Spring 2015 - The Talon

TALON

SPRING 2015

THE MAGAZINE OF CENTRAL METHODIST UNIVERSITY

Graduation from the Front Row . . . page 5

To Alumni and Friends of Central Methodist University Commencement on the Central Methodist University campus is a great time of celebration, tempered only by the unavoidable sense of loss that this group of students will no longer be in our lives on a daily basis. There are two comforting facts that help us cope with this loss. Central continues to tug at the heartstrings of those that have lived and learned at this special place, and we know that another group of eager freshmen is knocking at the door, waiting to enter in the fall.

While each moment with our students is a time to remember, sometimes that special moment occurs and is committed to memory for life. Geofrey Bilabaye’s acceptance of the Selecman Award was one of those moments. I will forever remember the moment when I invited his parents from Tanzania onto the stage to celebrate with their son. When I think of the pride in the hearts of that couple and the honest humility in Geofrey’s tear-filled eyes, I remember why I chose higher education as my life’s work.

It is difficult for me to believe that my second year of service to CMU will soon be coming to an end. Early on, I struggled to comprehend how Dr. Inman had been able to maintain this pace for 18 years and achieve the incredible success that occurred under her leadership. Now, I’m not certain how I can get everything done in only 18 years, assuming I will be fortunate enough to be invited to stay that long.

This has been an amazing year for our students in the classroom, on the playing fields, and in the concert halls. During our May meetings of the Board of Trustees, we were treated to a curriculum exposition during which our students and faculty showcased Central’s academic programs. While all of the presentations were stellar, the ENACTUS presentation that took our team to the national competition was unbelievable. It was exciting and affirming for our Trustees to see the great work that is going on in our classrooms.

The Swinney Conservatory had a fantastic year, finishing with many outstanding concerts on campus as the academic year drew to a close. Even our demanding music faculty admitted that this year boasted a highly talented group of soloists, both instrumentally and vocally. The Church Street Boys’ invitation to perform at MMEA could well have been the highlight of the year. In a competitive process, the Central Methodist University Chorale has been invited to perform at General Conference of the Unit2

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ed Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., in 2016. Next year will bring more opportunities to showcase the incredible talent in the Conservatory.

The 2015 academic year was a great year for Eagle athletics. Central was once again named a Champions of Character institution by the NAIA. Two students won individual national championships in track and field. At the time of this writing, our Eagles softball team have advanced to the national tournament. This great group of student-athletes ended the regular season ranked 8th in the nation.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 3rd, the dedication of the Thogmorton Center for Allied Health.

Our Board of Trustees will meet on that weekend and will be here for the dedication. Jay and Kelly Jacobs, contributors of the lead gift, will also be on hand for the celebration.

During Homecoming weekend, Oct. 24-25, President Emerita Marianne Inman will be back on campus for the dedication of “Family Tree,” a new addition in the Classic Hall sculpture garden in honor of her father, Miles Plzak. With Miles’ beloved status on campus and in the Fayette community, it is fitting that the beautiful sculpture stands at the entrance to campus, reminding us of the wonderful connection between Miles and the community.

The Thogmorton Center for Allied Health’s phase of the Campaign for the Heart of Central is quickly drawing to a close. The Mabee Foundation matching challenge grant must be completed by June 30. If you haven’t already done so, would you please consider making a gift to the campaign to honor the legacy of Dean T. and Helen? A pledge received prior to June 30 will ensure that your gift is matched by the foundation.

While we are always thrilled to see alumni and friends of the University on campus, please make a special effort to be with us for two very important weekends in October.

The dedication of the Thogmorton Center for Allied Health and the unveiling of “Family Tree” in honor of Marianne’s father will be meaningful, rewarding experiences that you will not want to miss.

Sincerely,

Central Methodist University

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THE MAGAZINE OF CENTRAL METHODIST UNIVERSITY Table of Contents Graduation: From the Front Row....................................5 Alumni Awards...............................................................13 Campus News...............................................................18+ New Greek on Campus.................................................21 Discover Gold................................................................22 Strategic Planning.........................................................25 Donn Harrison...............................................................26 New Board Member ....................................................28 College of Extended and Graduate Studies..................34 Hall of Sponsors Scholarship: Curry..............................44 Hall of Sponsors Scholarship: Bartley...........................45 USO Tour, 40th Anniversary..........................................46 Fine and Performing Arts..............................................54 Missouri HOF: Larry Anderson......................................62 Sports............................................................................62 Alumni...........................................................................69

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Senior Administration Dr. Roger D. Drake, President

A Stellar Year!

Dr. Rita Gulstad, Provost Chad Gaines, Vice President for Information Services Dr. Joshua Jacobs, Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations Ken Oliver, Vice President for Institutional Growth and Student Engagement Julee Sherman, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Talon Editorial Staff and Contact Information Cathy Thogmorton, Editor 660-248-6391 cthogmor@centralmethodist.edu Kent Propst, Executive Director for Marketing Communications 660-248-6238 kpropst@centralmethodist.edu Jenny Martin Anspach Assistant Director for Marketing Communications 660-248-6629 jmartin@centralmethodist.edu

CMU’s softball team put away the last opposition, 4-2, to qualify to play for the NAIA Collegiate Softball World Series! Someone pointed out that the guy in front didn’t hit even a single all season (but Dr. Drake was an avid fan!)

Jessica Travlos Media and Content Coordinator 660-248-6865 jtravlos@centralmethodist.edu David Hutchison Executive Director of Advancement and Alumni Programs 660-248-6260 drhutchi@centralmethodist.edu Deanna Cooper Director of Development and Alumni Activities dcooper@centralmethodist.edu Matt Vander Vennet Director of Annual Giving, Advancement and Alumni 660-248-6239 mvanderv@centralmethodist.edu

Central Methodist University prepares students to make a difference in the world by emphasizing academic and professional excellence, ethical leadership, and social responsibility.

– Mission Statement

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Corrections

The editor of the Talon sends out sincere apologies for two mistakes in the Fall 2014 Talon. Under Marriages and Engagements on p. 48, we did not have Paul Ellsworth listed as a CMU alumnus when he graduated in 1992. We wish him and his wife, Laura (Castaneda) Ellsworth ’95 a happy first anniversary on June 14.

Our other mistake was including in the Honor Roll section James L. Smith for an “In Honor” gift and also for an “In Memoriam” gift. We were delighted to learn of our mistake and to confirm that James Smith is as lively as ever. We regret our error.

cover photo—students line up in preparation to receive their diplomas from Dr. Drake. In front is Jared Green, a business major and baseball team member; behind him is Briana Greer, a physical education major and president of the SGA this year.

Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Crocker Spring 2015

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Graduation From the front row

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Graduation from the Front Row ...or rather from my seat, in row 9

Graduation seems like a simple task, right? A group of classmates gets dressed up in long black gowns and mortarboards, listens to a few speeches, walks across a stage and ta-dah! For nearly the entire time I was an undergrad, that’s what I thought it was going to be like. Turns out it’s actually a lot more involved than that. The excitement starts way back in the fall when the Dean’s Office starts emailing you, telling you to start applying for graduation. Apply? Yep, they start taking applications in the fall so you can specify how you want your name displayed and what size robes you’ll need. Then it’s just a matter of staying focused and defending a super scary thesis in front of a bunch of friendly professors who all of sudden seem quite intimidating. It’s rather difficult to believe that early in the year that you’ll actually be shaking Dr. Drake’s hand soon to accept a folder that you’ll eventually put your diploma in. But sure enough, stop paying attention for two seconds and next thing you know it’s April, and you’re attending award ceremonies, replaying that thesis defense in your head and collecting your honors cords from the Dean’s Office.

It all sort of happens in a blur, but there are so many behind-the-scenes people who need to be thanked for the special care and effort they put into this day. First off, Barb Anderson. She is the owner of that lovely voice you heard calling off over 300 names as the grads were presented. Did you hear her stumble? Even once?

Nope! She started emailing us three weeks before graduation asking us to visit her in person to demonstrate the pronunciation of our names. She didn’t stop there though. The hour before graduation she was walking up and down the line up of students to check in with those whose names she was unsure of, ensuring that she knew how to pronounce every single one of our names without a doubt. Thank you Barb, for going the extra mile.

Then there are Rita Gulstad and Jeff Sherman. They made sure that all 361 of the ducks were in a row prior to Saturday. Yes, that means we actually practiced the whole shebang on Friday. It was a lot of fun actually. We started off with a lunch, courtesy of CMU, served by our favorite faculty members. I must say that Dr. Van looks

Selfie Timeline of a

Grad!

Attend the senior luncheon where you get to enjoy lunch served by your favorite faculty members.

Panic in Hobby Lobby as you try to figure out just how to decorate your graduation cap.

Go to senior fair - pick up robes, alumni stuff, and pay library fines.

I owed 32 cents, which I paid for with a cup of coffee...true story.

Attempt to remember how many organizations you were in and collect your rainbow of cords.

Practice sitting stil for the ceremony ...failed.

Get surprised by awards you didn’t even know you were nominated for because the people in Brannock are sneaky.

quite dashing in an apron. Then there were some awards given out by the alumni association and the honor students were recognized. But then came the important part. Rehearsing it.

Jeff Sherman had the honor of being our Senior Marshal for the student body. He thoroughly explained the procedures for the regular plans and the rain plans for both Baccalaureate and Commencement. Sure enough some of us didn’t pay enough attention and ended up in the correct place but at the wrong time (me). Luckily Dr. Gordon was kind enough to come collect us misplaced souls and send us off in the right direction. Thank you, Tiger.

After Coach Sherman patiently demonstrated how we were supposed to be lined up several times, we rehearsed the actual commencement part of the day. This is where our very own Provost, Rita Gulstad, stepped up to the plate in place of Dr. Drake for the day. She was very good about putting our minds at ease about the leniency of the ceremony. She even said, “You’ve earned the time you get on this stage. This is your day. If you want to take 30 seconds to take a photo, or do a princess wave, you do your thing. This is about you.” Thank you, Rita! Marco Romano took this advice quite seriously, as demonstrated by the well executed roller-coaster-style wave that he led the graduates in while on stage, diploma in hand and all.

Rita also advised us to pay attention to the flooring during rehearsal and to choose appropriate footwear for Saturday. This is not advice that I paid much attention to, seeing as I fell down when walking into the gym.

Luckily it was not during the ceremony and our work study student, Breilly Roy, was kind enough to give me a hug as I pulled myself up off of the indoor track. Thank you, Breilly.

After all we ducks were finally in a row, in alphabetical order, it was time for the big day, May 9th that is, for which I woke up late. Luckily a friend of mine was nice enough to YouTube “how to attach collar to graduation robe” for me while I drove into Fayette. Thank you, Michael. From there the day proceeded as planned for the most part. Regular plan for the first half and rain plan for the second. But the rain held off long enough for us to all be outside to take photos, give hugs, and shed a few tears while saying goodbye for now to classmates after the ceremony. It is just that, though, goodbye for now. Because I’m sure that we’ll all end up back here at CMU someday, or at least back together and we’ll talk about our time at Central. As Lucas Endicott said at Baccalaureate, “it’s time to trust your roots, and test your branches.” Thank you, Lucas.

And thank you to every one of my professors, friends, family, and anyone I may have missed for believing that WE could get here.

Jessica Travlos ‘15 BA in Communications Media and Content Coordinator for CMU

Get ready for the big event and be sure to drag along your favorite people.

Also, figure out last second how the sil y collar goes on.

Practice walking across the stage to analyze appropriate footwear. Also practice shaking hands.

Line up in no particular order for the Baccalaureate procession and try to not let your heels sink into the mud.

Clap for the faculty and give high-fives as needed.

cont...

Three Seniors Earn Top Honors

CMU presents its three most prestigious awards to senior graduates during May Commencement in Fayette.

Geofrey Bilabaye was presented with the Selecman Achievement Award, Marco Romano the Human Relations Award, and Kaitlyn Klapperich the Victoria Award before a capacity crowd at CMU. The Selecman Achievement Award is regarded as the most prestigious award given to a CMU graduating senior.

Bilabaye is a former CMU president of its Student Government Association as well as of its International Eagles, and its Theta Alpha Kappa honor society. He received the Chester E. Hanson Outstanding Senior in Computer Science award, and has been a member of Alpha Chi national scholastic honor society and Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society. Bilabaye graduated magna cum laude, which requires a grade point average of 3.8 or higher.

Bilabaye was selected by the University of Pittsburgh to participate in its 2014 Hesselbein Global Academy as one of the top 50 student leaders. He has been accepted into the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School for next fall.

The CMU Human Relations Award is awarded annually to the student who “attempts to develop the ability to get along with others and work with others -- the ability to understand the other fellow, develop liaison techniques...in the area of human relations and understanding.”

Marco Romano will graduate from CMU this summer with a bachelor of science degree in business and a minor in psychology. He is from Pacific, Mo. Romano spent four seasons as a member of the CMU Eagle football team, playing linebacker. He was a representative on CMU’s National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Champions of Character program, and was a cabinet member of the Student Government Association for two years. Romano served as a student assistant in CMU’s Smiley Library, and volunteered his time to help with the area Special Olympics program. He also volunteered to go on a CMU-sponsored mission trip to Tampa, Fla. CMU’s Victoria Award is given annually to a graduating student who in the opinion of the faculty and students best exemplifies the ideals and purposes of Central Methodist University.

Klapperich graduated summa cum laude, which requires a grade point average of 3.95 or higher. She carried a double major in communication studies and sociology, with an English minor. She also graduated from CMU’s Honors Program. Among her many CMU activities, she was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Collegian, president and founding member of Core Support and Alliance, president of Pi Gamma Mu national social science honor society, and a cabinet member of the Student Government Association. A two-year member of the CMU Eagles women’s basketball team, Klapperich also was a member of Lambda Pi Eta national communications honor society, Sigma Tau Delta international honor society in English, and Alpha Chi national academic honor society. She became a member of CMU’s Sigma Epsilon Pi honor society, which recognizes the academic top 10 percent of the senior class.

Stand in line with hundreds of others dressed just like you; try to remember the ABC’s to get in order & wait for your name to be called.

Take a selfie with your workstudy student while not paying attention to the line.

Take a selfie in front of the stage and try to not fall on your really tall shoes... failed.

Give Barb Anderson. the card with your name on it that Jeff Sherman warned you not to lose.

Accept the folder that you’ll eventually put a diploma in.

Done!

What Graduation Looked Like...

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Associate Degree Grads

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Baccalaureate Master of Degree Grads Education Grads

Countless Proud Faces Baccalaureate Speaker - The Reverend Lucas Endicott, director of the Center for Faith and Service, CMU. Commencement Speaker - Dr. Joanna Anderson, president State Fair Community College.

