College Planning & Management announced the 2019 winners of its annual Education Design Showcase this month with Belmont’s Tall Hall earning a “Project of Distinction” nod.
Education Design Showcase was established in 1999 to share innovative and practical solutions in planning, design and construction. The goal of the program is to share ideas that will help achieve the best possible learning environments and to recognize the firms that have made these ideas a reality.
With the recognition, Tall Hall was featured in the June 2019 edition of College Planning & Management (download above) as well as on the publication’s website and Spaces4Learning.com.
Bone McAllester Norton PLLC announced recently the hiring of two-time Belmont graduate Courtney Lutz in the firm’s Nashville office. A 2012 alumna of Belmont’s music business program and 2015 Belmont Law graduate, Lutz served as the vice president of appellate advocacy for the University’s Board of Advocates and was also the executive articles editor of the Belmont Law Review. During her time on campus, Lutz also worked as a legal intern for both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the 16th District Attorney General’s Office.
Lutz focuses her legal practice on commercial litigation, with broad previous experience in the areas of business disputes, personal injury, legal and medical malpractice, premises liability, entertainment law, criminal defense and highly contested divorces. She is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Prior to joining Bone McAllester
Norton, Lutz practiced at Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC,
where she represented both large corporations and small businesses in personal
injury and professional liability lawsuits. She also represented attorneys and
healthcare professionals in malpractice actions.
“Courtney’s passion for litigation,
ability to connect with clients and deep breadth of experience in successfully
managing and resolving cases in multiple practice areas makes her an
outstanding addition to our firm,” said Charles Robert Bone, president and CEO
of Bone McAllester Norton. “We look forward to supporting Courtney as she embarks
on the next chapter of her career at Bone McAllester Norton.”
A native of Madisonville, Ky., Lutz
is also an avid musician. When not practicing law, she sings gospel music with
her family band, The Childress Family, across the Southeastern U.S.
During summer 2019 five Belmont nursing students participated in the Behavioral Health Internship Program (BHIP) engaging in service learning at TriStar Centennial Medical Center-Parthenon Pavilion and TriStar Skyline Madison Hospital. This is the second year for BHIP.
The students completed 252 hours of hands-on training in a variety of specialty units at both TriStar Centennial Parthenon Pavilion and TriStar Skyline Madison Hospital which serve patients across the lifespan with diagnoses such as mood disorders, chemical dependency, dementia and psychosis.
The United States is experiencing a growing shortage of qualified behavioral health professionals which in turn leads to an increased lack of access to care at a time when suicide rates and opioid addiction are on the rise. For the past two years, Belmont has partnered with TriStar Health to offer a Behavioral Health Internship Program for nursing students who have interest in learning more about this career option.
Mrs. Diane Allen, the lead faculty member, and Dr. Leslie Folds, who helped with coordination of BHIP for Belmont School of Nursing, indicated that all involved were deeply appreciative of the nurse preceptors and the interprofessional team that mentored these nursing students.
The Belmont University Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Barry Kraus, was invited to perform as part of the 2020 College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference at Northwestern State University in Louisiana in February.
This marks the first regional conference performance invitation extended to the Wind Ensemble in school history.
The ensemble was one of twelve collegiate bands selected via audio recordings by a panel of conductors through competitive blind audition.
The CBDNA Southern Division includes schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
School of Music students Sam Carullo and Wade Voris placed first in the open duo category of the Great Plains Marimba Competition, June 27-30 at Oklahoma City University.
The students were selected for the live-round competition after submitting an audio recording to the adjudication panel in the spring. The pair gave a performance of ‘Book of Grooves’ by Alejandro Viñao, ‘Octabones’ by Adi Morag and ‘Sweet Dreams and Time Machines’ by Michael Burritt.
Carullo and Voris are percussion performance majors in the studio of Chris Norton.
Belmont is one of nine recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Environmental
Stewardship Awards, announced by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner David Salyers.
The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program
recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect the
environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by
law or regulation.
Belmont has taken the initiative and made major sustainability commitments to make its campus as sustainable as possible. The University was a 2016 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award winner in the building green category for the Janet Ayers Academic Center and a 2017 winner in the sustainable performance category for the Johnson Building. This year, the University is a winner in the Pursuit of Excellence category, which recognizes past award winners who continue to demonstrate a high regard for environmental stewardship.
