May 2010 Belmont graduate Abby Selden returned to campus recently to offer a presentation on her experiences in Ghana. Selden is the first recipient of a Lumos Student Travel Award, which is a grant given annually to help students embark on a travel experience that will give them a different cultural perspective of some aspect of the social sciences: visual, performing and/or linguistic arts; or to enhance an artistic, scientific or teaching skill or talent.
Selden said, “Living, volunteering and traveling in Ghana was a truly eye-opening and rewarding experience. I learned so much, and I am so grateful to the Lumos Foundation for giving me this opportunity.”
Belmont Board of Trust member Cynthia Leu, who also serves as president of the Lumos Foundation, funds the award, which was first established last year. She said, “I am thrilled that Abby Selden was the first recipient of the award. Her deep curiosity, thoughtfulness, open minded approach, organizational skills, ability to adapt to challenging and unfamiliar situations, and desire to learn about another culture firsthand through experience allowed her to make the most of her time in Ghana. I have no doubt that Abby’s three months in Ghana challenged her in a profound way, and changed her perspective significantly. I am thrilled Lumos was able to make her adventure possible.”
While in Ghana as part of the Projects Abroad program, Selden volunteered with other young adults from around the globe and served at both a local orphanage and a school in the rural countryside. In addition to the lack of electricity or running water, Selden said she learned to quickly adjust to all kinds of challenging circumstances. “Transportation was terrifying for the most part, but you get used to it… Taxis would cram in as many people as possible.”
The Mission of the Lumos Travel Award is to allow young adults to learn about the world in a practical and challenging way, by enabling students to become involved in a local community for an extended period of time. As Lumos Travelers engage with new places, new people and new ideas, they will take important steps to discover their skills and abilities as they gravitate to those things which will give meaning to their lives.
Leu added, “It is my hope that the Lumos Travel Award mission of ‘travel with a purpose’ will become a defining experience in the lives of those students who are award recipients. What they see, do and learn while on their ‘working adventure’ will cause them to return home with a different perspective on the world, and will inform their future choices as they become active citizens in their own communities.”
Click here to learn more about the Lumos program and here to view Abby Selden’s Ghana blog.
Lumos Travel Award Winner Selden Recounts Ghana Experience
Robinson Analyzes Hockey Player’s Shot
Dr. Kevin Robinson, professor in the School of Physical Therapy, recently analyzed the shotmaking ability of Nashville Predators hockey player Shea Weber, applying science to his on-ice skills. The study was reported in a recent article, “Shea Weber and the Science of Slap,” in Canada’s National Post, which you can read by clicking here.
Belmont Takes Part in National Study of Information Literacy Assessment
Belmont University is one of only five institutions nationwide selected to participate in the RAILS (Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) project during the 2010-11 academic year. RAILS is based at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies led by Assistant Professor Megan Oakleaf. The three-year project seeks to measure information literacy skills of college students and is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. RAILS is designed to help librarians and academic faculty develop and test rubrics that evaluate student learning and information literacy.
“Previously, librarians have been relying on tests to assess student work and skills and not looking at their research papers and projects,” Oakleaf said. “There are limitations on what you can test, and students aren’t always motivated to really work hard on a test that doesn’t impact their grade.”
Over the three-year grant period, Oakleaf will travel to 10 different universities to meet with 10 librarians or faculty members at each school. During the first year of the grant, Belmont University will be represented by Jenny Rushing, coordinator of reference services. Jenny was selected from librarians attending the ACRL Assessment Immersion Program, an intensive professional development experience focused on building librarian capacity to assess student learning. Jenny will participate in extensive rubric training and then organize librarians and academic faculty on their campus to assess student work samples.
“We also need to identify the characteristics that will make librarians and faculty members good evaluators of student work so that we can develop training for them,” Oakleaf said.
Barnes Chairs and Moderates PR Day
Susan Barnes chaired and moderated a session on November 12, at Public Relations Day in Knoxville, sponsored by the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information and the Volunteer Chapter of PRSA, that featured Wendell Potter, senior fellow with the Center for Media and Democracy and a contributor to the Huffington Post. The topic was credibility in health care public relations.
Bowles, Stover Present Papers
Dr. Sarah Bowles and Dr. Andrea Stover from the Department of English attended the South Atlantic Modern Language Association in Atlanta on November 6. Dr. Bowles presented her paper “The Coal Miner’s Daughter Stands by her Man: Country Music and Second-Wave Feminism.” Dr. Stover’s presentation was titled “Writing Against Time: Exploring Issues of Temporality in the Diaries of Virginia Woolf and Sei Shonagon.”
