Belmont University students won the Greater Tennessee Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Research Challenge competition for the second year in a row. The teams consisted of economics student Jake DeVries, accelerated Master of Business Administration student Yan Yan Dong, professional MBA student Justin Essary, finance student Wes Heginbotham and professional MBA student Reece Mabry. The competition included University of Tennessee Knoxville, Vanderbilt and Lipscomb Universities and four other colleges. Belmont’s team prepared an equity research report on Nashville-based health management company Healthways, which was presented to a group of Chartered Financial Analyst judges. The team will compete again in the Americas regional competition in Denver on March 18 and 19. Belmont alumnus Jay McCanless served as the team’s industry mentor.
Komen Recognizes Voight as Pink Tie Guy
The Greater Nashville affiliate of Susan G. Komen has recognized Physical Therapy Professor Mike Voight as a Pink Tie Guy during a celebration dinner that honored a 10 individuals from Middle Tennessee.
The Pink Tie Program features influential leaders who help mobilize, energize and engage audiences in the breast cancer movement through their role within the community, within their organizations and through their personal involvement. Pink Tie Guys bring a male voice to the urgency of finding a cure for breast cancer.
“Mike is the perfect Pink Tie Guy,” said Dr. Cathy Taylor, dean of the College of Health Sciences. “His positive energy is contagious, and he has worked tirelessly to mobilize others to race for the cure. We are so proud of his accomplishments and appreciate our Komen partners for rewarding his work in this way.”
Voight is the force behind Belmont’s annual participation in the local Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Each year, over 100 students and alumni from the School of Physical Therapy volunteer to provide the main logistical support for the race. Komen International recognized Belmont University and the School of Physical Therapy last summer as the Volunteer Group of the Year for their service.
Lambert Interviewed Regarding Olympic Advertising
Professor of Marketing Dr. Robert Lambert was recently featured in an article by WalletHub on “Sochi Olympics by the Numbers.” Lambert provided expert insight into the value of mega-event advertising. Click here to read the full article.
Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business Honors Gordon Kennedy with Mulloy Award
Award presentation slated for March 29 ‘Best of the Best’ Showcase on Belmont’s campus
Continuing a tradition of recognizing music industry greats who are also dedicated to the educational process, Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business will honor Gordon Kennedy with the sixth annual Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence on March 29. The award presentation, which will occur during the University’s 2014 Best of the Best Showcase at Belmont’s Curb Event Center, will feature special performances by Belmont students as well as Kennedy colleagues Peter Frampton and Ricky Skaggs. “Best of the Best” begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
In the spring of 2008, the Curb College established the Award of Excellence in memory of program founder Bob Mulloy to annually recognize an individual who has achieved a level of excellence in the music business and entertainment industries with notable service to Belmont University and the Nashville community.
Curb College Dean Dr. Wes Bulla said, “It’s an honor for us to present the Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence to Gordon, who considers Bob one of his early mentors. Gordon has remained a long-time champion and unofficial spokesman for the Curb College and all things Belmont and has never said no to a favor that supports our students, faculty and programs.”
Belmont alumnus and Curb College Board Chairman Doug Howard added, “I often say that Gordon Kennedy is a ‘world class songwriter, musician, producer and performer. I need to add that he is a ‘Heaven class’ family man, friend and Christian brother. I know Bob Mulloy was extremely proud of Gordon’s professional achievements. However, the latter traits are what Bob sought to instill in his students and are truly what matter most of all.”
Musical Theatre Alumni Return to Nashville in ‘Ghost’
Alumni Ben Laxton (’11) and Andrea Rouch (’11) have returned to Nashville, Tenn. for the musical theatre tour of “Ghost,” which is showing at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center through March 2. Rouch and Laxton, who are engaged to marry in May, studied musical theatre at Belmont and are understudies for the lead roles in “Ghost” with Laxton playing charater Sam and Rouch as Molly. They also are in the ensemble cast. Use the promotional code “BELMONT” for 15 percent off tickets.
Author Malcolm Gladwell Reminds Executives, Students Importance of Legitimacy
When not legitimized by authority, anger transforms underdogs into radicals, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell told business executives and students on Friday morning as he captivated their attention with his narratives.
Belmont University’s Executive Learning Network and Parnassus Books brought the author and The New Yorker staff writer to the Curb Event Center on Friday for the Spring Leadership Breakfast.
Gladwell shared the story of New York socialite turned suffragist Alva Vanderbilt and her philanthropist daughter, Consuelo, intertwined with nuggets on Northern Ireland women who marched on armed British soldiers. His talk was pickled with modern day references to the Kardashians, Kanye West lyrics and the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Li, Students Receive Grant for Research Project in China
Asian Studies and Chinese Language Assistant Professor Dr. Qingjun (Joan) Li and four of her students–Anna Croghan, Samantha Hubner, Joseph Minga and Ryan Pino–recently were awarded an ASIANetwork/Freeman Foundation Student-Faculty Fellows Grant. Of 27 team applications, only eight were selected for grants which will fully fund the team’s research project in China this summer.
