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Students, faculty and alumni make strides in their career fields and beyond

Janel Shoun | 

 

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STUDENTS
 
 
Young engineers leave rivals in the dust in acceleration contest
 
In its fifth year of competition, the Lipscomb Baja SAE engineering team finished 17th in acceleration and 10th in the cost-of-vehicle category out of a field of 97 cars at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) Baja East Competition in Peoria, Ill.
 
The Baja SAE is a program that puts classroom training into action by challenging students to design, build and test a real vehicle in an off-road racing competition. SAE collegiate design competitions draw more than 4,500 students from 500 universities from six different continents. 
 
Lipscomb brought in a respectable showing in a field that is dominated by teams from much larger, well-established schools, said mechanical engineering professor Fort Gwinn. 
Engineering students who went to Illinois to compete were Michael Meador, Patrick Roesner, Casey Burkhart and Davide Fergnani.
 
The top performance for Lipscomb’s Baja team was a 12th place overall finish at the 2010 event in Rochester, New York.
 
Click on these links to see the Baja team’s past performance:
 
 

Spring 2007

 
Budding business moguls benefit Christian counseling nonprofit
 
For the second year in a row, the Lipscomb College of Business' Foundations of Business class has donated to Daystar Counseling more than $3,000, the profits of student-run companies selling high-end stationary during the spring 2011 semester.
 
Students in the Foundations of Business class, an introductory class for business majors, divided into teams and each developed a business plan to sell Micah & Me stationery. The course is taught by Laura Williams, assistant professor of business.
 
The students identified an audience, selected the best stationery style for that audience, came up with their own pricing strategy, decided how much inventory to buy and sold the high-end stationery in various locations.
 
The first place team was made up of students Kortney Cassily, Lorne Thomas and Miriam Friday with total sales of $1,000 with a $400 in profit for Daystar. The second place team included Tess Stratton, Matthew McFarland, Gillian Pulley and Jake Thomas, with total sales of $900 and $360 in profit for Daystar.

Total sales for the spring 2011 class were $8,621, with a total profit of $3,131, all donated to Daystar, a local ministry providing affordable counseling to kids and families in the Middle Tennessee area. 
 
 
 
Student filmmakers’ video shown nationwide to fight human trafficking
 
In only its second year in existence, the Lipscomb chapter of International Justice Mission (IJM) has received national honors for a video it produced to fight human trafficking.
 
The chapter, made up of 10-20 students, along with alumnus Jake Morgan (’10), entered and won the International Justice Mission’s 2011 TVPRA video competition, a contest among IJM campus chapters to produce a video encouraging Congress to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2011.
 
IJM is a national human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
 
Students who participated in the production of theLipscomb  video included Zach Brantley, sophomore; Erin Gupton, freshman; Savannah Hollis, freshman; Cooper McCullough, junior; Nathan McCarty, junior; and Kelli Blackshear, freshman.
 
See the Lipscomb students’ video here.
 
In the contest, the videos were posted on IJM’s Facebook site and Lipscomb, Pennsylvania State University and Marquette University were the top three fan vote winners. Lipscomb was then selected as the winner by a group of IJM judges from the student ministries and government relations staff.
 
Over the next year, IJM will show the Lipscomb video on its website and at events around the nation to raise support for the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
 
The IJM chapter was introduced on the Lipscomb campus by Morgan, who became familiar with the organization on the Institute of Law, Justice and Society annual student trip to Washington D.C.
 
In the past year, the Lipscomb IJM chapter has held several fundraisers including bake sales and selling Frisbees, aired an educational documentary on campus and held a prayer vigil for both the victims and captors involved in the slave trade, said McCullough, president of the IJM chapter. For next year, the group is creating a recording of Lipscomb and Belmont University student artists on a "justice" album set to debut at a block party on Lipscomb's campus next fall, he said.
 
 
FACULTY & STAFF
 
Aaron Burtch
 
Aaron Burtch, senior admissions recruiter for transfer students, presented a paper on Christian rhetoric found in the movie “Field of Dreams,” at the 23rd annual symposium on baseball and culture held at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Burtch’s paper was one of 49 chosen out of more than 300 submitted.
 
