Mathematics faculty Dr. Sharon Crumpton, Dr. Sarah Ann Fleming, Dr. Robin Lovgren and Dr. Maria Neophytou recently attended the Joint Mathematics Meetings. These meetings are sponsored by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and encompass the meetings of these organizations as well as several others. The conference was held in Boston, Mass., Jan. 4-7, and approximately 7,200 people were in attendance.
Crumpton presented a talk at the conference titled Using Models to Help Students Understand Calculus Topics. Neophytou gave a talk titled On the Point Spectrum of the Adjoints of Some Composition Operators and Weighted Composition Operators.
Belmont University will host a Community Health Fair from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Sat., Jan. 28 in the Maddox Grand Atrium of the Curb Event Center in conjunction with the men’s and women’s basketball games against Jacksonville.
The fair, which is free and open to the public, will feature 30 booths with information and health screenings available.
“Belmont has always been supportive of the community and has done a lot of partnering and programming in the area surrounding campus. This is a continuation of those services to share information,” said Director of Health Services Katy Wilson. “Students from all of the health sciences programs, athletics department and fitness and recreation center will be heavily involved in the fair.”
The Community Health Fair is intended to put wellness and preventive health resources within reach of Belmont’s neighbors and fans with screenings, pamphlets and prizes. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Renfrew Center, Edgehill Community Garden, Edgehill Family Resource Center, YMCA and Real Food Farms also will have booths. Opportunities throughout the day include blood pressure, body composition and bone density screenings; CPR demonstrations; and information on tobacco cessation, breast cancer awareness, diabetes, healthy eating, self defense and recreation.
The Jan. 10, 2012 Copyright Forum featured a panel discusssion held at Belmont's Ocean Way studios on Music Row. (photo by Donnie Hedden)
On Tues., Jan. 10, the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business in association with the Nashville Songwriters Association International presented the third installment of the Copyright Forum at Belmont University. This well attended panel discussion offered insightful dialogue on the pros and cons of House Bill 3261 ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ (SOPA). Panelists included Congressman Howard Berman (CA), Mitch Glazier (senior executive vice president, Recording Industry Association of America), Fred von Lohmann (senior copyright counsel, Google, Inc.) and Mark Montgomery (serial entrepreneur and founder of FLO thinkery). Several Belmont faculty, staff, and students attended the event, which was video recorded and will be utilized in classes this semester as well.
Sarah Cates, senior director of Curb College Initiatives, said, “Belmont is excited to host the Copyright Forum to start a new narrative joining together the music community and growing tech community in Nashville. In an evolving industry, discussions like this one help keep our students and faculty, as well as local music and tech professionals, current on legislative developments that affect us all. We are proud to provide a venue for dissemination of such cutting edge information.”
Moderator Ken Paulson (CEO of the First Amendment Center) kicked off the conversation with a reminder that the U.S. Constitution, which ensures protection of creative works, and the Bill of Rights, which provides for freedom of speech, can conflict when people claim the right to free speech while “speaking” the words or ideas of others who deserve to be rewarded for their creative output.
Dr. David Julseth (Foreign Language) presented at the International Hispanic Conference of the Day of the Dead that was held in Miami at Florida International University Oct. 31 – Nov. 1. His research paper was on literary and artistic representations of the traditional Mexican food prepared and used during the celebration. After the conference, a selective process led to his paper being chosen by the peer-reviewed Hispanet for publication. The article, “¡Buen provecho! Cultural Representations of Food for the Day of the Dead” will appear in Hispanet Journal, Volume 4, ISSN: 1937-8920, 2012.
Belmont University Model UN students Jerel Henderson, Tara Clance, Brooke Yaiser, Holly Morgan, Stefanie Faull, Megan Duthie, Emily Cox, Patrick Futrell, Melinda Price and Kap Sum were enthusiastic delegates to the American Model United Nations conference held in Chicago from Nov. 19-22, 2011. Dr. Susan Jellissen (Political Science)) accompanied them. As delegates representing South Korea, the students tackled pressing issues, such as renewable energy, microcredit, protecting human rights in the context of countering terrorism, and human trafficking. After researching their respective topics for several months, the students spent an intensive three days caucusing and deliberating with 1,500 students from over 150 other schools — thus gaining an almost unmatched “experiential” insight into the workings of the actual United Nations. Belmont’s Model UN club is excited to represent China at the 2012 AMUN conference in Chicago.
The December 2011 newsletter for the Richland Creek Watershed Alliance (RCWA) featured a photo of Dr. Darlene Panvini (Biology) from her volunteer efforts in a water quality study at Richland Creek. Also in the newsletter is a reference to Belmont students in Dr. Panvini’s ENV 1110 course regarding their service learning project with RCWA.
Dr. Pete Giordano, chair of the Psychological Science Department, is serving as an associate editor for the Asian Studies Development Program Alumni Newsletter. He will serve in this capacity with Dr. Rachana Sachdev of the Department of English and Creative Writing at Susquehanna University. Sachdev is the chief editor for the newsletter.
Dr. John Paine (English) presented the novel The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa to an interdisciplinary audience of professors interested in infusing Japanese material into their courses and led discussion. This was part of the Japan Studies Association annual meeting in Honolulu on Jan. 5–7. Paine is editor of the Association’s Journal and sits on its Board.
O.N.E. and Bill Barnes awarded six Belmont University students with scholarships during a Dec. 17 ceremony. The receipts were: Michael Coffee, Tiffany Jenkins, Marteka D. Lee, Anna D. Matlock, LaShawn Morrow and Robin Queen.
Bill Barnes was founding pastor of Edgehill United Methodist Church, an interracial, interclass and inner-city institution in Edgehill. Proceeds from the sale of his book To Love a City fund the O.N.E/Barnes Scholarship program for low-income youth.
Through affliction, Carolyn McKinstry found God’s love. She now uses the story of her painful role in the civil rights movement to help others work toward reconciliation, she told Belmont students Wednesday at a convocation lecture.
“We have all heard about the love that forgives, and we have here today someone who models that and works toward racial reconciliation,” said Vice President for Spiritual Development Todd Lake. The Office of Spiritual Development and the Martin Luther King Jr. Week Committee co-sponsored the convocation “Costly Discipleship.”
In 1963, then 14-year-old McKinstry was primping for Youth Sunday at 16th Street Baptist Church in a downstairs bathroom with her friends Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair. She left the other girls to fulfill her role as the Sunday school secretary in an upstairs office. McKinstry answered a ringing office phone to hear a man’s voice saying, “three minutes.” Shortly thereafter, a bomb exploded, killing her four friends. The attack on the church garnered national headlines and marked a turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
