2023 was a year of incredible milestones at Belmont University. Achievements throughout this season were cultivated through traditioned innovation, an approach that builds on the best of our past and then gets expressed in creative, transformational action. Through it all, storytelling is the gateway, the connection point to individuals on our campus and beyond. Stories set a foundation for culture and identity, bringing people together in new ways that spur even more inspiration and action.
At Belmont, storytelling forms integral parts of our academic and creative focus as we forge ahead towards our aspirational aim to be widely recognized as the leading Christ-centered university in the world. We acknowledge that each of our stories matter — and combined, our stories reflect a much bigger picture of purpose in the world, leading us to this year’s campus theme of Embracing a Bigger Story.
This theme emphasizes moving beyond our individual perspectives and engaging with more comprehensive narratives and a broadened sense of purpose. It involves seeing past our experiences and considering a larger context or grander vision. Ultimately, embracing a bigger story is about locating our lives, our individual stories and our collective stories within God’s overarching Story — the very story that animates our commitments to innovation, belonging, healing, creativity, formation and hope.
The stories that shaped this year at Belmont are remarkable. In the fall, we launched The Hope People podcast, highlighting Agents of Hope — people who demonstrate what hope really means and how it animates our beliefs, actions and ultimately our stories. Delving into topics such as personal triumphs, community building and faith puts a magnifying glass to the power of storytelling to impact human flourishing.
We also celebrated 50 years of music business education in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and its exceptional impact, the launch of “Belmont Online,” a groundbreaking initiative providing accessible and flexible education opportunities to learners worldwide and the accreditation of Belmont’s new Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine, among others.
There are countless inspiring stories that surround us daily, many of which are detailed in the pages that follow. Every one demonstrates how Belmont maintains a commitment to forming people of character — aiming to be a catalyst for flourishing both as individuals and as a community and considering how we can help share that story with people in Nashville and across the world.
I hope you’ll find joy in discovering the ways these stories, and each of us, are all connected.
Cheers,
Greg