Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business announced this week that it is expanding its program to Hawaii in a new partnership with University of Hawaii’s Honolulu Community College. The new program, MELE—Music & Entertainment Learning Experience, is designed to foster and promote the business and profession of music in Hawaii and will begin accepting students immediately.
In Hawaii, individuals interested in a career in the music business will have an opportunity to grow creatively, technically and commercially through this innovative partnership. Students who enroll in the Hawaii program will receive training in three focus areas—artist creativity, entertainment business expertise and technical production skills—and will be able to earn an associate’s degree in two years. Classes for HCC begin Aug. 20, and introductory courses offered in the MELE program include Survey of Music Business and History of the Recording Business.
Belmont Takes Music Business Education to Hawaii
Massey MBA Graduates and Senior Business Students Achieve Top Ranking on National Exams
The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business announced today that its graduating MBA students for Summer 2007 have performed in the top 20 percent on a nationally-administered exit exam. Produced by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) of Princeton, N.J., at last measurement the exam was given to more than 5,000 students at 131 graduate business programs across the U.S.
Journalism Alumnus to Trek Across Greenland Ice Cap
Brice Minnigh, a 1993 Belmont Journalism grad, is embarking Aug. 3 with two friends on a 700-km unsupported crossing of the Greenland ice cap, the world’s second-largest after Antarctica. The trio will need to travel approximately 20 km a day in average temperatures of -20 to -30 degrees Celsius in order to reach their destination in 35 days, a time frame determined by the amount of food they will be able to carry with them on sleds.
Minnigh and fellow travelers David Jessop and Stephen Wright are no strangers to extreme adventure having previously taken on epic mountain bike journeys across rugged and remote regions, high altitude mountaineering expeditions and treks across vast areas of unexplored wilderness. In 2004, the team skied across the polar icecap to reach the North Pole.
Minnigh, a Belmont Fulbright scholar and a long-time reporter for various publications in China and Hong Kong, writes, “We’ll start at sea level on the east coast, ascend the glaciers to reach the plateau, then haul our way up and over the ice cap before descending to the fjords along the west coast. This promises to be every bit as challenging as our North Pole journey, with even lower average temperatures and the worst winds outside of Antarctica – only this time we’re trading the danger of open-water leads for crevasses.”
The three men will use their trip to raise funds for longtime charity partner ORBIS, a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to blindness prevention and treatment in developing countries. This time the group hopes to equip eight village eye-care centers in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China with the tools and surgical equipment needed to help restore sight to thousands of needlessly blind children. To learn more about Minnigh’s Trans-Greenland expedition or to contribute to the team’s fundraising project, click here.
Political Science Students Attend Pre-Law Scholars Program
Two Belmont political science majors, Ameshia Cross and Fatima Karwandyar, recently attended the William H. Bowen School’s fifth annual Pre-Law Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) program. The Bowen school is located at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is designed to encourage diversity in the legal profession. Cross and Karwandyar embraced a rigorous course of study, which included briefing cases and taking law school exams. Cross described the program as extremely valuable, noting that she “developed a stronger sense of what to expect when applying and getting into law school.”
Parry to Present ‘Media Convergence’ Paper
Pam Parry, associate professor of journalism, will present research at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 9. She will present a paper titled: “Media Convergence in the Classroom: A National Survey of How Mass Communication Academics Are Confronting a New Paradigm.”
Riechert Named to PRSA Committee
Bonnie Riechert, assistant professor of public relations, was named to the Strategic Development Committee of the Nashville Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). PRSA president Marcia Colburn of Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. appointed the committee, which is responsible for developing the chapter’s strategic plan for 2007-2010. Other committee members are Tom Adkinson, BOHAN Advertising/Marketing; Stacy Brewer, Gray Public Relations ; Vicki Bagwell, Western Kentucky University; Julie Davis, CBRL Group Inc.; Heather Macdonald, Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence PR; Sherry Kast, Comptroller of the Treasury, State of Tennessee; Debbie McGraw, KraftCPAs; and Trey Campbell, Southwestern Co.
Alumna Signs Songwriting Deal
Belmont University graduate, Molly Reed (’07) has signed an exclusive songwriting agreement with THIS Music. THIS Music is a Warner Chappell Music joint venture owned by Tim Nichols, Connie Harrington and Rusty Gaston. The THIS Music roster also includes Nichols and Harrington, Ben Hayslip, Jay O’Shea and Annie Roboff.
Carolina Rain Featured on Nashville Music & More
Country artists “Carolina Rain” came back to the Belmont University campus to give a tour of the group’s roots for a new episode of Nashville Music & More. The piece airs this Saturday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m. CST on the local NBC affiliate, WSMV Channel 4. Belmont is where Carolina Rain’s Rhean Boyer, Marvin Evatt and Jeremy Baxter first came together while working in campus security. Their first songwriting collaboration, “Carolina Rain,” named the group. Carolina Rain is currently touring in support of their debut album, Weather The Storm. For additional information, visit www.carolinarain.net.
Alumnus Receives National Fraternity Honor
Belmont alumnus Michael Lummus has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 William H. Shilelder award given annually by the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. The award is given to a graduating senior nominated by his local Board of Governors or his local chapter. This award is distinguished by the amount of commitment to scholarship, campus involvement and leadership dedicated to the local chapter. Lummus was president of the Phi Kappa Tau colony at Belmont for two years, and when the chapter was chartered, he became Zeta Alpha’s first president. He graduated from Belmont in May 2007 with a degree in Music Business.
Rolston Awarded Research Grant
Clyde Rolston, Assistant Professor of Music Business, received a research grant from The Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA). MEIEA recently awarded its first two research grants in the history of the organization, and Rolston is involved with both research projects.
The Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA®) is an international organization that was formed in 1979 to bring together educators with leaders of the music and entertainment industries. The primary goal of MEIEA® is to facilitate an exchange of information between educators and practitioners in order to prepare students for careers in the music and entertainment industries. For more on MEIEA, click here.
