Associate Professor of History Dr. Brenda Jackson-Abernathy was the featured presenter Tuesday night at the March installment of a free series of events held at the Governor’s residence and hosted by Tennessee First Lady Andrea Conte.
Conte hosted this presentation in observance of Women’s History Month, and Jackson-Abernathy gave a talk titled “Courage in a Corset: Civil War Nashville through Women’s Eyes.” “This is the second in a series of events we’ve designed to both entertain and enlighten participants,” Conte said. “We rarely hear an account of this chapter in our history from a woman’s perspective, and Dr. Jackson-Abernathy’s discussion of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of women living right here in Nashville was particularly interesting and moving.”
“Women in Civil War Nashville, though often absent from the wartime conversation, played important roles, faced significant challenges and persevered to maintain some sense of normalcy through a difficult time in the city’s history, and it is a pleasure to have this opportunity to share some of their stories and experiences this evening,” said Dr. Jackson-Abernathy.
Jackson-Abernathy Speaks at Event Hosted by First Lady of Tennessee
Student-Run Public Relations Firm Achieves National Recognition with PRSSA
Tower Creative Consultants, the student-run public relations firm, has been accepted as a nationally affiliated student-run firm by Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), indicating that the firm has reached a new level of professionalism and status among PRSSA student-run firms by meeting specific, official standards. Fewer than a dozen student-run firms are affiliated nationwide. Affiliation also means that Tower Creative Consultants will be listed on the Public Relations Society of America Web site to enable us to recruit national clients. Bethany Nelson is the manager of the student firm.
Magruder Has Paper Published
Dr. Robert Magruder, professor and chair of the Chemistry & Physics Department, recently had a paper accepted for publication. The paper is titled “New Intrinsic Oxygen Related Defect Bands in Oxygen Implanted Silica” and will be published in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, a journal on the chemical, electronic, optical and mechanical properties of glasses, amorphous semiconductors and metals, sol-gel materials, the liquid state of these solids and the processes by which they are formed.
Alumnae Organize Twestival Nashville to Raise Money and Awareness for Education
On March 25, Nashville will join more than 175 cities around the world in demonstrating social media’s power for social good through the second annual Twestival. The global event is a worldwide fundraising initiative that uses social media, particularly Twitter, to focus participants’ talent and resources to benefit one cause for one day. All proceeds generated from the 2010 Twestival will support education and be donated to Concern Worldwide, a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization that since 1968 has dedicated itself to reducing suffering and eliminating poverty.
Belmont alumnae Christy Frink (’08, Social Work) and Morgan Levy (’06, Music Business) organized the first “Twestival” in Nashville in 2009 and are doing so again this year at Avenue 9 from 6-9 p.m. Thursday. At last year’s Twestival Nashville, more than 200 participants gathered at the Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar in downtown Nashville and raised nearly $2,500 to provide clean and safe drinking water through Charity: Water. For more information on this year’s event, visit www.twestivalnashville.com.
Frink and Levy also operate a blog about Nashville life and culture at www.nashvillest.com.
Students Organize Concert Event to Benefit Haiti Relief Efforts
Recording Artist Taylor Swift Attends Fundraiser
Belmont University students Chloe Williams and Lindsy Anton organized a successful “Belmont Supports Haiti” benefit showcase Sunday night March 21 in Neely Dining Hall. The event was held to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti following the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Christian recording artist and Belmont songwriting adjunct instructor Ginny Owens kicked off the evening by performing two songs, and Belmont artists including Miss B, Christina Morris, Kierra Norman, Jessica Anderson, Rayvon, David Davis, Jimmy Saiz, Lazrmnstre and the dance crew B.O.W. also performed. The concert featured several donation opportunities, and the performers sold CDs, EPs and demos for the relief efforts as well.
The showcase attracted an audience of more than 100 people, including recording artist Taylor Swift. The showcase raised about $691, and the proceeds will be split between the Clinton/Bush Foundation and World Vision.
Anton said, “The experience was absolutely amazing. I’ve never been on the producing end of a concert before and watching the way people pulled together to reach out to Haiti and make a difference was incredible to see. I loved what we accomplished last night and hope to continue helping Belmont make a difference.”
