College of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Elisa Greene and Dean Philip E. Johnston prepared a nationwide webinar titled “Anaphylaxis Screening and Protection Program” as a continuing education program for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, developed for the American Pharmacists Association and presented Nov. 13. The program’s goal is to inform pharmacy personnel of the signs of anaphylaxis, use of the auto injectable devices available, management of persons who require injectable epinephrine for anaphylaxis and ongoing needs of persons with anaphylaxis history.
Belmont University Offers Free Christmas Eve Carillon Concert
Belmont University announces a Christmas gift to the Nashville community with a free Christmas Eve Carillon Concert, as well as the nationally televised airing of annual holiday music spectacular “Christmas at Belmont.”
The Christmas Eve Carillon Concert will be held at 2 p.m. at the campus Bell Tower, located just off the corner of Belmont Boulevard and Portland Avenue. The concert features Music Professor and longtime carillonneur Richard Shadinger playing traditional Christmas music on the tower’s 43-bell carillon, his final Christmas Eve Concert before his upcoming retirement in May.
Located in Belmont’s Bell Tower, the carillon is one of only 180 across the country and is played by hand, multiple times each week including large events, basketball games, Homecoming celebrations, between class changes and more. It’s seen many impressive memories and sights including annual Christmas concerts, marriage proposals and even its own rendition of the Star Wars Theme Song.
A pianist originally, Shadinger learned to play to the carillon for Belmont–having never even seen a carillon before Belmont’s arrived on campus. He showed immediate interest in the system and has taken an extreme liking to the instrument, traveling to conferences, attending weekly lessons for years and even taking a sabbatical to further his skills.
Of course, the holiday wouldn’t be complete without the annual “Christmas at Belmont” special, performed in the Schermerhorn Symphony Center last December. PBS will provide a national broadcast on Friday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. (CST) of the 2011 performance, which featured nearly 700 students and faculty from the School of Music and was hosted by country artist and Tony-nominated Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy. Check local listings for additional air times. In Middle Tennessee, Nashville Public Television (NPT-Channel 8) will air it on Christmas Eve at 9 p.m. (CST).
Tennessee World Affairs Council Brings Arab Spring Expert to Belmont
Dr. Richard W. Bulliet, Middle Eastern history professor at Columbia University, spoke to students on “Understanding Muslim Societies: Political Authority in a Changing Middle East” on Wednesday.
“The issue is not who is going to fall, but what comes next, how it affects world affairs economically and from a cultural point of view,” he said.
A timely topic given changes and current events in the Middle East, Bulliet’s lecture discussed the Arab Spring and the challenge it presents to American foreign policy and interests across North Africa and the Near East.
He outlined historical background on Iran, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt. Military officer-led regimes control the economy and are involved in money-making activities, serving more as internal security than traditional military because, with the exception of Saddam Hussein’s regime, no Arab country attacks another, Bulliet said. Even when constitutionally elected, new regimes are underlined by the same military officers.
Dr. Jesse Register Shares Insights on Diversity and Urban Education
Dr. Jesse Register, the director of Metro Nashville Public Schools, spoke with students and faculty today in the Baskin Center on the topic “Linking Academic Excellence and Diversity.” Register, who began his career as an English teacher, is a nationally-recognized expert in urban education. His remarks in today’s academic lecture convocation centered on insights garnered from “America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future,” a 2006 report that highlights how changing socioeconomic conditions are impacting education.
“The first point this report makes is that there’s a widening disparity in literacy and numeracy skills among our school-age and adult populations,” Register said, pointing to decreasing graduation rates as one indicator. In 1969, high school graduation rates peaked at 77 percent but have dropped significantly since that time.
Students Recognize Searcy with Eagle Award
Mt. Zion Baptist Church recognized Belmont Director of Community Relations Joyce Searcy with its Eagle Award on Nov. 11. The church gives the award annually to a university faculty or staff member during the church’s College Sunday, a service led by and for college students. Click here to view a video of Belmont employees and students reflecting on Searcy’s good work for them and the University. Click on “November Sunday Series,” then “College Sunday” and fast forward to 1:07:22.
