Grammy-nominated producer, mixer and songwriter Greg Wells recently visited Jodi Marr’s Songwriting class as a guest speaker. Wells’s credits include Katy Perry, Adele, Keith Urban, One Republic, 21 Pilots, Timbaland, Celine Dion, Carol King, Pink and others.
Trost Receives Paul J. Hartman Memorial State and Local Tax Forum Award
Law Professor Charlie Trost was awarded the Paul J. Hartman Memorial State and Local Tax Forum Award for his outstanding contributions and dedicated service to the field of state and local tax law. Trost is the author and editor of the treatise, Federal Limitations on State and Local Taxation, 2d. He is recognized as a distinguished State and Local Tax (“SALT”) practitioner and serves as a Life Member and a former Treasurer of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
He is a former Commissioner of Revenue for the State of Tennessee and a Founding Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. In 2016, Trost was named one of the top ten State Tax practitioners in the country. He is of Counsel with the Nashville law firm Waller Lansden, where he has been a member and partner since 1981.
The Paul J. Hartman State & Local Tax Forum was established in 1993 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since that time, the Board of Trustees and Advisory Board have worked together to provide industry, practitioners and state revenue employees the opportunity to participate in a quality forum exploring significant national developments and trends in state and local taxation. Trost is only the third recipient of this award.
Belmont Celebrates Marie Curie’s 150th Birthday with Women in Science Symposium
Belmont University’s Department of Chemistry and Physics celebrated scientist Marie Curie’s 150th birthday with a Women in Science Symposium held Monday, November 6. The event, “Celebrating the Women of Physical Science” welcomed 50 local high school students, from 15 area high schools, who participated in lab tours, demonstrations and hands-on lab activities before Belmont faculty member Dr. Krista McBride led a short talk on the legacy of Curie’s life for the attendees and Belmont community.
Immediately after, Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross shared a keynote presentation, “With the Right Shoes, You Can Do Anything.” Iriarte-Gross is responsible for bringing Expanding Your Horizons (EYH), an international program bringing hands-on STEM experiences to girls, to Tennessee and is the recipient of the first American Chemical Society (ACS) Women Chemists Committee ChemLuminary Award for Most Innovative Recognition of Women in the Chemical Sciences.
Event organizer and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Education Dr. Danielle Garrett said the Department hosted the event as a way to highlight the continued underrepresentation of women in the physical sciences, make physical science more relatable and accessible to students and heighten publicity of Belmont’s science programs. Citing research that shows women receive more than 50% of bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences but only 39% in physical sciences (and the number decreases when considering chemistry and physics), Garrett and the rest of the Department’s STEM Outreach Committee are committed to emphasizing the importance of women in STEM fields.
School of Music Ranked as Great Value College for Music Majors
Belmont University’s School of Music was recently ranked as No. 19 on Great Value College’s Top 60 Great Value Colleges for Music Majors (Undergraduate). The School is the highest ranked in the state.
Using data from a number of sources, the ranking uses a point system that evaluates affordability, awards and recognition, competitiveness, average class size, additional features and graduate success, among other things.
Dean of the School of Music Dr. Stephen Eaves said, “The School of Music has a long tradition of excellence and innovation in developing relevant, successful musicians who are leaders in the field of music. We are pleased to be recognized as a great value for undergraduate music majors.”
Mauldin Honored with Dove Award
Steve Mauldin, an adjunct music technology instructor in the School of Music, was recently honored by the Gospel Music Association with the Dove Award, their highest honor, for his work on For the Sake the Love. The religious musical was recognized in the “Best Musical/Choral Collection of the Year” category and was created by Lee Black, Camp Kirkland, Cliff Durren, Phil Nitz and Mauldin.
Mauldin received his classical degree, a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory, from Furman University in 1976. He became a staff musician with Mark Five Recording Studios in 1972, played bass guitar on stage for Chet Atkins and has recorded with nationally-recognized artists including Carrie Underwood, Chely Wright, B.J. Thomas, Amy Grant, Ricky Skaggs, Seals & Crofts, Ray Price, Kenny Rogers, Pat Boone, The Gaither Vocal Band, Michael McDonald, Gary Puckett, Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Collective Soul, Avalon and Willie Nelson. For ten years he produced and arranged for legendary pianist Floyd Cramer and served as musical director for Buddy Emmons and the Swing Shift Band.
An acclaimed producer and arranger, Mauldin’s accolades include the 2007 Singing News: Best Southern Gospel Album award, six nominations for the Gospel Music Dove Award and Arranger of the Year (1998, 1999 and 2002) by the Southern Gospel Music Association. He has conducted his arrangements with numerous orchestras including the Nashville Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. His original compositions also appear in jingles, television (CMT’s 100 Greatest Love Songs) and several films.
In 2005, Mauldin returned to Belmont to resume teaching Computer Assisted Music Notation, a course he pioneered in the early nineties. While teaching, he entered the master’s program and received a Master of Music Composition degree in 2009.
Students Volunteer at Annual Edgehill Halloween Family Night
A group of Bridges to Belmont scholars volunteered at the Edgehill Halloween Family Night last week where they passed out candy, facilitated a face-painting booth and assisted with judging costume competitions. Brenda Morrow, the director of the Edgehill Family Resource Center, facilitates the Edgehill Halloween Family Night each year. Nearly 200 children attended the annual event.
