Wallace named Outstanding Graduate

Sarah Wallace

Sarah Wallace of Branson has been named “Outstanding Graduate” by the Missouri Southern Alumni Association.  The award was formally presented at the Honors Convocation on Tuesday, May 1 in Taylor Performing Arts Center.

Wallace is a senior Spanish Education major and Mathematics Education major.  She has a 4.0 cumulative Grade Point Average in her double major.

Lee Pound, Alumni Director, says Outstanding Graduates are selected on the basis of superior involvement and leadership on campus and in the community, as well as high academic achievements and respect received from students, faculty and staff.

Wallace, a 2003 Branson High school graduate is the only senior member of this year’s women’s track and field team at MSSU.  She is a member of Spanish Club, Kappa Mu Epsilon, Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Chi.

After graduation, Sarah plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Spanish at the University of Kansas.  She is the daughter of Rusty and Debby Wallace of Branson and the granddaughter of Lovice Wallace of Mt. Home, Ark.

Academic talent to join Honors Program this morning

Students invited to join the prestigious Honors Program at Missouri Southern State University will be introduced during a formal signing ceremony beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, May 4 in the Connor Ballroom of Billingsly Student Center at MSSU.

Missouri Southern welcomes its academic team with enthusiasm similar to that given star athletes who make a decision to attend a college or university. Many high school teachers, counselors, administrators and family members watched the students make their choices official.

A total of 29 students are scheduled to be present to put pen to paper this morning at MSSU.

MSSU President Julio León will welcome the students as they take this important step in their educational career. All the students will attend Missouri Southern this fall and several have already completed a number of college hours.

The signing ceremony continues a tradition established when the Honors Program developed in 1984. Entrance into the program is by invitation and requires a composite score of 28 or above on the ACT or a grade point average of 3.5 or above on a 4.0 scale.

The program offers honors sections of general education courses and special honors courses in selected areas.

"The competition was as keen as ever. The students admitted will prove a formidable influence on the Southern campus and in classrooms for the years to come, and these are the people we will be hearing from in the future." says Pat Kluthe, Director of the Honors Program.

The average ACT of the incoming scholars is 28.7 and the average GPA in their final year of high school is 3.9.

Young Authors’ Celebration at MSSU May 5

Approximately 550 students from 30 school districts in southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma will take part at the Young Authors’ Celebration at Missouri Southern State University on May 5. 

The event will take place from 1 – 3 p.m. at Taylor Performing Arts Center at MSSU. Writing achievement is celebrated at this conference with student having the opportunity to meet two guest authors.  Each student receives a book from the author.

The goal of the conference is to encourage and support the expression of creative ideas through the writing process.  Classroom teachers throughout the school year offer this positive encouragement which is celebrated at the conference.  Many area teachers and MSSU Teacher Education majors and faculty members will volunteer their time to work on the day of the conference to ensure its success.

Those with questions should contact Becky Gallemore, Teacher Education, at (417) 659-5425.

Garoutte, Hand to oversee Honors Program

Michael Garoutte, Chemistry, and Linda Hand, Mathematics, will be MSSU's new Director and Assistant Director, respectively, of the Honors Program, according to a recent announcement from MSSU President Julio León.

Garoutte is associate professor of Chemistry and joined the Southern faculty in 1997. He was a member of the Honors Program as he earned his B.S. degree in chemistry from Missouri Southern. His Ph.D. in Chemistry is from the University of Kansas. Garoutte is currently the faculty advisor to ODK.

Hand is professor of Mathematics who joined the Missouri Southern faculty in 1988. She received a B.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Missouri-Rolla, her M.S. from Central Missouri State and her doctorate from Oklahoma State University. She received the MSSU Outstanding Faculty Award in 2005.

Extended hours continue

Wendy McGrane, Spiva Library, says that extended hours will continue at the Spiva Library during finals week. The library will close at midnight instead of 11 p.m. Sunday, May 6 through Thursday, May 10.

Students outperform S&P 500

Students in The Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration’s Portfolio Management class at MSSU have ended the year on a high note. Charged with the task of managing the $300,000 Youngman Portfolio, the students have achieved a return of over 7 percent, outperforming the S&P 500 in the first five months of trading, according to Brian Nichols, Business, who teaches the class.

A grant from the Missouri Southern Foundation along with the real-time Edward Jones Investment Center on campus provides students in the School of Business with the opportunity for a real-world investment experience. “While a number of colleges and universities offer their students a simulated investment experience, these are real dollars – the university’s dollars,” said Don Swanson, an Edward Jones investment representative and member of both the Missouri Southern Foundation Finance Committee and the Youngman Portfolio Advisory Board.

The students use the same software as many commercial investment firms and a state-of-the-art system to conduct in-depth data analysis of companies. “Our two main databases are Bloomberg and Standard and Poor’s Research Insight, which are industry standards” Professor Nichols stated. “The success of Bloomberg was the cover story of Fortune magazine recently – it is a leader in the financial information industry, used by all the Wall Street firms.” The 33 computers and 2 LCD screens in the Edward Jones investment center allow students to monitor the financial markets and access company information quickly and efficiently.