“I am so excited about this invaluable research opportunity which allows me to take four of my remarkable students to China and work together with them for over three weeks. We all carry the great passion for China, and our study of the commodification of culture will result in new understandings about how Chinese culture is being made into a profitable industry. This is an intriguing project,” Li said.
The team will be in the People’s Republic of China for approximately four weeks in May and early June 2014. The research project, titled “The Commodification of Culture in China’s New Cultural Industry,” will examine the role of culture in China’s new cultural industry, which is a pillar economic commitment of over $172.95 billion or a full 2.78% of the country’s GDP.
Riechert Selected as Public Relations Officer
Dr. Bonnie Riechert, APR, chairman of the Department of Public Relations at Belmont University, is among the new officers for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Nashville Chapter. The chapter hosted the 2013 PRSA Southeast District Leadership Rally in Nashville. PRSA includes 21,000 professionals committed to professional development, standards of excellence and ethical business principles.
Pharmacy Students Engage in Interdisciplinary Care
On Feb. 14, several of Belmont’s fourth-year pharmacy students participated in the local “Interprofessional Team Geriatric Case Training” event. To ensure health professional students develop skills for working in interprofessional teams, the Meharry Consortium Geriatric Education Center hosts this annual team training. This is the third year Belmont University College of Pharmacy has been involved in this one-day event.
This experience serves as an opportunity for students to develop interprofessional collaborative skills by working as a team on a geriatric case and developing a patient assessment and treatment plan. Faculty experts are available to consult with teams, and nurse practitioners observe and rate team dynamics. The program concludes with an interactive general assembly where an interdisciplinary expert panel provides feedback and answers questions.
“It was great to see professionals from all different fields work together,” said Logan Smith. “This allowed me to see how each profession depends on the other. This activity made me realize that medications can only do so much, but they do play a vital role in patient care.”
Over 150 students studying health disciplines from several local institutions served as members of the interprofessional teams. In addition to pharmacy students from Belmont and Lipscomb University, medical students from Meharry Medical College, dietetic interns from National HealthCare Corporation and Vanderbilt University, physical therapy students from Tennessee State University (TSU), social work students from TSU and University of Tennessee, and family nurse practitioner students from TSU also participated in this event.
“Before this event I only had a vague idea of what was involved in social work and physical therapy and I was amazed at the scope of services provided by those two professions,” said fourth-year pharmacy student April Beavers.
Kendall Shultes said, “The day confirmed that having a pharmacist as part of the patient care team is critical to ensuring appropriate drug therapy. I learned the team approach really helps to incorporate all aspects of care. Having the nutritionist to address nutritional needs to control chronic diseases such as diabetes and coronary artery disease as well as the social worker to address transport issues to get to the appointments was a great help.”
“Having the opportunity to participate in this event was truly rewarding. It provided me with hope for my career as a pharmacist. It taught me that in order to effectively treat the patient as a whole, we have to seek the expertise of other disciplines and act as a team,” said student Shannon McVeigh.
Kristy Oman said, “Learning from students representing the spectrum of healthcare disciplines while working together on a common patient is a rewarding experience.”
Ashton Beggs, assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy, serves on the interdisciplinary faculty planning committee and expert panel for this event.
“Healthcare is moving more and more toward a team-based approach to patient care. This event helps students realize their value as a pharmacist and opens their eyes to the contributions other disciplines can make to promote the best patient outcomes,” Beggs said.
State Resolution Recognizes Homework Hotline at Belmont
Tennessee legislatures recognized the Homework Hotline at Belmont for students’ “exemplary service to their community as volunteers” with a resolution passed on Jan. 30 at the state capitol. Since fall 2012, Belmont students have served as a volunteer satellite of Homework Hotline, practicing teaching techniques while providing one-on-one tutoring to at-risk children. Belmont University volunteers provide meaningful service to the community while they grow as educators and community leaders. For the Fall 2013 semester:
- Over 30 Belmont University students participated.
- Five Federal Work Study students served as “Lead Tutors” and worked 10 hours per week.
- Hours served varied according to Service-Learning requirements for various courses.
- Volunteers and Community Service students (sororities, fraternities, clubs, etc.) participated.
- The Belmont Center provided 168 hours of tutoring during the semester.
Because of Belmont’s semester start and training startup, the University’s program didn’t begin until after Labor Day. Belmont Homework Hotline was several weeks behind MNPS’ schedule in starting, but was still able to take more than 200 calls from students in grades K – 12th, and successfully resolved more than 85 percent of those calls. Any Tennessee student can call the toll-free number, and 42 percent of the calls to Belmont came from Nashville-Davidson County students. Math, especially middle school grades, is the most sought-after area of assistance, and 61 percent of the calls Belmont students handled were math questions.
Thirty Belmont University students took calls during the Fall 2013 semester. Volunteering proved especially popular among students without cars as the tutoring takes place on the Belmont campus. Volunteer tutors gain an in-depth understanding of the public school curriculum and the needs of children, learn teaching and communications techniques (valuable for education majors), improved their self-efficacy, and increased their engagement in the community.
