Vol. 18 No. 29 - April 22, 2014

Members of the Vice President for Academic Affairs Advisory Search Committee will host on-campus visits for the three finalists for the position.

Candidates will visit Truman and meet with several individuals and constituencies April 22-28. In addition, each candidate will participate in an All-University Open Forum to take place in Violette Hall 1000. Details on those forums can be found below and on the VPAA search website which also includes a curriculum vitae for each candidate.

Dr. James H. McDonald
Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Southern Utah University
10-11 a.m.
April 23
Violette Hall 1000
 
Dr. Susan L. Thomas
Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Program Development
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
10-11 a.m.
April 25
Violette Hall 1000
 
Dr. Janet L. Gooch
Dean, School of Health Sciences and Education
Truman State University
10-11 a.m.
April 28
Violette Hall 1000
 
Input from the campus community is crucial to the success of the search. A link to an electronic candidate evaluation form will be added to the search website next week. All open forums will be recorded, and a webcast of each forum will be available on the search website shortly thereafter.

The Global Issues Colloquium will continue at 7 p.m. April 24 in Magruder Hall 2001. Robert Hitchcock of the Department of Society and Environment will present "People, Parks and Power: Global Implications of Wildlife Conservation and Development in Southern Africa."

The Truman Upward Bound project is searching for career mentors for high school students who will be on campus during June and July. During the 2014 summer session, Upward Bound expects to place 10 rising 12th grade high school students in jobs related to their professional interests. The job supervisors, who must be degreed professionals, will function as career mentors to the students as they encourage them to pursue a post-secondary education and discuss career options within their field of specialty. Students will provide 30 hours of free labor to the supervisor from June 8-July 3.
 
Upward Bound, a part of the Truman campus since 1966, is funded to build in low-income and first-generation high school students the skills and motivation necessary for college success. Services are provided in six Northeast Missouri counties on a year-round basis from the sophomore to the senior years in high school. Project participants meet in weekly after-school meetings throughout the academic year and spend six weeks in the summer on the Truman campus in a college-preparatory residential session.

First priority for job placements will be given to on-campus professionals. Professors and campus offices interested in receiving more information about a student worker for the 2014 summer session should contact Upward Bound at 660.785.4244 or ubub@truman.edu by April 25.

The Truman School of Health Sciences and Education will host its sixth annual Language and Literacy Conference April 25 in the Student Union Building.

More than 100 Truman students and area primary and secondary school teachers, speech-language pathologists, and reading specialists interested in improving reading and writing achievement have registered to attend.

The speaker will be Gaye Heath, 95 Percent group client manager. 95 Percent Group, headquartered in Lincolnshire, Ill., specializes in how to use literacy screening data for tiers of intervention, as well as instructional strategies to address specific skill deficits. 

Heath’s topic will be “Promoting Collaboration in the Assessment and Treatment of Literacy Related Problems in Children.” Before joining 95 Percent Group, Heath was a district professional development instructional specialist. Heath has more than 20 years of classroom experience in middle schools. She was a basic skills resource specialist and an adjunct professor at Maricopa Community College. Heath holds a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership with endorsements as a reading specialist and English as a second language.

Former con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. will speak at 7 p.m. April 26 in Baldwin Auditorium.

Between the ages of 16 and 21, Abagnale successfully posed as an airline pilot, an attorney, a college professor and a pediatrician, in addition to cashing $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign countries. Apprehended by the French police when he was 21 years old, he served time in the French, Swedish, and U.S. prison systems.

Abagnale is now one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement and secure documents, and has been associated with the FBI for more than 36 years. More than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies use his fraud prevention programs. A book, film and Broadway musical have been written about his time as a con artist.

Abagnale will provide insight into his life as a notorious imposter of the 1960s and will reveal how he learned to live on the right side of the law.

The event is free for all attending. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available in the Student Activities Board Office, located in the lower level of the Student Union Building. For more information, call 660.785.4722 or email specialevents.sab@gmail.com.

A farewell concert for retiring music professors Dan “Pete” Peterson and Tom Trimborn will take place at 2 p.m. April 27 in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.

The concert will feature Wind Symphony I under the direction of both Peterson and Trimborn and should run for about an hour. Light refreshments will be served afterwards, followed by a reception.

For more information on the reception, click here.

For those unable to attend it person, the concert will be live streamed here.

The Truman Noyce Scholars Program for Secondary Mathematics and Physics Teaching is now accepting scholarship applications for Fall 2014. The Noyce Scholarship Program is funded by the National Science Foundation and provides generous scholarships to future educators to teach mathematics and physics in high-need high schools. For more information about campus scholarships and how to apply, visit the Truman Noyce Scholars Office in Magruder Hall 3164 or go online to noyce.truman.edu. The deadline to apply is May 1.

