Western Points of Pride February 2012 Excellence in our Faculty/Staff Michael West, instructor of business, was recognized for outstanding service in reviewing, evaluating, and providing scholarly insights at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship 2012 National Conference. Marsha Dolan, professor of health information management and coordinator of the HIM program, was appointed to serve a one-year term as co-chair of the American Health Information Management Association s recently created Consumer Health Practice Council. 1 st published article Presentation Dr. Jeffrey Poet, associate professor of mathematics, presented, Geometric Constructions in Contemporary Problem Solving, at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Boston. Dr. Elizabeth Latosi-Sawin gave a presentation, Remembering the Past, to the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in Kansas City, Mo. Forty members from Missouri and Kansas were in attendance. Dr. Kay Siebler s, associate professor of English, article, Transgendered Transitions: Sex/Gender Binaries in the Digital Age, was published in Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health. Peter Hriso, assistant professor of art, had an animated short film accepted into the first International Motion Festival in Nicosia, Cyprus. Dr. William Russell, associate professor of physical education, gave his presentation titled, Youth sports crisis: Perils and Pitfalls of Youth Sport Specialization, at the 2012 Central District Association for Health, Physical Education, and Dance Convention. Dr. Evelyn Brooks professor of nursing; along with nursing student, K. DeWeese; presented Undergraduate Research Summer Institue research titled, Melanoma 1
Prevention Education: Collaboration Between Nursing Students and Internal and External Communities, at the Elsevier/Mosby s Faculty Development Institute. Pam Clary, instructor of social work, presented, Identifying & Overcoming Codependency, at a Celebrate Recovery Workshop in St. Joseph. Clary also held a Field Instructor/Preceptor Orientation. Dr. Jane Frick, professor of English and director of Prairie Lands writing project; Patsy Brost, instructor of English; Susan Garrison, instructor of English and content tutor coordinator; Dr. Bill Church, instructor of English; Steve Frogge, instructor of English; Meredith Katchen, instructor of English; Zulima Lugo-Knapp, instructor of Spanish; Thomas Pankiewicz, assistant professor of English; Dr. Kay Siebler, associate professor of English; Leanne Murray, instructor of English; and Dr. Jason Youngkeit, assistant professor of Spanish; served as online raters for the creative writing contest pieces in the Missouri Writing Region s 2012 Scholastic Writing contest. They scored 705 pieces submitted by students, grades seven-12, throughout Missouri and in the Kansas City, Kan. region. Dr. Jane Frick, professor of English and director of Prairie Lands writing project, served as the Missouri regional coordinator for the annual writing awards contest. She supervised the second scoring of the top-rated pieces at the University of Missouri- Columbia in order to determine medal-winning writings. Students with winning entries and their teachers will be honored at the 2012 Write to Learn Conference, to be held at the Lake of the Ozarks. Prairie Lands Writing Project sponsors the regional contest with support from the Missouri Writing Projects Network and the Missouri Association of Teachers of English. Isaiah Collier, director of student life and leadership, is now a member of the board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He will work to promote partnerships between Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Western student organizations. Western Activities Council, under the supervision of Isaiah Collier, director of student life and leadership, sponsored a Neon Light Party. The event was held in the Blum Union and more than 300 students attended. Excellence in our Students Cheryl Barnett-Bey, social work student, received the Martin Luther King Drum Major for Justice award. 1 st significant appointment 2
1 st published article Presentation 1 st presentation A total of seven MWSU exchange students are attending courses this semester at the following host institutions: o One at the Otto-Friedrich Universität, Bamberg, Germany o Three at the La Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain o Three at the Université d Angers, France Excellence in our Programs 1 st award 1 st significant appointment Intramural sports has 26 basketball teams and a total of 276 participants. Dodgeball has 10 teams with a total of 82 participants; racketball has 11 players that will start a pyramid tournament with more students joining throughout the semester. The Center for Academic Support has provided services for 292 students for a total of 725.5 hours and 794 visits. Furthermore, the CAS web site has 97 classes posted, with a total of 91 tutors covering these courses. The Center for Multicultural Education, in coordination with Phi Sigma Kappa and the Division of Student Affairs, hosted a blood drive. The Community Blood Center of St. Joseph collected a total of 45 units and registered 59 donors. The center hosts two blood drives a year on campus. There was a 56 percent increase in units collected from the fall 2011 drive. The Career Development Center, supported by the Student Government Association, opened a Clothes Closet to provide students with professional clothing to make the right impression at career fairs and job interviews. Donations of gently used professional clothes are being sought. The Student Employment Development Initiative, presented by Matthew Gregg, student employment coordinator, provided students with Effective Customer Service in Difficult Situations training. 3
Presentation The Missouri Western Euphonium & Tuba Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Lee Harrelson, instructor of music, performed at the U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Workshop in Washington, D.C. The workshop is an annual conference that hosts a select international collection of low brass musical artists in performances, master classes and mock professional auditions. In addition to featuring world-class soloists and ensembles, the conference extends an invitation each year to three student ensembles. The Missouri Western ensemble performance was both individual and in collaboration with the low brass ensembles of the University of Kansas and the UMKC Conservatory of Music & Dance. The performance was very well received and hailed by some of the U.S. Army Band personnel in attendance as the best ever student ensemble performance at the event. Eight representatives from Western attended a Strategy Forum in Chicago as a requirement of the Higher Learning Commission s Academic Quality Improvement Program accreditation process. The Western team will use information from the strategic planning that has been occurring over the past year to focus on institutional goals and to develop plans for the three required Actions Projects. Chief academic officers from across the state of Missouri have been exploring the possibility of establishing one or more professional science master s degrees. The professional science master s is designed to allow students to pursue advanced training in science, while developing workplace skills highly valued by employers. The master of applied science in chemistry at Missouri Western is an example of this type of degree. We anticipate that these statewide degrees will be offered collaboratively with a number of institutions participating in the offering of each program. Students will enroll and pay tuition at their home institutions, while each institution will have responsibility for offering certain courses. The music department hosted a two-week winter piano camp, in conjunction with the Western Institute. Twelve students and one teacher from South Korea attended English classes, master classes, recitals, auditions, and sightseeing. Missouri Western social work program and the University of Missouri master of social work off-campus program held a January brown bag luncheon. Jana Frye presented on Interactive Communication Techniques for working with individuals and families. Dr. Cosette Hardwick, assistant professor in the physical therapist assistant program, planned a two-day workshop for licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with students as clinical instructors. The workshop is given by the American Physical Therapy Association and culminates in credentialing the participants as Clinical Instructors for Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistants students. 4
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