Vol. 14, No. 13 - Dec. 1, 2009

Andrew McCall has been named a Rhodes scholar, placing him in a distinct group, and making him the first Truman student to be so honored.

“I like to think that it is a way for me to thank my professors for the incredible growth they’ve guided me through while I’ve been here,” McCall said. “Through me, the Rhodes Trust is acknowledging the great teaching that goes on at Truman.”


Rhodes scholars were announced Nov. 22. McCall, a senior philosophy and religion major from St. Louis was among the 32 recipients. Created in 1902, the Rhodes scholarship covers all expenses of two to three years of study at Oxford University in England.

McCall said he was encouraged to apply by Patricia Burton, professor of philosophy.

“It seemed like the only avenue into graduate school that would acknowledge, and in fact reward, the amount of time I have invested in sports and music,” McCall said.

Captain of the swimming team, he is five-time Division II All-American in swimming and a violinist in the University Symphony.

After submitting his application in September, McCall heard nothing from the selection committee until November. He was invited to a reception dinner and series of interviews the weekend of Nov. 20. After his third interview Nov. 21 he learned he had been selected.

“By that point my nerves were exhausted and I felt nothing but relief,” he said.

McCall plans to read for the Bachelor of Philosophy, roughly the equivalent to a masters program at any other school, beginning in the fall of 2010. After two years at Oxford he plans to pursue a Ph.D. somewhere and ultimately teach philosophy at a university.

While McCall may be the first Truman Rhodes scholar, he said he encourages others to apply in the future.

“It’s a great opportunity, and there’s no reason Truman students shouldn’t take advantage of it,” he said.

The Health and Exercise Sciences (HES) Department has partnered with Kirksville Primary School (KPS) to create an interactive learning environment for both college and elementary students.

Chris Lantz, HES department chair, and Janice Young, HES assistant professor, began the Kirksville Primary Partners Project nearly two years ago.

Originally started as an environmental buddy program, the idea came from a conversation between Lantz and second-grade KPS teacher, Debbie Lechner. She expressed to Lantz she wanted her students to be involved in service, and Lantz saw an opportunity for Truman students to help.

Since then, the program has grown to include more elementary classrooms and a variety of topics.

HES students present a range of lessons including nutrition, environmental health, recycling, physical activity, wellness and more. Past projects at KPS have included making recycled paper, picking up litter and assisting with Earth Week activities.  


Lantz said countless Truman students have participated in the program.

“Our students interact with their students, and largely, the faculty sit back and watch the interactions happen,” Lantz said.

The interactions provide a hands-on learning experience for both KPS and Truman students.

“Our kids probably benefit from that relationship more so because they are responsible for delivering content,” Lantz said, referring to the role of Truman students as facilitators and teachers of the activities.

October’s activity consisted of a field trip to the University Recycling Center. There, Lechner’s students learned about the different products that can be recycled and what can be made from recycled materials.

It is not too late to help Truman “live united” with the United Way of Adair County.
 
As of Nov. 20, Truman faculty, staff, emeriti, retirees and students had contributed more than $50,000. The Truman community has now met more than 90 percent of its goal.

The community-wide drive is at about 65 percent of its $275,000 goal.

Each contribution makes a significant difference in northeast Missouri. Less than $1 per week, or $50 per year, buys 620 disposable meal trays to be used to provide home-delivered meals to frail and disabled homebound clients. Less than $2 per week, or $100 per year, buys 8 pairs of shoes for children in a shelter. Less than $5 per week, or $250 per year, buys accident and sickness insurance for a Cub Scout Pack–both youth members and leaders. Less than $10 per week, or $500 per year, provides three nights in the safehouse for a family of four. Less than $25 per week provides 300 RSVP volunteers with liability, accident and excess auto insurance while volunteering.

Anyone with questions about the drive, or in need of a pledge form, can contact either of the Truman United Way co-chairs, Joe Hamilton (hamilton@truman.edu) or Deb Kerby (dkerby@truman.edu).

Finding information about Truman Athletics just became much easier as TrumanBulldogs.com is now the official web address for the Bulldogs.

“The addition of the name TrumanBulldogs.com will be better for our fans, recruits and alumni to find us on the web,” said Assistant Athletics Director Kevin White.  “Along with our TrumanBulldogs.com, Facebook and Twitter sites, information about all of our great sports has never been easier.”

