In the second set of the Battle of the Boulevard, senior Cat Mundy made history, recording her 1,000th kill. Her milestone was dimmed in the Bruins loss to rival, Lipscomb in three sets on Tuesday night. With 10 kills on the night, Mundy increased her kills total to 1,004, good for sixth-most in Belmont history. “That is such a great honor to achieve in her career – to get 1,000 kills,” Head Coach Deane Webb said. She has 1,000 kills in two years and a few matches. So certainly, she is a dynamic attacker, and it’s good to see her perform well tonight.” Click here to read more on this story.
Belmont’s First Annual Alumni Showcase to Raise Money for Chinese Orphan’s Surgery
Belmont University will welcome back several talented alumni to perform at “Coming Home for a Cause,” the first annual Alumni Showcase on Sat., Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Curb Event Center. Co-sponsored by the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and the Office of Alumni Relations, the showcase—featuring Sam & Ruby, Abby Burke and the Manly Band, KingBilly and Andy Davis—will serve to raise community support and awareness for the Shaohannah’s Hope foundation (www.shaohannahshope.org), an organization started by Belmont alumnus Steven Curtis Chapman.
Gospel artist Chapman, a former Belmont student and Curb College Advisory Board member, and his wife Mary Beth founded Shaohannah’s Hope to care for orphans and to help more people experience the miracle of adoption by reducing financial barriers. 
For the “Coming Home for a Cause” benefit, Shaohannah’s Hope has specifically identified an 18-month-old orphan in China, John (pictured left), who needs surgery for a cleft lip. Belmont’s donations will go directly towards John’s surgery. Buckets were distributed across campus this week to allow the Belmont community to participate and contribute to changing this orphan’s life. The “Change for Orphans” campaign buckets can be found at all residence hall/clubhouse front desks, the Beaman Student Life Center desk, Belmont Central, Corner Court, Department of Student Affairs front desk, Cafeteria, What’s Bruin? and the Curb Cafe.
“The purpose of this event is to provide a unique learning opportunity for CEMB students by utilizing the showcase series to profile Belmont talent, on and off the stage, and to highlight the community service endeavors of close Belmont affiliates,” explains Julie Bunt, associate director of Alumni Relations. “For this first annual event and out of Belmont’s Christian response to one of our own, Shaohannah’s Hope was selected as the nonprofit partner.”
The “Coming Home for a Cause” concert is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. event.
Cusic Featured in Nashville Lifestyles
Don Cusic, professor of music business, is featured in the current issue of Nashville Lifestyles magazine. The article on Cusic is a two-page spread that discusses his newest book, Discovering Country Music, and spotlights Cusic as one of the leading academics writing about country music.
Byrne Edits, Designs Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Plagues and Pandemics
Professor Joe Byrne of Belmont’s Honors Program designed and edited The Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Plagues and Pandemics (2008 Greenwood Press), a two-volume, 850-page, interdisciplinary reference work. Byrne was aided by an editorial board consisting of top scholars and librarians in medical history from Yale, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Indiana University, as well as the former historian of the U.S. Public Health Service, Dr. John Parascandola. Byrne authored 19 of the nearly 300 entries, on subjects including “War, the Military and Epidemic Disease,” “Societal Reactions to Leprosy” and “Measles in the Colonial Americas.” The vast majority of articles, however, were contributed by 100 scholars and professional health practitioners from a dozen countries. Three of these are Belmont faculty: Devon Boan, director of the Honors Program, who wrote on epidemic disease in literature and culture; entomologist Steve Murphree, who covered insects and pesticides; and physiologist Nick Ragsdale, who penned the article on dysentery. Recent Belmont graduates Sarah Bennett and Becky and Beth Repasky also contributed editorially, and Honors student Elizabeth Schriner generated electronic source material for the volumes. This project follows Byrne’s two volumes on medieval plague, also for Greenwood, The Black Death (2004) and Daily Life during the Black Death (2006). Byrne is currently preparing a single-volume, single author Encyclopedia of the Black Death for ABC-CLIO, which is scheduled to appear in 2011.
Hobson Speaks at Faculty Retreats in Virginia, Indiana
Dr. Eric Hobson in the School of Pharmacy was the keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for the Fall Faculty Retreat at Averett University in Danville, Va., and for the Fall Faculty Retreat and the New Faculty Orientation Program at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Combined, he worked with approximately 300 faculty (new and experienced) to help these educators augment their existing instructional strategies with best practices from the literature on higher education.
Service Corps’ Skyline Party Gives Back
The Nashville skyline was the backdrop to history in the making Sunday night for Belmont Service Corps, the university’s largest student organization. Approximately 500 people attended Service Corp’s first annual Skyline Party, which was held on the top floor of the Curb Event Center parking garage and raised almost $1,000 in donations for the Nashville Gilda’s Club.
