The January 2014 edition of “MTSU Magazine” explores the university’s primary role in teacher training reform now sweeping across Tennessee.

Click on the image to view an electronic version of MTSU Magazine.

MTSU’s roots are in teacher training. Middle Tennessee Normal School opened in 1911 with a two-year program serving 125 students. But even as it has evolved into Middle Tennessee State University, with 24,000 students and more than 100 academic programs of study, its mission as a teacher-training institution and its commitment to serving a leadership role in improving the state’s teacher workforce remains central to its identity.

“As detailed in the magazine, the real world of teaching has a thousand moving parts, many of them far outside the reach of the classroom,” notes the magazine’s editor, Drew Ruble.

“Teachers must address the needs of each student, but they are also unwitting variables in a critical, often cyclical, economic calculation: good schools = good jobs = good tax base = good schools.

“MTSU is building on century-old strengths to produce a new generation of educators who are readier than ever to tackle the real-world challenges of teaching our children.”

Other articles in the new edition include:

• a look at MTSU’s six “first-gen” deans;
• a profile of student-athlete Ebony Rowe and her study of the physics of basketball; and
• news of exciting new nanotechnology research happening at MTSU.

Readers may also download “MTSU Magazine” free for their iPads and Android devices. The MTSU Mag app, available in the iTunes store and now at Google Play, includes special multimedia content built into every issue that’s not available in the print editions.

Printed copies of “MTSU Magazine” are distributed twice annually to more than 100,000 alumni readers. The publication also is distributed to interested community members, including state lawmakers and members of the Tennessee Board of Regents.

“MTSU Magazine” also is available online at www.mtsumagazine.com.

— Drew Ruble (drew.ruble@mtsu.edu)