Patricia Jacobs, Director of Career Services, was asked to serve on the National Association of Colleges and Employers Career Services Professional Outcomes Task Force. The task force is responsible for reviewing the outcomes of the Career Services Assessment/Professional Standards Task Force and developing a tool for self-audit of career services operations based on the criteria outlined in the Professional Standards Workbook that can be used as part of annual institutional reporting.
School of Music Adjunct Tops Country Charts
Bryan Clark, School of Music adjunct, is a member of the bluegrass band Honeywagon, which is listed in the top ten on Country Billboard this week. He sings lead vocals and plays the guitar and dobro in the band. To visit their Web site, click here.
Theologian from Lebanon Speaks at Belmont
Dr. Martin Accad, the academic dean of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, Lebanon, spoke at Belmont University Monday on the dramatic events of the latest Lebanese-Israeli war and the role of a Christian seminary in the Middle East at such a critical time.
The Tennessean published an article about Accad’s visit in the Saturday issue of the paper. Click here to read the article.
Harrington to Chair MIOTF
Michael Harrington, Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, has been asked to chair the College Music Society’s first-ever Music Industry Outreach Task Force (MIOTF). The MIOTF was created through the initiative of College Music Society president Taylor C. Harding. The task force aims to foster a liaison with the music business and entertainment industry, and to identify and address goals in common between the music and entertainment industry with academia. The group is composed of innovative, renowned and dynamic figures in the popular and classical music worlds and covers all aspects of the contemporary music and entertainment industries and academia.
O.N.E. Club Coordinates Recycling on Move-In Day
The Belmont O.N.E. Club, which stands for Our Natural Environment, coordinated a recycling effort on move-in day. The O.N.E. Club made arrangements with Metro Public Works to have large recycling machines on campus. Students and biology faculty members, Dr. Steve Murphree and Dr. Darlene Panvini, worked all day to move boxes and other recyclables to the bins.
Hawley Featured on Computing News Service
New physics faculty member, Dr. Scott Hawley, was featured for his computer simulations of binary black holes in both HPCWire, a high performance computing news service, and the main page of the Texas Advanced Computing Center where the simulations were performed.
Byrne Publishes Second Book
Professor Joe Byrne, Belmont Honors program, has released his second book, Daily Life during the Black Death. Published by Greenwood Press in July 2006, Daily Life extends his study of the medieval plague into the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras, focusing on how epidemic disease affected everyday life in Europe and the Islamic world. Belmont graduate Meaghan Minnick (’03) edited the manuscript, proofed text and prepared the index for the volume. His chapter, “The Pesthouse,” was presented in an early form at the 2005 national Sixteenth Century Studies Conference held in Atlanta last October. He was part of a panel dedicated to his mentor, Professor Helen Nader, an expert on Spanish history who retired from the University of Arizona this spring. During July and August 2006, Byrne participated in an institute on “Jews in Medieval Christendom” sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This five-week program was held at the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in Yarnton near Oxford, England.
Byrne has also been engaged by Greenwood Press to edit its forthcoming Encyclopedia of Plague, Pestilence and Pandemics, whose publication date will be in mid-2008. Greenwood approached Byrne on the strength of his previous works for the press, The Black Death (2004) and Daily Life during the Black Death (2006). Byrne accepted the challenge in part because he will be able to do much of the editorial work during his sabbatical during spring term 2007. The contract calls for a two-volume, alphabetized, interdisciplinary reference work of some 400,000 words. The editorial board Byrne has chosen includes Dr. John Parascandola, former historian for the U.S. Public Health Service and current president of the American Association for Medical History, Dr. Bill Summers of Yale University’s School of Medicine and Department of History, and Dr. Ann Carmichael, Co-Director of the Indiana University Center for Medical History, both of whom hold doctorates in history and medicine.
Jars of Clay Perform at Belmont
The popular contemporary Christian group Jars of Clay performed at Belmont University Wed., August 23, in the Curb Event Center as a part of a “Welcome Week” program at Belmont called “UNITE: Local Involvement…Global Perspective.” Proceeds from UNITE benefited Blood:Water Mission, an organization that addresses the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.
Blood:Water Mission is a non-profit organization founded by the members of Jars of Clay to promote clean blood and clean water efforts in Africa. Blood:Water Mission builds clean water wells and supports medical facilities, tangibly reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.
