Assistant Professor in Belmont’s Department of Philosophy Mélanie Walton, recently presented a paper at the 39^th annual Midsouth Philosophy Conference at Rhodes College in Memphis.

The paper, entitled “Inclining Thought: Heidegger and Anselm,” is an exploration into the necessity of actualizing one’s natural rational disposition through cultivating a specific inclination to reason, proposed by the contemporary existentialist Martin Heidegger and curiously demonstrated by the medieval philosopher Saint Anselm. While at the conference, Walton also delivered a response paper on John Duns Scotus and the nature of God’s will.

In 2014, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Dr. Lauren Lunsford, Director of Clinical Practice Kate McGowan, Associate Professor of English Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology Dr. Darlene Panvini, Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics Dr. Kim Daus and Associate Professor of the Education Department Dr. Sally Barton-Arwood were awarded an Improving Teacher Quality grant from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission as part of the federal Race to the Top initiative.

As part of the grant, these faculty members developed a summer workshop entitled “Food and Gardening:  Growing Partnerships between Science Teachers and English Teachers to Support Instruction of the 6-12 Reading Literature and Informational Text Common Core Standards” for area teachers. In planning the workshop, STEM, English and Education faculty worked collaboratively to read, review state and national educational standards, plan lessons and assess best practices for learning and teaching.

The entire team presented on their research, workshops and innovative ongoing collaboration at the National Science Teachers Association in Chicago on March 12.

For 2015, the team, now including Associate Professor of Math and Education Dr. Ryan Fox was awarded a second grant and will be presenting another series of workshops this summer. The friendship and research yielded by their ongoing work exemplifies Belmont’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and community partnerships.

  Psychological Science Chair and Associate Professor Dr. Linda Jones and Psychological Science Professor Pete Giordano attended and presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) meeting on March 18-21.

Dr. Jones is the co-chair of the SEPA subcommittee for the Joint Committee on Equality of Professional Opportunity/Psi Chi undergraduate poster research program.  She facilitated the review and presentation of over 170 undergraduate research posters and was a co-presenter on two symposiums entitled “Leveraging Undergraduate Research Opportunities” and “Undergraduate Publishing Opportunities.”  Dr. Giordano gave the SEPA/Psi Chi Distinguished Lecture entitled “Identity Development in College Students:  Can Random Comments Change Lives?”

Founded in 1955, SEPA is the largest psychological organization in the southeast and one of largest in the U.S. The purpose of SEPA is to advance psychology as a science, a profession and a means of promoting human welfare. SEPA’s mission is to stimulate the exchange of scientific and professional ideas across the diverse areas of psychological inquiry and application.

Dean of the College of Health Sciences Cathy Taylor was part of the original design team of national experts, supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), who worked to develop and launch the MCH Navigator beginning in 2010.

The MCH Navigator is an online portal and clearinghouse for maternal and child health professionals, students and others working to improve the health of women, children, adolescents and families for training on key MCH and leadership topics. The project contains in-depth training portals on specific issues of importance to public health professionals and highlights learning opportunities focused on MCH topics.

The team worked on the project for several years, and after development and testing, the Navigator is housed and maintained at Georgetown University with permanent support by a grant from the MCH Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Click here to learn more about the project.

The team’s paper, “The MCH Navigator: Tools for MCH Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning,” describes the Navigator and the development process and was published last month in the MCH Journal. Click here for the abstract and full text.