MTSU Mondays: Unity honorees named, police recruiting success, mental health training

Here's the latest news from Middle Tennessee State University.

Honorees named for Feb. 8 Unity Luncheon

MTSU’s Black History Month Committee has selected the honorees for the 27th annual Unity Luncheon set for Feb. 8 on the Blue Raider campus.

This year’s honorees and their honored categories are recently retired MTSU professor Marva Lucas (Education); Joe and Sybil Rich (Community Service); Michael McDonald (Advocate of Civility); Stacy Windrow (Excellence in Sports); and Vanessa Alderson (Contribution to Black Arts).

Coordinated through and hosted by the Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs, the Unity Luncheon is an MTSU tradition that has been around since 1996 where the university honors “unsung heroes” within the community during Black History Month.

Honorees are age 50 or older who have resided in the Middle Tennessee area for 20 years or more and who have made outstanding contributions to their community

Honorees will receive their awards at the catered-meal luncheon, which will be held 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the Student Union Ballroom. Tickets are available online only through Jan. 31 at https://bit.ly/mtunity2023 and will not be available at the door. Prices are $20 for students and $35 for non-students. A table of eight seats is available for $280.

The keynote speaker for the event is Memphis attorney and councilman J.B. Smiley Jr., founding member of Smiley and Associates PLLC.

For more information, call 615-898-5812 or email Danielle.Rochelle@mtsu.edu.

MTSU Police attracts multiple new recruits

MTSU Police Department has attracted and brought on nine new officers over the past year following a period of reduced interest and hiring shortages in law enforcement.

“It takes around nine months for a new hire to go from the first day to working solo on patrol,” said Lt. Jacob Wagner who heads up training at the department along with Sgt. Jason Hurley.

“It’s a long and rigorous process,” Hurley said, “so as a department and in the wake of hiring shortages, we have really tried to finetune our training protocol and environment to prepare and support individuals that are taking on this job and provide them with the tools they need to be successful.”

One of these graduates, Tristan Slater, originally from Ontario, Canada, said the department’s support gave him confidence going into the academy.

“I believe that I came in more prepared than (recruits from) other departments because of the training that has been provided to us to prepare for the training academy,” Slater said.

$500K grant to relaunch mental health aid training

The MTSU campus community soon will be trained in how to notice and respond to mental health and addiction challenges commonly experienced by youth in higher education settings.

Thanks to a recently secured $500,000 federal grant by the MTSU Center for Health and Human Services, students, faculty and staff will have an opportunity to receive certification through Mental Health First Aid for Higher Education.

Training, which was first provided to the campus community in 2019-2021, will include topics such as depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, trauma, non-suicidal self-harm, psychosis and substance use and misuse, said Cynthia Chafin, Center for Health and Human Services director and principal investigator for the project.

CHHS has received funding to relaunch the certification effort for a four-year period beginning this month. When the project is fully relaunched, multiple workshops, providing two-year certifications to MTSU students, staff and faculty, will take place each month with a goal of reaching 1,120 members over the four-year period with approximately seven workshops offered per quarter.  Each workshop lasts eight hours and is provided free of charge.

Jazz Artist Series features Davidian Trio on Feb. 2

Get ready to warm up the winter Thursday, Feb. 2, when the School of Music blazes into 2023 with the renowned Joe Davidian Trio as guests of its popular Jazz Artist Series.

Jazz pianist Davidian, bassist Jamie Ousley and drummer Austin McMahon will heat up the stage of Hinton Hall inside MTSU's Wright Music Building, 1439 Faulkinberry Drive, with standard jazz tunes as well as original compositions and arrangements beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The three, who also perform as The Lost Melody Trio, will be joined by MTSU Jazz Studies Program faculty Don Aliquo on saxophone and Jamey Simmons on trumpet for some of their numbers.

“The concert will showcase the sound of a long-standing jazz piano trio,” said Simmons, who serves as jazz program director. “The exciting thing for us as teachers is to bring in musicians that have a long-term commitment to the music, showing future generations the creative possibilities of this music.”

Davidian, Ousley and McMahon also will present a free public master class at 4:20 p.m. Feb. 2 in Room 101 of the Saunders Fine Arts Building, which adjoins the Wright Music Building. A campus map is available at https://bit.ly/MTSUParking.

Tickets are $10 each for the public. Admission is free for MTSU students, faculty and staff with a current ID. Discounts also are available for area band students and educators. Concertgoers can reserve tickets by contacting Simmons at james.simmons@mtsu.edu. Tickets also will be available at the door, payable by cash or check only.

MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU Mondays