Glenn Acree (Mathematics), program director of the Pathways Scholars, Danny Biles (Mathematics), program manager of the Pathways Scholars, and Scott Hawley (Physics) along with 13 students, visited the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Oct. 28. The group received a tour and introduction to several of the facilities, including the Kraken Supercomputer, the Spallation Neutron Source and the original nuclear reactor that produced the material for the atomic bombs used in World War II. The Pathways Scholars attending were Lee McGill, Cassie Wyatt, Liberty Foye, Angela Gaetano, Johnny Leonardini, Jack Streeter, Cameron Hardwick, Bavly Daowd, Corey Schmidt, Alina Lepkowski, and Spencer Colling. Physics majors Ben Heacock and Austin Guthrie also attended.
Pathways Scholars Visit Oak Ridge
English Faculty Present at South Atlantic Modern Language Association Convention
English faculty members, Andrea Stover, Annette Sisson and Kacie Hittel, recently attended the South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s 83rd Annual Convention in Atlanta, Ga. The theme of the conference was “The Power of Poetry in the Modern World.” Stover, Sisson and Hittel all presented papers at the conference and served on the same panel, The Rhetorical Power of Women’s Poetry. tover served as chair of the session, and Sisson served as secretary.
Stover’s paper, “Ekphrasis in Modern Women’s Poetry: Uniting Poetry and the Visual Arts to Re-imagine History” offered a close reading of three poems: “Brazil, January 1, 1502” by Elizabeth Bishop; “Degas’s Laundresses” by Evan Boland; and “Mourning Picture” by Adrienne Rich. Each poem is an ekphrasis, or a poem written in response to a visual work of art, that serves the rhetorical purpose of giving an alternative interpretation of the one offered in the paintings, thus helping us to revise old versions of history that have been framed in art and frozen in the cultural imagination.
Sisson’s paper, “Mary Oliver and the Rhetorical “Nature” of Oracular Poetry” argues that in Mary Oliver’s poetry nature is both rhetorical and epistemic, providing an invitation to another way of “knowing” that transcends our human capacity for knowing. At the same time, the speaker plays the role of the oracle, pointing us to the divine mystery that nature embodies in its infinite incarnations. Nature thus provides rhetorical moments that offer a wordless discourse which we are urged to observe, experience, and celebrate—and to which we have the opportunity, if only temporarily, to surrender our human need for answers.
Hittel’s paper, The “Art of Rhetoric” in Contemporary Irish Women’s Poetry, centered on “Beautiful Speech” by Irish poet Eavan Boland. It examined a common conception of ‘the art of rhetoric’ as ‘the art of deception’ through the nationalist, patriarchal literary traditions in Ireland. Boland attempts to subvert the dominant rhetoric to assert her place, managing to both critique and elevate ideas of language and belonging.
Belmont Mansion Restores Formal Dining Room
After more than a century in hiding, the Belmont Mansion’s formal dining room has been restored to resemble the room 
where Adelicia Acklen once hosted parties and ceremonial meals.
The project took 12 years of research and restoration. Eight of the 18 seats around the formal dining room table are original chairs provided by the Acklen family.
“Entertaining was such an important part of 19th century life, and the dinner was the apex of entertaining,” said Belmont Mansion Executive Director Mark Brown. “The room was open before, but we decided we wanted to do a French décor paper in there, which no one makes anymore so it required custom printers. We have replaced missing cabinetry, the fireplace, ceiling plaster work, one door, its frame, one window and its frame.”
In 1890, the formal dining room was divided into three dormitory rooms for the women’s school. It later became the YWCA room. By the 1970s, the formal dining room was the janitor’s closest, two bathrooms and the college infirmary for Belmont College. Most recently, it housed the mansion’s gift shop.
Guy Kawasaki Inspires Entrepreneurs to ‘Make Meaning’
The Center for Executive Education at Belmont University hosted author and former Apple “chief evangelist” Guy Kawasaki Thursday morning as the keynote speaker during its Fall Leadership Breakfast. Presented in partnership with the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and EO Nashville (Entrepreneurs’ Organization), the event occurred during Global Entrepreneurship Week and on the actual date of “EO24,” a 24-hour celebration of global entrepreneurial innovation and knowledge sharing.
