Author Archives: tmiles

News Briefs

• As of July 1, 2013 three new departments emerged from the former Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The three departments are now Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Science. Susan LaGrassa will serve as the chair for the Department of Mathematics, while Jon Beck will be the chair for the Department of Computer Science and Jason Shaw will serve as the chair for the Department of Statistics. Their three-year terms also began July 1. The central office for these departments will remain in Violette Hall 2100.

• The Nursing Department received a $150,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Higher Education-Missouri Board of Nursing for “Accelerating BSN Graduates with a Second Baccalaureate Degree” thanks to the work of Stephanie Powelson, chair and professor of nursing, Carol Cox, professor of health science and Janet Gooch, dean of the School of Health Sciences.

• A group of mathematics and computer science faculty members, led by Dana Vazzana, director of the Faculty Professional Development Center and professor of mathematics, received a National Science Foundation grant in the amount $587,144 for “Preparing and Advancing Scholars in Mathematics and Computer Science.” Others contributing to the grant include: Jason Shaw, associate professor of mathematics and chair for the Department of Statistics; Alan Garvey, professor of computer science; Eric Howard, professor of mathematics; and Robert Matthews, associate professor of computer science. Additionally, Truman biology professors Brent Buckner and Diane Janick-Buckner received an NSF grant in the amount of $395,507 for “Genetic Networks Regulating Structure and Function of the Maize Shoot Apical Meristem,” a collaborative effort with the University of Cornell.

• The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, administered through the National Science Foundation, provides generous scholarships to promote the development of K-12 teachers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. Thanks to the work of several Truman faculty from different disciplines, Truman has received a $1.2 million grant to support students interested in becoming high school mathematics and physics teachers. The Truman Noyce Scholarship Program aims to train and certify 20 teachers in both secondary mathematics and physics over the next five years. These teachers will be able to meet a critical demand for high-needs school districts. The Truman team is led by Ian Lindevald, professor of physics; Susan LaGrassa, chair and professor of mathematics; and Paul Yoder, associate professor of education.

• The U.S. Department of Education awarded Truman a grant of $1,275,000 in support of the Ronald E. McNair Program from 2012-2017 thanks to the work of program director
Sylvia Macauley, professor of history.

• Professor of foreign language Tom Capuano’s “Nine Technical Treatises for the Practical Professions in Spain: Electronic Texts and Concordances of Selected Texts on Agriculture, Sericulture, Commerce, and Medicine, 1400-1777,” was published in May by the Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies in New York. Since the late 1980s, thanks to Truman’s generous support for undergraduate research and its institutional and scholarship student worker program, Capuano has been able to mentor numerous students in the techniques of transcription of medieval and early modern manuscripts and printed texts for the Dictionary of the Old Spanish Language project sponsored by the Hispanic Society of America in New York. The transcriptions these students helped prepare, while intended primarily as a source of specialized vocabulary for the dictionary project, represent relatively rare and unstudied texts on diverse practical arts (commerce, medicine, horticulture, etc.) dating from as early as 1400. Alumni who contributed to the project as students include: Noelle Striplin (’91); Daniel Stites (’99); Jeremy Loscheider (’00); Stephanie Noll (’01); John Becker (’05); Raymond Feilner (’06); Kelly (Schute) Ponte (’10); and Anthony Baldwin (’12).

• The Truman School of Business received notification by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International that they have maintained their business accreditation. AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world’s business programs. The Truman School of Business enrolls 840 undergraduate students in three degree programs: Bachelor of Science in accounting, Bachelor of Science in business administration and Bachelor of Arts in business administration. The School has 42 students enrolled in the Master of Accountancy program.

School of Arts and Letters Welcomes New Dean

James F. O’Donnell

James F. O’Donnell

James F. O’Donnell began serving as the new dean of the School of Arts and Letters on July 1, 2013.

In addition to his role of dean, he will also be a professor of music at Truman.

