Community Night is back at Belmont! Each year Belmont University invites the Nashville community share a meal and participate in a variety of free family-friendly events while enjoying a fun night of Bruin Basketball. This year marks the return of an in-person community night since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and guests rallied together to support the women’s and men’s basketball teams as they took on the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
Joyce Searcy, director of Community Relations at Belmont, said the event has become a significant staple on campus. “Howling winds and pouring rain could not stop Community Night this year,” said Searcy. “We are thankful to the loyal neighbors and Nashvillians who braved the weather to come out and cheer for the Belmont Bruins, enjoy complimentary dinner, face painting, balloon artists and take home free backpacks and goodie bags.”
Guests were first ushered upstairs for the Belmont’s Women’s Basketball team’s game against Eastern Illinois which began at 5 p.m. The Bruins defeated EIU with a final score of 77-46. Following the amazing win, guests celebrated with complimentary hot dogs, chips and soda. At 7 p.m, the Men’s Team took on the men of EIU and came out with the same outcome, defeating the Panthers 81-57.
The night of fun festivities serves as a precursor to a whole week of homecoming activities, taking place February 21-26.
To match the grandeur of the newly opened Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Belmont’s Department of Theatre and Dance will put on one of its largest shows ever produced, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” opening this weekend.
Adjunct Theatre Instructor and Show Director Shawn Knight said this prequel to Peter Pan has something for everyone. The audience gets a look into how “Boy” becomes Peter Pan, insight into the character of “Black Stache” before he turns Captain Hook and even an introduction to Wendy’s mother.
“No matter what age you are or what you like in theater, this show will speak to you,” said Knight. “This show is designed to be done in as many ways as you can imagine. It has been performed by more than 1,500 companies in the last three years, and I dare say none of them are identical because of the creativity the piece grants you.”
Senior theatre performance major Sam Costantino, playing “Boy/Peter,” had the chance to play the character in high school but realized this would be a chance to re-learn the character under a completely new approach. “I’ve loved getting to know ‘Boy’ again. He is essentially an abused orphan who doesn’t know where he belongs or who he is – he doesn’t even have a name. But you watch his experiences with the unique individuals that come into his life throughout the show and see him form a new ‘found’ family,” he explained.
Left to Right: Costantino, Bassett and Denike talk about the show and the work behind the scenes to make it happen.
Although students were presented with new challenges due to the sheer size the hall (which can hold nearly three Troutt Theater stages – one of the halls Belmont students have used in the past), since the piece is written to be adapted to the needs of the company, it was the perfect fit to show off the features of the Fisher Center in a grand way.
Between mermaids rising from the orchestra pit, a utilized fly system and a Marley floor serving as a boat dock, much creative thought went into the set design and how it could enhance the story and the space. Professor Paul Gatrell and the 14 student cast members worked together on the set pieces, all on wheels to create extra movement across the vast stage. The star of the set is a four-story pirate ship that sails across the stage throughout the production.
Senior theatre performance major Andrew Bassett, playing “Mrs. Bumbrake,” said the cast and crew on this show is unlike other productions he has been a part of in the past, noting how the atmosphere always feels collaborative and supportive.
Junior theatre directing major Tori Denike, working as assistant director on the show, agreed.
“The story is something we, as college students, can closely relate to as we make the transition away from childhood into adulthood; from our home environment and into our own ‘found families,’ which is something I think just about everyone goes through in their life,” Denike explained. “I’m really excited for people to see themselves represented on stage through the characters of the show. With such a wide range of personalities, everyone can find themselves in this story.”
Costantino continued, “The writing is incredible, and as a result, you lose yourself in this sweet, childlike story and the raw emotions the kids feel – beautiful extrapolations of how we feel as adults. We are more complicated, but you get to relax and let go of that for two hours.”
The show will run Friday – Sunday at various times. Visit the Belmont Box Office website for tickets, which range from $10-25.
Luke Smith, a Belmont MBA student and starting guard on the Belmont Bruins men’s basketball team, has a schedule that looks like full-court press.
His graduate-level classes wrap up each day at 9 p.m., so he does his homework in the mornings. By 1 p.m., he’s due at the gym for practice, weight-training and game film review, which doesn’t finish until 5 p.m. He’ll grab a quick dinner before class at 6 p.m., and the next day, it happens again – well, unless the team has a game, which puts a bump in the schedule about 33 times a season.
