May 09, 2008
Faculty Members Used as Experts in Local, National Media
Dr. Don Cusic, professor of music business, was quoted this week in more than a hundred print and internet outlets following the death of country music legend Eddy Arnold. Cusic wrote Arnold's biography, Eddy Arnold: I'll Hold You in My Heart. Click here to read the coverage on CNN.com. Cusic also wrote an editorial for the Tennessean on the Hope Scholarship. Click here for more on that story.
In addition, Dr. Sal Giorgianni, director of experiential education and development in the School of Pharmacy, was quoted this week in the Tennessean, along with three pharmacists who will serve as members of the school's adjunct faculty. Click here to read the story.
Posted May 09, 2008. #.
Alexander Recognized by FoxSports.com
FoxSports.com recently recognized Belmont men's basketball associate head coach Casey Alexander as one of the Top 5 assistants in Mid-Major college basketball. The ranking was a result of a poll of more than 450 head coaches, assistants and others who deal with assistants on a daily basis. To read the full story, click here.
Posted May 09, 2008. #.
Schenkel Published in Entrepreneurship Journal
Dr. Mark Schenkel, assistant professor of Entrepreneurship, has been notified that his research, “Awakening the Entrepreneurial Spirit: Exploring the Relationship Between Organizational Factors and Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy and Desirability in a Corporate Setting,” has been published in the New England Journal of Entrepreneurship. Co-authors were Deborah V. Brazeal, professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at California State Polytechnic University-Ponoma, and Jay A. Azriel, assistant professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management at York College-Pennsylvania. The article is now available in the Spring 2008 edition, pages 9-25.
Posted May 09, 2008. #.
May 06, 2008
Marvanova, Hallmark Attend Simulation Annual Meeting
Marketa Marvanova (Pharmaceutical Sciences) and Beth Hallmark (Nursing) recently attended the Simulation User Network (SUN) annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. These two collaborative innovators in cross-discipline health care education attended discussions on new equipment for simulations, simulation discussion groups, sharing ideas and experiences with simulation in health care education (nursing, medicine, pharmacy, physician assistant), with hands on programming workshops.
Posted May 06, 2008. #.
Hobson Published in Pharmacy Teaching Newsletter
Eric Hobson (Pharmacy Practice) had an article titled "Follow Up on Classroom Assessment Techniques" published in the current American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Academy Teaching and Learning Newsletter. The article offers a starting point for discussion of formative assessment strategies and resources that support their use in clinical and didactic education.
Posted May 06, 2008. #.
Women's Golfers Win A-Sun Year-End Honors
Belmont junior golfer Lorie Warren was named Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Golf Player of the Year Tuesday as voted on by the conference’s head coaches and media relations directors. She was also a unanimous choice for the All-Atlantic Sun first team. In addition to Warren’s honors, freshman Lauren Spurlock was named to the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team. Click here for more information.
Posted May 06, 2008. #.
May 05, 2008
Magruder Published in Physics Journal
Dr. Robert Magruder, chair of the Chemistry and Physics department, has had the following paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 103: "Pulsed infrared laser annealing of gold nanoparticles embedded in a silica matrix" with A. Halabica, J.C. Idrobo, S. T. Pantelides, R. H. Magruder, III, S. J. Pennycook and R. F. Haglund.
Posted May 05, 2008. #.
Hare Receives NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
Belmont University men’s basketball player Justin Hare has been awarded a coveted educational grant through the NCAA postgraduate scholarship program. The Cleveland, Tenn. native was one of 58 student-athletes who participated in NCAA winter sports selected as a 2007-08 Postgraduate Scholarship Award winner. Hare was one of only three NCAA Division-I men’s basketball players chosen to receive a postgraduate scholarship, joining Drew Streicher of Butler University and Jack Leasure of Coastal Carolina University. Twenty-nine male and 29 female student-athletes from Divisions I, II and III were selected from a deep and distinguished candidate pool. Each will receive a one-time, nonrenewable grant of $7,500. Click here to read the full story.
Posted May 05, 2008. #.
May 02, 2008
Lake to Serve as Chaplain at Oxbridge
Dr. Todd Lake, vice president for spiritual development, will be serving as an institute chaplain for Oxbridge 2008, a two-week interdisciplinary conference that serves as a focal point of the C.S. Lewis Foundation's efforts to advance a renaissance of Christian scholarship and artistic expression among faculty. Dr. Joy Jordan-Lake, a part-time instructor at Belmont, will also be leading several writing sessions at the conference.
