Belmont University graduated its largest class ever as 490 students received their bachelor’s degree or advanced degree during Spring 2005 commencement ceremonies at the Curb Events Center Saturday. In all, the university awarded 387 bachelor’s degrees and 103 graduate degrees.
Belmont Graduates Largest Class Ever
Schumaker to Keynote Belmont’s Spring Commencement
Belmont University’s Spring Commencement, 10 a.m. May 14 at Curb Event Center, will feature the university’s largest-ever graduating class, with more than 500 graduates, and a commencement speaker who drew upon her childhood in foster care to influence Tennessee’s foster care policy while a student at Belmont.
New Exhibition at Leu Features Appalachian Center for Craft
Belmont University’s Leu Art Gallery has opened a new exhibition, featuring works by the faculty and resident artists of the Appalachian Center for Craft. The Appalachian Center for Craft promotes excellence in American craft by teaching tradition and innovation in technique, concept and design. The Leu Art Gallery will celebrate the new exhibition with a reception 4-6 p.m., May 13.
Nursing Student Awarded Promise of Nursing Scholarship
Monika Banach, a junior at Belmont University studying nursing, was awarded the prestigious Promise of Nursing Scholarship. The Promise of Nursing scholarship is a competitive program and only awarded to 150 nursing students nationwide.
Belmont Mixers Win Competition
Belmont student audio engineers fared well at the recent “Spring Mixer” Annual Mixing Competition, hosted by the Nashville chapter of the Audio Engineering Society.
For the second year in a row, a Belmont team placed first in the competition. A second team of Belmont students placed third in the competition.
Screaming guitars take their place beside fiddles in Music City
The wave of emerging non-country acts here is, in many ways, a product of Nashville’s growth. Downtown and neighborhood revitalization has created more places for bands to play, music industry programs at Belmont University and Middle Tennessee State University have become magnets for talent and fans, the city is more affordable than other music centers, and its reputation as a haven for songwriters makes it attractive to writers from all genres. – Read the whole Associated Press story at HoustonChronicle.com. [Pictured: Belmont student Graham Fitzpenn, a member of the rock band Roy G Biv, winner of the Pop/Rock Showcase, performing at Belmont’s annual Best of the Best show. Click to enlarge.]
Belmont Hosts Blog Conference – Sidelines
Citizen journalists of the Internet will meet next week for a three-day, multi-part conference on Web logging, commonly known as “blogging,” hosted by Belmont University and the Media Bloggers Association. “BlogNashville will bring many of the new medium’s top practitioners and thinkers to one place to discuss the current and future of blogging,” says Bill Hobbs, Belmont’s public relations specialist and blogging coach in the school’s office of marketing and communications.
“Congress must consider the longer view on college student aid”
By the end of this decade, the number of students academically prepared for college will grow by 14%. Eight out of 10 of these new students will come from disadvantaged backgrounds, 20% will come from families living in poverty, and many will be the first in their family to attend college. If Congress does not recommit itself to full funding of the federal investment in student aid, many of these students may not get to college or, if they do, may not be able to stay there. – Belmont University President Robert Fisher, in an op-ed published in today’s Tennessean.
Belmont Scholarship and Awards Day Winners
On Wed., April 27, Belmont University honored several students at the annual Scholarship and Awards Day ceremony. This year’s award winners included:
The Williams-Murray First Year Writing Award – Rachel E. Pickett and Joshua Ingram
The Alfred Leland Crabb Writing Award – Tom Appel and Candace Campbell
The Stacy Awalt Writing Award – Travis Holloway, Eric Wilkey, Joshua Wolak and Kyle Zwiep
The John Williams Heart of Belmont Award – Kara Froula
The First Year University Leadership Award
The Finalists – Ashley Strosnider and Cara Pollock
The Recipient – Melanie Murphy
The Second Year University Leadership Award
The Finalists – Nathan Potter and Sarah Snyder
The Recipient – Molly Reed
The Third Year University Leadership Award
The Finalists – Brad Walker, Dan Oliver and Jenny Conkle
The Recipient – McKinley Belcher
The Fourth Year University Leadership Award
The Finalists – David Mareira, Fallon Nell, Nick Otis and Ryan Greenawalt
The Recipient – Joshua Schlessman
“Interactivity Is the Future of News”
Al Tompkins, Broadcast/Online Group Leader at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, urged Belmont University journalism students to prepare for an interactive, multi-media world rather than for a career in just print or broadcasting, during a class Tuesday at which Tompkins was a guest lecturer. “Interactivity is the future of news,” said Tompkins, a former news director at Nashville’s WSMV Channel 4 and a member of the board of advisors for Belmont’s New Century Journalism Program.
