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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Belmont Alumni Featured Recently in People Country

April Hefner
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Belmont Alumni Featured Recently in People Country

Russell and Kailey DickersonBelmont alumni Russell and Kailey Dickerson as well as Ashley Gorley were all featured recently in People Country. The Dickersons were the subject of a story on Russell Dickerson’s latest video, “Blue Tacoma,” which was directed by and starred his wife Kailey. Both are graduates from the College of Visual and Performing Arts program, and the couple works together often. “Working together is my favorite part of our story. I decided to go full-time filming Russ on the road because I’d rather be with him than anyone else,” Kailey told People Country. “Because we’re best friends and believe in each other more than anyone else, we feel unstoppable.” Dickerson will tour this summer with Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker.

Ashley GorleyThe magazine also did a profile of songwriter Ashley Gorley, a 1999 Belmont music business graduate. A prolific songwriter, Gorley has 37 No. 1 country hits to date and has been named ASCAP songwriter of the year a record five times. He told People Country, ““There’s no ‘Oh, I really wanted to be an artist and ended up being a songwriter.’ This is what I wanted to do and I’m doing it, so that’s a very fortunate place.”

 

Simmons Elected to Cable Board of Directors

April Hefner
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Simmons Elected to Cable Board of Directors

Associate Professor of Management Information Systems Dr. Lakisha L. Simmons has been elected to the Board of Directors for Cable, Nashville’s most prominent women’s advancement organization for women in business. Simmons will lead within the member services cluster as Networking Events Chair.

Garrett Hosts Local Students for Chemistry Field Trip

Hope Buckner
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Garrett Hosts Local Students for Chemistry Field Trip

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Education Dr. Danielle Garrett recently hosted 47 4th grade students from Donelson Christian Academy (DCA) for a chemistry field trip about light and color.  4th grade teachers Ellen Deathridge, Tabitha Ingram and Natalie Brown also attended. The field trip was developed as part of Garrett’s work with the American Chemical Society (ACS) Science Coaches program.

Garrett poses for a photo with students from DCA

For the past 4 years, Garrett has partnered with Deathridge, visiting students each semester to teach a hands-on science lesson. This spring, Garrett wanted to try something new. “Last year, I developed a lab activity for Ellen’s classes where students determined the wavelength of red, yellow, green and blue LEDs and were challenged to make predictions about the wavelengths of other colors of visible light,” Garrett said. “The students were so engaged and had so much fun with the activity that this year I wanted to bump it up a notch and create an entire event of interactive demonstrations, scientific discussions and hands-on activities for the students.”

During their time at Belmont, students learned how scattering light can affect the colors we see in the demonstration “why are sunsets red?” They saw how mixing blue, green and red light produces white light and how prisms separate white light into the colors of the visible spectrum. Students made their own color wheel, observing how the individual rainbow colors blend and appear white, when spun very quickly and learned about the role electrons play in neon signs.

Observing the impact of various colored film squares placed over a glow-in-the-dark pad as it was charging, students were introduced to ideas behind the photoelectric effect. After lunch, fun with science continued as students performed the original hands-on lab activity that launched the idea for the field trip, exploring the wavelength of LEDs using spectroscopes. The culminating event for the day was the flame test. Students visited the general chemistry lab where they saw the colorful effects of exposing potassium, copper, barium, calcium and strontium ions to a flame.

A student from DCA participates in a science field trip at Belmont. DCA teachers and Garrett agreed that this was a great event for the students. “Our kids absolutely loved the experience,” Deathridge said.  Garrett hopes she can continue this field trip experience with future 4th grade students at DCA.  “For me, the best part of the ACS Science Coaches program is working with Ellen, an awesome science teacher who loves what she does and with her students, who are always a joy. Throughout the whole event, they were all eager to volunteer answers and ideas about why certain scientific phenomena occur. I was very impressed by the thoughtful nature and complexity of some of their answers. The students were able to make really good connections between some challenging concepts!”

 

 

Treybig & Risinger Featured on Pipedreams

Hope Buckner
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Treybig & Risinger Featured on Pipedreams

School of Music faculty members Joel Treybig’s (trumpet) and Andrew Risinger’s (organ) recent recording of Stephen Michael Gryc’s “Evensong” was featured on Michael Barone’s syndicated American Public Media broadcast “Pipedreams” on May 14. The broadcast featured “Music of the Night,” and the archived broadcast can be heard here. 

The piece was recorded in Belmont’s McAfee Concert Hall, using the hall’s 1969 Aeolian-Skinner organ.

