ALL IN empowers colleges and universities to achieve excellence in nonpartisan student democratic engagement. Campuses that join the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge complete a set of action items to institutionalize nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement and voter participation on their campus.
“It’s truly an honor to be selected for the ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll,” Turner said. “Having been a part of the initiative since 2020, I’ve seen the engagement on campus grow far greater than I could have ever imagined. It’s been a long journey with many successes and failures, but it has always been about the learning process of enacting such an important plan and finding ways to leave a good foundation for the next set of student leaders to move the initiative further.”
The student honor roll recognizes college students at participating campuses who have gone above and beyond to advance nonpartisan student voter registration, education and turnout efforts in their communities. The diverse group of honorees spans 39 states, including 35 students at minority-serving institutions and 23 students at community colleges.
Belmont received the ALL IN Voter-Friendly Campus (VFC) designation for 2023-2024, announced in March. The university was one of only four schools in the state to receive the designation this year. The VFC designation was also awarded for the 2021-2022 academic year when Belmont’s student body experienced peaked engagement leading up to the 2020 presidential debate hosted on campus.
Keidron Turner poses with former Belmont President Fisher and Molly Deakins after the Debate 2020 Press Conference at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, October 16, 2020.
“Our biggest driver for increasing civic engagement on campus was working with Tim Stewart and the Office of Service Learning to bring the VFC initiative to Belmont University at the height of the 2020 Debate,” Turner said. “Since then, our driving force in civic engagement has been finding ways in which voting efforts can be institutionalized into the daily lives of students here at Belmont. That includes giving the initiative a permanent home in the Student Government Association, creating a voting resources page on the Belmont University website, implementing multiple social media campaigns during major civic holidays, and ultimately encouraging students to realize and appreciate the power their individual vote has in all elections, big or small.”
The senior will graduate in May and has made the most of his time at Belmont, serving in numerous leadership roles as a student and in his community. As a student, Turner was an SGA senator and the 2020 Debate Student Engagement Committee co-chair.
“I’m so proud of the work that Keidron has done and am glad to see him get this recognition,” Director of Service-Learning Tim Stewart said. “It was Keidron’s leadership as an SGA senator that led to the SGA constitution being revised to include voter registration, education and turnout as being specific roles for the SGA to engage in for the University, something that helped us receive the designation as a Voter Friendly Campus.”
Turner was recognized by the Tennesse State Legislature for his work as a legislative intern in 2021 and was instrumental in co-organizing an equality march in his hometown of Pulaski, TN. He will serve as a Young Alumni Regent for Belmont’s Board of Directors.
Last year’s midterm elections saw one of the highest youth voter turnouts in a midterm election in the last 40 years – an estimated 23 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 turned out to vote. ALL IN engages more than 9.8 million students from 965 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
As the first Black female to graduate from Belmont’s data science program, Miracle Awonuga has big dreams about how to use her data skills to change the world.
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Miracle grew up in the vibrant Antioch area outside of Nashville where the importance of community was embedded into every part of her life. Inspired by her mom’s influence in the community, Miracle knew from a young age that she, too, wanted to be a woman who gave back. But, she wasn’t sure how to be that community builder, until she got to Belmont.
In the seventh grade, Miracle discovered her love and talent for computer science and dove in headfirst, thanks to encouragement from Katie Marshall, her mentor and global literacy teacher at Nashville Prep. People began to know Miracle for her passion, talent and achievement in the field. “I was everyone’s favorite computer scientist,” she said. “I was the one everyone went to for help or for advice and guidance, which felt really good. Again, I love being there for my community, and that’s how I built community at the time.”
But, she explained, she leaned in too far before she had a chance to step back and think about what she was actually meant to pursue. “I felt like my only purpose was, not to change lives, but to make them function,” Miracle said. “I didn’t know I could do both.”
When Miracle arrived at Belmont in 2020 to start her computer science degree, she recalls going through a hard time – feeling isolated and sad while starting college during COVID and attempting to narrow down and to focus in on that purpose.
