Belmont University

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Belmont University
Belmont University Logo (Trademark of Belmont University)
Motto "From here to anywhere"
Established 1890
Type Private
Endowment $52 million
President Robert "Bob" Fisher
Faculty 215
Students 4,500
Undergraduates 3,800
Postgraduates 700
Location Nashville, TN, USA
Campus Urban, 65 acres (263,000 m²)
Athletics 7 men and 8 women varsity teams
Colors Scarlet and Blue
Nickname Bruins
Mascot Bruiser the Bruin
Website www.belmont.edu

Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state. In addition to its relationship with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, the school is known for its close ties with the music industry and its music business program.

Contents

[edit] Academics

Belmont is currently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Top 10 masters-degree universities[1] in the South.[2] For the applicant class of 2005-06, Belmont admitted 72.6% of its applicants, and just over half of those students matriculated. The admitted class's SAT scores ranged from a 75% score of 1280 to a 25% score of 1070, and its ACT scores ranged from a 75% score of 28 to a 25% score of 23. Approximately 2/3 of entering freshmen eventually graduate from Belmont, and approximately 1/3 of entering freshment eventually transfer out of Belmont.[3]

In addition to the music programs, Belmont offers a full range of majors and programs, such as the New Century Journalism, Entrepreneurship, Social Work and Nursing programs.

[edit] Music and Music Business Programs

Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business (CEMB) is the only college of entertainment/music business in the world. 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 former dean of the CEMB, Jim Van Hook, was 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 (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.

Unfortunately, there is some dispute as to the dedication of upper faculty towards the general student population.

[edit] Notable 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). Neither Pearl nor Paisley actually graduated from Belmont University. Paisley did not technically graduate, and Pearl attended Belmont's predecessor, the Ward-Belmont School.

Belmont's 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 artist whose annual charity event has raised thousands in scholarship money).

[edit] 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 Tennessee Baptist Convention. 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 comprised 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, a lawsuit that is still pending.[1]

[edit] Campus Facilities

In June 2006, Belmont opened the new $18 million Gordan E. Inman Centre that now houses the College of Health Sciences and Nursing.[4] 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.

Belmont also houses the Curb Event Center, a 5000-seat multi-purpose arena, which is used for basketball games, concerts, and other events. Students are generally not allowed to use the event center unless an event has been scheduled there. The facility is connected to the Beaman Student Life Center and Maddox Grand Atrium—collectively, a $52 million development.

[edit] Belmont Athletics

Belmont Bruins
Enlarge
Belmont Bruins

Belmont 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 berths, the Belmont Bruins nipped Lipscomb in overtime to win the Altantic Sun conference championship 74-69. The Bruins were seeded 15th in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round to the UCLA Bruins.

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

[edit] Organization

Belmont University is comprised of the following colleges, schools, and campuses:

[edit] References

  1. ^ A masters-degree university is a university which offers several masters degrees but not does not offer a full slate of doctoral programs.
  2. ^ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1univmas_s_brief.php US News 2006 Private University Rankings].
  3. ^ The National Center for Education Statistics
  4. ^ Michaela Jackson, "Belmont opens Gordon Inman Center. Health-care training may ease shortages," The Tennessean, 9 June 2006, 1.

[edit] External Links

[edit] Affiliated Media

[edit] Belmont Centers


Tennessee private colleges and universities
American Baptist College • Aquinas College • Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences • Belmont University • Bethel College • Bryan College • Carson-Newman College • Christian Brothers University • Crichton College • Cumberland University • Fisk University • Free Will Baptist Bible College • Freed-Hardeman University • Johnson Bible College • King College • Knoxville College • Lambuth University • Lane College • Lee University • LeMoyne-Owen College • Lincoln Memorial University • Lipscomb University • Martin Methodist College • Maryville College • Meharry Medical College • Memphis College of Art • Memphis Theological Seminary • Milligan College • O'More College of Design • Rhodes College • Sewanee, The University of the South • Southern Adventist University • Tennessee Temple University • Tennessee Wesleyan College • Trevecca Nazarene University • Tusculum College • Union University • Vanderbilt University • Watkins College of Art and Design
Atlantic Sun Conference
Belmont • Campbell • ETSU • Florida Gulf Coast* • Gardner–Webb • Jacksonville
Kennesaw State • Lipscomb • Mercer • North Florida • South Carolina Upstate* • Stetson

* Future member effective 2007-2008 academic year
Public

Arizona • Buffalo (SUNY) • UC Berkeley • UC Davis • UC Irvine • UC Los Angeles • UC San Diego • UC Santa Barbara • Colorado • Florida • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Iowa State • Kansas • Maryland • Michigan • Michigan State • Minnesota • Missouri • Nebraska • North Carolina • Ohio State • Oregon • Penn State • Pittsburgh • Purdue • Rutgers • SUNY Stony Brook • Texas • Texas A&M • Virginia • Washington • Wisconsin
Private

Brandeis • Brown • Caltech • Carnegie Mellon • Case Western • Chicago • Columbia • Cornell • Duke • Emory • Harvard • Johns Hopkins • MIT • Northwestern • NYU • Penn • Princeton • Rice • Rochester • USC • Stanford • Syracuse • Tulane • Vanderbilt • Wash U • Yale
Canadian

McGill • Toronto
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