Faculty and staff members involved with academic advising, or those who may become so at some point, are encouraged to attend the Advising Fair between 11 a.m.-2 p.m. April 24 in the Student Union Building Georgian Rooms B and C. Short demonstrations of the advising capabilities of TruView and DegreeWorks will be presented, and representatives from many important advising resources on campus will be available to answer questions. Snacks, drinks and sub sandwiches will be provided. The Advising Fair is sponsored by the Center for Academic Excellence and the Academic Professional Development Center.

The Learning Technologies Team's spring semester lineup includes workshops for faculty focused on a variety of teaching with technology topics. All sessions will take place at 12:30 p.m. in Pickler Memorial Library 103 unless otherwise stated.

April 23
Constructing Effective Assignments, Problem Sets & Exam Questions
This session highlights ways in which exams, problem sets and homework assignments can be designed to best support student learning and understanding. In this hands-on workshop, participants will spend time creating effective problem sets and questions using the Blackboard Tests and Pools functions for a class of their choosing.
 
April 30
Conducting Effective Online Meetings
Would you like to facilitate web-conferences with colleagues, group meetings with students or hold office hours online? Are you interested in the many options available to facilitate web-based, real-time collaborative experiences? In this workshop, the Learning Technologies Team discusses web conferencing options, how to set up a meeting space, the meeting space layout and the many options available. Specifically explore Zoom and Big Blue Button. By the end of the workshop, you will know how to set up the meeting space with Zoom and Big Blue Button, facilitate an online meeting and take away a few best practices concerning online real-time collaboration.  

To view a list of future workshop topics and dates, visit apd.truman.edu/home/upcoming-events.

After attending the Eta Sigma Phi centennial national convention April 11-13 in Chicago, junior Claire Drone-Silvers was elected as the national secretary of the 2014-2015 exective board for the honorary classics society.

Graduate student David Giovagnoli was on the planning committee for the national convention, where Truman’ s chapter won a regalia contest for the best club t-shirt. These shirts can be purchased online until May 4.

This spring, the society initiated three new members: freshmen Zara Callahan and Clarissa Goebel, and junior Corinne Pachl.

Truman Student Government is sponsoring a number of events April 22-25 to commemorate Earth Week. Check out the schedule of events below.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Bear Creek
4:30 p.m.
April 22
Meet at the northwest corner of Patterson and Franklin.

Earth Week Kick-Off
5-7 p.m.
April 22
Quad
Second Life Projects will be displayed on the quad, accompanied with performances by High Street, TruMen, USMED Belly Dancers, Swingers, Minor Detail and Sweet Nothings.

Growing the Abundance of Life
6 p.m.
April 22
Baldwin Hall Little Theatre
Wolfgang Hoeschele, professor of geography, will be giving his last lecture before he moves to Germany.

“The Last Mountain” Documentary
8:30 p.m.
April 23
Student Union Building Alumni Room
“The Last Mountain” is a documentary that talks about the consequences of mining and burning coal, particularly in the Appalachian mountains.

Student Panel Discussion about the Environment
6 p.m.
April 24
Student Union Building Georgian Room A
The panel will consist of students that will be speaking on current issues in the environment. This is designed to be a discussion among students, not a presentation. Come with questions and an enthusiasm to talk about Mother Earth.

Using Eco-Friendly Products
10 a.m.-2 p.m.
April 25
The Mall
Make sure to stop by the table outside the Student Union Building where students can learn how to use common household products in a more eco-savy way.

For more information about Earth Week events at Truman, contact jmf7887@truman.edu.

Chloe Bertschi, graduate music theory student, has been accepted to give a 30-minute presentation on her paper “The Three Personnages of Messiaen’s Instants Défunts” at this year’s MACRO conference, a national conference that will take place from June 27-28 in Madison, Wis.  MACRO, the Macro Analysis Creative Research Organization, is an organization whose primary goal is to promote musical understanding through a practical synthesis of analysis, pedagogy, performance, composition and informed listening.

Brent Buckner, professor of biology, received the 2014 Excellence in Education Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists for his commitment to innovative teaching and high-quality mentoring along with his engagement in funded projects that reach far beyond the University. He was noted for his impressive record of gaining mutual publications for meaningful research projects with undergraduate students and placing students into excellent graduate and professional programs.

Elaine McDuff, professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Society and Environment, organized two sessions, one on Women and Religion, and the other on Women and Global Migration, at the Midwest Sociology Society annual meeting April 3-6 in Omaha, Neb. She also attended the business meeting as the Missouri representative to the MSS Board of Directors and presented a paper on “Women’s Voices from the Zimbabwean Diaspora: Migration and Change.”

Elizabeth Ward, Emma Shirey and Sarah Wesfall, senior sociology majors, presented research projects at the Undergraduate Poster Session at the Midwest Sociological Society annual meeting in Omaha, Neb., April 4. All three students completed their research as part of the two-course methods sequence in Sociology/Anthropology, SOAN 380-Research Design and SOAN 381-Data Analysis. Ward presented “Do Girls Choose Easier Majors,” Shirey presented “Women Judging Women: The Effect of Gender on Female Perceptions of Intellectual and Emotional Competence,” and Westfall presented “From Kanye to Kiss: Demographic Factors as Sources of Social Pressure on Selection of Music Genre.”