Achievement Awards

Accounting Club Senior Leadership Award ENACTUS Senior Leadership Award Linday Smith Kyle Schenewerk Dakarayi Chabaya Kyle Schenewerk Accounting Excellence Award Morgan Maples Dannielle Sharp Shelbi Becker Boone Priddy ACDA National Student Choral Award Entrepreneurship Excellence Award Zack Fincher Harley Johnson Alpha Epsilon Delta Anatomy Award Estes Award for Outstanding Senior Male Athlete Haley Willis Nickola Shingles Alpha Epsilon Delta Harold L. Momberg Award Gentry Estill Award for Total Business Excellence for the Outstanding Pre-Med Student Seth Luttrell Hannah Braungardt Susan Estill Award for Total Business Excellence Alpha Epsilon Delta Physiology Award Karen Lorera Hannah Willis Gamma Sigma Epsilon Excellence Award in General Chemistry Alumni Association Outstanding Senior Awards Crystal Flagg Geofrey Bilabaye Ann Marie Pelley Gamma Sigma Epsilon Excellence Award in Organic Chemistry Kelsey Forqueran Marco Romano Ryan Holem Briana Greer Jessica Travlos Dr. Joseph E. Geist Prize in Performing Arts American Nurses Association Award Kelsey Forqueran Paula Domingo Lisa Powell Goessling Award AORN Nursing Student Scholarship Keely Zimmerman Sanita Hasanovic Chester E. Hanson Outstanding Computer Science Award Banking and Finance Excellence Award Geofrey Bilabaye Sean Tobeler James Craighead The Keith House Band Fellow-Tour Manager Dr. Robert Barker Award for Excellence in Sociology Ann Marie Pelley Katlyn Klapperich Martin C. Harral Memorial Music Award Cheryl Bartholomew Memorial Nursing Scholarship Susan Henke Madelyn Brand Noble Emmett Baskett Scholarship in Business Administration Brennen Hurle William Denny Baskett, Sr., Study Abroad Award Levi Gerke Beta Beta Beta Outstanding General Biology Students Joshua Hunt Crystal Flagg Clyde and Hazel Blattner Mathematics Award Jordan Erisman Dr. Richard T. Bond Mathematics Award Stetson Phillips Mike Cavanah “True Eagle� Award Brandon Rose CMU Biology Alumni Award Mackenzie Bock Communication Department Student Media Award Kaitlyn Klapperich Criminal Justice Excellence Award Amber Pezold Mark and Kathy Dempsey Athletic Training Student Clinical Excellence Award Megan Batusic Melissa Nienhuis R. Paul Drummond Memorial Award Emily Day ENACTUS Outstanding Senior Award Kathleen Dozier 10 Spring 2015 Central Methodist University Talon

William Randolph Hearst Education Scholars Briana Greer Trenton Pummill Susan Henke Kacie Young Ann Marie Pelley Hern Award for Excellence in Religious Studies Max Holmes Dr. George W. Heslar Leadership & Service Scholarship Rachel Howeson Hickman Award for Achievement in Music Hershel Williams, III Judge Andrew J. Higgins Award in Pre-Law Studies Geofrey Bilabaye John C. Hinkle Scholarship Shelby Joseph Dr. Marianne Inman Award Sammie Jo Copeland Brendan Ross Inscape Poetry Award “Church” by Bailey Brown Inscape Fiction Award “Candi Lane” by Kaitlyn Klapperich Inscape Non-fiction Award “Who Will Remember Me?” by Danielle Franklin Inscape Ten-Minute Play Award “The Magic Shot” by Lyndsey Phillips Inscape Photography & Art Award “Ansel in the Bathroom” by Parker Johnson Inscape Cover Art Award “Wanderlust” by Desiray Crowe-Boicourt Nancy Thompson Jones Gem Award Daniel Terry Dr. Glenn R. Joyce Memorial Award Novy Foland Kappa Mu Epsilon Mathematics Award Zachary Adams Martin E. Kooi Excellence in Communication Kelsey Forqueran Martin E. Kooi Excellence in Theatre Arts Kelson Rosbach James M. Luetjen Scholar Athlete Award Jordan Retzlaff Mike Magyar Fine Arts-Leadership Award Levi Gerke Management Excellence Award Austin Rapp Marketing and Advertising Excellence Award Luis Costa Glenn McElroy Athletic Training Student Academic Excellence Award Megan Bremer General Lewis M. Means Award in Political Science Kelsey Forqueran The Missouri Federation of Music Clubs Anna Kay The Missouri League for Nursing Jill Baer Professor Paul A. Montemurro Award Ann Marie Pelley

MTNA Student Achievement Recognition Award Britney Kelcher Outstanding Musician Award Thomas Waggoner Dane Nelson Memorial Award Pam Crawford Dr. Niels C. Nielsen Outstanding Chemistry Student Award Kathleen Dozier Outstanding Nurse Clinician Award Addisson Foote Outstanding Nursing Scholar Award Amy Fuemmeler Outstanding Senior in Accounting, Business & Economic Award Joseph Jefferies Outstanding Senior in Sports Management Robert Levi Thomas Darla Pannier Award for Outstanding Senior Female Athlete Michele Rupard Pannier/Cavanah Exellence in Education Award Chad Berrey Morgan Vetter Dr. Lloyd and Valerie Jean Penn Scholarships Angela Ball Larry Smith Dr. Larry J. Peery Award for Excellence in Physics Laramie Lane Phi Mu Alpha Honor Award Austin Long Phi Mu Alpha Scholastic Award Sam Gaddy Pi Gamma Mu Scholastic Award Kaitlyn Klapperich Poage Award Lauren Geringer Ethan Epperson Excellence in Psychology Award Heather Schmucker Glenn C. Riegel Faculty Award Dr. Kendal Clark Glenn C. Riegel Student Science Award Alexia Maschmeier Sarah Rutherford Prize Jennifer Long W. D. Settle Memorial Music Education Award Robert Mobley Shallenburger Award for Outstanding Performance In Accounting Principles Shelby Joseph Sigma Alpha Iota Collegiate Honor Award Alexia Maschmeier Sigma Alpha Iota Scholastic Award Ann Marie Pelley Sigma Epsilon Pi Kaitlyn Klapperich Molly Ripperger Photo at left: Marco Romano Receives Human Relations Award

Achievement Awards Continued

Ann Pelley Chanel Daugherty Jesse Marks Novy Foland II Kaitlynn Troxel Katelyn Moeller Luke Mayer Rebecca Vollmer Taylor Grellner James Craighead Kayla Heidbrink Katherine Jasper Sarah White Seth Luttrell Kacie Young Tabatha Hoback John-Patrick Jacks Karen Loera Geogrey Bilabaye Amy Fuemmeler Kelsey Forqueran Chelsea Rice Joseph Jefferies Audrey Patton Sean Tobeler Luther T. Spayde Memorial Award Lucas Johnson Harold W. Sunoo History and Political Science Award Molly Ripperger T. Cecil Swackhamer Award Portia Kuzanga Swinney Conservatory Outstanding Freshman Award Kaitlyn Gebhardt Kay Wilken Swinney Conservatory Super Hero Award Ann Marie Pelley Theta Alpha Kappa Membership Thomas Waggoner Theta Alpha Kappa Undergraduate Achievement Award Christopher Bantz Helen Puckett Thogmorton Award for Excellence in Music Ryan Lewis Erwin and Hazel Wiedle Outstanding Nursing Graduate Katelyn Witte Jeff Wilcox “Raising the Bar Award” Kaitlyn Loeffler Dr. Farris H. and Leona Woods Memorial Award in Biology Allan Anderson

Honors Program

Nahom Asfaw, Biology “Investigation of Dietary Effects on Multiple Sclerosis” Geogrey Bilabaye, Computer Science “An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into Epidemiology through a Computer Program Simulation” Kidus Birhanu, Biology “Muscular Dystrophy and its Different Forms” Hannah Braungardt, Biology “The Relationship Between Colonic Flora and Disease” Novy Foland, Biology “Physics First: A Reversal in the Secondary Science Sequence” Julie Friem, Biology “Role of Quorum Sensing in Clostridium Difficile” Tabitha Hoback, Math “A Brief Look at the Common Core” John Patrick Jacks, Biology “Investigation of Dietary Effects on Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis-a Mouse Model for Multiple Sclerosis (MS)” Joe Jefferies, Business “Customer Experience Matters: An Analysis of Successful Strategy in Modern Retailing” Kaitlyn Klapperich, Sociology “A Qualitative Analysis of the Gender and Sexuality Politics within College Athletics” Luke Thomas Mayer, Biology “The Effects of a Forkhead Box P2 Gene Mutation on Reproductive Success of Drosophila Melanogaster” Kaitlynn Troxel, Biology “Testing the Potential of Arabidopsis AGG3 in Setaria Viridis to enhance Yield and Water Use Efficiency” Rebecca Vollmer, Psychology “Differences in Motivation Between Traditional and Nontraditional College Students” Victoria Warren, Psychology “Bullying and Anti-Bullying Programs for Public Schools”

Honors JP Jacks, Rebecca 12 Program left to right: Julie Friem, Geogfrey SpringBilabaye, 2015 Hannah Central Braungardt, Methodist University Talon Vollmer, Joe Jefferies, Kaitlyn Klapperich, Victoria Warren, Tabitha Hoback, Novy Foland, Kaitlynn Troxel, Luke Thomas Mayer, Dr. Roger Drake, and Dr. Richard Bradley.

Alumni Awards 69th Annual

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lumni and friends of the University gathered on Friday, May 1, to celebrate and reconnect on Central’s Campus with several special events and the 69th annual Alumni Awards Banquet. Events throughout the day included a gathering at historic Coleman Hall, the beautiful renovated mansion and former President’s home one block west of campus, honoring the classes of 1955, 1965, and 1975. Alumni were also treated with a special opening of The Ashby-Hodge Gallery and a private concert by the CMU Band while touring recent renovations to the Linn Memorial UMC sanctuary. The evening culminated with the Alumni Awards reception and banquet, where President Drake and the Board of Trustees joined other alumni, family, and friends in honoring seven alums with CMU’s highest alumni recognition.

Dr. Sonya S. Addison, Class of 2002 Dr. Sonya Addison, a 2002 Central Methodist alumna, is the recipient of this year’s CMU Young Alumni Award. The honor is reserved only for those who have graduated within the past 15 years.

Addison is a person of multiple talents and interests. The Fayette resident is an endocrinologist with the Boone Medical Group’s Diabetes and Endocrinology program in Columbia. She has been with Boone Medical since 2013.

At the same time, she has been affiliated with Tucker’s Fine Jewelry and Gift Gallery in Columbia since 2001 – first in sales and management, and since 2009 as the co-owner of the retail enterprise with her husband, Justin ‘99. A native of Fairfax, Mo., she also worked at Addison Biological Laboratory in Fayette in 2003-04.

Addison majored in biology with a chemistry minor at Central Methodist. She went on to obtain her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. She did a residency in internal medicine at University of Missouri hospitals and clinics, and a fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism for the University of Missouri.

With numerous professional medical publications and presentations, Addison’s achievements during her young career made her a logical candidate for the CMU Young Alumni Award.

Mr. Dean Anthony, Class of 1986 Early on in a stage performance career that has lasted almost 30 years, the singing, stage presence, and acrobatics of Dean Anthony earned him the nickname “The Tumbling Tenor,” and it has followed him around ever since. To most of the Central community and alumni, however, he is simply known as “Beano.”

Among his many performances, he has portrayed Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Curley in Of Mice and Men, Beppe in I Pigliacci, and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel. He is currently serving as the director of opera at the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, but this is not his first time backstage. He has also served as the resident stage director and director of production at the Shreveport Opera in Louisiana as well as the artistic director and director of production at the Diamond Opera Theatre in New York.

Enthusiastic about sharing his talents and insight with the next generation, he has taught a masterclass on Interpretation of Acting for Opera Singers since 2005.

In addition to returning to CMU to teach this class, he has brought the class around the world, including to the Tulsa Opera, University of West Florida, Winter Opera of St. Louis, Boston Conservatory of Music, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, University of Kansas, Florentine Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Astonia Music Festival, and Festival Lyrique de Belle Ile en Mer. He has taught college courses at the University of Memphis where he also served as the co-director of opera studies and the interim stage director. He also taught at Washington University School of Music in St. Louis and served as stage director of their Opera Workshop.

He graduated CMU with honors in 1986 with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and went on to obtain his Artist’s Diploma in Vocal Performance from St. Louis Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance – also with honors – from New England Conservatory of Music.

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Mr. F. Jerry Benner, Class of 1966 Jerry Benner understands there is a science and an art behind photography, and he not only receives accolades from his peers for both, but also helps others to fill the world with beautiful, informative, and insightful pictures.

From 2002-2012, he worked at CMU, teaching photography including the artistic elements of design and composition, technical elements of digital and film photography, and practical elements of respected photographers. His photography often appeared in the The Fayette Advertiser and The Democrat-Leader. During this time, prior to this time, and since this time, he has actively participated in shows, workshops, exhibitions, and seminars.

While working toward his B.A. in Political Science with a Speech Theatre minor at CMU (’66), he was very active in extra-curricular activities. He worked at KMOE Radio, including a year as the station’s business manager. He spent five years with Alpha Phi Gamma, and served as president his last year at CMU. He dedicated five years to the theatre department and two years as the business manager for the Ragout.

In 1965, he was initiated into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society. He now serves as class agent for the CMU class of 1966.

After graduating from Central, he worked in the Parkway School District for 34 years teaching, coordinating the instructional media center, managing the theatre, and chairing the speech and theatre department at various times. For two years during that span, he served in Vietnam (1969-1971) as a Specialist 5 in the 22nd Personnel Service Company attached to Medical Command. He received a Bronze Star Medal and volunteered for special services duty as an actor and director in Saigon and on the Long Binh military base. In 1970, he worked Bob Hope’s Christmas Show.

He serves on the Board of Directors for the Route 66 Association of Missouri and as its oral history chair. Since 1944 he has been a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, is the distribution chair for its food pantry, and serves on several committees. He often works with youth through writing workshops and leadership seminars, and volunteers with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts of America.

Benner holds a Master of Arts in Communication and Theatre from St. Louis University and actively participates in seminars and workshops as a participant and as a presenter. He lives in Ferguson, Mo., with his wife, Ruth, also a CMU graduate of the Class of 1966.

Dr. Gerald Lee Early, Class of 1969 Dr. Gerald Early grew up in small-town rural Missouri where he was taught that everyone deserves respect, integrity is a requirement, and hard work will be rewarded.

After obtaining a bachelor’s from CMU in 1969, a master’s from the University of Missouri in Columbia, and a Medical Doctorate from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, he really started working hard. He served three residencies: one in internal medicine at the Pensacola Educational Program, one in surgery at UMKC, and one in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Ohio State University. He maintains active certification with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Surgical Critical Care, the American Board of Surgery, and the American Board of Examiners where he also serves as a diplomat.