“Our hope is to unite college students to get involved locally while gaining understanding of what is happening globally,” Matt Burchett, Coordinator of New Student Programs at Belmont, said. “It is a great opportunity for Belmont to reach out to the community.”
Belmont Students Reach Out to Nashville
Monday morning more than 800 Belmont students volunteered to serve the Nashville community as a part of the annual “Welcome Week” festivities for the new school year. In groups ranging from 25 to 100 students, Belmont’s new freshmen class volunteered at 25 service organizations in Nashville. Belmont calls the service program SERVE, which stands for Students Engaging and Restoring through Volunteer Experiences.
“Belmont students continue to impress us with their commitment to the Nashville community,” Matt Burchett, Coordinator of New Student Programs at Belmont, said. “Every year more students are serving the needs of our city and the organizations that serve Nashville. It is a privilege to continue connecting students to something greater than themselves and broaden their understanding of community responsibility.”
The organizations that participated in this year’s SERVE project were: Nashville Rescue Mission, Friends of Warner Parks, Campus for Human Development, Christian Women’s Job Core & the Next Door, Salvation Army, Feed the Children, Joe C. Davis YMCA Outdoor Center, Kings Daughter Day Home, American Red Cross, YWCA Shelter and Domestic Violence Project, Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home, Bethlehem Centers of Nashville, Monroe Harding Children’s Home, Radnor Lake, Rocketown, Outlook Nashville, Community Resource Center, Safe Haven Family Shelter, Project Cure, Dismas House, Earth Matters, Exchange Club, Magdalene House, Nurses for Newborns and Better Tomorrows.
Belmont University Rises to Top 10 in Annual U.S. News Rankings
Belmont University rose five spots in the latest annual ranking of America’s best colleges and universities in U.S. News & World Report and is now ranked 10th in the South in the “Best Universities – Masters” category. Belmont has risen 11 spots in the annual U.S. News ranking since 2003 when the university ranked 21st; at No.10, this is Belmont’s most impressive showing yet in the annual publication. Other Master’s institutions in the top 10 include such schools as Rollins College, James Madison University, Samford University, Elon University and The Citadel.
“We are thrilled to be recognized in the top 10 in an impressive community of colleges and universities,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “Belmont has experienced unprecedented physical growth over the past several years, but we have also grown in quality, with each new freshman class more academically gifted than the last. Our commitment to retaining our focus on academic excellence is reflected in this year’s ranking.”
The rankings in America’s Best Colleges 2007 are based on several quality indicators including student retention rates, graduation rates, student-faculty ratios and scores on college entrance exams. The Master’s category includes institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs but a limited number of doctoral programs.
“Belmont is rapidly becoming the college of choice for students seeking a creative and challenging academic environment with learning that is steeped in real world experience,” University Provost Dr. Dan McAlexander said. “Our outstanding faculty and staff are committed to creating a premier teaching university that integrates the best of liberal and professional learning. As Belmont rises in national prominence, we are attracting increasingly qualified students who choose Belmont because of our unique academic atmosphere and vibrant campus community.”
Belmont’s high rankings come after several years of remarkable growth and accomplishment at the university. In 2000, Belmont’s enrollment was 2,970 students. Last year’s fall enrollment numbered over 4,300, and this fall is expected to top 4,500 students. As Belmont’s enrollment has grown the qualifications of incoming students has increased. The projected average ACT score for the 2006 incoming freshman class is 26, up from 23.6 just five years ago. In June the university opened the doors of the Gordon E. Inman Center, a $22.5 million facility that houses Belmont’s health sciences programs. Thrailkill Hall, a new residence facility, opened this month and will house 322 students.
Belmont’s growing student body continuously receives accolades for its commitment to academic discipline and success. For the fifth year in a row, Belmont’s athletic department won the Atlantic Sun All-Academic trophy for having the greatest percentage of student-athletes to earn a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the 2005-06 academic year. Last March Belmont’s men’s basketball team, which had 12 team members make the Atlantic Sun All-Academic team, made history when it made its first appearance in the NCAA Championship Tournament. In its first year, the Belmont Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the Rookie of the Year award at the SIFE national competition as well as runner-up in the entrepreneurship category.
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To read the article in The Tennessean, click here.
To read the article in the Nashville City Paper, click here.
“Baptist higher ed prominent in U.S. News annual rankings” – Baptist Press, September 28, 2006
