Each of the colleges and academic units at MTSU maintains a high level of activity and produces news worth crowing about. It is very difficult to select just a few highlights from across the colleges! Here are just a few examples of the remarkable work we have recently performed on the campus of MTSU. 

University Wide 

The Princeton Review—one of the nation’s leading education services companies—included MTSU in its 33rd annual Best Colleges rankings for 2025, the sixth consecutive year that the institution has been recognized. Unlike college rankings derived solely from institutional data and college administrator peer reviews, the Princeton Review rankings, tallied in multiple categories, are derived from student reports of their experiences at the schools. 

MTSU’s Board of Trustees identified the pursuit of a professional school as the first of four objectives that it feels should be the institution’s top priorities. During the board’s March meeting, trustees put MTSU’s continued inclusion in the Princeton Review’s top colleges list, movement toward designation as a top research institution, and securing more funding to renovate the 51-year-old Murphy Center among other top priorities. The board was tasked with ranking the top four among 20-plus goals put forward in a survey as the University’s priorities for 2024. 

Three faculty members have an opportunity to take their research and teaching passions overseas after being selected as Fulbright Scholar Program recipients for the 2024–25 academic year. Social Work professor Sylvester Lamin will head to Sierra Leone in West Africa; the transcontinental country of Georgia in Eastern Europe and West Asia is the destination for Journalism professor Gregory Pitts; and Center for Asian Studies Director Guanping Zheng will travel to Taiwan in East Asia. 

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers U.S. faculty, administrators, and professionals grants to lecture and/or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields, or to participate in seminars. The program awards more than 1,700 fellowships each year, enabling 800 U.S. scholars to go abroad and 900 visiting scholars to come to the United States. 

A cohort of MTSU faculty recently landed a $3 million National Science Foundation grant to develop local middle school teachers in the subject areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into data science instruction experts and leaders who will go on to develop educators in their communities. Gregory Rushton, director of MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center, leads the five-year grant project in collaboration with faculty across the University’s colleges: Ryan “Seth” Jones, associate professor with an expert research background in data science education from the College of Education; Kevin Krahenbuhl, director of a College of Education Ed.D. program that works heavily on research and training with local school districts; and Keith Gamble, director of MTSU’s interdisciplinary Data Science Institute and an Economics and Finance professor in the Jennings A. Jones College of Business. Rushton said their hope is to further the burgeoning field of data science education in the community through equipping these local educators with high-quality, research-backed data science instruction tools. 

Work on behalf of telling the stories of numerous colleges and units of our University were recognized in the 2024 Tennessee College Public Relations Association. MTSU was the most-honored institution in the competition among the state’s private and public universities, as well as the Tennessee Board of Regents and University of Tennessee system offices and the community colleges, receiving 16 awards (eight of them Gold, the highest honor). Notable wins included: MTSU magazines took the top two honors (Gold, for MTSU Research magazine; Silver for Innovations, the College of Basic and Applied Sciences magazine); the president’s two primary communications products (his newsletter and annual report) received Gold awards; our digital advertising for Admissions received Gold Awards in two different categories. 

MTSU alumni captured several Grammys during the 66th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Julien Baker (above, right), a 2019 English graduate, captured three Grammys out of six nominations as a member of boygenius, an indie supergroup with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Two-time winner and alumnus Lecrae (right) won two more Grammys for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Your Power” and also for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Church Clothes 4. Joining Lecrae in the album Grammy win is first-time winner Connor Back, a 2018 Audio Production graduate who earned a Grammy for his mixing engineering work on Church Clothes 4 and earned a certificate for his engineering work on the song “Your Power.” Back works for Reach Records, Lecrae’s independent record label. Jason Hall, a 2000 Recording Industry graduate, and Jimmy Mansfield, a 2014 Audio Production graduate, won Grammys for engineering, mixing, and vocals work for Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country, which won Best Country Album. While not singled out for a nomination, Josh Kear, a 1996 History graduate with a Recording Industry minor, co-wrote the song “Watermelon Moonshine” on Bell Bottom Country. Seven students from MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment represented the University’s ninth trip to the music industry’s biggest awards weekend. In addition to working at the pre-Grammy MusiCares event, students toured recording studios and iconic music venues and met with recording industry professionals.  

