Vol. 13, No. 27 - April 7, 2009

Alanna Preussner, professor of English, won top honors at the 20th annual Educator of the Year Banquet April 2.

Preussner began teaching at Truman in 1989. She teaches American Romanticism; Senior Seminar (on American Nature Writers, late 19th century, World War I and Midwestern literature); Mystery; British Literature, American Literature, World Literature, American Studies/The American West; and Applying Literary Theory.


A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Preussner received her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Students nominate professors for Educator of the Year. Nominees then submit an essay and syllabus to the Educator of the Year committee, which selects the finalist. In addition to Preussner, this year’s finalist included: James Cianciola, assistant professor of communication; Alan Davis, professor of accounting; Sherri Palmer, professor of psychology; Datha Dameron-Martinez, professor of business administration; and Matthew Tornatore, professor of foreign languages and linguistics.

Students from Student Government, the Pershing Society and Phi Kappa Phi serve on the Educator of the Year Committee.

Thanks to a generous donation, the Children’s Literature Festival returns to Truman April 17. During the Festival, 10 writers and illustrators will be showcased, providing an opportunity to connect area children with books and their authors.

An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 children from grades three through six, in approximately 20 area schools, are invited to participate in 30-minute sessions with the authors and illustrators on Truman’s campus.

The Festival was an annual event for 21 years until it was discontinued in 2004 due to severe budget cuts. The Children’s Literature Festival Fund was created in 2007 through the leadership and generosity of Travis W. Freeman with a gift he made to the University’s “Bright Minds Bright Futures” campaign. Financial support from the Truman Bookstore is also making the event possible. Pickler Memorial Library is serving as sponsor for the event.

This year’s Festival will take place from 9 a.m.-2:15 p.m. April 17 in the Student Union Building. All children attending must be pre-registered.University faculty, staff, students and other interested adults are welcome to attend, but they should also be pre-registered. To register, contact Daisy Rearick at drearick@truman.edu or 785.4048.

Visiting authors and illustrators include Suzanne Beaky, Joan Carris, J.B. Cheaney, Shane Evans, Cheryl Harness, David Harrison, Amy MacDonald, David Patneaude, Barbara Robinson and Mike Thaler. The authors’ books are available at the Truman State University Bookstore. An informal meeting and book signing will take place from 3-4 p.m. in the Student Union Building Conference Room.

The Festival will conclude with a dinner at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Building Activities Room. The dinner is limited to pre-registered adults and children accompanied by an adult. The cost is $10.50. At 7 p.m. author Cheryl Harness will give a presentation.

Additional information about the Festival may be obtained by contacting Sharon Hackney at 785.7366 or shackney@truman.edu, or by going online to http://library.truman.edu/Children%27sLiteratureFestival.htm.

For more information about the Children’s Literature Festival Fund, contact the Office of Advancement at 785.4133 or go online to http://giving.truman.edu/SpecialInitiatives/ChildrensLiteratureFestival.asp.

The Truman theatre department will present “Jekyll and Hyde the Musical,” at 8 p.m. April 15-18 in the James G. Severn’s Theatre in Ophelia Parrish. A preview night is scheduled for April 14.

The musical was conceived for the stage by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn; book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; and music by Frank Wildhorn.

“Jekyll and Hyde the Musical,” an evocative take of the epic battle between good and evil, is based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story about a brilliant doctor whose experiments with human personality create a murderous counterpart. Convinced the cure for his father’s mental illness lies in the separation of man’s evil nature from his good, Dr. Henry Jekyll unwittingly unleashes his own dark side, wreaking havoc in the streets of late 19th-century London as the savage, maniacal Edward Hyde.

All tickets must be reserved in advance and can be picked up at the box office in Ophelia Parrish Monday-Friday 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. beginning April 7. For more information about the musical contact the box office at 785.4515.

The Truman State University Foundation awards 10 $1,500 scholarships annually to students who are participating in a summer, faculty-led study abroad experience.

