Belmont University Global Honors

An amazing Global Honors student!

🎤 We asked rising senior Ryleigh Green how her time at Belmont has helped shape her into who she is today.

“I’d honestly pick Belmont 100 times over,” she said. “I’ve made lifelong friends here, and I’ve grown spiritually, professionally and personally. In everything from my PR and German majors to the debate team to PRSSA, I’ve found so many homes here and I’ve been poured into by so many people. Getting a social science degree at a liberal arts school really teaches you the nuances of how people think and the best ways to engage with someone gracefully and effectively, no matter your similarities or differences.”

Ryleigh is spending this summer as an intern at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum before kicking off her senior year in August!

Global Honors Students Embrace International Education in Record Numbers | Belmont University The Belmont Global Honors program has ushered 151 second-year students into an immersive Honors Semester Abroad. This year marks a record number, with students spreading across eight countries and nine partner institutions.

Samantha Hubner (Political Science and Global Honors ’16) is making waves in the world of artificial intelligence at the White House! Here is what she has been up to!

🏛️ White House AI Policy Analyst at the Office of Management and Budget
🌍 Carnegie Council Fellow
📚Guest Lecturer at Fletcher School, focusing on AI/ML in Cyber Security

As a graduate of the Global Honors Program, Samantha recalls the lasting impact it made on her:

“The Honors program was by far the most instrumental aspect of community-building during my time at Belmont. It was a fantastically interdisciplinary cohort, but we were firmly united by our shared work ethic and intellectual curiosity.”

So proud of all of our juniors in the Honors Scholars’ Collaborative classes finishing out their research strong! Learn more about two of our classes that paired together to host a Food Justice Symposium last week!

🏅🏅Celebrated seniors in Belmont Global Honors this week!! Love this quote from one of our seniors: “Thank you Honors for giving me the second family I’ve always wanted and letting me grow into the person I was always meant to be.”

Tis’ the season for students in the Honors Scholars’ Collaborative classes to start showcasing their projects!

Up this week is a project developed by junior audio engineering major Cooper Carr – a Writer’s Round and fundraiser to support Porter’s Call, a local non-profit organization that provides counseling services to touring artists and their families.

Belmont students Josh Jordan, Corrina Gill, Sheldon Smith, Sierra Carson, Julia Campopiano and Mack Ashbaugh shared their incredible talent.

Cooper planned and held the event with support from Belmont’s chapter of Active Minds and the Songwriting Association.

The event raised $1,800 and counting for Porter’s Call! Al Andrews, founder of Porter’s Call, also shared the agency’s story and mission.

On March 22nd, Belmont Global Honors students studying abroad at Queens University Belfast attended a private viewing of Belfast in the Queens Film Theatre.

A conversation on The Troubles and the restorative power of storytelling followed with citizen educators from the Wave Trauma Centre, along with experts on trauma including Grainne McKenna, the Trauma Education Officer of WAVE Trauma Centre, and Dr. Joe Duffy, Professor of Social Work at Queens University Belfast.

Students in Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel’s Belmont Global Honors Scholars’ Collaborative have been partnering with The Branch of Nashville, a community resource nonprofit that offers emergency food.

Global Honors students are working on a website that features clients' favorite recipes, which will be translated into four languages as well as building a community garden in partnership with the Surburban Farm Guy that will provide produce for clients. This work is also sponsored by a BASIC grant and faculty advisors: John Gonas, Debra Gibbs, Mary Claire Dismukes.

Over the past two weeks, 121 Global Honors students and six faculty headed out for the Honors Semester Abroad to: Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Harlaxton Manor in Grantham, England; ACM-IAU in Aix-en-Provence, France; ACM-IAU in Barcelona, Spain and Royal Welsh College in Wales.

Meet Abby, our new Bruin this week! She is in the Honors Program!

For more information about the Honors Program, check this link: https://www.belmont.edu/honors/index.html

Belmont Global Honors students recently played 🧐 Capitalism Monopoly 🎩 in Dr. Shelby Longard's "Whose American Dream?" social science seminar.

✨Todays inspiration✨ 16 Belmont Global Honors students create community today and every day.
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4,155 meals packed in 2.5 hours at Second Harvest Food on Saturday.
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Ask yourself - how are you finding your community today?
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All Honors freshmen are reading Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, a novel set in 1830 in Barbados in the Honorable Life class. It is the story of a young, enslaved boy who journeys from Barbados to Virginia to Nova Scotia to Morrocco. Dr. Pethel's section recently held a class discussion about the book's themes at Belmont's Freedom Plaza, which was dedicated in 2021 to memorialize enslaved persons who were forced to live and work on the Belle Monte estate.

Meet Lindsay, our new Bruin this week! She is in the Honors Program!

For more information about the Honors Program, check out this helpful link: https://www.belmont.edu/honors/index.html

Meet Shae, our new Bruin this week! She is in the Honors Program!

