Belmont Nationally Recognized for Innovation, Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching

Belmont University appears numerous times in the 2020 rankings of America’s Best Colleges, a new analysis released today by U.S. News & World Report. The University was praised as the best in the state and No. 17 in the country for its “unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching,” placing Belmont in heady company with the likes of Duke and Gonzaga. Belmont was also recognized for the 12th year in a row for innovation as an institution and ranked seventh nationally for Learning Communities, among other accolades.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “The recognitions we’ve received from U.S. News and our peers across the country prove emphatically what I’ve known to be true for a long time: Belmont faculty are leading the way in higher education by providing unparalleled expertise in the classroom and with the overall curriculum. While these rankings are certainly gratifying, I am far more excited about what they represent, that Belmont students are receiving the highest quality education that will empower them to use their skills and abilities to live lives of meaning and purpose.” Continue reading

Belmont Ranked Top 12 Christian University in America

Belmont is one of the best Christian universities in America, according to a list by The Edvocate that ranked the University no. 12 on its recent list of 2020 Best Christian Colleges and Universities in America.

In addition to the overall list, Belmont tied for fourth place for outstanding undergraduate teaching. The site ranked Belmont no. 5 among regional universities in the South, highlighting the university’s offerings for veterans and degrees in music and music production.

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Belmont Physical Therapy Student Completes Clinical Experience in Peru

Recent 2018 Belmont Doctorate of Physical Therapy graduate Alicia Bowden completed a unique experience while in school when she traveled to Arequipa, Peru for one of her clinicals. While there, she worked with “Work the World,” an organization that coordinates international clinical internships tailored to a variety of healthcare backgrounds. With the help of Gail Bursch, associate professor of physical therapy & director of clinical education, Bowden was placed in the physiotherapy department at Hospital Goyeneche, one of the oldest and most respected medical institutions in southern Peru, where she spent six weeks working in acute and outpatient care.

This true Spanish immersion clinical experience was fast-paced, challenging and very rewarding.  “Working in the hospital was a bit of a culture shock at first,” she said, “but by the end of my placement, I truly felt that I had become part of the team.” Continue reading

Nursing Students Travel to Cambodia for Maymester, Service

Earlier this summer, Belmont sent four family nurse practitioner (FNP) students to Cambodia for a service-focused Maymester experience. While they were there, the students treated nearly 550 patients in both rural and urban areas and visited cultural sites throughout the country. The group, which included Kelsey Bivacca, Allison Courtney, Kendall Schoenekase and Hannah Stirnaman, was funded through scholarships provided by Hope through Healing Hands and CVS and partnered with Freedom’s Promise, a Nashville-based nonprofit and Sihanouk Hospital for Hope in Phnom Penh. Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Leadership Training Day

by Mackenzie Hodgson, Nursing Team

We started off the day with a devotional given by Megan which helped remind us of our original goals of coming to Cambodia. We then split off into two groups, the NP’s, a few undergrads and a few pharmacy students went to a village to set up a clinic. The others of us went to Hope Hospital to do leadership and management training with the nurses there.
After doing CPR training with the nurses over the past two days, they were much more comfortable and eager to learn from us today.

Most Cambodians are non-confrontational which can sometimes lead to errors in medical practice. Our goal of today was to teach the nurses how to Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Hospital Day

By Haley Sullivan, Nursing Team

Today was similar to yesterday in structure as half of our group worked through well child visits and the other half worked alongside Cambodian health care professionals, educating them on the topic of CPR. My group traveled to the Center of Hope SIhanouk Hospital, where we helped educate physicians and nurses through the American Heart Association stanndards. Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Home Away from Home

Abby Vanwestrienen, Nursing Team

This morning we headed to church at Phnom Penh Church of Christ. A 9:00 am Tuk Tuk ride (our favorite mode of transportation), was just what I needed to start the day off content. Walking into Church, I was overjoyed to see so many faces, and felt connected to each one since we all shared the same purpose of being there to learn and gloryifying God.

As we sat down, we were handed headphones that would allow us to listen to a translator during the service. Something I noticed during worship was Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Angkor Wat Temples

A day spent at the Angkor away Temples of Siem Reap is a day not easily forgotten. At least not for me, the resident social worker tag-a-long on the Cambodia maymester trip. The day started with an early morning ‘tuk-tuk’ ride to the temples, the cool breeze of dawn waking us up as we steadily see the shift in our surroundings from urban to rural. As the area became more lush, so our excitement grew. Fighting the quiet crowds, we crossed a floating bridge to one of the most awe-inspiring structures many of us had ever seen: the ancient Angkor temples. Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: first day in Siem Reap

  By Laura Seale, Nursing Team

We have now completed 6 successful clinic days. We’ve sweated a lot and consumed more bottles of water than I ever thought was possible. But none of this compares to the help that we have given Cambodians. It’s been hard work, but extremely rewarding. Today is our first full day in Siem Reap and it has been filled with Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Kbal Koh Clinic


By, Haley Sullivan, Nursing Team

A verse from our Cambodian medical mission 26 day devotional states: “But Lord, Gideon asked, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you and we will strike down all the Midianites together.”

