Parents & Family

School of Pharmacy Celebrates ACPE Approval for First Class to Begin in August
The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education ACPE informed the Belmont University School of Pharmacy BUSOP this morning that the new program has reached another significant benchmark toward full accreditation. The announcement confirms that BUSOP will officially be able to seat its first class of 75 newly admitted students in August 2008.

Bell Tower Undergoes Extreme Makeover with New Banner to Celebrate Debate
In observance of Flag Day, Belmont University lifted its own celebration of the ‘stars and stripes’ by draping the campus’s historic Bell Tower this week in a red, white and blue flag banner. The banner heralds the upcoming Oct. 7, 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate to be held at the university’s Curb Event Center.

Belmont Earns Atlantic Sun All-Academic Trophy: Student-athletes reach new heights in claiming record sixth conference honor
MACON, GA. - - For the sixth time in its seven year history as an Atlantic Sun Conference member institution Belmont University has earned the conference’s All-Academic Trophy, the league office announced Friday. Further cementing its reputation for achieving athletic and academic success, Belmont saw an astounding 161 of its 229 student-athletes receive All-Academic honors. Consequently, Belmont established a new conference standard for percentage of its student-athletes reaching All-Academic status at 70.31 percent.

Posted by Matt Burchett at 02:53 PM | Permalink

Belmont's Rick Byrd Gets 500th Win as Men's Basketball Coach
Belmont's Justin Hare hit three 3-pointers in a row to start the scoring in a 72-57 victory Wednesday night over Arkansas-Little Rock (UALR). Hare finished with 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting to lead the Bruins (7-3), giving coach Rick Byrd his 500th career win. Only 14 other active NCAA coaches have earned 500 wins.

Belmont University to Host Elvis Tribute at the Ryman in August '07
Belmont University today announced it will host “Belmont University Presents ‘Nashville Celebrates Elvis’,” a benefit show at the historic Ryman Auditorium on August 18, 2007—two days after the 30th anniversary of Elvis’ death, August 16, 1977—in honor of Cecil Scaife, music industry pioneer and one of the early visionaries of Belmont’s first music business program. Proceeds will go to the “Cecil Scaife Music Business Scholarship Fund” to help music business students who are attending Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business. In celebration of Elvis’ association with the early days of Nashville’s music industry, the show will feature Elvis songs performed by select celebrity artists who have recorded, performed or been influenced by his music.

Christmas At Belmont Hosted by Country Music Star Josh Turner
Country music star and Belmont University graduate, Josh Turner, will host the annual Christmas at Belmont concert, which will be made available to viewers through a nationwide broadcast on PBS. It will air nationally on PBS Thur., December 21 at 9 p.m. EST., with rebroadcast in Nashville, Sun., December 24 at 8 p.m. CST. Belmont University's highly acclaimed Bluegrass Ensemble, a group of student performers that has played everywhere from Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to a private show for Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, is one of the many Belmont University performance groups that will be featured on the broadcast. Music City's signature holiday event was produced by NPT with funding from the Beaman Family Foundation.

Mike Curb and Don Cusic Discuss History of Music Row
Mike Curb, president of Curb Records, and Dr. Don Cusic, the "Music City" Professor of Music Industry History at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, participated in an "Insider's View" seminar in the the Curb Cafe at Belmont University. The conversation, led by Harry Chapman, director of development for special initiatives at Belmont, focused on the upcoming 50-year anniversary of the famed Music Row and the rich history of music business in Nashville.

Posted by Matt Burchett at 10:55 AM | Permalink

Belmont University Constructing New Theatre Complex
Belmont University is currently constructing a 350-seat proscenium theatre, black box theatre and scene shop in the former sanctuary of Belmont Heights Baptist Church to provide new venues for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Along with providing valuable new performance and teaching space for Belmont’s theatre and dance students, the new theatre complex will allow Belmont to maintain and strengthen collaborations with local professional arts organizations.

The new 350-seat proscenium theatre will be equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and audio equipment and will serve as a performance and teaching facility. The black box theatre will be able to accommodate audiences from 100 to 150 and allow students to explore a variety of types of theatre performances.

Belmont University Announces Endowed Scholarship for Nashville Ballet Dancers
Belmont University announces the installation of The Patricia Taylor Bullard Endowed Scholarship Fund. The $250,000 scholarship includes tuition and cost of books and is awarded annually to a student who dances with Nashville Ballet who wants to pursue a minor in dance and major in one of more than 70 disciplines at Belmont on a part-time basis.

