Winter 2023 M&E magazine

COLLEGE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

MTSU students help Wynonna and friends’ concert come alive

Middle Tennessee State University Winter 2023 / Vol. 2, No. 1

Dean Beverly Keel Development Officer Kristin Wells-Morrison

Senior Editor Drew Ruble Associate Editor Carol Stuart

Senior Director of Creative and Visual Services

Kara Hooper

Designer Brian Evans University Photographers

James Cessna, Andy Heidt, J. Intintoli, Cat Curtis Murphy Contributing Editor

Nancy Broden

Contributing Writers

Skip Anderson, Gina Fann, John Glennon, Allison Gorman

Special thanks to Jimmy Hart, Deborah Fisher, Rachel Helms, Richard Lewis

University President Sidney A. McPhee

University Provost Mark Byrnes

Vice President of Marketing and Communications Andrew Oppmann

Cover photo by Cat Curtis Murphy

Address changes should be sent to Advancement Services, MTSU Box 109, Murfreesboro, TN 37132; alumni@mtsu.edu. Other correspondence should be sent to M&E magazine, Drew Ruble, 1301 E. Main St., MTSU Box 49, Murfreesboro, TN 37132.

0922-1054 / 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 Interim 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; Christy.Sigler@mtsu.edu; or 615-898-2185. The MTSU policy on non-discrimination can be found at mtsu.edu/iec.

Spring 2023

2,110 copies printed at Pollock Printing, Nashville, Tennessee. Designed by MTSU Creative and Visual Services.

Encore Performance

Welcome to the second edition of M&E, the magazine dedicated to the only College of Media and Entertainment in the world. As you will quickly see, it’s been an exceptional year of history-making in CME!

In the following pages, you’ll be transported to our extended reality XR Studio in Bragg, tour our new recording studios and Songwriting Center, travel with student journalists on their annual road trip, and cheer on our MTSU Esports team.

Our cover story features “The Judds: Love is Alive—The Final Concert,” the unforgettable show held at MTSU’s Murphy Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

How did this event happen? It all started with an email in October. Leslie Fram, CMT senior vice president and a very close friend, emailed me to see if Murphy Center was available Nov. 1, 2 and/or 3 for a TV show recording. I immediately connected her with Andrew Oppmann, MTSU’s vice president of marketing and communications, who let her know within five minutes that it was available.

At this point, we didn’t even know what the event was. About four days later, we learned on a Zoom call that they were going to have a homecoming event to celebrate the 1991 Judds Farewell Concert, with Wynonna being joined by friends Brandi Carlile, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde, and Kelsea Ballerini. Of course, we were sworn to secrecy! Because of this quick response, and the ability of the Murphy Center team to quickly pivot and put

the entire thing together in less than a month, we were able to land this high-profile event and provide hands-on experiences for our students.

While the College of Media and Entertainment has received tremendous credit and attention, this was truly a Universitywide effort. I am so grateful to President Sidney A. McPhee for his overwhelming support in moving mountains to make this happen.

It was a full-circle moment for so many alumni. For instance, alum Daniel Miller now manages McBride, while alum Nic Dugger was crucial to the production. Alum Cindy Watts covered the event for CMT, and alum Larry McCormack was nearby capturing photographs of history in the making.

I wish you could have seen our students interviewing the artists! They were equal parts nervous and excited. Thanks to our dedicated faculty, they were prepared to step into the spotlight and put their best work on display.

There has never been a more exciting time to be a part of the college, which is undergoing a $500,000 renovation. Next year will be a truly transformative chapter in the college’s history, and I am so delighted to be able to share our stories with you. You are an important part of our past, present, and future. Thank you for helping us change our students’ lives and make their dreams come true.

Beverly Keel Dean, College of Media and Entertainment

New “XR stage” courses will turn MTSU students’ skills into media jobs worldwide story by Gina E. Fann and photography by Andy Heidt

When an industry can change in what feels like the flash of a pixel, preparing to work in it may seem an adventure into a strange new future.

MTSU’s Department of Media Arts is looking beyond graduation for its students by teaching them new ways to turn ideas into realities on the screen.

This fall, on the new extended reality (XR) stage in the University’s Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, classes began preparing students from the department’s Animation and Video and Film Production programs to reach new heights in virtual production for film, television, and animation.

technology are a key development to make virtual production possible.”

Media Arts has been working with LED technology for eight years and possesses what is perhaps the most advanced LED program at the college level. XR was a natural next step for MTSU, Pittard says.

“This technique of virtual production is here to stay. It’s just so phenomenal what you can do with it; there are so many advantages,” said Pittard, who chaired Media Arts’ expanded programs from 2011 to 2022. “And this program is going to be a long-term payoff for our students. We are helping our students become the next generation of early experts.”

Their training will take place in the College of Media and Entertainment’s 2,800-square-foot Studio 1, which is filled with LED screens that move, adjust, and lock into any needed angle and position to create the look and feel the students want for their productions.

Ahead of the Game

The full XR-capable facility, a roughly $1 million investment, is the only one at a Tennessee university and among only a few such facilities at any university anywhere in the world.

The students are now able to produce work that looks like it was shot anywhere—real or imagined—just like the creators and crews of films such as Dune and TV shows like The Mandalorian that rely on XR technology to create vast worlds on a soundstage.

“Whenever a major new platform comes along, college students have an opportunity to become early experts on that platform. They also have an advantage of not being invested in older ways of doing things. XR and virtual production offer both of those things to our students,” said Media Arts Professor Billy Pittard, an MTSU alumnus and a pioneer of four decades’ worth of media design and production in Hollywood and beyond.

“XR and virtual production use high-resolution LED screens to place actors in virtual environments, but it’s also much more than that,” Pittard added. “Here at MTSU, we saw XR and virtual production as a natural fit for things we were already doing, including film and video production, animation, and LED technology. And advances in LED

XR technology is unique, Pittard said, because users can create digital environments that look and behave like real three-dimensional spaces. Cameras employed to shoot on the XR stage are equipped with motion-tracking devices, and as the camera moves, the video background on the LED walls changes accordingly.

MTSU’s XR stage uses Unreal Engine—the same software that allows users to navigate through 3D spaces in video games—to change the background image with the camera’s motion.

“Our students are all clamoring to get employment opportunities in the film industry,” said Mike Forbes, the department’s director for technical systems and an MTSU alumnus who toured in the music industry for years setting up customized video wall installations for concerts— a skill he now teaches at MTSU. “This is going to give our students a leg up on other recent graduates. They’re going to know this workflow; they’re going to know how to do things beyond what the camera captures, like being able to create environments and backgrounds and looks that other students from other universities are not going to have a background in. That’s because this technology is so new.

“We’re already years ahead of other universities, and that’s going to set our students apart from a lot of other programs.”

STUDENTS ARE NOW ABLE TO PRODUCE WORK THAT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS SHOT ANYWHERE—REAL OR IMAGINED.

Other skills students will learn for the new XR stage include set design and building, but they won’t need pencils, paint, or hammers like in the olden days.

“If it were a traditional production with a real set, you would design the set and you would build it with real furniture and a real background in a real location and all that,” Pittard said. “With this [XR] approach, you have a digital background, and it can be something that’s made entirely synthetically through 3D computer graphics.”

Students also can choose a real-life site and optically scan it to make a 3D digital model of that space with the visual surfaces mapped onto it.

“You can load that into the system, and it will behave the same way as if you created a 3D model in a computer graphics program,” Pittard said. “Not only can you do that, you can also merge the two of those things. It’s a time where you have just all kinds of flexibility. . . . We’ll also be using a separate system for full-body motion capture that will allow amazing things, like a digital character interacting with a live actor on a virtual set. You’re limited only by your imagination.”

Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel said the new XR stage enhances MTSU’s national reputation and takes the program to the next level.

