Zoro, adjunct instructor of percussion in Belmont’s School of Music, recently published his new book, “Soar: 9 Proven Keys for Unlocking Your Limitless Potential.” The book climbed to No. 6 on Amazon’s Hot New Release List this week.
Of his release and its ranking Zoro said, “God is faithful…I thank all of my friends for their faith in what God has called me to do and for their prayers over the years.’
John Arnn, past Belmont School of Music faculty member and composer of the University’s hymn “Jesus is the Christ,” recently published a novel, Jaheewah God of the Winds.
The novel is currently available for purchase at Amazon.
Belmont senior musical theatre major Christopher Lee was recently cast as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the Chicago production of Hamilton after submitting a video submission to the show’s production team.
Lee said the opportunity to join the cast and crew of Hamilton will be a life changing one. “This opportunity means literally everything,” he said. “One day it was a far-fetched dream and today it’s a reality.”
This experience hasn’t come without significant work, and Lee said he points to God for his success. “I thank God for every open and closed door that led to this experience,” Lee said. ” I also thank my family, the Belmont University Musical Theatre Program and last but definitely most, my mother. She’s everything.”
Looking to the future, Lee said he hopes to become a working actor, singer, songwriter, all around artist.
Featured image provided by MA2LA.
Cheryl Slay Carr, Curb College, performed a concert in Detroit, Michigan using a house concert business model that has gained increasing attention in the music industry.
Home concerts offer an alternative to traditional venue performance opportunities for both audiences and performers.
Belmont alumni Chad Bowers, marketing and music business 1998 graduate and his wife Rachele Sweiderk Bowers, management and music business 1999 graduate, had their lives ‘flipped’ this weekend when they won “Vanilla Ice Flip Advice’s” home renovation competition.
After purchasing a “neglected” Floridian home in November 2015, the Bowers started their research on complete renovations. Being first time home flippers, they stumbled upon a promotion of the new show on HGTV.com and decided to apply. Outside of owning a home in Florida, being an energetic first time flipper was the only requirement—the Bowers were immediately interested.
After applying, the flippers were chosen for a round of video interviews before participating in an in-person interview at their new property. Soon after, the Bowers were notified of their progression in the process and flew to Palm Beach, Florida to make their final pitch to the show’s host Vanilla Ice and designer Krista Watterworth. Their on-camera presentation emphasized their home’s potential for a successful flip.
“We were ecstatic to find out that they selected us and our property,” Chad said. “We spent the next couple of months learning everything there is to know about the dos and don’ts of successfully flipping. Rob and Krista provided us with so much insight into the process which resulted in an amazing property that exceeded anything we imagined.”
Now that the show is complete, Chad said he and Rachele plan to continue flipping houses in their area and are already looking for new opportunities. “Find and fixing up homes not only creates a great income for us, but it also helps the local community by increasing the real estate value in our area,” Chad said. “The process of flipping a house also gives you a great creative outlet!”
Before any new projects begin, Chad and Rachele are heading to Europe for three months for a long vacation—backpacking Northern Spain’s Camino de Santiago. When they return, it’s back to “Flip, flip, baby” for this home renovation duo!
On June 27, Professor J. Haskell Murray of Belmont University’s Massey College of Business presented his paper “Social Enterprise and Investment Professionals: Sacrificing Financial Interests?” at the eighth annual Berle Symposium at Seattle University School of Law.
Among the other invited presenters were professors from University of Cambridge, University of Minnesota Law School, University of Oxford Said Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Papers from the symposium will be published in the Seattle University Law Review and information about the symposium can be found here.
Belmont’s Department of Chemistry and Physics recently hosted its second annual “It’s Easy Being Green: Budget-Friendly Safety-Conscious Chemistry Labs for the Science Classroom of Today” workshop series for middle and high school physical science and chemistry teachers in the Middle TN area.
