Coordinator of Research Services in Bunch Library and Associate Professor Jenny Mills co-authored an article, “Project RAILS: Lessons Learned about Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills,” with librarians from the University of Washington, Bothell, Dominican University, Towson University and Syracuse University. The article appears in the October 2015 issue of portal: Libraries and the Academy.
The result of a research project that began in 2010, the authors developed recommendations for rubric assessment of information literacy skills based on experiences at their institutions and focused on four areas: building successful collaborative relationships, developing assignments, creating and using rubrics and using assessment results to improve instruction and assessment practices. The full article can be read here.
Assistant Professor of Public Relations Dr. Kevin S. Trowbridge recently completed the examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, earning him the professional designation. The announcement was made by the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB), a consortium of nine professional communication organizations that directs this competency certification program.
“Earning the APR reflects a mastery of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to succeed in our increasingly complex profession,” said John E. Forde, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, 2015 UAB. “Practitioners who achieve the designation are demonstrating their commitment not only to our profession, but also to a strong code of ethics and to the betterment of their organizations and clients.”
The Accreditation program aims to improve the practice of public relations by assessing competence in 60 areas of knowledge, skills and abilities associated with the profession. The examination is designed for public relations professionals with five to seven years of job experience and/or a degree in a communication field. Candidates who successfully complete the rigorous process, including presenting his/her portfolio to a readiness review panel of three peers and sitting for a computer-based examination, are granted the APR.
“As an educator, I continually challenge students to grow as young professionals who think critically and creatively about the dynamic practices of strategic communication and how it can be used to transform the world around them,” Trowbridge said. “This achievement reflects my own commitment to lifelong learning and continuous professional development.”
Prior to becoming a full-time educator and earning his Ph.D., Trowbridge practiced public relations in various settings including nonprofit, education, corporate and finance. He joined the faculty at Belmont in 2011.
Senior Shannon Carey was recently awarded the 2015 Tennessee Art Education Association’s (TAEA) Pre-Service Teacher of the Year, the first Belmont student to receive this award. Emily Sanford, a Belmont 2014 art education graduate, was awarded the 2015 TATE First Year Teacher of the Year Award. Carey and Sanford will be honored at the Fall TAEA State Conference in late October and are eligible for consideration for national awards.
Assistant Professor of Art and Art Education Program Coordinator Dr. Justin Makemson was recently awarded the 2015 TAEA Student Chapter Sponsor of the Year. Of his award Makemson said, “This honor is a testament to the hard work of my students.”
For more information on TAEA and its awards, click here.
The Heart Walk is a 5K and fundraiser for the American Heart Association. AED is the National Health Pre-Professional Honor Society dedicated to the encouragement and recognition of excellence in pre-professional health scholarship including medicine, dentistry, veterinary and others. The Society welcomes all students engaged in the pursuit of a professional healthcare career.
This journal explores the cultural nature of human conduct and its evolutionary history, anthropology, ethology and communication processes between people and within, as well as between,
societies.
As part of its continued effort to connect students with industry professionals, The Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont University will once again partner with Sony/ATV Music Publishing for the “All Access” program which gives students a pathway to share their talent and work with the world’s leading music publisher and gives the Sony/ATV team the opportunity to discover potential talent at Belmont University.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing SVP of Nashville A&R Josh Van Valkenburg said, “SonyATV is incredibly proud to continue this partnership with Belmont. We saw and heard some amazing talent last year, and actually signed one of the students who performed! Belmont continues to be an innovative educational leader by developing opportunities like All Access, and we feel confident we will receive even more impressive submissions from Belmont students this year.”
Through the program, students will have the opportunity to have two songs reviewed by the Sony/ATV Music Publishing Creative Team. The Creative Team will then select a limited number of students to perform their songs live for the SONY/ATV team at a showcase held during the semester. After the live performances, the SONY/ATV team may continue to develop their relationships with certain students beyond the All Access program.
James I. Elliott, Chair of Songwriting in the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, added, “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to have their music heard by Troy Tomlinson, Josh Van Valkenburg and the SonyATV Creative Team. We look forward to the process and have high hopes that Sony ATV Music Publishing will discover some future hit makers at Belmont.”
In 1971 Belmont University created a Music Business program designed to prepare young men and women for operational, administrative, creative, and technical careers in the music industry. The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business was established in 2003 to provide educational programs of study for future entertainment industry professionals. Belmont’s Curb College offers three academic degrees and four areas of study in Music Business (B.B.A.), Audio Engineering Technology (B.A. or B.S.), Entertainment Industry Studies (B.A. or B.S.), and Songwriting (B.A. or B.S.).
The college boasts an impressive faculty of academic scholars and authors, entrepreneurs, songwriters, producers, and sound and recording engineers. A world leader in music business and entertainment industry education, and the only freestanding college of its kind accredited for both business (AACSB) and technology (ABET), the Curb College has been featured in Billboard, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Business Week.