Posted May 02, 2008. #.
Pharmacy Faculty, Library Staff to Present at July Convention
Six faculty in the Belmont University School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Bunch Library staff and faculty at South University School of Pharmacy have just received notification of acceptance of peer reviewed (3) and school representative (2) abstracts for poster presentations at the 2008 annual American Association of Schools of Pharmacy meeting this July. Additionally, Steven Stodghill (Pharmaceutical Sciences) will be presenting at the meeting. He has been invited to speak at the special session sponsored by the Curriculum Special Interest Group, and his topic will be “Paper to Pixel – Migrating Curricular Mapping to an On-Line Portfolio.”
Two posters will carry the Belmont banner in the school poster presentations. The first, by Stodghill and Julie Rafferty (Pharmacy Practice) is titled “Strong Foundation + 4 Pillars = Belmont University’s Pharmacy Plus™ Curriculum” and provides an outline of the Belmont School of Pharmacy’s innovative curriculum. The second school poster, by Cathy Turner (Pharmaceutical Sciences) and Marketa Marvanova (Pharmaceutical Sciences), is titled “Missions and Public Health Intersect as a School of Pharmacy Reflects Its University” and explores how the School of Pharmacy honors the Belmont commitment to servant leadership.
In the peer reviewed category, Turner and Jenny Rushing (Bunch Library) have authored “Aligning a Pharmacy School Curriculum with University Learning Goals: Information Literacy for Life-Long Learning.” Rafferty and Salvatore Giorgianni (Pharmacy Practice) have a peer reviewed abstract titled “Development and Validation of an Experiential Education Site Evaluation Model” that covers the process of developing and validation of a quality assurance evaluative rubric for off campus experiential sites.
Finally, in a collaboration with South University School of Pharmacy, Turner has worked with Andrea L. McKeever (South University) to produce “Strategies for Library Collection Development for Schools of Pharmacy.”
Posted May 02, 2008. #.
May 01, 2008
Alumna to Perform in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at TPAC
Belmont alumna Tiffini Dodson ('04) will play Mary Magdalene in an upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). Dodson, who was born and raised in Smyrna, Tennessee, joined the cast of this production in 2006. Other credits include regional productions of Oklahoma!, Crazy for You, Pippin and Anything Goes. A groundbreaking theatrical masterpiece by legendary writing team Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar is coming to the TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall May 30-31 for three performances.
Posted May 01, 2008. #.
Hancock Wins 'Get Rich Talent Search'
Marsha Hancock, a graduating senior from North Carolina, was selected Tuesday night as the winner in the latest round of country artist John Rich’s "Get Rich Talent Search," which featured nine acts performing in front of eight industry judges including leading publishing, A&R, management and media personnel. Acts selected to perform are chosen from more than 800 monthly e-mail submissions. Rich is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, three-time ASCAP artist/songwriter of the year and producer extraordinaire as well as one-half of multi-platinum duo Big & Rich. Click here to read more on this story from Music Row magazine. For more information on Hancock and to hear her music, visit her MySpace site at www.myspace.com/hancockmarsha.
Posted May 01, 2008. #.
Alumna/Adjunct to Appear on Grand Ole Opry
Tammy Rogers-King, a 1987 alumna and adjunct instructor in the School of Music, plays fiddle in The SteelDrivers, a an up-and-coming bluegrass group. The SteelDrivers will be featured Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry, which can be viewed live on the Great American Country (GAC) network (Comcast channel Channel 31) during the 7-8 p.m. hour. The group is expected to perform around 7:45 p.m.
Posted May 01, 2008. #.
April 25, 2008
Alumnus Accepts Internship with U.S. Olympic Committee
Erin Mullen, a 2007 Belmont graduate in public relations, was recently accepted for an internship with the United States Olympic Committee in U.S. Paralympics. She will be working on various sports administrative procedures from June 2-Sept. 10 in Colorado Springs. Mullen is currently finishing her master's at Mississippi State University in Sports Administration with a minor in Communication.
Posted April 25, 2008. #.