Grad student Luke Smith takes the ball down the court against Austin Peay.
Similar to his work on the court, though, he doesn’t have to go it alone. Smith, who received a B.S. in business in May 2021, is one of five Belmont men’s basketball players who have already completed undergraduate degrees and are now pursuing graduate programs, including Grayson Murphy (B.S. in Business, May 2021), Nick Muszynski (B.S. in Corporate Communications, May 2021), Caleb Hollander (B.S. in Business, May 2021) and Tate Pierson (double major in Finance & Entrepreneurship, May 2021).
“Thankfully we’re all going through it together,” says Muszynski, who notes he has pretty much the exact schedule of his graduate-scholar teammates.
Grad students Nick Muszynski and Grayson Murphy celebrate the team’s win over Austin Peay.
“We kind of support each other and lift each other up,” Pierson added.
According to the NCAA and Graduation Success Rate data, Division I student-athletes continue to graduate at their highest rate in 20 years. The overall single-year rate held steady at last year’s rate of 90 percent. And yet, it’s still a rare occurrence to have five athletes on a team pursuing post-graduate degrees at once.
Other than the occasional player such as Tyler Scanlon who transferred from Boston University and completed his graduate degree at Belmont, it’s more common in college sports that a player will transfer to another college after undergrad or move on from college athletics, says Greg Sage, assistant athletic director for broadcasting and media relations. “The way they love each other and chose to do this at Belmont speaks to the overall atmosphere here,” he said.
So how do they make it all happen? Muszynski says staying organized and prepared is key – developing a routine and sticking with it. Smith adds that it means planning ahead with the help of professors who often provide schedules upfront. He expects the time management skills honed today will come in handy post-college. “It will definitely help us later in life when we have a job and kids and family,” he says.
Tate Pierson keeps his eye on the ball.
The teammates also say the competition and drive they learn on the court carries over to the classroom – maybe not amongst each other but within themselves. “Play to your best,” Pierson says, quoting Men’s Basketball Coach Casey Alexander. Working together on the court translates to work on group projects and vice versa.
“Everyone in basketball has a different skill set,” Smith explains. Pierson is a shooter, Caleb Hollander a great passer, for example. “We’re all kind of different and different academically as well.” Smith might take on the math while Hollander handles more of the writing and case study analysis.
And of course they all have different goals and dreams to pursue with their degrees too.
Caleb Hollander celebrates the Belmont win over Murray State in the the OVC championship game.
Pierson is studying for investment licensing exams, the Series 7 and 63, and plans to join a team of private wealth managers. Muszynski and Grayson Murphy would like to continue playing basketball internationally on a professional level before heading into sports marketing or sports management, respectively. Hollander has his eye on healthcare, maybe working with a rehabilitation facility. And Smith has his post-college job lined up coaching at his high school alma mater, Knoxville Catholic High School.
Despite the different paths they plan to pursue – and whether on the court or in the classroom – it all comes back to the notion of team and the community they have created for themselves. “Doing it together,” Pierson said, “is the best part.”
Players celebrate their win over Murray State in the the OVC championship game in Evansville, Indiana.
Belmont Professor of Physics Dr. Scott H. Hawley, Joliet Junior College Professor of Physics and ASA Fellow Dr. Andrew C. Morrison, and Belmont undergraduate physics and audio engineering technology double-major Grant S. Morgan recently co-authored the research paper “Tracking Transients in Steelpan Strikes Using Surveillance Technology,” published on February 16 by the Acoustical Society of America’s journal JASA Express Letters (under “Editors Picks”).
The paper follows earlier work by Hawley and Morrison published in JASA last October in which Carribean steelpan drums were illuminated by lasers and filmed at nearly 16,000 frames per second. The researchers used neural networks to train a computer vision model that can track features on the drum surface as they evolve rapidly in time. In this new paper, the researchers improve upon prior results and even extend them to other musical instruments, such as a lyre.
Morgan’s contribution was integral to the study. As Hawley observes, “We needed to do many training runs with different parameters to find the best models for our study, and much of that work was done by Grant, who not only did the runs but consolidated and visualized the results for our selection processes.” This work was done during Morgan’s enrollment in Hawley’s course “Deep Learning and A.I. Ethics,” which is being offered again in Fall 2022 as PHY/DSC/BSA 4420.
