Accents06-16-05

The Microsoft Across America Technology RV

“Making it Happen," featuring the Microsoft Across America Technology RV, will take place in Matthews Hall at Missouri Southern State University from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday April 26.

The Microsoft RV is filled with the latest Microsoft offerings for businesses of every size including Sharepoint, Exchange Server, Small Business Server 2003, OneNote and much more.

Leading manufacturers with important information and demonstrations will be present to provide information about the positive effect that technology can have on businesses with a variety of seminars and demonstrations.

Morning Seminars:
9 a.m. – Team Collaboration Made Easy with Sharepoint
10 a.m. – Build a Better Business with Microsoft Small Business Server

Afternoon Seminars
1 p.m. – Intelligent Business Communications with VOIP Telephony
2 p.m. Paperless Office: Fact, Not Fiction – New Document Imaging Ideas

There is no cost to attend. Students, faculty/staff and the public are invited. Online registration is available at www.heartlandtechnologies.com.

Seminar spots are limited, so early registration is important. For more information or to register call Heartland Technology Solutions at (417) 623-5553. “Making it Happen” is sponsored by the MSSU Small Business Development Center, the Joplin Chamber’s Small Business Council and HTS of Joplin.

Ayton receives Outstanding Teacher award

Grace Ayton, Interim Head of the Department of Nursing, and Associate Professor of Nursing, has received the 2006 Governor's Outstanding Teacher Award.

Governor Matt Blunt presented the award to Grace and the other Outstanding Teacher Award nominees from the other Missouri universities at a special luncheon of the Council on Public Higher Education Wednesday, April 5, at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

Grace Ayton has worked at Missouri Southern on a full-time basis for 20 years, arriving in 1986. Prior to that, she spent two years at the University on a part-time basis. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Columbia Union College and her Master's degree in nursing from Wichita State University. She has been Board Certified as Clinical Specialist in Community Health Nursing since 1998 by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

"Mrs. Ayton has distinguished herself for her dedicated service to her students, the Nursing Department and MSSU since 1986," said MSSU President Julio León. "We congratulate Grace for this well-deserved honor."

Grace and her husband Kenneth have three children and five grandchildren. They reside in Joplin.

Children's Lifetime Sports Academy

Applications are being accepted for the Children's Lifetime Sports Academy sponsored annually by the Missouri Southern department of Kinesiology. The academy will be held from 12:30-5 p.m., June 5-8. All children, ages 7-12, are welcome to attend.

The goal of the academy is to teach the skills and to promote the appreciation of selected activities that can be played for fun, health, and fitness throughout life. Activities include golf, bowling, fishing, racquet sports, frisbee, and rhythms.

Children and grandchildren of MSSU faculty and staff receive a $10 discount. A fee of $60 (discount included) per child will cover the four days of instruction, use of facilities and equipment, insurance, and a T-shirt.

For application forms and/or additional information, e-mail Pat Lipira at lipira-p@mssu.edu and request a flyer through campus mail. Interested parties also may call the Department of Kinesiology at ext. 9316.

Southern Jazz Orchestra to perform April 11

The Southern Jazz Orchestra Concert directed by Phillip C. Wise, Music, is slated for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 11 in Webster Hall Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public. Limited seating is available.

The concert will feature trumpet soloist Dave Stahl. Stahl is a Grammy Award winning trumpeter who has performed as lead trumpet and featured soloist with many of the top bands in America including Woody Herman, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Larry Elgart and Toshiko Akiyoshi, among others.

"Dave Stahl is one of the jazz greats,” Phil Wise says. “He is noted for his lead trumpet playing and is one of the best in the world so this is one you won’t want to miss. What an honor to have him on our campus." Stahl will be featured on St. Louis Blues, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Den of Iniquity and a blues tune titled Red Dinger.

Stahl has backed up such notables as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Liza Minnelli Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Jack Jones, Sarah Vaughan, and Englebert Humperdinck. Engagements have taken him through Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, Japan, and throughout the United States.

In 1987 Dave Stahl started his own record label, Abee Cake Records. In the late 1990s he organized and formed his own Sacred Orchestra. It is a 23-piece studio orchestra plus ten vocalists. He has been performing in churches in the eastern half of Pennsylvania since that time and continues to freelance in New York City.

