March 18, 2010
Author Ron Hansen to Speak at Belmont
Acclaimed novelist Ron Hansen will speak at Belmont University Wed., March 24 at 10 a.m. in the Neely Dining Room. Hansen's visit is being sponsored by the Office of Spiritual Development and the Department of English. The event is free and open to the public.
Hansen is an award-winning novelist whose books include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (now a movie starring Brad Pitt), Mariette in Ecstasy, Hitler’s Niece and Exiles. He is the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in writing and literature. Hansen is also a deacon in the Catholic Church and a fellow of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. A native of Omaha, he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for Nebraska, a collection of short fiction.
Posted March 18, 2010. LINK.
March 16, 2010
Fortune Magazine Names Belmont One of "Five Schools for Entrepreneurs"
Belmont University has been named one of “five schools for entrepreneurs” by Fortune Magazine for its Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship programs. The magazine chose Belmont for standing out among the more than 2,000 schools in the United States who teach entrepreneurship. Fortune said Belmont was a “case study in niche building,” citing the Social Entrepreneurship program as the first of its kind in the country. Additionally, the school was recognized for the five student-run retail businesses on campus. The article can be viewed online here and seen in the March 22 print edition.
The other four universities featured were Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.; University of Texas in Austin; St. Louis University in St. Louis; and Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.
Belmont offers programs in entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship through two centers – the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Service-Learning.
The Center for Entrepreneurship was named as one of the Top 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs in the country by Entrepreneur magazine and the Princeton Review. Additionally, the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) named the Center for Entrepreneurship as the National Model Undergraduate Program for excellence in entrepreneurship education.
Belmont’s Social Entrepreneurship major centers on the emerging business field that tackles social problems and unmet community needs via entrepreneurial principles. In addition to inter-disciplinary coursework, Social Entrepreneurship majors complete a 225-hour internship during their junior year with a nonprofit or social entrepreneur, further preparing them to pursue their passions regarding a social venture. The Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Service-Learning, founded in 2008, will graduate its first class this May.
Posted March 16, 2010. LINK.
March 15, 2010
Speech and Debate Team Wins at National Invitational
On March 5, the Belmont University Speech and Debate team was awarded first place at the National Christian College Forensics Invitational. Held at Cedarville University, the tournament included 27 universities from across the country competing in debate and individual events.
This is the first time Belmont has won the national title, previously scoring as high as third place. Coach Jason Stahl noted, “In previous years we had talented debaters or individual event competitors. This year we were lucky enough to have hard working and talented students in both.”
Overall, Belmont won second place in the debate division, only four points behind the first place team at 139 to 143. Belmont also was ranked second in the individual event division, more than doubling the points of the third place team. While winning either award at this national competition alone would have been a great honor, together they led Belmont to their first place national title.
In the debate division Belmont closed-out novice Lincoln-Douglas debate finals with all Belmont students. In the individual event division Belmont received an impressive 39 awards, including five national championships. Assistant Coach Ryan Greenawalt added, “There were other teams that were bigger and competed in more events than us, but the quality of our students’ events led us to success. It was a true Cinderella story for Belmont to come out of nowhere and surprise everyone.”
The Belmont team shows a great ability for success next year as they will only graduate one of 15 team members. Senior team captain Wesley Rainer said, “NCCFI this year was one of my best experiences as a member of the speech and debate team. The competition was incredibly tough, making winning feel even better.”
[MORE]Posted March 15, 2010. LINK.
March 12, 2010
Rick Byrd Named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year
Belmont University men’s basketball head coach Rick Byrd has been named Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com. After losing five seniors to graduation following the 2008-09 season, Belmont was picked to finish anywhere from fourth to seventh in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings this season by various preseason publications. But in molding a roster comprised of 10 underclassmen, Byrd led the Bruins to a share of their third Atlantic Sun Conference Regular Season Championship in the past five years.
Moreover, in winning 14 league games this season, Belmont joins 2008 National Champion Kansas in an exclusive fraternity as the only programs in the nation to win 12 or more regular season conference games each of the past eight seasons. This marks the latest in an impressive list of career honors for Byrd. Including Belmont’s NAIA years and stints at Maryville College and Lincoln Memorial University, Byrd has been named district or conference coach of the year eight times.
Byrd’s previous awards from CollegeInsider.com include being named a finalist for the prestigious Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award in 2008 and National Coach of the Week in 2007. Prior to the season, Byrd was named one of the Top 10 ‘Under the Radar Coaches’ in America by Athlon Sports.
