Belmont University | FYI


April 17, 2009

ACHIEVERS


Ames to Conduct in Carnegie Hall
AmesPhoto.jpgJeffery Ames, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities, will have his Carnegie Hall debut next Sun., April 26. He'll be conducting a National Youth Chorale consisting of choristers from high schools around the country and Canada.

As a choral clinician, Dr. Ames has conducted senior and junior high school mixed and male choirs at the state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educator’s National Conference, including the inaugural Florida Male All-State Chorus (2005). He has performed internationally in the countries of Italy (2005-2007) and Costa Rica (2005). An accomplished accompanist, he has performed with well-known conductors such as André Thomas, Allen Crowell, Dan Krunnfusz, Lynne Gackle, Bradley Ellingboe and Anton Armstrong.

Four Tennis Players Named A-Sun All Conference
Four Belmont tennis players recently earned Atlantic Sun All-Conference honors. Junior Joao Paoliello was named to the All-Atlantic Sun First Team. The Londrina, Brazil native had an overall singles mark of 18-11, including a 13-7 mark in the spring season while playing mostly at the number one and two positions. In addition, Paoliello and doubles partner Rodrigo Amaral had an 11-7 spring record and 6-3 mark in conference play. He is the fourth Belmont player to earn First Team All-Conference honors and the first since Alex Gillott in 2007.

Also, freshman Rodrigo Amaral was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team. The native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil went 23-7 in singles this season while playing mostly at the number four position. His 23 singles wins set a new single season Division I school record and was most by any Belmont freshman in the Division I era.

In addition, the doubles duo of seniors Whitnie Warren and Tatiana Pozo were named to the All-Atlantic Sun second team. For the season, they had an overall record of 9-10, 6-9 during the spring season while playing at number one doubles.

Student Accepted to Summer Research Experience
Ross Buffington, a May graduate in Computer Science, has been accepted to the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the University of Houston. Selected applicants receive a grant through the summer months to pursue research with one of the faculty members of the Computer Science Department of the University of Houston. In addition to conducting research, he will have the chance to attend invited seminars from world-class scholars and participate in extra-curricular activities in one of the most vibrant and booming metropolitan areas of the nation. The NSF REU grant mechanism is designed to promote the careers of students interested in pursuing graduate education.

Pharmacy Faculty to Present at Annual Meeting
The Belmont University School of Pharmacy will be well represented at the 2009 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Meeting and Seminars. Numerous BUSOP faculty abstracts for poster presentations have been accepted, including the following:
• Marilyn Thompson-Odom, (Pharmaceutical Sciences): Pathological Implications of BRCA1 O-β-glycosylation
• Cathy H. Turner, (Pharmaceutical Sciences), Julie S. Rafferty (Pharmacy Practice) and Andrew Webster(Pharmaceutical Sciences): Positioning Students to Shape Practice: A Curricular Concentration in Pharmacy Informatics
• Kelly Kiningham, and Andrew Webster (Pharmaceutical Sciences): Assessment of Attitudes/Perceptions of On-Line Review Materials in Pharmacodynamics: Comparing Methods Used and Scholastic Performance
• Julie S. Rafferty and Philip E. Johnston (Pharmacy Practice): Development and Evaluation of Activity Guidance for Experiential Education Preceptors
• Julie S. Rafferty, Salvatore J. Giorgianni and Mark Chirico (Pharmacy Practice): Development of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience Evaluation Methods
• Eric H. Hobson (Pharmacy Practice): Keys to effective academic advising programs: clear goals, structure, and faculty training
• Linda G. Allison and Mark J. Chirico (Pharmacy Practice): Utilizing games as a teaching methodology to improve pharmacy students' understanding of patient compliance issues.

Additionally, Marketa Marvanova (Pharmaceutical Sciences) will be co-leading a roundtable discussion on Teaching and Learning using Human Simulation Models, and Eric Hobson (Pharmacy Practice) will act as Session Coordinator and speaker in New Pharmacy Programs.

