IMPORTANT NOTE: These are the archived stories for Belmont News & Achievements prior to June 26, 2023. To see current stories, click here.

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Public Health Major Akia Thompson Receives BlueCross BlueShield Power of We Scholarship

Emma dela Pena
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Public Health Major Akia Thompson Receives BlueCross BlueShield Power of We Scholarship

Senior public health major Akia Thompson is a recipient of BlueCross BlueShield’s 2020 Power of We Scholarship. The scholarship is funded by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation and grants $10,000 to its recipients each year. 

The organization awards minority students pursuing degrees in health care in order to “reduce health care disparities by improving workforce diversity.” This year, the organization decided to double the number of recipients from 3 to 6, Thompson being one of them.  

Thompson first developed her goals for post-graduation through an internship at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. “Shadowing health professionals in multiple roles was so educational, and now I’m pursuing a career as a family nurse practitioner,” she said. “I like that I’ll get to spend time with patients, get to know them and deliver hands-on, holistic care.”

As she continues to pursue her career, Thompson also is actively involved around Belmont’s campus. She holds a leadership position in her sorority to promote women’s health and wellness where she is in the midst of launching a fundraiser for women, children and health care workers. Thompson additionally leads dance and Zumba classes in order to promote a healthy lifestyle. 

The BlueCross Power of We Scholarship is Thompson’s first step towards her dream of opening her own clinic in an underserved area. “I want to be an agent of change,” she said, adding that she knows the Belmont public health program will challenge her to become a better nurse to reach this goal. 

Due to CDC guidelines, the annual event to celebrate the scholarship recipients was canceled, but in addition to her scholarship, Thompson received a gift package for the school year including a MacBook, Airpods and a Fitbit. Read the full article on BlueCross BlueShield’s website.

Doeg Produces Documentary ‘One Vote’ Before Upcoming Election

Emma dela Pena
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Doeg Produces Documentary ‘One Vote’ Before Upcoming Election

Belmont Adjunct English Professor Christine Doeg recently produced a new documentary about the American voter that just launched nationwide on various platforms. The documentary, “One Vote,” “bears hopeful witness to the humanity and rich diversity of American voters, and to the unsung stories that comprise our exercise of democracy.”

Filmed entirely on Election Day of 2016, the documentary was filmed in five locations with the intention of sharing the importance of voting in November’s presidential election. The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips reviewed the documentary as one that “gives every imminent 2020 voter a lot to absorb and to admire and does so with tact and concision.”

The cast includes “a charismatic owner of the last tavern polling place in the US, an Alaskan family that travels miles of snow-covered roads by dogsled to reach their polling place, an iconic American investor who devotes his Election Day to transporting voters in Omaha needing a ride to vote, a gospel-singing physician who heals and empowers disenfranchised citizens in rural South Carolina and a former felon, casting an emotional vote in Kentucky for the first time since his right to vote was restored.”

The release of “One Vote” champions Americans to take action and vote this year as well as addresses the need for safe access to voting in minority communities. One character, Warren Buffett, gives a new and diverse perspective on voting in America that causes the viewer to rethink their experience in voting. 

Doeg’s film, “One Vote,” launched on August 8 of this year and is available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play. More information about the documentary can be found here.

Carr Moderates Panel on Black Women Voices of Influence

Haley Charlton
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Carr Moderates Panel on Black Women Voices of Influence

Panelists from Nashville’s music industry shared their career journeys during the second webinar in a series of conversations about Black experiences and participation in the music industry, moderated by Associate Dean and Associate Professor in Belmont’s Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business Dr. Cheryl Carr. 

The event focused on Black Women Voices of Influence in Nashville’s Music Industry, exploring working in the music industry as a Black woman, recognizing that each woman’s story is different and unique to her. Panelists shared their career journeys, from seizing opportunities to overcoming challenges that have led them to influence and impact the music industry in powerfully distinctive ways. The series is a partnership between the National Museum of African American Music and the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville.

Panelists included Monica Coates, co-executive director, vice president and A&R/Creative at Motown Gospel, Ritz McCain, director of global streaming at Universal Music, Capitol CMG, and entrepreneurs Thalia “Muziqueen” Ewing and Jamila McCarley, partners and founders of Nashville is Not Just Country Music.

Recent Graduate Earns Psi Chi Regional Research Award

Emma dela Pena
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Recent Graduate Earns Psi Chi Regional Research Award

Recent Belmont 2020 graduate, Gracie Kelly, received a 2020 Psi Chi Regional Research Award for her research paper titled “Mental Illness Stigma in College Students.” Kelly graduated from the psychology department and was a part of the honors program at Belmont. Her research was originally set to be presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association in March of 2020, but due to COVID-19, the presentation was canceled. 

The awarded paper and research touch on her investigation of “how empathy, perfectionism and self-stigma are related to both implicit and explicit mental illness stigma.” The paper also covers her investigation of the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce stigma. 

