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Welcome to the Tower Topics E-newsletter for faculty, staff and students at Western. |
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Missouri Western State College, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64507, 816-271-4200 |
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Click any link for these stories: Former Mars Project Manager to Advise Western Institute Western Hosts "Collage Concert" Western Announces Spring Commencement Ceremonies Heartland CEO Gives Audience a Wake-up Call Lost & Found: If you have lost any items, please come to Blum Union, Room 228 to claim them. You may be required to describe the item. Click on
Guidelines for Tower Topics: Tower Topics submissions should state time, date, place, sponsor, title of event, name of speakers and admission fees. Send complete information to the Public Relations and Marketing office (Leah Spratt Hall, Room 106). The deadline for all entries is 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, for the next week's issue. Tower Topics will be online weekly during the fall and spring semester. For more information call 271-5651.
Student Editor:
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Former Mars Project Manager to Advise Western Institute Dr. Christopher Shove, executive director of the Western Institute at Western, said Dr. Donna Shirley’s expertise is in “managing innovation.” He plans to tap into that expertise, because Dr. Shirley, former manager of NASA’s Mars exploration program, has agreed to serve as a volunteer adviser for the Western Institute as it begins to develop its research centers.
Dr. Shove noted that the Institute recently appointed research directors
for its three new research centers: Business and Economics, Dr. Shiva
Nandan, associate professor of business; Health and Wellness, Dr. Evelyn
Brooks, associate professor of nursing; and Life Sciences, Dr. Todd
Eckdahl, professor of biology. Dr. Shirley will work as an adviser to
the new directors and other Western faculty members to begin the process
of formulating research strategies, Dr. Shove said.
"We are at day one of formulating an advisory council that will include Western faculty. Dr. Shirley’s role will be to advise on how to evolve the research enterprise.” He said she will communicate with Western personnel through teleconferences, but may visit the campus this fall. Dr. Shirley was the manager of the Mars Exploration program and the original leader of the team that built the Sojourner Rover that successfully landed on Mars in 1997. She was also the manager of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA. She retired from NASA in 1998, and has written an autobiography, “Managing Martians: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman’s Lifelong Quest to Get to Mars,” and currently serves as a trainer and consultant in managing creativity. She has more than 35 years’ experience in the aerospace industry, including more than 25 years in management. For several years she taught a course entitled Managing Creativity. She and Dr. Shove worked together at the University of Oklahoma in the late 1990s, where she served as the assistant dean of engineering for advanced program development. Dr. Shirley is a native of Oklahoma, and earned her pilot’s license as a teenager. She earned both a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degree from the University of Oklahoma and a master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. She holds three honorary doctorates. “I’m really excited,” said Dr. Shove about Dr. Shirley’s advisory role with the Institute. “It’s like a rocket blast off to help us get started." |
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Western Hosts "Collage Concert" The music department at Missouri Western State College will showcase a variety of talent at a fundraiser “Collage Concert” at 3 p.m. May 1 at the Missouri Theater, 717 Edmond St. More than 200 Western students and faculty will perform, including the concert chorale, chamber singers, community chorus, symphonic winds, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble, steel drum band, drum line, chamber ensembles and soloists. “This is not a serious program,” said Dr. Matt Gilmour, chair of Western’s music department. “It will be a fun afternoon.” The general admission minimum donation is $20. For students the minimum donation is $5. There is no set donation amount for children under 12. Dr. Gilmour said the purpose of the fundraiser is to improve the music technology facilities at Western, including updating the electronic piano classroom and creating a computerized music facility. To order tickets in advance call 816-271-4420, or tickets can be purchased at the door. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. |
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Western Announces Spring Commencement Ceremonies Spring Commencement ceremonies for Western will be held at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. May 14 in the M.O. Looney Complex. Dr. Charles Bruffy, a 1981 graduate, will be the featured speaker at both ceremonies. Doors open at 9:45 a.m. for the morning ceremony and at 1:45 p.m. for the afternoon ceremony. The pinning ceremony for nurses will be held at 9 a.m. May 14 in the Thompson E. Potter Hall Theater. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. The ROTC commissioning ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. May 13 in the Leah Spratt Hall Enright Room. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. A free reception for graduates and their families will be held between ceremonies at noon-2 p.m. on the lawn of the Looney Complex. The reception is sponsored by the Western Alumni Association. Dr. Bruffy is one of the most highly respected and sought-after choral conductors in the nation. He has been the artistic director of the Phoenix Bach choir since 1999 and artistic director of the Kansas City Chorale since 1988. Dr. Bruffy earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Western, and completed both his master’s degree in vocal performance and doctorate degree in conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In the spring of 2003, he and the Kansas City Chorale were featured performers at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., as part of its “I Hear America Singing” series. Both the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Bach Choirhave been featured on National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Performance Today” and Chorus America’s “The First Art.” In addition to his work with these choirs, Dr. Bruffy frequently conducts festival choirs around the world and is dedicated to commissioning and premiering works by contemporary composers. Commencement ceremony divisions are as follows:
For more information, contact the academic and student affairs office at 816-271-4234. |
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Heartland CEO Gives Audience a Wake-up Call “You know how people say, ‘I have good news and bad news?’” Lowell Kruse asked the audience at a recent Eggs and Issues. “Well, I can only say I have bad news and very bad news.” Kruse, president and CEO of Heartland Health in St. Joseph, spoke to an audience of more than 100 about how unhealthy behaviors are driving up healthcare costs both locally and nationally in his presentation entitled, “Our Lifestyles are Killing Us.” “We have to find a way to change our culture so people think it’s okay to take care of themselves,” Kruse said. “Modern children’s health is preventable if they change their lifestyle.” He noted that the top three killers in the United States are heart disease, cancer and stroke and, in many instances, these are caused by tobacco use and poor diet or obesity. “At our hospital, in over 60 percent of patient deaths, lifestyles are the major cause of death.” Buchanan County, he noted, ranks in the top 10 of counties in the United States with the highest population of smokers, as almost 30 percent of the county’s residents smoke. And in the entire country, 60 percent of the population is considered obese or overweight. Since early this century, all deaths by childhood diseases have been eliminated with the discovery of vaccinations, but Kruse said now we need to start thinking about changing our lifestyles instead of hoping science will discover a cure for today’s illnesses. He said the United States ranks 37th in world health, and Missouri ranks 38th out of the 50 states. The United States also spends many times more money on health care than other countries. The per capita health care spending is almost $4,950 nationwide and almost $5,600 in Missouri. “These numbers are serious business,” he said. “That is money that can’t be spent on education or other needs in the state.” Heartland Health’s board is committed to serving the community interests by investing in healthy initiatives, he said. One of their recent programs was Mission to Move, which featured two visits to St. Joseph by Richard Simmons. But no matter what, Kruse said, curbing our nation’s healthcare problems has to begin with individuals committing to a healthier lifestyle. |
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Monday, April 25
Tuesday, April 26
Wednesday, April 27
Thursday, April 28
Friday, April 29
Saturday, April 30
Sunday, May 1
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Week
of April 25-May 1, 2005
