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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Arts and Business Council Welcomes New Leadership

Hope Buckner
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Arts and Business Council Welcomes New Leadership

The Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville, currently housed on Belmont’s campus, has recently welcomed a new Executive Director, Jill McMillan. The Council has been on Belmont’s campus since 2013 through a partnership that advances the educational and charitable purposes of both organizations by leveraging and uniting their unique resources to create a thriving, sustainable creative culture in Nashville.

Originally from Indiana, McMillian comes to Nashville from Boston, most recently. Throughout her career, she has gained a range of experiences and arts exposure including her first professional position as a marketing intern at a major studio in Los Angeles to her most recent role as a strategic fundraiser at one of Boston’s leading cultural institutions.

McMillian graduated summa cum laude from Pepperdine University with a B.A. in Integrated Marketing Communication and a minor in Industrial Organizational Psychology. After graduation, she taught with Teach for America in Phoenix, Arizona before moving to Boston to begin her career in arts administration. There, McMillan worked with Boston Children’s Theatre, ArtsBoston, Broadway In Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

In her new role, McMillan will oversee the Arts and Business Council’s five main programs. Focused around the viability of Nashville’s creative community these programs offer assistance to artists from all genres and include:

  • The Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts: A program that provides free legal services to Nashville’s artists
  • Educational Offerings: Monthly seminars cover topics pertinent to the sustainability of artistic ventures and Periscope, ABC’s 6-week intensive training program, is an artist entrepreneur training experience
  • Arts Board Matching: A program that pairs young professionals with arts organizations and prepares them for board membership
  • WorkCREATIVE: Bridges the gap between arts and business by inviting artists into the workplace to help produce a more engaged, innovative and productive workforce through the tactful collision of art and industry.

“ABC is currently experiencing a time of excellence and stability,” McMillan said. “Now with over 10 years in service of artists in Nashville, the Arts and Business Council’s current position allows us to focus on strategic growth and innovation in our programs and offerings. We hope to serve as a translator and connector, leveraging and uniting the unique resources of the arts and business communities to ensure that Nashville is, and remains, a dynamic cultural hub.”

Image provided by Heidi Ross.

Alumna LeMieux Named XMI Chief Operating Officer

Hope Buckner
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Alumna LeMieux Named XMI Chief Operating Officer

Jennifer LeMieux headshotJennifer LeMieux, a Belmont Executive MBA alumna, was recently named as Chief Operating Officer for XMI, a company that provides businesses with the business infrastructure necessary for growth. In this role, LeMieux will be responsible for strategic planning and management, identifying business development and partnership opportunities and strengthening internal company teams and company culture.

She joins XMI with over two decades of experience working with companies to improve business operations and processes. Under her leadership in previous roles, LeMieux forged long-term client relationships that produced process management improvements, higher revenue flows and growth for client companies. She also has significant experience implementing training programs for employees and developing initiatives to reward top performers.

“Jennifer will be a wonderful asset to the XMI executive leadership team,” said James C. Phillips, Jr, chief executive officer at XMI. “Her experience working with growing businesses in the health and technology sectors are one of many attributes that make her a good fit for this position, and we are pleased she has joined XMI to help businesses grow and thrive.”

Prior to joining XMI, LeMieux was chief customer/operations officer at Gaffey Healthcare and HealthTechS3.  Her career has been focused on partnering with growing businesses and supporting them with business process services and outsourcing needs.

“I am excited to join the XMI team, and I look forward to strengthening existing relationships and creating new partnerships to help businesses amplify their ambitions,” said LeMieux. “I am always invigorated by the opportunity to support businesses with business infrastructure so they can focus on growing their products and services, revenue and staff.”

Student Selected as Festival’s Principal Viola

Hope Buckner
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Student Selected as Festival’s Principal Viola

Belmont student viola player performs at a festivalBelmont senior and music performance major Corey Starks was recently selected as the Principal Viola of the Guilford Symphony Orchestra at Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“Being chosen as Principal is an honor given to those who have well-developed leadership abilities and mature playing,” said his Belmont and Festival viola instructor Sarah Cote.  “I am very proud of Corey!  He did a wonderful job leading his section in Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and the Rodrigo Concierto.”

