IMPORTANT NOTE: These are the archived stories for Belmont News & Achievements prior to June 26, 2023. To see current stories, click here.

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Belmont University College of Pharmacy Receives Full Accreditation

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Board of Directors has awarded full accreditation status to the Belmont University College of Pharmacy (BUCOP). ACPE, the official regulatory body that accredits all colleges of pharmacy in the United States, reviewed Belmont at its June meeting and made the announcement on June 28. The accreditation extends until June 30, 2014, which is the customary two-year term for a new program receiving full accreditation status.

Belmont’s College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Phil Johnston said, “This wonderful announcement is the culmination of efforts from so many great people, from our Board of Trustees, our Belmont University leadership, wonderful faculty and our students.  We also must thank so many health care professionals, especially pharmacists in the Nashville region, for working with us this past five years.  We could not have provided such rich experiences without them.  And I want to particularly thank the first graduating class who were the pioneers in the program, and who now are preparing to practice throughout the country.”

After opening its doors in 2007, BUCOP provided students with the skills to contribute to the growing health care needs of Nashville. BUCOP graduated its charter class on May 5, 2012 with 65 members of the Class of 2012 receiving their Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. The initial class has paved the way for future BUCOP students, setting a high standard for academic excellence and community service. The Class of 2016, which enrolls in August, is full with 75 students taking all available seats.

Bynum Publishes Textbook Chapter

Assistant Professor Leigh Ann Bynum, of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, published “Customer Service”, a textbook chapter in the third edition of Pharmacy Management: Essentials for All Practice Settings (2012).

Belmont PT Student Selected for Sports Physical Therapy Residency at Ohio State

Kate Glaws, a doctoral student in the Belmont University School of Physical Therapy, has been selected for the Sports Physical Therapy Residency Program at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.  The residency is one of 22 APTA credentialed programs in sports physical therapy in the United States.   Glaws was selected from among 30 applicants to the program and will begin the 16-month residency after graduating with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from Belmont this August.

“This is a notable accomplishment for Kate as this process is highly competitive due to the limited number of positions available in the United States,” said Dr. Michael Voight, a professor in the School of Physical Therapy at Belmont.   He added, “Kate exemplifies all of the characteristics required to excel in this type of post-graduate education.  The residency at OSU is considered one of the best in the country with a very distinguished faculty.”

The OSU residency provides opportunity to receive clinical training in sports physical therapy from physical therapists and physicians specializing in orthopedics and sports medicine, to participate in research at the University’s biomechanics research laboratory, and to treat sports patients.  Residents gain experience working with OSU’s athletic programs, treating athletes in Division I sports, club sports and at USA National Governing Body of Sports Medicine events.  Residents also instruct orthopedic and cadaveric labs in OSU’s entry-level PT program.

As a PT student at Belmont, Glaws co-authored with fellow students Sarahann Callaway, Melissa Mitchell and Heather Scerbo and faculty members Mike Voight and Pat Sells, a research study exploring the relationship between peak pelvis rotation, gluteus medius, and gluteus maximus strength on a golfer’s handicap.   The study was published in the June 2012 edition of the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy.

Glaws entered the DPT program at Belmont after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) Honors College with a degree in accounting.  At IUP, Glaws was team captain of the women’s basketball team for two years, and in her senior season led the Crimson Hawks to the PSAC Conference Championship and the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen where she was selected to the All-Tournament team.  She also was named to ESPN the Magazine’s Academic All-District II Women’s Basketball First Team in 2007 following a Second Team selection in 2006.

Round Two: Belmont’s Pipeline Project Aims for Innovation Impact in its Second Year

Student think tank seeks creative solutions for entertainment industry woes
Speakers at the recent Billboard Country Music Summit, which was held in Nashville June 4-5 and attended by top-level advisors from across the music industry, were surprised to see college students in the audience. These Belmont University students were gathering research as new members of an entertainment industry solutions think-tank: The Pipeline Project. Launched last year by Belmont’s Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, the Pipeline Project has nine new members working for 10 weeks (June thru mid-August), and the team has already set high goals for innovation this summer.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “Belmont has a longstanding reputation for successful graduates both on the business and creative sides of the music industry. Pipeline exists to help identify those students early on and give them the access and environment to push their ideas forward. Let’s face it, the younger generations are shaping our industry—let’s intentionally put them in the driver’s seat.”

Pipeline member Erik Coveney, a sophomore, added, “We intend to do more than simply build on the work of last year’s Pipeline Project. In fact, we plan to come up with some truly groundbreaking ideas by the end of this summer. We believe the Pipeline Project team can use our creative capital and perspective as young adults who intimately understand new trends to innovate in revolutionary ways.”

According to its website, “The Pipeline Project is a think tank dedicated to illuminating the problems currently facing the music industry and charged with exploring possible solutions through research, collaboration, and innovation.” Ideas from last year’s team range from a specialized marketing strategy using blogs to hosting an event designed to decrease expenses to artists by combining a studio recording, video production and live show into one event. To follow what the think-tank does this year, visit www.pipelineproject.org.

Mitchell Interviewed on NBC’s ‘Rock Center’

Shaka Mitchell

Shaka Mitchell, J.D., adjunct instructor of political science, was recently interviewed on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams.” The June 14 program segment was about a woman challenging bone marrow donation law in order to save her daughter’s life. Mitchell, a 2001 alumnus of Belmont and an attorney, was interviewed on his beliefs in allowing bone marrow donors to be compensated in order to encourage more potential donors and save lives.