The Knoxville, Tenn. native ranks 14th among all active NCAA Division I head coaches in career victories with 580. Byrd shared Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year honors with Campbell’s Robbie Laing. CollegeInsider.com is a leading college basketball website and a preeminent online source for mid-major basketball. CollegeInsider.com has conducted the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll for the past decade.
Posted March 12, 2010. LINK.
March 10, 2010
Entrepreneurship Students Finalists in Dell Social Innovation Competition
Belmont Entrepreneurship students led by Jose Gonzalez have been named finalists in the Dell Social Innovation Competition for their project Guatemalan Honey Cooperative for Economic Development. The students will now go on to the next phase of the competition for a chance to win $50,000 to implement their proposed social need project, which would support a venture that manages the production and commercialization of fair trade honey for small-scale farmers in Guatemala. Dell’s competition is seeking college students who want to improve areas of critical human need through social innovation and helps students to perfect their skills in business plan development, idea pitching and networking.
“We are excited about the possibilities that working with our partner in Guatemala, Asociacion Chajulense, can bring both to their community and to the students," said Gonzalez. "The students will be fully immersed over the coming weeks drafting the specifics of the project plan. This is service learning at its best."
The students went to Guatemala Jan. 5-15, 2010 as part of a study abroad course to learn about fair trade, entrepreneurship and economic development.
Posted March 10, 2010. LINK.
Belmont Holds Asian Studies Symposium
Belmont University is holding its first-ever Asian Studies Symposium the week of March 15-19. As part of the symposium, Belmont is hosting several renowned speakers, including Rafia Zakaria, a Belmont alumna and Deputy General Secretary for Amnesty International. A Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Indiana University, she is working on her dissertation titled "Negotiating Identity: Sharia, multiculturalism and Muslim women." A lawyer and the Director of the Muslim Women's Legal Defense Fund and The Julian Center Shelter, Rafia writes a weekly column for the Daily Times in Pakistan and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Arts and Letters Daily, the Nation and the American Prospect.
All events are free and open to the public.
Mon., March 15, 7 p.m.
Taliban: A Response to Modernity, Post-Colonialism Authenticity and Identity
Rafia Zakaria, Deputy General Secretary for Amnesty International, will speak on public demonstrations of Taliban justice in Pakistan, including flogged women, amputated hands and beheaded soldiers.
Multimedia Hall, Lila D. Bunch Library
Tues., March 16, 3:30 p.m.
War on Terror and Pakistani Women
Zakaria will lecture on how the War on Terror's internal displacement, retribalization and American aid are affecting Pakistani women.
Massey Business Center, 200-A
Tues., March 16, 7 p.m.
Compassion in Action: The Ninash Foundation Project of Building Schools in India
Ashok Malhotra, distinguished teaching professor of philosophy at State University of New York at Oneonta and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, will speak on the Ninash Project.
Massey Business Center 100
Wed., March 17, 10 a.m.
Yoga as the Art of Sculpting the Body, Emotions and Mind
Malhotra will talk about the nature of yoga and give demonstrations.
Beaman Recreational Gym
Thurs., March 18, 7 p.m.
Far More than Black: Race/Gender Configurations in Chinese Productions of Othello
Rachana Sachdev, associate professor of English at Susquehanna University and editor & director of Susquehanna University Press, will discuss Chinese productions of Shakespeare’s Othello and why the Chinese did not use the play to analyze their own social issues.
Massey Business Center 200-B
Fri., March 19, 10 a.m.
Representations of Infanticide in Japan in Early Modern Travelogues
Sachdev will speak on the practice of infanticide in early modern Japan, both from the perspective of the Japanese and from that of European travelers to Japan.
Massey Business Center 103
Posted March 10, 2010. LINK.
March 09, 2010
Curb College Hosts AES Recording Workshop + Expo
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) in conjunction with the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business held the AES Recording Workshop + Expo 2010 at Belmont’s Curb Event Center March 5-6. Curb College faculty member Mark Volman kicked off the two-day conference and trade show, which featured top industry guest speakers and panelists including a keynote address by Ben Folds. Known for both his cutting edge approach to the music industry and for his million-plus selling songs worldwide as an artist, writer, engineer, and producer, Folds has forged his own unique path in the music industry through a variety of recording and distribution methods. Other featured presenters and special guests included many of Belmont’s own including Audio Engineering Technology instructors Bob Bullock, Mike Poston, Russ Long and Jim Kaiser and Ocean Way Nashville Director of Operations Pat McMakin.
