Vol. 14, No. 15 - Dec. 15, 2009

To further Truman’s growing research reputation, the University has created the Office of Student Research to promote, facilitate, highlight and assess faculty-mentored student research across all disciplines.

Matthew Beaky, associate professor of physics, has been tapped to serve as the inaugural OSR director, and is currently in the first year of a three-year term.

The OSR will support research in four main areas, including: academic year research; summer research; external funding and grants support; and publication, presentations and publicity.

One of the main responsibilities of the OSR will be to oversee all aspects of the University’s annual Student Research Conference. It will also coordinate yearly travel to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and manage Truman’s Summer Undergraduate Research/Scholarship grants.

Additionally, the OSR will assess participation in, and quality of, undergraduate and graduate research opportunities, as well as work with faculty to identify academic year and summer research opportunities on campus and provide a central clearinghouse for students to learn about and apply for these opportunities.

According to Beaky, long-term goals, contingent on available time and funding, include the initiation and coordination of a statewide Missouri Research Conference on Undergraduate Research to bring together undergraduates from colleges and universities from across the state. The production of an annual or biannual journal that highlights student research is also a future goal of the OSR, as is the coordination of student travel to regional and national conferences to present the results of their research.

The OSR is located in Baldwin Hall 110, and is in the process of developing a website to promote and coordinate student research and scholarship activities. Anyone wanting to contact the OSR can call 785.4455 or e-mail osr@truman.edu.

Students graduating this December and their parents can now find information about commencement online. 

The website, at http://provost.truman.edu/Graduation/index.asp, outlines important information for degree candidates and their guests.

The ceremony for nearly 300 graduates will take place at 11 a.m. Dec. 19 in Pershing Arena. Former U.S. Senator, Jean Carnahan, will present the commencement address.

Due to the current renovation of Pershing, the parking lot on the east side of the building will be closed.

Guests attending the ceremony are encouraged to park in the lots located at Barnett Hall and the lots on the corner of Franklin and Patterson streets. For a map of campus and view of parking lots, visit http://tour.truman.edu/campusmap/.

Immediately following the commencement ceremony, the University will host a reception in the Student Union Building for all students, family members, guests, faculty, staff and administration.

Several webcams on the Truman Campus provide live views on the Truman website.  

The Truman Parents’ Project provided the first three webcams in 2004, which show views of the Student Union Building, the Quad and the walkway alongside the library. Residence Life added a webcam in 2005 to capture the progress of construction on West Campus Suites.

Todd Kuhns, web services manager, said many Truman alumni and friends regularly check in on the site.

“When one of those cams goes down, we usually hear about it first from a parent or alumnus off-campus,” said Kuhns.

Kuhns said one challenge to installing the cameras is getting wiring for power and network access to the often difficult-to-reach mounting locations.

Nevertheless, plans are in the works to add two more cameras in the near future.

To view Truman’s cams online, go to http://webcam.truman.edu.

Members of the Truman Forensics Team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-part competition known as the Holiday Frolic.

In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, sophomore Christian Johns led the squad with a quarter finals finish and a second place speaking award.

“The Holiday Frolic acts as a barometer for success at the National Championship Tournament, as it includes most of the same competition that Truman will face then,” Kristi Scholten, director of forensics said. “People who do well in debate at this tournament tend to do well at Nationals and those that don’t do well learn what they need to do to step up their game.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Hatting continued the debaters’ success when she received an Octofinalist award.

The success continued in Individual Events with three new qualifications for the National Championship in the spring. Freshman Jessica Petrie placed first in Persuasive Speaking, the first time she has traveled with this particular event, and is now qualified to take this event to Nationals.

Petrie also placed fifth in Extemporaneous and third in Impromptu. Freshman George Alan also qualified two events at his first-ever competition. He won Novice Impromptu Speaking and placed fifth in Novice After Dinner Speaking. This brings up the team’s total to 19 qualifications. 

