You are here: Home / Lectures and Guest Speakers

Renowned naturalist Gelis speaks at MTSU

May 2, 2013 By
Renowned naturalist Rudy Gelis of Ecuador will speak at MTSU Monday, May 6, in Cantrell Hall of the Tom H. Jackson Building. A collaboration between MTSU’s biology department and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is bringing him to the area to speak. (Submitted photo by Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies)

Renowned naturalist Rudy Gelis of Ecuador will speak at MTSU Monday, May 6, in Cantrell Hall of the Tom H. Jackson Building. A collaboration between MTSU’s biology department and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is bringing him to the area to speak. (Submitted photo by Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies)

Renowned naturalist Rudy Gelis will present a lecture from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 6, in Middle Tennessee State University’s Tom H. Jackson Building.

The presentation by Gelis (pronounced GEL-LUS) is titled “Conservation in Ecuador: How Ecotourism and Citizen Science Help Protect Resident and Neotropical Migrant Bird Species.” His appearance also will include a question-and-answer session followed by an informal mixer.

The event is free and open to the public. To locate parking, a printable campus map is available online at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.

“It provides a unique opportunity for the public to hear about the amazing biological research being conducted in Ecuador by a host of international scientists and citizen volunteers,” said Richard Martin, an adjunct professor in the MTSU Department of Biology.

Gelis’ presentation will utilize PowerPoint, drawings, oral descriptions, bird calls and more, Martin said.

MTSU’s biology department and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are partnering to bring Gelis to the area.

Gelis, a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky and owner of Pluma Verde Tours in Quito, Ecuador, began his career in ornithology when he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1997. After studying nesting Andean Condors in Argentina and penguins on the Falkland Islands, he settled in Ecuador.

Gelis instructs university-level natural history courses in Ecuador and frequently offers ecotourism courses and assists in professional workshops for guides and park guards in Latin America.

In addition to MTSU, Gelis’ 2013 U.S. speaking tour includes lectures at Brown and Cornell universities.

For more information contact Martin at Richard.Martin@mtsu.edu or call 615-351-2627.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , ,

Engineer behind Jay-Z has sound advice for MTSU students

April 27, 2013 By

MTSU got a brief but impressive look at the power and expertise behind the throne Saturday when Grammy-nominated audio engineer Young Guru spent two-plus hours offering career — and life — advice to an enthusiastic audience.

Grammy-nominated engineer Young Guru makes a point during a two-hour discussion about the music business at MTSU April 27. Guru’s visit was part of a 13-city “Era of the Engineer” tour sponsored by Grammy U. (MTSU photos by News and Media Relations)

Young Guru, who’s engineered records for Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, T.I., Mariah Carey and Drake as one of the minds behind Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings, also has been a DJ since childhood and was tour DJ for Jay-Z and West’s “Watch The Throne” world tour.

He was winding up a monthlong 13-city “Era of the Engineer” tour, sponsored by Grammy U, with his visit to MTSU.

Guru, whose given name is Gimel Keaton, told a standing-room-only crowd in the College of Education Building that people skills are just as important as specialized training to create a successful music industry career.

“An engineer’s job is to draw the best performance out of the person,” said the man called “The Sound of New York.”

“Being an engineer is psychology as well as knowing all the technology. If all you know is technology, you will not be successful. The biggest part of the job is figuring out the artist and what he or she needs to do with the record. What makes great engineers is figuring people out.”

Guru, 39, told the crowd, which included MTSU recording industry and music majors as well as visitors already in the business, that his childhood love for music and how things worked played a critical role in his life choices.

“A lot of places I started DJing were fire halls and school auditoriums, back when I was in seventh grade,” he recalled, explaining that he hauled all the equipment needed then — turntables, speakers, microphones, amplifiers, lights and more, including five or six crates of vinyl records — to each show in his Delaware hometown.

“My first entrance into engineering was figuring out how to set up those systems. I was 12 years old and had no money, so I had to figure out how to build one from scratch. Learning to solder speaker systems was the way I learned all of this.”

His parents encouraged him to follow his dreams, Guru said, so he set aside dozens of basketball scholarship options and chose Howard University to continue his education. He also DJed clubs around Washington, D.C., and met the people who were building rap and hip-hop into an industry, including Chucky Thompson, a producer who was to become one of his mentors.

