IMPORTANT NOTE: These are the archived stories for Belmont News & Achievements prior to June 26, 2023. To see current stories, click here.

Home Blog Page 534

Historic Building to Link Alumni

Paul Chenoweth
-
0
An artist rendering of the future alumni house.

One of the oldest structures on campus is being renovated to become home base for Belmont’s 26,000 alumni. Construction began in December to turn the former Plant Operations facility into Belmont’s Alumni House, which should open by August.

“The significance of this building is as symbolic as it is physical as it has  something that every generation of alumni can remember and can identify with,” said Vice President of University Advancement Bo Thomas. “We hope this first-ever space specifically created for alumni conveys a message to all alumni how important they are and how much we want to stay engaged and connected with them.”

Throughout the years, the building served as a faculty meeting space, theater and employee housing, according to University archives and first-hand accounts. It was the original home of the Communications Arts department in 1985, and the main foyer served as the first video studio with faculty offices upstairs.

It began as Ward-Belmont’s Clubhouse No. 10 during the early 20th century when 10 clubhouses lined campus in the former Club Village, which is now home to the Curb Event Center, Beaman Student Life Center and Gabhart Student Center. Each club house hosted Ward-Belmont social clubs for resident students and was used for meetings, meals for special occasions, teas and dances and housing visiting alumni. Membership of all Ward-Belmont students was required in the clubs, which competed in intramural athletic competitions, academically and for citizenship awards.

Continue

MLK Week Culminates with Keynote Address on Differences Between Obama, King

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Brown University Professor Glenn Loury condemned comparisons between two-term U.S. President Barack Obama and slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Friday in the Massey Performing Arts Center during the pinnacle of Belmont’s MLK Week 2013.

Loury highlights the differences between two-term U.S. President Barack Obama and slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during a lecture in the Massey Performing Arts Center.

During his keynote address, “Obama is No King: On the Fracturing of the Black Prophetic Tradition,” Loury emphasized Obama’s presidential election is not the fulfillment of King’s dream, despite its historical significance, because of the men’s contradicting agendas, actions and beliefs.

Loury juxtaposed the president’s 2009 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech with King’s 1967  speech against the Vietnam War. In his speech, Obama acknowledged force must be used, and such an acknowledgment is “not a call to cynicism.” On the other hand, King continuously advocated for nonviolence.

Politics prevent Obama from acting as a champion of issues directly affecting African-Americans and fully acting to provide solutions for the numerous race-related issues that continue to plague the United States, he said, highlighting critic’s responses to Obama’s comments on the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates in his home and the killing of unarmed Florida teenager Travon Martin. Instead, Obama focuses on rights for gays, women and illegal immigrants because advocating for African-Americans would make him appear as perusing his personal agenda, Loury said. Meanwhile, African-Americans continue to have higher incarceration rates, lower incomes and lower levels of education compared to their American counterparts.

Continue

Sisson Leads Women and Rhetoric Panel

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

English Professor Annette Sisson acted as organizer and chairman for the 2012 “Women and Rhetoric” panel. The topic was “Emigration, Immigration, Empire, Exile: Women’s Voices and Their Rhetorical Forms.” The event was held Nov. 9 at South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) in Research Triangle Park in Durham, N.C.

Kuryla Publishes Article

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Assistant Professor of History Peter Kuryla published an article in the January/February edition of Society as part of that journal’s  50th anniversary issue, which has the theme “Past, Present and Future.” The article, “Ralph Ellison, Irving Howe, and the Imagined Civil Rights Movement,” has to do with a dispute between the literary critic Irving Howe and the novelist Ralph Ellison over the merits of the protest novel. Click here to read journal.

Paine, Stover Present at Japan Studies Association Annual Meeting

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

English Professors John Paine and Andrea Stover presented Tanizaki Junichiro’s In Praise of Shadows to a plenary session of the Japan Studies Association, and led a discussion of this canonical text of modern Japanese literature at the annual meeting of JSA in Honolulu in early January 2013.

 

 

Parry Has Book Review Published

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Pam Parry, chair of the Communication Studies Department, had a book review published Jan. 22 in Teaching Journalism and Mass Communication, an online, peer-reviewed journal published by the Small Programs Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She reviewed a newly released war memoir from World War II, titled Ed Kennedy’s War: V-E Day, Censorship, & the Associated Press. Click here to read her review.

