IMPORTANT NOTE: These are the archived stories for Belmont News & Achievements prior to June 26, 2023. To see current stories, click here.

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Belmont Alumnus Ian Munsick Signs with Warner Music Nashville

Emma dela Pena
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Belmont Alumnus Ian Munsick Signs with Warner Music Nashville

Belmont Songwriting graduate Ian Munsick recently signed with Warner Music Nashville and reached a milestone of earning 20 million streams from previous indie releases. Additionally, he signed with Not A Public Figure Management/The Erv Woolsey Co., United Talent Agency and Universal Music Publishing.

Munsick shared his excitement with Music Row Magazine about signing with Warner Music Nashville because of their unique atmosphere. He shared, “If you don’t have good humans on your team, longevity goes out the window and so does the potential to make a difference in the world. Warner Music Nashville is an ideal home not only because of their admiration for authenticity but also because of their genuine, family-like workforce. From the executives, all the way down to their boots on the ground, every member of the WMN staff loves his or her job. I never thought I would sign a record deal without physically meeting a single label representative, but that just goes to show how confident I am in their ability to amplify and nurture my artistry. I really believe that Warner is the final ingredient to round out my team and I cannot wait to show the world what we got cooking.”

Munsick is set to release his first label track, ‘Long Haul,’ on Friday, Sept. 18 which he wrote with Jamie Kenney and Dave Villa. To see the original article by Music Row, click here.

Belmont Psi Chi Leaders Honored with Kay Wilson Officer Team Leadership Award

Haley Charlton
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Belmont Psi Chi Leaders Honored with Kay Wilson Officer Team Leadership Award

Student leaders for the 2019-2020 school year in Belmont’s chapter of Psi Chi (the International Honor Society in in Psychology) were selected to receive the 2019-20 Kay Wilson Officer Team Leadership Award.

This award is named for Kay Wilson who served as the executive officer of the international Psi Chi organization from 1991-2003. Her commitment to leadership development and collaboration allowed Psi Chi to double its membership and increase its grants, awards and national visibility.

When delivering news of the award to Belmont’s Psi Chi chapter, the award committee at Psi Chi commented, “Like Kay, your team has not only demonstrated excellence in leadership, but has also realized the potential of Psi Chi to develop future leadership in psychology.”

In commemoration of this award, the team leaders were presented with a commemorative plaque, as well as a scholarship award for $2,000.

Belmont PSI Chi officers for the 2019-2020 school year included:

  • Anna Grace Kelly, President (Upper Left)
  • Heather Spradlin, Vice President (Upper Right)
  • Schyler Peterson, Treasurer (Lower Left)
  • Laila Karim, Secretary (Lower Right)

Dr. Linda Jones, psychology professor and chair of the Psychological Studies Department at Belmont University, is the Belmont Psi Chi faculty advisor.

Nyamwandha Shares Her Story, How the Kingdom of God Transcends Politics

Nicole Jones
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Nyamwandha Shares Her Story, How the Kingdom of God Transcends Politics

This past Thursday, Belmont’s Office of Spiritual Development organized a virtual event with Dr. Cecilia Nyamwandha as a part of the Debate 2020 Programming. Dr. Nyamwandha shared her life story, from growing up in an impoverished community in Kenya to earning her PhD in Geophysics from the University of Memphis. She said she wanted to show what can happen, even in the midst of political division, when we choose to engage with one another to meet the needs of others.

Dr. Nyamwandha began by describing a picture of what her childhood was like. She grew up in a small village in western Kenya in a family of 10 children in a one-room house with walls and floors made of mud and a roof made of grass. Her family’s way of survival was farming; a good season meant they had food and a bad season meant starvation. One of the many struggles her family faced was a lack of health care. Nyamwandha lost two brothers to treatable diseases because her family could not afford the proper care. This tragedy is one of the reasons Nyamwandha always pursued her education to be able to make a difference in the lives of families like her own.

When Nyamwandha was 9 years old, her uncle saw the poverty her family was living in and offered to bring her to the city of Nairobi where he lived so she could receive an education and change her family’s situation. It was at this school that a teacher saw Nyamwandha’s struggles and shared her name with a social worker from Compassion International who was partnering with churches throughout the city.

