Dr. Michael Voight, professor of physical therapy in the College of Health Sciences at Belmont,  recently presented at the annual meeting of the National Athletic Trainers Association in Las Vegas, Nev. His presentation, attended by over 400 conference delegates, was on assessing and developing rotational speed in athletes. Voight shared his work in assessing fundamental movement and in turn correcting the impairments discovered. Examples were given utilizing several of the PGA tour players with whom he works.

Can three simple words really crumble an empire? “Yes, of course.”

Belmont University’s Dr. Kevin S. Trowbridge, assistant professor of public relations, was the featured speaker during the July 10 professional development luncheon for the Memphis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Around 100 public relations and communication professionals gathered at the University Club to hear Trowbridge analyze and discuss the communication strategies used by celebrity chef Paula Deen. Trowbridge analyzed the Southern chef’s public relations crisis that resulted from Deen’s three-word admission to having used a racial slur that ignited a public firestorm.

Trowbridge’s presentation was titled, “When the Kitchen Gets Too Hot: Public Relations Lessons from Paula Deen’s Crisis Cookbook.” He reminded attendees of the power of local new media and that social media have empowered individual consumers as important participants in the court of public opinion. Further, he concluded that the principles of public relations remain steadfast and more important than ever during times of crisis.

Trowbridge advises Tower Creative Consultants, the student-run public relations firm of Belmont’s award-winning chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America. He is the chair-elect for the PRSA Southeast District.

Dr. Syb Bennett, professor of journalism, has been selected as one of the 8,000 Google Glass Explorers testing the wearable computer while it is in beta. She was selected as part of the “If I Had Glass” Twitter competition. She said she’d use Glass to promote public interest, necessity and convenience like broadcast outlets. Specifically, she is experimenting on how it can best be used in journalism and in the classroom.  She is chronicling her experience at http://drsyb.tumblr.com. She also created an iMovie trailer documenting her experience.

Bennett was featured on FOX17 News Thursday for her work with Google Glass. Glass is expected to be available for consumers to purchase later this year.

University Minister Guy Chmieleski has signed a deal to publish his second book, Campus gods: Exposing the Idols that Can Derail Your Present and Destroy Your Future, this fall with Seedbed Publishing. Despite boldly foraying into the seductive minefield of what the he calls “campus gods,” the book maintains a conversational and even invitational tone.

“The university campus may be the most strategic soil in the kingdom of God and we must work together to cultivate it for the twenty-first-century world,” Chmieleski said in a news release. “With the dual trends of the college years as an extended period of adolescence and the rise of a highly genericized version of the Christian faith, it is imperative to creatively and compellingly infuse the whole gospel of grace and truth into the spiritual life of the campus.”

Chmieleski’s first book  Shaping Their Future: Mentoring College Students Through Their Formative Years, was written for people who would mentor college students. He shared lessons from the book and his personal experiences with Belmont students during a spring convocation.

“One of Seedbed’s core commitments is to the college campus. We have a tremendous interest and energy for publishing a rich theological vision for life, faith, and future vocation geared for college students and the campus ministries who serve them,” said J. D. Walt, Seedbed’s sower-in-chief. “Guy has the pulse of today’s college campus. He understands the unique challenge of pastoring a generation of students whose sophistication far outdistances their maturity.  We are honored to work with him in this crucial calling.”

Chmieleski also has been invited to write a feature article on this new title for the spring 2014 issue of Collegiate Magazine.

Associate Professor of Education Lauren Lunsford’s human development teacher candidates worked with a group of 12 through 14-year-old students at the Rose Park Community Center this summer to promote their leadership skills. The topics were aligned with the seventh grade Common Core Standards and included identifying personal style, team building and working together to solve real-world problems. The students said they “learned a lot about responsibility, working together, having a good time, and communicating.” One Easley student summed the experience as “about having a good time while learning.”