Belmont's Business Schools Boasts Four Top Honors
This fall, Belmont University’s College of Business Administration has earned four major honors, establishing the school as a definitive leader among academic business programs. In September, Belmont’s Dr. Jane Finley was one of only two women in the Southeast, and one of 40 nationally, to be named Deloitte & Touche’s Professor in Accounting. In October, Belmont’s Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business was selected as one of the best in the world by the Princeton Review, (in its 2007 edition of the Best 282 Business Schools); while Belmont undergraduate finance students the same month swept a stock-trading double-header at Fifth Third Bank’s Stock Market Challenge. To top it off, Belmont’s MBA program was also voted best in Nashville in 2006 over Vanderbilt University and others by Nashville Scene readers.

Posted by Matt Burchett at 12:34 PM | Permalink

Belmont Hosts Chinese Delegation
On Thursday, October 19, Belmont University hosted the official provincial delegation from Taiyuan, Shaanxi Province of the People's Republic of China, to finalize a Sister City partnership with Nashville, Tenn. The Sister City relationship provides Belmont students the opportunity to network with both local and Chinese government agencies and business firms seeking to trade with China. It also provides the university a provincial and city-level introduction to leading universities in Taiyuan, a city of 9 million people and capital of the Shanxi Province.

National Gathering of United Methodist Men To Be Held at Belmont University
The 2009 10th national gathering of United Methodist Men will be held at Belmont University in Nashville. The decision to hold the quadrennial event in Nashville will end a 56-year tradition of meeting at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The first Methodist conference was held at Purdue in 1953. Four thousand men attended that event. By 1957 the event was called the Men’s Congress and 5,000 men were present.

Belmont's MBA Program Named Best of Nashville
In the 2006 "Best of Nashville" edition of the Nashville Scene, Belmont University was recognized twice in the annual reader’s poll. Belmont was named the third best college or university in the city for continuing education and the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business was named the best MBA program in Nashville, above Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State universities.

To learn more about the Massey School, click here.

Maddox Foundation Continues Generous Support of Belmont
Nashville, Tenn., October 11, 2006 – The Maddox Foundation, founded by the late Dan and Margaret Maddox, continues its generous support of Belmont University. The Maddox Foundation’s most recent gift to Belmont continues to fund the university’s Presidential Scholars Program. The scholars program supports up to four incoming freshmen to receive full scholarships for four years at Belmont. The scholarships cover tuition, fees, books and room and board -- a value of more than $80,000. In order to be considered for the Presidential Scholarship, the student must have: An ACT score of 29 or above or SAT score of 1320 or above; a high school grade-point average of 3.5 or above; and been actively involved in school, community and church.

Belmont Student Crowned Miss Tennessee
Rachel Smith, a senior journalism major at Belmont University, was crowned Miss Tennessee USA in her hometown of Clarksville, Tenn., and will now move on to compete in the Miss USA pageant.

Belmont Student Wins NASA Video Contest
Kayla LaFrance, a senior engineering physics major at Belmont University and native of Spokane, Wa., won NASA's Greatest Fan video contest. LaFrance's entry, a 30-second video titled "Mars Mates Forever", was chosen among 1,500 entries from contestants aged 13 to 24. She and a guest will be treated to a five-day trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to witness a shuttle launch.

To see Kayla's video, as well as videos by other NASA finalists, click here

Posted by at 08:59 AM | Permalink

Belmont Full-time Undergraduate Enrollment Grows 60 Percent in Six Years
Belmont University announced its fall 2006 enrollment at 4,481 students at the end of the registration period, marking an increase of just over 50 percent since 2000 when the school enrolled 2,976 students. The administration and Board of Trustees set a goal to enroll 4,000 students by 2007; last year, Belmont broke that milestone two years ahead of schedule when 4,319 students enrolled for the fall semester. The Belmont student body is currently comprised of 707 graduate students and 3,774 undergraduates. Click here for more information.

City Paper Reports on Belmont's New Theatre Project
In his weekly column in the Nashville City Paper, reporter William Williams writes about renovations currently under way at Belmont University-owned Belmont Heights Baptist Church that will include a performing arts center. Click here to read the story.

Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour Coming to the Belmont Curb Event Center
Belmont University will host the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour on September 20 in the Curb Event Center. The tour brings together America’s top young entrepreneurs to share their experiences with their peers at colleges nationwide. Click here for more information.