Naming a current job is a daunting task, since he fills his days with many duties to different organizations. At UMKC he is an associate professor, the medical director of patient safety, a physician advisor, the chair of the clinical quality committee, a member of the Residency Advisory Committee, a member of the Retention Committee of the Diversity Council, and he co-chairs both the Critical Care Committee and the Event Analysis Team. At Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, he serves as a member of the corporate revenue cycle workgroup and sits on the Board of Directors for Truman Medical Center Professional and General Liability Trust. He additionally chairs the Operations Committee for the University Physician Associates, sits on the Board of Directors at First Call, serves on the Missouri Hospital Association’s Strategic Quality Advisory Committee, and participates in the ICU Liberation Committee with the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

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He is licensed to practice medicine in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee; but he currently lives in the Kansas City area with his wife, Shauna, who is also a medical doctor, serving as a physician executive and cardiothoracic surgeon. Their daughter, Jennifer Davis, lives in Pullman, Wash.

Dr. Elaine Eversmeyer Henderson, Class of 1983 Dr. Elaine Henderson currently serves as Superintendent of Silex, Mo., schools, leading the top performing school district in Lincoln County for the past five years.

She started her career teaching in Silex, then spent a year as a writer and section editor at a newspaper in Troy, Mo., returning to teaching first in Elsberry, Mo., and then back to Troy. She moved into administration as a director of services in Winfield, Mo., and then headed back to Silex to serve as a high school principal.

In 2005, she became an assistant superintendent for a Wright City school district and in 2008 returned once again to Silex. As she has climbed the academic ladder, her heart and mind have remained with students and teachers in the classroom. She has published several papers and given many presentations throughout Missouri targeting those seeking professional development, and those seeking to learn how to help others with professional development.

She volunteers with St. Stephan United Methodist Church, serving on its endowment and scholarship committees. She serves on the Board of the Rise Above Scholarship foundation, which is rooted in the belief that “regardless of the many struggles teenagers in our community face, they deserve an opportunity to ‘Rise Above’ their past and have hope for their future.” She worked with a team put together by the Missouri commissioner to prepare a report in 2006 about how high schools in Missouri – and throughout the country – can better prepare students for life after high school.

As her career has advanced, Henderson has demonstrated a deep commitment to lifelong learning by repeatedly returning to higher education for further degrees and certifications. The first was the B.A. in English and a Missouri certification for teaching English to 7th through 12th graders, obtained from CMU in 1983. Ten years later, she obtained her Master’s in Education Administration and her Missouri certification to be a secondary principal while at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. In 2001, she attended the University of Missouri in Columbia and obtained her Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis specialist degree, superintendent certification, and advanced certification as a Missouri secondary principal. Most recently, in 2014, she received her doctorate in Leadership in Teaching and Learning from Missouri Baptist University; her dissertation was on using assessment to improve teaching and student achievement. Her husband, Terry Henderson, is also 1983 graduate of Central and member of the CMU Board of Trustees.

Dr. Sherry Roberts, Class of 1976 Dr. Sherry Roberts graduated from CMU in 1976, less than one week after her 21st birthday, and then started her career in Little Rock, Ark., as the youngest management trainee at JCPenney. Less than a year later she was promoted and became the youngest JCPenney manager, on a day she would never forget – 7/7/77.

While working at Clatworthy’s store on the square in Fayette, she developed an instinct for understanding her surroundings and trade radius, which earned her the nickname “blue-eyed wonder” for her savvy at making profitable purchases that no one could explain. Sherry continued to climb the corporate ladder in retail and then decided she could combine her business expertise with her love of helping children by getting certified to teach business at primary and secondary schools. In the Little Rock School District, she worked with elementary-age children in an after-school program and moved to a farming community in Lepanto, Ark., for her first job. Her next career move took her to a middle school in Richmond, Ky., where she taught business, coached the dance team, and earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Louisville in 2003.

The move to Kentucky also offered her the opportunity to teach classes at Eastern Kentucky University, which led her back to Arkansas where she spent six years working with teacher candidates for business education at the University of Central Arkansas. In her current position at Middle Tennessee State University’s Jones College of Business, 16 Spring 2015 Central Methodist University Talon

she has received the Bridgestone/Firestone Distinguished Assistant Professor Award, the Southern Business Education Association Collegiate Teacher of the Year Award, and the Southern Business Education Association Outstanding Leadership of the Year Award. Sherry has also published several articles and textbooks about business education and served on several state boards developing policies and strategies for business education.

As an FBLA adviser, Sherry helped her students put together computer camps as a fundraiser where the students would conduct lessons on how to use computers. This became a model for several service projects at her subsequent institutions and at various centers in the communities where she lived. She also leads other community classes on looking for and applying for jobs.

Braxton Rethwisch, Class of 1964 Braxton Rethwisch is a pillar of the CMU community. Born and raised in Fayette, Mo., he attended Central for his bachelor’s degree. Upon graduation he took a job as an assistant to the president working with alumni, putting out campus publications, supporting international students, and coordinating financial aid. In the latter part of the decade, he was asked to move to St. Louis to tap into the growing higher education market in that area for prospective Eagles. For more than five decades, he has split his time between Fayette and St. Louis, helping high school students navigate the next steps of their education, leading many of them to CMU, but never pushing anyone toward a school that will not work for them.

In addition to being a long-standing member of the community, he has initiated and helped implement a great deal of change. Perhaps most notably, in 1988, he proposed expanding the curriculum to better use the campus facilities including the addition of adult/continuing education and off-campus learning centers. He also proposed partnering with two-year community colleges to offer the third and fourth year of a Bachelor’s program, which is now the University’s widely recognized and celebrated 2+2 Program. He also started the Pre-Registration Program for incoming freshmen that helps ensure they receive courses their first semester that complement their strengths, fortify their weak areas, and let them start work in their intended field of study.

Beyond being a local legend and a hometown hero, he has won three national awards for service to the college admission profession. The Missouri Association for College Admission Counseling even named its annual scholarship after him. Perhaps his most notable national contribution to the field was in 1981, during his three-year term as the vice president for the National College Fair Program. He proposed a change in philosophy that increased the number of cities the program visited so that more than 600,000 students each year have the opportunity to attend. On a quieter – but still quite powerful – front, he volunteered his time lobbying the state legislature, testifying before committees of the Missouri House and Senate about ethical considerations in the college admission process, including financial assistance.

Rethwisch has a master of arts degree and completed all coursework for his doctorate, both from Saint Louis University. His wife, Judy ’65, and son, Carter ’94, are also CMU alumni.

Left: (Left to Right) Sonya Addison, Elaine Henderson, Dean Anthony, Jerry Benner, Braxton Rethwisch, Gerald Early, and Sherry Roberts Page 13: (Left to Right) Sonya Addison, Dean Anthony, Jerry Benner, Gerald Early, Elaine Henderson, Sherry Roberts, and Braxton Rethwisch

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Campus news Faculty and staff updates Dr. Kendal Clark, CMU assistant professor of physics, spent his summer in research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He was part of a group of scientists who made the first direct observations of a one-dimensional boundary separating two different, atom-thin materials, enabling studies of long-theorized phenomena at these interfaces. The resulting paper, “Spatially resolved one-dimensional boundary states in graphene–hexagonal boron nitride planar heterostructures,” was published in Science.

Dr. Laura Wiebe, assistant professor of music, presented a paper at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in New York City in January. Her paper, “The Revival of Tudor Psalmody in Early Twentieth Century Oxford,” was one of three included in the session “Psalms Across the Empire: The Reform and Revival of Psalms in the British Imperial Age.” In February Dr. Melissa Loehnig, assistant professor of music, performed with Choral Arts (a semi-professional chorus based in Seattle, Wash.) at the National American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA) Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. There were more than 5,200 registered attendees of the conference and performances were held in Abravanel Hall and the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Kristen Gibbs, director of financial assistance, went to Jefferson City in March to meet with Senators and Representatives to discuss the importance of state financial aid. While there with MASFAB, she met with Senator Pearce for a discussion, as shown in photo left.

Dr. Dana Morris, assistant professor of biology, has had two papers published this year.

One of them lists her husband, Dr. Paul Porneluzi, CMU professor of biology, as a co-author.

Morris, D.L., J. Faaborg, B.E. Washburn, and J.J. Millspaugh. 2015. “Predator-induced renesting and reproductive effort in indigo buntings: more work for less pay?”

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Conservation Physiology Vol 3, DOI: 10.1093/conphys/ cou063.

Kendrick, Sarah W., Paul A. Porneluzi, Frank R. Thompson III, Dana L. Morris, Janet M. Haslerig and John Faaborg. 2014. “Stand-level bird response to experimental forest management in the Missouri Ozarks.” Journal of Wildlife Management 79: 50–59. DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.804.

Dr. Susan Quigley-Duggan, CMU associate professor of music and head of the opera program, presented a master class in March for music students of CMU alum, Gene Ditch ’77, music professor and chair of the Music Department at St. Charles Community College (SCCC). She took with her students Dan Jones, Britney Kelcher, and Anthony Mintert who transferred from SCCC to get their music degrees at CMU in Fayette. Dr. Quigley-Duggan worked with SCCC vocal majors on vocal techniques.

Dr. Quigley-Duggan will once again be leading a summer opera workshop in Fayette, utilizing talent from Central students and people from the community and other regional high schools and college campuses. The mainstay will be a shortened version of Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, to which other songs will be added. Performances will run June 12-14. See the ad on page 59.

In addition, Dr. Quigley-Duggan, Dr. Laura Wiebe, assistant professor of music at CMU, and Dr. Claude Westfall, CMU associate professor of music, hosted a Vocal Workshop for high school students in early March.

Clarence Smith, adjunct professor of music at CMU, and drummer par excellence, performed with his group, J. Love Band, on May 17 at the opening of the Royals’ baseball pre-game versus the New York Yankees.

This semester the Central Methodist Swinging Eagles was formed to teach free swing dance lessons to students, faculty, staff, and community members. The group teaches basic dance steps every lesson. Dr. Ashley Lough is the faculty adviser for the group and teaches most of the lessons. Student Katie Dozier has been the first president of the organization. They look forward to picking up next semester and welcoming more members.

Dr. John Carter, professor of political science and director of pre-law, proudly points out the diversity of two of his pre-law CMU students. Kelsey Forqueran, an actress/ theatre scholarship student with majors in communication and political science, has been accepted at MU law school, her first choice.

Geofrey Bilabaye, an international student majoring in computer science, last year’s SGA president, and recipient of CMU’s Selecman Award is headed to Western Michigan University’s Thomas Cooley Law School next year.

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Campus news

Staff chosen for new OTA and PTA programs Even as construction is underway on the new Thogmorton Center for Allied Health at CMU, Central has appointed Rebbecca Fenton to build its new Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program, a two-year associate’s degree designed to feed directly into CMU’s new Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. She will also work to gain national accreditation for the OTA. CMU hopes to begin offering coursework in 2017.

“It is my exciting task to create and seek accreditation for the OTA Program here at CMU,” Fenton says. “I fully expect that while a challenge, it will be extremely rewarding. I feel honored by the opportunity to create something from the ground up for such a prestigious institution.

“I am confident the OTA Program is an ideal addition to CMU’s Allied Health program as the mission of Occupational Therapy aligns perfectly with the values of CMU,” she adds.

Fenton comes to CMU after being a licensed, certified occupational therapy assistant with CoxHealth Hospital in Springfield, where she was involved in patient treatment and served as a clinical advisor to Occupational Therapy students and interns. Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants help people of all ages participate in things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of occupations, activities of daily living. It aims to assist people to get back to the job of living their lives.

CMU officials are enthusiastic about the addition of the OTA program, along with the Physical Therapy Assistant degree, both of which lead into CMU’s new Bachelor of Health Sciences degree for those students who seek more than an associate’s degree, notes CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad.

“CMU is thrilled to have someone with the experience that Rebbecca brings to the institution,” Gulstad notes.

“We look forward to seeing this exciting new program develop under her leadership.”

Fenton obtained her associate’s degree from Ozarks Technical Community College (a partner college of CMU), and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Services from Drury University. She completed a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

For Fenton, the opportunity to take her training and experience to create and implement a brand-new Occupational Therapy Assistant program at CMU is exciting.

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Another new program coming soon is the Physical Therapist Assistant Program (PTA), pending accreditation approval.

Central has named Katherine Morris as the new director of clinical education for this program.

Morris will be responsible for the oversight and day-to-day operations of the clinical aspects of the Physical Therapist Assistant educational program. This includes teaching, evaluations, and finding clinical placements for students, among other responsibilities.

The program will be housed in the new Thogmorton Center for Allied Health, along with other new and existing programs. At the center, students will be able to earn a variety of degrees related to the allied health fields.

Morris comes to Central from the Rusk Rehabilitation Center in Columbia, where she has worked since 1997.

She served as a physical therapist clinician, specializing in stroke and other neurologic conditions. Her efforts helped Rusk earn the distinction of Stroke Center of Excellence from 2008 to the current date.

“I have loved my career working as a physical therapist,” Morris said. “It has been my joy to know how to assist people in their journey of recovery. Helping them to face their path with courage and love, assisted by my knowledge and expertise, has been more rewarding than I can express.

“Now I have the opportunity to share my passion for both the art and science of physical therapy as I have the privilege of assisting in building the Physical Therapist Assistant Program here at Central Methodist University,” she continued. “I am really happy to be here.”

At Rusk, Morris was also a member of the interdisciplinary stroke team and taught a monthly transfer training class to new employees. She was also instrumental in establishing and teaching similar classes for patients and their families.

Prior to her work at Rusk, Morris worked for many years at Boone County National Bank in middle management when she made the decision to change her career path.

Morris grew up in Columbia and earned a B.S. in Special Education from the University of Missouri and a B.S. in Health Related Professions – Physical Therapy.

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Dixon new associate dean of students

Hutchison returns to join Advancement

The last time Brad Dixon was at Central Methodist University in any sort of official capacity, it was May 2007, and he was a student crossing the Commencement stage to pick up his diploma.

Dixon returned to his alma mater this semester as its new associate dean of students. Dixon comes to CMU from Highland (Kan.) Community College, where he’s worked in student housing and student life since 2007.

Ken Oliver, vice president for institutional growth and student engagement—who has known Dixon since he transferred to CMU in 2005—says the CMU search committee found Dixon’s skills, experience and his CMU background the right fit for the position.

“Brad brings energy, experience, and unique student perspective to our university and we are thrilled to have him join our already talented staff,” Oliver says. “Brad is an incredibly talented professional with the rare ability to deeply understand college students from all backgrounds, and the needs of today’s challenges in higher education.”

Dixon will lead the University’s residential life, Greek life, security, and student judiciary programs among other duties. The focus is on the development of students beyond the classroom.

Dixon will also be responsible for selecting, training, and leading the residence hall staff and student resident assistants. The goal is an enjoyable and enriching experience for the approximately 700 CMU students who live on campus, while maintaining a safe and wholesome environment.

David Hutchison left Central Methodist University when he graduated in 2007, but he returned this year. In some ways he never really left CMU. Hutchison was named executive director of Advancement and Alumni Programs at CMU. “My time at Central, the values and education that I received while there, played a pivotal role in shaping my life,” Hutchison says. “CMU is and continues to be a part of the fabric of who I am.”

“We are excited that David Hutchison is returning to Central in a full-time capacity,” President Roger Drake says. “David’s love for this institution has been evident in every conversation we have shared. He is poised to do great things for this university.”