Prior to coming to Truman, O’Donnell had served as dean and professor of music at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., since 2001. He began his academic career at East Tennessee State University where he held a variety of positions during his 13-year stay, and he was a professor and chair of the Department of Music at Indiana State University.

After earning a bachelor’s degree, with honors, from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland, O’Donnell went on to earn his master’s and doctor of arts degrees from Ball State University, and an artist diploma from the World Federation of International Music Competitions. Among his many attributes, O’Donnell brings experience in strategic planning and assessment, program extension and development, budget development and student recruitment, and alumni and community relations.

Connecting Young Readers with Authors and Illustrators

ChildrensLitFestival2013-46-WEBMore than 1,400 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in the Truman State University Children’s Literature Festival held on campus in April. Visiting authors and illustrators included Marlene Brill, Matthew Cody, Carmen Agra Deedy, Kimberly Newton Fusco, Stuart Gibbs, Deborah Hopkinson, Matthew Kirby, Barbara McClintock, Sheila O’Connor, Linda Urban and Judy Young.

Students participated in 30-minute sessions with the guest authors and illustrators. The festival concluded with a dinner followed by a presentationby Stuart Gibbs.

The Children’s Literature Festival was an annual event for 21 years, however, due to severe budget cuts, the festival was discontinued in 2004. A Children’s Literature Festival Fund was established in 2007 in an effort to bring the festival back, and the event returned in 2009. The festival is sponsored by Pickler Memorial Library with financial support from the Freeman Foundation, Follett High Education Group-Truman State University Bookstore and the Truman State University Foundation.

Take a Virtual Tour of Campus

Truman has added a new guided virtual walking tour online for prospective students and campus visitors. The tour is a series of video narrations that lead the visitor through a guided tour of the University, showcasing different aspects of the campus and community on each stop. The narrations are coupled with a coordinated slideshow of photographs showing activities that students engage in at each location.

In addition to the tour, visitors can find buttons to change the tour language, share their current tour via social media and request further information about the University. Truman’s tour is offered in English as well as Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, in hopes of accommodating international students whose first language is not English. Full translated video guides and foreign language text labels for each tour stop and interactive map are available to any prospective student wishing to learn more about Truman.

The tour also includes panoramic images, videos and additional photographs on some stops, accessible through an Explore Media tab. During the tour, a small campus map tracks the visitor’s progress around campus and can be used to access stops quickly, or the map can be expanded to replace the slideshow to give visitors a larger view of the campus.

Truman has been awarded the CampusTours Four Star Tour Award for the tour, which can be viewed at tour.truman.edu.

Truman Joins Employer-Educator Compact

Truman is participating in a new national initiative called the LEAP Employer-Educator Compact. Participating campuses and employers will work together through 2014 to showcase employer support for the aims and outcomes of a broad liberal education and to show how higher education is helping students connect college learning with work, citizenship and global challenges.

The compact was developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and by employers working with AAC&U. University President Troy Paino is a member of a special presidential leadership group within AAC&U called the LEAP Presidents’ Trust. Presidents’ Trust members and employers who work with them are the initial signatories to this ongoing national initiative to ensure that today’s students will be well-prepared for economic, civic and global challenges.

For its part in the Compact, Truman has already established partnerships with the Kansas City-based health care company Cerner, as well as Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company. These partnerships are designed to underscore the economic value of liberal education and to provide students with more hands-on learning opportunities to connect their campus learning with real-world contexts and problems.

“I am excited to be a part of this new national effort bringing employers and educators together to ensure that all our students understand what it takes to succeed in today’s workplace and to partner on ways we can provide more opportunities for students to apply their learning in real-world settings,” said Paino. “We are particularly pleased to partner in this initiative with Cerner and Boeing.”

At a Compact forum in Washington, D.C., in April, AAC&U launched the new LEAP Employer-Educator Compact to make high-quality college learning a shared national priority. More than 250 college presidents and business and nonprofit leaders have signed on to the LEAP Employer-Educator Compact. They have pledged to work together to ensure that all college students—including those attending two-year and four-year, public and private institutions—have access to a high-quality liberal education that prepares them successfully for work, life and citizenship.