Jars of Clay Perform at Belmont
The popular contemporary Christian group Jars of Clay performed at Belmont University Wed., August 23, in the Curb Event Center as a part of a “Welcome Week” program at Belmont called “UNITE: Local Involvement…Global Perspective.” Proceeds from UNITE benefited Blood:Water Mission, an organization that addresses the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. Click here for more information.

Posted by at 03:10 PM | Permalink

CMT Music Awards at Curb Event Center
Belmont University hosted the 2006 CMT Music Awards on April 10, 2006, in the Curb Event Center. CMT's annual award show honors the fans' choices for best videos of the year. The CMT Music Awards are country music's only fan-voted awards. Performers taking center stage at the show included Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins, Gretchen Wilson, Brooks & Dunn and Sugarland. Jeff Foxworthy hosted the 2006 CMT Music Awards airing live April 10 on CMT. During his first year as host, Foxworthy arrived onstage at the 2005 awards show by swinging in on a crystal chandelier similar to the one used by Shania Twain in her "Party for Two" video.

Students in Free Entreprise Team Win Regionals, Head to Nationals,
Belmont University's Students in Free Enterprise Team has won first place in the southeast regional SIFE competition, and will next compete in the national competition in Kansas City, Mo., May 21-23. This is an incredible achievement for a team created only one year ago. The Belmont team is coached by assistant finance professor John Gonas. About 800 universities around the country take part in similar events. SIFE also sponsors a World Cup that involves universities from other countries. Last year’s international winner was University of Zimbabwe.
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Belmont Raises Fundraising Campaign Goal to $250 Million
Belmont University will raise its Keeping the Promise capital campaign goal to $250 million, now that the university has reached its initial $170 million goal, President Dr. Robert Fisher announced yesterday. The campaign's goal is being raised in order to help the university fulfill its vision for 2010, said Dr. Bo Thomas, vice president for university advancement. "The momentum is great for Belmont right now, and we are eager to continue to work with our many friends who want to partner with us in this exciting journey."
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Fiesta mixes fun, education - The Tennessean
Hispanic students receive scholarships during celebration at Belmont. For some, yesterday's Fiesta Belmont in the heart of the university's campus here was a chance to dance, shop and savor homemade enchiladas. For Heider Vargas, the celebration of Hispanic culture brought him $1,000 closer to his dream of becoming a physical therapist. ... The scholarships announced yesterday during the festivities benefited participants of Hispanic Achievers, a YMCA mentoring program for Hispanic children, teens and adults. Hundreds of people, especially families with small children, took advantage of summer-like weather and roamed Belmont's campus to listen to live Latin music, munch on tacos and nachos and hit pinatas... Read the whole story at Tennessean.com

Belmont Parent Programs Recognized
The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) recognized Belmont University Parent Programming in their annual Promising Practices Publication. The publication recognizes parent programs at universities in order to promote more diverse and creative programs for parents and families.

Posted by at 12:40 PM | Permalink

Small school finally able to sing new song - USA Today
USA Today features Belmont on its front page today, with a look at how Belmont's first NCAA men's basketball appearance "validates the bold and expensive step the 4,300-student private institution took in 1996, when it jumped from the low-profile NAIA to the NCAA." [MORE]

Belmont Men's Basketball in NCAA Tournament
Belmont's opponent in the the opening round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament was announced Sunday. The Belmont Bruins (20-10, 15-5 Atlantic Sun) - winners of the Atlantic Sun Championship - received a 15 seed in the Oakland regional, and will play the Pac-10 Champion Bruins in San Diego Thursday. The Tennessean covers the scene at Curb Event Center when the announcement was made and also has more here on the coach leading the Bruins to their first-ever NCAA tournament. The Nashville City Paper has coverage too. Bruins Online will have updates and ticket information.

Women to Face Tennessee Tech in NIT First Round Wednesday
Belmont's women's basketball team, winners of the Atlantic-Sun Conference regular season title, has been invited to be one of the 40 teams to play in the Women's NIT. The team will travel to Cookeville to face Tennessee Tech in the first round. The game will be at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday. Tennessee Tech holds a 19-12 advantage in the all-time series, but the teams have not met since 1984.

