Tag Archives: TSU students

Alumni, EVENTS, FACULTY, FEATURED, GRANTS, NEWS, Research and Sponsored Programs, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

More than 300 TSU Students, Volunteers Participate in MLK, Jr. Day of Service

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University is continuing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with an MLK Day of Service.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, more than 300 TSU students and volunteers participated in various projects around Nashville that included working with kids, assisting elderly residents, packing food, painting and hanging photos.

The MLK Day of Service at TSU is organized each year by the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement to give students, faculty and staff an opportunity to celebrate King’s legacy through service.

Service day (1)
TSU students Courtney Couser, left, and Cochilla Wright move boxes at Madison Middle School on MLK Day of Service. (Photo by John Cross, TSU Media Relations)

The center was one of six organizations to receive federal and matching funds two years ago from the Corporation for National and Community Service to mobilize volunteers to honor King’s memory through service projects.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in service, and this initiative falls in line with not just his belief, but TSU’s motto – Think. Work. Serve,” said TSU President Glenda Glover. “We’re proud that TSU was selected as one of six institutions to help lead this national service project.”

Like the other institutions, TSU mobilizes students and community volunteers to take on projects around the city.

IMG_1047 (1)
TSU students and volunteers clean the playground at Grace M. Eaton Child Care and Early Learning Center. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

Barbara Dudley, a senior economics and finance major, was one of about 25 students who cleaned windows, sanitized chairs and shelves, moved trash and cleaned the yard and the parking lot at Grace M. Eaton Child Care and Early Learning Center on Saturday.

“It feels really good to give back,” Dudley said. “I have always had a passion for service and for children and to be able to help at a day care just makes it more meaningful for me.”

Mahalia Howard, the executive director of the center, agrees.

“I think it is wonderful for young people to give back to the community,” she said. “What they are doing for us here today is a blessing because we are a non-profit. We don’t have the funds to pay for the things they are doing. What they are doing is helping to support at-risk students.”

In La Vergne, Tennessee, more than 30 volunteers performed various chores for elderly residents at AHEPA 343, an independent living apartment complex for seniors. They cleaned living areas, moved trash, hung pictures, and moved furniture.

Linda Tynan, 68, a six-year resident, who just needed company, was moved to tears by the students’ willingness to help.

“I think its terrific to see these students take up their time to come and lend a hand to people they don’t even know,” Tynan said. “What they are doing today might not seem much to them, but I appreciate every minute of it.”

Dr. Linda Guthrie is the director of the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement. She said the MLK Day of Service is one of the most exciting events the center has ever undertaken.

“It is an honor to lead 11 other HBCUs throughout the southeast region of the country in serving our communities,” she said. “We should feel challenged and act on the challenge to do something good every day to make a difference in the lives of others.”

“We want people to realize that Dr. King’s holiday is not just a day off,” said Shirley Nix-Davis, director of a youth empowerment program at TSU and one of the MLK Day of Service project directors. “But it’s an opportunity to serve, and continue serving throughout the year.”

For more information on the MLK Day of Service, contact the TSU Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 25 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

Alumni, College of Engineering, EVENTS, FACULTY, FEATURED, GRANTS, RESEARCH, Research and Sponsored Programs, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

TSU engineering students are making sure Nashville bridges are safe

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – How safe are the bridges in Metro Nashville that you drive across everyday?

The answer may be in the work Tennessee State University engineering students are doing around the city.

A team of six graduate and undergraduate students, along with their professors from the Departments of Civil and Architectural Engineering, recently conducted a study on five bridges around the Nashville Fairgrounds to assess their structural integrity.

image2-1
Kevin Nguyen, a graduate civil engineering major, left, and Abram Musinguzi, a Ph.D. student in systems engineering, are two of six TSU students and their professors assessing bridges around the Nashville Fairgrounds to ensure their structural integrity. (Courtesy photo)

As part of the fairgrounds improvement project, the students’ findings were submitted to the city’s structural engineers and will be used to determine future use of the bridges.

The dean of the College of Engineering said the involvement of the students in the project is part of Mayor Megan Barry’s “innovative” vision and strategy to get more high school and college students working on real-world projects that enhance their skills and employability.

“TSU and the College of Engineering are playing an integral part of this strategy by providing our students with practical experience that complements their classroom learning,” Hargrove said.

Abram Musinguzi, a Ph.D. student in systems engineering, is the student coordinator on the project.  He said part of the inspections involve measuring the bridges’ dimensions to identify any structural damage, or distress, and compile a report.

“The purpose of the project is to assess if there is any need for renovation or repair of the bridges,” Musinguzi said.

Dr. Farouk Mishu, professor and interim chair of the civil and architectural engineering department, is one of two faculty members who worked with the students.