The students who have been selected as recipients in 2009 will study abroad in various programs, including Bethsaida Archeological Dig and Israel Study tour, Costa Rica Summer Program, Democracy and Human Rights in South Africa, Europe in Transition, Salamanca Program, and Study Abroad in the Philippines. 


More than $615,000 in scholarships has been awarded from the Foundation this year. These scholarships are made possible through generous contributions from alumni, parents and friends of the University. For more information contact the Office of Advancement at 785.4133.

The Jack J. Isgur Foundation is accepting applications from students enrolled in the field of education in the humanities, such as literature, fine arts, music, art, poetry and dance. The Foundation awards scholarships to students studying at universities who indicate an interest in teaching courses in the above-described areas in school districts located in the State of Missouri, preferably rural school districts. The scholarship is available to students at the junior and senior levels, as well as graduate students. For further information or an application, stop by the Truman Financial Aid Office in McClain Hall 103.  Deadline for submission is April 15.

Abbott & Fenner Business Consultants will be awarding up to $1,000 each year to the winner of this scholarship. To apply students will submit an essay on one of the two topics that appear on the scholarship page of their web site at http://www.abbottandfenner.com/scholarships.htm. Further information is available at their website. Application deadline is June 20. 

The BigSun Organization is offering a $500 scholarship to a deserving student athlete, regardless of their respective sport. Please visit http://www.bigsunathletics.com to learn how to apply. Deadline for submission is June 27.

The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis is a non-profit organization that provides access to higher education to St. Louis area students through interest free loans. The program assists students with financial need. Applicants must have a minimum cumulative 2.0 grade point average, demonstrate good character, and must be a permanent resident of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles or Warren, or the Illinois counties of Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe or St. Clair for at least two years prior to application. Applications are due April 15, 2009. For more information call 314.725.7990, e-mail info@sfstl.org or can pick up an application packet in the Financial Aid Office.

Kevin Minch, associate professor of communication and director of forensics, will become the new director of the Truman Institute.

Under Minch’s leadership the institute will develop initiatives and partnerships that will generate revenue and support Truman’s mission. These initiatives will include developing mutually beneficial partnerships, expanding Truman’s reach to students residing in off-site locations such as St. Louis and Kansas City, developing new on-campus programs to bolster recruiting efforts, and fostering and supporting new modes of course delivery.

“Dr. Minch is the right person to lead the newly constituted Truman Institute,” said Troy Paino, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “His problem solving skills, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and passion for Truman will make him extremely successful in this critically important role.”

In addition to his teaching duties and role as the director of the award winning forensics program, Minch also serves as the dean of the Joseph Baldwin Academy, which is a three-week residential program for academically talented seventh, eighth and ninth graders.

Minch was selected as one of the 2002 William O’Donnel Lee Advising Award winners. The award recognizes the dedication and skill of exemplary advisers at Truman.

Minch’s education background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, as well as a master’s degree in communication from Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Kansas.

University Counseling Services is currently taking applications for internships that may be used for scholarship hours for the 2009-2010 school year. Interested students should fill out the application available online at http://ucs.truman.edu/about/forms.asp and return it to University Counseling Services. The internships available are Sexual Assault Prevention Intern and Safe Zone Intern. Review of applications will begin April 10.

The Truman chapter of the American Marketing Association won an award for Outstanding Community Service at the International Collegiate Conference. Four students, Haley Ray, Lisa Buckley, Hannah Siekerman and Olivia Crandall, attended the conference from March 26-29. This is the second year in a row that Truman’s AMA has won the Outstanding Community Service award.

