Center to house multiple colleges, labs, chapel, conference space
After 27 months of construction, Belmont University administrators, trustees and student representatives officially cut the ribbon today to signify the grand opening of the Wedgewood Academic Center, a 186,000 square foot structure plus 159,500 square feet for parking located on the corner of Wedgewood and 15th Avenues. From the five-level underground garage fit to hold 430 vehicles to the Fifth Floor Conference Room offering a perfect bird’s eye view of Nashville’s skyline, the building stands as a new cornerstone for the University that seeks to serve both its growing student body and its dynamic hometown.
President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “This building is designed for daily interdisciplinary collaborations, and it provides classrooms and laboratories that not only represent the latest thinking in academic spaces but will also greatly enhance hands-on experiential learning.”
The largest campus building to date, the Wedgewood Academic Center will house three colleges—the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), the College of Sciences and Mathematics (CSM) and the College of Theology and Christian Ministry (CTCM)—and every undergraduate student will take courses in the building as part of the University’s general education curriculum. The new facility more than doubles the physical space these colleges—which consist of more than 50 undergraduate programs—occupied previously. In addition, the structure also houses Belmont’s new 300-seat chapel, which will host services every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as well as special events throughout the year.
“The Wedgewood Academic Center provides a perfect visual testimony of just what a unique and challenging education Belmont offers,” said Dr. Fisher. “Where else can science, liberal arts and religion students and faculty interact so easily? I believe the building itself will quickly become a Nashville icon—it is spectacular.”
Thirty classrooms that vary in capacity from 24-72 seats allow flexibility of use, while numerous smaller seminar and group study rooms enable more in-depth and focused discussions among students and faculty, a fact for which Belmont is well-known (U.S. News & World Report has lauded the University numerous times for its commitment to undergraduate teaching). In addition, the building houses 20 science labs outfitted with more than $2 million dollars in equipment, including state of the art spectrometers, a microwave reaction chamber, a cold room and incubators for biological studies, a state-of-the-art laser laboratory and an acoustics laboratory. A student-centered service area on the first floor allows for personal assistance via a Writing Center, Math Lab, Computer Science Lab, Language Learning Lab and a centrally located Service Learning and International Education office. Also on the first floor, the campus community can enjoy a dining option featuring Sandella’s Flatbread sandwiches and a We Proudly Brew Starbucks outlet.
Today Belmont University unveiled its new campus Chapel, the first space on the ecumenical Christian university’s campus intentionally designed for worship services. Located on the ground floor of the new Wedgewood Academic Center at the corner of 15th and Wedgewood Avenues, the Chapel sits as a focal point within a larger structure that will house three of the University’s Colleges: Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, Sciences & Mathematics and Theology & Christian Ministry. The Chapel will host services three times a week during the fall and spring semesters, as well as special services of worship throughout the year. 
On Aug. 7, Motion Pictures Chairman and Assistant Professor Will Akers presented a paper at the University Film & Video Association annual conference at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. On the panel “Narrative Trends in 2014: Enhanced Content, Expendable Characters, Anime Undertones, Creative License,” Akers spoke on his paper topic “Turning Real Life into Drama: The Joys and Pitfalls of Discovering a Story in the Past.”
The New York Times cited Belmont Honors Professor Joseph Byrne in an article published Tuesday about a government quarantine of cities in Liberia and Sierra Leone to stop the spread of Ebola. Their method, “cordon sanitaire,” keeps people from entering or exiting the infected area and was common during the Black Death. Byrne is a historian who teaches the medieval and early modern sections of the Honors interdisciplinary humanities curriculum and in the article discussed a voluntary cordon in Eyam, England in 1665. 
Dr. Pat Sells, associate professor of physical therapy, lent his expertise to a recent story posted in 
Drs. Carolyn Treybig, Joel Treybig and Gregg Bunn performed by invitation at the 2014 National Flute Association Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The concert, which took place on Aug. 9, centered upon a variety of music for flute, trumpet and organ and featured baroque pieces by William Corbett and Maurizio Cazzati, virtuoso salon works by Ernesto Köhler and Rudolph Speil and modern works by Ellen Given, William Presser and Anthony Plog. Plog’s piece was written specifically for the group and premiered by Carolyn Treybig, Joel Treybig and Andrew Risinger in Nashville in 2010 with the composer attending.
Dr. Pete Giordano, in the Department of Psychological Science, has published a research article called “Undergraduate Consent Form Reading in Relation to Conscientiousness, Procrastination, and the Point-of-Time Effect” in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. Co-authors are three Belmont Psychology major alumni: Justin Theiss (May, 2013), Will Hobbs (Dec 2012), and Olivia Brunson (May 2013).
Belmont Dining Services has added three new campus eateries this semester as part of the University’s mission to enhance student centeredness and campus life.
Belmont University was again named among the nation’s 
