Following Belmont’s successful hosting of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, the University confirmed today that it has submitted an application to the Commission on Presidential Debates to hold one of the series of scheduled 2012 debates featuring the presidential candidates.
Belmont is among 12 possible locations nationwide for the 2012 Presidential Debates. As in 2008, the multi-faceted Curb Event Center is the proposed venue for the debates, with supporting roles played by other campus facilities. Belmont’s leadership, faculty, staff, students and alumni will participate in supporting this unique and internationally significant event.
Civic organizations, state and local government officials have supported Belmont’s bid for the debates following the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate and its impact on both the university and the broader community. At the conclusion of that event, then-Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, who served as an honorary chair for the debate’s host committee, said, “Belmont served as a perfect venue for the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate, and the university’s army of volunteers gave the candidates, campaign guests and visiting media a glimpse into the best of what Tennessee has to offer.”
Belmont President Robert Fisher led the charge to attract the Presidential Debates to Nashville and Belmont. His interest in exposing students to real life experiences and challenging them to think beyond the classroom has positioned Belmont as a university with a unique service mandate that prepares graduates to be contributing members of society after graduation.
“2008 brought Belmont University and the Nashville community together in a powerful way around one of the most historic elections in our nation’s history,” Fisher said. “I am confident that the capability, dedication and spirit of the Belmont community and our Middle Tennessee partners will enable us to achieve an even better event in 2012 if selected.”
The following universities have submitted applications to host a 2012 general election debate:
Belmont University (Nashville, TN)
Centre College (Danville, KY)
Dominican University of California (San Rafael, CA)
Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY)
Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY)
Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
Lynn University (Boca Raton, FL)
Saint Mary’s College of California (Moraga, CA)
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (Pomona, NJ)
University of Denver (Denver, CO)
Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC)
Washington University in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
Belmont University Competes to Host 2012 Presidential Debate
Social Work Club Named Social Work Student Organization of the Year
Belmont University’s Social Work Club was recently named the Social Work Student Organization of the Year. This state-wide award is given to the Social Work Student Organization or Club that best demonstrates Social Work’s core values: Service, Social Justice, Dignity and Worth of the Person, Importance of Human Relationships, Integrity, and Competence (NASW Code of Ethics). Organizations exemplify these values through their actions within the school, profession, and/or community at large.
The members of the Belmont student organization have served both the school and community at large. The relationship between community and campus was supported when they took initiative to partner with the Community Connections Fair. They demonstrated exemplary service within the community by preparing and serving dinner to homeless residents of Tent City, reading books to children at Family Literacy Day, taking part in the Vulnerability Index study and sponsoring a series of on-campus events in the fall to raise awareness of domestic violence (among a wide variety of other projects). Additionally, the club continued to serve the community by having a month-long food drive to support a local food pantry.
Belmont Celebrates Literacy Week With Acclaimed Writers Faye Gibbons, Dana Gioia
Series of events to culminate in 11th Annual Family Literacy Day ‘Read With Me’ Event Sat., April 9
Belmont University’s 11th Annual Family Literacy Day “Read With Me” event will take place on Sat., April 9 from 1-4 p.m. in the Easley Center at Rose Park in the Edgehill community. Family Literacy Day represents the culmination of a week-long celebration of literacy efforts that will include guest lectures on Belmont’s campus from acclaimed and award-winning children’s author Faye Gibbons and award-winning poet and former head of the National Endowment for the Arts Dana Gioia. (Gioia will offer a free public lecture on “Reading and Civic Engagement” Thursday evening, April 8, from 8-9 p.m. in the Belmont Heights Baptist Church sanctuary on the campus of Belmont University. A book signing will follow his talk.)
The Family Literacy Day “Read With Me” event is aimed at children from pre-K through grade 6 and their families and is designed to celebrate the joys of reading with a free afternoon of interactive story times, crafts and games. The primary focus of the event is Reading Circles, hosted by various campus groups such as the Student Government Association, the English Club, fraternities and sororities, the Black Student Alliance and the Student Athlete Council. Each group picks a different theme and offers a variety of books for all ages.
Adams Selected for Internship in France
Camille Adams, a junior French and Religious Studies major from Greeneville, Tenn., has been chosen by Sister Cities of Nashville to work this July as an intern in the Mayor’s office in Caen, France (Nashville’s Sister City). Adams has been studying French since her sophomore year in high school and has always dreamed of travelling to France. She will receive free lodging and a salary for her month-long internship. Belmont’s Center for International Business recently became an official sponsor of Sister Cities of Nashville, and Camille is the first Belmont student chosen for this internship.
