Belmont University

Infobox University
name = Belmont University

---

image_size = 220px
established = 1890
type = Private
president = Robert "Bob" Fisher
city = Nashville
state = TN
country = USA
students = 4,765
undergrad = 4,039
postgrad = 726
faculty = 520
campus = Urban, 65 acres (263,000 m²)
free_label = Athletics
free = NCAA Division I - 7 men and 8 women varsity teams
nickname = Bruins
mascot = Bruiser the Bruin
colors = Red and Blue
endowment = $71 million
motto = "From here to anywhere"
website = [http://www.belmont.edu/ www.belmont.edu] Infobox nrhp
name =Belmont (Acklen Hall)
nrhp_type =


caption =
location =Belmont Blvd.
Nashville, Tennessee
nearest_city =
lat_degrees =
lat_minutes =
lat_seconds =
lat_direction =
long_degrees =
long_minutes =
long_seconds =
long_direction =
area =
built =1850
architect =William Strickland
architecture = Greek Revival; Italianate
added =May 6, 1971
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 71000816
mpsub =
governing_body = Belmont University

Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state.

History

Belmont Mansion

Belmont Mansion was the home of Adelicia Hayes Acklen, a wealthy Nashville socialite and businesswoman, and was one of the most elaborate antebellum homes in the South, with 36 rooms and 19,000 sq. ft. The estate contained an art gallery, conservatories, lavish gardens, aviary, lake and zoo. [10] [11] The mansion became the home to Ward-Belmont College, a former women's college, and today is owned by Belmont University. The mansion is open for tours and features Victorian art and furnishings. The gardens are part of the college campus.

Academics

Belmont is currently ranked by "U.S. News & World Report" at number 11 of masters-degree universities [A masters-degree university is a university which offers several masters degrees but not does not offer a full slate of doctoral programs.] in the South. [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1univmas_s_brief.php US News 2006 Private University Rankings] .] For the applicant class of 2007-08, Belmont admitted 62% of its applicants, and half of those students matriculated. The average ACT score for the admitted class is 26. One-third of new freshmen at Belmont were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, including 30 valedictorians and 12 salutatorians, and they held an average cumulative high school GPA of 3.5. [ [http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/007711.html News & Media: Belmont Announces Record Fall Enrollment ] ] Approximately 2/3 of entering freshmen eventually graduate from Belmont, and approximately 1/3 of entering freshmen eventually transfer out of Belmont. [The National Center for Education Statistics]

In addition to the music and music business programs, Belmont offers a full range of majors and programs that extend outside of class. Belmont and HCA created a health sciences consortium with local universities to alleviate the shortage of nurses and health care professionals in the local community. [http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=50374] The entrepreneurship program was named the 2008 National Model Entrepreneurship Program [http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/NEWS01/801140355/1006/NEWS] , and provides students with shared office space and mentoring from faculty, local entrepreneurs and attorneys. [ [http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117390337333137197-zpGhIVPFuFeMrJ_P8azhBxfj_4Q_20070325.html?mod=mktw Entrepreneurship 101 - WSJ.com ] ] New Century Journalism students have gained work experience at The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show, CBS Evening News, and British Broadcasting Corp. [ [http://outandaboutnewspaper.com/article.php?id=54 Out & About - Living: Woolley heads to CBS New York ] ]

Music and music business programs

Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business (CEMB) consists of current/former authors, performers, expert witnesses (for industry lawsuits), artist managers, lawyers, record label executives, songwriters, and others. The former dean of the CEMB, Jim Van Hook, is a legendary Nashville label head, especially as part of the Christian music industry; he is currently CEO of Word Entertainment. One of the hallmarks of the program is its vast internship program, which sends hundreds of students annually out into the Nashville music industry to intern for record labels, management companies, publishing companies, booking agencies, publicists, recording studios, law firms, and other businesses.

