August 19, 2008
Lind Attends Math Teaching, Research Conferences
This summer Dr. Joan Lind, assistant professor of Mathematics, attended a one-day workshop with Project NExT and led a break-out session titled "Continuing a research program in analysis." This concluded her year as a project NExT fellow. Project NExT (New Experiences in Teaching) is a professional development program for new or recent Ph.D.s in the mathematical sciences. It addresses all aspects of an academic career: improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, engaging in research and scholarship, and participating in professional activities. It also provides the participants with a network of peers and mentors as they assume these responsibilities.
Dr. Lind also attended a Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM) workshop in Provo, Utah Aug. 10-12. CURM is the first and only center devoted to undergraduate research in mathematics. Approximately 15 mathematics faculty members from across the county were awarded CURM mini-grants to pursue undergraduate research projects during the coming academic year. As one of the recipients of the award, Dr. Lind attended the workshop where they discussed successful approaches to involving undergraduates in math research.
Posted August 19, 2008. #.
Tennis Team, Individuals Honored with ITA National Academic Awards
The academic achievement of the Belmont men’s tennis team along with eight Belmont student-athletes were honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) as it announced its Academic Awards for the 2007-2008 school year.
The Belmont’s men tennis team was named an ITA All-Academic team. To be chosen for this honor, a squad must have a cumulative team grade point average (GPA) of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale) and all team members must have competed in at least one match during the 2006-2007 season. The Belmont men’s team, who finished with a team GPA of 3.44, was one of 41 teams honored in Division I and the only Atlantic Sun Conference squad among the list of schools.
In addition, eight Belmont tennis players earned the ITA’s Scholar-Athlete Award. To earn the Scholar-Athlete Award, a player must be a varsity letter winner, have a GPA of 3.50 and been enrolled at the school for two semesters. Belmont’s five honorees from the men’s side were: Felipe Cirne Lima, Ignacio Gesto, Marshall Lipman, Brady Manifold and Fausto Rocha. The three honorees from the women’s team were: Linda Johansson, Kelly Pence, and Tatiana Pozo. Click here for more on this story.
Posted August 19, 2008. #.
August 14, 2008
Bennett Participating in Multiple National Conferences on Media
Dr. Sybril Bennett, director of Belmont's New Century Journalism program, was selected to participate in the 2008 Disney/IRTS (International Radio Television Society) Digital Media Summit for faculty, which was held Aug. 5-7 in Burbank, California.
In addition, Bennett is leading the student newsroom for the Online News Association national conference to be held Sept. 11-13 in Washington, D.C., and she will be coordinating the National Association of Black Journalists Media Institute in partnership with the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute to be held in Nashville, Oct. 23-25. This summer, Dr. Bennett had an article published in the NABJ Journal about the importance of journalists learning multimedia skills.
Posted August 14, 2008. #.
Van Hatten-Granath's Project Featured in Magazines
Teresa Van Hatten-Granath, associate professor in the Art Department, continues to receive media attention for her “Green Bag Lady ” project. Earlier this year Van Hatten-Granath started making fabric bags to use in place of plastic and set up a Web site to give the fabric bags away to anyone who promised to use them. Her goal was to inspire artists to think about the ecological impact of their art as well as to produce work that has a direct, positive impact on the environment. The project will be featured in the fall issue of Positively Green magazine as well as the Oct./Nov. issue of Plenty magazine. For more information, visit www.greenbaglady.org.
Posted August 14, 2008. #.
August 13, 2008
Sullivan to Present Keynote at Conference on Mental Illness
Dr. Bryce Sullivan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be giving the keynote address at the “Erase the Stigma” conference on Aug. 22 in Belleville, Illinois. His talk, titled "Religion, Mental Health and Clinical Practice: Integrating Psychological Treatment with Religious Beliefs and Practice," will present research and clinical information related to the integration of religion and psychological treatment, arguing that religion and spirituality can provide a strong supportive role in treatment and in overall mental health.
Posted August 13, 2008. #.
School of Nursing Selected as Site for Research Study
The School of Nursing has been selected as the site for a National League for Nursing/Laerdal/American Heart Association research study on different approaches to learning basic life support and advanced life support. The Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences and Nursing was one of nine colleges of nursing selected from a pool of 34. Under the coordination of Beth Hallmark, coordinator of simulation in the School of Nursing, the project will begin in January.