The paper, titled “Heaven Is A Place on Earth,” looks at the movie "Field of Dreams" from the perspective of Christian belief systems, analyzing issues of faith, belief and predestination. Burtch looks at the movie's ability to connect generations, and wonders whether the heaven envisioned in the movie is an otherworldly paradise of unimaginable delights, or whether the heaven the movie depicts is found not just on a magical Iowa cornfield, but right here in our own backyards. 
 
 
 
Kamaria Mack
 
Lipscomb University Pharmacy College Admissions Recruiter Kamaria Mack has been named one of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s 2011 class of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 honorees. Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 recognizes the city’s most active young professionals and philanthropists who are also involved in the CFF. Honorees were nominated by co-workers, friends and family for their charitable and professional endeavors and then selected by a selection committee.
 
Honorees will be acknowledged at the Top 30 Under 30 event at The Pinnacle at Symphony Place in downtown Nashville in September. “The caliber of nominees in the 2011 class is astounding,” said Lesley McMahan, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s director of development.
 
Mack earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Tennessee State University. Since graduating, Mack has worked at News Channel 2 on the advertising sales new business team.  She also worked at McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations where she gained experience in media relations, event planning, grassroots campaigns and marketing.  She volunteers regularly with non-profit organizations including Nashville RBI, the Nashville area-chapter of the Red Cross and Schrader Lane Church of Christ tutorial program.
 
Visit www.nashvilletop30.org to view the full list of honorees.

Earl Lavender
 
Earl Lavender, executive director of the Institute for Christian Spirituality, presented a special keynote address at the Festival Biblico at Vicenza, Italy, on May 29. This opportunity sparked from the publishing of his first book written in Italian in January 2011. The meditative, interactive commentary on Luke focuses on the nature of the kingdom of God. The book will be featured during the presentation, and the goal is to begin a large network of house studies using this commentary. Last year, more than 500 people of many different faith backgrounds attended Lavender's lecture in the same festival.
 
While in Italy, Lavender also conducted transformissional coaching with churches in Monfalcone, Vicenza, Taranto, Mesagne and the Viale Jonio congregation in Rome. Transformissional coaching trains church leadership to equip members for service works through training in the spiritual disciplines. The Institute for Christian Spirituality has had great opportunities to connect with many churches through this effort.
 
  
Teresa Bagamery Clark
 
Lipscomb’s Adult Degree Program Director Teresa Bagamery Clark made several academic accomplishments during the 2010-11 school year. Clark was tapped to lead a roundtable session at the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning’s international conference in San Diego in 2010 and presented a conference session at the Center for Research on Adult Learning’s national conference in Indianapolis in 2011. In addition, her article on working with veteran adult students was published in “Nontraditional Students Report.”
 
 
Perry Moore
 
Dr. Perry Moore, director of the graduate accounting program in the College of Business, was named the chairman of the Regional Conference Committee of the Institute of Internal Auditors for 2011-12.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lin Garner
 
Lin Garner, a professor of English and assistant athletics director for academics, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award at the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society national convention in San Diego. Within Alpha Chi, Garner has served as past president of Region III and sponsor of the Tennessee Kappa chapter. Alpha Chi inducts only the top 10 percent of students from all disciplines in the junior and senior classes and graduate programs. There are now some 300 active chapters in almost every state.
 
 
 
 

ALUMNI 

 

Graduate of dietetic internship lands rare sports nutrition job upon graduation
 

Stratton (right), with Anne Lowery, director of the Dietetic Internship Program.
Rachel Stratton, a Washington state native and a 2011 graduate of Lipscomb’s Dietetic Internship Program, was able to snag a rare sports nutritionist job this summer after completing the program. While it is a rapidly growing trend, as of now, only 25 universities in the nation have a full-time dietitian on staff, according to the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitian Association (CPSDA). Stratton was hired at the University of Oregon as one of three sports nutritionists on staff, due to the fact that Lipscomb’s Dietetic Internship Program qualified her to sit immediately for her registered dietitian exam. In addition, she had completed some master’s coursework in Lipscomb’s exercise and nutrition science program. More….
 
