Author Archives: tmiles

A Milestone Birthday

Dorothy (Blair) Heying (seated), shown with her good friend Rita Thomas, wife of the late Jim Thomas (Jim was a member of the Truman faculty from 1964 to 1994).

Dorothy (Blair) Heying, a 1938 Truman alumna, celebrated her 103rd birthday on Dec. 5, 2012.
Born in 1909 in St. Louis, Heying’s family soon moved after her father purchased a variety store in Vandalia, Mo. Throughout her childhood, Heying’s passion for education and teaching was encouraged by her parents. During her junior year in high school, she accepted a teaching position in Potosi, Mo., after completing a teacher training course that resulted in a two-year teaching certificate.

Determined to achieve a degree in education, Heying attended classes for a series of eight summers at Truman back when the school was known as Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. During that time, she sang in the college chorus and performed in a production of “The Barber of Seville.”

Heying’s teaching career spanned more than 50 years, and she taught at schools in Hermann and Rhineland, Mo. She retired from teaching at age 70.

Five Minutes with Michael Seipel

Michael Seipel, professor and chair of the Agricultural Science Department, has been a member of the Truman faculty since August 1998. He received a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics and a Ph.D. in rural sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Tell us a little bit about what you teach:
You might say that my teaching focuses on the human dimensions of agricultural systems; my courses involve applying concepts and tools of social science and business to the economic and cultural system that is agriculture. One of my courses, Ethical Issues in Sustainable Agriculture, is a discussion-based class in which students not only grapple with the ethicality and sustainability of agricultural technologies and practices (biotechnology, animal welfare, etc.) but become familiar with how different groups (urban consumers, farmers, environmental advocates) may differently perceive these technologies and practices. Another class takes an interdisciplinary look at issues in rural America, such as immigration, population change, education, voting behavior and more. Other classes focus on topics such as commodity futures markets, agricultural policy and agricultural entrepreneurship.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy:
Learning is a social process and teaching should begin with that in mind. At the core of my teaching philosophy is a belief in the need to model for students a commitment to lifelong learning. In order to do that, I try to make a practice of holding my own knowledge and core values up for scrutiny, reflection and change on a regular basis. I frequently use guest speakers in my classes so that students have direct exposure to “practitioners” who are grappling with the issues covered in that class in their own personal and/or professional lives.

What do you like best about teaching:
Teaching is like doing the same dance over and over, but with a different partner each time. That combination of familiarity and newness is simultaneously fun, rewarding and terrifying. I would identify these related things about teaching that are among my favorites: the sort of seasonal rhythm that goes with each succeeding semester beginning and ending where, periodically, all things are made new again; having a repeated opportunity to share knowledge and interest in a subject that one is passionate about with a new group of students and seeing a proportion of those students come to share that passion; watching new students come into the department or into a particular class and having the opportunity to see them mature and develop over the course of a semester or their entire college career and then, sometimes, having an opportunity to keep in touch with them as alumni and seeing that development process continue over a lifetime.

What is the last thing that made you laugh:
My seven-year-old son has a gift for mangling common phrases, unintentionally modifying song lyrics and the like. This is a constant and free source of entertainment for the rest of the family. One family favorite is his rendition of the Pat Benatar song “I Love Rock-n-Roll” which, when Gregory sings it, goes, “I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the juice box baby…”. I’m pretty sure my most recent good laugh was this or another Gregory-ism.

What do you like to do when you’re not working:
My family and I have the good fortune to live on a farm in rural Macon County, on land that has been in my wife’s family for approximately 75 years. Farming is an avocation and constant distraction for me. We raise beef cattle and sheep which we market both through conventional auction market channels and directly to area consumers as natural, grass-fed meat. Our three children also have swine and poultry for their 4-H projects. On a weekend or holiday from the University, I will most likely be found tending to some task on the farm, from caring for the animals to cutting wood to building fence.

If you weren’t teaching, what would you be doing:
Between earning my bachelor’s degree and returning to graduate school to work on my Ph.D., I worked for three and one-half years for two different agricultural cooperatives, both having grain marketing and/or processing as their primary business. I worked first as a commodity price analyst and then as a junior grain merchandiser. If I wasn’t teaching, I suspect I would be working in grain marketing or some related area of agricultural business.

What is the most rewarding part of your job:
Hearing from former students. It is very gratifying to get those emails, calls or notes and not only hear about the difference that our Truman alumni are making in their careers, their families, their communities, but to also hear the sometimes surprising things that they remember about their time in Kirksville.

Helping Nab Computer Crimes

Truman student Nick Spear’s childhood dream was to become an astronaut. Although he doesn’t see himself on a trip to space anytime soon, Spear discovered that an internship with NASA in Washington, D.C., last summer provided a nice compromise.

