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April 30, 2021 By bacw Leave a Comment

Academic Awards Ceremony 2021

On April 13th a momentous occasion took place in the Haid Ballroom: the 30th Annual Academic Awards ceremony, led by Dr. Thierfelder. One of the awards given out was the Adrian Award for Teaching Excellence, which was established in 1984 with the support of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Adrian to recognize and reward outstanding teaching performance by faculty members at Belmont Abbey College. This year’s recipient of the award is Dr. Mike McLeod, Professor of Biology, who has been widely described as caring, hard-working and tough. Dr. McLeod is now a two-time winner of this prestigious award, with his first award received in 2005.

After he received his award this year, McLeod gave an enlightening and humorous lecture to the audience, speaking about his experience here at the Abbey and how he has seen it grow. He explained that in his time here, the position of the President had changed 12-14 times. However, “one thing that has remained the same is that our mission in 1978 was to educate students, and that still remains the mission at Belmont Abbey College.” He went on to tell stories of his 43 year long tenure here. In addition to the Adrian Award, there were also a variety of other awards handed out. Honorable mentions include Charles Daniel – Outstanding Biology Student Award, Abigail Houseal – Top Economics Student Award, Krystal Welsh –Academic Excellence in the Department of Mathematics, Maria Kuhlman as the Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete, along with many others.

Though this school year was challenging, encompassed many changes and was surrounded by caution, it was a blessing to still be able to see so many Abbey students, athletes and professors excelling as never before. Read the full list of award winners and make sure to congratulate these outstanding scholars! And if you were not able to attend in person, the livestream is available for you to watch.

Award Recipients 2021

Accounting

Mr. Paul Hoying

Alexandra Downing – Outstanding Senior in the Department of Accounting
Madison McGee – Outstanding Senior in the Department of Accounting
Hannah Roney – Outstanding Senior in the Department of Accounting

Biology

Dr. Mike McLeod

Charles Daniel – Outstanding Biology Student Award
Gabrielle Grayson – Outstanding Biology Student Award
Chloe Herman – Satya & Louise Prakash Award

Business Management

Dr. Brad Frazier

Benjamin McQuaid – Outstanding Senior Business Major
Kolbe McQuaid – Outstanding Senior Business Major

Criminal Justice

Dr. Julia Beeman

Genesis Gonzales– Outstanding Senior in Criminal Justice

Economics

Dr. Gary Scott

Abigail Houseal – Top Economics Student Award
Lily Mullen – Top Economics Student Award

Education

Dr. Sara Powell

Daniel Bledsoe – Outstanding Educational Studies Award
Alondra Garcia – Outstanding Student Teacher Award

English

Dr. Farrell O’Gorman

Mary Lang – Student of the Year in the Department of English

Government & Political Philosophy

Dr. Joseph Wysocki

Todd Mashburn – Outstanding Student in Government & Political Philosophy

History

Dr. Daniel Hutchinson

Morgan Castro – Fr. Paschal Baumstein, O.S.B., Award in Excellence
Caleb Kualii – Fr. Thomas Oestreich, O.S.B. Excellence in Award in Excellence

Interdisciplinary Studies

Mr. Tad Hixson

Brett Bishop – Academic Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies
James Bodenheimer – Academic Excellence in Interdisciplinary Studies

Mathematics/Physics

Dr. Igor Strugar

Krystal Welsh — Academic Excellence in the Department of Mathematics

Philosophy

Dr. Matthew Siebert

Rachel Lang – Outstanding Academic Achievement in Philosophy
Justin Scott – Outstanding Academic Achievement in Philosophy

Psychology

Dr. Shane Gomes

David Gantz – Top Senior in the Department of Psychology
Nicholas George – Top Senior in the Department of Psychology
Adam Westlund – Top Junior in the Department of Psychology

Sport Management

Dr. Trey Cunningham

Bailey Horne – Outstanding Sport Management Student
Erin Walsh – Outstanding Sport Management Student
Alexis Paddock – Outstanding Motorsport Management Student

Theology

Dr. Alessandro Rovati

Patricia “Maria” Kuhlman – Benedict XVI (16th) Award for Excellence in Catholic Theology

Theatre Arts

Mr. Simon Donoghue

Michelle Maas – Outstanding Abbey Player Award
Connor Malloy – Outstanding Abbey Player Award
Ashlin Treat – Outstanding Abbey Player Award
Catherine Yellico – Outstanding Abbey Player Award

Agora

Sarah Biser – Agora Art & Photography Award
Mary Lang – Jean S. Moore Literature Award

April 20, 2021 By bacw Leave a Comment

Belmont Abbey College Announces New Online Undergraduate Degree Programs

Today, Belmont Abbey College announces its first undergraduate online degrees in Business, Accounting, and Interdisciplinary Studies. These programs, already leading programs for the college for residential and commuter students, will now be fully accessible online. The Abbey Online program now brings an education in the Catholic liberal arts tradition to students seeking the greatest in flexibility without sacrificing quality.

