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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Earth Day Finds Belmont University Celebrating Its ‘Conservation Covenant’

Paul Chenoweth
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Earth Day Finds Belmont University Celebrating Its ‘Conservation Covenant’

University recognizes past and future commitments to sustainability
conservation-convenant_FINALIn honor of Earth Day 2015, Belmont University celebrated this week with both a special event focused on educating students about being better stewards of the earth as well as an extensive campaign dedicated to sharing the University’s own steps toward conservation in hopes to inspire others to follow suit.

The celebration began today with a special convocation event that featured Blessed Earth, a nonprofit that seeks to inspire and equip individuals to understand their role in preserving the planet for future generations. Throughout the week, Belmont is sharing videos, social media posts and emails with community members to honor the University’s dedication to sustainability and stewardship. Long dedicated to “green” efforts throughout the campus, Belmont has recently transitioned to an all-encompassing sustainability initiative, known as The Conservation Covenant, to emphasize and focus plans for future progress in these areas.

Historically, Belmont’s sustainability initiatives have included a number of projects that align with an overall vision to be an institution committed to stewardship and the responsible use of resources. The University’s Vision 2020, a road map that outlines the vision and goals for the next five years, lists the efficient and responsible use of resources as one of seven strategic priorities setting the foundation for the future.

University President Dr. Bob Fisher believes strongly in the importance of individual and corporate commitment to sustainability, a passion that was born during his own undergraduate career. “As a college senior, I was part of the very first Earth Day celebration.  That participation triggered a lifelong passion of caring for God’s amazing creation, and it’s an honor to lead an organization that puts such a strong emphasis on sustainability.”

With initiatives led by students, faculty, staff and administration, Belmont’s Conservation Covenant has included the removal of plastic water bottles from campus, the installation of BLINK charging stations in parking garages, five educational and sustainable green roofs, campus’s recent designation as a Nashville Tree Foundation Arboretum and USA Tree Campus, light harvesting technology in the newest academic building, Gold LEED certification for the Baskin Center with Platinum LEED certification being pursued for the Wedgewood Academic Center and an innovative, interactive irrigation system that collects run-off rainwater in underground tanks and utilizes current weather data to dictate the need for water, among others.

The University’s current construction project, the Dining and Academic Complex, boasts a number of sustainable aspects including a pending LEED certification application, a geothermal heating and cooling system that uses that Earth’s natural temperature to regulate interior climate and a composting system that converts food and cardboard waste into enriched soil additives through large dehydrators, reducing overall waste from food operations by 45 percent.

spring-2015-153For Environment and Conservation Organization (ECO) Club President Katie Keast, sustainable life practices were not something she was aware of before coming to Belmont to study biology with a marine biology emphasis. Since being a member of the Belmont community, Keast said she has become privy to the importance of honoring the Earth and preserving it for those to come.

“It’s awesome to be at a place that shares the same appreciation for the environment. I’d like to think that someday my grandkids could go snorkeling and see coral reefs, but if humanity continues in the ways we are seeing, that won’t be possible. It’s important to protect the environment for future generations,” Keast said. Under her leadership, the ECO Club continues to develop new and creative student-led initiatives that strengthen the University’s Conservation Covenant.

Belmont has created a student-produced video to highlight these sustainability initiatives and more that contribute to The Conservation Covenant. To view the video, click here.

Student and Alumni Co-Present at National Research Conference

Paul Chenoweth
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Student and Alumni Co-Present at National Research Conference

Belmont student Alexander Marsh and alumni Matthew Graham, economics, recently attended and presented their co-authored paper titled “GDP, Unemployment, and the Great Recession: Utilizing Okun’s Law to Analyze the GDP Drop from 2005-2013”at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) held at Eastern Washington University.  The NCUR is an interdisciplinary conference where students representing universities and colleges from all around the world present research and creative works in oral, poster and performance/visual arts presentations.

The team’s research studied the relationship between an economy’s output and unemployment, a relevant topic that has recently been an ongoing topic of discussion. The application of Okun’s law to modern business cycles can produce valuable insight to a country’s economy. Using quarterly data from 2005 to 2013, the study utilized a production function approach to analyze the relationship between GDP gap and unemployment during the Great Recession. Findings revealed that unemployment, capacity utilization and the size of the labor force have a statistically significant impact on the GDP gap during this time period.

Belmont is a member of the NCUR, whose mission is to promote undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity done in partnership with faculty or other mentors as a vital component of higher education.

The students were accompanied at this conference by research advisor and faculty member Dr. Colin Cannonier.

