Noted author and speaker Stephen Mansfield visited Belmont Wednesday, Mar. 28, to speak about cultural icon Oprah Winfrey and the religious impact she has had on society.
Outlining the path Winfrey has taken to where she is today, Mansfield described both her personal life and professional career. Beginning as a radio personality in Nashville and then moving to a news anchor position with a Baltimore TV station, Winfrey gradually moved up the ranks in broadcasting.
When “The Oprah Winfrey Show” first aired, it was known for its sensational, tabloid-style topics but quickly turned to more positive, inspirational fare in the mid-’90s. With the religious transformation Winfrey experienced throughout the years, she began integrating a newfound faith perspective into her show.
According to Mansfield, her theology came down to blending religions, separating religion and spirituality and the understanding that religion is all about self—something very confusing in the minds of her religious viewers. However, Winfrey’s power to shape public opinion–influencing everything from book sales to election results–gave rise to a term known as the “Oprah Effect,” indicating the impact she had on viewers and consumers.
Such an effect can be both powerful and misleading, and Mansfield encouraged his listeners to begin discussing religion in everyday conversation. He emphasized the importance of asking questions and understanding what is happening to avoid becoming swept up in a social movement, like the “Oprah Effect.” Rather, individuals need to gain understanding of their own beliefs and ask good questions.
Belmont’s Center for International Business held its third annual International Business Symposium Thursday morning, featuring a panel discussion and a conversation with former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, James Sasser.
The event opened with a panel discussion tackling the topic, “What are Nashville organizations doing to promote international trade and investment?” The panel included Will Alexander, assistant commissioner, Strategy for the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development; Andy Collier with the U.S. Commercial Service, Nashville Export Assistance Center; and Blewett Melton, director of international business for the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Melton stated that one of key elements of the Chamber’s future strategy is to promote Nashville as a center for international business, noting that 22 percent of the 103 expansions/relocations in Nashville during 2010/2011 were from internationally owned companies. Alexander also emphasized the growing international focus among Tennessee businesses, stating that 735 foreign companies currently employ roughly 100,000 Tennesseans. Collier pointed at that China is the third largest market for Tennessee exports, commenting that this is often a surprise to many people and providing an appropriate transition to the next segment of the symposium.
Following the panel, Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher introduced Sasser and his son Gray, an attorney and current adjunct professor at Belmont, for a conversation on the expected impact of China’s leadership succession on Sino-US diplomatic, economic and business relationships.
Gray Sasser pointed out that in November 2012 China will experience a transition as significant as the United States own presidential election when the 18th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, the party’s top leadership and most powerful decision-making body, takes office. Experts expect a great deal of turnover from the current committee structure due to the anticipated retirement of seven of the group’s nine members.
Despite the turnover, neither of the Sassers expects sudden changes in China. “I don’t see any dramatic changes in China’s foreign or economic policies in the next few years,” said Jim Sasser, who served as an ambassador to that nation from 1995-2001. “There’ll be more of a maintenance of the status quo. There won’t be substantial changes as [the new members] try to get their feet under them for the first 2-3 years.”
The younger Sasser also mentioned that China has recently seen a dip in its rate of economic growth and questioned whether it was time for American companies to start “booking flights to Brazil instead of Beijing.”
Jim Sasser said, “China is still going to grow, but we’re not going to see the same double digit growth. Economies naturally mature and slow down over time.”
Adjunct professor Gray Sasser interviews his father at the third annual International Business Symposium.
Both men advised that the best way for American business to enjoy tax breaks in China would be to build factories in the nation’s interior rather than along the coast, where the middleclass is already thriving. The Chinese government is more inclined to develop the interior where extreme poverty and economic disparity remain an issue.
Most importantly, however, “The one thing not to do is to go to China with a U.S. model for a business. That’s not going to work,” said Jim Sasser. “Instead, you need to take the time to understand the Chinese culture and to establish contacts. You can’t do it in a hurry.”
The International Business Symposium was co-sponsored by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Society of International Business Fellows, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, the U.S. Department of Commerce Nashville Export Assistance Center, the Tennessee World Affairs Council, Sister Cities of Nashville and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.
Senator Sasser also spoke in the evening to Gray Sasser’s undergraduate “Asian Business & Political Economies” class.
Dr. Andy Davis, assistant professor in the philosophy department, published the article “Hegel’s Idealism: the Infinite as Self-Relation” in the April 2012 edition of the History of Philosophy Quarterly. In the article, Davis argues that Hegel views neither inert matter nor abstract process as ontologically fundamental.
The Belmont Actuarial Students Society now is recognized as an official student organization. BASS aims to provide actuarial students with a comprehensive understanding of the actuarial profession. The recognition was accomplished through the work of four of the actuarial students: Annie Brunelle, Emma Stone, Wesley Whitson and Mary Yang. Reid Huffman is serving as president this semester. The faculty sponsors are Dr. Danny Biles from Mathematics and Computer Science and Dr. Joe Smolira from Finance.
