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

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West Memphis Three Member Visits Belmont

Paul Chenoweth
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Jason Baldwin

Jason Baldwin, one of the West Memphis Three, was on campus this week to share his story and newfound passions with Belmont faculty, staff and students.

Sentenced in 1994 for the murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, Baldwin and his two friends served over 18 years in prison. With the discovery of newly processed DNA, the trio was released in August of 2011 when they entered Alford Pleas stating their innocence while also noting that prosecution have enough initial evidence to sentence them as they did.

Baldwin’s message to his listeners was clear. While in jail he took the opportunity to work in the law library, learn as much as he could and appreciate all the time he had. He urges students to do the same.

Baldwin has also committed himself to a life working against the death penalty while also opposing forced confessions of individuals on trial and convictions of the innocent. In addition, he hopes to help juveniles facing a life sentence without parole.

Beginning his associate degree in April, Baldwin hopes to finish that program and work towards a law degree so he can continue his hopes of changing the legal system. He ended his convocation lecture by saying, “Every day is amazing. Every day is a blessing. I thank God for it.”

On Monday night, Baldwin was present for an on campus viewing of the 2012 Academy Award-nominated HBO documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. The film, along with its predecessors Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000), detail the story of the West Memphis Three and the trio’s ultimate release from prison. Together the films played a significant role in garnering publicity, awareness and support for the men.

Belmont Graduate Program Offers New Social Media Course

Paul Chenoweth
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The Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University began offering a new course this semester, “Social Media Marketing Strategies and the Recommendation Age,” which is believed to be the first graduate level course in social media to be developed in the Nashville area. The class is being taught by instructor Bob Hutchins, local author and owner of BuzzPlant, a marketing agency specializing in social media and online marketing.

Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Business Dr. Joe Alexander said, “We see Bob as a pioneer in the industry and believe he will greatly impact the learning experience of our MBA students.”

Hutchins noted, “I’ve spent 20 years working on marketing campaigns and strategies for clients, and only in the last five have I seen how great of an influence social media has on the business world. I’m proud to be involved with Belmont and help our rising industry leaders see the opportunities social media has to offer.”

As industries continue to cut back on marketing budgets, recent solutions have been anchored in the realm of social media. Hutchins defines this new era as the “Recommendation Age”—consumers are once again taking recommendations from their fellow consumers and having these conversations online.

Taught by a professional in the field, students receive relevant, authentic examples of what is happening in the social media field around Nashville. Hutchins brings examples from his own organization into the classroom for lectures. “It allows students to see real campaigns close up. It also allows me to share what worked, where we made mistakes and how we succeeded. This ‘hands-on’ approach makes the experience less academic and more real world,” he said.

Students are grateful for the experience to learn from such a professor. Kathleen Goff, a student in Hutchins’ class enjoyed the class so much she took an internship at BuzzPlant. She said, “I learned a ton about the impact social media can have and the ways in which you can track it.  I was also fascinated by… learning about how important social media is to spur on communication and conversations between people about your product.”

For 25 years, the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University has been an avenue for practicing professionals to develop the tools and strategies necessary to advance in their careers. Acquiring an advanced business degree through practical, ethical and entrepreneurial coursework has facilitated the professional development of more than 1,800 business leaders in Nashville and beyond.

More Cloar : Carroll Cloar Art Exhibit Returns to Belmont University’s Leu Gallery

Paul Chenoweth
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The Washerwoman
Image courtesy of David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN: “The Washerwoman” by Carroll Cloar, 1974.

Curated by David Lusk, the Leu Art Gallery presents paintings, lithographs and drawings by the late Carroll Cloar April 2 – May 24 on the campus of Belmont University. The exhibit offers selections from the David Lusk Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee, and several Nashville area collectors.

A nationally recognized American painter, Cloar’s style has been described as simultaneously primitive and progressively modern. Drawing from his childhood memories of the American South, his compositions are grounded in reality but often evoke a dream-like quality making them difficult to categorize, but remarkable to contemplate. Belmont University previously hosted a Carroll Cloar exhibit, “Timeless Tales of the South,” in 2003.

Art historian and writer Dr. Richard Gruber will provide a guest lecture on Cloar at 4 p.m., Thursday, April 12 in the Lila D. Bunch Multimedia Hall followed by a 5-7 p.m. reception in the Leu Art Gallery. The event is free and open to the public. Gruber is active as an independent curator, art historian and writer, living in Asheville, North Carolina. He is also Director Emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, after serving as the Director of the Ogden Museum and a member of the University of New Orleans faculty from 1999-2010.

The Leu Art Gallery is located in the Lila D. Bunch Library on the campus of Belmont University. The gallery is open Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (with holiday exceptions). For more information and images of Carroll Cloar’s work, please visit http://davidluskgallery.com/artists/carroll.cloar/.

About the Belmont University Department of Art
Belmont University offers a wide variety of study options for students interested in the visual arts. The experienced faculty and well-equipped facilities help foster an environment where students are offered numerous opportunities to explore their creative talents. For more information, please visit their website www.belmont.edu/art.

Alumnus Wins ASCAP Singer/Songwriter Award

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont Professor Dan Keen, Award Winner Josh Wilson and ASCAP Vice President Marc Driskill

Belmont Alumnus Josh Wilson of Sparrow Records was recently awarded the ASCAP Christian Songwriter/Artist Award.

