by Anna McClure | Jul 1, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Summer Celebration — Lipscomb’s annual lectureship that for more than 85 years has brought thousands of people to Lipscomb for three days of art, music, films and spiritual programming — has returned. Seminars and worship kicked off the event on Wednesday, and all events will continue into Friday evening, when the celebration will come to a close with live music and a fireworks show. “It’s a three-day lectureship series that’s been going on for decades,” administrative assistant for cChurch services Jenna Schrader said. “We have about 110 speakers over the 2 1/2 half days.” The lectureship, which has annually drawn Christians from across the country, has a new theme each year. This year’s theme is “Deployed in an Uncivil War: the Apocalypse of John,” “This year our theme is called Deployed, and it’s talking about Revelation and the Second Coming,” Schrader said. “All of our keynotes are in line with that theme, and then during the day we have breakout classes.” Some of the lecture topics will include “The Apocalyptic Mind of J.R.R. Tolkien,” “Can You be a Gay Christian” and “Jesus vs. Godzilla” as well as more traditional subjects such as textual studies of Revelation. One of the most notable speakers will be Dr. Kent Brantly, the first person to be treated for Ebola in the United States and the first in the world to receive the experimental drug ZMapp. Formerly a medical director for the only Ebola treatment unit in all of Southern Liberia, Brantly now speaks on behalf of Samaritan’s Purse as its medical missions advisor. Another notable person present at this year’s Summer Celebration will be featured artist Rolando Diaz. “[Diaz] is at...
by Anna McClure | Jun 29, 2015 | News Slider
Construction workers continue building McFarland Science Center upward and outward so that nursing students and others will be better able to build their specialized skills in new labs dedicated to everything from biochemistry to human anatomy. “We’ve had a phenomenal growth in students over the past five to 10 years,” said Dr. Norma Burgess, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, when discussing the 24.000-square-foot addition that is expected to be completed in time for spring 2016 semester. “We’ve added a nursing program that requires the use of more labs, so we’re just expanding the capacity for the students that we serve and more space to do that.” The new additions will include six new laboratories for biochemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology and human anatomy and physiology. Programs have been added in pharmacy and nursing, and a new emphasis on research at the graduate and undergraduate levels and a master’s degree in biomolecular science have been added as well. “I think the faculty have wanted more space for a number of years,” Burgess said. “I think everybody will be excited about it when it does open, so the opportunity to work with additional updated materials and instruments will be huge.” Construction began in the fall of 2014 after funding was secured for the addition. There were delays in the site preparation due to the city permitting process and two feet of bedrock that had to be dug through. The construction has caused a few problems for classes taking place in McFarland during the past year, such as the loss of parking spaces at the front of the building and noise produced by the construction. “Everybody...
by Anna McClure | Jun 13, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment
Following a successful first set of photoshoots, rising sophomore Sarah Johnson is preparing to continue her project in which she hand makes costumes and then photographs students from the theater department in them. During the spring semester, Johnson completed several shoots of various Disney characters at locations around Nashville. The characters included Alice, the Mad Hatter, Belle, Ariel, Tarzan, and Jane. “The first round went really well. Johnson said “I was blessed with actors willing to give a lot to the characters and work very well with an amateur photographer to create magic for a few moments, enough to capture and share with others.” Johnson faced several challenges along the way, including hand sewing costumes after her sewing maching broke and photographing Lacy Hartselle underwater as Ariel. Johnson purchased a waterproof camera case, which had a built in floatation device. “I had to physically push the case underwater and hold it down while trying to take pictures and not resurface. Johnson said “Each time we went under, we only had about a 7 to10 second interval to get pictures before I was pushed to the surface again. [Lacy] worked equally hard, trying to swim with her legs in a tail and keep her wig on, all while looking like a princess.” An additional challenge she faced was directing the actors about what to do and how to pose. She often gave them free reign as their characters and captured the moments as they happened. Despite the challenges involved, the end results have surpassed Johnson’s expectations. “I’ve loved every one thus far. Johnson said “Each character or set of characters...
by Anna McClure | Jun 5, 2015 | News Slider
High Rise renovations that are aimed to provide the “wow” factor to residental living on campus include new flooring, paint, furniture and more room for socializing. “We’ve done this because the students need it,” Dean of Student Life Sam Smith said. “The university needs it for when we’re recruiting and students come to our campus and then they go to Belmont and they go to Vanderbilt. “We needed a facility that would make a ‘wow statement’ for them, and High Rise will be that building,” Smith said. 10 rooms have been eliminated to add to the main level lobby and expand common area on some of the floors. The common area expansions on the third, seventh and eighth floors will include sitting areas, conference rooms and study rooms. “We’ve taken a big shot at increasing the community space in High Rise,” Smith said. “We don’t want students to just live there, we want them to enjoy being there and have time to be around people they want to be around, people that they want to be with, for it to feel like home while they’re here.” In addition to expanding lobbies, the closets of each room have been removed and will be replaced with wardrobes. This will increase room space and allow residents more freedom to arrange their rooms in a way that suits them. The bathrooms will be redone with changing stalls attached to the showers to make the spaces more private despite being community restrooms. “I am very excited about the renovation,” High Rise Resident Hall Director Mike Smith said. “The extra community space will give residents more space to...
by Anna McClure | Apr 4, 2015 | News Slider
Lipscomb maintains a good reputation for being a safe environment with a low crime rate. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s 2014 crime on campus report show this to be the case, with the number of reported burglaries and thefts decreasing compared to previous years. In 2014, there were 13 reported larcenies/thefts, while in 2013, there were 52 and in 2012, there were 29. Assistant Director of Campus Security Patrick Cameron said Lipscomb is much different than other schools in the area when it comes to crime. “Lipscomb is truly blessed in regards to crime and is significantly lower than most schools in Tennessee,” Cameron said. “Also, the incidents we do have are property-related crimes instead of violent crimes.” But the type of crime that was reported this year can be prevented. Cameron said students can help prevent property crimes by marking their property so it is easily identifiable, never leaving valuables unattended and keeping their doors locked in the dorm when they leave or are sleeping. “Although I do not think Lipscomb Students have anything to worry about in terms of crime, I do think students, including myself, need to be more aware of how we secure our property, because even in a place as safe as Lipscomb there are people who will do bad things,” freshman Alec McDowell said. The report stated that incidents of burglary decreased by 34.1 percent from 2013 to 2014. The report also showed that crime reported by Tennessee colleges and universities overall decreased by 6.3 percent from 2013 to 2014, but reported fraud offenses increased 19 percent over the 2013 study. However, the...