Along with the practical experience gained through the responsibility of managing university funds, the students have come away with a better appreciation of the importance of teamwork. “It takes all of us doing our part to create a whole,” said senior Finance and Economics major Bobbi Lee. “In everything we do, we are involved 100%. We exercise a large amount of trust in our fellow students and Professor Nichols to steer us in the right direction.”

Contemporary Film Series continues

The Contemporary Film Series' seventh and last feature of the semester will be shown at approximately 7 p.m. tonight, Friday, May 4, in Cornell Auditorium, Plaster Hall (formerly Matthews Hall).

Nick Kyle, Art, says the film for Friday, May 4, is The Science of Sleep (English, French and Spanish, 2006; 106 minutes).

White-collar drudge by day, genius by night - and any other time likable, clever Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) lives on a magic carpet of dreams where Stephane headlines "Stephane TV," builds a mighty cut-and-paste wonderland, pens a bestseller and sweeps the lovely girl next door off her feet and into his arms. If only he could make his dreams come true!

Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) writes and directs this quirky, quixotic, constantly inventive romantic fantasy of imagination vs. logic, dreams vs. reality. Wake up and smell the possibilities.

Theme semesters announced

Chad Stebbins, International Studies, has announced that the next three themed semesters, after China in Fall 2007, will be:
 
Fall 2008 ─ Germany
Fall 2009 ─ Canada
Fall 2010 ─ Brazil
 
Germany has the fifth-largest economy in the world and the largest population of any country in the European Union.
 
Canada is the United States' largest trading partner. In 2005, total trade between the U.S. and its neighbor to the north amounted to approximately $500 billion.
 
Brazil is by far the largest and most populous country in South America and has the world's eighth-largest economy.

Free smoking cessation classes

The MSSU Wellness Program is proud to announce an exciting new partnership with the Ozark Center.

Darren Fullerton, Wellness, says the Ozark Center will be offering a FREE Smoking Cessation Program for MSSU employees.

This is a nationally recognized program developed by the American Lung Association. Normally this program has a registration fee of $90, but will be offered FREE-OF-CHARGE to MSSU employees.

Please see the information included with recent pay stubs. For more information or to register, please contact: Del Camp at the Ozark Center at (417) 347-7600

Business Honor Society Holds First Induction Ceremony

The Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration inducted the first members into the Lambda Gamma Chapter of the Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society in a formal ceremony last Sunday at the Billingsly Student Center.

The purpose of the Society is to promote higher scholarship in education for business, and to recognize and reward scholastic attainment in business subjects. Membership in Delta Mu Delta is the highest national recognition a business student can earn.

New inductees: Shirley Armstrong, Accounting ’06, Susan Chapman, Marketing ’05, Stacie England, Management, May ’07, Melissa Garren, General Business, May ’07, Elissa Herford, Accounting, May ’07, Pamela Hess, Accounting ’06, Myla Lunceford-Camden, Accounting ’04, Christi Mattix, Accounting ’05, Zachary Odem, Accounting ’04, Ami Salkil, Accounting ’04, Mary Schuster, General Business ’06, Kristen Wellbaum, Accounting, May ’07.

Honorary Inductees include Steve Koelkebeck, Southwest Missouri Bank; Dale Blanchard, Commerce Bank (retired), and Michael Gray, BKD.

Foreign Language Field Day results

Tatiana Karmanova, International Language Resource center, says results are in from Foreign Language Field Day, held last Friday, April 20 at MSSU. This year 35 schools from the three-state area competed in the events with the total unduplicated count in all competitions of 934 students.

During the Award Ceremony the sweepstakes trophies were awarded to the first 3 places in each language:

In French, with 295 (unduplicated) students from 18 schools competing:
1st Place – Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School
2nd Place – Ozark High School
3rd Place – Republic High School

In German, with 118 (unduplicated) students from 9 schools competing:
1st Place – Bolivar High School
2nd Place – Lebanon Senior High School
3rd Place – Neosho High School

In Spanish, with 521 (unduplicated) students from 31 schools competing:
1st Place – Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School
2nd Place – Joplin High School
3rd Place – Branson High School

The "Best Overall School"
1st place - Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School
2nd place – Joplin High School
3rd place - Bolivar High School

The complete list of winners, overall school performance and school performance by languages are available online at http://www.mssu.edu/international/ilrc/

Debaters compete in Georgia

Missouri Southern's Debate Team competed at the 37th National Forensics Association (NFA) Championships April 18-24 at Berry College in Rome, Ga.

The NFA is a national forensics organization supporting the art of communication for 37 years in the United States. Kelly Larson, Debate, says 110 tournament debaters from 74 colleges and universities representing 32 states took part.

At the tournament in Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, juniors Dylan Slagle of Aurora, Matthew Snyder of Neosho, and Richard Brown of Joplin all qualified for double-octofinal elimination rounds. They were all defeated in the first elimination round.

