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 20^th 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.

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.