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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Neuroscience Major Receives Funds for Honors Thesis Research

Hope Buckner
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Neuroscience Major Receives Funds for Honors Thesis Research

Karina Glushchak, a junior honors student and neuroscience major, was awarded a Fall Undergraduate Research Grant of $1,500 from Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, along with faculty sponsor Dr. Timothy Schoenfeld, assistant professor of psychology. The grant will fund Glushchak’s honor thesis research to be conducted over the next two semesters.

The project, entitled, “Long-term Effects of High-fat Diet and Light Deprivation in Adolescent Rats,” will attempt to answer an unknown question in the fields of psychology, nutrition and neuroscience: do eating and sleeping habits during adolescence have long-lasting effects on memory into adulthood?

Glushchak plans to manipulate rats’ diet and ability to sleep during their adolescent periods. All rats will then have the same regular diet and sleep schedules throughout their young adult periods and when fully grown adults, they will be tested for different forms of learning and memory, and their brains will be analyzed. This research will shed light on how unhealthy habits during adolescence might be harmful into adulthood, even when behaviors become healthier.

Yandell & Students Publish Research Articles

Hope Buckner
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Yandell & Students Publish Research Articles

Dr. Lonnie Yandell, professor of psychology, recently had two research articles get published, which he co-authored with Belmont psychology majors. The articles are below:

  • Lang, J. & Yandell, L. R. (in press). Diversity language as system maintenance: Toward alternative frameworks for addressing racism at predominantly white institutions. Christian Higher Education: An International Journal of Research, Theory, and Practice.
  • Priest, R., & Yandell, L. (in press). Dyadic meta-accuracy and perceived motivational accuracy in academic work groups. Modern Psychological Studies.

Big Kenny, of Big & Rich, Speaks to Students on His Musical Career

Staff Writer
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Big Kenny, of Big & Rich, Speaks to Students on His Musical Career

On Friday, January 18, Belmont hosted a convocation featuring Big Kenny of country music duo Big & Rich. Kenny shared his journey to country music and advice for entering the music industry with students.

Kenny is a singer, songwriter, producer, musician and humanitarian who has co-written Tim McGraw’s “Last Dollar (Fly Away),” Gretchen Wilson’s “Here for the Party,” and Jason Aldean’s “Hicktown” and “Amarillo Sky.” He also wrote most of Big & Rich’s four studio albums.

Kenny shared that his music career began in a small church choir in a farm town in Virginia. He worked in construction and on his family’s farm throughout his early twenties, but soon realized he wanted to pursue a career in music.

With a dream and his toolbox in hand, just in case, Kenny packed his bags, locked his house in Virginia and headed to Nashville.

Within three months, he had a band together playing a few gigs a week, and within a year, he had a record deal and was on his way to a lifetime music career.

Kenny shared that everywhere he went and with everyone he met, he was inspired and blown away by talent. He said that any chance he had to meet someone, get in a door or play some music, he took the opportunity and ran with it.

Kenny reminisced on the days of The Music Mafia, a musically artistic group of friends in a music industry alliance. He shared that by getting together at venues to play and write together, these singer/songwriters didn’t have to clean up after themselves and they knew that no matter what happened in their careers, they had each other.

Multiple record deals and many concerts later, he met John Rich around the time he was leaving Lonestar, a country music band. By the end of that year, they had written 100 songs together.

“Some of the greatest things that happened to me, happened by mistake and propelled me to each step along the way,” he said.

Big Kenny

Kenny concluded by sharing with students that their minds can get them down or enlighten and open new opportunities.

“Decide in that moment to let it enlighten you and remember this conversation,” said Kenny. “You make the decision where you want to go.”

This event was moderated by Kate Cosontino.

 

Senior Psychology Student Honored with 2019 Psi Chi Eastern Psychological Association Regional Research Award

Hope Buckner
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Senior Psychology Student Honored with 2019 Psi Chi Eastern Psychological Association Regional Research Award

Eason Taylor, a senior psychology major, was awarded a 2019 Psi Chi Eastern Psychological Association Regional Research Award for the study “Examining the Effects of Exercise on Frustration-induced Anxiety-like Behavior in Rats.” This study, conducted under the supervision and guidance of Dr. Timothy Schoenfeld, assistant professor of psychology as part of Belmont’s Summer Scholars program, sought to examine how exercise reduces anxious behavior and stress hormones in rats following experimentally-induced frustration. 

