MTSU faculty and staff recently provided the media with their perspectives on various issues, including the Grammy Awards, Bob Marley, metal theft, cottage cheese and the First Amendment.

• MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee talked to media about the university’s ninth return to the Grammys, with alumni receiving more than a dozen nominations. Watch the segment that aired Feb. 2 on WTVF-TV News Channel 5.

• Michelle Conceison, MTSU Recording Industry chair, talked with Nashville media about multiple Grammy Awards garnered by MTSU alumni at the live broadcast Feb. 4 in Los Angeles. Segments aired Feb. 5 on WSMV-TV Channel 4 News and WKRN-TV News Channel 2.

• Dr. Mark Alleyne, professor emeritus of popular music studies and music business, was featured in The Conversation Feb. 6 for his work on the late reggae legend Bob Marley and he also offered commentary of the Paramount Pictures documentary, “One Love,” about the music legend. Read the article.

Alleyne also spoke with Caribbean American Weekly about Marley. Watch the segment.

• Dr. Sandra Poirier, professor of food and nutrition science, was featured Feb. 8 in WalletHub’s recent survey about Valentine’s Day. Read her commentary. 

• Melissa Cohen, finance lecturer, talked with Credit Donkey Feb. 8 about the validity of certificates of deposit. Read her commentary.  

Cohen is also featured in a WalletHub article about best online checking accounts. Read her commentary.

• Lalo Davila, percussion professor, was interviewed Feb. 12 at the Tennessee Music Educators Association 2024 Conference held in San Antonio. Watch the interview

• Dr. Rebecca Oldham, assistant professor of human sciences, is featured Feb. 13 in a BNN Breaking News article about gender-based violence and a panel she organized. Read the article.

• Dr. Ben Stickle, criminal justice professor, talked with CBC News about the prevalence of scrap metal theft. Watch the Feb. 15 video.

Stickle talked with Wired magazine about metal theft in a Feb. 20 article. Read his commentary.

• Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center, talked with Tennessean opinion editor David Plazas Feb. 16 about how different presidents “embraced” the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He also wrote a guest column to go along with the commentary. Read the article and watch the video interview.

Paulson talked about public library boards’ First Amendment powers in a Feb. 27 article in the Alabama Reflector. Read his comments.

• Dr. Daniel Smith, economics professor and director of the Political Economy Research Institute, talked to The Tennessean about the city of Lebanon’s proposed funding of a restaurant. Read the Feb. 19 article.

• Jamey Simmons, trumpet professor, was spotlighted for his arrangement of George and Ira Gershwin’s, “But Not for Me,” in a performance Feb. 24. Read about the performance. Read the article.

• Dr. Chuck Higgins, physics and astronomy professor, is featured in a NASA article about radio technology experiments happening in the April 8 solar eclipse. Read the Feb. 20 article.

• Dr. Joan McRae, language professor, is spotlighted for her newly released book, “Literary Debate in Late Medieval France.” Read the Feb. 20 commentary.

• Dr. Keely O’Brien, assistant professor of fermentation science, talked with Serious Eats about how cottage cheese is made. Read the Feb. 21 article.

• Laura Holder, federal liaison for MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation, talked with WKRN-TV News 2 about the university’s partnership with Franklin to restore and preserve Toussaint L’Ouverture Cemetery, the city’s oldest Black cemetery that was named for the leader of the Haitian Revolution. Watch the segment that aired Feb. 27.

• Dr. Donald Walker, assistant professor of biology, guides viewers through his National Science Foundation-funded work with the herptile microbiome in an online lecture published Feb. 28. Watch the video.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)