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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Belmont Officially Opens New Williamson County Site in Cool Springs

Paul Chenoweth
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Location will offer adult degree programs, rental opportunities

professional-educational-facility-132Belmont University officially cut the ribbon today on a new professional education and corporate meeting facility in the heart of the Cool Springs business community. The new Williamson County location, located at 310 Billingsly Court, will provide easily accessible classrooms in Cool Springs for courses in Belmont’s adult degree, professional and continuing education programs, as well as event and meeting rental space for area businesses and organizations.

Belmont University first opened a satellite location in Cool Springs in 2002 on Seaboard Lane, allowing thousands of Williamson County residents and employees close access and opportune times to take classes to “finish what they started” through the University’s Adult Degree Program. With newly renovated classroom space, options for corporate meeting rentals and developing plans for expanding graduate and continuing education opportunities at this site, this new 6,300 square foot location intends to further cultivate Belmont’s influence in Williamson County.

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Bennett Selected for Competitive Journalism Fellowship

Paul Chenoweth
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Sybril BennettMedia Studies Professor Sybril Bennett was recently selected as one of 15 professors from across the country to attend  the fifth annual Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The 15 fellows were competitively selected, and their training, transportation, lodging, materials and meals were provided at no cost.

During the five-day institute, Bennett studied many topics including journalism and entrepreneurship, with featured sessions on “How to Build What’s Next for News,” “The Economic Impact of Hispanics in the U.S.” and “Turning Ideas into Products: Collaborating on Campus,” among others.

The Jan. 4-8 event was made possible through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the E.W. Scripps Co. The Institute was led by Cronkite Professor of Practice Dan Gillmor, an internationally recognized author and leader in new media and entrepreneurship.

“In a media world where change is accelerating, tomorrow’s journalists will need to understand and appreciate the startup culture,” Gillmor said. “We’re grateful to our funder and the terrific speakers who are helping to ensure that entrepreneurship will become a component of our fellows’ programs.”

Bennett created Belmont’s entrepreneurial media course years ago knowing students would need those skills to thrive in the digital world. With a focus on the importance of these skills, Belmont has committed to offer a journalism entrepreneurship class next year.

 

Alumni Group Florida Georgia Line Tops Forbes’s 30 Under 30

Paul Chenoweth
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The duo back in 2012 at a visit to Belmont.
The duo back in 2012 at a visit to Belmont.

Belmont alumni group Florida Georgia Line topped the Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list as the No. 1 influential act for the 2014 music category.

Members of the group Tyler Hubbard, 27, and Brian Kelley, 29, met at Belmont and quickly bonded over their mutual love of country and rap music. From there, the duo went on to name their band after the line that divides their home states, Florida and Georgia. It was not long after their Belmont days that they were breaking records with their hit single, “Cruise,” which became the most downloaded country song of all time. On top of that, their most recent album, “Anything Goes,” sold more than 197,000 copies in its first week.

Forbes compiled this list, complete with profiles and stunning pictures. A video interview with the Belmont graduates can be found here.

 

 

Belmont Announces It Will Apply to Host Second Presidential Debate in 2016

Paul Chenoweth
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2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate on Belmont’s campus scored highest viewership, brought media spotlight to Nashville

Debate08Belmont University confirmed today that it will apply to host a 2016 presidential or vice presidential debate and will officially submit its proposal to the Commission on Presidential Debates prior to the March 31 deadline. Belmont previously hosted the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, moderated by NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, between then candidates Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. The 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, the first to be held in Tennessee and the only one in which questions to the candidates were asked by citizen participants, scored a ratings coup both nationwide and locally.

Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “It was an incredible honor for our campus to participate so directly in such a vital element of our nation’s governing process six years ago. We believe our students, this University, the city of Nashville and the state of Tennessee all received tremendous civic, educational and economic benefits from the entire experience. Belmont has clearly established itself as a place where students and citizens can engage in important conversations that are imperative to our community and our nation. We are excited to compete again for this opportunity, and I have every reason to believe that Belmont can once again succeed as a presidential debate site.”

