Senior Director of Auxiliary Enterprises Fred Puffenberger was appointed to a two-year term as a Davidson County Foster Care Review Board member.

The Davidson County Foster Care Review Board Program is a cooperative effort between the Juvenile Court, state agencies who hold custodial rights of dependent children and the Nashville community. Board members review cases of children in out of home placements and make recommendations to the court and to custodial agencies to facilitate permanent homes for the children.

Puffenberger previously served on the Foster Care Review Board in Michigan for eight years.

Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Strings Elisabeth Small has been invited to be a panelist for two sessions at the National American String Teachers Association Conference. The two sessions in which she will participate are:

• Kreutzer Cubed:  A Trio of Pedagogues Share and Compare Teaching Strategies with fellow panelists Brenda Brenner from Indiana University School of Music and James Lyon from Penn State University
• Strings Performance at the Heart of the University with Fellow Panelists Mark Rudoff from Ohio State and Michael Heal

Small has also been invited to serve as “special guest” to do clinics, master classes and perform for the South Carolina ASTA State Conference, as well as work with the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts string program.

Belmont University has been nominated for the Healthcare Workforce Development award, to be presented by the Tennessee HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) at the 2012 Summit of the Southeast being held on Oct. 16 and 17 at the Nashville Convention Center. The 2012 HIMSS Summit of the Southeast is a two-day conference joining together the Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee chapters of HIMSS, which allows healthcare IT professionals to discuss the state of the industry, as well as share thoughts and ideas on future technologies and endeavors.  Speakers include prominent healthcare IT and medical professionals, and the event will also feature technology forums displaying leading-edge products from vendors.

The Healthcare Workforce Development award recognizes an outstanding company or organization with an organized program to foster and develop new healthcare IT professionals. Glenn Acree, director of Pathways to Science, Technology and Mathematics at Belmont University, has served for the last year on the TNHIMSS Workforce Development Committee, providing a voice for academics, encouraging internship development and recognition of the role of higher education in the development of the healthcare technology workforce pipeline.

Biology professor Steve Murphree led a workshop on Sept. 15 at the Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary.  The workshop was titled The World of Invertebrates:  Pollinators, Predators, Pests and Parasitoids and had 25 adult student participants. The students learned about the characteristics and life cycles of insects, how to identify insects using keys, had an overview of other arthropods (spiders, isopods, mites, etc.), discovered methods of collecting and observing insects and other arthropods and learned about the ecological roles of arthropods. The workshop was part of the  2012-13 Tennessee Naturalist program at Owl’s Hill Nature Sanctuary. This is the third year Murphree has been an instructor in this program.

Pam Parry, chair man of the Communication Studies Department, had a book review published in The South Carolina Historical Magazine in January 2012. She reviewed Robert B. Cuthbert’s and Stephen G. Hoffius’ Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches of Chlotilde R. Martin. This magazine is published by the South Carolina Historical Society and the College of Charleston.

Adjunct Instructor of Percussion Zoro as recently honored at the nation’s capitol as part of the White House Fatherhood Champions of Change & Convening on Engaging Men and Boys. Zoro was among a select group of people recognized for the important work they do to help shape our culture by promoting responsible fatherhood and mentoring of boys.

“Being invited to this event by the highest office in the land and getting a shout out for my work as an author and mentor from Special Assistant to President Obama Joshua DuBois was one of the great honors of my career,” said Zoro, an internationally renowned rock musician famous for having played drums for Lenny Kravitz and other legendary performers. “It was truly a privilege to be among such distinguished guests who are each doing their part to help strengthen American families.”

President Barack Obama in 2010 announced the creation of the President’s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, which was spearheaded by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan were among those who encouraged the White House attendees to continue the good work they are undertaking.

Zoro is on a  national media tour of his current book, The Big Gig: Big-Picture Thinking for Success, a one-of-a-kind insider’s guide to vocational, personal and spiritual aspects of achievement and the means by which Zoro is accomplishing his goal of inspiring an entire generation to pursue their dreams with excellence.