Nursing Students Win Project Blossom Award
Belmont nursing students, along with associate professor Dr. Beth Youngblood, were awarded the 6th Annual Project Blossom Award by the Metro Department of Health. They received the award for serving as event planners and prenatal care teachers in the Teen Conference, for pregnant teens in the Davidson County school system, and the Incredible Baby Shower project.
Project Blosson is an initiative from the Governor’s office to decrease the state’s infant mortality rate. The award is given for playing a major role in “saving babies and eliminating perinatal disparities in Nashville and Davidson County.”
The Belmont group received the award at Nursing Excellence Night on Nov. 15 following the induction on new Sigma Theta Tau members.
Students Inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma
Belmont University’s Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma held its Induction Ceremony on November 10. The inductees were from the School of Business Administration, Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and Massey Graduate School of Business. Only business students who earn the distinction of “the Best in Business” during their academic careers qualify for membership. Beta Gamma Sigma is the business school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa in liberal arts education.
The 42 new members are Kathleen L. Alberts, Heather R. Anvik, Jessica A. Betts, Tara A. Blood, Tara S. Bryant, Matthew E. Cannata, Julia Cecere, John P. Conley, Ashley A. Cox, Nicholas Deitmen, Delwyn D. DeVries, Justin R. Entzminger, Michael W. Gardner, Heather L. Germain, John S. Gonas, George M. Grimes, Daniel W. Harris, Laura D. Haupt, Christopher B. Holcombe, Klay T. Kelley, Jeffrey L. Lassiter, Corrina R. Logston, Timothy M. Maglothin, Lisa M. Marshall, Kelsey J. McMahan, Ray W, Mettetal, Brett K. Moffat, Mary Grace Murphy, Sarah F. Olinde, James B. Preston, Katherine S. Rote, Melissa H. Ryan, Scott L. Saunders, Marney Sherrill, Daniel Smith, Keith M. Smith, Stephen W. Soderholm, Shawn M. Sweeney, Courtney M. Swim, Christopher M. Tisdale, Pomai Verzon, and Matthew T. Woods.
These new members join an expanding worldwide network of more than 625,000 outstanding business professionals who have earned recognition through lifetime membership in Beta Gamma Sigma. Students ranking in the top 10 percent of the baccalaureate and top 20 percent of graduate programs at schools accredited by AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) are eligible for this invitation. Beta Gamma Sigma membership is truly an international honor, and these outstanding Belmont students have received the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive.
Belmont Hosts EducationUSA Advisors on Campus
The College Board, under contact with the US Department of State, selected the Nashville area to host a campus based program for EducationUSA advisors. These advisors–Megan Lewis (Mexico), Odonchimeg Tserendorj (Mongolia) and Kateryna Kanevksa (Ukraine)–are employees of the U.S. Department of State at locations around the world and serve as advisors to international students interested in studying in the U.S. They are the first point of contact for students seeking information about U.S. colleges and universities. In addition to Belmont, Vanderbilt, MTSU, TSU, and Nashville State also hosted advisors.
Flake Advocates for Christian Community Development
The Office of Spiritual Development and the Social Entrepreneurship program partnered this semester to bring Rev. Floyd Flake to campus to discuss Christian community development. A former U.S. Congressman, Flake is the senior pastor of the more than 20,000 member Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York. The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral operates a 30,000 square feet multi-service center, has an extensive business development program, and has rehabbed housing to serve hundreds of the homeless and elderly in their community.
The Greater Allen Cathedral’s operations are now a national paradigm of church-centered, faith based, public/private community educational and economic development, but when Flake first arrived at the church, the congregation and the community were suffering. Residents were moving away because the area suffered from too much crime, poor educational options and a diminishing property value. “My challenge,” Flake said, “was to introduce new ideas to the church, new ideas to an old congregation. We went through our struggles.”
But if the system is failing, that’s when the church needs to step in, Flake remarked. “We must have a sense of purpose. Are we doing this for a reason and what is that reason?”
During his 31-year pastorate, Allen has become one of the nation’s foremost Christian churches and development corporations. The church and its subsidiary corporations operate with an annual budget of over $34 million. The church also owns expansive commercial and residential developments, a 750-student private school founded by Flake and his wife Elaine, and various commercial and social service enterprises, which has placed it among the nation’s most productive religious and urban development institutions. The corporations, church administrative offices, school, and ministries comprise one of the Borough of Queens’ largest private sector employers.
Alpha Gamma Deltas Trick-Or-Treat for a Cause
On Halloween, the ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta went Trick-Or-Treating For a Cause, splitting into small groups and trick-or-treating around Nashville. They raised about $2,500 in four hours for the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation, which supports juvenile diabetes research, education programs and summer camp scholarships.
