(founded
September 11 ,
1911 , and commonly abbreviated as '''MTSU''') is an
American University located in
Murfreesboro ,
Tennessee . In
1909 , the Tennessee Legislature enacted the General Education Bill. This bill stated that three colleges be established within each
Grand Division of the state (Modern-day
ETSU ,
MTSU , and
University Of Memphis ) and one additional school for
African-American students (
TSU ). These schools would be founded in 1911. Originally known as the ''Middle Tennessee
Normal School '', it became a state
College in
1943 and officially became a university in
1965 . It is currently the second-largest institution of higher learning in Tennessee (by overall enrollment), trailing only The
University Of Tennessee at
Knoxville . MTSU currently has the state's largest enrollment of
Undergraduate students.
MTSU's tenth and current President is
Sidney A. McPhee , Ed.D. He has served since
2001 .
MTSU is a member of the
Tennessee Board Of Regents System, one of two higher education systems in Tennessee.
Originally known primarily for its Education and Nursing programs, MTSU has more recently gained notoriety for its outstanding Aerospace, Business, and Mass Communication/Recording Industry programs.
MTSU's easy access from
Nashville and surrounding cities via
Interstate 24 and
State Route 840 , coupled with its favorable enrollment standards, makes it the largest university in the
Central Third Of The State and the single largest economic contributor in Murfreesboro.
As of Spring
2005 , MTSU has the state's largest
Undergraduate student body with 20,279 students. Much of the student body comes from within a 50 mile (80 km) radius of campus.
MTSU's focus in recent years has been on growth, but the university is quickly outgrowing its infrastructure. With the 2004 advent of the
Tennessee Lottery (which provides college scholarships to
Tennessee students attending in-state schools), more students than ever have the financial resources to attend MTSU. The current administration seeks to curb growth by raising admission standards and delegating remedial study programs to 2-year community colleges within the
Tennessee Board Of Regents system.
MTSU classifies itself as a regional university, and primarily draws its student base from the areas surrounding Nashville and Murfreesboro. As the school has grown larger, its student base has expanded. The Aerospace and Recording Industry programs regularly draw students from outside the state of Tennessee. Most other programs primarily draw students from inside the state.
Only 3,500 students (approximately 15% of enrollment) live in on-campus dormitories, though the landscape surrounding the university is littered with apartments marketed toward students. It is estimated another 35-40% of students rent residential space within the city of Murfreesboro.
MTSU holds two graduation ceremonies each spring and autumn, and one each summer (a total of three classes each year). The spring and autumn commencements are split into two ceremonies to accommodate the large number of graduates (an average of 1,600 per class) and their families wishing to attend. The ceremonies are held in the 10,000-seat Monte Hale Arena inside the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center.
The majority of freshman applicants are admitted in the Standard Admission category. In addition to completion of the required high school courses, applicants must present one of the following:
- a minimum 3.0 GPA
- a minimum composite ACT of 22 (SAT of 1020)
- a minimum 2.7 GPA and minimum ACT of 19 (SAT of 900)
- satisfy the NCAA standards for student athletes who are qualifiers or partial qualifiers under Division I guidelines
Any student not meeting guaranteed admission requirements will be considered for conditional admission. The review will include all academic credentials as well as other special interests and skills, and other non-academic factors as explained on the Personal Statement Form. Students admitted in this category will be expected to:
- remove high school deficiencies (if applicable) within the first 64 hours of enrollment
- maintain academic good standing as defined by University retention standards
- receive services from the University's Academic Support Center
- enroll in University 1010 the first semester of enrollment
MTSU was founded on its education program, and it remains one of the highest-enrolled programs at the university. Nursing and agriscience, also staples among Tennessee universities, were also a large part of the school's early identity and continue to be strong programs today. In recent years, MTSU has become known for its newer programs, including Aerospace, Journalism, Broadcasting, and Recording Industry.
