School of Music students Sam Carullo and Wade Voris placed first in the open duo category of the Great Plains Marimba Competition, June 27-30 at Oklahoma City University.
The students were selected for the live-round competition after submitting an audio recording to the adjudication panel in the spring. The pair gave a performance of ‘Book of Grooves’ by Alejandro Viñao, ‘Octabones’ by Adi Morag and ‘Sweet Dreams and Time Machines’ by Michael Burritt.
Carullo and Voris are percussion performance majors in the studio of Chris Norton.
Belmont is one of nine recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Environmental
Stewardship Awards, announced by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner David Salyers.
The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program
recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect the
environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by
law or regulation.
Belmont has taken the initiative and made major sustainability commitments to make its campus as sustainable as possible. The University was a 2016 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award winner in the building green category for the Janet Ayers Academic Center and a 2017 winner in the sustainable performance category for the Johnson Building. This year, the University is a winner in the Pursuit of Excellence category, which recognizes past award winners who continue to demonstrate a high regard for environmental stewardship.
2019 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award Winner (Pursuit of Excellence) with Gov. Bill Lee
Vice President of Finance & Operations Steve Lasley said conservation and sustainable practices are incorporated into every new and old building on campus. “Faculty, staff and students at Belmont continuously look for new and innovative ways to include a commitment to conservation and sustainability in all areas of campus life,” he said. “Belmont offers students several ways to explore and express their passions through academic research in the classroom, service opportunities such as local clean-ups and planting trees, as well as several sustainability and environmental clubs.”
Since winning GESA awards in 2016 and 2017, the university
has continued to make sustainability a significant focus through education and
service learning, sustainable construction projects, energy efficiency
retrofits and the installation of a 250 kW photovoltaic solar array on the Curb
Event Center.
Belmont recently completed construction of a
243,000-square-foot building on campus, making it the fourth LEED certified
building. Most existing buildings now have LED lighting and web-based controls
installed throughout, which utilize stand-alone sensors to turn lights on/off
automatically. Many of Belmont’s parking garages are underground in order to
avoid contributing to the urban heat island effect in the area, while also
preserving green space around campus.
Fourteen green roofs across five buildings serve as gardens
for native plant and bug species, including two honeybee hives, lawn and green
spaces and serve as outdoor laboratories for biology and environment science
research. The University is designated as an arboretum, featuring more than 100
species of trees and shrubs, as well as being recognized as a Tree Campus USA
by the Arbor Foundation.
Other winners include The Compost Fairy, Cumberland
International, Cumberland River Compact, Mitchell Heights Neighborhood
Association, Norris Water Commission, Ruby Falls, Tennsco Corporation, Turnip
Green Creative Reuse and Urban Green Lab. The winners will be formally
recognized for their achievements and positive impact on the state’s natural
resources and communities in an awards ceremony in Franklin on August 1. The
Robert Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement award will also be announced at the
awards ceremony.
“We applaud those who proactively look internally at their
own operations and capabilities to better our environment,” Lee said.
“Tennessee is fortunate to have these passionate and innovative organizations
committed to improving our state.”
A panel of 16 professionals representing agricultural,
conservation, forestry, environmental and academic professionals judged more
than 65 nominations and selected this year’s award recipients based on criteria
including on-the-ground environmental achievement, innovation, transferability,
partnerships and public education.
“The projects and organizations recognized by this year’s
Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards reflect the best of environmental
protection, conservation, community engagement and partnerships,” Salyers said.
“These award winners are taking the initiative to go above and beyond what is
required.”
In its 33rd year, the awards program covers nine categories: building green; clean air; energy and renewable resources; environmental education and outreach; environmental education and outreach (school category); land use; materials management; natural heritage; and sustainable performance.
Written and directed by Belmont alumna Allison Alonzo, the short
film “Through the Door” was officially selected by the International
Independent Shorts Awards Festival in Los Angeles, and the team won three
awards.
“Through the Door” won Gold for Best Student Short, Alonzo
won Gold for Best Student Director (Female), and alumna Taylor Perdue won
Silver for Best Sound Design in the professional international category.
“The wonderful Motion Pictures professors at Belmont
provided all areas of advice that I used in my process of making the film,”
said Alonzo. “I received practical aspects of filmmaking at Belmont that I will
be taking with me into the start of my career.”
Alonzo and Perdue both graduated in May 2019 with their Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Motion Pictures. Alonzo worked on the film for about a year to meet the capstone course film requirement. With about 35 people working on the film, 30 were Belmont students or faculty.
Alonzo’s idea for the film came from a personal experience. A
young woman, Bernadette, has a near death experience that pushes her to deal
with a tragedy from a year ago that she ignored. After Alonzo lost a best
friend to suicide, she used her feelings from that time to write a story about
grief and finding peace.
This is Alonzo’s third student film to direct. As a motion pictures major with an emphasis on directing and cinematography, she directed films for her Production I (5 minute film), Production II (10 minute film) and Capstone (12-15 minute film) classes. She also worked in many other roles and departments on more than 20 other student films at Belmont.
The International Independent Shorts Awards Festival was the first festival to which “Through the Door” was submitted, but Alonzo entered it into many more festivals in the upcoming nine months. And while the film cannot be shared online during the film festival entry period, it may be available afterward. Learn more about the film on iMDB.
Dr. Pat
Raines, dean of Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of
Business, recently announced his retirement after 16 years of
service to a college consistently noted by national publications for its
excellence and lauded locally for its students, faculty and graduates as well
as its strong executive education programs.
Belmont
Provost Dr. Thomas Burns said, “For the past 16 years Belmont, and the Jack C.
