Associate Professor of Music Business Dr. Cheryl Slay Carr recently presented “The Pedagogy of Diversity in the Entertainment Industry: Teaching the Business of Jazz” at the annual conference of the National Association of African American Honors Programs.
Slay Carr Presents at National Conference
Alumnus Wins Milken Educator Award
Belmont alumnus Misty Ayres-Miranda of the Nashville School of the Arts was recently recognized with the Milken Educator Award which includes $25,000 for her outstanding work in education.
This award is only given to up to 40 educators and recognizes Ayres-Miranda’s work and service to her school including her creation of the Literary Arts Conservatory, a venue for teens to express themselves creatively through poetry and the spoken word.
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Hawley Delivers Acoustics Instruction in Song
At the 170th Acoustical Society of America meeting in Jacksonville, FL held Nov, 2-6, Belmont Associate Professor of Physics and Songwriter Dr. Scott Hawley shared one of his science education songs. In his song “Baby in Hertz (Simple Harmonic Motion),” the chorus consists of spelling out an equation for oscillation (as a mathematical homage to R&B songs such as “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”)
Hawley notes, “Simple Harmonic Motion is a fundamental paradigm for understanding a variety of phenomena not only in acoustics, but throughout physics.” Accordingly, the lyrics of the 2nd verse of the song point out, “This phenomenon’s so universal, I can’t overemphasize it: Any force, for small displacements, you can prob’ly linearize it!”
ECO Club Hosts Richland Creek Clean-up
Belmont’s Environment and Conservation (ECO) Club and Environmental Science program hosted a clean-up for their adopted section of Richland Creek on Saturday, Oct. 17. Adopted in the fall of 2013 through an environmental science course service learning project, the adoption requires at least one clean-up event and two trash removal events to be hosted each year.
Volunteers spent two hours picking up trash out of the creek. After the work was completed, ECO Club Co-President Lindsay Millward led a conversation about water pollution and the importance respecting our environment.
Students Work Alongside Industry’s Best
Belmont’s Rock Showcase, held in the Curb Event Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, provided unique opportunities for student producers to work among some of the industry’s top talent. Two Parnelli Award winning system techs from Sound Image (the 2015 Parnelli Award for Sound Company of the Year) including Andrew Dowling (Tom Petty, Maroon 5) and Jim “Fish” Miller (Enrique Iglesias) worked alongside students and served as techs for the shows.
Dowling and Miller brought Eastern Acoustic Works ANYA adaptive array system, the most current, expensive and advanced large-format PA system on the market. Additionally, Dowling came to Lecturer of Audio Engineering Technology Scott Munsell’s course prior to the event to explain the technology.
Baldridge Celebrates Career Successes
Lecturer of Audio Engineering Technology Joe Baldridge has recently celebrated a number of career successes including a personal first with the recording of the No. 1 “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” for artist Keith Urban. The song was Urban’s 19th No. 1 and set a record for the most radio plays in one week in Mediabase history.
Baldridge has been busy in the studio with recent projects including:
- Working with producer Dann Huff for The Band Perry’s third studio album, “Heart and Beat,” scheduled to release this Christmas
- Recording Chris Tomlin’s “Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship” recently released for Sixsteps and producer Ed Cash at Ocean Way Nashville, assisted by Belmont graduate Joshua Ditty
- Recording Chris Tomlin’s new single, “Good, Good Father” with Ross Copperman at Ocean Way Nashville, assisted by Ditty
- Recording Eli Young Band, assisted by Belmont graduate Jasper Lemaster and Drake White for Copperman and Jeremy Stover
- Recording Urban’s new single “Break On Me”
- Working on four new songs for Urban’s upcoming 2016 album “Ripcord.” Sessions were assisted by Ditty and Chris Miller at Ocean Way Nashville and featured a band consisting of Matt Chamberlain, Pino Palladino and Charlie Judge
Student and Faculty Members Present at Audio Engineering Conference
Belmont audio engineering technology student Nick Lobel and faculty members Drs. Wes Bulla and Eric Tarr presented a research paper titled “Listener discrimination of high-speed digitization from analog tape masters with spectral matching” on audio preservation at the 139th Audio Engineering Conference in New York City on Oct. 30.
Their research demonstrated a method of converting an audio signal from analog tape to digital at a faster rate to improve the method of preservation. Additional digital signal processing was also included in the method to preserve the perceptual characteristics of the original analog tape recording. Finally, a listening experiment was included as part of the research to confirm the effectiveness of the preservation method.