Hutchison received his Master of Divinity degree from the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City. He has served as pastor at several Missouri churches.

Since 2010, Hutchison has served Central Methodist as a member of its Alumni Board. Now, instead of volunteering his time to CMU, it will be his job – and he loves it.

“What an honor it will be, day in and day out, to be a part of an institution whose mission at its core, is providing a transformational educational experience for generations of young men and women who will go on to transform our world around us,” Hutchison says.

“For a decade now, I have been unapologetic in my passion for sharing my Central story with others; now I look forward to experiencing the stories of others, and connecting their passions with each other and this great University,” he says.

Central Methodist faculty promoted, tenured Ten Central Methodist University faculty members have received promotion in rank, and two were granted tenure, effective for the 2015-16 academic year according to CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad.

Promotions and tenure are recommended by CMU faculty and administration and approved by the University’s Board of Trustees.

Tenure is a continuous appointment to the CMU faculty in recognition of their service to the institution, their academic discipline, and quality instruction, Gulstad noted. For faculty, professor is the highest rank, followed by associate professor and then assistant professor.

Two faculty members were promoted from associate to full professor. Dr. John Perkins, who joined CMU in 2004, is now professor of music. Dr. Mark Kelty is now professor of theatre; he also joined the CMU faculty in 2004.

Drs. Kristin Cherry and Dori Waggoner both were promoted from assistant to associate professor, and both were granted tenure. Cherry has taught communications at CMU since 2008. Waggoner, on the CMU faculty since 2010, teaches music and chairs the Fine and Performing Arts Division.

Collin Brink was promoted to associate professor of communication and has been at CMU since 2007. Jill Pratte, who has served CMU since 1999, is now associate professor of physical education. Maryann Rustemeyer is now associate professor of English and mathematics; she joined CMU in 1990.

Barbara Thurmon, now associate professor of education, came to CMU in 2008. Roy “Skip” Vandelicht, a CMU faculty member since 2008, is now associate professor of music. Wade Welton, who has served CMU since 1992, was promoted to associate professor of athletic training.

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Officers of the new Kappa Beta Gamma sorority are (l-r) Kristen Just, Julia Weber, Rachel Ude, Kelsey Beeler, and Peyton Davis.

CMU adds new sorority, first at international level Greek life has been a part of Central Methodist University continuously since the 1920s, but the establishment of a chapter of the international sorority Kappa Beta Gamma marks a new chapter in CMU social society.

Sixteen young ladies have become charter members of the Alpha Eta chapter of Kappa Beta Gamma, which will officially join CMU Greek life for the Fall 2015 semester.

It becomes the fifth sorority, and tenth active Greek social organization, at CMU. Kristen Just, a freshman business major, will serve as the first president of the chapter. Julia Weber is vice president, while Kelsey Beeler is the treasurer.

Peyton Davis is international liaison, and Rachel Ude is recording secretary. CMU Associate Professor Collin Brink will serve as chapter adviser.

While looking into joining a sorority last fall, Just said she and several other women at CMU “just didn’t find the right fit. Each sorority has its own personality,” she said.

“I did some research into what it would take to start a new sorority.”

They next started investigating different national and international sororities, and contacted a few. “Kappa Beta Gamma seemed a good match for Central and its mission,” Just said. She and some friends then met with CMU Greek

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Council adviser Joy Flanders, who helped them through the process of setting up a new Greek society.

“There is a lot of pride and excitement” in being a charter member of CMU’s first non-local sorority, Just said.

“We like what the sorority stands for: Character, Culture, and Courage.”

They also liked the fact that Kappa Beta Gamma “isn’t huge,” with just over 20 active chapters and colonies across the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1917 at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis. Its philanthropic focus, the Special Olympics, is another thing that interested CMU students.

In addition to the officers, other charter members of the Alpha Eta chapter of Kappa Beta Gamma at Central Methodist include Makayla Adrian, Alex Amptman, Sam Bond, Tayler Carr, Caitlyn Harwell, Kayla Herndon, Olivia Miller, Savanna Nault, Gabrielle Otte, Ally Surgeon, and Theresa Zehnle.

The charter members of the CMU chapter of Kappa Beta Gamma are anxious to get their new organization engaged with the campus community next fall and work together with the rest of CMU’s sororities and fraternities to strengthen the Greek system at Central.

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Discover GOLD

by David Hutchison ’07,

Executive Director of Advancement and Alumni Programs

Step under the striped awning and into an unassuming restaurant, just across the street from City Hall on Broadway in downtown Columbia, Mo., and you are greeted with the alluring aroma of that great American tradition: pub food. Tendrils of buffalo seasoning and fries snaking through the air, drawing you deeper into the dimly lit dining room, and that snap and sizzle you hear, the familiar sound of batches of hot wings being fried up for hungry college students.

This is CJ’s Hot Wings, a mainstay in the District, and a tradition in its own right for more than a quarter century. Banners and memorabilia for that other area school cover the walls, and the buzz of a true college hangout is unmistakable. This place is legend. Ask for the owner, however, and you’ll be met not with a long-time, seasoned restaurateur, but Ty Moore, who is soft-spoken, casual and, at 34, only a few years

older than the majority of his staff. He also happens to be GOLD. CMU GOLD that is: a Graduate of the Last Decade.

For 160+ years, Central Methodist has been preparing students to “make a difference in the world,” graduating class after class of men and women who have ultimately gone on to be educators and administrators, writers and musicians, doctors and business

Sand volleyball was one of the activities the emerging GOLDs spent time playing at their first GOLD picnic.

owners. But you don’t necessarily have to look very far to find alums who stand out from the rest; alumni who exemplify the Central difference. Over the last 10 years, CMU has graduated more than 6,000 young men and women like Ty Moore ’05, who are already making their mark in the world.

In January, the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations began a series of videos, titled simply “Discover Gold,” and aimed at showcasing some of our youngest alumni, where they are and what they are up to. They show how their time at CMU made an impact on their lives and, in turn, has helped them make an impact on others. At the end of each month, a new video is posted to the webpage and the CMU YouTube channel, with personal testimony from one of our GOLD alumni who is making a difference (www.centralmethodist.edu/GOLD).

The first decade after college is an incredible season of transition in people’s lives. With graduate school, new careers, and people often starting a family and moving, connections can be lost, not just between graduates and their alma mater, but even between alums themselves. With new media, like Facebook and Twitter, our ability to stay connected is better now than it has ever been. The Central tie that binds us is finding new and vibrant life as our GOLD members keep those relationships alive, not only through social media but also through good old-fashioned get-togethers. Yes, the face-to-face kind!

This summer, CMU GOLD members will be invited to attend exclusive GOLD gatherings around the state, with events like a Kansas City T-Bones game with a pre-game happy hour; a St. Louis Cardinals game in St. Louis; a special gathering after the “CMU at the St. Louis Zoo Day”; and the inaugural GOLD Rush, a scavenger hunt in downtown Columbia, just to name a few. The Big Shindig is the Homecoming GOLD party,

the Friday of homecoming weekend in Fayette.

To get started with our newest batch of GOLD members, the Class of 2015, Central held its first ever GOLD Grad Party, inviting both expected graduates and area young alums to come together for a party at the Fayette City Park. As advertised, it was the first party of the rest of their lives!

“Now is the time to strengthen the bonds among our newest alums, and between them and Central,” says Matt Vander Vennet with CMU’s Alumni Office.

Indeed, one of the great things about the generations that have come before is the powerful sense of community they carry with them long after they have left the C-Bench and the halls of T. Berry behind.

We’re drawn not just to Central, but to each other, through our mutual experience here; it’s transformational.

And so, as our young alumni come into their own, so is our University’s awareness of just how cool they are, and all they have to show us.

Editor’s Note: Watch for the GOLD footprints running through the Talon, profiling current CMU GOLDs.

Mike Rambo, assistant director of intramurals and resident hall director, was on grilling duty for the first GOLD Graduation Party.

Campus news

Cultural Affairs provides a semester of educational opportunities The CMU Cultural Affairs Committee kept busy second semester, providing a variety of art and cultural experiences, supported as always by Central’s Student Government Association.

Ben Franklin visited CMU on March 20 of this century at one of Central’s Friday Forum. His alter ego was Alan J. Prewitt, award-winning playwright, director, and actor.

He has been portraying Ben Franklin for 18 years nationwide to audiences ranging from adult to third graders. His research and understanding of Franklin, and his uncanny resemblance to him are draws for any audience. Ben Franklin (1706-1790) is commonly referred to as “The First American.” He worked to unify the colonies and free them from England. A noted scientist, he invented bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod, among many other creations.

During his life Franklin was also an author, printer, politician, postmaster, civic activist, and diplomat. And he signed the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was known for helping define the values of a new nation— hard work, education, community spirit, and thrift. He opposed all authoritarianism and embraced tolerance.

Dr. Arthur White, director of Jazz Studies at the

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University of Missouri – Columbia, visited the campus in March to work with music students of jazz. The day included a master class for CMU jazz students and a concert.

The visit was arranged by Ryan McLouth ’06, adjunct professor of music at CMU. The Petar Jankovic Ensemble (PJE) returned to provide master classes and present a concert. After years of touring on his own, Jankovic created a unique musical crossover ensemble. The Petar Jankovic Ensemble features a traditional string quartet—Maria Storm, violin I; Azusa Tashiro, violin II; Amanda Grimm, viola; and Kyra Saltman, cello; led by Jankovic on guitar. His Spanish and Latin American influences meld smoothly with the string quartet’s European musical tradition into an innovative new music style.

The PJE covers a repertoire from early Scarlatti to traditional Spanish; from rich Brazilian music to exotic Gypsy traditions; plus new classical works by contemporary composers.

Poet and novelist Erika Wurth visited students also in March. As part of her visit, she presented an open reading for the public and students. She also discussed her most recent novel, Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend, with the CMU book club and worked with students in various English classes.

Wurth is a blend of Apache, Chickasaw and Cherokee, and her writing reflects her heritage. She has a collection of poetry published by the University of New Mexico’s West End Press titled Indian Trains. She has published in numerous magazines, and been a visiting writer at the Institute of American Indian Art. She has been accepted into the prestigious Vermont Studio in Johnson, Vt., which conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the U.S. with an intercultural and international residential population. Wurth teaches creative writing at Western Illinois University.

Vocal Edge, a professional men’s a cappella group from St. Louis, brought its special blend of voices and music styles to Central in a concert in April. The nine men who comprise Vocal Edge sing a range of songs from classic ’50s and ’60s pop to current songs, jazz, doo-wop, and show tunes. They released their debut CD in 2014 which includes works by Anders Edenroth, Rogers and Hammerstein, Queen, Jackson 5, Maroon 5, Bon Jovi, Ben E. King, Frankie Valli, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Bobby Darin, and Tom Jones.

When not singing as Vocal Edge, the nine men slide out of the spotlight and into their day jobs, ranging from music teachers and professional showmen to crime reporter and public relations man. Performers are Ben Silvermintz, Brian Parrish, Calvin Johnson, Eric Holyoke, Jason Fahey, Joel Currier, Jordan Black, Paul Spooner, and Peter Merideth.

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Campus news

Strategic planning begins: alumni feedback welcomed

by Chad Gaines, vice president of information services

Greetings alumni and friends of Central Methodist University! As the academic year winds down and we welcome the Class of 2015 to our alumni ranks, I want to share some exciting news with you regarding the future of Central Methodist University.

University in continuing to operate with a laser-like focus and bringing the proper alignment between our planning goals, our financial and human resources, and our institutional budget. We anticipate the strategic planning process to conclude in February 2016.

In order to anticipate, adapt and respond to changing external factors and internal needs, the University must continually review and assess its efforts, and develop a meaningful plan to guide the University into the future.

Accordingly, President Drake established a task force to embark on a strategic planning process appropriately themed “A Difference with Distinction.”

I have had the privilege of serving Central Methodist University for nearly 20 years. During my tenure, I have seen and continue to see tremendous change throughout the institution that has positively influenced all who have experienced the CMU difference. As we undertake meaningful conversations about the future of Central Methodist University, we welcome your input. Please send your thoughts to ourplan@centralmethodist.edu as together we can ensure that CMU continues to make “A Difference with Distinction.”

One could make a solid argument that the higher education landscape is in a time of transition with discussions and debates at the national and state level about affordability, access to college, and the value of a college degree.

A strategic planning process provides CMU the opportunity to ask ourselves important questions and discuss what we want the University to be over the next five to 10 years. The very basics of our process include: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Assessing our environment Identifying and framing strategic issues Formulating strategies to manage issues Implementation and ongoing assessment

FYI

Central Methodist University has a history of turning plans into action, as evidenced by items from our previous strategic plan. Significant expansion to the Center for Learning and Teaching, increased space and services to our students, technology to enhance the students’ living and learning environments, and the renovation of Classic Hall all can be traced to our last Strategic Plan.

The key question is “What is next?” Preliminary planning and organization are currently underway as we seek not only to collect research and data about the higher education environment but also to collect input from our constituents.

Now, this is where you come in! What do you feel we do well? What could we improve on? What are things we should be thinking about and what advice do you have for President Drake?

Once we have analyzed relevant research data and collected feedback, emerging themes will be identified and prioritized, serving as the foundation for our next strategic plan. With your input, the plan will assist the Spring 2015

(Editor’s Note: Chad Gaines is vice president of information services at CMU, and along with Provost Rita Gulstad, co-chairs the Strategic Planning Committee).

The CMU Alumni Association is partnering with Harris Connect to update alumni contact information and develop a new Alumni Directory.

All alumni will be contacted about the project between June and September by email, phone, or mail.

Questions or concerns?

Contact the CMU Advancement Office or Harris Connect directly starting June 22 at 800-414-4601.

Central Harris Connect

Central Methodist University

is partnering with

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Donn Harrison, there is no comparison

by David Hutchison, Executive Director of Advancement and Alumni Programs

simply to work in Cameron, “Donn announces track meets, basketball games, prom, and other events as needed,” says his wife, Lynette ’88. “He is the voice of Cameron and has a way to make events humorous and enjoyable.

photo courtesy Challie Dawn Davis

“Donn became an E.M.T. when a student fell on the playground and he felt like he didn’t know enough to help her well. Since then he got certified and works summers and weekends on the ambulance to keep up his knowledge.”

– Lynette Harrison

“In the community he bakes cakes for people, plays Santa Claus, gives his time to the church, fights fires, and works on the ambulance. He has missed Christmas dinner and other events with his family while helping others,” she says. She met Donn while they were both students at Central Methodist.

Harrison credits much of his passion for education to his mother, a fifth-grade teacher who taught as a single Take a stroll down any sidewalk in the small commuparent. Don remembers, “The way she treated the kids, the nity of Cameron, Mo., these days, and before long you are way the kids treated her, and the way she loved it, I just likely to hear this simple phrase: “Donn Harrison, there is thought, ‘I really need to do this.’” no comparison.” For the past few months, many of us here His students, his coworkers, his family and his entire in Missouri and across the nation have been catching up to community couldn’t agree more. To say that they love him what the people of Cameron have known for a long time. in Cameron would be a dramatic understatement. They Harrison, who is a crossing guard, a love him for his humor, his comhusband and father, an announcer “Every day these kids walk into passion for others, and the way he at sporting events, an E.M.T and engages with his students as people, the door ready for something firefighter, a church volunteer, and new. You have to have fun, and striving to reach out and connect champion of students with special with every single one of them. you have to sneak it in, so they needs, also happens to be a teacher.