Another key contribution of the study that Morgan helped with was “cleaning” the data used to train the neural network. Hawley added, “At Belmont, we want to raise up students who can not only perform analytics on existing data but who can think critically about how the data is obtained.”
Hawley was recently named a Fellow of the new Belmont Data Collaborative (BDC), a university-wide initiative that looks to infuse data skills into every facet of the culture and curriculum at Belmont. This includes the incorporation of different levels of data skills within each major and college as well as creating opportunities for real world projects that give students and faculty experience as well as help the social well-being of the community. Through the BDC, Belmont University will create Data Storytellers that can use data to provide meaningful insights and actionable stories.
Morgan is currently working in the world of spatial audio, assisting audio engineers that mix in Dolby Atmos. His future plans include research in the fields of audio engineering and data science to improve the immersive experience of surround sound media formats. Morgan would also like to thank Belmont University for providing him with amazing professors that helped him. He stated, “Working with Dr. Hawley allowed me to see how these interdisciplinary concepts connected in ways I never would have imagined. I’m extremely grateful that I was able to assist on this project.”
The schedule has been set for this year’s Homecoming celebration!
Belmont University invites alumni, friends and family back home to a festival of university life, honoring more than 125 years of students, faith, education, community and excellence.
Each day of the week-long event will feature a unique, purpose-filled opportunity for service and fun, including Mission Monday, T-Shirt Tuesday, WOW Wednesday, Thank You Thursday and FANtastic Friday. An alumni Art Show will be ongoing all week in the Leu Art Gallery, Belmont’s Department of Theater and Dance will present “Peter and the Star Catcher” in the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts February 25 – 27 (Get Tickets here), and the Belmont Store will be offering Homecoming discounts all week long, as well.
Homecoming Reunions and Open Houses will also be taking place at various times and locations. Please check the Homecoming website for specifics.
Highlights of the week can be found below, and for a complete list of all Belmont Homecoming 2020 events and an opportunity to register, click here.
Homecoming 2022 Highlights
Monday, February 21 – Mission Monday
10 – 10:50 a.m.– Mission Monday Chapel: “From Here to Anywhere” featuring an alumni panel in the Janet Ayers Academic Center’s Gabhart Chapel. Watch the chapel livestream here.
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.– Alumni Non-Profit Fair on the First Floor Rotunda of the Janet Ayers Academic Center.
5:30 p.m. – Holistic (Under)Development Through Sport and (Mis)Education featuring Dr. Joseph Cooper, J. Keith Motley Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Black Life at the University of Massachusetts Boston.(Register here).
Tuesday, February 22 – T-Shirt Tuesday
8 a.m. – Belmont Athletics: Coffee with the Coaches via Zoom (Register here).
12 p.m. – 1 p.m. – Homecoming Bruin Break: The Early Belmont Days will feature Belmont College alumni as they share stories from their time at Belmont. (Register Here)
7 – 8 p.m.. – This year’s Vaughn Science Lecture, held in Room 4094 of the Ayers Academic Center, will feature Dr. Baijian “Justin” Yang, Professor of Computer and Information Technology at Perdue University.
Wednesday, February 23 – Wow Wednesday (Check social media for pop-up events scheduled throughout the day around campus)
9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – It Must Be Wednesday–Music and refreshments on Freedom Plaza, sponsored by the Office of Student Engagement.
10 – 11 a.m.– Belmont y la Comunidad Latina Chapel in the Janet Ayers Academic Center Gabhart Chapel featuring Rev. Gabriel Salguero.
10 – 11 a.m. — Alumni Panel: Pursing a Creative Career, held in the Bunch Library Multimedia Hall.
4 p.m. – Belmont Baseball vs. MTSU at the E.S. Rose Athletic Complex
5 – 6:30 p.m. – Jack C. Massey College of Business Student/Alumni Mixer in the Ayers Academic Center, Room 4094. (RSVP’s Required)
Homecoming Tower Society reunion brunch at Belmont in 2020.
Thursday, February 24 – Thank You Thursday
8 – 9 a.m. — Dr. Greg Jones and Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones will be hosting “Leaning into a Life of Purpose” in the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts that will encourage attendees to experience life that is truly life. This event is open to all faculty, staff and alumni.
