More than $375,000 awarded in Academic Advancement Grants

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Lipscomb University administration has awarded almost $378,000 to enact 13 faculty-generated projects to enhance academic excellence. Funded projects range from a prestigious lecture series on art to research in an award-winning biomagnetic laboratory.

This past spring, President Randy Lowry set up the 2010 Academic Advancement Grant Committee, made up of a faculty member from each college and three members of the senior leadership team. The committee awarded 13 grants out of 102 proposals submitted by faculty.

The following are descriptions of several of the approved projects.

Presidential lectures make impressive debut

Laura Lake Smith, chair of the art department, and Rocky Horton, assistant professor, will coordinate the Presidential Lectureship for Art and Art History. Leading art historian and author James Elkins will be the first speaker in the series on Oct. 9, an event called “an impressive debut” to an “exciting new series” in the Nashville Scene. Kim Elam, a graphic designer at the Ringling School of Design in Sarasota, Fla., will follow-up on Nov. 13.

Student-built robots overtake Allen Arena

Ben Hutchinson, dean of College of Natural and Applied Sciences, was awarded money to sponsor the Music City BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) robotics competition for Tennessee and Kentucky high schools. On Oct. 21, students from eight Tennessee schools will try to solve the “Laundry Quandary,” with a domestic robot built from a kit of common parts, such as plywood, PVC pipe and bicycle inner tubes. The robots will race to hang and remove laundry on a clothesline.

Professors join in electrophysiology research

A group of faculty in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences were awarded money to enhance student involvement in the research at the Gastrointestinal (GI) SQUID Technology Lab, one of the few laboratories in the world that measures the tiny magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the gastrointestinal system. The SQUID lab is located at Vanderbilt University, but Lipscomb professor Alan Bradshaw directs the lab, and involvement by other Lipscomb faculty will be funded by the 2010 Academic Advancement Grant.

“At present, we are just beginning the process of acquiring equipment for the lab,” said Bradshaw, associate professor of physics and engineering at Lipscomb University. “I am excited that so many faculty from such diverse disciplines have interest in electrophysiology, and I hope we can work together to create some interdisciplinary experiences for a large number of students.”

Other faculty involved in this project are: Dale Alden, Ralph Butler, David Fann, Gary Hall, Kent Johnson, Jon Lowrance, John Pettit and Paul Turner.

Conference for mission-minded engineers

Fort Gwinn, chair of engineering mechanics, will organize the first Conference on International Engineering Missions in the summer of 2007 for coordinators and participants in engineering-oriented mission trips to needy countries.

“There are lots of Christian schools out there who are doing projects to combine engineering and faith in Jesus,” said Gwinn. Lipscomb for instance, has sent engineering students to build a radio tower in Honduras and a bridge in Guatemala. “But there has never been a conference, that I am aware of, where Christian engineering missionaries have come together to share their experiences and talk about ways we can do things better.”

Strategic initiatives for adult learners

In order to enhance Lispcomb’s Adult Studies Program,director Chuck Capps proposed hiring the Aslanian Group, a consultant to recommend new majors to add, to critique the current program and to implement workshops for Adult Studies faculty. Capps hopes to expand the number of Internet-based and weekend courses offered.

Business curriculum enhanced

Charla Long, chair of management, and Greg Carnes, dean of the College of Business, were awarded a grant to incorporate what the business world calls “competencies” into the graduate and undergraduate curriculum.

Competencies refer to particular skills or abilities such as conflict management, communication, visioning and problem-solving. The term “competency” came about several decades ago as a way of describing “the right stuff” needed for a particular job, and corporations today use competency models in their hiring practices, training regimens and performance reviews.

Lipscomb is only the third university to license the Polaris Competency Model, developed by Organization Systems International (OSI), of San Diego. OSI’s model is a set of 41 competency skills found in high-performing leaders at 55 successful companies such as Nike Inc., Hallmark Cards and The Walt Disney Company, said Bruce Griffiths, OSI president.

Other grant recipients include:

Charles Frasier, to coordinate an executive roundtable or speaker series; Mark Black to study the idea of a Center for Urban Ministry; David Hamrick, to expand the music library to meet national standards; Bill Ingram and Jeff Jewell to begin work on the capital markets lab and classroom; Jeff McCormack, to study the feasibility of a College of Pharmacy; Jerry Reed, to fund a concert tour by the international pianist; and Cliff Tierny to upgrade the graphic design laboratory with 17 new IMACS, software and printers.