Dr. Pete Giordano, professor of psychological science, is one of six managing editors on The Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural Psychology, a three-volume book recently published by Wiley-Blackwell. It presents a collection of current state of knowledge relating to the fields of cross-cultural, cultural and indigenous psychology. Kenneth Keith of the University of San Diego is the editor-in-chief of the book. In addition to serving as one of the managing editors, Giordano also published three Encyclopedia entries on personality, personality assessment and the cultural psychologist Jaan Valsiner.
Giordano Serves as Editor, Publishes ‘Encyclopedia’ Article
Women’s Basketball Hosts Family Camp
Belmont’s head women’s basketball coach Cameron Newbauer hosted the inaugural Parent-Daughter Camp on Aug. 3 in Belmont’s Curb Event Center. The one-day camp made learning basketball fundamentals into a family affair.
Belmont’s coaches and players were on hand to teach shooting, passing, rebounding and defense in a fun atmosphere for both parents and daughters. Participants also received discounted ticket options for the Women’s Basketball team’s 2013-2014 home schedule.
“The first basketball memories most of us have from learning the game are those moments in which our parents began teaching us the fundamentals of the game,” said Newbauer. “Our first Parent-Daughter Camp was a huge success. Our players and staff had a great time sharing our love of the game of basketball while cultivating our relationships with new and old fans alike. We are looking forward to our next Parent-Daughter Camp.”
Walker Assists with Library in Haiti
Research and Instruction Librarian Claire Walker, along with a small team visited, Cap Haitien, Haiti in May to continue work on the library at the College du Souverain. The library was developed in 2008 by Walker and has been maintained by school teachers and the principal. During this trip the team took inventory at the library, identified future needs and led a workshop for teachers on how to use books in the classroom.
Belmont, Vanderbilt Joint Physical Therapy Residency Receives Accreditation
Belmont University’s School of Physical Therapy and Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson’s Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute (PBPRI) have received accreditation from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) for their collaborative Neurological Physical Therapy Clinical Residency instituted last year.
The one-year residency is one of 23 programs of its kind in the United States to have achieved this status and is the only such program in Tennessee.
PBPRI is an outpatient interdisciplinary neurological rehabilitation program where physical therapists work in teams with colleagues in occupational therapy, speech-language pathology and social work to promote community re-entry and vocational and/or academic transitioning.
“Being the first neurological physical therapy residency program in Tennessee, we have the responsibility and the privilege to train the next generation of outstanding neurological clinical specialists,” said Lisa Haack, Neurological Clinical Residency director, a PBPRI clinical staff member in physical therapy and a neurologic specialist.
Academic Residency Director Renee Brown, professor of Physical Therapy at Belmont University, said completion of the credentialing process is an affirmation of the program’s commitment to its patients.
“We have had a long-standing working relationship with Vanderbilt and this new program is an extension of that partnership,” Brown said. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate to train the next generation of physical therapy providers in the area of neurologic rehabilitation.”
The Neurologic Physical Therapy Clinical Residency will be recognized during the Residency/Fellowship Career Development Reception at the 2014 Combined Sections Meeting hosted by the APTA.
“An important mission of both Belmont and Vanderbilt is to educate and train the next generation of leaders in health care,” said Mike de Riesthal, director of the PBPRI. “The success of the collaborative residency program is a perfect example of this mission in action.”
Parry Serves on Journalism, Mass Communication Panel
Pam Parry, chairman of the Communication Studies Department, will participate on two panels this week at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington, D.C. The first panel will focus on “Relevancy, Trust and Profitability,” and it will be sponsored by at the Community College Journalism Association-Advertising Division on Aug. 11. The second panel will focus on “‘A’ Word: Using Assessment to Make Long Overdue Changes, Validate What You Are Doing Right,” and it will be sponsored by the Small Programs Interest Group on Aug. 10.
Parry Signs Book Deal
Pam Parry, chairman of the Communication Studies Department, signed a book contract with Lexington Books, a subsidiary of Rowman and Littlefield, to publish her dissertation titled, The PR President: How Ike Transformed Political Communication. The book will be released in hardback and ebook formats in December 2014. Her research was supported by two grants from the Eisenhower Foundation and three fellowships from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Pinter Presents at MathFest
Dr. Mike Pinter, professor of mathematics, gave a presentation at the at the annual Mathematical Association of America MathFest held in Hartford, Conn. on Aug. 1-3. The MAA MathFest is the largest annual summertime gathering of mathematicians offers conference sessions including Invited Addresses, Invited Paper Sessions, a Short Course, Contributed Paper Sessions and Minicourses. Pinter’s presentation was part of the Recreational Mathematics: New Problems and New Solutions contributed paper session. In his presentation entitled “Randomly Generating a Dekaaz Poetry Form,” Pinter explained two different ways to count the number of possible variations for a new poetic form called Dekaaz. After offering several examples of Dekaaz he had created, the presentation ended with using coin tosses to randomly generate a Dekaaz variation.
Ferrara Has Paper Published
Dr. Davon Ferrara, assistant professor of physics, has had a research paper approved for publication in the journal Nano Letters. The paper is titled “Plasmonic probe of the semiconductor to metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide” with authors Davon W. Ferrara, Joyeeta Nag, Evan R. MacQuarrie, Anthony B. Kaye and Richard F. Haglund. Nano Letters reports on fundamental research in all branches of the theory and practice of nanoscience and nanotechnology, providing rapid disclosure of the key elements of a study, publishing preliminary, experimental and theoretical results on the physical, chemical and biological phenomena, along with processes and applications of structures within the nanoscale range.
Charles A. Trost Elected Treasurer of Uniform Law Commission
Charles A. Trost, professor of law at Belmont University College of Law, has been re-elected to serve as treasurer of the Uniform Law Commission.
Founded in 1892, the ULC is an organization comprising more than 350 practicing attorneys, judges, law professors, legislators and other state officials appointed by every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to draft and promote enactment of uniform laws that are designed to solve problems common to all the states. Commissioners donate their time as a pro bono public service.
Trost has been a member of the Uniform Law Commission since 1997. As a Tennessee uniform law commissioner, he has served on numerous ULC committees. He is a member of the ULC Executive Committee and a member of the International Legal Developments Committee. He is also a member of the Study Committees on Trust Decanting and Trust Protectors. He chaired the drafting committee on the Uniform Wage Withholding and Unemployment Insurance Procedure Act.
He teaches tax courses at Belmont and serves as Of Counsel with the Nashville law firm of Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis LLP, where he focuses on state and federal tax law and tax litigation.
YWCA, Nashville Leaders Speak Against Domestic Violence
Belmont University hosted the YWCA of Nashville & Middle Tennessee community breakfast to engage men to stop violence against women and girls on Aug. 7 at the Curb Event Center. Nationally-recognized speaker, author and educator Tony Porter, co-founder of A CALL TO MEN, opened the program. TBI Director Mark Gwyn, Metro Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean also discussed the epidemic of violence against women.
“We must recognize the fact that helping domestic violence victims is only half of the equation. Because, while we may work hard to keep one particular woman safe, the truth of the matter is that there will be another woman just around the corner to take her place with that abuser. And for that reason, we need to help this generation of boys grow up to be better men,” Mayor Karl Dean said.
Tennessee ranks third in the nation for the rate of women killed by men. Last year in Davidson Co., an act of domestic violence was reported every 21 minutes. Across the state of Tennessee, 51 percent of all crimes against persons are domestic violence-related. The YWCA event mobilized men to start the conversation about violence prevention.