Workshop themes for this year were “Cranberry Chemistry: Science with Superfruits” and “Spice Up Your Chemistry Lab with Neutralization Reactions.” Event organizer Dr. Danielle Garrett, assistant professor of chemistry education, held four day-long workshops in the chemistry labs in the Janet Ayers Academic Center during the month of June. During these workshops, 42 attendees from 13 counties participated in hands-on science. All participants received a complete instructor-student lab manual, and teachers attending “Cranberry Chemistry: Science with Superfruits” each built a budget-friendly colorimeter that they were able to take back for classroom use.
Not only were participants pleased with the workshop format, but they were also excited that the labs tied into content-specific learning goals, finding the workshops “practical, organized and fun,” “easily reproducible” and full of “excellent content.” One teacher was quoted as saying, it was the “best workshop I’ve attended in several years!”
“When developing and planning my workshops, I strive to develop cost-effective and fun labs that provide reproducible results and are easily integrated into the curriculum, while meeting TN state standards,” Garrett said. “The positive and enthusiastic responses and feedback from local teachers have been very encouraging. I’m already looking forward to developing new ideas for next year’s workshops!”
Mary Barber has aspired to study science and become a doctor since growing up in a small Tennessee town. This summer, her dreams of scientific success are coming more and more into view as she completes a 10-week internship as an “Aspirnaut” at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A rising sophomore and biochemistry/molecular biology major at Belmont, Barber is participating in the research intensive program for students with diverse backgrounds and strong desires to pursue careers in medicine.
Barber said she’s wanted to devote her life to science and medicine for as long as she can remember. When looking for summer programs or internships after finishing her freshman year, Barber said Vanderbilt’s research internship, funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, stuck out because of its commitment to excellence–both inside and outside the lab.
“I chose this program because of its authentic commitment to diversity, opportunity and science. The Aspirnaut program goes beyond laboratory research–it seeks students that can enrich the field with their unique life stories and provides the resources to expand the potential of every single student.”
Working in Dr. Billy Hudson’s lab in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Center for Matrix Biology and Department of Biochemistry, Barber’s research uses chemical and biochemical approaches to focus on understanding Goodpasture’s autoimmune disease. Her work seeks to better understand the medical mystery surrounding how the disease develops and how medicine can treat it. Despite the experience of working in a state-of-the-art research facility among the nation’s top medical minds, Barber said some of her favorite memories have been the ones shared with her colleagues–fellow students, professors, researchers, doctors and even artists.
“I have enjoyed the amazing networking opportunities–and meeting some incredible people with the same vision for life as me,” Barber said. “I have been able to have intimate, important conversations with individuals that can help mold my future in a profound way. We are truly a mosaic of personalities and each person has a special quality they contribute.”
Barber looks to the program’s directors, Drs. Billy and Julie Hudson, for the experience’s transformative qualities. “They told us on the first day that we would learn a lot about science during our time here, but we would learn more more about ourselves,” Barber said. “The truth within their words is astounding.” From learning how she interacts with others, to how she deals with challenges to how thinking creatively within the sciences is necessary, Barber said her time as a Aspirnaut has only strengthened the passions she developed as a child.
“Know that what I do in the lab can contribute to the solution for a human problem excites me and encourages me to continue working hard,” Barber said. “The key insights that I have gained through my coursework and extracurricular activities show me where my true passion lies and how far I can carry those things with me in the future.”
Belmont’s Eta Phi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta recently attended the organization’s biannual Grand Convention and came home with many awards and accolades. The event, where more than 130 chapters from across the county meet to celebrate the year’s successes, culminates the year’s achievements with an awards ceremony where Belmont’s chapter received five of the 19 awards presented–more than any other chapter across the country.
Eta Phi received Excellence in Recruitment, Excellence in Administration, Excellence in Risk Management, The Golden Kite Award, given to only 15 chapters and was a finalist for the Founder’s Award.
The Excellence in Recruitment award recognizes a chapter for educating its members on and exemplifying a values-based recruitment. Recruitment training by both Theta and Belmont, as well as chapter return rates during formal recruitment are also considered.
Excellence in Administration criteria includes effective officer training and transitions, education on nominations and officer positions and other administrative tasks. This year, Eta Phi participated in a pilot program, along with 6 other chapters, for a new chapter officer structure. The success of this program contributed to the chapter’s receipt of the Administration award.
