Current Issue: Volume 26 - Number 12 - April 4, 2008
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Beimdiek groundbreaking today
A ceremony to officially mark groundbreaking for the George Beimdiek Student Recreation Center will be held at 1 p.m. today, Friday, March 28, adjacent to Billingsly Student Center on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.
Curt Betebenner, Missouri Southern Foundation, says a large number of invited guests including members of the MSSU Board of Governors, donors, legislators and officials from the University and community will take part.
The late George S. Beimdiek, a leading businessman and insurance professional in Southwest Missouri, last year presented Southern with a $1 million gift to support the construction of the new Student Recreation Center. The building will include the Willcoxon Student Health Center, named in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Willcoxon of Joplin.
The 65,000 sq. ft. facility will feature a new Student Health Center, three-court gymnasium, elevated jogging track, two 4,000 sq. ft. fitness areas with cardiovascular weight machines and free weights, two fitness class studios, a fitness testing center, locker rooms and showers and a 150-seat theatre/auditorium.
Betebenner says the building is expected to be completed before the fall 2009 semester.
Higher Learning Commission to visit March 31 - April 2Missouri Southern will have a comprehensive evaluation visit by a team representing the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools March 31 - April 2.
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is one of six regional accrediting agencies in the United States. The HLC-NCA region covers 19 states and accredits over 1,100 2-and 4-year institutions. Missouri Southern has been continuously accredited by the organization since 1949, when it was Joplin Junior College. Missouri Southern’s most recent accreditation visit was in the spring of 1998.
The HLC provides accreditation for the whole institution, not individual programs. Its mission is “to serve the common good by assuring and advancing the quality of higher education”. The assurance provided by accreditation is important for the acceptance of credits and degrees. The federal Department of Education relies on regional accreditation as a basis to determine which institutions can participate in its programs, such as financial aid.
MSSU been preparing for this visit for the past three years. During this time, a self-study was conducted that evaluated the institution relative to the five HLC Criteria for Accreditation. In addition, MSSU’s self-study included a special emphasis on the first year of college. The intent of the special emphasis is to evaluate and promote institutional improvement in this critical foundation time for undergraduate students. This required that the institution evaluate itself in relation to the nine Foundations of Excellence standards, referred to as Dimensions. Over 90 members of the faculty and staff and students worked on committees completing the self-study and developing action plans for improving the first-year experience. The self-study report is available online at www.mssu.edu/selfstudy.
The HLC visiting team is comprised of seven administrators and faculty members from other institutions in the North Central region. The team members are trained consultant-evaluators. To help them prepare for the visit, they received a copy of MSSU’s self-study and other institutional documents in early February.
As part of our campus HLC preparations, departments and committees are showcasing their work in the Library Quiet Room (L-413). The displays are available for campus viewing from 8 a.m. - 5 p. m. Friday, March 28 and 12 p.m. - 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 2. Contact Anna Beth Morgan at ext. 9550 or Wendy McGrane at ext. 9801 in the Spiva Library with any questions.
During their two and a half day visit, the team members will meet with members of the campus community to gather further information. In addition to meetings with individuals and committees, the team will hold three open forums: an All-Faculty Open Forum at 3 p.m., Monday March 31; an All-Professional-Staff Open Forum at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday April 1; and an All-Students Open Forum at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 1.
All of the open forums will be held in Cornell Auditorium. Before departure on Wednesday, the team will hold an exit meeting to share findings and recommendations.
MSIPC judging panel named
Five judges have been selected for the upcoming Missouri Southern International Piano Competition (MSIPC) scheduled for April 21 – 26. They hail from Armenia, France, Hong Kong, Texas and New York. They teach, they perform, they lecture, they record, and they give master classes and workshops. Their biographies read like a Who's Who of today's world of classical music.
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Nancy Weems was on the jury for the 2006 competition and returns this year as Senior Judge. Ms. Weems will perform the Opening Concert of the competition on Monday, April 21. She will present works of Bach, Schumann, Gershwin, and William Albright. She is Professor of Piano at the University of Houston Moores School of Music in Houston, Texas.
As a teacher she has received numerous awards for excellence, including having been named Moores School of Music Faculty of the Year in 2004. As a concert pianist, Ms. Weems has performed extensively throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and the former Soviet Union.
Her recording, "Classical Hollywood," was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1990. Critics have called her "a rare treasure, an extraordinary pianist, grand in scope, and powerful in her interpretation, possessing fantastic technique."
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Evelyne Crochet was born and educated in Paris, France and won First Prize at the Paris Conservatory as a student. She studied with Edwin Fischer in Switzerland, and, in Bern, was invited by Rudolf Serkin to study with him in the United States. This exceptional sponsorship resulted in her immigration to the U.S. She now makes her home in New York City.
