School of Music faculty members Joel Treybig’s (trumpet) and Andrew Risinger’s (organ) recent recording of Stephen Michael Gryc’s “Evensong” was featured on Michael Barone’s syndicated American Public Media broadcast “Pipedreams” on May 14. The broadcast featured “Music of the Night,” and the archived broadcast can be heard here.
The piece was recorded in Belmont’s McAfee Concert Hall, using the hall’s 1969 Aeolian-Skinner organ.
May 2018 graduate to teach in Germany for ten months
Recent Belmont University graduate and Brentwood, Tennessee resident Khadija Ali Amghaiab was recently awarded a Fulbright grant to Germany to partake in the English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) program there. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is an international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board that provides competitive grants to graduating seniors and graduate students to serve as cultural ambassadors of the United States abroad.
Ali Amghaiab graduated in May with a double major in philosophy and German as well as a minor in political science. She was recently awarded Belmont’s Fourth Year Award for Leadership, one of the University’s highest honors. Ali Amghaiab previously did a Maymester study abroad trip through Belmont after her freshman year, and then spent a month last summer in Berlin studying at the Goethe-Institut. She’ll be living in Germany from this September through next June teaching English as part of Fulbright’s diversity placement (a subsection of the ETA program) at a middle or high school that is predominately made up of an immigrant/minority student population.
“The idea of the diversity program is to actively engage these particular German students in discussions about American culture, political culture, diversity, etc.,” Ali Amghaiab said. “I and 19 other of the 140 English Teaching Assistants in Germany were given this placement, and I’m particularly excited about it because of the opportunity to engage my own identity as a hyphenated American (Arab/Muslim-American) and try and find common ground with my students, perhaps helping them work through their own identities as ‘hyphenated’ Germans.”
Ali Amghaiab was also recently accepted to Harvard’s Divinity School to pursue a Master’s of Theological Studies upon her return from Germany in the fall of 2019. While uncertain exactly what lies ahead on her career path, she’s contemplating a PhD program as well as dedicating her future to education as her own college experience impacted her intellectually and spiritually.
“I came to Belmont thinking I had a solid idea of what I wanted to do with my life, and those notions changed pretty early on by virtue of the classes I took and the professors from whom I sought guidance. Intellectually and academically, I’m indebted to a number of the professors that have taught me across disciplines, and who took seriously the importance of asking fundamental questions and making those the basis of their pedagogy. Since my freshman year, I have been active in a number of student organizations around campus, and, as a Muslim, have made an active effort to engage in inter-faith and cultural dialogue with my peers. The sort of conversation I’ve had with Belmont over the past four years has helped me better understand my role as a religious minority, and how I should use that role as an educator who seeks to find common ground and make the disparate seem less so. In Islam, one of the most noble vocations one can be called to is education, and as a person who is constantly asking questions just as I’m trying to answer them, I couldn’t think of a better one to be called to, and I hope Fulbright will give me a peek into the world of teaching as I imagine it.”
With a dazzling blend of sight, sound, fashion and dance, the O’More College Fashion Show completed its historic run before a packed house at The Franklin Theatre on Thursday, May 10 in downtown Franklin.
The original collections of 22 student designers were presented on the runway before the show moves to its new permanent home this fall at Belmont University.
“There could not have been a better sendoff than to have our final Franklin show downtown in The Franklin Theatre,” said Jamie Atlas, O’More’s fashion department chair and the show’s executive producer since 2002. “Aside from the shared community connections, the venue was ideal for patrons, performers and sponsors. Most of all, it allowed the work of our student designers to shine. I’m so happy that they got to have an experience like this because they earned it. They are the ones who made this an amazing evening. They have set a high standard for when we move to Belmont, and that’s the way it should be.”
The show opened with a performance by New Dialect. The Nashville-based contemporary dance collective performed in costumes that were created in a collaborative effort with O’More students.
