When Associate Dean for Performance Studies Jeff Kirk left campus Thursday afternoon, he drove by Compton Avenue where students handed him a crate of spinach, squash and lettuce, which his wife used to make lettuce wraps for dinner.
“I am sure happy I did. I am happy to know we can get fresh, organic vegetables once a week, and the price is much cheaper than the grocery store,” Kirk said. “This is another way Belmont is taking care of us and the community as well.”
This summer junior Brett Wisse and senior Johnathan West revived Belmont’s garden through Enactus, an organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. Wisse and West have invested $2,000 building eight raised beds and an aqua pond to start new crops in the garden, which they have named Cultivate.
Although the garden has been on Belmont’s campus for several years, it hasn’t consistently produced a harvest as students graduate and leave campus for the summer. The garden was born in 2008 when Chemistry Professor Kimberlee Daus’ honors analytics class did chemistry tests on soil in a vacant lot and researched what types of plants would grow there. A first-year seminar class built rock beds and did initial planting in 2009. Two years later, the University formed a partnership with the Dismas House, and students in Adjunct Instructor Charmion Gustke’s first-year service learning and English 1010 classes used their harvests to supplement the meals of former prisoners transitioning back into society.
GRAMMY Camp® Nashville was held last week at Belmont’s 34 Music Square East facility, home to historic Columbia Studio A and the Quonset Hut, with 39 high school students from 25 cities and 12 states. Celebrating its 10th year, GRAMMY Camp is the GRAMMY Foundation’s signature music industry camp for U.S. high school students and is an interactive non-residential summer music experience focusing on all aspects of commercial music.
Belmont University’s Office of Communications and Office of University Marketing and Public Relations earned two 2014 Tennessee College Public Relations Association Awards during the association’s June meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. The University earned a gold award in the low-budget publication category for the Community Engagement brochure produced for the Office of Community Relations to share with elected officials, neighborhood associations and nonprofit organizations. In the printed magazine category, Belmont was given a silver award for Circle, a biannual magazine distributed to parents, alumni and donors. 
Erin L. Wikle, assistant to the dean in the College of Pharmacy, has published an article on new Tennessee legislation impacting women who use narcotic drugs while pregnant. The law, effective July 1, states that a woman can be prosecuted for assault if she takes a narcotic drug while pregnant and the baby is born addicted, is harmed or dies as a result. Wikle discusses services offered by The Salvation Army in Tennessee to support both the mother and effected family members. She also proposes key questions that result from the controversy of the legislation. 
Dr. Mark Anderson, a philosophy professor, presented the paper “Melville and Nietzsche: Nihilism on the Mediterranean” to the First International Conference, entitled “Mediterranean Visions: Journeys, Itineraries, and Cultural Migrations,” hosted by the Sant’ Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy on June 13 and 14.
Dr. Susan West, vice president and chief of staff, was recently selected to be a member of Leadership Nashville’s Class of 2015. The 44 members of the coming year’s class were selected from more than 215 applicants. The Leadership Nashville Foundation was founded in 1976 as an independent, executive leadership program to give community leaders a three-dimensional view of the city. The goals of Leadership Nashville are to build channels of communication between established leaders, connect leaders to community issues and equip participants with insights.
A small group of faculty and students from Belmont University College of Pharmacy (BUCOP) recently traveled to Honduras as part of the Baptist Medical Dental Mission to that country. Dr. Adam Pace, Dr. Alisa Spinelli and two fourth year pharmacy students, Erin Oakley and Erin Mullen, joined a team of about 30 medical professionals who made the trip.