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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Occupational and Physical Therapy Students Swim with the Nashville Dolphins

Belmont University students from the Schools of Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT) performed aquatic exercises with the Nashville Dolphins under the direction of Dr. Natalie Michaels, professor of both PT and OT at Belmont, and Dr. Timothy Jones, associate professor and aquaticS specialist in the Department of Human Performance and Sports Science at Tennessee State University. The Nashville Dolphins, under the direction of Megan Kelly, is a group of children, teens and young adults, many with Down Syndrome, who enjoy swimming.

Michaels started the Aquifit program nine years ago to provide aquatic exercises for wellness, socialization and enjoyment to members of the community. Exercises are performed pool-side, to music, by physical therapists, occupational therapists, aquatic specialists and OT/PT students while community members exercise in the water. Michaels said, ” Once again, the community was extremely impressed by the professionalism, kindness and intellect of the Belmont students.”

Students from the DPT program included Hunter Pickens, Mallorie Sweat, Emily Averitt and Courtney Alama. Students from the OTD program included Emma Mace and Sally Widmann. Hunter Pickens and Mallorie Sweat also served as song leaders. Approximately 12 members of the Dolphins participated. They reported that they “had a blast,” and really seemed to enjoy their interactions with the Belmont students.

Students, Faculty Travel to South Korea & Japan for Maymester

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Group spends time with U.S. Ambassador to Japan while abroad

The Maymester Japan & South Korea program was first introduced this year to provide Belmont students with a unique global learning experience while visiting professional and cultural places in Tokyo and Seoul. A team of 29 students from The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and The Jack C. Massey College of Business traveled with four faculty members including Dr. Amy Crook (Management), Dr. Don Cusic (Music Business), Dr. Rush Hicks (Music Business), and Dr. Doyuen Ko (Audio Engineering) on this year’s trip.

The purpose of the experience was to learn Asian music copyright policy, artist management system, business etiquette and the latest audio technology on-site with businesses and institutions in Tokyo and Seoul. After more than a year of preparation and dedicated coordination efforts by the faculty members, the team was able to visit several important sites including The US Embassy in Tokyo, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, Warner Music Japan, Tokyo University of the Arts, Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, Seoul Art Center and The World Association for Hallyu Studies.

The U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty invited the entire team into the Embassy and shared his role and experience as a diplomat to one of the country’s most important allies. Hagerty is a native Nashvillian, and he served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development from 2011 to 2014. Students also met top executives in the music industry and saw the inner workings of J-Pop and K-Pop which dominate Asian popular music.

Up ’til Dawn Team Earns National Program of the Year Award

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Belmont University’s Up ’til Dawn team recently won the organization’s Program of the Year Award. The annual event, which raised more than $140K last year, supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with funds as students across the country stay awake all night on college campuses to raise money for childhood cancer research.

The Program of the Year Award recognized the St. Jude Up ’til Dawn school that implemented the most outstanding overall program, exceeding expectations in all aspects of the event. This includes how the Executive Leadership Team worked together, awareness and public relations efforts, recruitment, fundraising efforts, side events and the main Up ’til Dawn event.

The team received their award at the Collegiate Leadership Seminar in Memphis, held each year to support the students who lead Up ’til Dawn on their campuses.

When the award was presented, a number of Belmont’s Up ’til Dawn accolades were read from the podium including:

  • Belmont has been the national leader in National Recruitment Day efforts for three years in a row, consistently recruiting 400+ participants each year
  • By the end of September last year, the team had recruited 650 participants for their February event
  • Belmont’s team sold a unique National Recruitment Day sponsor who committed to donating $2 for every participant registered during the two days
  • The team hosted numerous social events to match their tailgate theme including strong call-to-actions requiring registration or fundraising actions to participate
  • They hosted a Greek Life No More Cancer Rally that raised $10,000 in 72 hours

By the time their Up ’til Dawn event day rolled around, the Executive Board had recruited 872 participants and raised $148,000 — a new school record. Their impressive fundraising total was revealed live on national television when Fox & Friends featured the story and allowed the group to share their efforts with the country, a first in St. Jude Up ’til Dawn program history.