Hobson Leads Faculty Teaching Celebration in Maine
Dr. Eric Hobson, associate dean of the School of Pharmacy, led the two-day Spring Faculty Teaching Celebration at Husson University in Bangor, Maine, April 2-3. In addition to consulting with individual faculty and departments about teaching and curricular design, he presented two workshops: "Motivating Students to Learn" and "The Enhanced Lecture: Low-Risk Approaches to Active Learning."

Five Bruins to Play in Music City All-Star Classic
allstarflyer.jpgFive seniors from Belmont University’s men’s basketball team will participate in the second annual Music City All-Star Classic Sat., April 18 at 6 p.m. at the Curb Event Center. Alex Renfroe, an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American and reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, Shane Dansby, Matthew Dotson, Henry Harris and Andy Wicke will play one final game as teammates, on the same home floor on which they went 41-7 over their careers. Click here for more on this story, including ticket information.

Giorgianni Quoted in Tennessean
Dr. Sal Giorgianni, director of experiential education and development in the School of Pharmacy, was recently quoted in a Tennessean article titled "Pharmacists get paid more for consultations." Click here to read the article.

Student Co-Produces Award-Winning Short Film
Fingers%20Movie%20Poster%20PLUS-filtered.jpgStudent Alexis Merte co-produced short film Fingers, which will make its local premiere at the Nashville Film Festival Sat., April 18 at the Green Hills Cinemas at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $11 and can be purchased at www.nashvillefilmfestival.org. Fingers is a narrative short film shot entirely on location in Nashville and featuring Belmont University and the never before filmed historic RCA Studio B. The film first premiered at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival in the Academy Recognized Golden Starfish Award Category. Fingers received the audience award at the festival and was declared "subtle and mesmerizing… already a winner” by The New York Film Review.

Beard Featured on Cover of Spinal Column Magazine
Freshman Stephanie Beard is featured on the cover and included in the cover story of the spring 2009 issue of Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine, a quarterly publication geared to current and former patients, healthcare professionals and donors. Beard sustained a spinal cord injury when she was in high school and went to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation. Click here to visit the magazine's Web page where you can download the Spring 2009 issue.

Students Attend Regional Symposium for Young Neuroscientists
march2009.jpgBelmont students recently attended the 2009 Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the SouthEast (SYNAPSE), a one-day regional undergraduate neuroscience conference held at the College of Charleston. SYNAPSE provides opportunities for students to present their research results and obtain feedback from neuroscientists at other institutions via poster presentations, discuss important issues in neuroscience training via workshops and panel discussions, and learn about cutting-edge research via a keynote speaker. Students and faculty are also able to form connections with other neuroscientists in the region.

Dr. Lori McGrew, associate professor of biology, took four students (Jackie Hunter, Roshni Patel, Taylor Walter and Julie Malkowski) to the conference. Hunter, Patel and Walter conducted research with McGrew last summer as part of the Scholar Communities program, and they presented a poster of combined findings at the meeting. Malkowski is currently studying zebrafish through a lab and field techniques class and attended the conference to see the scope of student projects and the breadth of the field.

Students, Faculty Present Research at Natural History Conference
Belmont biology major April Tummins presented her senior research project at the 13th Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys at Land Between the Lakes on April 3-4. Tummins’ paper was titled “Water-Use Efficiency in Lonicera maackii and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus in Response to Increasing Light and CO2.” Dr. Steve Murphree, professor in biology, presented research completed by Andy Wicke, an Environmental Studies major, titled “Macroinvertebrate Diversity and Water Quality at a Trout Hatchery Stream Entering the Obey River, Clay County, Tennessee.” Other Belmont participants included biology major Julianna Bejma, environmental studies major Lindsay Walker and Dr. Darlene Panvini, associate professor in biology.

Magruder Published in Journal
Dr. Robert Magruder, professor in the Chemistry & Physics Department, recently had a paper accepted for publication. The paper is titled "Universal optical response of Si-Si bonds and its evolution from nanoparticles to bulk crystals" and was published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review B Journal on March 25. Click here to read the abstract.


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