Alumnus Bryan DeLuca (’04, music business) will appear on ABC’s “Shark Tank” this Friday, October 9 at 8 p.m. CST. DeLuca is one of four founders of Dallas-based e-commerce site, Foot Cardigan, a monthly subscription service that sends uniquely designed socks directly to subscribers’ mailboxes. The company offers one pair of socks per month for $9, and sales are expected to exceed $1.5 million this year. Subscribers do not get to choose the socks they will receive, but the company ensures customers will love the fun prints and designs.
The company, which currently boast 8,000 subscribers, wants to expand, and “Shark Tank” provided a perfect opportunity for the entrepreneurs to pitch their product to the potential investors Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Lori Greiner and Kevin O’Leary. According to a recent story in The Tennessean, a trip overseas inspired DeLuca to launch the company.
“We were in London, and I picked up this six pack of fun colors and patterns, and I was like ‘I haven’t seen much of this in the states,’” DeLuca told Tennessean reporter Lizzy Alfs. “When I got back to the states, it kind of just became part of my wardrobe… I was like the sock guy.”
Experts argue improving citizens’ health is pivotal to entrepreneurial climate
Belmont University’s Massey College of Business will partner Wed., Oct. 28 with nonprofit organization Healthy Tennessee to host a free, four-hour symposium focused on the impact of healthcare and citizens’ health on the state’s entrepreneurial climate. Healthcare and education leaders will join executives from locally-based corporations and government officials to discuss why healthcare issues matter to the community and how all of these entities can best work together.
Dr. Manny Sethi, orthopedic and trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the founder of Healthy Tennessee, said, “There is no issue more important to the future of Tennessee and the development of a thriving business community than the health of our citizens. Companies seek environments in which employees are not only educated, but also healthy. Currently, Tennessee ranks 45th nationally in terms of healthcare with rates of diabetes, heart disease and obesity at all-time highs. Unhealthy employees cost companies billions in healthcare dollars on an annual basis and discourage major corporations from moving to our state. That cannot continue.”
Sethi founded Healthy Tennessee to seek to improve access to preventative healthcare across the state since Tennessee has consistently found itself in the bottom third of all states in terms of its citizens’ health. Recent statistics show that 11 percent of adult Tennesseans have diabetes, almost 32 percent are obese and 33 percent suffer from high blood pressure. With healthcare consuming more and more state resources, the issues have become critical to the business community and economic development.
Dr. Mark Phillips, associate professor of entrepreneurship at Belmont University and symposium chair, added, “There’s no question that the health of employees translates into the health of a business. This may be especially true for entrepreneurs because they often rely heavily upon a lean workforce to launch and build their ventures, and therefore the health and well-being of each team member takes on greater importance.”
The symposium will provide attendees a deeper sense of the importance of healthy citizens to the business and healthcare industries around the state. The agenda will feature Commissioner of Economic and Community Development for the State of Tennessee Randy Boyd and Nashville Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ralph Schulz. Other highlights include presenters from Healthy Tennessee, Nissan, Volkswagen, Dollar General, Asurion, Aspire, United Healthcare and Blue Cross, among others.
Standing alone on stage with just a guitar, singer/songwriter Amy Grant made a powerful impression Monday morning during a convocation in MPAC. The native Nashvillian has sold more than 30 million albums, won six GRAMMY® Awards and 25 Dove Awards during her career, but her talk focused on finding ways to cut through the chatter that life can bring, even a life filled with career successes.
Opening with the title track from her second album, Father’s Eyes, Grant then began a series of stories that detailed wisdom garnered over the years from friends and family members, including her mother’s admonition to her as a teenager to listen for the voice of God. Admittedly, at the time, she wasn’t sure what exactly that meant but recounted stories of how, in recent years, those words have come to her in specific moments and led to astonishing results. “I’ve always felt the infinite possibilities of what the journey of faith means.”
After a performance of her 2013 song “Not Giving Up,” Grant noted, “I wish somebody had told me this long ago, but I was in my 50s before it came to me. You know that chatter that’s in your head? It’s really not a trustworthy voice because it can be for you or against you. And when you’re listening to that chatter you miss a lot of other stuff. Last year I had to ask myself, ‘Do you even know what it’s like to be still?'”
Grant explained that “the chatter” is really an individual’s ego caught up in comparing the self to its own aspirations as well as to others. And the chatter it creates seems to only get louder when trying to pray or connect with God.
She remarked that reading The Wisdom Way of Knowing by Cynthia Bourgeault recently proved to be a “game changer” as it introduced her to an ancient, orthodox practice of full prostrations before God. “You have to be willing to risk something different if you want the trajectory of your life to change.”
