8 minute read
Midpoints
A look at recent awards, events, and accomplishments at MTSU
compiled by Nancy DeGenarro, Jimmy Hart, Drew Ruble, Stephanie Wagner, and Randy Weiler
Historic Upgrade
Two of MTSU’s original buildings are getting a $54.3 million upgrade through a significant renovation project. Construction on Kirksey Old Main and Rutledge Hall began in May, with completion expected by summer 2026. KOM was the first building on the campus founded in 1911.
KOM will continue to be home to the Mathematics, Computer Science, and Data Science departments. Rutledge will transform from a dormitory to an academic building that houses the University Studies Department.
The Midgett Building, an addition to KOM that once contained the business program, will be razed to make way for a new accessible lobby on the back of KOM. The building's iconic columns will be preserved on the front.
Hoop Dreams
The MTSU women’s basketball team secured the program’s first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2007 and then led defending national champion Louisiana State University at halftime in a second-round game.
In the first-round 71-69 victory over the sixth-seeded University of Louisville, the Lady Raiders erased an 18-point first-half deficit to tie the fourth-largest comeback in NCAA Tournament history.
Advancing against perennial power LSU, MTSU won the second quarter 21-12 to take a 36-32 lead into the locker room before falling to the Tigers on their home court, 83-56. The Lady Raiders finished with a 30-5 record.
Repeat National Champion
For the second consecutive year, MTSU’s equestrian team earned the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Horse and Rider-sponsored Western discipline team national championship. Jordan Martin of Murfreesboro, after finishing second in 2023, won the coveted Back on Track USA-sponsored Western High Point honor in the May 3–5 competition in North Carolina.
Martin also captured the American Paint Horse Association-sponsored Horse and Rider Team Open Horsemanship. Along with the team, the Blue Raider riders had an individual qualified in all seven Western divisions, a Western high point rider, and one hunter seat rider. MTSU riders won with 47 points.
Team members also included Mackenzie Latimer, Simone Allen, Sadio Barnes, Monica Braunwalder, Kenlee West, Louann Braunwalder, Regan Black, Shelby Amanns, and Alyssa Davis.
Eyes on the Future
MTSU’s Board of Trustees identified the pursuit of a professional school as the first of four objectives that it feels should be the institution’s top priorities.
During the board’s March meeting, trustees put MTSU’s continued inclusion in the Princeton Review’s top colleges list, movement toward designation as a top research institution, and securing more funding to renovate the 51-year-old Murphy Center among other top priorities. The board was tasked with ranking the top four among 20-plus goals put forward in a survey as the University’s priorities for 2024.
Alumni Spring Showcase Success
An Alumni Spring Showcase hosted by the MTSU Office of Alumni Relations in April invited alums to reconnect with their alma mater by participating in events, classes, and more. The nine-day event included activities such as:
Alumni Family Fun Night
the return of the Blue and White football game (Coach Derek Mason’s first spring game)
the Department of Theatre and Dance’s presentation of the play The Ruminants
the School of Journalism and Strategic Media’s 50th anniversary kickoff celebration featuring a career retrospective by WTVF-TV reporter Phil Williams
a reception launching the new Department of Political and Global Affairs
a mock crime scene created by the Department of Criminal Justice Administration
the solar eclipse event at the MTSU Observatory
A Half-Century in the Making
MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media and Recording Industry Department are each celebrating their 50th year of teaching students.
MTSU’s highly regarded Recording Industry program is consistently ranked among the world’s top music business programs by Billboard magazine. Alumni have produced an impressive haul of Grammy gold and many other accolades across all facets of the music industry.
Founded in 1973 with just two professors and one studio, the department has grown to more than two dozen professors, 1,400 students, several recording studios, multiple labs, and a songwriting center.