The Eastern Music Festival is a five-week program attracting music students from around the country and abroad. The festival’s student orchestra rehearses six times each week and performs twice weekly.

Velikova Named to Tennessee World Affairs Council Board

Hope Buckner
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Velikova Named to Tennessee World Affairs Council Board

Marieta Velikova HeadshotAssociate Professor of Economics Dr. Marieta Velikova was recently named to the Tennessee World Affairs Council Board of Directors. Previously a member of the Council’s President’s Advisory Board, Velikova was also named as the Board’s Vice President.

The Board’s growth came as the organization completed a program year of organizing community and education outreach activities to increase awareness of international affairs. The Tennessee World Affairs Council, which celebrated its tenth-anniversary this year, is one of about 90 similar grassroots, educational groups in the country that work to improve global affairs awareness. For more information, click here.

Summer Scholars Facilitate Research Across Campus

Hope Buckner
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Summer Scholars Facilitate Research Across Campus

Belmont’s Summer Scholars program, now it its 15th year, provides the opportunity for faculty to mentor groups of students throughout the summer as they conduct important research. Since it began, more than 60 research communities have formed among more than 200 students in English, mathematics, computer science, biology, history, psychology and sociology. This summer, 18 students and 4 faculty are participating in the programming.

This summer, a number of projects are underway. These include:

  • A group of undergraduate researchers who are modeling Parkinson’s disease and treating the Parkinson’s-like worms (C elegans) with novel reagents to determine their effectiveness for relieving symptoms, led by Professor of Biology Dr. Nick Ragsdale. The group hopes their work may inform new therapies.
  • Students who are growing cells that have been isolated from cancerous tumors to test potential treatments with the hopes of uncovering new chemotherapeutic agents. This team is led by Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Chris Barton.
  • Biology Department Chair and Associate Professor Dr. John Niedzwiecki’s team, a group of students who are characterizing predator-prey responses in local snail populations to explore differences in response of snail size, as well as native vs. non-native predators. This work seeks to understand stream health, an important ecological endeavor.
  • A final group of students who are working alongside Professor of Biology Dr. Lori McGrew and measuring the effects of treatments on anxiety levels in zebrafish. These studies will add to a growing body of knowledge about zebrafish which will increase their usefulness for modeling human disorders.

A student completes research during the Summer Scholars.

The importance of undergraduate research opportunities are immense for student success. “Evidence suggests that undergraduate research facilitates student learning both by increasing student interest/motivation, and fostering critical thinking skills through the application of the scientific method,” McGrew said. “Summer Scholars also develop a sense of community.  While their projects differ, the shared experience of conducting research that they planned with all its successes and failures, creates a strong bond among the student participants.”

This fall, participants will present their findings on campus during the Science Undergraduate Research Symposium and off-campus at regional or national meetings.

McGrew Hosts Alumnus and his Students for Research Experiences

Hope Buckner
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McGrew Hosts Alumnus and his Students for Research Experiences

Belmont Professor of Biology and Summer Scholars research program advisor Dr. Lori McGrew recently hosted Jim Garrett, alumnus and science teacher at Davidson Academy, and two of his students. This summer, Garrett and his students are learning to work with Danio rerio (zebrafish) and have joined McGrew and her student group in Belmont’s zebrafish lab to replicate research conducted by one of last year’s Summer Scholars, Curt Brown.

The team would like to extend Brown’s project and present their results at the Middle Tennessee Science Fair. Additionally, Garrett plans to establish a zebrafish colony at Davidson Academy so he can his students can conduct additional research and McGrew and her team will be heavily involved in establishing tailored data collection methods.

(Image above L to R: Davidson Academy students participate in research with Mr. Garrett). 

 

Belmont Participates in Teacher Pipeline Coalition

Hope Buckner
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Belmont Participates in Teacher Pipeline Coalition

Belmont University, in partnership with eight other teacher prep programs across the city, recently formed a coalition focused on the broken teacher pipeline, specifically related to a lack of diversity in Nashville’s teacher workforce. The Trailblazer Coalition completed a year of research and self-analysis on the pipeline, shared its findings and recently held a community discussion to brainstorm ways partners across the city can fix the broken pipeline.

