Week of November 1 - 7, 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:

Western Hosts Historian Dr. Frederick Fausz

Western Celebrates National Health Information and Technology Week 

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:
Paula White

Staff Advisers:
Kristy Hill and Diane Holtz

Western Hosts Historian Dr. Frederick Fausz

Dr. Frederick Fausz, associate professor of history at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, will visit Western Nov. 11 and 12 and make three presentations that are open to the campus and community.

Dr. Fausz will speak to students at 2 p.m. Nov. 11 in the Frank Popplewell Administration Building, room 104. At 7 a.m. Nov. 12, he will speak at the college’s Eggs and Issues, which includes a free breakfast for attendees. His topic is “From Lewis and Clark to Many Trails of Tears.” Reservations are required for this event – call 816-271-5646 by Nov. 8. This presentation, as well as one at noon in the same room, will feature Dr. Fausz’s extensive collection of artifacts from the French-Osage fur trade.

Dr. Mark Mikkelsen, associate professor of philosophy, said he has wanted to bring Dr. Fausz to Western since he saw one of Dr. Fausz’s presentations. “Since he brings materials from his extensive collection of trade goods with him, his presentations are both very informative and very entertaining,” Dr. Mikkelsen said.

Dr. Fausz, a nationally known ethnohistorian, was the founding dean of the Pierre Laclede Honors College at University of Missouri-St. Louis, and held that position for five years. He earned his doctorate in early American history from The College of William and Mary, and his teaching and research interests include American colonial history, Native American history and the Trans-Mississippi fur trade. He has published several works, and has been a member of the Missouri Humanities Council Speakers Bureau for 11 years.

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Western Celebrates National Health Information and Technology Week

Western will commemorate National Health Information and Technology (HIT) Week Nov. 7-13. This annual event recognizes the work of health information management professionals who maintain and protect the health information of Americans nationwide. In observance, Western’s HIT program will have a panel of health information management professionals visit Western to talk about their job responsibilities, employment opportunities and to answer student questions.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the start of Western's HIT program. Western offers a one-year certificate program and a two-year associate of applied science degree program with a major in HIT. The program is accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Allied Health Educational programs in collaboration with the American Health Information Management Association’s Council on Accreditation.

The HIT occupation offers a variety of work settings and includes diverse career options including health data management, clinical coding specialist, patient information coordinator, records technician specialist and physicians practice manager.

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Points of Pride

Excellence in our Faculty/Staff

• Jeannie Harmon-Miller, associate professor of art, recently had her color photographic triptych entitled “Blues” accepted into the “TPS 13: The National Competition” (TPS is the Texas Photographic Society). Forty-three photos were accepted for the exhibit from over 1,700 entered prints. The exhibit was held at the Design Center of Austin, Texas.

• International headquarters for Epsilon Pi presented Wonda Berry-Howe, director of recreation services and facilities, with “The Honors of Epsilon Pi” award through the Kappa Beta Chapter at Western.

• Dr. Cary Chevalier, associate professor of biology, received a $135,000 Educational Support Grant awarded by ESRI for three additional software extensions to the department’s GIS software labpack.

• Dr. David Ashley, professor of biology, was honored in the 2004 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington with a patronym, Brackenridgia ashleyi, assigned to a new species of isopod. B. ashleyi is a cave-adapted, terrestrial “rolly polly” found in a single Ozark cave.

• Dr. David McMahan, assistant professor of speech, recently had an article published in the National Communication Association’s The Review of Communication entitled “What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate: Linking Interpersonal and Mass Communication.” A second piece has also been accepted for publication by the journal. Dr. McMahan was also selected as an inaugural member of the National Communication Association Task Force for Online Communication Courses. He was elected chair of the Central States Communication Association’s Communication Education Interest Group and is serving as a program planner for the 2005 convention.

• Dr. Ken Rosenauer, chair of English, foreign languages, and journalism, has had a book entitled “Storycrafting: A Process Approach to Writing News” published by Blackwell Publishing. It is a college-level journalism textbook.

• Dr. Phil Mullins, professor of philosophy, recently had an essay published entitled “Bible Study, Critical Thinking, and Post-Critical Thought: Cultural Considerations” in Critical Thinking and the Bible in the Age of the New Media.

• Dr. Mitch Haney, assistant professor of philosophy, published “Corporate Loss of Innocence for the Sake of Accountability” in The Journal of Social Philosophy.