First-Year Writing Students Prepare a Meal for Dismas House Residents
Students for Charmion Gustke’s (English) First-year Writing class, “Cultivating a Garden of One’s Own,” prepared a vegetarian meal for the residents of the Dismas House. The mission of the Dismas House, a neighbor of Belmont since 1974, is to reconcile former prisoners to society in a family setting that fosters community building. The students of this service-learning course, inspired by scholars such as Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry, learn about the intrinsic connections between citizenship and food production, breaking the barriers between what is taught in the classroom and what is practiced in the community.
Tim Lauer Receives Curtain Call Award
School of Music alumnus Tim Lauer received the Curtain Call Award last Thursday at a concert in his honor. The award is presented annually to a School of Music alumnus in honor of achievement in the field of commercial and popular music.
Upon his graduation in 1990, Lauer used his Belmont education and connections to secure jobs playing piano and percussion, songwriting, arranging and producing. He was a band leader for Trisha Yearwood and has toured with Kathy Mattea and Wynonna Judd. Lauer has played on more than 200 records with a variety of artists including Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Michael McDonald, Amy Grant and the Gospel Music Association’s 2010 Artist of the Year, Francesca Battistelli. His songs have appeared on “The Simple Life,” “One Tree Hill” and “Drop Dead Diva,” and he received an Emmy nomination for the song “Can You Love Me with the Lights On” featured on “Guiding Light.”
Previous Curtain Call Award winners include Josh Turner, Ginny Owens, Chester Thompson, Jill Phillips Gullahorn, Will Denton, Fleming McWilliams, Melodie Crittenden, Jozef Nuyens, Gordon Mote, Tammy Rogers King, Bernie Herms and Chris Rodriguez. Click here to see additional photos from the event.
Unabomber’s Brother Speaks on Mental Illness, Death Penalty
David Kaczynski, the executive director of New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and the younger brother of Ted Kaczynski, a.k.a., the “Unabomber,” spoke on Belmont’s campus Wednesday in a convocation co-sponsored by Belmont’s Psychology Club and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
During his hour-long talk David Kaczynski recounted life growing up with his gifted older brother, whose IQ was tested at a genius level, 165. “I always knew he was special, different,” David said. “If there was a Michael Jordan of mathematics, it would have been my brother.”
However, Ted Kaczynski’s academic gifts didn’t translate to the social realm, and David worried that his brother had no friends. Following a full scholarship to Harvard University at the age of 16, Ted was working as a professor of mathematics in his mid-20s when he announced he was quitting his job because of his concerns about technology, calling it a monster. He moved to a solitary cabin in the woods of Montana, where he spent the next 25 years with little contact with his family.
When the New York Times published an anti-technology manifesto in 1995 written by the Unabomber, David and his wife found the document’s writing style eerily familiar, resembling letters received from Ted through the years. The target of an intense FBI investigation, the Unabomber had engaged in a mail bombing spree that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.
Massey TV Ad Wins Telly Award
A television ad, “Break Through – Whip,” created to support the Massey Graduate School of Business programs recently received a second place Bronze Telly Award. The Telly Awards receive over 13,000 entries annually from around the world, and it is the premier award honoring outstanding commercials and programs as well as video, film productions and work created for the Web. The TV spot was produced by DNA Creative in conjunction with the Massey School and Belmont’s Office of University Marketing and Special Initiatives. Click here to view the 30-second ad.
Alumnus Named ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year
School of Music Alumnus Dan Muckala (’93) was named the 2011 top ASCAP Christian songwriter this week. ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) saluted the songwriters and publishers of Christian music’s most performed songs at its 33rd annual Christian Music Awards held March 28 in Nashville. In addition to being named ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year, Muckala was also honored as a co-writer on the ASCAP Christian Song of the Year, “All of Creation,” which was recorded by MercyMe, and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Christian radio charts. In addition, Muckala was noted for writing two of the other most performed songs of the past year: “Beautiful” (MercyMe) and “Light Up the Sky” (The Afters).
Belmont University Celebrates Earth Hour
On Sat., March 26, Belmont University will participate for the third year in a row in “Belmont Goes Dark: An Earth Hour Celebration” as part of a global project to raise awareness of climate change. Belmont’s celebration of Earth Hour is part of a world-wide event supporting environmental awareness and sustainability.
An initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. This year the Belmont community will join with hundreds of millions of people in 133 countries around the globe in observing Earth Hour.
Belmont’s O.N.E. Club (Our Natural Environment), a student organization, in partnership with Residence Life, will participate in the 8-9 p.m. campus celebration of Earth Hour Saturday. All non-emergency lighting in residence halls and on campus grounds will be turned off, and all students are being encouraged to refrain from using energy-consuming devices during that time. Earth Hour, however, will not interfere with other regularly scheduled campus events. For more information on Earth Hour 2011, visit www.earthhour.org.
