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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Belmont Goes Dark for Earth Hour

Paul Chenoweth
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For the fourth consecutive year, Belmont University will turn off lights for an Earth Hour Celebration as part of a global project to raise awareness of climate change and the need for sustainable living.

Student around a bonfire at Earth Hour 2010.

Hosted by student organization O.N.E. Club (Our Natural Environment), Belmont Goes Dark begins at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31 on the South Lawn outside of the Maddox Grand Atrium. The event, which is open to the public and Belmont community, will include fireside acoustic performances by Chris Wright, Derek Johnson and the Chadasha Choir. There also will be s’mores as well as recycling stations for batteries, light bulbs and old electronics. Several Earth-conscience organizations also will have information booths.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., all non-emergency lighting in residence halls and on campus grounds will be turned off, and all students are encouraged to refrain from using energy-consuming devices during that time. Previously scheduled campus events will continue as planned.

Students can receive personal growth convocation credit for attending the Earth Hour celebration. Students, faculty and staff also should use the hashtag #BUearthhour on Twitter, follow @BelmontUniv and and participate in next week’s photo contest for a chance to win $50 Bruin Bucks. For more information, visit http://www.belmont.edu/earthhour.

Before leaving campus for the weekend, faculty and staff should turn off their lights, computers and other equipment and be mindful that power will be off in some areas for the event.

Students who reside on campus and plan to participate in Earth Hour should arrive at their intended locations before campus goes dark at 8:30 p.m. Belmont’s Campus Security can be reached at (615) 460-6617 to provide security escorts during the event.

An initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.  For more information on Earth Hour 2012, visit www.earthhour.org.

Bruin Recruiters Host a ‘Big Build’

Paul Chenoweth
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On Saturday, Feb. 25, 70 Belmont students spent the day working at Belcourt Terrace Nursing & Rehabilitation Center to raise money for a Honduras orphanage.

Throughout their day, volunteers spent time painting, washing windows, doing yard work and detailing wheelchairs as well as cleaning beds, residents’ bedrooms and the organization’s basement. The students also read Bible studies with the residents, sang hymns and played bingo.

Working alongside faculty advisor Sara Olson, who works in the Office of Admissions, and her husband’s nonprofit Both Hands Foundation (BHF), Belmont’s Bruin Recruiters wanted to volunteer together to impact their community, both locally and globally. BHF is an organization that serves widows in the community in a practical way while also raising money for orphan care and adoptions. After a visit to a partner orphanage in 2011, BHF founder JT Olson realized the need and came up with a concept to help. By assisting in mobilizing college groups to hold what BHF calls “big build projects” sponsored through letter writing campaigns, all money raised goes back to the orphanage to assist those needs.

The Belmont students wrote letters to family and friends two weeks before the build in an effort to raise money, and the student who raises the most funds will take the resources and letters to the orphanage in person. To date, the group has raised more than $8,000 with more money coming in daily.

Although this model has been done across the country at other campuses, Belmont is the first accredited institution to participate in Both Hands Foundation’s “Big Build.”

Sara Olson said because the Bruin Recruiters team has grown so large in recent years, it can be difficult to “remain connected to one another in meaningful ways. Projects like this one give us a chance to spend time with one another in the margins of life.”

Organization president Jared Delong is passionate about the importance of serving, especially in a leadership position, and felt it was important to show fellow Recruiters the importance of integrating service into the organization. “In the end, I feel that if we’ve raised enough money to save one orphan from dying alone on the side of a street at night, then that’s a good enough reason for us… It’s not about us, it’s just not.”

For more information about Both Hands Foundation, click here. To view a video of Belmont’s Big Build, click here.

Belmont University to Host West Memphis 3’s Jason Baldwin

Paul Chenoweth
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On Monday, March 26, Belmont University will host  both a film presentation and a convocation lecture with Jason Baldwin, one of the three men now known as the West Memphis 3. In 1994, a teenage Baldwin and acquaintances Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley were tried and convicted in the murders of three 8-year-old boys the year before in West Memphis, Arkansas.

According to the New York Times, “The convictions were largely based on the testimony of witnesses who said they heard the teenagers talk of the murders, and on the prosecution’s argument that the defendants had been motivated as members of a satanic cult.”

Believing the three were wrongfully convicted, a number of supporters worked on documentaries, books and benefit concerts to garner attention to the case. In 2007, new forensic evidence was presented, and last fall the three men were released from prison after entering Alford pleas, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them.

Baldwin will speak on Monday at 10 a.m. in the Massey Boardroom about his arrest at age 16 and his experience serving more than 18 years of a life sentence and how those events have informed his future. Baldwin, who hopes to attend law school some day with the goal of preventing wrongful convictions, will also be participating in a private lunch with students and faculty from Belmont’s College of Law.

