{"id":1904,"date":"2013-02-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/blogtest\/recent-accomplishments-and-milestones\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:14:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:14:06","slug":"recent-accomplishments-and-milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/recent-accomplishments-and-milestones\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Accomplishments and Milestones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not a day goes by that I do not hear about or encounter\u00a0something great, something valuable, or noteworthy about\u00a0our great University and its faculty and students. Here are\u00a0some recent examples.<\/em><\/p>\n

MTSU among tops in Fulbright students<\/strong><\/p>\n

MTSU has achieved a first-time national recognition for\u00a0scholarly work. The Chronicle of Higher Education listed\u00a0MTSU as one of the \u201cTop Producers of U.S. Fulbright\u00a0Students by Type of Institution, 2012\u201313.\u201d MTSU is among\u00a017 schools listed in the Master\u2019s Institutions category and is\u00a0the only college or university from Tennessee in any of the\u00a0three categories. The highly competitive\u00a0Fulbright Program is the flagship international\u00a0educational exchange program\u00a0sponsored by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

Constitution Day includes\u00a0naturalization ceremony<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a special naturalization ceremony\u00a0in Murphy Center last September,\u00a0MTSU celebrated the 225th anniversary\u00a0of the signing of the U.S.\u00a0Constitution with 288 new citizens\u00a0and a global audience that tuned\u00a0in via the internet. The celebration\u00a0was special because the U.S.\u00a0District Court, Middle District of Tennessee,\u00a0allowed a rare naturalization ceremony to be held outside\u00a0Nashville. The event also saw three MTSU students\u2014senior\u00a0Mike Patel\u00a0 of Knoxville, sophomore Levon Mkrtchyan\u00a0 of\u00a0Nashville, and freshman Tammy Li\u00a0 of Smithville\u2014take the oath to become naturalized\u00a0U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

Hybrid project gets national TV buzz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Charles Perry and his student-driven\u00a0project team have gained national and international\u00a0acclaim. Perry and his students were\u00a0featured on the national Fox News Channel on\u00a0Nov. 17 regarding the team\u2019s gas-saving, plug-in\u00a0hybrid, wheel-hub motor, retrofit project. The\u00a0technology has been shown to cut fuel use by 50\u00a0to 100 percent in a 1994 Honda station wagon.\u00a0Professor Perry is the holder of the Russell Chair\u00a0of Manufacturing Excellence in the Department\u00a0of Engineering Technology.<\/p>\n

MTSU EXL Program\u00a0commended for impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

MTSU is positioning itself as a model in service\u00a0learning with its Experiential Learning Scholars\u00a0Program, or EXL. The program was commended\u00a0recently by the Southern Association of Colleges and\u00a0Schools for its impact and effectiveness after five years of existence. The EXL program started in spring 2006\u00a0as a pilot project in conjunction with MTSU\u2019s Quality Enhancement\u00a0Plan. In 2011-12, the program\u2019s work contributed\u00a0$1,582,624 in value to the community.<\/p>\n

Pittard Campus School recognized among\u00a0the best in Tennessee<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>In August 2012, students, parents,\u00a0faculty, and staff at Homer\u00a0Pittard Campus School enjoyed\u00a0a cyber-celebration along with\u00a0other top-performing schools across\u00a0the state. The K\u20135 public school,\u00a0which is jointly operated by MTSU\u00a0and Rutherford County Schools as\u00a0a laboratory school, was deemed a\u00a0\u201cReward School\u201d under the state\u2019s\u00a0new accountability system. That means\u00a0it is among the 10 percent of schools\u00a0statewide with the highest achievement\u00a0or overall growth on standardized tests\u00a0scores. Campus School\u2019s designation was\u00a0based on achievement, with its students scoring\u00a0in the top 5 percent statewide.<\/p>\n

Fischer named dean of Basic and\u00a0Applied Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Robert U. \u201cBud\u201d Fischer became the fifth\u00a0dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences\u00a0June 1, following a national search. He\u00a0replaced\u00a0 Dr. Tom Cheatham, who stepped\u00a0down to become director of the Tennessee\u00a0Mathematics, Science, and Technology\u00a0Education Center (TNSTEC) on campus.\u00a0Fischer, 52, previously served as chair of\u00a0the biology department at the University of\u00a0Alabama\u2013Birmingham and associate chair\u00a0in biology at Eastern Illinois University. His\u00a0expertise is in aquatic and fisheries biology.\u00a0Fischer\u2019s wife, Anita, has been a pharmacy\u00a0technician for CVS for 17 years.They\u00a0have a grown daughter, Sarah Trigg, and\u00a0granddaughter, Kelsey Trigg, 4, in Illinois.\u00a0Called \u201cBud\u201d since birth and possessor of\u00a0a hearty laugh, Fischer officially began his\u00a0MTSU tenure Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

MTSU to house Journalism Hall of Fame<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October, a group of past and present media executives and\u00a0practitioners announced the creation of the Tennessee Journalism\u00a0Hall of Fame, which will be housed in the new Center\u00a0for Innovation in Media in the John Bragg Mass Communication\u00a0Building. The effort is led by a nonprofit, independent\u00a0foundation, which plans to recognize career excellence in \u201call\u00a0facets of media, including \u00a0newspapering, television, radio,\u00a0electronic, and public relations.\u201d Roy Moore, dean of the College\u00a0of Mass Communication, said the first class of inductees\u00a0to the new hall will be announced in April 2013 as part of the\u00a0college\u2019s annual academic awards ceremonies.<\/p>\n

Mass Comm students cover APME Conference<\/strong><\/p>\n

MTSU students provided exclusive stories, photos, audio, and\u00a0video for the Associated Press Media Editors national conference\u00a0in Nashville Sept. 19\u201321. Student journalists from the\u00a0College of Mass Communication generated all news content\u00a0for the APME blog and produced daily video reports and a\u00a0special 24-page tabloid summing up the conference. Senior\u00a0Becca Andrews\u00a0 of Bells, Tenn., editor-in-chief of MTSU\u2019s\u00a0independent student newspaper, Sidelines , coordinated all\u00a0news coverage for APME. Senior Michelle Potts\u00a0 of Franklin,\u00a0Tenn., news director of the student-run TV station, MT10-HD,\u00a0led video coverage. All content flowed through MTSU\u2019s new\u00a0Center for Innovation in Media, which houses operations for\u00a0all student media outlets as well as WMOT 89.5FM, the University\u2019s\u00a0100,000-watt public radio station.<\/p>\n

A Concrete Advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four Concrete Industry Management programs\u2014at Arizona\u00a0State University, MTSU, Texas State University\u2013San Marcos,\u00a0and New Jersey Institute of Technology\u2014were named \u201cExcellent\u00a0Universities\u201d by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) for\u00a0student and faculty efforts to support the industry. Universities\u00a0were selected based on the number of ACI members in student\u00a0chapters; student and faculty participation in ACI competitions,\u00a0committees, conventions, and meetings; and participation\u00a0in other industry-related activities. Universities were also\u00a0judged on community outreach efforts by students and faculty\u00a0involving neighborhood revitalization, construction projects,\u00a0and donated services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not a day goes by that I do not hear about or encounter\u00a0something great, something valuable, or noteworthy about\u00a0our great University and its faculty and students. Here are\u00a0some recent examples. MTSU among tops in Fulbright students MTSU has achieved a first-time national recognition for\u00a0scholarly work. The Chronicle of Higher Education listed\u00a0MTSU as one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3224,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions\/3224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}