Belmont’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America scored significant acclaim this week with numerous national awards at the parent organization’s national conference, held Oct. 10-14 in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Bonnie Riechert, associate professor and chair of Belmont’s Department of Public Relations, was honored for her work as faculty adviser to the Belmont Chapter of PRSSA. Riechert received the national PRSSA Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award, based on service to the PRSSA Chapter through dedication and creative chapter guidance, effective student motivation, exceptional contributions to public relations education, supportive chapter advocacy and representation within the academic department and with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) sponsor Chapter and its members. The award includes an engraved trophy and a cash prize. Accredited in Public Relations and a member of the PRSA College of Fellows, Riechert has served as the Belmont PRSSA faculty adviser since coming to the faculty in 2006. She is the current president of the PRSA Nashville Chapter.
Belmont University and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) announced today that the Middle Tennessee STEM Innovation Hub will be moving to Belmont’s campus, effective immediately, providing a centralized location to support the region’s educational advancement in the academic disciplines of the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). More than 18 percent (or 125,230) of the region’s jobs require STEM skills, and positions are anticipated to continue to grow at a fast pace in STEM industries throughout Middle Tennessee. Further development of STEM programs—along with partnerships among higher education, K-12, nonprofits and businesses—will be crucial to national and regional economic stability and growth in the coming years.
Professor of Biblical Studies Dr. Mark McEntire recently had his essay, “Locating Memory between Story and History,” appear in Marginalia Review of Books, a channel of the Los Angeles Review of Books. The essay is available 
Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business is an outstanding business school, according to education services company The Princeton Review. The company features the school in the new 2015 edition of its annual guidebook, “The Best 296 Business Schools.”
Dr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology and entomologist, has been out in the community recently talking about insects. On Oct. 4 Murphree gave table presentations about “Insects and Disease in the Civil War” at the Civil War Surgeon display of Tom and Nancy Wood in Pioneer Village as part of the Granville, Tennessee Fall Festival event. In late September, he offered an “Insects and Disease in the Civil War” table presentation for elementary school children at The Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation’s Heritage Days event. On Sept. 13, he led a Tennessee Naturalist Program workshop at Owl’s Hill Nature Center. The session was titled “World of Invertebrates: Pollinators, Predators, Pests and Parasitoids,” and the participants learned about the characteristics and life cycles of insects, the identification of insects using keys, methods of collecting and observing insects and other arthropods, identifying other arthropods (spiders, isopods, mites, etc.), and the ecological roles of arthropods.
A group of students and faculty representing the Belmont University Student Chapter of the Mathematical Association of America and Association for Computing Machinery (MAA/ACM) participated in the 
Jordan Gwaltney, customer service and website specialist for the Campus Store, presented a session at the annual Tennessee Association of College Stores conference in Knoxville on Sept. 30. Gwaltney shared successful techniques to increase traffic, interaction and excitement for college stores through the use of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest social media posts. The Tennessee Association of College Stores is a group of institutionally owned college/K-12 stores and vendors that serve the state of Tennessee.
Kayla Woodson, a junior entertainment industry studies major and student worker in Athletics, recently won an all inclusive trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republican for a “Lady Antebellum Getaway.” On the first night of the trip, Woodson sang at the welcome party and made some new fans, who mentioned to Lady Antebellum members that they believed Woodson was going to be the next country star. At the concert that night, the country trio called Woodson up on stage to join them in singing their hit “American Honey.” The performance, which can be viewed 
Several Belmont alumnae have been named finalists in the “2014 Martha Stewart American Made Awards.” Martha Stewart’s American Made is a nationally recognized awards program that celebrates new rising stars of the growing nationwide maker community who have turned their passions for handcrafted, well-designed goods into a small business and proudly make their products in America.
Also, in the American Made 