Will Akers, assistant professor and chair of Belmont’s new motion pictures program, provided script consultation for the screenplay “The Important Man,” which has recently won great acclaim. In addition to landing in the Top 10 of the Fresh Voices Awards, the screenplay was honored as the Grand Prize Winner of the 2013 Fade In Award, and it also placed in the Top 10 of the Nantucket Film Festival and won the Omaha Film Festival. “The Important Man” has also been named a semi-finalist in the top screenwriting contest in the United States:  the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship, sponsored by the Motion Picture Academy. This year, the Nicholl received a record 7,200 entries.

Colleen Schukei, who co-wrote the screenplay with Heather Petersen, said, “Will has played such an important part of this entire process. His advice is sound. His feedback, incredibly insightful. And while it’s not easy to hear you need to cut the first 50 pages of your beloved story, we knew he wanted what we wanted — to make this the best script possible.  Will became the mentor we so desperately needed, someone who believed in us and knew what he was talking about.”

Legendary script guru John Truby, author of Anatomy of Story, said, “When I heard that Will Akers’ consulting clients had won the Grand Prize in the Fade In screenwriting contest, it just confirmed what Hollywood insiders have known for a long time, that Will is one of the best script consultants in the business.”

The 2013 National Association of Women MBAs’ Board of Directors recognized outstanding members and chapters throughout the annual national conference and career fair in Boston in early October.  The Nashville Professional Chapter, founded in 2011 by College of Business Administration Director of Career Development Lori LeBleu and initially sponsored by The Massey Graduate School of Business was selected as the Professional Chapter of the Year for the continuous contribution and support of the organization and active engagement on the national and local levels. The chapter’s sold-out women’s leadership conference, “THRIVE” also hosted by The Massey School this summer doubled the chapter’s membership.

The National Association of Women MBAs is a not-for-profit association for women MBAs and business professionals. Through student and professional chapters throughout the United States, the organization is dedicated to empowering female business professionals, to assisting women into leadership positions in business, and to enhancing the diversity of the workforce. The Nashville Professional chapter supports the local student chapters and provides networking connections and professional development for Nashville area women MBAs.

Philosophy Professor Noel Boyle presented a paper called “Against Popularization” at the 45th annual meeting of the Tennessee Philosophical Association on Oct. 26. This paper explores the difficulties of writing when combining narrative and reflection. The paper considers two serious barriers to successful popular philosophical writing. First, labeled the Wittgensteinian Problem, is that professional philosophy deals with pseudo-problems that don’t speak to the problems and concerns of ordinary people. Second, labeled the Socratic Problem, is that ordinary people are too shallow and ignorant to engage genuine philosophy. In the end, Boyle suggests these problems reflect a dual crisis of our discipline and our culture. (image -Noel_Boyle.jpg)

Dr. Andy Davis, assistant professor of philosophy, discussed his recent published work on Hegel in the “Author Meets Critics” special session of the Tennessee Philosophical Association meeting. Invitations are extended to scholars who have published significant work in their fields. Davis’ recent work opens up new possibilities for reading G.W.F. Hegel’s Science of Logic by exploring an ontology of activities as distinct from an ontology of things.