Earlier this week David Callahan, author of bestseller The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead and of the new book The Moral Center: How Progressives Can Unite America around Our Shared Values, spoke to a packed house in the Maddox Grand Atrium on “The Cheating Culture: Ethics and Democracy.”
The Tennessean interviewed Callahan prior to his lecture. Click here to view an excerpt from that interview.
Callahan has had numerous articles published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. He has also been a frequent commentator on CNN, CBS, PBS, MSNBC and FOX News and has been a regular guest on radio talk shows across the United States. He lectures frequently about issues of ethics and integrity to universities, associations and businesses.
Callahan’s visit was sponsored by Belmont’s Center for Business Ethics, which seeks to bring people together in the discussion of business ethics, to help empower business leaders to face the current crisis in business ethics and to educate ethical business leaders for a better society. Upcoming events in the Center’s Ethics Leadership Speakers Series surrounding the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate include a Sept. 26 conversation with award-winning journalists John Seigenthaler and John Seigenthaler, Jr. on the topic “Ethics and the Presidential Election: Is the Media Helping or Hurting?,” an Oct. 21 presentation by author Cynthia Cooper on “Ethical Dilemmas: Power and Money” and a Nov. 6 lecture by economist Jonathan Wight on “The New Administration and the Economy: What Can We Expect?”
Callahan Visit Sparks Ethics Discussion on ‘Cheating Culture’
Rock the Vote ‘Road Trip’ Arrives at Belmont Saturday
Melinda Doolittle to Perform in Afternoon Concert
Rock the Vote, the leading organization for youth and politics, will come to Belmont’s campus this Saturday afternoon for the kick-off concert of a three-week “Road Trip” designed to fully maximize voter registration, education and engagement efforts in key youth markets. The concert, which will occur from 2-4 p.m. on the South Lawn, will feature performances by Belmont alumna and “American Idol” finalist Melinda Doolittle along with two Nashville-based bands.
Already, it’s a historic year for Rock the Vote. More than 1.4 million people have registered to vote through www.rockthevote.com, making this the largest youth voter registration drive in history. The Road Trip ’08 is a state-of-the-art mobile road show designed to reach out to the nation’s youth via high profile events on college campuses. The Road Trip ’08 tour bus has been outfitted with computer kiosks that will assist in voter registration and educate users about the election process. These kiosks will also field requests for absentee ballots, teach users about key issues, inform users about voting poll locations and much more.
“The Road Trip ’08 will take our work to the streets, reaching out to young people in America’s small cities and towns bringing together musicians, politicians and celebrities with the goal of educating and registering new voters and fueling record turn out in November,” said Heather Smith, Rock the Vote’s executive director.
Junior to Participate in Online News Association Student Newsroom
Junior Abby Selden, a New Century Journalism major, is heading to Washington, D.C. this week to work in the Online News Association (ONA) Student Newsroom. Selden is one of 16 students selected to cover this exceptional new media event. This summer Abby interned at the Journal Communications, Inc., and she has also written an article for The Tennessean. Visit www.journalists.org for Selden’s stories as well as new media tips, tricks, techniques and technology. The ONA convention is being held Sept.11-13 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.
Woodard Publishes Editorial in Tennessean
Beth Woodard, associate professor of management in the Massey Graduate School of Business, had an editorial published this week in The Tennessean on the Census Report. Click here to read the story.
Giorgianni Co-Writes Booklet on Overcoming Depression, Anxiety and Stress
Dr. Sal Giorgianni, assistant Professor and director of experiential education and development, recently co-authored a new booklet from the Men’s Health Network titled Your Head: An Owner’s Manual. Understanding and Overcoming Depression, Anxiety and Stress. This 28-page booklet provides information to help understand the nature and type of stresses and symptoms of stress that men and boys have and how they may translate into depression and anxiety conditions. The book also provides listings of numerous self help and professional resources and organizations that men and those who care about them can access to address emotional problems.
Entrepreneurship Program Gains National Top 25 Ranking
From more than 2,300 schools surveyed by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review, Belmont University was distinguished as having one of the top 25 entrepreneurship programs. Belmont ranked 23rd in the undergraduate category of the survey.