Through the Compassion International program, Nyamwandha was sponsored by a couple who changed her life. When she was surrounded by poverty and hardships, the letters her sponsors sent her over the years gave her hope and showed her that she was loved. “As a young child, I could not understand why someone I did not know who lived thousands of miles away cared so much about me. They told me how much they loved me, and for me that was the first time someone told me that I was special,” Nyamwandha said.

At the program, Nyamwandha was able to forget her problems for a time and play with the other children. She received her first Bible from the program and learned about the love of God. When she graduated from the program, she continued with Compassion’s leadership development program to go to college and eventually went on to earn her PhD in Geophysics from the University of Memphis. She recounted that when someone sponsors a child with Compassion, they transform not just the child, but also their family, their community, and in many ways, their nation.

Dr. Nyamwandha is grateful to God and her sponsors who changed her life and gave her opportunities she would not have had otherwise. In an era that seems so divisive, Dr. Nyamwandha encourages others to remember that the will of God supersedes all else and that the Christian’s work is to do the priority of the kingdom of God.

“I believe that we are called to be different and we need to seek first the kingdom of God,” Dr. Nyamwand said. In a time of political divisiveness, she said that we are not called to set these matters aside, but to be actively engaged in order to stand up for the least of these, to seek justice and love mercy as Micah 6:8 teaches.

Dr. Nyanwandha experienced firsthand how people working together can create a future that fulfills God’s hope for the world. She prays that her story will encourage others to make a difference in others’ lives, whether that be sponsoring or corresponding with a child through Compassion or simply through prayer.

To get connected with Compassion International to sponsor a child, text Unite to 83393.

Prismatics Selected to Compete in Virtual A Cappella Competition UpStagedAID

Nicole Jones
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Prismatics Selected to Compete in Virtual A Cappella Competition UpStagedAID

Belmont students in an a cappella group known as Prismatics have been selected to compete in “UpStagedAID: One World, Every Student Voice,” the first-ever virtual international college championship of its kind. Out of more than 160 worldwide applicants, Prismatics was selected as one of 32 U.S. groups to participate in the competition.

These 32 groups will compete in a march madness-style bracket competition hosted virtually on UpstagedU.com. The winning team will receive more than $10,000 in cash prizes and donations to the social justice charity of their choice. Prismatics have chosen the non-profit Mental Health Association of the MidSouth in Nashville, Tennessee as their charity for the competition.

Hear from the Prismatics about their choice of song and social justice charity at the UpstagedAID selection show here.

Organized by industry leaders in performing arts competitions, UpStaged Entertainment Group and National Collegiate Performing Arts, the competition voting will begin on September 21. Winners of each round will be chosen by a combination of fan voting and celebrity judging.

Watch Prismatic’s music video and vote for them in the competition starting September 21 here.

Upstaged is a diversified performing arts platform with a mission to empower the world’s college and high school performers and is hosting this inaugural all-virtual competitive championship as an opportunity for students of the top college a cappella groups to compete.

Hobson Publishes Article in Pan Am Historical Association

Emma dela Pena
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Hobson Publishes Article in Pan Am Historical Association

English professor Dr. Eric Hobson has another published article by the Pan Am Historical Association as an extension to their Summer/Fall 2020 issue of PAA Clipper. 

“Hans Frederick Due, PAA Radioman” shares Due’s experience in the 1930s as a PAA radio operator.

Roar Places Second in BMI John Lennon Songwriting Competition

Haley Charlton
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Roar Places Second in BMI John Lennon Songwriting Competition

Belmont University sophomore songwriting major and pop artist Allie Rohrer, known as Allie Roar, placed second in the BMI John Lennon Song Competition for her submitted song “Secrets.” With more than 400 applicants, Roar’s song placing second is a huge accomplishment.

The John Lennon Fellowship is an annual competition in which songwriters and composers of contemporary music such as alternative, pop, rock, indie, electronic, R&B and experimental music can participate. Three scholarships totaling $20,000 are awarded each year to the best original songs of all genres. Roar recieved a $5,000 scholarship for her song.

