MTSU on WGNS: Student veterans support, graduate programs, lifelong learning

MTSU faculty and staff took to WGNS Radio recently to share information about the university’s ongoing efforts to support student veterans, its myriad graduate program offerings and an upcoming series of classes for those who are lifelong learners.

The details were shared during the April 17 “Action Line” program with host Bart Walker. The live program was broadcast on FM 100.5, 101.9 and AM 1450 from the WGNS studio in downtown Murfreesboro. If you missed it, you can listen to a podcast of the show here.

Guests and their topics were as follows:

• Shane Smith, interim employer search agent, and Sean Martin, transition manager, in the new Veterans Transitioning Home office at MTSU, discussed their roles and the services offered to student veterans and their families at the new office in the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veteran and Military Family Center.

MTSU guests on the April 17 WGNS Radio program “Action Line” with host Bart Walker are shown here. At top left, from left to right, are Shane Smith and Sean Martin with the Transitioning Home office in MTSU’s Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veteran and Military Family Center; bottom left, from left to right, are Dr. Derek Frisby and Connie Huddleston from the College of Liberal Arts; and bottom right, Dr. David Butler, vice provost for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies. (MTSU photo illustration by Jimmy Hart)

Located in Keathley University Center Room 316, the nearly 600-square-foot facility will allow Smith and Martin to match veterans and other MTSU students with prospective employers. Smith and Martin also are veterans.

• Dr. David Butler, the new vice provost for research and dean of the MTSU College of Graduate Studies, discusses his new roles on campus and what the College of Graduate Studies offers to the community.

Butler, 46, officially began at MTSU on Jan. 1, 2017. A native of Houston, Texas, Butler comes to MTSU from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he has served as chair in the Department of Political Science and director of the doctoral program in International Development.

The MTSU College of Graduate Studies, considered a leader in graduate education in Tennessee, provides academic, financial and other support services for graduate students while upholding academic standards. More than 100 programs of study are offered to students.

• Connie Huddleston, coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Derek Frisby, professor of military and Tennessee history and geography, discussed the upcoming 2017 Lifelong Learning Program

The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to again offer the program, a homework-free, exam-free classroom experience for older learners. It is slated for four Mondays — May 1, 8, 15, and 22 — in the Ingram Building, located at 2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd. in Murfreesboro. The cost is only $20 per course.

This year’s courses include: “Reflections on Vietnam” with Frisby, an MTSU alum and Marine Corps veteran teaching military and Tennessee history and geography; “Jazz Transition in the ‘60s” with Dr. Don Aliquo, a saxophonist and professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at MTSU; and “Eastern Philosophy” with Dr. Jack Purcell, who was raised in the traditions of India.

For more information, visit http://mtsu.edu/liberalarts/lifelong.php.

Students, faculty and staff who are interested in guesting on WGNS to promote their MTSU-related activities should contact Jimmy Hart, director of news and media relations, at 615-898-5131 or via email at jimmy.hart@mtsu.edu.