“With Abbey Online we can now serve students who due to COVID or other challenges couldn’t move to Belmont to experience the Abbey in person,” said Dr. Feezell, provost of Belmont Abbey College. “We’re excited to reach those students at a price, and a flexibility that meets their needs.” The online degree programs are significantly less than in-person instruction at $349 a credit hour, and the online aspect gives those students the ability to manage their degree and their studies as they wish.

Beginning Fall 2021, Abbey Online students can experience Belmont Abbey College’s unique, personalized, experience to undergraduate students from the comfort of their home. Belmont Abbey College is seeking authorization to offer online programs to students in all U.S. states and territories. To see a full list of states in which Belmont Abbey College is currently authorized to offer online instruction visit bac.edu/abbeyonline.

The new undergraduate online degree programs will bring Belmont Abbey College’s unique, personalized, experience to undergraduate students across the country. In addition, all Abbey Online instructors will be trained by Quality Matters, a gold standard for instructors to demonstrate their mastery of online teaching and learning.

April 15, 2021 By bacw Leave a Comment

Belmont Abbey Debate Finishes in Top 30% at Nationals

Belmont Abbey Debate concluded its 2020-2021 season this weekend at the IPDA National Championship. This year, the tournament welcomed over 300 competitors, ranging from state schools like UCLA and the University of Florida to private schools including St. Anselm College and Patrick Henry College. After completing eight preliminary rounds, all of our students were in the top half of competitors for their respective divisions and were honored with a speaking and/or placement award.

In novice, freshman Carter Keller concluded his second full tournament as the 17th seed out of 100 first-year students, earning six of eight preliminary ballots. He advanced through triple-octofinals before concluding in double-octofinals. His opponent from Abilene Christian University went on to the semi-finals. Carter was also honored with a speaking award for the top 30%.

In junior varsity, sophomore Paloma Shrauder was ranked 22nd out of 102 competitors, winning six of eight preliminary rounds. Paloma advanced through triple-octofinals and concluded as a double-octofinalist in a round against Valdosta State University.

In varsity, junior Blake Traylor earned four out of eight ballots, narrowly missing advancement to elimination rounds and ranking in the top half of competitors based on preliminary records. Blake was also awarded with a speaking award for scoring in the top 30% of 94 varsity students.

This concludes our academic season; we look forward to beginning preparations for next year.

April 6, 2021 By bacw Leave a Comment

Friday, April 9th: Free Citizens, Free Souls: A Conference on Education, Social Justice, and the Great Books

Free Citizens, Free Souls:

A Conference on Education, Social Justice, and the Great Books

April 9th @ 1 PM & 5PM
April 10th @ 2:30 PM

Thanks to a generous grant from the Jack Miller Center, the Honors College at Belmont Abbey College will be sponsoring an intercollegiate conference entitled Free Citizens, Free Souls: A Conference on Education, Social Justice, and the Great Books. The conference will include a keynote address by Dr. Anika Prather and breakout seminars mixing students and faculty from various colleges on texts by Frederick Douglass, Alexis De Tocqueville, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, and Anna Julia Cooper.

Dr. Prather is a Classics Professor at Howard University and is the founder of The Living Water School. She also serves on the Board of Academic Advisors for the CLT (Classic Learning Test). Listen to a podcast by Dr. Prather here and read about her talk at St. John’s College here.

Register here for April 9th @ 1 PM.
Register here for April 9th @ 5 PM.
Register here for April 10th @ 2:30 PM.

All Belmont Abbey College faculty and students are welcome to attend conference events. Faculty and students interested in participating in the reading seminars should contact Dr. Joseph Wysocki at josephwysocki@bac.edu.

March 3, 2021 By bacw Leave a Comment

10th Annual NCICU Ethics Bowl

The Belmont Abbey College Debate Team participated in the 10th Annual NCICU Ethics Bowl February 20th, focusing on compassionate decision-making in the context of a pandemic. Our students represented Belmont Abbey as a panel, weighing issues about vaccination policies and equity in public school education. The final presentations balanced ideal goals of government agencies with current limitations, advocating for the diverse needs of communities.

Belmont Abbey students spent the day refining their own advocacy among peers from NCICU institutions and learning from experienced practitioners in the field. This year, the NCICU Ethics Bowl did not have a competitive structure. While judges provided positive feedback to our students, no wins or losses were assigned. Instead, this year emphasized keynote speakers who have played key roles in managing North Carolina’s response to Covid-19. These included: Mike Sprayberry, Deputy Director of NC Emergency Management; Geoff Coltrane, Senior Education Advisor to Governor Cooper; and Mark Benton, Assistant Secretary for Public Health in the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

Our next competition will be the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament, beginning on March 19th. Pi Kappa Delta is among the oldest forensics honor societies globally and represents a uniquely large national competition. This will be Belmont Abbey’s first year at the Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament, and we are hopeful to introduce our students to the full in-person experience next year.

To see our team in action, click one of the videos below:

Session 1 – Breakout Room 1

Session 2 – Breakout Room 2