Composed of a Commercial Songwriting program, an Audio Production program, and a Music Business program, the department has graduated more than 7,500 industry-ready alumni. Some famous names who studied at MTSU include country artist Chris Young, songwriter and producer Tay Keith, Christian artists Brandon Heath and Lecrae, country artist Hillary Scott of Lady A, rap artist and songwriter Daisha McBride, and Grammy-winning songwriter Josh Kear, among others. Alums have also written songs for Alan Jackson, George Strait, Kacey Musgraves, Lady Gaga, Usher, Wiz Khalifa, and more.
The School of Journalism and Strategic Media in the John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building now offers two degrees and 10 concentrations. It has more than two dozen faculty and 300 students.
Notable alumni include morning anchor Holly Thompson (WSMV), chief investigative reporter Phil Williams (WTVF), Don Aaron (associate administrator/public affairs director for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department), Tracey Rogers (senior vice president and regional manager for Nexstar Media Group), and anchor Katie Inman (WBIR), among many others.
Graduates work for ESPN, NBC, the Hallmark Channel, USA Today Network, the Nashville Predators, NASA, TikTok, Nissan, and Delta Air Lines, among others.
More Grammy Gold
MTSU alumni captured several Grammys during the 66th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Julien Baker, a 2019 English graduate, captured three Grammys out of six nominations as a member of boygenius, an indie supergroup with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
Two-time winner and alumnus Lecrae won two more Grammys for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Your Power" and also for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Church Clothes 4.
Joining Lecrae in the album Grammy win is first-time winner Connor Back, a 2018 Audio Production graduate who earned a Grammy for his mixing engineering work on Church Clothes 4 and earned a certificate for his engineering work on the song “Your Power.” Back works for Reach Records, Lecrae’s independent record label.
Jason Hall, a 2000 Recording Industry graduate, and Jimmy Mansfield, a 2014 Audio Production graduate, won Grammys for engineering, mixing, and vocals work for Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country, which won Best Country Album. Hall and Mansfield have been part of past Grammy nominations. While not singled out for a nomination, Josh Kear, a 1996 History graduate with a Recording Industry minor, co-wrote the song “Watermelon Moonshine” on Bell Bottom Country
Other MTSU alumni Grammy nominees for 2024 included:
Two-time winner Brandon Bell, a 2004 Recording Industry graduate, was part of three Grammy-nominated efforts for his engineering work.
Two-time winner Tony Castle, a 1995 Recording Industry graduate, was nominated for his engineering work as part of the team on Willie Nelson’s Bluegrass, up for Best Bluegrass Album.
Tay Keith, who as Brytavious Chambers graduated MTSU in 2018 with a degree in Integrated Studies and Media Management, was nominated among the songwriters for “Rich Flex” by Drake and 21 Savage, which was nominated for Best Rap Song.
Randy LeRoy, who attended MTSU through 1991, was nominated for Best Historical Album as part of the team that produced Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from The Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971.
Phillip Smith, a 2016 Recording Industry graduate, was honored for engineering work for Brandy Clark’s self-titled album, up for Best Americana Album.
The University recognized Keith and Bell at an event at the Mama Shelter hotel rooftop spot, where alumni, industry professionals, students, and faculty gathered to reconnect and wish the school’s nominees well. President Sidney A. McPhee and Beverly Keel, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, presented special certificates.
McPhee also caught up with Baker in Los Angeles and conferred on her the title of honorary professor of Recording Industry.
MTSU students hit the Grammy red carpet and worked the Recording Academy’s black-tie charitable fundraising event honoring legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi as MusiCares’ Person of the Year.
The six students from MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment represented the University’s ninth trip to the music industry’s biggest awards weekend. In addition to the MusiCares event, students toured recording studios and iconic music venues and met with recording industry professionals.
In Command
Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve, visited MTSU on May 21. While on campus, Daniels met with Army ROTC cadets, toured the MTSU Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, and presented a full Minuteman ROTC scholarship to incoming MTSU freshman Morgan Sheldon of Murfreesboro, who plans to major in Exercise Science.
Daniels also attended the Grand Ole Opry for the Salute the Troops event sponsored by the Daniels Center. The first female to command the Reserve component, Daniels commands more than 200,000 soldiers and civilian employees who live and work in communities across the country.
