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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Laura Bell Bundy to Host Annual ‘Christmas at Belmont’ Holiday Concert on NPT, PBS

Paul Chenoweth
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Schermerhorn performance to be nationally broadcast starting Dec. 22

Laura Bell Bundy will host the 2011 "Christmas at Belmont" concert.

Hosted by country artist and Tony-nominated Broadway star Laura Bell Bundy, and taped at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee, nearly 700 Belmont University student musicians will join the Belmont School of Music faculty and the Nashville Children¹s Choir for “Christmas at Belmont.” The annual production of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites will air on PBS stations nationwide beginning Thursday, December 22. Please check local listings to confirm air dates and times. Nashville Public Television [NPT-Channel 8] will air “Christmas at Belmont” on Thursday, December 22 at 8 p.m. (CST) and re-broadcast the concert on Christmas Day at 7 p.m. (CST).   

This year’s edition of “Christmas at Belmont” features the University Symphony Orchestra, Belmont Chorale, Percussion Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Jazz Ensemble and Bluegrass Ensemble, as well as a mass choir of 600 voices. The performance includes both classic sacred holiday music such as “The First Noel” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” as well as festive seasonal songs such as “Carol of the Bells” and “We Need a Little Christmas,” to name a few.

“‘Christmas at Belmont’ is an amazing opportunity to showcase Belmont University’s world-class School of Music in front of a national audience,” said Belmont University President Bob Fisher. “We’re incredibly grateful that this partnership with NPT puts our talented students and faculty in living rooms across the country. It’s also an honor to welcome Laura Bell Bundy as host of ‘Christmas at Belmont.’ Her diverse vocal skills as both a Broadway performer and country singer will offer a perfect complement to the variety of our student ensemble performances.”

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PT Professor Awarded Grant

Paul Chenoweth
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Dr. Nancy Darr, a professor in Belmont’s School of Physical Therapy, was recently awarded a grant from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Section of Pediatrics for her project titled, “Validation of the Pediatric Balance Scale using Rasch Analysis.”

The selection committee said that the grant was well written and that they will support the use of this “Pediatric Balance Scale” in Darr’s clinical pediatric practice.

Songwriting Major to Sing National Anthem at Veteran’s Parade

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont sophomore songwriting major, Aubrey Smith, will be honoring Nashville’s veterans by singing the National Anthem at Nashville’s annual Veteran’s Parade on Nov. 11 at 11:11 a.m.

Singer/songwriter Aubrey Smith

Smith says the National Anthem is a song she is very comfortable with singing as she says it “has always been a staple in who I am. From opening Tennessee’s Boys’ State Conference since I was 10 years old, to opening a Casting Crowns concert back in 2002, to kicking off football games at my high school… the National Anthem has always been a huge part of my life and an honor to sing each time.”

Smith also says she is honored to be representing Belmont this year and hopes to make the University proud.

For more information about Nashville’s 2011 parade, click here.

Adjunct Professor Publishes Music Book

Paul Chenoweth
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Long-time Belmont adjunct drum faculty member and rock musician, Zoro, recently published his book, The Big Gig: Big-Picture Thinking for Success, an insider’s guide to vocational, personal and spiritual aspects of achievement.

Cover of Zoro's Book

The book is written from the perspective of Zoro’s 30-year drum career as he worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. The Big Gig is a unique, collaborative method for independent musicians looking to break into the music industry.

But the book doesn’t stop there. All 44 chapters include a video interview with Zoro, accessible via QR code or traditional URLs. Additionally, readers can assess themselves with “The Big Gig Quiz,” a 50-question test to determine if readers have what it takes to find their own “big gigs.”

The Big Gig is endorsed by many personalities from highly successful musician Lenny Kravitz, to actor Stephen Baldwin, to best-selling author and Bible teacher Joyce Meyer.

For more information about The Big Gig, click here.

Biology Faculty & Students Participate in TAS Meeting

Paul Chenoweth
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Bob Grammer, Steve Murphree, Darlene Panvini, Nick Ragsdale, Jennifer Thomas and several other Department of Biology faculty presented or served in leadership roles at the 2011 Tennessee Academy of Science Annual Meeting held Oct. 28 in Jackson, Tenn. The meeting was hosted by Union University. Grammer, Panvini and Thomas presented in the Science and Math Teaching Technical session on various aspects of the biology science curriculum and outreach. Ragsdale chaired the Health and Medical Science Technical session. Murphree is treasurer of TAS and assisted with registration and other meeting details.

