I visited the Austin Peay farm last week to see the magnificent bull donated to the university by Marshall Ross, an Austin Peay alum and Clarksville resident. This gift follows one Marshall made last fall of a herd of belted galloways. The bull wasn’t exactly keen about the idea, but I managed to get close enough to touch him. That was a LOT of bull!
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I joined our provost and several faculty members last week for the Faculty Got Talent event at Rivers & Spires. Mickey Wadia, a professor of English at Austin Peay, regaled the crowd with a rousing rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kris Kristofferson, one of the song’s authors, and Janis Joplin, who produced the most memorable recording of the song, would have been proud!
Yesterday I traveled with Coach Carrie Daniels and the Lady Govs basketball team to the state capitol, where the Tennessee legislature adopted a resolution commending the team for its fantastic OVC tournament win. I think this was the first time many of our players had ever been to the capitol, and it was a pleasure seeing them receive a standing ovation for their achievements this season. We are thankful for Representatives Joe Pitts, Curtis Johnson, and Phillip Johnson and state senator Tim Barnes for supporting this well-deserved recognition.
The Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission recently approved Austin Peay’s plan to re-create its colleges of Business and Education. We expect to have the new colleges in place by the fall of 2009. Their deans will help to lead these important academic divisions forward. In particular, the dean of the college of Business will have the exciting challenge of leading our business faculty toward the ultimate accreditation of our business programs. And the dean of the college of education will help to keep our education faculty and students plugged in to the very important developments in education happening in Tennessee. The college of Professional Programs and Social Sciences will become the college of Behavioral and Health Sciences and its current dean, Dr. David Denton, will continue forward as dean of the new college. In fact, Dr. Denton is chiefly responsible for the new organization, which he planned and for which he obtained approval while he served as interim provost of Austin Peay.