Greetings for this week.

Before we get too far into this new academic term, and start to get covered up by the minutiae of our daily work, meetings, commitments, and other sundry obligations that will carry us to the end of another semester in what always seems like the blink of an eye—I want to spend probably the next three weeks of RM columns revisiting a major theme that I stressed in my State of the University Address in August. That theme is innovation.


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Dennis L. Johnson, Director of Bands and Symphony Orchestra at Murray State University has been invited to present master-classes and serve as the principal guest conductor for the very first Korean International Wind Band Festival. The event will take place in Seoul from September 29 through October 3, 2010. The festival was created to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War and the 09/29 celebration surrounding the recapture of Seoul. It is also highlighting the site of the G20 Summit which will put Seoul in the international spotlight later this year.


Continue reading "MSU Director of Bands, Dr. Dennis Johnson, invited to lead Korean celebration"

Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes, will lecture at Murray State University on Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. in Lovett Auditorium. TOMS Shoes sponsors the One for One program. The company is based on the premise that for each pair of shoes bought, a pair will be donated to a child in need in a developing country. For these children, shoes are not about fashion, but about protecting their feet from injury and disease.

The TOMS website describes its mission, saying, “Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we’re all about. The TOMS mission transforms our customers into benefactors, which allows us to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.”

According to the website, TOMS is now on track to give the One Millionth Pair of new shoes to a child in need this month. Find more information on the TOMS movement online at www.toms.com.

The event is free and everyone is invited.

On September 17 and 20, “We the People” will be celebrating one of the most pivotal days in our nation’s history—the signing of the U.S. Constitution by our founding fathers. Murray State University’s Center for Service Learning & Civic Engagement, through sponsorship by the Office of Regional Stewardship and Outreach, will host this two-day event FREE to all community members.


Continue reading "Constitution Day"

The Kentucky Department of Transportation's distracted driving simulator will be at the Curris Center Rocking Chair Lounge Tuesday, September 21, from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. The simulator is free for all MSU students, faculty and staff. Sponsored by: Murray State University American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Student Section.

Abdul Yarali, Associate Professor in TSM presented two papers co-authored by two of our TSM graduate and undergraduate students at the International Conference on Digital Telecommunications (ICDT) June 13-19, 2010, Athens, Greece. ”Unlicensed Mobile Access: Leading Technological Alternative in the Fixed Mobile Convergence Stable” by Abdulrahman Yarali and Kathleen Saleeba and “Fixed Mobile Convergence: The Convergence of Networks, Devices and Services” by Abdulrahman Yarali, Anna Cherry, and Babak Ahsant. The second paper was awarded best paper and will be published in International Journals on Advances in Telecommunications, May 2011. Dr. Yarali served as the invited session chair for "Space and Wireless Communication" area at the ICDT conference.

Winston Churchill once said, “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” Everyone has the capacity to give something. Learn what small changes and contributions you can make to improve the future of the region. “Empowering Communities…Transforming Kentucky,” a FREE inter-generational Transfer of Wealth luncheon, will take place on September 14, 2010 from 11 a.m.-1p.m. in the Murray Room of the RSEC. The keynote speaker will be Mike Hammons, executive director of the Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative.


Continue reading "Transfer of Wealth luncheon is Sept. 14"

The Murray State University Center for Economic Education and the Kentucky Council on Economic Education will offer two free workshops for the Stock Market Game™ for grade 4-12 teachers. The first workshop will be held on Murray State’s campus on Thursday, Sept. 16; the second will be at Farley Elementary School in Paducah, Ky., on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Both workshops run from 4 to 7 p.m. Participant teachers attend the workshop of their choice.


Continue reading "MSU Stock Market Game™ workshop for area teachers Sept. 16 and Sept. 21"

As part of Hold Thy Banner High: The Campaign for the Students of Murray State University, Gary and Barbara Morgan’s establishment of an estate gift of $2 million to Murray State University is a chance for the Morgans to leave a legacy that will impact students of MSU. The “Gary A. and Barbara J. Morgan Endowed Scholarship” to be funded in the future by their estate was recently established to aid future Murray State University students who participated in four semesters of high school band programs. In this group, further preference is given to those students who worked in part-time jobs, as well.


Continue reading "Morgan family makes provision for major estate gift to benefit scholarships"

Murray State University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications will conduct its annual Journalism and Broadcasting Workshop Sept. 24 at the Curris Center. Area high school media students and their advisers will be able pick from eight programs in each of the first two sessions that day.

Continue reading "JMC high school workshop 2010"

Personnel Action forms will follow the same routing as in the past, except that VP office staff are asked to send them to the Budget office or, for grant-related positions, the Grant Accounting Office, instead of HR. The Accounting Office will then send them to HR. The current and new routing steps for PA’s are shown below. The revised PA form and instructions will be on Forms Central.

All except grant-related
1. Dept
2. VP
3. Budget
4. HR
5. President
6. HR

Grant-related
1. Dept
2. VP
3. Grant
4. Budget
5. HR
6. President
7. HR

Greetings for this week.

Though I've written about this topic before, I want to use my column once more this week to remind the Campus Community--particularly our University Staff members--about what is transpiring with our long-awaited Staff Compensation Study. The Study allowed us to take a wide-ranging look at the appropriateness and currency of job categories, as well as the pay targets and grades to support those jobs according to market rates. Every regular, hourly, full- and part-time job--whether paid for by General University Funds, Auxiliary (e.g., Housing, Dining, etc.) Funds, Grants and Sponsored Funds, or the Foundation--was included in the analysis.


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Thirteen educators from Ballard, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, McCracken and Paducah Independent Schools will participate in the McCracken County Area Cohort of the Regional Partnership for Principal Preparation. The Cohort is coordinated by Murray State University in partnership with these area school districts with selection based upon leadership and instructional expertise of applicants as evidenced through documentation and interviews with a panel of MSU faculty and school district administrators. All participants will complete a 30-hour program of study over the next five semesters that will culminate with a Masters degree in Education Administration and possible PK-12 School Principal certification. The Regional Partnership for Principal Preparation is a School-University Partnership program based at Murray State University. Through the partnership and collaborative approach, the school district and university will provide intensive and authentic leadership experiences in schools, as well as build leadership capacity for the districts. This is the third cohort of the Partnership Program.