Zac Miller, Jacob Rex and others were impressed by the MTSU College of Mass Communication’s facilities and technology during the True Blue Experience Day Jan. 30 on campus.

Strong impressions made by veteran College of Education faculty members on Allison Carbaugh may have applied the finishing touches to recruiting the Farragut, Tennessee, resident to the Murfreesboro university.

MTSU College of Mass Communication director of technical systems Marc Parrish leads a tour group of prospective students and their parents through the $1.8 million mobile production lab during the True Blue Experience Day Jan. 30 at MTSU. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

And Friendship Christian School senior Evan Hemontolor had high praise for the Jones College of Business and its new Dale Carnegie program to build people skills.

More than 60 prospective students and nearly 90 people altogether attended the final True Blue Experience Day for the 2014-15 academic year, giving high school students and their parents an opportunity for a more in-depth campus visit.

The potential students met deans, faculty members, advisers and other academic personnel; they talked to admissions and financial aid personnel; they visited classes and laboratories (including Mass Comm’s impressive $1.8 million mobile production truck); some took a campus tour; and they gained a hint of university life.

Rex, who is from Baneberry, Tennessee, in Jefferson County, and Miller, who is from Greeneville, Tennessee, were first in their group to sit in the two anchor chairs in Mass Comm’s Center for Innovation in Media’s “green room,” where MTSU students learn the ropes of broadcast news for student-run television station MT10.

Rex, who already works part-time for the Standard-Banner weekly newspaper in Jefferson City, said he has been accepted to MTSU and recently applied for housing.

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to come here,” he said, adding he plans to major in journalism to pursue a media career. He attended with his father, Steve Rex.

Miller, who visited MTSU several months ago, was impressed by MTSU’s newsroom. He visited with his parents, Johnny and Kim Miller.

Veteran MTSU professor Willis Means, left, shares aspects of being an elementary education major with prospective students and their parents attending the True Blue Experience Day Jan. 30. (MTSU photo by News and Media Relations)

Carbaugh, visiting along with her father, Steve, said she “loved the classrooms. They seem designed toward a smaller classroom, and the entire (College of Education) building is very nicely designed.” She and other prospective students met Dean Lana Seivers in the college’s conference room.

Carbaugh said hearing from early childhood education professor Willis Means and Educational Leadership faculty members Heather Dillard and Nancy Caukin made “me want to get out of high school now because they knew what they were doing, made it interesting and are passionate about education.”

Prospective students visiting the Jennings A. Jones College of Business in the Business and Aerospace Building met Dean David Urban and heard an overview of the college; they interacted with a panel of current students and young alumni; and attended a microeconomics course required of all students in the college.

David Urban, dean of the Jones College of Business, greets prospective students and discusses its numerous outstanding programs and departments. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

“The Carnegie program helps you make connections with people and offers several leadership skills,” said Evan Hemontolor, who lives in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was joined by his mother, Medana Hemontolor.

Evan Hemontolor enjoyed a panel of young alumni “who were good at answering questions and made you want to attend MTSU,” he said.

The Jones College of Business departments include accounting, business communication and entrepreneurship, computer information systems, economics and finance and management and marketing. To learn about the college’s various programs, visit www.mtsu.edu/business/programs.php.

The College of Education’s departments include elementary and special education and the Womack Educational Leadership. For its programs, visit www.mtsu.edu/education/programs.php.

Under the leadership of Dean Ken Paulson, Mass Comm houses the departments of electronic media communication, journalism and recording industry. For the various programs, visit www.mtsu.edu/masscomm/programs.php.

Melinda Thomas, director of undergraduate recruitment, shared with attendees about the MTSU Student Success Advantage and the “Graduate in Four and Get More” program, both announced in 2014 to help reduce the financial burden of tuition. For more information, visit www.mtsu.edu/student-success-advantage.

For information on upcoming admissions events and to pre-register, visit www.mtsu.edu/rsvp.