But while Harrison is the one Strike that. He’s the top teacher. who has received this incredible hondon’t know they’re having fun!”

That’s how Kelly Ripa and Mi — Donn Harrison or, he would be the first to point out chael Strahan, hosts of “Live! with that there are many teachers who, Kelly and Michael,” introduced Donn Harrison ’89 to day in and day out, give their all to provide an education America on May 8, as they announced his popular selecand a bright future to the next generation. It’s the many tion as the 2015 Top Teacher, the culmination of a journey educators across Missouri and America who go the extra that began long before there were banners and yard signs, mile to follow through with students who struggle, pour or “Vote for Donn” T-shirts in every corner of Kansas City; their hearts into creative lesson plans and activities, and or even a Facebook page, started by one of his own stuwho never stop learning and growing themselves. dents, who enthusiastically titled it “Donn Harrison is a In a day and age when our public education system, Rock Star!” and teachers themselves, are under increasing scrutiny, In reality, it’s a path that Donn has been on his whole Donn provides a powerful witness to the real picture of life, as he has dedicated himself to his students, to his what our teachers are up to in our schools: shaping the community, and to his mission as a transformer of lives students of today into the young men and women they through education. will become. And the response, not to mention the product It’s clear that more than a career teacher, Harrison is of his and their work, is certainly deserving of these top a part of the fabric of his community. Not being content honors.

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40th edition of Inscape released The 40th edition of Inscape, Central’s magazine of the arts, has been released. The magazine features creative works such as poetry, fiction, non-fiction, plays, paintings, drawings, and photography from more than 30 different students and staff.

The members of CMU’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, as well as the faculty members of the English department, voted on the best pieces within each category to be honored with the annual Inscape awards.

The editors of this year’s edition of Inscape were senior Courtney Warford and junior Kelly Jo Davis. The faculty adviser for Inscape is Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar.

Kelli Jo Davis (left) and Courtney Warford, Inscape editors

Students vie for radio awards

(l-r) Jamie Gisburne, Devin Pearson, and Jonathan Schwab

The CMU Eagle Radio students dove into a new contest this year through the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association (MBEA). Three of the students received honorable mention for their audio production projects in the annual College Media Awards Competition.

Devin Pearson received honorable mention in the audio category of documentaries and public affairs for his piece titled “Religion and Government.” Jamie Gisburne and Jonathan Schwab also received honorable mention for their team project in the audio news show category for their piece titled “Ebola in Schools.”

MBEA hosts the contest each year to allow Missouri’s college students to compete and showcase their best work.

The contest includes categories across several different types of media, including video, audio, multimedia, and script. CMU joined MBEA in 2014 making this the first year for Eagle Radio students to compete.

Dr. Kristin Cherry, assistant professor of communication, serves as faculty adviser for Eagle Radio.

Earlier this semester three students were named as finalists for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Awards, a national competition.

IBS receives thousands of entries each year from hundreds of universities throughout America, most much larger than CMU. To be nominated, one must be chosen among the top 10 percent of all entries from across the nation.

For Best News Feature Story Schwab was selected for his story on “Deforestation.” For Best Community News Coverage Gisburne and Schwab were nominated for their story on “Ebola in our Schools.”

For Best Station Promo junior Jasmine Swopshire was chosen for her work.

Jamie Gisburne (left) and Kayla Herndon were elected by the student body as the new president and vice president, respectively, of the Student Government Association. They hope to increase student involvement, use of the quad, and student/faculty interaction outside of the classroom.

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Campus news

Kathy Vieth newest CMU Board member As a student at CenThat’s not bad for the tral Methodist, Kathy Vieth former Central SGA president certainly fit the description from Nevada, Mo., who was of “active.” Given her notainvolved in everything from ble career and achievements, intramural sports to a nationthe newest member of CMU’s al mathematics honorary, a Board of Trustees promises to social sorority, and a women’s contribute that same exuberleadership group, among othance and energy. er things.

The Denver, Colo., When Vieth retired from resident becomes the 34th IBM, she moved to Vail, Colo., CMU trustee and will serve a but didn’t slow down. After four-year term, notes Central several corporate boards and President Roger D. Drake. a management consultant, “Kathy’s expertise coushe formed her own mortgage pled with her passion will, I company for the area real am certain, yield wonderful estate market and built it into results for Central Methodist a $60-million-a-year success.

University and the students Then she sold it and formed New CMU Board of Trustee member Kathy Vieth ’66 discusses a point with fellow Board member Paul King ’68. we serve,” Drake says. “It Dos Lobos LLC, a consulting seemed clear to me she had a business, which she contingreat time on her return to campus, visiting old haunts and ues to direct. connecting with some of our current students and faculty.

Vieth and her spouse, Hope Engsberg, M.D., also own “If you could build a governing board member, Kathy AgeWellMD, a medical practice focusing on preventative is the type of person one might want to use as a template. care and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy for It’s good to have her back in the Central family.” men and women.

“My time at Central has served me well in my business As a CMU Board member, Vieth will help the Univerand personal life,” Vieth says. “As a small-town girl, Censity formulate policies and provide direction, support and tral and Fayette were the perfect environment for me.” counsel to the Central administration. Vieth’s proven track A mathematics and economics major at Central, Vieth record of success and entrepreneurial spirit will be an asset began her career in banking. In 1974 she joined IBM, as the Board and administration work together to chart a beginning an 18-year association that saw her become vice course forward in the ever competitive and changing highpresident of product development – its first female VP on er education landscape, Drake says. the development side of the corporation.

“I am delighted to return to Central in my capacity as Vieth was responsible for development of IBM’s Think- a board member to help ensure that today’s students have Pad, the venerable firm’s successful entry into personal the very best academic and social experience that college computing. She headed a department that generated annu- can offer,” Vieth said. al worldwide revenues of as much as $2.5 billion.

Brianne Preston ’09 Bachelor of Science, History PhD, TA at Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, England Central Methodist University was great in preparing me for my future academic career. After studying history and biology, I was prepared to pursue my master’s degree in Classics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, followed by a doctoral degree in Classics at Newcastle University, where I studied the reception of Hippocrates in Renaissance Spain. During these studies, I have had amazing opportunities to travel, including for research, in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain. I received my Ph.D. in January of this year and now pursuing an academic career. In addition to the academic training I received while at Central, I made lasting friendships and memories that I will always hold dear.

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Campus news

Summer Shows

Kansas Impressions by James J. Froese Missouri Impressions by Carol Hatting Bramon Small is Big: Works from the Gallery Collection

June 7 - July 23, 2015

Sigma Theta Tau—ask a nurse One Greek society that few in college have heard of is Sigma Theta Tau; but Central’s nursing students know exactly what it is.

Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society is available to those CMU nursing students who qualify through the Alpha Iota Chapter at the University of Missouri. In theory, chapters can only be in research institutions, so MU welcomed Central aboard four years ago, based on the quality of nurses CMU produces.

To qualify for the organization, students must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 for BSN students, or 3.5 for MSN students. They also must demonstrate strong leadership

and service qualities; meet the expectation of academic integrity; and receive approval/recommendation from the majority of the faculty in their respective programs.

Last spring, nine students were inducted: Kelly Bowling, Joanna Denninghoff, Nicole Hall, Megan Koerner, Stefanie Cornelius, Sara Dunn, Denise Hessler, Amanda Maxwell, and Shari Faber.

Last fall five more nursing students from the Fayette campus joined the organization: Katelyn Witte, Jennifer Dupes, Lauren Marshall, Shawn Waugh, and Margaret McGough.

Darrell Bailey ’13 Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Arts Actor, New York City, N.Y. Attending Central Methodist University you really get a real sense of community and leadership. The professional and social skills I attained at Central have allowed me the opportunity to attend one of L.A.’s finest acting schools, The New York Film Academy, where I am completing a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. Wherever my career takes me I always bring that spirit of community and leadership with me.

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Campus news

Moore to direct CMU Center for Faith and Service Molly Moore’s new position at Central Methodist University carries multiple responsibilities, but when one boils it down, it’s all about making connections.

The Rev. Moore will join CMU as director of its Center for Faith and Service, effective July 1, according to CMU President Roger Drake. She succeeds The Rev. Lucas Endicott, the program’s founder, who has accepted an assignment with the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Moore comes to CMU after more than five years with the Missouri United Methodist Church in Columbia, where she has been pastor of church life and growth.

Part of Moore’s charge at CMU involves supporting students on the Fayette campus through its Campus Ministries program. It has seen a substantial increase in participation in recent years, including students from multiple denominations.

“The college years provide a unique opportunity for young adults to explore their faith,” Moore says. “Whether coming from a churched or unchurched background, once immersed in a campus community, students often develop a better understanding and experience of faith.

“I’m excited to be a part of CMU and look forward to connecting with students and faculty in the coming months,” she adds.

Drake says another aspect of the Center for Faith and Service – enhancing CMU connections to the United Methodist Movement – is focused more externally. The third component is a blend of internal and external initiatives: expanding civic engagement opportunities between CMU and the public at large.

“Our students have a great interest in and a great heart for service to others,” Drake says. “Civic engagement is a fantastic opportunity for students to take the knowledge they learn in the classroom and convert that knowledge to wisdom.

“Molly will do an amazing job in providing opportunities for students to serve, learn and grow,” he adds.

CMU will look to Moore to increase awareness of and involvement with CMU among the greater United Methodist Church community. She and members of her team will seek to carry the CMU message to United Methodist Church members, particularly but not exclusively in Missouri.

The Center for Faith and Service will operate under the direction of the Office of Student Development and Ken Oliver, CMU vice president for institutional growth and student engagement.

“Molly has uncanny leadership abilities across diverse populations, an engaging and infectious spirit, a keen intellect, and a passionate love for learning,” Oliver says.

“She has a burning desire to bring out the very best in 30

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those she teaches, counsels, and mentors.

“In addition, she is a scholar who awakens the love of learning in those around her,” he adds. “We are excited to have Molly as a member our CMU family.”

Civic engagement is already big at CMU, as evidenced by its recent Service Day. Each spring CMU cancels classes on one day and encourages students, faculty, and staff to volunteer for various projects around mid-Missouri; more than 700 people volunteered approximately 2,100 hours during Service Day on April 9.

Yet opportunities for civic engagement, and the lessons it teaches those who do it, aren’t just limited to one day each year, Moore notes. While many CMU organizations and most of its athletic teams do multiple community service activities throughout the year, she hopes to set the stage for even more of it.

A native of northern Indiana who later lived in the Chicago area, Moore received her Bachelor of Arts in religion and sociology from Hope College in Michigan. She obtained her Master in Divinity degree from the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, and further certification from Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan. “As an Ordained Deacon with a focus on discipleship formation, Molly is perfectly positioned to help our students mature in their journey,” Drake notes. “Her enthusiasm, energy, and passion, along with her contagious personality, will enable the Center for Faith and Service to create life-changing opportunities for our students.”

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Campus news

Four earn full tuition scholarships to CMU The stakes were high and the rewards were significant when Central Methodist University hosted its first two Eagle Select Scholarship Competitions this year.

When results were tabulated, Richard Byfield of Rolla, Addison McGuire of Higbee, Brad Brinkmann of Boonville and Lexi Ward of Vian, Okla., had risen above 100 other gifted competitors from Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, and Colorado to earn four-year full-tuition scholarships to Central Methodist.

The value of each scholarship exceeds $80,000 if renewed for all four years of their college experience, according to Ken Oliver, CMU vice president for institutional growth and student engagement. All four students will begin their studies at CMU this fall.

The Eagle Select Scholarship competition is a semi-annual event for students in their senior year of high school who meet strict standards and who apply for, and are invited to participate in, the competition. Students must be high school seniors or equivalent with a grade point average of 3.5 and a minimum of a 23 ACT in order to apply.

Brad Brinkman (middle) and his parents and grandparents posed under the clock tower after he received his Eagle Select Scholarship award.

C is for Care . . . All faculty and staff show support and care

throughout the days.

M is for Music . . . Throughout the campus at Central Methodist

music can always be heard.

U is for Unique . . . The small, close-knit community at Central

Methodist is very unique. You are NOT just a number, you are important!

The CMU Abecedarium book, which was created by the ED 327 students and two sections of CMU 101 classes during 2012-13 is available for those Central alumni who love the picures, textures, and communications inherent in the campus and those who inhabit it. Contact Peggy Robb at probb@centralmethodist.edu for more information.

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Campus news

Spring semester with the Career Development Center

by Danielle Mae Franklin, student The Denneny Career Development Center has experienced an exciting spring semester for the 2015 academic year.

Once the students returned to campus from winter break, we began promoting our Women’s Dress to Impress workshop. We worked with CMU student and White House Black Market Manager Joe Jefferies ’15 in providing women with an outlook on how to dress professionally and make that memorable first impression. Natasha Grayson ’05 came to discuss professional attire and what recruiters and interviewers look for in appearance.

The Annual Career EXPO proved to be of great success this semester. EXPO attendees/participants began seeing results soon after the EXPO took place. Career Development Center Student Resource Assistant and CMU student, Sean Tobeler ’15 was offered a position with All Systems Design after graduation, along with Marco Romano ’15, who was offered a position with Enterprise Holdings.

A total of 48 recruiters participated this semester, which was an increase of 11.62 percent from the 2014 Career EXPO. We also saw a 15.48% percent in student participants and were immensely pleased to have several faculty and Board of Trustee members visiting booths to meet employers. As always, we encourage any alumni who

Natasha Grayson, a 2005 Central Methodist University alumna from Columbia, was the featured speaker at CMU’s annual Women’s Dress for Success workshop. She is currently the assistant to the director of supported living for Boone County Family Resources in Columbia. The workshop, sponsored by CMU’s Career Development Center, is designed to assist women preparing to transition from student to new professional.

would like to participate in next year’s event to contact our office so that we may add them to the invitation list.

In March, we continued our on-campus Mock Interview Series with alumnus Benjamin Hart ’94, of Allen, Gibbs & Houlik L.C. CPAS and Advisors along with Enterprise Holdings. Last semester we arranged 14 mock interviews, and three students received job offers. In these interviews, the students were asked potential questions in order to better prepare themselves for upcoming interviews. Mock Interviews allow students to gain a perspective on the styles and techniques interviewers have. Each recruiter is encouraged to provide honest feedback.

In an effort to expose students to a variety of careers, we also hosted the Medical Professional Panel. The panel included two alumnae, Katherine Ervie ’94, program director of the University of Missouri—Kansas City School of Medicine Physician Assistant, and Erin Young ’07, genetic counselor, University of Kansas Cancer Center. Robert Griffin, DDS, was also in attendance on the panel. This particular event gave science students the opportunity to hear about “a day in the life of” from the panel members, so that they can better anticipate their future career possibilities.