Belmont Alumni Receive 12 ACM Award Nominations
Belmont University alumni received a total 12 awards nominations yesterday when the Academy of Country Music Award nominations were announced - including 10 of the 58 nominations given in the major categories that will be part of the televised awards show. Brad Paisley ('95) led all nominees with six nominations, including Top Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year for his album Time Well Wasted. The ACM Awards will be broadcast life on Tues., May 23, 2006, at 7 p.m. CST on CBS. [MORE]

Maddox Foundation Continues Generous Support of Belmont
The Maddox Foundation, founded by the late Dan and Margaret Maddox, has continued its generous support of Belmont University with two recent gifts totaling $456,880, including a $350,000 installment of the total $5.5 million that the foundation pledged to help build the Maddox Grand Atrium that connects the Beaman Student Life Center and Curb Event Center on the Belmont campus. The foundation also gave Belmont $106,880 to continue funding Belmont's Presidential Scholars Program and the Rasmussen Foreign Studies Program. [MORE]

Posted by at 09:32 AM | Permalink

Below are just a few of the latest news headlines from Belmont University. To visit the Belmont University News & Media website and sign up for daily news updates, click here.

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist to Speak at Belmont
The Belmont Center for Business Ethics announces that Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago will speak at Belmont on March 22. Fogel, the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and Director of the Center for Population Economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, won the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. His most recent book, The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism, argues that every movement for progressive economic, social and political change in U.S. history has had Christians in the vanguard.
[MORE]

Pulitzer-Nominated Naturalist Author To Speak at Belmont
Scott Weidensaul, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of more than two dozen books on natural history, speaks at Belmont on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and will sign copies of his latest book, Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul. In the book Weidensaul retraces the epic 1955 journey of naturalists Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, whose book Wild America chronicled that now-legendary 30,000-mile trip across North America. Fifty years later, Weidensaul retraced their epic journey to see what we've gained and lost, and to catch a glimpse of what the future holds for wildlife and wild lands. [MORE]

Commercial Music Showcase Features Best of School of Music
The Belmont University School of Music presented its 14th Annual Commercial Music Showcase Monday night, featuring the best solo performers, arrangers, instrumentalists, background vocalists and crew in the school's Commercial Music Program, chosen via auditions last September.
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Belmont Proposes to Rehab, Share Nashville's Rose Park
Proposal includes more community service offerings in Edgehill community. The Nashville City Paper reports on Belmont University's proposal to Nashville's Metro Parks Board to pay for the bulk of rehabbing E.S. Rose Park in the city's Edgehill neighborhood to use it a venue for its NCAA Division I outdoor sports teams - baseball, softball, soccer and track - while also maintaining it as a community park and recreational facility. In addition, Belmont is proposing to expand its community-service offerings at the park's community center. (Click map thumbnail at left.)
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Belmont Soccer Player Drafted First in USL Expansion Draft
Belmont University soccer player John Paul Rodrigues, who also has played for the Nashville Metros of soccer's Premiere Development League, was selected first overall in the United Soccer League First Division College Draft last week, by the new USL expansion team in Miami.
[MORE]

Alum Josh Turner's Second CD Getting Good Reviews
The Nashville City Paper reviews Belmont alum Josh Turner's second CD, Your Man, released today. It's the follow-up to his million-selling 2003 release Long Black Train. More reviews quoted here at JoshTurner.com. For more news about Josh Turner and Belmont, click here.

Posted by at 09:45 AM | Permalink

Below are just a few of the latest news headlines from Belmont University. To visit the Belmont University News & Media website and sign up for daily news updates, click here.

Belmont University is constructing the new Gordon E. Inman Health Sciences Building, and joins in partnership with the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and other local colleges and universities to address the growing shortage of nurses in Tennessee. [Click Here for More]

Belmont University celebrated the "topping out" of Thrailkill Hall, the university's new $17 million residence hall, on Thursday, November 17, 2005. [Click Here for More]

Belmont University and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce today released a new study showing the total economic impact of the music industry in Nashville is $6.38 billion. The study, The Economic Impact of the Music Industry In the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro MSA, is the first ever to assess the economic impact of Music City's signature industry. It was commissioned by the Chamber and its Music Associations Task Force and conducted by the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont. [Click Here for More]

The Nashville Scene profiles Mark Volman, a former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and of 60's pop band The Turtles, who now teaches music business courses at Belmont's Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business.[Click Here for More]

Belmont University celebrated its largest-ever winter commencement at the Curb Event Center with 278 students receiving bachelor's or graduate degrees, including 222 receiving bachelor's degrees and 56 receiving graduate degrees. [Click Here for More]

Posted by Jennifer Wetzel at 01:50 PM | Permalink