ET joins the Craig School of Business
Effective this fall, the Department of Engineering Technology will join the Steven L. Craig School of Business to form the Steven L. Craig School of Business and Technology. Dr. Jeanne Daffron, who had been serving as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, noted that this will help the University be more effective in addressing regional business and technology needs.
“Our engineering technology programs work closely with the area business community to provide internship opportunities to our students,” Dr. Daffron said. “Those partnerships will thrive and grow in the Craig School of Business.”
Get a Griffons debit card and help us earn money!
Citizens Bank & Trust is now offering a Griffon Visa debit card. For every purchase made using the card, Missouri Western will receive five cents. The card is free; you just need a Citizens Bank & Trust checking account to get one. Learn more at gocitizens.bank.
New options and lower tuition rates for military personnel
Missouri Western is now a participant in the U.S. Air Force Air University Associate-to-Baccalaureate Cooperative (AU-ABC) Initiative. As a member of the AU-ABC, the University now offers a completely online bachelor’s degree to members of the Air Force. They can transfer in their Community College of the Air Force degrees or other military credit to use as the basis of Missouri Western’s Bachelor of Science in Technology degree.
Last year, Missouri Western became a part of the General Education Mobile Program with the CCAF. That partnership means members of the Air Force can take general education courses online through Missouri Western to earn their Associate in Applied Science degree from the CCAF.
Additionally, the University now offers in-state tuition to all military-affiliated students, spouses and dependents who qualify, regardless of where their state of residency is.
For more information, see missouriwestern.edu/military.
St. Joseph start-ups funded
The Innovation Stockyard announced that two new companies received funding through its recent partnership with Digital Sandbox KC.
The Sandbox partnered with the Innovation Stockyard in 2017, along with the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, the City of St. Joseph, Buchanan County, the Missouri Technology Corporation, Missouri Western and other local organizations, to drive new business growth and jobs in St. Joseph and throughout northwest Missouri.
The companies selected for support are DocuLock and WHETStone Devices. DocuLock helps businesses archive, index and digitize paper documents, protecting valuable business information from threats and making them accessible from any web-enabled device. WHETStone Devices developed an innovative brace to provide plumbing companies a secure and easy-to-install solution for water heater expansion tanks.
Businesses selected receive as much as $15,000 in project development funding and co-working space for three to six months at the Innovation Stockyard, located inside the Kit Bond Incubator on campus.
Jacob Blaylock ’17, Steve Craig and Nathan Nold ’18.
Nold awarded RMCF store
Nathan Nold, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree in May, won an opportunity to own and operate a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in Petaluma, California.
Nold, of Savannah, Missouri, was one of the finalists from a senior-level applied entrepreneurship class this past spring who prepared business plans and presented them to a panel of judges that included Steven L. Craig, benefactor of the Craig School of Business, other business leaders and Missouri Western graduates who won franchises in previous years.
Nold joins 17 owners who have opened 27 businesses across the country. In 2017, the businesses boasted 361 employees, sales in excess of $13.7 million, and a payroll over $2.4 million.
Entrepreneurs recognized
At the Craig School of Business’s annual entrepreneur dinner, two people received the Champion of Entrepreneurs Award in recognition of their support of young entrepreneurs: Bill Severn and Sherry Sansone Scott. Three alumni of the franchise program, Leslie Burris ’11, Cassandra Cyril ’07 and Erica Ricker ’09, were honored with the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur Award for paying off the loans for their stores.
Pam Klaus ’03, director of the franchise program, noted that the program alumni contributed almost $79,000 to the CSB in 2018, and more than $260,000 since the program began in 2009.
FY19 Budget Approved
The Board of Governors approved an operating budget of almost $56 million for fiscal year 2018-19 on July 2. The budget included a 2 percent cost-of-living increase for Missouri Western employees and a $900,000 increase in the scholarship budget for students.
Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, noted that the University experienced a larger than expected increase in the number of out-of-state students taking advantage of the Griffon Rate Scholarships, so that line item in the budget increased accordingly.
The budget does not rely on the spending of reserves, thanks to stable state appropriations and a budgeted increase of approximately $1.4 million in student tuition and fees, based on a projected increase of approximately 3 percent in credit hours.