MTSU’s College of Behavioral and Health Sciences welcomed Peter W. Grandjean as the new dean beginning July 1. Grandjean has spent more than 30 years in education, most recently as dean of the School of Applied Sciences and professor of Exercise Science at the University of Mississippi. Other appointments of note: 

• Laurie Witherow, vice provost for enrollment management
• Samuel Haruna, associate dean of academic programs, College of Basic and Applied Sciences
• Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, associate dean of faculty affairs, College of Basic and Applied Sciences
• Chaney Mosley, director of the School of Agriculture
• Richard Nagorski, chair of the Department of Chemistry
• Todd Moore, chair of the Department of Geosciences
• Richard Tarpey, director of the newly established Center for Supply Chain Management and Sustainability housed in the Department of Management
• Carly Escue, director of the Center for Executive Education in the Jones College of Business
• Shannon Hodge, chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
• Kristi Shamburger, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance

Media and Entertainment 

The College of Media and Entertainment has achieved significant recognition for its student and faculty-created commercial spot, “We Do It All.” This commercial was a collaboration with students from all departments in the college, who wrote the content, composed the iconic song, and performed in the spot. This year the ad earned numerous accolades, including a Regional Emmy for Single Spot Commercial, Gold for Best Video Advertisement at the 2024 Tennessee College Public Relations Association awards, and multiple Telly Awards (Silver in Best Music & Jingle/Regional TV, Educational Institution Commercial/ Regional TV, and Direction/Regional TV). 

The College of Media and Entertainment students and faculty had their most successful Bonnaroo experience to date. The student and faculty teams completed 40% of the livestreaming video and audio production work for two stages, which aired worldwide on Hulu. Students from the School of Journalism and Strategic Media had 21 published stories, with 18 featuring original images from Photography students. Their Bonnaroo coverage was picked up by major news outlets in Nashville and Knoxville and appeared in the Nashville Scene and Sidelines. Two Sidelines stories were included in Bonnaroo’s daily press briefing alongside outlets like Rolling Stone and USA Today with statewide distribution through the Tennessee Press Association. The experience was part of summer coursework for EXL classes. 

MTSU’s Animation undergraduate program was ranked tops in Tennessee for 2024 by Animation Career Review, an online national and international ranking resource for animation schools. MTSU also rated No. 8 in the Top 25 Animation B.S. Degree Programs in the U.S., No. 9 in the Top 25 Animation Schools and Colleges in the South, and No. 22 for the Top 40 Public Animation Schools and Colleges in the U.S. in categories comparing animation programs of 199 schools across the country. In addition, six Animation students won the Best Animation Comedy awards at the International Student Media Arts Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Dani Oliver, Ashten Royse, Olivia Armstrong, Star Akhom, Allen Marin, and Emily Mishoe worked on the animation film Bubbles over the spring semester with the guidance of Department of Media Arts Associate Professor Kevin McNulty. The film, set in the near future, tells the story of a social media influencer living in her own bubble. The team drew inspiration for the film from various types of streamers, including gamers and makeup artists, while staying true to the climate change theme. 

Basic and Applied Sciences 

Mathematical Sciences professor Don Hong has been waiting years for this news: MTSU was recently recognized as a Society of Actuaries Center of Actuarial Excellence. MTSU also served as host of the international 2024 Actuarial Research Conference. Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in insurance, pension, finance, investment, and other industries and professions. 

MTSU recently launched the STEM with Ukraine initiative, partnering with Ukrainian and American universities and institutions to bring and sustain quantum computing education for an international population under the burden of an ongoing war with Russia. 

For the second consecutive year, MTSU’s equestrian team earned the national Western Team Championship of the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association. Jordan Martin of Murfreesboro, after finishing second in 2023, won the coveted Back on Track USA-sponsored Western High Point honor in the May 3–5 competition in North Carolina. Martin also captured the American Paint Horse Association- sponsored Horse and Rider Team Open Horsemanship. Along with the team, Blue Raider riders had an individual qualified in all seven Western divisions, a Western high point rider, and one hunter seat rider. Team members also included Mackenzie Latimer, Simone Allen, Sadio Barnes, Monica Braunwalder, Kenlee West, Louann Braunwalder, Regan Black, Shelby Amanns, and Alyssa Davis. 

Jones College of Business 

With electronic data being so foundational to modern commerce and industry, MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business is now offering a new bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity Management—a profession that is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade and beyond. MTSU’s new program provides students with the foundational knowledge and focused expertise necessary to excel in this high-demand field. The MTSU Board of Trustees approved the program in June 2023, and it launched in January 2024. MTSU is the only university in Tennessee with a degree related explicitly to cybersecurity management, where the curriculum is designed to support students interested in pursuing careers such as security analysts and information security managers. The Bachelor of Science degree covers various areas, including development and programming for cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital forensics, infrastructure design and management, database design, and systems analysis and design—all from a cybersecurity perspective. It also consists of 120 hours of coursework and has on-ground and online course options. A Business Administration minor is built into the degree. 