TrumanBulldogs.com will link directly to the previous address of http://gobulldogs.truman.edu. The website will continue to provide news, schedules, stats and selected live video for the Truman Athletics Department.

Truman’s 2nd Annual Bioenergy Conference will take place Dec. 4 and will highlight the role of farms and farmland in a sustainable energy future.

This conference is targeted to anyone interested in a sustainable energy future, including high school and college agriculture faculty members, extension personnel, natural resource and conservation agency personnel and community leaders.

Recent trends in energy prices, coupled with developments in energy policy, have made it clear that agriculture will play an important role in America’s energy future. However, concerns over the growing use of biofuels and biomass, their impact on food availability and price, and their broader environmental impact, have generated debate about the sustainability of current bioenergy developments.

Dr. John Hagler, Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture and Truman graduate, is one of the distinguished speakers presenting at the conference. He will speak at the Luncheon, which will begin at 11:50 a.m. in the Student Union Building in Georgian Room B.

The Bioenergy Conference will address production and handling of dedicated biomass feedstocks, algae oil production and utilization, alternative oilseed production, farm-level oilseed processing and biodiesel production, methane digesters and recent developments in energy policy.

Several presentations will be on going throughout the day, including hands-on bioenergy demonstrations and exhibits at the University Farm, and a demonstration of the Mobile Oilseed Crusher. There will be a free pre-conference tour of Crystal Peak Fertilizer in Green City, Mo., Dec. 3.

Funding for the conference is provided by a Professional Development Program grant from USDA’s North Central Regional Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. For more information, contact Michael Seipel at mseipel@truman.edu or 785.4316 or go online to http://bioenergyconference.truman.edu.

Truman will posthumously honor long-time professor Jim Thomas with a poetry reading from his new publication “Brief Tracks” at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 in Baldwin Hall Auditorium.

Thomas taught at Truman for 30 years before retiring in 1994. Widely regarded as one of the state’s finest poets, he passed away in February 2009.

The poetry reading, sponsored by the University’s Department of English and Linguistics, will include readings by family members, former colleagues, current faculty, former students and Missouri’s Poet Laureate Walter Bargen.

Copies of “Brief Tracks” may be purchased at the reading for $20 and are available at bookstores. All royalties benefit the Jim Thomas Scholarship Fund through the Truman State University Foundation.

The reading is free and open to the public. President and Mrs. Darrell W. Krueger will host a reception at the University Residence following the reading.

In addition to “Brief Tracks,” Thomas published more than 350 poems, stories and essays in leading literary journals. Nature, family and the many miracles within the commonplace were favorite themes Thomas incorporated in his work.

Thomas taught composition, creative writing and American literature during his tenure at Truman. He also served as Director of Graduate Studies and Acting Head of the Division of Language and Literature.

“Brief Tracks” was collected and edited by colleague Joe Benevento, professor of English, and was published by Truman State University Press. Benevento will also serve as host during the reading.

The U.S. Department of State has announced the upcoming scholarship competition for the 2010 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program.

The program provides funds for overseas intensive summer language institutes in 13 critical-need foreign languages.

The online application for the CLS Program awards is now available. The deadline to apply is Dec. 18.

The CLS Program provides group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to 10 weeks. Students may apply for one language and will be placed at institute sites based on language evaluations after selection. The 2010 CLS Program will include new programs in Indonesian and Japanese.

Levels available for each language are as follows:
*Arabic, Persian: beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
*Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Punjabi, Turkish, or Urdu: beginning, intermediate or advanced level;
*Chinese, Japanese or Russian: intermediate or advanced level.

Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. While there is no service requirement attached to CLS Program awards, participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period and later apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.

For more information on the CLS Program and the selection process, visit http://www.CLScholarship.org. To receive a program announcement, e-mail sylla.julia@caorc.org.  

With construction beginning on the new addition to the Pershing Building, changes have been made to accommodate parking for arena events.

The public entrance to Pershing Arena for events will now be located on the west side by the concession stand. Bulldog fans will need to park in the new lots on Franklin Street directly across from Pershing Arena. Handicap parking has also moved to the west side but will be located in the small parking lot on the southwest corner of the building.

Construction of the new annex to Pershing Building is scheduled to last until the summer of 2011. The new lots on the west should actually increase the available parking on game days.

Students and faculty with unwanted or unused textbooks now have an option to donate the books in an effort that benefits the Truman campus, the earth and students around the world.

