Like universities and people all around the world, MTSU had its share of obstacles to overcome in 2020.
To overcome those challenges, university officials, staff, faculty and students all came together to persevere and accomplish things that would have seemed impossible just months earlier. From finishing the spring semester remotely to hosting virtual graduation ceremonies, to returning to campus in August to holding the first and only in-person commencement ceremonies of 2020 to everything in between, the university overcame the uncertainties that came with the pandemic.
Even while learning to navigate through what is now the new normal, MTSU had its share of successes and achievements throughout the year, such as being ranked among the top colleges in the United States by the Princeton Review for the second year in a row, having its insurance program in the Jones College of Business ranked the best in the nation among industry professionals, as well as being named a top music business school for the seventh year in a row by Billboard Magazine.
The university also celebrated the opening of a new $39.6 million state-of-the-art academic classroom building that houses the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, and signed a dual enrollment pact with Rockvale High School in Rutherford County. The agreement allows high schoolers to enroll in MTSU courses while still enrolled in high school and earn credit from both institutions. The university also launched the new data science program led by Data Scientist of the Year, Charlie Apigian, and rebranded its educational resource cable TV channel to “True Blue TV” and added more campus events to its programming schedule, including the first-ever Shoebox Homecoming Parade that was held in place of the annual in-person celebration.
And for the first time in nearly 40 years, MTSU held its only in-person commencement ceremonies of the year at Floyd Stadium where nearly 2,100 graduates and guests were all safely socially-distanced.
“It’s important that we recognize the achievements of our graduates and not allow this coronavirus pandemic to stop us from showing our tremendous support and admiration for each of you as you move to the next phase of your lives,” MTSU President Dr. Sidney McPhee said.
And while events, activities and classes all looked a little different than usual last year, our students, faculty and staff all had their own achievements and successes. Before COVID-19 and social-distancing became a part of everyday life, students from the College of Media and Entertainment had the chance to go to Los Angeles for the Grammy Awards. While there, students had the opportunity to see and learn about the annual star-studded event by attending backstage and pre-show events and celebrate alumni Grammy wins.
The university’s debate team placed second in the nation in the spring, and the theatre department insisted the show must go on and had a successful run of “Romeo and Juliet,” set in modern times with the characters donning masks and social distancing.
“What was most important was for our students to be able to come together – even in a weird way – and do theatre again. To be able to come together and do theatre, we livestreamed it and we put it out there, and that’s what was so crucial. It ended up working and it was amazing. Even if it hadn’t, even if it had been a train wreck, it still would have been important just for those students to come together and go, ‘Ahh, we’re doing the-atre again,’” said “Romeo and Juliet” director and MTSU theatre professor, David Wilkerson.
Besides the success of transforming their classes to a remote format in the spring, many of MTSU’s professors celebrated milestone career achievements. In the spring of 2020, assistant professors Dr. Hanna Terletska from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Dr. Seth Jones of the Womack Educational Leadership Department, earned a distinction no other MTSU professor has ever obtained – recipients of the National Science Foundation Early Career Development grant. Given annually, the award comes with a federal grant for research and education activities for five consecutive years. Combined, their grants total nearly $1.2 million. Biology professor, Dr. Mary Farone was honored in a virtual ceremony in August as she received MTSU’s Foundation Career Achievement Award.
“It’s the students who motivate me to be a better teacher, a better mentor, and to keep pursuing my research questions,” she said.
While 2020 was one for the books, one thing remained the same – it was a good year to be #trueBLUE.