Deanna Gardenhire, 2006 Belmont graduate in biochemistry and molecular biology, recently traveled to El Salvador to establish free clinics in two towns. She is in her first year of medical school at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, and is serving on the leadership team of the Christian Medical and Dental Association(CMDA).
Belmont SIFE Wins Grand Prize for Anti-Piracy PSA
In the opening ceremonies of the 2007 SIFE National Exposition in Dallas, the Belmont University SIFE team won the grand prize of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) anti-piracy public service announcement (PSA) competition, as selected by the deans of the USC and UCLA film schools. The Belmont PSA video distinguished itself from more than 40 entries from other SIFE teams. Belmont SIFE team member Mark Ahlberg wrote, directed and produced the PSA. The MPAA plans to showcase the Belmont PSA throughout a number of forums, including the MPAA Web site and in-house movie screenings.
The Belmont video focuses on the idea of “file sharing” as a harmless activity while highlighting the ethical questions involved. The SIFE team also created a Web site, FileSharingFacts.com that contains answers to frequently asked questions about file sharing compiled by Dr. David Moser, associate professor in Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business.
Click here to watch the Belmont SIFE anti-piracy PSA.
Thorndike Receives National Alpha Chi Award
Dr. Jonathan Thorndike was one of ten individuals honored recently at the national convention of Alpha Chi, the national college honor society, as a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Thorndike is currently the secretary-treasurer of Region II, is sponsor of the Tennessee Eta chapter at Belmont University and is a professor in the Honors program.
Award-Winning Soundtrack Features Song by Elliot
James Elliot, Assistant Professor of Music Business, co-wrote a song on the Dove Award-winning sound track “End of the Spear.” The song, “Time that is Left” was co-written with Mark Schultz. The album was named Instrumental Album of the Year.
School of Physical Therapy Hosts Health Fair for Elementary Students
On April 19, 80 fourth grade students from Cheatham County Elementary school visited Belmont University’s School of Physical Therapy for a healthcare fair. Second year physical therapy students organized and hosted the event. The elementary school students participated in a variety of educational activities and games concerning various aspects of health and wellness. The topics ranged from physical activity to dental health to fire and safety issues.
Reynolds Painting Selected for Central South Art Exhibition
Randall Reynolds, Director of Technology Services, will have a painting exhibited at the 42nd Annual Central South Art Exhibition. The exhibition is sponsored by the Tennessee Art League located at 808 Broadway and will run from May 1 through June 30. Of the 600 entries, 70 artists were accepted for the exhibition. A reception and awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 20, from 2-4 p.m.
Belmont Alumna Advances to Top Four on American Idol
Belmont alumna, Melinda Doolittle (’99), advanced to the top four on “American Idol” Wednesday night. She will perform Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT on Fox. Click here for Doolittle’s official “American Idol” Web page.
Belmont Students Create Fair Trade Coffee Brand to Benefit Farmers, Local Hispanic Community
Belmont University students on the Belmont Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team hosted an event at Nashville coffee shop Bongo Java Thursday, May 3, to announce and unveil a fair trade coffee brand the students developed to be served at Belmont with plans to extend distribution to other local businesses. The Belmont SIFE team partnered with Sodexho and Conexion Americas to create the new, organic, private fair trade coffee.
As a project to fulfill the entrepreneurship requirement of the SIFE team’s yearly objectives, Belmont students JonEric Pettersson, Renee Reyle, Victoria Aleksina, Janice Dotti and Lauren Winfield developed every aspect of the fair trade coffee, from working with the farmer to marketing and labeling the new brand, RumbaRoast. The students created the coffee to fund entrepreneurial and financial literacy programs, to teach Hispanic adults how to develop and sustain new businesses and to financially support the fair trade coffee growers of Central America.
