Belmont University
Encyclopedia : B : BE : BEL : Belmont University
[Belmont University] is a private, Christian, coeducational, comprehensive university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee, and the second largest private university in the state.
The school has very close ties with the music industry, and is best known for its music business program (though it boasts a wide variety of additional majors). Among its colleges, Belmont boasts the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business (CEMB), the only college of entertainment/music business in the world. The university also houses other innovative programs, such as its New Century Journalism program and commercial music program.
Belmont's nationally-renowned music business program is the only one of its kind, though comparable programs can be found elsewhere. The music business faculty consists of current/former authors, performers, expert witnesses (for industry lawsuits), artist managers, lawyers, record label executives, songwriters, and others. The dean of the CEMB is a former music industry record executive who oversaw an $85 million corporation. 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 (Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, 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.
Belmont also houses the Curb Event Center, a 5000-seat multi-purpose arena, which is used for basketball games, concerts, and other events. The Curb Event Center is connected to the Beaman Student Life Center and Maddox Grand Atrium—collectively, a $52 million development.
Alumni
Some of Belmont's best-known alumni are Josh Turner (country music artist), Kimberley Locke (American Idol finalist, music star, and plus size model),Minnie Pearl (of Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw fame), Trisha Yearwood (country music artist), and Brad Paisley (country music artist). It should be noted that Minnie Pearl did not actually graduate from what is currently Belmont University. When she attended Belmont, it was the Ward-Belmont School and was not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Its best-known supporters 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 legend whose annual charity event has raised thousands in scholarship money).Current events
In 2005 a move was initiated by the institution's Board of Trustees to remove Belmont University from the control of the Tennessee Baptist Covention while remaining in a "fraternal relationship" with it. Advocates of this plan have presented a blueprint for change in which all board members would be Christians but only 60 percent would be Baptists in contrast to the current requirement that all 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. However, in November 2005 The Tennessean reported that since TBC contibutions were only about three percent of the University's budget, this money was readily replacable from other sources. It was announced 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 this announcement seemed to mark the end of the matter. However, on April 7, 2006 it was reported by The Tennessean that the TBC would seek to oust the existing board and replace it with one comprised entirely of Southern Baptists and ammenable to ongoing TBC control.
Some in the TBC had demanded the repayment of all monies ever contributed to the school since 1951, with interest; as this would have amounted to over $50,000,000, this was not practicable for the school. As a counterproposal, the school said that it would pay the convention $2,000,000 and $1,000,000 per year for the next three years. According to broadcast reports, the school's proposal was refused by a special session of the TBC meeting on May 9, 2006, against the recommendation of the TBC's professional managmement, and the TBC intends to continue operation of the university. The TBC's membership also voted to remove all current board members; litigation seems likely.
In June 2006, Belmont opened the new $18 million Gordan E. Inman Centre that now houses the College of Health Sciences and Nursing.Michaela Jackson, "Belmont opens Gordon Inman Center. Health-care training may ease shortages," The Tennessean, 9 June 2006, 1. A state-of-the-art facility, which was financed primarily by Nashville businessman Gordan E. Inman and the HCA TriStar Health System, the building has three storeys 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 centred around both adult and pediatric occupational therapy, maternity and neonatal care complete with Sim Man babies and a birthing Sim Woman, orthopaedics lab, and many classrooms of various sizes.
Sports information
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 is a member of the NCAA Division I and is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, a non-football conference. 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 berth, the Belmont Bruins nipped Lipscomb in overtime to win the Altantic Sun conference championship with a final score 74-69. The Bruins were seeded 15th in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
References
External links
- [Belmont University News Website]
- [News & Media: Nursing Archives page] more on the new nursing building
- [Online Edition of the Student Newspaper]
- [The M.O.B.] - Student Organization of Belmont University
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