She has held artist-in-residence and faculty positions at Brandeis, Rutgers, Boston, and Georgia State Universities and has served on the faculty at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her vast repertoire spans over three centuries, and her recordings include works of Bach, Debussy, Schubert, Gabriel Faure, and Erik Satie.
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Erna Gulabyan chaired the judging panel for the 2002 MSIPC. She returns as a member of the panel for 2008. She is a native of Armenia, where her musical training began at the Yerevan Central Music High School for especially gifted children.
She continued her training at the Moscow Conservatory and later immigrated to the United States, where she now teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has a special interest in training young concert artists, and many of her students have won local, national, and international competitions.
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Gabriel Kwok was born in Hong Kong and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1972 to 1978. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2003. He joined the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1984 and has been Head of Keyboard Studies there since 1989. Mr. Kwok has served as visiting faculty at a number of musical institutions outside Hong Kong, including several in the United States. He has collaborated with many distinguished artists in concerts and given master classes in cities in Asia, Britain, Germany, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
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Barry Snyder has been Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, New York, since 1970. He won three major prizes at the 1966 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and since then has recorded nearly 40 CDs and given concerts worldwide, spanning over four decades. He is a founding member of the Eastman Trio, whose recordings of the complete chamber music of Schubert and Russian "Romantic" trios have received critical acclaim.
He is well known as a chamber music collaborator, having recorded complete works of Stravinsky for violin and piano, complete Schumann and Brahms violin and piano sonatas, and complete music for cello and piano of Gabriel Faure.
On Saturday, April 26, Mr. Snyder will present a lecture entitled "What it Takes to be a Modern Musician." The lecture will be presented to the public and especially to music students who are preparing for careers in music.
MSIPC is a 501(c)3, tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation funded by contributions from businesses, foundations, and individuals. For details, contact the office at (417) 625-9755.
The 12th Missouri Southern International Piano Competition will be held April 21-26. Competition rounds are free of charge and open to the public. Evening concerts are free to students and seniors, who may obtain a pass by contacting the MSIPC office.
National Issues Forum - 2008
Early in our democracy, citizens gathered to talk and learn together about their common problems before deciding how to solve them. Today’s citizens still gather and deliberate to create a reasoned public voice. Since 1981, National Issues Forums (NIF) has supported a nonpartisan, nationwide network of locally-sponsored public forums for that purpose.
Missouri Southern welcomes students, faculty, staff, and local community members to come together to discuss this year’s topic: "The Energy Problem: Choices for an Uncertain Future."
Groups of 8-10 citizens will read a brief brochure on background facts (prepared by the non-partisan Kettering Foundation), and then meet to talk informally about various approaches to the problem. Meetings will be held at Spiva Library Main Floor fireplace area. There is no fee to participate, but you must reserve a place.
Select one of the dates: 6 - 8 p.m., Thursday, March 27; 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 6 - 8 p.m., Wed. April 2; 3:30 - 5:30 p.m., Thursday, April 3; 6 - 8 p.m., Monday, April 7; and 7 - 9 p.m., Tuesday, April 8.
To sign up, contact: Ann Wyman, Social Science, at wyman-a@mssu.edu, Webster 229, 625-9697 or Steve Smith, Social Science, at smith-st@mssu.edu, Webster 227, 625-3008.
Linder to write questions for Foreign Nurses' Exam
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J. Mari Beth Linder, Ph.D., R.N., B.C., Joplin, Head of the Nursing Department,, has been chosen to be an Item Writer for the Foreign Nurses Exam.
Mari Beth was chosen by The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS International), an independent, not for profit organization created in 1977 by the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing to identify those internationally educated nurses who have a high probability of passing the NCLEX-RN examination and attaining R.N. licensure in the U.S.
Passing a qualifying exam is a requirement of foreign educated nurses seeking U.S. licensure. The CGFNS Qualifying Exam is given worldwide at approved testing centers three times each year.
CGFNS updates its test item bank regularly, and item writers with experience in certain specialty areas of nursing are selected to write items to be included in new test banks. Mari Beth was selected by CGFNS to write items in the specialty of Pediatric Nursing, an area in which she maintains clinical practice as an R.N. and has published in several articles.
Criteria for selection included having experience with item writing and test construction in nursing, an earned doctorate, board certification in pediatric nursing, and clinical practice and expertise in the specialty not related to nursing student supervision.
The Item Writing will take place March 31-April 4 in St. Kitts, West Indies. Approximately 20 item writers were selected from across the U.S. to participate.
Mining map demonstration April 8
A Tri-State mining map demonstration will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Tuesday, April 8 in the 3rd Floor Connor Ballroom of the Billingsly Student Center at Missouri Southern State University.
