The Communication Studies Department hosted 116 eighth-graders from Southside Elementary School in Wilson County for the “Three Cs: Communication College Connection” conference. Lambda Pi Eta members Meg Tully, Kate Harris and Eric Schoen led a large group workshop on speech organization and audience analysis. Students from Mary Vaughn’s COM 1100 classes conducted break-out workshops on speech delivery and led walking tours of campus. Southside teacher Janie Johnson commented, “Belmont has a nationally winning Speech & Debate Team, so we knew this would be the best place to come for instruction in public speaking. I can teach these TCAP competencies all year, but when a cool college student does it, it sticks!”
Eighth Graders Learn from Communication Studies Majors
Belmont Vision Holds Reunion
Editors and staff from the 1987-89 Belmont Vision held a reunion Saturday, April 2 at the home of Journalism Professor Thom Storey, newspaper advisor from 1985-1996. Shown from left with Storey are: Michelle Williams (’89), South Atlantic Bureau Chief for the Associated Press; Chris Villines (’91), East Tennessee Communications Manager for Tennessee Farmers Cooperative; Mark Townsend (’90), Associate Editor of the Cherokee Scout newspaper in Murphy, N.C.; Karin Miller (’88), Communications Director for AARP Tennessee; and Jeannine Renfro (’90), Planning Facilitator for Davidson County Metro Schools. The Belmont grads are all sporting New Century Journalism Program caps as souvenirs of the event.
Stamper Named to New Role in SACS Committee
Jim Stamper (Education) has been named by the president of SACS to be part of a seven-member team to review all SACS standards, particularly those which deal with federal requirements. The committee is to make recommendations to the SACS membership as to how the SACS Criteria can include federal requirements so the “feds” will not be sending separate compliance committees to SACS schools. The committee is chaired by Dr. Robin Hoffman, president of DeKalb Technical College, and met once in March and is scheduled to meet once in April and once in May.
Spring Lectures at Pitzer College, Art-o-Matic 419
Ken Spring (Sociology) spoke on March 29 at Pizter College as part of their Sociology Spearker Series. The title of his lecture was “Creating Community: From Here to Anywhere.” Spring also spoke at the Art-o-Matic 419 event held by the Greater Toledo Arts Commission on April 1. The title of his talk was “The Role of Creative Communities in Cities.”
Niedzwiecki Hosts Seminars for Grassmere Zookeepers
John Niedzwiecki (Biology) recently hosted a series of seminars for the zookeepers at The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. The goal of the seminars was to introduce the zookeepers to behavioral research techniques and the basics of experimental design so that they might be able to employ the techniques with the animals they work with at the zoo. The Nashville Zoo is growing and is looking to take on an increasing role in zoo animal research. The zookeepers will be conducting small test projects this spring and summer based on these seminars and hope to soon gear up for larger projects. Dr. Niedzwiecki also uses the zoo animals, with the assistance of their keepers, for research projects in his Animal Behavior Class.
Biology Faculty, Students Take Part in BioBlitz
On April 2, Belmont biology professors John Niedzwiecki and Steve Murphree hosted a BioBlitz at the Beaman Park Nature Center. Beaman Park is one of Metro Nashville’s newest and most natural Parks. Bioblitzs are a chance for the public to go off-trail, turn over rocks and logs and identify the organisms living in the park and also look for new species to the park, especially salamanders and frogs. The staff at The Beaman Park Nature Center benefit by getting an inventory of the natural diversity within the park. Belmont students and others from the Nashville community participated. The activity was coordinated by Linnann Welch (’93) , director of both The Beaman Park and Bell’s Bend Nature Centers.
Chemistry Students Participate in Prescription Drug Take-Back Event
On Saturday, April 2, 11 students in Professor Kim Daus’ Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry class participated in a Prescription Drug Take-Back event in Dickson County. The students participating were Taylor Andrew, Caleb Binkley, Mike Boyle, Brandon Ladage, Vihn Mai, Mydoy Nguyen, Marie Sisco, Emily Smothers, Matthew Turner, Jenny Westbrook and Devon Whalley. Daus and the Belmont students worked with Vanderbilt nursing students and Lipscomb pharmacy students in identifying, counting and cataloguing drugs submitted for disposal by the citizens in Dickson County. Over 3,000 controlled substances were collected as well as several thousand non-controlled drugs and over-the-counter medications. Additionally, Belmont students developed a poster and five brochures for the event that examined the effect of the five most common prescription drugs on the environment.
Biology/Pre-Med Student Featured on Local TV News Program
Azad Karim, a biology/pre-ped student at Belmont, was featured on local station Fox17 on March 30 to tell about his volunteer work with the “Best Buddies” program. Karim has been buddies with Matt Moore for several months, and they get together several times a week. Best Buddies is a non-profit organization that pairs people with intellectual or developmental disabilities with non-disabled people in the community. Best Buddies has been around for years worldwide, but only in Tennessee for less than two years. There are currently eight chapters with five more opening up later this year. The goal is for anyone with an intellectual disability to always have a buddy.
Biology Major Published in Tennessean
Laura Muck, a biology major at Belmont, recently had her letter to the editor published in the Tennessean. Her letter was about calculators being a crutch for students.
Students Present at American Chemical Society National Meeting
Alison Moore and Rachel Rigsby (Chemistry), along with nine students, attended the 241st American Chemical Society National Meeting in Anaheim, CA, March 27-31. In addition to attending research talks, poster sessions and workshops, five students presented research posters: Brandon Ladage, Nicole Smith, Loren Brown, Will Proffitt and Vinh Mai. Four students presented the chapter activity poster: Emily Smothers, Grant Anderson, Jenny Westbrook and Ashley Newsome. This year the Belmont University chapter of SMACS (Student Members of the American Chemical Society) received a Commendable Award at the Undergraduate Awards Ceremony.
