Graduation
"MTSU is truly a university of opportunities."
MTSU produced more than 5,000 “ready to work” graduates in 2022.
At the first of two spring Commencement ceremonies, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis told the newly minted graduates that “nothing should hold back the size and shape of your dreams. It is our talent for imagination and creativity that make us humans.”
In the second ceremony, speaker Christine Karbowiak, vice chair of MTSU’s Board of Trustees and a retired top Bridgestone Americas executive, praised the graduates’ ability to rise to unprecedented challenges and still focus on life-changing opportunities.
In all, 2,474 graduates received degrees in the spring.
More than 850 members of MTSU’s Class of 2022 celebrated their degrees in August. And at the end of the fall semester, another 1,698 graduates accepted their degrees.
Fall Commencement speaker Ronald Roberts, a two-time MTSU alumnus and managing partner for the global marketing agency Finn Partners, said graduates can learn from and use all their experiences as they venture into their lives’ next phase.
He told the graduates to keep their ABCs in mind, saying A is “a foundation of a lot of powerful things—a dream, a vision, a victory, a loss, a family, a friend, and for each of you, a degree.”
B can stand for “because,” he said, since it’s “the reason or cause” for their actions. And C brings the “crazy.”
“Part of Webster’s defines ‘crazy’ as ‘very enthusiastic or eager; with great energy, intensity,’ ” explained Roberts, who has served MTSU in roles ranging from handling University public relations and teaching to leading the MTSU Alumni Association to the current presidency of the MTSU Foundation. “In many instances, embedded in your ‘crazy’ is ‘courage,’ ‘confidence,’ ‘charisma,’ and ‘caring.’ ”
Fellow Commencement speaker Doug Kreulen, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, encouraged graduates to keep chasing their dreams while acknowledging the reality of life off campus. “You are selling your talent, knowledge, skills, and experience to your future employer,” he said. “Don’t ever quit. Don’t ever give up on yourself. And don’t be afraid to fail.”
The total number of MTSU degrees earned since its 1911 founding is more than 178,200.
MTSU is truly a university of opportunities.
DECEMBER
Two New Master’s Degree Programs Proposed
MTSU’s Board of Trustees approved the development of two new master’s degree programs in Legal Studies and in Occupational Innovation and Effectiveness.
Board members meeting Dec. 13 agreed that the Legal Studies degree would be designed for midlevel professionals working in detail-oriented fields—such as banking and financial services, entrepreneurship, consulting, entertainment—who are seeking formal knowledge related to contract formation, litigation, and employment law, as well as other upper-level specialized materials.
Once developed, it would be offered through a partnership with the Nashville School of Law, the College of Media and Entertainment, and the Jennings A. Jones College of Business.
The Occupational Innovation and Effectiveness degree would be offered online through University College during six-week terms each semester, allowing flexibility for professionals who may want to take one class at a time while earning multiple credits during the span of a traditional 16-week semester.
Once it is developed, students would select three 9-hour focus areas from a variety of options such as leadership, analytics, diversity in the workplace, and other workplace topics.
The degrees, once formulated, require approval from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
Fullbright Scholarship Placement
As a graduate student in the Master of Arts in International Affairs program, Esra Biala brings a special perspective to the Blue Raider campus.
From Tripoli, the capital of Libya in North Africa, she is from an indigenous group of people there called Amazigh that has their own language called Tifinagh.
Biala won a prestigious Fulbright Foreign Student Program award and chose to use her scholarship to study at MTSU, the program offering qualifying graduate students, young professionals, and artists from abroad the opportunity to study and conduct research in the U.S.
MTSU appealed to Biala because the International Affairs master’s program offers course options with different and nuanced perspectives.
Biala is the Department of Political Science and International Relations’ first incoming Fulbright scholar. Since 2000, however, the department has had the highest number of outgoing Fulbright scholars of any department on campus: seven, so far.
Joys of the Season
MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts presented its 2022 edition of Joys of the Season, the annual holiday-themed arts showcase, on TV and online.
Premiering Dec. 5 on MTSU’s True Blue TV and the University’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, the 30-minute program served as a special edition of the University’s monthly TV magazine show, Out of the Blue.
The show repeated on True Blue TV throughout December and also aired on NewsChannel 5+ in the Nashville market and on stations in at least 17 states. The Nashville Public Library also featured the MTSU holiday program on its YouTube channel.
Performances included “Carol of the Bells” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by the School of Music’s MTSU Chamber Orchestra, and “One Sweet Little Baby” by the premier singers of the MTSU Schola Cantorum.
MTSU Dance students performed “Whimsical Candy Cane Swirls” from The Nutcracker ballet.
MTSU Theatre students performed “We Need a Little Christmas” from the Tony-winning Broadway musical Mame. The Soparano/Alto Chorale sang an arrangement of “The Christmas Song.” And the MTSU Steel Pan Ensemble, representing the School of Music’s Instrumental Performance program, played “Sleigh Bells.”
