On September 30, the International Bluegrass Music Association announced the winners of their 2021 Industry Awards, which honor the people who work behind the scenes in the industry to make music look and sound better, and those who get it out to the public.
Songwriting Lecturer Thomm Jutz was named Songwriter of the Year, and Director of the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business Advising Center Tina Dishman won the Vocal Group of the Year Award as a member of the group Sister Sadie.
Sister Sadie also offered a performance on stage at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the award ceremony.
Belmont alumna Dr. Dora Geving is working on her residency at Harvard South Shore (HSS) and hoping to use her knowledge of medicine to change the world. Geving graduated from Belmont in 2016 with a B.S. in Biology and Honors and credits her Belmont experience with preparing her for the medical world.
“Things have fallen into place well for me,” said Geving. “I leaned on people at Belmont to get here. Dr. Nick Ragsdale helped me see the options available to me in the medical field. I want others to know not having family members in the medical field is not a barrier to entering that world yourself. You can come from all sorts of backgrounds to study medicine.”
Coming from a family of military service members, teachers and mathematicians, Geving is certainly the outlier as a physician, but she would not change her story for anything in the world.
At HSS, she is completing clinical rotations in everything related to psychiatry. As she possesses a natural intellectual curiosity, there is never a boring day for her. She appreciates patients welcoming her into their lives so she can help them receive the care they need to feel at their best.
Although Geving is only two months into her four-year residency, she is already planning for her future in medicine. She has considered a psychiatry fellowship. Additionally, she hopes to specialize in women’s reproductive health. Geving said having a passion for medicine has been a key to her success.
“If you are pursuing medicine for the money, it is not going to be worth it,” she explained. “The reward comes from seeing the face of a patient the next day after receiving the correct medication.”
Dr. Geving shared the following advice for Belmont students interested in pursuing medicine:
Find something you love, something that brings a smile to your face, and pursue it as your passion.
If you do not meet your goals, it is not the end of the world; recognize so many things can happen in life.
Look at your educational experience as a character-building experience.
Be willing to do what it takes to get to the finish line; do not give up.
In addition to her bachelor’s degree from Belmont, Dr. Geving holds a medical degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Belmont alumna, Class of 2010, Andrea Brooks Hickey stars in the romantic thriller, “Dying to Marry Him,” which premiered exclusively via Lifetime Movie Club on September 24.
Hickey, who makes her Lifetime debut alongside Anna Marie Dobbins, plays an unrecognizable Amy, who “returns to her hometown and becomes the wedding planner for her first love with her mind set on getting him back no matter what the cost (Denise Petski, Deadline).”
“I had the pleasure of casting Andrea as the villain in my movie, and she has proven to be one of the most valuable people involved. She works to truly embody her characters to give an authentic, honest performance. Playing the villain is not an easy task, but Andrea did it effortlessly,” said Producer Chris Lancey of “Dying to Marry Him.”
Hickey also was recently accepted to join the Television Academy, a professional, honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States.
“This past year, I put on my vision board joining The Television Academy, becoming SAG-AFTRA, and premiering on Lifetime. I didn’t know how or when those things were going to happen, but I wanted to put them in motion,” said Hickey. “I kept believing that they would and trusted that my time would come. To be where I am at in my career today and have all those things come true is honestly the best feeling. I am so grateful!”
Hickey is a rising star in Hollywood with her past credits including roles on “The Young and the Restless” and “Wild West Chronicles.”
She has proved a devoted passion for your dreams can lead to success beyond your imagination.
Belmont English Professor Dr. Jonathon Thorndike was one of four invited speakers at the Rochester, New York Chesterton Society Fr. Leo Hetzler Conference on “Poetry, the Fruit of Christian Joy.” The goal of the Rochester Chesterton’s Society is to encourage good fellowship, lively discussion and harness a deeper appreciation of the works of GK Chesterton.
Thorndike’s presentation, “Chesterton, Chaucer, and The Canterbury Tales,” centered around Chesterton’s book on Chaucer and the concept of pilgrimage in the middle ages.
To find out more about the Rochester Chesterton Society, you can visit their website here.