Eta Phi trains its members on risk and crisis prevention each semester–following formal recruitment in the fall and after officers begin their spring term. Members are educated on safety measures, bystander intervention, emergency procedures, incident reports and mental health. The chapter also provides educational workshops including self-defense classes. These initiatives, among others, were touted as the reasoning behind the chapter’s Excellence in Risk Management Award.
The Founder’s Award is the most prestigious of the awards given at Grand Convention. Seven chapters were recipients of this award with one chapter winning overall. Eta Phi was named as a finalist for the Founder’s Award.
Chapter President and Convention Representative Austyn Stallings said, “It was an honor and privilege to represent the women of Eta Phi at this year’s Convention. With the chapter being only 5 years old, this was a huge milestone for the Eta Phi women. These awards truly encompassed all the hard work each of our 200+ members put into our chapter day after day. I could not be more proud, humbled and excited to have received these awards on their behalf.”
New Belmont Blvd. retail outlet to occupy historic property when it opens in 2017
Following the recent purchase of the Athlete’s House International, Ltd., Belmont University officials engaged this spring in careful consideration of various retail options for the historic site on Belmont Boulevard where the company operated an athletic footwear and apparel store for 42 years. Today, the University announced that the Athlete’s House site will be renovated to become the new home for the campus bookstore. Construction on the property began last week, and the store anticipates opening in its new location in January 2017.
In 1973, David Graeflin and Erich Groos opened the Athlete’s House, known as the first running store in Tennessee, and the owners decided to cease doing business in 2015. Located at the intersection of Belmont Boulevard and Portland Avenue, the property sits near the University’s Gabhart Student Center and provides a convenient location for campus members seeking to purchase apparel, supplies, textbooks and academic materials.
“This store always had a reputation of being a neighborhood friendly retail operation, even providing a water cooler on the sidewalk as a hydration station for runners,” said Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher. “That legacy of being a good neighbor for this community is a tradition we share at Belmont University and one we want to continue with the move of the Belmont campus store to that prominent corner.”
The stand-alone building will also enable the campus store to develop its own brand in a more visible retail location, and the dedicated spot allows University staff to think about processes, like textbook delivery, in a new way in terms of providing services to the campus community.
Belmont Vice President and Chief of Staff Dr. Susan West oversees the Auxiliary Services area that operates the campus store and shared her own excitement about the new location. “This move helps further solidify the southern end of campus as a student-centered area as the store will join the Belmont Boulevard student-run businesses (House Of, BLVD) along with McAlister’s Deli and Curb Café that already border that edge of Belmont’s property. It addition to those retail outlets, the Gabhart Student Center renovations have also begun in that corridor, and that project is intended to provide increased space for student organizations and to support community-building efforts.”
The Athlete’s House site features historic ties to Belmont and to Nashville at large. In 1932, Herman Lay became an independent snack food distributor in Nashville and located his potato chip manufacturing office at 1700 Portland Avenue. That location, the site of the Athlete’s House store, sat across the street from an Esso gas station owned by Ed and Bernice Johnson (the current Circle K). The couple often helped Herman Lay keep his potato chip trucks on the road by allowing him to pay for gas on credit. In 1948, in gratitude for the help, Lay offered the Johnsons a chance to buy stock in his company.
The Johnsons’ initial investment of $8,000 grew exponentially with the company, which is now part of Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Co Inc. Following Bernice Johnson’s death in January 1998 (her husband died in 1994), $8 million from the Johnson estate was given to Belmont and directed toward scholarships in the College of Business, primarily for accounting students to honor their own accountant, Lawrence Glover, who also served at that time as a Belmont faculty member. Additional funds from the Johnson estate were placed in a 10-year charitable remainder annuity trust, and those accumulated monies, $10 million, were released to Belmont in 2008 and placed into the general university endowment to support student scholarships.
The Johnsons’ total donations to the university, equaling more than $18.6 million, can be sourced to the friendships formed between the couple and Herman Lay at the historic intersection of Portland Avenue and Belmont Boulevard.
