MTSU 2022: New buildings, student training mark a year of milestones
Middle Tennessee State University departs 2022 following a year of noteworthy accomplishments by its students, faculty, staff, and alumni as well as a historic milestone for the entire university.
Here are some of the top news stories for the Blue Raider campus for 2022:
Economic engine statewide
The year began with promising news of MTSU’s economic impact on the region and state, with a report by the Business and Economic Research Center in the Jones College of Business showing that the university creates a $1.42 billion economic impact annually and sustains 11,500 jobs statewide.
Not only does the institution generate jobs, but its graduates stay close to home, with MTSU accounting for nearly two in every five adults with a bachelor’s or above in Rutherford County, and one in every six adults in the Nashville metro area, the report noted. Also, in 2021, 90% of the almost 21,000 students at the university were from Tennessee; 79% of MTSU alumni live in Tennessee.
A continued draw for many prospective students and future graduates is the university’s highly touted Aerospace program. The explosion of interest in a high-demand field, particularly for pilot training, drew critical financial support from the state of Tennessee in the spring when more than $60 million in funding was allocated to expand flight operations.
MTSU’s latest large-scale capital improvement was celebrated this fall with the grand opening of an innovative, $40.1 million School of Concrete and Construction Management Building that has already begun training the next generation of professionals in another industry craving for a skilled workforce.
And for the fourth straight year, MTSU was named to The Princeton Review’s annual list of best colleges in the nation, the only locally governed institution in Tennessee recognized by the publication, first achieving its spot in 2019. Only five higher education entities in the state — two public and three private — were included in the recently released 31st edition of “The Best 388 Colleges” for 2023.
“It’s remarkable what the dedicated faculty and staff at our institution continue to achieve year after year in an effort to enhance the quality of life in our community, certainly in partnership with our Board of Trustees and a host of faithful alumni, community supporters and business and industry partners,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, now in his 21st year of leading the Blue Raider campus.
“MTSU will remain a forward-looking institution constantly seeking ways to enhance the educational experience of our students but also providing them a foundation to become the engaged, productive and caring citizens who contribute to their communities and tangibly demonstrate what it means to be True Blue.”
Music, medicine, and more
In the spring, a delegation of the students, faculty, and staff returned for its annual trek to the Grammys after a pandemic hiatus the previous year to network with industry professionals and continue the tradition of recognizing the various alumni from the College of Media and Entertainment and School of Music who were nominated for the coveted music industry award.
Weeks after returning from the Grammys, the university celebrated more music industry achievement by joining a throng of supporters for MTSU alumna and “American Idol” finalist Hunter Wolkonowski during a special celebration in her hometown of Winchester, during which the university presented her with an honorary professorship.
And just as Nashville and Midstate are known for music, health care is a thriving economic sector as well. Recognizing the importance of this field in the region and state, the university in the spring welcomed the inaugural cohort of students for the new Physician Assistant Studies Program that has been years in the making, the first at a public institution in the state and one of the fastest growing professions in the region.
Successful candidates in the 27-month master’s level program are then licensed to diagnose and treat illness and disease, prescribe medication, and perform procedures. They work in collaboration with licensed physicians in a variety of settings including hospitals and clinics.
“This is a day that we have been working toward for years,” University Provost Mark Byrnes said in recognizing those who made the program a reality, particularly program Director Marie Patterson. “The medical community here in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County [is] very supportive of this. It’s the only public program in the middle part of Tennessee.”
A hands-on summer
The Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts returned to campus in early summer hosting almost 300 high school students from 31 different counties across the state who were selected from among 600 applicants this year.
MTSU assistant theatre professor Kate Goodwin, the new director of Governor’s School, noted that students admitted this year, like in previous years, had to go through an application and selection process for the three-week summer residency program for public, private, and home-schooled high school juniors and seniors in music, theater, visual arts, dance, and filmmaking, aided by faculty and performing artists from across the country.
MTSU students continued taking advantage of real-world training opportunities over the summer with a return of College of Media and Entertainment students and faculty to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, including an expanded production role due to the stellar professionalism of faculty-led student workers in capturing the various artist performances for broadcast on streaming services.
“I have produced hundreds of live events and can say, without question, that [the] MTSU student production team’s work was top notch and the work looked amazing and fit [seamlessly] into our overall programming,” said Devin DeHaven, executive producer for Bonnaroo/Hulu/Fortress Entertainment. “Their composure in being part of a national broadcast with A-list artists is a testament to their skills and [to] MTSU’s programs.”
Summer also saw the launch of a digital literacy camp coordinated through the School of Journalism and Strategic Media to help tweens and teens using TikTok better understand the power, pros, and cons of digital media. The grant-funded effort led to a partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County to bring 40 local middle- and junior high-school students to campus to learn the importance of responsible social media usage and digital literacy.
Meanwhile, the MTSU College of Basic and Applied Sciences launched its inaugural Summer STEM Camp, a weeklong camp for high school sophomores and juniors surrounding the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Campers caught darters in area streams, made solar panels using circuit boards, performed chemistry-related food activities, and more at on- and off-campus locations.
Facilities, firsts, 50th
The university broke ground for its new $7.1 million outdoor tennis complex in a ceremony in mid-September on the site for the new facility at the corner of Middle Tennessee Boulevard and Greenland Drive on the Blue Raider campus.
This new state-of-the-art facility will serve as the on-campus home of MTSU’s men’s and women’s tennis programs, featuring new locker rooms, spectator facilities for 250 Blue Raiders fans, eight upgraded tennis courts, and new coaches’ offices, among many other amenities.
Built on the site of the current Buck Bouldin Tennis Courts, this new tennis complex is the latest development to get underway from MTSU Athletics’ “Build Blue” capital campaign, with the goal to provide all 17 MTSU Athletics programs with the resources and infrastructure to compete at a championship level.
On the academic side, the university also celebrated the first four MTSU undergraduates to successfully advance in their studies as part of a special partnership with Meharry Medical College School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
Maria Hite of La Vergne, and classmates Claire Ritter of Nashville, Pierce Creighton of Lascassas and Kirolos Michael of Brentwood have completed their first three years of study in a prescribed undergraduate premedical school curriculum, and they’re now five months into four years of medical school study.
A collaboration between Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Basic and Applied Sciences and Meharry, the Medical School Early Acceptance Program, or MSEAP, aims to increase the number of primary care physicians serving medically underserved populations as well as alleviate health care disparities in rural Tennessee.
And certainly, a highlight to round out the year has been kicking off the yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of “The Glass House” Murphy Center, fresh off a $6 million-plus renovation project that included a complete replacement of the famous glass panels with “smart window” technology have resolved the glare and temperature issues over the years.
To help the university celebrate that milestone, country music superstar Wynonna Judd brought “The Judds: Love is Alive – The Final Concert” to Murphy Center in early November a historic homecoming to the venue that recreated the 1991 farewell concert with her late mother for a star-studded, made-for-TV event that will air in the spring.
“This anniversary concert … truly epitomizes the education MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment provides our students,” Dean Beverly Keel said of the event that involved over 50 student workers and a host of alumni behind the scenes.
“Our students have been here in the mix of everything,” Keel said. “Opportunities like this teach them so much, from emotional intelligence of how to react to people, how to handle problems, how to communicate effectively, to literal hands-on experience.”
MTSU content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU 2022 in review