• Dr. John Rushin, professor of biology, gave a talk on the “Losess Hills Mixed-Grass Prairies of Missouri” to the state meeting of the Missouri Native Plant Society, which was held at the Missouri Conservation Department Northwest Service Center on the Western campus. Dr. Rushin also led a field trip for this group to the Star School Prairie Conservation Area and gave a talk on prairies to a group at the state meeting of Missouri Conservation Department Volunteer Naturalists.

• Dr. Steven Lorimor, assistant professor of chemistry, and Dr. Richard Schwarz, professor of chemistry, co-authored and presented “Label Claim Investigation of Commercial Formulations Containing Water-Soluble Vitamins: An HPLC Project for Undergraduate Organic Laboratory” at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. This presentation was also given during the Science Mixer.

• Dr. Steven Lorimor, assistant professor of chemistry, presented “Evidence for the Generation of p-Diphenoquinodimethane” at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. This paper was co-authored with Walter S. Trahanovsky of Iowa State University, Sara Pickerel, 2004 graduate, and Jennifer Gensler, 2003 graduate.

• Deborah Becker, instructor of computer science, and Connie Hecker, instructor of computer science, presented the computer science, mathematics and physics Colloquium entitled “So You want to Get a GREAT Job?” Topics covered prepared students for the interview process.

• Dr. Sharon Vestal, assistant professor of mathematics, gave a hands-on “Résumé and Cover Letter Workshop” sponsored by the NSF Scholarship Program. The workshop gave students an opportunity to build a résumé and cover letter using guidelines from a pamphlet created by Dr. Vestal and Deborah Becker.

• Dr. Susan Hennessy, associate professor of French and foreign language coordinator, coordinated the visit of French historian and executive director of “Le Nouvel Obserateur” Jacques Julliard to Western. Julliard gave an evening lecture entitled “The United States, France, and Europe: A Conflicting Friendship.”

• Sharon Gray, associate professor of music; Leslie Heinz, adjunct instructor of music and Frank Thomas, associate professor of music, sang for the High Holiday services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at Temple Adath Joseph. Tom Schneider and Library Director Julia Schneider accompanied them.

• Dr. Sharon Wagner, associate professor of marketing, was a speaker at the Marketing Management Association’s Fall Educator’s Conference in St. Louis. She spoke in the conference’s New Professor’s Consortium, discussing “Time on Task as one of the Seven Principles of Excellence in Teaching.”

• Dr. Judy Grimes, dean of student services, gave a presentation entitled “Creative Strategies to Enhance Student Success for Student Athletes” at the National Academic Advising Conference in Cincinnati.

• Dr. Tim Crowley, counselor, spoke to several community organizations and was also the luncheon speaker at the No More Stares Conference, a daylong program targeting services for persons with disabilities.

• Ellen Kisker, coordinator for the nontraditional student center, serves on the executive board for the AHEAD group (services for students with disabilities). The goal of the MoAHEAD organization is to provide training sessions throughout the state for high school counselors to help them transition their special needs students from high school to college.

• Jan Norton, director of the Center for Academic Support, and Steve Saffell, math coordinator of the Center for Academic Support, presented a three-hour institute entitled “Measures of Success: Program Evaluation for Learning Centers” at the National College Reading & Learning Association Conference. At the conference, Jan also received the Robert Griffin Long Outstanding Service award.

• Career Development staff Linda Garlinger, Jeff Wilson and Kathy Kountz organized a career fair on Oct. 20.

• Linda Garlinger, director of career development, is the professional development chair for the Regional Association of Colleges and Employers and is planning to host a half-day workshop for area employers and career services personnel on diversity in hiring and retaining employees.

• The Institutional Advancement office received two awards in the MarCom Creative Awards 2004 competition: Honorable Mention for a TV ad and Gold for the college video. The MarCom Creative Awards is an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communications practitioners.

• Marsha Dolan, assistant professor of nursing and Health Information and Technology coordinator, was recently elected president of the Missouri Health Information Management Association (MHIMA). MHIMA is a 900-member group of health information management professionals dedicated to the effective management of healthcare information needed to deliver quality healthcare to the public.

  Excellence in our Students

• Meri Thompson, a Developmental Mathematics Program (DMP) tutor, received the Outstanding Developmental Education Student Award by the Midwest Regional Association for Developmental Education Chapter of the National Association for Developmental Education.  

