Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, is quoted in a recent story on entrepreneurship in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, focusing on how young entrepreneurs are seeking to create their own job security, and how colleges are helping them do it.

“Keeley is an example of a multigenerational shift in how young people regard entrepreneurship, said Jeff Cornwall, former chairman of St. Thomas’ entrepreneurship department who now holds the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville.
Cornwall met tremendous resistance when he started an entrepreneurial program in the University of Wisconsin system in the 1980s, he said. “Students were afraid to tell classmates they were thinking about doing this,” he said. “Parents would call me, furious about putting these notions into their children’s minds.”
Stung by a generation of layoffs, however, parents began viewing the field as legitimate. Meanwhile, there was an explosion of college entrepreneurship courses.
In 1970, 16 entrepreneurial courses were offered at various business schools nationwide. By April 2003, when Entrepreneur magazine ranked college entrepreneurship courses, it had 700 to choose from – from single classes to full degree programs.
Students now can join entrepreneurial clubs and live in dorms dedicated to like-minded peers. Graduates are supported by mentors, networking groups and online peer chat rooms.

Dr. Cornwall publishes a weblog on entrpreneurialism, called The Entrepreneurial Mind, at http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall

The Richmond Times-Dispatch profiles Belmont graduate and country music superstar Brad Paisley: With a guitar and two years of college credits in tow, Brad Paisley moved to Nashville to finish his major in music business at Belmont University. He graduated two years later. Within a week, Paisley signed a song-publishing deal with mighty EMI Music Publishing…

The Tennessean reports on a Music Row project involving schoolchildren writing songs with some of Nashville’s best songwriters. Belmont University music business students also will be involved in the project.

Davidson Country schoolchildren are teaming with some of Nashville’s best songwriters for “Kid Pan Alley,” a project that draws in all elements of the local music community. An “A-team” of songwriter talent including Beth Nielsen Chapman (This Kiss), Angela Kaset (Something In Red), Jim Photoglo (Fishin’ In the Dark) and Darrell Scott (Long Time Gone) is going into local schools to write songs with pupils. Nashville Chamber Orchestra members will help the kids arrange the songs, and this winter, local artists will record them at historic RCA Studio B, where Elvis recorded. Belmont University students will help engineer and market the album and proceeds from the spring CD release will fund music programs for Nashville students.

RCA Studio B sometimes serves as a Belmont University classroom.

The Tennessean reports that the national TV spotlight will focus on Belmont University this coming holiday season.

First there was the Nashville Symphony’s Fourth of July concert carried live from Riverfront Park by the A&E cable TV network. Now it’s Belmont University’s turn to get a piece of national holiday exposure.

PBS will broadcast Belmont’s annual Christmas at Belmont concert at 8 p.m. on Dec. 25.

The Herald-Dispatch of Huntingdon, W. Va., profiles recent Belmont University graduate Jason Johnson:

Since his graduation, he has been actively touring the eastern United States leading praise and worship and playing his original compositions. He found time in this schedule to compile his first album, called ‘Never-ever Land,’ which features 10 of those compositions. Johnson draws musical inspiration from varied artists such as Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Donny Hathaway. Influences that diverse make the genre of his album difficult to classify.

Dr. E. Michael Harrington, a music business professor at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, is quoted in a Nashville City Paper article about the revival of Napster as a legitimate online music downloading service.