Physical Therapy Students Coordinate Dierks Bentley’s Miles & Music for Kids
Once again this fall, students from Belmont University School of Physical Therapy assisted with the annual Dierks Bentley Miles and Music for Kids motorcycle ride and concert to benefit Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Since its inception seven years ago, Belmont physical therapy students have served as the event’s volunteer staff, and this year over 70 students participated.
“We could not have taken this event to the level it now is without the help of my friend Mike Voight and his students at Belmont University,” said Bentley. “The Belmont students have been integral to the success of this event from the inaugural ride seven years ago to its current size. I always look forward to working with them.”
Unfortunately, after coordinating preparation for the event, stormy weather forced the last-minute cancellation of the motorcycle ride and eventually the concert as well. Among the thousands of disappointed fans were some discouraged volunteers as well.
“The Belmont PT students are a huge part of the continued success of this event. We had all been working hard for a few hours when they made the decision to call off the show and the mood could have easily changed, however everyone pulled together to tear down fencing, tables, and staging as quickly as it went up. The students never complained, and did everything that was asked of them. I was so proud to be associated with such a great group of hard working and dedicated young adults,” said Belmont alumna and adjunct faculty member Ashley Campbell has volunteered for the past five years, overseeing all of the volunteer staff for the past two years.
Woodling Presents at University of Central Florida
Casey Woodling, of Philosophy, recently presented his paper “The Incompatibility of Privileged Access and Content Externalism” at the annual meeting of the Florida Philosophical Association at the University of Central Florida and at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Philosophical Association at Vanderbilt University. The paper is related to some of the central ideas of his dissertation, “Intentionality and Self-Knowledge,” which he defended in the fall of 2011.
Professors Present at Sport Marketing Conference
Sport Administration professors Amy Baker, Ted Peetz and Stephen Shin recently attended and presented at the annual Sport Marketing Association conference in Orlando, Fla.
Shin and Baker presented information, handouts and student’s work examples of “Sport Marketing Plan Project” at the pedagogy symposium in the conference. This display features a final project culminated by students developing an overall marketing plan for a sport business, an organization or a product of their choice. This project enhances understanding of marketing theories and concepts and also promotes practical applicability by creating an original marketing plan paralleled to ones used in sport organizations today.
Peetz presented a case study at the pedagogy symposium which offered instructors material for teaching sport marketing promotional concepts and practices. The presentation included a case and PowerPoint presentation that introduced students to the San Diego Chicken, a legendary sport mascot. Over a decade ago, Peetz worked as a marketing assistant for the San Diego Chicken assisting in the execution of live performances at sporting events across the country. The case offered an informative look into marketing lessons the performer had learned during his 30 plus years as a sport entertainer. (image)
Li Co-Edits Volume of Essays
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies & Chinese Language Qingjun (Joan) Li is co-editor, along with Rachana Sachdev of Susquehanna University of Encountering China: Early Modern European Responses. This newly published volume of essays from Bucknell University Press addresses the responses of early modern travelers to China who, awed by the wealth and sophistication of the society they encountered, both attempted primarily to build bridges and express criticisms of China’s local traditions and practices.
Li’s essay in the collection is entitled, “Of Golden Lilies and Gentlewomen: Constructions of Chinese Women in Early Modern European Travel narratives.”
Contributors in the collection engage critically with travelogues, treating them not just as occasional sources of historical information but as primary, literary texts deeply revelatory of the world they describe. The contributors also reach back to the earliest European writings available on China in an effort to broaden and nuance the readers’ understanding of European contact with the Middle Kingdom in the early modern period. While the primary focus of these essays is the external gaze – European sources about China – contributors also tease out aspects of the Chinese world-view of the time, thus generating a conversation between Chinese literary and historical texts and European ones.
Bennett Presents at Broadcast Education District Conference
Media Studies Associate Professor Sybril Bennett presented “I Still See Opportunities: Now Tweet That!” for the Broadcast Education Association District Two regional conference held at Tennessee State University. Her presentation focused on the future of journalism and journalism education. Bennett also led a convocation sponsored by Student Advisory Board. She addressed social media, branding and professional presence online.
