Civic duty, student success, Center for Popular Music on WGNS

MTSU faculty and staff shared efforts to increase student civic involvement, improve student graduation rates and promote the university’s Center for Popular Music with listeners of WGNS Radio during the Nov. 17 “Action Line” program with veteran host Bart Walker.

Dr. Greg Reish

Dr. Rick Sluder

Dr. Mary Evins, historian, associate professor in the University Honors College and director of the MTSU chapter of the American Democracy Project

Dr. Mary A. Evins

The live program aired 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 included:

• Dr. Mary Evins, MTSU history professor and coordinator for the American Democracy Project, who discussed efforts to get college students more engaged in the democratic process. Evins said one of the project’s goals is to increase “students’ growth in awareness of American heritage and their personal responsibilities in a participatory democracy.” Learn more about the project here.

• Dr. Richard “Rick” Sluder, vice provost for Student Success, and Vincent Windrow, assistant vice provost for Student Success, who discussed MTSU’s ongoing efforts to help students earn their degrees. Sluder joined MTSU Sept. 15 as part of MTSU’s “Quest for Student Success” initiative, a series of reforms launched in October 2013 to better help students stay on track academically and complete their degrees. Windrow is assisting in this effort to make sure that students are aware of the many resources available to help them stay on track to graduate. Learn more here.

• Dr. Greg Reish , director of the Center for Popular Music at MTSU, who discussed his goals after taking over as center director July 1. He is writing a book about American vernacular guitar styles from the mid-19th century through bluegrass and country music of the 1940s. In addition, Reish is a professor of musicology in the MTSU School of Music and an accomplished singer and instrumentalist on guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer and ukulele. Learn more here.

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.