On Sat., April 24, the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business will present its annual Best of the Best Showcase. The show will honor Vince Gill, 2010 recipient of the Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence, an annual award to be given to an individual who has achieved a level of excellence in the music business and entertainment industries with notable service to Belmont University and the Nashville community.
Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007, Vince Gill has become one of the best known names in country music. With more than 26 million albums sold, he has earned 18 CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1993 and 1994. He is tied for having won the most CMA Male Vocalist Awards (five), and is currently third for accumulating the most CMA Awards in history. Gill is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has received 20 Grammy Awards to date, the most of any male Country artist. Besides being known for his talent as a performer, musician and songwriter, Gill is regarded as one of Country Music’s best known humanitarians, participating in hundreds of charitable events throughout his career. The Vince Gill Celebrity Basketball Game and Concert began in 1990 as a simple benefit to raise funds for scholarship and program enhancement for Belmont University’s Athletics and Music Business programs. For over 12 years, the event also provided an invaluable opportunity for Music Business students to gain experience in planning and executing a music-industry event.
Co-hosted by Belmont’s Harry Chapman and Restless Heart front man and Belmont alumnus Larry Stewart, Best of the Best will feature a tribute performance by Vince’s friend and fellow star Rodney Crowell. As always, the show will highlight some of Belmont’s remarkable student talent with performances from the winners of the CEMB Showcase series—Miss B (Urban/Pop), Joshua Eric Wright (Christian), Cheryl LuQuire (Country) and Delta Saints (Rock)—and from the ASCAP Writers’ Night series winners –Clare Dunn, Hailey Faith, Hailey Steele, Josh Johnson, Greg Bates and Jordan Kyle Reynolds.
Belmont Presents ‘Best of the Best 2010’ Honoring Vince Gill
Maisner Contributes Blog to Author’s Web Site
Author and recent Belmont speaker Anne Jackson recently invited Belmont senior Joshua Maisner to write a guest blog for her Web site. Maisner’s blog, “What Happens When You Stuff a Jeep Full of Pancakes,” ran this week. Click here to read the blog.
Graduate Receives 2010 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Alumna Beth Repasky Bowman (Honors, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major), currently a graduate student at Emory University, just received notice that she has been selected to receive a 2010 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF). This award is highly competitive and only 1,650 were awarded this year. Quoting the NSF: “Your selection was based on your outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as your potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise.”
Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, a one-time $1,000 international travel allowance and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S., or foreign institution of graduate education they choose.
Mathematics Majors Accepted to Prestigious National Programs for the Summer
Stephanie Bobo (left) has been selected to be one of 16 women to participate in the George Washington University Summer Program for Women in Mathematics (SPWM) in Washington, D.C. this summer. SPWM is a five-week intensive program for mathematically-talented undergraduate women who are completing their junior year and may be contemplating graduate study in the mathematical sciences. Goals of this program are to communicate an enthusiasm for mathematics, to develop research skills, to cultivate mathematical self-confidence and independence and to promote success in graduate school.
Kelly Harlan (right) has been selected to participate in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Geometry and Knot Theory at California State University in San Bernardino (CSUSB) this summer. The principal goal of the REU in mathematics at CSUSB is to provide promising undergraduate math majors with a meaningful, exciting and challenging experience in mathematical research. During the eight-week residential program students will carry out guided independent and collaborative research. Research problems will come from the fields of Combinatorics and Knot Theory and will be chosen in consultation with a faculty mentor. The program culminates with participants submitting research papers based on their work and presenting their results at a formal seminar.
Students Participate in Math Jeopardy at Mathematical Association Meeting
Last month a group of faculty and students from the Mathematics and Computer Science Department attended the 2010 Mathematical Association of America Southeastern Section Meeting at Elon University in North Carolina. Faculty who attended were Drs. Joan Lind, Andy Miller and Sarah Ann Stewart. Students Stephanie Bobo, Kelly Harlan, Alex Dalrymple and Matt Folsom represented Belmont in the Math Jeopardy Tournament which was composed of teams from 31 schools from across the southeast. Other math majors and minors who attended the conference included Jake Madden, Andrew Kaley, Callie Goyer, Heather Ellis and Felicia Black. Drs. Andy Miller and Sarah Ann Stewart served as moderators and judges for student presentation sessions on undergraduate research.
