Students across the country voted, but Belmont won the contest. Now, Atlantic Recording artist JoJo will be a “Freshman for a Day” on campus this Thursday, Nov. 10. Belmont students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to join the party to welcome her to campus Thursday at 2 p.m. at the balustrade on the south side of The Lawn (closest to the Curb Garage).
In addition, during her time on campus, JoJo will be conducting a Q&A session and performing a short acoustic set that evening. The event is free, but tickets are required! Details below:
“A Conversation with JoJo”
Massey Performing Arts Center
Thursday, November 10
Doors open at 5:15 p.m.
Event from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Tickets for “A Conversation with JoJo” are available now. Students, faculty and staff,CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR TICKET! Simply enter your BUid, along with your password (or create one if you haven’t ordered tickets before). Then reserve your spot for this free event—please remember to “Finalize Your Order.” This will send you a confirmation email with a PDF of your ticket to bring to the event.
On Friday, November 4, Belmont hosted a Morris Family Mentor/Lecture Series in the Johnson Theater featuring Fletcher Foster, president and CEO of Iconic Entertainment Group. Foster shared his experiences starting his independent label and managing artists like country star Kelsea Ballerini. Foster is a 1985 music business alumnus.
Foster started in the music business as an intern at CBS Records, currently known as Sony Records, while studying at Belmont. While there, Foster said he was the guy who always wanted to answer the phones. By playing gigs on the weekends and working three jobs, Foster gained experience with many “tentacles” of the business.
Foster told students that when deciding whether or not to sign an artist, he thinks of Clide Davis from Big Visionary who said, “If I can’t see an artist playing in Madison Square Garden, I’m not interested.” He emphasized the importance of having a developed stage presence and artistry.
With a great stage presence and artistry, Foster said that Kelsea Ballerini has become the biggest success out of this town since Sam Hunt. The first female artist to become No. 1 in 10 years, Foster credits her ability to break the anti-women streak of country music with her magnetism and spunky personality.
Foster concluded by saying there is no replacement for being hungry and that balancing, listening, learning and taking in knowledge from the people around you will take you far in the industry. Foster was introduced by Harry Chapman, Belmont’s director of special projects and major gifts.
Marsh, an economics major and math minor, presented two papers titled “But Why Is The Rum Gone? An Estimation of the Price Elasticity of Demand for Wholesale Liquor in Iowa” and “Which Will It Be: The Empire Strikes Back or The Son of the Mask? Maximizing Movie Sequel Sales at the Box Office.” In the first paper, Marsh measured the price elasticity of demand for wholesale liquor in Iowa in 2015 which measures the response of consumers to changes in price of a good. Using regression analysis, the price elasticity of state-monopolized wholesale liquor ranged from -0.20 to -0.40, with most of the changes passed to consumers. He also found that previous liquor orders are good indicators of future orders.
In the second paper, Marsh examined the factors associated with the release of movie sequels showing that film studios release sequels quicker the higher the profits of the previous movie. The most significant factor that influenced the timing was whether the sequel movie was produced by the same studio. Time between sequels increases by 60 percent when a different studio produces the movie. Similarly, time between sequels decreases by 25 percent if the previous movies were profitable.
Cannonier and Sharpe, currently a PhD student at Vanderbilt, presented “Economic Growth in Transition Economies – The Role of the Great Recession.” In this paper, the authors investigated the effects of financial crises on growth in transition economies. Using the Great Recession as a plausibly exogenous shock, they employed a difference-in-differences econometric framework to investigate whether the event led to a decrease in growth in transition (former Soviet states and Central and Eastern European) economies relative to non-transition (and more developed European) economies. Compared to non-transition economies, their estimates suggest that the Great Recession reduced economic growth in transition economies by between 1.7 and 2.6 percentage points.
Cannonier also presented a paper (co-authored with Dr. Monica Burke) titled “Tourism and Financial Development in Small States – Evidence from Caribbean Countries.” Tourism expenditure in Caribbean countries represents the single largest inflow of foreign exchange and is associated with significant international capital flow. Yet, the relationship between tourism and financial development has received scant attention in the academic literature.
