MTSU Mondays: Grammys trip ‘incredible opportunity’, guest lecture tackles capitalism

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From red carpet duties to networking with industry heavyweights to witnessing alumni accept the music industry’s top award, several Middle Tennessee State University College of Media and Entertainment students enjoyed the experience of a lifetime with the university’s return to the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

“It was absolutely incredible,” said Nicolas Edgerson, a senior from Griffin, Georgia, majoring in music business. “To be able to network with so many creative people in the industry … really inspired me a lot and gave me a lot of (great) connections that I’ll hopefully be able to take advantage of in the future.”

The students, accompanied by Recording Industry professors Odie Blackmon and Denise Shackelford, arrived in Southern California a few days before the awards show and worked red carpet for the Recording Academy’s black-tie charitable fundraising event honoring legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi as MusiCares’ Person of the Year.

In addition to the MusiCares event, the group toured recording studios, iconic music venues and met with recording industry professionals — and then attended an awards celebration that ended with five MTSU alumni capturing eight Grammys total — out of nine nominees and 15 nominations this year.

Students, faculty and administrators also gathered a few days before the awards show in Santa Monica with MTSU alumni from all disciplines, as well as another brunch event celebrating this year’s MTSU nominees.

Among those alumni nominees at the brunch was hip-hop producer and songwriter Tay Keith, who, as Brytavious Chambers, graduated from MTSU in 2018 with a degree in integrated studies and media management and was nominated for the second time this year for songwriting work on “Rich Flex” by Drake and 21 Savage, which was nominated for Best Rap Song.

Edgerson, who performs under the stage name Nedge, said getting to meet and conversate with alumni like Keith added extra fuel to his goals of becoming an accomplished songwriter as well as exploring other avenues such commercials and management. Edgerson was a featured artist on MTSU’s “We Do It All” television commercial that is in the running for a regional Emmy this year.

MTSU students who joined Edgerson on the trip included Grace Choi, a senior from Nashville majoring in music business; Kelly Grenvik, a third-year graduate student from Bristol majoring in recording arts and technology; Ian Gilleland, a senior from Cullowhee, North Carolina, majoring in commercial songwriting; Lindzey Lopez, a senior from Hendersonville, majoring in music business; Dalton Miksa, a senior from Morristown majoring in audio production; and Zoe Naylor, a senior from Murfreesboro majoring in journalism and French.

Naylor, covering the trip for Sidelines, the university’s student news website, and the MTSU Student Voice, the university’s student-run social media team, said she gained experience in entertainment and event reporting. “Not to mention,” she added, “the possibility of seeing some awesome artists at the awards ceremony.”

Grenvik, learning to be a producer and an artist, said going to the Grammys “is something I have always dreamed of but never knew if I would be able to attend. This is an incredible opportunity to observe and be inspired by the industry’s leaders.”

MTSU alumni, former or current students, and faculty from across the university have been a part of more than 164 Grammy Award nominations in the last two decades.

The number of MTSU-connected Grammy winners since 2001 currently stands at 23 people with a total of 47 Grammys, including nine repeat recipients, in categories from classical to pop to rock to country to gospel.

MTSU’s Religious Studies Colloquium guest lecturer delves into capitalism

Capitalism will be the topic of discussion as MTSU’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies hosts its upcoming biannual Religious Studies Colloquium.

This semester’s colloquium will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, in the Academic Classroom Building, room 106 at 1751 MTSU Blvd. It is free and open to the public, with refreshments served after.

Guest speaker Jeremy Posadas, an associate professor of Religious Studies and Gender Studies at Stetson University in Central Florida, will present on “Capitalism as a Moral Code.”

Posadas’ presentation will focus on one aspect of capitalism as a religion: “Capitalism as a code of moral prescriptions about how humans ought to relate to one another and to Earth as we seek to stay alive.” He will then offer an alternative code that can “re-root the human web of care within Earth’s web of life.”

“MTSU’s Religious Studies Program has received international recognition for its innovative design,” said Rebekka King, coordinator of the event and professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

“Dr. Posadas is someone who is very much respected in the academic study of religion and does this inspiring work on religion as ideology and as moral code, so we thought MTSU could benefit from both.”

For more information, email Heather Gibbs at Heather.Gibbs@mtsu.edu, or call 615-898-2907.

MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU Mondays: Grammys ‘incredible', guest lecture talks capitalism