Belmont University’s College of Business Administration (COBA) recently hosted 46 high school students and rising college freshmen from across the state of Tennessee for the ninth annual Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) Accounting Academy. Directed by Dr. Del DeVries, assistant professor of accounting and information systems, and Dr. Jane Dillard-Eggers, associate professor of accounting, this free, four-day camp offers students the opportunity to explore careers in accounting and learn more about the dynamic world of business. The students participated in multiple interactive team projects and visited several area businesses, including Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, and the Tennessee Titans Practice Facility.
Participants found the experience to be enlightening, making such comments as “It has opened my eyes and shown me that this is something that is interesting, and it’s a job I could never get bored in” and “I am excited about the things I learned about the different accounting careers and all of the friends I made here. I plan to use my experience to choose my career in accounting and to apply it to my life.”
This is the fourth consecutive year the program has been hosted at Belmont University. COBA Dean and Interim Provost Dr. Pat Raines said, “Our partnership with the TSCPA provides a valuable resource to the Nashville community. High School students from around the state learn about accounting careers through interactive programming, our experienced faculty and professionals in the field.”
Belmont’s College of Business Administration has been selected to host the camp again in 2011. To learn more about the TSCPA Accounting Academy, please contact the TSCPA office at 615-377-3825. High school juniors and seniors in Tennessee are eligible to apply, with applications for the 2011 camp available next spring.
College of Business Administration Hosts Ninth Annual TSCPA Accounting Academy
Sports Admin Students Help Coordinate Football Camp
Four students from the Sport Administration program recently worked extensively with ProCamps Worldwide, an international event management company which assists professional athletes in the development of their personal sports camps. During the spring 2010 semester, Kristen Finch, Brett Peterson, Jill Davis and Jordan Wright planned, organized and developed marketing strategies to attract local elementary, middle and high school aged participants for the 2010 Old Spice Chris Johnson Football Camp. During the event, held at Battle Ground Academy on June 16, these students assisted the ProCamps’ staff with field setup, customer service needs, crowd control and a variety of other event management needs, which helped make the all-day event a huge success. Pictured are (left to right): Kristen Finch, MSA student; Matt Toy, MSA adjunct faculty and Corporate Public Relations Director at D1 Sports; Christina Ludwick, MSA student and D1 intern; Brett Peterson, MSA student; Jill Davis, MSA student; and Jordan Wright, MSA student.
Sarah Brown One of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Middle Tennessee has named Sarah Brown, the business development and booking manager for the Curb Event Center, as one of Nashville’s 2010 Top 30 Under 30 honorees. Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 recognizes the city’s most active young philanthropists who exemplify leadership qualities, are active in volunteer roles and have excelled in the Nashville business community.
“I am really honored to have been picked as one of the 30 Under 30, especially since there are so many wonderful and deserving volunteers in the Nashville area. Nashville has a wonderful non-profit community and I am fortunate enough to live in a community that embraces and encourages such great efforts,” said Brown.
In her role as booking coordinator for Belmont, Brown regularly works with local non-profit organizations to host meetings, events and fundraisers. Brown also serves as the HOBY TN director of programs, a volunteer for Kid Electric Concerts, a member of the International Entertainment Buyers Association and a member of the International Association of Assembly Managers. She is a member of the WPLN board of community advisors and the Society of Leaders in Development’s social committee.
In addition to Brown, four of the 30 honorees are Belmont alums; they are Andi Bordick, Kia Jarmon, Evan Owens and Amanda Wyler.
Brown and the other honorees will be recognized at the Top 30 Under 30 event at Public Square Park on Sept. 11. The eventis open to the pubic and will highlight each honoree’s accomplishments, feature silent and live auctions and celebrate the CFF’s mission of curing cystic fibrosis. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $50 or $75 for VIP entry. Tickets will be available through all honorees or by contacting Lesley McMahan at (615) 255-1167 or lmcmahan@cff.org. Visit www.nashvilletop30.org for more information.
Odom Published in European Biochemical Journal
Dr. Marilyn Thompson Odom, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy, has recently published a mini-review series on the breast cancer susceptibility gene 1, BRCA1. The series, titled “BRCA1: 16 years later” was published in the August 2010 issue of FEBS Journal, which is published monthly on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Odom was invited to coordinate and submit the series by the journal editor. As coordinator, she invited Dr. Fen Xia, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Vanderbilt University, and Dr. Patricia Kruk, professor of pathology and cell biology and oncologic science at the University of South Florida, to submit articles to be included in the series. Dr. Odom wrote the overview and one additional article for the mini-review series. The Journal’s articles, including Dr. Odom’s review, can be accessed here.
Buckner Selected for Leadership Fellowship
Dr. Martha Buckner, associate professor and chair of the undergraduate nursing department at Belmont University, has been accepted as a fellow in the Leadership for Academic Nursing program with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. About 50 leadership fellows are selected each year through a competitive application process from nurse educators in more than 640 member schools nationwide.