The M.B.A. program launched three new concentrations: Legal and Ethical Governance, Risk Management, and Human Resource Management. 

MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center was recently awarded the Community, Economic, and Workforce Research Award for its 2023 Wage and Benefit Survey at the annual Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) Conference in Norfolk, Virginia. Held in mid-June, the C2ER Conference presents awards in six categories, with MTSU’s BERC receiving an award in the category for projects supporting collaborative and community research initiatives that have brought together different groups or organizations to achieve a common goal. BERC was awarded for the project’s response to a demonstrated need, quality, and collaborative approach. In cooperation with the Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association, BERC’s study surveyed human resource professionals to provide region-specific reports on the human resource practices and compensation structures of manufacturing and industrial companies across middle Tennessee.  

Liberal Arts 

A simple classroom assignment laid the groundwork for Political Science major Yusuf Dogan to contribute to a nonbinding resolution later passed by Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County. During the spring semester of his freshman year at MTSU, Dogan was required to write a mock piece of legislation for a project. That experience would translate from the classroom to the real world as part of his internship with Metro Councilwoman Delishia Porterfield. In May, he worked on a rough draft of a resolution condemning white supremacy that was adopted by Metro Council. The resolution was a response to flyers promoting racist, xenophobic, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ ideas that were distributed in early May in historically Black areas of North Nashville. 

Professor Sisavanh Houghton recently received MTSU’s inaugural Conference USA Faculty Achievement Award. MTSU has been a member of CUSA, among the nation’s best athletic conferences in student-athlete academic performance, since 2014. University officials said Houghton, a professor of painting in the Department of Art and Design, was selected from many competitive applications by a committee of faculty colleagues. College of Liberal Arts Dean Leah Tolbert Lyons called Houghton “a gifted artist who shares her expertise with students as an engaging instructor—whether in the classroom or across the globe through study abroad. Her dedication to her students and their success exemplifies what a professor should be; Sisavanh represents the college well both on and off campus.” Houghton has taught at MTSU for the past 20 years. 

The College of Liberal Arts’ contributions to the arts community have paid off, with a study detailing how the arts and culture sector generated a staggering $52.4 million in economic activity for Rutherford County in 2022–23. Aided by MTSU’s School of Music, Department of Theatre and Dance, and Center for Chinese Music and Culture, the Rutherford Arts Alliance collected data showing MTSU and community art events supported 915 jobs and yielded almost $9.5 million in tax revenue. 

Education 

The College of Education and its Center for Fairness, Justice, and Equity held a signing ceremony for three of the 25 students in MTSU’s first group of Tennessee Teach Back Initiative Scholars, entering this fall. Launched with support of the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), the initiative recruits high school and transfer students from within high needs, rural areas and covers costs and provides extra supports in exchange for their returning to teach in their local communities. The College of Education at MTSU kicked off a new partnership with Nissan Workforce Development in June. Over the summer, two COE faculty members, Kim Evert and Everett Singleton, worked with Nissan subject matter experts on becoming effective classroom teachers. This fall those experts will be in four local high schools as full-time instructors. 

MTSU’s Early Learning Programs, supported by the College of Education, recently received over $8.5 million in state funds over the next five years to provide early intervention services to families of children from birth to age 5 with identified special needs. MTSU’s Home and Community-Based Early Intervention Program (HCBEI) previously received three years of funding from the same grant in 2021, administered through the Tennessee Department of Disabilities and Aging (formerly known as the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities). The new grant cycle began this month and will continue for five years to support staff and services provided by the HCBEI, which is a part of the Tennessee Early Intervention System. In 2022, Tennessee became the first state to extend early intervention services to children beyond age 3, allowing eligible families to continue receiving services for their children to age 5.  

Behavioral and Health Sciences 

MTSU announced the accreditation of the Tourism and Hospitality Management program—making it the first and only accredited hospitality degree program in the state. This program is also uniquely positioned close to tourism centers such as Nashville, Memphis, and Atlanta. Our students are already leaders and working within the industry as part of their coursework. We plan to continue onward and upward to grow and develop this program, which is led by faculty members who are passionate about what they are doing and teaching. 

