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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Murphree Presents as Part of Lost Ladybug Project

Paul Chenoweth
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Murphree-Lost-Ladybug-DayDr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology, was a “Scientist on the Spot” on March 22 at the kickoff event for the Adventure Science Center’s Lost Ladybug Project. Murphree was available to answer questions about The Lost Ladybug Project, and he also gave a 30-minute presentation about Middle Tennessee lady beetles.

This event was part of the national Lost Ladybug Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, which is studying the decline of some native lady beetle species. Across North America ladybug species composition is changing. Over the past 20 years, native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other parts of the world have greatly increased both their numbers and range. This is happening very quickly, and scientists don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. Murphree will continue as the local entomology consultant until this year’s project ends in early October.

Math Students Present at Conference

Paul Chenoweth
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MCS-group-2014Nine students and six faculty members recently attend the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)’s 2014 Southeastern section meeting at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn. The Southeastern Section of the MAA (MAA SE) advances the mathematical sciences within the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The conference was held March 13-15. Math majors Max Shenfield, Jackson Streeter, Annie Brunelle and So “Sara” Chung competed in the Math Jeopardy tournament. Senior Mathematics major Angela Gaetano gave a presentation on “The Impact of Censoring on Estimator of Slope Parameter in a Simple Regression Model” and junior Mathematics major Annie Brunelle gave a presentation on “Brownian Motion and Probability Simulations.” Other students that attended the conference included Mary Yang, Savannah Halliday, Geoffrey Gross and Isak Wilson.

Mathematics faculty were also actively involved at the conference. Dr. Andy Miller completed his three year term as Tennessee state director and gave a presentation on “Real World Projects, Real World Writing.” Dr. Robin Lovgren gave a presentation on “Herding Cats – Using Attendance App to Learn Names and Keep Up with Your Students.” Dr. Mike Pinter spoke on “Ideas for Ending a Course Effectively.” Kay Geving presented her work titled “College Algebra Course Redesign.” Dr. Sarah Ann Fleming gave a presentation in the Graduate Student Workshop on “Job Application Materials.” Dr. Danny Biles was also in attendance at the conference.

Physics Students Present ‘Circus’ to Peers

Paul Chenoweth
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Physics-Circus-1The Society of Physics Students recently presented a “Physics Circus” convocation event.  The students presented various intriguing and exciting physics demonstrations. Physics students showed and explained the science behind phenomena such as beautiful Chladni patterns, the “ring launcher” device, alien-looking ferrofluid formations, and more. Dr. Scott Hawley, associate professor of physics, serves as the faculty adviser for this student organization. 

Pinter Presents at Faculty Conference

Paul Chenoweth
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mike pinterDr. Mike Pinter, Teaching Center director and professor of mathematics, presented a poster at the annual Southern Regional Faculty Instructional Development Consortium (SRFIDC) Conference, March 2-4. The conference, held at Dalton State College in Dalton, Ga. had Embracing Ownership: Encouraging and Empowering Self-Directed Faculty as its theme. Pinter’s poster presentation, entitled “Using Faculty Reading Groups to Build Community and Support Self-Directed Faculty,” described a variety of faculty reading groups used as a faculty development activity at Belmont.

In addition to detailing some planning logistics for the groups, the presentation included reading group objectives, namely: build community among faculty across all areas of campus; provide an opportunity for faculty and selected staff (for example, Student Affairs) to interact; serve as a lead in or follow up associated with a Teaching Center workshop or retreat, or some other campus event; provide an opportunity for faculty to explore current ideas from research on teaching and learning; and provide an opportunity for reflection on spiritual or personal growth and development. Some reading group outcomes were shared in the poster, including data about number of participants over the last ten years.  


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Professional Complete 100 Black Women, Belmont Leadership Program

Paul Chenoweth
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100-Black-Women-7-LThe National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc. (NCBW), Metropolitan Nashville Chapter and Belmont University’s College of Business Administration completed their leadership training program with 16 Nashville professionals receiving certification in nonprofit leadership.  The African-American Women on Boards Certification Program provided an introduction to the basics of board service, governance, strategic planning and overall responsibilities. The women were awarded their certificates during the 2014 Sister for Sister Conference Leadership Development Workshop on March 21.