2019 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award Winner (Pursuit of Excellence) with Gov. Bill Lee
Vice President of Finance & Operations Steve Lasley said conservation and sustainable practices are incorporated into every new and old building on campus. “Faculty, staff and students at Belmont continuously look for new and innovative ways to include a commitment to conservation and sustainability in all areas of campus life,” he said. “Belmont offers students several ways to explore and express their passions through academic research in the classroom, service opportunities such as local clean-ups and planting trees, as well as several sustainability and environmental clubs.”
Since winning GESA awards in 2016 and 2017, the university
has continued to make sustainability a significant focus through education and
service learning, sustainable construction projects, energy efficiency
retrofits and the installation of a 250 kW photovoltaic solar array on the Curb
Event Center.
Belmont recently completed construction of a
243,000-square-foot building on campus, making it the fourth LEED certified
building. Most existing buildings now have LED lighting and web-based controls
installed throughout, which utilize stand-alone sensors to turn lights on/off
automatically. Many of Belmont’s parking garages are underground in order to
avoid contributing to the urban heat island effect in the area, while also
preserving green space around campus.
Fourteen green roofs across five buildings serve as gardens
for native plant and bug species, including two honeybee hives, lawn and green
spaces and serve as outdoor laboratories for biology and environment science
research. The University is designated as an arboretum, featuring more than 100
species of trees and shrubs, as well as being recognized as a Tree Campus USA
by the Arbor Foundation.
Other winners include The Compost Fairy, Cumberland
International, Cumberland River Compact, Mitchell Heights Neighborhood
Association, Norris Water Commission, Ruby Falls, Tennsco Corporation, Turnip
Green Creative Reuse and Urban Green Lab. The winners will be formally
recognized for their achievements and positive impact on the state’s natural
resources and communities in an awards ceremony in Franklin on August 1. The
Robert Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement award will also be announced at the
awards ceremony.
“We applaud those who proactively look internally at their
own operations and capabilities to better our environment,” Lee said.
“Tennessee is fortunate to have these passionate and innovative organizations
committed to improving our state.”
A panel of 16 professionals representing agricultural,
conservation, forestry, environmental and academic professionals judged more
than 65 nominations and selected this year’s award recipients based on criteria
including on-the-ground environmental achievement, innovation, transferability,
partnerships and public education.
“The projects and organizations recognized by this year’s
Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards reflect the best of environmental
protection, conservation, community engagement and partnerships,” Salyers said.
“These award winners are taking the initiative to go above and beyond what is
required.”
In its 33rd year, the awards program covers nine categories: building green; clean air; energy and renewable resources; environmental education and outreach; environmental education and outreach (school category); land use; materials management; natural heritage; and sustainable performance.
Written and directed by Belmont alumna Allison Alonzo, the short
film “Through the Door” was officially selected by the International
Independent Shorts Awards Festival in Los Angeles, and the team won three
awards.
“Through the Door” won Gold for Best Student Short, Alonzo
won Gold for Best Student Director (Female), and alumna Taylor Perdue won
Silver for Best Sound Design in the professional international category.
“The wonderful Motion Pictures professors at Belmont
provided all areas of advice that I used in my process of making the film,”
said Alonzo. “I received practical aspects of filmmaking at Belmont that I will
be taking with me into the start of my career.”
Alonzo and Perdue both graduated in May 2019 with their Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Motion Pictures. Alonzo worked on the film for about a year to meet the capstone course film requirement. With about 35 people working on the film, 30 were Belmont students or faculty.
Alonzo’s idea for the film came from a personal experience. A
young woman, Bernadette, has a near death experience that pushes her to deal
with a tragedy from a year ago that she ignored. After Alonzo lost a best
friend to suicide, she used her feelings from that time to write a story about
grief and finding peace.
This is Alonzo’s third student film to direct. As a motion pictures major with an emphasis on directing and cinematography, she directed films for her Production I (5 minute film), Production II (10 minute film) and Capstone (12-15 minute film) classes. She also worked in many other roles and departments on more than 20 other student films at Belmont.
