New graduate certificate begins this fall
A graduate certificate in technical communication will begin this fall. The 15-credit-hour program is 100 percent online, and students in the program do not need undergraduate coursework in technical communication.
The program can be completed in one academic year, and a student can start at the beginning of any semester – summer, fall or spring. Courses cover topics such as technical writing and editing, writing for managers, proposal and grant writing, creating training materials, and documenting procedures.
Dr. Kaye Adkins, coordinator of the program, said the certificate is designed for professionals who want to enhance their current careers and to add technical communication expertise to their skill set.
She said it will be especially valuable for engineers, software programmers, scientists and medical workers, but it will add value for anyone who wants to improve their writing and communication skills for business, industry, government or nonprofit organizations.
Development Office welcomes major gifts officer
Last fall, Christina McCan joined the Development Office as a major gifts officer. McCan had been working as a senior market development specialist for Brightergy in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It is a thrill and a privilege to be serving the Missouri Western mission in this new role as major gifts officer,” McCan said. “I am excited and inspired to get to work with such a talented, creative, energetic and collaborative team and am looking forward to building new and lasting relationships with staff and Missouri Western supporters alike.”
She and her husband, Chris, have three children.
Foundation CFO hired
Andrew Molloy ’13, CPA was named associate executive director and chief financial officer of the MWSU Foundation in December 2017.
Prior to joining the University, Molloy had been the senior associate, assurance services for CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in St. Joseph since 2014. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with three majors – accounting, finance and management.
Molloy and his wife, Megan ’12, have one daughter.
Kansas City Chiefs renew contract
The Kansas City Chiefs and Missouri Western have reached an agreement that will keep the Chiefs in St. Joseph, Missouri, for training camp in 2018. The agreement also includes an option for an additional one-year extension term that would cover training camp in 2019.
Under the extension, the Chiefs and Missouri Western have agreed to cost-reducing measures related to rental equipment and labor expenses to help drive down operating costs. Other conditions of the 2015 contract amendment and the original 2009 contract remain in place.
The Chiefs have held training camp on the campus of Missouri Western every year since 2010, when the club returned its training camp to the state of Missouri for the first time in 20 years. The 2018 training camp will mark the ninth year on campus.
Drum Major for Justice awards
A Missouri Western student, Missouri Western employee and a community member were honored with 2018 Drum Major for Justice awards at Missouri Western’s Martin Luther King, Jr. banquet in January: student Andrea Gordon, sophomore cinematography major from Kansas City, Missouri; Derek Evans, academic advisor in the Student Success and Academic Advising Center; and Heather Gladhart, principal at Coleman Elementary School in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The awards, given by the Center for Multicultural Education, honor those who demonstrate a commitment to social justice and multicultural education service.
Online MBA now enrolling
A 100 percent online MBA option will begin in the fall of 2018. This option is in addition to Missouri Western’s onsite MBA that began last fall. Now with the online option, students accepted into the MBA program can choose to earn the 30-credit-hour program all online or all in the classroom.
Watch the online MBA video here.
The onsite MBA offers four concentrations: General Business, Forensic Accounting, Enterprise Resource Planning or Animal and Life Science. The online MBA offers the General Business concentration.
The AACSB-accredited professional degree program offer students of all educational and professional backgrounds a broad business education to help launch or advance their professional careers. The programs focus on applied academic education to develop a student’s analytical and decision-making abilities, said Dr. Logan Jones, who directs the MBA program.
For more information about the MBA, email mba@missouriwestern.edu. For more information about all of Missouri Western’s graduate programs, go to missouriwestern.edu/graduate.
Superscoring allows for more scholarships
Missouri Western has adopted the “superscore” method to evaluate the ACT scores of incoming freshmen for admission and scholarship offers, beginning for applicants who enroll for fall 2018.
Previously, if a student took the ACT more than once, Missouri Western would evaluate admission and scholarship applications based on the best composite score (the average of the test’s four sections) on a particular date. For example, if a student took the ACT in September and again in February, Missouri Western would consider the highest composite score from either of those two dates.
The superscore, however, takes the best score from each section, regardless of the test date. So now, Missouri Western will determine the student’s composite score using the highest section scores, such as English and math from September and reading and science from February.