• Kay Dickerson, coordinator of the Intensive English program, received the 2013 Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in Higher Education.
  • Debbi Wright, instructor of chemistry, and Gwen Funk, with the St. Joseph School District GATE program, received the Missouri Environmental Education Association’s 2012 Community-Based Environmental Education Service Award. Wright and Funk collaborated to offer environmental education investigations to elementary school students.
  • Graphic design student Jeremy Todd received a Silver Addy at the 2013 Kansas City American Advertising Federation’s awards ceremony for his multi-piece branding and packaging product. The competition is considered one of the largest regional Addy competitions in the country.
  • A short film written and directed by students in 2010, “It’s Been a Pleasure,” was selected for screening at the Kansas City Film Festival in the Heartland Narrative Shorts Category. The film festival featured more than 100 local, regional, national and international films. Those who were involved in the production include Shaun Allison, Amber Anaya, Misty Ballew, Alesha Bird ’11, Mike Blevins ’12, Steve Catron, Brian Duskey, Kelsey Houser, Michael Nielson ’11, and Matt Wright ’12.
  • Music students Kaitlyn Christian, Adrienne Collins and Sarah Waters were three of only six selected from the Kansas City region as semi-finalists in a national vocal competition of Classical Singer magazine.
  • For the sixth year in a row, Missouri Western was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Students logged approximately 100,000 hours of service last year.
  • The Organization of Student Social Workers earned the 2013 Excellence in Philanthropy Award from the Missouri Western Foundation. In the 2012-13 academic year, OSSW raised money, donated supplies or volunteered time to the Salvation Army, Suicide Awareness Week, Green Dot Week to prevent violence, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Second Harvest Community Food Bank, Christmas cards for military troops, Adopt-A-Family, the Boy Scouts, Love 146 (an organization to end human trafficking), Denim Day to raise awareness about sexual assault, Stand Against Racism, the March of Dimes and Adopt-A-Highway. They also created a fundraising walk called Follow Me Homeless that raised money to help homeless shelters meet transportation needs.
  • A team of four students, Samantha Hudson, Stephen Mohn, Ryan Parris and Robert Woods, won first place at the International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition in Anaheim, Calif.