The International Independent Shorts Awards Festival was the first festival to which “Through the Door” was submitted, but Alonzo entered it into many more festivals in the upcoming nine months. And while the film cannot be shared online during the film festival entry period, it may be available afterward. Learn more about the film on iMDB.
Dr. Pat
Raines, dean of Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of
Business, recently announced his retirement after 16 years of
service to a college consistently noted by national publications for its
excellence and lauded locally for its students, faculty and graduates as well
as its strong executive education programs.
Belmont
Provost Dr. Thomas Burns said, “For the past 16 years Belmont, and the Jack C.
Massey College of Business, have benefited from the leadership, passion and
commitment to excellence that has been fostered by Dean Pat Raines. We look forward to celebrating Dean Raines’ legacy of a strong
curriculum, a positive community of cooperation and engagement and the
enactment of our University mission to imbue our students with ‘disciplined
intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.’”
Barbara Massey Rogers, daughter of the legendary entrepreneur who
inspired the origin of the Jack C. Massey College of Business, added, “Regretfully, Jack Massey never
met Dr. Patrick Raines. Under his outstanding leadership over the past 16
years, Dr. Raines has led the business school to national and international
prominence and enabled the students of the school to graduate with a first-rate
business education and with the incredible ability to seek excellent employment
in the business world. The business school has been awarded many accolades for
its achievements, and nothing has been more rewarding than to be recognized as
one of the top business programs in the United States!”
During Dr. Raines tenure, the Jack C. Massey College of Business has
received accolades for having some of the top business programs in the country by
Princeton Review, BusinessWeek and Entrepreneurship
magazine. The College of Business’s undergraduate enrollment has grown by
more than 100%, and the graduate enrollment has increased by nearly 80%. He has
also led the College’s efforts to successfully maintain AACSB
accreditation for the Massey College of Business in both business and accounting.
In addition, four new learning and professional development centers were added
during Raines’ time at Belmont, all dedicated to the pursuit of professional
excellence in specific areas of business: the Center
for International Business, the Edward C.
Kennedy Center for Business Ethics, the Thomas
W. Beasley Institute for Free Enterprise and the Center
for Entrepreneurship.
In a letter to his faculty
announcing his retirement, Raines wrote, “I am extremely proud of our successes. Most
importantly I am proud of the 35 excellent teacher scholars that we have hired
in the last 16 years. Each has brought extraordinary expertise in their
disciplines and have added immensely to the intellectual capital of the Massey
College of Business… I will forever be grateful for your engagement, support
and above all total dedication to our mission to educate entrepreneurial,
ethical and socially responsible future business leaders that are prepared for
the dynamic global economy.”
Raines’ work also led to the development of student-run businesses
on campus and increased scholarships for students as well as provided endowed
funds for three faculty chairs in the Massey College. In total, more than $18.2
million has been raised under his leadership. A frequent media expert on issues
related to the economy and growth, Raines earned his bachelors, master’s and
Ph.D. in economics from the University of Alabama, where he also played center on football teams
coached by Paul ”Bear” Bryant.
A reception to honor Dean Raines will be held Tuesday, July 30 from 2-4 pm in the Massey Business Center Boardroom on Belmont’s campus. A national
search is currently underway for the next dean of the Massey College of
Business.
Alumna Anna Vaus, the first-ever recipient of Miranda Lambert’s “Women Creators” scholarship at Belmont, recently made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
Recognized with Music Row’s DISCovery Award earlier this year, the 2018 graduate of Belmont’s songwriting program is signed with Black River Publishing and Creative Artists Agency and has opened for major country artists such as Lee Ann Womack, Jon Pardi, Old Dominion and Hunter Hayes.
Emily Weisband, a 2015 alumna of Belmont’s songwriting program, recently released the first single of her career as an artist, “Identity Crisis.” At 26, Weisband is already a Grammy-winning songwriter known for co-writing “Thy Will” (Hilary Scott and The Scott Family). Additional writing credits span multiple genres including the pop world with BTS and Halsey, the country genre with cuts from Dan + Shay, Tim, McGraw and Faith Hill, as well as Christian music with recordings by Natalie Grant and Danny Gokey.
The launch of her solo career was recently featured in articles in Music Row and Billboard.
