Week of October 3 - 9, 2005

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, 271-4200

Click any link for these stories:

Convocation is Thursday, Oct. 6

"Rocky Horror Show" to Aid Second Harvest Food Bank

Former Mission to Mars Manager to Speak at Western

Public Safety News

Points of Pride

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:
Katie Johnston 

Staff Advisers:
Kristy Hill and Diane Holtz

Convocation is Thursday, Oct. 6

The Honorable J. C. Watts, former United States Congressman, business leader and athlete, has been selected as the speaker at the 12^th annual Convocation on Critical Issues at Western. He will speak at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 6 in the M.O. Looney Complex. All 9:30 a.m. classes will be canceled Watts’ presentation, “In-Depth Political Analysis,” will address current issues facing the country. The event is free and open to the community.

“Western has brought excellent speakers to campus for many years. J.C. Watts is the latest in a long tradition. He will focus on important political issues facing our country today. His message will broaden the perspective of our students and the surrounding community on these issues. Exposure to national leaders is one of the many elements that Western uses to develop leadership skills among our students,” explained President James Scanlon.

Before the convocation on Oct. 6, Watts will also meet with student leaders for breakfast to discuss ways to develop their leadership ability. He will also speak at a dinner on the evening of Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Fulkerson Center on campus.

Watts served in the U.S. Congress from 1994-2002. Currently he is the chairman of the J.C. Watts Companies, working with clients to implement business development, communications and public affairs strategies. He serves on a number of national boards and is currently working with the Business Roundtable to develop a nationwide effort to increase business opportunities in America’s inner cities and poor rural areas. He co-founded and co-chairs the Coalition for AIDS Relief in Africa. Watts is a frequent guest on national and international television news show and radio shows. His book is titled What Color is a Conservative?

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"Rocky Horror Show" to Aid Second Harvest Food Bank

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater St. Joseph and the Western theatre department are teaming up to collect money and food for the hungry.

Western’s theatre department will present Richard O’Brien’s “The Rocky Horror Show” at 8 p.m. Oct. 6, 7 and 8, and 11 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Potter Hall main stage theater. At the final dress rehearsal at 8 p.m. Oct. 5, volunteers will collect free-will donations of $2 or four cans of food for admission to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Tickets for the performances are $8 for adults and $4 for students and seniors. Parental discretion is advised due to the strong adult content of the performance.

The cast of 20 students will perform the original stage version of “The Rocky Horror Show.” In this version, audience participation is strongly discouraged, but the show contains multimedia components and a rock concert feel.

For more information about the show, contact the box office at 816-271-4443.

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Former Mission to Mars Manager to Speak at Western

Missouri Western State University’s Western Institute will host a presentation by Dr. Donna Shirley, former manager of NASA’s Mission to Mars Program. “Women in Science and Engineering,” a discussion of the importance of women in science and engineering and job opportunities available to women, will be held at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Fulkerson Center. The event is free and open to the community, and a reception will follow.

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 over 35 years experience in the aerospace industry, including more than 25 years in management. For several years she taught a course entitled Managing Creativity. Since April, Dr. Shirley has been serving on a volunteer advisory board for the Western Institute as it develops its research centers.

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Public Safety News

The Missouri Western Public Safety Department’s Parking and Security Services division has just finished its annual parking survey of the campus.

For the last three semesters, during the second and third weeks of school, Public Safety officers and interns venture into the parking lots once an hour to see which parking spaces are still open and available.

“This year’s survey was done between September 12-15,” Dennis Johnson, Parking and Security Services coordinator, explained. “We go out at all times between Monday and Thursday and count the empty spaces. What we found this year is that we didn’t run out of parking as a whole. Sometimes though, convenient parking was at a premium.”

Survey results were given to the administration and the vehicle registration committee for consideration of any parking and parking regulation changes.

Also, the official separation of office space between the Parking and Security Services Office from the Public Safety Department happened this semester. The Parking and Security Services Office moved to the first floor of the Nelle Blum Union next to the book store, while Public Safety stayed on the second floor of Blum Union.

“What this does is free up our officers to handle police work on campus,” Cpl. Bob Bidding explained. “It also gives the students a one-stop shop for things like their parking permits, campus I.D.s, vehicle assists, security escorts and reporting lights out on campus.”

Beginning this week, the Parking and Security Services office will also begin weekly testing of the courtesy and emergency phones.