This research, focused on whether tourism promotes financial development in Caribbean economies, utilizes newly-constructed data on tourism flows to the region from 1980 to 2013. Using a variety of econometric techniques, findings revealed that tourist expenditure, on average, has a positive and significant impact on financial development measures. At the most conservative estimates, the authors found that by increasing tourism expenditures per capita by about $1,200, depth in the financial system improves by about 10-15 percent, while efficiency increases by about 57 percent.
The Missouri Valley Economic Association (MVEA) was founded in 1963 to encourage the development of economics as a theoretical, applied discipline to foster communication among scholars in those fields and facilitate the extension and dissemination of knowledge. In pursuit of these goals, the MVEA holds an annual conference and publishes the Journal of Economics.
Dr. Jayme Yeo, assistant professor of English, presented at the annual meeting for the National Conference for Higher Education in Prison, held at Belmont University this year.
Yeo’s presentation explored the potentialities and limitations of bearing witness to student work—rather than merely listening to, reading, or assessing it—as a crucial function of the prison educator.
Application designed to ‘help our students succeed’
Need some help organizing all the post-midterm homework and semester-long projects? There’s an app for that. This time, there’s a Belmont professor making the app possible and potentially easing students’ stress in the process.
Dr.Lakisha Simmons, assistant professor of management information systems in the Massey College of Business, and her colleague Dr. Chris Simmons (Lipscomb Universityprofessor of computer science and software engineering) collaborated on the creation of the Homework Suite Student Planner, an academic planner mobile app that went live earlier this fall.
“I’ve always been interested in how technology improves our lives, and I’ve always been very organized,” said Simmons. “So when I noticed a trend of 20-25 percent of my students would miss the first few assignments of the semester, I knew that I had to do something. My colleague had the same concerns – students’ grades and performance were being impacted simply because they forgot their homework.”
The app was designed with college students in mind as the couple sought to create solutions to the “I forgot” problem and to help students track their own class attendance and keep tabs on group projects.
Simmons continued, “The app is customizable with a beautiful color palette so that students can color code their classes. Best of all students can set multiple reminders for due dates.”
In fact, college students can import syllabi assignments directly into the app (see the import section on the website), alleviating the need to enter individual assignments for each class into personal calendar software.
Simmons said, “I’ve already had a couple of students personally tell me that they would have missed an assignment if they hadn’t received an automated reminder from Homework Suite. We are so glad that it’s helping students manage their coursework.”
The Homework Suite Concierge will:
Send students homework and exam reminders
Display an assignment feed and calendar view to quickly see what tasks are due and when.
Provide a useful dashboard to visualize what’s due today and how much is due over the next several weeks.
Import syllabus information
Store and emails study partners from the app
Store faculty office hours and allow students to email faculty directly from the app
Accept a picture of a handout or notes from an instructor and add it to the notes of a task.
Color code classes for easy reference
Allow for subtasks so that students can create their own study plan and break large assignments into manageable pieces
Homework Suite is free and can be accessed via Google Play, the App Store and on the website. A ProStudent upgrade is also available as an in-app purchase of $2.99 that offers additional resources.
“Next year we are looking forward to incorporating student feedback into the app. Several students have asked for grades tracking and, if we get enough interest in that particular, we may build it into the app next summer. We couldn’t be more thrilled to use our God-given talents in our field of information technology to create an application that helps our students succeed.”
Belmont University alumna and contemporary Christian singer Julianna Zobrist opened game four of the 2016 World Series on Oct. 29 in Chicago with her rendition of “God Bless America.” Julianna lives in Franklin with her husband Ben, who plays for the Chicago Cubs and was named the World Series MVP after hitting a double in the 10th inning of Game 7, securing the Cubs’ 8-7 win over the Cleveland Indians. The victory marked the first World Series title for the Cubs since 1908.
Julianna spends the majority of her time touring the country, giving performances and spreading the message of God’s kingdom at conferences and universities. She has released two extended plays and one studio album, titled “Shatterproof,” that was released on July 1. She is also the mother of three young children.