According to Megan McNeese, student support specialist with the Bridges to Belmont Program, “This event offers a safe and fun atmosphere for the children of the Edgehill neighborhood. Community partners like Belmont help to amplify events like this by partnering to offer a diversity of activities and resources to the children. It’s important for students to volunteer because it enables them to give back to the community and to share their own gifts and talents.”
McNeese also added, “It’s important for students to recognize their own role in the larger Nashville community as they make the transition to post-grad life; community service is a launch-pad for students to become engaged citizens who participate in and give back to the larger community. Volunteering is one way in which students learn to engage and transform the world around them.”
Students Take the ‘Plunge,’ Participate in Service for Fall Break
Instead of taking a vacation or visiting their family over fall break, more than 85 Belmont students, faculty and staff spent their time away from campus this semester taking the ‘plunge’ — a tradition that has been hosted by Belmont’s Office of University Ministries for the past six years. This year’s teams traveled to St. Louis, Memphis, Birmingham, Indianapolis and Atlanta as they worked with local organizations that serve the people of each city.
In St. Louis, a team worked alongside New City Fellowship and City Lights serving widows by building a wheelchair ramp, mowing lawns and completing roof repair and basic construction projects. While there, the group also participated in a civil rights tour of the city which included many historical sites.
A team of 15 traveled to Indianapolis where they mulched playgrounds at a church and community center, installed smoke detectors and painted homes, worked in a food pantry and prepared lunches for school children. Trip leader and Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics Dr. Steve Robinson said the most memorable part of the trip was the opportunity to see students serve the Lord through service. “Seeing God glorified in the selfless service of students who forwent a chance to rest and catch up with school work over fall break was so meaningful,” he said. “You don’t have to have it all together to seek God and serve others.”
Student Emilee Filspart spent the long weekend in Birmingham, Alabama serving one of Belmont ministry partners, Urban Ministry. While there, the team painted the house of a woman who became a dear friend. “She was so appreciative of our generosity,” Filspart said. “She told us that as a young couple, she and her husband did service work and she felt like things had come full circle.”
Each of the teams did similar work in different cities, working in food pantries, with children’s ministries, urban gardens, ministry with those experiencing homelessness, and in local schools. Teams also worshipped on Sunday morning in a variety of urban church settings.
For more information about Plunge and other service opportunities through University Ministries, click here.
Interdisciplinary Faculty Members Participate in Education Board Institute, Diverse Faculty Compact
Belmont faculty members Drs. Sybril Brown (Media Studies), Marnie Vanden Noven (Sport Science), Mona Ivey-Soto (Education), Bill Hooper (Mathematics & Computer Science) and Cheryl Carr (Entertainment and Music Business) and Provost Dr. Thomas Burns recently attended the Southern Regional Education Board 2017 Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, as well as the Compact for Faculty Diversity in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, the team met with potential faculty members and discussed opportunities currently available on Belmont’s campus.
The largest conference for minority Ph.D.’s in the country, the Compact provides excellent opportunities for universities to connect with potential employees one-on-one, while allowing participants to become familiar with landscape of higher education. Representatives from Belmont, including Provost Burns, have attended the event for the past six years.
Carr said, “Given the number of institutions that participate as recruiters, there is national recognition that this conference is a prime recruitment opportunity. The caliber of doctoral candidates in attendance was very impressive, and Belmont is happy to participate in this important initiative.”
For a video of the event, click here..
Theatre Performance Major Featured on BroadwayWorld
Junior theatre performance major Alex Drinnen was recently featured on BroadwayWorld as “one of the most accomplished and most often-cast young actors in Tennessee Theater.”
Drinnen attributes most of theatrical success to his education and experiences at Belmont. He said, “My experience at Belmont has been one of the most transformative periods in my life… I’m still blown away every day by the amount of talent that is here at our disposal as well as some of the greatest facilities I’ve ever seen in an academic setting.”
Drinnen is currently the assistant projection designer for Belmont’s production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” as well as continuing his own personal play-writing. He says that his aspirations have shifted recently from only acting to exploring a variety of concentrations within the theater. “My favorite thing about Belmont is the vast array of opportunities one has, both in and out of the department. We can explore different areas of design, writing [and] directing… Most schools don’t have that opportunity, so that’s an amazing part of what makes Belmont special.”
Honors/CTCM Students Present on Maymester in Germany
Honors students Randy Westergaard (junior Christian ethics and worship major), Cole Fuller (junior Christian leadership major) and Taylor Brown (junior church leadership major) recently shared their Maymester experiences in Germany at a convocation event. The group traveled to Germany with Dr. Gwaltney, dean of the College of Theology and Christian Ministry, to explore the origins of the Reformation. Oct. 31, the day of the convocation event, marked the 500th anniversary of the historical moment when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral. This moment marked the beginning of the Reformation and the origins of the Lutheran religion. Westergaard, Fuller and Brown each shared their photos and stories from the trip as well as details about the impact the experience had on their faith journeys.
The Maymester trip to Germany will return in 2018 to teach students about the Catholic St. Francis of Assisi and Martin Luther, led by Dr. Ann Coble and Dr. Regine Schwarzmeier.