Sara Saif, a second-year student in Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy, was given the opportunity to conduct research in a polypharmacy project within the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC-19), a consortium of more than 120 cancer centers and other organizations who have come together to collect data about patients with cancer who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
This project aims to analyze and assess the impact of polypharmacy and select medication classes on COVID-19 outcomes among patients in the geriatric population who have or have had a diagnosis of cancer. By utilizing the CCC-19 registry database, a statistical analysis plan will be created for certain medication classes of interest.
Saif was invited to become a member of the research team because of her excellent work during the 2021 Biomedical Informatics internship at Vanderbilt University. By participating in this project, Sara will not only be using her clinical knowledge, but will also be using her knowledge of healthcare informatics and analytics to accurately assess and evaluate the clinical impact of certain medication classes on the geriatric population within the CCC-19 database registry.
Among others, Saif will be working with Dr. Christopher Jensen, MD, a Hematology/Oncology clinical fellow at the University of North Carolina; Dr. Samuel Rubinstein, MD, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Division of Hematology University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine; Dr. Tanya Wildes, MD, MSCI; and Dr. Ariella Elkrief, MD, a Research Fellow.
The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) recently named Dr. Mark Schenkel, professor of entrepreneurship in the Massey School of Business, as the newest Ethics Ombudsperson.
Last year, USASBE started the process of appointing an Ethics Commission as well as writing an official Code of Ethics. As the Ethics Ombudsperson, Schenkel will act as a neutral third party not directly associated with the board of directors. His role will be to serve as an independent resource for USASBE members for related questions or concerns and as a liaison for sharing these with the Ethics Commission.
Visit the USASBE website for more information on their Code of Ethics and Dr. Schenkel’s new position
Chloe Collins, a junior songwriting major, recently had her song “Downpour” featured in an episode of “Heartland” on Netflix.
This isn’t the first time Collins’s original music was featured on a TV show, as her songs have previously been featured on the 100th episode of “Nashville,” ABC Family’s “The Vineyard,” “Bellevue” and more.
Collins’s brand new single “Somebody Else” can be found on all streaming platforms.
With minimal budget, a small crew and only 13 weeks, eight Belmont University students rose to the challenge and produced an extraordinary 32-minute documentary during the Spring 2021 semester. “How Did We Get Here? Nashville Surviving 2020” was recently announced as an official selection for the upcoming Nashville Film Festival. Chronicling the impact of multiple crises on the city of Nashville, the documentary features interviews with nationally renowned infectious disease experts Dr. William Schaffner and Dr. James Hildreth; Nashville Mayor John Cooper; Metro Councilwoman Zulfat Suara; Belmont officials and more.
When the class for the documentary was first formed, the goal was to tell the story of the final Presidential Debate of 2020, which was hosted at Belmont University last October. After much deliberation, the students and faculty decided a pivot in plans was in order. They saw and experienced how Nashville endured more than its share of emergencies in a challenging and unprecedented year. The eight-person student production crew, who partnered with the team of student researchers who created a Debate 2020 digital exhibit, determined they wanted to tell a broader story beyond just the debate, a story that could answer the fundamental question: “How Did We Get Here?”
Film Directors Alex Moock and Abigail Bowen noted, “In 2020, Nashville persisted, enduring a tornado, a global pandemic, protests over racial injustice, an election and a Christmas Day bombing. But like every city in the country, we’ve been made very aware of just how quickly things can change and how on a grander scheme, we can adapt, together. This film captures a survival story, but it’s also a lesson which attempts to answer one of the grandest life questions: ‘How did we get here?’”
Moock, who also served as cinematographer, graduated from Belmont in May with a motion pictures degree and is currently working as a camera operator and editor for production companies in Nashville. Bowen, meanwhile, handled production in addition to her directing duties. Currently at Belmont East in New York City interning with ABC News, she is a senior on track to graduate in May 2022 with a double major in journalism and multimedia production.
They added, “We sent upwards of 40 pitch letters to citizens of Middle Tennessee and beyond. We got some no’s, but more importantly some of the most coveted voices in our community and the nation showed up to the table. How Did We Get Here? is at its core, the story of these voices fighting battles on the frontlines.”
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said, “Nashville has never seen a year like 2020. We’ve endured. And we’ve met adversity with solidarity. I’m grateful to Alex, Abigail and their crew for capturing the stories that Nashville must always remember in such a compelling and captivating film.”