To learn more about Roar and her music, visit allieroar.com.

Alumnus Published in Nature Digital Medicine

Haley Charlton
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Alumnus Published in Nature Digital Medicine

Andrew Trask, a 2015 Belmont graduate with a B.S. in Applied Discrete Mathematics and B.B.A. in Finance, recently shared co-authorship with researchers from NVIDIA, Intel, the National Institutes of Health, Vanderbilt Univeristy and other institutions on a paper involving data-driven machine learning, published in the Digital Nature Partner Journal (NPJ).”

The article, “The Future of Digital Health with Federated Learning,” explores how federated learning may provide a solution to the shortage of digital medical data available for Machine Learning applications. The paper discusses the potential of federated learning in supporting the future of digital health and highlights the challenges and considerations that need to be addressed. The journal can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-020-00323-1

Trask, currently a Google DeepMind Scholar and Ph.D. student at Oxford University, is the author of “Grokking Deep Learning,” which teaches readers to build deep learning neural networks from scratch. Trask is also the co-author of the Udacity Deep Learning curriculum and founder of the OpenMined project, an open-source framework that will allow developers to gain insight from users’ data without compromising their privacy.

Belmont University Hosts Events for 6th Annual Diversity Week

Nicole Jones
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Belmont University Hosts Events for 6th Annual Diversity Week

Belmont faculty, staff and students participated in the sixth annual Diversity Week starting Sunday, September 20 through Friday, September 25.

This year’s virtual event lineup celebrated the University’s commitment to furthering diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and featured opportunities for the Belmont community to engage in important conversations and hear from renowned speakers.

A complete list of this year’s events and details for event access can be found here.

A sample of this year’s events included:

TED Tuesday: How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time (Faculty and Staff) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 12 p.m. online: Facilitated by University Ministries, this event featured viewing and discussing this engaging and challenging TED Talk.

WELL Core Chapel with Dr. Drew Hart (co-sponsored by Welcome Home Diversity Council, Office of Multi-Cultural Learning and Engagement, Debate Programming) (Open to the Community) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. online: Dr. Drew G.I. Hart, a pastor and professor of theology and a national leader in anti-racism education, discussed with the Belmont community how white supremacy is entangled with western Christianity. In his latest book, Who Will Be a Witness?: Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance (September 2020), his hope is for all of us to “strive for the flourishing of all people by doing justice and the things that make for peace…We identify and stand with those that Jesus did in his own day. We gladly link arms with those that are impoverished, vulnerable, oppressed and marginalized.” He challenged all of us to meaningful engagement across party lines, so that we move from political divisiveness to God-empowered love for all.

Seeing Your Blindspot Webinar (sponsored by the Rev. Charlie Curb Center for Faith Based Leadership) (Faculty and Staff) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 2 p.m. online: With recent violent events across the nation, the subject of racism, privilege and prejudice has once again entered the national spotlight. Issues of race, religion, inequality and vigilantism have surfaced over and over again. Is it possible that many of us carry hidden biases and prejudices around inside our hearts and minds, placed there years ago by cultural influences, family dynamics and life experiences? This workshop explored ways of discovering and naming certain biases, with the goal of learning how to overcome them. Workshop Presenter: Dr. Jon Roebuck, Executive Director the Rev. Curb Charlie Curb Center for Faith Based Leadership.

Student Real Talk led by Gary Hunter (Students) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 5 p.m. online: Real Talk featured an open, frank and honest dialogue focusing on diversity and inclusion at Belmont University as well as nationally and globally. With slogan “If you are bold enough to bring it up, then we are bold enough to talk about it,” it was a confidential, safe and brave space to voice all opinions.

Rock the Vote at Belmont University: Nashville’s Colleges Celebrate Democracy (Community) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 7 p.m. online: To celebrate National Voter Registration Day, Rock The Vote and Belmont University partnered to stream a live concert event to encourage students to register to vote. Performers included student and alumni acts from Belmont University, Fisk University, MTSU, Vanderbilt and Tennessee State University as well as a special performance from Bren Joy and a headlining set from Moon Taxi, both Belmont alumni. 

