IMPORTANT NOTE: These are the archived stories for Belmont News & Achievements prior to June 26, 2023. To see current stories, click here.

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Watts Published in Huffington Post

Hope Buckner
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Andy WattsAssociate Professor of Religion Dr. Andy Watts recently published a blog in the Huffington Post Education titled “Entering Prison With a Syllabus” on his experience working with the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative (THEInitiative) and teaching higher education courses in the prison system.

Watts said he wrote the piece because of his recent research and teaching on social activism, criminal justice and mass incarceration. In 2009, Watts started teaching a course in prison, thanks to colleague Dr. Andi Stepnick’s involvement with the Inside-Out education program, and was able to take 10 Belmont students inside the Charles Bass Correctional Complex annex.

Through Inside-Out, Watts met Dr. Julie Doochin who championed the cause to bring for-credit higher education to prisons among Nashville. Three years ago, Doochin launched THEInitiative to provide these opportunities inside the walls of Bass Complex and Hickman County’s Turney Center Industrial Complex. Nashville State Community College provides the curriculum and college credits while THEInitiative funds and administers the program.

Watts began teaching with the organization in the spring of 2014 and is continuing on to teach a philosophical ethics course this fall. With three cohorts of 25 men serving sentences of varying lengths enrolled in the program, Watts said he continues to be impressed with his students. “These men are some of the most dedicated and engaged students I have had. The education they are receiving is a form of resistance to a cluster of powers that have and control not only their lives, but larger social attitudes and practices as well.  Research shows that education affects recidivism rates, chips away at the cradle to prison pipeline, restores dignity to inmates and their families and leads to positive reforms in mass incarceration,” Watts said.

In November, Belmont will host the 2016 National Conference on Higher Education in Prison to bring together researchers, educators, prison administrators, social justice advocates and nonprofit directors for the purpose of transforming a culture of mass incarceration.

Belmont Announces Plans for 125th Anniversary Celebration Year

April Hefner
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Belmont Announces Plans for 125th Anniversary Celebration Year

Highlights include 125 consecutive hours of service, new history book release

Bell Tower with 125 BannerBelmont kicked off the celebration of its 125th Anniversary in perfect Belmont style, with a packed out chapel service Friday followed Saturday by an on campus music festival attracting more than 3,000 campus and community members over the course of the day. But, the University is just getting started on what will be a year-long birthday party to mark its 1890 founding. Honoring Belmont’s mission to educate and empower students from diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world, significant anniversary events will include a book release, a week focused on diversity, 125 consecutive hours of community service in Nashville and a special “Christmas at Belmont” performance, among other activities. In addition, members of the Belmont community past and present participated recently in three days of recording with oral history nonprofit StoryCorps, and those audio segments will be shared widely throughout the celebration year.

Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “The theme for our 125th anniversary celebration sums it up beautifully: At Belmont, we possess a ‘Belief in Something Greater.’ It’s a belief in the promise tomorrow holds, belief in the transformative power of education, belief in a God who gives our lives hope and purpose… it’s belief in something greater than ourselves. I’m excited for us to remember, share and be inspired by those beliefs this coming year.”

The newly commissioned book, From Here to Anywhere: A History of Belmont University 1890-2015, will be available for pre-orders on Friday on the Belmont125.com website and can be purchased in the campus bookstore beginning in late September. The book’s author, Joy Jordan-Lake, said, “Like so many American institutions of higher learning, Belmont’s story has been a patchwork-quilt heritage of ideas and philosophies. Consistently, though, Belmont has retained the best of each era and forged its own way, regardless of what others insisted could not be done… It is a story worth hearing. “

BU125 picAdditional celebration highlights include:

Tuesdays at 1:25 PM: Professor of Music and University Carillonneur Dr. Richard Shadinger, who has taught at Belmont since 1974, will play a well-known Belmont song (the alma mater, University hymn or fight song) on the Bell Tower’s 43 carillon bells weekly on Tuesdays at 1:25 p.m. as part of the celebration festivities.

