Dr. Scott Hawley, associate professor of physics, joined faculty and staff of the Audio Engineering Technology (AET) department in attending the 135th International Convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) recently held in New York City. Hawley, who teaches physics classes for AET students, presented a talk entitled “Fourier Transforms, Audio Engineering and the Quantum Nature of Reality.”
“As my first AES conference, it was tremendously eye-opening. The level of mathematics and applied physics was higher than I expected, and will influence some of my research choices,” Hawley said. “I also formed new relationships which are already benefitting my classes, such as laboratory exercise suggestions by the Italian loudspeaker manufacturers who were interested in the connections between my quantum physics talk and similar equations arising in loudspeaker design.”
Belmont Japanese language students and the Maymester Trip students held an “FIFS Appreciation” event and sang eleven songs in Japanese, Swahili and English. The visitors sang along and also danced with the students. The event concluded with a potluck party with the help of custodial staff who brought food unique to their home countries. The group stayed with Nashville host families in the area, visited the Nashville mayor’s office and went to the Office of the Consul General of Japan and met Consul-General Kato. The students also took the visitors to restaurants such as Cheesecake Factory and Hard Rock Café where the visitors took pictures of all-American hamburgers and large portions of cheesecake slices. The delegation was hosted at a luncheon given by Belmont’s Asian Studies department and members of the Japan Studies faculty.
Dr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology, was named recipient of the 2013 Tennessee Science Teachers Association Higher Education Science Educator of the Year Award. The 
Belmont University announced today that its part-time MBA program has achieved a Top 60 national ranking in Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s 2013 report on “Top Part-Time MBA programs.” Belmont’s Massey School program ranked No. 59 in the U.S. and just behind such notables as Pepperdine University (No. 50), Case Western University (No. 53) and the University of Maryland (No. 56). In its region, Belmont was ranked 12th, joining other highly-ranked notables in the South, including Emory University and Wake Forest University.
Sun Records–the legendary home of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison–recently released its first album of new music in decades with a new CD from Belmont alumna Julie Roberts. Sun Records spent the better part of the past 20 years focused primarily on licensing its expansive catalog.
On Tues., Nov. 5, the College of Pharmacy participated in a health screening exercise with Special Olympics Tennessee. Seventy-five Davidson County Olympians, who compete worldwide in various events, were screened for athletic readiness. College of Pharmacy faculty and students were involved in screening medication profiles of the athletes, making sure proper cautions concerning allergies, exposure to the sun, drug adverse effects and drug interactions were not an issue for these participants. According to Joanne Drumright of Special Olympics, “The process went very smoothly, and we hope to scale up the screening, inviting athletes from a much broader area in an upcoming event.” College of Pharmacy participants included Drs. Andy Webster and Phil Johnston along with students Marian Roufael, Razia Shamsuddin and Darrilyn Prout, all in their fourth year of study.
The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) is the professional association of undergraduate Honors programs and collegse. NCHC provides support for institutions developing, implementing and expanding Honors education through curriculum development, program assessment, teaching innovation, international study opportunities, internships, leadership development and mentored research.
Nashville-based band Moon Taxi, which consists of five Belmont alumni, played live Nov. 11 on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS. Band members pictured include lead vocalist/guitarist Trevor Terndrup (’07), bass guitarist Tommy Putnam (’06), lead guitarist Spencer Thomson (’06), drummer/percussionist Tyler Ritter (’08) and keyboardist Wes Bailey (’09). In addition, 2012 graduate Matt Eldridge serves as the band’s lighting director and tour manager. Moon Taxi just released its latest studio album, Mountains Beaches Cities, in September of this year to wide critical acclaim. View the band’s performance 
Nashville blogger and author Jeff Goins encouraged students to pursue their dream without delay during a convocation lecture on Wednesday in the Massey Boardroom.