The fellowship was designed to prepare a more diverse and younger pool of leaders for nursing programs in the United States. The year-long program provides participants with a focused assessment experience, a range of content and case studies related to successful leadership, and the opportunity to establish networks with mentors and peers. It focuses on key leadership competencies needed in complex nursing education and healthcare environments.
Buckner practiced as a staff nurse after receiving her B.S.N. from Western Kentucky University. She earned her M.S.N. from Vanderbilt University in adult health and practiced as a clinical nurse specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on a nutrition support team before becoming a nurse educator. Buckner began teaching at Belmont in 1992 as a part-time clinical instructor. In 2006, she completed a Ph.D. in educational leadership with a focus on higher education. Dr. Buckner was selected to chair the undergraduate nursing department at Belmont in 2009.
New Partnership with Laerdal Provides Basic Life Support Training
Belmont University’s Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing recently announced a new partnership with Laerdal Medical to provide American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) training and certification through the innovative HeartCode BLS program. HeartCode BLS is delivered by HealthStream, the Nashville company that is a leading provider of learning solutions to the healthcare industry. The College is among the first organizations in middle Tennessee to offer the web-based program to the public.
HeartCode BLS is the official, self-directed, comprehensive e-learning program from the AHA that has been designed to improve the quality of CPR training. The program provides students and healthcare professionals with a much more efficient way to gain BLS certification, often saving time and money compared to traditional CPR classes.
Those seeking initial or renewal certification through HeartCode BLS start with a convenient online component that teaches the BLS algorithm and provides realistic adult and infant patient cases that test knowledge of the correct sequence of patient care activities. The online component then gives the student a detailed debriefing of performance and administers a multiple choice exam. Then, program participants arrange an individual appointment at Belmont to demonstrate their CPR skills by using the voice-assisted manikin system that connects to the HeartCode program.
The course is now available. Click here for more information.
House Named to NABC Honors Court
Belmont men’s basketball rising senior Jon House (Guelph, Ont., Canada) has been named to the 2009-10 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court. The NABC Honors Court recognizes college basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics and were significant contributors to their respective teams.
To be named to the NABC Honors Court, student-athletes must be a junior or senior with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher at the end of the 2009-10 academic year. Students must also have at least one year of full-time standing at their current institution.
House, one of two returning seniors for the Bruins in 2010-11, has appeared in 98 career games, averaging 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting. House was one of eight student-athletes from the Atlantic Sun Conference honored by the NABC.
Coach Byrd Offers Opinion on New NCAA Tournament Format
Belmont men’s basketball head coach Rick Byrd was a popular man Monday afternoon, as he fielded numerous media requests in regards to the new NCAA Tournament format. Coach Byrd offered his opinion on the expanded 68-team field, how play-in games will become part of the ‘First Four’ and the overall impact on Belmont, the Atlantic Sun Conference, and mid major schools. Click here for more on this story.
Physical Therapy Students Receive Grant
Earlier this year four students wrote a proposal to the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association (TPTA) asking for $990 to fund their research. Lauren Clark, Laura Green, Carrie Rorick and Ashley Vidrine requested this money for their research on the comparative advantages of the Manu Brace versus “a standard wrist split in the treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.”
Thanks to a great idea, sound research and a well written proposal Clark, Green, Rorick and Vidrine received a check for $1,000 and a letter of acceptance from the TPTA granting them a chance to prove their theory. Clark said that receiving the grant was “a very great feeling… because it meant we would be able to conduct our research the way we had intended and planned for. We are very thankful to the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association for awarding us the funding.” The group’s final presentation is to be submitted in 2011.
The 2010 Statewide Debate Wins Local Ratings
On Monday night, Belmont University and WSMV-TV co-hosted The 2010 Statewide Debate, a live broadcast across Tennessee with gubernatorial candidates Mike McWherter, Ron Ramsey, Zach Wamp and Bill Haslam participating. The debate was a ratings and community service success, and landed as the No. 1 program in its time period and the most watched program in prime time that night. The measure of the audience comes from The Nielsen Company and is based on Nielsen Household overnights for Monday, July 12, 2010.
In Nashville, the debate achieved a 9.47 rating and a 14 share. This means that 9.47 percent of all TVs in middle Tennessee, whether turned on or not, watched the debate. Of those homes watching television from 7-8 p.m., 14 percent were watching the Belmont/Channel 4 debate. Those numbers break down to well over 112,000 homes and about a quarter of a million people watching. In both Memphis and Knoxville, the debate was the number two program in the time period and the number two program in all of prime time Monday night.
In addition, Belmont University partnered with East Tennessee State University and the University of Memphis to enable debate watch parties on those campuses. Political science students from each of the universities gathered to view and discuss the debate. Click here to view more photos from Monday night’s event.
