This week numerous members of Belmont’s faculty and staff were used as resources by local media in a variety of different stories:
• Provost Dr. Dan McAlexander appeared on the evening news broadcasts on WKRN Channel 2 Tuesday in a feature on Belmont’s record Fall 2007 enrollment.
• Political Science professor Nathan Griffith was quoted in a Tennessean article Thursday on “Candidates’ Promises: Truth or Pandering.”
• University College Dean Jimmy Davis was quoted in Thursday’s Tennessean in a story on the rising use of technology on college campuses.
• School of Music Adjunct Instructor Tom Studebaker, who teaches classical voice, offered his input on the impact of opera singer Luciano Pavarotti in a story on WSMV Channel 4 Thursday. To view the interview, click here.
Members of Faculty/Staff Receive Media Coverage
ATO Chapter Receives True Merit Honor for Record Seventh Straight Year
Belmont’s Iota Phi chapter of the ATO National Fraternity has been named a True Merit chapter yet again due to its standing as one of the most outstanding ATO chapters nationwide. The men of Iota Phi were awarded True Merit because of the chapter’s exceptional work and achievements on campus and in the community over the past year. Iota Phi is now the only chapter in history to receive seven straight True Merit awards since its founding. Of 134 chapters nationwide, no other chapter in the fraternity’s 150 years has accomplished this achievement. In addition to True Merit, Iota Phi was also awarded highest honors to recognize excellence in scholarship, excellence in campus involvement and leadership development, excellence in ritual, excellence in pledge education and excellence in financial management.
Occupational Therapy Instructor to Speak at International Symposium
School of Occupational Therapy instructor Teresa Plummer has been accepted as a presenter at the International Seating Symposium to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia March 3-8, 2008. She, along with adjunct faculty member Ann Eubank, and Xavier University faculty member Claire Morress will present a half-day pre-conference workshop on “Evidence Based Practice in Assistive Technology.” Plummer and Eubank will also present a one-hour instructional course, and Plummer will present the findings from her qualitative study, “Parents’ Perception of Wheelchair Selection.” In addition, Plummer’s involvement with The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America has resulted in the proposed draft of the position paper on “Pediatric Power Mobility” to be released in the coming months.
Senior Named Atlantic Sun Player of the Week
Belmont Volleyball senior Jaye Schuler was named Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday. Schuler recorded 56 kills and a hitting percentage of .434 in leading Belmont to match wins over Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Appalachian State last week. Among the highlights, Schuler hit a staggering .750 in the three-game victory over Austin Peay. This is the second time Schuler has earned Player of the Week honors, having first received the distinction in September 2006.
Senior Public Relations Major Works for Grammy Camp
This summer senior Public Relations major Callie Riggs was appointed as the on-site media contact at the third annual Grammy Camp held in Glendora, California. This appointment was made possible through her year-long internship with The Recording Academy, the non-profit organization that presents the Grammy Awards. Riggs spent four weeks working with high school students as well as music industry veterans and legends, including Earth, Wind & Fire, Lamont Dozier and world-renowned author and entertainment attorney, Donald Passman. Grammy Camp offers students, ages 15-19, a 17-day interactive residential summer music experience that focuses on all aspects of commercial music. The program explores 12 music career tracks and engages students in the technical aspects of creating, performing and recording while emphasizing new and emerging music technologies.
Hawley to Speak at TNSP Event
Dr. Scott Hawley, Assistant Professor of Physics in the Chemistry & Physics department, will be one of the invited speakers at the Tennessee Star Party (TNSP), a retreat for lay-persons and astronomers September 14 – 16 in Lynchburg, Tenn. Now in its seventh year, TNSP has quickly become one of the largest and most popular amateur astronomy events in the southeast. Dr. Hawley will be speaking on “Gravitational Wave Astronomy.” To register to attend TNSP or for other information about the event, visit http://www.bsasnashville.com/tnsp.
Acclaimed Author Lauren Winner Speaks on ‘Real Sex’
Lauren Winner, critically acclaimed author and assistant professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School, spoke today in a standing-room only lecture in Neely Dining Hall. Speaking on the theme from her latest book, Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity, Winner drew a total of 387 students for the convocation program in addition to a large faculty/staff/community turnout.