October 26-30: Belmont’s Welcome Home team will host several events that reflect on the University’s past while also emphasizing goals to reflect the broader community. The University’s first African-American graduate, now a retired University president, is scheduled to speak, and the week will include a student-led spoken word event, a film showing, interactive art project and lectures.

November 9-13: A hallmark of a Belmont education is the commitment to serve, so in celebration of the anniversary, Belmont students, faculty and staff will join together in an epic undertaking to serve the University’s hometown of Nashville for 125 consecutive hours. Additional details—including dates, time and sites—will be announced later this fall.

December 2015: The annual “Christmas at Belmont” performance takes on extra significance during the 125th Anniversary year and will air nationally on PBS in late December. An announcement of this year’s host will be made later this week.

To view a brief video overview of the University’s history, click here, and to keep up with additional news and events regarding the 125th celebration, visit the Belmont125 website, which will be updated frequently with additional event details and stories of the University’s past and present. Visit the Belmont Photo Gallery on SmugMug to view photos from the Aug. 29 Battle of the Belmont Bands: 125th Anniversary Edition music festival.

Shane Claiborne Speaks on Community at Kickoff Chapel

Staff Writer
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Shane Claiborne Speaks on Community at Kickoff Chapel

Belmont’s first 2015-2016 chapel, held on Friday, August 28, kicked-off the University’s 125th anniversary celebration, a year of believing in something greater. Author, activist and founder of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has helped birth and connect radical faith communities around the world, Shane Claiborne spoke on the importance of building community in one’s life.

Claiborne opened with a description of meaningful relationships, which he said is the central message of the gospel. “Before we get to the issues, we must ground ourselves in community. The more diverse our friendships are, the richer, wiser, better people we are,” he said. “God is a reflection of community and oneness. We are made to love and be loved, and Christ modeled that.”

He told stories of times in his life that shaped his belief in being around people that challenge him. He also shared a few pieces of advice. First, he instructed students to talk directly to one another, not around or about one another. “Murmuring is poison to a community,” he said. Next, he encouraged willingness to confession, the ability to say sorry and allowing one another to make mistakes. “We can carry each other’s burdens in a society that greatly emphasizes independence,” he said.

Claiborne told of a time when a homeless community moved into an old cathedral in Philadelphia. The city issued a law prohibiting people to feed the homeless. One night, more than 100 college students went into the cathedral and prayed over the community. They fought the law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional and succeeded. “We won that victory because there was a community willing to rise up, rooted in our love for Jesus!” he said.

Claiborne’s hope is that students will remember the message of the gospel this year, a true belief in something greater than oneself. “Community allows us to walk in hope. On the days it doesn’t feel like the light is winning, we give each other hope,” he said.

 

 

 

Alumna Amanfu Featured in The Tennessean

Staff Writer
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Alumna Ruby Amanfu was recently featured in an article in The Tennessean titled, “Ruby Amanfu finds her story in others’ songs.”

Amanfu was born in Ghana, but moved to Nashville at an early age. Her career in Music City has been marked with performances with many successful acts including Jack White and Hozier as she formed the duo, Sam and Ruby.

Her latest album, “Standing Still,” is an album full of covers like Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet,” Kanye West’s “Streetlights” and Irma Thomas’s “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand).”

Belmont Listed on 10 Most Underrated Theater Colleges in Mid West

Staff Writer
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Belmont Listed on 10 Most Underrated Theater Colleges in Mid West

A column on Onstage, a theater blog, recently rated Belmont as the 10th most underrated theater college in the mid-west. Others on the list include Western Kentucky University and the University of Memphis.

The column goes on to say, “There is a lot to like about Belmont University’s theatre programs. First is the program itself: Belmont has four BFA degrees to choose from, ranging from Acting and Production design to directing and education, the last of which always scores major points with us. They also have a BA degree with theatre, as well as minors in theatre and dance.

