SEGMENT ONE – 8:10 a.m.

GUEST: Dr. Greg Van Patten, interim dean, MTSU College of Basic and Applied Sciences

TOPIC: Van Patten’s recent appointment as interim dean for the next year as the university searches for a permanent replacement

Chemistry professor Greg Van Patten has been selected to be interim dean for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University by Provost Mark Byrnes, who made the announcement Thursday, July 1.

Van Patten, 51, spent nine years as chair of the Department of Chemistry and will now lead the college during the university’s national search for a new permanent dean. From a list of nominees, Byrnes chose Van Patten to replace Bud Fischer, who championed the new Science Building that opened in 2014 and will soon become Western Kentucky University’s provost.

“Greg has done a fine job leading a large and complicated department and has also chaired the (43-member) Chairs Council. I have great confidence in his ability to do this job,” Byrnes said.

Along with chemistry, the college includes aerospace, agriculture, biology, computer science, concrete and construction management, engineering technology, geosciences, mathematical sciences, military science and physics and astronomy.

“I’m excited about it (the opportunity),” Van Patten said of the one-year appointment. “Now, I will have a wider focus. I’ll be looking at different things and how all these fit together — for the rest of the university, community and state. In recent weeks, I’ve been adjusting my thinking that way.”

Read more at https://mtsunews.com/van-patten-interim-cbas-dean/.

SEGMENT TWO – 8:25 a.m.

GUESTS: Dr. Vincent Windrow, associate vice provost for Student Success, and Brelinda Johnson, Scholars Academy manager in the MTSU Office of Student Success 

TOPIC: $100,000 in grants from the Tennessee Board of Regents to assist with MTSU student mentoring and writing skills

MTSU’s Office of Student Success is committed to helping students be academically successful and graduate in four years.

Johnson recently secured $50,000 in TBR grant funding for the Accelerated Mentoring Program, or AMP, which targets underserved (first-generation students of color) incoming freshmen and transfer students from June 2021 through July 2022.

Meanwhile, Windrow secured similar funding for the Write On! Program, which will assist students all year.

Together, they are the sixth and seventh grants totaling $260,000 secured by Student Success.

Windrow said the Write-On program “mirrors an existing math-science program that Dr. Marva Lucas hosted in University Studies a year ago. We’ll identify 30 Pell-eligible, first-generation students from underrepresented populations and pair them with student mentors. Each writing mentor will have five students. They’ll meet throughout the fall and spring semesters.”

Johnson said they are “excited about this opportunity. Students will benefit. We know from our other early arrival programs that peer mentoring works. ”

Johnson said peer mentors will work with incoming freshmen and transfer students and introduce early on resources and things to be successful in their transition. A family component is available and faculty can provide feedback on how students are progressing. Microgrants ($200) can support students with financial needs.

Read more: https://mtsunews.com/162k-tbr-grants-support-underserved-students/

SEGMENT THREE – 8:40 a.m.

GUESTS: Journalism professor, Dr. Chistine Eschenfelder, journalism lecture Dan Eschenfelder, and a TBA journalism student

TOPIC: Real-world, award-winning experiential learning for MTSU’s journalism students through the student-produced Middle Tennessee News

Telling the story of a century’s worth of broadcasting in America and in Tennessee has turned a national spotlight — and a pair of prestigious awards — toward a team of nine Middle Tennessee State University multimedia journalism students and alumni.

The students, all part of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media in the College of Media and Entertainment, first received a top-10 win May 21 in the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program for their November 2020 TV news special, “100 Years of Broadcasting.”

The MTSU team took journalism professor Christine Eschenfelder’s fall 2020 senior-level “Seminar in Media Issues” course, which focused this time on the centennial of U.S. broadcasting.

Then, on May 25, they learned their 30-minute special and its associated website made them one of six student-category Silver Winners in the renowned Telly Awards, which recognize the best TV and video content created worldwide by advertising agencies, TV stations, production companies and publishers.

The Hearst awards, called “the Pulitzer Prizes of collegiate journalism,” are considered the top honors for journalists at accredited U.S. universities.

This year’s Tellys included winning creations from organizations ranging from The Walt Disney Company and the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs to CBS Interactive and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The award-winning MTSU student special and its accompanying website are available at www.middletennesseenews.net/100-years-of-broadcast. 

Read more: https://mtsunews.com/student-journalists-wins-spr21/