Producer/Writer/Announcer: Gina Logue
Can you sing your way into elective office? There was a time when candidates thought it was possible, and two MTSU centers of excellence are taking “note” of it.
Expert Addresses Political Attack Ads in 2012 Campaign
October 24, 2012 By
Dr. John Geer, chairman of the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and an expert on negative political advertisements, delivered a presentation at MTSU on Oct. 23 on “Advertising and the 2012 Presidential Campaign: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” You can learn more about the event that brought him to campus at mtsunews.com/symposium-attack-ads and watch an excerpt of his talk below.
MTSU symposium focuses on political attack ads
October 23, 2012 By
Despite heavy public criticism, there’s a reason negative campaign ads still flood the airwaves: They work, some experts say.
As the 2012 presidential campaign between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hit the home stretch, a panel of experts visited MTSU on Oct. 23 to discuss these negative ads.
The MTSU Department of Political Science, the Albert Gore Research Center and the College of Liberal Arts sponsored “Attack Ads In American Politics: How Much Is Too Much,” a symposium on negative campaign advertising. The event was held in the Student Union Building, Ballroom 250-C.
Dr. John Geer, chairman of the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and an expert on negative political advertisements, was on campus along with former longtime Democratic Congressman Bart Gordon, Republican state Sen. Jim Tracy of Shelbyville, former 4th District congressional nominee Jeff Whorley and media consultant Bill Fletcher.
Geer made a presentation on “Advertising and the 2012 Presidential Campaign: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” followed by a panel discussion with the other experts. You can watch an excerpt from Geer’s talk below.
“This is set up to talk about the impact of campaign advertising, particularly negative advertising, on American politics and American government,” said Kent Syler, an assistant professor of political science at MTSU and moderator of the panel discussion. “This election cycle has seen more spending on negative advertising than any in American history.”
Syler, the former chief of staff for Gordon, said the symposium brought together some experts on negative advertising, as well as some people who have been the subject of negative advertising.
“No one likes negative ads, but they’re effective,” he said. “That’s why you see so many of them.”
Syler, who uses one of Geer’s books to teach one of his courses, said the Vanderbilt professor makes the case that those ads play a critical role in making our democracy work.
“His contention is that negative ads give voters more useful information than positive ads do,” Syler said, “and that negative ads actually add to the information environment in a campaign … and give voters information that they really need to know.”
The counterpoint is that too many negative ads make governing difficult for the winner, as well as making it hard for government in general to do its job.
— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)
Take a trek around campus with historic cell-phone tour
April 10, 2012 By
MTSU offers countless activities to the public, but many of the goings-on fall behind the scenes, like the Historic Cell Phone Tour of campus offered by the Albert Gore Research Center.
Markers like this one are found across the MTSU campus as part of the University's Historic Cell Phone Tour. Users can simply dial the number on the marker and enter the stop number to learn more about the site where they're standing. (MTSU photo)
The project began last fall and focuses on 17 locations on the historic west side of campus, providing information about the people for whom the buildings were named as well as some general history.
The tour is set apart from other cell-phone tours by its incorporation of original audio clips from oral history interviews conducted by the Albert Gore Research Center.
Much of the audio content includes storytelling by important people from MTSU’s history, such as renowned coach Charles “Bubber” Murphy, former College of Basic and Applied Sciences dean Dr. Edwin Voorhies, alumna/community historian/local teacher Mabel Pittard, alumna and athlete Faye Brandon and former University president Dr. Mel Scarlett.
Users can take the tour while strolling along the west side of campus. Signs outside buildings on the tour’s stops provide a number to call to hear recorded narration of MTSU’s rich history.
QR codes—square codes that can be scanned by a smart phone—take the tourist to a website featuring the list of stops on the tour. But it’s not necessary to have a smart phone to access the tour; users can simply call 615-756-3044 to choose the various stop numbers and hear the recorded information.
Users also don’t have to be on campus to participate in the tour. The tour website, http://gorecenter.mtsu.edu/tour.shtml, lists all the stop numbers, so you can call from home and still hear the history of each building.
The tour, created by Dr. Jim Williams, Gore Center director and history professor, has had 144 unique callers, using a total of 907 minutes, since it launched in September 2011.
Williams says the Office of Marketing and Communications has expressed an interest in upgrading the tour and possibly developing an app for smart-phone users.
“I’d like to see an app that would be GPS-enabled so that someone walking around campus would be prompted that a stop is nearby,” Williams says. “They could also view historic photos along with audio if they wished.”
In the meantime, Williams says, he’s updating the tour’s website just in time for the upcoming Alumni Spring Weekend.
MTSU’s three oldest buildings, constructed when the University opened as Middle Tennessee Normal School in 1911, are the first three stops: Kirksey Old Main, the Tom Jackson Building (the University’s original dining hall) and the first dormitory on campus, Rutledge Hall.
– Rachel Nutt (news@mtsu.edu)