At 7 p.m. the public is invited to join Baldwin along with Belmont students, faculty and staff in the Bunch Library Multimedia Room for a 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 3 and the trio’s ultimate release from prison. Together the films played a significant role in garnering publicity, awareness and support for the men.

International Business Team Places Fifth in Netherlands

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont University business students placed fifth during the 2012 Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Worldwide Case competition in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

College of Business Administration students Ayesha Ghaffar, Rami Nofal, Jordan Holt and Shirah Foy competed at the Kralingse Zoom in Rotterdam from Feb. 26 to March 2. Teams from across the world submitted case solutions for review, and the top 10 teams were selected to face off at NIBS final competition.

“Once again our students have made us extremely proud,” said Assistant Professor of Economics Marieta Velikova, who accompanied the students to the Netherlands. “They were truly amazing. Presentation, analysis, idea, alternatives assessment, financials, implementation, contingency plan, Q&A … I could not have asked more, or they could not have done better.”

Each team had four hours to prepare a case without outside help. Their presentations were assessed by a jury of professional and academic experts. The cases were about a Lebanese social enterprise company, a South African company automotive manufacturer, social media marketing in China and the bio tech industry.

““I think really the group we made was unique – knowing the quantitative side of business, having the ability to synthesize information and knowing a creative marketing. Each of us had our own backgrounds and area of expertise. It was a blend of academics, theoretical frame work and being involved on campus that engineered the team,” said Rami Nofal, a junior from Nashville studying international business, finance and economics.

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Belmont Serves Nashville During Family Literacy, Bruin Den Day

Paul Chenoweth
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The challenge for Belmont students to engage and transform the world that began during their first week on campus continues Saturday, March 24 with Bruin Den Day and Family Literacy Day.

The annual community service events allow students to have the unique opportunity to partner with the community for a day of service.

Family Literacy Day will take place 1 to 4 p.m.  at E.S. Rose Park and Sports Complex on Edgehill Avenue. The event, aimed at children from pre-K through grade six and their families, is designed to celebrate the joys of reading with a free afternoon of interactive story times, crafts, games and refreshments. The primary focus of the event is Reading Circles, hosted by various campus groups such as the Student Government Association, the English Club, fraternities and sororities, the Black Student Alliance and the Student Athlete Council. Each group picks a different theme and offers a variety of books for all ages.

Some 106 children from Metro Nashville public elementary schools submitted a poem about their favorite place from a book, and several area songwriters paired their music with the students’ poems. Click here to hear the songs.

“We’re very excited to be celebrating the 12th year of hosting Family Literacy Day and the third year of hosting the Poetry Contest. Due to a confluence of events, Metro Schools’ Spring Break, Easter and Belmont’s earlier start and finish to the semester, we’ve had to move Family Literacy Day earlier in the year than normal. We really need folks to help us out by spreading the word to folks in the community, and if they are interested in volunteering, signing up as soon as possible,” said Tim Stewart, director of service learning.

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Health Services Nurses Raise Money for Africa

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont Health Services nurses Julie Hawley and Cilla Crane recently co-hosted a successful fundraiser as members of Fabulous Friends for Africa, a group of 10 women who raise money for the needs of Africa. On February 11, the organization hosted its fifth annual Valentine’s Dance at the Factory in Franklin, an event devoted to dancing and bidding on the event’s 125 silent auction items. More than 500 guests attended and raised $65,000 this year.

Started five years ago, the organization began as the 10 friends turned 50 years old. Instead of throwing a party for themselves in celebration, the women wanted to use the opportunity to raise money for Africa. Five years later they have raised more than $300,000 dollars for African Leadership (AL), an organization committed to developing projects and programs that meet the needs of Africans. The donations have included Bibles for pastor training; orphan care in Malawi; microloans in Gulu, Uganda; a childcare facility in Khayelitsha, South Africa; and partial funding for a vocational school in Kibera, Kenya. This year, in addition to African Leadership, the group highlighted and supported Amazima Ministries through 147 Million Orphans.

Belmont’s Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Part-Time MBA Programs Recognized by U.S. News

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont University was recognized this week when U.S. News & World Report released its 2013 rankings of Best Graduate Schools, a tool to help prospective graduate students better understand the graduate school landscape and to identify programs that would be good fits. The rankings highlight the top programs in business, law, medicine, engineering and education, among other specialties.

In the 2013 rankings, Belmont’s Occupational Therapy program jumped from No. 90 last year to No. 58 out of more than 150 universities. Meanwhile, the School of Physical Therapy came in 51st out of nearly 200 other programs, and Belmont’s Massey Graduate School of Business was recognized in the top half of the list of more than 320 ranked part-time MBA programs.