Today, we took on our third clinical day in a row in the village of Kbal Koh. For some, it seemed as through the long, busy days in the Cambodian heat Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Day 10

by Grace Chrisco, Nursing Team

Hello!  I can’t believe we have finished our 5th day of clinic and our 10th day in Cambodia. By now we are all very comfortable with one another and it truly feels like we are not just a team but a family, too. Whenever we sit down for a meal our chit chat and laughter fills the room. At times, it doesn’t quite feel like we are halfway around the world. 

This morning a few of us got up to workout by the pool while others slept in and rested to prepare for another day of clinic. By 0730 we all met in the hotel cafe for breakfast. As per usual, breakfast consisted of rice, a staple to all Cambodian meals. The hotel did their best to accommodate our American palates by providing scrambled eggs, french fries, donuts and delicious fresh fruit. After refueling, we got into vans and set off for Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Tomnopdach Village

Emma Price, Pharmacy Student

Good Morning or Evening depending on which side of the world you are reading this post from. This post is about 5/21/18.

Some of the team started their morning with a pool side work out. The other half of the team took that extra time to sleep. We ate breakfast at our beautiful hotel before leaving for clinic. You can tell the hotel is trying to accommodate for us Americans because there are french fries at breakfast and scrambled eggs instead of their regular fried eggs. But don’t worry there is still the traditional rice and fish for breakfast.

Everyone knew today’s clinic was going to be a little different because Continue reading

Mission Cambodia: Sunday in Poipet

 By: Cayley Norton, Nursing Team

Wow, I can’t believe we’ve been in Cambodia for a week! So much has happened these last seven days from visiting markets, learning of Cambodian history, traveling and most importantly our clinics. Today is Sunday and a day of rest. We are very thankful for this day.

It was a blessing to be able to sleep in today. We got to experience church the Cambodian way! It is really neat to see how other cultures serve our awesome God. He created this magnificent world and it’s just so inspiring to celebrate it with all of his children. Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: First day of clinic & travel to Poipet

A glimpse into the treatment rooms

By Allison Courtney, Nurse Practitioner student

Thursday May 17, 2018

First official day of clinics! After three full days of taking in the new sights, sounds, and unique culture of the Cambodian people we set out this morning for our first clinic hosted at Freedom’s Promise Sewing Center. During breakfast there was a sense of anticipation and curiosity unsure of what we would be doing today but excited to see the day unfold. We circled up with students, faculty, and translators prayed for the day and moved out in faith. 

As a team we saw the provision of God in so many ways both big and small. From covered waiting and treatment areas to powerful cross cultural prayer experiences God had clearly prepared a way for us and showed up in the details.  Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Clinic Day #3

by Jacqueline Murphy, Nursing Team

Chomreabsuor! (Hello!)

We had a bright and early morning today that started off with each off us packing up our luggage to head out to a new hotel, brand new, at that. The hotel we will be traveling to is only 10 days old. As you can imagine, the entire team was very excited about this new adventure. Before we would go there, we set off to our third clinic here in Poipet. This is our third in a row and we were tired but so very excited to spend another day serving as the hands and feet of God. 

When we arrived at the Bridge of Hope, we experienced another powerful Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Bridge of Hope Center

Megan Heath, pharmacy team.

Today we started off our day with breakfast at the Destiny Cafe. It was very welcoming and homey with pancakes and syrup along with omelets and fruit. After breakfast we traveled to the Bridge of Hope Center and were greeted by lots of little kids in the middle of a school lesson. Then we went into the clinic site and met with Perlito. He gave us an amazing devotional that was helpful and inspirational to start our day off and centered around breaking through any downfalls or doubts. We also had a great time worshiping through songs lead by his two daughters. After devotional, we began to set up and organize our clinic for the day. We had a lot more space and tables to work with than at the last clinic site so everyone was thankful for that!

Things at the clinic already started off better and smoother than the day before I think, everyone was getting more used to their individual roles, but were still integrating as a team to get work completed. Throughout the day kids would Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Day Three

by Kendall Schoenekase, Graduate Nursing Student

The morning began bright and early today as we set off for the 6 hour drive to Battambang
at 6:30am. In addition to our Cambodia team, our Freedom’s Promise translators, who will be with us during out clinics in Poipet, joined us on the buses. This was a wonderful experience, as the translators began teaching us about the Cambodian culture, the villages, their home towns, etc. from their perspectives. We listened to Cambodian music, tried Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: Second Day in Phnom Penh

By Hannah Stirnaman, Nurse Practitioner Student

Today was our second full day in Phnom Penh and the last day for us to soak in the atmosphere before traveling to Battambang.

