MTSU Magazine’s Winter 2023 Edition Celebrates New Construction, Successful Alumni

The latest edition of MTSU magazine chronicles the October 2022 opening of a new $40.1 million School of Concrete and Construction Management Building on the east side of campus.

The 54,000-square-foot facility is an integrated and experiential learning laboratory for 135 current Concrete Industry Management majors and 200 Construction Management students preparing for professional careers in a high-demand sector throughout the Midstate and beyond.

Students graduating from the program average $60,000-plus in starting salary. Construction is a $1 trillion-plus industry that impacts every aspect of life, including where we live, work, learn, shop and dine.

The new edition of MTSU magazine is being made available first — and for the first time — on the Foleon digital publishing platform at https://bit.ly/mtsumagw23.

Among the new School of Concrete and Construction Management Building’s many features are a 200-seat lecture hall; a quartet of basic materials and building labs; a dedicated mechanical electrical plumbing, or MEP, classroom; a covered amphitheater; and two computer labs, including a virtual design and construction lab that’s capable of creating advanced building models and construction simulations, as well as an augmented virtual reality lab for immersive experiences.

The new facility marks an expansion of the university’s “Corridor of Innovation” in the heart of campus, anchored by the state-of-the-art Science Building. In several years, SCCM will have a new neighbor: the Applied Engineering Building will be built in that same area of campus.

Other stories in the current edition include:

• A profile of alumna Jasmine “Jaz” Gray (’10), a summa cum laude graduate with a degree in Mass Communication, who received both the Community Service Award and the President’s Award among many other accolades during her tenure at MTSU. Gray, who was born with a cranial facial condition that gave her some unique physical attributes, and who has undergone at least 47 surgeries starting at age 9, is a talented speaker, creative writer, and producer of motivational and advocating stories.
• Class Notes — updates on the status of other MTSU alumni around the globe.

Printed copies of MTSU magazine are distributed twice annually to approximately 125,000 alumni readers. Additional copies of the alumni-and-friends publication are distributed to interested stakeholders. A web-only, flip version of the entire magazine is also available here.