Massey College of Business, have benefited from the leadership, passion and
commitment to excellence that has been fostered by Dean Pat Raines. We look forward to celebrating Dean Raines’ legacy of a strong
curriculum, a positive community of cooperation and engagement and the
enactment of our University mission to imbue our students with ‘disciplined
intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.’”
Barbara Massey Rogers, daughter of the legendary entrepreneur who
inspired the origin of the Jack C. Massey College of Business, added, “Regretfully, Jack Massey never
met Dr. Patrick Raines. Under his outstanding leadership over the past 16
years, Dr. Raines has led the business school to national and international
prominence and enabled the students of the school to graduate with a first-rate
business education and with the incredible ability to seek excellent employment
in the business world. The business school has been awarded many accolades for
its achievements, and nothing has been more rewarding than to be recognized as
one of the top business programs in the United States!”
During Dr. Raines tenure, the Jack C. Massey College of Business has
received accolades for having some of the top business programs in the country by
Princeton Review, BusinessWeek and Entrepreneurship
magazine. The College of Business’s undergraduate enrollment has grown by
more than 100%, and the graduate enrollment has increased by nearly 80%. He has
also led the College’s efforts to successfully maintain AACSB
accreditation for the Massey College of Business in both business and accounting.
In addition, four new learning and professional development centers were added
during Raines’ time at Belmont, all dedicated to the pursuit of professional
excellence in specific areas of business: the Center
for International Business, the Edward C.
Kennedy Center for Business Ethics, the Thomas
W. Beasley Institute for Free Enterprise and the Center
for Entrepreneurship.
In a letter to his faculty
announcing his retirement, Raines wrote, “I am extremely proud of our successes. Most
importantly I am proud of the 35 excellent teacher scholars that we have hired
in the last 16 years. Each has brought extraordinary expertise in their
disciplines and have added immensely to the intellectual capital of the Massey
College of Business… I will forever be grateful for your engagement, support
and above all total dedication to our mission to educate entrepreneurial,
ethical and socially responsible future business leaders that are prepared for
the dynamic global economy.”
Raines’ work also led to the development of student-run businesses
on campus and increased scholarships for students as well as provided endowed
funds for three faculty chairs in the Massey College. In total, more than $18.2
million has been raised under his leadership. A frequent media expert on issues
related to the economy and growth, Raines earned his bachelors, master’s and
Ph.D. in economics from the University of Alabama, where he also played center on football teams
coached by Paul ”Bear” Bryant.
A reception to honor Dean Raines will be held Tuesday, July 30 from 2-4 pm in the Massey Business Center Boardroom on Belmont’s campus. A national
search is currently underway for the next dean of the Massey College of
Business.
Alumna Anna Vaus, the first-ever recipient of Miranda Lambert’s “Women Creators” scholarship at Belmont, recently made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
Recognized with Music Row’s DISCovery Award earlier this year, the 2018 graduate of Belmont’s songwriting program is signed with Black River Publishing and Creative Artists Agency and has opened for major country artists such as Lee Ann Womack, Jon Pardi, Old Dominion and Hunter Hayes.
Emily Weisband, a 2015 alumna of Belmont’s songwriting program, recently released the first single of her career as an artist, “Identity Crisis.” At 26, Weisband is already a Grammy-winning songwriter known for co-writing “Thy Will” (Hilary Scott and The Scott Family). Additional writing credits span multiple genres including the pop world with BTS and Halsey, the country genre with cuts from Dan + Shay, Tim, McGraw and Faith Hill, as well as Christian music with recordings by Natalie Grant and Danny Gokey.
The launch of her solo career was recently featured in articles in Music Row and Billboard.
The research work of Dr. Doyuen Ko, associate professor of audio engineering, was recently featured on the website of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The article, “Sound Hounds: How One Research Team Is Helping Preserve the Acoustics of Historic Places,” notes the celebrated artists who have recorded in Columbia Studio A through the years. “There’s a magic there that’s not quantifiable,” Ko told the publication. “For many years, certain musicians always wanted to record their instruments in that place, in that studio.”
According to the website, Ko and his fellow researchers hope to complete their analysis of the data collected at Music Row by the end of this summer, and they will then use the most effective data gathering methods to pursue additional research at sites in New York and Peru.
Professor and Jack C. Massey Chair of Entrepreneurship Jeff Cornwall gave a talk at the United Nations for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day.
His talk, “How Emerging Technology for Online Education Can Foster Global Growth in Business Startups,” was broadcast on UN Web.TV. Cornwall was also given the Lifetime Achievement award by the International Council for Small Business.
The event was co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations, the International Trade Centre, the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs and the International Council for Small Business.
The event can be tracked on social media via #MSMEDay19.
New Jersey-based Canadian singer Patrice Jégou, a 2000 Belmont alumna with a Master’s of Music degree in Classical Vocal Performance, received top honors in the A Cappella Song category at the 17th annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs), the influential program for independent artists and releases. The lead track from this versatile singer’s recent album release was honored at the annual awards ceremony held in New York City on Saturday, June 22.
Her winning track, “Lover Come Back To Me,” features Mark Kibble and Alvin Chea from Take 6. The tune is from her latest album If It Ain’t Love which released on March 22, 2019. The winning projects were selected by judging panels comprised of top recording talent including: Tom Waits, Lee Ann Womack, Robert Smith, Nicole Atkins, Todd Rundgren, Martha Wash and Jim Brickman, among many others; and influential press, managers and talent buyers from the Americas, Europe and the Pacific Rim.
Dr. Jeff Overby, director of Belmont’s Center for International Business, was recently quoted in WalletHub’s “Ask the Experts” piece on the status of the American Express credit card brand. The article can be found here.
