Bonnie Riechert, associate professor and director of the public relations program in the College of Arts & Sciences, has been elected to serve as web/e-newsletter officer for the Southeast District Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for 2012. A board member in the Nashville Chapter of PRSA, she is serving as secretary for the Southeast District PRSA during 2011. With membership of 21,000, PRSA is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals, providing professional development, setting standards of excellence and upholding principles of ethics for its members and the global public relations profession. Other SE District officers for 2012 are Chuck Norman, North Carolina Chapter, chair; Mitch Edwards, Alabama Chapter, chair-elect; Natalia Flores, Charlotte Chapter, treasurer; Kelly Davis, South Carolina Chapter, secretary; Melanie Davis, Alabama Chapter, immediate past chair; Kevin Lusk, Lookout Chapter, director-at-large; Penny Cothran, South Carolina Chapter, director-at-large; Stephen Loudermilk, Georgia Chapter, director-at-large; and Vickye Hester, Memphis Chapter, director at-large.
Debaters Qualify for Elimination Round at Berry College Tournament
The Speech and Debate team took their strongest debaters to Berry College in Rome, Ga. on Oct. 29. With just three students in attendance, all of them qualified for elimination rounds in their brackets. The results were as follows: Chris Carlevato and Jenni Gustafson, Overall Champions; Novice NPDA Debate, Bryan Meehan (partnering with Michael Lugo form Carson-Newman College); Semi-Finalists, Open NPDA debate; Jenni Gustafson, sixth place novice debate speaker award. Congratulations to these debaters for their success!
Vision Editor Selected for 2012 Campus Coverage Project
Brian Wilson, a junior journalism major and Belmont Vision editor, is one of 75 students chosen to participate in the 2012 Campus Coverage Project. The project is Jan. 5-8 at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix.
This is the third year of the highly competitive program in which working journalists and professors help college students investigate and report more effectively on their universities through teaching skills, providing resources and building awareness. The sponsor of the program is The Lumina Foundation, which provides scholarships that pay for travel, tuition and all other costs for participants. The program is presented by the Investigative Reporters and Editors in partnership with Education Writers Association and the Student Press Law Center. Investigative Reporters and Editors is an international professional organization that supports and trains investigative journalists.
Niedzwiecki Presents at Herpetological Society Meeting
John Niedzwiecki (Biology) presented research at the 2011 Meeting of the Tennessee Herpetological Society. The meeting was held on Sept. 29-30 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn. Niedzwiecki’s research was done in collaboration with recent Belmont students, Lauren Oeser (2009) and Sara Bentley (2010). The talk was titled “The specificity of the anti-predator response in the streamside salamander, Ambystoma barbouri”. Dr. Niedzwiecki had previously presented this research as a poster at Behavior 2011, the Joint Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society and the International Ethological Conference, held July 25-30th in Bloomington, Ind.
Biology Students Present at SEPEEG Meeting
John Niedzwiecki (Biology) and three of his undergraduate research students attended the 2011 Southeast Population Ecology and 
Evolutionary Genetics Meeting held Oct. 21-23 in Reidsville, N.C. The meeting was hosted by UNC-Chapel Hill. The Belmont students presented posters at the meeting and were among 70 presentations and over 100 participants in this year’s meeting. In addition to the poster session the students attended oral presentations from graduate students and faculty from a wide variety of southeastern schools including, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Greenville, NC State, UGA, Emory, UVA, ECU, UF and UT. The students enjoyed and learned from the keynote speaker about cooperative breeding birds as “superorganisms” to a final talk summarizing parthenogenesis across snakes.
The Belmont student posters were:
Abader Almowasi’s poster was titled Habitat perception and the anti-predator response of Physid snail; Kelsey Grant’s poster was titled Distance perception of a predator though a chemical cue in a Physid snail; Nicholas Kirk’s poster was titled The effect of development on bird diversity along a stream corridor.
Chemistry Students Volunteer at Drug Take Back Event
On Oct. 8, students from Kim Daus’ (Chemistry) CEM 1050 class (Freshman Chemistry Seminar for Pharmaceutical Studies majors) participated in a Drug Take Back event in Dickson, Tenn., sponsored by the Dickson County Police Department. People were able to dispose of their prescription and over-the-counter medications that they no longer needed. The students catalogued and counted thousands of medications.
The Belmont students Vanessa Antonio, Huner Aradini, Katrina Barnett, Sarah Curasco, Brielle Davis, Turner Gerbig, Tiumy Giao, Luke Johnson, Katelyn Jones, Kiki Liss, Katie Lockhart, Mendy Lovelady, Ashley Nemenez, Gerald Offei-Nkansah and Anna Whitwell who participated in the event.