“I am so excited to see our students learn this cutting-edge technology and apply it to their own creativity to see what happens,” said Keel, also an MTSU grad. “This broadens our students’ skill sets and will allow them to quickly emerge as leaders in the industry.”

Opening New Doors

That flexibility also extends into launching a new program for the Department of Media Arts that specializes in motion design, allowing students to earn a degree studying motion graphics, visual effects, and virtual production. That expansion will allow the department to continue its successful partnerships with businesses across the industry who have donated equipment, arranged internships, and helped prepare the people they’ll need to work for them.

“This is what we do as a university, adopting this technology and saying, ‘Yeah, we’re going to make this happen for our students, and we’re going to invest in this for them,’ ” Pittard said. “That’s really what I’m excited about, is to see the University say, ‘OK, this is working, this is a success. Let’s build on that, and let’s make it better.’ ” Or, said another way, create a new reality.

TO LEARN MORE:

• MTSU-XR.com

• mtsu.edu/mediaarts

Back to bonnaroo

MTSU crew turns heads with work for Hulu

Emmy-winning producer Tom Steel makes his living doing big-scale livestreams for high-profile music events like last summer’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

In June he teamed with students and faculty from MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment to capture DJ acts on Bonnaroo’s Other Stage for Hulu, one of the world’s largest streaming services. And Steel was impressed by what he saw from MTSU students.

“Big hats off to MTSU,” said Steel, who worked with Los Angeles-based Fortress Productions at Bonnaroo. “You guys are moving the needle, in my opinion, by giving students first-hand experience, in real life. This is where it happens. I mean, classrooms are amazing, where you build a foundation. But to be able put it into action, this is where it’s at.”

The partnership between MTSU and Bonnaroo dates to 2014, coming back in full force in 2022 after a 2020 pandemic pause and a 2021 weather cancellation. It is an annual labor of love for Media and Entertainment students, who also earn college credit for their work in video and sound production at Bonnaroo’s event stages and gain valuable experience in content creation, including video and photo storytelling and digital reporting.

Anchoring this effort was MTSU’s $1.4 million Mobile Production Lab, known fondly as “The Truck,” used to produce video and audio coverage from two stages. MTSU students produced a daily video podcast for the University’s True Blue TV channel and social media platforms.

Students in Media Arts and Recording Industry were scheduled to do only two concerts for Hulu. But Bonnaroo and Hulu executives were so impressed by MTSU’s work

that they upped it to 11 concerts from the Other Stage, in addition to 10 recorded performances at the Who Stage.

“I have produced hundreds of live events and can say, without question, that MTSU student production team’s work was topnotch, and the work looked amazing and fit seamlessly into our overall programming,” said Devin DeHaven, executive producer for Bonnaroo/Hulu/Fortress Entertainment. “Their composure in being part of a national broadcast with A-list artists is a testament to their skills and of MTSU’s programs.”

The MTSU Media Arts crew captured 21 concert performances in four days “from two stages that were a mile apart,” said Bob Gordon, an associate professor in Media Arts. “That is a first for us.”

Gordon said he anticipates an even greater role for MTSU students at the 2023 Bonnaroo—and perhaps beyond the event—thanks to the quality of their work.

“We have greatly impressed the pros, with conversations beginning for more exciting projects in the future,” he said. They will be back at Bonnaroo livestreaming for Hulu again before you know it.

by Lily Manyara and Andrew Oppmann

MTSU’s ever-burgeoning Commercial Songwriting program—now sporting rocking new digs—makes a global imprint on music story by Drew Ruble

and photography by Andy Heidt

MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry has consistently been recognized by Billboard magazine (and other nationally renowned professional publications) as one of the best music business schools in the world. A big part of that reputation has been earned by the Commercial Songwriting program within the department. Successful alums include writers with credits on RIAA Platinum-certified works by global artists ranging from South Korean boy band BTS (Sebastian Garcia, aka Rufio Hooks, on “Butter”) and Lady Gaga (Aaron Raitiere on A Star is Born, including single “I’ll Never Love Again”) to Jake Owen (Eric Paslay on title cut “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”) and Evanescence (Amy Lee on Fallen including single “Bring Me to Life”), among many more.

THE UNIVERSITY’S NEW SONGWRITING CENTER . . . PUTS STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST OF PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE.

The Chorus

To claim such a roll call of former students offers solid proof that MTSU is the place to learn the craft of song. It’s one big reason that the University was dubbed a “Grammy-winner factory” as part of an NBC Nightly News report in 2019.

The department’s goal is for students to become grounded in music business knowledge and then professionally launched by innovative programs. The newest of those innovations is the University’s new Songwriting Center, located in the Miller Education Building, that puts students’ knowledge to the test of practice and performance to better prepare them to take a place in the music industry.

Led by Grammy-nominated Associate Professor Odie Blackmon (a professional songwriter who wrote such hit songs as “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” by Lee Ann Womack, “She’ll Leave You with a Smile” by George Strait, and “Nothing On but the Radio” by Gary Allan), the songwriting program at MTSU moved to its new home in 2022.

In the new Songwriting Center, students and faculty work, study, and create in well-equipped, newly renovated and furnished spaces dedicated to the craft. The center features state-of-the-art songwriting classrooms and, with additional funding, hopes to soon feature private writing studios where students can hone their skills and their compositions. At the core of the Songwriting Center is a welcoming area/lounge/ gathering space encouraging collaborative conversation and productive downtime. An atrium can handle live performances for up to 300 people.

The Hook Gold and Platinum record plaques from different alumni line the walls of parts of the center so that when students walk down the hallways, they see people who have come before them who have actually done it.

“They’ll know they’re at the right place and that they can do this if they work hard,” Blackmon said.

The Commercial Songwriting curriculum being taught at the center is rich in music industry history, technical skill-building, and real-world learning opportunities brought to MTSU’s students by experienced faculty, including seasoned guest lecturers and internship experiences.

Through Blackmon’s innovative “Music Row in Murfreesboro” program, students get to work with and learn from scores of professional songwriters and musicians. During the Songwriting Practicum, student songwriters join professionals in recording studios to fine-tune their creations and record them.

A Lyrical Legacy

A generous donation by Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer Sandy Knox created a space in the new MTSU Songwriting Center where students can gather and collaborate on their music. In November, faculty and students celebrated Knox and her gift that made the Sandy Knox Lyric Lounge a reality. “There couldn’t be a more fitting name for this creative and communal space because we have so much to learn from her,” Dean Beverly Keel said.

The Bridge

Importantly, given the program’s proximity to Nashville, the program serves all types of songwriters—not just country music songwriters. All genres and backgrounds are covered. The classes are intimate—there’s only around 12 students in any songwriting class.

Like the aspiring student songwriters, the program’s faculty is also diverse. Among the faculty members who bring real-world experience and insights as well as diversity to MTSU classrooms are Grammy Award winners F. Reid Shippen and Torrance “Street Symphony” Esmond, both MTSU alumni. Other more recent artistic additions to the program’s adjunct faculty include veteran artist Dez Dickerson, guitarist with Prince and the Revolution, who teaches Performance Skills; Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit songwriter Shelly Peiken (“What a Girl Wants” by Christina Aguilera, “I’m a Mess” by Bebe Rexha), who teaches a Pop-Rock Songwriting Workshop; and multiplatinum songwriter and producer Doug DeAngelis, who teaches Songwriting for Film, TV, and Gaming.

The Songwriting Center also was fortunate to recently hire Bess Rogers, a second full-time/tenure-track songwriting professor. Rogers has song placements in Cheerios, Mott’s, and Hershey’s commercials, as well as many films and television shows. She was lead guitarist for hit pop artist

Ingrid Michaelson and played lead guitar in the Broadway musical about the Go-Go’s, Head Over Heels . Rogers additionally served as lead guitarist and singer in the Interscope Records band Secret Someones.

The Outro

Of all the things Blackmon has to be proud about— including the new Songwriting Center—he specifically mentions the diverse faculty as his program’s capstone.

