Alumna Tiffany Roberts, an occupational therapist with Baptist Health System Kentucky and Indiana, has been named Occupational Therapist of the Year by the Kentucky Occupational Therapy Association (KOTA).
Roberts is the KOTA Western District co-chair, serving the Paducah area.
Roberts has worked at Baptist Health Rehabilitation since 2016, following her graduation from Belmont with a master’s degree in occupational therapy.
She is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist through the Brain Injury Association of America, and recently began helping with a new Spinal Cord Injury support group.
Instructor of Journalism/Cinema, Television, & Media Jennifer Duck was part of the Anderson Cooper 360/CNN Special Report team that won an Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis Emmy Sept. 24 for the “Finding Hope: Battling America’s Suicide Crisis” special that aired last year.
Duck, who served as editorial producer for Anderson Cooper 360 for six years, is a longtime Belmont adjunct who recently joined the faculty full time. She said of the Emmy, “It’s very bittersweet given the topic, but I do feel it’s one of the most important stories I’ve produced in my career.”
Duck added that throughout the hour-long special, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number and resources were highlighted on screen, online and on CNN social media accounts. As a result, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported a 67 percent increase in call volume during the program as individuals reached out to learn how to get help for themselves or for friends and loved ones who were suffering.
“We created this special because suicide is a hidden health crisis. Suicide rates have increased 25% over the last two decades. The crisis isn’t talked about enough because it’s such a hard conversation,” Duck said. “Our goal was a national call to action. We partnered with experts, survivors and family members of those lost to amplify the message that the mental illnesses behind suicide deserve treatment from professionals, just as we would treat other illnesses like heart disease or diabetes. We felt it was about time America started seeking medical help and breaking the stigma and shame surrounding the topic.”
Duck said the special also shows
the importance of journalism working in tandem with cinema, TV and media. “One
of the many things that drew me to Belmont is the collaboration between
departments. The power of combining great storytelling, writing, filming and
editing along with an understanding of the ethics of journalism is more vital
today than ever before.”
The book offers insight to a summer program that has produced a diverse new generation of women leaders and discusses a wide range of topics including mathematics research, teaching, outreach and career paths.
Guinn joined the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Belmont in the fall of 2013 and was the featured mathematician on the Black History Month Honorees Mathematically Gifted and Black page in 2018 posted on The Network of Minorities in Mathematical Sciences website.
Belmont University students
creating business plans, forming the perfect pitches and spending hours of hard
work to become entrepreneurs will continue getting the support they deserve
thanks to an endowed fund worth $2 million, made possible by a pledge from
Thomas F. Cone, Sr. Belmont’s Undergrad Entrepreneurship Program was ranked as
a Top 25 Program for 2019 by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine.
In honor of
his recent gift, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Jack C. Massey College
of Business will be named the Thomas F. Cone, Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “We are so grateful to the Cone
family for their longtime support of Belmont and especially for this recent
gift. Not only will our students benefit from the resources this gift will
provide, but they will also have a tremendous entrepreneurial example to look
up to. Mr. Cone’s gift makes it possible to further develop and excel in
supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of Belmont, and I look forward to what we
can accomplish in the future thanks to his generous support.”
“My hope is that my gift will provide the cornerstone of the Center for
Entrepreneurship, allowing students to have a place to hone their skills and
make their dreams a reality,” Cone said. “The Belmont community is raised
anytime a new center or program adds to the depth of the curriculum. A young
person’s dreams and ideas need a place to grow and become realities. I know
Belmont’s Entrepreneurship Center is that place.”
The
endowment will support co-curricular programs of the Thomas F. Cone, Sr. Center
for Entrepreneurship, including, but not limited to: a Runway Loan Program, the
annual Entrepreneurship Village and an annual Entrepreneur in Residence. Other potential areas of
support include inspirational lecture series, guiding students
who have already launched a venture through the semester-long business Accelerator, leading workshops and clinics in co-working spaces like the Hatchery, and offering two business plan competitions per year where students
receive feedback and cash prizes to support their ventures.
Cone with Suzanna Stapler
Suzanna Stapler, 2018 alumna and founder and CIO of Squillustrate, spoke during the announcement reception about the power of the resources provided. “I knew I could always go to the Center for help, and the resources were there for all students to pursue what they’re meant to do,” she said. “My story is one of hundreds who have been equipped to achieve our goals thanks to the Center. I can’t wait to see how the next generation will get to experience this thanks to your generosity and reach to even greater heights.”
As announced
with the university’s We Believe Campaign unveiling, Belmont is partnering with its supporters to leverage
their investments in the institution’s future. The University will match
endowment contributions to select institutional priorities, doubling the impact
of each donor’s commitment. The Cone gift is being matched by Belmont to create
an endowed fund to empower student entrepreneurs and promote a spirit of
entrepreneurship by providing resources and opportunities to create innovative,
ethical and globally-minded businesses.
