Belmont University will award a total of 203 degrees at its summer commencement Fri., Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the campus’ Curb Event Center. Eighty-five undergraduate, 86 master’s and 32 doctoral degrees will be conferred.
Janice Swann Hellman, a Belmont alumna and trustee, will give the invocation and welcome. Student Nathan Smith will offer his reflections on his experience at Belmont, and Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher will give the commencement address.
August Commencement to Be Held Friday
Belmont Named to Princeton Review’s 2009 List of Best Southeastern Colleges
Belmont University was recently selected as one of the best schools in the southeast, according to The Princeton Review’s 2009 Best Colleges: Region by Region section on its Web site. Belmont is among 139 schools in the region selected for this honor.
Nationally, 630 schools in different regions received this designation. “We commend these institutions for their excellent academics and we believe our choices offer applicants and their parents a wide range of fine schools to consider applying to,” said Robert Franek, publisher and editorial director at The Princeton Review.
For more information, visit www.princetonreview.com.
Jellisen Published in The Tennessean
Dr. Susan M. Jellissen, professor of political science, published an editorial in The Tennessean this week titled “Afghan distrust, Pakistan acts negate troop benefits.” Click here to read the full article.
Entsminger to Judge MTA Jingle Contest
Dr. Deen Entsminger, professor in the School of Music, will be serving as a judge the Music City Central jingle contest along with The Tennessean’s Beverly Keel, jazz musician Kirk Whalum, radio DJs Woody and Jim, and several others.The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority’s brand-new Music City Central Transit Center will open its doors downtown in late October, and MTA wants to introduce it Nashville style, by putting it to music. Contest participants can enter an original, 60-second jingle in any genre about all of the reasons to choose public transportation. The winner will win a $1,500 cash prize courtesy of Balfour Beatty Construction as well as have the option of performing the jingle at the Grand Opening of Music City Central.
Tom Brokaw Announced as Moderator for 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced today that Tom Brokaw, current host of “Meet the Press” and a special correspondent for NBC News, will moderate the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University on Tues., Oct. 7, 2008. The town hall format differs from the traditional debate format by allowing the invited participants to pose questions to the candidates. In addition, for the first time in the history of general election debates, the moderator can choose to use questions submitted via the Internet.
Belmont University President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “We are thrilled to host Tom Brokaw at Belmont University. His professionalism and political expertise are a hallmark of each presidential election season, and we are excited to have a journalist of his caliber on our campus for this historic event.”
The Gallup Organization will choose the audience participants in the town hall meeting from undecided voters from the Nashville, Tenn., standard metropolitan statistical area. While the participants will pose the questions, Brokaw will facilitate the discussion between the audience and the candidates.
The other moderators announced today for the 2008 general election presidential and vice presidential debates are PBS’s Jim Lehrer for the Sept. 26 debate at Ole Miss, PBS’s Gwen Ifill for the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, and CBS’s Bob Schieffer for the final presidential debate on Oct. 15 at Hofstra University in New York. Each debate will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central and last for 90 minutes. The CPD 2008 Candidate Selection Criteria, announced on Nov. 21, 2007, will be the exclusive means of determining the candidates to be invited to participate in the debates.
Brokaw’s political coverage has been widespread throughout his 42-year career with NBC. He has interviewed every president since Lyndon Baines Johnson and has covered every presidential election since 1968. He was NBC’s White House correspondent from 1973-1976 in the midst of the Watergate scandal and anchored all of NBC’s political coverage from 1984-2004, including primaries, national conventions and election nights.
Brokaw stepped into the role as interim moderator of “Meet the Press” in June after the untimely death of his close friend, NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and long-time “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert. Brokaw will hold the position through the 2008 presidential election. In 2004, he stepped down after 21 years as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News. He has produced 25 documentaries on subjects ranging from race, AIDS, the war on terror, Los Angeles gangs, Bill Gates, literacy, immigration and the evangelical movement. Brokaw has also written five bestselling books: The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, An Album of Memories, A Long Way Home and Boom! Voices of the Sixties.
For more information about the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont, please visit www.belmontdebate08.com.
About the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate
The 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University is made possible through the generosity of our lead sponsors, Hospital Corporation of America, Jack C. Massey Foundation, The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County and the State of Tennessee. Additional support is provided by AT&T; Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz; Bank of America; Bridgestone Americas; Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.; Pat and George Bullard; Dell, Inc.; Dollar General Corporation; Earl Swensson Associates, Inc.; Enterprise Electric, LLC; Fifth Third Bank; First Tennessee Bank; The Frist Foundation; Gaylord Entertainment; Interior Design Services, Inc.; Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau; Nissan North America; Partnership for Chronic Disease; Purity Dairies, Inc.; Reliant Bank; Sherrard & Roe; The Tennessean; Walker, Tipps & Malone; Waller, Landsden, Dortch & Davis; and Zycron, Inc.
Volleyball Team Earns National Academic Honor
Belmont Volleyball has received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2007-08 season. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale. Nine Belmont Volleyball team members earned Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic honors this past year, largely contributing to the Bruin Athletic Department’s highest fall GPA since becoming an NCAA Division-I institution in 1996-97. Belmont’s overall team GPA ranked 23rd nationally. Click here for more on this story.
Griffith Published in Tennessean
Dr. Nathan Griffith, assistant professor of Political Science, published an editorial this week in the Tennessean regarding the War Powers Resolution. Click here to read the article.
First Tennessee Presents First External Pharmacy Scholarships
First Tennessee Corporation has provided the School of Pharmacy with its first external scholarship award. This gift of $5,000 supports three pharmacy students who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to service. Ms. Frankie Tonelli, Manager of the Belmont/Hillsboro branch, presented the gift to Dean Phillip Johnston and Associate Dean Eric Hobson.
In addition, six faculty in the Belmont University School of Pharmacy in collaboration with Bunch Library staff did poster presentations last week at the 2008 annual American Association of Schools of Pharmacy meeting. Also, Steven Stodghill (Pharmaceutical Sciences) spoke on “Paper to Pixel – Migrating Curricular Mapping to an On-Line Portfolio.”
Alumna, ‘Idol’ Finalist Melinda Doolittle Signs Record Deal
Alumna Melinda Doolittle (’99), who was the third-place finisher on the 2007 season of “American Idol,” has signed a recording contract with independent label Hi Fi Recordings, which is also the current home to Todd Rundgren. Her debut album is expected this fall.
Belmont Men’s Basketball Program Mentioned in ESPN Prestige Rankings
ESPN researchers Nick Loucks, Harold Shelton and Chris Fallica revealed this week their new men’s college basketball prestige rankings. The duo analyzed 300 Division I men’s college basketball teams, weighing the thousands of regular-season and postseason wins and losses, the NBA draft picks, the All-Americans and the national titles to come up with a numerical point system to provide unbiased rankings of every college hoops program’s success since the start of the 1984-85 season. However, the rankings required teams to have 15-seasons minimum competing in Division-I, automatically eliminating the Belmont Bruins and 40 other current D-I teams from the list. However, of the schools that were eliminated because they didn’t have the minimum 15 D-I seasons, the school that would have finished the highest is Belmont (132). Click here to see Belmont’s mention along with other programs outside the Top 50.