In an effort to help improve literacy and divert books from landfills, the members of Truman in Africa (TIA) are asking for donations of unwanted college-level books. Preferred books are those published within the past 10 years or any books used in a college class. Highlighting and writing in books is fine.

TIA is partnering with Better World Books (http://www.betterworldbooks.com) to run a book drive that will benefit Invisible Children (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php).

Books collected will be put up for sale online to raise a sustainable stream of funding for Invisible Children or sent directly to Africa. If the books cannot be donated or sold, they are then recycled.

For convenience, TIA members will personally collect the used books. Faculty should set donations outside of office doors during the first week of December.

Members will pick up the books between 2-4 p.m. each day. Please mark the books with a sticky-note or piece of paper that says, “TIA” or “Book Drive” so members collect the correct items.   

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Scholarship Program is now accepting scholarship applications for 10-week summer internships at federal research facilities or DHS Centers of Excellence. Positions are open to undergraduate students with U.S. citizenship. The award includes full tuition and fees and a monthly stipend. Application deadline is Jan. 5, 2010. Send questions to dhsed@orau.org or visit http://www.orau.gov/dhseducationprograms.

Scholarships are available through Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, Inc., for the 2010-2011 academic year. Stop by the Financial Aid Office in McClain Hall 103 for more information on eligibility requirements or to obtain an application. One winner from each state may be submitted for the National Garden Club scholarship in the amount of $3,500.

The Missouri Travel Council will offer two $1,000 scholarships to currently enrolled sophomores, juniors or seniors in an accredited college or university in the state of Missouri. Applicants must be pursuing a hospitality-related major such as hotel/restaurant management, parks and recreation, etc., must be a current resident of Missouri, and must have a grade point average of at least 3.0. For more information, visit http://www.missouritravel.com. The deadline for applications is March 2, 2010.

Collegium Civitas is now accepting applications for its professional internship program in Warsaw, Poland (June 1-July 31, 2010). Civitas offers students a unique opportunity to undertake professional internships in various areas, including politics, European integration, human rights, civic and political education, civil society, arts, history, Jewish culture and history, economics, business, media and journalism, legal and constitutional affairs, the environment and more. For details, visit http://www.globaleducationleadership.org/.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security HS-STEM Summer Internship Program is accepting applications from undergraduate students with U.S. citizenship for 10-week summer research experiences at federal research facilities. Participants receive a stipend of $500 each week plus transportation expenses to/from their internship location. Deadline to apply is Jan. 5, 2010. Send questions regarding DHS Education Programs to dhsed@orau.org or visit http://www.orau.gov/dhseducationprograms for more.

The Institute of International Education has announced the inauguration of the Freeman Indonesia Nonprofit Internship Program (FINIP), funded by the Freeman Foundation. The internship aims to develop student leaders and strengthen the nonprofit sector in Indonesia. IIE will select and pair 10 Indonesian students pursuing U.S. degrees with 10 U.S. undergraduates and arrange internships for them to work together in an Indonesian nonprofit organization. The internship lasts from June 15- Aug. 17, 2010, and will take place in three cities: Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta. Interested American and Indonesian sophomores and juniors enrolled in U.S. institutions are encouraged to apply, using the online application at http://www.iie.org/programs/finip. The deadline for submission of completed applications is Feb. 15, 2010. Contact finip@iie.org or visit http://www.iie.org/programs/finip for more information.

The Truman in Washington Program facilitates internship opportunities in the Washington D.C. area. Students can intern in their area of interest by working with Truman alumni, The Washington Center (TWC), or independently identified internships. Truman in Washington helps students locate housing in the D.C. area and provides students with support throughout the internship experience. Most internship programs have specific application processes with strict deadlines. Students also have the opportunity to earn academic credit through Truman in Washington, if they choose. Visit the Truman in Washington website at http://twp.truman.edu for more information. The site includes application materials, cost estimates, photographs taken by past interns and general information about the D.C. area. Applications for internships through The Washington Center are due by Jan. 19, 2010. Contact Diane Tobin Johnson at djohnson@truman.edu or 785.7852 with any questions regarding an internship in the Washington, D.C. area.

The Office of Citizenship and Community Standards would like to know how Truman’s community values have been important in each student’s University experience. Submit reflections of 500 words or less at http://conduct.truman.edu. One lucky entry will win a $100 gift card to the bookstore.

