December 14, 2007

Merry Christmas!

The Office of Communications wishes you a wonderful Christmas and a new year filled with happiness, peace and success. The next issue of Belmont FYI will be published on Friday, January 4, 2008.

Belmont News

Business Programs Officially Launch ‘Strictly Business’ Blog
Belmont University announced today that its academic and professional business programs are partnering to launch an innovative new blog designed to highlight emerging business trends in the U.S. and abroad. Titled “Strictly Business,” the new interactive Web forum represents a joint initiative of Belmont’s College of Business Administration units, including the Undergraduate School of Business, The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business and the Scarlett Leadership Institute. For more on this story, click here.
Dr. Fisher to Co-Chair Mayor’s Project for Student Success
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean today announced the members of Project for Student Success, a 40-member group convened to develop action steps to reduce the dropout rate of students in area public schools. The project includes parents, students, education professionals from all levels, government officials, and members of neighborhood groups, faith-based organizations, non profits and the business community. Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors and President of Belmont University Bob Fisher will serve as co-chairs.
“I have had numerous conversations with both the vice mayor and President Fisher about reducing the dropout rate and they share my deep desire to give every student that comes through our public school system a chance to have a future and to be a productive citizen in our city,” Dean said. For more on this story, click here.
CMT Music Awards to Be Held at Curb Center for Third Straight Year
Country music’s biggest stars will once again rock Nashville’s Curb Event Center at Belmont University when the “2008 CMT Music Awards” premieres live on Mon., April 14, 2008 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CMT and CMT.com. 2008 marks the third time that the CMT show and its live red carpet pre-show will be broadcast from Belmont University, and the announcement comes on the heels of recent news that the Curb Event Center will host the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate in October.
The CMT Music Awards program remains country music’s only fan-voted award show. The first round of nominees will be announced Tues., Feb. 5, and fan voting will begin on CMT.com. Final nominees will be announced in early March. The awards show and related programming garnered an impressive 9.1 million viewers for last year’s premiere, and more than 31.6 million different total viewers saw repeated airings of the “2007 CMT Music Awards.”

Achievers

CEMB Hosts Industry Presentation
The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business hosted a demonstration of Logic Studio and Apogee Symphony System Thurs., Dec. 6 at the Sony Building, located at 34 Music Square East. Teaming up with VintageKing Audio in Nashville, Apogee Electronics & Apple presented two Logic Pro 8 sessions demonstrating the software’s current suite of Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) recording applications. The afternoon provided local industry professionals and Belmont Audio Engineering Society (AES) students an in-depth look at how Apple has managed to satisfy its current user base and market an attractive software package to new users as well.
Acklen Entertainment Launches Classic Southern Rock Band
Last week, Belmont University’s student-run Acklen Entertainment released its first CD, Brothers of the Southland, a compilation of great southern rock standards and new titles. As a preview of the self-titled album, the star-studded southern rock band Brothers of the Southland made its only scheduled area performance at the historic Exit In on Nov. 29 for a single release party that was also produced by Acklen.
An outstanding collection of mature and amazing musicians, the band brings together legendary southern rock performers Jimmy Hall (Wet Willy Band), Henry Paul (The Outlaws/BlackHawk), Steve Gorman (Black Crows/Jimmy Page), Dan Toler (Allman Bros/Dickey Betts), Mike Brignardello (Giant) and Jay Boy Adams (Texas Blues Solo Artist). This Acklen CD project also includes guitar and vocals from the late George McCorkle (Marshall Tucker Band) and features Bo Bice of “American Idol” fame. For more on this story, click here.
School of Sciences Hosts Local High School Students
High School Physics Day was recently held on campus as 20 students from Cheatham County High School visited Belmont’s School of Sciences department for chemistry and physics demonstrations and two hours of lab experience. The students performed lab experiments alongside Belmont students and Belmont faculty members Dr. Robert Magruder, Dr. Christian Thomas, Dr. Scott Hawley and Dr. Steve Robinson.
McFadden Selected for ACIS National Team
This semester American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) launched the “ACIS Campus Rep Marketing Internship” program on more than 50 campuses, offering students at participating universities the chance to earn college credits while gaining brand marketing experience with Fortune 500 companies such as P&G, GM, Nike, Philips, Microsoft and many more. Belmont senior Reid McFadden, a Communications Studies major and an intern with the Beaman Student Life Center, was recently selected to the 2007 ACIS Campus Rep Nationals Team, winning a trip to New Orleans Dec. 27-Jan. 1 to assist the ACIS Team at the Pontiac ACIS Flag Football Nationals. McFadden was one of only five campus reps from around the country chosen to participate in nationals.

Volunteer Opportunity

Deliver Poinsettias to Gernert Homes
Bring a smile to someone’s face before you begin Christmas break. Join the Office of Spiritual Development to deliver 100 poinsettias to the residents of the I.W. Gernert Homes (Senior Living) in the Edgehill community on Fri., Dec. 21 at 9:30 a.m. Meet in the Freeman Hall lobby. Please e-mail Benita Walker at walkerb@mail.belmont.edu by noon on Wed., Dec. 19 to confirm your participation.