Nick Spear, a math and computer science major, landed a summer internship working with NASA’s Computer Crimes Division.

Spear’s previous experience in researching tools and techniques for detecting infected computers helped prepare him for his internship with NASA.

Spear worked in the NASA Computer Crimes Division during his internship.

“Every federal agency has their own Office of the Inspector General, which helps catch any fraud, waste or abuse going on within the agency,” Spear said. “In the Computer Crimes Division (CCD), we looked at any and all computer-related crime that is costing NASA money.”

CCD special agents research various cases of computer crimes, ranging from a single employee searching inappropriate content to vast networks for malware that cause problems all over the world. After an agent began a case, Spear’s job was to help out by doing forensics on computer drives, calculating the cost that NASA incurred from the crime and building new systems for the office to use.

Spear worked with the East Coast Division of the NASA CCD, which was comprised of three special agents and his boss, the agent in charge of the East Coast CCD. “Working in such a small group made for a fun environment,” Spear said. “That made it easy to learn a lot during my internship.”

The East Coast CCD helped Spear gain a great deal of technical experience, which he believes will be useful for his future goals. Spear said that the employees at the NASA CCD each had their own diverse working style. This helped him see different perspectives on how to get a job done, which aided him in learning the trade.

During his summer internship, Spear was invited to return to the NASA CCD for a second summer of work. He is currently looking at graduate schools in the Washington, D.C., area so he can continue working for the CCD while completing his school. As far as plans after graduate school, Spear is keeping his options open.

“I’d love to continue what I’m doing, perhaps becoming an agent myself,” Spear said. “But other exciting possibilities may present themselves farther down the road.”

Teacher of the Year

With roots deeply imbedded in the profession of teaching, it should be no surprise that a University alumna was recognized as the Missouri Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014. Perhaps the recipient, Jamie (Smith) Manker (’98, ’00) was as surprised as anyone when she learned during an impromptu assembly at her school in August that she was the winner. Whether it was fate, destiny or just random chance, a series of seemingly unrelated events had to fall perfectly into place for Manker, a social studies teacher and department chair at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, Mo., to be recognized as the top teacher in the state.

ABOVE: Jamie Manker shares a moment with her two sons, Kyle (7) and Tyler (5) after learning she was named the Missouri Teacher of the Year. (Photo by Mary Thaier, Rockwood Summit, Talon Newspaper)

Manker’s family moved all across the country during her adolescence, and her last few years of high school found her living in Riverton, Kan., not far from the Missouri state line. Her high school guidance counselor had her fill out an application for Truman—a school she had never heard of—mainly because it was free and would be good practice. It was not until Manker was accepted that she even decided to visit the campus, where a now unknown tour guide will never realize the role he played in bringing her to Truman.

“I loved whomever gave me my tour,” Manker said. “He should be credited with my tuition. I picked Truman because of him.”

Despite not knowing any of her fellow students when she arrived in Kirksville, and living in a less than appealing pre-renovation Missouri Hall, Manker quickly felt at home on campus. She made a variety of friends and felt comfortable in the classroom. The combination of academics and social life made her transition to college smooth.

“A really cool thing that I hadn’t experienced before was that a lot of kids were really smart, but really fun,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought that you could be both smart and fun before entering college.”

Originally Manker planned to study one of the sciences, but social studies courses in high school and college changed her focus. It was not until her sophomore year at Truman that she realized she wanted to be a teacher.

“It took a long time to figure out what I was good at and what I liked,” Manker said. “School was always an awesome place to be and I wanted to recreate that positive energy for students of my own.”

After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in history in 1998, Manker stayed on at Truman and added a Master of Arts in Education in 2000. For the past 14 years she has been employed as a teacher at Rockwood Summit High School.

While Truman can take credit for helping mold Manker into a more than capable teacher, she credits all the moving around as a child for giving her a means to make personal connections with her students.

“I was able to develop a self-confidence in my ability to meet new people and make new friends and get along with groups and figure out what people care about. All those things I think I do better because I’ve lived in a lot of places,” Manker said. “I remember having moments where I was not focused on the classwork because I was worried about ‘Am I going to make a new friend today?’ ‘Am I going to fit in socially?’ ‘Am I going to have somebody to eat with at lunch?’ That has helped me have more empathy with my students. I understand that they have life happening.”

Jamie Manker gives the commencement address Dec. 14 in Pershing Arena.

Even though Manker is beloved by her students, it does not mean her classes are easy. She takes pride in offering a challenging classroom, and feels reaffirmed when students thank her later, often after they have graduated.

“I want them to think my class was tough, but that I gave them a way to succeed,” Manker said. “Kids amaze me every day in what they are able to accomplish. They figure out that they can do more than they thought they could do.”