Besides having three professional quality recording studios on campus, Belmont owns The Belmont Studios (formerly known as Ocean Way Nashville), part of which is operated for-profit (for the likes of Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, and Bob Seger), and part of which is used by students. Belmont also operates historic RCA Studio B (formerly used by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Dolly Parton), in conjunction with the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Curb Family Foundation. In addition, the music business program operates Belmont West and Belmont East, which enable students to spend a semester learning about and interning in the entertainment industries in Los Angeles and New York City, respectively.

chools and colleges

*College of Arts and Sciences
*College of Visual and Performing Arts
*College of Business Administration
*Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing
*The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
*University College
*Graduate School
*Massey Graduate School of Business Administration]
*School of Religion

Campuses

Main Campus (Nashville)

In June 2006, Belmont opened the new $18 million Gordon E. Inman Center that now houses the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences and Nursing. [10] A state-of-the-art facility, which was financed primarily by Nashville businessman Gordon E. Inman and the HCA TriStar Health System, the building has three stories of classroom space that contain learning labs equipped with Sim Man mannequins that respond to the actions of the nursing students. Additionally, there are classrooms centered on both adult and pediatric occupational therapy, maternity and neonatal care complete with Sim Man babies and a birthing Sim Woman, orthopedics lab, and many classrooms of various sizes.

Belmont also houses the Curb Event Center, a 5000-seat multi-purpose arena, which is used for basketball games, concerts, and other events like the 2006 and 2007 CMT Awards, and the upcoming 2008 Presidential Debate. [11] The facility is connected to the Beaman Student Life Center and Maddox Grand Atrium—collectively, a $52 million development.

Regional Campus

*"Cool Springs" location in Franklin, TN

National Campuses

*Los Angeles, CA (Belmont West)
*New York City, NY (Belmont East)

Notable alumni

*Cowboy Crush, country music band; all five members are alumni.
*Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, "big band" featured as a finalist on "The Next Great American Band".
*Melinda Doolittle, "American Idol" finalist.
*Stu Grimson, former NHL enforcer.
*Kimberley Locke, American Idol finalist, music star, and plus-size model.
*Gordon Kennedy, Co-writer of Eric Clapton song "Change the World" and Grammy winner (1996 Song of the Year, 2006 Best Pop Instrumental Album)
*Levi Kreis, music artist [ [http://www.gay.com/entertainment/music/rockout/article.html?coll=pno_entertainment&sernum=1150&page=2 Giving Southern Baptist sissies a voice: Singer/songwriter Levi Kreis speaks] page 2]
*Sandra McCracken, 1999, singer-songwriter.
*Ginny Owens, Christian music artist.
*Brad Paisley, country music artist.
*Ricardo Patton, head basketball coach at Northern Illinois University
*Minnie Pearl (real name Sarah Cannon) of Grand Ole Opry and "Hee Haw" fame; attended Belmont's predecessor, the Ward-Belmont School.
*Jill Phillips, Christian music artist.
*DJ Qualls, actor.
*Julie Roberts, country music artist.
*Rachel Smith, Miss Tennessee Teen USA 2002, Miss Tennessee USA 2007, and Miss USA 2007
*Larry Stewart, country music artist, lead singer of Restless Heart
*Pam Tillis, country music artist
*Josh Turner, country music artist.
*Lee Ann Womack, country music artist.
*Trisha Yearwood, country music artist.

Notable supporters of Belmont include Mike Curb (substantial donor/namesake of CEMB and Curb Event Center/founder and head of Curb Records), Jack C. Massey (substantial donor to and namesake of BU's business building and graduate business program, former head of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a founder of Hospital Corporation of America), and Vince Gill (country music artist whose annual charity event has raised thousands in scholarship money).

Belmont athletics

Belmont is a member of the NCAA Division I and is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, a non-football conference.

In the mid-1990s, Belmont adopted the mascot "Bruins", replacing the earlier mascot of Rebels due to the latter's association with the Confederacy.

The school has an ongoing basketball rivalry with Lipscomb University and currently plays them at least twice per year on a home-and-home basis (even more frequently in some years) in games nicknamed the "Battle of the Boulevard". In 2006, likely the most important Battle of the Boulevard game to date was played. With both teams battling for their first-ever NCAA Tournament berths, the Belmont Bruins nipped Lipscomb in overtime to win the Atlantic Sun conference championship 74-69. The Belmont Bruins were seeded 15th in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round to the UCLA Bruins.

In 2007, Belmont won the Atlantic Sun Conference championship for the second year in a row, defeating East Tennessee State University in Johnson City 94-67. The Bruins continued to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, losing in the first round to the Georgetown Hoyas.