When the runway portion of the show commenced, models from AMAX Talent presented the student collections, including those of nine graduating seniors.
Ashleigh Cain, a senior from Thompson’s Station, Tenn., took home the Distinguished Designer award for her collection, Revival of the Fittest. The fur used in her garments was taken from the remains of ‘road-kill’ that Cain collected along the back roads of Middle Tennessee. “I wanted to give new life to the animals I found and give them a new purpose,” said Cain. The leather in her garments was crafted from salmon skin, and her textiles were created from hemp, peace silk and wool.
Other senior collections were The Black Garden by Miranda Bolinger of Murfreesboro; Sacred Nature by Sydney Duncan of Paducah, Ky.; A/W 18 by Macy Harmon of Brentwood; La Femme by Emily James of Portland, Tenn.; My Best Friend’s Wedding by Peach Malone of Memphis; Ken.drama S/S18 by Kendra Martin of Cleveland, Tenn.; In Search of Color by Sarah Mast of Nashville, and SuperNova by Kelly Nieser of Cleveland, Ohio.
The show also featured the work of Sarah Stevenson, a sophomore from Colorado Springs who won the 2018 Eastman NaiaTM Design Challenge. In the Eastman NaiaTM Design Challenge, students created innovative garments using fabric composed of NaiaTM, a cellulosic yarn made from wood pulp and derived exclusively from sustainably managed and certified forests.
Stevenson, who prevailed over 12 other sophomore and junior fashion design students, earned a $2,500 scholarship toward her 2018-19 tuition. Morgan Stengel, a junior from Brentwood, was the runner-up. This marked the second year that Eastman, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., and O’More have partnered to promote the application of an environmentally friendly fiber in original, ready-to-wear knit clothing.
Agreement offers students cost savings, seamless degree completion, transfer scholarship option
Belmont University and Columbia State Community College announced today a new partnership that allows Columbia State associate degree students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree from Belmont’s Jack C. Massey College of Business. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 80 percent of students attending community colleges nationwide intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but only 14 percent have one six years later. This new agreement—which provides deeper connections between the two programs and streamlines services and admissions for students—aims to improve those numbers in Tennessee.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “Through this agreement we’re clearing the obstacles that all too often get in the way of students who are seeking a four-year degree. This partnership paves the way, outlining each step needed to ensure credits earned will all properly transfer while also maximizing each student’s financial investment in their education. At Belmont, we have always valued transfer students from Columbia State, and we are eager to welcome even more to our campus through this innovative new program.”
Eligible students must earn a Columbia State Associate Degree in Business Administration by completing the transfer coursework developed and approved by both institutions. Through this agreement, Columbia State students who meet stated requirements can be granted early admittance into Belmont’s Massey College of Business.
Columbia State President Dr. Janet F. Smith said, “This partnership demonstrates the commitment of Columbia State and Belmont to work together to provide educational opportunity and support that promotes student success. Students can begin at Columbia State, take advantage of tuition-free programs such as the Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect, then transfer seamlessly to the nationally recognized Jack C. Massey College of Business at Belmont and be eligible for the transfer scholarship.”
The degree completion program is open to any Columbia State business student. Students applying for need-based aid or VA benefits as well as adult students seeking reduced tuition options are all eligible for this program. In addition, for the first time ever, a transfer scholarship has been created to support students pursuing 2-to-4 year Columbia State/Belmont option. The scholarship, open to graduates of Columbia State’s associates in business degree, has a value of $3,000 per semester for four semesters of continuous study at Belmont
Dr. Pat Raines, dean of Belmont’s Massey College of Business, added, “Belmont and the Massey College of Business are excited about this innovative partnership we are entering with Columbia State. Through a careful articulation of all degree requirements and a generous scholarship from Belmont, Columbia State students should be able to seamlessly transition to Belmont and complete our highly valued AACSB-accredited B.B.A. program.”
