The research of three Massey faculty members was recently published in the Journal of Teaching in International Business. Dr. Jane Finley (Deloitte Professor of Accounting), Dr. Susan Taylor (Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Marketing) and Dr. Lee Warren (Associate Professor of Accounting) submitted their paper on “Investigating Graduate Business Students’ Perceptions of the Educational Value Provided by an International Travel Course Experience.” This piece is particularly relevant to Belmont as it ties into a specific dimension of Massey’s graduate business program, namely, the required international study abroad experience for all graduate students.
Town Hall Debate Announcement Brings Dignitaries, Media to Campus
Chairman of the Board Marty Dickens, Belmont President Bob Fisher
and Governor Phil Bredesen celebrate today’s announcement.
The Vince Gill Room erupted in cheers as Belmont President Bob Fisher announced, with a dramatic curtain parting, that the Curb Event Center would play host to the pivotal Town Hall Presidential Debate on Oct. 7, 2008. “It’s always about a song for me,” Fisher noted, “‘I’m walkin’ on sunshine and don’t it feel good.’ What a great day for Belmont, for Nashville and for the state of Tennessee.” (To view a student-produced video package of the campus press conference, click here.)
After being introduced by Dr. Fisher, Gov. Phil Bredesen offered his own congratulations. “I was particularly pleased to learn that the debate here will be the town hall debate. Tennessee is a perfect microcosm of America, and this state is right in the middle of mainstream American values and has been for a very long time.”
Nashville mayor Karl Dean, Congressman Jim Cooper and Curb Center namesake Mike Curb were also present to offer remarks. Cooper made reference to the historical context of today’s announcement, noting that seventh American president, Andrew Jackson, initiated quite a legacy by spending most of his career in Tennessee, while more recently former Vice President and Tennessee native son Al Gore won the state acclaim by securing a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the environment. “And now this, the Presidential Town Hall Debate,” said Cooper. “It doesn’t get better than this. I’m so proud for Tennessee and for Belmont.”
For more information on the format of the debate and selection of debate sites, visit the Commission on Presidential Debates Web site.
For additional information on this event, media should contact Pamela Johnson in Belmont’s Office of Strategic Marketing and Special Initiatives at 615-460-6178 and johnsonp@mail.belmont.edu.
To view a student-produced video package of the campus press conference, click here.
Local media coverage links:
The Tennessean
Nashville City Paper
NewsChannel5
WKRN
WSMV
Fox 17
To read the press release announcing Belmont’s selection for the Town Hall Presidential Debate, click here.
A Web site for the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University is currently under construction.
Belmont Chosen as Site for 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate
The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced today that Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., will host the Town Hall Presidential Debate on October 7, 2008. Belmont was one of 16 sites nationwide under consideration to host one of three presidential, or one vice presidential, debates. Tennessee has been home to three former United States Presidents—Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk—but this will be the first time a presidential debate has been held in Tennessee.
“It is a distinct privilege to be chosen to host the Town Hall Presidential Debate,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “This opportunity will provide an invaluable educational experience to our students, allowing them to observe firsthand our nation’s political process and to be participants in American history. We are also pleased that the candidates and all of our distinguished guests will have an opportunity to witness the many benefits offered by the greater Nashville community.”
The Presidential Debate at Belmont will be held in the Curb Event Center, home of the NCAA Division-I Belmont Bruins basketball and volleyball teams and host site of the live CMT Music Awards show two years in a row. With a generous gift from the Mike Curb Family Foundation, The Curb Event Center opened in 2003. Seating 5,500 and equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, the versatile, in-the-round facility is ideal for the Town Hall format, in which citizens propose questions directly to the candidates. The debate is expected to attract more than 2,500 members of the media to Nashville, along with the candidates’ campaigns and supporters, and will be viewed by millions worldwide.
The CPD was established in 1987 to ensure that the debates provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. Its primary purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the United States leading presidential and vice presidential candidates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization sponsored all the general election debates in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Civic organizations and state and local government officials have supported Belmont’s bid for the presidential debate. Former Nashville mayor Bill Purcell, Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen and senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, and congressman Jim Cooper all wrote letters in support of Belmont and bringing one of the debates to Tennessee. In his letter to the CPD, Governor Bredesen wrote, “The Presidential Debates would find a compatible home at Belmont University where students with inquisitive minds take their roles as future citizens of our community, nation and world very seriously.”
“Hosting the debate at Belmont will engage our students in the political process through invaluable first-hand participation,” Dan McAlexander, Provost at Belmont, said. “Belmont takes seriously its mission to prepare its students for success in the real world, and serving as host site for the presidential debate will give our students invaluable tools in critical thinking and practical experience as they take an active role in what will surely be an historical election.”
For more information on Belmont University, click the link to Download file.
To see the list of debate site applicants, click the link to Download file.
For additional information, visit the Web site for the Commission on Presidential Debates.
To read more about the press conference announcing Belmont’s selection for the Town Hall Presidential Debate, click here.
A Web site for the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University is currently under construction.
Cornwall Quoted in Entrepreneur
Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, was quoted in the December 2007 issue of Entrepreneur magazine in an article titled “Breaking the Fall.” To read the full story, click here.
New Century Journalism Program Lauded in Tennessean
Mark Silverman, editor and vice president/content and audience development for The Tennessean, wrote an editorial this weekend praising Belmont’s New Century Journalism Program and the way in which it is preparing students for the future. Sybril Bennett, associate professor and executive director of the New Century Journalism Program, spoke with Tennessean editors last week about the training Belmont students receive. To read the full story, click here.
