Students, Faculty Hear Experts Discuss Changes in Acute Care

Earlier this week, more than 200  Belmont University health science students and faculty attended a panel discussion in Neely Dining Room on “Emerging Issues and Hot Topics in Acute Care”  presented by health professionals from Community Health Systems and sponsored by the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing.  The discussion provided students with information about practice changes and new career paths that are developing because of the changes occurring nationally in acute care.

“This was an exceptional opportunity for our students to ask questions and interact with practicing healthcare professionals to learn about the workplace they will soon enter,” said Dr. Cathy Taylor, Dean of the College of Health Sciences. 

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Scholarship and Awards Day Celebrates Student, Faculty Achievements

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher presents the Heart of Belmont Award to Margaret Shores.

The annual Scholarship and Awards Day convocation, a year-end celebration of academic achievement, was held Wednesday morning in the Massey Performing Arts Center.

Dr. Jennifer Thomas, recipient of the 2011 Chaney Distinguished Professor Award, gave the Honors Address for the ceremony, noting, “Honored students and professors, as you continue in your academic and life achievements, be kind to yourself… be grateful, embrace mistakes, ask for help and take risks. Most importantly, though, share these gifts and talents that you have and be a good example for others. Your words and actions are so enormously powerful.” To read the entire address, click the link: Awards day address-Thomas-S12.

Students honored in Wednesday’s ceremony included:

The Williams-Murray First Year Writing Awards: Nathan Tinnell and Julienne Irwin
The Alfred Leland Crabb Awards: Zach Selby and Jesse Johnson
The Stacy Awalt Writing Awards: Kent Toalson and Elli Whiteway
The Annette Sisson First Year Writing Award: Stephen Braxton Fralick
The Lumos Travel Award: Shirah Foy, Alexandra Haas, Rainu Ittycheriah, Lindsey Ricker, Alyssa Meisterling, Derek Price and Brent Shively
The John Williams Heart of Belmont Award: Margaret Lynne Shores
The First Year Award, Leadership: Brennon Reid Mobley
The Second Year Award, Leadership: Kelsey N. Maguire
The Third Year Award, Leadership: Andrew E. Bishop
The Fourth Year Award, Leadership: Shirah Eden Foy

Provost Dr. Thomas Burns presents the Chaney Distinguished Faculty Award to Dr. Rich Tiner.

In addition to student award winners, Dr. Rich Tiner, professor of media studies, was named the 2012 Chaney Distinguished Professor. The Chaney Distinguished Professor Award, determined on the basis of superior teaching, is presented each year to a faculty member who best represents the vision of the university to be a “premier teaching institution.”

Tiner said, “What a pleasant—and humbling—surprise! For me, this is a tribute to some terrific students, who make me look good by coming to class well-prepared and ready to engage. They make my work pure joy.”

Dr. Leslie Folds, associate professor of nursing, was awarded the 2012 Presidential Faculty Achievement Award. The Presidential Faculty Achievement Award is presented each year to a faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to student life outside the classroom. The award honors and recognizes excellence in faculty-student relationships, special abilities in meeting student needs – academic, personal and professional – and symbolizes Belmont University’s commitment to being a student-centered institution.

Folds said, “I feel so honored, blessed and humbled to receive the Presidential Faculty Achievement Award and to work at  Belmont University where  the focus for all of us as administrators, faculty and staff is to use our unique gifts to serve students. Every decision I make, I always ask myself ‘How will this impact my students?’”

Belmont’s Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Part-Time MBA Programs Recognized by U.S. News

Belmont University was recognized this week when U.S. News & World Report released its 2013 rankings of Best Graduate Schools, a tool to help prospective graduate students better understand the graduate school landscape and to identify programs that would be good fits. The rankings highlight the top programs in business, law, medicine, engineering and education, among other specialties.

In the 2013 rankings, Belmont’s Occupational Therapy program jumped from No. 90 last year to No. 58 out of more than 150 universities. Meanwhile, the School of Physical Therapy came in 51^st out of nearly 200 other programs, and Belmont’s Massey Graduate School of Business was recognized in the top half of the list of more than 320 ranked part-time MBA programs.

All the health rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline who were asked to rate the academic quality of programs. Those schools with the highest average scores appear in the rankings.

U.S. News‘s part-time M.B.A. ranking is based on five factors: average peer assessment score, the average GMAT score of part-time M.B.A. students entering in fall 2011, their average undergraduate GPA, work experience and the percentage of the business school’s fall 2011 M.B.A. enrollment that is part time. Each program considered had to meet the conditions of being AACSB-accredited and enrolling at least 20 students in the fall 2011 term.

Belmont Opens Admissions for New Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree

Post-MSN to DNP program offers two-year online/weekend hybrid curriculum
Belmont University’s Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing recently announced the start of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. Open to nurse practitioners who have already attained a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), the two-year post-MSN to DNP degree offers a flexible online/weekend hybrid curriculum to allow working nurse practitioners to complete their doctorates while maintaining full-time positions. The two-year program is accepting applications now with the first classes scheduled to begin fall 2012.

Dr. Leslie Higgins, a Belmont nursing professor and the director of the graduate studies in nursing program, said, “This new DNP builds on the already established excellence of a Belmont nursing education—in fact, this year the program is celebrating its 40^th anniversary. By providing a practice doctorate, we will prepare skilled nurse practitioners to have an immediate impact on their communities, allowing them to apply current research to problems and to implement practical solutions across entire systems.”

Currently, 182 DNP programs exist in the United States, with Belmont offering one of only four Tennessee-based programs. The new program represents Belmont’s fifth doctoral level degree in addition to occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy and law.

Belmont’s School of Nursing receives applications for admission exclusively through the Nursing Central Application Service (NursingCAS), provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).  Applications must be submitted through the NursingCAS system by May 1, 2012 for consideration for fall 2012 admission.

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Nursing, Pharmacy Students Participate in Healthcare Interprofessional Case Competition

2012 ICCP Winning Team

Four health science students from Belmont University–three from the School of Nursing and one from the College of Pharmacy–competed last week in the annual Interprofessional Case Competition (ICC) sponsored by the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance in Nashville.

The four students–Danielle Degati, Katherine H. McFarland and Courtney Thompson representing RN nursing and Shanna Harris representing pharmacy–were placed on teams joining pre-professionals from 10 different healthcare disciplines. Other team members included medical and dental students from Meharry Medical College; students from medical, nurse practitioner, law, dietetic, divinity, and speech and hearing pathology programs at Vanderbilt University; and pharmacy and graduate social work students from the University of Tennessee.

Nursing major Danielle Degati, a senior, said, “I think the greatest part of this competition is feeling like I can say that I now understand how multi-disciplines work together to accomplish one goal… It has been eye opening, and I feel comfortable approaching other health care professionals in the hospital, not just nurses; without this experience, I’m not sure that comfort would have come to me so soon.”

The competition, based on the University of Texas Houston model, promotes an interdisciplinary learning experience where students learn to appreciate the value of various team members involved in reaching optimal patient outcomes.  There were three interdisciplinary student teams, each with 11 student participants.

Senior nursing student Courtney Thompson noted, “Participating in the ICCC has given me a better comprehensive view of how in depth patient-centered care goes. It is complex physiologically, emotionally, spiritually and cognitively and one person could not offer the knowledge or manpower to completely care for any patient. I am very proud to have had this experience because I have learned so much about other disciplines and because I have also learned how I work as a team member. I am sure these lessons  will be invaluable assets I can use throughout my career.”

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