on racing. Crews’ aspirations after graduating included giving the NFL and World Football League “a shot”—it didn’t work out, but he befriended former University of Memphis kicker Joey Allison, a member of the legendary racing family—and “figuring out a way to get paid at what you want to do.” Looks like he figured it out.
Winter 2021 51
IN MEMORIAM
1940s Reba Rogers Griffith (’41) John Hitt (’43)
1950s Harold Beasley (’57) Kenneth Browne (’58) Edward Carlton Sr. (’54,’56) Tillman Harris (’57) Nancy Jean Willis Keal (’59) Robert “Bob” Lewter (’51) William “Billy” Miller Sr. (’53, ’68) Eleanor Nation (’55,’60) Carl Neal Sr. (’59) Gloria Drake Pitts (’54) Royce Reynolds (’53) Wilma Mooneyham Sparkman (’57) Brud Spickard Sr. (’58) Mildred Barker Talley (’59) Marian Davis Vaughn (’54, ’73) John Warmbrod (’58) Emily Matlack Wiseman (’58) Robert “Bobby” Young (’57)
1960s Robert D. Adams (’65) Oliver “Mike” Apple (’65) Leslie Bailey (’68) Charles “Ronnie” Bellar (’65) Charles “Bud” Branam (’67) Alma Caldwell Bryant (’69) Martha Cole (’64) John T. Davis Jr. (’60,’65) Orville Davis Jr. (’60) Virgil Davis (’66, ’71) Bettie Bishop Matthews (’68) Jane Defriese (’68, ’72) Susan Brown Durham (’68) Steven Edging (’67) Eugene Edwards (’61) Helen Sheets Emery (’68,’69,’70,’73) Frank Fly (’68) James Forbes (’64) 52 MTSU Magazine
Dennis H. Jones (’69) John Lovelady (’65) William Albert “Bill” Odle (’61) Patricia Odom (’67) Betty Kennedy Rose (’68) Priscilla Palmer Santi (’67, ’68) Billy Shadwick (’66,’74) Eileen Hayes Smith (’68) William “Billy” Smithson Jr. (’68) Emily Kelley Volavka (’69, ’70) Joe Walkup (’62) Barry West (’69) Archie White (’65) Henry Whitt (’66) Joyce Sherrill Wilder (’63) Lynn Oliver Wood (’69) Dorinda Hulan Woods (’68)
1970s Sammie Larkins Andrews (’74) Dana Ballou (’72) Margie Bookout Bleier (’72) Carolyn Buford (’78) William “Bill” Cherry (’71) Barry Dillard (’75) Joanne Hubbard Erwin (’72) Charles Floyd (’70, ’71) Janie Eddlemon Foust (’70) Timothy Graham (’77) Joyce Hardy (’76) Robert Harrison (’74) Robert “Melvin” Haynes (’71) Dennis Hutton (’70) Dolores “Deese” Hemontolor Johnson (’73) Patrick Kelley Sr. (’73) Teresa Leffel (’77) Mina Brandon Lewis (’79) Angela Milan (’72) Carolyn McCall Price (’72) Dannise Lewis McKinney (’75) William “Bill” Peterson (’72) Linda Vaughan Socha (’71) Joan Silvey (’75)
Herman “Boone” Swain (’72) Karen Lucas Thomas (’79) Glenn Thomason (’73) Shirley Roach Thompson (’75) Peggy Mobley Thrasher (’71,’77) Anne Morris Tincher (’71) Michael Todd (’71, ’81) Sally Walls (’79) Ronald Waters (’74) Dolores C. Weaver (’74,’75,’84,’03) Gary L Wilson (’72) Edward Winton (’74) Jessica Fail Webb Young (’75)
1980s Lee McPeake Bliss (’80) Angelia Bryant Cormier (’86) Mary Carter Curtis (’84, ’89) Phillip Dalton (’83) Sheryl Fults (’84, ’89) Felix Guntherberg (’84) Dawn Harris (’82, ’85) Edward Holt (’81) Elaine Kirk (’84) Lester Levi Jr. (’83) Terry Mathis (’81) Raymond Mitchell Jr. (’85) Reavis Mitchell Jr. (’83) John Morgan (’83) Michael Morrison (’86) Joseph Nave (’81) Patricia Palmeri (’80) Paul Wilson Talley (’88) William Zaharias (’85)
1990s William Andrews (’91) Ronald Baker (’97) Walter Boulanger (’98) Krista Bova (’96, ’98) Meredith Campbell Bybee (’95) Roy Croley (’92) Steve Ervin (’96, ’00, ’06)
Judy Smith
Judy Smith, former dean of women, with husband Tommy at MTSU's 2011 Centennial Gala
Smith (’60) was the dean of women at MTSU until she retired in 1993. She died April 1, 2020 at age 82. Smith served as an advisor to both the Panhellenic Council and the MTSU cheerleaders. A graduate of Murfreesboro Central High School and MTSU, Smith went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee with four small children at home. As a tireless champion for her students, her careful and insightful advice was highly sought by the students in her care. Students even continued to reach out to for her wisdom and guidance long after their college days were over. Smith participated on numerous community boards and MTSU committees and proudly served as a commissioner of the Murfreesboro Housing Authority until her death.
