by Anna McClure | Jul 18, 2015 | News Slider
Lipscomb’s Swang Business Center is getting a face lift including the addition of the BAYMAR Telepresence Center and renovations to classrooms, which have not been updated since their construction in 1984. Three first-floor classrooms will be given new paint, carpet and furniture with the front lecture hall being converted for the Cisco Telepresence System. The circular classroom was converted from a tiered room to a single floor and enclosed with a glass wall looking into the lobby. The system will allow students, clients, and guest speakers outside of the classroom to communicate and contribute to the class while watching a real-time video feed using an app on their tablets or phones. “On the graduate side, people want our degrees but can’t drive here one night a week, and they just can’t physically get here,” said Ray Eldridge, Interim Dean of the College of Business. “Now they can be here. I think that really allows Lipscomb to go beyond it’s boundaries.” The Telepresence System will include three plasma screens and cameras at the front of the room with up to 48 different locations that can be fed in to the classroom. This will allow students seeking a graduate business degree that live outside of driving range from the campus or the Spark facility in Cool Springs to take classes more involved than online. “We can also have guest speakers, so now we can have a CEO in New York who doesn’t have time to come down here,” Eldridge said. “All we have to do is give him an app for his iPad and he can talk directly to our...
by Sarah McGee | Feb 11, 2015 | News Slider
Tax season is coming up, and it affects people of all ages, including college students. Not all students know how the process works. “It was my first time doing taxes at all, and so I didn’t understand that I actually had to do them,” freshman Sarah Johnson said. “I thought it was going to be a straight forward process, but it wasn’t as cut and dry as I wanted it to be.” Other students aren’t given the chance to file due to employers simply looking over them and having them give their forms to their parents. “In my current job, my boss emails our W-2 forms,” freshman Heather McPherson said. “I asked him the other day what to do with my W-2 form, and he said just give it to your mom and she’ll take care of it.” Because filing taxes can get confusing for students, Charles Frasier from the College of Business shared a few tips for tax season. Frasier is an accounting teacher at Lipscomb, and worked as a tax accountant. “The first thing to keep in mind is what is the deadline,” Frasier said. “I think most people know that it’s April 15th. It might also be interesting to know that if for some reason you’re unable to file your return by April 15th, there is a form to file where you can get an automatic extension of your return.” Once employees apply to have an extension, they have six months to file the tax return form. Students have the option of filling out a physical form or an online form. Students also need to know...
by Mignonne Bryant | Jan 16, 2015 | News Slider
Through casual coffee and conversation, his involvement has reached many – even those abroad in Africa and Haiti. Rob Touchstone, co-founder of The Well Coffeehouse and adjunct bible professor, knows how to think outside the box when it comes to business ideas. And now, as the newly appointed director of missional entrepreneurship in Lipscomb’s College of Business, he hopes to inspire the same thinking in others. It all started with golf balls. Touchstone grew up near a golf course where he and his friends would collect lost balls in the woods. He very soon came up with an idea: to re-sell all the missing golf balls back to the golfers. Touchstone said the golfers would find it hilarious because they were most likely buying back their own balls. With some money in his pocket, Touchstone and his friends decided to grow the ‘business’ by selling lemonade. While the golf balls continued to sell, they found that the golfers had no interest in purchasing lemonade. Toward the end of the day, Touchstone and his friends had plenty of lemonade left, so they decided to give it away for free. Touchstone said that when they did this, the golfers would reach into their pockets to pull out money. By trying to give away the lemonade for free, they ended up gaining a profit in return. Touchstone has always cherished this concept, and he’s even carried it with him through his most recent endeavor. Now, The Well gives all of its profits to missions and building wells in poverty-stricken countries. So far, the business has funded nine wells around the world. The latest development...
by Gemikal Prude | Aug 27, 2014 | News Slider
For the tenth consecutive fall semester, another Lipscomb enrollment record has been broken. More than 4,500 students are getting geared up for the semester that they all have ahead, a record number for the school. Lipscomb’s School of Nursing, the College of Business’ graduate school and Adult Degree Programs have seen double digit increases. “I believe that it is a great thing that Lipscomb University has been expanding for the past few years, especially if we as students and administrators are hoping for the school to gain more support at the national level,” senior Kenny Smith said. In addition, the university has gained an 80.5 percent retention rate with students returning from the last fall semester to this one. That is a three percent increase from the rate of last year and far above the national average of about 70 percent. “Having the recent increase of students this year is an incredible thing, in my opinion,” pharmacy student Brenna Thompson said. “We have the opportunity to bring more individuals into our community and be able to spread the grace that God has for us all within all aspects of our lives. It’s a great thing to have more people invested in what we believe and to eventually be able to share that with the rest of the world in the long run.” Photo courtesy of...
by Logan Butts | Mar 31, 2014 | News Slider
Bennie Harris, Lipscomb’s Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations,will be leaving the university to join Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga. On June 1, Harris will be taking over the role of Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Morehouse. “Bennie led us through two highly successful campaigns,” said university president Randy Lowry in a press release from the school. “He assembled an excellent team of development professionals to undertake a major capital initiative which many schools shied away from in the depth of the economic challenges the country has faced in recent years. “Bennie and his family are an important part of the Lipscomb community and he will be greatly missed.” Harris has been at Lipscomb since 2007, and in his time with the school, he has overseen multiple projects concerning the betterment of the campus. Harris speaks highly of the Lipscomb community, but he said he looks forward to the next step in his career. “My family and I have cherished the supportive, loving and Christian community we have been a part of here,” Harris said in the press release. “But, this is a very unique opportunity to for me to have a new experience in higher education that fits with my long-term career goals. I am excited about this new chapter in our lives.” In 2010, Harris was the leader of the $54 million overhaul project of Lipscomb’s campus that included the construction of The Village, the Thomas James McMeen Music Center and the establishment of the school’s College of Pharmacy, the first of its kind in Middle Tennessee. The 2010 project also involved major...
