Most students may wonder how traffic lights work, how bridges are designed, and even how 3-D is created. At this year’s National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI), the Tennessee State University College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science gave youth, grades 10 through 12, an inside look at how the transportation industry makes our everyday world function.

The four-week residential program, funded by a $63,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration was administered by the Tennessee Department of Transportation Civil Rights Office.  The program introduced 17 students to safety, water, land and air transportation systems. The goal of the institute was to spark an interest in engineering and technology professions and facilitate exposure to related careers among minority and female students through various activities.

From highway design and aircraft performance to marine cargo handling and vehicle safety, the NSTI participants became first-hand witnesses to problem solving techniques created by engineers through transportation laboratory experiences and field trips to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport, Marshall Space and Rocket Center, Old Hickory Power Plant, Music City Star Headquarters, and Tennessee Department of Transportation Smartway Management Center.

Participants also interacted with students, professors and mentors in the engineering field while participating in an ACT preparation course and enhancement courses in algebra, geometry, and computer science.

Pictured: NSTI participants visit with Air Force jet pilots at the Nashville Airport.

Ninth graders at the Pearl Cohn Ninth Grade academy will have a live Skype video chat across the world with ninth graders in the Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa on Thursday May 19, 2011, 8 a.m.

The dialogue, “A Day In The Life of A Ninth Grader in Nashville and Soweto,” hosted by the Tennessee State University Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement will feature a discussion on culture, geography and technology to give the students an experience beyond the textbook.

With the design of a Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) computer lab, TSU’s Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement devoted $15,000 in grant funds to the Pearl Cohn Ninth Grade Academy to upgrade educational and technology access with computers and printers. Since the development, more than 100 students have participated in the lab project with lessons about the Nashville floods of 2010, tornado spotting, and scholarly research skills using Microsoft Access, Word, Excel, GIS mapping skills, blogging and Wikispace development.

The Skype video chat will take place in room 156 at the Pearl Cohn Ninth Grade Academy in McKissack School.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Region IV Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. in a ceremony today awarded to Tennessee State University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Dennis Gendron a ceremonial check for $789,031 as one of three national awards totaling $2.4 million. These HUD grants are awarded to historically black colleges and universities to help revitalize neighborhoods and promote affordable housing near their campuses.

The University will use the funding to launch “Go Green North Nashville” – a program providing energy evaluations of 50 homes and energy improvement rehabilitations to 30 low and moderate-income persons in the North Nashville community. This is the fourth year TSU has received HUD grants to assist in revitalizing the target area.

“Tennessee State University is grateful to receive an additional installment of HUD funding to further accomplish our mission in revitalizing and rehabilitating areas of the community in which our campus thrives. We know that this program and the partnerships established will provide the financial incentives needed to impact the residents of North Nashville and offer our faculty, staff and students the hands-on experience of service learning and continued involvement in civic engagement,” said Gendron.

The funding announced today is provided through HUD’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Program, which is designed to help these institutions address community development needs in their communities.

“Historically black colleges and universities play a unique role in helping to revitalize local communities,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.  “HUD is proud to be partnering with these colleges and universities to help them improve neighborhoods and stimulate economic development around their campuses.”

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program is one of several initiatives administered by HUD’s Office of University Partnerships (OUP).  Established in 1994, OUP is a catalyst for partnering colleges and universities with their communities in an effort to address pressing local problems.

“These historically black colleges and universities are cultivating young innovative minds and play an essential role in strengthening local communities,” said Ed Jennings, Jr. HUD Region IV Regional Administrator. “We are so proud of the opportunity to partner with these institutions in this most worthwhile endeavor.”

Embarking upon 100 years as a major staple of the North Nashville community, TSU continues to discover ways to serve the residents with their current needs of sustainability. Ginger Hausser, assistant director for TSU’s Center for Service Learning & Civic Engagement and principal investigator of the HUD grant, believes this program will support long-term homeowners who are committed to staying in the target area.

“Go Green North Nashville is a major effort we are excited to launch with the support of HUD and our local partners. We will begin with identifying home rehab projects for homeowners who need improvements up to $9,000 to improve the energy efficiency of their property. We will work with Conservations Services Group, neighborhood leaders, churches, and nonprofits to identify potential homeowners who would most benefit from this program,” said Hausser.

Partnerships with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Nashville/Davidson County, Hands On Nashville, Conservation Services Group, David Lipscomb University, and Vanderbilt University will serve in a collective community effort to accomplish the goals of the program.

TSU engineering students will be trained to conduct energy evaluations and participate in home rehabilitation work.  Additionally, students, faculty and staff will utilize a prototype thermal energy goggle developed by the dean of TSU College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science, Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, to identify heat loss using visual, digital imagery.

Tennessee State University Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Dennis Gendron

HUD Region IV Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr.

Congressman Jim Cooper presenting check to Gendron along with Jennnings

Ginger Hausser, assistant director of TSU’s Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, along with Cooper and Jennings

Dr. Deena Sue Fuller, director of the TSU Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement along with Hausser, Cooper and Jennings

(L to R) Nekya Young, Dr. Deena Sue Fuller, Ed Jennings, Roni Jarvis, and Ginger Hausser

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings Jr, will be joined by Tennessee State University Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Dennis Gendron in the announcement of HUD Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant funding to improve energy efficiency, help revitalize neighborhoods, and promote affordable housing.

WHO: HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr.