With technology changing today’s schools, Manker is less concerned with simply ingraining dates and little pieces of trivia into her students’ brains. She strives to create a cultural literacy in her classroom and produce students who are analytical thinkers in today’s information age.

Manker is still in the running to receive the National Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in March. While she still has to wait to see if she wins that award, her Missouri Teacher of the Year designation has already earned her one honor. She was invited to serve as the December commencement speaker, her first trip back to campus in several years.

“I can’t believe I was asked to give the commencement address,” Manker said. “This has all been overwhelming.”

Manker lives in Maryland Heights, Mo., with her husband and fellow Truman alumnus Terry (’97) and their two children, Kyle age seven, and Tyler, age five.

Pathway to a Brand

While Truman continues to enjoy a growing national reputation for the outstanding education it provides, the University is facing some significant challenges in higher education. One challenge is the changing demographics. Starting with the high school graduating classes of 2010, Truman has been experiencing declining high school populations in Missouri and the Midwest. Within this shrinking number, Truman has seen an increase in the number of students who traditionally do not go to college, or if they do, they stay close to home.

Adding to that challenge is the fact Truman is the only Missouri university with a highly selective mission. Truman is working to recruit 1,300-plus students who are incredibly bright and talented, while other schools only need to capture a small percentage of those talented students for their entering classes. The University is also dealing with the daily changing landscape of higher education and the influence of technology. Truman must constantly be answering the question “How does a residential liberal arts university fit into a world where everyone is talking about massive open online classes (MOOCs), online education and workforce development?” Truman like so many others, is faced with scarce resources and the ongoing question of “How do we maintain our reputation for quality and affordability with fewer state resources and growing student debt?”

Given these challenges, it became clear that the University needed consistent and repetitive messaging which reinforces the amazing Truman story. Truman has so much to be proud of in the areas that really matter. The University has the highest graduation rate of any Missouri public university and the highest freshman-to-sophomore retention rates. At a time when students are concerned about the affordability of a high-quality education, Truman delivers. Truman has the lowest student-loan default rate in the state (except for Washington University), proving that a Truman degree has currency in the market. The University’s three-year student loan default rate is 3.7 percent while the national average is 14.75 percent and Missouri average is 13.1 percent. Half of Truman’s students graduate without any student debt and the other half graduate well below the national average.

Recognizing the need to clarify the University’s brand in this message-drenched world, Truman engaged the Stamats higher education marketing firm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in January 2013 to assist with the University’s marketing and communication efforts as well as a redesign of the website. They began that comprehensive process by coming to campus to interview administrators, faculty, students and staff to develop a deep understanding of Truman’s strengths and key attributes. Surveys were conducted with members of the campus community, prospective students and parents to establish how Truman is perceived in the marketplace. The surveys also sought to identify key strengths, challenges and differentiating characteristics of Truman for these external audiences. A final survey assessed the perceptions of the University among its alumni. The research, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, helped identify perceptions of the University, its competitive strengths and differentiators, descriptors and attributes perceived as distinctive to Truman, and the institutional positions and promises most valued by Truman’s audiences.

Using the market research and institutional mission, vision, values and strategic plan as guides, the University identified a brand promise statement that could most effectively reflect the words, phrases and messages determined to be the strongest descriptors of Truman among all its constituents. A brand tells a story. Truman’s story is that the University delivers an amazing value, and it is a place where dedicated professors guide talented students as they grow into capable professionals, engaged citizens and supportive colleagues.

Using the research, four attributes that differentiate Truman from other universities and support the brand promise were developed:
Intellectual and Curious
Individually and collectively, people at Truman are driven to know, to learn, to understand and to extend the reach of their shared knowledge. Truman students and alumni have an intellectual character that is undeniable and distinctive within the competitive landscape. It’s about actively seeking and understanding—asking “why?” one more time. There is a pragmatism, humility and humanity at Truman that is expressed by “curious.” Examples include:

• About half of all graduating seniors immediately enter graduate or professional school;

• Truman seniors report their courses emphasize “making judgments about the value of information, arguments or methods” more often than their counterparts at Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) schools and any of the 2012 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) institutions;

• Based on its graduates’ passage of the Certified Public Account (CPA) exam, Truman ranks fourth nationally among large programs and ninth among all programs.

A Lively Community of Learners
A largely residential campus, by design and by geography, Truman brings together more than 6,000 people for the primary purpose of learning. Although the drive to know may be individual, Truman community members work together, challenge each other and care for each other and the world. Truman faculty are involved teachers, mentors and advisors. They are also often neighbors to their students. Older students advise younger students. Majors tutor non-majors. Students disperse into the Kirksville community to rake leaves and clean parks. They stage performances and exhibits. They create clubs and movements. Most of the campus “play” has a larger purpose, and working together for a purpose often sets the stage for play, recreation and service to others. Some examples include:

• Truman students participate at a higher rate in cocurricular activities and service-learning projects than students at COPLAC schools or the 2012 NSSE institutions;

• 87 percent of students are active in one of the 200-plus clubs or student organizations, and 72 percent of students are involved with more than one organization.

