Dr. David Curtis (English) has been appointed associate dean of the School of Humanities effective June 1, 2010. Curtis was selected after a thorough search process that was overseen by a search committee from the School of Humanities and outside members from other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.
David brings a great deal of administrative experience to this position including six years as chair of the Department of English and four years as director of the English graduate program. Dean Bryce Sullivan said, “David is an inspiring and experienced leader with a clear vision for the School of Humanities. I believe that David will build on the record of excellence that already exists in the School of Humanities and take the school to even greater levels of excellence.”
Curtis Named Humanities Associate Dean
Alumna Opens ‘Sweet Stash’ Bakery
Alumna Whitney Conrad May, who graduated with a music business degree in 2006, recently started a family-owned business, The Sweet Stash in Franklin, Tennessee. Operating under the mantra “more than just cake,” she provides cupcakes, truffles and an array of other desserts, specializing in weddings and other large gatherings. “We take pride in creating a wide variety of delectable sweets both for everyday enjoyment as well as special events,” said May, who has taken an entrepreneurship class and consulted with Belmont faculty on how to launch a small business. “Our focus is on creativity and precision, so each cupcake is hand-crafted, each truffle hand-dipped, fresh when you order.” For more information, check out www.thesweetstash.com.
Belmont Recognizes Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month, and Belmont is hosting several events throughout the month to address different issues relating to feminism and resistance.
“Women’s History Month is a celebration of the experiences and accomplishments of women throughout history, as well as a time for people to pay heed to those experiences and accomplishments. This year we’ve decided to address a pressing issue for women, and men, namely the resistance so many people feel toward feminism,” said Caresse John, assistant professor of English. “Our theme ‘Resisting/Feminism’ is meant to be taken two ways: the resistance people feel toward feminism and feminism as means of resistance. Thus, our panels and keynote speaker address these issues. We would love to have a campus-wide discussion about why people fear feminism and about ways in which we can overcome that fear.”
All events are free and open to the public.
Wed., March 3, 10 a.m.
Feminism at Belmont
Elisabeth Dawson will facilitate a student-panel. Panel participants Nathan Haney, Amaryah Armstrong, Gia Vangieri and Shawn Willis will share their experiences with feminism at Belmont and will lead a question and answer session.
Beaman A&B
Wed., March 17, 10 a.m.
Faculty Panel: Feminism Resisted
The faculty panel will discuss the ways in which feminism has been resisted. Panel participants and topics include:
• Stephanie Crowder, “Shades of Purple: A Womanist Response to Feminism”
• Sarah Bowles, “You Ain’t Woman Enough: Loretta Lynn’s Ambivalent Feminism”
• Peter Kuryla, “In the Pews but not the Pulpits: Women and Male Chauvinism in the Civil Rights Movement”
Massey 100
Wed., March 24, 10 a.m.
Keynote Address: Fear of Feminism, Dr. Lisa Marie Hogeland,
Fifteen years ago, Dr. Lisa Marie Hogeland, associate professor of women’s studies at the University of Cincinnati, published her article “Fear of Feminism: Why Young Women Get the Willies” in Ms. Magazine. But are young women (and men) still resistant to feminism in what some consider to be an age of post-feminism? Join Dr. Hogeland for her discussion of feminism now.
Massey Boardroom
Fri., March 26, 10 a.m.
Faculty Panel: Feminism Resisting
Various faculty will discuss feminism as a vehicle of resistance. Faculty participants and topics include:
• Annette Sisson, “Countering Religious Oppression: The Moon as Universal Mother in Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees”
• Susan Jellissen, “Mary Wollstonecraft: Leveling the Playing Field”
• Sybril Bennett, “From Bell Hooks to Patricia Hill Collins: Where are the Black Feminists?”
Massey 109
Wed., March 31, 10 a.m.
Resisting/Feminism: Wrap-Up
Join Dr. Bonnie Smith, from Belmont’s English department, for a final discussion of resisting/feminism.