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Points of Pride

Excellence in our Faculty/Staff

• Dr. Evelyn Brooks, professor of nursing, and Dr. Alicia de Gregorio, associate professor of Spanish, received a March of Dimes Community Grant to develop a healthcare resources website for youth in the community.

• Marsha Dolan, associate professor of nursing, was asked by the American Health Information Management Association to serve on a panel at the National Leadership Conference.

• Marsha Dolan, associate professor of nursing, assumed the duty of president of the Missouri Health Information Management Association, a 1000-member professional organization representing the health information management profession in Missouri.

• Tay Triggs, former minority achievement coordinator, was named director of the center for multicultural education.

• Mike Ritter, coordinator for special need, is serving on an advisory committee for the upcoming “No More Stares” conference.

• Dr. Jeffrey Poet, assistant professor of math, and Dr. Donald Vestal, associate professor of math, co-authored an article entitled “Curious Consequences of a Miscopied Quadratic” which was published in The College Mathematics Journal.

• Dr. Reza Hamzaee, professor of economics, published a research article entitled “A Survey and a Theoretical Model of Distance Education Program” in the International Advances in Economic Research journal.

• Carol Roever, associate professor of business, co-authored “Understanding Organizational Culture: A Key to Professional Success,” which was published in the Regional Business Review.

• Dr. Jeanne Daffron, acting vice president for academic and student affairs, spoke at the luncheon for Western Ambassadors on the implication of university status for Western.

• Dr. Jeanne Daffron, acting vice president for academic and student affairs, and Dr. Paul Shang, dean of student development, co-chaired a workshop for faculty and staff on the development of a student retention plan for Western. 

• Admissions counselors have completed five days of training, which consisted of “going back to the basics.” The training included use of the telephone, who to see first when entering a high school and follow-up with prospective students.

• Dr. Allison Sauls, associate professor of art; Dr. Kelly Henry, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Kaye Adkins, associate professor of English; Dr. Joachim Kibirige, associate professor of sociology; and Dr. Mark Mikkelsen, associate professor of philosophy; attended a Council on Undergraduate Research conference in Bridgewater, Mass.

• Jim Estes, professor of art, had a ceramic sculpture juried into the “Wichita National 2005” held at the Wichita Center for the Arts in Wichita, Kan. This work, entitled “Rites of Autumn,” was one of 67 works chosen from over 300 entries.

• Dr. Steven Lorimor, associate professor of chemistry, participated in a National Science Foundation and Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences workshop on teaching guided-inquiry organic chemistry labs at the University of California-Irvine.

• Dr. David McMahan, assistant professor of speech, presented his research at the Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society at Penn State University.

• Dr. David McMahan, assistant professor of speech, delivered a keynote address entitled “The Integration of Mass Communication and Popular Culture in Everyday Life” at the Phi Theta Kappa honor society conference in Jasper, Ind.

• Dr. Steve Klassen, associate professor of math, participated in a week-long PREP (Professional Enhancement Programs of the MAA) Workshop entitled “Post-Calculus Investigations of Statistical Concepts” at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

• Dr. Reza Hamzaee, professor of economics, presented his research, “A Collective Airport-Airline Efficiency Strategic Model,” at the Air Transport Research Society world conference held in Rio de Janeiro.   Dr. Hamzaee proposed a new strategic model for airports and airlines to cut costs and internalize their externalities for more efficiency.

• Dr. Susie Hennessy, associate professor of French, attended the 78^th annual convention of the American Association of Teachers of French in Quebec City. Her presentation, “Study Abroad from Scratch,” was one of the many sessions in this gathering of more than 850 French teachers from around the U.S. and other countries.

• Dr. Cynthia Jeney, assistant professor of English, presented a paper at the 2005 Computers and Writing Conference in Palo Alto, Calif. Her presentation was entitled “Pablo Picasso Turned Inside Out: Working on Graphical Design and Visual Rhetoric for a Web Authoring Textbook.”

• Dr. Ann Thorne, associate professor of journalism, and Dr. Ken Rosenauer, professor of journalism, presented “When Teaching is Advising: The Role of Workshop Publication Courses in Smaller Institutions’ Journalism and Mass Communications Programs,” at the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications conference in San Antonio.

• Mark Hamilton, instructor of English, presented “Surmounting (eering) the Anthropocentric to Achieve the Valley of Restraint,” a short talk with readings from original works in poetry, as one member of three-person Western panel, to the Utah Valley State College Conference.

