Sophomore social work major Ali Wine is using some of her new free time at home to channel her artistic energy for a good cause. In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the new transition to online classes, Wine felt she had the perfect opportunity to learn new art skills and create beautiful pieces of art. All of the money she makes from these efforts will be donated to help those experiencing unemployment and financial hardship during this crisis.
Wine uses acrylic paint, thinning it out and pouring it over canvasses to create unique abstract art pieces. “I’d been wanting to learn this mode of abstract art called acrylic pouring,” she said. “I’ve always loved getting creative, especially with art and music. Specifically, I really enjoy abstract art.”
Acrylic-poured canvas personally crafted by sophomore Ali Wine
Feeling helpless in the pandemic, Wine said she spent a week or two doing nothing but acrylic pouring and sharing her art on social media. “People started asking me to create art for them to purchase. I felt thankful for the opportunity to create art pieces for friends and family during this difficult time and decided to use it to help people,” she explained.
After announcing that she would be selling the acrylic poured canvasses she made, request began to pour in. “I said I’d take requests for certain colors and also offered to surprise people with colors that remind me of them with a note attached explaining why I selected those colors,” Wine explained.
Acrylic-poured canvas personally crafted by sophomore Ali Wine for fellow Belmont student and friend Laney Morrissey.
“I expected only a handful of people to respond but am overwhelmed by the funds we’ve raised for this cause,” shared Wine. “Over $1,000 has been raised thus far, and I’ve had to cap the orders for the time being. Now, there is a waiting list. I’m so grateful for the support I’ve gotten and for this creative outlet I love so much.”
Dr. Mike Voight from the School of Physical Therapy was an invited guest lecturer at the 2020 Big Sky Sports Medicine Conference. This conference was attended by more than 350 physicians, physical therapists and athletic trainers who work in sports medicine.
Dr. Voight’s topic was “Integrating Technology into Rehabilitation” and described an analytical approach to both evaluating and integrating new technology into clinical practice.
Belmont’s faith development organizations serve as a significant place of connection and community for many Belmont students. The current situation of social distancing has presented a challenge in connecting with one another, but the FDOs at Belmont have become innovative in their ministries, making changes and continuing to meet student needs in light of the circumstances.
Christy Ridings, associate university minister and director of spiritual formation, said the groups are overcoming obstacles during this unprecedented season. “I am so thankful for the innovative and adaptive ways in which our FDOs have continued to connect with students,” she explained. “They reflect the understanding that relationships are at the heart of all ministry. These relationships continue to grow despite the challenges of geographic distance.”
University Minister Heather Daugherty added, “During this time of challenge and uncertainty, students need trusted and familiar voices to help them make sense of what is happening around them and to find strength and peace in their faith. The fact that our organizations continue to thrive even in the midst of the pandemic is a testament to the way that they are ministering to students in a significant way.”
Groups such as RUF, Young Life, The Navigators and InterVarsity are meeting weekly via Zoom, Skype or Facetime in their small group and large group formats. Several organizations have put together live-streamed content through social media and interact with members through Facebook groups, texts and Facetime calls. Some groups, like UKirk Presbyterian Campus Ministry, are continuing their Bible studies and series online to continue offering a place for meaningful, hope-filled discussions.
UKirk used a series from Sanctified Art all school year called “Unraveled,” focusing on places in the Bible where things come unraveled. Rev. Lindsey A. Groves said the series is extra fitting now. “When we realized all of us would be separated, we decided to stick with that series because we like it and to give some sense of continuity. We made the worship services we’d planned into guided meditations that students could do on their own time,” she explained. “The series included some meditations on scripture with a piece of art, or Visio Divina. We’ll lean into those especially.”
UKirk shares part of their Sanctified Art series on Instagram.
On UKirk’s WeBlog, Campus Ministry Fellow Jenny Cook writes, “Visio Divina is a way for us to slow down and listen to a passage while meditating on an image that compliments the scripture. There isn’t a perfect way to do this – the main goal is to slow down, sit with scripture and allow the text and artwork to illuminate thoughts and feelings that arise. Sit with what you need to, breathe, and be.”
While the focus has remained on this series because the leaders know that students are being overwhelmed with online class videos and lectures, they have held some video chats and discussions, and have also referred students to the wellness videos that Belmont University Ministries has done in collaboration with other campus support systems.
One benefit the groups have found is that students who may never have joined one of their meetings on campus have joined them virtually, giving them the chance to make new connections. For example, UKirk at Belmont will partner with UKirk at Middle Tennessee State University this week for a “Zoom worship service,” as a part of Holy Week.
Many of the organizations will provide Holy Week liturgy and scripture reading, but meetings will likely be more discussion based. This way, group members can talk about how they are feeling and be heard during this time.
