WKRN news anchor Bob Mueller interviewed Dr. Nathan Griffith, chairman and associate professor of political science, on Jan. 12 for the weekly television show “This Week with Bob Mueller.” The talk show discusses the latest news and political headlines. Griffith provided analysis on forecasting what will be the top political stories for 2014 including midterm elections and The Affordable Health Care Act.
Dr. Qingjun (Joan) Li, assistant professor of Chinese and Asian Studies, presented at two conferences during the winter break. The first conference she attended was the 2014 Annual Hawaii University International Conferences on Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences held at Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan 4 through 6. She presented a paper entitled “Oriental Light Shining in Western Darkness: Thoreau’s Use of The Mengzi in Walden.” This paper has been published in the proceedings of the conference.
In addition, she also attended the 20th National Conference of the Japan Studies Association, which was held at Tokai University, Hawaii on Jan. 2 through 4. At this conference, she made a presentation entitled “Family, Transformation, and Death in the Film Departures.” Li was also awarded a Faculty Travel Grant by the Japan Foundation and the Japan Studies Association as a junior professor who promotes and infuses the study of Japan into her teaching and research.
On Jan. 11, Belmont University College of Pharmacy hosted a certificate program for pharmacists entitled “Delivering Medication Therapy Management Services.” Developed by the American Pharmacists Association, the interactive training program explores the pharmacist’s role in providing medication therapy management services to patients. The program enhances pharmacists’ clinical expertise in evaluating complicated medication regimens, identifying medication-related problems and making recommendations to patients, caregivers and health care professionals. Pharmacists from Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky attended the one-day training session led by College of Pharmacy faculty members Dr. Traci Poole and Dr. Ashton Beggs.
Audio engineering technology full time adjunct Joe Baldridge received a Grammy nod for his work on Taylor Swift’s album “Red,” which is up for Album of the Year.
Instructor of Entertainment Industry Studies Sarita Stewart recently graduated from The University of Alabama with a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with a specialization in Entertainment Media and cohort in Statistics. Her dissertation, “Artist-Fan Engagement Model: Implications for Music Consumption and the Music Industry,” was directed by her graduate studies dean and the media effects scholar, Dr. Shuhua Zhou.
Belmont Veteran Affairs Education Counselor Linda Mullins was recently selected to serve on Gov. Bill Haslam’s Veterans Education Task Force to evaluate how to best serve Tennessee’s veterans seeking a certificate or degree beyond high school.
Along with the other members of the task force, Mullins will be responsible for identifying common educational hurdles for transitioning veterans, researching best practices to serve student veterans and making recommendations on improving opportunities for veterans to earn a certificate beyond high school.
“Over the last several years, enrollment of veterans in Tennessee colleges and universities has more than doubled,” Haslam said. “While cost is often a barrier for many students to post-secondary education, that isn’t usually the case for veterans due to federal grants and other scholarship support. We need to better understand what unique obstacles veterans face in completing their education, and work with them to overcome those obstacles and graduate.”
The committee will engage a variety of stakeholders including higher education leaders, veterans and advocacy groups and will present recommendations to the governor in June 2014.
Belmont, TSU, Trevecca students join together for MLK Day of Service on Jan. 18
In celebration of the Jan. 15 anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth date, Belmont University will hold two weeks of special events. The University’s theme for 2014 is “Postracial: The Problem of the Color Line in the 21st Century.” The University’s commitment to Martin Luther King Jr. Week through classroom and special events began in 1997 and continues to grow today. New this year are showings of documentaries related to Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.
“In recent years, there has been a great deal of talk about whether or not we live in a so-called ‘post-racial’ society. In order to explore more fully this controversial idea, the committee this year thought it best to look to the past for inspiration. In that spirit, we chose as our theme, ‘Postracial: The Problem of the Color Line in the 21st Century,’ an homage to W.E.B. DuBois’ famous pronouncement, written well over a century ago, that ‘the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line,’” said Peter Kuryla, assistant professor of history and chairman of Belmont’s 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee. “So recalling DuBois and in keeping with Dr. King’s prophetic social vision, we’ve put together programming that addresses this issue of the color line from a variety of perspectives. We look forward to a campus-wide conversation.”
A group of Belmont students and alumni are working to increase civic responsibility through a web application that explains United States government and politics. Funded through a $15,000 investment, the app, Poliana, aggregates millions of data points on a wide range of government activity, including voting records, financial contributions, lobbying, bills and industry influence.
Nashville business incubator Jumpstart Foundry awarded Poliana founders with the start-up cash during a 14-week process. Throughout the process the founders–Belmont students David Gilmore and Patrick Cason along with alumni Grayson Carroll, Kenny House and Seth Whiting– were guided and mentored by Nashville’s most influential business people, designers, developers, lawyers, marketers and entrepreneurs. Their entrepreneurial jumpstart culminated with “investor day,” where Poliana presented a 10-minute business pitch to hundreds of potential investors from all over the country.
“I was pushed to learn and produce results at an extremely accelerated rate, and the progress I made was clear. Overall, the experience more than prepared me for the trials of running a successful business, and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity to learn from the brightest minds of the Nashville business community,” said Carroll (’13), Poliana’s chief executive officer.
The Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence announced Dr. Joe F. Alexander, associate dean and senior professor of performance excellence of The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business, is the recipient of the 2014 Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual who exemplifies outstanding leadership in the pursuit of performance excellence and has furthered performance improvement beyond the boundaries of his organization. The McWherter Award is named after the Tennessee governor, who was instrumental in the center’s founding in 1993.
“From the time he arrived in Tennessee, Joe’s unparalleled commitment to quality and his passion for performance excellence have had a tremendous impact on Belmont University and organizations state-wide,” said board chairman Jim Duensing in a press release. “He has been an outstanding advocate for the TNCPE program and through his efforts, countless organizations have learned to apply principles that improve their processes and results—making Tennessee an even better place to live and work. We congratulate Joe on this well-deserved honor.”
Since 2007, Alexander has provided visionary leadership for The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business and taught graduate courses in marketing management and performance excellence. He serves on the board of directors for TriStar Centennial Medical Center and the Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau, and has previously served on the board of directors for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (chairman from 2011-12) and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Foundation (chairman from 2009-10). He is also a Six Sigma Black Belt and a Fulbright Scholar (Japan 2008).
Legendary basketball coach and former Belmont Athletics administrator Betty Wiseman was named one of the 2014 recipients of the Ohio Valley Conference’s Thurston Banks Award for Distinguished Academic Service, as announced by the league office on Friday.
The award, selected by the OVC Faculty Athletics Representatives (FARs), was established in 2013 to recognize individuals (e.g. academic advisor, professor, tutor, etc.), with at least five years of service at one or more OVC member institutions, for their outstanding contributions to OVC student-athletes’ academic success, learning and development as well for his or her overall commitment to the institution’s athletics program.
The award is named after Dr. Thurston Banks, who served the Tennessee Tech Department of Athletics for 31 of his 34 years on the faculty and served as the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for 25 years before stepping down in 2006. He was inducted into the OVC Hall of Fame in 2007.