MTSU students, guests and fans listen intently to Young Guru’s response to a question during his April 27 visit to the university.

Guru became tour DJ for rapper Nonchalant, which convinced him to expand his music engineering education with a six-month course at Omega Recording Studios in Rockville, Md.

“They had everything available that I could need,” he said. “They were very influential for me, in no small part because of the very small classes. You got a lot of attention and a lot of training there. I was the guy always begging for extra time in the studio.”

Feeling “stagnant” after years in Washington, Guru relocated to New York “ready to attack the industry” and began making connections with musicians and recording studios. Thompson helped establish Guru in the city, where he began working with rapper Derrick Angeletti and soon decided to work independently.

Guru was recording sessions with rapper Memphis Bleek, who was then signed to Roc-A-Fella Records, in 1999 when Jay-Z checked in on one of his label signees.

“Jay-Z watched us and then said, ‘I like the way you work. What are you doing the next couple of weeks?’” Guru recalled. “I said, ‘What do you THINK I’m doing, man?’ It was very simple, just a ‘hey, come to work for me.’”

That simple exchange has turned into a 14-year business and artistic partnership, leading to multi-million-selling records, multiple award nominations, deep respect within the music industry and the opportunity to share his knowledge with students around the world.

Last year, he launched the Young Guru Scholarship Fund at the School of Audio Engineering in Cape Town, South Africa, to offer more learning opportunities. He also created this spring’s “Era of the Engineer” lecture series with Grammy U, the college networking arm of The Recording Academy, to emphasize the importance of audio engineers in the record-making process.

This July and August he’ll be back on the road with Jay-Z to join Justin Timberlake for the artists’ “Legends of Summer” tour.

MTSU recording industry professor Melissa Wald worked with alumna Ashley Lamb Ernst, regional manager of chapter operations for the Nashville chapter of The Recording Academy, to bring Guru to campus.

Young Guru, left, watches as MTSU recording industry professor Melissa Wald, center left, inspects a basketball jersey personalized for him and held by Blue Raider senior Kortni Jones. Helping with the pre-lecture presentation is Associate Athletic Director Diane Turnham, right. (MTSU photo by Andrew Sogn/Athletic Communications)

“When music was analog, you had to master the equipment,” he told the audience. “Now we have a bunch of plug-ins and programs and everyone knows a little bit about a lot of stuff. …

“We’ve figured out that clicking on a mouse is not the way to make music. The future is how human users interface with that music and in finding new and interesting ways of making music.

“I’ve never used Auto-Tune in my life,” he continued, eliciting loud applause with his remark about the controversial pitch-adjusting processor.

“You take away who that person (being recorded) is. I just tell ’em to sing it again, 16 times.”

Guru had earlier joked about watching the instructional DVD for the digital audio workstation ProTools in the store and taking notes to tell clients he was a “certified ProTools engineer.”

“It’s weird to talk about this like it was ancient history, but that’s how fast the industry changes,” he said. “I listen to a lot of music and I live life. The key to longevity is being honest about what you are.

“Engineering, for me, is problem-solving. Physics is everything. It’s my hobby — the very foundation of how this and everything else works. If you open up your mind to understanding physics, you can open up your mind to understanding all kinds of music.”

To learn more about Young Guru and his work, visit his website at www.djyoungguru.com. To learn more about Grammy U, visit www.grammy365.com/grammy-u.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,

TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director speaks in Todd Hall

April 18, 2013 By

The MTSU Department of Art and the AIGA MTSU student chapter will welcome Tito Melega, creative director for the Los Angeles division of the internationally acclaimed advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, for a special lecture today at 5 p.m.

Tito Melega

Melega, whose work with TBWA centers on his core philosophies of disruption and media arts, will speak on “The Art of Doing: A Talk about Industry, Realities and Success” in Room 204 of Todd Hall.

His talk is free and open to the public.

Challenging conventional wisdom and overturning assumptions that get in the way of imagining new possibilities is the idea behind disruption, Melega has said, noting that all business, not just marketing and communications, are strengthened by purposeful disruption.

Extending the process into media arts helps bring a brand idea in the right medium to a tuned-in audience, which Melega has said creates meaningful communication and not just advertising.