She began an on-campus job with the Belmont USA program, using her strong computer science skills to create databases for students to find internships. “I just love being able to figure out how to make data more accessible to people in a captivating way,” she said. “I also thought about how much I love marketing and storytelling, and something clicked.”
Meeting Dr. Christina Davis, assistant professor and director of Belmont’s new data science program, would completely change Miracle’s trajectory. Davis explained that data scientists are given a bunch of scrap pieces of data, and their job is to step back and find a way to put those pieces together in a way that is both coherent and useful to try and make the world a better place.
With that, Miracle discovered how data science would allow her to use her gifts of creativity, advocacy and connection in a cohesive way for the greater good. With a love for analytics and the stories those numbers tell, Miracle listened to her gut and made the decision to switch her major to data science.
“Representation really matters. I knew I had a place in data science, but being able to see another female data scientist doing so well in the field made me believe it,” Miracle said. “Dr. Davis helped me realize I was on the right track and that I had someone to support me, both in the classroom as a professor and outside of the classroom as a mentor. She’s become one of the most important people in my life.”
From then, Miracle said the opportunities and connections have continued flowing in.
Miracle serves on the executive board of Belmont’s Black Student Association, Women in Science and Women in Entertainment student organizations on campus. She is also part of the African student organization and works closely with the Office of Leadership Development.
Miracle and Dr. Davis
Being a part of all these communities has allowed her to better understand other people and shape her own world view. The tight-knit Belmont community has helped her lean into the intersectionality of her interests, her identities and her ability to leverage it all to create change through her work. Miracle’s future plans include a master’s degree in data science and pursuing projects in education policy and digital media.
“She’s always made the things she is super passionate about super clear – her family, education and media productions. And Miracle has always made the person on the other end of the project the most important thing,” said Davis. “That’s what is special about Miracle and our data science program. We really want to focus on the individuals who are affected by what we are doing and make sure that we are doing it in a positive way.”
While at Belmont, Miracle has participated in various opportunities that have fueled her excitement about her future as a data scientist. This includes:
Her statistical modeling project, which predicted test scores in underrepresented populations in Tennessee and explored how to improve the success of underrepresented groups on standardized tests;
her culminating senior project “Oh, To Be a Scholar,” an interactive data research exhibit exploring if the type of school someone attends affects their ability to be a college-bound scholar —which taught her to use her data skills “in extraordinary ways;”
and the opportunity to be part of the inaugural cohort of the year-long Thrive TN Fellowship through the Education Trust in Tennessee, exploring barriers that prevent historically underrepresented populations from pursuing post-secondary opportunities, which gave her the chance to learn about the intersection of data science and advocacy.
As Miracle fine tunes her data science philosophy – looking at data in bigger, unconventional ways—her goal is to use data to empower others, especially students of color. “I want to use data to not only lift us up and make us believe in ourselves, but also have others learn about the actual people behind the numbers they see,” she said.
She understands now how she can be the community builder she has always wanted to be.
“Being the first Black woman to graduate from Belmont’s data science program means the world and more to me. It is an honor that I am the one that gets to show other Black and Brown women considering data science that they can accomplish their wildest dreams; that it’s important for them to take up space and fight to have their voices amplified,” Miracle said.
“For me, it has proved that the sky is no longer the limit – it’s what we stand on.”
Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business welcomed GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Gavin DeGraw for an intimate conversation and Q&A on April 24 in the Johnson Large Theater, drawing more than 250 students. Moderating the conversation was music business alumna Monica Seetharam (‘16), who serves as director of digital marketing for RCA Records in New York.
DeGraw launched his career with his 2003, platinum-certified full-length debut album “Chariot,” which featured gold singles “Follow Through,” “Chariot,” and “I Don’t Want to Be”—which was featured as both the opening theme of the CW’s “One Tree Hill” and Entertainment Weekly’s “The 25 Best TV Theme Songs of the 21st Century.”
The singer/songwriter continued releasing hit music including his 2008 self-titled second album “Gavin DeGraw,” and 2011 “Sweeter,” including the double-platinum single “Not Over You.” In 2013, he earned a GRAMMY nomination for his duet with Colbie Caillat in “We Both Know,” nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media for the film “Safe Haven.”