Admissions also conducts daily campus tours. For more information, call 615-898-5670 or email tours@mtsu.edu.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Prospective MTSU students ‘experience’ nursing, theatre, more

Attending the Governor’s School for the Arts with an emphasis in theater at Middle Tennessee State University in 2013, Aaron Johnson “fell in love with this place.”

Johnson, who is from Kingsport in upper East Tennessee, applied and was accepted last fall. He visited MTSU again Jan. 23, participating in the True Blue Experience Day for the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Behavioral and Health Sciences.

While some prospective students observe current MTSU students in action in a classroom lab setting in Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building, School of Nursing Director Jenny Sauls discusses the program Jan. 23 during the True Blue Experience Day. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

The special experience day gave the 100-plus combined prospective students, their parents and family members a chance for an in-depth campus visit. They meet deans, faculty, advisers and other academic personnel; they talk to admissions and financial aid personnel; they can visit classes and laboratories, seeing MTSU students in action; and gain a glimpse of life at the university.

Johnson, a Dobyns-Bennett High School senior, took in a child drama class taught by Department of Speech and Theatre professor Jette Halladay.

“I thought it was really cool, being able to jump into a class. It was a real eye-opener,” said Johnson, who made the 300-mile trip with his mother, Jennifer Campbell, and grandmother, Sharon Salyer, both from Kingsport. “Everyone was in good spirits, the teacher, especially, and the students.”

While at the Governor’s School nearly two years ago, Johnson said MTSU speech and theatre chair Jeff Gibson proved to be “an awesome mentor.”

“He (Gibson) assures me I can have an awesome time here,” added Johnson, who is a member of the Dobyns-Bennett Dramahawks forensics club.

School of Nursing Director Jenny Sauls and associate professor Sherri Stevens showed two different groups of potential students around Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building. Sauls’ tour included a large clinical lab, where MTSU students were performing hands-on activities. Stevens’ last tour stop was the Advanced Simulator Lab.

“It’s like a real hospital setting,” Stevens told the visitors.

Sabrina Deberry of Lexington, Tennessee, found Stevens’ tour “very interesting.”

“I’ve seen some things (mannequin) I’ve taken classes on and I’ve seen a simulator,” added Deberry, a junior at Lexington High School. Rochelle Deberry, her mother, and sister Keeambra Green, an MTSU alumna Class of 2011, joined Sabrina Deberry for the True Blue Experience Day. Green is a dental hygienist.

MTSU School of Music Director Michael Parkinson tells prospective students and their parents many advantages of the program Jan. 23 in the Wright Music Building during the True Blue Experience Day.

Best friends and Bradley Central High School seniors Callie Morgan and Chloe Wallace of Cleveland, Tennessee, eagerly await returning to MTSU in late August after applying, being accepted and attending the experience day.

“I loved it (MTSU) — the layout, the plans. It suits me and my goals (to be a nursing student),” Morgan said.

“I really like how they have hands-on experience, (and) I like all the faculty I’ve met,” Wallace said. “It seems like I’ll enjoy it here.”

Five students and their parents heard an excellent overview of the School of Music by Director Michael Parkinson and professor Stephen Smith.

“We not only want you to succeed, but to excel,” Parkinson said to the potential students.

Other Liberal Arts departments include art, English, foreign languages and literatures, history, philosophy, political science and sociology and anthropology.

Other Behavioral and Health Sciences departments include criminal justice administration, health and human performance, human sciences, psychology and social work.

The visitors came from Michigan, West Virginia and North Carolina. In Tennessee, the range was from Memphis to Elizabethton.

The True Blue Experience Day for the MTSU Colleges of Business, Education and Mass Communication will be held Friday, Jan. 30. To pre-register for any of the Office of Admissions special events this winter and spring, visit www.mtsu.edu/rsvp or call 615-898-5670.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

True Blue Experience Days help kick-start next recruiting phase

Continuing a busy season to attract new and transfer students for the 2015-16 academic year and beyond, MTSU’s upcoming recruiting events include back-to-back True Blue Experience Days.