Posted August 13, 2008. #.
DeVries Earns National Award from Accounting Association
Assistant Professor of Accounting Dr. Delwyn “Del” DeVries is the single recipient of the “Information Systems Section 2008 Outstanding Service Award.” The announcement was made last week at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association (AAA) in Anaheim, California. Dr. DeVries was recognized by the Information Systems section for Distinguished Service in Membership Services, 2005-08, based on his work in analyzing and promoting membership services at both the section and national association levels over the past four years.
DeVries has taught accounting at Belmont University since 2007, having previously taught in the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He earned his Ph.D. in accounting, with an accounting information systems specialization, from Arizona State University. Prior to beginning his academic career, he served as manager-operational control for Citibank from 1989-94 and manager for Deloitte (formerly Deloitte Haskins & Sells) from 1982-89. He is a Certified Public Accountant, as well as a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and in addition to his many other service contributions, he also serves as a member of the audit sub-committee for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Posted August 13, 2008. #.
Hobson Speaks at Pharmacy Conference
Dr. Eric Hobson, professor of pharmacy practice and associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Pharmacy, was a featured speaker this week at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ 2008 National Residency Preceptors Conference in Washington, D.C. More than 300 of the conference’s 600+ attendees participated in his workshop, “Here we go again: Maintaining realistic expectations for new residents.”
Posted August 13, 2008. #.
Pinter, Stewart Present at Mathfest
At the Mathematical Association of America's Mathfest in Madison, Wisconsin, July 30-August 2, Dr. Mike Pinter presented a talk titled "Viewing Mathematics as Human Endeavor" as part of the "Incorporating Humanities and the Arts into the Mathematics Classroom (and Vice Versa)" Contributed Paper Session. MathFest is the largest annual summer meeting of mathematicians in the United States. Dr. Pinter offered examples from several courses he teaches at Belmont, including Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning, Analytics and First-Year Seminar.
Also at Mathfest, Dr. Sarah Ann Stewart was invited to be a panel member for the session titled "How to Apply for Jobs." She also co-organized a new workshop for graduate students. In the workshop, graduate students presented a 20-minute "job talk" aimed at undergraduates and then received feedback from experienced faculty members. Both sessions were well received, and Stewart has been asked to be a part of the two sessions again in the future.
Posted August 13, 2008. #.
August 07, 2008
Arthritis Foundation Presents Plaque to Pharmacy, PT
On Thursday, members of the Nashville Arthritis Foundation visited Belmont to show their appreciation for the University's support in the annual Arthritis Walk, which was held on campus in May. The School of Pharmacy and the School of Physical Therapy both had teams that participated in the walk, together raising more than $3,200. The Schools were presented with a plaque and two picture frames to display as a sign of a successful and growing partnership.
Pictured are (r-l) School of Pharmacy Dean Phil Johnston, 2008 Nashville Walk Honoree Ken Brisbane, Associate Professor in Physical Therapy Gail Bursch (Team Captain), Arthritis Foundation President and CEO Len Smith, College of Health Sciences Dean Jack Williams and Assistant Professor in Pharmacy Practice Julie Rafferty (Team Captain).
Posted August 07, 2008. #.
Jellisen Published in The Tennessean
Dr. Susan M. Jellissen, professor of political science, published an editorial in The Tennessean this week titled "Afghan distrust, Pakistan acts negate troop benefits." Click here to read the full article.
Posted August 07, 2008. #.
Entsminger to Judge MTA Jingle Contest
Dr. Deen Entsminger, professor in the School of Music, will be serving as a judge the Music City Central jingle contest along with The Tennessean's Beverly Keel, jazz musician Kirk Whalum, radio DJs Woody and Jim, and several others.The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority's brand-new Music City Central Transit Center will open its doors downtown in late October, and MTA wants to introduce it Nashville style, by putting it to music. Contest participants can enter an original, 60-second jingle in any genre about all of the reasons to choose public transportation. The winner will win a $1,500 cash prize courtesy of Balfour Beatty Construction as well as have the option of performing the jingle at the Grand Opening of Music City Central.
Posted August 07, 2008. #.
