Judge and Dean of Belmont’s College of Law Alberto Gonzales recently published two opinion articles.
The first, published in The Hill on September 9, is entitled “Choosing a President.”
“Kim Davis, same-sex marriage and the rule of law,” a second article, was published on September 10 in The Tennessean.
During Thursday night’s election coverage, the Tennessean’s newsroom was busting with activity from reporters, photographers, videographers and a team of four Belmont students selected to join Opinion and Engagement Editor David Plazas on the night’s activity.
Juniors McLean Pillon, Kirk Bado and Hayden Rutledge and senior Jonathan Joyce wrote candidate profiles, participated in Belmont’s Nashforward debate series (the city’s premier mayoral debates co-sponsored by the Tennessean and WSMV-TV ) and rounded out their election experience with live coverage of the city’s race.
As polls were coming in, the team sat with Plazas individually, on a Tennessean.com live stream, to discuss campaign strategy, the city’s growth, areas of focus for millennial residents and which candidate earned their vote for mayor. In between interviews, the team collectively participated in a podcast that covered their desires to stay in Music City, as long as Nashville can adapt to its exponential growth.
Junior politics and public law major, journalism minor and editor of the Belmont Vision Kirk Bado said the opportunity to work with Plazas and the Nashforward team engaged his passions in a new and powerful way. As an aspiring journalist and political science student, Bado said there was no better place to be on Nashville’s election night than the Tennessean’s newsroom.
“Experiencing election night at the Tennessean has grown me so much as a journalist and as an engaged member of the community. As a journalist, being in that live setting and watching how they manage all levels of media really changed the way I’ll be doing stuff at the Vision,” Bado said. “But in a wider sense, the whole experience with the Tennessean, from all the way back in March, has really plugged me into the Nashville community. After it, I am better equipped to engage and transform my community through writing and civic participation.”
Plazas said he and his colleagues were interested in the students’ involvement in election coverage because of Nashville’s growing millennial demographic. Representing such a large portion of the community’s residents, the panel of students were able to speak to top of mind issues for voters and learn something about journalism along the way.
“The students’ youthful energy, curiosity and elation at spending election night in a newsroom was a joy to watch. They could view the results in real time as our journalists frantically checked the Davidson County Election Commission website constantly, made phone calls to candidates and updated readers on mobile and desktop so the phones were abuzz with push alerts and tweets,” Plazas said. “They demonstrated poise and professionalism in their video interviews and podcast conversation. In the end, they did solid journalism.”
Three Belmont alumni recently traveled to Lund, Sweden to begin a new ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) at Lund University. Ryan Combs, Lizz Rickert and Kelly Vogel recently graduated from Belmont and joined a team, with other recent college graduates, for eight months that was led by two Cru staff members.
While in Lund, the students were immersed in Swedish culture and engaged students in genuine spiritual life formation. The movement they launched while there continues today and two other Belmont students, Hannah Struck and Nick Fisher, will be living in Lund this year to help build the ministry.
Saltwater taffy, Bob Goff impressions and a large “snake” were all part of Michael W. Smith’s chapel presentation on September 9 on Belmont University’s campus. Smith, a Christian songwriter, has sold more than 15 million albums, scored 28 No. 1 hits, earned three GRAMMYs and more than 40 Dove Awards.
Opening the service by throwing fistfuls of taffy into the crowd, Smith invited the audience to sing “Woah, Oh, Oh!” throughout his performance of “Sky Spills Over.” After talking about his rough past and the way God turned his life around, he performed “I am a Miracle.”
“I am free! I am clean! When Jesus sees me, all he sees is white,” said Smith, telling the story of a recent trip to Malibu Lodge in Canada. A group traveled together, taking a lengthy route with ferries and water taxis, something Smith said is different than his normal routine. These opportunities, when one is out of his or her comfort zone, are when Smith said that God speaks the loudest. It was not until Smith was dropped off by himself in the middle of nowhere that he said he heard a loud, yet non-audible voice telling him to baptise himself.
Repeating over and over, Smith followed the instructions and lowered himself into the water. When he came up, he saw what appeared to be a long snake floating toward him, all the way to his feet. The ‘snake’ turned out to be a stick, and when he picked it up, Smith said he realized it symbolized a weapon saying, “I have everything I need. If we lean on God, we have everything we need to fight off the enemy.” With the stick on stage with him, Smith said it would forever serve as a reminder of a day God renewed him.
With a renewed sense of faith and a desire to hear what God wanted to tell him, Smith provided the audience with words of wisdom for the future. “Don’t be typical. Be alive! Go do something for someone. Change the world. It’s what we’re called to do,” he said. “Take what makes you who you are, and leave it behind. Let God define you instead.”
For the second year in a row, Belmont University held strong at No. 5 in U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings of America’s Best Colleges in the South region. Announced today, Belmont’s ranking at No. 5 for the publication’s 2016 edition marks the University’s 7th consecutive year as a Top 10 institution on the Regional Universities-South listing. The No. 5 ranking demonstrates the University’s continued commitment to student engagement, excellence in teaching and institutional growth, with a record-breaking 2015 enrollment of 7,425 students at the beginning of the fall semester.