Ranked among the Best Undergraduate Business Schools by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Belmont’s Jack C. Massey College of Business offers the highest quality of business education in a Christian environment. Belmont is the only private university in Tennessee to have met the quality standards to achieve business and specialized accounting accreditation by AACSB International — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. This dual accreditation places Belmont among the less than one percent of the world’s business schools to achieve both business and accounting accreditation.
Each year the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville celebrates a Nashville resident for their inspiring leadership and patronage of the arts with its Martha Rivers Ingram Arts Visionary Award. This year the organization presented the award to Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, a long-time Nashville business leader and arts supporter.
Fisher’s friends, family and colleagues from his many business endeavors as well as his community and arts leadership activities gathered at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center to honor his significant volunteer and community support work. The reception included a musical tribute from students of Belmont University’s Musical Theatre program and remarks from community leaders including Joseph “Pepe” Presley, David Minnigan, R. Milton Johnson, H. Beecher Hicks, III, Butch Spyridon, Ralph Schulz, Rick Byrd, Marty Dickens, and Matt Largen. The award was presented by Martha Ingram and 2016 honoree Steve Turner.
“The Arts & Business Council was founded on the belief that a vibrant and creative culture is what makes Nashville a great place to live, work, and play,” said Jill McMillan, executive director of the Arts & Business Council. “He has had a transformative impact on not only cultivating this culture, but ensuring that the arts community is sustainable and thriving. He is the perfect choice for this year’s Ingram Arts Visionary Award.”
Previous Ingram Arts Visionary Award winners include: Earl Swensson, Denny Bottorf, Walter Knestrick, Steve & Jay Turner, and Shirley Zeitlin.
Corporate sponsors of this event include Earl Swensson Associates and Cumberland Trust.
Corporate communications, Spanish graduate to teach overseas
Recent Belmont University graduate and Woodbury, Minnesota resident Erin Sanislo was recently awarded a Fulbright program grant for overseas teaching to the Canary Islands region of Spain. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is an international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government that provides competitive grants to graduating seniors and graduate students to serve as cultural ambassadors of the United States abroad.
After graduating from Belmont in December 2017 with degrees in corporate communications and Spanish, Sanislo took advantage of a Lumos Travel Award to journey to Ecuador to advance literacy and develop children’s programming. While there she worked with children through cooking, physical activity, homework help, reading time and English classes at a community center outside of Quito.
An Honors student, Sanislo previously studied abroad for five months at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, completing her senior thesis on “The Making of the Modern Pilgrim.” “Fulbright was recommended to me by a friend while I was studying abroad in Spain,” she said. “The prestige and international recognition of Fulbright immediately intrigued me. I fell in love with Spain and its people as I researched my senior honors thesis and walked a section of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. I realized my passion for Spain and experience abroad could be channeled into a higher purpose by becoming a cultural ambassador of the United States on a Fulbright award.”
Sanislo will be teaching in Spain from September 2018 through June 2019. Upon her return to the United States, she plans to enroll in a Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish program to become a certified Spanish teacher. She hopes to teach for a few years at the high school level and then pursue a PhD in Spanish so that she can advance her research on the Camino de Santiago and propel her career to teach at the university level.
“Belmont offered me a global education. The excellent Study Abroad programs at Belmont enabled me to study Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago de Compostela, Spain and to study history in Istanbul, Turkey. My Spanish and Communications professors taught me to think from a cross-cultural mindset and influenced my desire to teach Spanish from the context of culture. The Honors Program at Belmont modeled an intercultural perspective in its curriculum and provided me courses on world religions, philosophies and literature. As a future Spanish teacher, I will demonstrate the cross-cultural understanding that my Belmont professors modeled to me.”
A group of Belmont student-athletes and administrators recently returned from Kenya as part of the Bruins’ annual mission trips.
Belmont Coordinator of Academic Services & Sports Ministry and men’s basketball assistant coach Mark Price led a group to Nakuru, Kenya last May, and the Bruins returned to the same sites this year to continue the work, relationship-building and discipleship.