Alumna Khadija Ali Amghaiab Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Grant

April Hefner
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Alumna Khadija Ali Amghaiab Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Grant

May 2018 graduate to teach in Germany for ten months

Recent Belmont University graduate and Brentwood, Tennessee resident Khadija Ali Amghaiab was recently awarded a Fulbright grant to Germany to partake in the English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) program there. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is an international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board that provides competitive grants to graduating seniors and graduate students to serve as cultural ambassadors of the United States abroad.

Khadija Ali AmghaiabAli Amghaiab graduated in May with a double major in philosophy and German as well as a minor in political science. She was recently awarded Belmont’s Fourth Year Award for Leadership, one of the University’s highest honors. Ali Amghaiab previously did a Maymester study abroad trip through Belmont after her freshman year, and then spent a month last summer in Berlin studying at the Goethe-Institut. She’ll be living in Germany from this September through next June teaching English as part of Fulbright’s diversity placement (a subsection of the ETA program) at a middle or high school that is predominately made up of an immigrant/minority student population.

“The idea of the diversity program is to actively engage these particular German students in discussions about American culture, political culture, diversity, etc.,” Ali Amghaiab said. “I and 19 other of the 140 English Teaching Assistants in Germany were given this placement, and I’m particularly excited about it because of the opportunity to engage my own identity as a hyphenated American (Arab/Muslim-American) and try and find common ground with my students, perhaps helping them work through their own identities as ‘hyphenated’ Germans.”

Ali Amghaiab was also recently accepted to Harvard’s Divinity School to pursue a Master’s of Theological Studies upon her return from Germany in the fall of 2019. While uncertain exactly what lies ahead on her career path, she’s contemplating a PhD program as well as dedicating her future to education as her own college experience impacted her intellectually and spiritually.

“I came to Belmont thinking I had a solid idea of what I wanted to do with my life, and those notions changed pretty early on by virtue of the classes I took and the professors from whom I sought guidance. Intellectually and academically, I’m indebted to a number of the professors that have taught me across disciplines, and who took seriously the importance of asking fundamental questions and making those the basis of their pedagogy. Since my freshman year, I have been active in a number of student organizations around campus, and, as a Muslim, have made an active effort to engage in inter-faith and cultural dialogue with my peers. The sort of conversation I’ve had with Belmont over the past four years has helped me better understand my role as a religious minority, and how I should use that role as an educator who seeks to find common ground and make the disparate seem less so. In Islam, one of the most noble vocations one can be called to is education, and as a person who is constantly asking questions just as I’m trying to answer them, I couldn’t think of a better one to be called to, and I hope Fulbright will give me a peek into the world of teaching as I imagine it.”

O’More Fashion Show Dazzles Crowd at Packed Franklin Theatre

April Hefner
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O’More Fashion Show Dazzles Crowd at Packed Franklin Theatre

With a dazzling blend of sight, sound, fashion and dance, the O’More College Fashion Show completed its historic run before a packed house at The Franklin Theatre on Thursday, May 10 in downtown Franklin.

The original collections of 22 student designers were presented on the runway before the show moves to its new permanent home this fall at Belmont University.

O'More College of Design Fashion Show, Franklin Theater in Franklin, Tennessee, May 10, 2018.
O’More College of Design Fashion Show, Franklin Theater in Franklin, Tennessee, May 10, 2018.

“There could not have been a better sendoff than to have our final Franklin show downtown in The Franklin Theatre,” said Jamie Atlas, O’More’s fashion department chair and the show’s executive producer since 2002. “Aside from the shared community connections, the venue was ideal for patrons, performers and sponsors. Most of all, it allowed the work of our student designers to shine. I’m so happy that they got to have an experience like this because they earned it. They are the ones who made this an amazing evening. They have set a high standard for when we move to Belmont, and that’s the way it should be.”

The show opened with a performance by New Dialect. The Nashville-based contemporary dance collective performed in costumes that were created in a collaborative effort with O’More students.

When the runway portion of the show commenced, models from AMAX Talent presented the student collections, including those of nine graduating seniors.

Ashleigh Cain, a senior from Thompson’s Station, Tenn., took home the Distinguished Designer award for her collection, Revival of the Fittest. The fur used in her garments was taken from the remains of ‘road-kill’ that Cain collected along the back roads of Middle Tennessee. “I wanted to give new life to the animals I found and give them a new purpose,” said Cain. The leather in her garments was crafted from salmon skin, and her textiles were created from hemp, peace silk and wool.