According to Nielsen Media Ratings, more than 63.2 million homes nationwide tuned in to view the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate on Tues., Oct. 7, the largest television audience of the three presidential debates held that fall. In addition, the event attracted thousands of media and other visitors to Nashville and resulted in both an economic boost and more than 5,200 media hits in the days leading up to and following the debate. A writer for USA Today even noted, “Belmont University in Nashville proved that small places with big ambitions could be world-class stages.”

Phil Bredesen, then governor of Tennessee, said at the time, “Belmont served as a perfect venue for the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, and the university’s army of volunteers gave the candidates, campaign guests and visiting media a glimpse into the best of what Tennessee has to offer.”

More than 100 educational programs and special events—including appearances by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and noted historian David McCullough—related to the debate were planned, most of which were free of charge for the campus and community to attend in the weeks and months surrounding Debate08. In addition, Gaylord Entertainment presented a special production of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman for the Debate08 media that featured Belmont alumni Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood, Josh Turner and Julie Roberts.

Following the debate Nashville Mayor Karl Dean noted, “The debate was a great success for Belmont and our city. It gave us an opportunity to send a letter to the rest of the world about how Nashville is a vibrant, diverse city.”

Approximately 420 Belmont students were offered seats to attend the debate, and more than 300 students also participated as Debate08 volunteers, providing assistance in areas from hospitality and transportation to running transcripts and ushering Debate Hall ticket holders. The local community also enjoyed the Official Debate08 Block Party that was held on a portion of Belmont Boulevard. The block party included live music, food, TV tapings of CBS’ “The Early Show” and MSNBC’S “Hardball” as well as “Issue Alley,” a series of booths set up to help educate citizens on vital topics and political candidates.

Mathematics Professor Neophytou Published in Integral Equations and Operator Theory

Paul Chenoweth
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maria neophytouBelmont Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dr. Maria Neophytou recently published an article in the most recent issue of Integral Equations and Operator Theory (IEOT). The article is titled “Eigenvalues of Adjoints of Certain Composition Operators and Weighted Composition Operators”. For the full article, click here. 

The IEOT is devoted to the publication of current research in integral equations, operator theory and related topics with emphasis on the linear aspects. The journal reports on the full scope of current developments from abstract theory to numerical methods and applications to analysis, physics, mechanics, engineering and others.

Belmont University Celebrates MLK Day with Two Weeks of Special Events

Paul Chenoweth
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mlk-day-2014-155In celebration of the Jan. 19 anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth date, Belmont University will hold two weeks of special events. The University’s theme for 2015 is “Living Memory: Bringing Dr. King’s Vision into the Present Day.” The University’s commitment to Martin Luther King Jr. Week through classroom and special events began in 1997 and continues to grow today.

Dr. Peter Kuryla, associate professor of history and chairman of Belmont’s 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee, said, “When the committee met this fall to plan our program, it was clear to us that current events will and should inevitably inform how we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King this year. To somehow refuse to acknowledge our current racial climate and the protests that have developed around events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island would be to indulge in what the novelist Ralph Ellison once described as the ‘fantasies [that] become operative whenever the nation grows weary of the struggle toward the ideal of American democratic equality.’ In that spirit, we chose the theme ‘Living Memory: Bringing Dr. King’s Vision into the Present Day.’ With this theme in mind and in keeping with Dr. King’s prophetic social vision, we’ve brought together programming that considers the legacy of the movement in light of present-day concerns. We look forward to a campus-wide conversation.”

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Grant Inspires Study, Renewal of Campus Worship

Paul Chenoweth
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communion-chapel-108
As part of the worship grant outcomes, students in Matt Chenoweth’s ceramics class this past semester created plates and chalices, which were used for communion in Wednesday’s opening Chapel.

Following a submission from Associate Professor of Theology Dr. Steve Guthrie, Belmont University was awarded a $14,300 “Vital Worship” grant last summer from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship with funding provided by the Lilly Endowment. Connected in part to the opening in August of Belmont’s new Chapel, the grant focuses on two broad goals for 2014-15: to inform Belmont’s worship as a campus community and to encourage the community to fully inhabit the new worship space.

