The Mathematical Association of America and Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter hosted Game Day on March 16. Thirty-two people, including students, faculty, and even a stray physicist, enjoyed the food, games and fun. Students began congregating at 3:30, a half hour before the event officially began, and were still there when the event officially ended at 9 p.m.
Students Host Game Day
Giordano Publishes Book Chapter
Dr. Pete Giordano in the Department of Psychological Science has published a book chapter titled “Confucius and Buddha in the College Classroom: Relational Virtuosity in Teaching and Learning.” The chapter appears in The Handbook of College and University Teaching: A Global Perspective, edited by J. Groccia, M. Al-Sudairy, and W. Buskist (Sage Publications, 2012).
Neuroscience Major Awarded RISE Internship
Belmont student Andrey Borisyuk, a neuroscience major, has been awarded a RISE internship for this summer. RISE is a summer internship program for undergraduate students from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. It offers unique opportunities for undergraduate students to work with research groups at universities and top research institutions across Germany for a period of two to three months during the summer. RISE interns are matched with doctoral students whom they assist and who serve as their mentors. The working language is English. All scholarship holders receive stipends from the DAAD to help cover living expenses, while partner universities and research institutes provide housing assistance.
RISE internships were first offered in 2005 to applicants from the United States and Canada. In 2009 the program was extended to the United Kingdom. Following the first intake of around 100 students in 2005, the number of participants has increased steadily. In 2011 as many as 306 candidates (out of 1,600 applicants) were awarded an internship. Click here to read more.
Math Alumna Recognized for Volunteer Efforts with Hands on Nashville
Kacie Kleja (Mathematics, ‘06) was highlighted on the Hands on Nashville website for her volunteer efforts with senior citizens at Bordeaux Hospital and J.B. Knowles Home for the Aged. At these facilities, Kleja connects with seniors by playing bingo and other games through her regular commitment to Game Night. Since 2008, Kleja has been volunteering with Hands on Nashville.
Of Game Night Kleja says, “The residents look forward to having a night of fun and conversation. For some of the residents, it is truly the only interaction that they have and they are so appreciative of the volunteers.”
Kleja saud she loves connecting with people and her volunteer efforts not only offer companionship to the seniors but also a chance for them to be active and social.
Graduate English Students Present, Publish Papers
English graduate student Kelsey LeCrone recently presented her paper, “The Relationship Between Reading and Listening in Literature,” on a panel titled, “Retextualizing Traditional Texts” at the Voice and Voicing in a Technological Era, A NEXUS Interdisciplinary Conference. The paper was a discussion of the fundamentals of reading and listening from a reading science and rhetorical viewpoint combined with a discussion of some of the key issues surrounding reading and listening in terms of how literature is interpreted and an overview of her case study.
Literary magazine Bartleby Snopes recently published a short story by English graduate student Shellie Richards. Her story, “Quick & Painless” also won the magazine’s story-of-the-month contest. Click here to read Shellie’s short story.
Education Faculty Collaborate with Haitian Educators
Sally Barton-Arwood and Annette Little, faculty members in the Department of Education, spent spring break working with educators at Siloë School in Grand Goave, Haiti. Barton-Arwood and Little worked in classrooms, interviewed teachers and met with school leaders as part of a needs and strengths assessment. This trip was part of Belmont’s initiative to develop meaningful and sustainable contributions to Haiti working with through Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries in Haiti.
Barton-Arwood Serves on Mayor’s Advisory Board on Exceptional Education
Sally Barton-Arwood (Education) was recently asked to serve on Mayor Karl Dean’s Advisory Board on Exceptional Education. The Mayor’s Advisory Board was formed in January 2008 to assess policy and program strengths and weaknesses for students who are identified as receiving special education services within Metro Nashville Public Schools. Moving forward, the Advisory Board will focus on assessment and community-based classroom opportunities.
