Ruta Sepetys, author of New York Times best seller Between Shades of Gray and Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business Advisory board member was invited on May 25 to Washington, D.C. for a reception at the Lithuanian Embassy. The reception served as a presentation, discussion and signing of her work and the associated history to the U.S. Administration, Congress, Washington think-tank members and the local Lithuanian community.
Sepetys novel, the first she has written, describes a terrifyingly honest account of the mandated Lithuanian relocation in the aftermath of the 1939 Soviet invasion. Sepetys’s heroine Lina is forced from her home at age 15 and travels north with her family to a work camp in the northernmost part of Siberia. There they are required to dig for beets and endure the cruelest conditions to live.
Lina’s only escape is her art, dangerously documenting what she sees through drawing, with the hope that her pieces will make it to her father’s prison camp to tell of her survival. The journey covers 6,500 miles but through her continued determination and passion, Lina survives.
The Lithuanian Embassy said about Sepetys novel, “Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.”
Curb College Advisory Board Member Invited to Washington, D.C. for Best-Selling Novel
Belmont Wins Best in Show at TCPRA Conference
This past week Belmont University received six honors at the Tennessee College Public Relations Association (TCPRA) annual awards. There were 27 schools represented this year, and Belmont entered in eight categories, taking home six awards. The 2010 President’s Annual Report not only received gold in the “Report” category, but also was awarded “Best in Show” from all 228 entries in all categories.
Awards Received:
“Report” Gold and Best in Show: 2010 President’s Annual Report
“Media Success Story” Silver: Living a Better Story
“Specality Item” Silver: Christmas at Belmont
“College Magazine” Bronze: Fall Circle
“Newsletter/electronic” Bronze: Belmont FYI
“Special Publication” Bronze: The Miracle of Belmont
Education Faculty Partner with Haitian Teachers
Belmont University Education Department Chair Sally Barton-Arwood and faculty member Annette Little are in the Republic of Haiti this week training local educators to use teacher collaboration to better benefit students. Both Belmont professors Barton-Arwood and Little hold doctorates in education and are working with Haitian school directors and key staff to develop Professional Learning Communities. “Their training was very well received by Haitian school directors and key staff of their schools,” said John Engle, with Haiti Partners, a Florida-based organization that works to change the developing country by educating its youth. “Haiti Partners is thrilled to be in partnership with Belmont University.”
In Haiti, 75 percent of teachers lack adequate training, with no formal teacher training at all, according to Haiti Partners. Half of primary school age children are not enrolled in school. Click here to view a clip of Barton-Arwood and Little interacting with school-aged students and their workshop and with Haitian educators.
Faculty to Present Interdisciplinary Research at World Congress on Exercise in Medicine
Several faculty members in the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing recently joined with colleagues in the Department of Sport Science for an interdisciplinary research project that assessed associations of predominantly sedentary behaviors and physical activity status with physical fitness among college students.
Three members of the Health Sciences faculty – Dr. Lynn Shores, professor of nursing; Dr. Jeanne Sowers, associate professor of occupational therapy; and Dr. Christine Manville, assistant professor of occupational therapy – were among six research team members from Belmont and Vanderbilt universities who co-authored the study. Other Belmont team members included Dr. Sarah Adams, associate professor of sport science, and Dr. Patrick Schneider, associate professor of sport science. Dr. Mary Dietrich, research associate professor and statistician at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, was also part of the team.
A number of doctoral students in the School of Occupational Therapy assisted in the study of 122 students in a general education wellness class at Belmont. Participants completed a physical fitness battery consisting of cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, body composition and flexibility measurements. In addition, they completed a survey to assess time spent in predominantly sedentary behaviors including computer and internet use, television watching, texting and playing video games. Self-reported physical activity levels were also assessed to determine if participants were inactive, insufficiently active or active according to the aerobic component of the current physical activity recommendation. Tests of gender differences in each of the study variables were also conducted.
The findings will be presented on June 2 by Dr. Schneider at the American College of Sports Medicine’s World Congress on Exercise in Medicine in Denver, Colorado.