Dana Delaware and David Wohlers, professors of chemistry, traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah March 20-25 to attend and participate in the 237th meeting of the American Chemical Society. Delaware attended paper presentations primarily directed to the teaching and learning of organic chemistry. As the Councilor of the Mark Twain Local Section of the ACS, Wohlers not only attended the Council meeting but also participated as a member of the committee on Community Activities, the committee with oversight of the National Chemistry Week and Chemists Celebrate Earth Day activities. Wohlers also volunteered service at the booth of the Office of Public Affairs in the Convention Center in the Exhibit area. As a co-author with Cary A. Supalo and Tom Mallouk from Pennsylvania State University Wohlers presented a poster entitled “Multisensory Learning Experiences for Students Who are Blind or Low Vision in the Chemistry and Science Laboratories.” Wohlers gave a report to the Committee on Chemists with Disabilities concerning his involvement in the Workshop, “Excellence Empowering a Diverse Academic Workforce: Chemists, Chemical Engineers, and Materials,” sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation in February.

Ronald A. Knight, professor emeritus of mathematics, had his paper “Some Topological Properties of Generalized Flows” accepted for publication in the “Journal Topology Proceedings.”

In April 2008, Huping Ling, professor of history, was named the executive editor of the “Journal of Asian American Studies.” Under her editorship, the first issue of “Journal of Asian American Studies” (JAAS 12.2) will be out in the next few weeks. Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, the JAAS is one of the premier refereed journals in the field of Asian American studies and it is in the top 25 percent of 300 journals on the electronic database Project Muse. There are Asian American and Pacific Islander studies programs and departments in more than 50 public and private institutions nationwide, Ling has authored and edited 10 books on Asian American studies.

Rodney Taylor, professor of German, will have two academic articles reprinted dealing with the German playwright Georg Buchner. The essays entitled “The Convergence of Individual Will and Historical Necessity in Buchner’s Danton” and “Buchner’s Critique of Platonism in Dantons Tod” will appear in a forthcoming reference work on world playwrights entitled “Drama Criticism,” Vol. 35, DC-35. Taylor was also invited to contribute an essay to a special volume in new Buchner scholarship to be published by the prestigious “Amsterdamer Beitrage zur Neueren Germanistik.”

The Student Council for Exceptional Children is taking volunteer buddies for the Special Olympics Spring Games. Buddies will volunteer from 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. April 18 and work one-on-one with the athletes. Lunch will be provided. For more information or to sign up to be a volunteer buddy contact Laura Columbo at lac6736@truman.edu.

Campus Crusade for Christ will host Carl Werner, author of “Evolution: The Grand Experiment,” to present “Why I Abandoned Evolution,” at 9 p.m. April 7 in Magruder Hall 2001. Werner will be speaking on why he chose to abandon evolution after he originally started on a quest to prove evolution.

The Leadership Recognition Program Banquet, sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement, will be at 7 p.m. April 8 in the Student Union Building Georgian Room. This event is designed to honor Truman students, advisors and organizations for their dedication to their peers, campus and the Kirksville community through various leadership roles and events during the year.

The Global Issues Colloquium will continue with a presentation by Jennifer Leigh Disney, from Winthrop University, entitled “Women’s Activism and Feminist Agency in Mozambique and Nicarague” at 7 p.m. April 16 in Magruder hall 2001. Disney will trace the mobilization of women in two revolutionary contexts, comparing the strategies and outcomes of various organizational forms developed in Mozambique and in Nicaragua over the past 30 years. She will also explore how the military struggles against colonialism and imperialism fostered feminist agency leading to the evolution of each movement and how it changed in a post-revolutionary climate.

The International Club will sponsor an International Fair from 12:30-3:30 p.m. April 17 on the Quad.

A famous Russian pop star will visit Truman in “ProjeKt OsKar” at 1:45 p.m. April 17 in Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall. Oskar currently lives in New York and will give a lecture on being an artist in Russia and the U.S.

The Women’s Resource Center will host “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer,” a powerful collection of monologues from men and women about violence against women from Eve Ensler, at 7 p.m. April 17 in the Baldwin Hall Little Theatre.

Squirrelfest 2009, sponsored by the Center for Student Involvement, Residence Life Fun and Spirit Committee, Student Recreation, and Student Affairs, will take place from 12 p.m.-8 p.m. April 18 on the Quad.