Dr. Duane Hatch, assistant professor of chemistry, recently gave an invited research talk at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, New Mexico titled “Synthesis of Selenium- and Tellurium-Containing Tryptophan Analogs for the Elucidation of Protein Structure and Function.”

The research project he discussed is a collaborative effort between Hatch and LANL staff scientists, Pete Silks and Ricardo Marti-Arbona.  Dr. Hatch is currently spending the summer at the Los Alamos lab working on research project along with two Belmont undergraduate students. Funding for this research comes from a successful Department of Energy grant.

For more information on Hatch’s project, click here.

The Belmont University Teaching Center hosted a keynote address and workshop presented by President of Goucher College in Baltimore Dr. Jose Bowen on July 14. Based on his widely acclaimed book, Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning, Dr. Brown’s key note and workshop explored practical applications of the “Teaching Naked” cycle as described in the book.

In addition to more than 70 Belmont faculty members who participated in the event, guests from a variety of other colleges and universities traveled to Belmont for the keynote and workshop.  Other institutions represented included Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University, Tennessee State University, Lipscomb University, Samford University, Western Kentucky University, Cabrini College and Carnegie Mellon University.  Two Goucher alumni were also among the attendees.

The Teaching Center will offer several follow up events from Bowen’s presentation.  Some additional sessions, led by Belmont faculty and staff, during the August 17 and 18 Teaching Center workshops will incorporate topics addressed by Bowen. Teaching Naked will be among several titles offered during the fall 2015 semester for Teaching Center Applied Teaching/Learning Reading Groups.

For additional information about Dr. Bowen and his work with teaching and learning, click here. 

Sixteen Belmont faculty and staff members attended and contributed to the 2015 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) joint meeting with the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada, recently held in National Harbor, Maryland.

Due to changes in the pharmacy market and pharmacy practice act and the number of new schools, this year’s conference, attended by approximately 2,000 people, was particularly active. The following College of Pharmacy faculty and staff members presented and served in leadership roles:

• Dr. Ashton Beggs, Assistant Professor – Served as a Delegate in the House of Delegates for the College and co-presented a poster titled “Comparison of student grades on top 300 drugs assessments based on pharmacy experience”
• Dr. Hope Campbell, Assistant Professor – Served as Chair of Minority SIG, conducting a business session and completing educational programming
• Dr. Cathy Ficzere, Associate Professor and Director of Drug Information Center – Attended the first time as a Chair and co-presented a poster in the Research/Education session titled “Comparison of reading levels of pharmacy students and reading level of primary literature”
• Dr. Tracy Frame, Assistant Professor – A New Investigator award winner for $10,000 for research on a new method to teach patients about diabetes, presented an invited poster titled “Impact of using team-based learning in patient education on diabetes outcomes”
• Dr. Angela Hagan, Assistant Professor – Served as Secretary for Minority Faculty SIG and assisted in the SIG business meeting, and co-presented a poster in the Research/Education session titled “Comparison of reading levels of pharmacy students and reading level of primary literature”
• Dr. Phil Johnston, Professor and Dean – Served in the House of Delegates and Council of Deans
• Dr. Leela Kodali, Assistant Professor –  Co-presented a poster titled “Comparison of student grades on top 300 drugs assessments based on pharmacy experience”
• Dr. Genevieve Ness, Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Drug Information Center – Co-presented poster titled “Instructing student pharmacists to analyze direct to consumer advertisements”
• Dr. Andrew Webster, Professor and Chair – Served on the AACP Policy and Bylaws Committee and Development Committee and the Strategy Committee for the Chemistry Section
• Dr. Scott Weston, Associate Dean – Served as Chair of the Curriculum SIG with business session responsibility, educational programming and planning responsibility

Other attendees included Dr. Leigh Ann Bynum, Dr. Angela Clauson, Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, who nominated a student Walmart Scholar who went on to win, Dr. Amy Ham, Bill Nichols and Dr. Kristy Wahaib.