All the health rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline who were asked to rate the academic quality of programs. Those schools with the highest average scores appear in the rankings.

U.S. News‘s part-time M.B.A. ranking is based on five factors: average peer assessment score, the average GMAT score of part-time M.B.A. students entering in fall 2011, their average undergraduate GPA, work experience and the percentage of the business school’s fall 2011 M.B.A. enrollment that is part time. Each program considered had to meet the conditions of being AACSB-accredited and enrolling at least 20 students in the fall 2011 term.

Women’s Basketball Alumna LeGate Leads Team to Class AA State Championship

Paul Chenoweth
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In just her second year at the helm, Belmont women’s basketball alumna Becky LeGate led her Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) team to its first-ever TSSAA Class AA championship over the weekend.

CPA (36-3), which was unseeded in the tournament, rallied from a first half double digit deficit to topple No. 3 Obion County (35-3), 61-52, at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro on March 10.
“Winning the State Championship is a testament to the amazing girls and staff that I am fortunate to work with at CPA.  It makes me nostalgic and thankful for my time at Belmont because it helped develop critical characteristics that are beneficial to leading my team today,” said LeGate.  “While I was at Belmont, I learned the importance working together as a team to accomplish a common goal, while putting aside your own personal agenda.  I also learned the importance of work ethic, perseverance and playing and living with integrity and humility.”
LeGate played at Belmont under legendary coach Tony Cross from 1986 to 1990.  During her time with the program, the Bruins went 96-29, logging four Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC) Tournament appearances.
“While at Belmont, God put amazing people around me to help mold and shape me in the ways I needed.  Three of the most important mentors that he brought into my life during that time were Coach Tony Cross, Betty Wiseman, and Coach Rick Byrd,” LeGate continued.  “In addition to these three people, God placed around me amazing teammates that today are still my best friends today, as well as allowing me the opportunity to meet my husband, (former Belmont men’s basketball player) Kevin LeGate.  I am so grateful for the role that Belmont has played in my life as well as the life of my family.” Read more.

Students Plan Community Party at Belmont Mansion for Adelicia Acklen’s 195th Birthday

Paul Chenoweth
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Event management class project combines experiential learning, service

Students in a Belmont University Event Management class are presenting a free community event this Saturday, March 17 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Belmont Mansion in honor of Adelicia Acklen’s 195th birthday. The celebration will feature face painting, birthday card and mask making, scavenger hunts, self-guided tours of the mansion, music, popcorn and other great refreshments.

Senior Alex L Quattlebaum, a double major in music business and marketing, said, “I thought this would be a great class to take as an elective because in both of my chosen industries there are always different events. I wanted to be able to tell my boss that I had planned an event and I would be prepared if in the future I needed to plan again. Through this project I have also learned that you can never be over prepared because you never know what may come up.”

The three-credit hour undergraduate course focuses on best practices in modern event management. Topics covered include the administration, coordination, marketing and legal, ethical and risk management issues of managing events. The class is divided into groups, and each group is encouraged to produce an event that will be of benefit to the community or a non-profit organization or one that will foster personal/professional growth among fellow students.

Class instructor Cathy Hill said, “By integrating experiential learning with community service, I have observed a prominent sense of accomplishment, as well as improved academic performance. If students are actively involved in their learning experience, they tend to view the course material and their project as relevant. This, in turn, leads to a greater sense of competence as they prepare for future endeavors.”

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Belmont Opens Admissions for New Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree

Paul Chenoweth
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Post-MSN to DNP program offers two-year online/weekend hybrid curriculum
Belmont University’s Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing recently announced the start of a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. Open to nurse practitioners who have already attained a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), the two-year post-MSN to DNP degree offers a flexible online/weekend hybrid curriculum to allow working nurse practitioners to complete their doctorates while maintaining full-time positions. The two-year program is accepting applications now with the first classes scheduled to begin fall 2012.

Dr. Leslie Higgins, a Belmont nursing professor and the director of the graduate studies in nursing program, said, “This new DNP builds on the already established excellence of a Belmont nursing education—in fact, this year the program is celebrating its 40th anniversary. By providing a practice doctorate, we will prepare skilled nurse practitioners to have an immediate impact on their communities, allowing them to apply current research to problems and to implement practical solutions across entire systems.”

Currently, 182 DNP programs exist in the United States, with Belmont offering one of only four Tennessee-based programs. The new program represents Belmont’s fifth doctoral level degree in addition to occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy and law.

Belmont’s School of Nursing receives applications for admission exclusively through the Nursing Central Application Service (NursingCAS), provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).  Applications must be submitted through the NursingCAS system by May 1, 2012 for consideration for fall 2012 admission.

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