Dr. John Paine (English) presented the novel The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa to an interdisciplinary audience of professors interested in infusing Japanese material into their courses and led discussion. This was part of the Japan Studies Association annual meeting in Honolulu on Jan. 5–7. Paine is editor of the Association’s Journal and sits on its Board.
Students Receive Bill Barnes Scholarship
O.N.E. and Bill Barnes awarded six Belmont University students with scholarships during a Dec. 17 ceremony. The receipts were: Michael Coffee, Tiffany Jenkins, Marteka D. Lee, Anna D. Matlock, LaShawn Morrow and Robin Queen.
Bill Barnes was founding pastor of Edgehill United Methodist Church, an interracial, interclass and inner-city institution in Edgehill. Proceeds from the sale of his book To Love a City fund the O.N.E/Barnes Scholarship program for low-income youth.
Church Bombing Survivor Shares Story of Love
Through affliction, Carolyn McKinstry found God’s love. She now uses the story of her painful role in the civil rights movement to help others work toward reconciliation, she told Belmont students Wednesday at a convocation lecture.
“We have all heard about the love that forgives, and we have here today someone who models that and works toward racial reconciliation,” said Vice President for Spiritual Development Todd Lake. The Office of Spiritual Development and the Martin Luther King Jr. Week Committee co-sponsored the convocation “Costly Discipleship.”
In 1963, then 14-year-old McKinstry was primping for Youth Sunday at 16th Street Baptist Church in a downstairs bathroom with her friends Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair. She left the other girls to fulfill her role as the Sunday school secretary in an upstairs office. McKinstry answered a ringing office phone to hear a man’s voice saying, “three minutes.” Shortly thereafter, a bomb exploded, killing her four friends. The attack on the church garnered national headlines and marked a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Gustke Receives Woodress Visiting Scholar Award
Dr. Charmion Gustke, of the English Department, has been awarded the Woodress Visiting Scholar Award by the Cather Project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Gustke will travel to Lincoln, Neb. to conduct research on Willa Cather.
Belmont University Celebrates MLK Day with Week of Special Events
In celebration of the Jan. 15 anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth date, Belmont University will hold a week of special events. As part of the 16th annual series of Commemorative Programs, our theme for 2012 is Jazz, Freedom, and Democracy: Living Dr. King’s Symphony of Brotherhood. The University’s commitment to Martin Luther King Jr. Week through classroom and special events began in 1997 and continues to grow today.
“Dr. King poetically coined his vision a ‘symphony of brotherhood’ in his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and the beauty and complexity of jazz highlights the struggles and achievements of American diversity. Today, Belmont University sets the stage for such unity where students, staff and faculty of diverse backgrounds work, serve, study and pray together. This week of events merges the faith and talents of the Belmont community in honor of Dr. King’s legacy,” said Cheryl L. Slay, assistant professor of music business and chair of Belmont’s 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee.
The following events are free and open to both the Belmont community and the general public. For additional information, visit Belmont’s MLK Web site at www.belmont.edu/mlk.
- Wednesday, Jan. 11, 10 a.m. – MLK Chapel Service in Neely Dining Hall. Fisk alumna Carolyn McKinstry will share her message of hope and the story of her survival of the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
- Wednesday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m. – MLK Worship Service in Neely Dining Hall. The Black Students Association will lead an evening of praise and worship in honor of the legacy of Dr. King.
- Friday, Jan. 13, 10 a.m. — MLK Convocation in the Lila Bunch Library Multimedia Room. Music and music business professors will present images and sounds of jazz, popular music and the civil rights movement as they explore the connections between music and protest movements.
Spiritual Development Delivers Poinsettias in Edgehill
Calvin James Teasley’s face lit up with joy when Belmont University staff members delivered Christmas cheer and a poinsettia to his I. W. Gernet Homes apartment. Instead of strangers, he said, he greeted friends who he has come to expect every December.
The Office of Spiritual Development, a dozen other Belmont staff and their children brought 90 poinsettias to the residents of I. W. Gernet Homes on Dec. 19 during its fourth annual poinsettia delivery.
