It\u2019s hard to not get excited about Missouri Western and what\u2019s happening on campus when you talk to President Robert Vartabedian. His enthusiasm for the University\u2019s accomplishments and his outlook for the future are contagious.<\/p>\n
At the December 2012 Board of Governors meeting, the board approved a five-year contract extension through June 30, 2018 for the president, so we recently sat down with him to reflect on his first five years at Missouri Western and look forward to the next five.<\/p>\n
Looking Back <\/strong><\/p>\n Since he began his tenure at Missouri Western in 2008, the Remington-Agenstein halls renovation and construction project was completed, and the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex, the Spring Sports Complex and Griffon Hall were built.<\/p>\n The campus also gained new building signs, fountains for three campus ponds, almost 200 evergreen trees, a permanent University sign at the Faraon Street entrance and several sculptures. Additionally, the Kansas City Chiefs began holding their summer training camp on campus in 2010.<\/p>\n When you ask Dr. Vartabedian what makes him most proud about the University, make sure you have a lot of time, because his answer won\u2019t be short.<\/p>\n One of the first items on his list is the student and faculty achievements in several academic departments and the high quality of Missouri Western\u2019s academic programs. Dr. Vartabedian noted that two recent program accreditation visits garnered overwhelmingly positive comments. In fact, in the last five years, all programs that were up for re-accreditation have received uniformly positive accreditation outcomes.<\/p>\n The partnership with Steve Craig, where graduating seniors and alumni have the opportunity to own and operate a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory or Aspen Leaf Yogurt store, as well as other franchises, is also a source of pride, especially because it is such a unique program and because of its national significance. The program began in 2009 and currently, Craig School of Business graduates own and operate 15 franchises in 10 states.<\/p>\n \u201cThis university transforms lives, and nowhere is that more direct than in its entrepreneurship initiative,\u201d Dr. Vartabedian said.<\/p>\n The president is also proud of the athletics programs. This past academic year brought two conference championships in football and baseball, two coaches being named Conference Since his arrival on campus, Dr. Vartabedian has made the visual and performing arts programs one of his focuses. In the past five years, the visual arts have flourished, an Arts Society was founded in 2011 and has more than 250 members, an opera program was formed, a dance minor was created, and there are now two musicals performed each academic year.<\/p>\n This past July, the Western Playhouse\u00a0 performed the musical, \u201cMiss Saigon,\u201d which Dr. Vartabedian called a pivotal moment in the arts for Missouri Western and the region.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at the point where we can pull off something like this successfully,\u201d he said of the production. \u201cI am very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of his arts focus, one of Dr. Vartabedian\u2019s goals was to create a School of Fine Arts with its own dean, and that has also come to fruition. The School has 25 full-time faculty members and approximately 500 students. It offers a range of undergraduate programs in art, music, theatre, cinema and dance, and a Master of Applied Arts program in Dr. Bob Willenbrink was hired as the founding dean of the School of Fine Arts and Another one of Dr. Vartabedian\u2019s projects \u2013 a Walter Cronkite Memorial to honor and remember St. Joseph-born and longtime CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite \u2013 is another point of pride. The permanent memorial, which will be in the Spratt Hall atrium, will feature both personal and professional highlights of Cronkite\u2019s life and will be dedicated Nov. 4, Cronkite\u2019s date of birth. Dr. Vartabedian believes it has potential for national and \u201cHe was one of the most widely respected figures in the 20th<\/sup> century and early in the 21st<\/sup> century and was known as the \u2018most trusted man in America,\u2019\u201d Dr. Vartabedian said of Cronkite. \u201cAs I look to the future, the implications for the University and the region \u00a0<\/strong>Looking Forward <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0And looking to the future, <\/strong>Dr. Vartabedian said he plans to continue building on the success of his initiatives in his first five years.<\/p>\n One initiative he started was to increase the number of international students on campus. Toward this goal, an international student office was created and an international student services director was hired shortly after Dr. Vartabedian arrived. In the fall of 2008, there were just seven international students, but by spring 2013, there were 64. The president wants to continue to increase recruitment efforts for international students in the Dr. Vartabedian also plans to continue to grow the number of online courses offered at Missouri Western. When he arrived, there were 29 <\/strong>online courses, and he coordinated The president is also excited about an upcoming capital campaign for the University. Although the priorities have not been fully determined, arts and athletic facilities will be a major focus. \u201cMissouri Western\u2019s arts programs are flourishing, and I believe we are at a critical juncture in our history,\u201d Dr. Vartabedian said. \u201cThe University has always had Along with the five-year contract extension, the Board of Governors also approved a salary increase for the president at its December 2012 meeting. He and his wife, Laurel, agreed to give the net pay adjustment back to the University for the next three years to be \u201cI\u2019m extremely grateful to the Board of Governors for their generosity and I certainly recognize that the position should have a more competitive salary,\u201d Dr. Vartabedian said about the salary increase. \u201cBut I\u2019m not comfortable personally gaining during these times of One possible use of the funds, Dr. Vartabedian said, is the development of a parliamentary debate program, which would offer scholarships to debaters. \u201cThis would benefit the University for years to come; I am very excited about it,\u201d he said. Along with current The president said he is also looking forward to the University\u2019s centennial celebration, \u201c100 Years of Transforming Lives,\u201d in 2015. An entire year of events is being planned.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are building upon the momentum of all the things that were accomplished in the past five years as we look forward to the next five years,\u201d Dr. Vartabedian said. \u201cMissouri Western is an exciting <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hard to not get excited about Missouri Western and what\u2019s happening on campus when you talk to President Robert Vartabedian. His enthusiasm for the University\u2019s accomplishments and his outlook for the future are contagious. At the December 2012 Board of Governors meeting, the board approved a five-year contract extension […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4144,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions\/4144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCoach of the Year and several shattered school and conference records, along
\nwith a very successful softball season. Additionally, he proudly noted that the
\nathletes\u2019 average GPA was one of the highest on record this past year.<\/p>\n
\nDigital Arts.<\/p>\n
\nbegan his duties last month.<\/p>\n
\ninternational recognition for Missouri Western.<\/p>\n
\nare huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
\nseveral initiatives that increased the number today to more than 200.<\/p>\n
\ngreat co mmunity support throughout its history, and I am confident that the
\ncommunity and region will support the goals of the next capital campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nused for special projects.<\/p>\n
\nfinancial difficulties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nstudents, he is interested in recruiting debate students from DEBATE-Kansas
\nCity, an Urban Debate League in the inner city. Dr. Vartabedian noted that he
\nstarted his career as a debate coach.<\/p>\n
\nplace to be.\u201d<\/p>\n