DeGraw went back to his roots, writing alone again for his latest record, “Face the River.” The writing process was a form of healing as he grieved the loss of his parents and other family members, wanting to remember their legacy. “I can’t make anyone live forever, but I could make my folks’ story live forever if I made a piece of music.”
While writing the record, the last thing on his mind was marketing. “I was just trying to make art,” he said. “The music business is tough because you have to straddle this line of art and commerce. I made art, but you can’t forget you’re in business too.”
Amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, DeGraw took a big swing and asked GRAMMY-award-winning producer Dave Cobb—best known for his work with Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell—to produce the record.
“If you want something, just ask for it,” DeGraw advised. “If I had put it off two months, it would have never happened. To me, that is one of the great life lessons: if it’s something you want to get done, speak to it and do it as soon as it comes up.”
Seetharam guided the conversation back to arts and commerce, specifically through the lens of designing a tour. DeGraw makes tour decisions based on the market and what’s going to sound good in a particular room. Sometimes a drum kit is too much for a tiny space, he said.
“You also have to make certain decisions based on what the money is going to speak to. You make a show that’s too expensive, no one is going to be able to afford to see it,” he said. “Then you’re just outpricing your audience and it becomes insulting.”
DeGraw’s attention to detail on the fan experience and how they feel at shows sets him apart from many artists.
He reflected on an experience at a Virginia amphitheater where he walked by his merch table before doors opened and noticed t-shirts marked $55. “My blood boiled,” he recalled, later learning about the venue’s “most favored nation” clause where all tour merchandise is sold at the same price, no matter the artist.
“Sometimes you end up in situations where the money starts to look weird and can really affect how the audience perceives you if you do it the wrong way,” said DeGraw. “I would rather not sell t-shirts than someone think I’m trying to milk them that kind of money for a piece of cotton.”
Students had the opportunity to ask questions where DeGraw provided sound advice for both breaking into the industry and making a career out of music. “You need direction,” he advised. “[When looking for a job], you need to be direct, aggressive and tenacious. It’s not about your resume, but about convincing someone of your value and that you can handle it.”
Belmont celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month throughout April, hosting guest speakers and offering students and faculty the chance to interact with and learn more purposefully from the AAPI community.
From Dr. Jenny Pak, associate Professor of Psychology at Fuller Seminary, to Dr. Won Lee, professor of Religion and Director of Asian Studies at Calvin University, guest speakers shared stories on a range of topics all centered around reframing the understanding of the AAPI community in society.
Pak shared her personal journey of moving away from an individualistic understanding of bicultural identity towards a collective focus of finding wholeness in community in her chapel event titled “Regenerated to Wholeness.” Lee led a chapel event discussing the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Book of Luke, providing a re-imagined Korean Confucian-inspired and Christian-informed reading that highlights the failure of the father as head of the household, a failure which points back to the abiding love of God.
“Ultimately, both presentations poignantly underscore how the Christian Gospel is translatable, contextual and pluralistic insofar as it re-signifies and adapts older traditions in newer ways that speak to the present,” said Dr. Gideon Park, assistant professor of religion and AAPI heritage month committee member.
Other events and initiatives throughout the month included a community dinner hosted by Dr. Greg and Rev. Susan Jones for local Asian pastors and AAPI faculty and staff, as well as a display of undergraduate research posters created in a Multiracial Biblical Studies class centered around the theme of “Reading the Bible from Multiracial Perspectives: Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America.” AAPI Heritage Month posters were also featured throughout campus which presented notable Asian American actors, artists, educators, comedians, entrepreneurs and producers.
Belmont University announced today the appointment of David Rosselli, currently Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations at Baylor University, as the new Executive Vice President for Advancement at Belmont University, effective August 1. Rosselli brings nearly three decades of strategic development experience at both public and private institutions to his new role at Belmont, where he will serve on the institution’s executive leadership team and report directly to the president.
Belmont President Dr. Greg Jones said, “The bold vision we have for Belmont’s future requires us to invest more deeply in garnering philanthropic support by prioritizing our fundraising and engagement efforts at the highest level. Dave Rosselli brings 29 years of increasingly advanced professional experience in this arena across a variety of institutions, and he has demonstrated an uncanny ability to build strong teams that achieve successful outcomes. We’re thrilled to welcome him and his wife Christine to the Belmont community and look forward to the impact he will have across our campus.”