The group met monthly during the 2016-17 school year, conducted research on causes of disparity between teacher and student diversity and worked to find ways to improve the diversity of Nashville’s educator preparation programs and teaching ranks.

Citing misperceptions of teaching, the financial burden of college and licensure and a lack of specific mentoring and retention strategies, among others, the Coalition’s research highlights multiple barriers for people of color to become teachers in Nashville. The disparity in teacher and student diversity is a nationwide issue reflected across Tennessee and in Nashville’s schools. A report last year by the Metro Human Relations Commission pointed out that over 68 percent of Nashville’s students identify as African American, Hispanic or Asian, while less than 26 percent of Nashville’s teachers do.

Members of the Coalition's event participate in the brainstorming event. “Working to improve the diversity of the teaching force in Metro Nashville Public School takes all of us,” Assistant Professor and Director of Innovative Projects in Education and Coalition Steering Committee Dr. Alan Coverstone said. “The most exciting thing about the Trailblazer Coalition is that it brings together all the Educator Preparation Programs serving Davidson County schools to learn about and work to address the challenges that our teachers of color face in entering and remaining in the profession. We are all learning from each other and beginning to develop new strategies together  to support teacher candidates as they prepare for and begin their careers.”

Based on its research, locally and a comprehensive review of national research on teacher diversity, the Trailblazer Coalition identified five main areas of need in its report:

  • Promoting teaching as a transformative practice
  • Promoting an anti-oppressive culture in teacher preparation programs
  • Support for teacher retention and success
  • Support for licensure and testing
  • Financial support for underrepresented students

Over the next year, the Coalition will work to partner with local and state government leaders and area nonprofits to implement systemic changes to impact these areas.

“It is inspiring to see the teacher prep community in Nashville come together to help our school system tackle this issue,” Nashville Mayor Megan Barry said. “Often in Nashville you see government leaders convening and calling on institutions and organizations to collaborate and help solve public sector problems. In this case, it’s the teacher prep programs stepping up to say ‘we all have to own this to make a difference.’ Their findings align with the work my office has been doing to make affordable housing more accessible to Nashville teachers. I look forward to expanding and accelerating this work with more partners at the table.”

The Trailblazer Coalition’s full report, titled “Fixing the Broken Pipeline: Teacher Diversity and the Classroom,” is available here.

Alongside Coverstone, Belmont is represented by Dr. Mark Hogan, professor and chair of the Education Department, and Dr. Mona Ivey-Soto on the Coalition.

Images provided by Trailblazer Coalition.

Gill Selected as 2017 NCCI Leader of Change

April Hefner
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Gill Selected as 2017 NCCI Leader of Change

Paula-Gill-Headshot_Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Paula Gill was recently selected as a Maury Cotter Leader of Change by the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation: Higher Education’s Network for Change Leadership (NCCI).

Gill was one of two higher education leaders selected as a recipient of this year’s prestigious honor, and she will be recognized at the 2017 Leaders of Change during the Annual Business Meeting and Awards Luncheon at the 2017 Annual Conference on July 29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Created in 2013, the recognition program identifies leaders of change throughout higher education, recognizes them for their accomplishments, and helps link them with their peers to leverage further the impact of their good work. Beginning with this 2017 class of Leaders of Change, NCCI is proud to name the Leaders of Change Award for founding member Maury Cotter, in recognition of her significant contributions to the Association and the higher education profession.
“This important award program supports NCCI’s broader strategic effort to identify and support those individuals who are leading change on their campuses and to grow the network of change leaders within higher education,” said NCCI President Teresa Hartnett, who is the assistant dean of finance and administration at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. “I congratulate these two outstanding leaders, as well as all of those who have been nominated for recognition. They truly reflect the values of NCCI: innovation, continuous improvement, collaboration, excellence, and diversity of perspective.”

As Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Dr. Gill is responsible for evaluating the university’s progress toward its performance objectives and for seeking ways to improve services and processes that provide value for students. Among Dr. Gill’s recent accomplishments are facilitating an inclusive, campus-wide strategic planning process, Vision 2020, and overseeing its ongoing management and implementation. She also led a complete review and improvement of all enrollment strategies and communications, reducing the time from completed application to decision by 83 percent and resulting in the largest increase in freshman and graduate enrollment in the history of the University.

In addition, her portfolio of responsibilities includes the newly consolidated Library and Information Technology Services (LITS), a department reorganized under her leadership that led to the hiring of Belmont’s first Chief Information Officer and first Director of Instructional Technology. Dr. Gill also led Belmont’s most recent SACS reaffirmation for accreditation initiative and currently leads operational improvement efforts in numerous academic and administrative units, including the reorganization of the Division of Student Affairs

About NCCI
NCCI is a professional association dedicated to improving higher education nationally and internationally by providing a collaborative professional network for change leadership. NCCI has more than 90 institutional members and more than 1,000 individual members worldwide.

Missions Experiences Engage Students Intellectually and Spiritually

April Hefner
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Missions Experiences Engage Students Intellectually and Spiritually

For many college students, “experiential education” translates into internships, study abroad trips, research and other practical, hands-on means of learning. Belmont University certainly offers all of those opportunities, but as part of the University’s vision to be a Christian community of learning and service, Belmont goes a step further. Through University Ministries and academic departments alike, students are presented opportunities to explore and strengthen their faith in meaningful ways through mission trips in the U.S. and abroad.

“Belmont’s foundation as a Christian university creates a unique opportunity in higher education to offer life-changing missions as part of our students’ experience,” said University President Dr. Bob Fisher. “We provide a place for students to find their God-given purpose through service to each other, their community and the world beyond.”

Frequently, as is the case with many health care-related missions, the trips are tied to academic pursuits, allowing students to see how their chosen field of study can impact places and cultures they never before imagined. Just last year, 250 Belmont students engaged in mission-oriented experiences with trips ranging from tutoring at an after-school program in downtown Chicago to leading songwriting workshops in Zimbabwe to providing a free health clinic in Jamaica.

University Ministries provides countless opportunities to serve as well, including many programs that are held within the continental U.S. and occur over Fall Break (Plunge trips) or Spring Break (Immersion). The most recent Spring Break trips included students serving in a variety of settings. While one group worked in an orphanage in rural Kentucky, others dove into assisting disenfranchised populations in urban areas in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Memphis.

Junior Sean Grossnickle noted that his group in Memphis sought to serve often forgotten populations within the inner city. “On one of the first days we went and helped refugee children get extra practice reading so they could get up to the English level of their peers in school… We all wanted to get a look at what it was really like to live in modern day poverty, to see the perspectives of the people actually living it and to really change our perspective and our mindset toward the individuals living in those conditions.”

Most importantly, these trips foster students’ spiritual growth alongside the academic, physical, social and cultural challenges they face in different situations at home and abroad. Missions opportunities are central to Belmont’s foundation as a Christian institution and its intent, as spelled out in its Vision 2020 plan, to further “exemplify the Christian faith by responding to the imperative expressed in James 1:22, which states ‘Do not merely listen to the word… Do what it says.’”

My Movie 3 from sam simpkins on Vimeo.

 

Graduate Students, Faculty Present at International Literary Conference

Hope Buckner
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The three Belmont speakers stand in the Senate House of the University, in front of a portrait of the University's previous Chancellor, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
(L to R: Santoru, Murray and Fuqua stand in the Senate House of the University in front of a portrait of the University’s previous Chancellor, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.)

Two Belmont Graduate M.A. in English students and one faculty member presented at an international conference at the University of London, Literary London, 2017. Lauren Santoru presented “The Subaltern Comes to the Capital: Nathanial Hawthorne’s Critique of London in Our Old Home,” Patten Fuqua presented “‘There are two Londons’: Abjection in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere” and Dr. Douglas Murray, professor of English, spoke on the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in “‘And draw her home with music’: Vaughan Williams’ Vision of a Democratic London.”

The three Belmont speakers stand in the Senate House of the University, in front of a portrait of the University’s previous Chancellor, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

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