Presenters will include Charles Nodler, Archivist at MSSU’s Spiva Library, and Chris Chappell, Jasper County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordinator.
The demonstration is a collaborative grant project between the George A. Spiva Library and the Jasper and Newton County Environmental Task Force.
The Archives area of the Spiva Library at MSSU is the repository for a large number of maps of mines that covered the Tri-State area of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma from the mid 19th to early 20th centuries.
An open house will immediately follow the presentation in the Archives area of the Spiva Library.
Environmental conference slated
Two environmental experts will speak at the Four-State Regional Environmental Conference from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 28 on campus. The conference is co-sponsored by the Regional Economic Development Center (REDC) at MSSU.
The cost to attend is $25 per person. Registration will take place in Webster Hall at Missouri Southern beginning at 8 a.m. that day.
The keynote speaker will be Doyle Childers, Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. He will speak from 8:40 - 9:30 a.m. in Webster Hall Auditorium.
The luncheon speaker will be Tony Robyn, Audubon Missouri state executive director and vice-president. Lunch will take place from 11:30 to 12:45 on the third floor of the Billingsly Student Center at Missouri Southern.
Representatives from the EPA, area watershed groups and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) also will take part. The conference will feature breakout sessions both in the morning and afternoon.
| Water Tract: Mills Anderson Auditorium | Environmental Tract: Webster Hall Auditorium |
| Session 1: Water Laws | Session 1: Superfund Activities |
| Session 2: Watershed Management | Session 2: Environmental Health Cost/Full Cost Pricing |
| Session 3: Agencies/Watershed Groups | Session 3: Tribal Water Laws |
Sponsors include: Allegeier Martin & Associates; Community Bank and Trust; Crossland Construction, Inc.; Empire District Electric Company; Freese & Nichols, Inc.; Jasper and Newton County Environmental Task Force; Leggett & Platt, Inc.; Missouri-American Water Company; The Forrester Group; and the REDC.
Those with questions about the Four-State Regional Environmental Conference should contact Thomas Simpson at (417) 625- 3112 or Michelle Price at (417) 625-3016.
Malaysian film tonight on campus
The fourth feature film for the spring 2008 season of the Contemporary Foreign Film series is slated for 7 p.m. tonight, in Cornell Auditorium, Plaster Hall, on campus.
This film will be shown as part of a Missouri Southern continuing education class. The cost of the class is $10 per person per semester and those interested may register before the film Friday evening. Subsequent films will be shown this semester on March 28, April 11, April 25, and May 9.
Tonight's film is
The Beautiful Washing Machine (Malaysia, 2004; 113 minutes).
In this absurd comedy, the series' first feature film from Malaysia, a man discovers the “secret soul” of a second-hand washing machine he has acquired that literally has a mind of its own. When he attempts to get rid of it/her, the consequences spin out of control.
For further information about this film series, please contact Bill Kumbier, English, at kumbier-w@mssu.edu or Nick Kyle, Art, at kyle-n@mssu.edu.
Students to present evening of French classics
The Department of Music will present an evening of French classics played by Missouri Southern Music majors at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 1 in Webster Hall Auditorium.
Selections to be played will include Ma Mere l’oye (Mother Goose Suite) by Maurice Ravel and Le Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of Animals) by Camille Saint-Saens.
Students performing the music include:
• Cassie Armstrong, sophomore music education major from Neosho;
• Anna Buckley, senior music/German major from Neosho;
• Corey Mast, senior music major from Miami, Okla.;
• Sharon Patterson, junior music education major from Joplin;
• Velvet Randolph, junior music major from Joplin; and
• Jason Terry, senior music major from Purdy.
The narrator will be Paul Whetstone, senior Music major from Joplin.
The performance is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the performance.
Business Contest April 2
The Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration announces the 30th Annual High School Business Contest to be held Wednesday, April 2 in the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center.
Over 700 High School students will compete for Business scholarships in categories including Accounting, Economics, Free Enterprise, Management, Marketing, International Business, Web Site Development, and Entrepreneurship.
For more information, contact Beverly Block, Business, at ext. 9603.
Southern Jazz Orchestra to perform April 17
The Missouri Southern Jazz Orchestra (SJO) invites the campus and community to attend its Spring Showcase concert at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 17, in Webster Hall Auditorium on the MSSU campus.
Joining the SJO on this concert will be its very special guests, drummer Greg Gaston and The MSSU Student Jazz Combo. Greg will join forces with the combo in performances of two of his original compositions, “Swing Set” and “December.”
He will then join the SJO in performances of Pat Williams’ arrangement of the Cole Porter classic “In the Still of the Night,” and Miles Davis’ “Milestones.” The band will also showcase a number of student musicians including Luke Ochsenbein, guitar, Kyle Babbitt, tenor sax, Tom Smith, trumpet, Paul Whetstone, trombone and Levi Randolph, alto sax.