Winner—who holds degrees from Columbia, Cambridge and Duke—published Real Sex in 2005, securing a Publishers Weekly review that noted the book “helpfully and perhaps even radically reframes both the Christian and cultural discussion of chastity and sexuality.” Highlighting the myths the church teaches about sex, especially the emotional scare tactics given to adult singles and teenagers, Winner countered with a theological perspective based on the Christian’s understanding of sin. “I think we fear talking about forgiveness for sexual sin in the church because we fear that to preach forgiveness is to give license… But to preach forgiveness is to preach the gospel.”
She also highlighted that chastity is far from an easy spiritual discipline to follow but noted that Christians shouldn’t be surprised at its difficulty. “Our bodies are bound up in lives of suffering in a world in which redemption is not complete.”
Belmont Launches Emergency Instant Alert System
Belmont University recently launched an Instant Alert System that allows students, faculty and staff to receive immediate notification in the event of an on-campus emergency or unscheduled university closing due to, for instance, severe weather. Dobie Mobile—a locally-owned company that provides the software, technology and maintenance for organizations to send out text alerts—is providing the service to the Belmont campus.
The university has been exploring options for instant alert notification for more than a year, and since its launch in mid-August the system has received a strong response. After only one-week of classes, more than 20 percent of the 5,000 students and employees on campus have already signed up for Instant Alert.
Signing up for the system is quick and easy. After signing into the bic.belmont.edu Web site, look for a “Sign Up Now” for instant alert link that sits at the top of the page beneath the “My Campus and Academic Department Messages” subheading. Clicking on the link will take users immediately to the instant alert Web site where they can fill out the short sign-up form. The other sign-up option requires texting the word Belmont to the number 27538 from the user’s cell phone.
To view an in-depth report of the Instant Alert system from local TV station WKRN/News 2, click here.
For further assistance or additional information, contact the Office of Communications at communication@mail.belmont.edu.
Belmont Announces Record Fall Enrollment
Belmont University announced its total Fall 2007 enrollment today at 4,765 students at the end of the registration period, marking an increase of 6.3 percent since last year and a rise of just over 60 percent since 2000 when the school enrolled 2,976 students. The Belmont student body currently comprises 726 graduate students and 4,039 undergraduates, representing record enrollment in both categories.
“Belmont is growing in remarkable ways, both in the number of students enrolling in our programs and the academic qualifications they’re bringing to this campus,” said Belmont President Dr. Robert Fisher. “This marks our seventh consecutive year of record enrollment even though our acceptance rate has become much more selective. To me, this proves that our talented faculty and staff are attracting top-notch students, students who embrace our mission to engage and transform the world.”
Since 2000, Belmont’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has increased by more than 1,500 students, and this year’s incoming class represents 43 states and seven foreign countries. The university received a record number of applications of which a competitive 62 percent were accepted, down from 72 percent in 2005. The average ACT score for the 2007-08 freshman class is 26. One-third of new freshmen at Belmont were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, including 30 valedictorians and 12 salutatorians, and they held an average cumulative high school GPA of 3.5.
In the annual U.S. News & World Report ranking of America’s best colleges and universities, Belmont is now ranked 11th in the South in the “Best Universities – Masters” category, making Belmont the highest ranked university in Tennessee in this category. The rankings are based on several quality indicators including student retention rates, graduation rates, student-faculty ratios and scores on college entrance exams.
Beaman Launches Campus-Wide Fitness Campaign, ‘B FIT•BU’
The Beaman Student Life Center on the campus of Belmont University played host yesterday to former Tennessee Titan Eddie George and his wife Tamara along with Tennessee Commissioner of Health Susan Cooper and the rest of the GetFitTN team for a special presentation and the unveiling of a new, campus-wide fitness campaign.
Cooper, noting a report released Monday in which Tennessee ranked fifth in the nation in obesity, said, “Almost 28 percent of our adults are classified as obese. If you add overweight adults to that, the number is close to 64 percent… This is just unacceptable. As commissioner, my job is to protect, promote and improve the health of all Tennesseans. So I’m here today to challenge each one of you to make a personal commitment to your health, your family’s health, your friends’ health, your school’s health and your community’s health.”