Our first stop of the day was to The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center to tour the killing fields. After reading books and watching films dedicated to this topic, it was overwhelming to see the fields in person. Although this was a somber topic, understanding more of the Cambodian history shed light on the resilience of these amazing people.

After touring the fields, the group spent time getting shoes made from a local shop here in Phnom Penh. Each shoe is made Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: First full day in Phnom Penh

By Shannon Stuart, Pharmacy Team

We have survived our first full day in Cambodia which was accompanied by 89 degrees and 77% humidity weather. It was scorching hot, but fortunately, everyone was able to do every event and the worse outcome today was some sunburn. We started out with some wonderful breakfast which included much of the same foods we eat in America and then a beautiful devotional to begin our day. Our first adventure was familiarization of the city. We walked for about 2 hours and were able to see many monuments.  We also designated a special meet up place if someone strayed away from the crowd on accident. I have attached some of the photos of the monuments for you to see them. There was an independence monument which signified independence from the French (a.k.a. meet up place). It has the lotus’s flower which carries a very strong meaning. To the Cambodian’s it means renewal which we saw throughout the whole walk. 

Another monument which is the one pictured with 2 Vietnamese soldiers and a Cambodia woman in front carrying an infant, demonstrates celebration from liberation from the Khmer Rouge. Khmer Rouge was the group of Cambodian’s who were communists and helped carry out the devastating Cambodian genocide. The monument would have been a great gift, but it signifies that the Vietnamese were happy for them, but they wanted the Cambodians to know Continue reading

Mission to Cambodia: The Journey to the other side of the world

By Kelsey Bivacca, Nurse Practitioner student

Today we arrived at the Nashville airport on May 12th at 5:30am, and took off to Detroit, then Detroit to Seoul, then Seoul to Phnom Penh. Currently I am sitting on the plane about to depart to on the longest leg of the trip to Seoul, and am feeling upbeat and excited for the new environment we’re about to be entering.

Mid flight one of the passengers needed medical attention and Continue reading

Mission to Guatemala, Day 7.

One final group picture before loading up the vans!

So we have finally made it back to the states. A bittersweet goodbye to the beautiful city and people of Guatemala. It has been a life-changing experience for all of us involved. There isn’t a single one of us that will not keep a part of this trip with us at all times.

We really love this view!!!!

As promised, we have put together a little something special for our final post… each member of the groups has written a little about their trip. Below is a snippet of each member’s favorite thing about the trip and what they are going to miss most!

Katie Smith: My favorite thing about this trip was how everyone came together and worked as one team. It seemed like we had all known each other before, but I only knew one person coming and now I am leaving with so many friends. I will miss the kind hearts of the people and how they are so appreciative of what they have.

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Mission to Guatemala, Day 6.

We will miss you, Antigua!

It’s the final day in Antigua, Guatemala, and we’re not ready to leave this beautiful place. The people of the community have been so gracious to us. This experience has been a greater gift to us and individuals and future healthcare professionals than we were to the patients we saw throughout the week.

Still not use to the beautiful spots hidden throughout the city.

Today was our day to relax, enjoy the city, and adventure a little. We ended up in two groups for the day, one zip lining and one going for a hike up a volcano. The volcano goers were up and out early this morning headed for the most National Geographic worthy scene around. The volcano towered at about 8,300 feet, but we only climbed a portion of it to get to the top…we weren’t crazy enough to endure the whole climb. From where we were dropped off, it took about an hour to hike to the top and a little more than an hour to hike down. We were then treated to a fulfilling lunch followed by hydrotherapy baths/soaking pools of the hot springs. Our other group of zip liners were able to sleep in a little in comparison to the volcano group, but spent the morning soaring through the skies of a local coffee plantation.

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Mission to Guatemala, Day 5.

 

It will be sad to not all be together next week!!

¡Hola!

Después de tres días largos pero gratificantes, ha cambiado un poco el ritmo de hoy. Fuimos a la plantación de café de Pablo, La Azotea, para una clínica abierta a los trabajadores. Tuvimos que ver a los pacientes rápidamente hoy para que pudieran volver al trabajo. ¡Fue increíble tener todo el groupo unido para otro día lleno cuidado interdisciplinario de pacientes.

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Mission to Guatemala, Day 4.

Who wouldn’t love starting your day with this sight!?

Today was day four! We have made it to the middle of our trip… boy how things have truly fallen into place. Every day it feels as though we grow more familiar and aware of our surroundings, but I don’t know if we will ever get use to this view!!!! [The picture doesn’t do this scenery justice!]

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Mission to Guatemala, Day 3.

A final picture with students and staff at Keramion.

It was a great day all the way around today!

Our morning routine continued like normal today, we gathered for breakfast and made our daily game play. Like yesterday, the students and professors of Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Social Work headed back to Keramion while the group of Nursing and Pharmacy students opened clinic in San Miguel. Each day brings new excitement and experience a valued part of this amazing trip thus far.
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