The deadline for 2010 Homecoming Committee Applications has been extended to Dec. 4. Applications can be found online at http://csi.truman.edu or at the CSI Office in the Student Union Building. For more information call 785.4222.

Are you looking for a quiet place to study with your group? Stop by the Pickler Memorial Library Circulation Desk and pick up a study room key. No reservation needed. Study rooms have a lab computer with a larger monitor. There is a two-hour time limit. For more information go to http://its.truman.edu/labs/pml312_lab.asp.

The National Collegiate Honors Council will be accepting applications for the Dr. John and Mrs. Edythe Portz Fellowship. The highly competitive award of up to $7,000 is open to all students at any of the more than 800 member institutions of the NCHC in the U.S. and beyond. The Portz Fellowships support original and extended interdisciplinary projects for up to 18 months. Applications are available at http://www.nchchonors.org. For more information contact Dr. Patrice Berger at pberger1@unl.edu or 402.472.5425.

Activity: College Bowl Mania
Division: Open
Deadline: Finals Week
Captains’ Meeting: NA
Play Begins: Finals Week

Activity: Wrap Up Meeting
Division: Open/Org/Greek
Deadline: NA
Captains’ Meeting: Dec. 3
Play Begins: NA

All information, rules and registration requirements are online at http://recreation.truman.edu/intramuralrec.asp, or contact the Intramural Office at 785.4467. Captains’ Meeting is at 4:30 p.m. in the SRC Conference Room.

Masahiro Hara, associate professor of Japanese, presented a paper titled “Evidence against the shallow structure hypothesis from processing of scrambling in Japanese” at the 32nd Second Language Research Forum at Michigan State University Nov. 1. His paper “L2 processing of Japanese scrambling under the Parallel Architecture framework” appeared in Proceedings of the 10th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference. Hara’s paper “Evidence for L2 syntactic gap-processing in Japanese scrambling sentences” is forthcoming in Proceedings of the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America 3 Conference. In addition, his paper “Second language gap processing of Japanese scrambling” has been accepted for inclusion in Second Language Processing and Parsing. Collaboration with Julie Minn, instructor of Chinese, and Xiaofen Chen, associate professor of economics, was essential in the preparation stage of the research.

School of Business faculty members Jim Turner and Bryce Jones had their article, “The Fall of the Per Se Vertical Price Fixing Rule,” accepted for publication in the “Journal of Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues.”

A book signing for the Unwritten Letters Project by junior Alex Boles will take place from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Truman Bookstore in the Student Union Building.

The University and Community Relations Committee will host a blood drive from 12-4 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Student Union Building Down Under. Go to http://www.givelife.org to sign up for an appointment.

The Weekly Lunch Series will continue from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Student Union Building Spanish Room. It will be the annual evaluation session of the series. Simple feedback forms will be available, but time will be allowed for unstructured conversation with colleagues.

The next event in the Physics Colloquium will take place at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in Violette Hall 1000. Aaron Dominguez from the department of physics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will present “Using Silicon Trackers for High Energy Physics.” For more information go to http://physics.truman.edu/colloquia/mainstage.asp.

The Student Activities Board will host its annual Holiday Lights concert at 8 p.m. Dec. 2 on the steps of Kirk Memorial. The event celebrates the upcoming holiday season and features live a cappella music by True Men, Minor Detail, Sweet Nothings, Unique Ensemble and Sophisticated Ladies. Free hot chocolate and holiday cookies will be available.

The Women’s Resource Center is hiring volunteer, scholarship and work-study positions for Spring 2010. Applications can be found in the Women’s Resource Center located in Student Union Building 1100 in the CSI complex. The deadline to apply is Dec. 2. The interviews will take place during the last week of classes from Dec. 7-11.

Cold Turkey Tobacco Cessation Classes will continue at 8 p.m. Dec. 3 in Pershing Building Room 301. E-mail ccox@truman.edu for more information.  

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) will meet at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at the University Club House, located at 516 E. Patterson. Contact Marc Becker at marc@truman.edu or call 785.6036 for more information.

The Truman Department of Music will sponsor the Fifth Annual Renaissance Madrigal Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 4-5 in the Student Union Building. Tickets can be purchased online at http://music.truman.edu/madrigal. They are $22 for adults, $17 for students and $9 for children ages 2-8. For more information contact Jon Gil at jgill@truman.edu.

The University Board of Governors will conduct a meeting at 1 p.m. Dec. 5 in the Student Union Building Conference Room.