Assistant Professor of Music Business, James Elliott, wrote the song “Hay Baby” on the Oak Ridge Boys‘ new Christmas album, Christmas Cookies. The Oak Ridge Boys performed the song on their TV special that will air locally on WSMV Channel 4 on Sat., December 17 at 7 p.m. Check local listings for national broadcast dates and times.
Elliot Pens Christmas Song for Oak Ridge Boys
Nursing Students Help Research Nursing Back Injury Prevention
Students and faculty from Belmont University School of Nursing are currently participating in a nation-wide study aimed at reducing back injuries in the nursing profession. “In the past two decades efforts to decrease the risk of musculoskeletal injuries in the nursing profession have largely been unsuccessful,” said Dr. Lynne Shores, associate professor of nursing, and coordinator of the study project at Belmont. “Typical nursing school teaching methods have focused on manual lifting and ‘proper’ body mechanics, despite the fact that there are over 30 years of evidence that these approaches are not safe.”
Belmont Alum’s Business Start-Up Blog Gets U.S. News Mention
From the December 12 issue of U.S. News & World Report magazine: It is one thing to suffer the trials and tribulations of starting a small business. But it takes a special kind of masochism to share those hassles and headaches publicly with complete strangers. Yet that’s just what 23-year-old Jason Duncan is doing with A Thought Over Coffee, a blog devoted to documenting his attempt to start an artsy coffeehouse in Bozeman, Mont. – or, as he puts it, “my journey through the dreaming and planning of Cafe Evoke.” As more and more coffee lovers and small-business owners stumble across the online diary, it is serving as a gathering place for an informal advisory-focus group. “I get a ton of great feedback,” Duncan says. And right now he’ll take all the help he can get as he struggles to turn his business plan – originally a college project at Belmont University in Nashville, from which he graduated last spring – into reality. Duncan is a graduate of Belmont’s entrepreneurship program.
American Culture Association to Honor Cusic
Belmont University music business professor Dr. Don Cusic has been notified that he will be awarded the Governing Board Award from the American Culture Association for “achievements promoting the study of American popular music” at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association in April in Atlanta. Cusic was selected for the award for his “contributions as a scholar, teacher, businessperson, songwriter, television personality and supporter of the American and Popular Culture organizations.”
Students Present at ACM Conference
Belmont University students Sergei Temkin and Eninka Kombe presented their research on “Unrestricted Partitions of Integers” at the 2005 Fall Conference of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Mid-Southeast Chapter. Founded in 1947, ACM is a major force in advancing the skills of information technology professionals and students worldwide. The Mid-Southeast Chapter covers six states, and is one of the oldest in the ACM.
The research began with a class project in Discrete Mathematics. Temkin and Kombee examined the methods for counting and creating partitions of integers. After further research, the pair found that one of their algorithms had already been invented, but that another algorithm had never before been published. They have been working on the problem together for a year so far, and hope to submit a paper for publication early next year.
Country Music Star Josh Turner To Host This Year’s Christmas At Belmont Show
CHRISTMAS AT BELMONT airs nationally on PBS Thursday, December 22 at 9:00 p.m. EST
Rising country music star and Belmont University graduate Josh Turner will host this year’s Christmas at Belmont concert, which will be made available to viewers through a nationwide broadcast on PBS. Turner, whose soulful voice has helped make him one of country music’s newest stars, is a Belmont University graduate. The Hannah, S.C., native’s first album, Long Black Train, has sold more than a million copies, and his radio hits include the single “Long Black Train” and “Your Man.”
Adjunct Instructor Landis Honored at Alma Mater
Belmont University adjunct professor in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business, Barry Landis, received a Medallion Award from Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in a special Homecoming chapel service on Fri., November 11.
Landis earned his associate degree from MVNU in 1973. He went on to complete a bachelor’s at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville and a master’s in communications from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. He is a member of the Board of Governors for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS).
Landis is currently the executive director of the Entertainment and Media Summit at Vanderbilt University’s Innovation Center, a think-tank for Christians interested in impacting popular culture. Previously, he was president of Word Records, a division of the Warner Music Group, VP and general manager of Atlantic Records Christian Division and VP of Marketing & Promotions for Warner Alliance.
Faculty Make Four Presentations at Prestigious Conference
Belmont faculty members made four presentations at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Nov. 17-20. The conference, held each year at Miami University of Ohio, is considered the nation’s premier conference on teaching in colleges and universities, and presentations at this conference are a signal of exceptional achievement and national leadership in the scholarship of effective teaching and learning.
King Honored at Peabody
Dr. Merrie King, associate professor in the education department at Belmont University, was honored at the Peabody College Educator Honoree Roundtable at Vanderbilt University on November 17 with the “Outstanding Educator Honoree of Peabody College.”
King joined the faculty at Belmont in 2001. She teaches classes in Child Development, Human Development and Instructional Programs for Young Children. She is also the Montessori program director. King has over 30 years experience in education at the pre K-12, university and adult levels. Prior to coming to Belmont , she served as Director of Ithaka Montessori, a preschool in Franklin, Tenn., for ages 2 ½ – 6. She founded the school in 1985. Dr. King completed her Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instructional Leadership at Vanderbilt in 2003, her Masters of Arts in Teaching in Linguistics – Teaching English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education from Georgetown University and a B.S. in English Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she has earned three Montessori Diplomas: AMI Ages 0-3, AMI Ages 2 ½ – 7 and AMS Ages 6-9. King is also a national facilitator through the Center for Teacher Formation for Parker Palmer’s Courage to Teach Work.
Two-Week Focus on Sudan Wraps Up with Thanksgiving Service
Over the past two weeks, the Office of Spiritual Development at Belmont University has led a campus-wide focus on Africa by looking intently at the needs of Sudan. One initiative over the past two weeks has been a challenge for the Belmont community to drink only water and donating the money saved from not buying coffee, soft drinks and other beverages to well-drilling projects in Sudan led by Blood:Water Mission, an organization whose mission is to reduce the impact of the African HIV/AIDS pandemic and to promote clean blood and water in Africa by giving Africans the tools they need to improve health and sanitation in their communities.
