Author Archives: kbest

Truman Takes Steps Toward a Healthier Campus

As of July 1, Truman’s campus will be tobacco-free. This means the use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes) will be prohibited on campus grounds.

The new policy is designed to promote the health of the University community, as well as to preserve and protect University property and to provide a clean and safe environment in which to study, work and learn.

Members of the University Board of Governors approved the measure in March 2014 and allowed for more than a year to implement the change. This past year, Truman’s Health Center, Student Affairs, the Student Recreation Center, Residence Life staff and Human Resources have been offering smoking cessation programming to assist students and employees with this change to a tobacco-free campus.

Making the Most

Between intellectually demanding classes and sleepless nights of studying, many students tend to forget that education is defined by more than academic experiences. Yet, for senior nursing major Kelsey Dreiling, her Truman career is also fundamentally connected to her passion for service across the world.

Dreiling (right) and fellow Truman student Kaylee Knauth (left) worked with senior Filipino nursing students, who translated and worked alongside them.

Dreiling has had the opportunity to participate in service-based spring break trips, volunteer through Christian summer camps, and work as a nurse in the Philippines and Africa. While her involvement in the nursing program, and roughly four other student organizations, takes up a majority of her time, she realizes service will always be the driving force behind her life decisions.

“Serving isn’t an option; serving is a requirement,” Dreiling said. “I know that not everyone is going to become a missionary or full-time volunteer. I realize that’s impractical, but in whatever job you are in, you have an obligation.”

Growing up in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Dreiling witnessed the contrasting lifestyles of wealth and poverty. Her conversion to Christianity in high school encouraged her desire to serve and, inadvertently, become a nursing major.

“I knew there was something greater than poverty, hurt, suffering or a money-seeking lifestyle. If all I did my whole life was gain all the riches of the world, that would not be satisfying or enough,” she said.

Truman’s nursing program has allowed Dreiling to cultivate the skills and knowledge necessary to care for individuals both emotionally and physically. Along with other nursing majors, she travelled to the Philippines to better understand her profession within another culture. However, this opportunity is not the only one that has defined her unique perspective on life.

Dreiling (green shirt) is involved with Campus Christian Fellowship. During their recent spring break trip in Oklahoma, they built the fence pictured. The students ripped out the old one and put in a new one.

On campus, Dreiling is active in Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF). She works as an intern, specifically devoted to welcoming and building relationships with international students. This past spring, Dreiling also participated in her fourth spring break with CCF. She and the group served a children’s camp by performing maintenance-related tasks.

“People think we are sacrificing something when we go on these trips instead of home or to some beach, but there is nowhere I would rather have been during my break,” Dreiling said.

In addition to her University involvement, Dreiling spent two months providing holistic care services in Nairobi, Kenya, after her freshman year. During the days, she traveled to the slums of Mathare Valley where she split her time working as a school nurse and holding HIV/AIDS and clean water clinics for the community. Dreiling’s experiences ranged from removing a child’s leg cast with power tools to cutting burned skin off a young boy. The trip’s impact has remained life altering.

“I saw people fighting to have the opportunity of education, and a lot of kids begging in the streets because they weren’t lucky enough. I saw kids getting high on glue to numb the pains of hunger, when I throw away food all the time,” Dreiling said. “I want to live in my opportunities with optimism, thankfulness, joy and love as I reach out to others.”

After graduation, Dreiling plans to work as a nurse in Springfield, Mo., until she can achieve her dream of becoming a missionary overseas. Despite her worldly experiences and ambitions, Dreiling is still a humble student. She just spends her time a little differently than most.

“I don’t hope people remember me, but I hope they remember the kind of sacrificial love I’ve shown and show it to others too,” Dreiling said.

Five Minutes with David Gillette

For David Gillette, professor of economics, this August will mark his 25th year as a member of the faculty. Since earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Idaho State University and a Ph.D. from Washington State University, he has taught more than a dozen varieties of economics classes at Truman, and has overseen numerous independent study courses. Gillette also has made a difference outside of the classroom, volunteering for multiple student organizations. In addition to working with Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, he spent 14 years as an advisor for Sigma Kappa, followed by seven more years in the same role for the Panhellenic Council. His five children and 12 grandchildren occupy much of his free time now, but Gillette still serves as an advisor for Up ’til Dawn, a student organization dedicated to raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
I like to create a friendly environment where students feel comfortable taking risks in exploring how things work and can engage in their own discovery process by using what they already know and adding to their understanding with what I have to offer them. I also like to challenge them to go beyond the edge of their comfort zone. In general, I have a lot of confidence in our students and believe they are more successful when I guide them rather than just dispense information. I believe that to learn economics, students have to do economics and not just hear about it.