Eason will receive a $400 cash award and will be publicly recognized at the Psi Chi Awards Ceremony at the Eastern Psychological Association conference in New York City February 28 – March 2.

Faculty, Alumnus Interviewed About Rural Hospitals on NewsChannel5

April Hefner
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Faculty, Alumnus Interviewed About Rural Hospitals on NewsChannel5

Professor of Practice & Program Director for Accounting/MIS Kelvin Ault and alumnus Russell Gill were recently interviewed for a story on rural hospitals on NewsChannel5, Nashville’s CBS affiliate. The two have also submitted an op/ed to the Tennessean on the topic covered in the NewsChannel5 piece, which focuses on restoring economic vitality to rural hospitals. Gill, a 1991 political science graduate, is an attorney in Nolensville, Tennessee.

Click here to view the NewsChannel5 story.

Alumni Represented on MusicRow’s Top 100 Songwriters List

Staff Writer
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Alumni Represented on MusicRow’s Top 100 Songwriters List

In a recent list put out by MusicRow, the top 100 songwriters of 2018 were named. Of the 100 listed, several Belmont alumni are featured. Those listed included graduates of Belmont’s songwriting and music business programs, among others.

Coming in at number four on the list is Ashley Gorley, a 1999 Belmont alum who has been a noted songwriter for several years. Gorley recently won the ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year award for the sixth time.

The list also includes alumni such as the singer-songwriter duo of Florida Georgia Line, Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. Other alumni who made the top 100 list are Nicolle Galyon, Hillary Lindsey, Jordan Reynolds, Russell Dickerson, Casey Brown, Parker Welling, Justin Wilson, Ryan Hurd, Justin Ebach and Jacob Durrett.

Devin Dawson speaks at seminar to Belmont students.
Devin Dawson speaks to Belmont students.

Graduates of Belmont’s songwriting program on the list include CJ Solar and Devin Dawson.

MusicRow’s Top 100 songwriters list was made based on a song’s airplay, digital downloaded track sales and streams. They also looked at songwriters who were featured on MusicRow’s top songwriters chart.

Filmmaker Encourages Students to Live Out Their Faith

Staff Writer
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Filmmaker Encourages Students to Live Out Their Faith

Andy Erwin and his brother, Jon Erwin, are the directors of the movie “I Can Only Imagine,” one of the top grossing biopics of all time. But their journey to that position was not easy, Erwin shared with students on Belmont’s campus recently. Through sharing his story, Erwin hopes to encourage students to live out their faith through what God is calling them to do.

After almost choosing a different career path and becoming a missionary, Erwin was encouraged by a friend to see how he could use his talents with a video camera. He and his brother started a production company and came to Nashville where they were hired by Michael W. Smith to make a music video. The brothers were successful in the music video industry allowing them to pursue film further.

But their new path into the movie industry was not easy and brought about a lot of struggles and some failures. But when speaking to students, Erwin encouraged them to see the “importance of failures in finding your voice and your success.” “I’ve found more in my failures and by embracing the struggle.”

Moving past their struggle and continuing to focus on what God could do through their films, the Erwin brothers found success in their newest film “I Can Only Imagine.” The film focuses on the story behind MercyMe’s song of the same name.

“This film allowed a message of hope to spread naturally,” said Erwin. “We tell stories that are not an exclusion to the audience but an invitation.”

Erwin closed his talk to students by encouraging them to live out their faith as well as remember that “failures don’t kill you and successes don’t define you.”

College of Law Alumna Honored by Nashville Bar Journal

Hope Buckner
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College of Law Alumna Honored by Nashville Bar Journal

Lauren Poole, a Belmont College of Law alumna and associate attorney at Taylor, Pigue, Marchetti and Blair PLLC (tpmbLAW), received the 2018 Nashville Bar Journal Contributor of the Year Award at the Annual Meeting and Banquet in December.

The award recognizes a Nashville Bar Journal committee member who went beyond the call of duty to ensure the success of the publication. Poole, who was recently named co chair of the Nashville Bar Journal Editorial Committee, practices civil litigation including bankruptcy and creditors’ rights at tpmbLAW.