Belmont Enactus Places Fourth at National Entrepreneurship Competition

Paul Chenoweth
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BelmontEnactus2015Competing against teams from colleges and universities across the country, Belmont’s Enactus team made a statement last night, coming in fourth at a national competition. With 533 teams consisting of more than 16,800 students in the United States, Enactus USA held its National Exposition and competition this week in St. Louis, Missouri, where the Belmont team stood toe-to-toe and came our victorious against much larger institutions, including the University of Oklahoma, University of Florida Gainesville and last year’s national champion, Texas State University.

Dr. John Gonas, associate professor of finance and Sam M. Walton Enactus Fellow, said, “I couldn’t be more proud of the Belmont Enactus students. They are consistently recognized and honored for their tireless commitment to serving our community by creating complex business models tied to social change. Working alongside incredibly committed faculty members Cate Loes, Jason Stahl and Nathan Adam, our students are examples to Enactus teams in the U.S. and world of how to conceive, develop and sustain social enterprises that are truly changing lives in our immediate and global community.”

Enactus is an international non-profit organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. Guided by academic advisors and business experts, the student leaders of Enactus create and implement community empowerment projects around the globe. After three days of intense presentations, Belmont Enactus made it to the final four of the national competition, ultimately placing fourth behind John Brown University, La Sierra University and national champion Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Maggie Fincher, an entrepreneurship major from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee who also serves as Belmont Enactus Vice President, summed the group’s mission up well during the team’s presentation Thursday: “Through entrepreneurial action we’re empowering our community while keeping our focus on our passion for serving people.”

National Enactus competitions are held in 36 countries around the world to showcase how the organization’s students are transforming lives and enabling progress through entrepreneurial action. The quality and impact of projects is evaluated at these competitions with expert business leaders serving as judges. From each national competition one team is selected to represent their country at the Enactus World Cup, this year in Johannesburg, South Africa in October. Belmont’s Enactus team previously won the national championship in 2010 and 2012, and claimed the international title at the 2012 Enactus World Cup.

The 2014-15 Belmont Enactus team consists of 64 members representing a diverse array of majors, including social entrepreneurship, finance, art history, nursing, Christian leadership and international business. In addition to Fincher, the Enactus members who presented at this year’s competition were Zoe Dollman (Ellilta Women at Risk Project Manager), Paul Macedonia (Rocketown Project Manager), Audrey Aavik (Guatemala Greetings and Our Lady of Mercy Project Manager), Brett Wisse (ComptonPost Project Manager) and Graham Spencer-Orrell (Strings for Hope Project Manager). The team currently has a dozen projects in various stages of development, but focused on three during the oral presentation to business leaders:

  • The team worked with its long-term partner 147 Million Orphans to create a bike across America campaign, “Riding with a Reason,” to raise funds to build a school in Mt. Olivos, Honduras for 27 refugee families. After months of planning and more than 3,400 miles on a bicycle, the team raised more than $60,000, enough to build and fully furnish the school. What’s more, the project exceeded its original goal, allowing Belmont Enactus to also build a playground, fund teacher salaries for the next three years and purchase uniforms for the school’s students.
  • Ellilta Women at Risk (EWAR) is an Ethiopian organization that melds job training with a social enterprise, selling scarves, handmade greeting cards and body care products. For the past 20 years EWAR has reached out to urban women in prostitution and provided rehabilitation and education programs as well as job opportunities. Upon a visit earlier this year, Belmont Enactus discovered issues with both the business management and marketing of the organization. The team implemented stronger accounting practices and inventory systems as well as licensing and nondisclosure agreements to protect the women from undesirable exposure.
  • Strings for Hope, a new non-profit organization that takes discarded strings from instruments and repurposes them into jewelry; funds from the jewelry is then used to support other nonprofits in the areas of food, health and education. This year Belmont Enactus and Strings for Hope worked to increase the product’s distribution network, improve online and e-commerce presence and develop a new line of bracelets and new marketing materials. The work resulted in a 50 percent increase in both web traffic and sales, with $12,000 donated to five different food relief, medical and educational organizations. Aavik noted in the presentation, “For Belmont Enactus, Nashville is not only where we live, but serving those in need in our area is also our passion… our home. Through the Strings for Hope project we’ve turned the strings we discard in Music City into sustainable careers, training, and relief – a truly note-worthy cause.”

AET Students Build Speaker Cabinet for Physics Acoustics Lab Isolation Booth

Paul Chenoweth
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AET Students Build Speaker Cabinet for Physics Acoustics Lab Isolation Booth

Students in Dr. Scott Hawley’s Physics for Audio Engineering course recently built a ported speaker cabinet for the new isolation booth obtained for the College of Sciences & Mathematics Acoustics Teaching Lab.

