Dear Friends,
As I am writing this, the University is wrapping up its yearlong Centennial celebration, and what a great
Dr. Vartabedian with Tom Ridge, the 2015 Convocation on Critical Issues speaker.
year it has been! I hope many of you had the opportunity to join us on campus for one of our Centennial events. This issue of the magazine contains a recap of our Centennial year, including a photo of our new Centennial sculpture on the back cover. “The Next 100 Years …” now greets visitors as they come onto campus from our main entrance on Mitchell Ave.
Our five-year Centennial Capital Campaign kicked off in January 2015. We are grateful for our wonderful benefactors and are pleased with our progress to date. If you have not contributed or pledged to the campaign, we hope you will consider it, because there is more we hope to accomplish. An update on our Centennial Capital Campaign is on p. 14.
In November, we also dedicated Phase III of the Walter Cronkite Memorial in Spratt Hall. A replica of Cronkite’s CBS Evening News broadcast studio opened, along with the premiere showing of our second live, multimedia production, “Harry & Walter: Missouri’s Native Sons.” Since it opened in 2013, the Memorial has brought visitors from across the country and internationally, so we are excited to expand on an already great tourist destination.
We were honored to host special guests at the dedication ceremony: Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation; Dr. Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center for American History; and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt. An article about the making of “Harry & Walter: Missouri’s Native Sons” and the dedication event is on p. 12.
Our Graduate School has added a relatively new graduate student population to our campus, including several international students. Last fall, we began our ninth year of offering graduate programs. Our Graduate School enrollment is more than 200 and growing, and we will continue to offer master’s programs that contribute to the workforce development in the region. An article about that starts on p. 6.
As we begin our next 100 years, Missouri Western remains committed to continuing to transform the lives of our students, alumni, faculty and staff and community members. Our mission of offering a high quality, affordable education and opportunities outside the classroom will continue into our second century. We appreciate your continued support of the University as we embark on the next 100 years.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Vartabedian
President
Missouri Western State University