“The African-American Women on Boards Certification Program is a key outreach initiative of the College of Business Administration at Belmont University. I am very pleased with the initial project encouraging diversity among nonprofit organization leadership, and believe as the program grows diversity in board governance will increase in our area.  These women, leaders in Middle Tennessee business, nonprofit and government sectors, are investing in their personal growth through this program, with the goal of being certified to serve on nonprofit boards,” said Belmont’s College of Business Administration Dean Pat Raines. “We believe the curriculum’s focus on leadership, financial literacy, strategic planning and diversity and inclusion at the board level reflects not only a need in Tennessee but also is far reaching into a national platform for training 100 Black Women across the United States.  This is exciting for these women leaders and for Belmont as we hope to encourage change in diversity on boards at both the local and national levels.”

Belmont and 100 Black Women announced their collaboration for the leadership development certification designed to train and prepare African-American women for leadership service on nonprofit, government and corporate boards a year ago, and the first module of the program began in the fall. The new initiative strived to develop and market competent, qualified and committed professional business women of color to help them gain access and share their skill sets to help organizations reach their full potential. Immediate past president NCBW National President M. Delois Strum said she plans to use the African-American Women on Boards Certification Program with Belmont as a model for board governance that may expand to NCBW chapters across the country.

Other supporting organizations included the Nashville Coalition of 100 Black Women Foundation Inc., Meharry Medical College, HCA and members of the national leadership arm of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc.

Law Students Win Regional Trial Advocacy Competition

Paul Chenoweth
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Pictured are (front row, l-r) Sara Page, Robert Martin, Rachel Hogan, Prof. Amy Moore, Emily Cole, and Ardath Griffin; (back row, l-r) Dayne Geyer, Ron Laffitte, Atty. Andrew Caple-Shaw and Patrick Ober.
Pictured are (front row, l-r) Sara Page, Robert Martin, Rachel Hogan, Prof. Amy Moore, Emily Cole, and Ardath Griffin; (back row, l-r) Dayne Geyer, Ron Laffitte, Atty. Andrew Caple-Shaw and Patrick Ober.

Two trial advocacy teams from Belmont University College of Law competed in the Louisville, Kent., regional of the 2014 American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Advocacy Competition. Both teams went undefeated until they met each other in the championship round.  The team of Emily Cole, Dayne Geyer, Robert Martin and Patrick Ober narrowly bested Ardath Griffin, Rachel Hogan, Ron Laffitte and Sara Page to win the regional.

Director of Advocacy and Associate Professor of Law Amy Moore said, “The College of Law is extremely proud of both of these teams’ performances. The championship team won every single round; in fact, of the multiple judges hearing each round, our championship team won over every single judge — not one judge voted for the opposing team! Our mock trial students have put in so much time and effort, and this weekend they were able to showcase their skills and the Belmont College of Law. No one could believe that this was only our second year with an advocacy program at such a new law school. These students are what Belmont Law is all about.”

Advocacy teams competing in the Kentucky regional hailed from law schools at Indiana University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Illinois, the University of Mississippi, the University of Missouri, the University of Tennessee and Washington University in St. Louis.

Belmont’s trial advocacy teams were coached by Middle Tennessee attorneys Margaret Garner and Andrew Caple-Shaw. In a few weeks, the championship team will travel to Santa Monica, Cali., to compete in the National Tournament against 13 other mock trial teams from across the nation.

School of Sciences Presents Brain Awareness Week

Paul Chenoweth
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biology-105-L
Students dissecting sheep brains during one of Brain Awareness Week’s events.

Last week, Belmont’s School of Sciences presented “Brain Awareness Week” as a part of the global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. Events included speakers from Vanderbilt University and the Belmont neuroscience program as well as a showing of the film Memento.