Student Engineers Assist Elementary School in Creating CDs for Veterans
Gower Elementary School’s Veteran’s Day Assembly held Wed., Nov. 7 provided an unscheduled service learning project for music business student engineers. Chris Diener and Ethan Kaiser organized the setup, ran the PA and recorded the concert of patriotic music performed by the elementary school students. Dan Wujcik, Instructor of Audio Engineering Technology, supervised the student engineers and mixed and edited the recording which was used to create CD gifts to honor the veterans at the VA Hospital. Music teacher and mother of two Belmont alumni, Rita Carpenter, and Principal Lorraine Johnson were grateful to Belmont for providing the equipment,and engineers. Lisa Spencer, meteorologist from WSMV Channel 4, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at the event, and the entire concert aired earlier this week on WTVF Channel 5 News.
Students Deliver Nursing Curriculum for Mozambique Hospital
Belmont’s community health students recently delivered the curriculum they developed for a new nursing school that will be established in Pemba, Mozambique by non-profit Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (MMDR). Dr. David Vanderpool, a Brentwood surgeon, founded MMDR in 2005 to serve the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the Mississippi area. The humanitarian organization now exists to help fulfill the medical needs of vulnerable and underserved people in the United States and throughout the world.
Developed under the leadership of Associate Professor Ruby Dunlap, whose parents were missionaries in Africa, the nursing curriculum was presented to Vanderpool Nov. 13 following the Sigma Theta Tau induction ceremony. Vanderpool will use the curriculum as part of his group’s efforts to start a hospital and nursing school in Mozambique, Africa. The organization is also collecting vaccines, malaria drugs and AIDS medications for their work there. According to the MMDR Web site, Mozambique medical facilities are scarce or nonexistent. One in six people have HIV/AIDS, and 60 percent of children die before the age of 5.
Karen Thomas, MMDR’s Director of Operations, said, “The curriculum development is a very important part of the process toward getting a nursing program in Pemba going. We can accomplish so much more in a short period of time than they can in Africa. Once the hospital is built, there will be a place to meet and train. Dr. Vanderpool is looking forward to replicating the hospital and nursing school in other places. What you have accomplished is a very important link in the chain.”
Men’s Basketball Garners National Media Coverage
Following last week’s huge win over Cincinnati 85-75, the Belmont Bruins men’s basketball team has received attention in a number of national media outlets, including USA Today, ESPN.com and Sports Illustrated. Combined with wins by Gardner-Webb over Kentucky and Mercer over Southern California, Belmont’s Cincinnati victory garnered coverage for the entire Atlantic Sun conference. Visit the links below for more details.
USA Today
ESPN.com, Kyle Whelliston story
ESPN.com, Andy Katz column
Sports Illustrated
Psychology Chair Dr. Pete Giordano Named 2007 Tennessee Professor of the Year
Dr. Peter Giordano, professor and chair of the Psychology Department, was named today as the 2007 Tennessee Professor of the Year, an award selection determined by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Dr. Giordano, who is currently in Washington, D.C. for special ceremonies to receive his award, was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States. Belmont will be holding its own celebration to honor Dr. Giordano on Mon., Dec. 3 at 2 p.m.
Dr. Giordano said, “I am very honored to receive this award. After 18 years of full-time teaching, there is one thing I know for sure: good teachers are not lone wolves. I have been extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by many gifted teachers here at Belmont with whom I have talked continuously about the craft of teaching. This award is theirs as much as mine.”
Dr. Giordano joined Belmont’s Psychology Department in 1989 after receiving his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A past National President of Psi Chi, the honor society for psychology, he frequently teaches courses in such subjects as Abnormal Psychology, Psychology of Personality, Psychometrics and Introduction to Psychological Science. He is also a member of the Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium Steering Team, Fellow of Division Two of the American Psychological Association and a consulting editor for Teaching of Psychology. In the past year alone, he has received the Tower Award for exceptional contribution to campus life from Belmont’s Student Affairs division and the Academic Inspiration Award from Belmont’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Dr. Dan McAlexander, Provost of Belmont University, said, “Pete Giordano has been an outstanding faculty member since his first days on the Belmont campus, receiving the high honor of our own Chaney Distinguished Professor award and serving as a former director of the Belmont Teaching Center. Pete is an excellent model of how all Belmont faculty are committed to teach in ways that empower students to learn to their highest potential. His own ongoing commitment to intellectual exploration makes Pete a model of the teacher-scholar, a way of teaching that enables his students to thrive.”
Belmont University professors have received the Tennessee Professor of the Year Award two other times in recent history, in 2000, for Dr. Mike Awalt (Philosophy) and in 2001, for Dr. David Julseth (Spanish).
Polkinghorne Speaks on Relationship Between Faith and Science
Rev. Dr. John Polkinghorne, a knight, physicist and Anglican priest, spoke on campus this week regarding the collaborative relationship that should exist between religion and science. President emeritus of Queen’s College at Cambridge University in England and author of 15 books on the connections between physics and faith, Polkinghorne’s treatment of theology as a natural science invigorated the search for interface between science and religion.
Speaking on the “gifts” that science and religion offer one another, Polkinghorne noted that many scientists have lost their sense of wonder about the fields they explore and the research they undertake. “I actually believe that science is possible because the world is a creation and we are creatures made in the image of a Creator.”
At the same time, he noted, Christians should embrace what science has to offer as it allows us to understand how the world works. In speaking of one often controversial topic, Polkinghorne explained that evolutionary potentiality echoes faith in that creatures “are allowed to be themselves and to make themselves… People who are seeking to speak modern truth should never fear truth regardless of where it comes from. I stand before you today as a man who has two eyes, the eye of science and the eye of religion. I can see more with both of those eyes together. They are truly friends, not foes.”
