Midpoints

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

Compiled by Nancy DeGennaro, Jimmy Hart, Drew Ruble, Stephanie Wagner, and Randy Weiler

High-Ranking Assistance

Retired U.S. Marine four-star Gen. Jim Mattis saluted the work of the MTSU Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center during a breakfast fundraiser for the center at Nashville’s Hutton Hotel last October. “We need to make sure there’s something like the veterans center that’s a model [for other universities] and a welcoming place.” A captivated audience was treated to a one-hour conversation between longtime friends Mattis, a former U.S. secretary of defense, and former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, a former Senate majority leader from Nashville. Businesspeople from around the Midstate helped raise more than $400,000 for MTSU’s Daniels Center at the event, including $50,000 each from CoreCivic Foundation and the Tennessee Valley Authority, $30,000 from BNA/Nashville International Airport, and $25,000 from Baker Group Strategies and Haury & Smith Contractors.

Among America's Best

The Princeton Review—one of the nation’s leading education services companies—recently included MTSU in its 33rd annual Best Colleges rankings for 2025, the sixth consecutive year that the institution has been recognized. MTSU also placed on the Forbes Best Colleges List, and the Wall Street Journal recently recognized MTSU for the first time on its list of America’s Best Colleges 2025. And U.S. News and World Report ranked MTSU as No. 152 among public schools and No. 273 among national universities.

The Presence of Leadership

MTSU’s Student Government Association (SGA) received a spot in the Top 25 of The Princeton Review’s annual list of the nation’s best college and university SGAs. Under the leadership of second-term president Michai Mosby, a senior Public Relations major and Political Science major from Memphis, the University’s SGA ranked 20th in the nation for the Most Active Student Government category in the publication, moving up two spots over last year’s rankings.

Down to a Science

A cohort of MTSU faculty recently landed a $3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop local middle school teachers in the subject areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into data science instruction experts who will go on to develop educators in their communities.

Gregory Rushton, director of MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center, leads the five-year grant project in collaboration with Ryan “Seth” Jones, Kevin Krahenbuhl, and Keith Gamble. A separate trio of MTSU professors was awarded a $1.2 million NSF grant to advance research in improving the teaching of the STEM fields in general. Rushton, Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, and Grant Gardner head that research project titled “Advancing the Culture of Teaching in STEM through Diffusion of Strength-Based Reflexivity.”

Open Book

MTSU is helping ensure student success with free digital access to scholastic materials through the James E. Walker Library’s Open Educational Resources (OER) program, with approximately $1.4 million in textbook savings since the program was implemented in 2021. More than 14,200 students have benefitted from at least one of the 78 OER courses, which have more than quadrupled in number over the past two years, according to data collected since 2022 by the MTSU Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Research. College textbooks have nearly doubled in cost over the past decade, according to the nonprofit Education Data Initiative.

On Air

The national commander of Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, recently paid a visit to MTSU to celebrate the decade-long partnership between the two institutions. Maj. Gen. Regena Aye, CAP’s highest-ranking officer, leads the organization’s nearly 70,000 members. Air Force Col. Aaron Reid (’02), an alumnus and former combat pilot honored by MTSU at last July's EAA AirVenture, serves as commander of the Civil Air Patrol-U.S. Air Force unit.

Making a Mark

A classroom assignment laid the groundwork for MTSU sophomore Political Science major Yusuf Dogan to contribute to a nonbinding resolution later passed by Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County. During the spring semester of his freshman year at MTSU, Dogan was required to write a mock piece of legislation for a project. That experience would translate from the classroom to the real world as part of his internship with Metro-Nashville Councilwoman Delishia Porterfield. Last May, his draft of legislation condemning white supremacy was adopted as a resolution by Metro Council. The resolution was a response to flyers promoting racist, xenophobic, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ ideas that were distributed i n early May in historically Black areas of North Nashville.

An MTSU Welcome

MTSU announced a planned public-private partnership to build a campus hotel on campus that will serve the campus community, bolster tourism in the area, and be a favorite destination for visitors to campus. On- or near-campus hotels at other universities accommodate sporting events, graduations, parent visits, speaker appearances, and more. MTSU’s facility will also provide educational opportunities for students. According to MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, MTSU’s hotel “will be a learning laboratory and a place for practical experience for students in our newly accredited Tourism and Hospitality Management program,” the only such program in the state accredited by the national Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA). The University hopes to begin construction this year and open the hotel in 2026.

Growing Stronger

MTSU experienced a second consecutive year of enrollment growth in 2024, recording a 1.7% year-overyear increase in its fall semester census. The student population at MTSU currently stands at 20,488 for 2024–25. This includes an increase of 1% in new freshmen, which is on top of a record 12% increase in this category the previous year.

On-the-Job Training

MTSU's College of Education, led by Dean Neporcha Cone (pictured here), recently joined Nissan's community partnership collaboration to boost skills by training career technical educators for local high schools. The workforce development program will prepare students for careers in the automotive industry by offering a curriculum that combines theoretical knowledge with practical experience. MTSU's College of Education faculty are helping train Nissan employees to teach those courses full time.

London Calling

Seventeen students from MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment traveled to London with faculty members Odie Blackmon (Commercial Songwriting) and Bill Crabtree (Audio Production) for a study-abroad class titled London Calling: The Recording Industry. During the weeklong trip, students from the Commercial Songwriting program within the Recording Industry Department wrote songs with students from the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London; took a backstage tour of the Royal Albert Hall and attended Swan Lake there; toured Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Box, England; attended the musical Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theater in London’s West End; and took in historical sites of music history interest on a “London Rock Walk Tour.” Blackmon, a songwriter known for hits such as “She'll Leave You with a Smile” (George Strait) and “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” (Lee Ann Womack), said the trip's goal was to get students out of their comfort zones and provide them with experiential learning, cultural depth, and a global understanding of the music business and life.

Bright Outlook

Three MTSU faculty members have an opportunity to take their research and teaching passions overseas after being selected as Fulbright Scholar Program recipients for the 2024–25 academic year. Sylvester Lamin, a Social Work associate professor, will head to Sierra Leone in West Africa. The transcontinental country of Georgia in Eastern Europe and West Asia is the destination for Journalism Professor Gregory Pitts, while Center for Asian Studies Director Guanping Zheng will travel to Taiwan in East Asia.