“I am so proud to say that the Skyline Party was one of the greatest accomplishments for Service Corps members the organization has ever seen,” said Bob Foglia, president. “For the first time ever, we were able to take what we have learned over the years through volunteering at entertainment industry events across the nation, to create, plan and successfully implement an event that undoubtedly raised awareness of cancer throughout the Nashville community.”
The Skyline Party, which included musical performances by Madison Hardy, Greg Bates and EMI Publishing’s Brett Mcglaughlin, was the organization’s first independent event dedicated solely to giving back to the community for its consistent support and belief in student education and was aided by contributions from Sony BMG, Universal Music Group Nashville, Rock Solid Security, Red Bull, Subway and country recording artist Luke Bryan. For years, as part of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Belmont University’s Service Corps has been known throughout the country as an organization of music industry majors and student leaders who donate their time and talent to volunteering at various events. More information and photos from the Service Corps Skyline Party can be found at www.belmontservicecorps.org.
Magruder to Be Published in Applied Physics Journal
Dr. Robert Magruder, chair of the Chemistry and Physics department, has had the following paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physics: “The effect of implanting boron on the optical absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of silica” by R. H. Magruder, III, A. Stesmans, R. A. Weeks and R.A. Weller.
Beta Alpha Psi Chapter Receives Recognition
Belmont’s Beta Alpha Psi Lamda Nu chapter has been internationally recognized as a distinguished chapter. Led by Dr. Del DeVries, associate professor of accounting and information systems, the chapter has “far exceeded the minimum requirements of Beta Alpha Psi, and has excelled in the areas of academics, professionalism and leadership,” according to the Beta Alpha Psi board of directors. Membership is open to graduate students in the Massey School of Business as well as to undergraduate accounting, finance and information systems majors who academically qualify.
Belmont Tops 5,000 with Record Fall Enrollment
Belmont University enrollment stands at 5,023 students at the end of the registration period, marking an increase of five percent since last year and a rise of 69 percent since 2000 when the school enrolled 2,976 students. As part of its Vision 2010 plan, the university established a goal to surpass the 5,000 mark in enrollment and has now met that goal two years ahead of schedule. The Belmont student body currently comprises 817 graduate students and 4,206 undergraduates, representing record enrollment in both categories.
Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher said, “What is unusual about our growth is not just the growing enrollment numbers, but also that the students entering Belmont are better prepared academically and are being successful here and graduating at a significantly higher level. This points to the strength of our programs and the dedication and talents of this university’s faculty and staff.”
Since 2000, Belmont’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has increased by more than 2,000 students, and this year’s incoming class represents 41 states and five foreign countries. The university received a record number of applications—more than 3,000—of which a competitive 63 percent were accepted, down from 79 percent in 2000. The average ACT score for the 2007-08 freshman class is 26. One-third of new freshmen at Belmont were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class and 70 percent were in the top quarter. This year’s freshman class of 932 students held an average cumulative high school GPA of 3.52, with five percent graduating as either valedictorians (31) or salutatorians (17).
In the annual U.S. News & World Report ranking of America’s best colleges and universities, Belmont was cited most as a Top School to Watch and is ranked 11th in the South in the “Best Universities – Masters” category, making Belmont the highest ranked university in Tennessee in this category. The rankings are based on several quality indicators including student retention rates, graduation rates, student-faculty ratios and scores on college entrance exams.
Campolo Delivers Message of ‘Red Letter’ Alternatives to Political Issues
Dr. Tony Campolo, a world-renowned sociologist, author and speaker, visited Belmont on Wednesday to address “Citizenship and Faith,” the first topic in a Speaker Series covering subjects pertinent to Belmont’s hosting of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate. Campolo admitted that as a Christian he has difficulty falling completely in line with either major political party; rather than claiming a Republican or Democratic party platform, he instead chooses to base his beliefs on the “red letter” words of Jesus as found in the New Testament, the topic of his most recent book, Red Letter Christians: A Citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics.
Campolo said, “There is this tendency to recast God in the political ideologies to which we’re committed. We’ve got to transcend that. To do that is idolatry. It’s idolatry to turn the God that is into a God that is a projection of our own values.”
In his hour-long lecture, Campolo addressed four hot button issues in the current election season: the war in Iraq, abortion, gay marriage and immigration. While recognizing the positions of the major political parties on each issue, Campolo offered alternative ideas that he believes best represent the heart of the Christian message. At the end of his talk, Campolo then opened the floor to questions from the packed room in MPAC.
Campolo, a professor emeritus of sociology at Pennsylvania’s Eastern University, is the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and the author of 35 books. A media commentator on religious, social and political matters, Campolo has appeared on CNN and MSNBC as well as television programs like “Politically Incorrect,” “The Colbert Report,” “Nightline,” “Crossfire” and “Larry King Live.”
