Music Row, Nashville’s music industry publication, awarded Belmont University’s Ocean Way Studios Nashville’s Best Studio at the publications’ 18th annual awards celebration. Glenda Cones, manager of Ocean Way, accepted the award.
Built in a reconditioned greystone church from the 1850s and purchased by Belmont in 2001, Ocean Way was named the No.1 tracking room in Nashville three years in a row by Billboard magazine and is recognized nationally as one of the top recording studios. Ocean Way now serves as a world-class teaching laboratory for Belmont music business students in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business while still serving an impressive client roster that includes Vince Gill, Harry Connick, Jr., Faith Hill, Train, Bob Seger, Yo Yo Ma, Reba McEntire, Michael W. Smith, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, matchbox twenty, the Nashville Symphony and Belmont alumni Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack and Brad Paisley.
Ocean Way Named Nashville’s Best Studio
Babb Earns PHR Certification
Stephanie Babb, Human Resources Generalist in Belmont’s Department of Human Resources, recently earned certification as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR), a certification awarded by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). The PHR certification demonstrates a mastery of the body of knowledge in the human resources field. To become certified, an applicant must pass a comprehensive examination and demonstrate a strong background of professional human resource experience.
HRCI is the credentialing body for human resource professionals and is affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The purpose of the institute is to promote the establishment of professional standards and to recognize professionals who meet those standards.
Belmont University Awarded Atlantic Sun All-Academic Trophy Fifth Year in a Row
Breaking its own precedent, Belmont University won the Atlantic Sun Conference’s All-Academic Trophy for the fifth year in a row in the school’s fifth year as a member of the A-Sun, becoming the only school in league history to win the award five times. The award is given annually to the conference school with the greatest percentage of student-athletes who earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher at the end of the academic year. Of Belmont’s 270 student-athletes, 65.1 percent received Academic All-Conference honors for the 2005-06 school year.
“At Belmont, we are committed to having our student-athletes be students first,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “We are excited to have their hard work in the classroom be recognized. In a year that saw both our men’s basketball and tennis teams compete in the NCAA championship tournaments and our women’s basketball team earn first place in their regular season, this award is a tremendous validation of all our athletes’ successes inside and outside of the classroom.”
The Belmont Bruins are coming off a banner year that saw the men’s basketball team make school history with their first invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament after defeating rival Lipscomb University in the A-Sun Tournament Championship. The women’s basketball team earned regular season championship honors and was invited to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The men’s tennis team also won its tournament championship and was invited to the NCAA championship tournament.
“We are thrilled to capture this trophy again for the fifth consecutive year,” Mike Strickland, Director of Athletics at Belmont, said. “Earning this honor is important to everyone on the Belmont campus and credit should be given to the commitment of our academic staff, coaches, and especially our student-athletes who continue to take great pride in their classroom performance.”
The men’s tennis team, along with the women’s golf team, had 100 percent of their roster achieve Academic All-Conference honors. The men’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s cross-country teams all had every team member except one make All-Conference honors.
Several Belmont student-athletes earned individual honors at the national level for their success in the classroom. Justin Hare (men’s basketball), Chris Anderson (men’s soccer), Channing Twyner (men’s soccer) and Sarah Brandt (women’s soccer) were named to the Academic All-District IV team.
Several teams were also recognized nationally for their collective academic success. The men’s cross-country team ranked first in the nation and the women’s team ranked sixth for having the highest team GPAs for their respective sports. The NCAA 2005-06 Academic Progress Rate (APR) Recognition Award recognized Belmont’s baseball, men’s basketball, men’s soccer, women’s tennis and men’s tennis. These teams ranked in the top 10th percentile in the nation of all Division I sports.
The athletics department at Belmont offers several programs to its student-athletes to equip them with the tools and resources they need to be successful in the classroom. An academic lab is available exclusively for student-athletes to study or work on papers or projects. Free tutoring is available to those who need a little extra assistance or want to boost their GPA. Each team is issued a laptop while their sport is in season for student-athletes to utilize for schoolwork while traveling to away games or matches. Freshman student-athletes are required to log six hours of study hall each week their first semester on campus, along with weekly academic counseling sessions.
The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 10-member Division I league headquartered in Macon, Ga. Its membership includes Belmont, Campbell, East Tennessee State, Gardner Webb, Jacsonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.
Belmont In The News
The Nashville City Paper profiled Boomer Herndon, a senior on Belmont’s men’s basketball team, who is looking forward to leading the Bruins through the 2006-07 season. Click here to read the article.
Harrington Quoted
Michael E. Harrington, Professor of Music Business, was interviewed by Dragonfire, a new internet publication, for a story on Apple iPods and new technology. Click here to read the article. Harrington was also quoted in CNET’s Buzz Out Loud podcast. If you would like the links to this podcast, click here.
Nashville City Paper Reports on Inman Center
Click here to read the Nashville City Paper’s coverage of the opening of the Gordon E. Inman Center.
Nashville Business Journal Reports on Inman Center Opening
The Nashville Business Journal posted a story on their online edition about this morning’s unveiling of the Gordon E. Inman Center. Click here to read their story.
Cusic Quoted
A reporter from The French Protestant recently interviewed Don Cusic on the history of gospel music. The story will publish this fall.
The Gordon E. Inman Center Unveiled at Belmont University
The Gordon E. Inman Center, the new home of the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing, officially opened this morning at Belmont University. After 20 months of construction, the $22.5 million facility will house Belmont’s nursing, social work, occupational therapy and physical therapy programs.
Gordon E. Inman, a successful Tennessee business leader, donated $10.5 million to the project -the largest single donor gift at Belmont – and HCA’s TriStar Health System contributed $7.5 million. Belmont has also joined with three area colleges and universities – Volunteer State Community College, Trevecca Nazarene University and Nashville State Technical Community College – in the Partners in Nursing consortium. Through the consortium, students at these area schools will divide their time between their respective schools and Belmont where they will complete their nursing education.
According to a study by the Tennessee Independent Colleges & University Association (TICUA), by the year 2020 there will be a shortage of nearly 9,500 nurses in Tennessee. With the opening of The Center, Belmont will be able to increase its enrollment of student nurses from 250 to 600, giving access and opportunity to the next generations of health care leaders.
“This is a great and important day in the city of Nashville,” Mayor Bill Purcell said. “This new health care connection will bring the best and the brightest health care professionals to our community.”
Students will receive their education in state-of-the-art labs and classrooms that include lift equipment to teach student safety, simulated mannequins that respond to basic stimuli and apartments to teach social work students how to work with clients with special needs. Equipment for The Center was provided through The Memorial Foundation of Hendersonville, Tenn., through a $500,000 technology grant.
“The building is beautiful,” Gordon Inman said. “But it’s not the main purpose. It will provide for many nurses and health care professionals for many years to come, long after we are all gone. That is why we’re here.”
Click here for slide show of June 9, 2006 opening event.
- Video of remarks from the opening event are available here in the following formats:
- Windows Media
- Quicktime Movie
Alumni Named Executive Director of Philharmonic
School of Music alumnus J. L. Nave III (’94) was recently named executive director of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic in Indiana. Prior to his appointment, Nave served as director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.
