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What's New on Missouri Campuses

Posted at May 28, 2008 14:05

By Aja J. Junior

THE FRESHMAN FIT
Getting off on the right foot is important for
students at colleges and universities. Now,
several schools are giving students a boost in
the right direction.

The Policy Center on the First Year of
College, established in 1999 with a grant
from the Pew Charitable Trusts, assists colleges
in developing a first-year program for
their students. The center’s key project, the
Foundations of Excellence, provides a set of
guidelines that schools use to look at their
programs and goals for first-year students
and how they can improve.

The nine guidelines for new students
include serving them according to their needs,
making them a priority to faculty and staff,
developing learning atmospheres for them,
and ensuring that they explore diverse ideas,
world views, and cultures among others.

Missouri Western University, Missouri
Southern State University, and Central
Missouri State University participate in the
four-year programs under the Foundations
of Excellence project.

Metropolitan Community College-
Longview at Lee’s Summit is the only twoyear
community college in Missouri participating
in the program and is one of ten
pilot community colleges in the country
developing a program.

Dr. Beth Lindquist, dean of institutional
success at Longview, predicts that next year
will focus on making sure the changes are
working for students, faculty, and staff.

ALPHA STEPS
Drury University was one of thirteen institutions
recognized by the Policy Center on
the First Year of College and the American
Association of Colleges and Universities
for its Alpha Semester course, Global
Perspectives 21. The course examines
the major questions of American culture
and helps students develop the communication,
critical thinking, and leadership
skills they need to become leaders on campus,
in their careers, and in the communities.

The collegiate experience begins in June
with registration for classes. During this
time, first-year students interact with classmates
and the professor of Alpha Seminar.
Alpha Seminar is a yearlong class in which
students study the American experience
through democracy, ethics, and capitalism.

The Alpha Seminar professor acts as an
advisor and a mentor for students during
their first year of college. Dr. Richard Schur,
director of interdisciplinary studies, says that
this course is a great way to get to know fellow
students and faculty.

Visit www.drury.edu or mcckc.edu/home
for more information.

ONE FOR ALL
This fall, the spotlight shines on the new visual
and performing arts school on Southeast
Missouri State University’s River Campus.

The Earl and Margie Holland School of
Visual and Performing Arts, home to the
only Missouri campus dedicated to music,
art, dance, and theatre, opens its doors
during Homecoming in October at Cape
Girardeau. River Campus brings the theatre,
dance, music, and art departments together
in a new home.

The Cultural Arts Center houses the new
John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center,
where banquets, pre- and post-performance
receptions, and school meetings will take
place. The Donald C. Bedell Performance
Hall, named for a member of the Southeast
Missouri State University Foundation Board
of Directors, will be the site of plays, symphonies,
dance and music concerts, musicals,
and other shows.

State-of-the-art scenery and costume
shops also find a home in the center. Three
performance stages sit adjacent to the shops,
including the Wendy Kruka Rust’s Flexible
Theatre, which can convert its two hundred
seats and stage to a variety of arrangements.

Near the theatre, a new dance studio
features a high-quality, “sprung” floor, which
protects dancers’ legs and feet from injury
with a slightly elastic surface.

Beside the Bedell Performance Hall, the
Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II
Southeast Missouri Regional Museum finds
a new home after being located in Memorial
Hall for more than thirty years.

The second part of the school resides
in the 150-year-old newly renovated St.
Vincent’s Seminary. The seminary holds the
Robert and Gertrude Shuck Music Recital
Hall, which offers music students opportunities
not possible in other classrooms. The
Art Gallery and Arts Resource Center on the
lower floor complete the artistic facility.

Visit www.semo.edu/svpa.index.htm for
more information.

A MEDICAL LIFELINE
Central Methodist University’s health professions
program propels pre-medical students
into graduate institutions and medical
schools with a 95 percent acceptance
rate, while 100 percent of nursing students
are passing the National Council Licensure
Examinations.

Dr. James Gordon, chemistry professor
and chair of the science division, credits
the high statistics to resources that undergird
classroom learning. “Support that goes
beyond the classroom helps make our students
successful,” Dr. Gordon says.