“These bridges have been here for a very long time,” Mishu said. “We are assessing them to see what kind of remediation we need to do to make them safe. This gives the students real-world experience before they graduate.”

Overseeing the students and their professors’ work was a field engineer from the fairgrounds project management team, who said he is impressed with the student’s skill level and attention to detail.

“What they are doing is pivotal to deciding what kind of money will be spent on either the repairing, the removing or replacing of these bridges,” said Jonathon Schneider of the project management team. “Their performance is remarkable.”

The students’ work is not TSU’s first involvement with the fairgrounds improvement project.

Last year, Hargrove served as a member of the review team appointed by Mayor Barry to make recommendations for the $12 million renovation of the fairgrounds.

Other students on the bridge project were: Kevin Nguyen, a graduate student majoring in civil engineering; and undergraduates SiVon Jiles, civil engineering; Matthew Miller, architectural engineering; Dwight Pullen, architectural engineering; and Darren Evans, civil engineering.

Dr. Catherine Armwood, assistant professor of civil and architectural engineering, was the other faculty member on the project.

For more information about TSU’s College of Engineering, visit http://www.tnstate.edu/engineering/.

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 25 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

Alumni, EVENTS, FACULTY, FEATURED, NEWS, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Collegiate Citizens Police Academy formed by TSU, Metro Police believed to be nation’s first

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University and the Nashville Metro Police Department have formed what’s believed to be the nation’s first Collegiate Citizens Police Academy.

img_8852-1
Nashville Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson welcomes the new recruits, as TSU Police Chief Greg Anderson, left, and MNPD North Precinct Commander Terrence Graves look on. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson, TSU Police Chief Greg Robinson, and TSU Dean of Students Frank Stevenson were among those who came to City Hall on Oct. 18 to recognize the 27 TSU students participating in the academy.

The students, who underwent intensive background checks and application process, will undergo five weeks of training in the intricacies of police work and the criminal justice system.

“You are going to spend the next few weeks learning what it’s like for our police department and learning first hand by being engaged and riding along with police officers to understand what they do in our community,” Barry said.

Across the nation, citizens groups have formed partnerships with police departments to address issues in their communities. But this is the first “partnership” of its kind between a major U.S. city police department and a cohort of college students, according to Chief Anderson.

“Everybody has a citizens police academy,” Anderson said. “But as far as I know, this is the first collegiate police academy anywhere in the United States.”

Stevenson, the brainchild of the academy, said the idea came to him amid the cases of police brutality that have permeated the nation. He joined forces with the Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville, to bring the idea to the police chief, who immediately embraced it. In a few weeks, the academy was underway.

“I wanted to establish a forum that would bring young black men together with police in the wake of these protests and outrage,” Stevenson said.

The academy, which includes men and women, meets Monday and Tuesday evenings. It includes sessions with the Mounted Police, the K-9 Unit, the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit, domestic violence, as well as simulations, where participants play police officers with fake weapons. Recruits will also ride along with police on actual beats.

“These recruits will also hold sessions with our accountability unit to understand how we as police officers police ourselves,” said Sgt. Mitch Kornberg, one of the coordinators of the academy. “The main goal of this program is about perception and to use it as a recruiting tool. We want to get their perception, and maybe this way they can make a better judgment on things they see in the media everyday.”

TSU flight training major Christopher Cooper said he joined the academy for “personal reasons.”

“Being a black young man, I joined to get a better insight into what the police do and what I can do in my community to change some things,” said Cooper, a sophomore. “Their (police) jobs are very stressful, but they don’t get enough praise for the things they do. They are the same as we are. They go to their families at the end of the day, just as the rest of us do. Let’s stop looking at them as just the men behind the badge. Look at them as individuals.”

Ashtyn Wallace, a criminal justice major who is also a sophomore, agreed.

“I am excited to really get out there and essentially see how things really are on a real day not just in a classroom,” said Wallace, adding that she wants to curtail the “escalating drug traffic” in Nashville. “Being out in the field is a real great opportunity to see how things really work.”

TSU Police Chief Robinson, who joined the university about six months ago, praised the relationship between TSU and the Metro Police Department, which has resulted in the presence of more Metro officers on campus.

“I talk to them consistently and they also talk to me about how they enjoy the opportunity of mingling and also engaging with our students,” Robinson said.

He encouraged the students to take advantage of the relationships they develop during their training.

“Take your training seriously,” he said. “I look forward to seeing some of you as TSU police officers some day.”

The academy will conclude on Nov. 10 with a graduation ceremony. This is the second class of the academy, which graduated its first recruits last spring.

For more information about the academy, visit https://www.nashville.gov/Police-Department/Get-Involved/Collegiate-Police-Academy.aspx.

 

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 25 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.