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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Oglesby-Pitts on Talk Show

Paul Chenoweth
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pittsDr. Myron Oglesby-Pitts will be featured on Steve Harvey’s talk show in an episode scheduled to air on Nov. 25. During the taping that took place in Chicago in September, Oglesby-Pitts discussed her book, To Teach Like Mary: Getting It Right at First, and educational issues with Harvey, an actor, television and radio personality.  The show airs at noon on WZTV and 4 p.m. on WNAB.

“It is an emotional story with a surprise ending,” she said. “If teachers have ever questioned their work, then they won’t question it when they see this episode.”

Oglesby-Pitts teaches classes in Diverse Learners, Educational Psychology and Foundations of Education at Belmont University. For more than 25 years, she served Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools a teacher, assistant principal and as principal as well as opened the first public Montessori School.

Southern Baptist Convention President Speaks at Belmont

Paul Chenoweth
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Fred Luter-115-LThe Rev. Fred Luter Jr., the Southern Baptist Convention’s first African-American president, shared the importance of having a renewed mind with Belmont students, faculty and staff during the University’s Nov. 20 chapel service.

“Every decision you make in life is going to lead to a consequence. And that consequence leads to a blessing or a burden,” said Luter, who shared the story of how his involvement in gangs led to his hospitalization before he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

“Boy, obedience is better than sacrifice,” he recalled a deacon telling him as he lie on a hospital bed with a broken leg and hole in his head.

Referencing Philippians 2:5-8, Luter told students they can maintain focus by focusing their minds on Christ to lead them to make the right decisions.

“There is not a day when your mind is not being tempted by the devil, whether it is something you watch on TV or see on the Internet. The enemy will do all that he can to attack the minds of the sons and daughters of God,” he said.

Luter also serves as senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La.

“Our Baptist connections are strong as we host the largest Mission Fuge in the country, have missionaries-in-residence from Venezuela for the 2014-15 academic year and have a Baptist Campus Ministries led by Tennessee Baptist Convention-provided staff member Ninette Smith,” said Vice President for Spiritual Development Todd Lake.

Belmont is the largest ecumenical Christian university in the country.  Belmont’s faculty, staff and administration uphold Jesus as the Christ and the measure for all things.  As part of a Christian community of learning and service, students encounter Christian values relevant to personal growth, service and spiritual maturity and are expected to commit themselves to high moral standards.  Belmont’s goal is to help students explore their passions and develop their talents so they can meet the world’s needs with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.

 

 

McBride Leads Home School Science Workshop

Paul Chenoweth
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McBride_MechanicsKrista McBride, assistant professor of physics, led a Home School Science Discoveries session entitled “Mechanics” on Nov. 18.  There were about 15 children, grades fourth through eighth that participated, along with parents who stayed to assist. Home School Science Discoveries is a program for area home-schooled children and has been offered through the School of Sciences since 2008 in Hitch Science Building labs and classrooms.

McGrew, Neuroscience Students Present at Conference

Paul Chenoweth
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Neuroscience_Conference_13Dr. Lori McGrew, associate professor of biology, and two of her research students, Katie Farrell and Jordan Gann, attended the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in San Diego, Calif. on Nov. 9-12. The international conference draws more than 30,000 neuroscientists who share the latest research in the field and is the world’s largest meeting focused on scientific discovery related to the brain and nervous system.

McGrew presented a poster in the “History and Teaching of Neuroscience” theme.  Her poster was titled “How to Design Group Projects that Successfully Foster Collaborative Learning.” Farrell and Gann presented posters describing their undergraduate research projects during the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience chapter meeting and poster session. Gann’s poster was titled “Effects of Glyphosate Exposure on Anxiety-Like Behavior in Danio rerio” and Farrell’s poster was titled “Does Bacopa monniera Play a Significant Role in Improving Cognitive Function and Memory in Zebrafish?”

In addition to these presentations, McGrew and the students were able to meet other neuroscience researchers and learn about their current research.  The group was able to attend a number of lectures concerning key events in neuroscience this year. One such lecture series focused on implementation of President Obama’s BRAIN initiative. In an address in April 2013, the president outlined why now is the ideal time to revolutionize our understanding of the mind and make real strides in curing brain disorders. The SfN lecture series included leaders from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  who discussed the plan for implementation of the BRAIN initiative. Other special lectures included “Behavioral Sciences in the Courtroom” and “Adjusting Brain Circuits for Learning and Memory.” Overall, McGrew and the students learned a great deal about current advances in neuroscience, shared some of their own discoveries, and returned to Nashville, Tenn. with a plethora of new ideas

Digital Citizenship Class Proposes Apps for Google Glass

Paul Chenoweth
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google glass-231When Google selected Belmont media studies professor Dr. Sybril Bennett as one of its 8,000 Google Glass Explorers in June, the company likely didn’t expect that this single, beta sample of its new wearable computer would jump start the digital creativity of nearly 60 college students. But thanks to Bennett’s desire for her students to embrace and respect innovation, she set aside concerns for the risks (her glasses cost $1,500) and introduced both sections of her “Digital Citizenship & Society” class to the futuristic technology.

“It’s incredible, and it’s a beast,” said student Kristoff Hart. “Having this piece of technology sit right above your eyes is weird, but there are so many ways to use it.”

The students’ hands-on experience with Google Glass allowed them to better understand how the technology works. Students in each class were then split into five groups and asked to create a proposal for a new software application, or app, for the product. In presenting their ideas, each group had to examine the benefits, economics, marketing and potential competitors as well as weigh the pros and cons of their “creation.”