The AES serves its members, the industry and the public by stimulating and facilitating advances in the constantly changing field of audio. It encourages and disseminates new developments through annual technical meetings and exhibitions of professional equipment, and through the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, the professional archival publication in the audio industry.
Posted March 09, 2010. LINK.
March 04, 2010
New Century Journalism Co-sponsors Annual Scripps Spelling Bee
Spellers from across Middle Tennessee squared off Thursday in Massey Performing Arts Center for the annual Scripps Regional Spelling Bee. Forty-one students in fifth through eighth grades competed, with the winner receiving an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the national bee.
The annual event is co-sponsored by the New Century Journalism Program and The Tennessean. The winning word, spelled correctly by Davidson County 8th grade homeschooler Clark Hubbard, was “mugient,” an adverb meaning “lowing, bellowing.”
Judges for this year’s event were New Century Journalism faculty members Dr. Sybril Bennett and Dorren Robinson, and English Assistant Professor Sue Trout.
Posted March 04, 2010. LINK.
March 03, 2010
Belmont Recognizes Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month, and Belmont is hosting several events throughout the month to address different issues relating to feminism and resistance.
“Women's History Month is a celebration of the experiences and accomplishments of women throughout history, as well as a time for people to pay heed to those experiences and accomplishments. This year we've decided to address a pressing issue for women, and men, namely the resistance so many people feel toward feminism,” said Caresse John, assistant professor of English. “Our theme 'Resisting/Feminism' is meant to be taken two ways: the resistance people feel toward feminism and feminism as means of resistance. Thus, our panels and keynote speaker address these issues. We would love to have a campus-wide discussion about why people fear feminism and about ways in which we can overcome that fear.”
All events are free and open to the public.
Wed., March 3, 10 a.m.
Feminism at Belmont
Elisabeth Dawson will facilitate a student-panel. Panel participants Nathan Haney, Amaryah Armstrong, Gia Vangieri and Shawn Willis will share their experiences with feminism at Belmont and will lead a question and answer session.
Beaman A&B
Wed., March 17, 10 a.m.
Faculty Panel: Feminism Resisted
The faculty panel will discuss the ways in which feminism has been resisted. Panel participants and topics include:
• Stephanie Crowder, "Shades of Purple: A Womanist Response to Feminism"
• Sarah Bowles, “You Ain’t Woman Enough: Loretta Lynn’s Ambivalent Feminism”
• Peter Kuryla, “In the Pews but not the Pulpits: Women and Male Chauvinism in the Civil Rights Movement”
Massey 100
Wed., March 24, 10 a.m.
Keynote Address: Fear of Feminism, Dr. Lisa Marie Hogeland,
Fifteen years ago, Dr. Lisa Marie Hogeland, associate professor of women’s studies at the University of Cincinnati, published her article “Fear of Feminism: Why Young Women Get the Willies” in Ms. Magazine. But are young women (and men) still resistant to feminism in what some consider to be an age of post-feminism? Join Dr. Hogeland for her discussion of feminism now.
Massey Boardroom
Fri., March 26, 10 a.m.
Faculty Panel: Feminism Resisting
Various faculty will discuss feminism as a vehicle of resistance. Faculty participants and topics include:
• Annette Sisson, “Countering Religious Oppression: The Moon as Universal Mother in Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees”
• Susan Jellissen, "Mary Wollstonecraft: Leveling the Playing Field"
• Sybril Bennett, “From Bell Hooks to Patricia Hill Collins: Where are the Black Feminists?”
Massey 109
Wed., March 31, 10 a.m.
Resisting/Feminism: Wrap-Up
Join Dr. Bonnie Smith, from Belmont’s English department, for a final discussion of resisting/feminism.
Beaman A/B
Posted March 03, 2010. LINK.
March 02, 2010
Center for Business Ethics Receives $10,000 Gift from HCA
HCA’s TriStar Division gift helps create Harry N. Hollis Student of Integrity Award
Belmont University’s College of Business Administration (COBA) has received a $10,000 gift from the Hospital Corporation of America’s TriStar Division in order to create the Harry N. Hollis Student of Integrity Award. TriStar Health System’s President Larry Kloess and Chief Financial Officer Chris Taylor presented COBA Dean J. Patrick Raines with the check earlier this month.