As the Chief Advancement Officer for Baylor University, Rosselli oversees the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations, providing leadership, strategic planning and execution of all development and development-related activities of the university. He served as the principal architect for Baylor’s recent “Give Light” comprehensive fundraising campaign that was publicly announced in 2018 and recently exceeded its $1.1 billion goal.
In his new role at Belmont, Rosselli will work with a team of 25 professional staff focused on fundraising, alumni and family engagement, advancement services and special events. Building on successful philanthropic efforts that saw more than $52 million raised in the last fiscal year, Rosselli will be preparing for the University’s most ambitious comprehensive campaign to date in support of Belmont’s Strategic Path to 2030.
Rosselli noted, “As a Christ-centered institution that’s a proven leader in healthcare, entertainment and social innovation, I believe Belmont University is well-positioned for a dynamic future that can redefine the role of higher education. I’m so inspired by Belmont’s mission and vision, and I can’t wait to partner with President Jones and the rest of the leadership team to help accomplish the University’s God-sized dreams. To have this opportunity within a community as vibrant as Nashville is icing on the cake, and my wife Christine and I look forward to meeting and engaging with Belmont alumni, parents and friends throughout the country. Finally, I want to express my sincere gratitude for all my colleagues at Baylor—your friendship and professionalism are unparalleled, and I so appreciate your support as I embrace this exciting new challenge.
“Chris and I couldn’t be more excited about joining President Jones and the Belmont family. There was only one place that could’ve tempted us to consider leaving Baylor, and it was Belmont under President Jones’ leadership.”
Prior to his appointment at Baylor in 2015, Rosselli managed the front-line fundraisers and day-to-day operations necessary to develop major and principal gifts for the University of Southern California’s Northern California Advancement Operation. He oversaw a staff that coordinated USC’s activities in the region, including major and principal gifts, events and programs in support of USC’s $6 billion campaign. Rosselli also spent six years as Associate Athletic Director at the University of California Berkeley, overseeing a $500 million athletics campaign. In addition, he has previously held development positions with the University of the Pacific and Santa Clara University. Rosselli holds a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and a Master’s in Educational Psychology, both from University of the Pacific.
Belmont University College of Law recently announced the winner of its fourth annual Legal Fiction Workshop. Third-year law student Kayla Mathews won for her entry entitled, “100 Small Choices.” The story follows an attorney on an emotional journey when a client reminds her of her younger self.
Mathews’ story was chosen through an anonymized review process by an outside community reader, Nashville Public Defender and team leader for Division One of the Davidson County Criminal Court Chad Hindman, Esq.
“‘100 Small Choices’ was chosen as the winner because the writer created the most effective blending of an exploration of the struggles of a legal professional with a confident writing style, which allowed the reader to enter the world of the story without much effort,” Hindman said. “[Mathews] crafted a plot that wrapped in on itself—an unlikely confluence of crossing paths, and a bit of a shaky structure that kept standing because the writer put enough attention and care into the foundation.”
Belmont’s Legal Fiction Workshop is intended to serve as a creative outlet for law students amidst the rigorous demands of their studies. A limited number of second- and third-year law students are eligible to participate in the workshop which has produced the past two winners of the American Bar Association’s Legal Fiction Contest. Professor Kristi Arth in the College of Law teaches the workshop and designed it as an incubator and space for students to produce creative work capable of publication.
Belmont University today announced the appointment of Dr. Sharrel Pinto as Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, effective July 1. A passionate health care practitioner, researcher and visionary, Dr. Pinto brings a wealth of experience to her new role with more than two decades of leadership experience in higher education. Dr. Pinto, a pharmacist by training, has dedicated her career to transdisciplinary practice by bringing together health care and non-health care practitioners to solve complex community-based problems, positively impacting patient care and wellbeing.