For more information about the Honors Program, check out this link: https://www.belmont.edu/honors/index.html

Belmont Global Honors director, Dr. Bonnie Smith Whitehouse, joined professor of Journalism/Cinema, Jennifer Duck, on her podcast, Grounded on Purpose," to discuss how to stay grounded as the seasons change and how simple rituals like walking can work wonders for your creativity! They also discussed Dr. Bonnie's new book that is going to be released this fall, "Seasons of Wonder." Listen to the podcast at the links below!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mZnNF27hoLjujKD0qmq2N?si=7023aac1cf854575

Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wonders-of-walking-with-dr-bonnie-smith-whitehouse/id1590689897?i=1000577932949

Built during the Civil War by enslaved persons, Fort Negley is the nation's largest inland fort, and its history and story has been largely ignored. Honors students in the first iteration of Belmont's Honors Scholars Collaboratives have been using the university's strategic pathways and the UN Sustainable Development Goals as aspirational frameworks for championing better health and well-being for all and for amplifying storytelling through messages of truth, beauty and goodness; as part of these overall goals, Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel's Belmont Honors students' work represent the culmination of a year’s worth of community-based research aimed at benefiting Fort Negley and the neighborhood in a significant way. All of us attending this presentation were especially moved by the words of Gary Burke, a native Nashville with direct ties to the Fort. After the students talked about their projects, Burke took the floor and said, "It was just a few group of us men, sitting on a hill at one point. Then eventually they built the visitor center, and more attention came to Fort Negley, but we always wondered where it would go after we’re gone. I know now it’s in great hands.”

Students in this Honors Scholars Collaborative include: Morgan Miller, Nathan Achilles, Clara Lee, Aaron Kleinschmidt, Morgan Hirschman, Sydney Bagley, and Maddie Luster.

https://news.belmont.edu/honors-scholars-collaborative-supports-fort-negley-strategic-pathways/

Honors Scholars’ Collaborative Supports Fort Negley, Strategic Pathways - Belmont University News & Media The first iteration of Belmont’s Honors Scholars’ Collaborative—a new curriculum within the Honors Program—concluded this spring with students presenting their final projects. Assistant Professor of Global Leadership Studies and Honors Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel led the year-long “History, Memo...

Why Honors Wednesday: Sarah Carvalho~

- "I chose the Honors program because I liked the way Study Abroad is directly incorporated into the program."

- "My favorite experience was discussing the book Washington Black outside during my freshman seminar class."

Happy last day of class to all of our amazing ISGE students! We know you have worked hard this year and we look forward to what you will do with your final few days during the school year!

Join us in congratulating our graduating Honors Program seniors, who celebrated their amazing achievements at a senior banquet last night. A well deserved night indeed!

Excited to celebrate graduating seniors in the Honors Program at our annual Senior Banquet tonight!

Honors students at Harlaxton explore Isaac Newton's childhood home and The Refectory for a bite to eat.

Why Honors Wednesday: Zoe Harbison~

- "In my personal experience, the Honors Program here has played a significant role in helping me integrate fully into this community. I have been able to form close relationships with my peers as well as faculty members, which has truly enhanced my experience in honors classes. The Honors curriculum provides an amazing opportunity for students to engage in seminar-style classes and learn about real-life issues in an academic context, as well as with an interdisciplinary emphasis. I feel like learning in this environment has been so beneficial to my education as a whole because I am exposed to different ways of thinking and approaching problems."

-"I have many great memories from my time in Honors, but one that comes to mind is from my Honors wellness class sophomore year, taught by our own Dr. Marnie Vanden Noven. Our class met at 8 am, so one morning we met at Bongo Java, right across the street from campus. Since our class was so small, we were able to have coffee together as a group and engage in a class discussion. It was such a sweet morning spent with an awesome group of students, and I remember some of the most meaningful conversations came from my time in this class."

Senior Nursing Student Katie Marie Tanner presented her Honors Program thesis at the Nursing Excellence Night. Her research was on simulation learning in the Nursing School with a comparison of active participants and observing students during and end-of-life simulation experience at Belmont University.

Why GLS Wednesday: Claire Bryant~

- "I chose Global Leadership Studies because it provided a focus on everything I was passionate about and even gave me a chance to explore avenues I hadn’t
thought of before like sociology and art history. Global Leadership Studies also has an emphasis on providing the opportunity to hone leadership skills!"

- "My favorite experience in a GLS class was being able to take a field trip to a wonderful non-profit in the area called Thistle Farms. It was an eye-opening experience that gave each of us a
personal look into what it takes to run a non-profit and run it well. I valued this business before getting to visit because they only employ women who are survivors of domestic abuse, incarceration, addiction, and homelessness. It brought so much hope to hear the stories of success with Thistle Farms and to hear about some women who are still working there 15 years later. I love the up-close and personal knowledge we’re able to gain from the GLS classes; it’s invaluable!"

C-SPAN staff spoke with Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel's Honors Digital Humanities class about media literacy, information bias, and CSPAN's mission and offerings. The two C-SPAN presenters were April Ranger and Jenae Green.

Why Honors Wednesday: Sinead Doogan~

- "Throughout high school, I had been in many AP and honors classes, so I wanted to join the Honors Program in order to continue to challenge myself. I've also always wanted to study abroad, so I liked that the Honors Program has study abroad built into the curriculum."

- "I love that every honors class I'm in feels like a small community. I have met so many great people, peers, and professors alike, through my honors classes, and it is always great to catch up with them even after our class has ended."

Belmont music majors recently participated in a collective recital in Belfast, Northern Ireland. These students have been studying at Queen's University Belfast through the Honors Study Abroad semester. The students performed a wide variety of styles at the student showcase, ranging from classical, musical theatre, jazz, and traditional Irish music. As seen from left to right: Austin Raabe (voice), John Lawrie (piano), Alec Vollans (guitar), Ethan Collier (piano), Amelia Ochoa (piano), Justin Harms (piano), John Hagan (drums), and Amelia Bast (voice).