• Mark Hamilton, instructor of English presented “Turning the Cultural Paradigm: Excerpts and Images,” a talk with readings from original works in poetry and creative nonfiction at the sixth biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, held at the University of Oregon, Eugene.

• Dr. Jane Frick, professor of English, conducted a workshop, “Technology and Literacy Learning,” at the Missouri Writing Project Networks’ “Developing Effective In-Services” conference at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

• Dr. Patricia Donaher, assistant professor of English, organized, chaired and presented a paper for a session on western past and present at the “Shaping the American West: A New Western Ethic for the 21^st Century” conference in Snowbird, Utah. Her paper was entitled “Urbanizing the West in Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest.”

• Dr. Ian Roberts, associate professor of  English, presented his paper, “Queer Counterparts: The Urban and the Brute in McTeague” at the “Shaping the American West: A New Western Ethic for the 21^st Century” conference in Snowbird, Utah.

• Dr. Phil Wann, professor of psychology, presented a poster entitled “Digit Ration and Gender Differences in Neuropsychological Measures” at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association held recently in Washington, D.C.  The paper was co-authored by psychology majors Brynn Holloway and Megan Gamet. A summary of the research was published in the fall 2005 issue of The Clinical Neuropsychologist.

• Stephanie Corder, assistant professor of nursing, presented “The Skills Passport: A Piece of the Nursing Portfolio” at the 16^th annual Nurse Educators Conference in Breckenridge, Colo.

• Dr. Kelly Henry, associate professor of psychology; Jill Miller, professor of criminal justice; Dr. Nannette Wolford, professor of physical education; and Dr. Evelyn Brooks, professor of nursing; presented “Healthy Buddy Program: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Service Learning” at the 2005 Regional Campus Compact Conference in Tulsa, Okla.

• Dr. Judy Grimes, dean of student services, served on a planning committee for the Greater Kansas City International Visitor’s Council to develop a monthly reception for international visitors and for those interested in meeting with them.

• Dave Brown, director of student development, met with parents during the summer Registration/Orientation sessions, leading discussions on transition issues usually faced by families when sending students off to college.

• Steve Potter, counselor, was responsible for representing the student services department during the five sessions of Griffon Edge.

• Tim Crowley, counselor, presented “Stress Management,” to the Missouri Association of Nursing Home Administrators and Heartland Health chaplains, and “Humor in the Workplace,” to U.S. Bank employees.

• Dr. Vincenza Marash, counselor, provided a training session to the Heartland Hospital breast cancer support group entitled “Nurturing and Honoring Your Own Resiliency.”

• Steve Potter, counselor, talked with a peer education group from Highland Community College on the topic of “Listening Skills.”

• Linda Garlinger, director of career development, presented job search workshops in senior seminar classes for elementary and secondary education, recreation and sport management, engineering, psychology and criminal justice.

• Mike Ritter, coordinator for special needs, and student Jenny Koeble, have reactivated the student support group for students with disabilities.

• Dr. Chris Shove, executive director of the Western Institute; Dr. Todd Eckdahl, professor of biology; and Dr. Shiva Nandan, associate professor of marketing; attended the National Incubator Conference in Aurora, Colo. and visited the Colorado University Bio-Technology Incubator. They also met with federal officials regarding a grant to build a university incubator at Western.

• Dr. Chris Shove, executive director of the Western Institute, traveled to Yalta, Ukraine, to develop a travel study program for next summer with the Yalta Management Institute and to develop research relations on bio-fuels and economic development technical assistance.

• Dr. Chris Shove, executive director of the Western Institute, met with officials from Tarkio, Mo., on how to redevelop the Tarkio College Campus for economic development.

• Rhonda Rund, director of the Western Institute Center for Community Arts, spoke to the Midwest Artist Association regarding the importance of the arts and to present the new “St. Joseph Pallette” catalog of fall classes.

• Cheryl Heckman, clerical support and clerk typist, was recently selected by her peers in the diagnostic unit as the Education Employee of the Year.

Excellence in our Students

• Psychology graduate Mandy Shell’s honors thesis, “Achievement Goals, Performance Contingencies and Performance Attainment: An Experimental Test,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

• Shannon Swanson’s submission “Urban Underground” and accompanying packaging in the category of letterhead system/dogs, and Megan Campbell’s submission in the Self-Promotional Piece category, a coffee shop packaging entitled “Java Joe’s,” and her stamp series entitled “Creatures of the Night,” were juried into the AIGA Student Group Exhibition held at the Staples Gallery in Wichita State University.

