Belmont Professor of Biblical Studies Mark McEntire recently published an article, “From Bound and Gagged to Swimming in the Water of Life: How God Breaks and Heals Ezekiel” in the Review and Expositor.
McEntire Published in Review and Expositor Journal
Cecil Scaife Visionary Award Honors Congressman Marsha Blackburn
Congressman Marsha Blackburn was recently honored at an event at the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) as the 2014 recipient of the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award. The award is given annually to an individual whose life and work have made it possible for future generations to realize careers in the music industry. In the early ’70s it was Cecil Scaife’s vision to create a music business program for musicians, artists songwriters and future music business executives to formally learn the industry he loved so dearly. Scaife, along with several others on Music Row, helped start Belmont’s music business program in 1971 with his long-time friend Bob Mulloy, one of the first instructors at Belmont who guided the program through its early years.
Congressman Blackburn was honored for her numerous contributions to the songwriting industry and her open door policy that has led to change regarding intellectual property rights and protections for music industry products. LaRawn Scaife Rhea, a Belmont alumna who founded the event which honors her father, said “Many people who become well known or ‘famous’, as many of you in this room have become, know how easy it is to let their feet leave the ground and appear to be someone they really aren’t. I have known Marsha since I was her assistant in 1976, and she is still the same smart, hardworking and caring person.”
Hosts for the event included NSAI, Mike Curb, NATIVE Entertainment Group, Little Extra Music Publishing, Danielle and Joe Scaife, Belmont’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and LaRawn and Richard Rhea. Past recipients of the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award include Amy Grant, Tony Brown, David Griggs, Mike Curb and Wynonna.
Belmont Student-Athletes Post Another Outstanding Semester in the Classroom
Belmont University student-athletes had another successful semester in the classroom as 2014 fall grades were finalized last week.
For the 2014 fall semester, the departmental grade point average (GPA) was 3.335, which marks the 34th consecutive semester that Belmont student-athletes have earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher dating back to the spring of 1998.
“Our student-athletes continue to be so impressive with their performance in the classroom,” said Belmont Director of Athletics Mike Strickland. “That success is credited to the hard work of our student-athletes, coaches, and academic support staff who strive for academic excellence.”
For more information on the academic success of Belmont student-athletes, click here.
Songwriting Student Recognized at 2014 American Songwriting Awards
Belmont junior Andrew Borel was recognized by the American Songwriting Association (ASA) as a nominee in the 2014 American Songwriting Awards Hip Hop category for his song “Randy (A Glimpse of My Reflection).” In addition to his nomination, ASA invited Borel to the annual awards show in Las Vegas, Nevada to be recognized on stage.
The American Songwriting Awards is an elite-class songwriting competition for working artists to be appreciated for their hard work and talent. Belmont Instructor Drew Ramsey encouraged Borel to submit a song to the contest. Borel is currently in his third year with the songwriting program at Belmont.
Belmont Partners With Area Agencies to Host Edgehill Christmas Event
Belmont partnered with MDHA, Regions Bank and Aegis Group to host the Edgehill Apartments Christmas event, an afternoon filled with presents for resident children, a goodie basket with holiday snacks, a family photo with Santa and a ham dinner, complete with all the trimmings.
More than 85 children from 45 families were represented at the event, hosted on Friday, Dec. 20, at the complex’s Community Room. In addition to sponsoring the event through a financial contribution, Belmont’s University Staff Advisory Council volunteered at the event and served as the elves who passed out snacks and presents to the children.
Edgehill Apartments’ Assistant Property Manager Thomas Corritore said that when his initial plan to fund the Christmas event fell through, he thought he was stuck. That’s when Belmont and Regions came together to provide the funds for the 4th annual event. “We do it for the kids,” he said.
Belmont Director of Community Relations Joyce Searcy would agree. “Belmont is blessed to be able to tutor many of these children, provide books for the Read With Me Day and interact on many levels. It was a no-brainer for us to stand in the gap for our neighbors so these children could wake up on Christmas with gifts under their trees,” she said.
Taylor Swift “Obsessed” With Belmont Student Mash-Up
Belmont students Louisa Wendorff, junior songwriting major, Devin Dawson, senior songwriting major, Jacob Durrett, sophomore audio engineering technology major and 2014 alumna Blythe Thomas received the Christmas gift of a lifetime when their Taylor Swift mash-up was noticed by the country music star herself.
The song is an arrangement of Swift’s “Blank Space” and “Style” and features Wendorff and Dawson in a folk/acoustic style duet. The video, created and produced by Thomas, showcases both singer-songwriters and the song’s audio was done by Durrett.
To endorse Wendorff and Dawson’s rendition of her popular songs, Swift tweeted the link to the video on Dec. 27 with one word – “OBSESSED.” In addition to Swift’s post, the mash-up cover has been featured on TIME, TeenVogue, Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly, among others.
Since the song’s coverage, Wendorff’s EP has grown to #2 on the iTunes singer songwriter chart and #57 on the overall charts.
To view the video, click here. For additional mash-ups done by Wendorff, click here.
Audio Engineering Major Produces Commemorative Song for MTV’s Diem Brown
Belmont senior and music business major Jared Conrad met musician and friend Davis Mallory in Bongo Java in August of this year. Although Conrad says the meeting didn’t stand out from any other of its kind, he is quick to build connections in the music industry, based on the advice he received from Ted Gray, his transfer admissions counselor when he came to Belmont.