“Our mission is to connect people with people one cup at a time across the table and around the globe,” JonEric Pettersson, a Belmont student involved with the RumbaRoast Coffee project, said. “Buying RumbaRoast fairly traded and organic coffee is caring for the families of farmers in Latin America, the support of local business and the highest quality in coffee we can share. The ultimate goal of RumbaRoast Coffee is to create a social and entrepreneurial means for the community to invest in itself and those we are connected to around the world. ”
Bob Bernstein, owner of local coffee shops Bongo Java and Fido, was instrumental in the creation of RumbaRoast Coffee. As a member of a consortium of privately-owned coffee houses, Bernstein was able to negotiate reduced prices for Belmont SIFE in importing fair trade coffee beans from Latin America. He was also able to match Belmont SIFE with a locally owned roaster to produce RumbaRoast at a lower price than the students would have paid independently.
The students adopted a three-phase approach in implementing their business plan for RumbaRoast coffee:
1. Belmont SIFE will launch and manage the new venture.
2. Belmont SIFE will develop a strategic plan for capturing commercial accounts and use the business as a platform to teach local Hispanic entrepreneurs.
3. Belmont SIFE will choose two – four entrepreneurs from the Hispanic community to take full control of the business, while continuously providing business-consulting services.
To date, the SIFE team has developed the coffee blend, bag labels and a marketing campaign and has sold over 200 pounds of coffee. RumbaRoast is estimated to gross $50,000 in the first year of operation. Belmont SIFE will allocate 80 percent of the profits made off of the fair trade coffee to the development of projects within the local Hispanic community and 20 percent back into the SIFE program.
One of the biggest developments in recent years in the coffee industry has been the rise of fair trade coffee. “Fair trade” refers to a rising political and economic movement that is designed to create an equitable and fair partnership between coffee buying and coffee producers in major coffee growing regions. Fair trade coffee is designed to assist poor coffee farmers that often produce high quality gourmet coffee in organic conditions.
To purchase RumbaRoast Coffee and learn more about Belmont SIFE, click here.
MORE
Click here to watch a short video of Belmont student JonEric Pettersson discussing RumbaRoast coffee.
Click here to watch a short video of Dr. Pat Raines, dean of the College of Business Administration, discussing the mission of Belmont SIFE.
Click here to watch a short video of Dr. John Gonas, faculty adviser of Belmont SIFE, discussing the nonprofit organizations that Belmont SIFE has worked with over the past two years.
Author Marcus Buckingham Speaks at Belmont
The Peer Learning Network at Belmont University hosted Marcus Buckingham May 3, 2007, in a special presentation of “Putting Your Strengths-Based Perspective to Work”. Buckingham is widely considered one of the world’s leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing, cultivating employees’ strengths, dramatically increasing efficiency and personal growth. Buckingham is the author of the best-selling books The One Thing You Need to Know, First Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, Now, Discover Your Strengths and Go Put Your Strengths to Work.
The Peer Learning Network at Belmont University is a component of the Center for Professional Development in the College of Business Administration. The Peer Learning Network was created in 1990 as a result of a partnership between Clayton McWhorter, then chairman and CEO of HealthTrust Inc., and Belmont University. The Peer Learning Network maintains a purpose of bringing together top executives from Nashville’s best-run companies in a setting where they can learn from each other. Belmont University was designated as the “coming together” place where company leaders from a variety of fields can share problems and solutions (best practices) with their peers and learn from world-class speakers, creating a new network within Nashville’s business community.
Brandon D. Winningham Visits Belmont
Students in Dr. Jonathan Thorndike’s sections of The Ancient World Honors classes were treated to a visit by local historian and author Brandon D. Winningham. A resident of Columbia, Tenn., Winningham recently published Catiline, the story of the turbulent final decades of the Roman Republic. Students in the Ancient World classes were studying Roman history and reading the speeches of the famous orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. Winningham lectured on the period of civil wars in Rome when Lucius Sergius Catiline schemed to fill the void in the political scene. Winningham’s historical novel traces the background of the manipulative Catiline and his rapid rise to power shortly before the time of Julius Caesar.