Culture Care with Renowned Painter Makoto Fujimura on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at 7 p.m. online: Makoto Fujimura shared with the Belmont community about Culture Care, an alternative to the “culture wars” that have characterized politics in recent decades. It is a philosophy born of Fujimura’s art and Christian faith that offers the creation and conservation of beauty as an antidote to cultural and political brokenness. Fujimura is a Japanese-American painter and artist and was a presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003-2009. He is one of the premier living abstract painters and his works have been exhibited on four continents.

Continuing the Conversation: Seeking Racial Justice in the Local Church on Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 5 p.m. online: This event, hosted in partnership between University Ministries and the Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership, featured a conversation on the church’s role in seeking racial reconciliation and justice. Local pastors from a diversity of congregations engaged in exploring in depth how they see racism impacting their communities and what they are doing to respond to racism in the church and society as a whole.

The Welcome Home Diversity Council, Belmont’s interdisciplinary council, is devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across campus. Learn more about the Belmont State of Mind: Initiative for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.

Belmont Nationally Recognized Again by U.S. News & World Report for Excellence in Education

Haley Charlton
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Belmont Nationally Recognized Again by U.S. News & World Report for Excellence in Education

Belmont University appears numerous times in the 2021 rankings of America’s Best Colleges, a new analysis released Monday by U.S. News & World Report. The University was praised as the best in the state and No. 24 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 13th year in a row for innovation as an institution and ranked twelfth nationally for Learning Communities, among other accolades.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “The U.S. News rankings have recognized Belmont’s use of innovation once again, leading the way in higher education to provide unparalleled experiences in the classroom at a time when it is most needed as we face daunting circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Our faculty continue to make giant strides despite the circumstances to provide our students with the highest quality education, empowering them to use their skills and God-given abilities to live meaningful lives of purpose.”

In the publication released Monday, Belmont is lauded for the 13th year in a row for its commitment to “making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities,” landing at No. 42 on the “Most Innovative Schools” in the country list.

With its focus on student success, enriched curriculum offerings and strong outcomes, Belmont earned acclaim in the following categories as well:

  • Senior Capstone: Ranked 23 in the nation and only school in the state to be recognized on the national list
    • These culminating experiences asks students nearing the end of their college years to create a project that integrates and synthesizes what they’ve learned. The project might be a thesis, a performance or an exhibit of artwork.
  • Strong Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching: Ranked 24th in the nation 
    • The strong commitment to undergraduate teaching ranking is determined via a survey of peer institutions, who cite their fellow institutions who best reflect that quality.
  • First Year Experience: Ranked 13th nationally
    • Belmont was one of only 21 colleges in the country recognized for building into the curriculum programming that helps freshmen connect to their institutions.
  • Learning Communities: Ranked 12th of only 24 institutions recognized in the nation
    • In these communities, students typically take two or more linked courses as a group and get to know one another and their professors well.
  • Best Colleges for Veterans: Belmont was one of only two schools in the state to be recognized on the national list.
  • Best Value: Belmont remains the second highest ranked school in the state it its category for the quality of education versus the cost of attendance.

Due to a recent reclassification by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Belmont is now included in U.S. News’ list of National Universities rather than the Regional South category. Carnegie expanded its criteria for the national category to include universities who confer more than 30 professional practice doctoral degrees across two or more programs. With Belmont’s significant success in pharmacy, law, physical therapy, occupational therapy and nursing doctorate programs, the University was promoted to the larger and more competitive national category last year, landing in its debut year in the top 100 private institutions in the country. U.S. News ranks and reports on more than 1,500 institutions of higher education across the United States in a number of national and regional categories.

Mast Wins Certificate for Typographic Excellence for Original Animation

Nicole Jones
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Mast Wins Certificate for Typographic Excellence for Original Animation

Senior design communication major Abraham Mast recently won the Certificate of Typographic Excellence from the New York Type Director’s Club for his animation “My Type of Day.”

This winning entry to the 66th annual TDC Communication Design Competition will also be featured in The World’s Best Typography, Typography 41 to be published December 2020.

View Mast’s winning animation here.

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