Freshman Samantha Jones received a sixth place finish in Prose, and sophomore Andrew Grojean was an Impromptu Speaking semi-finalist.

During the second competition in the same weekend and same city, this time at Otterbein College, the team experienced even more debate success. Johns again received a Quarter-finalist award; Hatting another Octofinalist award; and junior Dylan Clark also received an Octofinalist award. Petrie was the only competitor that made it into a final round with a third place finish in Persuasive Speaking.     

Anyone interested in competing in forensics should contact Scholten at kscholten@truman.edu.

Former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan will present the commencement address during Truman’s December graduation ceremony at 11 a.m. Dec. 19 in Pershing Arena.


As part of the commencement ceremonies, Carnahan will also be accepting an honorary degree on behalf of her late husband who was the governor when the University was renamed Truman State University in 1996.

In addition to being the first woman in Missouri history to serve in the U.S. Senate, Carnahan worked with her husband, Mel Carnahan, for 40 years of public service. She played an active role in her husband’s political career. Mel served as a State Legislator, State Treasurer, Lt. Governor and Governor.

As Missouri’s First Lady from 1993 to 2000 she worked to improve the lives of the state’s children as an advocate for childhood immunization, abuse centers and on-site day care centers for working families. She was also a champion of the arts and Habitat for Humanity.

In 2000, her husband was campaigning for the U.S. Senate when he, their son Randy and a campaign adviser were killed in an airplane crash just three weeks before the election. Voters posthumously elected Mel to the Senate and Jean agreed to take her husband’s place in Washington.
 
During her two years in Washington, Carnahan continued to be a leading advocate for working families. The Senate voted to include her first bill, the “Quality Classrooms Act,” in the “Leave No Child Behind” law. Following the Enron scandal, she introduced the “Informed Investors Act,” which passed into law and required corporations to make swift, electronic reporting of insider trading. She also secured an extension of health care benefits for returning reservists and National Guard personnel.

Carnahan served on the Commerce Committee, the Governmental Affairs Committee, the Special Committee on Aging and the Small Business Committee. She was also the fifth woman to ever serve on the Armed Services Committee. Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, she was a member of the first Congressional delegation to Afghanistan and conferred with heads of state in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Oman.

In recent years Carnahan has been able to watch as her children have started their own political careers and businesses. Her son Russ and daughter Robin won public offices in 2004 and were re-elected in 2008. Russ serves in the 3rd U.S. Congressional District seat while Robin serves as the Missouri Secretary of State. Her son Tom is the founder and CEO of Wind Capital, a wind energy company.

Outside of politics, Carnahan is an accomplished author, having written five books. The most recent, “The Tide Always Comes Back,” a collection of inspirational essays, was released in November. Other works include “If Walls Could Talk,” a history of the state’s first families, and her autobiography “Don’t Let the Fire Go Out.”

The honorary degree is one of three, originally announced in the spring, to be awarded to individuals who played pivotal roles in shaping Truman State University into a premier liberal arts and sciences university.

The other two degree recipients are Charles McClain, the long-time school president who envisioned the University’s mission change, and John Ashcroft, the Missouri governor who formally designated it as the state’s only public liberal arts institution. 

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 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.

Gretchen Smiles, MAE graduate student; Liz Jorn, HES instructor and Cardinal Key adviser; and Baillie Cloyd, Truman’s service-learning coordinator and AmeriCorps*VISTA member, attended the 2009 National Cardinal Key Conference in Atlanta, Ga., in October. Cardinal Key is a National Honor Society that focuses on service and leadership. Jorn was the first adviser to ever attend. In addition, Cloyd was elected as the National President and Smiles was elected as the National Vice-President. Cloyd and Smiles join the ranks of only two other national officers and will serve for the next two years. Their responsibilties include writing monthly newsletters, keeping in touch with other chapters and planning the 2011 National Conference.