What do you like best about teaching?
One of the best things about teaching is that I get to learn something new on a very regular basis. Hardly a day goes by when that does not happen. At times, it is because of new developments in my discipline, but most often, it comes because of a student’s question, or because of a new topic I’m enticed to explore.

What has been the high point of your career so far?
I cannot decide on the high point of my career. The highlights of my career include when students both enjoy and apply what they learn in class and somehow express that to me, either in person or when they later contact me about their successes.

What would people be surprised to learn about you?
People frequently find it surprising that I worked in construction and built my own home; that I have played several musical instruments over the years — including the bagpipes; that I DJ music for our church youth group; and that I used to be on a dance team in college.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I love to travel and see new places, which is convenient because my wife and I both come from large families, so we travel a lot in order to spend time with them. It has taken us from coast to coast and to parts of Europe where we have gotten to build many memories. It helps that I love photography and so I always come home with a bunch of cool pictures of the places we have visited.

What is your best advice to your students?
To be fully engaged in whatever they are doing. In my new majors seminar, I repeatedly ask them if their performance on the work they are submitting would get them hired, or admitted to graduate school.

What is the nicest thing someone has said to you?
That I had a positive influence and made a difference in that person’s life.

Charles McClain: A Champion of Education

President Emeritus Dr. Charles J. McClain

Education lost a true champion when President Emeritus Dr. Charles J. McClain passed away on April 9, 2015, at the age of 83. Well known for his visionary leadership and his commitment to education, he profoundly affected countless students, not just at Truman, but around the state of Missouri and the nation as well.

As president of the University from 1970 to 1989, McClain helped transform the school into Missouri’s only statewide public liberal arts and sciences institution. McClain established a value-added program to track the strengths and weaknesses of students. As a result of his leadership, the University received national recognition for its academic excellence and assessment programs, including the G. Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education, the highest award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The University was also ranked one of the five most innovative colleges and universities in the country in a U.S. News & World Report survey of college and university presidents.

“Dr. McClain’s imprint on this University and community is unparalleled,” President Troy Paino said. “In short, Truman would not be what it is today without his vision and persistent leadership.”

McClain (standing, red tie) was present in 1985 when Gov. John Ashcroft signed House Bill 196, officially changing the University’s mission to a statewide public liberal arts and sciences university.

In addition to reinventing the University, McClain also saw the need to invest in its students. He is responsible for establishing the school’s Pershing Society Scholarship Program, named in honor of U.S. Army general and University alumnus John J. Pershing. The scholarship was designed to provide a Truman education to some of the best and brightest students from across the nation. In March 2014, to mark its 40th anniversary, nearly 300 Pershing alumni and current Pershing scholars, as well as administrators, faculty and staff involved with the program, came together to honor McClain for his foresight to establish it.

McClain’s accomplishments at Truman were impressive, and easily enough to warrant his name on the school’s administrative building, but what he achieved as an educator away from the University was just as remarkable. His career began at the age of 16 when he accepted a teaching position in a one-room school near Sullivan, Mo. In 1963, he founded Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., where he served as president for seven years. McClain also occupied various roles in education in the capacity of assistant professor, school superintendent, elementary school principal and elementary teacher, as well as assistant professor and assistant dean for the College of Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In 1989, McClain was selected by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education to serve as Missouri’s commissioner of higher education, and he later worked as a consultant for the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., as the desegregation monitor for the Kansas City School District. In 2003, McClain received the Des Lee Distinguished Professorship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The following year, he was selected as a member of the Missouri Academy of Squires, an organization limited to 100 Missourians of achievement.

An educational leader through and through, in 2008, at the age of 77, McClain became the interim president of Fairmont State University in West Virginia.

McClain earned his undergraduate degree from Missouri State University in 1954 and his advanced degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

His wife, Judge Ann Covington of Columbia, survives him. His daughters Anita Kinkeade (’74) and Melanie Brown (’78) are both alumni of the University.

To honor his memory, McClain’s family suggests contributions to any of the three Truman State University Foundation scholarships with which he was associated: The Charles McClain Scholarship; the General John J. Pershing Scholarship Endowment; and the Charles J. McClain/ABC Scholarship. For more information, contact the Office of Advancement at (800) 452-6678 or visit
truman.edu/giving.