Mage to Lead Belmont’s Center for Executive Education
Gene Mage has been named executive director of Belmont University’s Center for Executive Education.
Before joining Belmont University, Mage served as a senior client partner and principal consultant for Kenexa (KNXA, NASDAQ OMX), a global, human resources consulting firm, where he led Kenexa’s North American leadership development business. Prior to joining Kenexa, Mage ran his own company and served for 12 years with Corning Incorporated in both marketing and leadership development.
The author of two books and more than 200 articles on leadership and management, Mage earned his Master of Business Administration with distinction and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Cornell University. His particular areas of expertise include leadership assessment and development as well as deploying large scale learning initiatives in global organizations.
For more than 25 years, the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University has been a leading provider of both open enrollment and customized leadership development programs to major organizations. Mage remarked, “This is an exciting time in the history of the Center for Executive Education at Belmont University. Belmont has a long heritage and deep commitment to the leadership development space. Looking ahead, we will be dramatically enhancing both the scope and reach of our services to meet the needs of forward-looking organizations around the world. I have also been greatly encouraged by the commitment our long-term clients are making to Belmont and their eagerness to partner with us as we create the future together.”
College, Middle School Students Team Together for ‘Edgehill’s Best’
Once again this spring Belmont journalism faculty and students worked with hand-selected 7th and 8th grade students from Rose Park Magnet Middle School to produce a newsletter, Edgehill’s Best, for the nearby Edgehill community. Belmont media studies faculty member Linda Quigley and her students partnered for the second year with Rose Park teachers Nicola Vincent and Alison Forte to assist middle school students in developing ideas, writing stories and designing a final printed product to share with the community.
The group’s final class was held on campus May 4 when the middle school students completed layout and design of the piece in the University’s journalism lab. The finished product, Edgehill’s Best, will be distributed to students at Rose Park Middle and Carter Lawrence Elementary Schools and in area businesses, churches and community centers as well as placed in locations around campus (Freeman, Beaman, Wheeler, Hitch, Cafeteria, etc.). Click here to see additional photos from the final class.
LaShawn Morrow, Michael Coffee Named 2011 Rose Park Scholars
In 2007, Belmont University committed to enhancing the E.S. Rose Park athletic center in Nashville’s Edgehill Community, a renovation that was completed and opened in the last month. In addition to the facilities Belmont planned, they also committed to the creation and funding of the E.S. Rose Park Scholarship program, a program that annually sends two deserving residents from the Edgehill community to Belmont. Since 2007, Belmont has welcomed five Rose Park Scholars to campus, providing educations worth more than $141,000 to date.
This year was no different. In the fall, Belmont will welcome LaShawn Morrow of Big Picture High School and Michael Coffee of Hillsboro High School to join its incoming 2011 freshman class. Both recipients received their awards last week, Morrow at her senior breakfast and Coffee in a private ceremony at Hillsboro’s library. Belmont’s Greek communities participated in a weeklong fundraising event this April, raising money to award both recipients Macbook laptops upon their arrival at Belmont. The recipients were notified of their computers when they received their scholarships.
Morrow is looking forward to her arrival at Belmont and is planning on majoring in nursing in the fall. Morrow is honored to be a part of the Belmont community where she can both serve and learn. She said, “The scholarship will help to inspire others just like me to be all that they can be. My dream was to become a Bruin, and the Rose Park Scholarship helped to make that dream come true.”
Coffee would agree. He currently works at Harris Teeter and said that before the Rose Park scholarship, he wasn’t sure what his future would hold. “Belmont is a truly a blessing for me. I honestly don’t know where I would be… Belmont is my blessing.”
Belmont Students to Represent U.S. In Red Bull Global Drumming Competition
Rising Belmont seniors Andrew Bellisle and Vinay Shroff, both percussionists and students in the university’s School of Music, will represent the United States at the Red Bull Tum Tum Pa World Finals in Rio De Janeiro June 8-12 after winning local and regional competitions.