Currently, Mitchell is president of MoreMarrowDonors.org, a nonprofit that is among the first of its kind that would compensate bone marrow donors if the law changes. The pilot program wouldn’t compensate in cash, but rather in the form of scholarships, housing stipends or gifts to charity. That money would come from private donations, not from the patients themselves. It’s an incentive that advocates believe will change the attrition rate, motivating more donors to participate when called upon to help patients with various blood diseases. 

Click here to read more and to view a short video clip and recap on the news segment.

Belmont Helps Project Transformation Move Students to Ministry

This summer the University is helping  a nonprofit, United Methodist-affiliated organization transform Nashville through the outreach of college students.

Project Transformation provides leadership development and ministry exploration opportunities to college-age young adults through immersion in churches in Middle Tennessee’s low-income neighborhoods. The students, known as young adult interns, coordinate free eight-week summer day camps for children in four under-served Nashville neighborhoods. Project Transformation helps churches to fill the void in ministries that resonate with young adults and allows the students to have transformational experiences to help them figure out how their career goals align with God’s plan.

The inaugural class consists of 25 young adult interns from 12 states, including Colorado, Florida, Washington as well as a few Belmont students.

Belmont University has assisted the organization, which started in North Texas, in growing roots in Middle Tennessee, said Courtney Aldrich, executive director of Project Transformation. The University is providing summer housing for the young adult interns and hosted a Friday Experience seminar in the University Ministries lounge.

“When we began to explore this, we knew that to make this possible we would need to have a university partner with us. One of the first things we did was meet with Belmont because we know that Belmont has a heart for social justice. That was the first door that God really opened that would enable us to take another step forward with this vision,” she said.

Lyons Co-Hosts Seminar

Lacey Lyons, adjunct instructor of English, co-hosted a seminar at Vanderbilt University’s 2012 “MegaConference on Disability: Tools for Empowerment and Change,” at the Airport Marriott on June 1. Her session, “Sharing Your Stories: Advocacy Through Personal Storytelling,” was conducted along with Courtney Evans Taylor of the Vanderbilt University Kennedy Center and local blogger Leisa Hammett. Participants discussed the benefits of writing about disability and the ways in which writing leads to personal empowerment and growth.

Baker and Shin Present at NASSM Conference

Dr. Amy Baker and Dr. Stephen Shin of Sport Administration recently attended and presented at the annual North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) conference in Seattle, Wash. Baker and Shin presented information, handouts and examples of “Using Problem-Based Learning in Sport Management Classes” at the teaching and learning fair portion of the conference. Problem-based learning is a powerful classroom process, using real-world problems to motivate students to identify and apply research concepts and information, work collaboratively and communicate effectively. This strategy promotes life-long habits of learning, and provides advantages to sport management students. Components of understanding this teaching methodology were presented.

Parry Publishes Book Review in Journalism Journal

Pam Parry, chairman of the Communication Studies Department, had a book review published June 13 in Teaching Journalism & Mass Communication, an electronic, peer-reviewed journal of the Small Programs Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Parry, a former reporter who covered the first Bush and Clinton administrations, reviewed Jon Marshall’s Watergate’s Legacy and the Press: The Investigative Impulse. Click here to read the review.

 

Neighborhood Church, Belmont Host Academic Summer Camp

Belmont University’s Office of Community Relations and Fifth Third Bank are sponsoring Next Generation Now Summer Enrichment Program.

For the second year, Belmont University and Kayne Avenue Missionary Baptist Church have partnered for a six-week academic enrichment summer camp sponsored by the University’s Office of Community Relations and Fifth Third Bank to benefit students of all ages living in the Edgehill neighborhood.

Next Generation Now Summer Enrichment Program began June 4 and its counselors work to improve academic achievement, community safety and nutritional health by supporting working families with the day camp. Nearly 30 youth have enrolled this summer.

“This is another way for us [the church] to reach kids in the community and get them out of the house and into church,” said Tim Hayes, Kayne’s youth minister and a student at American Baptist College. The camp has been a beneficial partnership for the community because it takes place in an area where many kids do not have access to summer programs because of costs and transportation, he said.

Last summer, Belmont’s Department of Education designed the curriculum for children ages six to 12 to make the camp academic in nature while emphasizing literacy and self-confidence. This year the camp has expanded to include students up to age 17. Belmont University has contracted Dr. Rene Rochester, with Urban S.E.T., to give free ACT preparation workshops and college counseling to the high school students in exchange for their service as junior counselors. She has coordinated with the University library for use of its language materials.

With each week focusing on a different subject of academia, campers participate in science experiments, health and fitness exercises, art projects, history and culture activities. They also take weekly walks to the Edgehill library and plan to climb the rock wall in the Beaman Fitness Center as well as visit the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Adventure Science Center and The Hermitage.

Belmont senior Gabrielle Hampton previously worked as a counselor and this year is directing the camp. She said, “I have taken what I have learned over the years and turned it into a curriculum that will work for [the students]. It is amazing how much they retain. I have a kid who came up to me at the beginning of camp and told me how his teacher talked about some things he learned in camp last summer.”