TriStar has given this gift in honor of long-time business ethics professor Dr. Harry Hollis, who plans to retire this spring. Annual proceeds from the gift will go toward providing a $500 award to a “Student of Integrity” who has demonstrated exemplary integrity and ethical behavior while pursuing his or her business degree at Belmont. Recipients will be announced at the College’s annual awards convocation, with plans in place for a TriStar representative to participate in the award presentation and accompanying luncheon.
“We are extremely pleased to present this gift in honor of Dr. Hollis, who so aptly exemplifies integrity and ethics in both his personal and professional life, and who has spent much of his career teaching future business leaders to emulate those values” Kloess said.
Dr. Hollis has served as the director of Belmont’s Center for Business Ethics since its creation in 1994. The Center provides a forum in which leaders of organizations can interact with one another to discuss key issues in the area of organizational integrity and also provides resources to facilitate the overall development of ethical standards of conduct within the marketplace.
Under Dr. Hollis’ leadership, the Center has achieved national prominence and has helped Belmont achieve a Top 10 national ranking for business ethics programs in BusinessWeek magazine.
“We are excited about the establishment of this award and about the meaningful message it will send to our students regarding the value of integrity and ethics in today’s business world,” Raines said.
[MORE]Posted March 02, 2010. LINK.
March 01, 2010
SIFE Launches Third Annual Ethics Essay Contest
Belmont’s Students in Free Enterprise team (SIFE) recently launched its Third Annual Ethics Essay Competition with scholarship money totaling $2,000. The competition targets college-bound high school students who must respond to an ethical prompt with an essay or video detailing how they would react in the event of a specific ethical dilemma.
Assistant Professor of Finance Dr. John Gonas, who serves as a Belmont SIFE Advisor, said, "I am continuously impressed and inspired by the creative and innovative community projects that our SIFE students are developing and sustaining. Many of our partnerships will grow and be fruitful learning opportunities (for both the community partner and the Belmont student) for years to come."
This year’s prompt revolves around the CFO of a clothing distributor who is tempted to share confidential information with a chief investor in order to prevent him from selling off all of his shares at a critical time in the company’s history. Students entering the competition must provide a solution to this ethical dilemma in a detailed essay or a creative video, describing their course of action if they were faced with a similar issue.
Tim Harms, senior accounting and finance double major and Belmont SIFE President, said, "Belmont University's emphasis in ethics within the business realm has shown me just how essential it is to start a dialogue about the ethical implications of decisions made in the workplace. It is out of this spirit that Belmont SIFE wants to expand this discussion beyond our campus and into the halls of high schools around the country."
Entries will be judged on their originality, creativity, and overall quality. The competition, which has an entry deadline of March 31, is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and Belmont University’s SIFE Program. For more information, visit www.belmontethicsessay.com or email info@belmontethicsessay.com.
Posted March 01, 2010. LINK.
February 26, 2010
College of Arts and Sciences Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
As part of the College of Arts and Sciences 10-year anniversary, former deans Dr. Don Ramage, Dr. Richard Fallis, Dr. Larry Hall and Dr. Mike Pinter served on a panel and answered faculty-submitted questions on Thursday.
Each man shared his greatest accomplishments as dean. Dr. Ramage, who served as dean of the School of Sciences from 1983-1998 and as dean of both the School of Sciences and the School of Humanities/Education in 1994-95, said fathering the Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium was his greatest accomplishment. He added that one of his proudest moments was when the faculty approved the physical therapy and occupational therapy programs.
Dr. Fallis, the inaugural dean of CAS from 1999-2001, said launching the College of Arts and Sciences was his greatest achievement because “we started from scratch.” He highlighted Belmont’s “special energy” and the faculty’s willingness to try something new.
Dr. Hall, dean of CAS from 2001-2007, was most proud of the quality of people CAS was able to hire and the nature of the college. He noted, “CAS kept up with Belmont’s growth and even grew faster.”
Dr. Pinter, who has served as interim dean of the School of Sciences in 1998 and as interim dean of CAS in summer of 2001 and during the 2007-2008 school year, listed keeping things moving as smoothly as possible, quickly addressing issues, paying attention to the staff and hiring Lisa McGuire as his greatest achievements.
[MORE]Posted February 26, 2010. LINK.