Webster Presents Seminar, Joins Task Force
The School of Pharmacy's Dr. Andy Webster participated in the Austin Peay University visiting scientist seminar. Invited by the department of chemistry, Webster presented a seminar to faculty and senior chemistry majors titled "After Market Manipulations of Pharmaceutical Products." The talk gave the students insight into the FDA drug approval process and the utilization of pharmaceutical chemistry to manipulate and enhance after market pharmaceutical products. In addition, Webster recently began serving on the Tennessee Task Force for Drug Diversion. The Task Force, which is comprised of law enforcement (TBI and DEA), state board of pharmacy representatives, practitioners and educators, is charged with eradicating the growing menace of illegally obtaining prescription medication, primarily controlled substances.
Posted April 25, 2008. #.
Chumney Published in Pharmacy Education Journal
The School of Pharmacy's Dr. Elinor Chumney is the lead author on a manuscript titled "Impact of a Dual PharmD/MBA Degree on Graduates’ Academic Performance, Career Opportunities and Earning Potential," which was published in the recent edition of American Journal of Pharmacy Education. The article examines how earning a dual degree impacts student outcomes and earning potential.
Posted April 25, 2008. #.
April 24, 2008
Sociology Students, Faculty Present Research
On March 14, the faculty of the Sociology Department and numerous undergraduate students attended the fifth annual Inter-University Research Symposium held at Fisk University. The symposium is compromised of undergraduate student research in Sociology from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, Fisk University and Belmont. Drs. Andi Stepnick and Shelby Longard co-presided a paper session in which students Tiffany Minton and Claire Beck presented their research on "Homo-Hop," a new genre of music that critiques mainstream hip-hop for its negative portrayals of women and gay people. Dr. Ken Spring also presided a session in which students Marie Campbell, Ryan Hurd and Cayla Wilson presented their research on applied social theory as part of the scholar community program .
In addition, at the recent annual conference of the Southern Sociological Society, held in Richmond, Va., Dr. Longard presented her research on Southern Child Beauty Pageants. Dr. Spring also attended, along with undergraduate students Jessica Boyer, Marie Campbell, Ryan Hurd, Cayla Wilson and recent Belmont graduate Kurt Neisner, who presented their findings integrating theory and practice through community service.
Posted April 24, 2008. #.
Students Graduate From J.I. Experience Leadership Program
The Office of Campus Life would like to congratulate the following graduates of the Greek Life J.I. (Just Initiated) Experience Leadership Program: Hunter Askew, Phi Kappa Tau; Jason Biddle, Phi Kappa Tau; Kathleen Bond, Phi Mu; Amber Garner, Delta Sigma Theta; Sukhbir Grewal, Phi Delta Theta; Kate Harris, Phi Mu; Megan Johnson, Phi Mu; Trey McHargue, Phi Delta Theta; Sam Moergen, Phi Kappa Tau; Benjamin Pate, Alpha Tau Omega; and Lindsey Welch, Phi Mu. The J.I. Experience is a theory-based program for second-semester freshmen and sophomores designed to positively affect their academic transition, increase their personal development and learn more about how to be a leader in the Greek Life community. In the photo, participants pose with Tennessee State Representative Debra Maggart, a member of the Phi Mu national sorority.
Posted April 24, 2008. #.
Alumna Chases Dream of Being an Astronaut
Alys Blair, an adjunct Physics instructor and 1997 Belmont graduate with a double major in physics and math, was recently interviewed on the Internet/Radio Show "On the Home Stretch" (http://www.onthehomestretch.com/). Blair was interviewed about her position at Belmont and her aspirations of becoming an astronaut. After graduating from Belmont, Blair went on to graduate school at the University of Alabama at Huntsville where she obtained a Masters Degree in Atmospheric Science. While in graduate school she worked with NASA on her research in lightning. She is currently working on her doctoral dissertation and is applying for the 2009 class of Astronaut Candidates in hopes of achieving her dream of being an astronaut.
Posted April 24, 2008. #.
April 23, 2008
Public Relations Students Win Parthenon Awards
Eight Belmont students were honored at Tuesday's 22nd annual Parthenon Awards given by the Nashville Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) held at B. B. King’s Club and Restaurant in downtown Nashville.
Hillary Bond received the $2,000 2008 PRSA Scholarship recognizing academic excellence, campus service and professionalism in the practice of public relations. She is vice president of the Belmont Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and currently serves in an internship at Katcher Vaughn & Bailey Public Relations in Nashville.