Belmont alumnus and Executive Director of last year’s Up ’til Dawn Executive Board Joe LaMartina was proud to hear of the group’s honor. “The award is a culmination of the amazing hard work from the Up ’til Dawn team this year and the passion of the Belmont community for St. Jude,” he said.

College of Pharmacy Sends Students, Faculty on Global Missions Trips

Collectively, students served more than 3,300 patients during 18 days of clinics

Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy sent students abroad this summer on medical-related missions trips to both Honduras and Cambodia led by faculty members Dr. Tracy Frame and Adam Pace and College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. David Gregory. Though each trip visited a different place, they sought out a similar goal — to impact the lives of the patients they served.

Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Tracy Frame’s interprofessional team, made up of both undergraduate and graduate nursing students, pharmacy students, a social worker and five faculty members, spent 10 days in Cambodia facilitating an all-student run clinic that saw more than 700 patients. Developed by the students before leaving the States, the clinic’s protocol allowed each patient the opportunity to be seen by undergraduate nursing students to have vitals evaluated, treated by a graduate nursing student and then counseled and prescribed medication by a pharmacy intern.

Frame’s dedication to student service experiences is a foundational part of her teaching philosophy. “This generation of students loves experiences and getting involved,” she said. “They want to take initiative, have a voice and be transformed. Additionally, students learn more by getting involved in hands-on service experiences than by sitting in my classroom. Watching them serve and love others is when I see them happiest and the most content in their own lives.”

Team serving in Guatemala

Traveling to Gracias, Honduras with the “Mission of Harmony,” Gregory’s team included two pharmacy students and one undergraduate Spanish major who spent time serving throughout the group’s clinic. The pharmacy students worked with each patient after they had seen the health care provider, selecting the proper medication for the patient’s disease along with the appropriate medication management parameters. But their work didn’t stop there.

Though a considerable amount of the group’s efforts was medical in nature, Gregory said the service they completed in Honduras goes so much deeper than what can be seen in a health record. “A patient’s life is so much more than their medication,” he said. “Pharmacy can be a tool in helping each person live a better life, but it’s not the most important aspect. Pharmacy is what God has allowed me to do with my life, but these trips are about so much more than that. It’s about fulfilling human needs, not just medical ones. And that’s a transcendent cause.”

Pharmacy Manager and Associate Professor Dr. Adam Pace took his group to Copan, Honduas where they implemented a clinic that facilitated health care to local residents and provided “family packs” complete with hygiene items, vitamins and parasite medications. While there, the group was able to share their faith with the patients they served.

Students fill prescriptions during this missions experience in Cambodia

Pace said he sees service learning as the ultimate expression of his faith. “As Christian faculty, it is our duty to model Christian love before our students,” he said. “I can think of no better way to do that than to take them with me as I serve and try to show the love of Christ to the world.”

Beyond a physical expression of his faith, Pace said he sees the experience as a way to ensure his students have the opportunity to experience the blessings of their lives in a tangible way. “I hope they gain a fuller sense of the privilege we all enjoy and the obligations we have in this privileged environment. I hope they also have a heightened sense of the importance of what our profession offers by seeing what happens in its absence.”

Trip participant and Pharmacy student Camry Kerley said the opportunity to travel alongside her team to Honduras was an excellent experience that only strengthened her passion for missions through medical care. “Everything was so different from home,” she said. “The language, the lifestyle, the surroundings and peoples’ attitudes–Honduras is unlike any place I’ve ever been, and this experience was definitely one of a lifetime. After the completion of this trip, I feel more confidence in my pharmacy knowledge and reassured of my passion for missions.”

All missions trips facilitated by the College of Pharmacy are open to non-health care majors who are interested in participating and are financially supported by the College’s Golf Fundraiser.

