An Unforgettable Musical Performance

Associate Professor of Biology Kevin Fitch and Smyrna Academic Dean Elizabeth Fitch perform a song for faculty, administrators and staff during Spring Assembly in Moore County on Jan. 11. (Photo by Zach Holt)

This and That...

Counseling Support Available

Did you know that Motlow has a full-time licensed therapist who is available to speak or provide counseling for those who face unexpected emotional challenges. Lisa Stone is standing by to provide professional support or to step in for faculty members who need a guest speaker for their classes.

“Remember, I am available to you if you need to consult about a student in distress,” Lisa said. “Since we do not always know the emotional and mental health needs of those we work to educate, please make occasional announcements to your students that we have counseling services on each campus and that appointments with the therapist can be made by calling or emailing me.”  

Learn more about Motlow’s counseling services at http://www.mscc.edu/counseling/ or feel free to call Lisa at (615) 220-7913.

Club Days Returning to Motlow Smyrna

                Hey students… have you joined a club? What an excellent way to become more connected with fellow students and to make a contribution to Motlow. You can even earn community service hours for your Tennessee Promise scholarship.

                The next Smyrna Club Days on the Smyrna campus are set for Jan. 24 and 25 (Wednesday and Thursday) in the MLA Lobby. Club leaders who would like to have a table may contact Stacy Dowd at sdowd@mscc.edu.

Don’t Get a Ticket

The Motlow State Public Safety Department is responsible for enforcement of the “Parking and Traffic” policy.  Officers of the Motlow State Public Safety Department will be monitoring parking and traffic on campuses to ensure all vehicles are properly decaled and properly parked. 

Motlow State Community College requires the registration of vehicles and/or the issuance of permits on campus for the purpose of effective enforcement of campus traffic and/or parking regulations.  Everyone should pay close attention to assigned parking spaces, such as spaces marked for “Handicap” parking, “Faculty/Staff” parking, “Student” parking and “Visitor” parking.  Students, faculty, staff, and visitors must park only in the appropriately designated areas. 

Students, faculty, or staff, should never park in “Visitor” parking. Do not park on any grass areas unless it is allowed by properly designated signage.

Textbook Scholarships Available

 StoneCrest/Rotary Textbook Scholarships are available to Motlow Smyrna students who need assistance with the purchase of textbooks. To learn more or to request a SRSMC Scholarship Application, contact Michelle Griffith at mgriffith@mscc.edu.

SGA Welcomes Students Back to Smyrna Campus

On behalf of myself and my fellow members of the Student Government Association here at the Smyrna campus, may I take this personal opportunity to welcome each and every one of you to Motlow “Spring 2018” and to wish you great success and achievement in your upcoming academic endeavors.

It is a brand new year... and a brand new semester, and this is the time for all of us to begin with a "clean slate" and dedicate ourselves to excellence and achievement in all of our classes. Tuesday, when classes began, was the first day of the rest of your lives.

Your Student Government is committed to representing all of the students at Motlow State. Whether you are an adult learner who has returned to college after several years of being out in the world, or a graduate from straight out of high school ready to make your mark, we will be supporting all of you.

Enjoy this upcoming week and the "goodies" that your Student Government will have out for you to give you a TASTE for your classes. Look out for the announcements of other activities and programs that we will have slated for you throughout Spring 2018.

Enjoy your college career, enjoy your classes, and enjoy the men and women that you will be associated with in the months ahead. It can and will be a great experience.

Best of wishes!

Mollie McDonald

Student Government Vice-President

Smyrna Campus

We Heard It Through The Grapevine That...

* The Motlow State Community College Public Safety Department was recently awarded a $2,500 grant through the Tennessee Highway Safety Office. The grant funds will be used as part of THSO’s mission to reduce traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities through local highway safety initiatives.

* Feb. 9th is the deadline to nominate former Motlow students for the Motlow College Foundation’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Contact Lane Yoder at lyoder@mscc.edu for more information.

* The Smyrna campus library gate count grew from 95,587 in 2016 to 104,683 in 2017. What an accomplishment for Paige Hendrickson and her team!

* All Motlow Campuses are tobacco free and smoke free. This includes e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco products, and vaping.

* Motlow’s Smyrna campus is the largest in population with 2,224 students.

* Santa accidentally left his suit in Stanley’s tool shed.

Motlow Smyrna Media Writing Students Contribute Stories to Motlow Buzz

                Media Writing students at Motlow Smyrna have been writing up a storm, and it’s time to share their talents with fellow students, faculty, administrators and staff. Click on the links below to read their stories.

