Pam Parry, associate professor of journalism, was named the Top Graduate Student in the School of Mass Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg at an April 23 ceremony. Parry is on study leave working on her doctor of philosophy degree in communication with an emphasis in public relations history.
Additionally, she won a second top graduate award. She was named the first Gene Wiggins Fellow, a newly established endowed award named after a longtime member of the faculty. The fellowship provides support for graduate research. Parry will use the money to complete research on the campaign waged to help Margaret Sanger publicize the first congressional hearing on birth control legislation. Parry is scheduled to return to Belmont this fall and resume her teaching.
Parry Named Top Grad Student at Southern Mississippi
Wicke Provides Photo Journal of Final Four Trip
Senior men’s basketball player Andy Wicke was named one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award in large part to his dedication to academic success and community service. As part of the award program’s activities, Wicke participated in numerous events at the 2009 Final Four in Detroit. Click here to view a photo diary of Wicke’s time at the Final Four.
Panhellenic’s ‘Up ‘Til Dawn’ Inaugural Event Raises $18,080
The women of Belmont’s Panhellenic Community recently teamed up with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to bring the “Up ‘Til Dawn” philanthropy effort to campus for the first time. Up ’til Dawn is a national collegiate fundraiser that was first held at the University of Memphis a decade ago. The Up ‘til Dawn program asks students, faculty and campus communities to raise awareness and support for St. Jude through a variety of activities including letter-writing campaigns, softball tournaments and carnivals, to name a few. Over the past 10 years, the fundraiser has culminated in an all-night Finale Event in which participants sacrificed a night of sleep in honor of the St. Jude patients who courageously battle cancer every day. At dawn, participants would find out how much their campus raised for St. Jude to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.
Now held on more than 250 college campuses, the event began at Belmont in February when more than 200 students participated in a letter-writing campaign to friends and family. At the Finale Event, Belmont’s Panhellenic Community was told they had raised $18,080, more than the University of Alabama and many other schools who have held the event for years. These proceeds will allow the hospital to provide groundbreaking medical treatment to children living with catastrophic diseases at no charge to their families.
Student Pharmacists Attend First National Conference and Competition
Four students from the Belmont University School of Pharmacy recently traveled to San Antonio for the annual American Pharmacists Association and Academy of Student Pharmacy conference. This meeting was attended by more than 7,000 pharmacists and pharmacy students nationwide. Belmont student pharmacist chapter President Zac Renfro received the chapter’s inaugural charter. The conference was also the site for the National Patient Counseling Competition, where students compete in demonstrations on counseling patients on the safe use of medications. Bethany Bedford, the winner of BUSOP’s own competition, competed against 109 other student pharmacists from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Fellow attendees included Diane Akin, Zac Renfro, David Jones and chapter advisor Dr. Salvatore Giorgianni. The participants also attended leadership, educational and networking conferences and activities. Giorgianni said, “Having our student pharmacists attend and participate in professional meetings such as this is an essential component of their growth as professionals and leaders.”
Cornwall Quoted in Wall Street Journal
Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and professor of management, was quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Smart Ways to Cut Prices: Consumers want value these days. Here’s how some companies give it to them — without gutting their brands.” Click here to read the story.
Faculty Librarians Present at Statewide Annual Conference
Faculty librarians Jenny Rushing, Rachel Scott and Judy Williams presented during the 2009 Conference of the Tennessee Library Association, held April 8-10 in Nashville. Rushing participated in a session titled “Connections and Collaborations: Partnerships in K-16 Bibliographic Instruction” with librarians from Lambuth University and the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Her focus was Bunch Library’s contribution to the Conversations@Belmont series, a successful collaboration between local school and academic librarians in order to prepare high school students for the transition to college. The series can serve as a model for other academic libraries to adopt. Rushing, Scott and Williams presented “From 0 to 200! Building an Information Literacy Program from the Ground UP.” The session described the development of Belmont University’s information literacy program, its integration into the General Education curriculum, goals for program growth and recent library upgrades designed to better serve the university community.