Thompson to Receive Curtain Call Award
School of Music alumnus and adjunct faculty member Chester Thompson will be awarded the Curtain Call Award Thursday night at a concert in his honor. The award is presented annually to a School of Music alumnus in honor of achievement in the field of commercial and popular music. The concert and award presentation will be at 7:30 p.m. in Massey Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
From jazz to rock or pop to gospel, Chester Thompson has surpassed the boundaries of musical genres. He has performed and recorded with artists as varied as the Weather Report, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Genesis/Phil Collins and Ron Kenoly. Chester has been a member of the Belmont faculty since 1998.
Previous Curtain Call Award winners include Josh Turner, Ginny Owens, Jill Phillips Gullahorn, Will Denton, Fleming McWilliams, Melodie Crittenden, Jozef Nuyens, Gordon Mote, Tammy Rogers King, Bernie Herms and Chris Rodriguez.
Alumna Named AP Bureau Chief for South Atlantic Region
Michelle Williams, a 1989 graduate of Belmont and current Advisory Board member for New Century Journalism, has been named chief of bureau for the South Atlantic region of the Associated Press (AP). The former chief of bureau for AP in Arizona and New Mexico, Williams will now oversee AP’s news and business operations for Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. She will be based in Atlanta.
Williams, 43, began her AP career in 1989 as an editorial assistant in Nashville, Tenn. She later became a reporter in Milwaukee, where she covered serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. She later served as correspondent in Chattanooga, Tenn.; supervisory correspondent in San Diego; Tennessee news editor; and news editor and assistant bureau chief for Texas before becoming bureau chief for Arizona and New Mexico in 2007.
Before joining the AP, Williams, who grew up in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., worked as a reporter at The Lebanon Democrat >(Tenn.) and The Tennessean in Nashville.
Daus and Riechert Present at Gulf-South Summit on Service Learning and Civic Engagement
Two CAS faculty members were among presenters at the March 3-5 Gulf-South Summit on Service Learning and Civic Engagement held on the campus of the University of Georgia. Kim Daus, chemistry, and Bonnie Riechert, public relations, each gave competitive poster presentations. Daus was a co-presenter with John Gonas, finance, of “Breaking Out of Silos: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Developing and Coordinating an Integrated Service-Learning Project.” Riechert’s presentation was “Learning by Doing: Bringing Service-Learning into Public Relations Campaigns Classes.” Also attending from Belmont were Marcia McDonald, Jimmy Davis, Tim Stewart, Bernard Turner, Joyce Searcy, and students Josh Maisner and Tim Harms. Stewart and Turner were presenters in concurrent sessions. The theme for the conference was “People, Place, & Partners: Building and Sustaining Engagement in Critical Times.”
Computer Science Student Presents Paper
Jordan Williams, a Belmont senior and computer science major, will present a paper at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Mid-South Conference (CCSC-MS) in Searcy, Arkansas on March 26-27. The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for the exchange of information on computing and computing education. Jordan’s paper, “Information Retrieval Optimization In A Large Full-Text Index,” summarizes some lessons learned building an online web search engine in Ruby. Jordan’s interest in web programming will come in handy when he begins a full-time job with Amazon.com after graduation this May.
Sowers Named President of Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association
Dr. Jeanne Sowers, assistant professor of Occupational Therapy, was recently elected as the 2010 President of the Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association (TOTA). The statewide association supports and encourages the provision and availability of quality occupational therapy services to enhance the occupational performance of consumers in Tennessee through communication, education, professional development, advocacy and legislative involvement. TOTA aims to be a model for state occupational therapy associations in enhancing occupational performance among consumers. There are more than 2300 licensed practitioners of occupational therapy in the state of Tennessee.
Dr. Sowers has practiced as an occupational therapist for more than 20 years and has served in diverse roles within the profession. As a practicing clinician, Dr. Sowers’ experience is in the area of adult physical rehabilitation. She has published and lectured at local, state and national conferences on various subjects including the provision of occupational therapy in the hospital intensive care unit, ergonomics and rotator cuff dysfunction. In addition to her new role as President of TOTA, Dr. Sowers serves the Nashville community as a board member for Homeplace, Inc., a group home sponsored by Belmont United Methodist Church.