School of Physical Therapy Adds PT Residencies at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy has worked in conjunction with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to launch specialized Physical Therapy (PT) residency programs in Orthopaedics (Sports) and Pediatrics, in addition to an existing Neurological program.
“We are excited to partner with Vanderbilt for these residency programs,” said Dr. Renee Brown, professor of physical therapy at Belmont. “This provides an opportunity for our graduates to advance their practice after graduation and pursue specialty certification. The neurologic residency is in its 4th year and has a 100% first time pass rate on the ABPTS board certification examination. This year the neurologic and sports residents are graduates of Belmont’s DPT (Doctorate of Physical Therapy) program.”
One resident is selected for each of the three specialties, which begin in August. The sports residency lasts 18 months, while the neurological and pediatrics residencies are 12-month positions, designed to prepare the resident to sit for board certification in their specialty from the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Residents get one-on-one attention from specialists in different subspecialties, and begin to manage their own caseload of patients after about two months, said Andrea Donald, director of Vanderbilt’s neurological PT residency program.
In the Neurological residency program, the resident is mentored by eight physical therapists in the Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute, which offers comprehensive neurorehabilitation services under the umbrella of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center.
The program’s mission is “to train expert clinicians in their area of focus or interest, to encourage advocacy of the profession and advocacy for our patient populations and to encourage clinical research,” Donald said.
The pediatric residency program gives a wide range of experience, from acute care to outpatient, including a rotation through the Susan Gray School at Vanderbilt, a preschool for special-needs and typically developing children, said Laura Flynn, director of the pediatric residency program. Ten therapists serve as mentors as the resident participates in 28 hours of direct clinical care per week.
The sports residency program, though longer in length, “allows the resident to experience working in the Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute outpatient rehabilitation clinic 30 hours per week as well as the Vanderbilt University athletic training room to gain on-the-field experience,” said Brian Richardson, clinical director of the sports residency program.
Story and photo courtesy of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, edited for Belmont University
Belmont Health Science Students attend Global Missions Conference
Students and faculty from Belmont University’s health science programs recently attended the 2015 Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Over 3000 health professionals and students gathered for the world’s largest medical missions gathering.
Professor of Nursing Dr. Ruby Dunlap and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Dr. Tracy Frame coordinated participation of 16 students from Belmont’s nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy and physical therapy programs. Student involvement was spearheaded by Derek Neice, senior nursing major, and registration fees were paid by the Gabhart Fund.
“We all have lots to reflect on and think about as we move forward towards a goal of participating in the mission field as nurses someday,” said Kaylee Leddy, senior nursing student.
Savannah Hari, an occupational therapy doctoral student, added, “I’ve had an ongoing relationship with an organization in Haiti, and I’ve been praying that the Lord would affirm that I should continue a relationship with them. This weekend He absolutely did, and I’m excited to finish out the semester knowing that the end goal is to take my knowledge of therapy to the developing countries.”
“The Global Missions Health Conference provided so much information on how I as a future PT can incorporate a missions oriented mind in my practice domestically as well as how to go out into the world and serve,” said Grace Cronin, a physical therapy doctoral student. “It gave me a new perspective and a fire in my heart to continue the work the Lord has placed in me.
Belmont PRSSA Shines at National Conference
Belmont’s Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter attended the annual National Conference, held this year in Atlanta. The chapter was among several to receive the Star Chapter Award, recognizing excellence in 10 categories including community service and ethics advocacy. Belmont PRSSA is one of only two chapters in the nation, out of more than 300, to receive this each year since the award was established in 2009.
In addition, Belmont PRSSA received two annual awards given to one chapter each year:
–The PRSSA Teahan Outstanding Regional Conference, recognizing the NASHvantage conference hosted in March, attracting more than 200 students from 28 universities. This is the second time winning this award, after winning previously in 2012.
–The PRSSA Teahan Outstanding PRSA/PRSSA Relationship Award, recognizing the sponsoring professional chapter, Public Relations Society of America Nashville Chapter, for its financial and mentorship support, as well as the students’ engagement with them. Belmont previously received this honor in 2007.
Additionally, Belmont’s past PRSSA president and current National Vice President of Advocacy Victoria Lewis received a PRSSA National Gold Key Award and a PRSSA President’s Citation for contributions to the organization.