The Index was recognized as the Best Newspaper in Division II and the Best In State by the Missouri College Media Association at the MCMA’s 2014 conference April 5. In addition, the Index staff received numerous individual awards including: first place in in-depth news reporting (Rosalie Swingle); first place in news photography (Emily Battmer, Robert Overmann); first place in nonpolitical cartoon (Neil Kohne); first place in story illustration (Rachel Finney); second place in political/editorial cartoon (Megan Archer); second place in editorial/op-ed page (Adam Rollins); second place in feature page (Emily Battmer); third place in sports writing (Jonathan Rembold); third place in sports photography (Anna Grace); third place in sports page (Emily Battmer); an honorable mention in investigative reporting (Clayton Berry) and an honorable mention in editorial writing (Robert Overmann).

A regional job fair will take place 11 a.m.-4 p.m. April 22 at the NEMO Fairgrounds. Job seekers of any nature are encouraged to come meet, visit and share resumes with local employers.

President Paino will host a Coffee with the President from 2:30-3:30 p.m. April 22 in Violette Hall 2151. These sessions are intended to provide an opportunity for members of the Truman community to ask questions about issues facing the University.

A public reception for the BA and BFA student art exhibition will take place at 6 p.m. April 22 in the University Art Gallery. The pieces will be displayed in the gallery all week.

A physics colloquium focused on the tasks of a medical physicist will take place at 4:30 p.m. April 23 in Magruder Hall 1096. Led by R. Alfredo C. Siochi from the Radiation Oncology Department of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, this talk provides an overview of the field of radiation therapy and describes specific technologies and situations where physicists have performed these activities.

The True Men will present their spring a capella concert at 7:30 p.m. April 24 in Baldwin Auditorium. Admission is free. Their newly-recorded CD will be released at this event and sold for $10.

Alpha Chi Sigma will host their final tie-dye session of the semester at 3:30 p.m. April 25 in Magruder Hall 1027. All are welcome to come brighten up any 100 percent cotton clothing items they bring to the event.

The final Basic Life Support (BLS) course, taught by Liz Jorn and Jana Arabas of the Department of Health and Exercise Sciences, will take place from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. April 26. These classesare designed to help people recognize and respond to several life-threatening emergencies, provide CPR, use an AED and relieve choking in a safe, timely and effective manner. The $60 fee can be paid at the cashier window in McClain Hall and it covers all instruction materials along with a 2-year certification with the American Heart Association. For more information, contact institute@truman.edu or call 660.785.5384.

The annual Service Recognition Luncheon for faculty and staff will take place at 12 p.m. May 13 in the Student Union Building Georgian Rooms. Group pictures will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Union Building Alumni Room. For more information, contact the Human Resources Office at 660.785.4031.

The University of Canterbury Fall 2014 Study Abroad Program has extended their application deadline to May 1. Scholarships of up to $2000 are available to students who wish to study abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand. For more information, contact the Center for International Education at ciea@truman.edu or visit the Study Abroad office in Kirk Building 114.

The Missouri Greece Study Abroad 2015 program is offering five $1,000 scholarships for students who wish to study abroad in Greece for the spring 2015 semester. For more information, contact the Center for International Education at ciea@truman.edu or visit the Study Abroad office in Kirk Building 114.

Through a generous gift from Lloyd and Lois Elmore, a trust has been established to make scholarships of approximately $1,000 per semester (depending on need) available annually. Scholarship recipients must be active in a Southern Baptist Church or in a Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ). The scholarship recipients must attend Truman State University. Lloyd and Lois (Trower) Elmore operated a family farm in the Gibbs, Mo., community for 50 years before moving to La Plata, Mo., in 1968. Lloyd was a member of the Christian Church in Gibbs and La Plata. Lois was the daughter of a Baptist minister and attended the Southern Baptist Church in La Plata. She was also a member of the Loyal Bereans Class of the La Plata Christian Church. The Elmore’s established the trust fund to provide an educational opportunity for students in the northeast Missouri area who are actively involved in their church. Eligibility criteria: high school graduate from northeast Missouri; current Missouri resident; active involvement in a Southern Baptist Church or Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ); financial need; and acceptance to Truman State University. Selection criteria: completed application form; evidence of financial need; proof of acceptance to Truman State University; written letter of recommendation from the local clergy; and receipt of all the above by the application deadline, May 30. Renewal criteria: student must maintain a 2.50 grade point average; complete at least 24 credit hours in previous 12 months; evidence of continued active involvement in a Southern Baptist or Christian Church, (Disciples of Christ); and maximum renewal of three times. To apply, click here.