Pinto currently works at South Dakota State University’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions where she serves as Founding Center Director of the Community Practice Innovation Center (CPIC) and Founding Department Head of the Department of Allied and Population Health, as well as the inaugural Hoch Endowed Professor for Community Pharmacy Practice.
“We are excited to welcome Dr. Sharrel Pinto to Belmont and look forward to her leadership of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences,” said Dr. David Gregory, provost and former dean of the College of Pharmacy. “Her experiences throughout her life and career have uniquely prepared her for this role. Her visionary leadership and commitment to her faith are well-aligned with our aspirational aims of forming diverse leaders of character who will go on to solve complex problems and help people and communities flourish.”
In her new role, Pinto will lead more than 100 faculty and staff and approximately 850 students. Belmont’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences brings together faculty and students from seven disciplines: physical therapy, occupational therapy, mental health counseling, social work, public health, exercise science and pharmacy and will offer three bachelor’s, three master’s and four doctoral degrees. As Dean, Pinto will provide programmatic leadership to prepare students to be future health care leaders, build relationships with organizations for partnerships, oversee growth and strategic development, and lead the expansion of the College’s research and outreach arm.
“Belmont has a rich foundation of interdisciplinary work and inter-professional education across all its Colleges. I am excited for the opportunity to build on this foundation and leverage Nashville’s tremendous health care ecosystem to make an impact in students’ lives,” Pinto said. “I feel blessed to have life and career experiences that have brought me to Belmont. As Dean, I’d like to continue inspiring students to find or re-identify their purpose and develop skillsets that will improve health outcomes for entire communities.”
Born in a small town in India, Pinto earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Bombay in India as well as a post graduate degree in marketing management. She began working as a pharmacist in Mumbai, but quickly realized her passion for serving the underserved by merging community practice with clinical training. She went on to attend the University of Toledo for her master’s in pharmacy health care administration and the University of Florida for her Ph.D. in Pharmacy Health Care Administration.
Pinto’s career has largely focused on working with students and faculty from varying backgrounds. She excels at bringing together various stakeholders and community partners to form unique partnerships, positively impacting care and providing the next generation of practitioners with hands-on learning.
A decorated academician, Pinto’s transformative work seeking solutions to community-based problems earned her the honor of the Harvard Scholar for Leading Innovations in Healthcare and Education in 2019. She was inducted as a Fellow in the APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science in 2020 and earned the Community Pharmacy Innovation in Quality (CPIQ) Award, bestowed by The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) and the Community Pharmacy Foundation (CPF) in 2021. In November 2022 she received the Patriot Award from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, under the Department of Defense, recognizing her efforts to support citizen soldiers.
Belmont President Dr. Greg Jones said, “I am excited to welcome Dr. Pinto to the Belmont community. Her Christ-centered leadership approach is precisely what we seek out in leaders at Belmont. I am confident that her demonstrated innovative thinking and leadership, commitment to relationship building and heart for service will be a great asset to Belmont as we seek to train future providers who will make a difference in the world.”
Belmont Global Honors broke new ground with its junior-year Honors Scholars’ Collaborative program, which focuses on issues identified within the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Two sections of this year’s collaborative took on a pressing challenge together: food justice.
Dr. Sarah Blomeley and Dr. Heather Finch paired their junior-level honors classes, and as a result of their two semesters of work, presented a series of events called A Seat at the Table: A Food Justice Symposium, which was held April 11-14.
Honors Scholars Collaborative Photo by Sam Simpkins
Events included:
VOICES OF EDGEHILL: AN ORAL HISTORY OF OUR FOODSCAPE
Junior Honors students presented a collaborative oral history project — a culmination of interviews and research on the topic of food apartheid in the 12 South/Edgehill neighborhood.
HUNGRY TO LEARN SHOWING
A documentary introduced the faces behind a hunger crisis unfolding on American campuses, and what can — and should — be done about it.
CONFRONTING OUR FOODSCAPE: THE REALITY OF FOOD APARTHEID IN BELMONT’S NEIGHBORHOOD
Students presented their documented experience feeding themselves “on foot” in Edgehill and 12 South after an academic year studying food insecurity, food apartheid and food justice.
BELMONT FOOD CRITICS LIVE!