Belmont Recognized on President's Higher Ed Community Service Honor Roll
Belmont University has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
Tim Stewart, director of Service-Learning for the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Service-Learning, said, “I am very proud of the Belmont students, faculty and staff who have contributed to making this recognition possible. We are grateful, too, to our community partners who provide these wonderful learning opportunities for our students. Most of all, I am glad that by working with the community, we are helping to make Nashville a better place for all of us as we help Belmont students ‘engage and transform’ the world, both now and in the future.”
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. Belmont students and faculty are serving the community in many different capacities. Recent examples include students tutoring with the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, volunteering with Mobile Loaves and Fishes and promoting non-profit organizations like the Safe Haven Homeless Shelter.
[MORE]Posted February 26, 2010. LINK.
February 24, 2010
Fishers Share Insights on 'Life Is a Gift'
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher and his wife Judy spoke this morning in Neely as part of the Spiritual Development Speaker Series, sharing stories and insights from their 2009 book release, Life Is a Gift: Inspiration from the Soon Departed. The book features a collection of interviews and lessons learned from 104 terminally ill patients of Alive Hospice in Nashville.
Judy Fisher opened the convocation by recalling Adam White, the longtime boyfriend of the Fishers' daughter. White was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on New York City, but the memory of how he lived, with passion and vigor, lives on. "He truly lived like there was no tomorrow," Mrs. Fisher said, noting that his example inspired the book. "We were just left asking 'Why doesn't everyone live like that?'"
Dr. Fisher added, "[His death] broke our hearts. For awhile I didn't understand what was going on with me or how I felt about it. Adam inspired us to take a fresh look at everything."
From their interviews with Alive Hospice patients, the Fishers transcribed more than 400,000 words. The conversations with patients like 5-year-old Maddie or the 98-year-old man who spent his last weeks learning Hungarian followed a standard question-and-answer formula: What are you most proud of? What has been your greatest joy? What has been your greatest disappointment? What do you regret? If you could give one message to the world, what would it be?
According to the Fishers, a few common themes that emerged were relationships, faith, forgiveness and gratitude. "The community needs the dying to force us to think about eternal issues and to make us listen," Dr. Fisher said. "These connections taught us so much."
Posted February 24, 2010. LINK.
Griswold Advocates for Global Trade
Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., delivered the keynote address for Belmont’s inaugural International Business Symposium Friday on his new book, Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization.
Griswold opened his talk by describing how Americans should challenge populist economics. He described how he examined the 120 items in his closet and found that only 10 items were made in America, nine of which were neckties. Griswold challenged the audience to do the same to their closets. Griswold’s closet example shows how the American economy is one based on global trade, and globalization is actually good for the economy.
“We have voted with our dollars for participation in the global economy,” Griswold said. He later added, “Trade today is the working family’s best friend.”
[MORE]Posted February 24, 2010. LINK.
February 19, 2010
Schlosser Provokes Thought on Food Manufacturing, Consumption
More than 500 people turned out to Belmont Heights Baptist Church on Monday night to hear from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and co-producer of Food, Inc. Schlosser’s visit was part of Belmont’s ongoing campus-wide academic theme for 2009-10, “A Paradise Lost.”
Schlosser opened the evening by declaring, "What I'm going to say isn't intended to answer questions as much as to provoke them... I want you to think of sustainability in terms of practices each of us employs in our daily lives. It doesn't just apply to the land or our environment but also to ourselves."
He then proceeded to discuss the unhealthy patterns related to food production and consumption, patterns that began in the past few decades with the rise of fast food chains. In particular, he focused on the concepts of uniformity, conformity, speed and efficiency that these chains practice with the food they make and sell, adding that since the fast food inception the incidence rates of obesity, food borne illness and food poisoning have been on the rise.
Illustrating the dangers behind such production entities as factory farms and genetically-modified corn, he noted, "There's been more change in our food in the past 40 years than in the previous 40,000... Knowledge is power, and that's why these companies don't want you to have it. The aim of my work isn't to tell people what to do, but to make people think about their choices."
As an investigative journalist, Schlosser tries to give a voice to people at the margins of society. His aim is to shed light on worlds that are too often hidden. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation (2001), helped start a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. Schlosser also served as an executive producer and co-wrote the feature film Fast Food Nation (2006), and he was a co-producer of the award-winning documentary, Food, Inc., a film about how complicated and compromised the once simple process of growing crops and raising livestock has become.
Posted February 19, 2010. LINK.