Important Announcements

OCS Offers Safety Advice for Holiday Shopping
This month’s edition of the Office of Campus Security’s “News from HQ” includes an article which takes the newsletter one step further by describing, in detail, ways to keep yourself and your property safe while shopping this holiday season. Click here to access both the newsletter and the article.
Snow Closing Information Reminder
It’s that time of year when snow appears in the forecast. Although campus closings and class cancellations are rare at Belmont University, snow and icy weather conditions do create the potential need for such action. In the event of inclement weather, there are several sources you can turn to for information about class cancellations and office closings.
Belmont’s Instant Alert System: Receive closing details via your cell phone.Registration is quick and easy. Text the word Belmont to 27538 or sign in to your BIC account on bic.belmont.edu and look for the Instant Alert message (under My Campus and Academic Department Messages). Click on the link provided, and you will be directed to the instant alert Web site.
BIC (belmont intranet connection) bic.belmont.edu: Closing details will be available in the “campus announcements” section of the home page.
Belmont’s Web site www.belmont.edu: A headline under “Belmont News” on the home page will provide a link to closing details.
Belmont News Line (460-5000): If the weather is questionable, the campus hotline will provide a campus status update.
Local media: Belmont’s Office of Communications has coordinated with the following media to broadcast closing information:
Television: WKRN-TV, Channel 2; WSMV-TV, Channel 4; WTVF-TV, Channel 5; FOX-TV, Channel 17 (Comcast Channel 6)
Radio: WSM 650-AM, WLAC 1510-AM, WJXA, WMAK 96.3-FM, WJXA 92.9-FM, WPLN 90.3-FM, WKDF 103.3-FM, WGFX 104.5-FM, WRVW 107.5-FM, WUBT 101.1-FM, WNRQ 105.9-FM and WSIX 97.9 FM.
Because weather and road conditions can vary greatly within our region, students, faculty and staff are urged to use individual discretion when traveling to campus in snow or icy conditions.

Coming Up

Friday, December 14, 7:30 p.m.
December Commencement
Curb Event Center
Friday, December 14, 8 p.m.
Vote for Belmont Alumni on “Next Great American Band”
Two of the four bands remaining on FOX TV’s “Next Great American Band” reality competition have Belmont connections. Most of the members of Denver & the Mile High Orchestra are Belmont School of Music alumni, and sax player Chris Gregg is the son of School of Music’s Robert and Sharon Gregg. Also, Belmont FYI learned this week that Robb Houston, frontman for Nashville-based band Sixwire, which is also in the Final Four, is a 1985 Music Business grad. Tune in tonight, and vote often for these Belmont connections. For more information, visit http://www.denvermho.com and www.sixwire.com.
Monday, December 17, 7:30 a.m.
Annual Staff Christmas Breakfast
Neely and Black & White Dining Rooms
Monday, December 17, 7 p.m.
Men’s Basketball Hosts Tennessee State
Curb Event Center
Wednesday, December 19, 7 p.m.
Men’s Basketball Hosts Austin Peay
Curb Event Center
Thursday, December 20, 8 p.m. (NPT)
Monday, December 24, 9 p.m. (PBS)
Christmas at Belmont
Don’t miss the television premieres of the 2007 “Christmas at Belmont” production locally on NPT and nationwide on PBS. Check local listings for additional air times.
Monday, December 24, 2 p.m.
Christmas Eve Carillon Concert
Bell Tower
Friday, January 4, 2008
Taking Career Counseling to the Next Level
Career Services is partnering with Consulting Psychologists Press (CPP) to offer a “Taking Career Counseling to the Next Level – Career Development Combining the Myers-Briggs® and Strong Assessments” workshop. The cost to attend is $65 per person in advance. Belmont employees may register by contacting Patricia Jacobs at jacobsp@mail.belmont.edu by Dec. 21. Individuals outside Belmont University may register through CPP, www.cpp.com/nextlevel or call CPP Customer Relations at 800.624.1765. Registrations may be cancelled for a full refund up to five business days before the workshop date.
Massey Boardroom

Birthdays

If you notice an incorrect or missing birthday, please e-mail the update to communication@mail.belmont.edu.
December 15
Sybrill Bennett, Journalism
Joseph Leggs, Custodial Services
December 18
Lucy Baltimore, Physical Therapy
Seth Sheridan, Athletics
December 19
Mark Bryant, Student Affairs
Barbara Ward, Math/Computer Science
December 26
Cheryl Geer, Foreign Languages
December 27
Angie Bryant, Beaman SLC
Jonathan Thorndike, Honors
December 28
Susan Taylor, Business
December 29
Ernest Heard, Library
Michael Krouskop, Office of Communications
January 1
Sharon Dowdy, Nursing
Angie Shedd, Admissions
January 4
Heather Copeland, Athletics

Special Promotions

Coupon for 20 Percent Off at Dick’s Sporting Goods
Through Dec. 16, Dick’s Sporting Goods is offering Belmont employees a 20 percent discount off a single item for the holiday season. The only exclusions that apply are firearms and ammunitions. In addition to the coupon, which can be printed out from the download below, employees will need company ID or a pay stub to redeem the coupons when making a purchase. Download file
Discount to “Sound and Speed” at Sommet Center
Special Ticket Discounts are available just for Belmont faculty, staff and students for “Sound and Speed,” the biggest motorsports and country music fan festival, to be held Jan. 12, 2008 at the Sommet Center. Save 10 percent off the concert ticket featuring Alan Jackson and Taylor Swift. Concert is at 8 p.m. Use password “SOUND.” Or save 10 percent off the Combo ticket—admittance to the Concert and the Festival! Festival begins at 9 a.m., and events include Q&A sessions, legends storytelling, limited autograph opportunities, showcars, sponsor displays and much more! Use password “GRUP10.” All proceeds go to two charities, Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. For questions regarding this event or to order tickets, call the Group Sales department at (615) 770-2046 or email groupsales@sommetcenter.com. Tickets can also be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com. Simply use the passwords as shown above to receive the discounts under “Promotions and Special Offers.”