The Belmont Food Critics moderated a discussion on our food landscape.
PANCAKES AND PALS PICNIC
A community picnic and pancake bar catered by Sodexo took place on the main lawn with the goal of strengthening the connection between students and Sodexo staff.
FOOD JUSTICE IN NASHVILLE: A CONVERSATION WITH STATE SENATOR JEFF YARBRO
This end cap to the week’s events predominantly centered on Senate Bill 1049, which would create a farmer’s market food permit for food service establishments to operate throughout a permit year at farmer’s markets. Passing this bill would increase the availability of fresh, prepared foods for our community members.
Junior Honors students present VOICES OF EDGEHILL: AN ORAL HISTORY OF OUR FOODSCAPE at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, April 11, 2023.
Photo by Sam Simpkins
By bringing together students and faculty from various disciplines and encouraging them to delve into issues surrounding access to nutritious food and the ethics of the food industry, this symposium aimed to spark thought, discussion and participation.
Over the course of the year in preparation for these events, Dr. Blomeley’s class dove specifically into the issues of food deserts and injustice in the Edgehill community. With a focus on collecting oral histories from residents, working with local non-profits and connecting with Senator Yarbro, the class sought to better understand issues that contribute to the challenges of the neighborhood, how Edgehill’s history led to the current state of food insecurity faced by numerous residents and to consider Belmont’s role in our neighborhood.
“I’d argue that food apartheid is a more accurate reference to what’s happening to the foodscape in neighborhoods like Edgehill,” said Lynn Flaugh-Reynolds, junior. “Like many of my peers have expanded upon, food apartheid emphasizes that the lack of available nutritious food within a reasonable distance is a form of prejudice, of discrimination. It’s a choice, not coincidence.”
Flaugh-Reynolds said she’s most proud of their “collaboration and cohesion as a class.” She said, “It was really touching to see how we all worked together as a class to bring our project to life. We all really cared about the topic and educating people about food apartheid.”
Dr. Finch’s class focused on campus food resources. Through their partnership with Sodexo, they delved into the food opportunities available while also examining the gaps in resources for students, staff and faculty. With a vision to one day establish an on-campus grocery store, their work aims to ensure those within our community have access to healthy food. The goal of the work also aims to bridge the gap between students and Sodexo, ensuring that everyone’s voice is represented.
Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse, the director of the program, believes that the distinctive nature of this program lies within its immersive approach to learning. “Honors Scholars’ Collaborative is a distinctive feature of Belmont Global Honors,” she said. “It is a unique opportunity for undergraduates to have three classes in the Honors Core in which they dream up, propose, execute and share a big project. Most students don’t get this opportunity in their undergraduate years. It is a real testament to the opportunities we offer our Honors students here at Belmont.”
Whitehouse says students use the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an aspirational framework to think about what problems they want to solve with their big project. UN Sustainable Development Goals are 17 interconnected goals that provide a vision for how the world can be more equitable, fair and just for all – with an impetus on reaching them by 2030.
All students in Belmont Global Honors take a set of three classes as part of the Honors Scholars’ Collaborative. Students work in small interdisciplinary teams within the first class in the sequence in the fall of their junior year. At the end of the fall semester, they come together with the larger Belmont Global Honors community to present their ideas for their research. Students then return in the spring for the second course in the series with the same students and faculty they were with in the fall and work as a team. They come together from different disciplines and backgrounds to ask their research question and execute it. The Food Justice Symposium is an example of the culmination of this work.
In the fall, students from all sections return for the third class in the sequence and process the results of their work and how it can continue.
On Tuesday, April 18 the Thomas F. Cone Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship hosted the Business Plan Competition, a culmination of the entrepreneurship business pitch series for the 2022-2023 academic year.
“It’s a testament to the entrepreneurial mindset that’s going on at Belmont,” Program Coordinator for the Entrepreneurship Center Mitchell Barron said. “The fact that students from across the College of Business and across campus are creating businesses and putting themselves into the marketplace is really encouraging.”
Six student entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to a panel of alumni judges for a chance to win first, second and third place money-awarding prizes.