“It mirrors the diversity of our student body,” Blackmon said. “Collaboration of people from different worlds and backgrounds is what makes great music.

“When you come to MTSU, you’re not in a bubble. We have a diverse faculty and student body, and we’re inclusive in nature. We’re open arms, and we welcome all of the different people that come through our doors.”

Now there are even more doors swinging open, thanks to the Songwriter Center.

On Spotify Scan to go to a playlist of songs written, performed, and/or produced by MTSU alumni.

Program director Odie Blackmon in songwriting class

Just yards from where MTSU’s first recording studios opened four decades ago at Haynes House, the new $2 million Studios D and E on East Main Street are preparing Recording Industry students for record-breaking careers. Before the official dedication in late 2021, Grammynominated alumnus BryTavious “Tay Keith” Chambers

Students mix magic in new recording studios

led a sneak peek of the nearly 5,000 square feet of customized, expandable, world-class space, complete with control rooms, equipment rooms, and open gathering/reception area. The studio setup was designed by acclaimed architect Peter Grueneisen.

The 2022 version of The Road Trip Class began like the eight that preceded it: Chaos and uncertainty reigned.

Prior to our arrival on May 16 in Winchester, I promised the editor of the Herald Chronicle, our publishing partner, that before the nine students departed on June 1 a stream of evergreen content would be delivered to his inbox. Christmas would come early for his lean staff.

Enter the aforementioned chaos and uncertainty, two of the best tools in my toolbox of pedagogical motivators.

On Day 1, we had zilch. By Day 3, nine stories were in progress. By Day 6, another half-dozen were in the mix.

On June 1, the story count capped at 22 stories, five still image packages, one podcast, and three videos, including a seven-minute mini-documentary about a 97-year-old World War II veteran (delivered just in time for Memorial Day).

What prompted such a flurry of activity? It’s simple. We weren’t in Room 111 meeting twice a week for an hour and 25 minutes. We were together 24/7, in one house, living as embedded journalists in a town where everyone was a stranger. Over meals (which the students cooked),

storytelling problems were solved. Everyone heard what everyone else was doing, and no one wanted to be the slacker who wasn’t pulling their weight. Double doses of encouragement were dished out along with slices of homemade cheesecake.

Students quickly learned that email wasn’t the best way to reach a subject of a story. In-person persistence worked much better. Georgia Smith aced this lesson. She heard that a beloved hairdresser was retiring after 57 years of cuts and perms. Smith asked to document the woman’s last day of work but was turned down twice. She tried again one day later, and the woman yielded to Smith’s smile. By the end of the hairdresser’s last day, she and Smith shared a tearful hug.

A community learned more about the accomplishments of one of its own; a young journalist learned the importance of telling stories where you find them.

That, along with many 12-hour days, lots of caffeine, multiple editing sessions, and constantly being challenged to do your best, is how The Road Trip Class works.

Margaret Moon of Winchester smiles as friends and family offer birthday wishes. Photo by Georgia Smith

By day a community room, the senior center space turns into a dance hall for boot scooting. Photo by Roselyn Pickens

Journalism class takes trip to tell a community’s stories By Leon Alligood, Associate Professor

Associate Professor Leon Alligood (back left) and his 2022 Journalism road trip class

WWII veteran James Boyd, 97, with dog Reagan nearby, is interviewed by Ethan Pickering. Photo by Leon Alligood

Journalism student Kailee Shores at church documenting the work of ushers and church mothers. Photo by Leon Alligood

Mattie DeBord is interviewed by 2021 class member Darius White about her equestrian success. Photo by Leon Alligood

Student Serena Vasudeva is caught in a contemplative pose while sitting near the Sewanee cross. Photo by Leon Alligood

Ushers and church mothers of Beans Creek Primitive Baptist Church in Huntland line up to greet a young man just baptized. Photo by Kailee Shores

Golden Ticket

Grammys experiences give students industry insights

True Blue returned to the Grammys in full force as MTSU resumed its annual pilgrimage to the music industry’s biggest showcase to celebrate alumni nominees and provide students career-building experiences.

College of Media and Entertainment students Cole Arn, Kevon Cole, Breanna Beahler, Jolie Harper, and Sam Long helped prepare the MGM Grand Conference Center for the 31st annual MusiCares Person of the Year benefit gala honoring Joni Mitchell.

“Getting to go on this trip is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Harper, a senior studying Music Business. “I’m so thankful that MTSU has provided me with the chance to meet industry professionals, see Las Vegas, and have an amazing experience with my peers—all at the same time.”

MTSU secured this year’s student opportunities through the many industry connections of Dean Beverly Keel, Recording Industry Chair John Merchant, and Professor Matthew O’Brian.

“Experiences like these help our students better understand the inner workings of major entertainment events,” Keel said.

COVID-19 concerns in 2021 broke MTSU’s seven-year streak of hosting Grammy site events and lining up student experiences. The pandemic also delayed the 2022 event by three months and moved it out of Los Angeles.

At an MTSU Alumni Association gathering the day before the awards show, the University also recognized nine alumni nominated in categories ranging from country to pop to Latin music to bluegrass to gospel. MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee joined faculty, students, and administrators from the colleges of Media and Entertainment and Liberal Arts for the 64th annual Grammy Awards.

Maria Elisa Ayerbe (’15, M.F.A., Recording Arts and Technologies), nominated as an engineer for best Latin pop album, was singled out at the MTSU event for career achievement. Other former students nominated for engineering were multi-Grammy winner Tony Castle (’95), best traditional pop vocal album and best traditional blues album; Bill Hickey (’06), best pop vocal album; five-time winner F. Reid Shippen; and 2021 winners Jason A. Hall (’00) and Jimmy Mansfield (’14), best country album. Ceylon Wise (’03, Audio Production) and Ashley Brooks Wise (’03, School of Music) were part of a best children’s music album nomination, and producer-songwriter Wayne Haun (’00, School of Music) was up for best roots gospel album.

At a Saturday lunch, students also huddled with three other industry pros for real-world insights: Mike Molinar, head of Big Machine Music and a 2020 College Wall of Fame inductee; B.J. Hill, vice president of Warner Chappell Music in Nashville; and Laura Veltz, recently hailed by an industry publication as “one of our most important songwriters.”

IRISH EYES

On MTSU’s inaugural Video and Film Production and Interactive Media study abroad trip, a trio of faculty members led students through Dublin and Galway to kiss the Blarney Stone, learn how to pour the perfect pint at Guinness, and play Gaelic football and hurling, all while learning traditional Irish folk songs and eating proper fish and chips.

The group, under the guidance of faculty members Frank Barnas, Marie Barnas, and Todd O’Neill, also visited the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands, where the locals still speak Irish. The Interactive Media majors networked and made connections with Irish companies and professionals in their field, and the video/ film students shot footage for promotional videos, watched Irish films, and wrote screenplays based in Ireland. Sláinte!

TOPICS ’N’ TROPICS

Belize Prime Minister John Briceño granted a private audience to the 2022 Recording Industry study abroad group to allow a direct exchange of ideas regarding supporting creativity in the country and improving the infrastructure of Belize’s intellectual property protections for its talent. Recording Industry Professor Deborah Wagnon launched the program in 2014 and continues to travel with Recording Industry students each summer to the Central American nation.

SUMMER IN PARIS

Five students studying abroad in France for two weeks this summer gathered original photos, video, and audio of many of the “off the beaten path” places in Paris.

Along the way, some of their adventures included touring the catacombs, interviewing a Paris Metro busker, shooting a story from an accordion singalong in a quirky restaurant in the 20th arrondissement (district in Paris), and discovering some of the hidden away Parisian speakeasies.

Of course, the entourage also saw many iconic sites in and around Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Montmartre, and Giverny, including taking a boat tour of the Seine River. Several group members got tickets to a French Open match at Roland Garros. School of Journalism and Strategic Media faculty members Christine Eschenfelder and Dan Eschenfelder led the MTSU Signature Study Abroad program.