Guest Speaker Lilienfeld Analyzes Pseudoscientific Claims
Dr. Scott Lilienfeld, professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, visited Belmont on Feb. 11 and 12 and gave a talk titled “Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life: A Field Guide for Evaluating Extraordinary Claims.” Lilienfeld is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and a recipient of the 1998 David Shakow Award for Early Career Contributions to Clinical Psychology from Division 12 of the American Psychological Association. His research interests include personality disorders, psychiatric classification, and pseudoscience in psychology. The author of numerous scientific articles and books, his most recent book, a co-authored volume titled 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior (2010, Wiley-Blackwell), is widely acclaimed for its ability to communicate complex ideas to the public.
In his formal talk on Friday, Lilienfeld highlighted the challenges of telling the difference between scientific and pseudoscientific claims in everyday life. In a world saturated with pop psychology ideas, it is increasingly important to distinguish truth from fiction, he argued. By adopting an attitude of open-minded skepticism, Lilienfeld encouraged the audience to become scientifically literate and offered rules of thumb for distinguishing scientific from pseudoscientific claims. Using examples such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test, extra-sensory perception, and UFO sightings he illustrated how pseudoscientific claims masquerade as scientifically sound ideas, when in fact they do not hold up under scientific scrutiny.
Posted February 19, 2010. LINK.
February 18, 2010
Belmont Marks Start of Lent with Ash Wednesday Service
On Wednesday, Belmont marked the beginning of the 40-day season of Lent, a time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, with an Ash Wednesday service in Neely Hall. Officiating the service was the Most Reverend David R. Choby, Bishop of Nashville. Bishop Choby was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the first native Nashvillian to head the diocese. He attended Father Ryan High School and Aquinas College before doing graduate studies at The Catholic University of America and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Belmont’s Vice President for Spiritual Development, Rev. Dr. Todd Lake, co-officiated the service. Several hundred Belmont students participated in the Ash Wednesday service, hearing a message from Bishop Choby followed by the marking of the ashes.
Posted February 18, 2010. LINK.
February 17, 2010
Belmont Participates in Go Green, District 18 Initiative, Retrofits Honors House
Belmont University recently completed a retrofit of the Honors House as part of the Go Green, District 18 initiative to reduce the district’s energy consumption by 5 percent. Each homeowner and business in this district has been encouraged to sign up for an NES Energy Evaluation to help decrease their power usage. Belmont took this challenge by fulfilling a variety of recommendations to the 1920s home on Compton Avenue which houses many honors classes and faculty. This project is one of many environmental initiatives taking place to help Belmont meet its goal of decreasing utility costs by 20 percent across campus.
Belmont’s involvement in Go Green, District 18, was led by Assistant Director of Plant Operations Mark Grones and Assistant Professor in the Honors Program Kristine LaLonde, and included the following improvements:
- A moisture barrier was installed in the basement and debris was cleaned
- The basement air was sealed to first floor and outside penetrations; unnecessary return air duct was removed and all ducts of concern were sealed
- First-floor joists were insulated to R-19 value and the attic was insulated to R-38 value. Insulation levels are specified by R-Value, which is a measure of insulations ability to resist heat traveling through it. The higher the R-Value, the better the thermal performance of the insulation.
- 90 watt flood lights were replaced with 16 watt fluorescents and 55 watt incandescent lights replaced with compact fluorescent lights
- A carbon monoxide detector and programmable thermostats to be installed
Following a re-inspection by the Nashville Electric Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority, Belmont will track energy utilization to determine how these efforts over time increase energy efficiency of the Honors House.
More than 40 percent of America’s carbon emissions come from heating, cooling, lighting and operating buildings. This percentage is even higher in neighborhoods characterized by unique, historic homes, such as District 18 where Belmont falls. Retro-fitting homes like the Honors House is an important step towards shrinking the community’s carbon footprint.
For more information on the Go Green, District 18 initiative, click here.
Posted February 17, 2010. LINK.
Belmont Announces Homecoming 2010 Schedule of Events
Playing off the university motto “From Here to Anywhere,” Belmont’s 2010 Homecoming week invites alumni, friends and family to come “From Anywhere to Here” Feb. 21-27 for a week’s worth of special events. Highlights include an alumni art exhibit, two basketball doubleheaders, “Belmont at the Bluebird” and numerous program reunions. Click the more button below to view events that are open to the public. For a complete list of all Belmont Homecoming 2010 events and an opportunity to register, visit http://alumni.belmont.edu/.
Posted February 17, 2010. LINK.