 
 
Five alumni, two faculty chosen for Nashville Chamber’s NELA Awards
 
Allison Duke
John Lowry
The Nashville Area Chamber and YP Nashville (Young Professionals Nashville) annually present the Nashville Emerging Leader Awards (NELA). The awards recognize Nashville's young professionals for significant accomplishments in their chosen career fields, as well as their commitment and contribution to the community. NELA finalists represent young professionals in 14 industry classifications who are excelling in their careers and making a difference in the Nashville community. One NELA winner from each industry category will be chosen at the awards ceremony on July 28 at Lipscomb University.
 
The 2011 NELA finalists include eight young professionals with ties to the Lipscomb community:
  • Allison Duke ('02), Lipscomb director of the Master of Human Resources program, and John Lowry, Lipscomb assistant dean for executive education and assistant professor of business, were both honored as finalists in the education category.
  • William Paddock (’09), a graduate of Lipscomb’s green MBA program and owner of WAP Sustainability, is a finalist in the business services category.
  • Peter Westerholm (’99), with the state of Tennessee, is a finalist in the government and public affairs category.
  • Christy M. Pruitt-Haynes of Christy Pruitt-Haynes Consulting plans to enter Lipscomb’s Master of Human Resources program in fall 2011.
  • Kolin B. Holladay (’94), of Adams and Reese LLP, is a finalist in legal services.
  • Jacob Arthur (’08), of FDH Consulting, and Kyle W. Duke (’02) of HealthSpring, are finalists in the technology category.
The Lipscomb University College of Business is a sponsor of the annual NELA awards event.

  

May serves as chief engineer for technology carried out on Endeavor’s final mission
 
Wade May (’91), a Huntland, Tenn. native, had more than a little interest in the space shuttle Endeavor’s final mission last month. A bit of his own genius went up in the shuttle along with the astronauts.
 
May, an engineering science and mechanics graduate from Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, was the chief engineer for STORRM, a new navigation and guidance technology that will make it easier for current and future spacecraft to dock to the International Space Station. The system was successfully tested on the Endeavor’s last mission in May 2011.
 
May works in Hampton, Va., at the NASA Langley Research Center, where he worked on STORRM throughout the life of the project since January 2008. He has been responsible for leading the mechanical design, fabrication and testing of the Avionics Enclosure Assembly. He was also responsible for creating the first set of systems requirements and developing the project Systems Engineering Management Plan.
 
STORRM (Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation) consists of an eye-safe lidar Vision Navigation Sensor (VNS), a high-definition docking camera, as well as the avionics and flight software. STORMM will provide real-time three-dimensional images to the crew with a resolution 16 times higher than the current space shuttle sensors. It also provides data from as far away as three miles – three times the range of the current shuttle navigation sensor.
 
After graduating from Lipscomb, May went on to earn a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
 
 
 
 
MALT alumnus helps Nashville high school win Grammy Award
 
Glencliff Principal Tony Majors (r) with Danny Combs (l).
Danny Combs, director of the Glencliff High School guitar program and graduate of Lipscomb University with a Master of Arts in Learning and Teaching, helped the Nashville high school become one of only 27 schools nationwide to receive the prestigious Grammy Enterprise Signature School Awards.  
 
Combs, of Asheville, N.C., has worked as a music teacher at Glencliff for three years, establishing a guitar program that now has 165 students participating. Glencliff will use the money to enhance Combs’ program, purchasing 15 amplifiers, 12 electric guitars, music stands, a jam hub and two base amplifiers.
 
Each year the Grammy Foundation searches for high-need schools with a vision for future growth nationwide to present its annual Enterprise Award, a $5,500 grant to improve the music program. The award was presented in May by various Grammy officials and Danny Gokey, a finalist in the eighth season of “American Idol.”
 
“(This award) validates what we are doing here,” Combs said. “It means we are truly changing lives and making kids feel better about themselves. For many of these kids, guitar class is the highlight of their day.”
 
 
 
 
Rainey included in national photography magazine
 

Brooke Rainey (’00), a marketing graduate who also went to David Lipscomb High School, was featured in Professional Photographers Magazine, the official magazine of Professional Photographers of America, in April. Rainey is an award-winning professional photographer in Nashville who does portraits, children’s photography and weddings through her company Brooke Rainey Photography.