Notables

The Truman wrestling team captured the NCAA Div. II Wrestling Coaches Association team all-Academic Championship for the fourth straight year and the sixth overall with a grade point average of 3.467. The team GPA is calculated by averaging the cumulative GPA of ten wrestlers from each team, of which, eight of those wrestlers must have competed in their team’s NCAA national qualifying tournament. Under the direction of head coach Dave Schutter, Truman becomes the first program to win the championship in four consecutive years.

Kate Aherne, a 2010 graduate and member of the women’s swimming team, has been awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. The one-time grants of $7,500 each are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. They were created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the NCAA’s most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship sports. Up to 174 are issued annually. Athletic and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated. To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade point average of 3.2 and must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full- or part-time graduate student. Aherne was a three-time national champion in the 200 individual medley and broke her own national record in the event at this season’s championship. A 27-time all-American, she also won a national championship as part of the 800 freestyle national championship relay squad in 2008. In May, she was named co-female student-athlete of the year at Truman.

Grant Berry, a 2010 graduate and member of Truman’s chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, received the prestigious Gabriela Mistral Award for his academic achievements in Spanish and his dedication to the mission of Sigma Delta Pi. The Gabriela Mistral Award is granted by Sigma Delta Pi’s national headquarters and may be presented to only one person per chapter. The honor is reserved for outstanding graduate or undergraduate students of Spanish who are active members of Sigma Delta Pi.

Janet Gooch, communication disorders chair, served as an external reviewer for the Communication Disorders Program at the University of Northern Iowa in April.

Janice Grow-Maienza, professor of education, presented a paper authored with Scott Alberts, professor of mathematics, and Hyun Joo Kim, professor of mathematics, titled “Effects of Asian Curriculum Materials on Teachers’ Knowledge and Pedagogy,” at the Research Presession of the annual conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, on April 20 in San Diego. Grow-Maienza also presented papers on Korean primary mathematics and their effects in American classrooms at the annual meeting of the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics in December 2009, and at the Interface Conference sponsored by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in February 2010. Grow-Maienza, with Alberts and Todd Hammond, professor of mathematics, and Joseph Sencibaugh, associate professor of education, and Myra Collins, Jenny Webb, Sheila Thurman and Lori Ladwig, will conduct a graduate level teacher institute for 40 Missouri teachers in July on gecKo mathematics, the name given the English translations of the Korean primary mathematics curriculum produced at Truman with National Science Foundation funds. The Missouri Department of Higher Education is funding the Institute July 12-22.
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