Charles Massey Jr. Massey (’64), the recipient of MTSU’s 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award, died June 24, 2020. Massey was chair of Ohio State University’s Department of Art from 1982 to 1988. His work, the majority of which is prints and drawings, has been shown internationally in more than 900 exhibitions and has been included in more than 75 public collections around the world, including the Library of Congress. In the early 1980s, he established the MTSU Department of Art and Design’s Charles and Ola Belle Massey Memorial Art Scholarship, which he funded and managed.
Paula Birchfield McCall (’90, ’94) Sandra Newton (’94) Roy Richcreek III (’96) Vianna Thompson (’96) Jana Ward (’91) Patricia Todd Young (’90, ’94)
Kai Foust (’06) Jeffrey Knudson (’00) Destin Legieza (’02) Stephen Morris (’02) Lindsay Roberts Rushing (’06) Marilyn “Mikki” Miller Satterfield (’02)
2000s
2010s
Kaycee Anseth-Townsend (’02) Samantha Cochran (’01)
Vincent Akridge (’17) Garen Blanchard (’14)
Nathan Harsh (’15) Myles Hermiston (’17) Mary “Allee” Marvin (’10) Kaylor Scudder (’13) Jesse “Hayden” Tucker (’15) Alex Tuttle (’11) Phillip “Jordan” Stevens (’19) Nicholas Waggoner (’11)
2020s Jacob Shettles (’20)
Winter 2021 53
BABY R AIDERS
01 Carter Arnell Ball born Dec. 21, 2018
01
02
to Thomas and Schanta Applewhite Ball (’08) of Lebanon
02 Harper W. Qin born Dec. 10, 2019
to Young Qin (’17) and Qian Wang (’20) of Murfreesboro
03 Ansley Grace Peterson born Jan. 29, 2020
to John (’08) and Myranda Howland Peterson (’06) of Lascassas
04 Farrah Jane Simms born Jan. 30, 2020 03
04
to Mark and Brandi Dunn-Simms (’01) of LaVergne
05 Caleb Jonathan Smith born March 4, 2020
to Dustin (’12) and Kourtney Hanna Smith (’12, ’15) of LaVergne
06 Josiah James Martin born March 9, 2020
05
06
to Shane (’99, ’01) and Serena Martin of Maryland
07 Andrew Eugene Simcox born March 17, 2020 to Michael “Chad” (’03) and Cindy Householder Simcox (’02) of Littleton, Colorado
08 Walker Ruth Edwards born April 9, 2020 07
08
to Matt and Katie Peek Edwards (’05) of Murfreesboro
09 Isabelle Rose Windsor born April 23, 2020
to Robert and Alyse Gillman Windsor (’10) of Birmingham, Alabama
10 Jackson Paul Ceccarelli born June 1, 2020
09
10
to Michael (’04) and Natalie Ceccarelli of Waynesville, North Carolina
11 Camden Christopher Adkins born June 23, 2020
to Blake (’17) and Juliana Adkins (’15) of Christiana
12 Calliope Kaylee Carpenter born June 23, 2020
11
12
to Cameron (’08, ’12) and Katelyn Thurow Carpenter (’08) of Murfreesboro
13 Corbin Dean Freeman born July 6, 2020
to Cory (’09) and Brandie Nelson Freeman (’11, ’12, ’16) of Murfreesboro
14 Henry James Morrison born Aug. 11, 2020 13 54 MTSU Magazine
14
to Brandon (’05) and Jessica Beard Morrison (’08) of Nashville
L AST WORD
Out of the Blue
MTSU’s signature TV show marks 10 years of telling campus stories In November 2010, without much fanfare, Tom Tozer welcomed viewers to a new TV program, Out of the Blue. He promised it would feature “light and lively segments” about the University “and perhaps even some more serious segments as well.” The campus magazine show, which now airs on 42 public, educational, and governmental TV stations in 17 states as well as Nashville’s NewsChannel 5+, still follows the formula that Tozer put into place as MTSU’s director of news and media relations. Tozer, who retired in 2011, returned to the anchor chair for a program last November celebrating Out of the Blue’s 10th anniversary. He joined current host Andrew Oppmann (’17) in welcoming back former student hosts Nicki DeCroce (’11), an entertainment personality in Nashville; Chris Davis (’15), an Emmy-winning reporter for NewsChannel 5 (WTVF); and Jessi Grace (’16), a Colorado State University instructor. Former staff hosts on the look-back show included Mike Browning (’17), now public information officer for the city of Murfreesboro, and Drew Ruble, senior editor for university publications. The show also can be seen on MTSU’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/mtsunews.
staff reports
“What better place to work than on the MTSU campus and to be able to have that as your beat, to be able to go around with a camera and cover all the exciting things there?” Browning said. The program, produced by the College of Education’s Center for Educational Media and the Division of Marketing and Communications, was named the best TV show by the Tennessee College Public Relations Association the past two years. In 2020, a series of twiceweekly, web-only specials on MTSU’s response to COVID-19 brought its first national honor, a Silver Telly Award. MTSU
MTSU recently rebranded its educational resource cable TV channel to “True Blue TV.” True Blue TV is now home to the long-running Out of the Blue program, the place to view other campus events live, and rebroadcasts of videos produced for online formats Watch on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV; online at mtsu.edu/trueblueTV; AT&T U-verse 99 in middle Tennessee; and other local cable systems.
Winter 2021 55
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