Sophomore Business System Analytics and Finance double major Jessica Finny won first place and received a $5,000 award for Chechi’s Chai which focuses on serving authentic and quality chai paired with popular South Indian street foods and sweets.
The second-place award of $2,000 went to senior Journalism major Julia Gigis for SwipeCruit, a job search platform that connects job seekers with quality company cultures.
Urban Gardens is an outdoor event space situated in the countryside of Williamson County founded by entrepreneurship and marketing major Austin Sorensen, won $1,000 for third place.
Alumni Drew Lamb ’14, founder of KLLW LLC, Willow Sprague ’18, co-founder of Barbees Bartending and Sarah Moseley ’17, founder of Songbird City served as judges for the competition.
Each year undergraduate students from all majors and programs are encouraged to apply for the Business Plan Competition. This year, a total of 30 students have presented their businesses for vendor prize money.
A woman gets bronchitis every spring. The only thing that helps is a steroid and a z-pack, or so she thinks. She finally decides to go to the clinic and learns that, unfortunately, she has been dealing with an undiagnosed case of asthma. After asking some questions about symptoms and medical history, her nurse tells her this is a chronic disease that is important to manage correctly and begins working on her treatment plan.
This situation isn’t happening in one of Nashville’s many healthcare facilities; it’s happening on the second floor of the Inman Health Sciences building – part of Belmont University’s new health care theater course being piloted this spring. The woman needing help is a student actor, being cared for by a Belmont graduate nursing student—all part of a mutually beneficial simulation.
Health Care Theater Course
As Belmont graduate nursing students train to be family nurse practitioners in clinical settings, they are required to see “patients” in a simulation setting where the professor will watch through a one-way glass window to assess their diagnosis. This requires finding actors to play the roles of the patient, and although Belmont students have served in this role a handful of times before, there was a need for a more reliable pipeline for collaboration.
A couple years ago, Associate Professor and Chair of Belmont’s Theatre and Dance Department Brent Maddox had a conversation with Dr. Beth Hallmark, associate professor and director of simulation in Belmont’s School of Nursing, with the idea to get Belmont’s theater students involved more consistently with the simulations. That conversation would also set the wheels in motion of a new interdisciplinary connection at Belmont between health and the arts.
Health Care Theatre class conducting a simulation
Co-taught by Nursing Associate Professor Dr. Erin Shankel and Adjunct Instructor Laura Skaug, who works as the senior standardized patient educator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s simulation center, the course was launched this spring as a solution to that challenge, allowing theater students to get credit for participating in required simulations for the nursing students.
“The theater students are strengthening their improvisation skills in those experiences and giving the nursing students some pretty real-life situations to face too,” explained Maddox. “Once the theater student moves beyond the script, the nursing student doesn’t know where the actor is going to go, where they’ll take it, what questions they may ask. It’s great experience for the nursing student because the whole thing is meant to feel as real and honest as possible, as they’ll have to learn to improvise with patients in real life too.”
The faculty pointed out the class isn’t theater as one normally thinks of it. While there is a theatrical component to this training, there is also the standardized component where all the actors are working from the same script and background materials and must approach the improvisation cautiously as not to give false medical information.
“We are trying to evaluate our students back-to-back just like a test: we want to give everyone the same test and the same material to see where everyone is at this point in our program,” explained Shankel. “We can’t do that in a real clinical setting because no two patients are alike, which is why these simulations are so important. Our actors really have to understand the character they are playing to the point that they can answer detailed medical questions, know the reactions to make and how to describe and show their symptoms.”
Interdisciplinary Approach Across Campus
Graduate nursing students debrief after simulation
This health care and theater collaboration has unexpectedly developed into something more across campus, Maddox said.
“It seems like it’s taken off into a whole new chapter,” he explained. “It’s turned into this whole interdisciplinary approach to arts and health at Belmont, which we didn’t foresee with our initial vision.”
Belmont’s programs have engaged in various collaborations this spring that tap into multiple disciplines to create unique and diverse learning experiences that a single discipline emphasis doesn’t afford.