Focusing on the themes of his 2004 book, The Art of the Start, Kawasaki shared 11 key points that could benefit both new entrepreneurs and business executives intent on keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in established companies.
His first and most critical piece of advice? “Make meaning… Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, it makes no difference. It all starts with the desire to change the world and make it a better place.” He noted that during his time at Apple, the company wasn’t focused on producing computers. Rather, “We were trying to increase the creativity and productivity of people.”
He also encouraged entrepreneurs to have a two-three word mantra for their business instead of a lengthy, unmemorable mission statement and advocated that it was vital to “get going” and to not be afraid to polarize culture with a product.
Claiborne Reminds Audience ‘Jesus Loves the Poor’
Author/speaker Shane Claiborne spoke on campus Wednesday morning in a convocation event titled “Jesus Loves the Poor” as part of the fall Spiritual Development speakers series and in support of the university-wide theme, “Wealth and Poverty.”
A native of Knoxville, Claiborne has visited Belmont before, and his popularity among students was evident–the Neely Dining Room had to be closed as the crowd reached capacity for the morning event. “Every time I come to Belmont I’m so excited about what I hear. You guys are an inspiration,” Claiborne noted.
He opened his lecture by showing a newspaper from his hometown with competing and tragically ironic headlines, one describing children starving in Afghanistan while the other focused on the billions of dollars Americans spend fighting obesity.
“There’s a conversation happening about how we connect our faith to the world we live in. I love how Karl Barth said we have to read with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other to understand how to put those things together.”
Claiborne argued that this world doesn’t look like what God intended, noting the enormous disparity that exists between the “super rich” and the “super poor.”
He then read from Luke 16, a passage he sees as a perfect parable for discussing wealth and poverty in our time. “I’ve heard it said that the true gospel should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed… I’m convinced that one of the biggest tragedies in the world is not that rich folks don’t care about poor folks but that rich folks don’t know poor folks because everything in this world is going to teach you to move away from suffering. But the story of Jesus is about entering in to suffering.”
In closing, Claiborne recounted one of his favorite gospel stories in which a young boy brings Jesus his five loaves of bread and two fish as an offering to feed the 5,000. “God wants your gifts to be a part of the story of redemption and healing and salvation in this world. I think that may be one of the greatest miracles of all, that for some strange reason God doesn’t want to change the world without us. He invites us to be a part of the story.”
Claiborne has worked alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta, served at a wealthy Chicago mega-church and lived in Baghdad with the Iraq Peace Team. He also helped found The Simple Way, a faith community in inner-city Philadelphia that has helped inspire the New Monastic Movement. He is the author of many books including The Irresistible Revolution and Ordinary Radicals.
Belmont University Part-Time MBA Ranked in Top 50 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Belmont University announced today that its part-time MBA program has achieved a Top 50 national ranking in BusinessWeek’s 2011 report on “Top Part-Time MBA programs.” Belmont’s Massey School program ranked No. 45 in the U.S. between Rollins University (No. 44) and Wake Forest (No. 46). In its region, Belmont was ranked ninth, joining other highly-ranked notables in the South, including Emory University and the University of Arkansas. Belmont’s program was the only Tennessee-based part-time MBA to be ranked.
Nationally, Elon University was ranked No. 1, while, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Nevada, and University of California-Berkeley rounded out the top five. Bloomberg BusinessWeek began ranking part-time MBA programs in 2007 in an effort to recognize the best MBA programs designed specifically for working professionals. Belmont first made the prestigious list in 2009.
“The student satisfaction rankings and curriculum metrics indicate that our Massey professors are doing an outstanding job in delivering a high-quality MBA program,” said Dr. J. Patrick Raines, dean of Belmont’s College of Business Administration. “And to be in the company of this group of national peers is simply tremendous.”
Massey School Associate Dean Dr. Joe Alexander added, “Furthermore, for our business community and employers who long ago embraced Mr. Massey’s vision of a flexible, high-quality part-time MBA program for Nashville, the fact that we are again nationally-ranked by Bloomberg BusinessWeek signifies we have indeed arrived on the national stage.”
