Current Miss Black Alabama USA LaQuitta Shai Wilkins, a Belmont nursing graduate and former women’s basketball player, is competing at the Miss Black USA pageant this weekend in Washington, D.C. Shai is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, initiated here at Belmont’s Tau Nu Chapter. Her hometown ABC affiliate recently did a feature story on her that can be viewed here . This Miss Black USA pageant will be streamed live on Sunday, Aug. 7 at 4 p.m. Central.
Ten faculty members from the Belmont University College of Pharmacy attended the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) held in Anaheim, California in July. This meeting is the largest gathering of academic pharmacy administrators, faculty and staff.
Dr. Hope Campbell, immediate past chair of the Minority Faculty Special Interest Group, delivered a presentation with colleagues titled “Addressing Hot Topics About Minority Faculty and Students in Pharmacy Programs.” Dr. Angela Hagan attended the meeting as the Secretary of this Small Interest Group.
Dr. Leigh Ann Bynum delivered a presentation with colleagues titled “Faculty Citizenship in the Academy: What Is It and What Do We Do With It?”
Dr. Scott Weston facilitated a round table session focusing on “Interprofessional Education: Leveraging Team STEPPS Faculty Training Across Multiple Disciplines to Enhance Interprofessional Faculty and Student Interaction.”
Drs. Ashton Beggs, Kelley Kiningham, Phil Johnston, Montgomery Williams, and Kristy Wahaib presented a poster titled “Being Belmont: Preparing the Next Generation of Pharmacists” and Dr. Adam Pace and colleagues presented a poster titled “Prevalence and characteristics of pharmacies owned and operated by schools of pharmacy in the U.S.”
Dr. Angela Clauson served as the administrative delegate and Dr. Marilyn Thompson Odom served as the faculty delegate.
The Summer Scholars Program provides students and faculty the opportunity to conduct collaborative research for which the students receive course credit. Since the summer of 2003, more than 40 research communities have been formed involving over 100 students in the areas of biology, English, mathematics, computer science, history, psychology and sociology. Many of the communities continue year after year with the same faculty mentor and a new group of student participants. For example, a number of biology faculty have communities each year continuing to investigate their favorite model organism or system as listed below.
Professor of Biology Dr. Darlene Panvini’s research group worked on two different projects. Students Anna Anderson and Gary Noel set up a six-month study to analyze the decomposition of native and non-native leaves under different environmental conditions. In the other study, Sargoel Rezanejad and Kelsey Saint Clair used DNA Barcoding, Biolog Ecoplates and pitfall traps to compare the diversity of plants, bacteria and macroinvertebrates on one of the Ayers Academic Center’s green roofs to the McWhorter Hall green roof.
Dr. Chris Barton, assistant professor of biology, mentored a group of four students who explored the effects of multiple compounds on the growth of cervical and colorectal cancer cell lines. The ability to identify, quantify and classify genes that are specifically expressed is essential to understanding how cells respond to chemotherapy. Anna Margaret McDonnell, Kerry Sommers, Sarah Anderson and Diana Neculcea exposed cell cultures to a variety of chemotherapy agents and then measured cell viability and examined the expression of specific genes including genes implicated in cancer.
Professor of Biology Dr. Lori McGrew led a group of students utilizing Danio rerio (zebrafish) as a model organism and focused on assessment of anxiety or memory in the fish. Austin Demaagd, Stephane Morin and Sam Zacovic measured anxiety in the fish following treatment with various pharmacologic agents. Curt Brown, John Longenecker and Mohamed Darwish used a T-maze to assess memory in zebrafish that had been exposed to different medications.
The Summer Scholars students are scheduled to share their findings with the Belmont community during a poster session in the Ayers Academic Center third floor atrium at 10 a.m. Sept. 3.
Belmont students from the College of Science and Mathematics presented their summer research at the highly competitive Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Student Research Symposium on August 3. Ambrose Rice, a senior biology major, and Sherif Helmey, a junior biology major, joined more than 200 of the best and brightest undergraduate students from all over the country who have been working all summer on cutting edge research projects at LANL. The student symposium is the capstone event for these young researchers after spending 10 weeks at the lab. In its 16th year with a theme of “Celebrating Student Achievement,” students must submit abstracts and put together a scientific poster that is judged by LANL staff scientists and is open to the public.
Ambrose’s poster was titled, “Enhancing Lignin Degradation: The Holy Grail of Cellulosic Bio-fuel Production,” and Sherif’s poster was titled, “A Better Understanding of Protein Structure and Function by the Synthesis and Incorporation of Selenium- and Tellurium- Containing Tryptophan Analogs.”
Both students are at LANL as part of a federal Department of Energy (DOE) grant valued at $29,000 that was awarded to Dr. Duane Hatch, assistant professor from the department of chemistry and physics, titled, “Bio-incorporation of a Se-Containing Tryptophan Analog (SeTrp) into Lignin Peroxidase (LiP) to Study the Enhanced Catalytic Ability Towards Lignin Model Compounds and Dyes.” As part of the grant, Dr. Hatch is able to spend the summer at Los Alamos National Lab conducting his proposed research and can select up to two undergraduate students to accompany him, each with a very generous stipend that covers travel, housing and salary for the full 10 weeks. Dr. Hatch serves as the Principal Investigator and LANL staff scientists, Dr. Pete Silks and Dr. Ricardo Marti-Arbona (both from the Bioscience Division, B-11), serve as CO-PIs and mentors to the students.
