The Belmont Bruins defeated the Green Bay Phoenix Tuesday night in the NIT Postseason Tournament first round, setting up Belmont’s first-ever NCAA era postseason home game in the Curb Event Center. The “Crash the Curb” match up versus Robert Morris will occur tonight, March 21, at 8:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live nationally on ESPNU and available on the WatchESPN app.
Bruins’ fans are invited to the Belltower amphitheatre before the game for a special “Tailgate at the Tower” event. Free food, games, music and televised March Madness will all be set up to entertain the crowd before the game. Activities begin at 5:30 p.m., with food arriving at 6:30.
A Bruin supporter is covering the cost for all Belmont student tickets–students simply bring their BUid to have scanned at the second floor Beaman entrance to the Curb Event Center for free access to the game. That entrance will open at 7:15 p.m., 15 minutes prior to general doors.
Faculty, staff, alumni and other Bruins fans may click here to purchase tickets for $10 each.
In order to expedite entrance into the arena, fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets online and print them at home or purchase their tickets at the Curb Event Center box office, which is open from 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Doors open for ticket holders at 7:30 p.m.
Despite tough losses in OVC Championship games, both of the Belmont basketball teams earned postseason automatic bids.
Meanwhile, the women’s team awaits seeding late Monday night for the 2014 Postseason WNIT, marking the Bruins first postseason berth since 2007. The Bruins, in their first year under head coach Cameron Newbauer, returned to the OVC Tournament for a second consecutive season. After earning a double-bye with a No. 2 seed, BU defeated No. 6 Jacksonville State, 65-50, to advance to the 
Dr. Thom Spence has been named as the founding dean of Belmont University’s new College of Sciences and Mathematics. Spence currently serves as the vice-provost for institutional effectiveness, assessment and student success at Loyola University (New Orleans, La.), where he has been a faculty member since 1999. Spence will begin his new position on Belmont’s campus July 1.
Dr. Jason Lovvorn, assistant professor of English, and Dr. Linda Holt, chair and associate professor of English, conducted an interactive workshop at the Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism and Service-Learning, held in Franklin, Tenn., March 10-11. The title of their workshop was “From Service to Story: How Service-Learning Improves Student Writing.” Drawing on their experiences as service-learning practitioners and as writing instructors, Lovvorn and Holt helped workshop attendees explore how service-learning practice benefits student writers on multiple levels.
Matthew Thompson, a senior Social Work student at Belmont University, recently was honored as the undergraduate Student of the Year by the Middle Tennessee branch of the National Association of Social Workers. The award honors a student who has created a positive influence on classmates for the profession and maintained academic achievement.
Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Beverly Schneller presented a guest lecture via web March 5 for the Faculty of Technology at Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Lahti, Finland on “Gamification and Student Engagement.” Schneller discussed how principles of game design can increase student interest in course work and how through innovation students can be motivated to provide creative solutions to a range of campus issues.