Belmont faculty presentations included:

  • Seminar in Biology: An Introduction to the Department for New Majors. Jennifer Thomas
  • Development and Facilitation of Two Inquiry-Based Environmental Science Case Studies for High School Outreach. Darlene Panvini
  • An Undergraduate Research Program on Chemotaxis in C. Elegans. Robert Grammer
  • Seventeen biology undergraduate research students also went to the meeting, presented posters, and attended presentations from graduate students and faculty from a wide variety of Tennessee schools.
  • Belmont student posters included:
  • Effects of Allelopathic Intraspecific Competition n Growth of Privet, Ligustrum Sinense. Kelly Casarez* and Darlene Panvini
  • Treating Salmonella Typhimurium Infected Danio Rerio with Antibiotics and Homeopathic Remedies. Ashley Newsome, Jennifer T. Thomas and Lori L McGrew
  • Spectrophotometric Determination of Respiration Rates In C. Elegans. Monique Parrish* and Robert Grammer
  • Role of Pmk-1 and Pcd Pathways In C. Elegans Infectected with E. Faecium. Azad Karim* and Nick Ragsdale
  • Metabolic Changes in Ceanrhabditis Elegans Infected with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa or Staphylococcus Aureus. Laura Muck* and Nick Ragsdale
  • Role of Daf-2 Insulin/Igf-I Like and P38 Map Kinase Pathways in Ceanorhabditis Elegans Infected with Salmonellae Typhimurium. Roxy Musharrafeia* and Nick Ragsdale
  • The Effects of D1 And D2-Like Dopamine Receptors on the Chemotaxis of Ceanorhabditis Elegans. Sylvia Chac* and Nick Ragsdale
  • Effects of 6-Ohda on the Chemotaxis of Ceanorhabditis Elegans. Samera Berhane* and Nick Ragsdale
  • Infection Rates of Trypanosoma Cruzi in Wildlife from Rural Areas of Middle Tennessee. Rachel K. Serfass*, RaeAnne N. Lauffer, and C. Steven Murphree
  • Infection Rates of Trypanosoma Cruzi in Wildlife from Suburban Areas of Middle Tennessee. Raeanne N. Lauffer*, Rachel K. Serfass, And C. Steven Murphree
  • Repellent Properties of Stone Mint, Cunila Origanoides, Against the American Dog Tick, Dermacentor Variabilis. Elizabeth R. Thorndike* and C. Steven Murphree
  • Preferred Microhabitat Conditions for Centruroides Vittattus in Middle Tennessee. Ryan P. Baker* and C. Steven Murphree
  • Treating Danio Rerio with the Neurotoxin 6-Ohda to Study Movement Deficits. Tristan Daniel and Lori L McGrew
  • Habitat and Resource Partitioning among Centarchid Sunfish in a Middle Tennessee Stream. Philip Parsley* and John Niedzwiecki
  • Effects of Riparian Tree Canopy on Water Quality and the Occurrence of Waterpennies (Beetle Larvae) in the Little Harpeth River. Jordan Murray* and Darlene Panvini
  • Terrestrial Animal Diversity in Two Middle Tennessee Freshwater Wetlands. Megan DeVries* and Darlene Panvini
  • Phylogeographic Comparison of Centruroides Vittatus Populations in Middle Tennessee and Central Arkansas. Thomas A. Homonnay*, John H. Niedzwiecki J and C. Steven Murphree

Professors, French Students Present at Foreign Language Teaching Conference

Paul Chenoweth
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Cheryl Brown (Foreign Language) presented a paper on Nov. 4 at the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association conference, which met in Franklin, Tenn. Brown, along with two students, Meg Bilodeau and Hannah Hyde, presented Imaginary Voyages to Real Places: Your Students as Tour Guides. In this paper, students presented the results of their research of the history and touristic sites of interest of a Francophone city. The various steps and assignments of this project were outlined and handouts of assignments were made available.  Students presented excerpts from the written and oral versions of their tours.  

Qingjun (Joan) Li (Asian Studies and Chinese Language) presented a workshop at the annual meeting. During the workshop, titled Learning Chinese, Turning Chinese: Incorporating Culture into Contextualized Chinese Teaching, Li demonstrated the use of Hammerly’s behavioral culture protocols into the teaching of Chinese language through conceptual ideas and experiential learning activities.

Student Performs Spoken Word for Nashville Freedom Riders

Paul Chenoweth
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Belmont senior Bianca Edwards performed a tribute to Nashville’s freedom riders at the NAACP Nashville Branch’s 38th Freedom Fund Gala on Nov. 5.

Bianca Edwards, also know as Miss B, performs at the 2011 Urban Pop Showcase.(Donnie Heddon/Photographer)

The original poem, titled “Follow Me,” chronicles Edwards’ journey to learn about the freedom riders during an internship and how she discovered her grandmother was a freedom rider in 1961 in Jackson, Miss. The riders rode interstate buses into the segregated South during the Civil Rights Movement and faced harsh brutality as well as federal opposition.

“When (Belmont Director of Community Relations) Joyce Searcy called me and asked me to do a tribute to the Nashville freedom riders, I immediately thought about Oprah’s tribute in May. I was interning at BET, which has at least 20 TVs in the office, and this particular day everyone was talking about Oprah’s special. I had not heard anything about it and am ashamed to say I did not know what the freedom riders were,” Edwards said.

“I watched this special from beginning to end and felt so enlightened and empowered. You can always look at something and say that while you are in the moment that God has a plan, but you don’t truly know that plan until you look back at other events. In May, God started preparing me for this event and it is interesting how everything came together, and I am grateful,” she said.

Edwards is known on campus for her lyrical ability as a rap artist. She performed under the stage name Miss B at Belmont’s 2011 Urban Pop Showcase and previously won the showcase in 2009.