The sixth annual ranking reveals the nation’s Top 25 undergraduate and Top 25 graduate programs for entrepreneurship. Belmont’s ranking can be seen at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges, along with information on overall trends found with social and environmental entrepreneurship, experiential learning and entrepreneurship as a means of reaching out both internationally and locally.
“Belmont made the commitment to create a quality program in entrepreneurship, and I am proud that we have been able to make so much progress in only five years,” said Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship and holder of the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship. “To be singled out from the hundreds of universities across the country is a testimony to the support we have gotten from the students, alumni, faculty, staff and administration of Belmont and the Nashville business community.”
Psychology Professors to Speak at Conference
Drs. Lonnie Yandell and William Bailey, both professors in Belmont’s Psychology Department, will conduct a workshop at the “Getting Connected: Best Practices in Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning in Psychology” conference on Fri. and Sat., Oct. 3-4 in Atlanta. This is the seventh conference in the popular “Best Practices in Teaching Psychology” series, which started in 2002 and is sponsored by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, American Psychological Association Division 2.
The title of their workshop is “Online Pre-Class Quizzing in a Blended Psychology Survey Course.” They will present information on the background and goals of pre-class quizzes, as well as the practical problems involved in developing, administering and assessing this method using a web-based platform such as Blackboard. Dr. Yandell will also present a poster titled “Online Mastery Psychology Survey Course” at the conference, which will focus on a description of his survey of psychology course that makes use of the mastery learning method, sometimes referred to as the Personalized System of Instruction, in an online environment. Dr. Linda Jones will also be attending the conference.
Volleyball Player Reaches Milestone
In the second set of the Battle of the Boulevard, senior Cat Mundy made history, recording her 1,000th kill. Her milestone was dimmed in the Bruins loss to rival, Lipscomb in three sets on Tuesday night. With 10 kills on the night, Mundy increased her kills total to 1,004, good for sixth-most in Belmont history. “That is such a great honor to achieve in her career – to get 1,000 kills,” Head Coach Deane Webb said. She has 1,000 kills in two years and a few matches. So certainly, she is a dynamic attacker, and it’s good to see her perform well tonight.” Click here to read more on this story.
Belmont’s First Annual Alumni Showcase to Raise Money for Chinese Orphan’s Surgery
Belmont University will welcome back several talented alumni to perform at “Coming Home for a Cause,” the first annual Alumni Showcase on Sat., Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Curb Event Center. Co-sponsored by the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and the Office of Alumni Relations, the showcase—featuring Sam & Ruby, Abby Burke and the Manly Band, KingBilly and Andy Davis—will serve to raise community support and awareness for the Shaohannah’s Hope foundation (www.shaohannahshope.org), an organization started by Belmont alumnus Steven Curtis Chapman.
Gospel artist Chapman, a former Belmont student and Curb College Advisory Board member, and his wife Mary Beth founded Shaohannah’s Hope to care for orphans and to help more people experience the miracle of adoption by reducing financial barriers. 
For the “Coming Home for a Cause” benefit, Shaohannah’s Hope has specifically identified an 18-month-old orphan in China, John (pictured left), who needs surgery for a cleft lip. Belmont’s donations will go directly towards John’s surgery. Buckets were distributed across campus this week to allow the Belmont community to participate and contribute to changing this orphan’s life. The “Change for Orphans” campaign buckets can be found at all residence hall/clubhouse front desks, the Beaman Student Life Center desk, Belmont Central, Corner Court, Department of Student Affairs front desk, Cafeteria, What’s Bruin? and the Curb Cafe.
“The purpose of this event is to provide a unique learning opportunity for CEMB students by utilizing the showcase series to profile Belmont talent, on and off the stage, and to highlight the community service endeavors of close Belmont affiliates,” explains Julie Bunt, associate director of Alumni Relations. “For this first annual event and out of Belmont’s Christian response to one of our own, Shaohannah’s Hope was selected as the nonprofit partner.”
The “Coming Home for a Cause” concert is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. event.
Cusic Featured in Nashville Lifestyles
Don Cusic, professor of music business, is featured in the current issue of Nashville Lifestyles magazine. The article on Cusic is a two-page spread that discusses his newest book, Discovering Country Music, and spotlights Cusic as one of the leading academics writing about country music.