The awards ceremony honoring songwriters and artists of the industry’s most performed Christian music songs was held on March 19.

For more information click here.

 

 

Cornwall Published on WSJ Website

Paul Chenoweth
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Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Professor of Management Jeffrey Cornwall recently was published in a Wall Street Journal debate on the issue of tax cuts for “angel” investors of small businesses.

Arguing that these cuts don’t provide what they promise, Cornwall stated that a system like this would  fail to incentivize more investors to give and wouldn’t provide any more jobs for the public, like the pro-argument states.

Instead suggesting a system rooted in cutting tax rates overall, Cornwall cited a SBA Office of Advocacy study which found that reductions in the personal income-tax rate increased the probability of an entrepreneur getting involved in business start-ups. The study also found that a reduction of 1 percent could increase the number of start-up business as much as 2 percent.

“That’s effective public policy – unlike tax cuts for angel investors,” Cornwall said.

To read the article “Should Angel Investors Get Tax Credits to Invest in Small Businesses?” click here.

Students Host Benefit Concert for Class Project

Paul Chenoweth
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A team of students in Dr. Bonnie Riechert’s Public Relations Campaigns class hosted a benefit concert on Friday, March16 to for nonprofit Art Feeds. With seven Belmont artists and bands playing at the concert, local food trucks and arts and crafts activities, the event was put on to raise awareness for the organization.

An organization devoted to using therapeutic art and creative education to help American and African children overcome traumatic events, Art Feeds is based out of Joplin, Mo. and serves over 1,400 children. The event offered information about the organization as well as a suggested donation for all attendees.

The campaigns course, required of all public relations majors, is designed to give students practical experience in the field. Faced with the task of choosing and researching an organization and planning and executing a campaign for that organization, student teams are able to practice what they have learned throughout their years of school.  Both the students and their organizations benefit from this project.

Riechert, associate professor of public relations and instructor of this semester’s course believes this is integral to the students’ education. “We believe this experience prepares our graduates to provide similar expertise to organizations throughout their career. The practical experience of doing a campaign, start to finish, cannot be matched by anything we could do in the classroom,” Riechert said.

Group members were excited to support a worthy cause while learning more about the career they hope to pursue. Senior member and public relations major Holly Newsome said, “I enjoy PR Campaigns because it is a class where I can not only build on what I’ve already learned, but I can actually apply what I’ve learned through making a campaign for a real life client.”

SIFE Finalist For 2012 Strobel Award

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont University Students in Free Enterprise are 18 among finalists for the 26th annual Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards.

SIFE is up for the Civic Volunteer Group Award, which recognizes representatives of civic, membership, congregation or non-corporate groups that volunteer together for a cause. Belmont SIFE works with local, national and international community partners to develop ethical and environmentally sustainable business models that create lasting economic and social change. Now in its seventh year of existence, Belmont SIFE has more than 40 students involved and has partnered with numerous Nashville organizations, including 147 Million Orphans, African Leadership and Magdalene/Thistle Farms.

Oasis Center – Middle School Teen Outreach Program and The Patient and Family Advisory Councils at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are the other finalists for the category. Hands On Nashville will announced the winners of six categories for outstanding volunteer in Middle Tennessee ceremony at the Marriott Cool Springs Conference Center in Franklin on April 10.

HCA/TriStar are presenters of the annual event, founded by Ford Motor Company. Some 105 individuals and organizations were nominated this year for the Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards.

The Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards are named in memory of the late Mary Catherine Strobel, known for her extensive and charitable efforts toward improving the lives of Middle Tennessee’s homeless, impoverished and less fortunate populations. The annual awards ceremony celebrates Strobel’s service and recognizes those who continue her legacy.

Psychological Science Students Present at Eastern Psychological Association Meeting

Paul Chenoweth
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Psychological Science faculty members Dr. Lynn Jones, Dr. William Bailey, Dr. Lonnie Yandell and Dr. Pete Giordano, along with 14 psychology majors attended the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Pittsburgh, Pa. on March 1-4.  All of the Belmont students who attended the conference presented research posters along with their faculty sponsors.

One of the highlights of the trip for the faculty was attending an invited talk by a former Belmont psychology major, Dr. Dan Corts, who graduated in the early ’90s and presented a talk titled “Scientific Literacy:  A Central Goal of Undergraduate Education.”  Corts is professor of psychology at Augustana College and recently published a textbook with Pearson Publishing titled Psychological Science: Modeling Scientific Literacy.

Society of Physics Students Present Portal 2 Convo

Paul Chenoweth
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On March 19, Belmont’s Society of Physics Students presented a series of gameplay videos highlighting the different physics concepts involved in successfully playing the hit video game Portal 2.  Dr. Scott Hawley is the faculty advisor for this club.

Hummel Presents Poetry

Paul Chenoweth
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This month Heather Hummel, adjunct professor in the English Department, presented her poetry at the Mother/Nature conference at the University of Southern Mississippi.  She completed a thirty minute reading for the poetry panel, Oil and Urbanity: Contaminations of the Natural World. Click here to read Hummel’s work.

Also recently, Hummel’s poem, “Tornado Season,” was accepted for publication in Meridian (2012) as well as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee (published 2013 by Texas Review Press). In addition, Hummel attended the Conference on College Composition and Communication, in St. Louis, Mo. as a Professional Equality Grant recipient. Recipients are chosen because they have exhibited a sustained interest in the teaching of writing.

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