“[Ted] told me that networking would take me farther in this industry than anything else, and that my time at Belmont is only what I choose to make of it… Since transferring here in the Fall of 2013, I have tried to network as much as I can, whether that be with industry professionals, internships, student musicians, other Curb College students or really anyone I could find who was in this field,” Conrad said.
Conrad must have made a clear impression on Mallory, a singer/songwriter who works at BubbleUp in Nashville, because the two paired up and have since produced seven songs together. Mallory was on MTV’s “The Real World Denver” and after was on “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” where he met and became close with Diem Brown, a fellow competitor, FOXNews host and People Magazine correspondent.
In November, Brown lost her battle with ovarian cancer and passed away at the age of 34. To commemorate her short but meaningful life, Mallory worked with a number of other artists to co-write the song, “Beautiful Girls (Diem’s Song).” Mallory and his cohorts produced a version of the song in a home studio, but the team wasn’t pleased with the results. Knowing the quality of work Conrad had created throughout the year, Mallory says he knew he could perfect it, even with the short timeline of two days he was given.
Since then, the final product that Conrad engineered has had over 80,000 views including mentions in People Magazine, E! Online, US Magazine, mtv.com and has become a No. 1 trending item on Facebook News.
Conrad said it was a pleasure to work on the piece, even though he didn’t have the chance to personally know Diem Brown. He said the real heart behind the project wasn’t to accrue so many likes, mentions and features – but instead, to honor the life of a loved one.
“It was really humbling to sit back and remember how short and precious life is, and how I was blessed with the opportunity to prepare this tribute to commemorate her life and everything she had done,” Conrad said. “My thoughts and prayers were constantly, and still are, with Diem’s family through this experience.”
University Receives National Weather Service’s StormReady Designation
With a University-wide commitment to community safety and preparedness, Belmont’s Office of Risk Management and Compliance spent the last year working alongside the National Weather Service (NWS), Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management to designate Belmont as a NWS StormReady University.
A designation reserved for universities that have demonstrated a dedication to safety and the continuous evaluation of plans and policies surrounding severe weather, Belmont’s efforts were led by the University’s Risk Management and Compliance Administrator, April Khoury.
To achieve this designation, the University had to qualify in a number of areas including creating a communications and coordination center for emergency procedures, ensuring the center is able to receive real-time updates through multiple channels, clear systems to communicate with the University community, promoting awareness through programming and developing a formal hazardous weather plan. The University completed all criteria this semester and received the official StormReady University designation.
Khoury said the receipt of the StormReady designation shows Belmont’s commitment to the well-being of its community. “Being designated StormReady ensures that the university is continuously evaluating plans and policies to provide a safe environment for Belmont students, faculty, staff and visitors. This was made a priority for Belmont to have a structured program to follow and to develop a relationship with local emergency management agencies and the National Weather Service.”
Belmont University Launches Seminar Series for Local High School Students
Belmont University’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) recently launched its newest program, CLASS Seminars, for area high school students to attend lectures and participate in collaborative experiences in education, humanities and social sciences.
Comprised of 24 sessions, the series begins in the Spring of participants’ sophomore year and continues through the Fall of their senior year. Students in the program will attend cultural events such as the Nashville Shakespeare Festival winter performances and the Belmont Humanities Symposium. The remaining sessions will be seminars presented by Belmont professors and other experts in the community.
The program’s inaugural class, selected from an applicant pool of 113 nominees, is made up of 26 students from 10 Davidson County high schools and will begin in January with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s performance of “Twelfth Night.”
The program is designed to educate students on what the humanities and social sciences have to offer and introduce them to subject matter that might not be covered in their daily high school curriculum. After completing the seminar series, participants will have a better understanding of where their interests lie and possible collegiate majors that could be a natural fit. In addition to participating in educational lectures and experiences, students will complete community service projects, a required aspect of the CLASS Seminars.
Doug Howard Appointed Dean of Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
Veteran industry executive to lead Belmont’s premier entertainment, music business programs
Belmont University announced today the appointment of Doug Howard, founder of Vandermont Music Group and former senior vice president of A&R for Lyric Street Records/Walt Disney Company, to the position of dean for the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, effective January 1, 2015. Howard fills a position held for nine years by Dr. Wes Bulla, who announced earlier this year his intention to return to a full-time teaching position.
Belmont Provost Dr. Thomas Burns said, “The dean of the Curb College possesses the distinctive charge of leading innovative academic programs that are regarded worldwide as among the best in entertainment business education while also ensuring that the college itself remains intricately connected and involved in the industry, both in Nashville and beyond. From his long-held ties with Belmont to his incomparable music business experience, Doug Howard is uniquely prepared for this role, and we’re honored to have him join us as the new Curb College dean.”
A 1979 alumnus of Belmont, Howard received his MBA from Vanderbilt University and his JD from the George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. He has a long history in the Nashville music scene with early beginnings as a song plugger and studio manager for the Welk Music Group. Following law school, Howard served as vice president and general manager for PolyGram Music Publishing for five years before becoming the senior vice president of A&R for Lyric Street Records, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Howard is the president and owner of Vandermont Music Group, a company he founded in 2010.