Organizations, seminars, and sources are
available to students as early as their freshman
year. For example, the Pre-Health
Advisory Council, a council of physicians,
mentors pre-medical students. It allows students
to build professional relationships.
Students may be able to intern with physicians
on the council and procure recommendations
for medical school.

Professional student organizations also
contribute to students’ success. A Pre-Medical
Honor Society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, hosts
mock Medical College Admission Tests for
students as early as their freshman year to
aid in understanding the test. The Pre-
Health Advisory Committee conducts mock
interviews with students for graduate school,
Dr. Gordon says. Students often regard the
mock interviews as more difficult than the
actual thing.

Nursing students find success with the
help of two key components to their program:
intensity and nurturing.

Megan Hess, chair of the nursing department,
credits the 100 percent pass rate on
the State Board Examinations to the small
school atmosphere, close faculty-student
relationships, and the hard work of students
and staff for success in the program.

The nursing program maintains a high
intensity level to produce good nurses. After
completing a science minor and other general
education courses, students complete
required major courses along with a 225-
hour clinical practicum with professional
nurses.

More importantly, the nurse-filled faculty
ensures that, along with technical proficiency,
prospective nurses have compassion and
respect for humanity. “How would you want
your mother to be treated?” Megan questions
her students. “How would you want your
child to be treated?”

Visit www.centralmethodist.edu for more
information.

BIG SCHOLARSHIPS
Emily Wales knew she wanted to pursue a
career in public service or government. She
never dreamed William Jewell College would
help her get a Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

Emily, a new William Jewell alumni,
received the thirty-thousand-dollar Harry
S. Truman scholarship to attend graduate
school in pursuit of a government or public
service career.

Prestigious awards, such as the Truman
and Fulbright scholarships, have become
associated with William Jewell’s students
over the years due to the college’s Prestigious
Fellowships and Scholarships Program.

“I would never have applied for the
Truman scholarships because I thought bignamed
institutions’ students received it,”
Emily says. “I would never have applied for
the scholarship without the program.”

The program helps students find scholarships
and fellowships within their field, then
prepares them for the rigorous application
process that is part of these national competitions.
Emily says it helped her in writing
the essay and preparing for the interview.

She is not the only student benefiting
from the program. Elizabeth Hall, another
member of the class of 2007, received one
of this year’s Fulbright Scholarships. The
Fulbright Scholarship, divided into three
categories, allows students, professionals, or
teachers to engage in teaching or researching
curriculum in and out of the United States.
Elizabeth is a scholar under the Fulbright
English Teaching Assistant Program, which
allows her to advance students’ understanding
of the English language in other countries.
She will teach in Uruguay.

Jenilee Morrison, also a new William
Jewell alumni, earned the Barry M. Goldwater
Scholarship for her achievements in academia
and promise of a career in the fields of science, engineering, or mathematics.

Lois Anne Harris, director of the Prestigious
Fellowships/Scholarships program, serves as a
mentor to many of the students within the
program. She notes that many times students
are able to attend top-tier graduate schools
after engaging in the program.

“Many believe that being a recipient is
about having a high grade-point average,”
Lois says. “That is true, but there is much
more to the process; leadership and service
are two very important criteria.”

Visit www.jewell.edu for more information.

THE FIRST DEDICATION
Fontbonne University has always been committed
to Catholic heritage; now the institution
is introducing what it calls a Dedicated
Semester each fall, which will focus on a
particular theme.

In the inaugural semester, students, faculty,
and administration are sponsoring speakers,
panels, and events to explore the topic
Judaism and its Culture, inspired partly by
the words of Pope John Paul II depicting
Jewish people as “dearly beloved brothers.”

“This will change the way we do the business
of education at Fontbonne,” says Jason
Sommer, English professor and one of the
creators of the dedicated semester.

Courses in a variety of departments were created to address the study of Judaism,
such as Sociology of the Jewish Family and
Benedictions to Broadway: Jewish Musical
Traditions. Current professors of each
department teach the new courses that will
later become part of the permanent curriculum.
Many courses fulfill major and general
education requirements for students.

