UNIVERSITY NEWS Billboard on I 65 in southern Maury County . . .

[MTFNBY5]

. . . promoting The University of Tennessee - Southern.

If there are any doubters as to this school's effect on MT; as this school grows it will hurt The University of Middle Tennessee.

 

[MTLynn]

. . . promoting The University of Tennessee - Southern.

If there are any doubters as to this school's effect on MT; as this school grows it will hurt The University of Middle Tennessee.

I don't see it differently than ewe tee martin.

 

[SpaceRaider]

. . . promoting The University of Tennessee - Southern.

If there are any doubters as to this school's effect on MT; as this school grows it will hurt The University of Middle Tennessee.

yep.

Given the overwhelming lack of influence that MT and MT supporters and those you would expect to have some interest in MT's success have shown in the last decade or more, I wonder how everyone feels about the Board that we got a few years back. I have the feeling that the old Board of Regents may have been not that bad from a strength in numbers kind of thing as opposed to this current set up where I've yet to see any positive results from our own university board of trustees where the members appear to be lightweights (no heavy hitters) with no political or financial influence, and here we are, out on an island stranded with no way to get off.

 

[TrueBlue147]

Our board has been a huge disappointment. They seem to just rubber stamp whatever the McPhee recommends including his own raises and contract extensions.

 

[MTFNBY5]

I don't see it differently than ewe tee martin.

Perhaps we are looking from different perspectives. I'm old enough to remember when Martin Meth. was a JUCO and a large percent of their grads transferred to MT. Included were several BkB and BB transfers along with Coach Jimmy Earle. I could be that you are a Rutherford Co. native (or possibly Davidson) who rarely ventures south of the Boro and has no realization of the number of students (and athletes - admittedly a diminishing number recently) who attend MT from south central area of TN. I grew up in southern Mid-TN a couple of counties away from Rutherford and only a couple of days ago I was in 5 mid-state counties south west of the Boro. As UT-S grows (they hope to double enrollment in 5 years) from my perspective they will clearly take some students from MT.

The comparison with UT-M doesn't hold water if distance and travel time is taken into consideration. MT is the closest state-supported school to Pulaski. There are four state supported 4 year schools closer to Martin than MT (Memphis, APSU, TSU, and UofM Lambuth). While some mid-state students go to UT-M I do see UT-Southern "differently than ewe tee martin".

Only when making this post did I remember UofM Lambuth. Why the h--l was UofM able to take over a struggling Methodist school and MT wasn't the first school considered to take over a similar institution? Gotta be either political pull or a lack of vision in Cope and/or on the Board. I'm betting on a lack of vision.

I don't like it but I see why Memphis St. was able to change their name and MT wasn't (most of the PTB don't see a problem with MTsU) but remembering that UofM was able to acquire a satellite campus and we weren't - just another slap in the face of MT fans/supporters/alumni.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Lambuth was dead broke and ceased operations in 2011. Univ. of Memphis just took over the physical plant.

 

[MTLynn]

Perhaps we are looking from different perspectives. I'm old enough to remember when Martin Meth. was a JUCO and a large percent of their grads transferred to MT. Included were several BkB and BB transfers along with Coach Jimmy Earle. I could be that you are a Rutherford Co. native (or possibly Davidson) who rarely ventures south of the Boro and has no realization of the number of students (and athletes - admittedly a diminishing number recently) who attend MT from south central area of TN. I grew up in southern Mid-TN a couple of counties away from Rutherford and only a couple of days ago I was in 5 mid-state counties south west of the Boro. As UT-S grows (they hope to double enrollment in 5 years) from my perspective they will clearly take some students from MT.

Yes, I'm rutherford county native. When I was at Oakland high school (1985-1988) many of the kids I knew had moved here from other states and they didn't care about any of the state colleges but most of the college-bound kids went to MT. I know of a few who attended auburn, ttu, and vandy.

When I was at MT I met many folks who were from the mid-state that had transferred from ut-k to MT, so they could be closer to home, but there were numerous people here from other states attending MT. I think enrollment was around 15K at the time and Murfreesboro had a population less than 50K.

Now that Murfreesboro has a population of 160K, and MT having more stringent enrollment requirements, there are more than enough students to go around.

The problem is that the state won't allow MT to have professional programs. Apparently MT is only good enough to prep kids for Meharry and tsu.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Everything about Middle from an outsider's perspective seems broken.

My son wants to join the aerospace program there and I am debating on pushing him towards another school. Which infuriates me that I am even saying that.

Our board has been a huge disappointment. They seem to just rubber stamp whatever the McPhee recommends including his own raises and contract extensions.

 

[MTFNBY5]

Yes, I'm rutherford county native. When I was at Oakland high school (1985-1988) many of the kids I knew had moved here from other states and they didn't care about any of the state colleges but most of the college-bound kids went to MT. I know of a few who attended auburn, ttu, and vandy.

