Special Events
“Murphy Center is alive and well as a destination concert venue.”
“The Judds: Love Is Alive–The Final Concert,” filmed in November 2022 at MTSU’s Murphy Center for a TV special this March, was filled with True Blue full-circle moments. Headliner Wynonna Judd made a historic homecoming to the venue that re-created the 1991 farewell concert with her late mother, Naomi, as Blue Raider community members past and present worked shoulder-to-shoulder to make the star-studded event come together.
More than 50 student workers and more than 20 alumni behind the scenes were involved in the production. A team of 21 Media Arts students worked from MTSU’s Mobile Production Lab, a 40-foot rolling studio with a high-definition control room and seven cameras, to livestream student-fronted red carpet coverage aired across multiple True Blue TV platforms, including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire; on NewsChannel 5+; and on Facebook. Sixteen more students worked as paid production assistants for CMT, one of the producers of the event along with Sandbox Productions.
In addition to Wynonna Judd, the concert featured her musical friends and current tourmates Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, and Martina McBride, in a tribute to Naomi Judd. In front of the camera, MTSU’s Middle Tennessee News student-produced multimedia news outlet supplied the talent who interviewed country music icons like seasoned pros. More Journalism and Strategic Media students were on hand to cover the event for student-run Sidelines and WMTS radio outlets. Students even represented the University on stage—45 choral students accompanied Judd on “Love Can Build a Bridge” to close out the show.
Earlier in the year, in April 2022, Grammy-nominated Jack Harlow—fresh off an appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine—performed at Murphy Center in a concert exclusive to MTSU students, faculty/staff, and their guests. A Video Display Technology class supplied the video wall and ran it for the Harlow concert. The students were entrusted by Harlow’s management team to execute the show for the 7,000 people in attendance. This event was sponsored by MTSU Signature Events, a joint committee of members from Student Government Association, SPARE, and McGuire Entertainment.
Murphy Center is perhaps the most important, and the most meaningful, place on our campus. It is there where so many memories were created and where we celebrated events, happenings, ceremonies, and activities that became milestones in the lives of so many.
Opened in December 1972 and affectionately known as “The Glass House” for its unmistakable four walls of glass exterior, Murphy has been a campus anchor as home to MTSU men’s and women’s basketball, as well as the venue of choice for countless University and high school graduation ceremonies, concerts, state basketball championships, and other special events.
During its concert heyday, Murphy Center hosted five Elvis performances. Other music icons such as Elton John, The Who, Stevie Wonder, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, and Johnny Cash performed there.
That Judd and Harlow held concerts in 2022 offers strong proof that Murphy Center is alive and well as a destination concert venue.
AUGUST
Blue Zoo President Sawyer Roberts and Vice President Coby Marlow beamed with pride as the giant Blue Zoo banner was again unfurled inside Floyd Stadium—a sight that would occur numerous times throughout the fall of 2022 when the Blue Raider football team took the field at home.
About 300 enthusiastic students from the Office of Student Success’ Scholars Academy and STAR early arrival programs gathered in the student section inside Floyd in August as Roberts and Marlow, as leaders of the campus athletics booster group, directed them on how to unfurl the banner as the MTSU fight song blared from the stadium speakers.
Head football coach Rick Stockstill, joined by his recently named team captains for the unveiling, thanked the students for attending and encouraged them to support all the University athletic teams with their passion and energy.
Membership in the Blue Zoo, which revived as a student organization in 2019, is free—all students have to do is sit in the student section at Blue Raider games.
MTSU football player Jordan Ferguson, a defensive end, was among the five captains who stopped by the Zoo kickoff with their head coach to thank the students and encourage them to turn out for the games. Joining him were wide receiver Yusuf Ali, quarterback Chase Cunningham, wide receiver Jaylin Lane, and defensive tackle Ja’Kerrius Wyatt.
Top Faculty Honor
The “self-talk” going through MTSU Psychology professor Tom Brinthaupt’s mind was clear on his face as he walked among his applauding colleagues Thursday, August 18, to accept the University’s highest teaching honor.
Brinthaupt, who’s spent 32 years in MTSU’s Department of Psychology in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, specializes in “self-talk,” or the internal conversations we have with ourselves.
Now an internationally recognized expert on the phenomenon, he was the 2022 recipient of the MTSU Foundation’s Career Achievement Award.
Brinthaupt accepted his award in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre, the traditional site for the Fall Faculty Meeting held as each new academic year begins.
True Blue Tour
MTSU’s admissions team, top administrators, and campus partners launched another True Blue Tour, crisscrossing Tennessee and bordering states Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia to recruit prospective students.
Kicking off Aug. 17 in Murfreesboro with the Rutherford County student reception on campus in the Student Union Ballroom, the tour eventually travelled to eight other Tennessee cities—plus Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; and Atlanta—to share about academic programs, financial aid, guaranteed scholarships, housing, and more.
By going on the road each year to personally meet with these prospective students and their families, MTSU hopes to reinforce how much we want them to become members of our ever-growing Blue Raider family.
The University also awards prizes and scholarships at the events.