Extensive surveys and focus groups by the AAC&U have revealed that more than 75 percent of employers want more emphasis on five key areas including: critical thinking, complex problem-solving, written and oral communication, and applied knowledge in real-world settings. For a full list of LEAP Presidents’ Trust members and employers signing the compact, see aacu.org/leap/presidentstrust/compact. Information about AAC&U membership, programs and publications can be found at aacu.org.

Construction Around Campus

Franklin Street Project

Improvements on Franklin Street, between Normal and Jefferson streets, were recently completed and include a newly paved road and bike lanes.

Improvements on Franklin Street, between Normal and Jefferson streets, were recently completed and include a newly paved road and bike lanes.

The portion of Franklin Street that runs through the Truman campus from Patterson to Normal streets is getting a new look that includes new pavement, lighting and sidewalks along with the addition of bike lanes in both directions. The plans also include a new center median with trees down the center of the street. The project is partially funded by the Missouri Department of Transportation, and the anticipated completion date is in August 2013.

Kirk Memorial

KirkMemorialRenovation2013-19-WEBThis summer, Kirk Memorial, a campus landmark which was built in the 1940s, is getting some much-needed repairs. In addition to replacing the cupola, improvements include new shingles and windows, brick tuck pointing and replacement of limestone detailing that has deteriorated. New plantings of trees and shrubs will be in keeping with the original design from the 1940s. Campus Planner Mark Schultz says the goal is to make the building water-tight and prevent further deterioration.

Centennial Hall

Renovation of Centennial Hall includes the dining hall which will have new booths, tables and chairs, and a completely renovated private dining room. The dining room will be available during the evening for students to study and socialize.

Renovation of Centennial Hall includes the dining hall which will have new booths, tables and chairs, and a completely renovated private dining room. The dining room will be available during the evening for students to study and socialize.

Centennial Hall is nearly midway through a major upgrade that is part of the University’s campus-wide housing improvement project. During the first phase of the Centennial Hall renovation, the entire south side of the residence hall was closed for the 2012-2013 academic year. As the finishing touches were being completed on the south side earlier this summer, work began on the main lounge, dining hall and lounge areas. The north side will be closed for the final phase of the project, and the completion date is January 2014.

The Centennial Hall renovation includes new heating and cooling, ventilation and sprinkler systems; a new electrical system throughout the building; new elevators; and new paint, carpet and lighting in the public areas. Once completed, the common areas, such as the lounges, dining area and hallways, will have new air conditioning. The floor lounges on the third, fourth and fifth floors are being expanded to more than double their original size, and the main lounge will feature a conference room and game room. In addition, the dining area will have a new serving line and seating area along with an attached private dining space.

A new elevator has been added that will take residents from the main lounge to the dining room entryway. In addition, a new chair lift will allow residents and guests who use a wheel chair easier access between the main lounge and the first floor. The building will be completely ADA accessible.

Other improvements include a new data system for faster wireless Internet, new study rooms on the first floor and remodeled public restrooms. Exterior work is also being done on the roof, as well as the brick and concrete that has worn down over the years.

“Students had input on all of the paint and carpet and wood finishes and this has been a truly collaborative project between the architects, Truman staff and Truman students,” said John Gardner, director of residence life. “We really appreciate the support of the Board of Governors, the President’s Office and the Dean of Students Affairs Office.”

A Special Garden

Jack Bowen’s wife, Melba, was actively involved in the design and planning of the Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden. She is shown in the forefront of this photo which was taken during the installation of the garden.

Jack Bowen’s wife, Melba, was actively involved in the design and planning of the Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden. She is shown in the forefront of this photo which was taken during the installation of the garden.

Long-time Truman professor and alumnus Jack Bowen was honored posthumously with a dedication ceremony for the Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden on campus June 2, 2012. For 42 years, Bowen worked in public education, holding positions in teaching, coaching,  administration and intramurals. He passed away in March 2011 after a long battle with cancer.

