Alberto Gonzales, dean of the College of Law, was recently published in USA Today. Gonzales’s column, “A GOP President Would Nominate a Justice,” was published on Feb. 14, the day after Supreme Court Justice Scalia passed away.
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Forty faculty and staff in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and related fields convened on Belmont’s campus this week for the first ever Science Summit put together by the New American Colleges and Universities (NAC&U) consortium of which Belmont is a member.
The purpose of the Science Summit was to bring together a group of NAC&U science or science-related faculty to discuss possible cross- institutional research collaboration and proposal development. The experience afforded participants the opportunity to discuss potential grant collaborations while networking with other science faculty at like-minded institutions.
Science and science-related faculty discussed their current research and explored multi-disciplinary, multi-campus teams that could potentially apply for NSF or other foundation-supported grants. Jim Gentile, past president of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement and former dean for the Natural and Applied Sciences at Hope College, served as facilitator for the summit, which also included tours of the science labs in Belmont’s Wedgewood Academic Center.
Participating campuses included Belmont, John Carroll University, Manhattan College, Nazareth College, Ohio Northern University, Roger Williams University, Samford University, St. Edward’s University, University of Evansville, University of New Haven, Valparaiso University, Wagner College and Widener University.
Belmont’s Department of Theatre and Dance recently participated in The Kennedy Center’s 2016 American College Theatre Festival 48 (KCACTF) Region IV with their production of Alice, an original adaption of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland by theatre major Ara Vito.
KCACTF is a national theater program involving students from colleges and universities nationwide. More than 1,300 productions and 200,000 college students from across the country participate in the annual festival. Belmont was one of six colleges in the southeast region selected to participate in the festival recently held in Charleston, South Carolina.
Vito received the highest recognition for playwriting with the Region IV National Partners to the American Theatre Award. This award is given for the best-written, best-crafted script, with the strongest writer’s “voice.” The final award recipient will be selected by a reading panel named by the National Partners of the American Theatre, and winners will be announced at the KCACTF National Festival in April.
Students Austin Williams and Morgan Conder were selected to participate in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition. Kyle Odum received an honorable mention in the sound design category. The cast and crew of Alice also received the Golden Hardhat Award for the most professional load-in/out and technical process among the universities performing at the festival. Further recognition was given to Assistant Professor and Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department Paul Gatrell for “Excellence in Design” and Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Brent Maddox for “Excellence in Direction.”
Alice was developed through a process grounded in ensemble and collaboration and fulfilled Belmont’s senior capstone requirement for the writer and seven actor ensemble including Williams, Conder, Madeline Marconi, Nyazia Martin, Johnna McCarthy, Caitlyn Weaver and Kristen Ladd. This capstone is the culminating experience of their theatre training.
The student designers for Alice included Maggie Jackson for lights, Sam Lowry for projections, Caroline Knott for costumes and Kyle Odum for sound. The technical team for the KCACTF Region IV production consisted of JB Bridge, Taylor Thomas, Amanda Bell, Jake Wallace, Andrew Timms and the theatre department’s Technical Director Jerry Stratton.
For Alice’s full review at KCACTF, click here.
Director of External Relations and Executive Learning Network for the Jack C. Massey College of Business Jill Robinson was recently named as a “Woman of Influence” in the Nonprofit Leader category by the Nashville Business Journal.
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Belmont’s Curb Event Center was humming with fans on Wednesday, Feb. 10 as the university’s Office of Community Relations hosted its 8th annual Community Day and welcomed 680 community members to campus for a complimentary dinner and men’s basketball game against OVC competitor Jacksonville State. This year’s event was sponsored by Google.
As a showing of gratitude to surrounding neighbors, the annual event featured a balloon artist, face painter, photo booth, dance competition and more. In honor of Belmont’s 125th anniversary, dinner featured a birthday cake for the university and Eakin Elementary won a $500 birthday prize for bringing the most attendees to the game–160. Rose Park Elementary brought 100 attendees and Kipp Nashville was the third largest with 81 attendees. All three schools received a Chromecast from Google in recognition of their participation.
Nashville’s Mayor Megan Barry attended the event and presented the officials with the game ball prior to the men’s basketball game. The women’s team, who played before the men and won against Jacksonville State with a final score of 56-42, presented the mayor with a signed basketball.
Keeping in line with the night’s festivities, the Bruins (18-8, 10-2 OVC) were happy to bring home a win against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks (8-19, 4-8 OVC). With a final score of 81 to 73, Community Day attendees kept energy high in the arena and cheered the Bruins to another OVC victory.
Director of Community Relations Joyce Searcy said she is delighted to hold this event each year as the university provides an evening of fun for its neighbors. “As ‘Nashville’s University,’ Belmont is committed to the people who live in our community. This event is just one way of saying thank you to those who call Nashville home.”