Groves said, “It’s hard to know yet what the longer lasting scars and silver linings of this time will be, but it’s been great for those of us in UKirk to stay connected and share the small things that are keeping us going, in addition to the heavy and scary things we’ve not processed yet.”
Earlier this year, seven Belmont students were recognized with a Student ADDY Award in Nashville through one of the top local competitions for student advertising design in the nation. A couple weeks ago, the District 7 American Advertising Awards competition was judged, three of those students received awards and are now eligible to be entered and judged at the National level.
Abraham Mast won two gold ADDY awards for “My Very Messy
Desktop” and “100 Electrical Experiments,” and Margaret Shaul won a gold Addy for
“Classic Novel Series.” These projects will automatically be sent to AAF
headquarters to be judged at the National level. Summer Bockart received a silver
ADDY award for “Frist Gala” and is also eligible to be entered into the National
competition.
The American Advertising Awards are the largest creative
competition in the world with more than 40,000 local entries competing in 200
markets coast to coast. Winning a Student ADDY Award at the district level is
the second step in competing for a National ADDY Award.
The AAF is monitoring the current situation surrounding
COVID-19 and will announce a virtual or in-person awards ceremony in the
future.
“ADDY awards are nationally recognized in the design
industry, and it is an extremely competitive competition. Winning one lets
future employers know you have exceptional talent,” explained Art Professor
Doug Regen. “I could not be more proud of the talented hard working students
that were recognized this year.”
Great work is being done out of First Community Church,
which is working with Project Connect Nashville, a Christian social service
ministry that began in the aftermath of the 2010 flood. Belmont has come
alongside these community partners to help staff their disaster response team,
serving those in North Nashville who suffered tornado devastation, followed by
the Covid-19 lockdown, and now the massive loss of employment.
The response team from Mississippi has a commercial kitchen
on wheels at the site of the church’s Storehouse. The Storehouse also has rooms
full of needed supplies, from diapers and formula to household cleaning
products and toilet paper.
Belmont is continuously providing drivers with cars to
deliver 250 meals a day to those who can’t come to the site, and to help sort
donations of clothing, food, etc. In addition to doing the delivery in a
one-mile radius, volunteers ask (from a safe distance) if those who are unable
to leave their homes need additional supplies. In that case, the drivers
return to the Storehouse to pick up and deliver supplies.
The Storehouse where Belmont volunteers sort donations.
Vice President of Spiritual Development Dr. Todd Lake said, “Each
day, Belmont faculty and staff volunteers from across departments and colleges
are living out our calling to be Nashville’s university as we exemplify our
Christian faith by responding to the imperative expressed in James 1:22, which
states, ‘Do not merely listen to the word…Do what it says.’”
Gloves, hand sanitizer and safe distancing procedures are being used, and only the driver (and members of his or her household) do the deliveries. Those interested in signing up for a volunteer shift from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. can do so here.
In an effort to provide students with opportunities to continue learning and connecting with the Belmont community during this season of social distancing, Belmont University announced this week that there will be more than 150 online courses offered for the 2020 Maymester term.
Due to the pandemic, many of the previously scheduled Maymester 2020 Study Abroad courses are being moved online, and a number of new courses have been added to the term.
Dr. Mimi Barnard, associate provost for Interdisciplinary Studies and Global Education (ISGE), said this opportunity is absolutely extraordinary. “Belmont faculty knew students had counted on their courses to progress towards their degrees and that we’re staying safe at home. So, the timing was right to move courses online,” she said. “It’s wonderful that the University allowed study abroad students, as well as all Belmont students, to take advantage of the study abroad reduced tuition rate—what a marvelous incentive to help students to maximize their time and effort!”
In light of the current pandemic, the University has decided to offer all courses during the 2020 Maymester term to all currently enrolled students for a discounted rate of $443 per credit hour, as opposed to the standard rate of $1,330 per credit hour. Classes during June and July will still be available at the standard rate.
Belmont Provost Dr. Thomas Burns said, “Our faculty have created an exciting set of offerings that we hope all students will review and consider. I’m thrilled we can use these circumstances to make new opportunities available to students, and I’m anxiously looking forward to the time when we can once again safely travel to places far and wide and literally offer the world to our student body.”
All Maymester course listings are available now on Belmont Classfinder under the tab labeled “BELL Core/Study Abroad/Alternate Locations” and then by clicking the search icon for “Maymester.” Registration for these courses is available until May 4, 2020. Students may register for no more than 16 credit hours across the summer registration period including Maymester, Summer 1, Summer 2 and full (10 week) summer terms.
Dr. Jason Lovvorn, associate professor of English, co-wrote with Dr. Kevin Leander (Vanderbilt University) a chapter in a recently published book, Data Analysis, Interpretation, and Theory in Literacy Studies Research: A How-To Guide (Myers Education Press, 2020).