Discovering Connections Across a Wide Range of Endeavors
Truman students seek breadth as well as depth in their studies and in their lives, learning to ask thoughtful questions, making surprising connections and communicating effectively across perspectives. This attribute allows Truman to speak to the way a broad education teaches students to articulate connections, a skill that translates into innovation and effective communication throughout one’s life and work. Furthermore, Truman students have the opportunity to connect what is learned in the classroom to endeavors that prepare them for career entry—research, internships, study abroad and service-learning. In a global and technologically accelerating world, every field, from agriculture to nursing to theatre, requires a grasp of culture, history and science, and the ability to adapt and interpret information and interactions. Some examples include:

• 97.8 percent of surveyed alumni (the 2006 and 2001 classes, surveyed in 2011 at the five-and 10-year mark, respectively) believe that they were able to perform as well or better than their colleagues who may have earned degrees with non-liberal arts backgrounds and heavy discipline emphasis;

• This same group of alumni indicated that they were adequately prepared in all areas and especially prepared with respect to combining knowledge from multiple areas to solve problems.

Preparing for Lives That Matter
Fueled by a desire to make a difference, Truman students and alumni turn their intellectual pursuits and emotional connections into action, whether in a profession such as medicine or education, in an endeavor such as scientific research or business leadership, or through community and public service. In both academic and cocurricular activities, Truman students engage with substantive questions and find ways to make that difference. The faculty and staff who mentor and support them are themselves engaged and active, pursuing what matters. As individuals, as an institution and as a community, Truman pursues the questions and faces the challenges of our time. Examples include:

• In a 2012 survey of employers of Truman alumni, those employers rated their Truman educated employees as good to excellent in their ability to get along with co-workers and clients, in their demonstration of a personal value system, in their speaking and presentation skills, and in basic work habits (honesty, promptness, diligence, dependability, etc.) and work attitudes (cooperation, loyalty, support, etc.);

• Alumni (2006 and 2001 classes, surveyed in 2011 at the five- and 10-year mark, respectively) indicated that they were adequately prepared in all areas and especially prepared with respect to getting along with others, speaking and presenting effectively, exercising leadership, making informed and ethical decisions and contributing as a citizen of the community;

• Overall, Truman seniors believe that they have gained good to excellent skills in understanding their own abilities, interests and personality, working cooperatively with a group, respecting the uniqueness and worth of each individual, persisting with difficult tasks, and leadership.

Embracing Truman’s New Theme
For those who were on campus at Homecoming, you have seen the following words: Don’t Follow. Pursue. The campus community chose these words carefully for the University’s tagline, as they have energy and forward momentum. The words resonate emotionally and they are true to Truman’s character and purpose. It’s simple, clear and directive—as important for those who are uncertain about their direction as those who have definite goals. The energetic fusion of intellect and emotion in this expression distinguishes Truman from commonplace and elite competitors alike. It promises the passionate life of the mind and tangible rewards, won through individual effort. Students and alumni alike discover extraordinary horizons to match their extraordinary talents—because of Truman.

Sometimes
You have to follow—to learn a new tune, a new language or a new way of looking at everything you’ve known since forever. Sometimes, something sparks. A seed germinates. You hunger to get it—right, complete, shining and whole. To make it your own. You are no longer following. You are pursuing. And then you discover you have company in the pursuit. Friends and mentors to laugh with and to rely on. That’s what we’ve found at Truman. People who share our passion for the pursuit of—knowledge, ability, community, a better world, happiness. Join the pursuit. It’s better with friends.
Always.
(taken from the Truman Admission Viewbook)

As alumni and friends of Truman, you know better than anyone why Truman is a great school. If you know of a potential student who would be a good fit for Truman, be sure and visit with them and encourage them to apply at admissions.truman.edu/apply/application.asp. There is still time to apply for the fall semester and it’s free.

High School Teachers
If you are teaching in a local high school or you know of Truman alumni who are teachers and staff in your local high school, please let us know by emailing pr@truman.edu.

Truman Pride Points
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine recently released its list of the top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges and Truman ranks No. 12 in the nation for schools that deliver a high-quality education at an affordable price. Truman is the highest-rated Missouri school on Kiplinger’s list and was the only university in the state to be included in the top 50. Truman is also ranked 9th in the nation for best out-of-state value and is highlighted on the website that features the top 10 out-of-state schools at kiplinger.com. The annual public school rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February 2014 magazine. Check out the additional Truman national accolades on the back page of the Truman Review.