Pershing alumni and current Pershing students came together in March 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Pershing Society Scholarship Program, and to thank McClain for his role in creating it.

Save the Date

Turning Tragedy Into Inspiration

Kanna (Taylor) Rook attended Game 2 of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis with her father Bob.

Kanna (Taylor) Rook left Truman with more than a degree.

“My service-oriented activities at Truman greatly helped me to become who I am today,” she said.

During her time on campus, Rook (’09) was active in several organizations and spearheaded service events through Phi Sigma Pi and Lambda Pi Eta. Some of the dozen or so that she planned as a student included raising awareness for a group that helps abused children in Africa, and organizing a supply drive for the Adair County Humane Society.

While those accomplishments are admirable, it took unfortunate family news to truly unleash Rook’s passion for serving others. Her father, Bob Taylor, was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2010. Despite having no previous firsthand exposure to the disease, Rook immediately jumped into action. She made use of her experience as a public communication major and volunteered as the public relations/marketing chair for her local Relay For Life event.

The signature event for the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life is the largest fundraising effort in the world. In a typical event, organized teams camp out around a track and take turns walking throughout the night. Games and activities provide entertainment and the entire event strives to build a family-friendly atmosphere in the community. Last year, more than 6,000 events brought in $400 million to the ACS.

“It touches each individual participant in an intimate, emotional and inspiring way,” Rook said. “It gives those who have won the battle against cancer, or those who have lost someone they love to cancer, a way to fight back against this terrible disease.”

In support of her father, Rook had her own Relay For Life team in place by the summer of 2011, and has personally participated every year since his diagnosis. In four years, her team has raised nearly $25,000. Unfortunately, her father has not been there for each of the events. Bob passed away in December 2011, but Rook continues to field a team each year.

Instead of being angry and disheartened at losing her father, Rook has turned tragedy into her calling. In 2012, she took a community manager position with the ACS and now oversees Relay For Life events in five counties. Working out of her home in O’Fallon, Mo., the job entails odd hours, a tremendous amount of travel and countless meetings with individuals in each community she serves, but Rook is able to find happiness in what she does.

“I have met so many incredible people through my job, both survivors and caregivers alike, who have won and lost, and they are all inspiring in their own way. It’s extremely motivating and rewarding,” she said.

All of her hard work has paid off, especially for the ACS. As a community manager, in 2014, Rook was responsible for helping raise more than $325,000 through the five Relay For Life events she coordinated. Including participating with her own team in St. Charles, Mo., and covering an extra event as a community manager, she had a hand in seven Relays last year, which brought her total to roughly $368,000 raised for the American Cancer Society in 2014.

Some of Rook’s most important contributions cannot be measured in dollars alone. Her personal loss is something she uses to connect with and help others.

“I can instantly relate to so many of my volunteers for that reason,” she said. “They reach out to me, not only because I work for the American Cancer Society, but because they know of my personal experience of going through it with my dad.”

This July will mark the fifth year in a row Rook’s team, Bobby’s Big Shots, will take to the track in the St. Charles Relay For Life in honor of her father.

“I do it all in honor of him, and to remember him,” Rook said. “There is nothing more satisfying than getting not only all of my friends and family together, but his friends as well, to celebrate his life and remember the hard battle he lost. He was my motivation when I started Relaying four years ago, and he is still my motivation now.”

Alumni Golf Tournaments

Born to Rescue

Williams and her horse Galeno prepare to participate in a horse show. Galeno, a three-year-old Andalusian cross, is one of Williams’ rescued horses adopted through Bluebonnet.

Since she was a little girl, Jennifer (Taylor) Williams (’96) has been infatuated with horses. Between riding lessons and the prospect of someday owning her own horse, she was hooked. Her passion for horses has since grown through her work with nonprofit equine rescues.

Williams is the co-founder of two separate horse rescues in Texas, Lone Star Equine Rescue and Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society, and currently serves as the executive director of the latter. She works with volunteers, donors, law enforcement officials and horse professionals on a day-to-day basis to resolve horse-neglect situations.

“I remember being a kid and thinking when I was grown I would buy horses at auction that no one wanted, train them, and then find them new people. So, I think rescue was in my blood before I even knew rescues existed,” Williams said.