This unique Red Bull Tum Tum Pa competition, where students use everyday classroom materials to create organic rhythmic sounds, is the first of its kind. Over 386 teams competed on college campuses around the U.S. in March and April. Five were chosen to compete against an elite squad of drummers from 32 countries in Rio de Janeiro on June 11, when a jury will award the Best Beat Performance.
In the first round of the competition, Bellisle and Shroff, competing as team “Coffee and Cream,” performed a cover of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and an original composition at Nashville’s Café Coco (click here to view video of their first round performance). Judges graded the competitors based on rhythm, creativity and audience response. After their spot-on cover, complete with Shroff blowing into a half-full can to create the song’s “Snoooooop” noise, the duo earned the highest score and made it to regionals. The duo won the regional competition after they received the most online votes in the Southeastern Conference and were selected to be one of five national finalists by a group of judges.
With permission and support from many at Belmont, as well as the Nashville-area representative for Red Bull marketing, the two students filmed their official competition video in Belmont’s Hitch Science Building chemistry lab. Belmont’s Red Bull Student Representatives Kirk Slawek and Matt Shaw helped film the video, while Belmont student Kenny House recorded audio. Red Bull’s local marketing head, Lisa Gracey, is helping to promote the duo.
The official video is on Red Bull’s website, and click here to view photos from the filming session.
Troutt Theater Named Venue for International Black Film Festival Nashville’s Mooz-Lum
Nashville’s International Black Film Festival will be kicking off its “Summer Film Series” with the showing of Mooz-Lum, a critically acclaimed drama on Sat., May 28 at 5 p.m. at Belmont’s Troutt Theater. The movie stars Love Jones’s Nia Long, Diana Ross’s son Evan Ross and Dream Girls’ Danny Glover. There will be a Q&A session with Director Qasim Basir and Producer Dana Offenbach immediately following the screening. The film will be released on DVD nationally by Codeblack Entertainment on June 14, 2011.
“IBFFN is ecstatic to present the 2011 summer film series as it fulfills our mission to educate and create opportunities that connect stories from around the world to our community,” said IBFFN founder Hazel Joyner Smith.
Belmont Vice President and Chief of Staff Dr. Susan West was originally contacted by the IBFFN asking for Belmont to host the showing, and the organization worked with Dean Dr. Cynthia Curtis and staff in the College of Visual and Performing Arts to pull the event together. West thought the event would be an ideal partnership for the university saying, “This is a great opportunity to partner with the community, and this is a perfect fit! We want the community to use our facilities, embrace our values and mission and assist in telling our great story.”
The International Black Film Festival of Nashville (IBFFN), established in 2006, is a collaboration of dedicated professionals who support the need for a “community” effort to bring African-American and other communities together to showcase their work as emerging and skilled independent filmmakers, actors, composers, screenwriters, directors and other film industry professionals. The festival is made possible in part with the continued support of Belmont University, HCA-Tristar, The Film House, The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, One Village Entertainment, the Africa Channel, The Tennessee Arts Commission, The TN Film, Entertainment and Music Commission and The Screen Actors Guild.
Tickets to the Mooz-Lum showing can be purchased online at www.ibffnashville.com or at the door the evening of the performance. General admission tickets cost $12, and student tickets can be purchased with an ID for $8.
Murphree Sheds Light on Cicada Invasion
Steven Murphree (Biology) has been very busy this cicada season giving various interviews and lectures on the phenomena of the 13-year cicada. On May 19, Murphree will present a talk at Nashville restaurant Fido’s as part of the Adventure Science Center’s “Science Café” series on the emergence of the big, noisy, red-eyed bugs. Murphree will shed light on the life cycle of the cicada to help others understand what to expect over the next six to eight weeks of the buggy invasion.
Below are links to various media outlets where Murphree was a featured expert on cicadas:
The Tennessean
Huffington Post
FOX17 News
News2 WKRN and coverage of “Cicada School”
USAToday.com
