Tennessee: Recent Immigration Patterns

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/globalcommerce.html 

Dr. Steven Livingston of the Business and Economic Research Center reports in Global Commerce: "While we have devoted great attention to the expanding flow of trade and investment into this state, perhaps it's time to take a look at the flow of people as well...." [ more ]

Consumers Losing Confidence in Economy

“Any hopes for improvement in consumer confidence during the summer months can be forgotten,” Tim Graefff, director of MTSU’s Office of Consumer Research, reported in the Middle Tennessee Consumer Confidence Index released last week.

[ Read more at Murfreesboro Post ]

Annual MTSU Economic Outlook Conference

Friday, Sept. 30, 2011, 8:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Embassy Suites, 1200 Conference Center Blvd., Murfreesboro [ map ]

Sponsors:
Jennings A. Jones Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise
MTSU Business and Economic Research Center
Weatherford Chair of Finance

8:15	Registration
9:00	Mark Emkes, Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration
10:30	Dr. David Penn, BERC Director, Midstate/Regional Economic Update
11:30	Luncheon
12:00	Dr. Donald Ratajczak, Regents Professor of Economics Emeritus, Georgia State University, Economic Forecast

Cost: $50 per registrant to cover facilities, refreshments, and registration. Refunds are not permitted but substitution of participants is welcomed.

Register Online [  form ]

MTSU Prof Honored with Award

Jackie Gilbert, professor in MTSU's Department of Management and Marketing, is sharing an award with fellow members of an international online-learning organization for their work in contributing high-quality web-based, interactive teaching and learning materials. [Daily News Journal article]

Microenterprise Loans Can Have Big Impact

Microenterprise Loan Fund: Small business lending is available from federal grant money through the City of Murfreesboro working with Community Development Department and Tennessee Small Business Development Center. 

"The Small Business Development Center ... provides free consultation on starting businesses to any resident.... Gene Osekowsky, a 15-year counselor at the Small Business Development Center that leases an office at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce, ... examines marketing and sales potential, record keeping and what kind of money is needed to get the business started.... Part of his service will include following up with those getting loans to make sure they're carrying out their business plan or if they need assistance in revising the plan." 

[Daily News Journal article]

Annual Report 2010-2011

Jones College Annual Report 2010-2011

Entrepreneurship Chair Leads Research

http://tinyurl.com/3c7fgwy 

Doug Tatum, holder of the Wright Chair of Entrepreneurship, will head concentrated research for the Institute for Exceptional Growth Companies to investigate the performance of EGCs through economic cycles and how they contribute to job creation and economic prosperity. [DNJ article]

Video Citing BERC's Nashville Health Care Study Wins Award

http://www.mtsu.edu/berc

This video developed by MTSU students citing BERC's Nashville Health Care Study won an American Marketing Association award.

Tennessee Housing Market: 1st Qtr 2011

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/housingbrief.html  

Tennessee Housing Market: 1st Qtr 2011

• marginal improvement
• home sales up
• construction stable
• prices continued to drop
• 4Q 2010 numbers revised

Destination Rutherford Nets $2.5M in Pledges

http://tinyurl.com/3qg8wgl

Started some 8 years ago when a BERC study found the county's average wages weren't rising, Destination Rutherford officials said Tuesday they've raised 63 percent of a $4 million goal as they unveiled a five-year mission to create 5,000 jobs here with projected earnings of $219 million. The jobs initiative calls for creating 4,396 indirect positions with a $166 million payroll for a total impact of 9,396 jobs and $385 million in earnings by sometime in 2015. More than 50 percent of the jobs are expected to pay above the average Rutherford County wage of $41,964, which is about $1,600 more than the state average. [Daily News Journal, May 10)

Tennessee's Business: Social Enterprise

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~berc/tnbiz/social/contents.html

Tennessee's Business: Social Entreprise issue is now online. This issue is dedicated to the memory of Richard Hannah.

[Table of Contents]

Articles include:

• Rethinking the Entrepreneurial Spectrum
  by Richard Hannah (1951-2011), professor, Department of Economics and Finance, MTSU
• Social Ventures as Learning Laboratories
  by J. Gregory Dees, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Duke University
• Adventures in Fair Trade
  by Mark Sloneker, social entrepreneur, Orijyn
• Nashville-Based Online Store Helps Cambodian Women Take Greater Control of Their Lives
  by Ann Walling, retired assistant rector, St. David's Episcopal Church, Nashville
• Social Entrepreneurship and Higher Education
  by Bernard Turner, director, Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Service-Learning, Belmont University
• Good Fortune in Cleveland, Tennessee
  by Jennifer Jack, social entrepreneur, Good Fortune Soap
• You Can't Fish without a River
  by Guy Larry Osborne, Social Entrepreneurship & Nonprofit Studies, Carson-Newman College
• A Unique Opportunity for Socially Responsible Businesses
  by Ned Hallowell, nationally renowned expert on ADD

[see magazine]

Funeral Arrangements: Dr. Richard Hannah

http://www.moorecortner.com 

Moore Cortner Funeral Home, Winchester, TN

Richard Lloyd Hannah

(August 1, 1951 - April 20, 2011)

Richard Lloyd Hannah, age 59 of Murfreesboro, passed away Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at his residence. He was born in Maryland, the son of the late Andrew "Buddy" Hannah, Jr. and Myrtle Elizabeth Caldwell Hannah. Mr. Hannah was an economics professor at MTSU and had served in the US Marine Corps. Survivors include his wife, Emma Burassa Hannah of Murfreesboro; sister, Patty (Ray) Stevens of Cowan; brothers, Brian (Betty Jo) Hannah of Cowan and Gary (Gay) Hannah of Estill Springs; and several cousins.

