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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Holofcener Published in “The New Social Worker”

Sydney HolofcenerSophomore social work major Sydney Holofcener’s article, “Never Alone: Why I Want To Be a Social Worker,” and music video were recently published in the national “New Social Worker” magazine.

Holofcener said she decided to enter her article for publication because her passion for social work is reflective in her past. “I believe that our stories matter, and the things that make up our past can become constructive parts of our future, if we let them. Putting my song and story out there was my try at showing people that hard situations can end in silver lining discoveries,” she said. “Most importantly, I just wanted people to know that they are never alone in fighting the monsters in their minds or the past they try to hide.”

Holofcener performs an original song and explains its history and her own connection. “It’s no secret that my struggle with mental illness is what led me to discovering my passion for showing up and simply being there for people. God works in crazy good ways to get us to understand the life He has planned for us. I want my background and story to be something that inspires people towards understanding their own worth,” she said. “My hope is that through sharing my story, others will know that they have nothing to hide from when it comes to being vulnerable and fully known– that is the path to freedom.”
Holofcener hopes to get her Masters in mental health after completing her Bachelor’s in social work and eventually become an adolescent therapist with a focus on treating those with behavioral and mood disorders. She said the Social Work Department at Belmont has made her confident in understanding God has created her to serve others, and her professors encourage her to walk toward the things that set her heart on fire and feel deeply for others.

Pharmacy Students Attend State Conference

The Tennessee Society of Student Pharmacists (TSSP) Winter Meeting was recently held in downtown Nashville at the Double Tree Hotel. Eighteen students from Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy attended to learn more about TSSP and advocate for the pharmacy profession. The Winter Meeting brings student pharmacists together from across Tennessee to engage in current legislation, build relationships and advocate for the pharmacy profession.

Belmont student Shelby Blalock took the reigns as the 2016-2017 TSSP president during the meeting. Blalock stated, “Attending the TSSP Winter Meeting was a great experience! During the meeting, we met other student pharmacists from across the state of Tennessee, shared our passion for the field of pharmacy and learned how to advocate for our profession through pharmacist panels and workshops.”

At the meeting this year, APhA Foundation Resident Brian Donahue, PharmD served as the keynote speaker. Donahue spoke on the event’s theme, “The Time is Now,” and described opportunities in the pharmacy profession and how to act on them. There was also a presentation on the past, present and future of TSSP, where Blalock spoke.

Other presentations focused on “Building an Innovative Practice,” “Being the Leader of Tomorrow Today,” and “Making the Most of Your Residency: Transitioning to the Workplace” by utilizing pharmacists and students to lead panels and hands-on activities. The programming also included a workshop, lead by TPA Director of Pharmacy Practice Initiatives Lucy Adkins, PharmD, on how to effectively advocate for the pharmacy profession. The meeting concluded with Blalock delivering her presidential speech and the TSSP Executive Committee transitioned leadership utilizing an Oath of Office led by Blalock.

TSSP continued a tradition of organizing a Legislative Health Fair at the State Capitol where students from every school or college of pharmacy from across Tennessee participated. Five Belmont students attended to check blood pressures and educate legislators on Medication Therapy Management. Three students participated in the TPA House of Delegates where two resolutions were proposed, voted on and passed. The first resolution honored Dr. Larry D. Calhoun (dean of ETSU) for his dedication and for winning the APhA-ASP Outstanding Dean Award. The second allowed pharmacists serving as preceptors to claim five hours of non-ACPE continuing education credit for precepting students per renewal cycle. The next meeting for TSSP is in July.

Moot Court Competition Team Takes Second Place

The L. Edward Bryant Jr. National Health Law Transactional Moot Court Competition team won third place for Best Oral Advocacy and second place overall out of 21 teams in the competition. The team advanced past competitors including University of Houston, University of Alabama, University of Maryland, Southern Illinois, Georgia State and Nova Southeastern.

Team members include Aubrey Beckham, Justin Hickerson and Lauren Walker, led by Assistant Professor of Law Deborah Farringer.

Biology Faculty Awarded Grant, Host STEM Discussion Panel

Biology faculty members Drs. Darlene Panvini and Chris Barton were recently awarded a grant entitled “Promoting Undergraduate Well-Being in STEM Fields through Community and Civic Engagement” from the Bringing Theory to Practice organization.  The grant award provided funds to host a number of seminars aimed to increase community engagement among undergraduate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students at Belmont.

As part of this grant, the Biology Department hosted eight Nashville-based STEM leaders  on March 21 in the Wedgewood Academic Center. The panel discussion was attended by students and faculty and focused on ways undergraduates can become more involved in the community through service and internships and students were given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the panelists following the seminar.

Additionally, a dinner with panelists and faculty from the College of Sciences and Mathematics was hosted after the event. This gave faculty a chance to interact with the panelists and discuss how faculty can best prepare students for community engagement and internships.

The list of invited STEM panelists included:

  • Tony Weil (Molecular Physiology & Biophysics at Vanderbilt University)
  • Wes Hall (Tennessee STEM Innovation Network)
  • Jon Staples (NextGxDx and Code for Nashville)
  • Taylor Murphy (Data Procurement at NextGxDx)
  • Carol Etherington (Vanderbilt Institute of Public Health)
  • Bryan Mayes (Engineer at Eventbrite)
  • David Withers (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation)
  • Rebecca Leslie (Nashville Academy of Medicine)

Belmont Celebrates Brain Awareness Week

The Psychological Science and Neuroscience Programs at Belmont hosted numerous events to celebrate Brain Awareness Week (BAW) March 14 – 18. BAW is the global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. Every March, the campaign unites efforts of partner organizations worldwide in a celebration of the brain for people of all ages.