Lee Smith ’07 Bachelor of Science, Business Loan Officer, Cornerstone Home Lending; Lee’s Summit, Mo. While at CMU I studied business and graduated with a degree in entrepreneurship and a minor in accounting. I am thankful for the professors who guided and challenged me to do my best and find a career that I loved. Currently I am a mortgage lender at Cornerstone Home Lending where I am doing what I love and using my God-given talents. I live in Lees Summit, Mo., with my wife and two kids.

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Campus news

Photo (left to right)--front row: Vickie Gerken, Ron Sanders, Anita Davis, Octavia MeQuitty, Linda Jasper, Lois Souders, Antoinette Jackmon, and Judy Gerken; back row: Carl McQuitty, Donna Engle, Diane Day, Terry Haggard, Molly Baker, Bambi Morton, Cindy Innes, Janice Watts, and Rick Tremain

Housekeeping crew earns award College students have a lot on their minds. So do faculty and staff. School, friends, what to do this weekend. But rarely do any of them think about the state of their buildings. At Central Methodist University, they have been able to develop complacency where cleanliness is concerned. That’s because CMU has an amazing housekeeping staff.

This intrepid crew, who keeps the residence halls, classrooms, administrative offices, and student union spotless, has just taken their game one level higher. The housekeepers of CMU have recently earned their Silver Environmental Health Services (EHS) certifications from Green Clean Institute (GCI).

The advancement in professional education for these facility maintenance staff individuals will have an effect on the health of the student population, but also the staff, visitors, and community at large. Central Methodist University and Fayette Public Schools both became certified at the silver level in March by taking professional education courses in the field of environmental health services. The next step is to begin utilizing an EHS analytical tool on one or more of their buildings to affirm the positive attributes they have in place.

“I’m very proud of this group and what they have accomplished,” says Derry Wiswall, director of plant operations.

“Each one is very dedicated and passionate about his or her custodial responsibilities and the role he or she plays in fulfilling the mission of Central Methodist University.”

Following the example of New Franklin Schools, another GCI-recognized school, CMU and Fayette R-III Schools are spurring the effort in environmental awareness in the region.

Collectively, the efforts of these three campuses directly affect thousands of individuals from this region and improve the lives of countless children, adults, families, and visitors from other areas of the country.

Kayla Beth Kelly ’13 Bachelor of Arts, Religion Seminarian, Princeton Theological Seminary; Princeton, N.J. In seminary, we are told that 70-80% of our learning will happen outside of the classroom, because it is outside of the classroom that we learn how to use what we’ve learned in our daily routine and relationships. Looking back on my time at Central, I can see that this was the case there as well. At Central, I learned not only how to be a leader, but also how to inspire the qualities of a leader in those around me; I learned about people, about how to discover what they need and desire out of life. Now I am a student at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ, working to earn an M. Div. and an M.A. in Ministry with Young People and every day, as I study and learn how to minister to people, I am building upon both my formal and informal education from CMU.

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Extended Studies

SFCC, CMU partner to provide free counseling service Free personal counseling is now available to State Fair Community College students on the Sedalia campus through a partnership with Central Methodist University (CMU).

The new Clinical Counseling Center is staffed with graduate students who are in their final year of CMU’s counseling program. They are under the supervision of the practicum instructor, clinical supervisor, and clinical director. SFCC President Dr. Joanna Anderson says the partnership was created after SFCC’s counseling staff surveyed more than 1,000 SFCC students about their mental health needs.

“Our students indicated there was a definite need for counseling services,” says Anderson. “After discussing many options, we determined a partnership with CMU was an excellent way to provide our students with this much-needed service.”

“This issue benefits SFCC students and provides our graduate students with experience in their field of study that will prove invaluable,” CMU President Dr. Roger Drake says. “It is another great example of SFCC-CMU partnership at work.”

The center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays during fall and spring semesters in Fielding, Room 236, on the Sedalia campus. Students may schedule appointments by calling Angela Schubert, clinical director, at (660) 596-7156 or emailing aschuber@centralmethodist. edu. Walk-ins are welcome.

The center also hosts free PAUSE group sessions at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesdays in Fielding Technical Center, An RSVP is helpful but not required. For more information, students may call (573) 289-7874. PAUSE stands for “People Gathered to Add Understanding for Students Living on the Edge of a New Beginning.”

Central Methodist opens new windows to online studies Central’s flourishing online studies programs aren’t yet to take online courses offered by postsecondary instituavailable nationwide, but it’s getting close thanks to CMU’s tions based in another state,” according to SARA’s website new participation in the National Council for State Autho(http://nc-sara.org). rization Reciprocity Agreements, or SARA. Providing prospective students in SARA states with CMU has just been granted institutional participant more choices and better access to high-quality academic status by SARA, allowing it to offer any of its 15 online de- programs is what online programming is all about, Gulstad gree programs to residents of SARA-affiliated states. With notes. the addition of SARA member states, CMU is now able to CMU isn’t a SARA member, Brink notes – the State of offer online degrees in 42 states, with more on the way.

Missouri is a member. CMU has been approved as an “in“I am very excited about this opportunity to streamstitutional participant” and will pay a fee to the state for line the processes for state authorizations, and to ensure its involvement. continuity for students who start programs as a Missouri At present CMU offers 14 bachelor’s degree programs resident who may have to move to another state,” says Dr. online, along with two options of its Master of Science in Rita Gulstad, CMU provost.

Nursing degree.

Not all 45 states are SARA affiliates, Gulstad notes.

CMU already had worked directly with many states to obtain approval to offer its fully accredited online programs in those states. But SARA helps CMU and other institutions cut through the red tape, according to Stephanie Brink, assistant dean for CMU’s online programs.

“SARA is opening doors to students in states where we might not have sought approval” due For information on future events, to time, cost, or bureaucratic barriers, Brink says.

With the new SARA compact, CMU will no longer keep an eye on the CMU Event Calendar need to navigate the oftentimes complex regulawww.centralmethodist.edu/calendar tions of each individual member state.

Based in Boulder, Colo., the non-profit National and the Alumni Events page Council for State Authorization and Reciprocity cmalumni.centralmethodist.edu/events Agreements aims to “make it easier for students

What’s GoinG on at CMU?

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Extended Studies

Griffith to lead CMU Behavior Analysis program online One of Central Methodist University’s newest academic programs has a new full-time faculty member, but most CMU students and colleagues shouldn’t expect to see a lot of Dr. Annette Griffith.

The new associate professor for CMU’s Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program lives in Colby, Kan., nearly 500 miles from the main CMU campus in Fayette. She will head the program and teach coursework entirely online.

“Even though I am physically far away, there are so many virtual options for communication and collaboration,” Griffith says. “I already feel so connected to everyone at CMU.” ABA is a discipline devoted to understanding, developing, and applying procedures for effective and beneficial behavior change for children, youth, and adults with disabilities. Autism intervention is among the most widely known areas for which ABA is employed, but is by no means the only one. Griffith has worked in the field for nearly 15 years.

A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Griffith until recently headed Momentum Behavioral Health Associates Inc. in Lee’s Summit, Mo. It provided ABA services to a wide variety of clients and included a staff of 20.

Previously she worked for the Missouri Department of Mental Health as a senior behavior analyst in its Western Region. Griffith has also taught on a part-time basis for both the University of Central Missouri and for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she received her doctoral degree.

From 2008-2011 Griffith was an assistant research professor for the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at Nebraska-Lincoln. She has held other positions in the ABA field in Nebraska and several locations in Canada.

Griffith has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Okanagan University in British Columbia, Canada, and her Master of Arts degree from the University of NevadaReno. She is a licensed behavior analyst in Missouri.

Her background in Applied Behavior Analysis, along with her experiences in higher education – she has taught in the classroom setting, in a mix of online and in-class, and completely online – made her a solid candidate for the position according to CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad.

“Her experience of working with all age levels will be invaluable for students in the program,” Gulstad says. “We are looking forward to having her as a part of our faculty team.”

Though the field of Applied Behavior Analysis has existed since the late 1960s, it hasn’t been widely known until recent years, and CMU officials are excited about its opportunity for growth.

Central Methodist University actually established its ABA program in conjunction with a partner community college, Crowder College in Neosho, less than two years ago. CMU offers a Bachelor of Science degree in ABA degree completely online.

“The ABA field is currently growing at a fast pace and there is a high demand for quality training,” Griffith notes. “The online ABA program at CMU will allow people from across the state, and across the country, to access that training; and I am excited to be involved.”

Partnership with Metropolitan CC growing Since 2012, Metropolitan Community College and Central Methodist University have had two articulation agreements. Recently, MCC Chancellor Mark James and CMU President Roger Drake have announced the signing of a third articulation agreement.

Kansas City’s MCC offers a two-year Associate of Applied Science in Military Technology degree. As a result of the agreement, graduates can then transfer to CMU to obtain their four-year Bachelor of Applied Science in Management degree.

Coursework at CMU leading to the four-year degree is available to be completed in any of three ways, according to CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad.

Students of MCC can take the coursework entirely

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online, they can transfer to the main CMU campus in Fayette, or they can attend one of nearly two dozen of CMU’s extension sites around the state.

The first articulation agreement was for MCC graduates who had earned an Associate in Applied Science degree in nursing. Graduates could transfer on to obtain a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree from CMU. The second agreement consisted of graduates from MCC’s Radiologic Technology program who could transfer on to CMU to obtain a Bachelor of Health Science degree.

For more information about the agreements or the new degree options from CMU, contact Aimee Sage at 660-2486651 or asage@centralmethodist.edu.

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Young man reaches his dreams

by Mike Ringen, site coordinator, Lake of the Ozarks campus

partnership between the two schools, it is likely that I would not have considered pursuing my education any further. Earning a degree in this manner was cost-effective, and the class times and course offerings provided the flexibility I needed to take classes and still run my business. I would recommend CMU to others because of the high-quality instruction and the amount of enthusiastic help I received from the advisors. I would encourage anyone to see how CMU/LOZ can help you accomplish your academic goals just like they helped me.”

Kirby understands that achieving success is a combination of hard work, skill development, support of family and friends, and the prompting, mentoring, and guidance of skilled people willing to help. Even at such a young age, Kirby seems to “get it.” He has been able to combine his love of the water and wakeboarding with the love of helping others. He loves seeing the look on clients’ faces when they successfully complete their training. Helping people achieve something they never thought would be possible, and building relationships and long-lasting friendships seems to be what it is really all about for Kirby. When asked about future goals, Kirby states, “My ultimate goal is to listen for how God wants me to pursue my future in business and the wakeboarding industry.”

Even with all Kirby has accomplished in his young life... graduating from college, starting a business, becoming nationally recognized in his field, and overcoming learning difficulties... he seems to be just getting started.

Graduation from Central Methodist University at its Lake Ozark Campus this May with a degree in business is significant, but is only a small part of what makes up the life of Kirby Liesmann. Kirby has been competing professionally in wakeboard since he was 14, finishing as high as 7th in the 2012 World Championships and consistently Upper left, Liesmann shows off his award-winning wakeboarding skills. finishing in the top 20 professional wakeboarders in the Below, Liesmann has taught wakeboarding and wakesurfing at his nation.

Kirby’s School of Wake since 2008.

He opened Kirby’s School of Wake in 2008 and gives wakeboarding and wakesurfing lessons to individuals of all ages. He is a young man of faith and uses that to direct him in his business, education, and personal endeavors. When asked how his faith drives his decisions Kirby said, “I once heard someone say that there is a difference between a good idea and a God idea, and we at Kirby’s School of Wake are pursuing the Lord in search of those God ideas.”

When asked about challenges he has had to overcome, Kirby mentioned a learning disability, diagnosed in elementary school. He’s had to work through the challenges created with reading and writing. Kirby quickly notes that without the patience and graciousness of CMU personnel, he could not have tackled his fear of failure, and succeed in earning his degree. It also helped him develop the confidence to carry this attitude over into his business.

Kirby came to CMU after receiving his Associates Degree from State Fair Community College at their Lake campus. Initially, Kirby had no plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but after hearing about the partnership at LOZ between SFCC and CMU and seeing how easily his credits would fit into a CMU degree plan for business, he decided to continue his education. As Kirby stated, “Without the 36 Spring 2015 Central Methodist University Talon

CMU teaches nurse educators Known since the 1850s for training outstanding school teachers, more recently for rapid gains in its nursing programs, and in the past couple of years for substantial growth of online courses, Central Methodist University has brought those strengths together.

CMU now offers its newest graduate program, the Master of Science in Nursing-Nurse Educator (MSN-NE). Formerly available only as a track within CMU’s MSN-Clinical Nurse Leader program, the new option has been approved by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, President Roger Drake announced.

CMU’s training of nursing professionals to teach will help address a critical demand in health care. Despite a nursing shortage, tens of thousands of qualified prospects are turned away from nursing schools in the U.S. each year due to faculty shortages.

Hospitals and CMU’s community college partners are primary targets to provide students for the new program – and among the most likely groups to hire them upon completion, points out Dr. Rita Gulstad, CMU provost.

Gulstad noted that several of CMU’s community college partners – Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff, East Central College in Union, Mineral Area College in Park Hills, and State Fair Community College in Sedalia – expressed interest in a graduate level nurse educator program to help them address faculty shortages.

The degree will be in the “cohort” format—enrollment will be limited and a group of students who begin at the same time can progress through the program together.

The shortage of certified nurse educators exists not just in Missouri but across the nation, Gulstad says. She cites data from the America Association of Colleges of Nursing that indicates two-thirds of nursing schools point to faculty shortages as the reason they must turn away qualified candidates for nursing school, and the problem is expected to worsen.

The program will also be accessible through CMU partnerships with North Central Missouri College in Trenton, Crowder College in Neosho, Jefferson College in Hillsboro and Arnold, Linn State Technical College, and through CMU off-campus centers in Clinton, Columbia, Osage Beach, Rolla, and St. Louis.

Dr. Angela Cornelius, CMU assistant professor of nursing, administers the program.

The degree becomes CMU’s fifth graduate program, joining its Master of Education, Master of Music Education, Master of Science in Clinical Counseling, and Master of Science in Nursing-Clinical Nurse Leader degrees.

For more information, contact Stephanie Brink, CMU assistant dean for online programs and director of nursing for the College of Graduate and Extended Studies at sbrink@centralmethodist.edu or call 660-248-6639.

Dual credit gets accreditation Many colleges and universities across the country, including Central Methodist University, offer for-credit academic programs for high-achieving students still attending high school.

Fewer than 100 such institutions across the country have demonstrated what it takes to gain accreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP). That list now includes Central Methodist University’s program, which it calls First Class.

NACEP announced May 4 that CMU is one of six colleges and universities to gain first-time accreditation from NACEP, according to CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad. CMU also becomes one of only seven four-year private colleges with NACEP accreditation.