Dr. Stephen Hankil Shin, assistant professor of sport science, recently published a peer-reviewed article with coauthors titled “Examining psychometric properties of Korean American consumer decision-making styles: The case of golf club purchasing,” (Volume 22, Issue a) in the International Journal of Sport Management, Recreation and Tourism.
During a Maymester 2016 study abroad course titled “Music Product Design, Development and Marketing,” Assistant Professor of Entertainment Industry Studies Dr. Sarita Stewart, Associate Professor of Physics Dr. Scott Hawley and a group of Belmont students toured the Neumann facility in Berlin, Germany. Neumann is a worldwide leading manufacturer of studio microphones. Wolfgang Fraissinet, president of Neumann, met with the group and showed them around the facilities.
The Belmont faculty invited Fraissinet to return the favor and visit Belmont if the opportunity arose, and he came to campus this week with Dawn Birr, Neumann’s commercial manager of audio recording. During their visit, the Neumann representatives toured Belmont facilities, and Fraissinet gave a presentation in the Johnson Center large theater on the many innovations the microphone industry has experienced from the dawn of recording to the present day, as well as his perspective on what the future of microphone technology may hold.
Belmont University will hold its summer 2016 commencement ceremony for graduate and undergraduate students at 5 p.m. this Friday, Aug. 5, in the Curb Event Center. The ceremony will celebrate the graduation of a total of 259 students with 115 undergraduate, 107 master’s and 37 doctoral degrees scheduled to be conferred.
Dr. Bob Fisher, president of the University, will preside over the event, and Dr. Daniel Biles, professor of mathematics, will present the commencement address. Biles is the 2015-16 Presidential Faculty Achievement Award recipient, a title awarded for the outstanding contributions he has made to student success. Watch the graduation ceremony live by visiting www.belmont.edu during the ceremony and clicking the watch live link.
** A video of the August 2016 commencement ceremony is now available here. **
Decision comes following Wright State’s withdrawal
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced today that Belmont University will now serve as the official alternate site to host a 2016 Presidential or Vice Presidential Debate. The news comes as Wright State University (Dayton, OH) withdrew from its hosting duties late last month, and first alternate Hofstra University (Long Island, NY) was tapped as the new host for the political season’s first presidential debate on Sept. 26.
Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and University of Nevada-Las Vegas are currently slated to host the other two presidential debates this fall on Oct. 9 and 19 respectively, while Longwood University (Farmville, VA) will host the vice presidential debate Oct. 4.
“Belmont University served very successfully as a presidential debate site in 2008. We are grateful that Belmont has agreed to serve as an alternate site this debate cycle, and our team would look forward to working with them if the need arose,” the Commission said in a statement.
Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “Hosting the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate was a great honor for our campus, our city and our state, marking the first presidential debate to be held in Tennessee. I continue to enthusiastically support the work of the Commission in its mission of helping educate American voters and, in the process, creating a stronger democracy. While I sincerely hope that all goes as planned at the selected sites, we will work diligently to be prepared in the outside chance that we’re called on. I know the entire Belmont community welcomes the opportunity to contribute to such an important political process. ”
In addition to the confidence expressed in the Belmont team to host a debate again, Fisher also pointed out the immense support Belmont is receiving from city and state officials both in the application process and now with the news of the alternate selection.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam said, “Time and time again Belmont University has proven its commitment to its city and state by hosting community, cultural and educational events. The University has shown it can exceed expectations for a debate on this level, and this would be another opportunity to put the best of what Tennessee has to offer on display on this national stage.”
“It would be an honor for Belmont University and the city of Nashville to once again host a Presidential or Vice Presidential debate,” said Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. “Debates present an exciting opportunity for voters to move beyond speeches and ads and truly get an insight into how a candidate thinks, feels and will act under pressure. Belmont did an outstanding job hosting one of the Presidential debates in 2008, and as Mayor, I will do whatever I can to support the university’s efforts to successfully host another debate if given the opportunity.”
Belmont University was one of 16 sites nationwide under consideration for a presidential or vice presidential debate during this year’s election cycle. Belmont previously hosted the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, moderated by NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, between then candidates Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. The 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate was the first and only presidential debate to date to be held in Tennessee.
Marisa Bentheimer, a fourth year pharmacy student at Belmont University, was recently chosen as a Walmart Scholar by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). The scholars program recognizes select students and their faculty mentors in an effort to strengthen the recipient’s skills and commitment to a career in academic pharmacy. Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice Dr. Adam Pace serves as Bentheimer’s mentor.
In speaking of Bentheimer Dr. Pace said, “Marisa is incredibly enthusiastic. She also has great leadership abilities and a marked interest in teaching.” Bentheimer is interested in enhancing the role of the community pharmacist through scholarly teaching in that area. After pharmacy school, she plans to complete a residency program in community practice and become a pharmacy practice faculty member.
In addition to its recognition, the Walmart Scholar program provides scholarships to student-faculty pairs to attend the AACP annual meeting and Teachers Seminar, recently held in Anaheim, California.
Bentheimer said of the conference, “Attending the AACP conference has given me the building blocks to start my career in pharmacy academia. From the seminars to the poster sessions, the unique teaching methods I observed gave me the motivation to explore new avenues through which students can learn. I feel that this experience will help prepare me not only for my upcoming academia rotations, but my future as well.”