Beaman A/B
Center for Business Ethics Receives $10,000 Gift from HCA
HCA’s TriStar Division gift helps create Harry N. Hollis Student of Integrity Award
Belmont University’s College of Business Administration (COBA) has received a $10,000 gift from the Hospital Corporation of America’s TriStar Division in order to create the Harry N. Hollis Student of Integrity Award. TriStar Health System’s President Larry Kloess and Chief Financial Officer Chris Taylor presented COBA Dean J. Patrick Raines with the check earlier this month.
TriStar has given this gift in honor of long-time business ethics professor Dr. Harry Hollis, who plans to retire this spring. Annual proceeds from the gift will go toward providing a $500 award to a “Student of Integrity” who has demonstrated exemplary integrity and ethical behavior while pursuing his or her business degree at Belmont. Recipients will be announced at the College’s annual awards convocation, with plans in place for a TriStar representative to participate in the award presentation and accompanying luncheon.
“We are extremely pleased to present this gift in honor of Dr. Hollis, who so aptly exemplifies integrity and ethics in both his personal and professional life, and who has spent much of his career teaching future business leaders to emulate those values” Kloess said.
Dr. Hollis has served as the director of Belmont’s Center for Business Ethics since its creation in 1994. The Center provides a forum in which leaders of organizations can interact with one another to discuss key issues in the area of organizational integrity and also provides resources to facilitate the overall development of ethical standards of conduct within the marketplace.
Under Dr. Hollis’ leadership, the Center has achieved national prominence and has helped Belmont achieve a Top 10 national ranking for business ethics programs in BusinessWeek magazine.
“We are excited about the establishment of this award and about the meaningful message it will send to our students regarding the value of integrity and ethics in today’s business world,” Raines said.
Clark Named A-Sun Freshman of the Year
Belmont University men’s basketball freshman Ian Clark (Memphis, Tenn.) received three Atlantic Sun Conference postseason honors Tuesday, including being named 2010 Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year.
In addition to being just the second Bruin named Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year – joining Justin Hare (2005) – Clark was named Second Team All-Atlantic Sun and was a unanimous selection to the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team. The only Bruin to start all 30 regular season games this season, Clark showcased a scoring touch, maturity level and affinity for late-game situations far beyond his years, helping Belmont to a share of its third Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship in the past five years.
The Memphis native ranked among the Atlantic Sun Conference leaders in five statistical categories, including scoring, three-point field goal percentage, free throw percentage and minutes played. In 2009-10, Clark became the first freshman of the program’s NCAA era to lead the Bruins in scoring, averaging 14.8 points per game. He recorded a team-high 22 double-figure scoring games, led Belmont in scoring 16 times and in eight of the team’s final 11 regular season games. Click here for more on this story.
SIFE Launches Third Annual Ethics Essay Contest
Belmont’s Students in Free Enterprise team (SIFE) recently launched its Third Annual Ethics Essay Competition with scholarship money totaling $2,000. The competition targets college-bound high school students who must respond to an ethical prompt with an essay or video detailing how they would react in the event of a specific ethical dilemma.
Assistant Professor of Finance Dr. John Gonas, who serves as a Belmont SIFE Advisor, said, “I am continuously impressed and inspired by the creative and innovative community projects that our SIFE students are developing and sustaining. Many of our partnerships will grow and be fruitful learning opportunities (for both the community partner and the Belmont student) for years to come.”
This year’s prompt revolves around the CFO of a clothing distributor who is tempted to share confidential information with a chief investor in order to prevent him from selling off all of his shares at a critical time in the company’s history. Students entering the competition must provide a solution to this ethical dilemma in a detailed essay or a creative video, describing their course of action if they were faced with a similar issue.
Tim Harms, senior accounting and finance double major and Belmont SIFE President, said, “Belmont University’s emphasis in ethics within the business realm has shown me just how essential it is to start a dialogue about the ethical implications of decisions made in the workplace. It is out of this spirit that Belmont SIFE wants to expand this discussion beyond our campus and into the halls of high schools around the country.”