However, MSSU placed 5th in the LD National sweepstakes realm. All three participants were 5-1 in the six round preliminary schedule. Coach Larson is very happy with his team’s finish.

“Clearly, our goal each year is to win it," Kelly says. "With all the team returning next year, I think we will be the team to beat.”

Missouri Southern last won the National title in 2001.

Tutoring program accredited

The Tutoring Program located in the Learning Center received accreditation from the College Reading and Learning Association.  Jan Holmes, Learning Center, and Stephanie Hopkins, Project STAY, presented the accreditation application during the Heartland CRLA Conference in Lincoln, Neb. on April 19-20.

Accreditation was certified for both Level I and the advanced Level II.  The advanced accreditation will provide additional training and compensation for tutors.

Edwards return to Pakistan

Willie Edwards, Teacher Education, will travel to Pakistan on May 6 - June 1. This will be Edwards' third return to Pakistan since December 2006 and is the culmination project for this phase of a multi-million dollar USAID grant designed to improve the quality of teacher education training.

Willie participates as a visiting professor through the International Reading  Association's International Development Division.  The project has provided increased training to faculty from a number of government teacher colleges located in the provinces of Sindh (metropolitan Karachi) and Baluchistan which borders on Iran.

Nursing Pinning Scheduled for May 11

Graduates of the Nursing program at Missouri Southern State University will take part in a formal pinning ceremony slated for 6:15 p.m., Friday, May 11 in Webster Hall Auditorium.

Mari Beth Linder, Director and associate professor, Department of Nursing, will welcome the 39 graduates. Introductions will be made by Tia Strait, Dean, School of Technology. MSSU President Julio Leon will briefly speak to the graduates.

Following an invocation by Christina Hueto, 2007 graduate, assistant professor Shanna Griffiths will make remarks.

Presentation of Baccalaureate Degree candidates will be made by Grace Ayton, associate professor.

Patricia Hempsmyer, assistant professor, and Sheila Hart, assistant professor, will formally pin the graduates. Candle lighters will be Chrys Corcoran, assistant professor and Chris Eller, associate professor. “The Nightingale Pledge” will be made by LeSha Goade, assistant professor. Barbara Box will make the Rose Presentation.

Richard J. McCallum, MSSU Vice President for Academic Affairs, will present the Class of 2007.

Don Lowe, 2007 graduate, will deliver the Benediction. Roses for the event will be provided by the Missouri Southern Student Nurses Association.

FACULTY/STAFF

Larry Cebula, Virginia Laas, and Paul Teverow, Social Sciences, attended the Missouri Conference on History in St. Louis, April 19-20, and participated in a panel presentation on "Using Teaching American History Grants to Create Lasting Partnerships for Teaching Local History". Cebula delivered opening remarks and chaired the panel; Laas spoke on "Teaching the Civil War as Local History", and Teverow on"Integrating Local and National History".

Susan Craig, Project Stay, was selected as a finalist for the Dan Cockrell Award at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The award recognizes one outstanding dissertation each year in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department. Susan's dissertation was entitled "Decision-Making Processes and the Role of Policy in Discipline Decisions Concerning Students with Psychiatric Disabilities."

Two poems by Bill Kumbier, English, have been accepted for publication in Rockhurst Review.

Mike Lawson, Professor of Biology, has been selected as a Grand Awards Judge for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair to be held in May in Albuquerque, NM.

CLASSIFIED

For Rent: House at 1301 N. Patterson (Royal Heights Subdivision) 2 bedroom, 1 ½ bath, 1 car garage, Appliances, home built in 1996, NO pets, NO smokers, $495/month $425 Deposit. Tenant must pay all utilities and tend lawn. Available June 1. Call (417) 625-6528 (daytime), (417) 782-9643 evenings or 540-3424. E-mail: gallemore-r@mssu.edu.

Bird Lover Wanted: 2 parakeets (one blue/white and one green/yellow) for sale with large cage. Bought from Petsmart last year. $50 They are happy and make lots of pretty music. Call ext. 9371.

Wanted: Large female dog at least 3 years old (not a pup). She should be spayed, healthy, and love kids. She will be a companion to a widowed male in a nice fenced yard with over an acre to play on. Call ext. 9371 to leave a message.

Free to Good Home: German Shepherd, 4 months old, black and tan. Call ext. 9766.

For Sale: Multi-function Weider adjustable weight bench, $100. Call (417) 659-5425 or 782-9643.

Available: If you are interested in taking over payments on a Trendwest time share, call Sandra at 499-4529. It can be used at Branson, Lake of the Ozarks and beyond.

For Sale: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage on 2822 Delaware in Joplin. Contact Shane Werberger at (417) 385-7711 or (417) 781-3911. View the home online at: www.fsbolocal.com

Garage Sale: This Saturday May 5 from 7 a.m. - 12 noon at 1126 Countryside Drive in Webb City.