Joining Holm were Tyler Holloway, Dylan Windler and Kevin McClain from men’s basketball; Creaghan Diekema, George Bukenya, and Matt Vuylsteke from men’s soccer; Niki Clements, Emily Whitcomb and MacKenzie Firek from women’s soccer; and Maggie Mullins from volleyball.
Mullins said, “Kenya 2018 was an unbelievable experience. It opened my eyes to the true power and love of God. Meeting and getting to know the Streets of Hope boys was definitely the highlight for me because even if they had little, they had so much joy. It was truly inspiring.”
During the trip, the group played with children at a group home operated by Streets of Hope, an organization devoted to caring for children forced to fend for themselves on the street. Many of these children are under the age of ten and have lost their parents to the ever-increasing problem of AIDS. Others are homeless due to extreme poverty. In addition to playing sports and talking with the youth, the Bruins also worked in the garden of a local high school and planted trees at a Streets of Hope home.
This and other Belmont service projects are made possible through The Betty Wiseman Mission Fund, established in honor of the Belmont coach emeritus to benefit domestic and overseas mission work.
Dr. Ken Corbit, assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations, attended the World Public Relations Forum in Oslo, Norway April 21-23. The World PR Forum 2018 explored change from three main perspectives: truth, profit and intelligence. The three-day forum included a Research and Practice Colloquium, a full day of discussions and presentations featuring the world’s leading educators, researchers and practitioner thought-leaders.
The Research Colloquium was a unique opportunity to engage professionals, academics and students from across the world in the key challenges facing the profession, to advance thinking and research and share best practices. It served as a bridge between the academic and practitioner communities.
Triple Tigers recording artist Russell Dickerson (2011, Commercial Music) recently celebrated his first No. 1 country hit, which also happened to be the first chart-topping song for his label and for his co-writers and fellow Belmont alumni Casey Brown (2010, Commercial Music) and Parker Welling (2009, Entertainment Industry Studies).
“I was trying to be somebody else—Keith Urban or whoever else was cool—and the songs just weren’t working,” Dickerson told Music Row about the song, “Yours.” “You all know me because we’re family, and they didn’t let me write songs that weren’t me. It just clicked because you understand my artistry and believe in me… And it wasn’t until we wrote this song that anyone started to listen. I knew we had a No. 1 song from the bottom of my heart, and I wasn’t going to give up till this song went No. 1.”
Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Nursing Dr. Cathy Taylor was recently honored with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Dr. John W. Runyan, Jr. Community Nursing Award. Named for a Memphian and internationally recognized advocate for the role of nurses in community health care, the award celebrates a champion of the efforts of nurses in the community.
The award was presented at the second annual NightinGala celebration of nursing hosted by the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center on Friday, May 4. Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, U.S. Deputy Surgeon General, was the event’s featured speaker.
Taylor holds a doctor of public health degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health outcomes at Vanderbilt University. She earned a master’s degree in nursing from the UTHSC College of Nursing and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
She served as assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Services Administration. Prior to that, she was on faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing as director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance Disease Management Program and has held administrative and clinical positions at Alvin C. York VAMC, Fentress County Hospital, Middle Tennessee Medical Center and Hendersonville Hospital.
In 2006, Dr. Taylor was appointed by then-Governor Phil Bredesen to chair the Tennessee Center for Diabetes Prevention and Health Improvement Board. In addition, she has served as a consultant on projects for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau Leadership Institute and China’s Ministry of Health.
Proceeds from the gala support the efforts of the Center for Community Partnerships and Nursing Innovation in the College of Nursing. The center is designed to develop sustainable partnerships with clinical, research and service institutions in the Mid-South to advance health care, foster innovative nursing strategies, reduce health disparities and improve patient outcomes.
The NightinGala was held in conjunction with National Nurses Week, which runs through May 12.