A recent Music Therapy songwriting group brought an elderly community member’s lyrics to life. Occupational therapy faculty have been speaking to classes in the School of Music about physical and mental wellness of performers, preventing injury and ergonomics specific to musicians and their instruments. And, a Belmont faculty member is currently spearheading a fundraising effort toward purchasing MP3 players for the TriStar Centennial Medical Center that will provide infants in the NICU with appropriate, pre-recorded music at a safe volume.
Music Therapy and Jazzmin
Dr. Alejandra Ferrer, coordinator of the Music Therapy program, supervises a practicum in the Women and Children’s Hospital on a weekly basis.
“As a music therapist, I recognize and support the use of music to soothe and calm a baby, and I also recognize that there are evidence-based practices for the type of music that should be played for NICU babies to maximize benefits and minimize harm,” she said.
Ferrer had the idea to donate equipment that would play appropriate music for the infants at a safe volume, automatically shutting off after the recommended amount of time. She set up an AngeLink fundraiser to gather donations for the equipment, with a goal of 30 speaker systems for the 60-bed unit so babies are able to keep the equipment through their discharge date.
Students record music for music therapy project
In talking with Kathryn Paradise in Belmont’s School of Music about the project, a natural collaboration was formed. Paradise asked if Jazzmin, the student ensemble she directs, could partner with her in these efforts and record the lullabies for the MP3 players.
“Of course, I said, ‘yes,’ and now Jazzmin has recorded suitable, appropriate lullabies following the guidelines we have given them,” Ferrer gushed. “So, these babies will be listening to our Belmont students on their MP3s, all with language designed to promote language development, auditory discrimination and following the guidelines of using musical elements with a premature population.”
Arts and Health Summit
Associate Dean of the College of Music and Performing Arts Dr. Jane Duncan said a lot of the recent interdisciplinary approach at Belmont has been predicated on the creation of Belmont’s new College of Medicine (which will have its own simulation center) and looking for ways to expand those cross-campus relationships between colleagues in CMPA and in the health sciences. A small working group was convened to take on that charge.
In March, the University held its first ever Arts and Health Summit, which featured six industry professionals who presented about their careers combining arts and health in various ways. Panelists included a hand therapist, an alumna who now works as a travelling drama therapist, the founder of a company that provides wearable technology for healthcare simulation education, the CEO of Hearts Need Arts—creative support for patients and caregivers, and the chair of music at Brenau University who teaches a similar course on arts in health care.
“We wanted to host these seminars to inspire those working in or who hope to work in the leading industries of the Nashville area – Arts and Health – to collaborate with one another. We hope the panels offered unique perspectives for our students on new ways to utilize their talents and strengths while engaging their passions,” Duncan explained. “We want to be sure we are educating our students as fully as possible in the many, many ways that what they are studying here is going to impact their lives and other people’s lives when they graduate.”
Left to right:
Amy Cowperthwait, Richard Wilmore, Barbara Steinhaus, Sarah Edwards, Noelle M Austin and Dr. Jane Duncan speaking at Belmont’s inaugural Arts & Health Summit
Summit attendees were also invited to have lunch to continue discussing ways in which those in these industries can continue amplifying holistic approaches to health. “We know the great work our music therapists are doing. We know the creation of the healthcare theater class was great. What else can we pursue?” said Duncan. “What kind of God-sized dreams could we have about this?”
Looking Forward
Maddox hopes Belmont will soon have an entire program devoted to students who want to go into art and health related careers, devoting curriculum to training those in the arts to support training of health care providers and beyond. Studying the arts can be about producing entertainment, but it can also lead to really purposeful, meaningful experiences like simulation opportunities.
“We are seeing more and more research that integrating arts with health care and health services is starting to become the norm because it’s a therapeutic approach to the healing process of patients,” Maddox said. “We are excited about next steps and certainly want to maintain the momentum in our interdisciplinary approach as we develop new programs that would build on that idea.”
Duncan added, “Because Belmont is Belmont and we have outstanding programs in the arts and in health sciences, and because we are in ‘Music City’ where the number one industry happens to be health care, it makes really good sense to us,” Duncan explained. “We have had folks from all across campus come together to spark conversations and we are now looking at what’s possible for our next steps. I feel very excited about the conversations we are having.”