Belmont was also lauded as No. 2 on the publication’s first “Most Innovative Schools” Regional – South list, a peer-assessment survey compiled of institutions that are “making the most innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities.” Moreover, Belmont was ranked second in the South for its “unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching” and was further lauded by U.S. News as a “Best College for Veterans.”
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “It’s a privilege to be associated with faculty and staff who devote so much of themselves every day to creating meaningful learning opportunities and experiences for our students. While I am proud of Belmont’s continued ranking on the ‘Best Colleges’ list, I am especially proud that our peers included us as No. 2 the newly created ‘Most Innovative’ list and No. 2 for our commitment to undergraduate teaching. To be regarded by your peers as a University to watch is an honor we are proud to own.”
In the Best Regional Universities-South category, Belmont is again the highest-ranked university of the 15 ranked Tennessee institutions in its category, a feat the University has claimed for more than a decade. Other southern regional institutions in the Top 5 included Elon University (NC), Rollins College (FL), The Citadel (SC), Samford University (AL) and Stetson University (FL), who tied with Belmont at No. 5 in the ranking. This places Belmont in a premier position among the 127 public and private institutions included in the South region, an area that covers Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
U.S. News bases its ranking on a number of measures using the most recently available statistics. Belmont’s graduation rate and overall score, the final measure that indicates how institutions fall in the rankings, made gains over previous reports. Meanwhile, the University’s much lauded enrollment growth was balanced by its commitment to small class sizes and personal attention with a student/faculty ration that remains 13-to-1.
At the start of the semester Belmont reached a record-breaking enrollment number for the fifteenth consecutive year. The University also opened a new $87 million academic and dining complex, the R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center, which houses the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, the media studies program and a stunning new dining hall. Additionally, the University is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and has planned a year of festivities centered around the theme, “Belief in Something Greater.”
Alumni Todd Williamson and Greg Walter are preparing for an art exhibition at the Villa di Donato in Naples Italy scheduled for November 2. The exhibition, “Surveillance: the art of being observed or observing,” is a collaboration of art and music, set to show the connections that exist between the two. Williamson’s art will be on display with specially composed music by Walter. A preview of the exhibit can be found on youtube.
Williamson graduated from Belmont in 1988 with a Bachelor of Music. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, serving as arts commissioner for West Hollywood. His work can be seen all around the world with exhibits in Japan, China, Italy, Germany, France, Korea, Spain and the United States.
Walter graduated from Belmont’s School of Music in 1987 as a Presser Scholar and was honored in 2014 with the University’s Encore Award, an award created to honor a Belmont University School of Music alumnus for achievement in the field of classical music. While at Belmont, he studied classical voice under Associate Professor of Voice Marjorie Halbert. Walter is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he teaches voice and serves as musical director.
Sociology professor Dr. Andi Stepnick and Dr. Kris De Welde of Florida Gulf Coast University were invited to give the closing plenary at the 2015 American Sociological Association Annual Chairs Conference held in Chicago, Illinois on August 21. The conference was designed to “help new and continuing department chairs gain insights and knowledge that will help them respond to the day-to-day responsibilities of their position, as well as the broader challenges of the changing higher education landscape.”
Their talk, “Disrupting the Culture of Silence and Fostering an Inclusive Departmental Community,” was based on their research with women academics across the country in varying ranks and fields. They found that a “culture of silence” exists on many campuses regarding issues of discrimination and inequality. This silence creates a sense of isolation for marginalized faculty who often internalize stigma about their workplace experiences. Dealing with these challenges steals time and energy from faculty and could result in depression, anxiety and other health-related problems. Some seek employment elsewhere, costing universities valuable faculty.
Addressing workplace inequalities and hostilities effectively will allow colleges and universities to instead pursue excellence in teaching, research and service. Stepnick and De Welde offered concrete suggestions to conference participants about how to foster inclusive departmental communities.
To learn more about their book Disrupting The Culture of Silence: Confronting gender Inequality and Making Change in Higher Education, see Amazon or their website.
Special performance to honor Belmont’s 125th anniversary
Hosted by Grammy Award-winning country recording artist Kathy Mattea and taped at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, nearly 700 student musicians will join Belmont School of Music faculty and the Nashville Children’s Choir later this fall for the taping of a special 125th anniversary edition of “Christmas at Belmont.” The annual production of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites, produced by Nashville Public Television (NPT), will offer its world premiere on NPT in late December followed by a PBS broadcast for a national audience. This is the 13thconsecutive year “Christmas at Belmont” has been seen on PBS, and this year’s performance will also honor the University’s 125th anniversary, a year-long celebration of its 1890 founding.