“They love it and look forward to it every year,” said Chandra Sales-Taylor, leasing assistant for the complex that provides public housing to senior citizens. “Poinsettias are so colorful and what Belmont does represents what Christmas is all about. It also gives the residents something to decorate their homes with.”
Vice President for Spiritual Development Todd Lake said, “We already have relationship with the Edgehill community, and we always look for another way to connect. It is wonderful to see the residents brightened and smiling. We hear their stories, and it allows us to make the human connection with those we serve.”
The idea came from Judy Fisher, who wanted to find homes for the poinsettias used to decorate campus, Lake said.
International Business Team to Compete in Netherlands
Belmont University has a team that has qualified for the final round of the 2012 Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Worldwide Case competition in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
College of Business Administration students Ayesha Ghaffar, Rami Nofal, Jordan Holt and Shirah Foy will compete at the Kralingse Zoom in Rotterdam from Feb. 26 to March 2. They are among the “10 best teams in the world” who will face off at NIBS to come up with solutions for a strategic business problem. Each team will have four hours to prepare a case without outside help. Their presentations will be assessed by a jury of professional and academic experts.
This will be the second international business case competition for Belmont’s team, which previously participated in the Eighth Annual Center for International Business Education and Research Case Challenge in October.
Click here to read more on the 2012 NIBS Worldwide Case competition.
MTA Campaign Features Stevens
Belmont student Kenya Stevens is featured in a Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority advertising campaign as part of an ad series profiling MTA bus riders. Stevens, who is studying accounting and plans to graduate in December 2012, said she has been riding city buses for more than two years.
Free MTA rides are part of a University effort to encourage faculty, staff and students to use alternative transportation — including bicycle sharing and the Music City Star rail system — all of which the University provides free of charge. Any student or employee with a Belmont-issued ID card can ride MTA buses without charge simply by swiping a Belmont ID when boarding.
“It is my main mode of transportation. I started riding when my family had just one car, and when that car died, we all started riding the bus,” Stevens said. The family has since purchased a new car, but she continues to ride the bus to work, school and home and maintaining a blog about her experiences on the bus at carlessinnashville.blogspot.com.
“Not having the expense of another vehicle allows me to continue to have my son at University School and save a considerable amount of money,” she said.
The ads will run Dec. 19 in the City Paper and Dec. 22 in the Nashville Scene.
Don Purdy Receives Inaugural Gabhart Award
Belmont University recognized long-time employee Don Purdy with the first Gabhart Award for Staff Excellence and Service.
Purdy, director of Auxiliary Services, received the award Dec. 13 at the annual Staff Christmas Breakfast in Neely Dining Room. He previously worked as athletic director, men’s basketball head coach, assistant professor of physical education and assistant dean of students for the Gabhart Student Center and intramurals. Purdy will retire this month, after 33 years of service at Belmont.
He also was recognized Dec. 15 during the men’s basketball game against Troy.
Named for the University’s late Chancellor Herbert C. Gabhart, the award is the highest honor a Belmont staff member can receive in recognition of his or her exemplary commitment and service to the University as well as for achievements and contributions of a significant nature. Nominations are requested from students, faculty and staff during the fall semester, and the University Staff Advisory Council reviews the nominations and selects the finalists and overall winner.
In one nomination letter, a colleague noted, “[Don] treats everyone, from students, to the highest level administrators, to guests on campus, with the same level of courtesy and respect. Whatever the problem, question, or issue is, Don’s response invariably is, ‘I’ll take care of it.’ And then he immediately does just what he has said he will do.”
Other finalists this year were Debbie Jacobs, assistant to Dean Darrell Gwaltney in the School of Religion, and Linda Jenkins, program assistant and office manager in the College of Business Administration.
Cornwall Participates in Atlantic Roundtable
Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship and professor of management, was recently invited to participate in a roundtable dinner in Washington, D.C. hosted by Elizabeth Baker Keffer, president of AtlanticLIVE and vice president of The Atlantic. The Dec. 7 dinner discussion centered on the role the financial community will play in encouraging the growth of small and mid-size businesses. In addition to Dr. Cornwall, attendees included leaders in business, media and higher education including executives from Merrill Lynch, reporters from The Washington Post and New York Times and leaders from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Small Business Majority, the Brookings Institution, the NAACP and the National Bankers Association, among others.