In 2014, Julianna and Ben published their first autobiography “Double Play: Faith and Family First” with help from bestselling author Mike Yorkey. The book discusses the ways in which the Zobrists keep their values in line throughout their mutually busy careers.
To watch Julianna’s World Series performance, click here.
Drew Hendry, a 1990 Belmont graduate and a former member of the cross country team, recently starred in an episode of HGTV’s hit show “House Hunters.” Hendry is a Nashville real estate agent working for Benchmark Realty and was given the task of helping clients Jaron and Chelsea Byrum find a Nashville home that fit their expectations for under $250,000. The episode aired on HGTV on Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. CST.
The Byrums approached Hendry in the fall of 2015 as newlyweds who were looking to move to Nashville from Iowa. The couple asked Hendry if he would be interested in being on T.V., as they had applied for “House Hunters” and had been accepted pending their realtor’s approval. Jaron had received a job as the women’s cross country and track coach at Independence High School south of Nashville, which is the same school that Hendry’s son Andrew is also competing for in cross country and track. Chelsea had accepted a position in an area north of Nashville, which made Hendry’s job of finding the Byrums a home in between their workplaces more challenging.
The three homes that Hendry arranged to walk the couple through were located in East Nashville, Antioch and South Nashville. Jaron was hoping to find a farmhouse-style home with an open floor plan while Chelsea was set on the split-home setup. Ultimately, they decided on the house with the most room for entertaining guests, which was a feature they couldn’t pass up. Hendry helped the Byrums find the perfect middle-ground home to start off their new life in Nashville.
On Oct. 28, Belmont’s Equity Trading Club and students from other competing universities met with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) executives to report on year-to-date performances and management disciplines within the corporation’s Investment Challenge. Belmont’s portfolio team learned that it was currently ranked first in the state with a portfolio in excess of $720,000 and a 5.38 percent outperformance of the TVA benchmark.
TVA’s Investment Challenge is an innovative partnership between TVA and universities in its service territory that provides a real-world learning experience in portfolio management. The challenge gives teams of students hands-on experience in managing TVA stock portfolios. Belmont started participating in the challenge in 2011 and has upheld a high record of placement throughout its involvement. The portfolio team came in sixth place in the 2016 competition that ended in April and boasted a strong annual return of 5.90 percent in the 2015 challenge, where they competed against 24 universities across seven states. Other universities in the challenge include Vanderbilt, Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee State.
From singing heartfelt ballads to arranging a quartet performance composed of men in chicken suits, students, faculty and alumni from the Belmont University College of Law didn’t disappoint when it came to showing off their talents. On Oct. 20, the Legal Aid Society and the Student Bar Association hosted their second annual variety show in an effort to raise money for their community endeavors. The groups raised over $4,000 for multiple local organizations.
In addition to showing off their hidden skills, students and faculty members competed in a law school themed game of “Family Feud,” attempting to win by guessing top responses from a poll of current students. The evening then closed with an acapella group rendition of “Let It Be” by the Beatles.
The Belmont University College of Law Legal Aid Society partners with organizations such as the Tennessee branch of Justice for our Neighbors (JFON), where students help immigrants apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and the Tennessee Justice Center, through which students represent TennCare enrollees whose benefits have been lessened or denied.
Deal includes commercial exposure, internships, campus premiere
Baseball. The Civil War. Jazz. The National Parks. The list of subjects covered by Emmy Award-winning documentarian Ken Burns reflects the heart of American culture and history. Now, Belmont University has agreed to partner with Burns on the latest addition in his iconic career, the highly anticipated “Country Music,” slated to premiere nationally on PBS in 2019. The Belmont grant will help underwrite a portion of the production and distribution costs for the anticipated 16-hour series, while also securing significant educational benefits for Belmont students along with national exposure for the University.