The Webb City High School Jazz Ensemble I, under the direction of William Punch also will be guest performers in the concert. Additional selections for the evening include Misty, featuring saxophonist Kyle Babbitt, Out of Nowhere, Work Song, featuring pianist Joel Thomas, and other great swing tunes.

As part of the 44th annual International Film Festival the 1956 Polish political/psychological thriller Man on the Tracks will be shown at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 11 in Cornell Auditorium in Matthews Hall on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.

The film is free and open to the public.

Andrzej Munk’s classic story of anti-Stalinism examines the mystery surrounding the death of a veteran train engineer who has lost his job through forced retirement. He is subsequently remembered, through flashbacks, by different characters who investigate his death and relate to their own interpretation in a manner recalling Citizen Kane and Rashomon.

In Man on the Tracks, the faces of the protagonists are often hidden by steam coming from the train engines. It is a chilling world of paranoia and betrayal, of sabotage and denunciation, of political opportunists and their scapegoats. Munk’s film asks: What happens to the human self in this environment?

The film won Munk the Best Director Award at the 1957 Karlovy Vary festival and the “Warsaw Siren” Polish Film Critics Prize.

Program to focus on topics of interest

Education Digest, a show hosted by Jerry Williams, Director of Lifelong Learning, focuses on topics that are of great interest to our community. During the second segment, "Between the Covers," a faculty member of MSSU will discuss a recent book he or she has enjoyed reading.

This week's program highlights J.J. Spurlin, Criminal Justice, and the issue of domestic violence in our area and Gloria Payne, Teacher Education, discussing a favorite piece of literature. If you are interested in participating as a guest on this show please e-mail Robin Douglas, Lifelong Learning, at douglas-r@mssu.edu.

The show will air on KGCS at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on Sundays. This is seen in Joplin, Webb City and Carterville on Cable One and on Mediacom outlets in surrounding areas and on channel 57. It will also air at 6:30 p.m. Saturday nights and 7 p.m. Sunday evenings on SITV which is seen in Monett, Lamar, Carthage, and surrounding areas on Cox Cable systems and in Neosho on the Cebridge Cable system.

The Art League's Collaborative Drawing, "Technology and the Globe," is now a reality at Missouri Southern State University.

A total of 15 Art League members came to consensus about the topic, discussed imagery, and executed a multi-media monochromatic drawing which is 3'x18' according to Josie Mai, Art.

Southern Theatre will present the play Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf at 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23 at Taylor Performing Arts Center at Missouri Southern State University.

This delightful play cleverly combines the tales of the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood with a very hungry wolf stuck between them. Pack up the whole family and enjoy this fun-filled trip to the theatre.

Ticket costs for the play are $1 for adults and .50 cents for children age 12 and under. No free passes can be accepted. For reservations call (417) 625-3190.

Approximately 750 high school students visited the Missouri Southern campus Wednesday, April 5 for the 28th Business Contest. The students represented 31 schools in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Beginning at 9 a.m., the students were tested in categories including Beginning Accounting, Advanced Accounting, Business Communication, Business Law, Business Math, Computer Concepts, Economics, Free Enterprise, General Business, Keyboarding I & II, Management, and Marketing.

An awards ceremony took place at 1 p.m. in Taylor Performing Arts Center. Dr. Beverly Block, Business, coordinated the contest.

Beverly presented Dean’s Performance Awards and Dr. Brad Kleindl, Dean, School of Business Administration, presented Sweepstakes Trophies.

Participating high schools included Afton, Baxter Springs, Carl Junction, Cassville, Chetopa, Clever, Columbus, Dadeville, Diamond, East Newton, Frontenac, Galena, Girard, Gravette, Jasper, Joplin Schools Kickapoo, Labette County, Liberal, Marionville, McDonald County, Monett, Neosho, Northeast, Ozark Mountain Tech. Center, Pierce City, Purdy, Sarcoxie, Sheldon, Verona, and Welch.

Sweet things for Easter

Choose from:
Easter Eggs (white and milk chocolate)
Carrots (white chocolate)
Bunnies (milk chocolate).