Visitation will be 5:30 - 6 PM Tuesday, April 26, 201 at Moore-Cortner Funeral Home with memorial services to follow at 6 PM.

Moore-Cortner Funeral Home
300 1st Ave NW
Winchester, TN 37398
(931) 967-2222

Updated Obituary: Dr. Richard Hannah

Dr. Richard Hannah

Middle Tennessee State University mourns the death this week of Dr. Richard Hannah, a professor in the Department of Economics and Finance who served as an international goodwill ambassador for our students.

Hannah, 59, whose work as part of the University Honors College included development of the first Buchanan Fellows macroeconomics course, joined MTSU in 1992. The Buchanan Fellowship, named for Nobel Prize laureate and MTSU alumnus James Buchanan, is the highest award given to students entering the Honors College.

“Richard was a distinguished professor, beloved by his students and colleagues and greatly valued for his service to our University,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee. “His scholarship and leadership helped make MTSU stronger and we are deeply saddened by his passing.

“Our sympathies go out to Richard’s wife, Emma, and the entire family,” the President said.

Hannah traveled extensively overseas as a goodwill ambassador for the University. His most recent trip was to Bangladesh in December 2010 to meet with executives of Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel laureate and former MTSU professor Muhammad Yunus, to arrange for more MTSU student internships.

“Dr. Hannah believed he could inspire MTSU students by giving them examples of individuals like Dr. Buchanan and Dr. Yunus, and I believe he succeeded in this endeavor,” said John Vile, dean of the Honors College. “We are devastated by the loss. “

Hannah was the Honors College’s resident faculty member from the Jennings A. Jones College of Business and taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels at the University. For a decade, he was the host of “Inside Academia,” a television program produced at MTSU on higher education.

He also created the first online graduate-level Managerial Economics course at MTSU.

Hannah received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from UT-Chattanooga and another Bachelor of Arts degree in German at MTSU, where he also earned his Master of Arts degree in economics. He received his Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Utah.

Prior to becoming a full-time professor, Hannah served as director of MTSU’s Center for Economic Education and worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

[earlier note from Dean James Burton]

Obituary: Dr. Richard Hannah

Dr. Richard Hannah

It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of the passing of Professor Richard Hannah.

Dr. Hannah, Professor of Economics, was found dead of apparent natural causes in his Murfreesboro home on Wednesday by Murfreesboro Police.  Department Chair, Dr. Charlie Baum, had become concerned after Dr. Hannah missed classes on Monday and Wednesday and had initiated efforts to locate Dr. Hannah. 

Dr. Hannah was a valued member of the faculty and will be greatly missed by his colleagues and students.

We will provide additional information as it becomes available. 

—Dean Jim Burton


[update from President Sidney McPhee]

Opry Mills to Benefit Jobless Rate

http://tinyurl.com/3e5v3l5
From the Tennessean: "The dramatic impact here of Opry Mills' reopening would be sparked because the 3,000 new jobs would end up putting an additional 1,500 people to work through indirect jobs, meaning a total of 4,500 jobs pumped into the labor market, said Arik, associate director of the Business and Economic Research Center at MTSU."

Tennessee County Economic Dashboard

New on the site of the Business and Economic Research Center:

Indicators for each of the state's 95 counties:
http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc

CIS Paper Award

At the MBAA International Conference last week, Associate Professor Charles Apigian (Computer Information Systems) and student Johnathan Gilliam presented their paper "An Analysis of the Factors that Contribute to Intellectual Property Theft." The paper received the McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award from the Society for the Advancement of Information Systems, which is the best paper award for the IS track.

Gilliam is an undergraduate majoring in history and minoring in CIS and will begin working on a master's degree in CIS in the fall. Apigian was his mentor in the McNair Program, and this paper is the result of that research.

Johnathan Gilliam & Charles Apigian with McGraw-Hill/Irwin Distinguished Paper Award at MBAA  

Job Heat Charts Updated

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/tacir/tacir.html

Through Feb. 2011: Employment growth by industry for Tennessee and 10 MSAs

Tennessee 2010 Census Population Totals

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/census.html

These data from the U.S. Census Bureau provide the first look at population counts for small areas and race, Hispanic origin, voting age and housing unit data released from the 2010 Census. The census data are used by state officials to realign congressional and state legislative districts in their states, taking into account population shifts since the 2000 Census.

Tennessee 2010 Census Results

Tennessee Census Map

http://tinyurl.com/4v6nlpu 

Interactive map of population change by county and chart of state population by race