Adventure Science Center Welcomes 31st Annual Whistlestop Weekend  -- By Mohamed Kamara

Painting With A Twist Creates Art in Murfreesboro  – By Dillon Henderson

Smyrna Chick-fil-A to Undergo Renovation – By Landon McAllister

MTSU Students Perform Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ -- By Shanice Green

Cannonsburg Hosts International Festival – By Preslee Pope  

Fountains at Gateway Opens Outdoor Skating Rink for Winterfest   – By Matthew Northrup

Nationally Known Photographer Thomas Sanders Speaks at MTSU  – By David Delgado

Music Festival Ends Suddenly After Conflict Between Staff and Crowd – By Logan Langlois

Woodbury Hosts 26th Annual Cannon County Christmas – By Elise Floyd

Student Government Hosts Thanksgiving Feast in McMinnville – By Jordan Donalson

Western Kentucky Defeats Blue Raiders in Overtime Thriller -- By Gamari James

Skek Boutique Spotlights Jewelry at Fashion Show in Murfreesboro -- By Karlie Mingle-Prater

New Seasonal Ice Rink Opens as Part of Winterfest -- By Maria Mansour

The Scoop on D2L and MyMotlow Banner (Part One)

By Anthony Czelusniak

Motlow Buzz Staff Writer

            SMYRNA – D2L and MyMotlow Banner are creative and helpful tools for faculty members and students, but technical challenges pop up unexpectedly from time to time.

Dean of Digital First Learning Terry Durham and Motlow State Chief Information Officer Cindy Logan recently provided information on how they manage D2L and MyMotlow Banner – working out the unexpected kinks. In part one of this article, the focus is on D2L.

            D2L, or sometimes referred to as Desire2Learn, is a service provided by a multinational company. Because of this, Durham, who manages D2L for Motlow, must maintain the service without having complete control over it.

 “We have to rely on others to make changes or improvements to the platform,” he said. “However, if we owned the software then we would need to be involved directly with maintaining and updating the software. This additional position needed to make changes in-house would be expensive to say the least.”

            Despite the lack of total control over the software, Durham and his team still work hard to ensure the software is ready for use at any time of the day during the semester. His job is made harder by unexpected changes to the software that happen. This happened last semester when the visual layout of D2L was changed drastically without warning.

            “We have had edits performed on course shells that should have not been done,” he continued. “We’re currently working on this not being an issue in the future. Instructors and students become very concerned when this happens, and I do not blame them at all.”

    Durham added, “I have contacts at D2L that I stay in-touch with, so if anything seems out of the ordinary, then we are on the phone or email asking what is happening beyond Motlow State Community College.”

            When asked about the major influx of students to Motlow over the past few years, Durham was confident that an increase in the student population won’t be a problem.

            “We have not had any issues with the system becoming overloaded, nor do I foresee that happening,” Durham said.

            He mentioned that he and his staff are working to add new features for instructors that will make teaching even easier. A new D2L training module for students will help familiarize users with the software.

            Durham explained, “If the students knew more of the basic items or terminology when emailing D2L for help, it would help us tremendously.”

Durham also shared some information on how the email system inside D2L works.

            “If you email your professor’s D2L account from your Motlow State Community College email account, the message will be returned,” Durham noted. “IT people call this ‘bouncing back.’ If you receive an email from your professor’s D2L account, then you must log in or be logged into D2L to respond to that message. The outside link to convey that message back outside of D2L is turned off. This is a [Tennessee Board of Regents] policy that is to be followed, and we can’t turn this on. So please make sure you check your D2L email account as well as your Motlow State Community College email account.”

            Students and faculty who need assistance can contact the Help Desk at Extension 1510 (on-campus) or (931) 393-1510 Option 1 (off-campus) or helpdesk@mscc.edu.

            Stay tuned for part two of this article.

Smyrna Campus Academic Dean Welcomes Students

Welcome Students!

I hope you all had a very restful break and are as excited as I am about the start of classes. We have a lot to look forward to this semester.

First, construction on the new facility and additional parking will finally begin in mid-March. The new 80,000-square-foot facility plans are finished, and the building is on schedule to be completed by July 2019. By the conclusion of this semester, our campus will be bustling with construction activity, and will have 650 additional parking spaces! These additional spaces will be very welcomed, and will be coming just in time for the surge in enrollment we are expecting from TN Reconnect.

Second, we have several new programs beginning this semester. New to the Smyrna Campus in the Spring 2018 schedule are Cybersecurity, Medical Lab Coding, and prerequisite courses for our Medical Lab Technician Program, which will accept the first cohort of students in Fall 2018. Additionally, we just signed an articulation agreement with the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith that will allow qualifying students who have completed their associate degree at Motlow to work toward B.A.S. degrees online. The Academic Unit is also pursuing an A.S. degree in Concrete Management with an articulation agreement with MTSU’s Bachelor Program, and is researching a Dental Assisting Program and Sonography Program in hopes that we can offer these programs around the time our new facility opens. We also plan to bring our EMT program to the Smyrna Campus in Spring 2020 once renovations of our current facilities are complete. All of this hard work on program development is in effort to ensure our students and community have every opportunity to attain better income, better jobs, and better lives for their families.

Finally, I encourage you take advantage of all the opportunities you have to gain support and build connections with fellow students, faculty and staff on campus. You can do this by joining a club, interacting with faculty and staff outside of class at numerous campus events, and by taking advantage of the Writing Center, free tutoring, and the Math Lab located in our Student Success Center. We truly have a unique group of caring individuals dedicated to their professions and to your success. Please do not hesitate to reach out for assistance. We all hope you have a great semester, and we look forward to seeing many of you graduate in May!

Cheers,

Elizabeth Fitch

Smyrna Campus Academic Dean