They also have jelly belly carrots flavored with orange tangerine beans for $3.29!
Stop by the Bookstore, call ext. 3035 or e-mail scheurich-l@mssu.edu to place your order.

Parmet to speak on "popcorn workers' lung" April 19

Dr. A.L. Parmet will present There's An Epidemic in Jasper County: Popcorn Workers' Lung: the History, Biology and Occupational Heath Issues at 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 19 in a location TBA.

In the spring of 2000, eight former workers at a microwave popcorn manufacturing facility in Jasper became the source of an investigation into a new and lethal lung disease. An investigation by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health led to the discovery that a common food additive could cause the disease in animals and humans. Further investigations led to the discovery of the same illness at dozens of microwave popcorn factories as well as other factories manufacturing butter-flavored candy, oil and pastries.

Subsequently, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed and millions of dollars paid to injured workers. The talk will discuss the science behind this epidemic and how biology, chemistry, mathematics and engineering came together.

Dr. Parmet is a consultant in occupational medicine and aerospace medicine, practicing in Kansas City. He is a retired Air Force colonel and the last medical director of TransWorld Airlines. He has authored 14 medical textbook chapters and dozens of scientific articles and is the clinical editor for the medical journal Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.

The Department of Music at Missouri Southern State University will present “Pops on a Sunday Afternoon” by Southern Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, May 7 at Taylor Performing Arts Center on the MSSU campus.

The concert will start at 2:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Admission is free. The orchestra consists of 60-plus university faculty members, students, selected high school students, and community musicians.

Led by director Kexi Liu, Music, the orchestra will perform the popular music of Leroy Anderson, Bizet, Strauss, Rossini, Sousa and others. The concert will also feature original stories incorporating the music to produce interesting storytelling.

For further information, contact Kexi Liu at (417) 625-9681 or liu-k@mssu.edu.

Ninety students and one faculty member were inducted into the MSSU chapter of Phi Eta Sigma freshman honor society during ceremonies held Thursday, April 6 in the Connor Ballroom on the 3rd Floor of Billingsly Student Center.

Phi Eta Sigma is a national scholastic honor society for college freshmen. To be eligible a student must be enrolled full time and have a grade point average of 3.5 or better during the first semester of the student's freshman year. Phi Eta Sigma is inspired by the past and dedicated to the future with the goal of encouraging and rewarding academic excellence among freshmen in institutions of higher learning.

One of the oldest and largest freshman honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma was founded at the University of Illinois in 1923, and now has more than 300 chapters and more than 600,000 members.

A poem by Joey Brown, English, titled "Earthquake" has been accepted for publication by the literary journal Animus. It will appear in the April 2006 issue.

Kexi Liu, Music, says Breden Barlow, a student of Suzuki Violin Academy, will perform a violin concerto with Ozark Festival Orchestra at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 8, at Monett City Auditorium. Breden is one of the winners of the Orchestra's Young Artists Competition held earlier this year. For further information, contact Kexi at ext. 9681 or e-mail liu-k@mssu.edu.

Wayne Thomason and Greg Dagnan, Criminal Justice Department, attended a three-day conference “Homeland Security: New Realities and New Solutions" at Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, Mass. The invitation -only seminar included in-depth sessions intended to identify community and business practices to help multiply response and recovery capabilities through regional and cross-jurisdictional cooperation and public-private mutual aid agreements. This program is part of the “ReadyAmerica” initiative, designed to develop a national template of best practices for community preparedness and response during the first 72 hours of crisis situations.

Burt Bucher and Frank A. Pishkur, Art, judged the Ozark 8 High School Art Fair which opened March 28 at the Longwell Museum at Crowder College in Neosho. Both of them briefly discussed the judging process during a short question and answer period with participants. The Ozark 8 competition showcases current art talent found in the region’s high schools.

For Sale: House for sale in Webb City. Complete remodel includes new roof, flooring, appliances, cabinets, plumbing and central H/A. Price has been drastically reduced to $50,000. Must see to appreciate! Call ext. 9346 for more information.

For Sale: For small acreages, older 641 Ford tractor, power steering, live hydraulics, with or without mower, call Jan for info at ext. 9558.

For Sale: Spring time and it's time to get outdoors. Have used portable basketball goal, asking $50. Photo available upon request. Call ext. 9681.