Growing Up:
community involvement BU’s New Developments
When Belmont President Dr. Bob Fisher delivered his annual State of the University address in September, he asked a rhetorical question with his typical humor and conviction: “So, how are we doing?” he said. “I’ll give you my assessment: ‘Baby I’m amazed’... Belmont University is one of, if not ‘the,’ most amazing stories in higher education today.” He couldn’t be more accurate. The fall semester saw record-breaking enrollment as Belmont’s student population rose to nearly 4,800 while ratings from the recent U.S. News and World Report ranking provided objective indicators of the university’s ongoing success. Belmont was the highest-ranked Tennessee school in the Master’s category, which reports on 119 schools across the South, including 15 in Tennessee. “Belmont is growing in remarkable ways, both in the number of students enrolling in our programs and the academic qualifications they’re bringing to this campus,” said Dr. Fisher. Since 2000, Belmont’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has increased by more than 1,500 students, and this year’s incoming
class represents 43 states and seven foreign countries. One-third of new freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, including 30 valedictorians and 12 salutatorians. The university has seen unprecedented physical expansion as well with the recent opening of the new theater complex as well as the groundbreaking for a new residence hall, scheduled to welcome its first students in Fall 2008. The facility, which will house 190 freshmen, represents the cornerstone of a larger vision that will entail at least three buildings in the center of the university’s 62-acre campus, all intended to house first-time students and provide an ideal learning community for incoming freshmen. In addition, Belmont recently signed a lease agreement with Metro Parks that will provide three new sports fields—soccer, softball and baseball—as well as a new track that can all be used by university athletics and the local community. Belmont’s involvement at Rose Park, located about a mile from campus on 12th Avenue and Edgehill, holds the potential Dr. Fisher believes to be one of the university’s greatest legacies as it opens new avenues for service to campus neighbors. n
Hands on Nashville A number of Belmont students participated recently in Hands On Nashville Day, a volunteer event organized annually by Hands On Nashville that pairs community volunteers with Metro Schools for improvement projects. More than 1,000 volunteers spend a morning painting, landscaping and improving 60+ public schools. This year’s Belmont team, organized by student Jeffrey Ibarra, worked at Bellevue Middle School on a number of different projects, including painting a fence. n
Nursing Students, Health Services Provide Free Flu Shots for Edgehill Belmont University and Kayne Avenue Missionary Baptist Church partnered this fall to provide a free family flu shot clinic at the Easley Community Center in Rose Park, giving 94 vaccines at the Easley Community Center and to residents of I.W. Gernert Homes. “Belmont has a great history of volunteerism in the community,” said Belmont Health Services Director Katy Wilson. “It was a logical and important step to add a health care dimension to that. My hope is that this effort will be the first in a long line of partnerships with the Edgehill community.” n
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circle magazine
Freshmen SERVE As part of Belmont’s annual “Welcome Week,” the class of 2011 was invited to SERVE more than 35 local charity and ministry organizations. In groups ranging from 25 to 100 students, most of Belmont’s new freshmen participated in efforts to give back to their new hometown. Started as part of the university’s ongoing commitment to engage students in their community and encourage the values of service on both a local and global level, SERVE brought student volunteers to a number of local organizations including Monroe Harding Children’s Home, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Project CURE, Feed the Children, Friends of Warner Parks, Nashville Rescue Mission, Safe Haven Family Shelter, Earth Matters, Nurses for Newborns, Better Tomorrows and ThriftSmart. n
winter 2007
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