The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce named Dr. J. Patrick Raines, dean of the College of Business and the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business Administration at Belmont University, the Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year in the Arts, Entertainment and Music category. Belmont and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce conducted a study that showed the total economic impact of the music industry in Nashville. Led by Raines and released in January 2006, The Economic Impact of the Music Industry in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro MSA was the first ever study to assess the economic impact of Music City’s signature industry.
Belmont In The News
Nashville Medical News ran an article featuring the opening of the Gordon E. Inman Center, “Teaching Compassionate Care,” in its most recent issue. The article can be read online here.
Belmont Alumna to Be Featured on ABC Primetime
Laura Rosser (’04) will be featured on an upcoming five-hour primetime series on ABC dealing with various health issues. Rosser, a pianist, lives with a condition called synesthesia – a combining of the senses – which causes her to see letters, numbers and music in color. She will be interviewed for a segment of the series that will cover the senses.
Belmont Student to Compete in Miss America Pageant
Shelley Bryson Benthall, a Belmont student from Florence, S.C., was crowned Miss South Carolina, winning a $20,000 scholarship and a chance to go to the Miss America pageant. She also won the pageant’s physical fitness competition, which accounted for 15 percent of the total score. Benthall was crowned Miss South Carolina Teen in 2003; she is the first contestant to win both pageants in South Carolina.
The Miss America pageant will tape a seven-episode documentary series titled “Finding Miss America” in Los Angeles from Sept. 5 to Sept. 13. The series will air on Country Music Television for a week before the televised pageant finals in January and will show the 52 women in preliminary competition and give viewers a chance to choose which ones advance to the top 15 for a shot at becoming Miss America 2007.
Cusic Published in Encyclopedia
Don Cusic, professor in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, wrote two articles that were recently published in the three-volume reference work American Icons: An Encyclopedia of People, Places and Things That Have Shaped Our Culture. Cusic wrote the entries on country music legends Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn.
Sturgis Wins Imperishable Flame Award
Amy Sturgis, adjunct instructor of liberal studies at Belmont University, received the inaugural Imperishable Flame Award sponsored by the Northeast Tolkien Society in the category of “Tolkien/Inkling Inspired Scholarship.” Included prominently in her accomplishments for the year was her coordination of the “Past Watchful Dragons” C.S. Lewis conference held on Belmont’s campus last November. In a related award, progressive rock band Glass Hammer received the award in the catetgory of “Inspired Creativity” for their performance at the same conference debuting their C.S. Lewis-inspired album. The performance at Belmont is now available on DVD.
Sturgis accepted her award in a special ceremony at the International Tolkien Society Conference (“The Gathering”) in Toronto. While in Toronto, Sturgis also signed copies of her new edited edition of Baron de la Motte Fouque’s The Magic Ring. The book was available to conference attendees before its official release in September.
Ocean Way Named Nashville’s Best Studio
Music Row, Nashville’s music industry publication, awarded Belmont University’s Ocean Way Studios Nashville’s Best Studio at the publications’ 18th annual awards celebration. Glenda Cones, manager of Ocean Way, accepted the award.
Built in a reconditioned greystone church from the 1850s and purchased by Belmont in 2001, Ocean Way was named the No.1 tracking room in Nashville three years in a row by Billboard magazine and is recognized nationally as one of the top recording studios. Ocean Way now serves as a world-class teaching laboratory for Belmont music business students in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business while still serving an impressive client roster that includes Vince Gill, Harry Connick, Jr., Faith Hill, Train, Bob Seger, Yo Yo Ma, Reba McEntire, Michael W. Smith, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, matchbox twenty, the Nashville Symphony and Belmont alumni Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack and Brad Paisley.
Babb Earns PHR Certification
Stephanie Babb, Human Resources Generalist in Belmont’s Department of Human Resources, recently earned certification as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR), a certification awarded by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). The PHR certification demonstrates a mastery of the body of knowledge in the human resources field. To become certified, an applicant must pass a comprehensive examination and demonstrate a strong background of professional human resource experience.
HRCI is the credentialing body for human resource professionals and is affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The purpose of the institute is to promote the establishment of professional standards and to recognize professionals who meet those standards.
Belmont University Awarded Atlantic Sun All-Academic Trophy Fifth Year in a Row
Breaking its own precedent, Belmont University won the Atlantic Sun Conference’s All-Academic Trophy for the fifth year in a row in the school’s fifth year as a member of the A-Sun, becoming the only school in league history to win the award five times. The award is given annually to the conference school with the greatest percentage of student-athletes who earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher at the end of the academic year. Of Belmont’s 270 student-athletes, 65.1 percent received Academic All-Conference honors for the 2005-06 school year.
“At Belmont, we are committed to having our student-athletes be students first,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “We are excited to have their hard work in the classroom be recognized. In a year that saw both our men’s basketball and tennis teams compete in the NCAA championship tournaments and our women’s basketball team earn first place in their regular season, this award is a tremendous validation of all our athletes’ successes inside and outside of the classroom.”
The Belmont Bruins are coming off a banner year that saw the men’s basketball team make school history with their first invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament after defeating rival Lipscomb University in the A-Sun Tournament Championship. The women’s basketball team earned regular season championship honors and was invited to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The men’s tennis team also won its tournament championship and was invited to the NCAA championship tournament.
“We are thrilled to capture this trophy again for the fifth consecutive year,” Mike Strickland, Director of Athletics at Belmont, said. “Earning this honor is important to everyone on the Belmont campus and credit should be given to the commitment of our academic staff, coaches, and especially our student-athletes who continue to take great pride in their classroom performance.”
The men’s tennis team, along with the women’s golf team, had 100 percent of their roster achieve Academic All-Conference honors. The men’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s cross-country teams all had every team member except one make All-Conference honors.
Several Belmont student-athletes earned individual honors at the national level for their success in the classroom. Justin Hare (men’s basketball), Chris Anderson (men’s soccer), Channing Twyner (men’s soccer) and Sarah Brandt (women’s soccer) were named to the Academic All-District IV team.
Several teams were also recognized nationally for their collective academic success. The men’s cross-country team ranked first in the nation and the women’s team ranked sixth for having the highest team GPAs for their respective sports. The NCAA 2005-06 Academic Progress Rate (APR) Recognition Award recognized Belmont’s baseball, men’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s tennis and men’s tennis. These teams ranked in the top 10th percentile in the nation of all Division I sports.
The athletics department at Belmont offers several programs to its student-athletes to equip them with the tools and resources they need to be successful in the classroom. An academic lab is available exclusively for student-athletes to study or work on papers or projects. Free tutoring is available to those who need a little extra assistance or want to boost their GPA. Each team is issued a laptop while their sport is in season for student-athletes to utilize for schoolwork while traveling to away games or matches. Freshman student-athletes are required to log six hours of study hall each week their first semester on campus, along with weekly academic counseling sessions.
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 10-member Division I league headquartered in Macon, Ga. Its membership includes Belmont, Campbell, East Tennessee State, Gardner Webb, Jacsonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.
Belmont In The News
The Nashville City Paper profiled Boomer Herndon, a senior on Belmont’s men’s basketball team, who is looking forward to leading the Bruins through the 2006-07 season. Click here to read the article.