Belmont Offers Free Christmas Concerts to the Public
Belmont University announces a Christmas gift to the Nashville community with three free concerts that are open to the public, as well as the nationally televised airing of annual holiday music spectacular “Christmas at Belmont.”
The first concert will be on Fri., Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. with the Nashville Children’s Choir’s annual holiday concert at Belmont’s Massey Concert Hall. The Belmont Camerata Musicale will then offer its annual presentation of “A Camerata Christmas,” including a concert of holiday chamber music and a sing-along with Kathy Chiavola on Mon., Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Belmont Mansion on the university campus.
The Christmas Eve Carillon Concert concludes the series on Sat., Dec. 24 at 2 p.m. at the campus Bell Tower, located just off the corner of Belmont Blvd. and Portland Ave. The concert features traditional Christmas music played on the tower’s 42-bell carillon.
Of course, the holiday wouldn’t be complete without the annual “Christmas at Belmont” special, performed in the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. A presentation of this year’s performance will be shown which features nearly 700 students and faculty from the School of Music and will be hosted by country artist and Tony-nominated Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy.
Nashville Public Television [NPT-Channel 8] will air the performance on Thurs., Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. (CST) and will re-broadcast the concert on Christmas Day at 7 p.m. (CST). Check local listings for additional air times.
Laura Bell Bundy to Host Annual ‘Christmas at Belmont’ Holiday Concert on NPT, PBS
Schermerhorn performance to be nationally broadcast starting Dec. 22
Hosted by country artist and Tony-nominated Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy, and taped at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee, nearly 700 Belmont University student musicians will join the Belmont School of Music faculty and the Nashville Children¹s Choir for “Christmas at Belmont.” The annual production of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites will air on PBS stations nationwide beginning Thursday, December 22. Please check local listings to confirm air dates and times. Nashville Public Television [NPT-Channel 8] will air “Christmas at Belmont” on Thursday, December 22 at 8 p.m. (CST) and re-broadcast the concert on Christmas Day at 7 p.m. (CST).
This year’s edition of “Christmas at Belmont” features the University Symphony Orchestra, Belmont Chorale, Percussion Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Jazz Ensemble and Bluegrass Ensemble, as well as a mass choir of 600 voices. The performance includes both classic sacred holiday music such as “The First Noel” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” as well as festive seasonal songs such as “Carol of the Bells” and “We Need a Little Christmas,” to name a few.
“‘Christmas at Belmont’ is an amazing opportunity to showcase Belmont University’s world-class School of Music in front of a national audience,” said Belmont University President Bob Fisher. “We’re incredibly grateful that this partnership with NPT puts our talented students and faculty in living rooms across the country. It’s also an honor to welcome Laura Bell Bundy as host of ‘Christmas at Belmont.’ Her diverse vocal skills as both a Broadway performer and country singer will offer a perfect complement to the variety of our student ensemble performances.”
PT Professor Awarded Grant
Dr. Nancy Darr, a professor in Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy, was recently awarded a grant from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Section of Pediatrics for her project titled, “Validation of the Pediatric Balance Scale using Rasch Analysis.”
The selection committee said that the grant was well written and that they will support the use of this “Pediatric Balance Scale” in Darr’s clinical pediatric practice.
Songwriting Major to Sing National Anthem at Veteran’s Parade
Belmont sophomore songwriting major, Aubrey Smith, will be honoring Nashville’s veterans by singing the National Anthem at Nashville’s annual Veteran’s Parade on Nov. 11 at 11:11 a.m.
Smith says the National Anthem is a song she is very comfortable with singing as she says it “has always been a staple in who I am. From opening Tennessee’s Boys’ State Conference since I was 10 years old, to opening a Casting Crowns concert back in 2002, to kicking off football games at my high school… the National Anthem has always been a huge part of my life and an honor to sing each time.”
Smith also says she is honored to be representing Belmont this year and hopes to make the University proud.
For more information about Nashville’s 2011 parade, click here.