“Going above and beyond the expected is how Lauren works,” said Gino Marchetti, Jr., attorney and managing member at tpmbLAW. “This award is a reflection of her commitment to the law and to the dedication she brings to her legal work, both for our clients and our profession. We are pleased to see her honored in this way.”

Poole earned a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She earned her J.D. from Belmont University College of Law in 2016. An active supporter of the arts, she currently serves on the Board of Turnip Green Creative Reuse. She has also been published regularly. Her editorial, “An Overview of the CFPB: Past, Present, and Future,” was published in the Nashville Bar Journal’s June/July 2018 Issue. Her article, “The Nuts & Bolts of Bankruptcy Law,” was featured as the Nashville Bar Journal Online Article of the Month in March 2018.

Lemus Presents Brain Injury Research at the American Neurological Association

Hope Buckner
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Lemus Presents Brain Injury Research at the American Neurological Association

Fourth year honors neuroscience student Crystal Lemus recently presented her traumatic brain injury research at the American Neurological Association (ANA) Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At a time when support for basic and translational science is in need of a strong voice and the burden of neurological disease grows, the ANA serves as the champion of neurological research and the ally of all physicians and scientists who strive to make a difference through careers that combine discovery, education and clinical care. The ANA is a leading voice within the field of neuroscience and has counted the world’s leading academic neurologists as members.

Lemus’s poster presentation was titled “Thinking Outside the Box when it comes to Traumatic Brain Injury: Future Assessment and Early Management.” Her research was conducted in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Middle Tennessee where she has served as a mental health curriculum developer and the official nonprofit blogger for the past three years.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is widespread and leads to death and disability in millions of individuals around the world each year. Overall incidence and prevalence of TBI are likely to increase in absolute terms in the future. “Tackling the problem of treating TBI successfully requires improvements in the understanding of normal cerebral anatomy, physiology and function throughout the lifespan, as well as the pathological and recuperative responses that result from trauma,” Lemus said. For her research, she examined the evidence base for the early management of head‐injured patients and suggested that he-critical care with protocol-dried therapy is associated with significant improvement in outcome for all patients with severe head injury.

“Whenever I attend national conferences, I always have to keep an open mind,” she said. “Science is so complex and interconnected, and I always end up leaving with new ideas about current research that I previously thought to be unimaginable. It is such a humbling experience knowing that I get to contribute my own little piece of knowledge with the world.”

Sociology Alumnus Dr. Bradley Koch Leads Innovative Class Project at Georgia College

Staff Writer
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Sociology Alumnus Dr. Bradley Koch Leads Innovative Class Project at Georgia College

Dr. Bradley Koch, a 2002 Belmont alumnus, recently led an innovative project for students in his Sociology of Music class at Georgia College, where he currently serves as an associate professor.

Each semester, Koch gives his class the option to do a traditional research paper or an alternative option that would excite and challenge his students to learn the complexities of the music business and sociology.

For the fall semester, Koch’s students opted to write, record and release an original song featuring sociological themes, and the impact was everything Koch hoped it would be. “The students seem to have been affected in a few ways,” he said. “First, and most importantly to me in my capacity as their sociology professor, is that they really wrestled with some timely social justice issues in the lyrics, most notably racism and economic inequality. They were able to stay true to the social nature of the issues while still making it an engaging, individual-level narrative. Second, the students had to confront the communal nature of music-making as well as the social-ness of marketing a product. Finally, the students were energized knowing that any revenue that the song generated would go to a good, local cause of their choosing.”

Proceeds from the completed song, “Stuck,” will help provide a free laundromat for families at a local elementary school.

The recording is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and YouTube.

Koch came to Belmont for the music business program. While taking Introduction to Sociology to fulfill a general education requirement, Koch decided to change direction. In 2002, he graduated with a major in sociology and minor in music business.

“Even though I dedicated my professional life to sociology and higher education, music has always remained ‘serious leisure’ to me… I was able to draw on my studio production training from my time at Belmont in engineering and producing the record that my students just released. It really was the confluence of two seemingly-divergent parts of my life, both of which were fostered by my peers and the faculty at Belmont.”

Visit Koch’s website to learn more about the project and to listen to “Stuck.”

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