Elizabeth Gortmaker speaks at Endowment announcement
Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Elizabeth Gortmaker said the
Center has grown tremendously over the last 15 years. “The entrepreneurship
program serves hundreds of students on campus and alumni who have started businesses
all around the world,” she said. “The program also has two retail stores on campus
that are completely student-run and employ 30 students who run every aspect of
the business to truly learn what it looks like to be an entrepreneur.”
“Our future is in the hands of our youth,” said Cone. “Belmont University
has a long-standing reputation of excellence, and I believe the Belmont
Entrepreneurship Center will be a leader in the entrepreneurship business
community.”
Thomas F.
Cone, Sr. was chairman and president of Cone Oil Company Inc. and founder of
Cone Solvents Inc., Tennessee Adhesives Co. and B&C Aviation. He graduated
from Vanderbilt University in 1960 and received his J.D. degree from the
Nashville School of Law in 1971. He was elected to the Vanderbilt Board of
Trust as alumni trustee in 1994 and served for two years.
Gov. Ned McWherter
appointed Cone to the board of directors of the Tennessee-European Economic
Alliance in 1989. He is a director of NationsBank and a trustee of Battle
Ground Academy. He has been a member of Meharry Medical Board of Trustees and
the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Governors. He also is former
chairman of the board of the Nashville School of Law.
Kyndal Inskeep, a Belmont alumna who majored in commercial voice, landed an early spot in the season premiere of NBC’s “The Voice.”
The singer also survived her first competitive match-up on this season on Oct. 21 when she sang a duet of “I Could Use a Love Song” by Maren Morris with James Violent. Celebrity Coach Gwen Stefani selected Inskeep as the winner of the battle.
For her audition, Inskeep performed “Never Been to Spain,” popularized by Three Dog Night in 1972, impressing Judges Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton. However, Stefani used her “block button” to make sure Shelton did not have the chance to be her coach.
Inskeep decided to work with Stefani, who succeeds Adam Levine in the lineup of “Voice” coaches.
“The Voice” airs at 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business is the named sponsor of The American Marketing Association (AMA) Nashville’s Thought Leaders Luncheon series.
The Thought
Leaders Luncheons are a series of six lunch events throughout the year to
provide opportunities for attendees to experience and learn professional
marketing at its finest, while networking with fellow marketers from the greater
Nashville area.
Massey’s
support will allow AMA Nashville to bring highly desired and much-anticipated
speakers, high-level strategic marketing content and an attractive venue to
become the premier marketing resource in Middle Tennessee.
Director of External Relations & Executive Learning Networks Jill Robinson said, “The Jack C. Massey College of Business is proud to sponsor the Nashville Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Like the AMA, the Massey College of Business supports a strong belief in and mission to developing leaders through ongoing and experiential education; as such, we are uniquely aligned to support the Nashville chapter as they create high quality educational experiences for their members.”
With the ever-accelerating pace of change in the marketplace, lifelong learning communities are an increasingly important network of support and education for executives in the Middle Tennessee marketing industry.
“We look forward to this new partnership and continuing the great work of the Nashville AMA Chapter for many years to come,” said Robinson.
The Nashville
chapter of the American Marketing Association is an important part of the
Nashville business community, offering valuable programs, networking events,
publication opportunities and benefits that help people connect, enable
professionals to develop their skills and increase the professionalism of the
industry in the community.
Dr. Dennis C. Chen, associate professor of management and international business in the Massey College of Business, recently published an article in the Distribution Business Management Journal, which is “written and edited for executives and managers responsible for defining, creating, implementing and integrating supply chain strategies.”
Thanks to the work of Poverty and the Arts (POVA), a nonprofit started at Belmont University by 2014 religion and the arts graduate Nicole Brandt Minyard, several Nashville homeless artists will have the opportunity for an international exhibit of their work.
Poverty and the Arts provides artists impacted by homelessness the studio space, supplies and marketplace to create and sell their artwork. This fall, POVA artists will have the opportunity to exhibit and sell works in the United Kingdom including galleries in London, England and Glasgow, Scotland at The One Festival of Homeless Arts.
The One Festival of Homeless Arts brings together works of art in many forms, from theatre and film, sculpture and photography, as well as traditional visual art, all of which have been created by artists who are or have been homeless.
The opening in London will be held on World Homeless Day on Thurs., Oct. 10, 2019. POVA artists and staff will be celebrating the opening reception at their Studio and Gallery in Nashville, Tenn. ( 1207 Dickerson Pike), on Oct. 10 from 12-2 p.m. CST where they’ll have a video stream set up to join the London reception from the United States. The public is encouraged to attend.