• Art major Mary Sullwold had a photo juried into the 25^th annual College Photography contest. Her photo was one of five percent chosen from 30,000 entries. Her photography will be published in the Best of College Photography 2005, and her name will appear in the May/Summer 2005 issue of “Photographer’s Forum.”

• Psychology majors Brynn Holloway and Megan Gamet co-authored a paper entitled “Digit Ration and Gender Differences in Neuropsychological Measures” which was presented by Dr. Phil Wann, professor of psychology, at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association held in Washington, D.C.  A summary of the research was published in the fall 2005 issue of The Clinical Neuropsychologist.

• Fifty nursing students and selected nurses in the community took part in a four-hour training session on infant adoption. The training was put on by the Lutheran Family and Children Services of Missouri and was funded by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant.

Excellence in our Programs

• Prairie Lands Writing Project, Western’s national writing project site, successfully conducted two writing camps and four teacher institutes on campus. Fifty-six teachers and 84 students participated.

• The Center for Multicultural Education will offer an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to discuss issues regarding diversity and cultural sensitivity during their lunch hours. “Expanding our Horizons” will be a monthly event held on campus.

• Students associated with the peer education program SOS (Share Our Stories) have met several times formulating their semester activities. The group provided some skits for the student employment office during Griffon Edge that were well received. The group is planning its first training retreat for the year.

• During September 2005, over 100 people attended noncredit occupational and conversational Spanish courses offered through the Western Institute.

• The Western Institute has been contracted by Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) to provide BIVI Management Development Program for 17 of their managers and supervisors.

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• The deadline for applications to the Student Excellence Fund for fall semester 2005 is Oct. 7. Visit the website at www.missouriwestern.edu/foundation/excellence.htm for application requirements. For more information, contact Kim Weddle at 5647.

• The Federal Reserve Bank is accepting resumès for Management Career Track Analyst, Financial Institutions Examiner and Management Career Track intern positions. Juniors and seniors may submit a resume to career development, Eder Hall, 202, by Oct. 5. Minimum 3.0 GPA with strong analytical skills and management potential.

• Help carve pumpkins for Pumpkin Mountain at the Pumpkin fest! Individuals or groups may help carve pumpkins anytime on Oct. 3, 4 and 5. Call Staci at 816-364-0638 or 816-646-9548 if you want to help.

• The Western Jazz Ensemble will be featured at the Noontime Concert at 12:10 p.m. Oct. 6 in the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church, 7th and Jules.

• If you have to be out late on campus during the regular school year, you don't have to walk alone. Call for a Courtesy Patrol at 4438 from 5 p.m. - 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

• The CME is once again sponsoring a "Big Event Community Service Day." On Oct. 8, students and employees are encouraged to get involved in this program as it continues to grow. The day will begin at 7:45 a.m. in the M.O. Looney Complex, where participants will sign up and have breakfast. Volunteers are then bused to a variety of sites in the community, and are expected to return to campus at noon. For more information, contact the CME at 4152.

• The ladies of Alpha Omega would like to invite students and staff to hot dog outreach from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Commons Building.

• Please note: Lot C, across from the Blum Union, and lot D, the south lot adjacent to the Blum Union, will be closed on Oct. 5 because of the Convocation Dinner.

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Tuesday, October 4

• Volleyball vs. Emporia State - 7 p.m.

Wednesday, October 5

• Convocation Dinner - 7 p.m. Fulkerson Center

Thursday, October 6

• Convocation on Critical Issues featuring J.C. Watts - 9:30 a.m. M.O. Looney Complex

• Resumès due for Federal Reserve Bank interviews

• Noontime jazz concert - 12:10 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 7th and Jules

• Rocky Horror Show - 8 p.m. Thompson E. Potter Hall Theater

Friday, October 7

• Grades due for Summer 2004 incompletes

• Rocky Horror Show - 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Thompson E. Potter Hall Theater

Saturday, October 8

• "Big Event Community Service Day" - 7:45 a.m. - noon

• Football vs. Missouri Southern - 2 p.m.

• Rocky Horror Show - 8 p.m. Thompson E. Potter Hall Theater

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• FOR SALE: 2004 Kawasaki NINJA 250: Yellow and Black, 7,600 miles, 60 miles per gallon,  $2,350 obo.  
  1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee: 4 wheel Drive; CD player; A/C; Red; $7,400 obo. For more information, call 816-390-7531.
   

• Remember to send us your ads! Send your submissions to publicrelations@missouriwestern.edu 

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