The summer 2015 edition of MTSU Magazine profiles MTSU’s Concrete Industry Management Department on the eve of its 20th anniversary. The program is broadly recognized as the first and finest of its kind in the United States.

From cutting-edge research to virtually guaranteed student success and job placement to the recent rollout of a new executive management training program attracting concrete professionals from around the world to study, the CIM program is one of the university’s biggest success stories.

Click the image for access to online versions of the stories as well as find links to electronic pdf copies of the print edition.

Adding interest to the mix is that steering the department is a woman: Dr. Heather Brown, who has defied stereotypes and carved out a solid reputation in the national concrete industry.

Under her solid leadership and with the continued support of industry, which helped fashion the program at MTSU nearly two decades ago, the program has since been modeled by other universities — California State University–Chico, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Texas State University — to better serve industry needs beyond the Southeast.

Other articles in the new edition of the magazine include:

• A presidential look at the new center for the study of Chinese music, the latest development in a partnership between MTSU and China’s Hangzhou Normal University.
• A glimpse into how journalist-in-residence Whitney Matheson found herself at the forefront of new media.
• The story of how one of MTSU’s newest professors is working to keep the memory of country music legend George Jones alive while simultaneously helping MTSU Recording Industry students build careers.
• A study of tattoos, which have been around for tens of thousands of years but can still can be an obstacle to MTSU graduates entering the workforce
• A list of 10 things you probably don’t know about one of MTSU’s best-known educators, Dean Terry Whiteside of the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences.

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 105,000 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)