Will Humphrey, event attendee and parent of Eakin Elementary students, said his family was very excited to attend the basketball game for a number of reasons. Haley Frye, Belmont alumna and past Belmont basketball player, teaches Humphrey’s child’s kindergarten class and encouraged the students and their families to attend the event. As Humphrey said, “Anything she asks us to do, we do. We’re all huge fans–and free food doesn’t hurt!”
A highlight and signature event on Belmont’s campus, Searcy said many people continue to look forward to attending–and planning–such a fun event every year. “Community Day is for everyone,” Searcy said. “The team enjoys planning, Belmont students enjoy running operations the night of and we continue to hear from community members that this event is one they are sure to attend. Each year gets bigger–more hot dogs, more balloon animals, more hugs from Bruiser, more guests coming through those doors–and Belmont is honored to serve as the host. Now that this year is over, it’s time to start thinking about next year!”
Belmont partnered with the historic Belcourt Theatre. while the organization is renovating its 90-year-old building, to screen 2016 Oscar® Nominated Short Films on Feb. 6 & 7 at the R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center. The screenings included three feature-length programs comprised of short films in animation, live action and documentary. The screenings were well-attended and included a sold-out show on Saturday, Feb. 6.
The films shown ranged in length, style, story and subject—including Pixar’s animated short “Sanjay’s Super Team,” the first-ever Oscar nomination Kosovo film “Shok,” a documentary focused on filmmaker Claude Lanzmann and his experience making SHOAH – “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” and the story of the “body collectors” tasked with gathering Ebola victims in Liberia.
The partnership came about through two meetings with Belcourt Executive Director Stephanie Silverman and Programming Director Toby Leonard, Belmont alumnus, when Chair and Professor of Belmont’s Motion Pictures Program Barbara Doyle first arrived at Belmont. “We are very excited about partnering with the Belcourt Theater on this initiative. It will be a wonderful opportunity for our students to see and by inspired by Oscar quality work,” said Doyle. “It was an extremely successful collaboration. The audience had a chance to see all the Oscar nominated shorts, and they raved about our theater. We look forward to more collaboration in the future.”
Two student workers, Blake Pipes and Meloney Rhodes, helped with the screenings by working in the theater, distributing information about the screenings and checking students in at the door.
With a total cost of $87 million, Belmont’s 134,000 square foot Johnson Center boasts $3.6 million in technology resources and specialized equipment. With multi-functional spaces offering classroom, lab, performance, production and research options, the facility features two theaters that serve as screening rooms, mixing theaters and a lecture space.
For Belmont alumna and local business owner Christi Beth Adams, running is a way of life. Whether she’s running the day to day operations of her two Fleet Feet Sports stores, running one of the many training programs the organization offers or tossing on a pair of her favorite running shoes and taking off for a long-distance race, Adams said running has always been a part of her identity.
While studying psychology and business marketing at Belmont before her graduation in 2002, Adams ran track and cross country along with being a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, among other things. As an involved student, Adams said she had a plan of what post-graduate life would look like—working her way up the corporate ladder in advertising, ultimately leading to an executive level position in the industry. After landing a job in her field, Adams said she wasn’t fulfilled in ways she expected, and her suits and high heels were swapped for running shoes and retail.
After traveling around the country for jobs in the fitness industry, Adams moved back to Nashville in 2006 and got a job at Fleet Feet. Thanks to being “in the right place at the right time with the right skill set,” Adams said she took advantage of the organization’s newly created employee to ownership program and was able to acquire the store in Jan. 2011. Thanks to a healthy industry, growing community and Adams’s success, she was able to open her second Fleet Feet location in Nov. 2013.
“I never dreamed of being a business owner while I was at Belmont,” Adams said. “But while I was there, I learned how important relationships are and the benefit of being a lifelong learner. Those things helped prepare me for the entrepreneurial venture that I didn’t even know was ahead of me.”
Adams’ career has brought many accolades including her recent receipt of Nike’s 2015 “Just Do It Award” in recognition of her hard work to further the fitness industry. The award celebrates female leaders who create a positive impact on the running sport through business savvy, community involvement and team leadership built on honesty and integrity.
Though her Nike award will remain a career win for Adams, it’s not the highlight she looks to most. Adams said the best part of her job is providing customers with the tools they need to accomplish their fitness goals and having the opportunity to develop fantastic employees who love what they do. “Whether someone works at Fleet Feet for eight months or eight years, I hope they can look back on their time and say they experienced great professional and personal growth,” Adams said.
Belmont University will be open Wednesday, February 10, 2016, and all classes and activities are scheduled to proceed as scheduled. Bernard Avenue will be closed this morning, along with the sixth floor entrance to the Curb Garage from Bernard, but the Soccer Field Drive access to the Curb Garage from 15th Avenue will be open. Because weather and road conditions can vary greatly within our region, students, faculty and staff are urged to use individual discretion when making the decision to travel to campus in snow or icy weather.
