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.
Faculty to Present Interdisciplinary Research at World Congress on Exercise in Medicine
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
Slay to Co-Author Music Copyright Book
Cheryl L. Slay, assistant professor of music business, has signed with Cengage Publishing to co-author Music Copyright Law with David Moser. The new book will update Moser on Music Copyright, currently in print. Publication of the revised edition is anticipated for early 2012.
SIFE Team Places in National Top 8
Following a sixth consecutive year as regional champions, the Belmont University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team competed last week at the SIFE USA National Exposition in Minneapolis, finishing in the Top 8 this year following last year’s national championship victory. In one of the largest collegiate competitions in the country, SIFE teams from more than 400 campuses presented their service projects to panels of corporate judges to determine which teams have had the most impact improving people’s lives. The mission of SIFE is “To bring together the top leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business.”
Dr. Pat Raines, dean of Belmont’s College of Business Administration, said, “I am very proud of our students’ performance in this year’s SIFE National Exposition, especially after their top three finish at the SIFE World Cup last October. It is extremely difficult to maintain this level of recognition, but our students remain focused and really take ownership of their projects. Opportunities to be involved in organizations like SIFE support our mission to prepare entrepreneurial, ethical and socially responsible future business leaders as our students are encouraged to spearhead and manage various service projects, while developing problem solving, team work and communication skills.”
Dr. John Gonas, associate professor of finance, serves as a Sam Walton Fellow responsible for advising Belmont’s SIFE students. Instructor Cate Loes and Assistant Professor Jason Stahl also serve the team as Sam Walton Fellows. Gonas said, “Belmont SIFE continues to produce servant leaders that are focused on blessing the non-profit community with business models that lead to sustainable social change. Our continued top-20 placement in the SIFE National Exposition for the past five years confirms our students’ strong work ethic, high intellect and dedication to excellence.”
During the 2010-11 academic year, the Belmont University SIFE Team worked on 14 projects on campus and in the community addressing a wide range of issues. The 42 members of Belmont SIFE spent more than 2,600 volunteer hours this past year developing and completing their projects, which included work with:
• FashionABLE: In October 2010, fashionABLE, a fashion-accessory social entrepreneurship venture, was created to help women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty in Ethiopia. In partnership with Ellita-Women at Risk (EWAR), an Ethiopian organization that provides counseling and job skills training to former prostitutes, fashionABLE is creating a sustainable business with consistent employment for these women.
• Linking, Educating, and Advancing Families [LEAF]: As part of the Nashville Mayor’s Poverty Reduction Initiative, Belmont SIFE has partnered with Metro Nashville Public Schools and its ESL teachers to teach math, reading and other basic market economic survival skills to immigrant children and their families.
• 147 Million Orphans: A T-shirt and apparel social entrepreneurship venture started by two mothers in 2009, to support their own nine adoptions, to bring awareness to the orphan crisis, financially assist orphanages, and fund overseas adoptions.
• Spring Back: A collaborative partnership that engages local mattress retailers to help reduce landfill waste. Belmont SIFE students created an entrepreneurial venture that employs previously homeless veterans and other homeless men as they work toward self-sufficiency while keeping mattresses from landfills.
SIFE is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Active on more than 1,500 university campuses in 39 countries, SIFE Teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that focus on market economics, entrepreneurship, success skills, environmental sustainability, business ethics and financial literacy.
Cambodian high school student supports 2011 Belmont mission trip
For the fifth year, students and faculty from Belmont University’s College of Health Science travel to Cambodia during the next 2 weeks with their annual mission trip. This year’s team departed on Sunday, May 15, but in preparation for their departure, they greeted a Cambodian high school student on Thursday, May 12, from Stratford High School who came to Belmont with 3 fellow students and a sponsor. The students had recently conducted a fundraiser, selling snacks at their school, to raise $125.35 to support Belmont’s student mission to Cambodia this year. The Cambodian student, Savut, and his classmates had the opportunity to meet several of the students going on the trip, while inviting the group to attend an International Festival at Stratford High School.
![StratfordHSGroup[2].jpg](http://forum.belmont.edu/achievers/archives/StratfordHSGroup%5B2%5D.jpg)
School of Nursing professor Keary Dryden met Savut at her church just over a month ago. When he found out about the Belmont trip, he organized the fundraiser at his school, enlisting the help of friends. Dryden said, “We will take the money with us and use it when we identify needs.” She added, “Last year we used donated money to help sponsor a rice drive which provided rice and other food supplies to a group of people who had been displaced from a slum into a very desolate rural area that had few resources. We’re not sure where the money will go this year, but $125 goes a long way in Cambodia!”
To stay up-to-date about the Cambodia Mission Trip, visit http://forum.belmont.edu/cambodia/.
