Belmont University will open at 10 a.m. on Thursday, February 10.
No classes will be held prior to 10 a.m., and University offices will be opening at 10 a.m. Because weather and road conditions can vary greatly within our region, students, faculty and staff are urged to use individual discretion when making the decision to travel to campus in snow or icy weather.
Belmont to Open at 10 A.M. on Thursday, February 10
Evening Classes Cancelled Wed., Feb. 9 Due to Weather
Evening classes (those beginning at 5 p.m. or later this evening) are cancelled tonight (Wednesday, February 9, 2011) due to the weather conditions.
Evening Classes to Proceed as Scheduled Mon., Feb. 7
Evening classes will continue as scheduled tonight—Monday, February 7, 2011. Because weather and road conditions can vary greatly within our region, students, faculty and staff are urged to use individual discretion when making the decision to travel to campus in snow or icy weather.
Turner Elected to Nashville CARES Board of Directors
Dr. Bernard Turner, assistant professor of social entrepreneurship, has been elected to the Board of Directors of Nashville CARES for a three-year term beginning in January 2011. Serving 17 counties of Middle Tennessee, Nashville CARES is Tennessee’s oldest and largest non-profit HIV/AIDS services organization. On an annual basis, CARES educated 50,000 adults and youth to prevent HIV transmission and infection, provides HIV testing and screening to more than 10,000 individuals, and offers a comprehensive range of social services to 2,400 men women and families living with HIV/AIDS.
Belmont to Conquer the Sophomore Slump With QEP
Studies consistently show that sophomores are the least satisfied of all college students. To combat the “Sophomore Slump,” Belmont developed a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Growth and Purpose for Sophomores (GPS), to implement in Fall 2011. The project will encourage sophomores to engage in focused exploration of themselves and their places in the world.
GPS programs include a new Sophomore Transitions Center (which will offer career and major guidance), a Sophomore Summit held in August, a sophomore service project, a convocation series and changes to on-campus living and the BELL Core curriculum. Curriculum changes include tailoring COM 1100, Fundamentals of Speech Communication, to address the needs of sophomores, and revising linked cohort courses to include engaged learning experiences.
According to the GPS Web site, “Many first year students know, for sure, what they will be when they grow up… but by their second year, they aren’t so sure at all and struggle to figure out what’s next.”
Belmont Announces Homecoming 2011 Calendar of Events
Playing off the university motto “From Here to Anywhere,” Belmont’s 2011 Homecoming week invites alumni, friends and family to come “From Anywhere to Here” Feb. 14-19 for a week’s worth of special events. A few highlights, listed below, include an alumni art exhibit, a basketball doubleheader and indoor tailgate, an oral history of Belmont featuring Emeritus Faculty and a campus-wide pep rally and bonfire. For a complete list of all Belmont Homecoming 2011 events and an opportunity to register, visit http://alumni.belmont.edu/.
HOMECOMING 2011 HIGHLIGHTS
Monday, February 14
8 a.m. “Art from Anywhere” Alumni Exhibit
Leu Center for the Visual Arts, Lobby & Gallery 121
Artists Include: Margaret Elliott, Paul Chenoweth, and Cindy Wunsch
Exhibit will be open for public viewing Monday-Saturday
10 a.m. Homecoming Kick-Off Pep Rally
Curb Event Center
Thursday, February 17
4 p.m. Alumni Art Talk and Taste
Artists Paul Chenoweth and Cindy Wunsch will provide a brief overview of the creative and Inventive inspiration for their works.
Leu Center for the Visual Arts, Gallery 121
Free and open to the public.
7 p.m. Bruin Basketball: Belmont men take on East Tenn. State University
Curb Event Center
For tickets, call CEC Box Office 615.460.8500.
Friday, February 18
3-4:30 p.m. Belmont Past: An Oral History & Conversation with Emeritus Faculty
Curb Event Center, Vince Gill Room
3:30 p.m. Belmont Bruin Baseball Vs. Illinois State
Shelby Park
5 p.m. Homecoming Bonfire and Block Party. Lighting ceremony will begin at 5:20 p.m.
Gravel lot, 15th and Bernard
Saturday, February19
11 a.m. Belmont Bruin Baseball Vs. Illinois State
Shelby Park
Noon Tower Society Reunion, Honoring Members of the Classes of 1960 and 1961
Curb Event Center, Vince Gill Room
Reservations Required
3:30 p.m. All Alumni Reunion
Beaman Center
4 p.m. Alumni Memorial Carillon Concert
Dr. Richard Shadinger, University Carillloneur
Bell Tower
4-6:30 p.m. Indoor Tailgate
Maddox Grand Atrium
5 p.m. Basketball Doubleheader: Bruins women’s and men’s teams take on USC Upstate. Senior Recognition and Homecoming Court.
Curb Event Center
For tickets, call CEC Box Office 615.460.8500.