The week’s events included Dr. Jeffrey Schall, Vanderbilt University, who spoke about his experience as a neuroscientist and how he works with law enforcement. A movie night was held where Awakenings was shown and Dr. Giordano, professor of psychological sciences, answered questions about the movie and clinical psychology.

Dr. Lori McGrew, professor of neuroscience, presented “Structures and Functions of Your Brain” where students dissected sheep brains to understand how the brain looks and functions. An addiction recovery panel featured a pharmacist and a group of individuals who described their experiences with addiction. The week ended with lawyer Blake Gilbert’s presentation on how the brain and psychology are considered under the law.

Hatch Receives Research Funding from the Department of Energy

Dr. Duane Hatch, professor of chemistry, has been awarded funding from the Department of Energy Office of Science for his recently submitted research proposal. He will perform his research, “SeTrp Study of LiP,” at Los Alamos National Laboratory during summer 2016. The award is part of the DOE Visiting Faculty Program, and is valued at $29,000.

Hatch will also fund two Belmont undergraduate students, Ambrose Rice, a rising senior biology major and Sherif Helmey, a rising junior biology student, to perform the research outlined in the proposal. Hatch has also been reappointed as a guest scientist at Los Alamos National Lab.

 

Murphree Quoted in Termite Article

Steven MurphreeDr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology and entomologist, was recently quoted in an article in the annual termite control issue of “Pest Control Technology.” The article is about Dr. Murphree’s house in Murfreesboro.

McGrew Leads Elementary School Students in Dissection Activities

mcgrewDr. Lori McGrew, professor of neuroscience, visited the encore class at Glenview Elementary School in Nashville on Monday, March 7.  Because the students have been studying neuroscience, McGrew attended the class and brought sheep brains for students to dissect.

McGrew led a conversation about how scientists use brains from animals to learn more about what happens in people and explained the research she does with zebrafish. McGrew said the students were very enthusiastic and asked great questions during her presentation.

Students Present Research at American Chemical Society National Meeting

Belmont faculty and students recently attended the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in San Diego, California. This meeting attracts an estimated 11,000 to 13,000 chemists, chemical engineers, academicians, graduate and undergraduate students and other related professionals. During the meeting, scientists present new multidisciplinary research, hear the latest information in their areas of professional interest and network with colleagues. Chemistry faculty members Drs. Rachel Rigsby and Alison Moore-Parker attended the conference along with nine students who presented eight posters and gave presentations.

Ryan Agh gave an undergraduate research talk titled “Towards the concise syntheses of selenium- and tellurium-containing tryptophan analogs for the elucidation of protein structure and function.” Agh’s research was done under the mentorship of Duane Hatch, assistant professor of chemistry, as part of a grant Hatch received to do research at Los Alamos National Labs. Agh also presented Belmont’s Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS) chapter poster, “Belmont student members show the community that science is awesome”.

Parker Tumlin and Libby Ligon presented research they did with Dr. Thom Spence, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, in the SURFS (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in the Sciences) program titled “Determination of the activation energy of the rate-limiting step of the Fenton reaction.”  Dr. Kim Daus, professor of chemistry, had three students present their research posters including Sofia ElMaliki’s “Quantification of polyphenols and assessment of antioxidant activity of polyphenols present in organic and non-organic raspberries from different sources,” Adam Woods’s “Cationic Gemini surfactants for enhanced oil recovery” and Sarah Heacock’s “Surface-active properties of bis-quaternary ammonium-sulfate Gemini surfactant-conventional ionic and nonionic surfactant mixtures.”

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Justin Stace had two students present work in inorganic chemistry including Bailey Rose’s “Ligand exchange reactions of an enzyme-mimic Schiff-base copper (II) complex” and Caroline Williams’s “Ligand-exchange reactions in biomimetic model coper (II) Schiff-base complexes.”  Daniel Beagan received funding to present “Synthesis of a multi-electron transfer reagent using click chemistry,” work he did as part of a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Cincinnati.

Belmont’s SMACS chapter received an Honorable Mention award for the 2015-2016 school year and had a photo selected for publication on the ACS website.

Belmont’s Masters of Science in Nursing Graduates Achieve 100 Percent Pass Rate

For the 12th consecutive year, graduates pass certification exam on first attempt

All graduates of Belmont’s Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) program for Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) have passed the nursing certification exam on their first attempt. The most recent class of 22 graduates passed the exam this spring, making this the 12th consecutive year of 100 percent first-attempt success.

Nursing-ExamAssociate Dean of Nursing and Professor Dr. Martha Buckner said, “This is an amazing accomplishment for these students and Belmont’s program. It gives a clear indication of the quality and rigor of our program, and I could not be more proud of our students and their success. I am especially grateful to Dr. Leslie Higgins, director of Belmont’s Graduate Studies in Nursing, whose leadership of the program for the past 18 years has helped us achieve significant growth and outstanding quality within our graduate nursing programs.”

The School of Nursing began offering its MSN degree 20 years ago and with the creation of the Doctorate of Nursing, the College’s graduate programs have grown to a record enrollment of 88 students in the fall of 2015. Prepared to practice in a variety of settings, FNPs provide primary health care to families and individuals of all ages. Graduates from Belmont’s program have gone on to practice in pediatrics, genetics, family practice and public health, among others.

The advanced practice nursing examination for FNPs is administered by the American Credential Center (ANCC) and validates nursing skills, knowledge and abilities. Since 1990, more than a quarter million nurses have been certified by ANCC and over 80,000 advanced practice nurses are currently certified by the ANCC. The certification is accepted by governing boards throughout the U.S. as well as insurers and the military.