Other senior collections were The Black Garden by Miranda Bolinger of Murfreesboro; Sacred Nature by Sydney Duncan of Paducah, Ky.; A/W 18 by Macy Harmon of Brentwood; La Femme by Emily James of Portland, Tenn.; My Best Friend’s Wedding by Peach Malone of Memphis; Ken.drama S/S18 by Kendra Martin of Cleveland, Tenn.; In Search of Color by Sarah Mast of Nashville, and SuperNova by Kelly Nieser of Cleveland, Ohio.

The show also featured the work of Sarah Stevenson, a sophomore from Colorado Springs who won the 2018 Eastman NaiaTM Design Challenge. In the Eastman NaiaTM Design Challenge, students created innovative garments using fabric composed of NaiaTM, a cellulosic yarn made from wood pulp and derived exclusively from sustainably managed and certified forests.

Stevenson, who prevailed over 12 other sophomore and junior fashion design students, earned a $2,500 scholarship toward her 2018-19 tuition. Morgan Stengel, a junior from Brentwood, was the runner-up. This marked the second year that Eastman, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., and O’More have partnered to promote the application of an environmentally friendly fiber in original, ready-to-wear knit clothing.

Belmont, Columbia State Announce Degree Completion Program for Business Students

April Hefner
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Belmont, Columbia State Announce Degree Completion Program for Business Students

Agreement offers students cost savings, seamless degree completion, transfer scholarship option

Belmont University and Columbia State Community College announced today a new partnership that allows Columbia State associate degree students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s of Business Administration (B.B.A.) degree from Belmont’s Jack C. Massey College of Business. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, 80 percent of students attending community colleges nationwide intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but only 14 percent have one six years later. This new agreement—which provides deeper connections between the two programs and streamlines services and admissions for students—aims to improve those numbers in Tennessee.

Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “Through this agreement we’re clearing the obstacles that all too often get in the way of students who are seeking a four-year degree. This partnership paves the way, outlining each step needed to ensure credits earned will all properly transfer while also maximizing each student’s financial investment in their education. At Belmont, we have always valued transfer students from Columbia State, and we are eager to welcome even more to our campus through this innovative new program.”

Columbia State student Anna Pollard, who will be the first to transfer to Belmont under the new articulation agreement, speaks with Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher.
Columbia State student Anna Pollard, who will be the first to transfer to Belmont under the new articulation agreement, speaks with Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher.

Eligible students must earn a Columbia State Associate Degree in Business Administration by completing the transfer coursework developed and approved by both institutions. Through this agreement, Columbia State students who meet stated requirements can be granted early admittance into Belmont’s Massey College of Business.

Columbia State President Dr. Janet F. Smith said, “This partnership demonstrates the commitment of  Columbia State and Belmont to work together to provide educational opportunity and support that promotes student success. Students can begin at Columbia State, take advantage of tuition-free programs such as the Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect, then transfer seamlessly to the nationally recognized Jack C. Massey College of Business at Belmont and be eligible for the transfer scholarship.”

The degree completion program is open to any Columbia State business student. Students applying for need-based aid or VA benefits as well as adult students seeking reduced tuition options are all eligible for this program. In addition, for the first time ever, a transfer scholarship has been created to support students pursuing 2-to-4 year Columbia State/Belmont option. The scholarship, open to graduates of Columbia State’s associates in business degree, has a value of $3,000 per semester for four semesters of continuous study at Belmont

Dr. Pat Raines, dean of Belmont’s Massey College of Business, added, “Belmont and the Massey College of Business are excited about this innovative partnership we are entering with Columbia State. Through a careful articulation of all degree requirements and a generous scholarship from Belmont, Columbia State students should be able to seamlessly transition to Belmont and complete our highly valued AACSB-accredited B.B.A. program.”

Ranked among the Best Undergraduate Business Schools by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Belmont’s Jack C. Massey College of Business offers the highest quality of business education in a Christian environment. Belmont is the only private university in Tennessee to have met the quality standards to achieve business and specialized accounting accreditation by AACSB International  — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. This dual accreditation places Belmont among the less than one percent of the world’s business schools to achieve both business and accounting accreditation.

Ingram Arts Visionary Award Honors Belmont President Bob Fisher

April Hefner
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Ingram Arts Visionary Award Honors Belmont President Bob Fisher

Each year the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville celebrates a Nashville resident for their inspiring leadership and patronage of the arts with its Martha Rivers Ingram Arts Visionary Award. This year the organization presented the award to Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher, a long-time Nashville business leader and arts supporter.

Fisher’s friends, family and colleagues from his many business endeavors as well as his community and arts leadership activities gathered at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center to honor his significant volunteer and community support work. The reception included a musical tribute from students of Belmont University’s Musical Theatre program and remarks from community leaders including Joseph “Pepe” Presley, David Minnigan, R. Milton Johnson, H. Beecher Hicks, III, Butch Spyridon, Ralph Schulz, Rick Byrd, Marty Dickens, and Matt Largen. The award was presented by Martha Ingram and 2016 honoree Steve Turner.