CMU partners with more than 80 Missouri high schools to offer readily transferable college credit courses to eligible high school students. Almost 1,500 high school students are taking advantage of the opportunity during the spring 2015 semester, according to the program’s coordinator, Peggy O’Connell, at CMU. Typically, CMU First Class courses are taught by college-approved high school teachers who meet CMU qualifications. NACEP has developed the only national set of quality standards for concurrent enrollment (or as they are often called, dual credit) partnerships. Those standards Spring 2015

assure that the course content and expectations for student work in high schools match the standards of the sponsoring college or university.

While Central Methodist has sponsored a dual credit program since the early 1990s, O’Connell said CMU started down the path to NACEP accreditation in 2011. O’Connell and her supervisor, Assistant Dean Sandra Wald, have been preparing materials, meeting with CMU faculty, conducting a self study, and assuring that CMU meets all 17 NACEP accreditation standards.

NACEP’s approval validates to CMU partner high schools “that we offer a high quality program and that we are following a strict set of rules,” O’Connell says. “It is definitely a matter of prestige.”

“Going through the NACEP application and approval process made CMU take a good look at how it was administering its dual credit program, and that’s been a good thing,” Wald adds. “We have done more professional development with our dual credit teachers, and they have had an opportunity to work more closely with our own faculty,” she said.

Nineteen states have colleges and universities that are NACEP-accredited, and only five Missouri colleges and universities have met the standards set by the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based body.

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Extended Studies

CMU, SFCC Expand Partnership State Fair Community College graduates have new options to pursue bachelor’s degrees in music, health sciences, or applied behavior analysis from Central Methodist University, thanks to new agreements inked this semester.

SFCC hosted a brief ceremony in Sedalia during which CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad and SFCC Vice President for Educational and Student Support Services Dr. Brent Bates signed the agreements. CMU will begin offering the new partnership opportunities in the fall.

One new program enables SFCC graduates with an associate of arts degree in music to transfer seamlessly into the Bachelor of Music Education degree program at CMU’s Fayette campus. Students can major in either vocal or instrumental music, and graduates will be prepared to teach music in Missouri public schools.

SFCC and CMU also have created a seamless transfer opportunity for SFCC graduates of its Associate of Applied Science-Radiologic Technology program. They can pursue CMU’s Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree, with

all coursework offered online.

Graduates of this CMU program will have the potential to pursue graduate education in their chosen specialty area and may find expanded job opportunities in the community practice setting.

Further, SFCC and CMU created a unique transfer opportunity which enables SFCC associate of arts graduates to complete CMU’s Bachelor of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis. CMU’s BS-Applied Behavior Analysis is offered online and is designed to meet the educational requirements to sit for the national accrediting exam to become a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst.

The CMU-SFCC partnership began in 2004 at SFCC’s Sedalia campus. CMU and SFCC also have partnerships in Clinton and at the Lake of the Ozarks.

For more information about any CMU programs offered to SFCC graduates, contact Aimee Sage at 660-248-6651 or by e-mail at asage@centralmethodist.edu.

From left, row 1: Ron Sayer, SFCC instructor, music; Dr. Brent Bates, SFCC VP, educational and student support services; Dr. Rita Gulstad, provost of CMU; Dr. Deborah DeGan-Dixon, CMU assistant dean, western region, College of Graduate and Extended Studies; row 2: James D. Cunningham Jr., SFCC instructor, criminal justice; Ruth Ann Pfremmer, SFCC instructor of radiological technology; Dr. Rhonda Hutton-Gann, SFCC associate dean, nursing; Stephanie Brink, CMU assistant dean - online programs, director of nursing, CGES; and Keith Swanson, CMU site coordinator, Sedalia.

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Extended Studies

CLAS and CGES-St. Louis have joint open house The variety of programs and learning opportunities offered by Central Methodist University were on display at a special Open House at CMU’s location in Maryland Heights in April.

Whether interested in CMU coursework in and around the greater St. Louis area, CMU’s growing online degree opportunities, or attending class on the main CMU campus in Fayette, prospective students were invited to stop by and pick up the information they needed at the event.

Not only was it a success for more than 40 students who braved storms to attend, but it also drew a number of CMU alumni from the St. Louis area, stopping by to say hello.

The event was co-sponsored by CMU’s College of From left, prospective student Judy Waxelman discusses options with Liberal Arts and Sciences and its College of Graduate and Maria Bingaman, Admissions, and Natalie Morris, Adult Degree ProExtended Studies. gram, in an open house for CMU Fayette and St. Louis.

Four earn CMU counseling awards Four Central Methodist University Master of Science in coordinator, is based at CMU’s site located on the State Fair Clinical Counseling students have been selected as 2014-15 Community College campus in Sedalia. award recipients for achievements within the program.

CMU’s Master of Science in Clinical Counseling proThey include Angi Allphin of Fayette, John Hinklin gram is a professional development program that prepares of Piedmont, Rebecca Moser of Grain Valley, and Markie graduates with knowledge and skills necessary to apply for Smith of Bonne Terre. licensure in Missouri as a Licensed Professional Counselor Smith and Moser both were selected to receive the (LPC). first-ever Outstanding Clinical and Academic Performance The program is designed so graduates are employable Award. Their selection was based on distinguished scholar- in clinical counseling arenas such as correctional faciliship, outstanding service, and academic achievement. ties, mental health centers, and psychiatric institutions, or Smith began the CMU graduate program in clinical are prepared to work in private practice. CMU offers the counseling in 2012. Her undergraduate degree is from the degree through its branch sites in Columbia, Maryland University of Phoenix. Moser, who obtained her unHeights, Park Hills, and Sedalia. dergraduate degree from CMU, also started the CMU program in 2012. Only students who are in their final semester are eligible, with the recipients chosen by CMU faculty.

Hinklin and Allphin were honored with the inaugural Outstanding Second Year Graduate Student Dr. Harold W. Award. Only second-year students are eligible and they Sunoo World must be nominated by CMU faculty. Academic abilities, commitment to client advocacy, contributions to the Peace Lecture profession, and demonstration of promise for future professional development are criteria for the award.

Hinklin, who attended Three Rivers College before obtaining his bachelor’s degree from CMU, started the master’s program in 2013. Allphin, who also began the program in 2013, obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Theresa Keown, who works from CMU’s branch site on the Mineral Area College campus in Park Hills, directs the program. Angela Schubert, the program

First Annual

Coming Fall 2015

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Hiring a grad?

Check out their Merit page, an online profile featuring their campus involvement, awards, and other achievements.

Just click on the symbol on the bottom of the CMU website to search names.

Anspach brings home trophy for bright idea Jenny Martin Anspach ’03 recently won the OmniUpdate Gadget Challenge Award at the 2014 OmniUpdate Users Conference. OmniUpdate created the system that is used to manage the CMU website. Anspach contributed the best idea for improving this particular service, and won a scholarship to attend OmniUpdate’s National Conference in California.

Shahab Lashkari, director of product development for OmniUpdate, says, “We wanted our user community to have a big part in selecting the winner of our 2014 Gadget Idea Challenge. All submitted ideas were voted on by our customers. The top five ideas were then judged on creativity, usefulness, feasibility, and value.

“Jenny’s ‘Broken Links’ gadget was the most popular among both our customers and the committee. It was simple, yet very useful; and we knew it would make a great addition to our product. We can’t wait to see what Jenny comes up with next!”

Anspach is the assistant director for marketing communications at CMU. Photo, above, left to right: Daniel Larkins, Lance Merker (President/CEO of OmniUpdate Inc.), and Jenny Anspach ’03

2015 Gaddis Lecture September 24, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

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Knapp site coordinator for CC-CMU partnership It would be difficult to imagine a candidate better suited than Jason Knapp to be Central Methodist University’s first site coordinator for its partnership with Crowder College.

He is a Neosho native and a Crowder alumnus who has both taught and done student services work at Crowder.

The Crowder-CMU partnership began two years ago.

CMU offers bachelor’s degree completion programs with Crowder, either at CC or online. Programs include applied behavior analysis, applied science in management, accounting, business, child development, criminal justice, general Studies, psychology, and nursing (registered nurse-to-bachelor of science in nursing degree). CMU also has several online graduate programs available to Crowder alumni, staff, and area residents, Gulstad said.

Knapp obtained his associate’s degree from Crowder.

He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in political science from Missouri Southern State University and his master’s from Missouri State University in international affairs and administration.

“Central Methodist University degree programs are a great opportunity for Crowder students to further their education beyond an associate’s degree,” Knapp says. “The awesome part is that students can receive a bachelor’s degree without leaving the Crowder College campus. I look forward to helping students fulfill their academic goals.”

As a CMU site coordinator Knapp serves as the principal CMU liaison with Crowder, recruiting students, helping students receive necessary student support and services (library, computing, academic advising, registration, fee payment, financial aid, and more), helping identify and appoint faculty to teach CMU coursework, developing class schedules, and other duties.

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Campus news

CMU Enactus named first round champion At the competition, the team presented their projects—Build Your Business, which assisted three local businesses in building their entrepreneurial dreams; Financing Your Future, which taught the importance of money skills to local kindergarteners, middle school students, high school freshmen, and CMU freshmen and seniors; Pink Week, which brought awareness about and aid to families affected by breast cancer; and Sustainable Roots, which brought visual awareness to the importance of sustaining our world.

CMU Enactus team members who attended the national competition included: Dana Peters, Keely Zimmerman-Jacks, Shelbi Becker, Kyle Schenewerk, Landon Ball, Morgan Maples, Boone Priddy, Katie Dozier, Dakarayi Chabaya, Shelby Joseph, Dannielle, Sharp and Anthony Miller.

In addition to this team’s projects and (l-r) front row: Kyle Schenewerk, Prof. Julie Duerst Bennett, Keely Zimmerman-Jacks, presentation being recognized at NationMorgan Maples, Prof. Sandra Pieta; row 2: Shelbi Becker, Dakarayi Chabaya, Dannielle als, Professor Bennett was also nominated Sharp, Shelby Joseph; Row 3: Boone Priddy, Dana Peters, Anthony Miller, Landon Ball, by the CMU Enactus team for the coveted Katie Dozier Sam Walton Fellow of the Year award. This The Central Methodist University Enactus team of team-nominated award honors the Sam Walton Fellows from students was named a first round champion at the Enactus two colleges or universities who have done the most this National Exposition held recently in St. Louis, Mo., thus school year to advance the entire Enactus organization and enabling it to be evaluated in the semi-qualifying round. who have made outstanding contributions to their Enactus The CMU Enactus group was judged as one of the top students and team. teams in its 24-league competition at this national event.

CMU’s small but effective group is one of more than “This has been such an amazing team, and an amazing 500 undergraduate Enactus groups in the U.S. The national year. Our theme has been, ‘One Team, One Goal, One Com- competition motto is “When we compete to improve lives, munity.’ Our projects this year are very close to our hearts, we all win.” Enactus describes its work in 36 countries as and we are very proud of each one,” states Julie Duerst “a community of student, academic and business leaders Bennett, associate professor of marketing and advertising, committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to and Enactus Sam Walton Fellow. transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.”

Eldar Rizvanov ’12 Bachelor of Science, Political Science Specialist (E-4) United States Army; Vilseck, Germany My time at Central has impacted me by widening my horizon and showing me all the opportunities that are available to me, which I could not see before. It has provided me with invaluable friends and mentors who have taught me many lessons and provided me with help in achieving my dreams. Right now, I’m serving in the U.S. Army and am stationed in Germany.

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Campus news

“The Talking Dead” criminal justice conference Three CMU students attended the 78th National Conference of the American Criminal Justice Association of Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE) in late March in Nashville.

And, as has become an expectation, they took first or second in every event they entered.

The students, who attended with Joy Flanders, CMU student success coordinator, are sophomore Kamryn Johnson, junior Valerie Kimball and junior Alyssa Webb.

The theme of the conference was “The Talking Dead: Tales Told in Criminal Investigations,” which encompassed mental and physical competitions, crime photography seminar, job fair, “Bonezone” seminar by Dr. William Bass, session on Officer-Involved Shootings, social events, and the annual awards banquet.

At the banquet the team took home four trophies, the only school to take home more trophies than the number of students who attended.

Kimball took a first place for the highest score in the academic exam on corrections in the upper level (juniors and seniors) competition. She also placed second in the academic exam, upper level, on criminal law.

Webb took second place in Lambda Alpha Epsilon knowledge in the upper level.

Johnson took second place in physical agility in the category of male, under 25. He completed a challenging course in just over a minute and was less than a second

behind the first place winner.

More than 400 participants from across the country attended the conference.

CMU’s Pi Lambda Alpha chapter of LAE has been winning top awards since its first year of competition in spring of 2008. The chapter adviser is Teri Haack, J.D., assistant professor of criminal justice.

Alyssa Webb, Kamryn Johnson, and Valerie Kimball show off the trophies they won at Criminal Justice Nationals.

Addie Layne ’13 Bachelor of Arts, Business Regional Manager – Enactus U.S.; Springfield, Mo. CMU provided the opportunities I needed to grow and professionally develop. At any other university there’s no way I could have been active in Greek life, serve in student government, sing in the choir, execute projects through Enactus to help small business growth in Howard Co., work in a public relations internship, and receive a quality business education. My friends, sisters, mentors, and teachers became a family who have supported me even after graduation! Central is a special place, and I’m glad that I chose to make it my college home.

I’m currently working in Springfield as a regional program manager at the international non-profit Enactus. I travel in six states in the Midwest to train teams of college students to design and execute service projects. When I’m not traveling, I like to volunteer with the Springfield Junior League.

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Dick and Becky Curry Hall of Sponsors Scholarship Dick and Becky ’93 Curry recently completed funding of their Hall of Sponsors Scholarship at CMU. Funding the scholarship meant a lot to the Currys, since they’ve worked toward that goal for the last several years. Both Dick and Becky wanted to make a difference at Central, and felt that establishing a scholarship was the best way to provide a long-lasting impact on young people’s lives.

Becky is quick to share how grateful she was to receive the Ivan LaTurno Hall of Sponsors Scholarship while she worked on her degree at CMU—she never forgot the generosity of the donor who made that scholarship possible. Now the Currys want to pay it forward for someone else.

Student involvement has been important for the couple since 1985, when they began their ministry on CMU’s campus, one that lasted until 1989. During that time, Dick pastored at Linn Memorial United Methodist Church, and Becky was employed with CMU’s Office of Advancement. During their campus visit to present the donation that would complete their scholarship, the Currys toured areas of campus that brought back many great memories they had made during their years at Central.

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The Rev. Elbridge Wesley Bartley Sr. Hall of Sponsors Scholarship The Rev. Elbridge Wesley Bartley, Sr. Hall of Sponsors Scholarship was established in December 2014 by his son, Rev. Elbridge W. Bartley, Jr. Rev. Bartley (Sr.) was born June 29, 1887, in the Kansas City area, graduated from Manual High School in 1906, and received his local preacher’s license on recommendation of the Central Church, M.E. South, Quarterly Conference, in February 1907.

“Ebbie,” as he was known by his peers, received his A.B degree from Central in 1913, and continued his education at Vanderbilt University where he completed a B.D. in 1915. While at Central he was involved in the Aristotelian Literary Society (president during his junior year), baseball, basketball, band, orchestra, Glee Club, and was on the Collegian and Ragout staff.