Alumnus McKinley Belcher III, a 2006 graduate with a B.A. in communication studies and a minor in political science, stars as Samuel Diggs in PBS’s new scripted series, “Mercy Street,” taking place in a luxury hotel turned into a Union hospital in Alexandria, Virginia during the Civil War.
Belcher plays the role of a free black man who has come to the hospital to advance his medical education. In an article in the Los Angeles Daily News, Belcher’s character is described: “Samuel knows more about surgery than many of the doctors at the hospital. His parents were servants for a Philadelphia physician who taught him medical skills. However, because of his race, Samuel is only hired as a laborer. Belcher describes his character as someone who ‘is not going to let anything stand in the way of where he wants to go.’”
Belcher did not start acting until he arrived at Belmont. He said one of his friends was heavily involved in theater and persuaded him to audition for Raisin in the Sun, directed by the late Lynn Eastes. He landed a role as George Murchison. “It was a really transformative experience, especially for someone who had never acted. It whet my appetite and made me curious about expressing myself that way. That same friend was on Belmont’s Speech and Debate team, and she needed a partner for dramatic duo. This was my freshman year, and it turned out to be the most formative choice I made while at Belmont,” he said. “I ended up competing on the Speech and Debate Team all four years of undergraduate study. It was singularly more important than any class I took, in terms of development and growth. The team was coached by Mary Vaughn initially, and Jason Stahl stepped in later. I competed in events like poetry, prose, communication analysis, dramatic interpretation, duo, impromptu, persuasive and informative speaking. It gave me an opportunity to find my artistic voice and actually think about my perspective on the world around me. It instilled a belief in me that art can affect change in the world and that engaging with such ideas is the high calling of art and discourse.”
Belcher explained his plan was originally to attend law school after graduating from Belmont. He interned for a year at a local law firm and went to work for a firm in Atlanta post-graduation. However, thinking back to the time he felt most engaged in life – acting in Rasin in the Sun and competing on the speech and debate team – Belcher realized pursing law was not his dream. He started grad school at USC School of Dramatic Arts and earned his MFA in Acting in 2010. He has been working as a professional actor ever since.
Belcher has worked in many roles, from regional and Off Broadway theatre roles to TV and independent film parts. Currently, he is rehearsing for a play off-Broadway called The Royale, playing “Fish” in the story of Jack Johnson’s journey to becoming the heavyweight champion in the early 1900s. He also did the world premiere of a play called Rear Window at Hartford Stage with Kevin Bacon, with the hope of bringing that play to Broadway later this year. “My hope, long-term, is that I can continue to grow and explore in all mediums: theatre, television and film. It’s really pleasurable to bounce from stage to screen. I feel they inform one another. I hope I also get to make a foray into studio films, but I’m really happy so long as I get to tell engaging stories that speak a truth that needs to be heard and hopefully not repeating myself too often,” said Belcher.
Belcher said he is excited that “Mercy Street” is on PBS because it means that everyone has access to it and that the people at the helm find historical accuracy important rather than simply chasing ratings. “The show is entertainment; it’s funny; it’s sad, and I hope engaging. But I also think it’s challenging material, in that there’s an element of social commentary to it. I like to call it edutainment: drama that both entertains and educates,” said Belcher. “It’s also really exciting that this is my first series that I have my own arc and am being challenged in a real and beautiful way. I’m really proud that I get to honor the history and journey of those that came before me by playing Samuel Diggs on this show. I hope it gives perspective on the world we live in today, if only by way of contrast. Holding the mirror up to 1862 highlights how our world has changed but also emphasizes those areas where change has eluded us.”
“Mercy Street” debuted on January 17, and the six-part series airs on PBS Sunday nights at 10 p.m./9 p.m. Central. Episodes are also available online.
Ultra-marathon runner Jason Eads, husband of Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator Lauren Eads, participated for the second year in Belmont’s “Pour on the Pink” day by running on a treadmill non-stop throughout both women’s and men’s basketball games on Feb. 6. This year faculty, staff and students were invited to join Eads by running on a second treadmill in 20-minute intervals. Attendees of the game could donate $1 to guess the total mileage ran by all runners that afternoon, with all donations going to Susan G. Komen for breast cancer research, education, assistance and advocacy.
Participants on the second treadmill included Debbie Chenoweth, Jeffery Burgin, Olivia Miller, Antonio (dressed as BelMedea), Komen Executive Director Patty Harman, Jamie Zeller, Mary Mancin, Mark Carr, Chris Kuhlmeyer, Karlee Lursen, Sam Stolte and Kim Carr.
The final mileage for the “Guess the Mileage” contest at the 5 minute mark of the second half of the men’s game was 43.7. Eads ran 27.6, and participants on the second treadmill ran 16.1. Eads continued to run until the end of the game to cover a total of 30 miles even. Click here to view additional photos from the event.