After returning from abroad, the students put together a website and television special report for Middle Tennessee News called “Off the Beaten Path: Paris.”

The special, featuring stories and on-camera work shot on location in France, is part of a recurring series aimed at developing students’ skills in the field and in storytelling.

MTSU students help Wynonna and friends’ concert come alive

For the second time in just over 30 years, MTSU made history by hosting an emotional event to spotlight The Judds’ musical career, but this time students from the College of Media and Entertainment worked side by side with industry professionals to make the star-studded show happen.

In tribute to her late mother, Naomi, headliner Wynonna Judd re-created the act’s 1991 farewell concert at MTSU’s Murphy Center with the filming last fall of “The Judds: Love is Alive The Final Concert” for a TV special airing this March. Wynonna’s musical friends and current tourmates Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, and Martina McBride also performed.

Over 50 student workers and more than 20 alumni behind the scenes were involved in the production. “Opportunities like this teach our students so much from emotional intelligence of how to react to people, how to handle problems, how to communicate effectively to literal hands-on experience,” said Dean Beverly Keel, who was key to making the event happen on campus.

A team of 21 Media Arts students worked from the University’s Mobile Productions Lab, a 40-foot rolling studio with a high-definition control room and seven cameras, to livestream student-fronted red carpet coverage aired across multiple platforms including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire. Sixteen more students worked as paid production assistants for CMT, one of the producers.

In front of the camera, MTSU’s student-produced Middle Tennessee outlet supplied the talent who interviewed country music icons. More Journalism students covered the event for student-run Sidelines and WMTS radio.

The concert helped the University kick off the yearlong 50th anniversary celebration of Murphy Center, once the Midstate’s go-to concert venue and poised to become an attractive entertainment arena again after $6 million in renovations.

Photos by Cat Curtis Murphy and James Cessna

MTSU Esports has become one of the largest student clubs on campus, with more than 1,000 members on Discord, an online communications platform.

Although it’s still currently a rec-level organization, the club fields multiple teams that compete outside the university framework. They hold annual tryouts; practice regularly; watch games together (the way traditional sports teams watch film); and participate in scrimmages and tournaments with teams from other universities. Recent developments have MTSU Esports primed to make a big leap and become the University’s next varsity sport competing nationally through an NCAA-like framework.

It’s timely, given not just Generation Z’s fanaticism for gaming but also gaming’s rising role in academics.

Making the Connections

Experts say collegiate esports have become a useful tool in attracting the best and brightest students to campus, as well as meeting the growing need for talented graduates in the esports industry.

Victoria Horsley, marketing manager for the National Association of Collegiate eSports (gaming’s closest equivalent to the NCAA), says varsity applicants at NACE schools have an average ACT score of 30 and skew heavily toward science, technology, engineering, and math.

“These are very objective-based, quick-thinking people, which is where you get the STEM majors for the most part,” she said. “So [their skills are] very applicable to the real world when they graduate.”

That’s music to the ears of MTSU administrators, who are increasingly putting their support and budgetary dollars behind the esports/academics connection.

Esports isn’t just a recruitment tool, however. It’s also proven to be a deft strategy for retention and engagement of students once they arrive on campus, something researchers have pinpointed as a key to student success. That’s because, among students attending colleges and universities today, sports and gaming are a big part of the culture.

Perhaps that was never more true than during the COVID-19 outbreak. Richard Lewis, Animation professor in the College of Media and Entertainment and faculty advisor to the esports club, said that esports remained “something that students could still do” during the pandemic and that getting on Discord and being able to communicate while gaming “really helped students feel connected with each other.”

Lewis added that “there were students who were saying to me, ‘You know, that’s what got me through.’ ”

He said students who formed those connections and relationships have remained connected through esports at MTSU.

Campus-based esports programs also serve a workforce development purpose.

According to Statistica.com, the esports market “has boomed in recent years with more and more viewers tuning in to watch their favorite games being played by some of the best gamers in the world.”

By 2025, Statistica predicts, there will be more than 318 million esports enthusiasts worldwide, up from 215.2 million in 2020. Additionally, some 322.7 million people are forecast to be occasional viewers of esports by 2025, Statistica says.

Last, Statistica estimated the global esports industry value at just over $1.38 billion in 2022 and forecast it to grow to as much as $1.87 billion by 2025.

Lewis said jobs in the esports industry connected to media and entertainment fields—from broadcasting, video and event production, and traditional media to game development— make MTSU’s investment in esports a savvy one.

A Physical Space for a Virtual World

To date, the MTSU Esports club has competed against other schools as a club sport, but it is not yet a full varsity team meeting the requirements of NACE. That would require paying an annual membership fee, creating dedicated facilities on campus, and hiring a qualified coach or university official to run the program and actively recruit outstanding gamers.

Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel donated the startup fee and is cultivating a sponsor for the esports program. Keel also persuaded MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee to provide needed space for the program in the Miller Education Building on Bell Street just off the main campus. That space is being renovated now. As such, the esports program is closer than ever to joining NACE and becoming a varsity sport at MTSU.

The retrofitted space might best be described as a sort of computer lab on steroids. The space will include a stage with large screens allowing two or more teams to compete in front of an audience. Space must also be allotted so competitions can be filmed, broadcast, and/or streamed. More funding is needed to complete the project.

In the interim, MTSU’s esports club team has taken up temporary residence in a computer lab in the Telecommunications Building generously provided by the University’s Information Technology Division. Prior to securing this space, student gamers had been competing on their own computers at home—not together in the same space.

JOBS IN THE ESPORTS INDUSTRY CONNECTED TO MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT FIELDS

Legend in the Making

Zak Sohrabi, a Physics and Math major from Franklin, is an aspiring video game champion who takes his gaming very seriously.

A regional qualifier for the Red Bull Solo Q National Tournament in November 2022, Sohrabi is also vice president of the MTSU Esports club.

Sohrabi qualified in August when he defeated 70 competitors from Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana to reach the finals.

The League of Legends game requires the players to traverse a virtual territory called Summoner’s Rift, which includes three different paths the players can take to find and destroy the opponent.

Sohrabi said the one-on-one format is uniquely challenging compared to the usual team format.

“That’s been one of the big, big issues,” Lewis said. “They don’t get that sort of interaction in the same space to compete in that way. So I think it’ll change things for the better. It should really take things to the next level.”

The More Things Change . . .

Even after the varsity esports team launches, the club will continue as a rec sport for recreational players, or aspirants to the varsity team.

“It’s just bringing together the gaming community, which these days is everyone,” Lewis said. “We have a lot of students who like to play video games. They know they can’t compete at the varsity level, but they’re still really interested in playing, so we will continue making it available for that.”

Anyone still doubting the popularity of esports or their ability to attract and retain students (and serve as a career path) need only look at a few of the esports events held last spring at MTSU’s Rec Center.

One event in the gym drew more than 100 people—many of them high school students.

“It’s also a great recruiting tool,” Lewis said. “We had students coming from schools in Alabama and Georgia. It was possibly the biggest event held in the Rec Center since COVID happened. And another one brought in 75 competitors from across Tennessee.”

Clearly, at MTSU, video games are part of the academic experience.

“That allows for a lot of strategies to be used in the game because you’re not playing it the traditional way,” Sohrabi said. “Preparing for that can definitely be really difficult, because you can be kind of surprised by what some people can come up with in the format.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CLUB: facebook.com/mtsugaming

. . . MAKE MTSU’S INVESTMENT IN ESPORTS A SAVVY ONE.

What You Can Do

What would you do if Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning ABC News co-anchor, host, and correspondent John Quiñones was your professor for an hour?