In 2008 The Bruins advanced for the third straight year to the NCAA Tournament, again earning a 15 seed against the #2 seeded Duke Blue Devils. Belmont had their best tournament showing ever in this game, falling short by a score of 71-70 to the Blue Devils, nearly pulling off an incredible upset.

Presidential debate

:seealso|United States presidential election debates, 2008#October 7: Second presidential debate (Nashville townhall)On November 19, 2007, The Commission on Presidential Debates officially chose Belmont University to host one of three Presidential election debates on October 7, 2008. [http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/NEWS02/711200373 ] President Bob Fisher gave a press conference on November 19 announcing the news, expressing great excitement towards the opportunity to be a part of something so historical. He added: "It is an amazing honor, a tremendous responsibility and a fantastic opportunity for all of us. We will be privileged to see the frontlines of the political process and engage with a vast array of professionals and scholars, all while witnessing the significant benefits this event will have on our university and the local Nashville community."Belmont was chosen out of sixteen finalists.The Debate at Belmont is different from the others in that it is a "town-hall" style debate. In a Town-Hall debate, questions are fielded from the audience.

Relationship with the Tennessee Baptist Convention

In 1951, Ward-Belmont College, the finishing school operated in Nashville by Ward-Belmont, Inc., was facing severe financial difficulties. To relieve those problems, the school entered into a relationship with the TBC. Under the terms of that relationship, the Tennessee Baptist Convention provided the school with financial support and in exchange was granted certain management rights related to the school. In particular, all of the members of the school's Board of Trustees were to be Baptists.

In 2005 Belmont's Board of Trustees sought to remove Belmont University from the control of the Tennessee Baptist Convention while remaining in a "fraternal relationship" with it. Advocates of this plan presented a blueprint for change in which all board members would be Christians but only 60 percent would be Baptists in order to affirm a Christian affinity while acknowledging the diversity of both the faculty and the student body. The head of the TBC would continue to be an "ex officio" board member. The TBC rejected this plan.

In November 2005 "The Tennessean" reported that the TBC would increase its funding of two other institutions, Union University and Carson-Newman College by the amount previously given to Belmont and Belmont would replace the three percent of its budget that was funded by the TBC; this announcement seemed to mark the end of the matter. However, on April 7, 2006 "The Tennessean" reported that the TBC would seek to oust the existing board and replace it with one consisting entirely of Southern Baptists and amenable to ongoing TBC control.

After settlement talks failed, the Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board filed a lawsuit on September 29, 2006 against Belmont seeking the return of approximately $58,000,000.

On November 14, 2007, Nashville media reported that a settlement of this suit had been reached before trial. Under its terms, the TBC and Belmont would disaffiliate amicably, with Belmont agreeing to pay one million dollars to the convention immediately, and $250,000 annually for the next forty years, for a total cost of $11,000,000. The University has stated its intent to maintain a Christian identity, but no longer a specifically Baptist one. [ [http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/NEWS04/711140452/1001] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.belmont.edu Belmont University — Official website]
* [http://campus.belmont.edu/sga/ Belmont Student Government Association]
* [http://alumni.belmont.edu Official Belmont University Alumni Association]
* [http://www.belmontbruins.com Official Athletics website]
* [http://www.bruinmob.com/ The M.O.B.] - Student Organization of Belmont University
* [http://www.belmontacademy.net Belmont Academy — Official website]

Affiliated media

* [http://www.belmontvision.com/ "The Vision" — Student Newspaper]
* [http://forum.belmont.edu/umac Belmont University News Website]
* [http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/cat_nursing.html News & Media: Nursing Archives page] more on the new nursing building

Belmont centers

* [http://www.belmont.edu/business/business_centers/career_development_center/index.html Career Development Center]
* [http://www.belmont.edu/business/business_centers/business_ethics/index.html Center for Business Ethics]
* [http://www.belmont.edu/ce/index.html Center for Entrepreneurship]
* [http://www.belmont.edu/cpd/index.html Center for Professional Development]
* [http://www.belmont.edu/business/business_centers/center_for_financial_information/index.html Massey Financial Information Center]
* [http://www.belmont.edu/tlc/index.html Technology Learning Center]