Melega brings years of training and experience to TBWA, including a series of master classes and workshops on online and social media taught by some of the best minds of the digital world: CP+B/Boulder Digital Works and Hyper Island/ONE Club; Virginia Commonwealth University’s Executive Management Training for Creative Directors; Ivy Tech Community College, Columbus, Ind.; and the National Film Institute of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

One of his greatest achievements was the successful advertising campaign he developed for Infonet B2B. Recognized as a breakthrough print campaign, the Infonet B2B project led to an award from and a feature in the 2004 Graphis Advertising Annual.

TBWA\Chiat\Day is the U.S. division of the TBWA Worldwide advertising agency, which is headquartered in Manhattan. TBWA\Chiat\Day also has offices in Nashville. The company’s client roster includes Lexus, Prius, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Acura, Miller Lite, Pepsi, FedEx, Kodak, Holiday Inn, Conseco, Cisco Systems, CVS Pharmacy, IBM, Infonet, DirecTV, USA Networks, Lubriderm, Clairol and United Airlines.

For more information about Melega’s talk, contact David Walker at 615-898-5286 or email DJ.Walker@MTSU. For directions and parking contact Eric V. Snyder at 615-898-5653 or email EricSnyder@MTSU.edu.

 

This award-winning ad for Infonet B2B, part of a campaign by MTSU guest lecturer Tito Melega, includes the line, “Without the right tools, you won’t get far.”

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , ,

WWII veteran to educate MTSU students on horrors of genocide

April 16, 2013 By

A World War II veteran will explain the Nazi regime by sharing his memories and a compelling photo presentation with MTSU students.

“An American Soldier at Ohrdruf” is scheduled for 1 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in Room 201 of the Student Union building.

Murfreesboro resident T. Guy Fortney, a retired physician, was a member of the U.S. Army’s Fourth Armored Division when the unit entered Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, in April 1945.

Fortney was born and grew up in Harlan, Ky. After earning his medical degree from the University of Louisville in 1951, he moved to Oak Ridge, Tenn., and practiced family medicine.

In 1972, Fortney was hired as Union Carbide’s corporate medical director and moved to Danbury, Conn. After retiring in 1989, he moved back to Oak Ridge. In 2011, he came to Murfreesboro to live.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by MTSU’s Jewish and Holocaust Studies Program.

The photographs that will be shown are graphic and explicit in nature. Adults are advised not to bring children younger than 18.

For more information, contact Dr. Elyce Helford, director of the program and an MTSU professor of English, at 615-898-5961 or elyce.helford@mtsu.edu.

For parking information, go to http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,

Got blood? Forensic science lecturer Sutton knows all about it

April 12, 2013 By

Criminal procedure TV shows have made us all armchair forensic pathologists, chattering about bullet trajectories and blood spatter and black-light revelations like “experts.”

Click on the poster above for a printable version.

Paulette Sutton is the real deal.

And she’ll be at MTSU on Thursday, April 18, for a free public lecture, “The Priest, the Nun and Forensic Science,” on some of the cases she’s seen and the physics of how blood behaves outside the human body.

Sutton, an internationally renowned blood spatter expert from Obion, Tenn., whose expertise has played a role in trials ranging from James Byrd Jr.’s Texas dragging death to music legend Phil Spector’s murder trial, is the spring 2013 speaker for MTSU’s William M. Bass Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship.

She will speak at 6:30 p.m. in the second-floor ballroom of the new Student Union on the east side of campus.

Sutton retired in 2006 from the Shelby County Medical Examiner’s Office and the University of Memphis after a 30-year career, departing as director of investigations and assistant director of forensic services for the U of M’s Division of Forensic Pathology.

Retirement, however, has simply put her on the training and lecture circuit, as Sutton continues to teach bloodstain pattern analysis, one of her specialties, and to consult with officials at all levels of the U.S. criminal justice system.

She’s also qualified as an expert in crime scene reconstruction and forensic serology, which is the detection and classification of body fluids and how they relate to a crime scene.

Among her numerous awards and recognition, including an Outstanding Service Award from the FBI, Sutton is one of only five people in the world to be certified as a “Competent Forensic Expert in Bloodstain Pattern Interpretation” by the Institute on the Physical Significance of Human Bloodstain Evidence.

MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, is sponsoring Sutton’s free public lecture. The Bass Lecture Series, named for renowned University of Tennessee forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass, brings respected forensic-science experts to campus each fall and spring.

FIRE’s co-sponsors for Sutton’s lecture are the MTSU Distinguished Lecture Fund, Middle Tennessee Forensic Science Society and the College of Liberal Arts.

Off-campus visitors planning to attend should be aware that nearby construction may limit parking opportunities. Organizers are encouraging visitors to park in the South Rutherford Boulevard lot and ride a Raider Xpress shuttle into campus to the Student Union building. A printable campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.

For more information on the April 18 lecture, please contact the FIRE offices at 615-494-7713 or visit www.mtsu.edu/fire.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chaz Bono helps students SpringOut! for LGBT awareness (w/video)

April 9, 2013 By

A literal golden child of Hollywood royalty, Chaz Bono spent his middle school years “living my life from the neck up,” being viciously bullied because he was different.

And that was when he was still Chastity Bono, the adorable blonde blue-jeaned daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher, more than 30 years before he changed his name, his gender and his life.

“I knew at 4 or 5 (years old) that something was different. I remember wondering what had happened to me,” the human rights advocate told a near-full house at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre Tuesday night. “Did I have an accident? Did I hit my head? Did something happen to make me feel differently? I had to try to make the best of it.

Author and LGBT rights advocate Chaz Bono makes a point during his keynote address for MTSU’s SpringOut! week on April 9 in Tucker Theatre. He encouraged the almost-full house to seek out advice and support from trusted loved ones and experts when they face a life-changing challenge but to always remain true to themselves. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

“Being a cute little tomboy was OK, so I was lucky there,” Bono continued, explaining that the onset of puberty, when his body began taking a womanly shape instead of the manly physique he wanted, was a real mental challenge.

“Adolescence was very difficult for me. When I got to middle school, I got a lot of teasing and bullying. I started living my life from the neck up because my body didn’t reflect me and the way I wanted to be treated.”

Bono’s visit was part of SpringOut! 2013, MTSU’s annual weeklong campus pride event for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their friends and supporters on campus and in the Middle Tennessee community.

MT Lambda, a student organization established in 1988 at MTSU, started SpringOut! in 2003 to bring the campus together via education and entertainment.

The rest of this week’s events include a transgender awareness information table from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, on the Keathley University Center Knoll; a free public panel discussion focusing on religion and LGBTQ issues on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the KUC Theater; and a “NO H8″ photo booth on Thursday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the KUC Knoll.

More details are available at MT Lambda’s website, www.mtsu.edu/~mtlambda, or by clicking on the event poster below.

MT Lambda also presented its first LGBTQ Advocacy Award to MTSU biology professor Wayne Rosing before Bono’s talk.

“He (Rosing) stood up and defended us when we were just getting started, at a time when it was very dangerous,” explained Josh Rigsby, MT Lambda president, reminding the audience of a few of the negative responses the organization faced in its infancy 22-plus years ago.

“Dr. Rosing stood up and spoke out. Today people click ‘like’ on a Facebook post and think ‘Oh my God, I did something.’ Dr. Rosing openly, publicly took a stand when you would be ridiculed, mocked, threatened, risked losing your job or even being killed.”

The student organization asked Bono to campus for the same reasons, Rigsby said. “MT Lambda chose to invite Chaz Bono to highlight the difficult living conditions for transgender people in Tennessee,” he said.

“Chaz’s appearance highlights the positive and inclusive climate at MTSU and brings awareness to the fact that even within the confines of Tennessee’s legislative difficulties, it is still possible to create a welcoming and supportive environment that is focused on equality.”

Bono, 44, the only child of entertainers Sonny and Cher, was born female. Then known as Chastity, Bono came out at age 18 to both parents as a lesbian. He publicly announced his sexual orientation in 1995 in a magazine and later wrote two books about his life, “Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families” and “The End of the Innocence.”

By 2010, Bono had undergone a female-to-male gender transition and legally changed his name to Chaz.

A documentary about his transition, “Becoming Chaz,” premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network, earning three Emmy nominations. A third book, “Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be,” was published in 2010. He also appeared as a contestant on the fall 2011 season of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Click on this flier for a printable version.

