June 7 - July 4, 2004 

Welcome to the Tower Topics E-newsletter for faculty, staff and students at Western. 

Missouri Western State College, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64507, 816-271- 4200

Click any link for these stories:

 Institutional Advancement VP to Retire

Nicoson Named VP for Institutional Advancement

Historic Preservation Field School a Hit in St. Joseph

Former Iran Hostage Speaks at Eggs and Issues

News Briefs

Calendar

Ads

Archives

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:
Paula White

Staff Advisers:
Kristy Hill and Diane Holtz

Western Institutional Advancement  VP  to Retire

Dr. James Roever, vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Western Foundation, will retire effective June 30. He joined Western in 1985 as the vice president for academic affairs, and assumed the institutional advancement role in 2002.

“I am pleased to have been granted the opportunity to participate in an institution that is so dedicated to students,” said Dr. Roever. “It’s been a privilege to work with students who are learning, developing and maturing, and to participate in the growth of the faculty and staff.”

He noted that the college has changed significantly in the 19 years he has been here. “I watched the completion of the transition from St. Joseph Junior College to Missouri Western State College. The institution has matured in both programs and services.”

Dr. Roever said one of his proudest accomplishments was to have served on the design team that produced the Leah Spratt Multipurpose Classroom Building. He noted that when it opened in 1998, it was the only building on campus with the advanced teaching technology. Since then, all campus building have been upgraded with state-of-the-art classroom teaching technology.

In his role as vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Roever coordinated two campus-wide reviews by the North Central Association, both of which resulted in 10-year accreditation for Western. He also worked with teams to plan and develop additions to the Thompson E. Potter Fine Arts Center and the Warren E. Hearnes Learning Resource Center.

Dr. Roever became executive director of the Foundation and vice president for institutional advancement when Dr. James McCarthy retired from that position. Institutional advancement offices include public relations and marketing, alumni services, campus printing services and development. “We have put together a team of spirited and dedicated individuals who have assumed the responsibility of putting forward to the public the strengths of Western,” Dr. Roever said. “It is a real pleasure to end a 19-year career at Western with such a great team.”

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Nicoson Named VP for Institutional Advancement

Dan Nicoson was appointed vice president for institutional advancement during the May Board of Regents meeting. Nicoson will replace Dr. James Roever who is retiring at the end of June.

“Dan brings to Western clear expertise and extensive experience in the area of development. We look forward to working with him in the best interests of the students, college, community and our region of Missouri,” said President James Scanlon.

Nicoson will oversee advancement operations at the college, including development, alumni services, publications, and public relations and marketing. He will serve as a member of the president’s cabinet and as the executive director of the Western Foundation.

“I am very excited to join Western. In almost every conversation about Western, I heard about the commitment to student-centered programming and the commitment to the community. I observed an overall positive spirit and a sincere desire for the programs to be of the highest quality,” explained Nicoson.

Nicoson brings 31 years of experience in advancement to Western. He has been the president of Vincennes University Foundation in Vincennes, Ind. since 1990. Prior to that he was assistant to the president for advancement at Marian College in Indianapolis. Nicoson also served as the director of development at the University of Indianapolis and has taught as an adjunct faculty member for the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy since 1982. He received his baccalaureate degree in secondary education from University of Indianapolis and his master’s degree in secondary education from Indiana State University. Nicoson is also a Certified Fundraising Executive.

“Dan has an excellent record of accomplishment in development. He knows how to work as part of a team. He knows how to lead a team of professionals in the best interest of the institution he serves. We welcome Dan and his wife Linda to the Western family,” said Dr. Scanlon.

According to Nicoson, his first priority is to “absorb” and learn as much about Western as he can. “I simply want to learn what is great at Western and where I will have something to offer,” he added.

“I have now been in St. Joseph on three occasions, and my wife has been with me twice. Everyone with whom we have visited has made us feel welcome. I look forward to getting involved and being part of the community,” said Nicoson.

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Historic Preservation Field School a Hit in St. Joseph

“St. Joseph has the most fabulous stock of old buildings of any city of its size in the world. It’s the perfect learning laboratory for historic preservation.”

That is the opinion of Dr. Bonnie Stepenoff, professor of history and the former director of the historic preservation program at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. Dr. Stepenoff spent three weeks in St. Joseph recently teaching a historic preservation field school, which was coordinated by the city of St. Joseph and Western.

One of the achievements of the field school was the completion of a comprehensive architectural and historical survey of the 152 homes between 22^nd and 27^th  Streets on Felix and Francis Streets.  That involved spending time in the neighborhood taking photographs, and researching records at City Hall, the Buchanan County Courthouse and the library. The field school also included tours of several area homes and local guest speakers.