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Belmont Faithful Thank You Luncheon in Harrington Place Dining for donors who have made consecutive gifts for two or more years (RSVPs requested).
5 p.m.– Basketball Double Header On-Campus/Student Watch Party at Chick-Fil-A. Women tip-off at 5 p.m. central, and Men tip-off at 8 p.m. central.
8 p.m.– Basketball Watch Party for Alumni at Bottle Cap on 12th South (Register here).
Friday, February 25 – FANtastic Friday
7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. — 3rd Annual Impact Investing Summit, hosted The Thomas W. Beasley Institute for Free Enterprise at Belmont University and AllianceBernstein. Register here for location and zoom information.
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. – College of Law Faculty Scholarship Alumni CLE Event in the Baskin Center. All College of Law alumni and Belmont undergrads in the law profession are invited to attend this free CLE event, sponsored by Belmont Legal Aid Society. (RSVP’s Required)
10 – 10:50 a.m.– Homecoming Chapel featuring guest speakers Dr. Victoria Lim and Dr. Steve Robinson in the Janet Ayers Academic Center. Watch the chapel livestream here.
10 – 11 a.m. – Robert E. Simmons Distinguished Faculty Lecture Convocation in the Massey Boardroom with Dr. Christie Kleinmann.
4 p.m. – Belmont Baseball vs. Youngstown State at Rose Park.
7 p.m.– 8th Annual Homecoming in the Round concert in the Massey Performing Arts Center (MPAC). The evening will feature alumni songwriters, artists and special guests. The event is FREE, but tickets are required. Get your tickets here or call 615.460.2255.
Homecoming Court at Belmont in February 2020.
Saturday, February 26 – Homecoming Saturday
9:30 – 11:30 a.m. – Tower Society Reunion | Annual Brunch & Induction Ceremony in the Vince Gill Room in the Curb Event Center: Celebrating the elite group of alumni from Belmont’s 50-year and earlier classes! This year’s special honorees include the classes of 1970, 1965, 1960 and 1955. (RSVPs required).
10 – 11 a.m. – Alumni Decades Reunion in the Foutch Alumni House will celebrate the classes of 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2012. (Register here).
10 – 11:30 a.m. — The Belmont Athletics Missions 25 Year Reunion will be held in the Massey Boardroom with Betty Wiseman. (Register here).
10 – 11 a.m. — Black Alumni Network and Presidential Scholars Alumni Reunion in the 4th Floor Conference Room of the Ayers Center. (Register here).
11:30 a.m. – Join the Belmont family and President Jones for a special service along with our Alumni Chapel Band in the Gabhart Chapel.
12:30 – 2:30 p.m. – Tailgate at the Tower at the Tower Plaza. It’s Bruin Time! Everyone is invited to this campus-wide celebration during Homecoming 2020, featuring lunch! (Free Event, but RSVP’s are Required)
2 p.m. – Belmont Baseball vs. Youngstown at Rose Park
3 p.m. – Homecoming Double Header: Belmont Basketball vs. TSU: Women’s game starting at 3 p.m. with the Men’s game to follow at approximately 5 p.m. The Homecoming Court will be presented at halftime – don’t miss it! Alumni can order tickets in advance at discounted prices. For tickets, visit belmont.edu/homecoming or call the Curb Event Center Box Office at 615.460.BALL [2255]. Request the February 15 Homecoming Games with promo code “BUALUM19-20.”
Dr. Teresa Plummer, Associate Professor in the School of Occupational Therapy, recently presented two virtual sessions at the International Seating Symposium (ISS). This international cohort includes technology providers from across the globe and brings together experts in the field of seating and wheeled mobility.
In session 1, Plummer presented “Evidence and Expertise: A Delphi Study to Develop Evidence-Based Guidelines for the Introduction of the Permobil® Explorer Mini with Infants and Toddlers” alongside Dr. Feldner, PhD, PT for University of Washington and Alyson Hendry, SLP from Denver. Additionally, she presented with international experts Paula Rushton, PHD, OT (Canada) and Yohali Burrola-Mendez, PhD, PT(Mexico) and Sara Múnera, PT, MS, ATP, WSP (Colombia) on the topic of “Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) Approach to develop content for the ISWP Wheelchair Educators’ Package.”