Industrial-Organizational Psychology students are getting real-world experience collaborating with the Tennessee Highway Patrol to identify future leaders for the agency. This summer, more than 200 THP troopers and sergeants vying for promotions underwent a multifaceted examination process designed by students and faculty in MTSU’s Center for Organizational and Human Resource Effectiveness (COHRE). During a daylong assessment process, applicants for THP sergeant and lieutenant positions were evaluated in three tests: job knowledge, situational judgment, and administrative tasks in the form of email inbox. To develop the assessments, students worked one-on-one with THP sergeants, lieutenants, and captains to discern what skills and abilities are needed to perform those positions. 

MTSU Athletic Training Program Director Helen Binkley has received two career-topping recognitions this year. Binkley, a Department of Health and Human Performance professor, was inducted into the Tennessee Athletic Trainers’ Society Hall of Fame, the highest honor for a member of the organization, at the annual meeting and symposium held in May at Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro. In June, the National Strength and Conditioning Association named Binkley the recipient of the Sports Medicine/Rehabilitation Specialist Award, which is given to a sports medicine professional whose work and contributions have significantly impacted the field. 

Honors 

MTSU presented Judy Albakry, University Honors College advisor, with its 2024 Outstanding Academic Advisor Award, a collaboration of the Advisor Mastery Program (AMP) and the Office of Student Success. AMP is MTSU’s professional learning community created, implemented, and sustained by advisors to help foster a more cohesive and collaborative advising culture for the University. This award includes funding for professional development or items and equipment to support her future advising endeavors. Albakry completed her doctorate in Assessment, Learning, and Student Success through MTSU’s College of Education in 2023. 

Sophomore and Honors Buchanan Fellow Ariel Nicastro was recently named as a 2024 Goldwater Scholar—one of only 10 students from Tennessee institutions to receive the award this year. The Goldwater Scholarship, one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics in the United States, seeks to identify, encourage, and financially support college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming this nation’s next generation of research leaders in these fields. A Physics major, Nicastro was among more than 430 college students selected from more than 5,000 applicants to receive the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship this year. The scholarships are awarded by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation to encourage outstanding undergraduate students to pursue research careers in STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

University College 

The launch of the True Blue Core general education program this fall will include UNIV 1010 – University Seminar. Previously an elective, this course now counts toward general education credit, making it more accessible to students. By enrolling, students will enhance their education and transition to college by critically analyzing higher education and their own learning processes.  

University College is awaiting THEC approval of a proposed Master of Science in Occupational Innovation and Effectiveness program. This interdisciplinary program would target working professionals seeking additional skills for career advancement. 

Christina Cobb, mathematics associate professor in University Studies, was named the 2024 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award winner. ATHENA, an organization dedicated to developing diverse, transformative leaders worldwide, recognized Cobb for her exemplary leadership and role as a model for young women. She’s the founder of EducatHER, a professional mentorship program for young women, and serves as assistant director for True Blue Core, MTSU’s general education program. Two other MTSU faculty were recognized with nominations for the ATHENA International Leadership Award: Lucy Langworthy, assistant to the dean in the College of Liberal Arts, and Sam Zaza, associate professor in the MTSU Department of Information Systems and Analytics in the Jones College of Business. 

James E. Walker Library 

Walker Library recently received two library marketing awards from the PR Xchange with the American Library Association; 334 entries were evaluated by a panel of 25 judges. The library won for a “born digital” submission in the Virtual Exhibits category for a Wellness Guide created by the Digital Scholarship Initiatives team. It also won for its most recent issue of JEWL magazine in the fundraising and annual reports category. 

MTSU is helping ensure student success with free digital access to scholastic materials through Walker Library’s Open Educational Resources (OER), with approximately $1.4 million in textbook savings since the program was implemented in 2021. More than 14,200 students have benefitted from at least one of the 78 OER courses, which have more than quadrupled in number over the past two years, according to data collected since 2022 by the MTSU Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Research. College textbooks have nearly doubled in cost over the past decade, with hard-copy versions ranging from $150 to $400 each and annual spending on materials as high as $1,200, according to the nonprofit Education Data Initiative. Open educational resources are materials for teaching or learning that are either in the public domain or have been released under a license that allows them to be freely used, changed, or shared with others, according to EdWeek.org. Accessible online, these resources also typically provide downloading options for students who prefer a hard copy of the course materials. A study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group showed 65% of college students nationwide forgo buying textbooks despite concerns about grades, putting them at a disadvantage.