Over eight months ago, current music business major Ashley Ryan was called up on stage by Keith Urban to unveil his Nashville tour date. After learning that Ryan attends Belmont, Urban asked her to sing a song with him. Since then, Ryan has been waiting to do it all again, but this time on a much bigger stage in Nashville, Bridgestone Arena.
In January, Ryan and Urban sang his song “Without You” together on stage at a free preview event announcing his tour. After their duet, Urban asked Ryan if she would join him onstage to sing the song again at the Nashville show of his “Graffiti U” world tour. Excited about the chance to fulfill her dream of performing live in Nashville, Ryan agreed.
On August 24, Ryan joined Urban on stage to do a reprise of his song, “Without You.” Ryan spent the last months preparing for her moment by “non-stop listening to the song” and singing along to make sure she sang it just right.
Ryan was one of many special guests that night, including Carrie Underwood, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, among others. Belmont 2016 commercial music alumna Kassi Ashton also made an appearance to sing “Drop Top,” a song she recorded with Urban. Ashton signed a record deal last year with UMG Nashville and Interscope Records.
Ryan is excited to begin to do more with her singing career and thanks Urban for the extra motivation. She was in awe of her experiences with Urban, saying that he is a down to earth guy and that it was “an honor to be on stage with someone that you’ve looked up to your whole life.”
A public relations faculty member at Lipscomb University and the author of The Original Millennial: Lessons in Leadership for the Millennial Generation, Ellis defined diversity as “the broad range of similarities and differences including, but not limited to race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, abilities and points of view that exist within our colleges, communities, companies, organizations, customers and suppliers.” She defined inclusion as “providing equal opportunity to all people to fully engage themselves in creating an environment and a cultural attitude whereby everyone and every group fits, feels accepted, has value and can contribute to society.”
Belmont started the 2018-19 academic year with the fourth annual “Battle of the Belmont Bands and Family Fun Festival” on Saturday, a family-friendly music festival held on and around the Lawn. Alumni, faculty and staff brought their kids out to the patio in front of McWhorter Hall at 4:30 p.m. for activities that included face painting, balloon animals, illusionist performances and bouncing around in inflatable toys. Several alumni also participated in a vendor fair, bringing their books, food, clothing, jewelry and other crafts to campus.
The event concluded with a headlining performance from alumni group 
Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy honored Dr. Melissa Shearer Kidder as this year’s Outstanding Alumnus during its 2018 Hooding Ceremony. Kidder graduated from Belmont School of PT in 2000 and is a board-certified orthopedic specialist currently serving as the orthopedic PT residency director at The Ohio State University’s Sport Medicine Physical Therapy program. Additionally, she is a lecturer in the Ohio State Division of Physical Therapy.
Dr. Sybril Brown, professor of journalism in the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, was recently selected to participate in the 2018 Future Today Institute Summer Teacher Training Fellowship. Brown was one of 30 educators worldwide to take the virtual Master Class taught by quantitative futurist Amy Webb, a professor of strategic foresight at the 
