On May 18, the Nashville chapter of the Public Relations Society of America honored President Bob Fisher with the 2009 Apollo Award for Communications Leadership. The PRSA gives this award annually to a senior Middle Tennessee executive “who demonstrates and exemplifies the public relations and communications function within his or her organization.”
Trey Campbell, president of Nashville’s PRSA, said, “Dr. Fisher has transformed the face of Belmont University. His ability to incorporate Belmont University as part of the Nashville community in addition to raising the national profile of the university is a testament to his communications abilities and the importance he places on public perception in his role as president of the university.”
Previous Apollo award winners include Governor Phil Bredesen, John Seigenthaler and Jeff Fisher.
President Fisher Receives PRSA’s Apollo Award
Biles Published in Journal
Dr. Daniel Biles, Associate Professor, Math & Computer Science Department, recently had a research article accepted for publication, with co-authors Ferhan Atici and Alex Lebedinsky. The paper is titled Calculus of Variation on Multiple Time Scales and will be published in the International Journal of Dynamical Systems and Differential Equations.
Belmont Media Studies Students Produce Video for Nashville Zoo
Belmont students in a broadcast workshop class produced a welcome video for the Nashville Zoo this spring. The project was led by Steven Foust, Instructor of Media Studies, and the voiceover was done by Rich Tiner, Associate Professor of Media Studies. The video is on the Nashville Zoo’s homepage and will be entered in the 2010 Telly Awards, an international professional and student video competition. To view the video, click here.
Skinner Publishes Article in International Educator
Dr.Kathryn Skinner, director of international student services, had an article published this month in International Educator.
‘Green Bag Lady’ Raises Money for Flood Victims
“Green Bag Lady” Teresa Van Hatten-Granath, associate professor of art, partnered with CoolPeopleCare.org to create 500 reusable bags with the “We Are Nashville” logo. The organic materials to make the bags were donated, and 15 volunteers gathered on Belmont’s campus to sew the bags this week.
The bags will now be given away by CoolPeopleCare.org as a gift for people who donate to flood relief. Click here to watch FOX-17’s coverage of this story.
Allison Serves on Alumni Board
Dr. Linda Allison, associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, is continuing a second term as an officer for the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s Alumni Society Board of Governors. Allison is a member of the School’s Class of 1981. The 20-member board represents the interests of the 2,268 graduates of the School and serves as the official vehicle for alumni to maintain personal and professional relationships to the School. The board provides governance of the Alumni Society including oversight of the Distinguished Alumni Award program, Student Resource Fund and the School of Medicine Foundation’s annual alumni fund campaigns as well as advises on continuing medical education programming.
Belmont Nursing Graduates Achieve Perfect Pass Rate on National Exam
2009 Family Nurse Practitioner class passes certification exam on first attempt
For the sixth consecutive year, Belmont University graduates from the master’s program for Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) achieved a 100 percent first time pass rate on the advanced practice nursing examination for family nurse practitioners, administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
ANCC, the world’s largest and most prestigious nurse credentialing organization, recently announced that the overall first time pass rate for the FNP exam was 93 percent in 2009. Belmont School of Nursing graduates did particularly well in the exam sections that measured assessment of acute and chronic illness, research and health promotion and disease prevention, exceeding the mean scores of all test-takers in these areas.
More than a quarter million nurses have been certified by ANCC since 1990, and over 80,000 advanced practice nurses are currently certified by ANCC. ANCC certification is accepted by governing boards throughout the United States, as well as insurers and the military. The program validates nurses’ skills, knowledge and abilities and empowers nurses within their professional sphere while contributing to better patient outcomes.
The School of Nursing is part of the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing at Belmont University. Other schools and programs within the College include the Schools of Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy and Physical Therapy as well as the Social Work Department. The College educates future health professionals with a rigorous clinical-based curriculum and state-of-the-art technology and laboratories housed in a new health science complex that includes the Gordon E. Inman Building, the Health Care Simulation Center of Belmont University, and a soon-to-be-completed structure that doubles classroom and lab space and features a working pharmacy and center for health services.
Belmont SIFE Team Wins National Championship
Team will now represent U.S. at SIFE World Cup in October
For the first time ever, the Belmont University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the national championship at the SIFE USA National Exposition, which was held this week in Minneapolis. Thursday night’s top place finish places Belmont as the No. 1 team out of nearly 600 teams nationwide and the best of the 169 teams who competed in the National Exposition. Belmont SIFE was selected to go to nationals after a fifth consecutive year winning as regional champions. With the tagline “A head for business, a heart for the world,” SIFE is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes students around the world to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.
In addition to winning the national championship, the Belmont team also won second place in the 2010 SIFE USA Topic Competition for Market Economics for its work in developing an instructional DVD and online tools aimed at teaching refugees and immigrants how to maintain banking accounts. Belmont’s SIFE team will now represent the United States at the SIFE World Cup competition, which will be held Oct. 10-12 in Los Angeles.
Dr. John Gonas, associate professor of finance and the 2008 Tennessee Professor of the Year, serves as a Sam Walton Fellow responsible for advising Belmont’s SIFE students. Instructor Cate Loes and Assistant Professor Jason Stahl also serve the team as Sam Walton Fellows. Gonas said, “I am honored and humbled to work with such creative and committed students. They continue to build long-term, sustainable community partnerships that will enable economic opportunity and personal/professional growth for years to come.”
College of Business Administration Dean Patrick Raines, who last year was named the “Most Supportive Dean of the Year” at the National Expo, added, “The SIFE National Championship is the culmination of five years of dedicated work by our Sam Walton Fellows and our talented students. This team partnered with local organizations on all of their projects and clearly showed over 100 CEO judges that they can articulate solutions to some of the toughest problems in our community. Our SIFE team won the national championship because they demonstrated that they can work in teams, think critically and articulate clear solutions to social problems.”
Pharmacy, Physical Therapy Walk for Arthritis Foundation
Belmont’s Schools of Pharmacy and Physical Therapy had teams for last weekend’s walk to benefit the Arthritis Foundation, which was held indoors at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena due to rain. Together, the two Belmont teams raised more than $1,000.
‘Inside Out’ Graduation Occurs at Bass Correctional Complex
Over 60 graduates from the “Inside Out” Ethics Class on Religion, Poverty and Justice as well as the Criminal/Restorative Justice class celebrated the 11th graduation in the history of the program on May 6. One of the poems presented at the ceremony was written and performed by Belmont Social Entrepreneurship student Austin Sauerbrei.
The Inside Out Program at the Charles Bass Correctional Complex Annex was started in 2005 and is a program supported by faculty at American Baptist College, Belmont University and the Parents in Prison program. The focus of Inside Out, according to the graduation program, “is the creation of a learning community through mutuality and partnership so that insiders and outsiders learn from and with each other. This effectively challenges stereotypes and assumptions and invites everyone to reconsider their understanding of crime and justice in America.” Andi Stepnick (Sociology) and Andy Watts (Religion) teach and support the work of Inside Out with faculty colleagues from the American Baptist College.
Student class projects included “Hot Diggety Dog” and “Dress to Impress” among others. The Hot Diggety Dog group worked on creating a hot dog selling business to employ graduates. The Dress to Impress group provided clothing for men on work release in conjunction with Nashville Works in supplying clothing.