When I was at MT I met many folks who were from the mid-state that had transferred from ut-k to MT, so they could be closer to home, but there were numerous people here from other states attending MT. I think enrollment was around 15K at the time and Murfreesboro had a population less than 50K.

Now that Murfreesboro has a population of 160K, and MT having more stringent enrollment requirements, there are more than enough students to go around.

The problem is that the state won't allow MT to have professional programs. Apparently MT is only good enough to prep kids for Meharry and tsu.

I agree that the lack of professional programs is a much larger issue at this time than what is happening in Giles county. And yes, there are enough students to go around. It's just that IMHO adding one additional publicly supported school in the mid-state (especially one with THE U of T name) further erodes MT limited political power.

 

[BlueSioux]

Everything about Middle from an outsider's perspective seems broken.

My son wants to join the aerospace program there and I am debating on pushing him towards another school. Which infuriates me that I am even saying

Everything about Middle from an outsider's perspective seems broken.

My son wants to join the aerospace program there and I am debating on pushing him towards another school. Which infuriates me that I am even saying that.

I recommend University of North Dakota, as it is the of the top flight programs in the U.S. and with the largest fleet of planes outside of Emory Riddle. They also have agreements with three airlines in hiring graduates. Great school atmosphere too with the best D1 hockey program and a great FCS football program. I am a bit biased being a grad school alum from there (not aviation).

 

[arg3b]

Everything about Middle from an outsider's perspective seems broken.

My son wants to join the aerospace program there and I am debating on pushing him towards another school. Which infuriates me that I am even saying that.

If you live in TN, this would not be a wise decision. Embry Riddle and UND are very expensive schools for aviation (over $130K for ER and well over $100K for UND, if getting any types of pilots license). Your son will get the same education at Middle with in-state tuition. I work with several people who have been paying off their student loans for over a decade with both schools. But that’s just my opinion

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Pushing him to strongly consider Air Force Academy.

If he chose to stay in-state, going with MT is a strong consideration for sure. Outside of tuition, those who do pursue a program geared to becoming a pilot still has to bring over 40k in addition to tuition. Nothing is cheap.

If you live in TN, this would not be a wise decision. Embry Riddle and UND are very expensive schools for aviation (over $130K for ER and well over $100K for UND, if getting any types of pilots license). Your son will get the same education at Middle with in-state tuition. I work with several people who have been paying off their student loans for over a decade with both schools. But that’s just my opinion

 

[MTLynn]

Pushing him to strongly consider Air Force Academy.

I was told years ago that nothing beats the Air Force for pilot training.

I have a cousin who joined the National Guard after high school and they trained him to be a chopper mechanic. Not long after that, he became a chopper pilot and that led to his fixed-wing license. He is still a pilot with the National Guard.

 

[MTFNBY5]

The loss of status for the MT Aerospace/flight program is another element of my pulling back of my support.
I can't prove where but I just know that at one time MT was mentioned along with Purdue and Embry-Riddle as one of the top three programs in the nation.
When I was asked about what MT was known for academically I always mentioned, among other programs, that the Aerospace program was one of the best in the nation. I hope none of those people checked the national ranking; I would have been proved a liar.
I have checked numerous national ranking lists and MT is nowhere to be found. I did find one ranking of Tennessee flight schools where MT was ranked highest.
Either I was mistaken years ago (don't think I was) or the MT Aerospace program's reputation has dropped precipitously. Why?

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

When you have a student from UTK prevent a professional school from starting at MT, you begin to lose all hope. Sydney should have taken that entire debacle to court. Make that his legacy.

But no. Aerospace programs at UTK are higher than ours. Yes, theirs are centered in engineering but we could we even get that off the ground?

 

[crposton]

Serious question. Could McPhee sue the THEC? I am not sure if he has the ability to do that or not. If he did have the ability to do that then it is definitely something that should have been considered.

 

[Blue Raider Lightning]

The loss of status for the MT Aerospace/flight program is another element of my pulling back of my support.
I can't prove where but I just know that at one time MT was mentioned along with Purdue and Embry-Riddle as one of the top three programs in the nation.
When I was asked about what MT was known for academically I always mentioned, among other programs, that the Aerospace program was one of the best in the nation. I hope none of those people checked the national ranking; I would have been proved a liar.
I have checked numerous national ranking lists and MT is nowhere to be found. I did find one ranking of Tennessee flight schools where MT was ranked highest.
Either I was mistaken years ago (don't think I was) or the MT Aerospace program's reputation has dropped precipitously. Why?

You are not alone. For years, I was under the same impression. I too have mentioned it several times to people over the years, noting it was one of the nations best.

 

[Brew_Raider]

I’m curious, but who ranks the aerospace programs? I ask because recently I read about and listened to a podcast cover the USNews rankings and basically how they are complete garbage. I’m curious is there a better ranking source.