71.4% of Belmont student athletes earn 3.0 GPA or better – a record
Belmont University has won the Atlantic Sun Conference’s All-Academic Trophy for the third year in a row – a conference first – and set a new A-Sun record with 71.4 percent of its students athletes earning a GPA of 3.0 or better, the university and A-Sun Conference announced today.
The All-Academic Trophy is an annual award given to the conference school with the greatest percentage of student-athletes receiving a 3.0 or higher at the end of the academic year. Last year, Belmont set a conference record with 69 percent of its student-athletes achieving or surpassing the 3.0 GPA mark.
“At Belmont, we are committed to having our student-athletes be students first – therefore, it is a tremendous honor for them to be recognized for their work in the classroom,” said university President Dr. Robert Fisher. “While other schools across the country are working to achieve academic success with their athletes, I’m thrilled it has always been the case with student-athletes at Belmont.”
Belmont’s success in the classroom was highlighted this season by three Academic All-American selections and the program’s third consecutive A-Sun Male Student-Athlete of the Year honor. Senior basketball standout Adam Mark won the conference’s top individual honor for a student-athlete for the second straight year while Wes Burtner, currently an account executive for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, earned the award in 2001-02. Additionally, Candice Mitchell was also the recipient of the award for the 2001-02 year.
Belmont Wins A-Sun Academic Trophy Third Straight Year
Belmont to Host Six A-Sun Championship Tourneys in 2004-05
Belmont University’s Curb Event Center was selected to host the 2005 Atlantic Sun Men
BelmontOlympic Preview At The Curb
American gymnast Marlee Shape, photographed by Belmont University staff photographer Michael Krouskop during Olympics preview events Thursday at the Curb Entertainment Center on the Belmont campus.
The Curb is host a portion of the 2004 U.S. Gymnastics Championships 2004 U.S. Gymnastics Championships June 2-5, 2004, an event that will determine national champions and U.S. national team members, and help choose the athletes who will compete at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials later that month. The Olympic trials determine the make-up of the U.S. Olympic Team that will compete later this year in Athens, Greece.
The Curb Event Center is hosting the trampoline, tumbling and rhythmic gymnastics events, while the artistic gymnastics events are at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
CMT, AP Cover Julie Roberts’ Album Debut
The Associated Press is featuring Belmont alum and rising country music star Julie Roberts in a story carried in several papers nationwide this week.
She moved to Nashville in 1999, graduated from Belmont University and got the job at Mercury. Roberts’ Cinderella story was the subject of a Country Music Television special in which cameras followed her around for months as she made the transformation from secretary to country star.
She moved to Nashville in 1999, graduated from Belmont University and got the job at Mercury. Roberts’ Cinderella story was the subject of a Country Music Television special in which cameras followed her around for months as she made the transformation from secretary to country star.The Hartford (Conn.) Courant also recently profiled Roberts.
London Sunday Times Covers Belmont’s 21st annual International Country Music Conference
The Sunday, May 30, edition of the London Times reports from the 21st annual International Country Music Conference on the strange tale of a long-dead fisherman from the Shetland Islands whose recordings are being called “some of the greatest recordings of American music you will hear.” Thomas Fraser’s Grandson Karl Simpson presented a paper on The Legend of Thomas Fraser at the conference last week. The annual conference at Belmont is attended by worldwide authorities on country music.
Brenda Lee Presents Belmont Book Award
Singer Brenda Lee, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame, presented the 2004 Belmont Book Award to author Alanna Nash, for her book The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, a biography Elvis’ famed and controversial manager. The Belmont Book Award is presented annually to the best book about country music.
Thw award was presented Friday at the 21st Annual International Country Music Conference at Belmont. Also honored: Nashville music journalist Craig Havighurst and Australian music journalist Bob Howe, co-winners of the Charlie Lamb Excellence in Country Music Journalism Award for 2004.
Center for Professional Development Offers “Mini MBA”
Belmont University’s Center for Professional Development will launch a new “Mini MBA” program this fall for mid-career professionals seeking to broaden their business skills and expand their knowledge in functional business areas.
The Belmont Mini-MBA program is intended to provide participants with skills and information they need to keep themselves and their organizations competitive. One night per week, students will be immersed for three hours in a “module” focusing on a single critical business discipline that will provide participants an overview and broad survey of subject areas normally found in a business school degree program.
“This is for business and technical professionals aspiring to improve their business skills and business acumen, mid-career professionals who want to update their knowledge and gain fresh insights to management,” Raines said.
Turner Rides Long Black Train to ACM Nomination
Today’s Tennessean has a very nice profile of Josh Turner, a Belmont University alum and nominee for an Academy of Country Music award for best new artist.
Turner, 26, has been playing Long Black Train for years. He wrote it while in college at Belmont and played it for classmates and at church.
”There’s a videotape of my senior recital at Belmont where I was introducing the song and was joking about it,” he said. ”I introduced it by saying, ‘Well, here’s my first No. 1 hit, Long Black Train.’ It never went No. 1, but it’s done a lot of good.”
”This song was for His purpose,” Turner said recently, sitting with his wife, Jennifer, at The Palm restaurant in downtown Nashville. ”I’ve been just kind of an instrument to get it out.”Turner’s debut album has sold more than 678,000 copies, and was the only debut album by a new country artist to go gold (sell 500,000 copies) in 2003. Turner graduated from Belmont in August 2001 with a degree in commercial vocal performance. You can see the video for “Long Black Train” here.
Belmont to Host International Country Music Conference
The 21st Annual International Country Music Conference will be held at Belmont University on Thursday, May 27, through Saturday, May 29, 2004. The academic conference features papers and panels from scholars of country music. Also, the Belmont Book Award for the Best Book on Country Music and the Charlie Lamb Excellence in Country Music Journalism Award will be presented during a luncheon Friday.