Grant then invited three students to join her on stage to experience how prostrations could help empty the soul of noise and distractions and assist them in hearing God’s voice. “Hush. Just be in the moment. It made life feel a little more peaceful to tell my ego to shut up… We live broken, fractured lives, but who we are is loved, we are loved loved loved.”
“Savannah, I am already taking care of you,” said Idda, a Form 1 student at the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) in Kenya. Savannah Johnson, a recent Belmont graduate and current Lumos Traveler, has been living with Idda and WISER secondary-school girls since June for her Lumos Travel Award project, a grant given to Belmont students or recent graduates who are interested in embarking on a self-designed, international ‘working adventure.’
This summer, the Lumos Travel Award celebrated its 5th anniversary, and with six travelers going all over the world, the program has funded experiences for 32 participants in more than 15 countries. Designed by the students, Lumos empowers travelers to explore, engage and immerse themselves in local communities to deepen their understanding of an issue, project or idea that impassions them. Seeking to define travelers’ world views and engage them as global citizens, the grant supports projects that allow participants to travel for a minimum of eight weeks.
Savannah Johnson at WISER
Since her arrival in Kenya, Johnson has been studying the psychosocial support provided by WISER staff and will end with a research project comparing outcomes between students at local schools. Johnson said she first learned about Lumos when she was a freshman and immediately knew the experience was for her. Committed to spending extended time working at an all-girls school in Africa, Johnson was drawn to WISER’s model for education and created her proposal. On June 16, Johnson arrived in Muhuru Bay – and so began her 5 months as a Lumos Traveler.
Belmont alumna and Board of Trust Member Cynthia Leu created the Travel Award to provide a working gap year experience for Belmont students and recent graduates. After spending several years abroad herself, Leu said she was interested in facilitating a meaningful opportunity for students. By developing individualized travel proposals that directly impact a global community, students are able to learn through immersion, rather than simply by a book.
“It is profound to say ‘yes’ to someone’s dream, and then watch them go out and have that experience. They change and grow, struggle and learn, and come to realize that sometimes the big lessons come in small moments,” Leu said. “Often schooling is mostly focused on theoretical learning. A Lumos grant allows for a ‘working adventure’ – which enables learning through experience in an international location.”
Selden reads to her students
Lumos’s first traveler, Abby Selden, spent three months working in Ghana, at the
Mt. Zion Orphanage School, because it combined her interest in Africa with her love of working with children. While there, Selden organized summer school and was asked to teach English, natural and computer science. For Selden, the opportunity to live and work in Ghana was life-changing – particularly around building global perspective and a deep cultural appreciation.
“Living in Ghana for three months gave me the biggest dose of perspective of my life,” Selden said. “I realized that becoming a ‘global citizen’ doesn’t mean realizing your own importance, it means discovering your relative unimportance. I am just one person, from one of nearly 200 countries and countless cultures. Five years later, I’ve been to 10 more countries, learned French and now live in England. I’m not confident that my life would have changed so drastically if not for that first experience in Ghana.”
No matter the country or project design, Lumos travelers often point to the relationships they formed while traveling as the most meaningful aspect of their time abroad. For Johnson, her time in Kenya is still developing, but she already notes the relational part of her time at WISER as the most formative. “I think building relationships often brings the most meaning in life – no matter where you are. Getting to know the students and faculty at WISER has been so important to me. Over the course of my stay, I am excited to see how these relationships develop and grow.”
Selden teaches technology classes to her students
Selden would agree. Though her fondest memories of Ghana include climbing waterfalls in the Volta region, watching a soccer match between Ghana and Sudan’s national teams and visiting historical sites in Cape Coast, building relationships with her students and fellow volunteers tops out her list.
On the blog where Selden updated her family and friends back home while traveling, a requirement of receiving Lumos funds, she described her days at Mt. Zion and the lessons she learned. A few weeks into her trip, Selden’s relationships were strengthening and the children she worked with became more accustomed and welcoming to her presence.
“The kids have now started saying, ‘You are invited’ when I sit with them – which essentially means that they welcome me to their table and invite me to try their food. I have had so many amazing experiences in Ghana, but somehow I am more content sitting with the kids while they eat everyday than almost anything else I have experienced while here,” Selden said. “I love knowing that I am invited to their table and that they genuinely enjoy me sitting with them.”
For more information on Lumos awards and the application process, visit the website.
Coordinator of Research Services in Bunch Library and Associate Professor Jenny Mills co-authored an article, “Project RAILS: Lessons Learned about Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills,” with librarians from the University of Washington, Bothell, Dominican University, Towson University and Syracuse University. The article appears in the October 2015 issue of portal: Libraries and the Academy.
Assistant Professor of Public Relations Dr. Kevin S. Trowbridge recently completed the examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, earning him the professional designation. The announcement was made by the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB), a consortium of nine professional communication organizations that directs this competency certification program.
Professor of Psychological Science Dr. Pete Giordano recently published an article titled 