“Belmont is also home to the gorgeous Troutt Theatre, which is a wonderful facility for both the theatre and dance programs to use. They also have a black box theatre, a 150 seat experimental performance and classroom venue for the Department of Theatre and Dance. The Black Box is a flexible performance space with move-able seating risers and is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and audio equipment. The Black Box is the home for The Actors Bridge Ensemble.

“…Its costs are comparable with other private universities. Notable Alumni include Tony Vincent, DJ Qualls, Tony Winner Levi Kreis and stage legend Mary Martin.”

Alumnus Launches Home for the Nations

Hope Buckner
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Alumnus Launches Home for the Nations

Andy Seavers, a Belmont entrepreneurship graduate, and his brother, Luke Seavers, have recently launched Home for the Nations, an organization seeking to provide housing relief in Haiti.

With shipping container housing take root in Nashville as a more affordable option, Andy Seavers passed along the idea to his brother who was looking for a way to serve Haitians in need. Soon after, Home for the Nations was born and Luke moved his family to Port-Au-Prince in early August to get started.

The duo recently launched a Kick Starter Campaign to raise funding for a stateside, shipping container rental property to be used to generate revenue. Backers and campaign supporters will have the opportunity to stay in the house once it has been completed. It will also be listed on Airbnb, VBRO and other vacation rental sites. Money generated through the booking and purchasing of the organization’s containers will be used to fund construction projects in Haiti.

Recently featured in an article published in The Tennessean, Home for the Nations is looking to raise $100,000 by September 23. For more information, click here.

*Above image provided by Benjamin Garcia Saxe.

Riechert Co-Authors Chapter in Public Relations Education Book

Hope Buckner
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ABonnie Riechertssociate Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Relations Dr. Bonnie Riechert co-authored a chapter in a book recently published by the Educators Academy of the Public Relations Society of America, New York.

Riechert and Dr. LaRae Donellan (retired faculty, Florida A&M University) wrote “Building Team Skills: Using Personality Types and Cognitive Skills,” in Learning to Teach: What You Need to Know to Develop a Successful Career as a Public Relations Educator, 4th edition (2015), edited by Bonita Neff and Terri Lynn Johnson.

Occupational Therapy Orientation Includes Community Service

Hope Buckner
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Occupational Therapy Orientation Includes Community Service

Students and faculty from Belmont’s School of Occupational Therapy participated in an afternoon of service at seven Nashville locations on Monday, August 24, as part of new student orientation.

The team of 56 students and faculty members completed a number of projects including delivering household items for refugee families with World Relief, sorting and organizing equipment for children with special needs living overseas with Show Hope and my LIFE speaks, packaging new parent materials for the Down Syndrome Association of Middle Tennessee, completing landscaping at Homeplace, making graduation photo collages for New Beginnings and interacting with clients at Fifty Forward’s adult daycare services.

Through these experiences, incoming students were introduced to organizations around the Belmont community as they were actively involved in service, a key value of the University and a central theme in the Occupational Therapy Doctorate curriculum design.

Interdisciplinary Faculty Collaborate on Publication

Hope Buckner
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Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology Dr. Darlene Panini, Associate Professor of Education Dr. Sally Barton-Arwood, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Dr. Lauren Lunsford, Professor of Chemistry and Physics Dr. Kim Daus, Director of Clinical Practice Kate McGowan, Associate Professor of English Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse and Associate Professor of Math and Education Dr. Ryan Fox recently published an article titled, “Using an Interdisciplinary Critical Friends Group to Manage the Risks with Innovative Teaching” in Innovations in College Science Teaching, a monograph published by the Society for College Science Teachers.

The article stems from their work as an interdisciplinary professional development group and their collaboration to facilitate workshops for middle and high school teachers through an Improving Teacher Quality grant received from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

 

Business Faculty Present at Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management

Staff Writer
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Professor of Management Dr. John Maslyn presented his paper, “What do Managers Value in Leader-Member Relationships? Development of a Manager-LMX Measure,” recently at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Vancouver, BC. Maslyn also presented with Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr. Mark Schenkel their co-written paper, “From Harmonious Passion to Innovation: Examining the Roles of Creative Self-Efficacy and Leadership.”

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