Belmont University | FYI


September 5, 2008

ACHIEVERS


Cusic Featured in Nashville Lifestyles
Don Cusic, professor of music business, is featured in the current issue of Nashville Lifestyles magazine. The article on Cusic is a two-page spread that discusses his newest book, Discovering Country Music, and spotlights Cusic as one of the leading academics writing about country music.

Byrne Edits, Designs Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Plagues and Pandemics
Professor Joe Byrne of Belmont's Honors Program designed and edited The Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Plagues and Pandemics (2008 Greenwood Press), a two-volume, 850-page, interdisciplinary reference work. Byrne was aided by an editorial board consisting of top scholars and librarians in medical history from Yale, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Indiana University, as well as the former historian of the U.S. Public Health Service, Dr. John Parascandola. Byrne authored 19 of the nearly 300 entries, on subjects including “War, the Military and Epidemic Disease,” “Societal Reactions to Leprosy” and “Measles in the Colonial Americas.” The vast majority of articles, however, were contributed by 100 scholars and professional health practitioners from a dozen countries. Three of these are Belmont faculty: Devon Boan, director of the Honors Program, who wrote on epidemic disease in literature and culture; entomologist Steve Murphree, who covered insects and pesticides; and physiologist Nick Ragsdale, who penned the article on dysentery. Recent Belmont graduates Sarah Bennett and Becky and Beth Repasky also contributed editorially, and Honors student Elizabeth Schriner generated electronic source material for the volumes. This project follows Byrne’s two volumes on medieval plague, also for Greenwood, The Black Death (2004) and Daily Life during the Black Death (2006). Byrne is currently preparing a single-volume, single author Encyclopedia of the Black Death for ABC-CLIO, which is scheduled to appear in 2011.

Hobson Speaks at Faculty Retreats in Virginia, Indiana
Dr. Eric Hobson in the School of Pharmacy was the keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for the Fall Faculty Retreat at Averett University in Danville, Va., and for the Fall Faculty Retreat and the New Faculty Orientation Program at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Combined, he worked with approximately 300 faculty (new and experienced) to help these educators augment their existing instructional strategies with best practices from the literature on higher education.

Service Corps' Skyline Party Gives Back
skylineparty.jpgThe Nashville skyline was the backdrop to history in the making Sunday night for Belmont Service Corps, the university's largest student organization. Approximately 500 people attended Service Corp's first annual Skyline Party, which was held on the top floor of the Curb Event Center parking garage and raised almost $1,000 in donations for the Nashville Gilda’s Club.

“I am so proud to say that the Skyline Party was one of the greatest accomplishments for Service Corps members the organization has ever seen,” said Bob Foglia, president. "For the first time ever, we were able to take what we have learned over the years through volunteering at entertainment industry events across the nation, to create, plan and successfully implement an event that undoubtedly raised awareness of cancer throughout the Nashville community.”

The Skyline Party, which included musical performances by Madison Hardy, Greg Bates and EMI Publishing’s Brett Mcglaughlin, was the organization’s first independent event dedicated solely to giving back to the community for its consistent support and belief in student education and was aided by contributions from Sony BMG, Universal Music Group Nashville, Rock Solid Security, Red Bull, Subway and country recording artist Luke Bryan. For years, as part of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Belmont University’s Service Corps has been known throughout the country as an organization of music industry majors and student leaders who donate their time and talent to volunteering at various events. More information and photos from the Service Corps Skyline Party can be found at www.belmontservicecorps.org.

Magruder to Be Published in Applied Physics Journal
Dr. Robert Magruder, chair of the Chemistry and Physics department, has had the following paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physics: “The effect of implanting boron on the optical absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of silica” by R. H. Magruder, III, A. Stesmans, R. A. Weeks and R.A. Weller.

Beta Alpha Psi Chapter Receives Recognition
Belmont’s Beta Alpha Psi Lamda Nu chapter has been internationally recognized as a distinguished chapter. Led by Dr. Del DeVries, associate professor of accounting and information systems, the chapter has “far exceeded the minimum requirements of Beta Alpha Psi, and has excelled in the areas of academics, professionalism and leadership,” according to the Beta Alpha Psi board of directors. Membership is open to graduate students in the Massey School of Business as well as to undergraduate accounting, finance and information systems majors who academically qualify.

Senior Granted Seat on Sodexo’s Student Board of Directors
Sodexo Campus Services recently announced the annual seats on its Student Board of Directors. Belmont senior Adam Winstead was chosen to participate as an active member of the Student Board. A transfer student and Business Administration major, Winstead has worked for Sodexo since 2006 and is now starting his third year at the company.

Winstead's role with Sodexo at Belmont has been to develop the student promotions, create various marketing initiatives and begin the Belmont Dining Goes Green program. Most recently, Winstead worked to bring exciting renovations to the Curb Café and Corner Court. This new role as SBOD member will involve developing promotions for Sodexo’s national Campus Services division, as well as enhancing effective dining programs and initiatives to make Sodexo more accessible to campus communities across the nation. Now in its fourth year, the SBOD has grown to a 25-member board that is represented by students from each region of the U.S. Every year, more than 1,000 students apply for a position on the Student Board.

Chumney's Paper Receives National Recognition
wade_chumney.jpgAssistant Professor of Business Law Wade M. Chumney recently received the 2008 “Distinguished Paper Award” from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB). The paper, “Patents Gone Wild: An Empirical Examination and Policy Analysis of Tax-Related and Tax Strategy Patents,” was co-authored with David Baumer, who heads the Department of Business Management at North Carolina State University, and Roby Sawyers, professor of accounting at North Carolina State University. The Academy of Legal Studies is an international association of nearly 1,000 teachers and scholars from fields outside professional law schools, primarily in schools of business.

Chumney’s paper was also selected for the “Holmes-Cardozo Best Paper Award” by the American Business Law Journal (ABLJ), the academy’s premier journal. The Award was established to recognize significant original legal research within the profession. The primary criterion considered by ABLJ is “excellence in legal scholarship.” The Holmes-Cardozo is the highest award that a business law professor can receive for his/her research in a given year.


    For more stories from the Achievers Archive, click here.