Students Present Posters at American Chemical Society National Meeting
Dr. Rachel Rigsby and Dr. Alison Moore, along with several Belmont students, attended the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco in March. Students Will Peters, Joe Morott and Will Proffitt presented research posters as part of the undergraduate program. Students Luke Starner, Loren Brown and Brandon Ladage presented a SAACS chapter activity poster.
Additionally, Belmont received an Honorable Mention Award for the activities of their local chapter of Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS) during the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony. More than 12,000 presentations were made by scientists from every corner of the profession, and the meeting was attended by more than 18,000 scientists.
Psychology Department Receives Grant
The Department of Psychology is a partner with the Tennessee State University Department of Psychology on a grant awarded by the Association for Psychological Science titled “Psychology Instructors of Central Tennessee (PICT): Launching a Local Network of Psychology High School, Community College, and University Instructors of Psychology.” The grant project provides the formation and long-term maintenance of an active network of psychology instructors at all levels – high school through graduate education – in this region. It will forge an active network by coordinating the following: 1) an annual Psychology Instructors of Central Tennessee (PICT) Teaching of Psychology workshop; 2) a virtual bulletin board for PICT members to post relevant events, such as invited speakers, or other announcements, such as the need for adjuncts; and 3) a PICT website with links to all participating programs with an emphasis on facilitating communication of high schools with 2-year colleges, 2-year colleges with 4-year colleges and universities. Dr. Pete Giordano, chair of psychology, is designated as one of the project directors.
Belmont Hosts Tennessee Academy of Science Collegiate and High School Divisions
Belmont University’s School of Sciences is hosting the 2010 meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science (TAS) Middle Division Collegiate Meeting for Undergraduate Research on April 17. Last year more than 60 undergraduate students from nine different areas of study participated. The TAS meeting provides an excellent opportunity for students to experience communicating their findings to the larger scientific community.
Belmont University will also be hosting the 63rd annual meeting of the Tennessee Junior Academy of Science (TJAS) on April 16 in the Massey Boardroom. The TJAS is designed to further the cause of science education in Tennessee high schools by providing an annual program of scientific atmosphere and stimulation for capable students. All Tennessee high schools are invited to participate in the TJAS program leading up to the annual spring meeting. The program provides state-wide and national recognition for high school students’ investigative or research-type science projects. High school students, with the endorsement of their teachers, submit a report on their research project. The reports are then judged by a committee of two or more scientists in the field appropriate to the subject of the report. Students will then be invited to present their research paper at the annual TJAS meeting. The top two student writers will receive $500 each from the Tennessee Academy of Science, and other top students will receive $200 for each paper published in the TJAS Handbook. In addition, TAS will award $500 to each of the top two students to participate in the Annual Meeting of the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS).
Social Work Students Win State-Wide Policy Contest
Students from the Social Welfare Policy & Services II class competed in the poster presentation contest at the Tennessee Legislature during the 2010 Social Work Day on the Hill. Their policy analysis, “Restorative Justice for Some,” won first prize. Congratulations to these students: Andrew Aichele, Michelle Barnett, Katie Czerwinski, Shauna Daniels, Amy Dunning, Stephanie Hall, Cheyenne Metzger, Tom Rigsby, Lindsay Sechser, Serena Sherrill, Emma Shouse and Courtney Weeks.
Scholten Elected Chair of Tennessee Social Work Educators Association
Dr. Lorraina Scholten, associate professor of social work was elected to serve as chairperson of the Tennessee Social Work Educators Association at their February 2010 meeting. The association is comprised of 14 member universities from across the state currently providing accredited social work education at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels.
The association operates as a collaboration with the Tennessee chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the Tennessee Center for Child Welfare. The focus of the association is to improve quality of life by impacting the quality and scope of professional social work education in Tennessee. This is a three-year appointment.
