by Anne Paquin | Mar 27, 2013 | News Slider
A combination fountain and baptistry is now under construction in Bison Square, and the $300 thousand project is planned to beautify the space as well as make it more spiritually significant. For several years, there have been plans to create a new atmosphere to the space between Collins Alumni Auditorium and the Bennett Campus Center. Thanks to more than 150 donors, including Ray and Libby Jones and the parents of Ty Osman, the new Bison Square fountain centerpiece will be in a 16-by-24-foot pool and will be flanked by two smaller, 6-by-15-foot foot fountains and pools. Lipscomb University president Dr. Randy Lowry said “the Bison Square centerpiece (will be) called the Osman Fountain.” Osman was a Harding student and member of the Woodmont Hills congregation who tragically lost his life in a car accident last March. His parents were alums of the university. Lowry said he hopes the new fountain will be a great renovation for the popular meeting area. “We hope it is the centerpiece of the whole reconstruction of Bison Square. This has been a wonderful place for students to gather for many, many years,” Lowry said. “But, we need to upgrade (the square), and I think a water feature will be something that causes people to come together.” Though they will look identical, one of the fountains will actually function as a baptistry. “When you think about Lipscomb you think about the sacrament of baptism being so important as people making a commitment to the Christian faith,” Lowry said. “We thought there might be something more sophisticated than the horse trough we’ve been using.” He described the baptistry as a place students will be able to...
by Jael Teme | Mar 18, 2013 | News Slider
Although it would be hard to travel to all the different countries represented by the students who attend Lipscomb, a new international students group allows students to explore the different cultures without leaving Green Hills. Lipscomb’s campus long has been filled with cultural diversity — even the Bison has represented colors of different countries like Mexico and Italy. Lambda Iota Sigma’s goal is to help all students learn from the cultures, and the members already are partaking in the different activities the group offers. The group’s vice president Zarina Gumbatova, a textile and apparel major from Uzbekistan, describes the group as “an opportunity to promote diversity on campus, and learn about other cultures while sharing ours.” Lambda Iota Sigma became possible thanks to the effort and organization of the international students office where Adam Halford and Sylvia Braden are in charge. “This is the special interest group on campus that is for international students, students from other cultures and any other LU student who is interested in learning about other cultures,” Halford, assistant director of international recruitment, said. Most of the students in the group have international backgrounds, but not everyone is originally from another country. Shivali Kanal, a biology major from Franklin, Tenn., was born in the U.S. and, therefore, has a different perspective about the group. “Although, I was born in America, I have an Indian background. I am not as cultured with my heritage as I’d like to be, which is why I like this club. It is a gateway into a variety of cultures and the perfect opportunity to learn and experience them,” Kanal said. Every student on campus...
by Jael Teme | Mar 17, 2013 | News Slider
HumanDocs is an opportunity for Lipscomb students and the community to become aware of true stories going on in the world. The series surfaced thanks to the efforts of the university’s College of Art and Sciences to inspire students to make the world a better place. Dr. Ted Parks is a Spanish professor at Lipscomb University and is responsible for HumanDocs. He explains how these documentaries often show how issues such as domestic violence or sex trafficking begin. The documentaries feature individual stories revealing the wicked aspects of society. “Good documentary film tells a story,” Parks says, “It tells a compelling human story that makes you care about the people involved.” Lipscomb’s purpose with HumanDocs is to awaken students to the many concerns present in today’s society that are usually invisible to many people. The movie shown in January was titled “Sun Kissed” and Parks says it’s a good example of a compelling story. The film is about Dorey and Yolanda Nez. They are a Navajo family in New Mexico whose children have developed a rare genetic disease that makes their skin hypersensitive to sunlight. This disease only shows up at a rate of one in a million in a general population, but in the Navajo reservation, it was one in 300,00. After tracing the Navajo history, the Nez family discovered this was the result of what it is called the “Long Walk,” a cruel campaign from 1864. “Sun Kissed” brought to light a veiled matter for the Navajo reservation and the rest of the world. This documentary is one of many that HumanDocs presents in order to bring...
by Cory Woodroof | Mar 14, 2013 | News Slider
Walk Off The Earth, the headliners of Tuesday’s SGA spring concert, sent Mike Taylor and Ryan Marshall Lumination’s way after the show to talk about their new album R.E.V.O. (out March 19), the process of recording a cover song and where the YouTube celebrities might be found next. While both are known for their versatile roles in the group (not limited to trumpet), Taylor can be seen behind the keyboard, and Marshall is usually up front on vocals and guitar. The band’s big break came when their cover of Gotye’s chart-topping hit “Somebody That I Used To Know” (featuring the huge guitar) received over a hundred million views on YouTube. The group has been performing with the ‘multiple people – one guitar’ angle for around six years, and the novel technique helps give the band a unique identity. “Multiple people on one instrument has always been a part of this band, and so, every time we do a video, we want to try and bring our live show into the video, and same thing with the live show. We try and bring YouTube to the stage,” Marshall said. The style and inspiration to cover the Gotye hit sent the band skyrocketing to internet fame. “So, all of those together gave us this idea of ‘let’s get as many people on one guitar as we can’, and the timing with the Gotye song was just a fluke,” Marshall said. “It was a great tune, and not too many people had heard it in North America, and we loved it.” “It was a perfect storm,” Taylor added. Cover songs are one of the...
by Kelly Dean | Mar 11, 2013 | News Slider
It’s not every day that a college student gets to spend time “babysitting” hundreds of children before those kids took the biggest stage of their young lives. And the opportunity for Lipscomb students surely wasn’t taken for granted. “The best part about coalescing with the Country Music Association for this benefit concert was witnessing the dreams of these children reaching a platform to the community. Especially that of Nashville’s renowned, unique community of music, and camaraderie of dedicated country music stars, like Scotty McCreery,” sophomore Linnea Berg said. The Country Music Association annually sponsors the Keep the Music Playing All Stars concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. This year the event is hosted by young country music phenom, Scotty McCreery. The fund-raiser featured the best elementary, middle and high school singers from the Metro Nashville public schools. Several Lipscomb students were a part of these kids’ big day because of a volunteer opportunity provided by CMA. They were able to volunteer because of a new club on campus known as CMA EDU, which supports students interested in the music industry by providing networking opportunities and experience in the world of country music. Freshman Alex Justice, sophomore Berg, juniors Kelly Dean (the author of this piece) and Teresa Piquette were among the CMA EDU members representing Lipscomb. Volunteers got there at 11:30 a.m. to prepare for the rush of kids one hour later. Volunteers were divided into groups and assigned a school. Since the performance didn’t start until 6 p.m., there was plenty of down time for the students. Volunteers were in charge of watching the kids and providing the...