Hachtel Selected for AOTF/Patterson Foundation Award
Dr Yvette Hachtel, professor of occupational therapy, has been selected as a recipient of an AOTF/Patterson Foundation award for Community Volunteerism. This award, a joint project of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation and the Patterson Foundation of St. Paul, Minnesota, is being given for the first time this year and recognizes outstanding community volunteerism that meets the needs of disadvantaged individuals who would otherwise not be able to benefit from occupational therapy services. This award was given for the work on the Odyssey program of the Campus for Human Development in Nashville and was viewed by the selection committee as one of the applications best reflecting the overall purpose of the award. Her accomplishment will be recognized during the Award Ceremony at the Annual AOTA Conference and Exposition to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 16, 2011. In addition to this award, Dr Hachtel will receive a check for $1,000.
Belmont Unveils New MBA Healthcare Management Study Options
Healthcare management tracks added in Quality and Human Relations
Belmont University’s Massey Graduate School of Business has added two additional MBA healthcare management focus options for graduate business students, effective spring 2011. Each of the new options builds on The Massey School’s existing general healthcare management concentration by offering MBA students the options to further customize their degree programs in either healthcare quality and compliance or human relations.
According to Massey associate dean, Joe Alexander, “As we listen to area employers and their hiring needs, adding new healthcare management offerings was something we could do to help our graduate students better tailor their degrees to the marketplace. This new programming will add to our capacity to prepare MBA students for the emerging healthcare economy of tomorrow.”
Conard’s Research Receives International Attention
Some people are willing to wait in line overnight to be the first to buy a just released book or to be the first to see a newly released movie. Others wait in line in the middle of the night to have first access to deals on “black Friday” or to be first to buy an iPad. New research in the Journal for Consumer Research, co-authored by Belmont Assistant Professor of Marketing Jacqueline (Jax) Conard, suggests that the tendency to act quickly to acquire items such as those above is related to the first letter of one’s childhood surname. Conard’s work with Georgetown University marketing professor Kurt A. Carlson is receiving media attention around the world, with recent hits in the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report and the New York Times as well as interviews with ABC News and media in Australia and Sweden.
The idea holds that children develop time-dependent responses based on the treatment that they receive. For example, many children with last names toward the end of the alphabet are often last in line and at the back of classrooms. In an effort to account for these inequities, children late in the alphabet will move more quickly when last name isn’t a factor; they will “buy early.” Likewise, those with last names early in the alphabet will be so accustomed to being first that individual opportunities to make a purchase won’t matter very much; they will “buy late.” This tendency to “buy early” or “buy late” will continue into adulthood and is known as the last name effect. Moreover, this predictable tendency will extend to many other buying situations.
This last name effect is especially important to retailers and sales people because customer names are easy for marketers to obtain and because there are many decisions in which the decision is not whether to buy, but when to buy. More examples include when to renew a favorite magazine subscription, when to buy a new cell phone and when to reorder printer supplies.
Andrew Marin Addresses ‘Sex & the Soul’
Andrew Marin, president and founder of The Marin Foundation, spoke on Belmont’s campus this week as part of the university’s annual “Sex & the Soul” week. The Marin Foundation works to educate, equip and provide both the religious and LGBT communities with tangible experiences and relevant teaching that brings each group to have a better and more clearly defined understanding of the other. Marin is the author of the award-winning book, Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community.
Marin, who created his foundation after his three best friends came out to him over the course of three months, works to build bridges between the religious and GLBT communities through scientific research and Biblical and social education. His first talk Monday morning focused on the intersections in culture between God, sex and an individual’s perception of the “ideal life” and how each informs the others.
“The Bible doesn’t say that the greatest gift we can give to someone we love is sex,” he noted. “Rather, the greatest gift is to encourage them as they conform to the image of Christ.”
Marin also spoke extensively on the topics in his book, Love Is an Orientation, which fellow author and frequent Belmont speaker Shane Claiborne endorsed, noting that the book is about “One of the most important conversations happening in the church. And one of the most divisive. Andrew Marin is a fresh, gracious, innovative voice in the dialogue. For Marin, this is not about a hot-button ‘issue’–it is about a face, a friend, a child of God. It is about Jesus, whose love many find hard to grasp because of what they have felt from his followers. Andrew reminds us that, whether conservative or liberal, we can have great ideas and still be mean and self-righteous. And ultimately they will know we are Christians, not by our proof-texting, but by our love.”
Belmont University’s “Sex & the Soul Week” began in 2009 when Donna Freitas, author of the book Sex & the Soul, spoke at Belmont and inspired an annual event of the same name. Other speakers for the week were professors and authors David McCarthy (who spoke on the topic “Sex and Love in the Home”) and Dr. Christine Colon (who addressed “Sexual Freedom: A Christian Feminist Perspective”).