Many Belmont students are fascinated with the latest documentary from legendary filmmaker Ken Burns. After all, the subject matter of “Country Music” hits close to home both on this campus and in Music City at large, not to mention the University is a sponsor of the film. But few students are as excited about the series as senior motion pictures major Dan Updegraff, who actually interned with Burns’s Florentine Films production company and worked directly on the “Country Music” project.
“I knew about the Ken Burns internship from the moment it was announced that Belmont would be sponsoring ‘Country Music,'” said the Montgomery, Alabama native. “I even attended the announcement ceremony in front of the Belmont Mansion where Dr. Fisher spoke alongside Ken Burns, Mayor Megan Barry and Ricky Skaggs.”
Two years ago, Updegraff applied through Belmont for an internship position with Florentine Films and was invited for a video interview.
“I told them about my time and experience with Belmont’s motion pictures program, and they seemed particularly interested in the Belfast Spring Break study abroad I did the previous semester. I had traveled with other MOT students to Northern Ireland to film a documentary about the Belfast Nashville Songwriters festival. I got accepted for the internship a week later.”
Updegraff’s responsibilities involved working primarily on image preservation and cataloging. “Florentine Films has a massive catalog of physical photo copies from all their previous films, and I was given the duty of digitally retouching any wear or aging on the photos and putting those photos into a digital catalog for use in future projects. I also got to do script checking, where they would give me the script to an episode and the current cut to make sure the script and narration were identical.”
“Another memorable experience was when I assisted with hosting a producer’s screening of the documentary, where all of the advisors and producers for the documentary came to New Hampshire to watch the latest cut of the full documentary over the course of four days and give advice. I helped with preparing and cleaning the venue, serving food, accommodating guests, but I also got to interact with so many interesting people during that week, including Kathy Mattea, who’s featured in the film.”
Beyond the professional experience acquired from the internship, Updegraff noted how beneficial it was to view firsthand how a documentary production is structured and organized. “A great deal of deliberation, planning and care goes into massive, historical retellings like Country Music. The team at Florentine was small, but very well connected, dedicated and friendly. I was never discouraged from asking questions or for help, and it was great to be a part of a team where the Director and Screenwriter were an arm’s reach away from where you’re sitting.”
Now that “Country Music” is being seen by millions on PBS and online, Updegraff is looking ahead to what his own future will hold.
“I’m hoping to go into picture editing upon graduation into some video medium, whether it be film, television, web content, etc. Being able to say I worked on a Ken Burns project is a real ace on my resume, and I can use my knowledge of the great teamwork and coordination they had there to influence my own work.”
Diversity Week 2019 kicked off Monday morning with a Chapel presentation on “Diversity in Christ” from Dr. Christina Edmondson, dean for intercultural student development at Calvin College, and a student panel representing various identities within the LGBTQIA+ community. The convocations provided powerful opening sessions for a week designed “to celebrate and engage in important dialogue surrounding Belmont’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.”
Dr. Edmondson (above) opened chapel Monday morning challenging the problematic Western belief in “inevitible progress,” or that things will get better as time moves on. She argued, however, that time does not heal sin, and the problematic ideas many Christians have about race and injustice will not simply go away with time. “I pray that we be experts not of the law, but of love. May God save us from the foolishness of using our theology and the law to avoid compassion,” she said. “I pray for the ability of grace to see grace and to see sin as sin, even if the sin has been going on a long time.”
Respecting Diverse Identities – A Bridge Builders Panel at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, September 23, 2019.
The student panel (above) focused on notions of intersectionality, how all of a person’s varied identities inform their experience of the world rather than simply defining an individual by their career, gender, sexual orientation, presentation or other attribute. As one panelist noted, “A big part of bias is just assuming your experience is universal.” All of the panelists emphasized the importance of listening well to narratives other than one’s own, leading with kindness and standing up for minority communities and voices as keys to making progress in a frequently fragmented world.
AMENA BROWN speaks in Chapel at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, September 25, 2019.
Spoken word poet Amena Brown–who has released five albums, two books and been featured at the National Poetry Slam and the Creativity World Forum–spoke on campus Wednesday, sharing faith-inspired perspectives on topics ranging from understanding one’s roots to celebrating women of color to imagining Jesus’ thoughts on social media.
The Ability Exhibit at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, September 25, 2019.
Also, as part of Diversity Week, the Gabhart Student Center hosted the Ability Exhibit, a traveling exhibit designed to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities through respect for others, comfort during interactions, and awareness of disability issues. Using a multimedia approach, the exhibit offered suggestions for becoming disability allies and educators.