Alumna Melissa Radke Delights Crowds on Book Tour for ‘Eat Cake Be Brave’

Viral video sensation preps for new USA sitcom, offers advice to current Belmont students

The path to her current national tour isn’t what alumna Melissa Radke expected from her life’s journey when she was a Belmont University commercial music student in the late ’90s, but despite the bumps in the road, she wouldn’t have it any other way. The Lufkin, Texas native has become an internet sensation with online videos that have reached over 59 million people on her Facebook page alone, and she has amassed a following of more than 325,000 across her social media channels. Moreover, Melissa, her husband David (also a Belmont alum), and their two children, Remi and Rocco, will be the subjects of a new USA network unscripted family comedy series set to premiere this fall.

Eat Cake Be Brave Book CoverRadke returned to Nashville last week for a stop at Parnassus Books as part of an ongoing national tour to promote her debut book, “Eat Cake Be Brave,” which was published by Grand Central/ Hachette earlier this summer. “Last year I traveled all over the United States as a public speaker for civic group, corporations, benefits, galas, schools, etc. This year has been spent getting the word on my book out by traveling and doing appearances from ‘Megyn Kelly’s Today’ show to Hallmark’s ‘Home and Family.'”

Her success comes as a result of years of hard work that began when she first created a public Facebook page and, as she notes, “was off to the races” with her unique and inspiring storytelling. “By the end of the first week I had 470 followers, and I thought that was amazing! I would just put up silly, little videos for me and my 470 friends and family. Until one night I made a video called Red Ribbon Week. We posted that video the next morning before I went off to work and by the time I left work at 3 p.m., it had almost a million views. One day later, 4 million. A week later, 10 million. Today it has been viewed over 100 million times all over the world. That little video changed the trajectory of my life. If that sentence sounds dramatic, IT IS! It’s been absolutely crazy. But what I always want people to know though, is this: I was ready. I had paid my dues and then some. I worked hard for many many years, singing for people who rejected me, speaking to tens of people, writing for a local magazine that had a very small circulation. Whatever it took – I would do it. And yes, I thought that part of my life was over. But God. He knew better. So when that video went viral and people and media started contacting me, I was ready, because I had been working. I had always been working.”

The Radke family on set for the new USA sitcom
The Radke family appears on set for their new USA sitcom.

Another viral video, titled “Eat Cake Be Brave,” was viewed by a literary agent in New York City who thought Radke’s words and ideas should reach an even broader audience. Shortly thereafter, eight publishing companies were bidding for the rights to her debut book. Now, she hopes “Eat Cake Be Brave” can help others be more bold in their own lives. “I want readers to get to know me a little better, to feel like they are just really great friends who are meeting me over Mexican food and Diet Coke, and I’m just spilling my guts. But what I want them to leave with is the idea that all it takes is a little spark of bravery to start a forest fire. That’s what it was for me. I didn’t blow the candle out on my 41st birthday cake and change the world the next day. No! I simply started saying yes to little things; if I was asked to do something that scared me – I did it anyway. If I was asked to speak or sing or walk up on stage in front of people – I did it. If it felt scary, I did it. If it felt strange or foreign, I tried it. Is it because I had been studying how to be brave? No. Was it because I had seen an inspirational cat poster hanging in my kids classroom? No. It was because decision by decision, day by day, minute by minute, I would decide to do the bravest thing I could do. And it wasn’t just changing my career (as it turns out), it was changing my life. From the inside out.”

As a student at Belmont, Radke was a commercial music vocal performance major who sang in Jazzmin and was selected to participate in the annual Commercial Music Showcase her senior year. Though she endured several rejections during her college years, moments that became significant parts of her story, she says she wouldn’t change a thing. In fact, Radke credits her Belmont experience with providing the foundation for the attributes she needs for the spotlight she’s in today, pointing especially to School of Music faculty member Sandra Dudley. “She made me feel like I could – and would – one day set the world on fire. She was not just a fan of my voice, she was a fan of ME. All of me. She hears good voices all day long, and she teaches good voices all day long. She really put a lot of stock into the individual, too. When the crowds come out and the cameras click and the fans scream – what kind of person will you be? She taught us how to be good humans, and I’ll never forget that. She was one of the best cheerleaders I’ve ever had in my life.”