AET majors Ryan Yount, Chris O’Brien and Ryan Morris built a ported speaker cabinet for which the resonant frequency (of the port) was tunable by varying the interior volume of the cabinet. The isolation booth was secured by CSM faculty Drs. Thom Spence, Robert Magruder and Scott Hawley for use with student undergraduate research and class projects which require more precise acoustical measurements than is afforded by a regular classroom environment.

Mathematics Students and Professor Present at STEM Expo

Paul Chenoweth
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Mathematics Students and Professor Present at STEM Expo

Belmont Professor of Mathematics Dr. Daniel Biles and four mathematics majors gave probability demonstrations at the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Expo at Middle Tennessee State University on April 9.  The Belmont students taking part were Annie Brunelle, Katie Kruzan, Savannah Halliday and Mallory White.

This exposition is an annual event, hosted by the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub (MTSIH), that features projects by middle and high school students. Students from schools and districts that are MTSIH partners regularly engage in projects involving an extended process of inquiry in response to a complex question, problem or challenge. These rigorous projects help students learn key academic content and practice skills necessary for success such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

Belmont Hosts 15th Annual Family Literacy Day, Invites Neighborhood Children to ‘Read with Me’

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont Hosts 15th Annual Family Literacy Day, Invites Neighborhood Children to ‘Read with Me’

On Saturday, April 11, more than 140 Belmont students came together at Rose Park to celebrate the University’s 15th annual Family Literacy Day. Held every year, the event invites families from the Rose Park neighborhood to read with Belmont students to promote literacy throughout the community. This year, more than 160 community members registered for the event, doubling numbers from last year’s celebration.

Belmont’s Director of Service Learning and event organizer Tim Stewart said Family Literacy Day began as part of a grant that has funded and spurred the creation of many other events that encourage literacy throughout the Nashville community. “The fact that we’ve been doing Family Literacy Day for so long is a strong testament to Belmont’s desire to encourage children and families in our community to read. It also provides a great opportunity for our students to give of themselves to brighten the lives of others,” Stewart said.

Student organizations, campus departments and individual volunteers created reading groups, centered around a theme, and invited attendees to join their station for a book or two. Inside the Easley Community Center, students could participate in a variety of activities, all centered around celebrating reading. Activities included a free book “store,” poetry contest, book cake walk, reading crafts, face painting and Dr. Seuss games.

literacy-day-171This year’s event also included a participation incentive – the more the children read, the more stickers they received. The stickers were used inside the Center to participate in games and activities. The incentive was introduced to encourage attendees to enjoy the day and its festivities.

While the event is organized by Stewart and the Belmont Volunteers for Literary student organization, a number of organizations joined efforts this year to partner with the team. Delta Kappa Gamma, a local sorority, brought a group of teachers who hosted a costume-based reading circle, the Nashville Adult Literacy Council sponsored a booth to provide resources for parents, Book’em provided free books for participants and three Belmont faculty members incorporated the event into their courses as a service learning component.

The event serves as a family friendly celebration for community members who live within the Rose Park neighborhood, but above all, it provides an opportunity for children to experience education in a new way. Allowing students to read outside with college students and receive prizes for doing so continues to encourage literacy and the chance for students to strengthen their reading skills.

“Family Literacy Day is very rewarding to see. The smiles on the faces of the children, their parents and our students make it all worthwhile!” Stewart said.

For more information on the event and the Belmont Volunteers for Literacy organization, click here.

Belmont University Announces New Partnership with Center for Healthy Churches

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont University Announces New Partnership with Center for Healthy Churches

Belmont University and the Center for Healthy Churches (CHC)—an organization devoted to improving the spiritual, emotional and organizational health of churches and ministers—(CHC)announced today a new partnership that includes the relocation of CHC’s national office to Belmont’s campus in Nashville, Tennessee.

CHC currently works nationwide through a network of representatives to provide seasoned and thoughtful leadership to churches and faith communities from many traditions. Twenty-four individuals work with CHC as congregational and clergy coaches and consultants. Their work across denominations seeks to cultivate healthy processes allowing ministers and congregations to clarify vision, manage transitions and transform conflict.

“I cannot think of a better national partner for our efforts to cultivate healthy clergy and churches than Belmont,” said Bill Wilson, Jr., the director of CHC. “Belmont’s facilities and connections are remarkable. They have a heart for the church in its many manifestations, and they genuinely value congregations and clergy and the vital role they play in America. Their faculty, staff and students provide a unique opportunity for us to integrate academic and research methodology into our work.”