Shatima White, second from right, a senior at Central High School in Memphis, Tennessee, discusses an aspect of MTSU assistant professor David Nelson’s biology research during the Oct. 17 True Blue Experience Day for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences in the new Science Building. (MTSU file photo by News and Media Relations)

They will be held Friday, Jan. 23, for prospective students in the College of Liberal Arts or College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and Friday, Jan. 30, for students considering a major in the College of Business, College of Education or College of Mass Communication.

True Blue Experience Days offer potential students, their parents and families an opportunity for an in-depth campus visit. They are able to view campus facilities; meet deans, advisers, faculty and other academic staff; talk to admissions and financial aid personnel; and gain a sense of student life and the MTSU community.

The True Blue Experience Days run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and start in the Student Union Building, located at 1768 MTSU Blvd.

To register for any of the Office of Admissions special events this winter and spring, visit www.mtsu.edu/rsvp or call 615-898-5670. Parking and campus building information is available on a printable campus map at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking14-15.

For the Jan. 23 True Blue Experience Day, Dean Terry Whiteside of MTSU’s College of Behavioral and Health Sciences said two hours will be set aside for “various opportunities that will be planned for students to visit our departments and the majors, and get a feel of what’s going on.”

Departments in Whiteside’s college include criminal justice administration, health and human performance, human sciences, the School of Nursing, psychology and social work.

The College of Liberal Arts departments “are excited to share with prospective students and their parents the variety of options we offer for study and preparation for a fulfilling career,” said Lucy Langworthy, advising manager for the college.

“(Prospective) students will get to attend classes in their areas of interest and meet students and professors who will answer relevant questions,” said Langworthy, who noted that visitors will “get tours of our facilities and see such space as the production area in theatre, observe letterpress printing in art and visit rehearsal and performance halls in the music department.”

MTSU’s Bonnie McCarty, left, former assistant director of scholarships, talks with incoming freshman Natalie Porter, right, and her father, Steve Porter, in this file photo from a spring 2014 True Blue Experience Day at the Student Union Building. Natalie Porter is a finance major in the Jones College of Business. McCarty is now an adviser in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)

Music faculty will also discuss music concentrations and career choices and give prospective students pointers on preparing for an audition, Langworthy said.

School of Music audition dates include Saturday, Jan. 31; Monday, Feb. 16; and Saturday, Feb. 28. To learn more, visit www.mtsu.edu/music or call 615-898-2469.

Liberal arts departments also include art, English, foreign languages and literatures, history, philosophy, political science, sociology and anthropology and speech and theatre. Dr. Mark Byrnes serves as college dean.

For the Jan. 30 True Blue Experience Day, participating colleges have several plans for visitors.

Prospective College of Education students and family members will be in the renovated Ned McWherter Learning Resources Center for most of the program, said Jim Rost, advising manager in the college. Dean Lana Seivers will address the visitors, and associate professor Willis Means will conduct a 30-minute interactive teaching activity.

The student teaching residency team will lead a 30-minute teaching-specific activity. A tour of the College of Education Building will include brief visits while classes are in session.

Students considering majors in the Jones College of Business will meet with Dean David Urban and interact with a panel of current students and young alumni, said Amie Donahue, a college adviser. Once the panel ends, participants will join a microeconomics course, which is required of all students in the college.

A pair of advisers will have information at a table in the Student Union Ballroom from 9 to 10 a .m. Departments include accounting, business communication and entrepreneurship, computer information systems, economics and finance and management and marketing.

College of Mass Communication visitors will see an “interactive media showcase” that Dean Ken Paulson said will offer prospective students “the chance for hands-on experiences with video and photography, music production and a range of digital media.” Departments include electronic media communication, journalism and recording industry. Associated mass comm programs include media study and media management, public relations, and video and film production.

The True Blue Experience Day for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences was held Oct. 17.

Other special events this semester include the Monday, Feb. 16, University Honors College Presidents’ Day Open House, which is expected to attract about 700 people from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m, and Spring Preview Days scheduled for Saturday, March 21, and Saturday, June 6.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)