Entries will be judged on their originality, creativity, and overall quality. The competition, which has an entry deadline of March 31, is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and Belmont University’s SIFE Program. For more information, visit www.belmontethicsessay.com or email info@belmontethicsessay.com.
Paula Gill Appointed Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness
Belmont University has appointed Dr. Paula A. Gill to the position of Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness. Gill will be responsible for evaluating the university’s progress toward its performance objectives and for seeking ways to improve services and processes that provide value for students. Gill has served in numerous positions during her 15 years at Belmont, most recently as Associate Dean of Enrollment Services.
“In our current economic environment, higher education institutions must lead the way in examining and evaluating academic and administrative activities to identify areas for innovation, improvement, efficiencies, and cost savings to enhance student learning,” Gill said. “Belmont is recognized nationally for its innovative approaches to academic programming and delivery of administrative services. I look forward to working with my colleagues at Belmont as we continue this trend of innovation and improvement to address the myriad challenges and opportunities facing higher education institutions.”
Gill received a Doctor of Education degree and Master of Science degree from the University of Alabama and a Bachelor of Science degree from Belmont University. She is a past president of the National Consortium of Continuous Improvement, an organization whose aim is to advance academic and administrative excellence in higher education by identifying, promoting, supporting and sharing effective organizational practices among the 90 plus member institutions.
Willie Young Named Director of Major Gifts
Belmont University has appointed Willie Young to the position of Director of Major Gifts for University Advancement. Young will be responsible for coordinating the growth of major gifts to Belmont and helping coach and advise its gift staff. He will also continue as Director of Development for the College of Business Administration, a position Young has held since 2008.
Prior to working at Belmont, Young was founder and president of a Nashville-based marketing and fundraising firm with clients including Vanderbilt University, Belmont University, First American Bank and the Sony Corp. He also served as a Director of Major Gifts at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. In addition to his fundraising work, Young worked as a composer-lyricist in the music business in Nashville and the theatrical business in New York.
College of Arts and Sciences Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
As part of the College of Arts and Sciences 10-year anniversary, former deans Dr. Don Ramage, Dr. Richard Fallis, Dr. Larry Hall and Dr. Mike Pinter served on a panel and answered faculty-submitted questions on Thursday.
Each man shared his greatest accomplishments as dean. Dr. Ramage, who served as dean of the School of Sciences from 1983-1998 and as dean of both the School of Sciences and the School of Humanities/Education in 1994-95, said fathering the Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium was his greatest accomplishment. He added that one of his proudest moments was when the faculty approved the physical therapy and occupational therapy programs.
Dr. Fallis, the inaugural dean of CAS from 1999-2001, said launching the College of Arts and Sciences was his greatest achievement because “we started from scratch.” He highlighted Belmont’s “special energy” and the faculty’s willingness to try something new.
Dr. Hall, dean of CAS from 2001-2007, was most proud of the quality of people CAS was able to hire and the nature of the college. He noted, “CAS kept up with Belmont’s growth and even grew faster.”
Dr. Pinter, who has served as interim dean of the School of Sciences in 1998 and as interim dean of CAS in summer of 2001 and during the 2007-2008 school year, listed keeping things moving as smoothly as possible, quickly addressing issues, paying attention to the staff and hiring Lisa McGuire as his greatest achievements.
Belmont Recognized on President’s Higher Ed Community Service Honor Roll
Belmont University has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.
Tim Stewart, director of Service-Learning for the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Service-Learning, said, “I am very proud of the Belmont students, faculty and staff who have contributed to making this recognition possible. We are grateful, too, to our community partners who provide these wonderful learning opportunities for our students. Most of all, I am glad that by working with the community, we are helping to make Nashville a better place for all of us as we help Belmont students ‘engage and transform’ the world, both now and in the future.”
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers the annual Honor Roll award, recognized more than 700 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from poverty and homelessness to environmental justice. Belmont students and faculty are serving the community in many different capacities. Recent examples include students tutoring with the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, volunteering with Mobile Loaves and Fishes and promoting non-profit organizations like the Safe Haven Homeless Shelter.