Their chapter, titled “Following Texts, Bodies, and Objects in Everyday Practice: Thinking With Actor Network Theory,” reexamines a previously published study and focuses on how and why certain theoretical lenses were put into practice. The piece also highlights how literacy researchers might utilize Actor Network Theory as a way of framing their thinking in qualitative, ethnographic inquiry.
Do machines think? What are the ethical questions that need to be answered as we consider the use of artificial intelligence (AI)?
Dr. Scott Hawley, associate professor of physics at Belmont, and Dr. John Wyatt of University College London offer insight through the stories that surround AI in an episode of The Afterword podcast.
The pair talk about the history of AI, its positive aspects and how data impacts AI. Listen to the episode here which claims, “If you’ve ever thought robots may take over the world or that the future belongs to dystopian entities, then this episode may help clear up the facts verses the fiction regarding artificial intelligence.”
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Assistant Professor of Biology Matt Heard (Principal Investigator) with a grant from the Division of Environmental Biology. The grant, titled “Integrating large datasets into undergraduate teaching and research through a collaborative workshop with EREN, NEON and Project EDDIE” will host a series of workshops at Belmont University.
The co-principal investigators on the grant are Dr. Laurel Anderson (Ohio Wesleyan University), Dr. Kristy Hopfensperger (Northern Kentucky University) and Dr. Sara Scanga (Utica College). Dr. Megan Jones from the National Ecological Observation Network and Dr. Catherine O’Reilly from Project EDDIE and Illinois State University are also co-leaders on this grant.
While the Belmont community adapts to the new normal of staying, studying and working at home, the Be Well BU team is offering holistic wellness tips each week through their “Wellness While We Wait” video series. A collaboration between Belmont’s Counseling Services, Fitness and Recreation and University Ministries, the series is intended to help people stay connected and build healthy habits in the midst of disruption.
The team originally met to discuss the students’ needs in this unexpected and uncertain season and how to better reach them with appropriate resources. The result was the idea to collaboratively create a series of short videos highlighting physical, emotional, spiritual and occupational wellness tips. The series will continue three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until final exams through the playlist on Belmont’s Youtube Channel.
Director of Belmont Counseling Services Katherine
Cornelius said this was an important effort for several reasons. “This is an
INCREDIBLY stressful time for folks. None of us have experienced anything like
this before,” she explained. “We wanted to show solidarity and care for the
student body. In times of trauma, it’s hard to focus on a lot of words and
emails coming at you. We wanted this information to be easily accessed and
digested. We wanted it to be practical.”
Once the team started the series, they also realized
how applicable it is to the whole Belmont Community, including faculty and
staff.
Cornelius continued, “As we spoke, several of us
realized how much meeting virtually with our colleagues has meant during this
time. Simply seeing my team’s faces each day on our zoom meeting and having a
space to share our experiences has been a significant support for me
personally. We wanted to share that with our BU Community and specifically
chose the media of video to add that human connection.”
Subject matter experts were given the opportunity to think through topics that are foundational to practicing wellness in their fields. There was also an emphasis on providing information that is applicable at home. For instance, the FitRec department talks a lot about workout programming, but learning how to complete a workout with barbells and weights is not useful without those things at your disposal. So, this series took the opportunity to talk about the same thing – workout programming – but shifted the focus to highlight how people can complete a workout at home without much exercise equipment available.
Assistant Director of Fitness and Recreation Joe Mankowski said he hopes people enjoy the videos, but more importantly that they use this time to try one of the practices that they see in the videos.
“Even though this time seems like a season where all
of your habits and routines are out of whack, we can’t overlook the opportunity
that we have to build new habits so that they stick when life does get back to
normal,” he said. “I hope that the student who has been hesitant to exercise
because they feel lost watches our video and gives it a try between virtual
classes. I hope that the student who has been struggling with feelings of
anxiety during this season watches the videos from the Counseling Services team
and tries out the practice of mindfulness. Overall, I hope that our students
use these and many other tools that they now have at their disposal to stay
well so that when we all get back together, we can continue to be the strong,
vibrant Belmont community that we all know and love.”
These efforts also resulted in the creation of a weekly BeWellBU email for faculty and staff that will highlight tips for working remotely and thriving during this time, specifically in the areas of spiritual, emotional and physical wellness. The first one went out last Friday and included a video from various faculty and staff sharing the message that “you are not alone,” as well as the Wellness While You Wait series.
The team hopes the Belmont community takes away the fact that no one is alone in anything he or she is feeling. “We are all adrift, but we are adrift together,” said Cornelius. “Any time I can look over at my neighbor’s raft and know they are weathering similar waves and challenges that I am, it gives me hope and a sense of connection. Even though we are not on campus with one another, we are still here, here to listen, here to empathize, here to care.”