This year’s edition of “Christmas at Belmont” features the University Symphony Orchestra, Belmont Chorale, Percussion Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Jazz Ensemble and Bluegrass Ensemble, as well as mass choir. The performance includes both classic holiday music such as “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Little Drummer Boy,” as well as festive seasonal songs like “Carol of the Bells” and “White Christmas,” to name a few.
Mattea said, “I’m thrilled to be hosting ‘Christmas at Belmont’ from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center this year. It’s a great honor to be asked to join the ranks of the wonderful artists who have taken part in this respected tradition over the years, and I’m pleased to be able to represent Belmont University, which has been a big part of my life since I came to Nashville.”
Twice named Female Vocalist of the Year by the Country Music Association, Kathy Mattea carved out a role for herself in the late 1980s and ‘90s as an artist at ease both with country tradition and free-ranging innovation. Drawing from the Grammy-winning collection Good News and the critically acclaimed follow up, Joy for Christmas Day, her Christmas presentations highlight the joyous message of the holiday with a thoughtful blend of new songs and old favorites, stretching stylistic boundaries to engage with a variety of her favorite musical influences.
“‘Christmas at Belmont’ is an amazing opportunity to showcase the tremendous talent of our faculty and students,” said Belmont University President Bob Fisher. “We’re incredibly grateful for our partnership with NPT that brings that talent to a broader audience, and we’re delighted to have an artist of Kathy Mattea’s caliber at the helm this year.”
The performance and taping of “Christmas at Belmont” returns for the fifth time to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, one of the few venues in the world featuring natural lighting and state-of-the-art acoustics, including motorized acoustic drapes and an acoustical isolation joint that encircles the entire concert hall and prevents sound waves traveling into or out of the hall.
“NPT is excited to once again partner with Belmont University to bring one of Nashville’s great holiday traditions to the entire nation on PBS,” said Beth Curley, president and CEO of NPT, which has won 46 Midsouth Emmy Awards since 2001. “I am always amazed at the depth and range of talent Belmont’s School of Music is nurturing—truly making a mark on Nashville’s music and performance scenes. With 2015’s all-new production of ‘Christmas at Belmont,’ we continue a vital part of NPT’s mission, which is to share these unique talents with a national audience.”
Dr. Cynthia R. Curtis, dean of Belmont’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, added, “We are delighted that through the efforts of NPT and our generous sponsors, we can share the talents of Belmont students with a national audience. Having two-time Grammy Award winner Kathy Mattea as host adds to our excitement about Christmas at Belmont 2015! Kathy brings not only her outstanding skills as performer and songwriter, but also serves as an exceptional role model for our students who seek careers as performing artists.”
“Christmas at Belmont” is underwritten by The Beaman Family Foundation and The Jack C. Massey Foundation. Due to the large demand for tickets among performers’ families and friends, there are no public seats available for this event, but viewers will be able to see the concert on PBS in December. Dates and times for the broadcast will be announced later this fall.
*Above image provided by David McClister
At a Chapel event co-sponsored by the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Ricky Skaggs, who has garnered 14 GRAMMY® Awards, 12 No. 1 hits, eight CMAs, eight ACMs and Belmont’s Applause Award, and Belmont alumnus and world-renowned guitarist Gordon Kennedy, Songwriting Program teacher and multiple GRAMMY® Award-winner, performed Wednesday morning, September 2. The two sang three songs and talked about their journey through the music industry and their Christian faith.
Opening with a song from the 2010 album, “Mosaic,” Skaggs emphasized the importance of diving into God’s word to hear his voice. “He is living in us, and that blows my mind. I don’t understand everything about God, but I trust him,” he said. “I don’t believe He has ever lost a battle. If we get on His side, we will always win.”
Next, the pair played “Can’t Shake Jesus,” another “Mosaic” song. Skaggs said that another way to hear God is through prayer. “We were meant to pray. We were born to pray. We were saved to pray. We pray not to change His mind, but to change our heart,” he said.
Kennedy added that he understands the frustration college students face with not having everything planned out in their life. “God doesn’t want us to know each step. The ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ prayer never mentions tuition or starting a 401k. Ask God simply, ‘What is the next step?’ And ask for His help with that,” he said.
Concluding with the album’s last song, “Return to Sender,” the duo emphasized the importance of a relationship with Christ, rather than simply following a religion. “A relationship is His desire to get to us. He wants us to wake up, to talk to Him, love Him, praise Him, share with Him and tell others about Him. Loving Him and loving others should be our default setting,” said Skaggs.
Belmont University, with Belmont-Hillsboro Neighbors, Hillsboro-West End Neighbors and Vanderbilt University, sponsored a public forum on August 20 for nine of the ten candidates currently in the run-off for Metro Council’s five open at-large seats.
Held in the Community Room of the Belmont United Methodist Church, Host and WPLN Assistant News Director Blake Farmer served as the forum’s moderator.
After the event, the forum aired on iQtv, Nashville Education, Community and Arts Television’s public education channel. To watch the forum in its entirety, click here.