In addition, students were given the opportunity to dissect sheep brains to help better understand structure-function relationships in the nervous system. Dillon Oman, a junior neuroscience major, facilitated this event. Dillon is interested in pursuing a career that will allow him to combine his love of neuroscience with his passion for educating people about neuroscience.

“Brain Awareness Week is a great opportunity to showcase the talented neuroscientists we have at Belmont along with fascinating speakers from our community.  Given the plethora of exciting new techniques and discoveries, it’s easy to see why President Obama called his BRAIN initiative ‘the next great American project’,” Dr. Lori McGrew, associate professor of biology, said.

Neuroscience is a growing field, including a wide range of subdisciplines such as cognition, behavior, cellular neuroscience and computational neuroscience. Belmont’s neuroscience major combines foundational courses in biology, chemistry, psychology and physics with upper level coursework in biology and psychology and culminates in a student-driven research project in neuroscience.  The program prepares students for careers as research assistants and animal behavioralists among others or for entry into medical school or graduate school.

Belmont Alumnus Finds Success in Internet-Based Candy Store

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont entrepreneurship alumnus Jonathan Murrell and his brother, James Murrell, have found  success with their company CandyGalaxy.com, an Internet-based candy store. Nearly doubling in sales since 2012, the online candy wholesaler grossed $1.7 million in revenue last year. The brothers’ goal is to make over $2 million in 2014.

The company started while Jonathan was at Belmont through MyDormFood.com, which sells care packages to college students. Jonathan said they wanted to use college as a time to get a business started.

“Dr. Cornwall and the Belmont entrepreneurship department were crucial to the launch of CandyGalaxy.  The money from the annual entrepreneurship contest provided the first funding for CandyGalaxy, and Dr. Cornwall provided invaluable guidance that helped us navigate through some very tricky situations in our first year of operations,” Murrell said.

The candy company has exploded onto the party planning scene and fills orders for weddings, birthday parties, baby showers, luncheon giveaways and more. The duo is even providing a candy buffet for a televised baby shower event for military moms hosted by Heidi Klum. The brothers attribute their success to maintaining a small manufacturing and distribution team and keeping their employee count low.

 

Blash Earns Healthcare Information, Management Certifications

Paul Chenoweth
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Anthony BlashAssistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice Dr. Anthony Blash is now certified, (CPHIMS and CAHIMS) by examination, in the area of health care informatics.  Faculty with these credentials continuously set Belmont College of Pharmacy apart as an institution where student pharmacists can pursue a concentration that prepares them for specialization in the practice of pharmacy.

Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS)  CPHIMS is a professional certification program for healthcare information and management systems professionals. Many organizations require candidates have this internationally recognized certification and are encouraging existing employees to obtain the certification.  Passing the CPHIMS examination demonstrates mastery of a well-defined body of knowledge considered important to competent practice in today’s healthcare information and management systems field. You will know that you have met the highest standards of practice and are among the elite in a critical field of healthcare management.   CPHIMS certification is fast becoming an industry standard by which individuals are assessed for new positions or promotion.

Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) is a new health information technology certification designed for emerging professionals within the industry  with five years or less of experience. This certification demonstrates knowledge of health information technology and management systems, facilitating entry-level careers in health information technology. It is designed to be a career pathway to the CPHIMS credential.  The program offers an introductory review of the many facets of health information technology and information management systems. Those who sit for the exam and pass it will become armed with a valuable credential, qualifying them to facilitate and improve the quality of health IT and business management systems across the healthcare setting.

Belmont Service-Learning Director Shares with Faculty at Southern College of Optometry

Paul Chenoweth
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tim stewartDirector of Service-Learning Tim Stewart presented at a workshop for the faculty of the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn. on March 12.  The presentation was organized by Tennessee Campus Compact, who invited Stewart to be one of three presenters on integrating service-learning into the college’s programs.  Other presenters included Mani Hull, director of Tennessee Campus Compact, and Shannon Hoffman, community service coordinator at Rhodes College.

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