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Davidson Saves the World with His Day Job

Paul Chenoweth
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Davidson Saves the World with His Day Job

Sam Davidson is a storyteller, social entrepreneur and leader. As president of Cool People Care, a company that connects people who want to do good with nonprofit organizations, Davidson has honed in on his passions, talents and ability to meet the world’s needs. Davidson spoke at this year’s final Belmont and Beyond event on Monday, April 13 and asked students not, “What do you want to do for a living?” but instead, “What do you want to do for a life?”

Davidson‘s charismatic and engaging ability to tell stories further aided his analogy of taking his 3-year-old daughter to the grocery store. He asked her, “Do you know what makes ice cream even better?” While she thought ice cream couldn’t be improved, Davidson described sprinkles. Cool People Care, for Davidson, is the brightly colored, princess sprinkles on top of his career, because as he explained, when one aligns his or her passions and talents to impact the world, an already great career can become even better.

Davidson started his company in 2006 when he discovered the need for a online nonprofit presence. Nine years later, the company has grown to include a successful merchandise line, though this process did not happen immediately after his college graduation. There was a period of time where he had to work “bill-paying” jobs and ask the difficult questions about what he was looking for. His advice for getting through this time is the Social Enterprise Success Model, finding the spot where one’s passions, talents and the needs of the world overlap.

“I knew I needed to find these three things in life to be happy,” said Davidson.

For passion, he said, “What do you love doing?” “When do you lose track of time?” “What must you do every day?” and “What do you think about the most?”

For talent, “What are you good at doing?” “What are you known for?” “What do you value doing?” and “What is your favorite thing to do?”

Finally, to find an area of impact, ask, “What needs changing?” “Who needs help?” “What makes you angry?” and “What could the world look like?”

Davidson mentioned the following nonprofits as great examples of people using their talents to fill a need:

  • Nakate, started by Shanley Knox, which helps bring jobs to jewelry makers in Uganda.
  • Playing By Air, started by Jacob Weiss, which provides free entertainment programs for the community every time performances for corporate events, team building, etc. are booked.
  • Start Some Good, started by Alex Budak, which serves as a fundraising tool, similar to KickStarter, for nonprofit causes and organizations.
  • Headbands of Hope, started by Jessica Ekstrom, which donates a headband to a girl with cancer and $1 to childhood cancer research for every headband purchase.

Davidson ended his talk by inspiring the audience with a Mary Oliver quote, in which she asks a butterfly, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

To learn more about Davidson, click here.

Murray Presents at English-Speaking Union and American Society for 18th Century Studies

Paul Chenoweth
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MurrayEnglish Professor Douglas Murray recently spoke to the Nashville chapter of the English-Speaking Union at a breakfast meeting held at Belmont’s Massey Business Center.  His talk, entitled “The Road to ‘Downton Abbey,’”concerned the way the popular television series has encapsulated previous literature about the English Country House.  The English-Speaking Union celebrates British heritage and seeks to foster global understanding and good will.

Following that engagement, Murray participated in a panel on picaresque fiction at the annual meeting of the American Society for 18th-Century Studies, held in Los Angeles March 19-21.  Other participants were from DePaul University, the University of North Texas and UCLA.  Murray’s talk was entitled “Jane Austen and the Embedded Ramble Novel:  The Case of Pride and Prejudice.”

Dean Taylor Published in ‘The Mother & Child Project,’ Sheds Light on Global Maternal and Child Health

Paul Chenoweth
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Mother & Child ProjectDean of the College of Health Sciences Dr. Cathy Taylor was recently featured “The Mother & Child Project: Raising our Voices for Health and Hope,” a compilation of personal narratives, research and essays from inspirational leaders, politicians, philanthropists, speakers and musicians including Kimberly Williams Paisley, Amy Grant, Melinda Gates, Senator Dr. William H. Frist and Michael W. Smith, among others.

The project was compiled by Sen. Frist’s Hope Through Healing Hands, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote improved quality of life for all people around the world. Using health to lead the charge, Hope Through Healing Hands seeks to educate all people on ways to have access to a fuller, healthier lifestyle.

Published with the intent to raise awareness on maternal and child health issues in developing countries, the book also includes personal stories from women in other countries who have been positively affected by family planning, prenatal care access and post-natal medical assistance. The book outlines the critical role family planning plays in preventing mortality, combating extreme poverty, keeping girls in school, promoting gender equality and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Dr. Taylor said she was immediately interested in supporting the project through the writing of a chapter because with the advancements in science for maternal and child health, the ways to ensure health among young children is clear. “We know how to nurture those babies to grow into healthy, productive adults, but in developing countries, many of the ingredients are missing. We can do something about that,” Dr. Taylor said. “Raising awareness of the tragic plight of millions of young women and children in developing countries can make a difference.  As Christians, we are called to carry each other’s burdens, and this is a burden we should share.”

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