Radke Family PhotoWith her own career now in high gear, Radke also took a moment to offer advice to current Belmont students, whatever path they may be choosing. “First, I would want them to know that in the course of their life they will face some rejection. Maybe they already have. Maybe they are facing some of it right now. We all face rejection, it’s part of our journey. What we cannot allow to happen is that we cannot allow it to define us. Our rejection is not the end of us, body shaming is not the demise of us, dream killers will not have the last word for us. There must be something inside of us that is stronger than the words thrown at us. But that is up to you – and no one else. No one else can do that hard work for us, we have to do it ourselves. So however you want to do it, through your faith, through counseling, through journaling, whatever path you choose just make sure you are reminding yourself daily WHO you are, WHOSE you are and what the truth about you really is. Secondly, there is a section in my book that says ‘We will lose all the girls if we teach them that never stopping equals strength,’ and what I mean by that is this, we are in a relentless culture. Keep trying, keep going, never stop, get better, work harder, get up and try again, dust yourself off and keep at it. Doing that, day in and day out? It’s unhealthy. Sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is to quit forcing a dream or a destiny that might not be for us. I just KNEW my voice would make me famous – and it is – but not at all in the way I originally thought. The minute I stopped throwing myself against a brick wall was the minute God grabbed me and said, ‘I need you elsewhere. I’ve been needing you for a  long time but you were just absolutely sure you knew what was best for you. You didn’t. You had no idea.’ He was right. He was so very right.”

As for her future, Radke says her goals are changing from when she first started that Facebook page several years ago. “I used to want to be funnier, funnier, funnier, I wanted to keep people’s attention and collect more and more followers. Not anymore. Now, I want to continually be an encouragement to people who have dreams that they want to pursue. I want to be a cheerleader for those people who felt like I did at one time, like there’s was a wasted life. Because it isn’t wasted. Not one minute of one thing they have gone through is a wasted story. And my goal now is to make sure people know that and do something about it!”

Alumna Opens ‘Baked on 8th’ Bakery

Cookies from Baked on 8th

The old adage, “From here to anywhere,” can be used to describe so many of Belmont’s graduates, whether they end up in California or China. For alumna Leah Carmean, “From here to anywhere” took her just a few blocks away from campus, to 8th Avenue South in Nashville, where she is fulfilling her long-time dream of opening a bakery. Aided by her expertise in entrepreneurship (her major at Belmont), her husband Adam and her love of baking, Carmean’s dream is being realized right down the street from her alma mater.

Baked on 8th, which opened in June, actually began as a brain child during Carmean’s time at Belmont. She wrote, “I did my initial business plan for a bakery while at Belmont with unending encouragement from many wonderful professors,” particularly Dr. Jeff Cornwall (entrepreneurship) and Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse (English). “I took three writing courses with Dr. Smith Whitehouse, and much of my writing was focused on my dream of opening a bakery.” She also wrote her first business plan in Cornwall’s class, which she described as an “incredibly challenging process,” but also “the most rewarding work of my college career.”

According to Smith Whitehouse, “In my third-year writing class… Leah researched and wrote a tremendous business plan for a bakery she had long dreamed of opening. I have used her work as an exemplar of fine writing and research in the years since she was my student. I remember she generously brought scrumptious baked treats to our class one day. Leah even baked my wedding cake!”

Baked on 8th consists of around 10 employees and is already receiving rave reviews, including this recent Nashville Scene article. The shop focuses on serving cakes, pies and other single-serving desserts in “classic Southern bakery” fashion.

Belmont, Carmean wrote, was the driving force behind her dream. “I am so fortunate to have had a college education that has helped mold me and push me to actually become an entrepreneur, even eight years after graduating! Without my education, I know I would lack the confidence to actually take this leap into business ownership.”

Carr Convenes Panel on Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music

Cheryl Carr, associate dean in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, recently convened “Defining, Influencing and Valuing Popular Music: A Study of Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music,” a panel discussion presented for the annual conference of the Association of Popular Music Education.

