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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Author Stacie Nevadomski Berdan Encourages Students to Develop a Global Mindset

On February 4, Belmont hosted a convocation event as part of the Cat Financial Global Speaker Seminar, “Develop a Global Mindset,” featuring award-winning and best-selling author Stacie Nevadomski Berdan.

Berdan shared with students how globalization has changed the dynamics of succeeding in the workplace and what skills are necessary for students to differentiate themselves from others in their current or future jobs. She began with a quiz for students to test their global knowledge and gave out her book to students who answered the questions correctly.

Berdan shared that the best way to develop a global mindset is to adopt cross-cultural competency and to look beyond ourselves and our own communities.

“Cross-cultural competency matters as much in the communities in which we live as in the places where we work,” she said. “It’s about embracing diversity, otherness and change because global is everywhere.”

She concluded by sharing essentials for career success, such as enhancing a global persona by starting to think and act globally, studying or interning abroad, being globally smart by staying informed and finding a mentor.

Art Instructor Showcased at Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

Adjunct art instructor Rachel Boillot was recently chosen as one of the 56 artists included in The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston’s project “Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South.”

Southbound is the largest exhibition ever produced of photographers capturing the American South in the twenty-first century. The exhibition presents multiple ways of visualizing the region.

After its debut in Charleston, “Southbound” will travel nationally, including stops in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Meridian, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Boillot, along with a few fellow artists, will travel to eight different schools to host writing and photography workshops for students. The artists will conduct a series of documentary photography workshops, sharing their process, philosophy and advice for creating a cohesive visual essay.

Boillot’s work has been funded by the Annenberg Foundation, Los Angeles, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C., and can be found in the permanent collections of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth and the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, Durham.

In addition to teaching art at Belmont, Boillot directs and produces the Cumberland Folklife Project, a multifaceted documentary project including arts, crafts, music and oral history of the Cumberland gap’s rich cultural heritage.

Alumnus Recalls Learning to ‘Create Own Boundaries for Success’ at Belmont

“My Belmont experience has truly taken me in many positive and productive directions,” alumnus Erick Allen said. When recalling his time at Belmont, Allen remembers how Belmont helped prepare him for his career and for his newest position as a Georgia State Representative.

After graduating from Belmont in 2001 with a degree in business administration, Allen has since gone on to work in several industries, allowing him to have a diverse background. His first position out of college was working as director of learning for Central Parking Corporation. After this position he transitioned into healthcare where he spent many years in departments ranging from human resources to talent management. Allen currently serves as a talent management consultant supporting the healthcare division of Cornerstone On Demand.

One of Allen’s most important positions, that led him to where his is today, was working as the executive director of learning and development for a state agency. He recalls this position as a transformative one saying, “after seeing some of the deficiencies of state government, I thought that my skills would be better served as a policy maker. This is what propelled me to my first campaign in 2014.”

Although Allen was a business administration major at Belmont, he said that one of his most influential classes was a sociology elective with Dr. Andi Stepnick. He credits the class with opening him to his passion and compassion for others. “There are still things that I read over today that were assignments from her class,” Allen said. “As a policy maker this grounds me in my approach and decision making.”

Allen looks back at his time at Belmont as one that helped him grow and learn how to be successful. “Belmont brought out my confidence and my ability to work collaboratively in diverse settings,” he said. “It was at Belmont that I learned to just ignore the box and create my own boundaries for success.”

168 Belmont Students and Faculty Participate in ‘Amazon Live’ Event

Belmont students and faculty were recently invited to attend a recruiting event hosted by Amazon in Nashville. The event, called “Amazon Live at the Ryman,” was an opportunity for the company to showcase their plans for Nashville and explain what they’re doing with their Worldwide Operations Organization as well as give people an opportunity to meet and hear from their leaders about some of the work they do.

The event opened with musical performances from a folk band and Tennessee State University’s Aristocrat of Bands. Several interview style discussions followed, where different team members from Amazon shared their experiences within different aspects of the company. Towards the end of the event, Belmont alumnus Brad Paisley was brought to the stage to play some music for attendees. Paisley was also awarded a $50,000 donation from Amazon for The Store, the non-profit free grocery store Paisley and his wife plan to open next door to the Belmont Ministry Center.

The audience was then released to meet recruiters and hear about upcoming opportunities from Amazon. Students who attended the event were encouraged to ask questions and meet the representatives from Amazon.

Maddie Peltier, a junior accounting and management information systems major, said, “This event was intended to hype up Nashville for the arrival of Amazon. One of the most important skills that I learned in my classes at Belmont that is effective at events like these is being able to thoroughly introduce yourself to people. I learned how to give my elevator pitch which helped me be able to comfortably mingle with many recruiters.”

Students on a bus going to the Amazon event at the RymanThe Amazon event was hosted in Nashville due to their new Operations Center of Excellence opening in the city soon. Amazon invited faculty and students to participate in the event to inform them of what Amazon will be doing in Nashville as well as encourage students to keep Amazon “top of mind” when looking for jobs in the future. Amazon also sent buses to Belmont’s campus to provide easy access for students to the attend the event.

Physical Therapy Students Hear Lecture from World-Renowned Ultrasonographer

Belmont University physical therapy students recently participated in a lecture on ultrasound examination of the hip and the use of ultrasound guided injections by Beth Bardowski NP, a world renowned ultrasonographer from the Nashville Hip Institute.

Bardowski is a sought out clinician/educator that has taught numerous diagnostic ultrasound courses to surgeons from around the world. While at Belmont, she guided the students through the anatomy of the hip and demonstrated how the diagnostic ultrasound is used in both the assessment of the hip as well as the follow-up treatment of various hip dysfunction.

Treybig Invited to Present at Mid-Atlantic Flute Society Convention

School of Music Lecturer Dr. Carolyn Treybig presented, by invitation, her clinic session entitled Telemann Fantasies – Period v.s. Modern Flute Interpretation at the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Flute Society Convention on February 16 and 17. In the session, Treybig compared and contrasted 18th-century and modern scholarly sources as well as performances with baroque and modern instruments to arrive at a comparative understanding of accepted flute performance practices for these keystones in the flute repertoire.

The event was hosted by the Flute Society of Washington.

Alumni Lead Local Non-Profit Poverty and the Arts

Two Belmont alumni are working to lead a local Nashville non-profit, Poverty and the Arts (POVA). Belmont alumna Nicole Brandt Minyard is the founder and executive director of the organization which she started during her time as a student. Darrell Hawks serves as the President of the Board of Directors for POVA and is also a Belmont alumnus.

Poverty and the Arts works towards creating a space where people impacted by homelessness are provided creative resources, training and a marketplace to overcome common obstacles. They encourage and enable people to explore their artistic talents, take part in workshops and create relationships and networks.

Poverty and the Arts will be hosting their annual Gold Key Gala on Saturday, February 23 which features artwork from their artists, a silent auction, food and music.

To find about more about POVA click here.

Belmont Speech and Debate Team Wins State Championship

This past weekend the Belmont University Speech and Debate Team won the state championship at the Tennessee Intercollegiate Forensics Association (TIFA) competition.

The tournament was held Feb. 8-10 on the campus of Carson-Newman University. With 12 universities in competition, Belmont placed first in individual events, third in debate and ranked top in the overall competition. Jason Stahl, director of the team explained, “Tennessee has a great history of speech and debate programs. It’s truly an honor to see our students succeed over such a talented group of schools.”

Team members competed in debate, public speaking and literature interpretation events.  Throughout the program, they hone their critical thinking, speech writing and performance skills in competitions across the country. Sophomore Marissa Avnaim revealed, “We’ve all been working so hard, and we definitely saw it in the results… being on this team has definitely been the most rewarding part of my college career so far.”

Here are the awards that Belmont students received at the TIFA state tournament:

  • Debate Awards:
    • Novice IPDA Quarter-Finalists – Jace Wilder, Marissa Avnaim
    • Novice IPDA Semi-Finalist – Deanna Medina
    • Novice IPDA 2nd Place – Nazif Manaj
    • Novice IPDA 3rd place speaker – Nazif Manaj
    • Novice IPDA 4th place speaker – Deanna Medina
  • Public Speaking Events
    • After Dinner Speaking – Sophie Lampkin, 5th place
    • Extemporaneous Speaking
      • Alexander Baynum, 2nd place
      • Tyler Redmon, 4th place
    • Informative – Alexander Baynum, 2nd place
    • Persuasion – Marissa Avnaim, 2nd place
    • Communication Analysis
      • Alexander Baynum, 3rd place
      • Tyler Redmon, 4th place
      • Deanna Medina, 5th place
    • Radio Broadcasting
      • Allison Mahal, 2nd place
      • Mary Spaulding, 3rd place
    • Interpretation of Literature Events
      • Dramatic Interpretation – Alex Jordan, 4th place
      • DUO Interpretation
        • Alex Jordan/Mary Spaulding, 4th place
        • Alexander Baynum/Allison Mahal, 3rd
        • Madison Kendrick/Allison Mahal, 1st place
      • Poetry
        • Jace Wilder, 2nd place
        • Mary Spaulding, 3rd place
      • POI – Madison Kendrick, 3rd place
      • Prose
        • Madison Kendrick, 3rd place
        • Alex Jordan, 4th place
        • Allison Mahal, 5th place

Terell Receives Lotte Lenya Emerging Artist Award

Belmont sophomore and musical theatre major Kaylee Terell has been named as an Emerging Artist from the Lotte Lenya Competition. The Competition is coordinated by the Kurt Weill Foundation and judged by Broadway Music Director of Hello Dolly & Carousel, Andy Einhorn, Broadway composer of Thoroughly Modern Millie & Violet Jeanine Tesori, Broadway Director and two time Tony nominee Mark Lamos, Conductor Adam Benzwi and world-renowned Soprano Ute Gfrerer.

Terell had to sing an operatic aria, a piece from Golden Age musical theatre, a theatrical work by Kurt Weill and a contemporary musical theatre piece for her submission. She was awarded the Emerging Artist Award as an encouragement to continue to audition for this competition as none of this year’s finalists were under the age of 23.

The award comes with a $500 prize.

Theatre Students Present Work at The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

Belmont students in the Department of Theatre and Dance recently presented their work at The Kennedy Center’s 2019 American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Region IV in Spartanburg, SC. The region consists of colleges and universities from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and southern Virginia.

KCACTF is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the US. The Festival has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by respondents. Categories for assessment and evaluation include performance, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, design technology and management.

The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships is the main performance category at KCACTF, which supports student-actors with recognition, honor and financial assistance to the top outstanding performers across the nation.

Belmont students Megan Huggins, Gillian Britt and Taite McKinney performed monologues and scenes as nominees for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships. Their acting partners were Rachel Mackall, Erik Hylko and Jacob Gill with Brent Maddox as faculty advisor. Special recognition went to McKinney and Gill who were among the top 40 selected out of the 1800 auditionees to perform in the Semi-Final round at the regional festival.

For Design Technology and Management, Sami Hansen presented her work as Stage Manager for These Shining Lives, Jamie Noon presented her Scenic Design for Yankee Tavern, Rylee Hickey presented her Sound Design for Yankee Tavern and Caitlin Barnett presented her Sound Design for Men on Boats. Faculty advisors for the above students were Jessica Mueller, Paul Gatrell and Jackie Jutting.