MURRAY, Ky. –Students from across the United States are banning together in the JETS (Junior Engineer Technical Society) TEAMS competition to help eliminate the global issue of water shortage and purification. Recently, this issue has been targeted and amplified by the destruction in Haiti.

The 31st annual TEAMS competition is themed “Water, Water Everywhere.” According to JETS, “Some 10,000 ninth- to 12th-graders will gather for one-day over a four-week period from Feb. 15 - March 16 at more than 100 host sites in 42 states, including 79 colleges and universities, and more than 30 high schools” Murray State University has enthusiastically agreed to host a part of the competition in support of this growing social injustice.

This competition will educate high school students through hands-on experience that could spark an interest in becoming an engineer and eventually lead to a career. The competition also challenges teams to analyze the effectiveness of technology within the water supply system, create processes such as desalination and design technologies that attempt to reverse the effects that land projects have on community’s watersheds. By exploring this opportunity, it will allow high school students to experience the magnitude of the water supply system and its ability to work effectively. The top two level teams across the United States will receive $2,500 for their schools and a three-day trip to Walt Disney World.

JETS is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to promote the importance of engineers and demonstrate how incredibly valuable they are to our society.

Posted by Jayme Gordon at 13:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

MURRAY, Ky. –The Murray State University College of Education is planning to celebrate Black History Month by hosting Ron Freeman a humanitarian and Olympic Medalist. The Dean’s Lecture Series will be held on Feb. 17 in the Alexander Hall Auditorium.

Mr. Ron Freeman is a 1968 Olympic Double Medalist. He is also recognized globally as a diplomat for the United Nations, humanitarian work, and activist for peace. Also, he has done various work for the U.S. Department of State Programs in the regions of: Sierra Leone, Mali, Liberia, Ghana, Senegal and Guinea. Through his work with the Department of State Programs, he says “I have been able to see the different sides of slavery, oppression, poor governance and good governance, good democracies and poor, and many other variables that have affected and still effects the growth of people of color around the word of African decent.”

Throughout his life, Freeman has dedicated his time and energy into creating the International Medalist Association (IMA) that focuses on education initiatives for children, young combatants and child safety. Be sure to attend this extraordinary activist and athlete’s lecture From Africa to the White House from 6-7 p.m. on Feb. 17.

Posted by Jayme Gordon at 13:36 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Dr. Randy Dunn, president of Murray State University, was in Frankfort today to address the Kentucky House Budget Review Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the House Committee on Appropriations and Revenue. Dunn was part of a panel of university presidents providing testimony to members of the subcommittee.

Posted by Sherry McClain in Press Releases at 17:22

Murray State University will host Girl Scout Day for the first time Saturday, Feb. 6.

The event will take place in the Industry and Technology Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with 30 girls from western Kentucky registered to attend.

The scouts will complete skills toward earning the following badges: Inventions and Inquiry, Computers in Every Life, Architecture and Environmental Design, and Home Improvement. The event is geared toward Junior Girl Scouts and Senior/Cadet Scouts (sixth grade through high school). The majority of scouts attending are sixth- through eighth-graders.

Girl Scout Day is sponsored by the MSU department of industrial engineering and technology and the office of regional stewardship, and Associated General Contractors.

Posted by Sherry McClain in Info for the media at 11:36

Paducah native Paul Reed Smith’s interest in public radio and in honor of his education at St. Mary’s School System in Paducah, led him to donate a substantial gift to WKMS. His lifelong love of public radio and his strong belief in education caused him to pull those two loves together. WKMS is Murray State University's National Pubic Radio station.

Smith, 55, died after a year-long battle with cancer. His wife, Darlene Feikema, contacted WKMS with the news that Smith had made a planned financial gift to the station.

Posted by Sherry McClain in Press Releases at 15:25

For some students who want to study abroad, finding the money to pay for it can be a big issue. Even for those already scheduled to go abroad for study can stress about how to get tuition paid. The Financial Aid and Scholarship Workshop on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 may provide just the answers needed for those concerns. He session will be held at 4 p.m. in the Barkley Room in the Curris Center at Murray State University (MSU).

Posted by Sherry McClain in Press Releases at 10:34