• Elise Hepworth, associate professor of art and director of choral studies, was named artistic director of the St. Joseph Community Chorus, the largest all-volunteer performing organization in northwest Missouri. She received a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State University, a master’s in music education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and a Doctorate of Arts from the University of Mississippi.
  • Kay-lynne Taylor received the 2015 Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators Award for Excellence in Innovation for her student-employer training initiative on campus.
  • Todd Eckdahl, professor of biology; Dr. Jeff Poet, professor of mathematics; and Davidson College colleagues Dr. Malcolm Campbell and Dr. Laurie Heyer; answered questions online on about their PLOS ONE publication on metabolic engineering as part of PLOS Science Wednesday on Reddit, an entertainment, social networking, and news website where registered community members can submit content. The event resulted in over 1,000 additional views of the publication. PLOS ONE is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS).
  • Two members of the debate team, Mike Smith and Chris Miles, both juniors from Independence, Missouri, finished eighth overall and advanced to the quarterfinals of the nationally competitive Golden Gate Invitational Parliamentary Debate tournament at the University of California-Berkeley in October.
  • Student Jeni Swope, Lionel Attawia and Katelyn Canon ’15 were awarded First Place Best TV Promo/PSA in the national Pinnacle College Media Awards this past fall for their video, “It’s On Us.” The video was part of a campaign to promote student awareness and activism against sexual assault.Universities across the country participated by making viral videoes. Swope and Canon created the video for their advanced video journalism class. Attawia wrote the script. It was featured on the student-run magazine show Griffon Update and on the Missouri Western website.

    They received the award at the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association Fall National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas. Swope was also one of several Missouri Western students who presented at the convention.