President's Perspective

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Greetings on this first week of February.

I was kind of searching for a topic for this column as three seemingly unrelated happenings have come together this week—giving me a message that doesn’t hurt to have repeated for all of us here at Murray State. Let me start by sharing these random items with you that I’m alluding to—and then I’ll try to make my point at the end.

First Thing: If you are a reader of The Paducah Sun, you noticed this week a new insert in that newspaper—in addition to the typical advertisements and flyers. We debuted THE REVIEW, a tabloid news publication dealing with all things MSU that we’ll be including four times throughout the year in newspapers for (besides Paducah) Henderson, Hopkinsville, Madisonville, and Owensboro. This new piece is produced in-house by University Communications and sent to the papers for inclusion usually on a day when it won’t get lost in a plethora of other inserts.


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MSU presents Béla Fleck Africa Tour Concert and Documentary

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Murray State University's Lovett Live Series features Béla Fleck in concert with musicians from Mali and Tanzania on Friday, February 12, at 8 p.m. in Lovett Auditorium. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com or the RSEC box office.

In advance of the concert, MSU's Cinema International screens the documentary about Fleck's Africa Tour,"Throw Down Your Heart," February 4, 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m. in MSU's Curris Center Theatre.

The “always adventurous” (USA Today) banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck brings Bassekouye Kouyate, Anania Ngolia and John Kitime to the MSU concert, a stop on the 33-city Africa Project tour: Collaborations with Amazing African Musicians. All three musicians are featured on the 2010 Grammy-nominated album and award-winning documentary, ‘Throw Down Your Heart.’


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Shakespeare Festival is Feb. 21 - 24

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
The Murray Shakespeare Festival is very pleased to bring The American Shakespeare Center's "Rough, Rude, and Boisterous" tour to Murray for three performances of Shakespeare's magnificent tragic romance "Romeo and Juliet" and one performance of Francis Beaumont's hilarious comedy "The Knight of the Burning Pestle." Headquartered in Staunton, Virginia, The American Shakespeare Center is an internationally renowned theater company that strives to recreate the dynamic staging practices that Shakespeare's own audiences experienced, thrilling young and old alike with a mixture of music, dance, and of course, the power of Shakespeare's beautiful language.


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Weems scholarship established for MSU CSET students

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Murray State University students in the college of science, engineering and technology will benefit greatly from the Thomas N. and Marjorie J. Weems Scholarship, recently established through a generous bequest gift in the amount of $320,598 from the late Dr. Thomas Weems and his late wife Marjorie, both of New Mexico. This endowment will provide financial support to pre-medical and pre-dental students pursing degrees at MSU. Recipients will be selected based on the financial needs of the student and the student’s scholastic ability.

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MSU Quality Enhancement Plan project wants your ideas for a tagline

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
QEP stands for Quality Enhancement Plan. Institutions that are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools are required to identify a topic for emphasis that addresses an issue related to enhancing student learning. A survey of students, faculty, and staff last spring identified student writing skills as the best focus for MSU's QEP for the next few years. Now, you have the opportunity to create a tagline for the QEP! You can win a Wii game console, an Ipod touch, or an Ereader. We are looking for a clever phrase that reflects our emphasis on writing. As an example, Kennesaw State University’s QEP is focused on internationalization and global learning. Their tagline is "Get Global". Please submit your suggestion by completing the QEP Tagline Contest online. Or, you may place your suggestion in boxes labeled "QEP Tagline Contest", located at Waterfield library. Please submit one tagline per entry. Deadline for entries is February 19th.

WKMS presents special programming in honor of Black History Month

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
February marks Black History Month, and 91.3 WKMS, Murray State’s listener supported public radio service and NPR member station, features two programs in honor of this annual celebration. The special programming is sponsored in part by the United Methodist Churches of Downtown Paducah.

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‘iWorld’ panel discusses globalization

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Are you part of something bigger than yourself? Are you part of a global community? Have you considered how globalization affects your life? At 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 11 at Richmond College these questions and many more will be explored through a panel and audience discussion on globalization. "iWorld," will take place in the Richmond College common room. This event is open to the entire University community.

Panelists include the following: Dr. David Pizzo, department of history, Dr. Riad Attar, department of government, law, and international affairs, Dr. Seid Hassan, department of economics and finance, Ms. Jodi Keen, student, and Dr. Therese Saintpaul, department of modern languages. Mr. Jody Cofer, MSU President’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, will serve as moderator. The event will include light refreshments.
For more information, contact Dr. Leon Bodevin, Richmond College Head, at (270) 809-4525 or at leon.bodevin@murraystate.edu.

Women in Computing

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Murray State University’s Department of Computer Science & Information Systems will sponsor the first ever Regional Celebration of Women in Computing conference for Kentucky Feb. 26-27 at Kentucky Dam Village State Park. The shortage of women in computing sciences has been a concern addressed in national conferences for several years. To increase the participation of females in the field has been a goal of the MSU Department of Computer Science & Information Systems, according to Dr. Brenda Wilson.


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Mangold presentation

Wednesday, February 3. 2010

Dr. Glynn Mangold, professor of marketing at Murray State University, conducted a seminar on “Social Media and the Selling Process” Feb. 2 at the Sales Club of Louisville. Mangold, a member of the MSU faculty since 1994, received his bachelor’s degree from Murray State and his doctorate of business administration from the University of Memphis.

Beginner Tai Chi for MSU employees

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Due to many requests, Wayne Harper has agreed to teach a beginner Tai Chi class for MSU Faculty/Staff. If there is sufficient interest, the class will be offered Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 am-12:15 pm in the Dance Studio of the Carr Health Building beginning February 15 through April 28th (no class the week of MSU spring break). If you are interested, please contact Amelia Dodd (Amelia.dodd@murraystate.edu or 809-6463.


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1st annual Majors' Fair

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce that our Center for Academic Advising will host its first annual Majors' Fair. The event will be on Wednesday, February 17th in the Curris Center small ballroom from 2 - 5 p.m. The purpose of the Majors' Fair is to provide opportunities for students to explore the exciting academic opportunities available to them at Murray State University. The event will address the needs of undecided majors, but all students will benefit from the information shared at the event. If you have any questions please call the Center for Academic Advising, Coordinator, Olympia Stewart at 809-3895 or email caa@murraystate.edu.

Women's Center self defense class begins Feb. 8

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
The Women's Center is sponsoring a self defense class, that will run from February 8th until April 12th. The class will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 P.M. to 1:30 P.M. The cost for the class will be $35.00 for all eight weeks (paid on the first day of class), or $2.50 per class to be paid at the beginning of each class. The Class will meet on the second floor of Carr Health in the dance studio (follow the signs). We hope that you will join us in a fun but educational self defense class.

The Murray State News a winner at Kentucky Press Association awards

Wednesday, February 3. 2010
Student staff members of The Murray State News won 18 awards in the 2009 Kentucky Press Association (KPA) competition for college/university newspapers. Murray State University’s weekly student paper, advised by Joe Hedges, won third place for the best overall newspaper. The awards were announced at the annual conference in Lexington Jan. 22.


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