The mission of BASS is to offer a nurturing community for students and scholars with an interest in Actuarial Science, and to foster a social, cultural and intellectual forum in which students can discuss relevant academic and business issues. BASS also assists students interested in careers as actuaries by providing informational presentations, lectures, interviewing opportunities, and exam study groups. BASS will also facilitate a variety of activities and events both on and off campus, with a particular eye toward practically assisting students to identify and cultivate potential career paths in the financial sector.
The Belmont University Speech and Debate team competed March 17-19 at the National Christian College Forensics Invitational, a national tournament at Carson-Newman College. Belmont’s team placed second in individual events and third overall at the tournament, a great feat for only taking seven students this year. Awards received were as follows:
Debate Awards Eric Schoen/Matthew Roberts; Varsity Debate Quarter-Finalists, (seeded 6th of 34 teams)
Eric Schoen – 5th place debate speaker (of 68 varsity debaters)
Education professor Merrie King gave a presentation called, Bridging the Divide: Montessori and Current Research, at the 2012 Annual American Montessori Conference, Montessori: The Bridge to Learning for Every Child, on March 17 in San Francisco, Calif. In addition, King was elected as a representative to the Teacher Education Action Committee of the American Montessori Society. AMS is the largest Montessori organization in the world, with more than 1,300 member schools, over 13,000 individual members, and close to 100 AMS-affiliated teacher education programs.
The Vaughn Science Lecture, sponsored by Dr. Tony Vaughn, a Belmont alumnus and dentist in Franklin, Tenn., was held on March 19. Belmont School of Science students, faculty and special guests attended a fascinating lecture by this year’s honored speaker Dr. Eric Skaar, associate professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University, Director for the Program in Microbial Pathogenesis, and the Associate Director for Translational and Therapeutic Development at Vanderbilt. The title of his talk was “The Battle for Metal Between Bacterial Pathogens and Their Vertebrate Hosts.”
Dr. Francesca Muccini, Dr. Regine Schwarzmeier and Dr. Cheryl Brown from the Department of Foreign Language gave a presentation March 23 entitled “Conversation Activities Outside of Class…Real and Imagined Excursions” at the Southern Conference on Language Teaching in Atlanta, Ga.
Tara Lentz, from Conexión Américas, was at the conference to receive the award along with Belmont representatives, Tim Stewart, director of service-learning, and Dr. David C. Julseth, professor of Spanish and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages. This award is given to a team of practitioners, faculty and community partners who have demonstrated success in achieving a mutually beneficial collaboration that has successfully addressed a genuine community need. Conexión Américas received a plaque in recognition of their accomplishments, and $500 monetary contribution.
Each fall semester, Julseth has worked with Tara Lentz to place his Advanced Spanish students in service-learning events sponsored by Conexión Américas in order to give them opportunities to put their Spanish language skills to meaningful practice in support of the Nashville Hispanic community.
Conexión Américas was founded in 2002 to address “the challenges and opportunities created by recent demographic changes in our region as an increasing number of Latino families come to Tennessee in search for a better quality of life.” It was co-founded by José González who served as Executive Director until joining the faculty of the College of Business Administration at Belmont University on a full-time basis. He continues to serve on the staff as the Finance Director while Vice-President of Spiritual Relations, Todd Lake, currently serves on the Board of Directors.
Julseth Presents on the Topics of Social Media and Service Learning
Julseth presented his case study from the Belmont/Wagner Teagle Project. The presentation on “Social Media and Service-Learning: Using Technology to Enhance Reflection and Communication” shared the results from his course last fall, SPA 3100 Advanced Spanish I, that included an integrated service-learning component and the use of Twitter to promote reflection and communication among students, the professor, and community partners. He and his co-presenter, Jeffrey Harding from the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education doctoral program, detailed the course and Twitter mechanics and discussed best practices for the uses of social media.
Several Belmont Faculty, Staff Attend Gulf Summit
Director of Community Relations Joyce Searcy coordinated the poster presentation “From Conflict to Collaboration: How One University Strengthened Its Relations with Its Neighbors.” English instructors Jason Lovvorn and Charmion Gustke presented “Transforming Voices Through Service-Learning: Personal Narrative, Community Partnership & Student Citizenship.”
Rachel Worsham, a senior English-Writing major, presented at the 2012 Alpha Chi Super-Regional Convention that took place March 22 – 24 at the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Md. The annual convention, which is held in a new city each year, centers around student presentations given by members of the Alpha Chi Honor Society. Collectively, members represent the top 10 percent of juniors, seniors, and graduate students from colleges and universities with participating chapters across the nation. Alpha Chi is the only honor society that is not major or discipline specific; thus, individual students present and compete in a myriad of categories ranging from Creative Writing to Molecular Biology.
Rachel was included in a group of six students representing various areas of academic study in Belmont University’s Alpha Chi chapter at this year’s convention. Presenting in the Creative Writing category, Rachel shared an excerpt from her memoir entitled potatochipbag, originally written for Dr. Amy Hodges-Hamilton’s Spring 2011 Creative Nonfiction course, which focused on writing and healing.