MTSU is divided into seven colleges:
- College of Basic and Applied Sciences
- College of Education and Behavioral Science
- College of Graduate Studies
- College of Liberal Arts
- College of Mass Communication
- Jennings A. Jones College of Business
- University Honors College
Eight Bachelor degrees are offered:
- Arts
- Business Administration
- Fine Arts
- Music
- Science
- Science in Nursing
- Social Work
- University Studies
The College of Graduate Studies confers Master's degrees in nine areas, the Specialist in Education degree, and the Doctor of Arts degree. MTSU's first Ph.D. was awarded in May 2003, though the university had awarded many Doctor of Arts degrees in the past.
Middle Tennessee State University employs approximately 800 full-time faculty members.
The Department of Recording Industry (part of the College of Mass Communication, and commonly referred to by the acronym "RIM" for its former name "Recording Industry Management") is the university's most popular program. Due to the popularity of the program, students must apply for candidacy, which constitutes acceptance into the program. Before they can apply for candidacy, students must complete pre-requisite "core courses". Every semester, only a limited number of slots are opened for new candidates. Eighty-five percent of these slots are awarded on the basis of a score which is determed by a formula that considers cumulative GPA, the required mathematics course grade, the GPA from the core courses, and the total hours earned. This system insures that the most highly motivated students enter the program, and confers a certain degree of exclusivity.
The school's close proximity to Nashville, a mecca for music recording, provides incredible resources for this outstanding department, which is regularly recognized as one of the best the nation has to offer. It competes for students with
Belmont University , a small private
Christian university located in the heart of Nashville's
Music Row district, which also offers a critically-acclaimed Recording Industry program.
The Department of Aerospace has a working agreement with the single-runway Murfreesboro Airport to provide many of its classes on-site. A decommissioned 727 airliner is housed at the airport as a teaching tool.
American Airlines has donated a state-of-the-art cockpit simulator to MTSU. It is housed in the Business & Aerospace Building near the center of campus.
- 109 permanent buildings with 3.8 million square feet (353,000 m²) of space.
- 466 acres (1.9 km²)
- one mile (1.6 km) from the geographic center of Tennessee
The campus is 1.3 miles (2 km) east of downtown Murfreesboro, and is generally flat in nature, much like the landscape that makes up much of Murfreesboro (the mountains of the
Highland Rim are only a few miles to the southeast). The oldest building on campus, Kirksey Old Main, lies at the north end of the original quadrangle. Flanking it to the west are Rutledge Hall (a
Dormitory ), the James Union Building (student life and extra administration offices), and Lyon and Monohan Halls (also dormitories). Flanking to the east are Jones Hall (now an office building), Todd Hall (the former library, which recently underwent major renovations and is now home to the Art Department), Wiser-Patten Science Hall/Davis Science Building, and Smith Hall (a men's dormitory). These are the key original buildings on campus and form its historic core. Between these buildings are Peck Hall, (English and History departments), Walnut Grove, and Cope Administration Building. Further east are newer additions, such as the Keathley University Center (KUC), Photography Building, Ned McWherter Learning Resources Center, John Bragg Mass Communications Building, James Walker University Library, Business and Aerospace Building, Campus Recreation Center, and the campus's newest building, the Paul W. Martin, Sr. Honors College.
In the early 2000s, eight
Fraternities moved from off-campus sites to the university's state-of-the-art Greek Row, located on the extreme eastern side of campus (a few other fraternities remain off-campus).
Sorority Houses at public universities in Tennessee were disallowed per a perceived prohibition in Tennessee state law discouraging
Sorority houses based on the notion that more than eight women living in the same house would constitute a
Brothel . This law was never questioned until 2003, when the
Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution clearing the myth when it determined there was indeed no statute prohibiting sorority houses. To this date, no sorority houses have opened on MTSU's campus.
All buildings on campus are given 2, 3, or 4 letter abbreviations, which most people use to identify the buildings. For example, the Keathley University Center is known as "the K.U.C."; the Business and Aerospace Building is better known as "the B.A.S."; and the James Union Building is called "the J.U.B." Some buildings, however, are not referred to by their abbreviations. For example, Cope Administration Building (CAB) is commonly just called "Cope", John Bragg Mass Communications Building (COMM) is called "Mass Comm", and most students opt to call Peck Hall (PH) by its full name.