A group of MTSU Journalism students jumped at the learning opportunity recently, peppering the host of ABC’s What Would You Do? hidden-camera TV series with questions about his journey from a migrant farm-working family to his 30-plus years at ABC and his work to ensure fairness and accuracy in reporting.

“Tell the truth. Make sure that the stories you write aren’t your opinion, that they’re not commentary, that you’re not letting that seep into the story,” Quiñones said, “because I think what kills us as reporters is when we lose our credibility.

“If people believe you as a reporter telling the truth, you’ll have a better shot at educating them and bringing the news to them.”

Exposing the Truth

A San Antonio native, Quiñones has earned his credibility by reporting on stories that he understands intimately. He spoke only Spanish until he started first grade, but his parents’ insistence on the value of education helped him overcome the language barrier and thrive. When his father

lost his job, then-13-year-old Quiñones and his family hit the road, traveling to Michigan and Ohio with other migrant workers to pick cherries and tomatoes.

After thwarting his teachers’ unfairly low expectations, working with the Upward Bound program and earning a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from St. Mary’s University and later a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Quiñones, who had started his career at a Houston radio station, began working in TV in Chicago.

For one assignment, he went back home to Texas to tell the story of immigrants risking their lives to work in the United States. Hidden cameras recorded him literally swimming across the Rio Grande from Mexico, and then finding jobs where he and his co-workers were mistreated and abused.

He won the first of his seven Emmy Awards for the story.

“We exposed the wrongdoing,” Quiñones told the MTSU students. “The owner of the restaurant where I worked had seven Mexican workers working for him as dishwashers and cooks, and he had not paid them in 17 weeks. And every time they complained, he would say, ’Hey, guys, you get to sleep. You’re in the basement. You get to eat all the food you want. You keep complaining, I’ll call immigration and have you deported.’ And that still happens in this country.”

ABC anchor and host Quiñones talks journalism and credibility by Gina E. Fann

Community Journalism

Quiñones’ Emmy-winning work played a role in landing his first ABC job covering Central America in 1982, as did his ability to speak Spanish. After the murder of an American correspondent by Nicaraguan soldiers, networks had realized that reporters should speak the language of the country they were covering.

His continuing success led to the co-anchor desk on ABC’s Primetime; reporting for 20/20, ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America; and what became a 16-year role as host of What Would You Do? He won a 1999 George Foster Peabody Award as part of the ABC News team that created ABC 2000, the 23-hours-plus coverage of the new millennium celebrations worldwide.

Pulitzer finalist discusses WSJ’s Tulsa Race Massacre project

Even with the hidden cameras and public settings of What Would You Do?, where actors play scenes of conflict and illegal behavior and unaware passersby become involved, Quiñones works to ensure people are presented fairly.

“We want their permission to include them. If someone says something racist or ugly, . . . we don’t want to be that show that causes you to lose your job because we caught you on hidden camera at a bar and maybe you had a few drinks and you said something and I’m going to put it on my show because it was great reaction,” he said.

Quiñones, who also is an author, was the keynote speaker for the Tennessee Board of Regents “We All Rise” Biennial Conference on Equity and Completion just before his MTSU visit and wanted to talk with journalism students while he was nearby.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for our students and faculty to hear from John Quiñones,” said Greg Pitts, director of MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media. “He reminded them of the positive impact that comes from community journalism and that there remains an important opportunity for students to become contributors to their communities as journalists.”

Journalist Charity Scott spoke to students last November about the Wall Street Journal ’s special project she led on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma. The project was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in the Explanatory category. WSJ reporters examined how the 1921 orchestrated attack by armed white mobs on Greenwood burned and destroyed the thriving Black neighborhood and business district, wiping out the generational wealth of families.

“IF PEOPLE BELIEVE YOU AS A REPORTER TELLING THE TRUTH, YOU’LL HAVE A BETTER SHOT AT EDUCATING THEM AND BRINGING THE NEWS TO THEM.”

REASONSTOBRAGG

Inside the walls of the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, students passing to and fro might just include a shooting star (or two) already making waves on the international music scene

As MTSU students headed back to school this fall, there were a few in the College of Media and Entertainment who had to divide their time between going to classes and activities like going on stage at the Opry or spending time in the studio with rapper Drake. Meanwhile, a recent Media and Entertainment graduate was beginning to use her newfound international fame to fashion a music career with staying power.

With music mecca Nashville a short drive up the highway, and with MTSU’s entrenched reputation as one of the best music business schools in the nation, it’s not all that unusual to have students enrolled in the college who are either already established professionally in the world of entertainment or on the cusp of stardom or professional success. That said, the three students (or former students) profiled here are especially conspicuous in that way, “moonlighting” as some of music’s hottest up-and-coming artists, writers, and producers.

HunterGirl flies high as American Idol runner-up

Before she punched her ticket to Hollywood, American Idol Season 20 runner-up HunterGirl left home and traveled up the road to hone her craft in MTSU’s acclaimed Recording Industry program.

The alumna, Hunter Wolkonowski (’20), a 23-year-old singer-songwriter from Winchester, made a return trip to her native Franklin County in advance of the May 2022 season finale, where she debuted her original song, “Red Bird.”

Wearing a metallic red dress and playing guitar on the show’s finale, she evoked tears, cheers, and a standing ovation from the studio audience, her family, and superstar judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan.

“You’re not a star, you’re a supernova. . . . American Idol ends tonight, but your career is gonna be forever,” Perry said. “You have your wings.”

At her hometown visit, some 500 fans endured the hot sun in front of the Oldham Theatre on Winchester’s public square as HunterGirl basked in the love and support of her fellow Franklin Countians.

MTSU’s Beverly Keel, dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, and Odie Blackmon, hit songwriter and coordinator of the Commercial Songwriting program, presented HunterGirl with an honorary professorship from her alma mater.

“As you inspire millions of young men and women across America, you remind us that the voices of small-town America are vital to this country,” Keel said. “You’re teaching us to listen to our hearts, stay true to who we are, and celebrate our uniqueness.”

Earning her degree with a Music Business concentration, HunterGirl took a songwriting class from Blackmon in 2019. He praised her humility and her authenticity.

“YOU’RE TEACHING US TO LISTEN TO OUR HEARTS, STAY TRUE TO WHO WE ARE, AND CELEBRATE OUR UNIQUENESS.”

“I found her voice to be unique, and then Hunter distinguished herself by being a very generous co-writer and fellow student,” Blackmon said. “She came [to MTSU] to work on her craft and her skills, but she knew who she was.”

Blackmon also praised HunterGirl for continuing to work with military veterans, using her music as therapy. She participated in MTSU’s Operation Song project as a student, and as a staff writer for Freedom Sings’ Chattanooga offices, she founded that organization’s all-female veterans songwriting class.

HunterGirl entered the American Idol grand finale in the top three before advancing into the final two with eventual winner Noah Thompson. “Thanks for believing in me,” she said on the finale, later adding, “I think I’ve grown more this year than I ever have in my entire life.”

HunterGirl co-wrote “Red Bird” with friends Austin Goodloe and Matt McKinney after a red bird—a sign since she was little—flew past her window while she was driving to her parents’ house on the evening of the first episode.

She must have closed her eyes and made a wish.

—by Gina E. Fann and Carol Stuart

Rising junior balances rocketing hip-hop career with homework

Rising-star hip-hop producer Kevin Davis Jr., known professionally as KJ Let the Beat Knock, grew up along the banks of the Loosahatchie River in the agricultural flats of west Tennessee.

In fact, the Loosahatchie bisects his hometown of Somerville on its way to joining the Mississippi River not far from the FedEx Forum, where last year the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team won its franchise-first division championship.

Even when Davis isn’t seated courtside, the 20-year-old rising junior’s presence can be felt. After all, Davis produced the fan-favorite raucous hype music that pumps up the crowd and players alike prior to tipoff.

For the 2022 NBA Playoffs, Davis produced Memphis rapper Big30’s song “King of My Projects” at the request of the Grizzlies’ front office.