• StudentsTolu Aregbe, Donald Herring, and Greg Coleman, were interviewed and taped during class by KQTV anchorman Bob Cervera for a feature on political campaign advertising that appeared on the evening news.

  Excellence in our Programs

• Admissions hosted 140 counselors from the Northwest Missouri School Counselor’s Association. Guest speaker Sue Ann Kline, Ph.D., gave her talk entitled “Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders.”

• Admissions hosted a high school counselor luncheon for high school counselors from the Kansas City area at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. There were over 75 counselors in attendance. Angela Beam, director of financial aid, explained the Golden Griffon Scholarship Program.

• Admissions hosted community college counselors from the Kansas City area at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. Program updates, new facilities, scholarship dates and deadlines and program-to-program articulations were reviewed.

• The national Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society has approved a new chapter of their organization at Western. Suzann Lechner has been elected the first president of the Western chapter. Dr. Steven Greiert, professor of history, will serve as the faculty advisor.

• The Music Department hosted the Missouri Music Teacher’s Association District Auditions. The auditions involved 59 K-12 students from northwest Missouri who performed in four areas: piano, strings, woodwinds, and voice.

• The Center for Student Activities assisted in the coordination of the SGA Leadership Retreat. Approximately 25 students attended and four student leaders served as small group facilitators.

• The Center for Student Activities worked with the Student Homecoming Committee to organize Homecoming 2004 – Gold Rush ‘04! The Homecoming parade had 111 entries that included approximately 30 bands.

• Peggy Ellis, director of noncredit programs and training for business/industry, is facilitating a Management Development Program for managerial and supervisory employees of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. She also facilitated a two-day teamwork and teambuilding workshop for nearly 35 employees of the finance division.

• Six hundred thirty-three students enrolled for high school college credit for the fall 2004 semester. Two new schools have been added to the High School College Credit program.

• Two hundred and thirty-two students are enrolled in Distance Education courses for the fall 2004 semester.

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• The Western Alumni Association will host a Monday Night Football party 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the O’Malley Beverage hospitality room, 1602 N. Woodbine Road. The game, Dolphins vs. Jets, will start on the big screen at 8 p.m.  The event is free and open to all Western alumni. For reservations or additional information call 5646.

• Western's engineering technology department will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 4 in the Truman E. Wilson Professional Studies Building. The event is free and open to the community. For additional information contact Dr. Varma at 4562 or at varma@missouriwestern.edu.

• The Western Concert Chorale under the direction of Frank Thomas, and the Renaissance Singers under director David Benz, will perform from 12:10-12:45 p.m. Nov. 4 at the First Thursday Downtown Noon Recital Series at the First Presbyterian Church, 7th and Jules. The audience is invited to bring their lunch and eat while listening to the performances. Beverages will be provided. A freewill offering will be taken and the suggested donation is $2. For more information, contact Jerry Anderson, associate professor of music, at 4431 or anderson@missouriwestern.edu. 

• Western's Campus Crusade for Christ presents 9/11 survivor Sujo John at 7 p.m. Nov. 9.  John was on the 81st floor of the north tower in New York City the morning of Sept.11 and now shares his story as an evangelist and motivational speaker.  For more information, contact www.missouriwestern.edu/orgs/crusade or sujojohn.com. 

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Monday, November 1

• Pre-registration begins for Spring

• Deadline for Spring Graduation Applications

• Academic Profile, LRC 102, 5-6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 2

• Volleyball home vs. Emporia State, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, November 3

• Academic Profile, LRC 102, 5-6:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 4

• Volleyball home vs. Rockhurst, 7 p.m.

• ACT Residual, SS/C 208, 8 a.m.-noon

• Noontime Series, First Presbyterian Church, 7th & Jules

• Engineering Technology Open House, 10 a.m.-noon, call 4562 for more information

Friday, November 5

• Last day to withdraw from individual and complete classes

• Last day to change from credit to audit

Saturday, November 6

• Football home-senior day, Missouri -Rolla, 2 p.m.

• Exit Exams, A 101,102, 104, 9 a.m.-noon

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• For Sale:  Round, non-folding, sturdy office-type tables.  Two are 48 inches wide and another two are 52 inches wide, $15 each.  For more information or if you are interested, contact Beth Wheeler at 5887.

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