The campus takes the general shape of a square and is largely cut off to automobile traffic. Its borders, however, are defined by four high-traffic Murfreesboro thoroughfares:
- On the west: Middle Tennessee Blvd.
- On the south: E Main St.
- On the east: N Rutherford Blvd.
- On the north: Greenland Dr.
Middle Tennessee State University has no auxiliary campuses, and aside from online courses, all classes are held either on-campus or at adequate facilities in the city of Murfreesboro.
MTSU is only a half-mile (800 m) east of the nearest hospital, privately-owned Middle Tennessee Medical Center, located on East Bell St. The hospital will move to a new building across town in 2008.
Middle Tennessee State University's colors are Royal Blue (PMS Uncoated 300) and White.
Its nickname is the Blue Raiders. Female teams are known as the Lady Raiders. The nickname's origin goes back to a
1934 newspaper contest. An MTSU football player, Charles Sarver, won $5 from ''The (Murfreesboro) Daily News Journal'' with his winning entry "Blue Raiders", which he later admitted borrowing from
Colgate University , whose teams were known as "Red Raiders" at the time. No official nickname existed prior to 1934, when teams were called "Normalites," "Teachers," and "Pedagogues". Contrary to popular belief, the "Blue Raiders" nickname is not related to the
American Civil War , in which
Union soldiers, wearing blue, raided Murfreesboro in
1863 on their way to the
Battle Of Stones River .
The university's athletic teams simply refer to the school as "Middle Tennessee" or "MT", abandoning the words "State University". This is being done to save another logo change should the university change its name to "University of Middle Tennessee", as has been long-rumored.
MTSU's mascot is a blue
Pegasus named "Lightning". Lightning symbolizes the university's aerospace program and the region's heritage in the walking horse industry. MTSU's original mascot was a student dressed as
Nathan Bedford Forrest , the
Confederate General who later joined the
Ku Klux Klan and became its first Grand Wizard. Due to sensitivities within the
African-American community, the mascot was changed to a blue-colored
Scent Hound Dog named "Ole Blue" in the 1970s. The current "Lightning" mascot was adopted in
1998 , when the athletics department updated its image in preparation for the
1999 upgrade to Division I-A football and subsequent transfer to the Sun Belt Conference.
MTSU athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (I-A for
Football ) in the
Sun Belt Conference . MTSU competed in the
Ohio Valley Conference until
2000 .
NCAA -sanctioned athletic teams include:
MEN:
WOMEN:
MTSU also fields teams in club sports such as
Rugby ,
Ice Hockey and
Inline Hockey . These "club sports" are not sanctioned by the university, though each team does receive funding as a student organization. They are also authorized to use school logos, wordmarks, and identities. These teams do not compete at the NCAA level, though they do compete against other colleges and universities within unofficial intercollegiate organizations.
MTSU also has a very active equestrian team which competes in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in both huntseat and western division. Though a club team, the members have won several individual national championships and were as a team the 2003 National Western Reserve Champions.
MTSU has won only one national championship in a team sport:
Golf ,
1965 . However, seven individuals have won national championships. All were in golf or track. The most recent was in
2003 .
MTSU won the highest-scoring NCAA Division I-A football game in history, 70-58 over the
University Of Idaho Vandals on
October 6 ,
2001 at Floyd Stadium.
Between the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons, the Lady Raiders basketball team won the Sun Belt Conference championship and was given a berth in the
NCAA Women's Tournament . Each of the first two years, the team was victorious in its first-round game, only to lose in the second round. Middle Tennessee blew a 20 point lead to fall to Utah in the first round in Tucson, Arizona in 2006.
The university's main athletics building (which houses the basketball arena and athletic department offices and was built in
1973 ) is named in honor of Charles M. Murphy, standout MTSU athlete in the 1930s. The basketball arena is named in honor of local sports writer and broadcaster Monte Hale, though it is more commonly called "Murphy Center", the name of the building that houses it. The football stadium is named in honor of Johnny "Red" Floyd, former MTSU football coach.
The athletic facilities, including Murphy Center and Floyd Stadium, are located in the northwest corner of campus.
