New Campaign Honors Former Physics Chairs Mayfield, Sears and Wood-Boercker
August 25, 2011
Clarksville, TN – A little more than 50 years ago, professor Melburn Mayfield founded the physics department at Austin Peay State University. Only a handful of students at first made their way into these classrooms on campus, but with the help of two distinguished professors – physics chairs Sara Wood-Boercker and Dr. Robert Sears – Mayfield’s small labor of love grew into the largest undergraduate physics department in Tennessee.
Last Saturday, friends and alumni gathered at the APSU Morgan University Center to celebrate Mayfield’s 90th birthday and to unveil a new campaign – The Mayfield, Wood-Boercker, Sears Endowment – that will allow the physics department to prosper for years to come. The endowment, funded by private donations, will provide scholarships for deserving, hardworking physics students.
State Rep. Joe Pitts honors former APSU Physics Department Chair Mel Mayfield with a proclamation recognizing Mayfield’s 90th birthday. (Photo by Nikki Loos Peterson/APSU)
FDNY chief, highest-raking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Center to speak at APSU
August 24, 2011
Clarksville, TN – On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Richard “Pitch” Picciotto answered the call heard around the world. In minutes he was at ground zero of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, acting boldly to save innocent lives as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center began to burn—and then to buckle.
Already a veteran of terrorist attacks, Picciotto was present fighting a similar battle after the World Trade Center Bombing in 1993. Again inside the North Tower, where he found himself years earlier, he focused his concentration on the rescue efforts at hand. But it was there in the smoky stairwells that he heard and felt the South Tower collapse. He then made the call for firemen and rescue workers to evacuate, while he stayed behind with a skeleton team of men to assist a group of disabled and inform civilians in their struggle to evacuate the inferno.
Richard "Pitch" Picciotto
Nashville State Community College to plant satellite Campus in Clarksville
August 24, 2011
School plans expansion to former Saturn dealership
Clarksville, TN – Members of the Montgomery County delegation and area education leaders announced plans Wednesday for a Nashville State Community College satellite campus in Clarksville.
“One of the best ways we can increase job opportunities in our community is through increased access to higher education,” said State Representative Joe Pitts. “Nashville State will add another lane to the higher education bridge in Clarksville and Montgomery County.”
On Monday, the Executive Subcommittee of the State Building Commission approved the first step for Nashville State to obtain the former Saturn dealership on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, which occupies nearly 18 acres in North Clarksville. State and local officials have been working for years on a deal to bring Nashville State to the city. [Read more]
New Observatory Opens at APSU Farm
August 24, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Shortly before sunset last Friday evening, a large crowd of stargazers gathered at the Austin Peay State University Environmental Education Center off Pickens Road, hoping to get a good look at the moon or possibly Mars.
The center, also known as the APSU Farm, sits only a few miles from Governor’s Square Mall and is somewhat affected by that area’s light pollution, but as of Friday, it has become the one of the best spots in Clarksville for astronomers to congregate.
That’s because, next to the barns and hay bales, APSU has opened a new observatory with a retractable dome and a 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope, featuring the same optical design as NASA’s Hubble Telescope.
New APSU Observatory offically opens.
New APSU Exhibit “Re-presents” Historic Paintings
August 23, 2011
Clarksville, TN – For the artist Wes Sherman, an old painting by Vincent van Gogh or George Inness isn’t simply a static work of art. Each piece is alive in the present, with modern day viewers interpreting its images to fit into the world he or she knows.
“I believe that we have always borrowed from the past to redefine or rediscover our existence,” he said.
Re-presentation - New Paintings by Wes Sherman
APSU makes campus, public aware of road projects
August 22, 2011
Clarksville, TN – As Austin Peay State University prepares for the start of the 2011-12 academic year, the campus community and the public should be aware of the various city and campus construction projects to plan alternate routes to and from campus.
Near APSU, the intersection of North Second and College streets is closed while the Tennessee Department of Transportation continues sewer repairs. This is scheduled to last six to eight weeks. If driving to campus from Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, College Street can be accessed up to Fourth Street and Home Avenue.
A view of the excavation at the intersection of North Second Street and College Street. The intersection is closed while the Tennessee Department of Transportation continues sewer repairs.
Former APSU Art Professor Schlanger to Have Work on Display at University
August 21, 2011
Clarksville, TN – For 19 years, Gregg Schlanger sauntered across the Austin Peay State University campus wearing a blazer, an untucked shirt and a ball cap pushed back on his head. He’d stop the students, faculty and staff members who crossed his path to make a joke or tease them affectionately.
He was unassuming and relaxed, but for those who knew him, he was a deeply serious artist whose work brought light to important social issues, such as the availability of drinking water in Third World nations. Earlier this summer, Schlanger ended his long tenure at APSU as professor and interim chair of the art department in order to head up the art program at Central Washington University.
B.W.R. 50 liters by Gregg Schlanger
APSU, Vol State offering new 1+1 agreement in chemical engineering technology
August 20, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University and Volunteer State Community College are partnering to offer a new transfer degree program, the Chemical Engineering Technology 1+1 Agreement.
This new program links Vol State students with APSU to create a seamless transition from Vol State into the chemical engineering technology (ChET) program at APSU. The two-year program awards the Associated of Applied Science credential. [Read more]
38th Annual Tennessee Entomological Society Meeting in Nashville next Month
August 19, 2011
Clarksville, TN – A typical ant is only about one-eighth of an inch long and weighs around 3 milligrams. At that size, it should be considered relatively harmless, but most people don’t want the insects inside their houses. Termites and bedbugs might be a little larger, roughly a quarter of an inch in size, but they are equally unpopular as houseguests.
On September 29th and 30th, some of the state’s top scientific minds will take up the topic of pest detection and control methods during the 38th Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Entomological Society (TES). [Read more]
Business After Hours a success
August 18, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Despite threatening weather, more than 300 people attended the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours, hosted by Austin Peay athletics and the Governors Club, Thursday night, at APSU’s Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill.
Austin Peay President Tim Hall talked about the University’s continued growth and the plan to improve Governors Stadium in addition to encouraging Chamber members to support APSU athletics with their attendance.
Business After Hours a success. (Courtesy: Austin Peay Sports Information)