Professor Shares Story of Salvation, Cultural Integration
The Bible was once just a reference book on a library shelf for Asian Studies Professor Qingjun Li. Then as a professor twice recognized as a “Teacher of Excellence” at Zhengzhou University in China, religion was taboo in academia.
“The education that I received was that there was no God, and there was no Savior in your world but you. Religion was like opium; it made your mind numb,” said Li, who grew up in China. “I never thought I could use the Bible for myself as a companion.”
She shared her story of “Finding Faith in the Land of the Dragon” during chapel on March 14. In China, the dragon stands as a symbol of power, good luck and achievement.
Then a friend named Sherri Love would share stories of Jesus Christ with Li, sometime for hours.
“She planted a seed in my heart, but I did not become a believer all of a sudden. I still had questions and struggles,” Li said. Love would mail her books on Christianity, and Li began attending church secretly in someone’s home with other Chinese intellectuals. Soon thereafter, a pastor from Hong Kong baptized her in a bathtub.
“After that, I had a shift, and I had someone to rely on. That was only the beginning of my faith,” she said.
Her journey with Christ continued to flourish as Li became a graduate student in the United States. She used the Bible, once just a reference book, to find comfort when she struggled with language barriers and cultural nuances using Corinthians 12:9, Philippians 4:4 and Psalm 23.
Li has a Ph.D. in English and is the author of three books.
Sociology Professor Tells ‘Black Woman’s Burden’
Kent State University sociology assistant professor Nicole Rousseau chronicled the role of black women’s wombs in America’s capitalist society over 400 years during a lecture to Belmont students on March 19.
Winner of the 2010 North Central Sociological Association Scholarly Achievement Award, Rousseau gave an outline of her book The Black Woman’s Burden: Commodifying Black Reproduction.
During slavery, black women were raped and forced to reproduce to provide labor for the agricultural South. During the U.S. industrial era, blacks were seen as parasites and sterilizations were mandated through the eugenics movements and The Negro Project. Today, sterilization is coerced through programs such as Project Prevention, which offers people with drug and alcohol addictions cash for sterilization. In Illinois, unwed mothers under21 are asked to have their tube tied immediately after giving birth to a second child, and wards of the state also are given cash incentives for sterilization. Each of these instances disproportionately affects women and minorities, Rousseau said.
“The reality is that this is an unnerving trend,” she said. “The idea is appalling that there are currently public debates about birth control and someone else’s body. This is a slippery slope because it legitimizes someone else making decisions for a woman.”
The Black Woman’s Burden explores bureaucracy, institutionalized racism, political economy and black women as a unique labor class while drawing from black feminism, the womanist theory and the critical race theory.
Rousseau earned her doctorate in Sociology from Howard University. Her work on the structural and institutional roots of race, class and gender inequalities, social rhetoric and identity formation, and Historical Womanist theory have been included in several publications in the United States and South America.
Belmont University Honored Nationally for Community Service
Belmont placed on ‘Honor Roll with Distinction,’ one of only 110 schools nationwide
Washington, D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the U.S. Department of Education has honored Belmont University as among the nation’s leading colleges, universities, students, faculty and staff for its commitment to bettering Nashville through service.
Belmont University was admitted to the Honor Roll with Distinction for its students’ and employees’ support of volunteering, service learning and civic engagement.
“Through service, these institutions are creating the next generation of leaders by challenging students to tackle tough issues and create positive impacts in the community,” said Robert Velasco, Acting CEO of CNCS. “We applaud the Honor Roll schools, their faculty and students for their commitment to make service a priority in and out of the classroom. Together, service and learning increase civic engagement while fostering social innovation among students, empowering them to solve challenges within their communities.”
Eduardo Ochoa, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for postsecondary education, said, “Preparing students to participate in our democracy and providing them with opportunities to take on local and global issues in their course work are as central to the mission of education as boosting college completion and closing the achievement gap. The Honor Roll schools should be proud of their work to elevate the role of service-learning on their campuses.”