August 01, 2008
Volleyball Team Earns National Academic Honor
Belmont Volleyball has received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2007-08 season. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale. Nine Belmont Volleyball team members earned Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic honors this past year, largely contributing to the Bruin Athletic Department’s highest fall GPA since becoming an NCAA Division-I institution in 1996-97. Belmont’s overall team GPA ranked 23rd nationally. Click here for more on this story.
Posted August 01, 2008. #.
Griffith Published in Tennessean
Dr. Nathan Griffith, assistant professor of Political Science, published an editorial this week in the Tennessean regarding the War Powers Resolution. Click here to read the article.
Posted August 01, 2008. #.
First Tennessee Presents First External Pharmacy Scholarships
First Tennessee Corporation has provided the School of Pharmacy with its first external scholarship award. This gift of $5,000 supports three pharmacy students who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to service. Ms. Frankie Tonelli, Manager of the Belmont/Hillsboro branch, presented the gift to Dean Phillip Johnston and Associate Dean Eric Hobson.
In addition, six faculty in the Belmont University School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Bunch Library staff did poster presentations last week at the 2008 annual American Association of Schools of Pharmacy meeting. Also, Steven Stodghill (Pharmaceutical Sciences) spoke on “Paper to Pixel – Migrating Curricular Mapping to an On-Line Portfolio.”
Posted August 01, 2008. #.
July 30, 2008
Alumna, 'Idol' Finalist Melinda Doolittle Signs Record Deal
Alumna Melinda Doolittle ('99), who was the third-place finisher on the 2007 season of "American Idol," has signed a recording contract with independent label Hi Fi Recordings, which is also the current home to Todd Rundgren. Her debut album is expected this fall.
Posted July 30, 2008. #.
July 24, 2008
Belmont Men's Basketball Program Mentioned in ESPN Prestige Rankings
ESPN researchers Nick Loucks, Harold Shelton and Chris Fallica revealed this week their new men's college basketball prestige rankings. The duo analyzed 300 Division I men's college basketball teams, weighing the thousands of regular-season and postseason wins and losses, the NBA draft picks, the All-Americans and the national titles to come up with a numerical point system to provide unbiased rankings of every college hoops program's success since the start of the 1984-85 season. However, the rankings required teams to have 15-seasons minimum competing in Division-I, automatically eliminating the Belmont Bruins and 40 other current D-I teams from the list. However, of the schools that were eliminated because they didn't have the minimum 15 D-I seasons, the school that would have finished the highest is Belmont (132). Click here to see Belmont's mention along with other programs outside the Top 50.
Posted July 24, 2008. #.
July 23, 2008
Oglesby-Pitts Publishes Editorial in The Tennessean
Dr. Myron Oglesby-Pitts, Ed.D., a former Metro school principal who is currently an assistant professor in Belmont's department of education, recently wrote an editorial for The Tennessean on the passing of her first grade teacher, Mrs. Mary S. Craighead: "The magic of this teacher never seemed to end. She celebrated her 90th birthday sharing lessons of effective teaching and learning strategies with my graduate class at Belmont University."
Click here to read the full article, titled "A true 'champion for children' left an indelible impression on students."
Posted July 23, 2008. #.
July 21, 2008
Childs, Gonas Published in Journal of Financial Planning
Dr. Brad Childs, associate professor of accounting, and Dr. John Gonas, assistant professor of finance, recently published an article in the Journal of Financial Planning with colleague Dr. Jeremy Thornton of Samford University. The article, titled "Are Donor-Advised Funds Always the Best Economic Choice?," analyzes what factors makes a Donor-Advised Fund preferable to "checkbook philanthropy."
Posted July 21, 2008. #.
July 18, 2008
Maslyn Contributes to Article on Employee Reactions
Dr. John Maslyn, associate professor of management in the College of Business Administration, recently co-published an article titled "The Contribution of Positive Politics to the Prediction of Employee Reactions" in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Posted July 18, 2008. #.
Cusic to Publish Four Different Projects
Professor of Music Business Don Cusic has two books coming out this year and has contributed to two others. Discovering Country Music will be published by Praeger on July 30, and The Trails of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point is scheduled for publication on Sept. 30. In addition, Cusic contributed a chapter, “Cowboys in Chicago,” to The Hayloft Gang, a book about WLS in Chicago published by the University of Illinois Press. Also, Cusic’s entry on “Blues” is scheduled to be published by the African-American Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, edited by Todd Boyd, which is scheduled to be published on Oct. 30.
