Easter Seals Tennessee announced recently that Marty Dickens, chair of Belmont’s Board of Trustees, was named the 2013 Nashvillian of the Year. Easter Seals chief Rita Baumgartner, along with Board Chair Mike Campbell and past recipient Aubrey Harwell Jr., made the announcement on Jan. 29 at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce office.

Dickens will be honored at the 22nd annual Nashvillian of the Year Celebration on May 16 at the Hilton Nashville Downtown with event proceeds benefiting Easter Seals Tennessee, an organization dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities live with greater independence. Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher was named Nashvillian of the Year in 2010.

In addition to his role at Belmont, Dickens serves as the chairman of the Convention Center Authority and is spearheading the construction of the Music City Center. The former president of BellSouth/AT&T Tennessee, he also leads the YMCA of Middle Tennessee board, is lead director of Avenue Bank, a member of Genesco’s board, a member of the board of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of TN and chairman of the board of Harpeth Companies. He is a past board chair of both the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau. He has also served on the boards of a number of charitable and community organizations including the Boy Scouts, Adventure Science Center, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Nashville Symphony.

Since 1993, the Nashvillian of the Year award has been given to Nashville’s notable leaders who best exemplify the qualities of leadership that ensure that Nashville continues to be a better place to live. Each year past honorees select the recipient of the Nashvillian of the Year award using criteria including individual contributions to the community, philanthropic causes and business leadership. For information about attending the Nashvillian of the Year Celebration, contact Cathy Breeland at Easter Seals Tennessee, 615-292-6640 ext. 11.

Dr. Ted Peetz, assistant professor of sport science, will make a presentation with graduate student Kelley Cash at the Muhammad Ali Center – Athletes and Social Change Forum in Louisville, Ky. on March 29. The conference examines advocacy, education, and research on the role and contribution of athletes toward and within social change and human rights development. The title of the presentation is Creating A Legacy: Promoting a Socially Conscious Athlete. The presentation will include research on the strategies used by marketing firms utilizing former professional athletes in the development and management of charitable foundations.

Holly Huddleston, instructor of sport science, had an article published, “Corporate Fitness Members’ Perceptions of the Environment and Their Intrinsic Motivation” in the journal Revista de Psicologia del Deporte, in 2012 (Volume 21).  The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship of employees’ perceptions of the motivational climate in their corporate fitness center to their intrinsic motivation toward exercise, and their perceptions of their employer’s concern for their health behaviors.  Coauthors were Dr. Mary Fry and Theresa Brown, of the University of Kansas.

Dr. Stephen Shin, assistant professor of sport science, recently attended and presented at the annual Sport and Recreation Law Association (SRLA) conference in Denver, Co. Shin, as a co-author with other colleagues from the University of New Mexico presented the topic of “Copyright Issues in the Korean eSports under the Online Piracy Prevention Clause of the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and South Korea” at the oral presentation session.

eSports, an abbreviation of electronic sports, is a virtual leisure activity which has been developed through the Internet or Local Area Network (LAN). Since the influence of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect on and after March 15, 2012 between the United States and South Korea, in terms of intellectual property rights, game development companies such as Blizzard and EA Sports. have been protected from the video game piracy. However, the involvement of game users in eSports has been decreased with the restraint of communication freedom over the Internet even regarding legitimate sharing activities. This presentation reviewed the extent to which the Online Piracy Prevention Clause of the FTA has been applied to the game piracy situations, discussed how it has affected the Korean eSports industry, and concluded by making suggestions that protect the intellectual property rights of game development companies and concurrently promote the eSports industry.