Since Bluebonnet’s inception in 2005, Williams has helped save more than 750 horses and seen more than 600 adopted. Additionally, she understands that in order to be successful there is more to rescue work than saving animals.

“You need passion to carry you through the times that are emotionally draining, but a nonprofit is still a business, and you need to run it like one,” Williams said. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve been able to be involved in rescue for 18 years.”

As part of her position, Williams is in charge of many administrative duties, including training and managing volunteers, fundraising, supervising investigations, soliciting new foster homes and writing articles about the rescue. Although there are occasionally difficult decisions involved with abused horse cases, Williams promises that her positive experiences far outweigh the negative.

“One of my favorite stories involves one of my foster horses and an adorable little girl. A man applied to adopt her for his granddaughter and brought the girl to meet her. I gave her a mini-riding lesson on the mare and she just lit up,” Williams said. “That was love, and it was awesome to play a small part in making it happen.”

After getting her degree in psychology from Truman, Williams ultimately pursued her master’s and Ph.D. in ethology, or animal behavior, from Texas A&M University. She writes articles for horse magazines and other local general interest publications, and teaches an equine behavior class for an online university. Williams also has been recognized by American Horse Publications and the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.

Williams lives in Lorena, Texas, with her husband, daughter and six horses of her own. She plans to continue her equine rescue work by expanding Bluebonnet’s programs and influence.

“We will do everything we can to make the world a better place for horses,” Williams said.

Are You a Member?

Home is Where the Heart is

Rachel and Jeremy Mapp (standing) prepare to celebrate Halloween with some of the residents of Joe’s Place. The Mapps serve as house parents for the program that provides homeless teenage boys a supportive home environment.

From chores to hot meals, home can mean a variety of things. This stable environment can foster relationships and inspire bright futures. As the parents of a very distinctive home, Jeremy Mapp (’10, ’12) and Rachel (Richardson) Mapp (’10) demonstrate a commitment and love for their community.

Started in 2006, Joe’s Place, or JP, is a program through the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in Maplewood, Mo. It provides homeless teenage boys in the area a supportive home environment while encouraging a positive future. After a short interview process last year, Jeremy and Rachel were selected as the new house parents of JP.

“We were quickly attracted to JP, which was a big part of why I ended up accepting a teaching position in the school district,” Jeremy said.

Between Sunday evening and Friday afternoon, the Mapps serve as parents to four boys staying in the house. They address social and emotional issues and provide academic support, in addition to managing the physical upkeep of the house. Jeremy and Rachel also help with other aspects of the program by attending promotional events and coordinating volunteer and donation efforts.

“We are parents and are often considered the face of the organization,” Jeremy said.

During their first year, the Mapps have enjoyed meals, sports, holidays, birthdays and graduation celebrations with their unique family. In addition, they help instill values and shape life decisions on college, careers and relationships. Although there are challenging moments raising teenagers, the couple enjoys getting to know each of the boys on a personal level.

“Within our first week as house parents, we welcomed a new member to the JP family. One of the students graduated last year, so we had an opening for another student who moved in during the beginning of school,” Jeremy said. “We had a bonfire and basketball ritual, which was a great first experience for all of us.”

The Mapps balance their responsibilities at Joe’s Place between separate full-time jobs. Jeremy teaches sixth grade math at Maplewood Richmond Heights Elementary School, while Rachel, who earned a master’s degree from Maryville University in 2012, is a community support specialist at Bridges Community Support Service and a career development instructor at the International Institute of St. Louis. They also help the community in other ways, including assisting local shelters during the holidays.

“We enjoy giving back to the community because that’s what people are supposed to do,” Rachel said.

During their time at Truman, the Mapps were active both in the campus and surrounding communities. The couple took advantage of service opportunities through their respective organizations and participated in campus-wide events such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and the Big Event. Jeremy specifically was involved with Residence Life and the Multicultural Affairs Center, holding a number of positions from student advisor to program coordinator. He attributes many of his personal skills to these valuable on-campus opportunities.

“I learned so much from all of my experiences in the Multicultural Affairs Center and Residence Life.All of my work with [Truman] students has prepared me to meet the needs of my students on a more individualized basis,” Jeremy said. “My experiences with emergency and mental health situations have proven to be very helpful as I work with my students at school and especially on a more personal level at JP.”

Currently, the Mapps plan to continue their tenure with Joe’s Place. They remain committed to serving in the community through their work and other volunteer opportunities.

Truman Review

The magazine for Truman State University alumni, parents and friends.