Clad in a sleek gray suit and sounding a bit like his late dad during the elder Bono’s years in politics, Chaz Bono told the MTSU audience that high school was an “incredible experience” because he attended a performing arts academy in New York City where students were more accepting of each other.

He discovered an even greater love of theater there while venturing into life as an admittedly uncomfortable lesbian. Portraying a male role for the first time in a high school production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was an awakening: “That was the first character I really related to,” Bono said.

But his post-high school music career, where he still struggled with makeup, clothing, hairstyles and all the paraphernalia of femininity, was “the most uncomfortable period of my life.”

Outed unexpectedly in 1990 by a tabloid, Bono said he “ran right back into the closet and slammed the door” because of the invasion of his privacy and the awareness that being publicly gay would hamper his burgeoning career. He left music and went to work for The Advocate, a national LGBT magazine, finally deciding to out himself in the publication’s cover story and then moving into gay rights awareness and advocacy.

He became more aware of what he needed to do about his own life, too.

“It took me almost a decade from the time I realized I was transgender to the time I finally made my transition,” Bono said. “From the first shot of testosterone I took, it felt as though a weight was lifted off my shoulders. As time went on, I started to feel more and more like ‘me.’ Really living a full, complete life for me started at 40.”

His LGBT rights work has been aided by people’s familiarity with him since his childhood, he said. “Because I grew up on TV, and my parents were Hollywood’s sweethearts, I’ve had an opportunity for people to be more familiar with me, maybe more comfortable.”

He also encouraged the audience during an enthusiastic Q-and-A session to do their best to ignore hatred, stand by friends and loved ones who are struggling and to ask for help if they’re facing gender and sexuality challenges.

“You can always find people to say mean things,” Bono said, laughingly recalling a man who’s tried to wage a Twitter war with him and keeps wanting to fight. “I want to tell him, ‘dude, I do mixed martial arts. Come on over,’ but I don’t. It’s a waste and it’s not safe.

“And I would never advocate for a kid to come out if there’s a risk of any danger or of being put out of the house, or if you’re in college and your family is paying for your education. Sometimes it’s best to wait and make a plan to come out when it’s safe.”

One young woman asked Bono if he’s noticed more acceptance because he’d moved from life as a gay woman into a “more acceptable class, as a straight white guy.”

Bono paused for a moment, then said, “Well, I’m a trans guy. I think some people put that below ‘lesbian.’ But … strangers are a lot nicer to me than some of those who knew me before.”

Explaining that his discomfort with his female body translated into awkward behavior that confused people, Bono continued that now, after his transition, “I’m a guy. I’m a guy who looks like a guy and acts like a guy. Other than being born female, I’m pretty much any guy.”

You can watch a brief video of Bono’s remarks below.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , , , ,

‘Ball Four’ author Bouton headlines MTSU baseball conference

April 5, 2013 By

Jim Bouton, whose 1970 book “Ball Four” ripped the horsehide cover off Major League Baseball, is a “little nervous” about the impact of shorthand, abbreviations and out-and-out shortcuts on cohesive writing thanks to our blogging, tweeting, texting society.

Author Jim Bouton, a former American Major League Baseball pitcher, makes a point during his luncheon speech at the 18th annual Baseball in Literature and Culture Conference at MTSU April 5. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

Author Jim Bouton, a former American Major League Baseball pitcher, makes a point during his luncheon speech at the 18th annual Baseball in Literature and Culture Conference at MTSU April 5. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

Speaking during lunch April 5 at MTSU’s Baseball in Literature and Culture Conference, Bouton said he wanted to keep a focus on “the importance of books and writing, keeping the skill of communication.

“I’m a little nervous about all the shorthand we have with the electronics. We’re gonna lose the ability to have clean, clear, writing communication skills,” he said.

The 18th annual gathering of presenters who examine baseball from a scholarly perspective was held in MTSU’s James Union Building.

Bouton, a former pitcher with the New York Yankees, the now-defunct Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros, admitted that his book may have had a lasting effect on sports journalism. His account of his experiences with the Pilots — now the Milwaukee Brewers — and Astros during the 1969 season was a no-holds-barred account of life in the majors.

“I guess I could be responsible for, or blamed for, depending on your point of view, seeing a more accurate view of things,” he said. “Years ago, baseball books were Mom and apple pie and cookies and Boy Scouts. But these were not Boy Scouts; these were real men.