NIRSA Recognizes Three Beaman Staff Members with Awards
At the 60th Annual National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Conference & Recreational Sports Exposition, held recently in Charlotte, N.C., Belmont University was well-represented with three award winners: Angie Bryant, director of the Beaman Student Life Center; Caroline Cox, graduate assistant for Fitness Programming; and Daniel Lawrence, graduate assistant for Facilities.
Bryant was honored with the Horace Moody Award, which recognizes professional members who have made significant contributions to student development. Only six individuals across the country are awarded this recognition each year. In addition to serving as the current director for the state of Tennessee, Bryant will now serve as the committee chair responsible for selecting the Region II Student Excellence Grant that will be offered spring 2010.
Cox received the William N. Wasson Student Leadership & Academic Award, which recognizes top students who are employed by the Department of Recreational Sports. This award gives NIRSA an opportunity to honor outstanding student leaders. Nominees must be full-time graduate students, maintain a 3.0 GPA, and demonstrate scholarship and professional development through research, honors, self-improvement, certifications, presentations and involvement in professional organizations. In addition, the recipient must have demonstrated campus and community involvement.
Lawrence received a NIRSA Foundation Scholarship. This award is given to honor students who show commitment to educational and scholarly projects that enhance leadership development within campus programs. This scholarship is provided to allow recipients to attend various NIRSA educational programs.
McDonald Published in Volume on English Studies
Dr. Marcia McDonald has contributed a chapter to a volume titled Transforming English Studies: New Voices in an Emerging Genre. Her essay, “The Purpose of the University and the Definition of English Studies: A Necessary Dialogue,” is one of 14 in the collection edited by Lori Ostergaard, Jeff Ludwig and Jim Nugent, and recently published by Parlor Press. McDonald’s essay grew out of a panel presentation made with Drs. Cynthia Cox and Andrea Stover on Belmont’s innovative English major at the College Composition and Communication Conference in 2004. McDonald, associate provost and professor of English, has recently been named Interim Provost.
Student-Athletes Recognized Nationally for Academic Achievement
Four Belmont University athletic teams were honored by the NCAA Wednesday in its annual Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Award.
Belmont men’s basketball, men’s soccer, baseball and women’s golf each ranked in the top 10 percent within their respective sports nationwide among NCAA Division-I programs for their academic progress rate as determined by the NCAA. The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
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From Belmont to Africa, Kabia Fosters Education and Hope
Samuel Kabia, who works as an exterior gardener in Belmont’s landscaping department, recently spoke to a Belmont Entrepreneurship class, sharing stories from his recent trip to Africa and the work of his Rufoindo Education Project in Sierra Leone.
Kabia and his family came to the United States in 2001 after being forced to flee from their village in Sierra Leone because of the bloody civil war occurring in the country. Kabia, a high school economics and geography teacher in Sierra Leone, and his family moved to Nashville, where the Catholic Charities of Tennessee helped him find his current job at Belmont. He started taking classes in business administration in 2002 and graduated in 2005. He is in graduate school at Belmont and will graduate in August with a Master’s of Education degree.
After graduation, Kabia started the non-profit organization Rufoindo Education Project for Orphan Children to help his war-torn village Rufoindo in Sierra Leone. The organization’s major project is the building of a school for the children in the village. “I felt so sorry for them, many of them had lost their parents and other things,” said Kabia. “I wanted to help put them on the right track and open the school for them.”
The school has grown from 15 students to 200 students with six teachers. Funded mostly with gifts from Belmont, Kabia has been able to take 50 computers to the school and thousands of dollars worth of school supplies.
The goals of the Rufoindo Education Project for Orphan Children are to improve the poor health condition of the village community, to equip the children and their community with the knowledge and the skills necessary to create a self-sustaining environment, to create a place in Africa for Belmont students, staff and faculty to visit and to provide the children and the community with a healthy diet, clothing and good education.
Kabia is currently busy working on upcoming projects for the village. The projects include the building of a bridge to connect Rufoindo Village with Freetown, which is the capital of Sierra Leone, as well the building of a toilet system and a library for the school. For information on how to join Kabia’s efforts, contact him at samuelkabia@att.net or 615-554-2356.