“Hearing my work get played at a Grizzlies game was actually a big moment for me,” Davis said. “My hometown was shocked when they heard the anthem being played during the NBA playoffs. To be honest, it was one of those moments that reminded me I’ve got to keep going and never be complacent.”

Davis, who also goes by DJ KJ, began his musical career at the tender age of 3 in church, where he played the drums. By the ninth grade, he added another percussion instrument to his repertoire: piano. He was simultaneously honing his producing skills by making beats for artists within his community. His work caught the ear of Marcus Howell, who signed him as a producer to NLess Entertainment while Davis was still a senior in high school. Davis is managed by Kadeem Phillips through Power Management.

These successes quickly led Davis to working with some of the world’s most recognized talents within the rap genre, including Drake, Moneybagg Yo, and Offset.

And, for good measure, Davis hinted he may or may not be heading into a project with another hip-hop megastar.

“We got stuff in the mix,” Davis said. “But you never know about those rich guys. But I’m praying!”

Davis credits his stepfather, Steven Harwell, for instilling him with a strong work ethic.

“He is the reason I go so hard at what I do. He once told me I’ve got to get off the couch. He said I need to go do something. Then my granddad helped me make a studio out of a shed in his backyard. I was cutting everybody on the football and basketball teams. I [produced] probably 30 people for free. Then I got really good and began working professionally. They still call me [to produce them]. But I have to say no.”

Last fall, Davis’ reputation—and career—shot off like a rocket with production credits on Big30’s King of Killbranch mixtape (Interscope Records), which reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hip Hop/Rap chart. He also produced songs on albums by other artists that also charted in the Top 20.

Despite firmly establishing himself as an in-demand talent, Davis knew he wanted a well-rounded educational experience. After a COVID-hampered stint attending the Nashville campus of the SAE Institute, he enrolled at MTSU. Davis had heard good things about its heralded Recording Industry program.

“HEARING MY WORK GET PLAYED AT A GRIZZLIES GAME WAS ACTUALLY A BIG MOMENT FOR ME.”

“My sister had just graduated [from MTSU] with a degree in Psychology,” he said. “So, I talked with my parents and [MTSU alumnus and Grammy-nominated producer] Tay Keith, too. He helped guide me.”

The rising junior plans to enter the Recording Industry program once he’s cleared his core curriculum work.

“It’s a very competitive major, and you’ve got to make certain grades in certain classes. I’m still not in it. [Dean] Beverly Keel makes sure that I’m staying focused and balancing the music and the education at the same time.”

—by Skip Anderson

Junior Jaelee Roberts juggles her surging career with studies

Junior Commercial Songwriting major Jaelee Roberts knew her childhood had elements that were unconventional. But she wouldn’t fully appreciate them until she embarked upon a career in music as a teenager.

Roberts’ parents are well-known Music Row insiders. Her father, Danny, is a founding member of the Grammynominated bluegrass band the Grascals, and her mother, Andrea, is an influential booking agent and manager. Like her husband, she too is an accomplished musician.

“My mom is a really, really good bass player,” Roberts said. “My mom had a successful band before I was born called Petticoat Junction. Plus, she was the only woman to fill in with Bill Monroe and perform with the Bluegrass Boys at the Grand Ole Opry.”

This, naturally, afforded Roberts an informed look at the music industry from the inside out.

“Being a singer-songwriter is what I’ve always wanted to be. And growing up seeing my dad and mom do exactly what I want to do helped shape me,” Roberts said. “Charlie Daniels gave me one of his fiddle bows when I ran into him backstage. And later that night, I was walking down the hallway with the bow, and I see Wynonna [Judd]. She bent down and high-fived me and said, ‘Girl power! Never stop what you’re doing.’ ”

Another time, Hank Williams Jr. gave her the alligator-tooth necklace off his neck.

“I still have it,” she said. “It’s up in my room as decoration.”

Throughout her childhood, this multi-instrumentalist played in fiddle contests and performed in clogging exhibitions. But her dreams of being a flautist were deflated before she played her first note.

“I got to middle school, and I wanted to play the flute. Flutes use the same musical notes as the fiddle,” she said, explaining part of her attraction to the woodwind.

“My teacher rejected me, saying my jaw wasn’t right. I play several instruments, but I definitely don’t play the flute. Those dreams were crushed.”

Roberts splits her time between being a student at MTSU and performing with the Grammy-nominated, all-female bluegrass band Sister Sadie as a guitarist and vocalist.

Roberts singles out two faculty members who have been particularly supportive and helpful to her career: Beverly Keel, dean of MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, and Odie Blackmon, an associate professor within MTSU’s celebrated Recording Industry program.

“A lot of my professors have been amazing, but Beverly Keel has been so extremely helpful to me and encouraging all around,” she said. “Another is Odie Blackmon. He has opened the door for me for so many opportunities, such as getting to sing background vocals live on the CMT Artists of the Year special last fall. That was just the coolest experience. Odie really believes in me. He shows me that so much. Both Odie and Beverly have been huge for my career and showing me how to do it. I couldn’t be more thankful for those two people and MTSU.”

—by Skip Anderson

The band, which released its first album in 2019, won the prestigious Entertainer of the Year in 2020 and Vocal Group of the Year in 2021 from the International Bluegrass Music Association. As an individual, Roberts captured the Momentum Vocalist of the Year award, and frequently plays in what is inarguably one of country music’s most-revered touchstones.

“I just can’t put into words how great it is to get to play the Grand Ole Opry regularly,” the Murfreesboro native said.

Roberts is carving out a solo career. In May, she released her debut album, Something You Didn’t Count On which is a shining collection of original songs, masterful musicianship, and bluegrass reinterpretations of songs by Gram Parsons and Fleetwood Mac.

“I’m a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, and I knew I wanted to cover ‘Landslide,’ ” Roberts said. “I also knew I wanted a harmony on it. My dream was to get Vince Gill to sing with me on it, and my producer made it happen. They sent me a rough mix of the song as I was leaving the Walmart parking lot, and I just started crying. I mean, Vince Gill is singing with me!”

Considering the professional accomplishments and accolades, it’s easy to forget Roberts is only 21. And it’s easy to wonder how she fits it all in while being a college student.

“I want to be well-versed in the music business, and MTSU has this amazing songwriting program,” she said. “In short, I need a degree. Education is everything—it’s extremely important to me.”

“I WANT TO BE WELL-VERSED IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS, AND MTSU HAS THIS AMAZING SONGWRITING PROGRAM.”

THE LEADING

News about happenings in MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment THE

Digital Literacy Campers

They’re the TikTok generation, eagerly capturing their every moment on video and sharing the results with the world. Those results can be as life-changing as the 17-year-old bystander’s cellphone video that helped convict George Floyd’s killer or a high school freshman’s racist Snapchat remark that a classmate made viral four years later, canceling her college plans.

Jennifer Woodard and Ken Blake, faculty in MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media, want to help the tweens and teens using TikTok better understand the power, pro and con, of digital media. Using funds from a Tennessee Board of Regents Student Engagement, Retention, and Success Grant, the two professors teamed up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County to bring 40 local middle school students to campus to learn the importance of responsible social media usage and digital literacy.

In the inaugural pair of weeklong programs called “Come to Voice,” the students wrote, filmed, edited, and premiered their own documentaries; worked with a green screen; checked out podcasting; learned about drone filming; completed an interactive campus

scavenger hunt; and focused on social media safety with the help of Woodard and Blake.

“Responsible social media usage and digital literacy for tweens and teens is often touted by educators and politicians as a must-have part of their education,” Woodard said. “ ‘Digital literacy’ means having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly reliant on digital communication technologies.

“At a certain point MTSU should give back to the communities who are around us. Ken and I were talking about how we can give back, and we said, ‘We’re good at media, so let’s give that to the community.’ ”

Being aware of the content of their social media, like the scripted documentaries they filmed together, makes the younger students more aware that they can—and should—control what the world sees and hears about them, Woodard said.