Robert Myers, historic preservation planner for the city of St. Joseph, said the city has had an ongoing program of surveying neighborhoods since 1972, but this survey was the first one taken in a neighborhood east of 22^nd Street. Besides giving the city a wealth of information, the survey can be used by residents if they choose to nominate their neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places. 

The neighborhood contained a mixture of home structures and income levels, and most of the homes were built between 1890 and 1940.

The 10 students in the field school were as varied as the homes they studied. While several were traditional history majors from Western, the class roster included a woman who lived in a historic home, a realtor and a retired Western professor.

Penelope Kress was one of the students. She and her husband are renovating their home and own a local restoration company. Kress said she signed on for the field school so she could help her clients get National Register nominations. “I learned so much. I liked that we really looked at the architecture and looked at the pieces and parts. I recommend it (the field school) to anyone who is remotely interested in historical architecture.”

Another student, Devon Thorne, a Western history and government major from St. Joseph, said she learned a lot about local history and how the architecture of homes is related to that history. “It was neat. I thought it was very useful,” she said of the field school.

Dr. Mark Mikkelsen, associate professor in Western’s department of history, geography and philosophy and one of the coordinators of the school, said the idea of a field school in St. Joseph materialized when his department received funds from the college Foundation to explore the possibility of Western offering a class in historic preservation. Dr. Stepenoff visited Western as a consultant last fall to discuss the class, and the idea of a local field school became a reality.

Dr. Mikkelsen said there was a lot of support for the field school, and over $3,000 was raised for scholarships for the students.

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Kathryn Koob said that as a hostage in Iran for 444 days, there were times when "the intent was just to make it through the day." But then, there were other times when she would say, "Just get me through the next 15 minutes, Lord."

Koob, guest speaker at Western’s Eggs and Issues June 4, told the early-morning audience about her experiences as only one of two women held hostage 25 years ago, and her perspectives on Iran since then.

"I am so sorry I was there (in Iran) in those circumstances. I know I could have fallen in love with Iran," she said. "I can’t imagine a country more welcoming than Iran."

Koob spent over 27 years in the diplomatic service of the United States working in cultural and educational exchange. She was director of the Iranian-American Society in Iran at the time she and 51 others were taken hostage by student revolutionaries who supported the Ayatollah Khomeini.  

"One of the most important things we need to learn and to understand is that things don’t operate the way we think they ought to in the rest of the world. It doesn’t matter what the facts are. We’re dealing with perceptions."

She said often, countries impose their cultures on other countries, and that causes problems. "We want to deal with reality as we see it rather than reality as it is perceived and understood by others."

In several conversations with her captors, she came to realize that they had completely different perceptions of the same events. For example, when Ayatollah Khomeini took power in 1979 as a result of a revolution, he claimed to be a religious leader. Koob noted that "we are so used to the separation of church and state, we put it in that perspective. But that is not the way it is in an Islamic country. We misread it."

And at the same time, her captors were dismayed when she asked about the 1980 election results in the United States, since she was not allowed to see any newspapers, television news or magazines. "How did you know there was an election?" they asked her. They also could not imagine how the United States could switch parties and leaders so often.

Regarding the current situation in Iraq, Koob said it is vital that we understand the cultural differences between Iraq and us, especially understanding and accepting the difference between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Although both practice the Islam religion, the two are as different as Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox religions, and the history of their differences is long and complex.

"My parents taught me that different was just that – not better, not worse, just different. We have to make our children understand that."

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• First Horizon/Western Celebrity Golf Classic June 24-25.  For more information, contact athletics at 4481.

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy, Entire PE Building and Surrounding Area, 1:15 p.m.-5:15 p.m., June 7-11.

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Monday, June 7 

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy, 1:15 p.m.-5:15 p.m. (through June 11)

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 8

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy

Wednesday, June 9

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 10

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy

Friday, June 11

• Children's Lifetime Sports Academy

Saturday, June 12

• Library closed

Sunday, June 13

• Library open 1-6 p.m.

Monday, June 14

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 16

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 19

• Library closed

Sunday, June 20

• Library open 1-6 p.m.

Monday, June 21

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 23

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 24

• Final exams for first four-week session

Saturday, June 26

• Library closed

Sunday, June 27

• Library open 1-6 p.m.

Monday, June 28

• Late registration for second four-week session

• First day of classes for second four-week session

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 29

• Grades due for first four-week session

Wednesday, June 30

• Planetarium Show, "Lewis and Clark," 7:30 p.m.

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