Bouton book cover ”I think it’s a lot more interesting now and a lot more truthful. That’s the interesting thing. I remember my editor on ‘Ball Four,’ Leonard Shecter, he used to say, ‘You know something, Bouton? A guy could make a living just telling the truth.’”

In a 2002 poll by Sports Illustrated magazine, “Ball Four” was identified as the third most important sports book of all time.

“Indeed, the success of ‘Ball Four’ has opened the doors for more athletes to delve into the ‘tell all’ culture offered to us 24-7 by sports networks and Internet sites,” said Dr. Ron Kates, a professor of English at MTSU and co-coordinator of the conference with Dr. Warren Tormey.

2013 baseball conf graphicWhen the book was first released, Bouton was vilified for destroying notions of baseball players as pure, wholesome role models raised to iconic status by a press corps willing to overlook the athletes’ infidelities, substance abuse and other shortcomings.

Dr. Andrew Hazucha delivered the conference’s keynote address, “A Jim Bouton Retrospective: Zen and the Politics of the Knuckleball.”

Hazucha is a professor of English and chair of the arts and humanities division at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He is co-editor, along with Gerald C. Wood, of “Northsiders: Essays on the History and Culture of the Chicago Cubs.”

Presenters at the conference also discussed “Negro League Baseball in Verse,” “Why I Want the Cubs to Win the World Series,” “Jocks, Herbs and the 1936 Yankees” and “Facing Reality (TV): Pete Rose’s Biggest Obstacle to the Hall is Himself.”

The Baseball in Literature and Culture Conference was held annually at Indiana State University from 1995 until 2005 and has been held at MTSU since 2006.

“Since the conference started 18 years ago, the baseball-literature-and-culture genre has blossomed, in the process establishing footholds in established canon structures,” Kates said.

“Over the past eight years, our conference has been an interdisciplinary, worldwide platform from which attendees can pursue scholarly projects.”

For more information, contact Kates at 615-898-2595 or ron.kates@mtsu.edu or Connie Huddleston at 615-494-6728 or connie.huddleston@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Equal-pay activist Ledbetter still fiery about cause (w/video)

April 5, 2013 By

The plaintiff in an historic gender discrimination case didn’t mince words Friday when speaking about the cause to which she’s dedicated so much in her life.

“We have to make sure we get these new bills and these new laws passed,” Lilly Ledbetter told the crowd of about 200 people inside MTSU’s Student Union Ballroom. “And you and I can do it together. I want to see more of you young women in Washington. I want to see you in the House. I’d like to see you in the Senate. I’d also like to see more of you in the boardrooms. Until we get you there, we will not get anywhere close to being equal.”

Ledbetter was the keynote speaker for MTSU’s biennial Women’s and Gender Studies Conference, an event organized and hosted by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and a major part of the university’s National Women’s History Month celebration.

Lilly Ledbetter delivers the keynote address at the Global Discourses in Women's and Gender Studies Conference April 5 inside MTSU's Student Union Ballroom. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Lilly Ledbetter delivers the keynote address at the Global Discourses in Women’s and Gender Studies Conference April 5 inside MTSU’s Student Union Ballroom. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Ledbetter, whose judicial battle with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. led to the passage of federal legislation, delivered her address Friday, April 5, in the Student Union Building Ballroom.

After working for Goodyear’s plant in Gadsden, Ala., for 19 years, Ledbetter retired and filed suit against her employer in 1998 when she learned she had been making thousands of dollars less per year than men who held the same position.

Despite winning a lower court decision of $3 million, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Ledbetter could not be compensated because she had not filed suit within 180 days of receiving her first discriminatory paycheck — a requirement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

However, as dissenting justices in the 5-4 decision pointed out, Ledbetter did not even know about the pay disparity until years after receiving her first unequal paycheck.

The outrage from equal-pay activists sparked the 2007 introduction of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

The measure altered the law to allow discriminatory acts outside a 180-day period to be included in litigation if discrimination persists into the present day. Its 2009 passage was the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama’s administration.

“I am so proud that that Ledbetter bill was sponsored and co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats alike,” she told the crowd, but quickly pointed out that the Paycheck Fairness Act has stalled in Washington, with no Republicans yet willing to support the measure.