Kelly’s thesis committee members were Dr. Lonnie Yandell (Psychological Science) and Dr. Brad Schleben (Math and Computer Science). Additionally, Dr. Catherine Starnes (Math and Computer Science) helped Kelly in the data analysis process. Dr. Peter Giordano (Psychological Science), Kelly’s honors tutor, also assisted her during her time at Belmont. 

Continuing to pursue psychology, Kelly is now working as a psychology research assistant at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt. As she prepares to apply for programs this fall, Kelly plans to receive her Ph.D. in clinical psychology eventually.

Massey Alumni Featured as NBJ Power Leaders in Finance

Emma dela Pena
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Massey Alumni Featured as NBJ Power Leaders in Finance

The Nashville Business Journal recently featured three of Belmont University’s Massey College of Business alumni in its 2020 Power Leaders in Finance List. Harry Allen of Studio Bank, C J Blankenship of Blankenship CPA Group and Bradford Vieira of ServisFirst Bank were included in the program’s list of “financial leaders in Music City from the worlds of accounting, banking and financial planning.”

Allen, Blankenship and Vieira all received their Bachelor of Business Administration through the College of Business.

The annual list features financial leaders from the Nashville area as a result of nominations from the public. This year’s honorees will also be featured in a special printed publication in September.

Princeton Review Recognizes Belmont University as ‘Best in the Southeast’

Emma dela Pena
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Princeton Review Recognizes Belmont University as ‘Best in the Southeast’

Belmont University has been recognized as one of Princeton Review’s “Best in the Southeast” regional colleges on their 2021: Best Colleges Region by Region. Out of the 142 listed colleges recognized on the website, Belmont has been featured among them. The website features 655 colleges by regions categorized into Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, West and International.   

The Princeton Review covers the best colleges regionally each year with Belmont being recognized as “Best in the Southeast” for the second consecutive year. The University is listed as “the fastest-growing Christian university in the nation with nearly 8,500 students hailing from every state and 36 countries.”

The website reviews each college listed through their Admissions, Academics, Tuition & Aid, Student Body, Campus Life and Careers. Based on the ratings and comments of each category from students of the university, schools are chosen to be recognized on the list annually. Belmont students are able to provide their input allowing readers to hear directly from the students’ viewpoint for each category. Student organizations at Belmont University show to be well-acclaimed as there is a place for each student to share their interests with people with similar passions. Students share that at Belmont, “individuality reigns in ideas, styles, of dress, taste in music and philosophies.”

Additionally, the review notes how this featured southeastern college is home to the final presidential debate of the 2020 election season presenting a unique opportunity for both students and faculty. The overall campus life and student opportunities are some of Belmont’s highlighted features amongst other categories. With more than 100 areas of undergraduate study, Belmont provides “the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service.”

Belmont is also recognized on Princeton’s website for connecting students with unique opportunities both in school and post-graduation due to Belmont’s locations and extensively successful alumni. The school’s offered hands-on experience has led Belmont to additionally be recognized on U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 “Most Innovative Schools” list for twelve years, leading Belmont to rank the highest university in Tennessee. 

Songwriting, Production Maymester Pivots to Online Collaboration with Sorted Noise

Emma dela Pena
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Songwriting, Production Maymester Pivots to Online Collaboration with Sorted Noise

In May 2020, with all of the uncertainties of the pandemic looming, Belmont offered students from some of the canceled Study Abroad trips the opportunity to take their classes during Maymester online. The Practicum Songwriting and Master Production Month in London courses would normally involve the students writing and producing songs for a company based in England for the U.K. market. Under the circumstances and as an alternative, Nashville based Film and Television Music Synchronization company Sorted Noise stepped in.

Sorted Noise’s Josh Collum and Perrin Lamb worked with Belmont Songwriting Instructor Drew Ramsey (Grammy, Dove, Emmy winning writer/producer) in the days leading up to the class to tailor their writing boot camps to fit the course. The company’s hands-on involvement from the onset turned out to be key in making this a successful pairing.

Perrin Lamb Headshot
Sorted Noise’s Perrin Lamb

The Sorted Noise team generated song briefs for each student based on their needs and expertise, and Lamb visited with both the songwriting and production classes on Zoom. Songwriting students responded with 16 songs from three rounds of co-writes. Sorted Noise selected their favorites, and the production students were tasked with assisting the songwriters with executing recordings, under the tutelage of Grammy Award-nominated producer/writer and Belmont Lecturer Alan Shacklock.

Drew Ramsey headshot
Drew Ramsey

Having received Perrin’s detailed critiques, students are now able to calibrate their writing and performing talents to serve the multitude of demands their music careers may present. Since May, Perrin and his team have invited three of the Maymester students to participate in their Zoom writing camps, as well as Belmont Songwriting alumna Ysa Fernandez.

Alan Shacklock headshot
Alan Shacklock

Ramsey explained, “I started working directly with companies seven years ago for this course, and we’ve done it with all the big firms in Nashville, Los Angeles, London and Germany, but this was the best overall experience.”

When asked his impression, Lamb said, “I really enjoyed working with the students. They were every bit as talented as we’ve come to expect from Belmont. Can’t wait to do it again!”