As part of the co-curricular activities
associated with the semester, immersion
courses in Hebrew have been scheduled and
filled with students and faculty. Events ranging
from a visit from the authors of Jews and
Baseball to activities focusing on the ethnic
identity of Judaism will also take place.

The entire semester culminates with
the commencement ceremonies when
David Marwell, director of the Museum of
Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the
Holocaust at New York City, speaks to the
graduating class of 2007.

At the heart of the matter is learning
more about Judaism and its connections to
Christianity on the campus and community
wide, Sommer says.

The planned theme for the 2008 dedicated
semester is U.N. Millenial Goals. The
United Nations set forth eight ten-year goals
in 2003; the semester will look at how the
university and students can understand and
support those goals.

Visit www.fontbonne.edu/dedicated for
more information.

HARD-WORKING FACULTY
Out with the old and in with the new
describes the goals of some graduate school
deans and faculty departments regarding
rankings in productivity. A new survey
for research universities’ faculties evaluates
schools objectively, compared to other subjective
surveys’ standards.

The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index,
produced by Academic Analytics, serves as a
fresh and impartial outlook on how colleges
and universities are ranked in faculty productivity.
Among those to make the index
were Washington University at St. Louis and
University of Missouri at St. Louis.

While the University of Missouri at St.
Louis ranked eleventh in small research universities,
Washington University placed fourth
overall for the Faculty Scholarly Productivity
Index and topped the political science, ecology,
and evolutionary biology fields.

Academic Analytics works in conjunction
with State University of New York at
Stony Brook to collect and analyze scholarly
outputs by university departments and their
faculty. What sets their index apart from
other surveys, such as U.S. News & World
Report, is the lack of opinion-based or other
subjective methodology.

Academic Analytics uses journal publications,
citations, awards and honors, and
grant data on doctoral programs from federal
agencies to compile the index.

Visit www.umsl.edu for more information.

GREEN AMBITION
Green is in. It may not appear on the Paris
runways, but it’s springing up around Missouri campuses for one cause: eliminate
global warming.

Washington University has devoted more
than fifty-five million dollars for a renewable
energy and sustainability program known as
International Center for Advanced Renewable
Energy and Sustainability. The program will
allow research and collaboration with other
schools and organizations to examine renewable
energy and sustainability.

Park University at Parkville pledged along
with more than two hundred other colleges
and universities to diminish greenhouse
gases, eventually abolishing all emissions on
their campuses. This commitment allows
Park to create an action plan that will create
a “climate neutral” campus as well as to
incorporate environmental education in the
curriculum to produce more climate responsible
citizens.

One college flying under the radar is
making leaps and bounds with its studies
on renewable energy. Crowder College’s
Alternative Energy Program bleeds green
with their innovative projects and ideas.

Crowder stood out in past Solar Decathlon
competitions, not only as the sole community
college entrant, but also as a high-place
finisher in each. The biggest undertaking by
the small community college currently is the
construction of the Missouri Alternative and
Renewable Energy Technology Center. Set to
open next fall, the center will be Missouri’s
first educational building powered entirely by
solar and renewable energy.

Visit wustl.edu or www.park.edu or www.
crowder.edu, for more information.

AUCTIONEER HARVARD
One of the best auctioneering schools in
North America, Missouri Auction School produces
top auctioneers in all fields around the
world. Newsweek proclaims it the “Harvard
of Auctioneering.”

ROLL FILM!
Script supervisors, gaffers, and assistant directors
are positions unnoticed by many, but
students at Stephens College at Columbia
know these positions well.

After three years, the only women’s college
with a digital film major has left its
star on various films and festivals, including
Columbia’s True/False Film Festival. This year,
the program offers a new filmmaking minor.

Kerri Yost, assistant professor of filmmaking,
believes that the hands-on experience
students get while studying filmmaking at
Stephens separates it from other undergraduate
film programs.

Students learn the tricks of the trade,
while creating student reels and focusing
on obtaining internships and jobs following
graduation. Visiting Hollywood professionals
and filmmakers offer students connections
to the film industry and potential for landing
internships with such powerhouses as
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.

Visit www.stephens.edu/academics/programs/
digitalfilm/ for more information.

 Oct 2007

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