Jellissen Has Article Published
Susan Jellissen’s (Political Science) article, “Islamic Resurgence in Turkey: The Mavi Marmara Incident as its Statement,” appeared as a chapter in an edited book, Drawing a Line in the Sea: The Gaza Flotilla Incident and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (edited by Thomas Copeland, Alethia Cook, and Lisa McCartan), which was published by Lexington Press 2011.
Belmont Introduces Missionaries In Residence Program
Belmont University recently welcomed new Missionaries in Residence Scott and Julie Bradford, coordinators of Baptist missionary work for an eight country region in West Africa. The Bradfords are working as missionaries in residence at Belmont for the fall semester before returning to their home in Burkina Faso, Africa with their three children.
With an office in University Ministries, they are connecting with students throughout the semester to answer their questions on how to get plugged into global missions.
In addition, the Bradfords are working with Belmont faculty and staff to increase involvement in missions to Africa. This past summer Belmont inaugurated a physical therapy trip to Ghana, one of the eight countries the family works with, to assist children in getting prosthetic limbs.
The Bradfords have come to Belmont to “connect with students, minister to their needs and help them along the way as they seek how and where they may serve God,” Julie said.
Vice President of Spiritual Development Todd Lake said, “We know that God is on mission to redeem the world, and Missionaries in Residence remind us that this is a worldwide task that calls all of us to find our place as part of the answer to the Lord’s prayer, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.’”
Author Encourages Students to UseTheir Resources to Aid the Poor
Efrem Smith, author and founder of the Sanctuary Covenant Church and Community Development Corporation, spoke in Belmont’s Chapel this morning on “No More Orphans,” expressing his passion to inspire today’s generation to use their resources to aid the poor.
Commenting on the biblical example of “the least of these” found in Matthew 25, Smith said, “Jesus is giving his listeners pictures of what he’s been proclaiming and practicing while walking the earth… His life is to be an embodiment of the Kingdom of God, to show the value system of the Kingdom of God on earth.”
He continued by advocating for those present to have a similar sense of justice and generosity, noting the example Martin Luther King offered of the “beloved community,” the hoped for time when unconditional love was a present reality.
“We are resourced people,” Smith said. “You may not feel like it as a college student, but you could be more resourced than you think. Your gifts, talents and abilities are resources as is your time.”
Smith’s heart for the poor is expressed in his books The Hip-Hop Church and Raising Up Young Heroes, as well as through being a spokesperson for the child sponsorship ministry Compassion International. The event was co-sponsored by the Office of Spiritual Development and the Social Entrepreneurship program.
SIFE Students Start ‘Spring Back’ Business to Recycle Mattresses, Create Jobs
Belmont SIFE team partners with Belmont Church’s ‘Isaiah 58’ ministry on program to employ formerly incarcerated and homeless
Jan. 18, 2012 Update: Spring Back Recycling made national news with this story on NPR.
In partnership with the Isaiah 58 ministry at Belmont Church, the Belmont University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team is making a difference in the lives of a group of Nashville’s homeless and formerly incarcerated via a rather unusual means—recycling mattresses.
The non-profit, Spring Back Recycling, launched “Spring Back Nashville” just over six months ago and already more than 1,700 mattresses have been disassembled and recycled. The Belmont SIFE students spent a full year developing the business model for Spring Back, analyzing operations, accounting, marketing, legal contracts and safety procedures. Belmont Church’s Isaiah 58 ministry thereafter partnered with the team, providing an available facility, equipment, as well as an eager and capable workforce for the start-up business. Isaiah 58’s School of Life ministry is a residential program that helps formerly incarcerated men get back on their feet. With Spring Back Nashville, the men are disassembling old mattresses into scrap metal, cotton and foam—more than 85 percent of each mattress can be fully recycled.
Dr. John Gonas, associate professor of finance and SIFE advisor at Belmont, said, “I’m amazed that the Belmont students have created such a sustainable, scalable and economically viable business that blesses the community with a solid employment opportunity while simultaneously keeping so much recyclable waste out of landfills.”
Ron Harness, who works with the Isaiah 58 ministry at Belmont Church, added, “Due to an extensive life change, I’ve needed to start over both personally and professionally. Spring Back has given me the ideal opportunity to begin rebuilding my life with steady income, growth in education, relationships through students, faculty and co-workers, and confidence of person by being able to express my talents and strengths both individually and corporately. I am truly blessed to be a recipient of kindnesses and generosities shared by Belmont’s College of Business Administration, SIFE and Spring Back.”