“Social media’s forever, and they need to understand that,” she said.

— Gina E. Fann

LEADING EDGE

Service and Songs

Commercial Songwriting student Paul Mathews and award-winning Nashville songwriter Adam Hood helped MTSU student Stefanie Marvin-Miller write “Woman’s Best Friend,” a song about her service dog, at one of the recent Operation Song projects on campus.

Leland, a 5-year-old Labrador retriever, has been by Marvin-Miller’s side since summer 2018, helping her manage the severe post-traumatic stress disorder she lives with after she was sexually assaulted and survived a traumatic brain injury in 2016 while in the Army National Guard.

“Getting to hang out with Adam was awesome, but meeting another MTSU student, who I can see on campus and who I’m actually going to get to see graduate at the same time as me next spring, is amazing,” said Marvin-Miller, an Industrial/Organizational Psychology major. “To work on the song and sit in that room for most of the day was an amazing process, and I can’t thank Operation Song enough.”

The daylong Operation Song events, which returned in 2021 and 2022 after the pandemic-related cancellation in 2020, team up trios of military veterans, students, and professional songwriters to create healing music for the veterans and training for the students.

— Gina E. Fann

Messaging about Masculinity

Media Arts student Kinsey McBride is producing a podcast for author and Amend Together executive director Shan Foster (pictured), focusing on toxic masculinity and how to improve the lives of young men. Foster, who runs the YWCA’s Amend Together program, spoke to men and women, including studentathletes, in separate events at MTSU as part of Sexual Responsibility and Consent Week in 2020. Making appearances around the country, Foster has tried to encourage men to become more engaged on the topic of gender issues, such as women’s rights.

THE LEADING

Legendary Talks

Dean Beverly Keel hosted a conversation with legendary performers Smokey Robinson and Alice Cooper at the fall 2021 International Entertainment Buyers Association conference in Nashville.

They Do Know Jack

Mike Forbes’ Video Display Technology class supplied the video wall and operated it for the Jack Harlow concert at Murphy Center in April. They were the only class on campus that worked the show, with the students entrusted by the management of the artist to execute the show for the 7,000 people in attendance. This project is a longstanding partnership between Media Arts and Student Programming and Raider Entertainment (SPARE). With a No. 1 hit at the time, Harlow had also just appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Scan to read concert review from Sidelines student news outlet.

LEADING EDGE

Famous Adventures for Web Series

After five years in production and post, Media Arts Associate Professor Allie Sultan ’s web series Incognita’s Infamous Adventures premiered at the 2021 Orlando Film Festival. The production won Best Web Series at the festival and also was nominated for Best Visual Effects.

The project, available on Amazon Prime, was a massive collaboration between faculty and students in Media Arts, Recording Industry, and Journalism at MTSU, as well as students/faculty from Austin Peay State, Belmont, and Lipscomb universities.

In January 2022, the film’s screening sold out at Lipscomb’s Shamblin Theater, where the cast performed songs live along with the film.

In May, Sultan and crew flew to Los Angeles for Stareable Fest, the leading film festival for independent web series creators, where the show was nominated as Best Fantasy Series. The cast then traveled to New York City to perform a live vocal performance/film screening at the Triad Theater on the Upper West Side.

In June, the program hosted a booth at Nashville’s inaugural Comicon, where Sultan and the cast enjoyed a meet-and-greet with fans. Season 2 is in the works—Sultan says they’ve already begun crowdfunding.

Making Connections in the Middle East

John Merchant, Recording Industry chair, flew to Saudi Arabia in March and met with Haifa Jamal Al Lail, president of Effat University in Jeddah, to discuss ways for MTSU to partner and develop media programs between the two schools. Thanks to these efforts, MTSU is now on the list of recommended schools as Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture is sponsoring 350 media students to come to the U.S. to study music and film production.

In May, Merchant returned to Saudi Arabia and talked with faculty and administrators at Effat University, a women’s university that houses the country’s first Cinema Arts degree program. Working with Robert Summers, MTSU’s vice provost for international affairs, Merchant signed an agreement to explore ways to help develop Effat’s media programs. At Effat’s spring student film festival event, MTSU was listed as one of Effat’s supporting institutions, along with New York University–Tisch and the University of Southern California.

THE LEADING

Faculty Fulbright Fellowship in India

Sanjay Asthana, a Journalism professor, earned a Fulbright fellowship for a summer project in India, where he promoted MTSU and the College of Media and Entertainment programs during his activities. As part of his work, Asthana conducted advanced theory and research workshops for Ph.D. students, while also planning out his research on climate change mitigation for journal articles and a book in the next year. He conducted initial fieldwork interviews in the slums in Telangana as part of a larger comparative study (India and the U.S.) about media-making by working-class youth on environmental issues.

“It involved substantial travel to different locations for the interviews with working-class communities, especially young mothers and youth—one aspect of my study pertains to fetal and maternal health,” he said.

During the hottest month of May, the temps typically “hover around 107–108 for several days, and the real feel would be around 110-plus. The Department of State informed Fulbright researchers in India not to venture out in the sun for long periods of time, especially from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

Additionally, he interviewed officials from state institutions, governmental agencies, private corporations, and public organizations engaged in tackling climate change issues through policies and programs. Part of the Fulbright program involves promoting and building mutual understanding between people and cultures, and he made presentations on free speech and press freedom and on geography, media, and the environment.

Making the Virtual a Reality

Rodrigo Gomez , an Animation associate professor, gave a presentation at VR Night at Walker Library’s Makerspace. MTSU was named among the Best Maker Schools in Higher Education by Newsweek for its tools, technology, and resources.

LEADING EDGE

Fine Design for Wine and Crafts

Both Sides of the Pond

The Media Arts and Recording Industry departments collaborated with the University of Salford in Manchester, England, to create the TransAtlantic Sessions, a live student-produced/crewed concert broadcast live on True Blue TV, MT10, and eight social media platforms in the U.S. and in Britain. The 60-minute live special was produced by Bob Gordon’s two advanced production classes and Michael Fleming’s Broadcast Audio class.

The intercontinental concert went on to win a slew of awards, including a Silver 2022 Telly (online category), a Platinum Remi Award (entertainment category) from the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence from the 2022 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts. The show was later accepted by peer review to screen at the 2022 University Film and Video Association Conference in July.

Professor Leslie Haines designed over 50 pieces to promote the Nashville Wine Auction, which raises money for eight different cancer-related organizations. The event sold out earlier than ever before, and the L’Eté du Vin main event in October 2021 raised $2 million—much higher than the goal of $1.2 million. Haines’ design work covered everything from the invitations and magazine ads to digital ads, signage, and menus.

In another major design project, Haines produced exhibition graphics for the Best of Tennessee Craft 2021 Biennial show for the Tennessee State Museum. Working closely with the museum exhibition team, Haines designed the main title wall with 3D type and plexiglass insets, the show logo, the color palette used throughout the exhibition, and all 75 labels. Her design was used on the website, merchandise, and signage, as well.

King of Commentary

Comedian, actor, and radio host D.L. Hughley delivered his unique social commentary on American politics and culture as MTSU’s Black History Month keynote speaker, co-sponsored by the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. MTSU alumna Jasmine Sanders co-hosts his nationally syndicated radio show.

THE LEADING

Claim to Wall of Fame

The College of Media and Entertainment honored three alumni at the annual Wall of Fame induction ceremony in April.

• Don Aaron, a Journalism graduate, has been the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s associate administrator/public affairs director for the past 30 years.

• Tamara Reynolds, the Department of Media Arts honoree, is a world-renowned documentary photographer whose work has been published by The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, and Oxford American, among others.