Slay Awarded Research Grant

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Motown Records has long been heralded as a business phenomenon that created some of the world’s biggest hit records and artists, including Smoky Robinson, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.  Curb College Professor Cheryl Slay has been awarded a research grant from the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators to examine the business practices behind the phenomenon, to analyze the relevance of Motown’s business model for today’s evolving music industry and to examine related issues on diversity in the music business.

Iranian-born Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi to Speak at Youth Peace Conference

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Belmont University partners with STARS for Mid-South PeaceJam

In an extraordinary joint initiative, Iranian-born Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi will speak at a free, public event Friday night, January 25, as part of Nashville’s first ever PeaceJam. PeaceJam is built around leading Nobel Peace Laureates who work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody. The goal of PeaceJam is to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities and the world. To reserve free tickets for the Friday night event, visit http://tinyurl.com/ShirinEbadiAtBelmont.

Shirin Ebadi said, “PeaceJam is an amazing program that really changes the lives of young people, and I am looking forward to working side by side with Belmont students and hundreds of high school age youth from across Nashville and the state. I learn so much from working with these inspiring youth leaders—whether they are in my country of Iran or here in Nashville—who are doing projects to address real issues in their communities from bullying and violence to cleaning up the environment.”

Belmont University is partnering with locally-based nonprofit Students Taking a Right Stand (STARS) to be the PeaceJam Mid-South affiliate, which includes Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky. The Jan. 25 talk, to be held in the Curb Event Center, opens a weekend-long conference expected to draw more than 250 college, high school and middle school students to explore issues of peace, violence, social justice and oppression with a community service component.

Dr. Mimi Barnard, Belmont’s assistant provost for interdisciplinary studies & global education, has been heavily involved in bringing PeaceJam to Middle Tennessee. “We live in an increasingly complex geopolitical context, yet we are called to love our neighbor. We are confident that this collaboration with STARS in hosting the Mid-South PeaceJam will make a profound impact on hundreds of youth throughout the region while also inspiring future leaders of our community, our nation and our world.”

STARS CEO Rodger Dinwiddie added, “We’re excited to see hundreds of young people experience this life-changing event and be inspired to tackle tough issues ranging from breaking the cycle of violence and bullying to ending racism and hate. Having Shirin Ebadi as our Nobel Peace Laureate for the inaugural year is a tremendous honor and a timely appearance given the ongoing global issues impacting women and children’s rights.”

Continue

Jon Acuff Concludes Four Part Series on ‘Your Dream Job’

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

On Wed., Jan. 16, Jon Acuff, author of Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job and Stuff Christians Like, concluded his four-part “Your Dream Job” series.

Following worship at the Massey Performing Arts Center, Acuff shared his own personal struggle on his journey to “do work that matters.” He once had the opportunity to speak at a Christian conference in Chicago while still working at his first desk job. He remembered how elated he was during the conference and how he cried on the flight back home. “I knew I was going to have to go back to my desk. I did the reverse Superman,” he said. “I put my clothes back on, and went back to work.” He explained that the road to truly fulfilling work is a long one and calls for much patience.

Acuff kept the packed-out Massey Performing Arts Center laughing throughout his talk.

He likened the experience to the Jews release from slavery in Exodus. “God did not lead them directly to the promised land. He took them the long way, through a desert road,” he explained. “It was frustrating, but God can see things we can’t see. He has a reason.”

Acuff explained that often, the need for patience feels like a desert road and can be interpreted as punishment. However, Acuff believes the desert road is a gift. “God may have something he doesn’t want us to return to,” he posited.

He returned to the question “how do we do work that matters?” with the infamous “you complete me” scene from Jerry Maguire. The movie, like much of pop culture, implies that people can, and need to, be fixed, Acuff explained. This impedes the ability to do work that matters. “If we constantly try to fix, God can’t use us because we become obsessed with the fix.”

Continue

Muccini Appointed to Consular Liaison for Italian Consulate

Paul Chenoweth
-
0

Dr. Francesca Muccini, assistant professor of foreign language, has been appointed by the Italian Foreign Ministry to the position of Consular Liaison for the Italian Consulate in Detroit. Muccini will notarize applications for Italian visas in Middle Tennessee and ensure efficient processing of visa applications.

1...533534535...860Page 534 of 860
Belmont University Logo | News & Media

CONTACT US

University Marketing and Communications
615-460-6650
communication@belmont.edu

FOLLOW US