Posted July 18, 2008. #.
Buckner Participates in Dietary Supplements Course
Martha Buckner, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor in the Belmont University School of Nursing, joined more than 100 other professors and graduate students from universities throughout the U.S. and Canada to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) course, “Dietary Supplement Research Practicum 2008.” The Practicum was held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, June 9-13. ODS offers this annual intensive course to provide essential knowledge of dietary supplements to academic faculty and their doctoral or post-doctoral students with a serious interest in this subject. Experts from NIH, academic institutions, and Federal regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) served as speakers.
Posted July 18, 2008. #.
Williams to Speak at Disney Leadership Conferences
Dr. Susan Williams, professor of management in the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business, will be speaking in September at both the East and West Coast sessions of the 2008 Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Leadership Conference. Since 2003, Disney has offered this annual leadership development opportunity to their cast members who are “leaders of leaders,” with the conferences now numbering between 10,000 -11,000 leaders on both coasts. The sessions provide a broad range of content from business-focused, practical leadership development topics to personal enrichment sessions.
Posted July 18, 2008. #.
July 10, 2008
Amundson Named to All-America Scholar Team
Men’s golf team member Danny Amundson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) has been named to the 2008 Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar Team. The rising senior served as team captain for the Bruins this past year and delivered consistent performance. With six Top 20 and two Top 10 finishes, Amundson led Belmont in scoring average for a second straight season (74.33). A four-time Atlantic Sun All-Academic honoree, Amundson was a finalist for the 2008 Athletics Directors’ Character Award and is recipient of the Belmont University Glover Accounting Scholarship. Amundson is a Dean’s List student in his chosen majors of finance and accounting. For more on this story, click here.
Posted July 10, 2008. #.
Huff Signs Deal with Anderson Merchandising Label
December 2007 graduate Ashlyne Huff (CEMB) recently signed a recording deal with Anderson Merchandising's label. According to The Tennessean, Huff is the first new artist signed to the label, which has previously released Wal-Mart-exclusive projects by the Eagles, Journey and Garth Brooks. Her debut album will be produced by her father Dann Huff, also a Belmont alumnus.
Posted July 10, 2008. #.
Hobson Quoted in Allied Health
Dr. Eric Hobson, associate dean for academic affairs for the School of Pharmacy, was recently quoted in Allied Health, a quarterly publication of The Tennessean targeting therapists, pharmacists, dietitians and technicians in health-related practices. The article is titled "Are You Listening? Care Depends on How Well You Hear."
Posted July 10, 2008. #.
July 09, 2008
Violett to Appear in Broadway Production
Belmont musical theatre major Gabriel Violett has been cast in the role of Otto in "Spring Awakening," the Tony-winning rock musical about 19th-century teenagers coming of age in a repressive German town. Violett expects to take over the role in the Broadway show on July 21.
Violett attended a private audition for the show during the Southeastern Theatre Conference Convention in March which led to additional rounds of auditions and finally to New York in April. The casting director called several weeks ago to offer him a contract. For more on this story, click here to read a feature article on Violett in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Posted July 09, 2008. #.
July 08, 2008
Mulloy Legacy Honored on CMT.com
The late Bob Mulloy, former faculty member and alumnus as well as the vision and drive behind Belmont's music business program, was honored recently in a blog on CMT.com written by Tom Roland. Click here to read the full article.
Posted July 08, 2008. #.
July 07, 2008
Cornwall Co-Authors Book on Balancing Faith and Business
Business professor Dr. Jeff Cornwall has co-authored a business book aimed at helping top executives balance Christian faith with making a buck titled Bringing Your Business to Life. For more on this story, click here to read coverage in this week's Tennessean.
Posted July 07, 2008. #.
July 03, 2008
Alumna and Prize Winner Williams Publishes New Book
Belmont alumna Lisa Williams, who received a B.A. in English in 1989, recently published a new book of poetry, Woman Reading to the Sea, which was selected by Joyce Carol Oates for the 2007 Barnard Women Poets Prize. In 2004, Williams was awarded the Rome Prize in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is currently associate professor of English at Centre College in Danville, Ky., and a Centre Scholar. The Tennessean recently did an interview with the Nashville native, which can be read here. Williams will return to her hometown in mid-October to participate in the Southern Festival of Books.
Posted July 03, 2008. #.
