Poet, essayist & immigration advocate Marcelo Castillo to speak at APSU’s Asanbe Diversity Symposium

Clarksville, TN – In 2016, during an interview for the literary journal Ploughshares, award-winning poet and essayist Marcelo Hernandez Castillo said, “I wish I wasn’t afraid, I wish this wasn’t my reality.”

When Castillo was five, his family moved from Mexico to California, and even though he now has permanent resident status, he told Ploughshares, “That doesn’t mean I’m not still afraid, either for myself or for my family.”

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Clarksville Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen for the week of June 29th, 2015

Clarksville, TN – The week began with a renewed sense of optimism that a Greek debt deal would be worked out. Sentiment then faded after negotiations with Greece’s creditors broke down, but then hopes continued that a deal would be reached over the weekend.

The economic data were mixed. Home sales figures improved in May. Durable goods orders were disappointing. The estimate of 1Q15 GDP was revised to show a -0.2% annual rate (vs. -0.7% in the second estimate), up 3.0% from a year ago. Note that the estimate of Gross Domestic Income rose at a 1.9% annual rate (+3.7% y/y).

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Clarksville Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen for the week of June 22nd, 2015

Clarksville, TN – In its monetary policy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee recognized that “economic activity has been expanding moderately after having changed little during the first quarter.” Labor market slack has “diminished somewhat.” Growth in consumer spending has been “moderate,” while the housing sector “has shown some improvement.”

In the revised Summary of Economic Projections, Fed officials lowered their forecasts of 2015 GDP growth, but raised slightly their expectations for growth in 2016 and 2017.

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Clarksville Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen for the week of June 14th, 2015

Clarksville, TN – Economists began the week wondering why consumers hadn’t spent the windfall from lower gasoline prices. By the end of the week, we had a partial answer. Retail sales rose strongly in May, as expected. More importantly, we had upward revisions to the data for March and April.

The Bureau of Census also released its quarterly survey of services. These two reports paint a brighter consumer spending outlook and imply an upward revision to the estimate of 1Q15 GDP growth (the second estimate showed a -0.7% annual rate, but should be revised to show a much more modest decline or perhaps a slight increase).

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Clarksville Weekly Market Snapshot from Frazier Allen for the week of November 16th, 2014

Clarksville, TN – The economic calendar was thin. The report on retail sales, the only significant release during the week, was a little better than expected, restrained by the decline in gasoline prices. Note that lower gasoline prices should provide some support for consumer spending in the important holiday shopping season.

However, that support is likely to merely offset the impact of sluggish wage growth (leading to “okay” holiday sales). The impact of lower gasoline prices on consumer spending depends on how low gasoline prices go and how long they stay low, but usually arrives with a lag.

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Austin Peay State University’s Kristofer Ray named visiting scholar to University of Michigan’s Eisenberg Institute

Clarksville, TN – Dr. Kristofer Ray, Austin Peay State University associate professor of history, was recently named a visiting scholar to the University of Michigan’s Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies.

He will spend the summer at the Institute, working on his next book, titled “Cherokees, Europeans and Empire in the Tennessee Corridor, 1670-1763.”

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APSU student Chris Hayes spends summer at famed CERN laboratory

Clarksville, TN – When Austin Peay State University student Chris Hayes returned to Clarksville last summer, after spending nine weeks at the famed CERN laboratory in Switzerland, his friends and professors asked him what he thought of Europe.

“I said, ‘Well, I think it looks a lot like East Tennessee, except that the signs are in French,” he said. “It felt very much like I was at home.”

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Austin Peay State University Student Heading to Famous CERN Lab this Summer

Clarksville, TN – The tunnel, which is more than 16 miles long, is buried some 300 feet underground in the suburbs of Geneva, Switzerland. Back in 2008, a few nervous individuals worried the long, circular corridor might end up destroying the planet.

That’s because scientists planned to smash subatomic particles together in that hidden laboratory to recreate the “big bang” that spawned the universe. A handful of doomsdayers worried the researchers might instead create a miniature black hole.

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Austin Peay physics student conducted research in Czech Republic this summer

Clarksville, TN – In a laboratory in the Czech Republic town of Pardubice, Austin Peay State University physics student James Winegar tried to strike up a conversation with a local Ph.D. student. Winegar, one of the few English speakers around, had spent much of the summer working on his Czech language skills, so he thought it was a good opportunity to practice a few phrases.

“He said, ‘stop butchering my language,’ or something to that effect,” Winegar said. “He said, ‘you’re not allowed to speak it anymore.’” [Read more]

Austin Peay State University student to study physics at Louvre in Paris this summer

Clarksville, TN – The art world, it turns out, can use a good physicist. When it comes to restoring priceless works, identifying forgeries or discovering long lost masterpieces painted over centuries ago, curators at the world’s top museums and galleries turn to their colleagues in the sciences for help.

This summer, officials at the Louvre Museum in Paris might look to Austin Peay State University physics student Drew Kerr to assist them in making discoveries about the famed works in their collection.

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