Belmont University | FYI


June 5, 2009

BELMONT NEWS


Class Takes Cross-Country Summer Road Trip to Re-Discover America
Students to travel 40 days, 9,300+ miles to define what it means to be an American

4040logoFINALred.jpgPlanning to tour “The United States in 40 Days,” 10 Belmont University students and two faculty members will board a chartered sleeper bus June 6 to begin a 9,300+ mile, cross-country journey in an attempt to answer the question, “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” The class will travel through 40 states on this first-of-its-kind, study-at-home journey, chronicling their experiences on a daily blog as they visit sites of national and historical significance and encounter “local culture” everywhere from the Deep South to the West Coast to the Northeast and all points in between.

Sociology Department Chair Dr. Ken Spring first conceived of the class more than two years ago and has been working ever since on brainstorming the class’s structure and planning the logistical details of the trip. “Each place we’re going to visit provides a snapshot into our history, and together, they provide a glimpse into our future,” Spring said. “By understanding our own land, our own ideas and how they came about, we better understand what it means when someone proudly proclaims themselves an American.”

Constructed to include cultural and economic epicenters, iconic landmarks and places of special interest, “The United States in 40 Days” will involve at least one full day of exploration and discovery at each stop as well as an evening discussion of the uniqueness of each place along with the larger themes at play: politics, religion, education, identity, media, the economy, family, race, gender, etc. Upon signing up for the class, each student was assigned three stops on the trip and made responsible for documenting the location’s history and biography along with determining potential site visits for their assigned locations. The students will also facilitate evening discussions in the stops for which they are responsible.

The summer experience will be offered as two classes for a total of six credit hours: three in Cultural Sociology (Sociology 3990 or Junior Cornerstone 3015) and three in Third-Year Writing (English 3010). In the longstanding tradition of Belmont service learning, at least three stops on the trip will also include community service projects with students working at a soup kitchen in New Orleans and a homeless shelter in San Francisco, among other volunteer efforts.

Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Belmont Writing Center Dr. Bonnie Smith will be teaching her Third Year Writing students about Travel Stories online, facilitating blog discussions and encouraging students in their attempts to understand and convey a sense of “place.” Smith said, “Americans as diverse as Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac, Paul Simon and Sarah Vowell have used writing and research to tell stories about their times on the road. The course I’m teaching is an advanced writing course required of all Belmont students, and this section will focus on the stories we Americans have told and continue to tell ourselves about what a road trip across our vast and varied land means to us.” Click here for more on this story.

Office of Human Resources Receives Excellence Award
MT SHRM.png Belmont University and First Tennessee Bank won top honors in the eighth annual HR Excellence Program hosted by the Middle Tennessee Society of Human Resource Management (MT|SHRM) and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Winners will be recognized at a luncheon on Thurs., June 18, 2009 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cool Springs Embassy Suites.

Chamber.pngThe 2009 HR Excellence Award went to Belmont University, a Nashville educational institution known for its innovative graduate programs. First Tennessee Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in the region, won a Facet Award for Human Resource management practices.

Launched in 2002, the HR Excellence Program recognizes organizations in Middle Tennessee with outstanding human resources programs. Businesses are invited to self-nominate for the honor each year and are evaluated on proficiency in five areas: strategy; management practices; employee education, training and development; performance measurement; and employee well-being and engagement. The Facet of HR Excellence Award recognizes excellence in one of the above five criteria. Sponsors of the 2009 HR Excellence Award program include Lee Hecht Harrison, Humana, Nashville Business Journal and Ogletree Deakins. Click here for more on this story.

Vol State-Belmont Nursing Program Graduates First Students
HollyAndrews.JPGHolly Andrews, pictured at right, walked across the stage at Belmont University not just as a happy graduate, but also the first of her kind. She is in the first group of students to complete the nursing program in a partnership between Belmont University and Volunteer State Community College. The mother of four made the career choice because of the important role nurses played while she was delivering her children in the hospital.

“I thought: I could do that for the rest of my life. It was just getting up the nerve to do it,” Andrews said.

Andrews is joined by Jordan Banks and Jessica Brazil as the first Vol State group to graduate from the program. They took a set of classes at Vol State that matched up to Belmont nursing requirements. After graduation from Vol State and acceptance into the Belmont program, all of their courses transferred to the bachelor’s of science in nursing degree. Vol State administrators say the program is continuing to grow in popularity.

“Belmont, of course, is a premier institution,” said Dean Nancy Morris. “The students in all of their medical programs get high scores. They have state of the art facilities and a low student to professor ratio.”


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