“The Arts & Business Council was founded on the belief that a vibrant and creative culture is what makes Nashville a great place to live, work, and play,” said Jill McMillan, executive director of the Arts & Business Council. “He has had a transformative impact on not only cultivating this culture, but ensuring that the arts community is sustainable and thriving. He is the perfect choice for this year’s Ingram Arts Visionary Award.”

Previous Ingram Arts Visionary Award winners include: Earl Swensson, Denny Bottorf, Walter Knestrick, Steve & Jay Turner, and Shirley Zeitlin.

Corporate sponsors of this event include Earl Swensson Associates and Cumberland Trust.

 

December 2017 Belmont Alumna Erin Sanislo Awarded Prestigious Fulbright to Spain

April Hefner
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December 2017 Belmont Alumna Erin Sanislo Awarded Prestigious Fulbright to Spain

Corporate communications, Spanish graduate to teach overseas

Recent Belmont University graduate and Woodbury, Minnesota resident Erin Sanislo was recently awarded a Fulbright program grant for overseas teaching to the Canary Islands region of Spain. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is an international exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government that provides competitive grants to graduating seniors and graduate students to serve as cultural ambassadors of the United States abroad.

After graduating from Belmont in December 2017 with degrees in corporate communications and Spanish, Sanislo took advantage of a Lumos Travel Award to journey to Ecuador to advance literacy and develop children’s programming. While there she worked with children through cooking, physical activity, homework help, reading time and English classes at a community center outside of Quito.

An Honors student, Sanislo previously studied abroad for five months at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, completing her senior thesis on “The Making of the Modern Pilgrim.” “Fulbright was recommended to me by a friend while I was studying abroad in Spain,” she said. “The prestige and international recognition of Fulbright immediately intrigued me. I fell in love with Spain and its people as I researched my senior honors thesis and walked a section of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. I realized my passion for Spain and experience abroad could be channeled into a higher purpose by becoming a cultural ambassador of the United States on a Fulbright award.”

Sanislo will be teaching in Spain from September 2018 through June 2019. Upon her return to the United States, she plans to enroll in a Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish program to become a certified Spanish teacher. She hopes to teach for a few years at the high school level and then pursue a PhD in Spanish so that she can advance her research on the Camino de Santiago and propel her career to teach at the university level.

“Belmont offered me a global education. The excellent Study Abroad programs at Belmont enabled me to study Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago de Compostela, Spain and to study history in Istanbul, Turkey. My Spanish and Communications professors taught me to think from a cross-cultural mindset and influenced my desire to teach Spanish from the context of culture. The Honors Program at Belmont modeled an intercultural perspective in its curriculum and provided me courses on world religions, philosophies and literature. As a future Spanish teacher, I will demonstrate the cross-cultural understanding that my Belmont professors modeled to me.”

Student-Athletes Complete Mission Trip to Kenya

April Hefner
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Student-Athletes Complete Mission Trip to Kenya

A group of Belmont student-athletes and administrators recently returned from Kenya as part of the Bruins’ annual mission trips.

Belmont Coordinator of Academic Services & Sports Ministry and men’s basketball assistant coach Mark Price led a group to Nakuru, Kenya last May, and the Bruins returned to the same sites this year to continue the work, relationship-building and discipleship.

Joining Holm were Tyler Holloway, Dylan Windler and Kevin McClain from men’s basketball; Creaghan Diekema, George Bukenya, and Matt Vuylsteke from men’s soccer; Niki Clements, Emily Whitcomb and MacKenzie Firek from women’s soccer; and Maggie Mullins from volleyball.

Mullins said, “Kenya 2018 was an unbelievable experience. It opened my eyes to the true power and love of God. Meeting and getting to know the Streets of Hope boys was definitely the highlight for me because even if they had little, they had so much joy. It was truly inspiring.”

During the trip, the group played with children at a group home operated by Streets of Hope, an organization devoted to caring for children forced to fend for themselves on the street. Many of these children are under the age of ten and have lost their parents to the ever-increasing problem of AIDS. Others are homeless due to extreme poverty. In addition to playing sports and talking with the youth, the Bruins also worked in the garden of a local high school and planted trees at a Streets of Hope home.

This and other Belmont service projects are made possible through The Betty Wiseman Mission Fund, established in honor of the Belmont coach emeritus to benefit domestic and overseas mission work.

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