The student crew also had to navigate the challenges the pandemic posed to their production as well, even as many of them were making a film for the first time. The process involved extensive pre-planning and post-production work to manage health restrictions and ensure the safety of all involved.
“Making a documentary in 13 weeks is a challenge within itself,” noted Jennifer Duck, the faculty member who led the documentary team. “When you add COVID-19 protocols like masking and social distancing, it becomes even harder. Yet the students found creative ways to thrive in this environment. No one watching the film will fully understand the lengths the students went to in terms of keeping everyone safe. That’s the behind-the-scenes beauty of the film that made me most proud.”
She added, “2020 was a traumatic year not only in Nashville but around the world. Instead of running from the chaos, the students dove in and documented stories that will forever stay with us and hopefully make us all better people. That’s what documentary filmmaking is all about.”
Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, a faculty member in Belmont’s Honors program who led the research team, said, “As student researchers, Honors students embraced the pre-production process and gained valuable experience in filmmaking. This final product was beyond our wildest interdisciplinary dreams and affirms the power of creative collaboration.”
“How Did We Get Here? Nashville Surviving 2020” will host its premiere Nashville public screening on Monday, October 4 from 1:30-3:45 p.m. in the Johnson Theater on Belmont University’s campus as part of the Nashville Film Festival. Festival ticket holders will also be able to view the film in its entirety online September 30-October 6.
Complete crew bios and more explanation of the process for creating the documentary can be found on the film’s website, www.hdwghfilm.com. “How Did We Get Here?” was also an official selection for the May 2021 New Creators Film Festival in the Best Student Short category.
Alumnus and Grammy Award winner Jordan Reynolds recently launched bettersongs.com as a place for budding musicians to develop their craft. Throughout his career, Reynolds has gone on to work with dozens of artists, including Justin Bieber, Dan+Shay and LANY. With his growing successful career, the 2011 commercial music major wanted to give back to the songwriters trying to make their dreams a reality.
“Making music is kind of like gardening. Once you’ve gathered your materials, you have to tend to it for it to grow. The reason I went on to win a Grammy was because I had a ton of people in my life to help cultivate my songwriting, and that’s what I want Better Songs to be for other artists,” said Reynolds in a release.
Better Songs is an online platform that provides several services:
● An in-depth blog on every aspect of songwriting and building a career as a musician. The Better Songs blog aims to grow artists’ skills from professional songwriter’s experiences from developing lyrics, melodies and storytelling through song.
● Songwriting courses and personal song critiques to give musicians a deep dive into the proven methods that have made other artists successful. With more hands-on and personal songwriting tutelage, Better Songs will provide some of the best training available to artists of every music genre.
After graduating from Belmont, Reynolds went on to help write Dan + Shay hits like “Tequila,” “Speechless,” “All to Myself” and most recently “10,000 Hours.” To top it off, Reynolds won a Grammy at the 62nd Grammys for “God Only Knows,” a song he co-wrote with several other writers.
To learn more about his new initiative Better Songs, visit bettersongs.com.
Belmont’s Honors Program recently honored Dr. Mary Frances Berry at the first annual “An Honorable Life” dinner in recognition of her leadership, courage and lifelong contributions to civil rights and freedom. Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, assistant professor of Global Leadership Studies and Honors, presented the award to Berry, who currently serves as a Professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Inspired by the University’s mission to be “Nashville’s University” and also to empower students to live lives of courage, Belmont’s Honors Program will present an annual award to an individual who exemplifies honor and who has ties to Nashville.
Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse, director of Honors and professor of English, said, “This award and our time celebrating Dr. Berry is about honor and calling. The theologian Frederick Buechner famously said your calling is the place God calls you to, the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. In the Honors program, we are always trying to empower students to find that sweet spot.”
“An Honorable Life” is the first interdisciplinary seminar Honors Program students take in their freshman year and poses the question, “What does it mean to live an honorable life?” Assignments and discussions focus on happiness, virtue, ambition, wisdom, struggle, doubt and dreams from philosophical, theological, literary, political, historical and scientific perspectives. The dinner provided Honors Program students and faculty who teach in the program the opportunity to reflect on these questions as a community.