Recognized along with Bond were the other two finalists for the scholarship, Belmont students McCartney Boyd and Emily Telford, also officers in the Belmont chapter of PRSSA. “This is the first time in the history of the scholarship that three students from the same university were the finalists for the competitive scholarship,” said Steve Horton of PRSA in presenting the award. Public relations majors from Austin Peay University, Lipscomb University and Middle Tennessee State University are also eligible to apply.
A team of five Belmont students received the top award for student projects, a new category of awards in the professional chapter’s annual awards program. Honored were Belmont’s Cheryl Bak, Ashley Bearden, MacKenzie Fischer, Jess Reuter and Kari Woodard. The student projects award of merit was presented in recognition of the team’s public relations campaign, “A Safe Ride, Every Time,” which promoted seat belt safety among young teenagers. The campaign was developed as a service learning project in Dr. Bonnie Riechert’s Public Relations Strategy and Implementation (MDS 4180) class, and it also was entered into national competition in the 2008 PRSSA Bateman Case Competition.
Belmont was represented at the awards banquet by the eights students receiving honors and public relations faculty members Riechert and Pam Parry. “Our outstanding students and our public relations program were in the spotlight as Belmont swept all the student awards,” said Riechert. “Recognitions like these will help build our program’s reputation for ethics, excellence and service. Our students are well deserving of these accolades from the Nashville Chapter of PRSA.”
Posted April 23, 2008. #.
April 17, 2008
Creative Services Wins Three Graphic Design Awards
The Creative Services team for the Belmont Office of Communications was recently notified that it received three 2008 American Inhouse Design Awards, which are presented by Graphic Design USA and sponsored by The Creative Group. Belmont won awards for the 2006 President's Report, the invitation for the Troutt Theater Grand Opening and the Student Activities Calendar. The American Inhouse Design Award is the original and premier showcase for first rate work being done by corporate, non-profit and institutional inhouse departments. There were more than 5,000 entries for this year's awards.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
ATO Crosses Half-way Mark on Fundraising Goal
The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity is setting out to make university history this year by raising $20,000 in the First Annual ATO Golf & Walk Classic, a benefit for Blood:Water Mission, which is a local charity dedicated to providing clean water and eradicating HIV in Africa. The brothers, along with other members of the campus and local community, are gathering sponsors as they either golf or walk at Nashville’s Harpeth Hills Golf Course on April 30 to support this mission. To date, ATO has already received $11,500 and looks to exceed its original goal. For more information on the Blood:Water Mission, visit www.bloodwatermission.com. For more information on how to participate in the Golf/Walk event, contact ATO's Brian Dunn at dunnb@pop.belmont.edu. To donate to this event, send a check to ATO Golf and Walk Classic, Alpha Tau Omega, P.O. Box 120742, Nashville, TN 37212.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
Students Participate in History Conference
On April 5, Belmont history majors Leslie McClure, Ash Johnson and Tara Hamlin presented papers at the regional conference of Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honor Society. The event was held on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin. Hamlin’s paper, "Castro’s Cuba: the Search for an Ideology,” was chosen as the best paper in the area of Regional History. The students were accompanied by Belmont faculty members Dr. Brenda Jackson-Abernathy, chair of the History Department, and Dr. Cynthia Bisson, faculty advisor to the Xi-Alpha Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
Lind Awarded Grant for Math Research Project
Dr. Joan Lind, assistant professor of mathematics, was recently awarded a mini-grant for the 2008-09 academic year from the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM). The $13,150 CURM mini-grant will provide funds for her to work with two undergraduates as they refine a computer program that simulates the stochastic process called SLE. Lind's specific research goals for the coming year include the following: (1) Improve the current computer program to get accurate simulations of SLE for large values of kappa; (2) Explore what happens when we let kappa be a complex number; (3) Modify the computer program to simulate SLE with a complex value for kappa; (4) Create a computer program that will back-bite and explore the back-biting operation with an eye to answering the back-biting question.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
McGrew Selected for Travel Fellowship to Attend Neuroscience Meeting
Dr. Lori McGrew, assistant professor of biology, was recently selected as one of the recipients of an Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs (ANDP) Travel Fellowship to assist her with attending the Annual Spring Meeting in Bethesda, Md. May 3-4. The award will cover up to $500 in travel expenses as well as provide her with free registration for the meeting.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
Business Students Win Prizes at International Competition
Several students from Belmont University’s College of Business Administration recently won significant prizes in the International meeting of Delta Epsilon Chi in Atlanta. Delta Epsilon Chi, the collegiate division of DECA, seeks to develop future leaders in marketing, management and entrepreneurship.
