Dr. Eric Hobson, associate dean pf the School of Pharmacy, led the two-day Spring Faculty Teaching Celebration at Husson University in Bangor, Maine, April 2-3. In addition to consulting with individual faculty and departments about teaching and curricular design, he presented two workshops: “Motivating Students to Learn” and “The Enhanced Lecture: Low-Risk Approaches to Active Learning.”
Belmont Provost Named as LaGrange President
Dr. Dan McAlexander to start new position at Georgia college on July 1
Belmont University Provost Dr. Dan McAlexander was named today as the 25th President of LaGrange College, a liberal arts institution located southwest of Atlanta. McAlexander will assume his new position on July 1, 2009 after eight years of service to Belmont University.
Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “I join the entire Belmont University community in congratulating Dr. McAlexander on his new position. We are proud of his accomplishments at Belmont and grateful for all that he has contributed to this campus. Today we celebrate his achievements and offer our very best wishes to LaGrange College, Dr. McAlexander and his family.”
A graduate of the University of Kansas, McAlexander received his Master’s in Music from The Julliard School and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. McAlexander came to Belmont University in 2001, and during his tenure, Belmont has experienced an overall enrollment increase of 68 percent. The university has also seen spikes in average ACT scores, from 24 to 26, and in the six-year graduation rate, from 50 percent to 67 percent. In addition to adding 40 new faculty positions, the university has launched a number of new academic programs, including pharmacy, Asian studies, social entrepreneurship and convergence media journalism.
“It has been a great privilege to serve Belmont University,” said McAlexander. “Under the leadership of Dr. Fisher, this university has grown at unprecedented levels. Our academic offerings and the qualifications of our incoming classes have increased. I have enjoyed every moment working with Belmont’s exceptional faculty, staff and students and will continue to follow their accomplishments and to take pride in the university’s future progress.”
Five Bruins to Play in Music City All-Star Classic
Five seniors from Belmont University’s men’s basketball team will participate in the second annual Music City All-Star Classic Sat., April 18 at 6 p.m. at the Curb Event Center. Alex Renfroe, an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American and reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, Shane Dansby, Matthew Dotson, Henry Harris and Andy Wicke will play one final game as teammates, on the same home floor on which they went 41-7 over their careers. Click here for more on this story, including ticket information.
Giorgianni Quoted in Tennessean
Dr. Sal Giorgianni, director of experiential education and development in the School of Pharmacy, was recently quoted in a Tennessean article titled “Pharmacists get paid more for consultations.” Click here to read the article.
Student Co-Produces Award-Winning Short Film
Student Alexis Merte co-produced short film Fingers, which will make its local premiere at the Nashville Film Festival Sat., April 18 at the Green Hills Cinemas at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $11 and can be purchased at www.nashvillefilmfestival.org. Fingers is a narrative short film shot entirely on location in Nashville and featuring Belmont University and the never before filmed historic RCA Studio B. The film first premiered at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival in the Academy Recognized Golden Starfish Award Category. Fingers received the audience award at the festival and was declared “subtle and mesmerizing… already a winner” by The New York Film Review.
Beard Featured on Cover of Spinal Column Magazine
Freshman Stephanie Beard is featured on the cover and included in the cover story of the spring 2009 issue of Shepherd Center’s Spinal Column magazine, a quarterly publication geared to current and former patients, healthcare professionals and donors. Beard sustained a spinal cord injury when she was in high school and went to Shepherd Center in Atlanta for rehabilitation. Click here to visit the magazine’s Web page where you can download the Spring 2009 issue.
Frist Advocates for ‘Hope Through Healing Hands’
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., made a special appearance on campus Monday to speak on “Hope Through Healing Hands,” his global health initiative that strives to change the world through raising awareness and taking action against global disease, extreme poverty and other health-related issues. His visit was sponsored by Belmont’s Executive Leadership Program (ELP), a year-long program in which 10 freshman students are selected to participate in a series of experiences to learn about teamwork, communication, community service, organization and self-purpose. The Senator’s appearance marked the group’s final project for the year.
Frist’s talk focused on his medical mission work in Africa over the past decade and how that work inspired him to found Hope Through Healing Hands, an organization that seeks to use health “as a currency for peace.” He spoke of Lui, Sudan, a village he’s visited frequently that’s located 500 miles west of the Nile. “What started as American medical volunteers operating on a single patient in an abandoned school house grew to a hospital that now sees 40,000 patients each year from hundreds of miles around with 60 Sudanese workers… People say in Africa there’s no hope, there’s nothing we can do. But we can make a difference.”
Frist advocated that Americans’ work in Africa is not only the morally right thing to do, but it also makes this nation safer. “You don’t go to war with someone who has saved the life of your child.”
Quoting from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Frist concluded by reminding his audience of the inextricable connections that exist throughout the worldwide community. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
For more information, visit www.hopethroughhealinghands.org.
Students Attend Regional Symposium for Young Neuroscientists
Belmont students recently attended the 2009 Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the SouthEast (SYNAPSE), a one-day regional undergraduate neuroscience conference held at the College of Charleston. SYNAPSE provides opportunities for students to present their research results and obtain feedback from neuroscientists at other institutions via poster presentations, discuss important issues in neuroscience training via workshops and panel discussions, and learn about cutting-edge research via a keynote speaker. Students and faculty are also able to form connections with other neuroscientists in the region.
Dr. Lori McGrew, associate professor of biology, took four students (Jackie Hunter, Roshni Patel, Taylor Walter and Julie Malkowski) to the conference. Hunter, Patel and Walter conducted research with McGrew last summer as part of the Scholar Communities program, and they presented a poster of combined findings at the meeting. Malkowski is currently studying zebrafish through a lab and field techniques class and attended the conference to see the scope of student projects and the breadth of the field.
Students, Faculty Present Research at Natural History Conference
Belmont biology major April Tummins presented her senior research project at the 13th Symposium on the Natural History of Lower Tennessee and Cumberland River Valleys at Land Between the Lakes on April 3-4. Tummins’ paper was titled “Water-Use Efficiency in Lonicera maackii and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus in Response to Increasing Light and CO2.” Dr. Steve Murphree, professor in biology, presented research completed by Andy Wicke, an Environmental Studies major, titled “Macroinvertebrate Diversity and Water Quality at a Trout Hatchery Stream Entering the Obey River, Clay County, Tennessee.” Other Belmont participants included biology major Julianna Bejma, environmental studies major Lindsay Walker and Dr. Darlene Panvini, associate professor in biology.
Magruder Published in Journal
Dr. Robert Magruder, professor in the Chemistry & Physics Department, recently had a paper accepted for publication. The paper is titled “Universal optical response of Si-Si bonds and its evolution from nanoparticles to bulk crystals” and was published in the American Physical Society (APS) Physical Review B Journal on March 25. Click here to read the abstract.
