Students fight cancer one step at a time at third annual Relay for Life

Cancer doesn’t sleep, so Lipscomb didn’t either. Participants joined in community to fight cancer at Lipscomb’s third annual Relay for Life event Friday night through Saturday morning in Allen Arena. By 2:25 Saturday morning, over 400 participants had raised $33,000. The structure for the event symbolized a day in the life of a cancer patient. “The relay is symbolic of the struggle that people who suffer with cancer have to go through, the journey that they have to go through, through the night, but we believe that there’s hope in the morning,” junior Chloe Rogers said. Even though participants had plenty of fun, many participated because of personal connections to cancer. Sophomore Sarah Wood lost a close mentor to lung cancer over the summer. “I actually came to Lipscomb because I started working with a woman here doing songwriting and stuff like that,” Wood said. “She worked in the Christian music industry, and I would send her my songs and she would critique them. I just got really, really close with her, and she lived here in Nashville. I fell in love with Lipscomb and that’s why I’m here — because of her. She was like a second mom to me.” Wood performed with her band, The Arcadian Wild, as part of the entertainment Friday night. Wood said that she enjoyed performing for fellow students in a larger venue and supporting a worthy cause. “I think just what Relay for Life is doing means a lot to me, and it’s such an amazing [thing] to be a part of — raising money to cure cancer,” Wood said. “We’re just honored to...

Disability Services provides equal academic opportunity for students with disabilities

Lipscomb’s office of Disability Services provides accommodations for students with various physical, psychological, developmental and learning disabilities. Located in the Academic Success Center in the basement of Beaman Library, the office assesses students’ needs individually to provide students with an accommodation plan to help them succeed in the classroom. Accommodations can include but are not limited to testing accommodations, note-takers for the classroom, audiobooks and accessible classroom tables and chairs. The office also provides temporary accommodations for students recovering from surgery. The number of students served by Disability Services makes up seven percent of Lipscomb’s undergraduate student body. Although this number continues to grow, director Kaitlin Shetler feels that greater awareness of Disability Services on campus would encourage more students to get the help they need. “Everybody learns differently, and sometimes we need help making sure we are completely successful,” Shetler said. “We represent seven percent, but I know a lot more students could probably utilize these services.” Shetler, who has worked with Lipscomb Disability Services since 2013, enjoys interacting with and learning from the students she serves. “You get to meet a lot of students with a lot of diversity, a lot of different challenges that people have overcome. It’s really inspiring for me to work with these students.” To request accommodation from Disability Services, students should make appointments with Shetler and provide documentation of their needs. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...

Sigma Alpha Iota provides women with opportunity to serve, form friendships

Sigma Alpha Iota, a national music fraternity, provides Lipscomb women with opportunities to serve others through music and form friendships outside of Lipscomb. SAI members are active in Lipscomb’s music department — many are involved in the University Wind Ensemble and A Cappella Singers. Although SAI is a music organization, members are not required to be music majors or minors. Majors in Lipscomb’s chapter range from elementary education to chemistry to pre-law. SAI is smaller than most Greek organizations on campus, with only nine collegiate members, but the chapter is growing, having more than doubled its membership in the past three years. This semester’s member-in-training class alone will increase the chapter’s size by more than fifty percent. The small chapter size is augmented by SAI’s status as a national organization. Lipscomb’s chapter frequently collaborates with chapters from other colleges in the Middle Tennessee area such as Vanderbilt, Belmont and MTSU. This experience of sisterhood outside the Lipscomb campus provides SAI members with a unique experience not offered by campus social clubs. Lipscomb’s chapter, Zeta Omicron, was established in 1974 and celebrated its fortieth anniversary last fall. SAI meets once a week to plan service projects, performances and formals. The club holds a musicale at least once each semester in which members demonstrate their musical talents. Different fundraisers held throughout the year benefit music-oriented philanthropies supported by SAI. The philanthropies are dedicated to meeting various musical needs such as providing musical instruments to children in developing countries and providing Braille and large print sheet music to visually impaired musicians. Photo courtesy of Kristin...

Lipscomb recognized for superior veteran services, affordability

Lipscomb has been recognized for its commitment to veterans and for its affordability. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance recently named Lipscomb University in its list of the top hundred best value private colleges in the nation, and Military Advanced Education has named Lipscomb a top military-friendly university. MAE awards this distinction to the hundred top-scoring colleges participating in a questionnaire about the quality of schools’ veteran service programs. Factors on the questionnaire include support for veterans’ families, campus ROTC programs, counselor training in military-related mental health issues and acceptance of transfer credits. Other schools on the list include Vanderbilt, Auburn and UCLA. “It is a reflection of our goal to continually improve our veteran services program,” said Assistant Dean and Director of Veteran Services April Herrington. “Recognition from organizations such as this is an indicator that what we offer is working and making a difference in the lives of our students.” Lipscomb’s veteran services have previously been recognized in the 201 Military Friendly Schools list for six years in a row and as the second-best regional university in the South for its veteran services by US News & World Report. Lipscomb has been providing free undergraduate tuition to veterans through its Yellow Ribbon Program since 2009. For the first time, Lipscomb’s affordability for veterans and other students has been recognized by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. Other colleges named in the list include Harvard, Duke, Princeton and Vanderbilt. The list compares quality-based criteria such as admission rates, freshman retention rates and student-faculty ratios to finance-based criteria such as financial aid and average student debt at graduation. “Student debt load is a critical issue...

Chemistry professor Ben Hutchinson remembered at memorial service Saturday

Family and friends gathered to remember Lipscomb professor Dr. Ben Hutchinson at his memorial service at Otter Creek Church of Christ this Saturday.  Hutchinson, who passed away on Dec. 30, 2014, taught chemistry and served as the dean of the former College of Natural and Applied Sciences. Loved ones remembered Hutchinson’s quiet strength and love of learning. Colleagues, friends and relatives spoke fondly of Hutchinson’s forgiving nature, passion for science and deep faith. Hutchinson previously taught at Abilene Christian University, Pepperdine University and Oklahoma Christian University before coming to Lipscomb in 2004. He pioneered Lipscomb’s integrated science curriculum and the CSI summer camp for middle school...