Khan Captures Washington D.C. During Pandemic through Photo Exhibition

Emma dela Pena
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Khan Captures Washington D.C. During Pandemic through Photo Exhibition

Belmont senior and music business major Matthew Khan spent his quarantine at home like most. However, he took the initiative to create a photo exhibition that documents his hometown of Washington D.C. throughout the different stages of COVID-19. Through this project, Khan’s main goal was to capture how intensely communities were affected by the pandemic. 

Khan’s photography teacher and mentor from his hometown in Maryland, Jacob Whitefield, initially presented him with the idea of giving him free rein to execute the creative project however he saw best. Khan shared that the photo exhibition is “supposed to be reminiscent of the old formula of photojournalism used at LIFE magazine, one in which Photographers were given an assignment and it was up to them to get it done.”

The experience for Khan was unique as he was able to make this project his own while also sharing a greater story that is applicable globally. Finding locations that captured the emotional feeling of the community was his biggest challenge during this project. However, Khan shared that everyone he encountered was more than happy to have their picture taken as most people were just excited for a sense of human interaction in quarantine. 

Another of Khan's photos

Khan said that this opportunity was an ideal way to spend quarantine as this project helped him develop his photo skills moving into his post-graduate and professional photography world. Describing his experience as one of the most fulfilling projects he’s ever completed, Khan says the project allowed him to build a portfolio while sharing real stories from his community.

Khan is in the process of submitting his work to galleries in his hometown in Maryland to put his photo exhibition on display. Additionally, he has published a personal photo book of his work while he waits to hear back from galleries.

Dr. Fisher’s 2020 Virtual Opening Convocation Now Available Online

Haley Charlton
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Dr. Fisher’s 2020 Virtual Opening Convocation Now Available Online

Each academic year at Belmont kicks off with an Opening Convocation address, delivered by President Dr. Bob Fisher. This year, the tradition remained, although the address was hosted virtually the evening of August 19. Dr. Fisher examined the University’s progress thus far in its Vision 2020 goals and outlined strategies Belmont will prioritize as it embarks on Vision 2025. The virtual event can still be viewed on Belmont’s Opening Convocation website.

Highlights of the address include rising enrollment numbers, up to 8,440 in 2019, and indication that enrollment will continue to increase. Dr. Fisher also said faculty and staff numbers are growing to match the student ratio. Graduation rates have continued to rise, as well.

Dr. Fisher expressed his excitement over recent awards and accolades given to Belmont, with one of the most impressive being 100 percent of nursing students passing the FNP Nursing Certification exam for the 15th straight year. Dr. Fisher also said 88 percent of graduates were accepted into their first choice of graduate schools, and 93 percent of graduates are finding jobs in their chosen field.

screenshot of address with list of recent rankings

Belmont will host the first class of its Architecture program this fall and welcome new students in the Watkins College of Art. Belmont has also launched new majors in Emerging Media, Business Analytics, Data Science and Hospitality and Tourism Management. He also bragged on Belmont’s 3 plus 3 options for Law, Occupational Therapy and Physical therapy which allow freshmen students to earn both an undergraduate and doctoral degree in six years.

Dr. Fisher explained that Belmont has ramped up its Belmont State of Mind Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

screenshot of dr fisher giving address

Viewers learned that Belmont has grown in financial strength both in endowment and assets over the past five years.

Additionally, seven strategies from Belmont’s Vision 2025 strategic plan were announced after groups at the University met to develop them this past year. Belmont wants “to be a leader among teaching universities, bringing together the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service.”

Although life at Belmont may look a little different this fall, Dr. Fisher wrapped up the address by reiterating the importanance of the health and safety of everyone on campus.

View the entire address here.

Belmont Faculty, Alumni Nominated for 2020 Dove Awards

Emma dela Pena
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Belmont Faculty, Alumni Nominated for 2020 Dove Awards

Belmont University’s James Isaac Elliott, Drew Ramsey, Rachel Hale, Emily Weisband, and Cindy Morgan are represented in this year’s 2020 Dove Award Nominations. 

Steven Curtis Chapman’s A Great Adventure, LIVE Solo Performances of Timeless Hits is nominated for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year and includes “My Redeemer Is Faithful and True,” co-written by Steven Curtis Chapman and James Isaac Elliott, Belmont’s Songwriting Chair. Chapman’s album is also nominated for Long Form Video of the Year.

Gloria Gaynor’s album Testimony is nominated for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year which includes “He Won’t Let Go,” co-written by Belmont Songwriting Instructor Drew Ramsey, Gloria Gaynor and Shannon Sanders. “He Won’t Let Go” is nominated for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year. 

Selah’s album Firm Foundation has been nominated for Inspirational Album of the Year, which includes “Firm Foundation” co-written by Belmont songwriting alumna Rachel Hale and commercial music alumna Piper Jones.

“Dead Man Walking,” co-written by Belmont alumna Emily Weisband, Jeremy Camp and Jordan Sapp, has been nominated for Song of the Year. The single has also been nominated for Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year. 

Belmont Adjunct Songwriting Professor Cindy Morgan received a nomination for Instrumental Album of the Year with “Tune My Heart” by Andrew Greer & Friends.

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