Amy Charlton, lecturer in Belmont’s School of Nursing, and Dr. Linda Wofford, professor and director of the graduate nursing program, co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Professional Nursing, the official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
The article, “Maladaptive coping behaviors in pre-licensure nursing students: An integrative review,” notes nursing students as more likely than other majors to have a mental health crisis, and burnout is reduced and outcomes are improved when at-risk nursing students are identified by faculty.
Through their research, Charlton and Wofford emphasize the need for stress management coaching and mentoring services for nursing student success.
Cydnee Bacci, a first year student for the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy (OTD), was recently accepted into the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTA) Summer Institute of Future Scientists in Occupational Therapy program.
The purpose of the Institute is threefold: To identify potential scientists in entry-level education programs, to connect potential entry-level scientists with mentors in the occupational therapy scientific community and to develop a peer network.
Bacci currently holds a Bachelors in biomedical engineering with a minor in mathematics. She is the only Belmont student to attend this highly competitive program. Learn more about the AOTA and the Summer Institute here.
Belmont English Professor Dr. Jonathan Thorndike presented his research on “C. S. Lewis and the Canterbury Pilgrimage” at the annual Christianity in the Academy Conference on Feb. 5.
The conference at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, celebrated the 80th anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s first BBC radio broadcasts, which led to his classic book “Mere Christianity.”
Thorndike’s presentation discussed the history of the Canterbury Pilgrimage and the walking holidays of C. S. Lewis with his brother Warnie and friends in the Inklings, a group of Christian fantasy writers. Lewis and his friends were not engaged in a traditional pilgrimage during their country walks, but like Chaucer’s pilgrims, they exchanged stories, jokes and discussed their various faith experiences.
As Thorndike noted, pilgrimages have been practiced in Europe since the middle ages. Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” tells the story of a group of pilgrims sharing stories to pass the time on their journey to the cathedral. C. S. Lewis used the journey motif as an organizing principle in two of his best-known books, “The Pilgrim’s Regress” (1933) and “The Great Divorce” (1945). Later this semester, Dr. Thorndike also will be a Scholar-In-Residence at the C. S. Lewis Study Centre in Oxford, England, where he will continue his study at the Bodleian library of the Inklings and walk the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury Cathedral. It is one of the oldest Christian pilgrimages in the world.
Belmont University’s School of Music honored multi-platinum singer-songwriter Russell Dickerson (’11) with the Curtain Call Award on Tuesday, Feb. 8 in the newly-opened Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Established in 1995, the annual award honors commercial music alumni who are using the foundation laid at Belmont to impact the world through music.
Dickerson’s career since graduating from Belmont has been impressive. With four consecutive no. 1 hits–“Yours,” “Blue Tacoma,” “Every Little Thing” and “Love You Like I Used To”–he was nominated for New Male Artist of the Year at the Academy Of Country Music Awards in 2020. Dickerson is currently touring with Tim McGraw.
Southbound, Belmont’s country ensemble that Dickerson was a member of while he was a student, joined him on stage for two hits, “Home Sweet” and “Yours,” which Dickerson calls the “song that changed his life.” Following the performance, School of Music faculty member Jamie Wigginton joined him for an onstage conversation about his Belmont days, lessons learned and dreams for what’s next.
During the interview, Dickerson shared how invaluable his Belmont education was, especially music theory and music business courses. “As terrible as it was in the moment,” Dickerson laughed, “I am able to sit in the studio with some of the best musicians in the world and break down the music theory these studio musicians are tracking.”
He also reflected on the importance of his music business courses as he navigated his first publishing deal. “I was learning about the ends and outs of publishing contracts in class as I was negotiating my first publishing deal. You can’t plan it,” Dickerson said. “That’s all God right there.”
Ten years after graduating from Belmont, Dickerson’s college buddies are still his closest friends. He’s had the opportunity to write with the top songwriters in the industry, but his Belmont friends—and co-writers on his four No. 1 songs—are the ones who know him most. “It really is just writing with your people and telling your story with people who can help you tell it best.”
Before performing his last song, Dickerson shared advice with students.“It’s not the people who try the hardest. It’s the people who try the longest.”
Many Belmont alumni have been honored with the Curtain Call Award including songwriters, instrumentalists, vocalists and industry leaders. Previous winners include Josh Turner, Melinda Doolittle, Ginny Owens, Alvin Love III, Dwan Hill, Tammy Rogers King and others.