TSU Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Dennis Gendron

HUD Nashville Field Office Director Keith Richardson

HUD Memphis Field Office Director John Gemmill

Nashville Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

WHAT: HUD will present a ceremonial check to TSU for $789,031 as one of three national awards totaling $2.4 million. The University’s Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement will utilize the funds to launch “Go Green North Nashville” – a program providing energy evaluations of 50 homes and energy improvement rehabilitations to 30 low- and-moderate income persons in the North Nashville community. This is the fourth year TSU has received HUD grants to assist the North Nashville community.

WHEN: Monday, May 16, 2011, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Tennessee State University

McWherter Administration Building (First Floor – Atrium)

3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard Nashville, TN 37209

From the Tennessean:

“In the land of golden sunshine, by the Cumb’rland’s fertile shore” is how TSU’s alma mater begins. The song goes on to describe TSU as a school for greatest service.

Let’s talk about this line, written 93 years ago by Laura M. Averitte, because it is instructive. Surely, a school for greatest service in those days suggested a larger role for TSU — one that extended beyond the campus and into the community, and past classrooms and individual departments to national priorities, all while students and faculty faced challenges that other public Tennessee institutions did not.

History is replete with examples: a statewide funding formula that allotted TSU exactly half the amount given to the state’s majority institutions; a higher education admission plan that was found to be unconstitutional in Booker vs. Tennessee Board of Education; a Board of Education policy that resulted in the expulsion of Freedom Riders; and under-resourced and deteriorating facilities come to mind.

Still, our graduates flourished and became national and community leaders and captains of industry.

In this, the 21st century, greatest service is an even bigger mandate for TSU if we are to remain a strong and viable public university that is socially relevant. Like those TSU heroes in whose footsteps the institution follows, the university family must employ new strategies in these times of greater challenge. And like those TSU heroes, we must face them boldly and with a unified spirit, just as heroes of the past did.
Students are top priority

TSU faces financial impediments as do other TBR universities. The economy, the Complete College Act and reaffirmation of accreditation have become the drivers of the decisions we make.

For example, at TSU some departments have few faculty and fewer students majoring in the particular discipline. Others have abundant student majors and only a few faculty members.

If we do not act now, TSU will experience threats to quality, curricular resources and support. However, unlike some institutions that face similar circumstances, TSU has weapons in its arsenal that can address these and other concerns.

TSU was Middle Tennessee’s first public, Carnegie-classified doctoral/research university, is the lead institution for business intelligence for the Tennessee Board of Regents system, and is taking the lead on bringing cloud computing to the state of Tennessee, which represents a revolutionary technological paradigm shift that can dramatically improve the quality of education for all Tennessee students.

We have only to look at the evidence objectively and unemotionally and come together to implement a plan. Such a plan will improve operational efficiency, strengthen alliances with our sister institutions, prepare cutting-edge curricula with a path from undergraduate to master’s level enhancements, increase the number and quality of internship experiences, and engage our students with experts in their fields of study through research, internships and travel.

It would also include engaging and interacting with programs at other universities across the country and, indeed, the world.

Whatever we do, TSU students must be the priority. Education programs that lead to greater employment opportunities must take precedence over traditional offerings. These employment opportunities can be found in 14 sectors that 1) are projected to add substantial numbers of new jobs to the economy or affect the growth of other industries; or 2) are existing or emerging businesses being transformed by technology and innovation, requiring new skill sets.

These include advanced manufacturing, health care, aerospace, homeland security, automotive, hospitality, biotechnology, information technology, construction, retail, energy, transportation, financial services and geospatial technology. TSU is positioned to educate and graduate students who pursue these paths, but additional resources must be identified.

Programs that expand career options must precede mere employment; opportunities to participate in the arts, community affairs and the environment must override jobs that over time will be eliminated. Let’s take that song of greatest service on the road and put it into action. Act like the future depends upon it, because it does.

This summer, the School of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences at Tennessee State University will recruit 400 African-American youth who are at risk for adult obesity to attend a summer camp program promoting healthy lifestyles.

The program, Building Capacity to Promote Youth Active and Media Savvy (YAMS), targets efforts toward empowering children ages 8 to 14 to improve their dietary behaviors and practices.

Dr. Veronica Oates, assistant professor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at TSU, will spearhead the YAMS program with a $563,992 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“African Americans disproportionately have higher rates of obesity and reportedly watch more television than other Americans. It is important that with this program we raise the awareness of how media may contribute to unhealthy dietary behaviors and sedentary lifestyles,” said Oates, who organized a symposium at the University last spring to discuss the media’s influence on childhood and adolescent obesity.

The YAMS program is designed for children to increase their media literacy, healthy cooking and food preparation skills, food safety knowledge and daily physical activity. Oates and her team will also explore culturally acceptable methods to counteract negative media influences and work to improve the food choices, dietary intake, and nutrition related attitudes among African-American youth.

Oates hopes to include media outlets and community organizations as partners in the YAMS program – ultimately making a lasting impact on the children enrolled. “We believe that by raising an appreciation of the African-American experience and African traditions we will mediate positive lifestyle behaviors and counteract the harmful effects of negative cultural values and media,” she said.

The USDA grant funding for YAMS is part of the 1890 Institution Teaching, Research and Extension Capacity Building Grants (CBG) program which supports projects that strengthen teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences at 1890 land-grant institutions.

Parents and caregivers of children living in Davidson County ages 8 to 14 who are at risk for adult obesity are encouraged to enroll them for participation.  The camp is tentatively scheduled to begin summer 2011.  For more information, call Dr. Veronica Oates at 615-963-5625.