Psychology Professors and Alumni Collaborate on Book Project

Paul Chenoweth
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Peter Giordano, chair of Psychological Science, has published an edited book titled Your Graduate Training in Psychology:  Effective Strategies for Success with Sage Publications.  With co-editors Stephen Davis of Morningside College and Carolyn Licht of Fordham University, the book takes a developmental approach to establishing a variety of professional skills from the first year of graduate training until degree completion.  Chapter authors include Belmont psychology faculty Seraphine Shen-Miller and Lonnie Yandell.  In addition, three other chapters are written by alumni of the Belmont Department of Psychological Science who later obtained PhDs in psychology:  Christy Spears Brown is associate professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, Dan Corts is professor of Psychology at Augustana College, and Radha (Dunham) Carlson is a clinical assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

‘Alumni on Mission’ Guests Share Story of ‘147 Million Orphans’

Paul Chenoweth
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Mike and Suzanne Mayernick

Belmont alumnus and former basketball player Mike Mayernick (’90) and his wife Suzanne visited campus on Monday as part of the “Alumni on Mission” series in an event sponsored by the Belmont Ambassadors, SIFE and the Office of Alumni Relations. Alumni on Mission is an ongoing speaker series featuring Belmont alumni who incorporate mission and ministry in their everyday lives.

Mike, now a financial planner, opened the session recalling how his life changed six years ago following a Sunday morning church service. Leaving the church that day, Suzanne mentioned that she felt like God was leading their family–already blessed by four biological children–to consider adoption. Mike, laughing at the memory, said at the time, “I was awake during the sermon, and I didn’t hear that!”

However, it was only a matter of days before Mike too was convinced that adoption would be in his family’s future. Two domestic adoptions brought Joshua and Caleb home, and then in 2009, the Mayernicks flew to Uganda to adopt Josie Love.

The Mayernicks talk with students about adoption and their organization, 147 Million Orphans.

Suzanne said, “When I spent that first day with Joshua’s birth mom in the hospital, I looked into her big, brown, beautiful eyes and saw myself, only she had been dealt a different hand in life. She loved her baby so much to give him up… I now have a nagging ache for those birth moms. In my brokenness [for them], I was stirred to try to help.”

Suzanne shared her burden with good friend and fellow adoptive mom Gwen Oatsvall, and the women joined forces to launch 147 Million Orphans. According to the organization’s website, “We are two moms who love orphans! … Thirteen kids and seven adoptions later, we are bound together through faith and mission. We love ‘doing life together’ and accepting the call to speak up for orphans everywhere. We want to help as many people as possible to see the 147 million orphans as scripture calls them, ‘…those who have no voice.'”

The organization sells a number of products and apparel to raise funds for its initiatives. Currently, 147 Million Orphans is involved in a number of efforts including feeding children in Uganda, Haiti, Honduras, China and Ethiopia; educating and encouraging families about the HIV/AIDS crisis along with financially supporting several ministries that care for these children; offering adoptive families wholesale products to sell as fundraisers for their adoption costs;  helping local African refugees earn a sustainable income from handmade products; and working with Ugandan women in Africa on sustainable income from their handmade necklaces, along with numerous speaking engagements.

 Click here to read Suzanne’s blog.

Scholar/Author Thomas Lippman Presents Forum on Saudi Arabia

Paul Chenoweth
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Author and scholar Thomas Lippman recently shared his expertise on Saudi Arabia at forums for the campus and community.

Belmont University welcomed scholar, author and journalist Thomas Lippman to campus for two forums on the developments and current affairs in Saudi Arabia. The World Affairs Council, the United Nations Association- Nashville Cordell Hull Chapter and Belmont’s Center for International Business sponsored an event on campus Monday night that was open to the community, and Lippman spoke again in a student convocation session Wednesday morning.

Lippman began his convo by describing his background of reporting for The Washington Post in Saudi Arabia and how he finds information. “I am not an academic; I go there, I look around, I ask questions,” Lippman said.

After stating basic Saudi facts, Lippman dove into discussing the culture, commenting on the state of the government and the religious requirements Saudis respect to keep public dissension and dialogue separate from public demonstrations. This led him to his discussion of Iranian tensions among Saudi Arabians and how American issues come into play.

Saudis feel threatened by Iranian rebels and other surrounding countries causing upheaval. They see them as the “ones that make all the trouble.” Above all, they are not interested in any involvement towards reconstruction efforts.

When speaking on the rights of women throughout the country, Lippman said, “I’m not worried about the status of women, only the pace of change.” He went on to say that he knows women will ultimately be given more rights, including the right to drive, he just isn’t sure when.

As Lippman concluded his lecture he welcomed comments from the crowd answering questions that inquired about Saudi selling oil to Eastern countries and the internal religious debate between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Lippman is currently a senior scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations.  He is author of numerous books on U.S. foreign policy, understanding Islam and Saudi Arabia, including the forthcoming book, Saudi Arabia on the Edge: The Uncertain Future of an American Ally.  International media outlets and Washington think tanks regularly contact him to participate in discussions about Middle East affairs and provide assessments of Arab World developments especially in Saudi Arabia.

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