The proposal would prohibit companies from retaliating against workers who discuss salary information. The law would also require employers to prove any pay discrepancies among workers are unrelated to gender, as well as both necessary for the business and tied to job performance.

“You cannot, as a young person in your job, start out less than you’re entitled to … simply because it will go on for the rest of your lives,” Ledbetter said.

In introducing Ledbetter, Dr. Kaylene Gebert, a professor in MTSU’S Department of Speech and Theatre, lauded the commitment Ledbetter has shown.

“Our speaker has the strength of our convictions who fought a 10-year battle that has benefited each of us,” Gebert said. “What Susan B. Anthony was to women’s suffrage, Lilly Ledbetter is to equal pay.”

The Women’s and Gender Studies Conference attracted scholars and experts from around the world to the Student Union, where all of its events are taking place Thursday, April 4, through Saturday, April 6.

The mentors will be a trio from Auburn University: Dr. June M. Henton, dean of the College of Human Sciences; Harriet W. Giles, director of external relations for the College of Human Sciences; and Paula Gray Hunker, World Food Programme senior adviser.

All National Women’s History Month events are free and open to the public. Click here for a complete, printable calendar of events.

For more information, contact Dr. Newtona ”Tina” Johnson, Women’s and Gender Studies at 615- 898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu); Jimmy Hart (jimmy.hart@mtsu.edu)

 

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Islamic scholar to speak at MTSU’s Honors College

April 1, 2013 By

The presence of Islam in some European nations is the focus of an upcoming lecture sponsored by MTSU’s University Honors College.

Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen

Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen

Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen, the Croft Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi, is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. Friday, April 5, in Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin University Honors College Building.

Yukleyen is the author of Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany in the Netherlands, which was published in 2012.

At the University of Mississippi, Yukleyen teaches courses on international studies, cultural anthropology, ethnic and religious identity politics in Europe, and Muslims in Europe and the United States.

He was a senior residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and nonresidential Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., in 2011-12.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the University Honors College at 615-898-2152.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,

Author Foreman to give MTSU Scholars Week keynote address

March 26, 2013 By

Coinciding with the statewide observation of Tennessee’s Civil War Sesquicentennial, award-winning author and historian Dr. Amanda Foreman will be the keynote speaker for the seventh annual MTSU Scholars Week.

Dr. Amanda Foreman, London-born historian and author, will give a keynote presentation Monday for MTSU’s Scholars Week. (photo submitted)

Foreman, author of A World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided, will provide a lecture at 7 p.m. Monday, April 1, in the Student Union Ballroom. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow her free one-hour presentation, which is open to the public.

Scholars Week is a weeklong celebration of the university’s research and scholarly efforts. It will be held April 1-5. For a full list of activities, visit http://tinyurl.com/ctw93pp.

A World on Fire addresses the political, economic and military relationships between England and its former American colonies as the United States descended into the Civil War.

University Provost Brad Bartel said Dr. Van West, director of the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU and co-chair of the Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, first suggested Foreman as a Scholars Week keynote possibility.

“I thought she would be excellent for Scholars Week because of the quality of her book, A World on Fire, and that her appearance would highlight our nationally known public history program and the state’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of Civil War events,” Bartel said.

Bartel said Foreman will meet with MTSU students during her campus visit.

In addition to A World on Fire, Foreman is the author of the award-winning best-seller, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. She is the daughter of Carl Foreman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of many film classics including “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “High Noon” and “The Guns of Navarone.”

Born in London, raised in Los Angeles and educated in England, Foreman attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University in New York. She earned her doctorate in 18th Century British History from Oxford University in 1998.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was a No. 1 best-seller in England and a best-seller for many weeks in the United States. It has been translated into 12 languages, was nominated for several awards and won the Whitbreak Prize for Best Biography in 1999. It inspired a television documentary, a radio play starring Dame Judi Dench and a movie, “The Duchess,” starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.

In addition to regularly writing and reviewing for newspapers and magazines, Foreman also has served on a number of book award juries, including the Orange Prize, the Guardian First Book Prize and the National Book Awards. She currently serves as a judge for the Dan David Prize, the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize and the Man Booker Prize.

Foreman lives in New York with her husband and five children.

— Randy Weiler (randy.weiler@mtsu.edu)

Filed Under: Lectures and Guest Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts