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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Entrepreneurship Professor Gonzalez Mentioned in Politico Magazine

Staff Writer
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Entrepreneurship Professor Gonzalez Mentioned in Politico Magazine

In a recent article about the growth of women entrepreneurs in Nashville, Politico Magazine writer Ethan Epstein consulted with Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management Dr. Jose Gonzalez.

The article, titled “How Women Are Making Nashville Hum,” features stories from several female entrepreneurs in the Nashville area. Gonzalez commented on the entrepreneurial spirit of Nashville and how easy it is to get connected to resources and other business start-ups.

Gonzalez also notes Nashville’s creative side as a benefit to all entrepreneurs throughout the city.

Silverman Published in The Strad & StrumBowing.Com

Hope Buckner
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Silverman Published in The Strad & StrumBowing.Com

Belmont Adjunct Commercial Strings Instructor Tracy Silverman recently wrote an article that was featured in the world’s foremost classical string magazine, The Strad, published in London. The article, originally titled “Evolved or Endangered: Survival of the Fiddle-ist” appears in the October 2018 issue and discusses the importance of incorporating popular idioms on strings.

Silverman has also just published The Strum Bowing Method: How to Groove on Strings, an innovative method he’s been teaching at Belmont and in clinics all over the world for the last 15 years. It is now available on J.W. Pepper, Shar Music and at StrumBowing.com.

Silverman also recently appeared at Walt Disney Concert Hall as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel playing John Adams’ “The Dharma at Big Sur”, a concerto for electric violin. He will be performing it again on Oct 5 & 6 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Simmons’ Nashville Period Project Collects More than 200,000 Products for Metro Students

Hope Buckner
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Dr. Simmons’ Nashville Period Project Collects More than 200,000 Products for Metro Students

Associate Professor of Management Information Systems Dr. Lakisha Simmons read about period poverty in a national magazine, prompting her to ask several of her friends who work in Nashville schools about the issue. That conversation sparked a much larger discussion surrounding the significant challenge that some girls in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) have accessing essential products.

After more research, Simmons learned that 43% of the students in MNPS are economically disadvantaged, and there are 11 middle and high schools on the district’s priority list. Throughout these schools, girls are missing upwards of a week of school each month because they do not have access to period protection products. That was all Simmons needed to hear — and The Nashville Period Project was born.

“I couldn’t sit back and do nothing knowing there are girls are missing school or class because of something out of their control,” she said. “I come from humble beginnings, but luckily my family was always able to provide what I needed. Period protection is a necessity. We may not all agree on the solution, but I wanted to do my part to help.”

Through her nonprofit, The Achiever Academy, Simmons set out to host a collection throughout the month of September and invited Nashvillians to get involved by donating period products to Metro students. Together, in just four weeks, the group collected more than 200,000 items.

With approximately 2,900 females at these 11 priority schools, Simmons is happy to be able to provide products for 2-3 monthly cycles, but she’s not done. “We will continue to raise awareness and facilitate donations for the girls most in need throughout our city,” she said. “These are our neighbors who need our help. Our work is not done.”

Bunch Library Faculty Volunteer for Hands on Nashville Day

April Hefner
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Bunch Library Faculty Volunteer for Hands on Nashville Day

HONDayChuck Hodgin, Lina Sheahan and Nicole Fox, three members of the Bunch Library faculty, volunteered on Sat., Sept. 22, at Norman Binkley Elementary School as part of Hands on Nashville Day. They spent the morning washing the interior windows of the school in an effort to help the custodial staff.

Other volunteers planted trees, mulched the playground and washed the cafeteria tables. Hands on Nashville Day is a yearly day of service that mobilizes more than 1,500 volunteers to support Metro Nashville Public Schools throughout the city.

Alumna Ruvane Featured in Billboard

April Hefner
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Alumna Ruvane Featured in Billboard

Music business graduate Katie Ruvane is making a name for herself already in the industry with a release this week of her debut EP and a feature story on Billboard.com. After graduating in December, Ruvane launched her own company to consolidate all of herbooking, production and management under one self-run entity. Billboard praised her music, noting, “Take notice: versatile and elegant, Ruvane’s voice flows beautifully through her acoustic-electric soundbeds. It’s feathery in the upper register, hazy and world-weary down low.”

Ruvane is an indie singer-songwriter originally from small town, New Jersey, who moved to Nashville four years ago. She has just returned to Nashville after her first summer on the road,  opening up for  songwriter Angie Aparo at Eddie’s Attic in Atlanta,  warming up the crowd for master slide-guitarist Jack Broadbent at The Sellersville Theater in Pennsylvania and performing intimate house shows all along the east coast. The EP, “Part I” of her debut album “The Lines,” released this week with two subsequent parts to follow this fall.

‘CMA Country Christmas’ Comes to the Curb

April Hefner
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‘CMA Country Christmas’ Comes to the Curb

Students get in the holiday spirit with opportunities to work, attend TV taping

The Curb Event Center was beyond transformed Thursday night, as anyone entering the entertainment and athletic arena would easily believe they’d been transported to the center of Santa’s village at the North Pole. Twinkling lights, 20-foot Christmas trees, an array of wrapped packages and musical legends decked in their holiday finest all adorned the stage for the taping of the annual “CMA Country Christmas” event. Nearly 3,000 fans-including numerous Belmont students and employees–were able to enjoy live performances from host Reba McEntire, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Brett Eldredge, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Martina McBride, Old Dominion, Brad Paisley, Lindsey Stirling, The Isaacs, Dustin Lynch, Brett Young and Dan & Shay.

Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith on stage at 'CMA Country Christmas'A number of students participated behind-the-scenes in the making of the event, working hand-in-hand all week with the production team. Junior Katie Kuhnash, a music business major from Centerville, Ohio, noted that this experience will help expand her professional network. “As PAs/runners, our main duty is to perform any task that the producers do not have time to  complete, anything we can do to make their lives easier and make sure everything runs flawlessly.”

Senior commercial music major David Cistrunk hopes to one day be a Christian singer/songwriter/worship leader, and the Detroit native appreciated how being behind-the-scenes of this event gave him new insights on his future career. He spent time this week “assisting with load in and stage setup and assisting the production coordinator with planning day to day activities, as well as the prop maker with getting everything needed for building set pieces. I believe that being a production assistant teaches you to appreciate all the work that goes into making a production successful. It also teaches you great work place etiquette, while learning how it truly takes a team to make a successful production.”

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher with show host Reba McEntire
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher with show host Reba McEntire

For junior entertainment industry studies major Dominique Detwiler, who hails from Buffalo, New York, her future plans aren’t set as she loves live production (serving on staff for Showcase Series this year) as well as music supervision/licensing, noting she might someday enjoy building soundtracks for films. She call her experience being backstage assisting with the event was “surreal,” one she anticipates will impact her work at Belmont and beyond. “My everyday duties change by the hour and are based on whatever is needed in the office and around the arena. This can range from hanging up signs to signing out credentials, to picking up crew members from the airports to picking up crew dinners. Anything and everything that needs doing, I do… I am so excited to take the things I have learned throughout this experience and apply them to our section of the Belmont community. I hope to introduce an elevated level of professionalism to the Showcase experience with all I have learned this week!”

Approximately 60 students served as production assistants, talent escorts or seat fillers for this event. The “CMA Country Christmas” show will air nationally on ABC during the holiday season.

Mental Health Counseling Program Hosts Conference on Capitalism and Mental Health

April Hefner
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Mental Health Counseling Program Hosts Conference on Capitalism and Mental Health

Approximately 50 students, faculty, professional counselors, social workers and clergy participated recently in a conference hosted by Belmont’s graduate Mental Health Counseling program on the topic “The Erosion of Psychological, Social, and Interpersonal Health in the Age of Contemporary Capitalism.”

The conversation was led by Dr. Bruce Rogers-Vaughn, an associate professor of the practice of pastoral theology and counseling at Vanderbilt Divinity School who brings 30 years of experience in clinical pastoral psychotherapy to his teaching and research. Dr. Rogers-Vaughn is also president/co-founder of the Pastoral Center for Healing in Nashville, where he continues his clinical practice.

Rogers-Vaughn pointed to a number of changes in American society that occurred in the 1980s, particularly the rise of neoliberalism and its impact on culture the past 40 years. He noted how in 1983, 90 percent of media was owned by 50 companies while in 2018, 90 percent is held by a mere five companies, a figure that may decline even more as Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox is anticipated to be complete next year. In addition, Americans are experience more credit card debt percentage-wise that ever before in recorded history. Plus, significant gaps between the “haves and have nots” exist and are expanding.

“Since 2015, the richest one percent has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet,” he said. “In fact, eight men–and they are all men–now own the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world. Why should psychotherapists care? Because economic inequality is an intense marker of social well being.”

Dr. Rogers-Vaughn went on to discuss how the current phase of capitalism is negatively impacting clients’ social, interpersonal, and psychological health through a form of human distress, one he calls the “third order suffering.” In small groups attendees were able to examine how they see secularization and postmodernity impacting clients. The all day session also suggested solutions, providing details on how counselors can offer help and care to those needing assistance.

Dr. Janet Hicks, professor and director of Belmont’s mental health counseling program, said, “This conference gave counselors a new perspective on systemic societal problems and explained so many of the mental health issues our clients are facing. Since income inequity is at an all time high, counselors also learned some new avenues where advocacy is needed. It was one of the most thought provoking conferences I have ever attended.”

Rogers-Vaughn is associate professor of the practice of pastoral theology and counseling at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He brings 30 years of experience in clinical pastoral psychotherapy to his teaching and research and is president/co-founder of the Pastoral Center for Healing in Nashville, where he continues his clinical practice.

Belmont Alumnus Shares Medical Missions Career in Chapel

Staff Writer
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Belmont Alumnus Shares Medical Missions Career in Chapel

Dr. Eric McLaughlin, a Belmont alumnus, led a chapel focused on medical missions on Wednesday, September 26. He shared stories of his time in Burundi, his background in medicine and his thoughts on vocation.

McLaughlin grew up in Smyrna, Tennessee before coming to Belmont to study biology as he was interested in medicine. He was inspired to follow this path because he was convinced in high school that God calls us to serve the needs of others, he said.

He went on to medical school at the University of Michigan where he met his wife and four other physician families. He had a vision of a world beyond the borders of America, serving in different cultures, nations and communities. His three dreams were service, working cross-culturally and his wife.

Soon after, he and the families he had built a community with moved to Kenya and then found themselves called to Burundi. He described the country as beautiful, but with a history of conflict and instability with more years of war than without it. He also shared that Burundi is arguably the poorest, hungriest and unhappiest country in the world.

Where there, McLaughlin and his team were searching for a perfect marriage of need and opportunity. They found these opportunities through training future doctors at Hope Africa University’s Kibuye Hospital. In Chapel, he shared a video with students to help them visualize the organization’s work and mission through its focuses on providing medical care, medical student education and discipleship and hospital development.

He concluded by sharing his three thoughts on vocation. First, don’t wait for some special calling, but pursue what you know we are called to do. He then shared that God has a plan for each student there, primarily fulfilled by giving yourself to others. His final thought on vocation was “the invisible, ordinary and mundane parts of your life may actually be the most important.”

McLaughlin was introduced by Dr. Todd Lake, Vice President of Spiritual Development.

Alumna Kristin Scott Benson Honored with Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass

April Hefner
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Alumna Kristin Scott Benson Honored with Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass

Kristin Scott BensonBanjo player extraordinaire and 1998 marketing alumna Kristin Scott Benson was recently named as the 2018 recipient of the 9th annual Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

The Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass provides the winner with an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000, as well as a bronze sculpture created specifically for the prize by noted artist Eric Fischl. Created to bring recognition to an individual or group for outstanding accomplishment in the field of five-string banjo or bluegrass music, the prize highlights the extraordinary musicianship of these artists and bluegrass music worldwide. The winner is determined by a board consisting of J.D Crowe, Pete Wernick, Tony Trischka, Anne Stringfield, Noam Pikelny, Alison Brown, Neil V. Rosenberg, Béla Fleck and Steve Martin. The award is given to a person or group who has given the board a fresh appreciation of this music, either through artistry, composition, innovation or preservation, and is deserving of a wider audience and is funded personally by the Steve Martin Charitable Foundation.

Benson is the four-time International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Banjo Player of the Year and has been a member of the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band, The Grascals, since 2008.

Benson grew up in South Carolina, surrounded by a musical family. She started playing mandolin and stepped on stage for the first time at the age of five. After receiving a much-anticipated banjo for Christmas when she was thirteen, she became enthralled with the instrument and spent her teen years studying the playing of all the banjo greats from Earl Scruggs to Bela Fleck. After high school, she attended Belmont University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BBA in Marketing and a minor in Music Business.

Benson has attained a national identity as one of the top bluegrass banjo players, exhibiting impeccable taste, timing and tone. With an attentive ear to back-up, she is known and respected as a true team player. In addition to her latest album “Stringworks,” Benson has recorded two prior banjo albums, “Straight Paths” and “Second Season.” Both received stellar reviews, as well as an IBMA nomination for Instrumental of the Year for the self-penned, “Don’t Tread on Me” on “Second Season.”

‘Balancing the Scales’ Screening, Discussion Sponsored by Belmont Law

April Hefner
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‘Balancing the Scales’ Screening, Discussion Sponsored by Belmont Law

More than 100 Nashville-area attorneys and judges attended a Sept. 21 screening of “Balancing the Scales” in the Johnson Theater on Belmont University’s campus. Based on interviews conducted over two decades, “Balancing the Scales” is an insightful look at the story of women lawyers in America. The interviewees include a broad array of lawyers and judges across five generations, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, and Roe v. Wade attorney Margie Pitts Hames. Interviews also include state Supreme Court and Appellate Court justices, women equity partners, minority women, associates, and students.

The event was hosted by the Marion Griffin Chapter of the Lawyer’s Association for Women and sponsored by Belmont Law, Bass, Berry & Sims, Waller Lansden, and Sherrard, Roe, Voight & Harrison. After the screening, Director Sharon Rowen conducted a robust Q & A session for the attendees.

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