More than 100 students from 58 teams participated in the Entrepreneurial Challenge, a featured three-day event in which students (in teams of one to three) come up with a business idea for a specific industry or trend. This year’s focus was on "green" businesses. The student teams researched an idea and made a pitch for a business proposal to a series of business executives who served as judges. Belmont teams placed as the top two winners in the competition and held five of the top 10 finalist spots.
Kevin Jennings, an Entrepreneurship and Music Business major from Nashville, and Sally Munns, an Entrepreneurship major from Brentwood, won first place in the Entrepreneurial Challenge. Winning Team members share a $5,000 Don DeBolt Scholarship and up to $3,000 in travel awards to attend the International Franchise Association Annual Meeting to present their winning proposal. They also received $10,000 in seed money from ideablob.com.
Noah Curran, an International Business/Entrepreneurship major, and Julie Zaloba, an Entrepreneurship major, won second place and $3,000 in prize money.
In addition to being on the first place team in the Entrepreneurial Challenge, Kevin Jennings also took first place in the Business Plan Competition for his business soundAFX, which he currently runs in the College of Business Administration Hatchery program.
[MORE]Posted April 17, 2008. #.
Two Seniors Selected for Fulbright Grants in Austria
Two of Belmont's graduating seniors have been awarded grants for 2008-09 for teaching and study in Austria by the Austrian Ministry of Education, sponsored by the Fulbright Program. We are very proud of their success in this national grant competition. The students are Megan Dittmann, Honors Program German major, and Nick Ashburn, double major in German and Political Science.
Posted April 17, 2008. #.
Chatham Named 2008 Recipient of AT&T Real Yellow Pages Scholarship in Public Relations
Belmont University announced today that junior Anna Chatham has been named the second recipient of the AT&T Real Yellow Pages Scholarship in Public Relations. AT&T Advertising & Publishing is supporting Belmont University’s public relations program with a five-year scholarship commitment, with the inaugural award given last year. The $2,500 prize is presented annually each spring to the public relations major who demonstrates academic excellence, campus service and professionalism. Applicants must also write an essay that effectively responds to the question, “What role should public relations play in corporate social responsibility?”
Chatham, a junior public relations major and native of Burns, Tenn., has a 3.7 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and is a member of Belmont’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the Phi Mu fraternity. She also serves as an intern with the Senior University Events Coordinator and has been a Belmont Ambassador and Tower Team Leader.
“I was very surprised and excited to win this scholarship,” said Chatham, who is pictured above with AT&T Real Yellow Pages District Sales Manager Brandon Stotts at Wednesday's scholarship presentation. “I’m extremely grateful to AT&T for investing in my education. Receiving this scholarship really affirms what I’ve learned in my classes at Belmont and in my internship experiences.”
[MORE]Posted April 17, 2008. #.
April 14, 2008
Students Earn Honorable Mention in International Math Contest
A team of Belmont mathematics students earned an Honorable Mention in this year's Mathematical Contest in Modeling. This year’s contest ran from Feb. 14-18. During that time, teams of up to three undergraduate or high school students researched, modeled and submitted a solution to one of two modeling problems. In this international competition, mathematics majors Nikki Finuf, Matt Perry and Amy Valentine had three days to model the effects on the Florida coastline of the melting of the polar ice cap and to evaluate various prevention and remediation measures. Their Honorable Mention designation places them in the top 55 percent of the 1,162 competing teams representing institutions from 14 countries. The students will be presenting their model and results at BURS this year.
Posted April 14, 2008. #.
April 11, 2008
Pharmacy Faculty Participate in Practice and Research Forum
Dr. Cathy Turner and Dr. Julie Rafferty, assistant professors of Pharmacy, attended the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Spring Practice and Research Forum in Phoenix, Ariz. (April 5-9) as part of their preparation to achieve Board Certified Pharmacy Specialist (BCPS) status. They will sit for the BCPS exam in October 2008. In addition, Dr. Eric Hobson, professor of Pharmacy Practice, was a featured speaker at the forum where he served as lead faculty in the ACCP Academy Teaching and Learning Certificate Program. He presented two workshops: “Implementing Teaching and Learning Strategies” and “Classroom/Clerkship Assessment Techniques: Monitoring the Pulse of Student Learning.”
Posted April 11, 2008. #.