In addition to Carr as moderator, panelists included Dr. Dina Bennett, senior curator for the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), Lolita Toney, NMAAM director of development and chief of staff and Crystal Hardison, NMAAM programs manager. The session explored the background, mission and vision for the museum, treatments of African American Music in the music business, including the law and the potential impact of a nonprofit entity on the commercial identity and popularity of African American Music.

Students Explore Adventure Tourism, Wellness in Australia

Trip highlights include experiential learning opportunities, collaboration with Live Nation and Mushroom Music 

Entertainment industry studies and music business students enjoyed a unique opportunity to earn credits in three courses—Activity and Adventure Tourism, Music Business and Wellness—in Australia this summer. While traveling ‘Down Under,’ students were able to take full advantage of experiential learning opportunities, which allowed them to apply, critique and learn from different principles of activity and adventure tourism in real-world situations in real-time.

Adventure Tourism classLed by Dr. David Schreiber (Entertainment Industry Studies) and Dr. Marnie Vanden Noven (Sport Science), the trip’s course information was applied while students were snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, participating in a Sydney bike tour, and zip lining and canyoning in the world’s oldest rainforest, the Daintree. Students also enjoyed learning from industry experts while indulging in many of these experiential learning opportunities allowing them to appreciate the marketing and management of tourism activities and the potential problems involved in organizing such services.

Classes provided students with an understanding of the evolutionary and current development of adventure and activity tourism as a significant sector of the leisure and tourism industries. Key issues relating to participation, team building, motivation, industry structures, destinations, environments, contemporary issues and influences of these types of activities on dimensions of wellness were examined in order to help students develop a contextual understanding of the activity amd adventure sector as it relates to the broader hospitality and tourism industry and personal well being.

International Collaboration Project Group PhotoStudents also collaborated on an international, interdisciplinary entertainment industry project with students from Australia and China. Working with industry professionals from Mushroom Music Group (Australia’s largest independent music company) and Live Nation (the world’s largest concert promoter), students worked in international teams to investigate, plan and present a project related to the primary and secondary ticketing markets within the live entertainment industry.

Throughout this experience, students discovered how ticket scalping issues, including copyright implications and local legislation, influenced ticket pricing and availability in different markets around the world, and the role the industry was playing in addressing or ignoring these issues. Belmont students provided global context as well as cultural and business perspective from their own regions as they worked closely with industry executives and faculty.

Searcy Elected to Tennessee Women’s Forum

Joyce Searcy HeadshotJoyce Searcy, Belmont’s director of community relations, was recently elected to the Tennessee Women’s Forum, a charter group of The International Women’s Forum (IWF-TN). IWF is a gloabal organization advancing women’s leadership across careers, cultures and continents by connecting the world’s most preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement. Members come together across national and international boundaries to share knowledge and ideas, enrich each other’s lives, provide a network of support and exert influence. Through the Leadership Foundation, IWF helps prepare future generations of women leaders. Currently, there are over 4,000 members worldwide.

Members are women of achievement who are receptive to association with other women on a state, national and global scale. IWF-TN consists of leaders and professional women who have regional, national and international influence. Each year, the top seven nominees who receive the most votes will be invited to join the forum.

This year, Searcy joins six other new members including Anne Courtenay Davis, Jaynee Day, Wanda Lyle, Lyn Plantinga, Renata Soto and Gail Carr Williams.

A reception honoring this year’s new members will be held on August 23. For more information on IWF, click here.

Belmont Named as a 50 Most Beautiful Christian College in the United States

Belmont University was recently named on Online Christian College’s 50 Most Beautiful Christian Colleges lists and came in at No. 14 on the organization’s list. The University was the highest ranked school in Tennessee.

OCC points to 50 universities that, though beautiful in design, are “highly-respected institution[s] built upon the tenets of the Christian faith.” The ranking considers a few criteria including awards and recognition including both local and national, student enjoyment, campus notable features and other characteristics including historical significance and environmental friendliness.

To read the ranking in its entirety, click here.