Dr. Fisher speaks as Belmont University announces major sponsorship of Ken Burns’s new documentary, the highly anticipated ‘Country Music’ which is slated to premiere nationally on PBS in 2019, on the front steps of Freeman Hall at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. November 2, 2016.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “We are honored to partner with Ken Burns on a series that will undoubtedly bring greater attention to our hometown, Nashville, as well as to an industry that employs so many of our own alumni and friends. Moreover, I am thrilled at the opportunity ‘Country Music’ will provide to music, music business and motion pictures students to personally witness the work of Ken Burns, an absolute legend in his craft. This kind of opportunity is one of the many things that make Belmont so unique in higher education.”
As part of the partnership, Belmont will have the opportunity to host a private screening for an episode of the series on campus along with a Q&A session for students and faculty with Burns. In addition, select Belmont students and faculty will be invited to visit Burns’s Florentine Films editing facility in New Hampshire to view portions of the work-in-progress. Starting next year, Belmont students will intern with Florentine Films in their New Hampshire or New York offices. The sponsorship will also deliver tens of millions of impressions for the Belmont University brand upon its broadcast on PBS, along with its presence on the website, home video packaging and promotional materials for the series.
Ken Burns said, “We are looking forward to this new partnership as we bring the incredible story of Country Music—covering 16 hours over eight nights of prime time television—to a national PBS audience. With its deep roots in Nashville, Belmont is part of that history–a history full of great music, great stories and great characters. We’re excited about interacting with Belmont’s students and helping the university spread the word about its programs regarding the art and the business of music.”
Directed and produced by Ken Burns and written and produced by Dayton Duncan, “Country Music”will chronicle the history of a uniquely American art form. From southern Appalachia and the Ozark’s songs of struggle, heartbreak and faith to the rollicking western swing of Texas, from California honky tonks to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, the series will follow the evolution of country music over the course of the twentieth century, as it eventually emerged to become America’s music.
The series will also chronicle the rise of Nashville–with its songwriters and musicians, its publishers and its studios on Music Row–as not just the home of Country Music, but Music City USA.
“The artistry and popularity of country music have made Nashville a magnet for singers, songwriters and session musicians and a beacon for fans from around the globe,” Mayor Megan Barry said. “There could be no better filmmaker to tell this essential Nashville story than Ken Burns – and no better university to partner with him than the one perched at the end of Music Row. The admissions staff should probably be on their toes, because the education Belmont offers to music business and music students is about to get even better.”
Belmont will be the only University or college to partner with Florentine Films as a sponsor on this project, and the pairing makes good sense with nearly a third of Belmont students currently studying music or the music/entertainment industry. Home to alumni Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood, Josh Turner, Brandy Clark and Florida Georgia Line and numerous others, Belmont has earned a longstanding and well-deserved reputation as an incubator of country music talent. In addition, countless award-winning songwriters, producers, engineers and industry executives began their careers at Belmont University, including Ashley Gorley (27 No. 1 singles), Universal Music Group President Cindy Mabe, Big Machine Records Vice President John Zarling, Warner/Chappell Executive Vice President Ben Vaughn and acclaimed producers Mark Bright and Mark Wright, among countless others.
Belmont’s Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business was recently recognized by Billboard as an “Elite Music Business School,” and the University’s School of Music is consistently lauded as one of the nation’s best commercial music programs. Faculty in both areas represent immense expertise and experience in music of all genres, including country, with such names as violinist Tammy Rogers King (SteelDrivers), bassist Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett), Turtles’ co-founder Mark Volman and engineer Joe Baldridge (Taylor Swift), teaching Belmont students daily.
Marsh, an economics major and math minor, presented two papers titled “But Why Is The Rum Gone? An Estimation of the Price Elasticity of Demand for Wholesale Liquor in Iowa” and “Which Will It Be: The Empire Strikes Back or The Son of the Mask? Maximizing Movie Sequel Sales at the Box Office.” In the first paper, Marsh measured the price elasticity of demand for wholesale liquor in Iowa in 2015 which measures the response of consumers to changes in price of a good. Using regression analysis, the price elasticity of state-monopolized wholesale liquor ranged from -0.20 to -0.40, with most of the changes passed to consumers. He also found that previous liquor orders are good indicators of future orders.
Dr. Jayme Yeo, assistant professor of English, presented at the annual meeting for the National Conference for Higher Education in Prison, held at Belmont University this year. 
