Steve Schnur, an adjunct professor of music business for Belmont West and the worldwide head of music and marketing for EA Games, will be honored as the 2009 International Music Person of the Year at a tribute luncheon at the fifth annual MUSEXPO on April 28. Schnur receives this award for “his musical passion, artistic vision and efforts in supporting and breaking both US and international artists through interactive gaming.” Schnur, who is often described as the most influential music executive in the video gaming world, has played a pivotal role in breaking new artists through EA Games. This includes acts such as Airbourne, Teddybears, Avenged Sevenfold, Wolfmother, Good Charlotte, Franz Ferdinand, Lily Allen, Robyn and hundreds of others.
Schnur Named International Music Person of the Year
Students Participate in Alternative Spring Break Trip
Residence Life partnered with Habitat for Humanity for their second annual Alternative Spring Break trip. Ten students and two staff members from Belmont University spent the week in Cleveland, Tennessee. The group spent the first part of the trip in a residential area of 30 Habitat homes working on the exterior siding of one home and finishing up the foundation and installing the entire floor system for another. Later in the week the focus shifted to renovating an old movie theater that the local Habitat affiliate will soon use to support the operations of its home supply store as well as much needed office space.
Pharmacy Faculty Speak at Symposium and Workshop
Dr. Andrew Webster, chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences, was the featured speaker March 18 at the Nashville Health Care Council’s Leadership in Health Care symposium held at the Cumberland Emerging Technologies Center. Webster addressed a group of more than 40 corporate senior leaders on the topic, “Belmont University School of Pharmacy: It’s Capacities and Capabilities, Today and To Come.”
Dr. Eric Hobson, professor of pharmacy, was the featured speaker and QEP project consultant for Averett University’s (Danville, VA) Quality Enhancement Project, Spring 2009 Implementation Faculty Workshop, March 21.
Center for Entrepreneurship Holds High School Business Plan Contest
Belmont partners with Williamson County Office of Economic Development for Centennial High competition
Belmont University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, in partnership with the Williamson County Office of Economic Development, held a business plan competition for 74 high school honors economics students at Centennial High School today. Under the direction of faculty and staff from Belmont, students were given three hours to research and develop an idea for a new company. Working in teams, the students pitched a variety of ideas for companies, from a pill that serves as an alarm clock to a courier service for the elderly.
Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship, said, “It renews my spirits to see how enthusiastic and entrepreneurial the young people are these days. I was amazed by the quality of their presentations after just one short day of research and preparation.”
Centennial High School Principal Dr. Terry Shrader added, “Centennial High School is honored to partner with Belmont University and the Williamson County Office of Economic Development to bring this engaging and relevant learning experience to our Honors Economics students. We, at Centennial, are very lucky to have such willing partners in our students’ learning.”
Belmont Celebrates Earth Hour with Acoustic Music, Recycling
Belmont University and student organization Service Corps will celebrate this Saturday’s Earth Hour by hosting a special event on campus featuring live acoustic performances from student acts along with an opportunity for individuals to recycle. The March 28 Earth Hour is a global event in which millions of people around the world will turn out their lights from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time to make a statement of concern about the planet and climate change. The Belmont celebration, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., will occur on the top floor of the Curb Event Center garage, providing a perfect view of downtown Nashville as the skyline “disappears” at 8:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.belmont.edu/green/belmontunplugged.
Warren Wins Southern Miss Individual Title
Belmont senior Lorie Warren captured her third individual title of the season and her seventh overall as a collegian as the Belmont women’s golf team placed third at the Southern Miss Lady Eagle Invitational held Monday and Tuesday at the Canebrake Country Club in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Warren, who has finished in the top-five in seven of the eight tournaments she has played in this season, shot a one-over par 71 in Tuesday’s final round to win the individual title by one stroke over Samantha Holt of host Southern Mississippi. Warren finished with a 36-hole score of 143, while Holt finished at 144.
Belmont Hosts Corporate Band Challenge
Celebrating the convergence of business and arts, the finals for the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville’s first annual Music City Corporate Band Challenge were held at the Massey Performing Arts Center at Belmont University on Sun., March 15. Competing were Avenue Bank’s “The Hummingbirds,” AllState Insurance Company’s “The Good Hands Band,” The Myers Company’s “Next of Kin,” BMI/Landmark Digital’s “Royal Tea$e,” Nashville Symphony staff’s “Phil and the Harmonics,” Vanderbilt University’s “Soul Incision” and winners MTA’s “Transit.” In addition to bragging rights, Transit earned prize money and an opportunity to perform at the 2009 CMA Music Festival. Net proceeds from the Challenge will benefit Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Business Scholarship Fund, as well as the Arts & Business Council Community Engagement Programs.
Slay Participates in Law Panel at Vanderbilt
Cheryl Slay, assistant professor of music business, participated as a panelist for Vanderbilt University Law School’s Spring Symposium for its Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. The panel, “Maintaining the Musician: Protecting Music, Image and Technology Today,” explored topics relating to artist branding and business model changes in the music industry.
White Invited to Join NSF Committee
Cindy White, director of the office of sponsored programs, was recently invited to join the National Science Foundation (NSF) Business and Operations Advisory Committee. The committee addresses a range of issues related to the oversight, integrity, development and enhancement of NSF’s business operations. It has also been integral to major initiatives in areas such as electronic government, financial management and performance measurement. Her appointment to the committee will be for three years.
Belmont Hosts Regional Math Association Meeting
Under the leadership of mathematics faculty members Dr. Andy Miller and Dr. Sarah Ann Stewart, Belmont’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science hosted nearly 400 mathematics faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate students on Belmont’s campus for the 88th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA-SE) Meeting March 12-14. The MAA-SE section covers Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina; almost 100 colleges and universities were represented at this year’s meeting. Miller and Stewart had worked for two years to make all the necessary preparations, including working with Belmont staff to set up events, overseeing Belmont students and faculty volunteer efforts, and communicating with MAA officials to organize the program of talks and other activities.
There were more than 90 contributed paper presentations on a wide variety of topics, including presentations by Belmont faculty members Dr. Danny Biles and Dr. Mike Pinter. Activities for undergraduate students included sessions for presentations of undergraduate research, a Poster Session with nearly 25 posters presented, a Treasure Hunt and Math Jeopardy. Belmont mathematics majors Amy Valentine and Cat Simpson received the Walt and Susan Patterson Award for their paper presentation on “Ugly Curves and the Loewner Equation,” which was the result of their work supervised by Belmont faculty member Dr. Joan Lind. Both of Belmont’s Math Jeopardy teams tied or won their preliminary round of the competition; the team with members Cat Simpson, Amy Valentine, Hank Carter and Neil Kowalewski came in Second Place overall during the Final Round.