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Forbes Highlights Cornwall’s Blog

Paul Chenoweth
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Jeffrey_Cornwall_2Forbes business magazine recently named Dr. Jeff Cornwall’s blog, The Entrepreneurial Mind, as one of the 100 Best Websites For Entrepreneurs. Cornwall is a professor of entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration. His blog features video interviews with entrepreneurs and a range of downloadable resources.

Alumnus Encourages Caregivers

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont alumnus Peter W. Rosenberger is the president of Nashville-based Standing With Hope, an evangelical prosthetic limb outreach to West Africa. Rosenberger recently partnered with comedian Jeff Foxworthy to film a video sponsored by AARP to offer a little humor as well as support to the more than 65 million Americans serving as caregivers.

Peter-Jeff1

“Clowning around one day while speaking about the subject of caregivers, I did my best Jeff Foxworthy imitation and delivered a one-liner of, ‘If you have a professional carpet cleaner on retainer—you might be a caregiver’,” Rosenberger said.

As the sole caregiver for his wife, Gracie Parker Rosenberger, who experienced a horrific accident her freshman year at Belmont in 1983, Peter Rosenberger has helped lead his family through decades of medical complications including 78 surgeries, multiple amputations, 60 physicians, 12 hospitals, 7 insurance companies and $9 million in health care costs. He and Gracie have been married for more than 27 years, and they have two sons.

“Drawing upon AARP’s desire to offer practical help, encouragement, and community, we saw this as a real opportunity to reach out to hurting hearts during November’s National Caregiver Awareness Month,” Rosenberger said.

Rosenberger is also the author of Wear Comfortable Shoes- Surviving and Thriving as a Caregiver, and he contributes a monthly blog to the AARP website.

Alumna Crowned Miss Nashville 2014

Paul Chenoweth
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KaileighBelmont2(2)Belmont alumna Kaileigh Bullard was crowned Miss Nashville 2014 on Nov. 9. The pageant was a first for Bullard, who will go on to represent Nashville in the Miss Tennessee pageant in June in Jackson, Tenn. During her year as Miss Nashville, Bullard will serve as an advocate for the city, the Children’s Miracle Network, and her platform, Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness, working with organizations such as the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and Girls With Guts.

During her time at Belmont, Bullard served as Service Corps President and was selected to perform in the 2012 Country Showcase.  She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Music Business in May 2012. In addition to serving as Miss Nashville, Bullard is also a regular on the ABC show, “Nashville,” where she is the acoustic guitarist and background vocalist for Hayden Panettiere’s character, Juliette Barnes.

First Year Seminar Brings Students Face-to-Face with Equine ‘Others’

Paul Chenoweth
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through the eyes-107Despite the catchy, sing-along hook of the old TV theme song, a horse is not just a horse, of course. Rather, in the case of Dr. Judy Skeen’s First Year Seminar (FYS) on the topic “Cross Species Communications: Through the Eyes of Other Creatures,” horses are a gift to the education process, allowing Belmont freshmen a different way to interact with the campus-wide theme, Through the Eyes of Others.

Subtitled “Learning about being human by encountering horses,” the two sections of Skeen’s class allowed students the opportunity to visit the professor’s Franklin, Tenn.-ranch  where they interacted with four of her horses. As with all FYS courses, the primary goal is to increase students’ “recognition, appreciation and use of multiple ways of knowing.”

Skeen said, “Years ago I came across this quote from Mark Twain: ‘It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.’ It struck me as an important idea, especially for studying religion.  Now working with horses has expanded that to how we think about everything.  With so much information out there, we seem drawn to what we already think or know. Students in this class are encouraged to think about what they know, what they don’t know and what they think they know that might not be true.”

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Nashville Children’s Choir Performs in CMA Country Christmas Special

Paul Chenoweth
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The Nashville Children’s Choir (NCC), a Belmont ensemble, had the opportunity to sing back-up vocals for performing artists Michael W. Smith, Darius Rucker  and  Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles during the “CMA Country Christmas” special filmed Fri., Nov. 8, at Bridgestone Arena.

The NCC’s 23 Touring Choir choristers are coached by directors James Wells, an adjunct instructor in the School of Music, and Madeline Bridges, associate dean of the School of Music. The choir rehearsed the music, recorded their vocal parts at a local studio and then sang in the live taping in front of a capacity crowd at Bridgestone Arena.

“The choristers had a fantastic experience performing with these big-name artists and experiencing the behind-the scenes procedures and processes required to produce such a major event,” Bridges said.

Nashville Children’s Choir with Darius Rucker
Nashville Children’s Choir with Darius Rucker

The Nashville Children’s Choir is a city-wide choir program for boys and girls ages eight to 18. The choir is a part of the pre-college music program, the Belmont Academy. Since its founding in 1991, the NCC program has been in residence at Belmont and functions as an ensemble of Belmont University School of Music, singing regularly as a part of “Christmas at Belmont.”

In addition, many Belmont students and alumni performed in the orchestra during the special. The live orchestra on stage for the event included six string players who are current Belmont music majors or recent graduates.

Nettles hosted the special, and performers included Lady Antebellum, Mary J. Blige, Trace Adkins, Luke Bryan, Sheryl Crow, Jake Owen, Kellie Pickler, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker and Belmont Trustee Michael W. Smith. The program will air at 8 p.m. Central/9 p.m. Eastern on Mon., Dec. 2 on ABC.

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