The grant funded a number of new initiatives during the fall semester, including a weekday morning prayer session in the Chapel which will continue this spring. (Students, staff and faculty are invited to attend Morning Prayer in the Chapel, each weekday from 7:30 to 7:50 a.m.). The grant also has funded a series of chapel speakers, addressing worship from various perspectives. Dr. Karen Swanson from the Institute for Prison Ministry talked about worship in prison settings; art historian Dr. Daniel Siedell considered worship and modern art; and local pastors Rev. Aaron Bryant, Rev. Joshua Caler and Father Dexter Brewer talked about worship in the Baptist, Episcopal and Catholic traditions, respectively. A number of additional speakers are planned for this spring including sociologist Dr. Gerardo Marti (Worship Across the Racial Divide) and Nigerian-American author and poet Enuma Okoro.

“We want to learn from our neighbors,” Guthrie said. “We’d like to hear about the distinctive practices of the different churches worshiping around us in Nashville. We’ve also made an effort to look at worship through a number of different lenses. For instance, we’ve asked: What can we learn about worship from those who worship in prison? What can worship practices teach us about race in America? And how can modern art and its use in sacred spaces help us to think more deeply about worship?”

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Elliott Interviewed on WSM’s ‘The Music Row Show’

Paul Chenoweth
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ElliottJames I. Elliott, assistant professor and chair of Belmont’s songwriting major, was a guest Jan. 4 on “The Music Row Show,” which airs on WSM-AM radio and on the web at wsmonline.com.

Elliott was interviewed about his songwriting success and his teaching in the songwriting program at Belmont University. Some of Elliott’s songs–recorded by Steven Curtis Chapman, Ginny Owens and Shenandoah–were played during the broadcast. Elliott also took the opportunity to highlight the success of some of his past students, including Florida Georgia Line and Clare Dunn (Universal Records) as well as the recent success of songwriting majors Louisa Wendorff and Devin Dawson Durrett whose YouTube video has garnered more than 9.5 million views since Taylor Swift tweeted about it the week before Christmas.

McEntire Published in Review and Expositor Journal

Paul Chenoweth
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Mark McEntireBelmont Professor of Biblical Studies Mark McEntire recently published an article, “From Bound and Gagged to Swimming in the Water of Life: How God Breaks and Heals Ezekiel​”  in the Review and Expositor. 

Cecil Scaife Visionary Award Honors Congressman Marsha Blackburn

Paul Chenoweth
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Congressman Marsha Blackburn (center) receives the award from Cecil Scaife's daughter LaRawn Scaife Rhea and his son producer Joe Scaife.
Congressman Marsha Blackburn (center) receives the award from Cecil Scaife’s daughter LaRawn Scaife Rhea and his son producer Joe Scaife.

Congressman Marsha Blackburn was recently honored at an event at the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) as the 2014 recipient of the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award. The award is given annually to an individual whose life and work have made it possible for future generations to realize careers in the music industry. In the early ’70s it was Cecil Scaife’s vision to create a music business program for musicians, artists songwriters and future music business executives to formally learn the industry he loved so dearly. Scaife, along with several others on Music Row, helped start Belmont’s music business program in 1971 with his long-time friend Bob Mulloy, one of the first instructors at Belmont who guided the program through its early years.

Congressman Blackburn was honored for her numerous contributions to the songwriting industry and her open door policy that has led to change regarding intellectual property rights and protections for music industry products. LaRawn Scaife Rhea, a Belmont alumna who founded the event which honors her father, said “Many people who become well known or ‘famous’, as many of you in this room have become, know how easy it is to let their feet leave the ground and appear to be someone they really aren’t. I have known Marsha since I was her assistant in 1976, and she is still the same smart, hardworking and caring person.”

Hosts for the event included NSAI, Mike Curb, NATIVE Entertainment Group, Little Extra Music Publishing, Danielle and Joe Scaife, Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and LaRawn and Richard Rhea. Past recipients of the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award include Amy Grant, Tony Brown, David Griggs, Mike Curb and Wynonna.

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