Murphy Center features an indoor track, and is regularly home to the Sun Belt Conference indoor track championships.
Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium features 31,788 seats and an
AstroTurf playing surface. The stadium has never been filled to capacity since its expansion (from approximately 15,000 seats) in
1997 .
MTSU's chief football rivals are the
University Of North Texas Eagles. The chief basketball rivals are the
Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.
MTSU operates the "Blue Raider Sports Network," a radio network syndicating its sporting events to several stations across the area. Also, some of the football games are recorded onto video by students from the College of Mass Communications and are run on University-controlled cable channel 10, MTTV. Occasionally, football games will be broadcast on
ESPN Plus, and can either be seen locally or on ESPN's pay-per-view "Gameplan" service.
MTSU football and men's basketball games can be heard on 1450 AM WGNS (
Flagship ), 104.9 FM WBOZ, 105.1 FM WVRY, and 89.5 FM WMOT.
MTSU women's basketball, plus occasional baseball and softball games, can be heard on 88.3 FM WMTS.
Alumni and boosters have repeatedly tried to change the university's name to the University of Middle Tennessee, but the request has been consistently rejected by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Though the official reason is not known, speculation centers on The
University Of Tennessee 's efforts to stop such a change, so "UMT" would not be confused as being a member of the
UT system, the other higher education organization in Tennessee.
Parking is abundant on campus, but mostly lies on the outside perimeter. Parking is a constant gripe among students.
The university's newspaper is entitled "Sidelines". It is published twice a week (Monday and Thursday) during the spring and fall semesters, and once weekly (Wednesday) during the summer session. No issues are published during fall, winter, and spring breaks.
MTSU holds the licenses to two FM radio stations:
- 88.3 WMTS (680 W, student-programmed college radio station, home to MTSU Women's basketball and MTSU baseball broadcasts)
- 89.5 WMOT (100 kW, professionally-programmed jazz station, home to MTSU Men's basketball and MTSU football broadcasts)
MTSU has been awarded
Comcast Cable 's channel 10, which has been named "MTTV", throughout
Rutherford County and southeastern portions of
Davidson County/Nashville for student-created programs and official university announcements. MTSU also carries instructional class work related programming on Comcast channel 9 in the same area.
The athletic facilities at MTSU (along with select venues in and around Murfreesboro) play host to every Tennessee state high school championship game/match in every sport except girls'
Soccer , which is held in
Chattanooga .
Floyd Stadium, the university's football field, is thought to be the geographic center of Tennessee, though the official marker sits approximately a half-mile (800 m) north of the stadium on Old Lascassas Pike.
The three main roads through campus were named A Street, B Street, and C Street until 2001. Then they were renamed Alumni Avenue, Blue Raider Drive, and Champion Way in correlation with their original A, B, C names. Another road, Faulkinberry Drive, kept its original name.
Middle Tennessee State University has its own police force.
Middle Tennessee State University is a "dry campus", meaning alcoholic beverages are prohibited at all times. If a student is discovered to have alcohol on campus, he/she is put on academic probation, suspended, or expelled. This rule also applies to the on-campus Greek Row, though it is often ignored by students and authorities there.
Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on the northwest corner of the MTSU campus was once the Nashville area's premier concert venue, hosting concerts from artists such as
Elvis Presley ,
KISS ,
Elton John ,
Pearl Jam ,
Phish , and
Garth Brooks . Murphy Center was the site of country/western duo
The Judds ' 1992 farewell concert.
The school's athletics logo appears on overhead street signs for the newly-christened Middle Tennessee Boulevard (formerly Samsonite Blvd, Sanbyrn Dr, and North Tennessee Blvd until being renamed in May 2005).
- http://www.mtsu.edu/ - official university site
- http://www.goblueraiders.com/ - official athletics site
- http://www.mtsusidelines.com/ - university newspaper
- http://www.wmtsradio.com/ - 88.3 WMTS , university student programmed radio station
- http://www.wmot.org/ - 89.5 WMOT, university NPR affiliate, professionally staffed radio station
- http://www.mtsutv.org/ - MTTV, the university television station