A native of La Plata, Mo., Bowen earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Truman in 1958 and 1961, respectively. He started his teaching and coaching career in 1958 in the public schools in Pulaski, Iowa. In 1960, he took a job with the Davis County public schools in Bloomfield, Iowa, holding positions in teaching, coaching and administration. He accepted a position at the University in 1966 in the Division of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, which is now Health and Exercise Sciences.

Assignments over Bowen’s 34 years at Truman included teaching undergraduate courses, serving as director of intramural recreation sports and as the HLTH 194 activities coordinator, overseeing field experiences for HES students and supervising HES MAE students.

The Bowen Garden was made possible through a generous private donation by the K.C. Summers Corporation and was installed by staff, faculty and students under the direction of Trumascape. Jack’s wife, Melba (Cokerham) Bowen (’61), and members of the Bowen family were actively involved in the design and planning of garden, which is maintained by members of Phi Epsilon Kappa, a professional service organization in the Health and Exercise Sciences.

The Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden is located near the east entrance of the Pershing Building.

The Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden is located near the east entrance of the Pershing Building.

Web extras:

  • Larry Boleach (’62 ’65), an associate professor emeritus of health and exercise sciences who worked with Jack Bowen for 40 years, spoke at the Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden dedication ceremony. A transcript of Boleach’s remarks is available at trumantoday.truman.edu/pdf/BowenTribute.pdf.
  • View photos of the dedication ceremony for the Jack C. Bowen Memorial Garden at http://bit.ly/Yu6WBn.

Making Historical Documents More Accessible

Truman computer science major Sierra Gregg received the Student of Achievement Award from the St. Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired at its Visionary Gala in April for her ingenuity to make historical documents from presidential libraries accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

In the summer of 2011, Gregg, herself visually impaired, was chosen as the social media intern at the Office of Presidential Libraries within the National Archives in Washington, D.C. By July of that year, Gregg started searching around in the National Archives digital catalogs for records relating to the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the ADA was a ground-breaking civil rights act for the disabilities community. Gregg found only two records relating to the signing of the ADA in the Archives’ digital catalog and neither of those two records was the Act itself. She could see lists of records relating to the Act, but they had not been digitized, meaning a researcher would either have to travel to the physical location of the record or request a copy.

Because Gregg wanted to increase the number of digitized records relating to the ADA, she submitted a proposal for the Americans with Disabilities records webpage. The scope of the original project grew far beyond what she and her supervisor had first imagined. During the last few weeks of her first summer in Washington, D.C., Gregg helped write the proposal and a request for digitized records that was sent out to the 13 presidential libraries. When the summer ended, she came back to Truman for the school year, and although she did not work directly on the project, she stayed in contact with her supervisor.

When Gregg returned to Washington, D.C., in 2012, almost all of her time was devoted to completing the project. By then, the libraries had sent back a list of more than 50 different records, including pictures and text documents, relating to Americans with disabilities. Each library’s records illustrated that president’s work with people with disabilities. For example, the Roosevelt Library’s records focused on Polio, and the Kennedy Library’s records focused on mental impairments. Gregg helped coordinate getting these digitized records listed in the online catalog and the development of the webpage. In July 2012, the Office of Presidential Libraries did a series of posts to all of its social media outlets about the launch of the new webpage.
Even though Gregg will not be working for the National Archive this summer, she hopes the webpage continues to grow to include more records from the presidential libraries, she and would like to have the opportunity to work with them again. Her experiences working for the Office of Presidential Libraries have reinforced her desire to work in a library/archives environment.

“I am truly honored that the Society for the Blind has awarded me the Student of Achievement Award, but I am not the only one that needs to be recognized for creating this new resource,” she said. “Everyone who works for the Office of Presidential Libraries, the archivists that collected the records and numerous other people who work for the National Archives helped make this webpage possible,” said Gregg. “Without them, these important historical records would not be accessible to everyone interested in learning more about disability history.”
Gregg’s project can be found online at www.archives.gov/research/americans-with-disabilities/.