Middle Tennessee State University faculty and staff recently provided the media with their perspectives on various issues, including women in the music industry, censorship, Tennessee legislation and the importance of educating prisoners.

• Dr. Ben Stickle, criminal justice professor, talked with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. about package theft on Dec. 1. Listen to the commentary.

Stickle talked with Undark magazine about the effectiveness of doorbell cameras. Read the Dec. 4 article.

Stickle talked to the Hartselle (Alabama) Enquirer about tips on avoiding porch pirates. Read his comments in the Dec. 14 article. On Dec. 21, Stickle also talked with The Associated Press as well as WCSI-FM about the topic.

• Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center, talked to USA Today about Florida’s ban of LGBTQ-centric books. Read his comments in the Dec. 4 article. He also talked with The Tallahassee Democrat about the topic in an article that ran Dec. 5, among other Gannett newspapers across Florida.

Paulson’s commentary about the dangers of book banning was spotlighted in a Dec. 5 article in Popular Information. Read his comments.

Paulson talked with The Tennessean about the U.S. Supreme Court decision to decline Florida’s anti-drag law and what it means for Tennessee’s similar law. Read his comments from the Dec. 6 article.

Paulson talked with The Cincinnati Enquirer about an Ohio county commissioner arrested for voicing grievances against the commission. Read his comments from the Dec. 19 article.

Paulson challenged the Murfreesboro City Council to rescind a “decency act” in an article published Dec. 27 in The Daily News Journal. Read his comments.

• University Honors College Dean John Vile and Kent Syler, political science professor, both shared thoughts about Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s overtly Christian holiday message in a Dec. 5 Chattanooga Times Free Press article. Read comments from Vile and Syler.

Syler talked with Elle magazine about Allie Phillips, whose TikTok went viral and sent her into politics after being forced to leave Tennessee to obtain a life-saving abortion. Read his comments from the Dec. 15 article.

Syler talked about the juxtaposition of Tennessee residents’ satisfaction in quality of life in the state, but opposed to legislation on hot-button issues like gun reform and Medicaid expansion. Read his comments in the Dec. 17 Nashville Tennessean article.

• Dr. Cory Hutcheson, English lecturer, talked about the folklore of Krampus in a Dec. 5 Washington Post article.

• Beverly Keel, dean of MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, talked with NPR affiliate station KCRW-FM Dec. 5 about the Billboard chart-topping, 70-something-year-old women — Brenda Lee, Dolly Parton and Cher. Read the article and listen to the commentary.

• Dr. Robert Rogers, associate professor of criminal justice, talked with Newsweek about what prison life could look like for Donald Trump. Read the article that was published Dec. 9, and later cross-referenced in another Newsweek article. His comments were also featured in numerous German publications.

• Dr. Matthew Taylor, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media, talked with Times Higher Education about the need for universities to keep up with trends to serve a growing industry in this Dec. 11 article. Read his comments.

• Dr. Sean Foley, professor of history who specializes in the Middle East, has talked extensively about the Israel-Hamas war. Foley talked with Jim Richards of Newstalk 1010 — a major AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario — in a Dec. 12 broadcast calling on a ceasefire in Gaza. Listen to his commentary.

• Dr. Frank Lambert, library science associate professor, spoke to the Rutherford County Commission about censorship of books. Read his comments from a Dec. 14 article by The Daily News Journal.

• Dr. Greg Nagel, professor of finance, talked with Harvard Business Review Dec. 15 about choosing CEOs in a family business. Read his comments.

• Dr. Steven Sprick Schuster, assistant professor of economics, and Dr. Ben Stickle, criminal justice professor, coauthored an article, “Are Schools in Prison Worth It?” published in December in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. Read the article.

Schuster and Stickle were referenced in an Associated Press article Dec. 15 about the importance of educating prisoners to reduce recidivism. Read the article.

• Dr. Sean Salter, associate professor of economics, talked with Bankrate about credit card fraud. Read his comments from the Dec. 21 article.

Salter also participates in a weekly Bankrate poll. You can follow weekly updates.

• Dr. Greg Reish, director of MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, and archivist Olivia Beaudry were featured in a WKRN-TV piece about the museum and its holdings. Watch the Dec. 22 video.

• Andrew Oppmann, vice president for Marketing and Communications at MTSU, talked with The Tennessee Ledger Dec. 22 about promoting higher education in the state. Read his comments.

• Alan Brown, geosciences lecturer and co-founder of the Earth Experience: Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History, talked with The Daily News Journal about the new triceratops skull acquired by the museum. Read the Dec. 27 article.

• Dr. Ronald Aday, professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, was featured in WNPT-TV’s “Aging Matters” segment about loneliness and isolation of elderly in an episode that aired Dec. 29. Watch the video.

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