• Ashley Ernst, the Department of Recording Industry recipient, is senior manager of governance in the Recording Academy’s Membership and Industry Relations department. Among other college honors handed out, Assistant Professor Keonte Coleman received the School of Journalism and Strategic Media’s Ed Kimbrell Excellence in Journalism Teaching Award.

Protecting Freedom of Speech

The Free Speech Center has launched the First Amendment Press—the first academic press in MTSU’s history—leading to the publication of insightful new books about First Amendment freedoms by MTSU Honors Dean John R. Vile, an internationally recognized constitutional expert, and Belmont Law Professor David Hudson (The Bill of Rights: The First Ten Amendments). Additionally, the center’s newest initiative in First Amendment education, Lessons in Liberty, features an unprecedented aggregation of online teaching materials for teachers from primary school through college. The center also honored Felix Cavaliere, a founding member of the legendary rock band The Rascals (“People Got to Be Free”), with its inaugural Free Speech in Music award in partnership with the Center for Popular Music and the College of Media and Entertainment. Former CME dean Ken Paulson is director of the Free Speech Center.

Fearless Pioneer Feted

MTSU’s Center for Popular Music (CPM) honored anti-establishment artist Lydia Lunch as the first woman and third legend to receive the CPM Fellows Award, recognizing her unique contributions to art and society with a two-day celebration in September. Lunch, a singer, poet, writer, actor, and self-empowerment speaker in the world of post-punk experimental music and art, joined Barry Gibb and Lamont Dozier in the small circle of music pioneers named CPM Fellows.

Tamara Reynolds

Don Aaron

Ashley Ernst

LEADING EDGE

Eight Straight

Roots on the Rivers

WMOT 89.5-FM held it first single-day festival, Roots on the Rivers, at Two Rivers Mansion, a Civil War-era estate between the Stones and Cumberland rivers in Nashville. The late August event featured Americana artists Maggie Rose, Lera Lynn, 49 Winchester, and Mike Farris, among others. “This is a new, intimate celebration of American roots music and all the things that WMOT stands for,” said Val Hoeppner, the station’s executive director. “It’s a big lawn party with cool vendors and great artists. All of it aligns with what we’re about, a strong, close-knit community.”

Ticket sales supported WMOT programming, while mini-fest partner Cumberland River Root Nashville aims to plant 500,000 trees across Davidson County by 2050.

MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry—and the College of Media and Entertainment that houses it—are marking an eighth consecutive year on Billboard magazine’s latest international list of top music business schools, once again earning acclaim for the program’s diversity, depth, and longevity. According to the industry publication, “opportunities abound” for students’ professional development at MTSU, thanks to participation in events such as Bonnaroo and the CMA Music Festival; the presence of an active on-campus music venue, the Chris Young Café; and the student-run record label, Match Records. MTSU has been on Billboard ’s best music business schools lists since 2013, receiving recognition that first year for the recording industry program’s entrepreneurial turn. The magazine has published seven such lists since then, skipping a 2015 compilation as well as one in 2021 due to the pandemic. MTSU appears on the 2022 list alongside long-recognized programs at Berklee College of Music, New York University, and the University of California–Los Angeles.

Singing Praise for Thesis

Martrell Harris was named outstanding master’s student this year for the Media and Communication M.S. program after writing his thesis, “Praising on the Net: A Study of Hillsong, Elevation Worship, and Bethel Music’s Social Media Content and Comments.” Matthew Taylor, assistant professor in Journalism and Strategic Media, was his thesis advisor. Harris, a Music Business alum, is now director of marketing and communications for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee.

Pulitzer Talk

Author and novelist Mitchell Jackson gave insights into murder victim Ahmaud Arbery’s life, as well as his own as a creative writer, at MTSU’s Pulitzer Prize Lecture Series, sponsored by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, College of Media and Entertainment, and Free Speech Center. Jackson’s Pulitzer-winning feature appeared in Runner’s World

CMT Tour of Campus

The new CMT Stages digital series filmed alumnus Chris Young performing in MTSU’s Chris Young Café and being interviewed in Bragg Media and Entertainment Building’s Studio B in June 2022. In the episode, he reflected on his childhood, relationship with music, run on Nashville Star, and near-fatal leg infection that required emergency surgery in 2013.

THE LEADING

Mastership Remastering

Spring Fed Records, a Grammy-winning record label that forms part of the college’s Center for Popular Music, has released Stole from the Throat of a Bird: The Complete Recordings of Ed and Ella Haley. This seven-CD box set is the product of more than six years of painstaking work to restore, remaster, and present home recordings made in 1946 and ’47 by the Haley family. Ed Haley’s reputation and influence as one of the greatest old-time fiddlers in Appalachia belies the fact that he never made any commercial recordings. These home recordings had only limited availability until now, and in versions with very poor sound quality. Now, after 75 years, the expert staff of the Center for Popular Music brought these historically vital artifacts to life once again.

Working with Ed and Ella’s grandson Steve Haley, Spring Fed Records Manager John Fabke, Center Director Greg Reish, and Center Audio Manager Martin Fisher undertook a careful restoration of these one-of-a-kind recordings made in the Haleys’ home in Ashland, Kentucky, on lacquer-coated 78 rpm discs. Fisher meticulously cleaned each disc and transferred them from analog to digital before remastering the audio with cutting-edge digital tools. Fabke, Reish, and Haley put together a 105-page booklet with extensive liner notes to contextualize the music.

Photo Finish

Photography students Josh Blake, Stephen Elston, Josh Mart, Kyle Neach, and Valkyrie Rutledge displayed their senior capstone projects in a Baldwin Photography Gallery exhibit last April.

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Distinguished Honor

Known by the rap moniker “Street Symphony,” under which he won Grammy (twice), Dove, and Stellar awards, producersongwriter Torrance Esmond (’03) introduces himself lately by his birth name, and as the founder of Track or Die, a production and music publishing company. Esmond, who earned MTSU’s 2021–22 Distinguished Alumni Award, has created a scholarship, and is an adjunct faculty member who teaches Hip-Hop/R&B Songwriting in the Recording Industry program, where he earned his degree. “It was a scholarship that helped me get through college,” he said. “I thought it would be a great way to give back to the university that gave to me.”

mtsunews.com/charting-success

Pet Project for Student Stress

Love on a Leash pet therapy program has partnered with the CME Mental Health Committee to connect stressed-out students with unconditionally loving furry friends. In recent semesters, including this spring and fall, the volunteer organization has visited the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building on a scheduled day every month. Especially in the tumultuous time before finals, students may find that the opportunity to connect with these animals is just the reprieve they’re seeking. The Nashville chapter, which mostly boasts dogs of varying breeds, also visits nursing homes, hospitals, schools, small businesses, libraries, and even individuals who need a little brightness in their day.

mtsunews.com/love-on-a-leash-pet-therapy-program-helpsbrighten-students-day/

ACM Hats Off to Alumni

The 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards show saw plenty of representation for MTSU. Michael Knox (’91, Recording Industry) won a hat trophy for producing the ACM single of the year (“If I Didn’t Love You,” Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood). Michael Hardy (’13, Commercial Songwriting), known as Hardy professionally, was named ACM songwriter of the year and nominated for best new artist. Former students performing included Chris Young, the top nominee with seven nods, and Mitchell Tenpenny (’12, Commercial Songwriting); Brittney Spencer (Public Relations, ’17); and nominee Hillary Scott of Lady A. mtsunews.com/acm-awards-2022

Studio Synergy

The lead guitar is ringing. The snare and the bass are keeping the beat. The horns are perfection. The vocalists are just right. Sometimes the human element and the technology all fit together, as several Recording Industry and School of Music students learn during “Studio Saturdays.” Making use of the new Main Street Studios, Recording Arts and Technologies master’s students and Audio Production students record performances by music majors to showcase artistry on both sides of the studio glass. The interdepartmental collaboration provides professional experience before they’re officially professionals.

mtsunews.com/studio-saturdays-fall21