Truman Mobile, the official  mobile  application of Truman State University, allows users to follow the latest University news and events. Students can check their grades and class schedules, find an available computer and much more. Visitors can also use it to navigate the campus.

Other features include Truman Master Calendar events; Truman Today stories; Truman Index stories; Truman’s YouTube channel; department blogs; campus map; library catalog search; and a Truman faculty, staff and student directory search. More features will be added in the future.
Truman Mobile was designed by Truman alumnus Huan Truong (’11) and Truman student Prasang Chhetri. Truong worked for the University’s IT Services full time after graduating from Truman in December 2011 until leaving for graduate school. Chhetri is currently a student worker for Truman’s Web Services team. Truong and Chhetri also received support from IT Services staff and other members of the campus community.

Truman Mobile works with iOS and Android devices and is available for free on Amazon and the Google Play Store. To download the installation instructions, visit m.truman.edu/app/docs.

Truman has once again been included on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for 2013. The Honor Roll, compiled by the Corporation for National and Community Service, recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities.

The 2012 Big Event, the 2012 Big Week of Giving and the 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Collegiate Challenge were among the service events that were included in the application as exemplary samples of service performed by the Truman community in 2012.

Truman has received this recognition every year since the inception of the Honor Roll in 2006. The entire list of schools named on the Honor Roll is available at nationalservice.gov/about/initiatives/honorroll.asp.

For the past two years, a number of Truman students have been donating their time in the Kirksville community to inspire a love of learning in children ages 4-14 through the Peace program. Peace is a non-profit after-school program that involves volunteers going to the Devlin Place housing complex located several blocks southwest of campus to mentor neighborhood children.

While about 20 children attend regular sessions, which take place from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, the program saw more than 100 different children over the course of the last year.

Kirksville’s Peace program was established in 2010 and modeled after a similar program in Columbia, Mo. According to Amy Burbee, a Peace program coordinator, the decision was made to introduce the program in the Devlin Place area after a group of students spent a summer volunteering and distributing lunches through the Food4Kids program in a nearby park. After building a relationship with the families in the area, these students saw a need for the program.
Peace volunteers provide children with homework help, healthy snacks and fun activities. The program is provided at no cost to the children or their parents, and the volunteers go to the students’ neighborhood for all activities.

Peace is staffed completely by volunteers, mainly Truman students and members of the Life Church High School.

It is affiliated with the University through the campus organization Equipped, but participating Truman students do not receive course credit or scholarship hours, they simply do it for the experience.

“The most rewarding part of the program is seeing the growth of the kids,” Burbee said. “For example, seeing students who have been getting C’s start to get A’s and B’s, or seeing a student gain more confidence in math or watching their social skills grow.”

Peace is supported entirely by donations. Last fall, Truman students sold kettle corn to help raise funds. All financial donations go toward food, supplies and other basic necessities for the program.  More information about the Peace program is available online at peacekv.org. The site includes ways to make donations and also has steps for anyone wanting to volunteer as a tutor.

A Truman student helps a group of middle school students in the Nursing Lab in the Health Sciences Building.

Last October, approximately 120 seventh- and eighth-grade students from Green City, Mo., and Milan, Mo., spent a day touring the Truman campus and attending presentations from Admissions, ROTC, Upward Bound and the School of Health Sciences and Education departments. The programs provided students with information about topics of their interest in health professions and education and possible careers in the fields. Members of the School of Health Sciences and Education dean’s team facilitated the day.

• Warren Gooch, professor of music, was given the Governor’s Award for Excellence. Each year, the Governor’s Award is presented to one faculty member at each institution of higher education in Missouri. The award is based on effective teaching, innovating course design and delivery, effective advising, service to the university community, commitment to high standards of excellence and success in nurturing student achievement.

• Brent Buckner, geneticist and professor of biology, was recognized with Truman State University’s Educator of the Year award.

• Fredric Shaffer, professor of psychology, was honored as Truman’s Most Outstanding Research Mentor of the Year.

• Scott Alberts, professor of mathematics, is serving as the director of Interdisciplinary Studies.

• The Accounting Department received Truman’s Department of the Year Award. The Accounting Department’s faculty includes Alan Davis, Keith Harrison, Darla Honn, Kristen Irwin, Kathy Otero and Cathy Poyner. Retired faculty teaching part-time includes Sandra Fleak, Scott Fouch and Sandy Weber. The Accounting Department is part of the School of Business AACSB accreditation, one of 178 institutions worldwide holding this designation.

• Truman students were among the most successful in the country on the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) examination according to the most recent statistics released by the National Association of States Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). The Truman candidates taking the exam passed 78.9 percent of sections taken with an average score of 80.4, placing Truman fourth in the nation among large programs. Among all institutions with 10 or more reported candidates, Truman ranked ninth in the nation.

• Gov. Jay Nixon was on campus last September to announce a $150,000 grant award for Truman’s Department of Nursing to expand instructional and course offerings. The grant, which is funded by the Caring for Missourians initiative, provides Truman with the resources necessary to graduate at least 10-15 additional nursing students.

• Connor Stangler, a history and English double major from Columbia, Mo., who graduated from Truman this May, was awarded a national competitive scholarship of up to $30,000 from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation received 587 applications from 272 colleges. Approximately 65 scholarships are awarded annually, and Stangler was the only student from a Missouri university to receive the award.

• Wyatt Hoffman, a political science major from Kansas City, Mo., who graduated from Truman this May, was selected for the Carnegie Endowment Junior Fellows Program. Hoffman, as the first Truman student to be accepted into the program, will be participating in research related to nuclear policy.

• After competing in Zone 7 Championships, three members from the Truman Equestrian Team advanced to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships. The Zone 7 Championships took place in April at West Texas A&M where Caitlin Shaefer, Danielle Witt and Elizabeth Miller all qualified for nationals. Schaefer placed second in the walk-trot equitation, Witt was awarded second place in the novice equitation on the flat and Miller placed second in the open equitation on the flat.

• The Truman Forensic Union earned top debate honors at the National Forensic Association’s national championship tournament hosted by Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., in April. Myra Milam, a communication disorders major, was awarded the first place speaker award in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Division. Maddie Ebert, a political science major, reached the octafinal or “sweet sixteen” round of the tournament. Nick Gorman, an economics major, reached the double-octafinal round. Gorman was also ranked the 10th best speaker in the tournament. The team placed third overall in the nation in sweepstakes competition, a cumulative measure of performance among all Lincoln-Douglas competitors. Qualifiers for the national tournament contributing to these team awards, in addition to Milam, Ebert and Gorman, include: Mackenzie Barnes, Alex Bisges, Blake Bixler, Codi Caton, David Cook, Alex Gregor, Max Highsmith, Dillon Laaker, Arielle Long-Seabra and Sarah Muir.

• Elizabeth Clark will serve as the interim dean of the School of Social and Cultural Studies. Clark’s appointment officially began on July 1, 2013, and ends June 30, 2014. She has served as the Communications Department chair for six years.