The orchestra is under the direction of Jeff Macomber, Music. The MSSU Student Jazz Combo is under the direction of Phillip C. Wise, Music. This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jeff at ext. 9635 or e-mail macomber-j@mssu.edu.
Those wanting details on the Southern Jazz Orchestra may visit the SJO online at:
www.mssu.edu/music/newjazzorchestra.html.
Special deal for Spanish Language Village
MSSU employees will receive a special price for Villa Española, (Spanish Village), MSSU's summer program for children ages 8-13. Regular cost of the program is $650 for the residential camp and $450 for the day camp.
Children of MSSU employees can attend the Villa for a reduced price of $500 for the residential camp and $350 for the day camp. Also, there is a $50 early bird discount for registering before April 1.
Villa Española will be held for the thirteenth year July 13th-18th. Villagers learn basic Spanish language skills, culture, geography, history, songs, dances and crafts in a very dynamic environment. They also take part in small and large group games, computer activities and recreational events such as swimming, treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, and others.
No prior knowledge of Spanish is required. Advanced levels of instruction are available for campers who have previous knowledge of Spanish.
For more information, visit the website at www.mssu.edu/international/ilrc/spanish.htm, or you can request a brochure by calling (417) 625-3140 by e-mailing Leslie Parker, Foreign Languages, at parker-l@mssu.edu.
Cardinals pocket schedules available
Judy Stiles, KGCS-TV, reports that pocket schedules showing the 2008 season for the St. Louis Cardinals have arrived. The schedules are being distributed to various locations on campus, including the ticket office and library. They are also available in the lobby area of KGCS-TV. If a faculty or staff member wishes to have one sent via campus mail, contact Judy at extension 9777 or at stiles-j@mssu.edu .
The first regular-season telecast for the Cardinals on KGCS-TV will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 6.
Congratulations to those taking on new responsibilities! Richard Miller, Social Sciences, will become Interim Dean for the School of Arts and Sciences effective in April. Three departments in Arts and Sciences will have new department heads commencing in fall 2008: Frank Pishkur will head the Art Department, Sherman Hou will lead Foreign Languages and James Lile will head Theatre, according to John Messick, Academic Affairs.
The seventh book by Brad Kleindl, Dean of the Robert Plaster School of Business Administration, has been published. This is his fourth book written for the high school market and third co-authored text. The textbook is Intro to Business by Les Dlabay, James L. Burrow and Brad Kleindl, published by Cengage.
J. Chris Moos, International Trade and Quality Center Director, has achieved NASBITE designation as a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP). Moos is one of approximately 400 corporate, government, and academic professionals in the U.S. to pass the rigorous evaluation necessary to earn the CGBP designation, a benchmark for competency in global commerce. The CGBP exam assesses knowledge in areas including Global Business Management, Global Marketing, Supply Chain Management, and International Trade and Finance.
Frank A. Pishkur, Art, attended the 42nd annual conference of the National Council on Education in the Ceramics Arts (NCECA), held this year in Pittsburgh, Penn. The theme for this year’s conference was Confluence: Innovation, Community, Environment. Among the many topics, exhibitions, and programs Pishkur attended, the panel discussion “Connecting Foundations and Ceramics Curriculum” was especially relevant to our institution’s current focus on promoting student success in the first year of college.The NCECA's purpose is to promote and improve the ceramic arts through education, research, and creative practice.
June Roys, Art, was the featured speaker March 13 at Southern Utah University's "Art Insights" program. Roys, a visual artist, presented several series of her works and discussed collaborative methods over different art media, including photography, sculpture, and digital media. Art Insights is a weekly program hosted by that university's Art and Design faculty Cedar City, Utah. Students and community members meet weekly to attend gallery openings and experience presentations and discussions by visiting professional artists and art educators nationwide.
CLASSIFIED
Needs a good home: Adult male cat, yellow/orange and white, answers to "Chicken." Chicken is fixed, enjoys having his head patted, and makes a funny noise and purrs when he eats. Trying to find a home for him since this winter and I know he'd love a permanent place to call his own. Please contact Melissa at ext. 9362 or e-mail forsythe-m@mssu.edu.
For Sale: 2008 Chrysler 300T; loaded, 7500 miles. Gold with beige interior, must see to appreciate! $20,800. Long distance cyclist has realized her bike will not fit in the trunk! Call Becky Gallemore at 659-5425 or cell at 540-3423.
MSSU C.J.F.A. Crime Scene Demonstration Booths: Live Action Crime Scene: Speak to suspects, question witnesses and officers on the scene. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., April 5 - 6 $6 - Adults. $3 - Students with I.D. and Kids 6 -12 |
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