It was written of him while at Central, “which shall it be, which shall it be? Lucy or Mary, they both love me!” But it was to be neither, as he returned to Nashville to marry Miss Anne Conway Weber on August 28, 1915, in a ceremony performed by her father, Dr. John Langdon Weber, an “outstanding preacher of the old southern church.”

Rev. Bartley, over the years, was appointed to many churches throughout Missouri, one in Kansas City, Kan., and finally several in and around Sedalia, where he retired in 1954. Even after retirement he served as the unofficial chaplain of Sedalia’s Bothwell Hospital, where he made it a matter of personal pride and joy to visit all patients daily regardless of race, color, or creed.

Rev. Bartley (Jr.) graduated from Central in 1937.

He is also a major supporter of CMU’s new Center for Faith and Service.

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The 1854 Society recognizes those who are committed to supporting the Central Annual Scholarship Fund with a gift of $1,000 or more annually.

Update your profile on the Eagle Connection, cmalumni.centralmethodist.edu or email aroyston@centralmethodist.edu

For more information call 660-248-6239 or email 1854society@centralmethodist.edu.

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Will you partner with us and join this special society, for Central, for the future?

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Trip of a lifetime: Central’s USO show

by Deanna Cooper, director of development and alumni activities

From their perch in an army tower, nine Central Methodist students and one professor looked through the field glasses into a tower not far away. They saw East German soldiers staring back at them with machine guns in their hands.

It was one of the many “firsts” these students of the only Central Methodist music group to tour military installations as part of a USO tour had during their six-week tour in the European theater.

When Dr. Sherry Roberts first learned of her recently presented CMU Distinguished Alumni Award, memories of Central Methodist College slid in through a door that had been long closed.

“Did you know this year also happens to be the 40th anniversary of the CMU USO Tour?” she exclaimed to Deanna Cooper, director of development and alumni activities at Central.

The ones who remember are those who were members of the tour—“Missoura’s Sho-Me Swingers.”

The year was 1975. They had been chosen more than a year before they departed.

Sherry Roberts says the process was lengthy and involved many decisions. “There would only be 460 groups out of the entire United States who would be allowed as part of the tour. Group applicants could be

from any size university or college across America.

The official application process to USO headquarters began in December 1973 and included the submission of a group photo, group recording, concept letter about the group, and choice of theatre,” she says. “After a LONG wait, the announcement of Central’s acceptance to the USO Tour was shared at the spring A Cappella Choir/Swinney Singers Concert.”

The students who would be going with the group of ten included Sherry Roberts ’76, Carolyn Smart ’77, Debbie Kirschman ’76, Jeana Dicken ’75, Donna Spaulding ’76, Dan Cotton ’75, and Steve Minning ’75 as primary singers; plus John Smart ’76 on electric bass, Greg Barber ’76 on drums; and one professor, Dr. John Roberts (CMU professor of music, dean of the Conservatory, 1973-77), on the keyboard.

For the next year, extensive preparations took up much of their time, every detail taken into consideration. Costume design. Material purchase. Construction. Music. Arrangements.

Choreography. Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals.

On and on it went. In the fall came vaccinations, passports, and more auditions for final tweaks and recommendations from the stateside recruiter. They would be spending five weeks based in Frankfurt with the Army and then a week with the Air Force.

Spring was even more frenetic. There were Photo top right, Dr. John Roberts, sponsor of the group and member of the more concerts; and there was Choir Tour. On musicians, enjoys the boat ride down the Rhein River, past castles and villages. top of that, every student’s entire work for the Photo above, nattily dressed for the time, the “Missoura’s Sho-Me Swingers” land at their housing on a base.

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semester had to be completed before they left for the USO tour in April! That included all that comes with leaving college for good for three seniors in the group: Dan Cotton, Steve Minning, and Jeana Dicken, who all hoped they would graduate while they were off on tour.

The specifications for the Missoura’s Sho-Me Swingers were decidedly specific, according to Sherry. “Packing was kept to a minimum and arrangements were made for the bass guitar, amp, drum set, electric piano, speakers and equipment trunk to successfully make the voyage,” she remembers. “The colorful costumes consisted of red/white/blue fabric palazzo pants or shorts with matching sleeveless vests and navy halter tops for the girls. The gentlemen’s attire included red pants with belts and shirts made of the same red/white/blue fabric as the girl’s,” she laughs, “and all wore white shoes. There was definite-

ly a ’70’s flare! The USO knew exactly what would appeal to a military audience!”

Dan Cotton muses over some of the final advice they got, including “The girls were recommended to avoid going out into the audience.” That advice, while probably wise, was promptly ignored by the director and singers. Sherry even admitted that she sat on one base commander’s lap during a show.

One of the memories of their early time rests softly in Steve Minning’s mind. “A military flight carried the CMU group along with military and military family members to Frankfurt,” he remembers. “I’ll never forget the first evening we were in Europe,” he says. “My friend Donna Spaulding and I bought tulips out of a vending machine on the street corner! We looked up at the moon and realized that we were seeing it from a brand new vantage point that evening—and our lives would never be the same.”

The day-to-day process got internalized very quickly, since the group was stationed on 10 different bases and performed a total of 42 shows at those and other bases.

Sarah Lucas ’10 Bachelor of Music Education Ph.D. Candidate, TA, University of Iowa; Iowa City, Iowa As a music ed. major at Central, I participated in a variety of musical ensembles and student groups. The examples of excellent performance and teaching, as well as effective teamwork, set by professors, staff, and students have been great influences in my learning and teaching as a grad student. I am currently a musicology Ph.D. candidate and TA at the University of Iowa. My dissertation research is focused on twentieth-century Hungarian composer-pianist Béla Bartók’s performances of his First Piano Concerto (1926) during his 1927-28 concert tour of the U.S. My study is based on archival research in America and at the Budapest Bartók Archive in Hungary.

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The USO transported them out from the main base where they were stationed to other bases and show venues with an escort officer.

Dan remembers the drill. “This meant Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday the equipment and production was loaded and unloaded four times; and the weekend tours incurred two shows and eight rounds of loading!” he says. “The girls in the groups quickly figured out if they went in ahead when arriving at a location, there were plenty of military gentlemen who were more than willing to help! The guys

on tour quickly learned to take advantage of the extra help as well by slowing the pace until the “Cavalry” arrived! Only Wednesdays provided a day off from the group’s strenuous performance schedule.”

Performances came first, of course. They recognized that the men and women who came to their performances had been a long way from home for a very long time. It put their own homesickness into perspective, and it led them to give the best performance they could each time.

One night was especially poignant. In Fulda, Germany (where they had looked across the tower at

Pg. 47, Members of the troupe, from left: John Smart, Jeana Dicken, Sherry Roberts, Greg Barber, Dan Cotton Donna Spaulding, Debbie Kirschman, Steve Minning, Carolyn Smart, Dr. John Roberts.

Pages 48-49, in performances and rehearsals.

Ashley Novak ’15 Bachelor of Science, Biology Graduate Student, Logan University of Chiropractic; Chesterfield, Mo. I graduated from a small high school in Richland, Mo., in 2011. When I entered Central that fall, I hoped to become an elementary educator. I quickly realized teaching was not my passion. I struggled with the decision of choosing occupational therapy, physical therapy, or chiropractic. I chose chiropractic. Fast forward to summer 2014 when I had the opportunity to shadow several chiropractors in the Columbia area. This sealed chiropractic as what I want to do, specializing in pediatrics or the active release technique.

I have grown to love and appreciate my time here at Central Methodist, and I hope I can have an impact like my professors had on me. I worked in Phonathon as an alumni representative for seven semesters. I came to enjoy the conversations, connections, and stories from the alumni.

I am excited that I now get the chance to be on the other end of the line, sharing my experiences with the students who will graduate after me.

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Germans and their machine guns), the group had a special ceremony to honor the seniors who were graduating. Dan remembers that night Dr. Above, more than once the musicians got to ride in light Roberts tanks, to everyone’s delight. timed one of everyone’s favorite songs—“Tie a Yellow Ribbon”—during what would have been “the same time Steve, Jeana, and I would be walking across the Central Methodist College stage for graduation. Hats were modified with tassels with supplies that were purchased from the PX on base, and Dr. Roberts signed fake diplomas.” Dan

laughs, “I still have that special diploma! Looking at it reminds me of wonderful memories and friends.”

The Swinney Singers/Missoura’s Sho-Me Swingers developed a special camaraderie as they grappled with the grueling schedule. Guys learned to hold mirrors for the girls during travel so their make-up would be ready upon arrival. Everyone worked as a team; and despite performing the same show 42 times and singing the same songs for nearly eight months, they managed to keep the show fresh with funny impromptu happenings, which they incorporated into the act.

Danger presented the group with several other firsts, too. Dan relates a military night train from Frankfort to Berlin. “We were told NOT to open or look out windows or doors while stopped. Well, that was the dare. When we stopped, we peeked out our cabin windows and doors. All along the train station platform were heavily armed East German Guards.”

Some of the dangers, though, were actually kind of fun. For instance, they were allowed to climb in and on, and even drive, light tanks, a first for them all.

In Berlin they took in the usual sights, such as the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and the Fernsehturma, a tower that when the sun shines on it yields a cross.

It’s known as the Pope’s Revenge.

They also went to the home of a U.S. Military officer after a program. “It was a beautiful home,” Dan Left, the “diploma” that Dan Cotton (along with Steve Minning and Jeana Dicken) got on tour during a performance.

Below, Dan and Greg finally get a break from action on the boat.

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Above left, as the guys could confirm, many oddities occurred during a show, which kept it light and spontaneous.

Above right, utter exhaustion hit them all.

says. “While we were there, we learned that it had belonged to a Jewish family before the war. One day the Nazis came for them and they were never heard from again. It caused everyone to pause and give thanks for being U.S. citizens.”

Some of their firsts were fun excursions they took together or as smaller groups. They explored Heidelberg and Manheim, Munich and Nuremberg. They went to see the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, a traditional Bavarian festival, the opera in Frankfort.

Steve Minning, Greg Barber and Dan Cotton took an early train one day to Salzburg, Austria. “Why Salzburg? To enjoy the sights and sounds of The Sound of Music, of course!” laughs Dan. While there they enjoyed all of the city and the beautiful Alps.

They also took a cruise down the Rhein River, sliding by vineyards, communities, and castles, by this time almost too tired to enjoy it fully. The tour had broadened their perspective on history and politics and culture. It had given back to them at least as much as they had given to the soldiers.

It was a trip of a lifetime. Even the trip home was a first, an exhausting 32 hours with an overnight stay on the floors of a Chicago airport.

“Perhaps one day we will get together and reminisce on what was a wonderful experience,” says Dan, “but more importantly the experience of having been students at Central Methodist College. Yes, a trip of a lifetime.”

Below: (l-r) Dr. John Roberts, Dr. Sherry Roberts, Debbie Kirschman Davis, and Dan Cotton congratulate Sherry on her Distinguished Alumni Award in April 2015. They are shown with the flag that flew at every USO performance, 40 years ago.

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Spring break missionaries serve in Florida and Haiti

The Center for Faith and Service (CFS) led students on two mission trips over spring break, March 7-13. A total of 18 students, faculty, and staff members ventured to Gressier, Haiti; and Tampa, Fla., to gather in fellowship and serve in the communities.

The CFS director, Lucas Endicott, along with Grace Feutz, nursing skills lab coordinator, led four students to work with an organization called Respire Haiti, on Bellevue Mountain. The CMU missionaries assisted with construction work for a medical clinic, helped teach some English classes, worked with sports teams, and much more.

Students on the mission trip to Haiti included: Kayla Herndon, Abby Peper, Danielle Sears, and Mariah Vincent. This is the second year CMU has partnered with Respire Haiti.

The other CMU mission team of nine students was led by the Global Mission Fellows at CMU—Connor Kenaston, Kharissa Allman, and Tiffania Willetts. These missionaries worked with Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa, Fla., an organization committed to providing care for the homeless. CMU students helped to prepare and serve meals, worked in the clothing store and market, assisted with the after school and Head Start programs, and participated in poverty education seminars.

Students on the mission trip to Florida included: Abby Addleman, Dakarayi Chabaya, Scott Cline, Auri Diaz, Shelby Dodson, Johannah Jimenez, Brooke Johnson, Marco Romano, and Shelby Schaefer. This was the first year CMU has partnered with Metropolitan Ministries.

CMU has expanded its missionary reach over the last several years and looks forward to continuing to do so in the future.

Kristin (McAninch) Coble ’05 Bachelor of Science, Early Childhood Education Lead Teacher, Tama County Head Start; Toledo, Iowa As a high school student, CMU interested me because I was a member of the UM Church and had visited the campus for youth events. I fell in love with its beauty, and the small, tight-knit, family atmosphere really appealed to me. I was able to do more than earn a quality education; I developed many lasting friendships. I was active in campus ministry and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity. They helped me build relationships and leadership skills. After graduation I attended KU to earn my master’s degree in early childhood special education. I have worked with families and young children as an early childhood professional and teacher. Currently, I serve low-income families as the Lead Teacher for Tama County Head Start. I am passionate about making a difference in the lives of children. I am grateful for my education and proud to be a CMU alumna!

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Fleer Lecture features Manskar The 2015 Gilbert and Ruth Fleer Lecture on Values-based Education at Central Methodist University this year featured The Rev. Steven Manskar of Nashville, Tenn.

The Rev. Manskar spoke on “What is a Methodist?”

A native of North St. Paul, Minn., Manskar is Director of Wesleyan Leadership for the Leadership Ministries’ Unit of Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church.

Manskar joined Discipleship Ministries in 1999 after 10 years as a pastor for United Methodist congregations in Maryland and Minnesota. He leads workshops and seminars on Covenant Discipleship in small group ministry

in the Wesleyan tradition with leadership, theology, and practice. He also teaches in Ashland Theological Seminary’s Wesleyan Practices Doctor of Ministry program.

Manskar leads two annual events sponsored by Discipleship Ministries: The Wesley Pilgrimage in England and the Wesleyan Leadership Conference. He also edits a monthly e-newsletter and is the author of Accountable Discipleship: Living in God’s Household, A Perfect Love: Understanding John Wesley’s “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” and A Disciple’s Journal: A Guide for Daily Prayer, Bible Reading and Discipleship.

Manskar obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and his Master of Divinity and his Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. The founders of the Fleer Lecture Series at CMU, Gilbert and Ruth Fleer live in Bentonville, Ark. Both are alumni of Central Methodist, and Gilbert was assistant professor of religion at Central from 1959 to 1965.

All Pi Kappa Thetas and their significant others are invited to meet at McGurk’s Public House in O’Fallon, Mo., on July 11 at 5 p.m.

Keep the sorority alive by remembering the good times!

RSVP for McGurk’s by July 1 on Facebook page Pi Kappa Theta Alumni, CMU or by emailing Joy Riles Flanders at jdflande@centralmethodist.edu

Julie (Ramiso) Massana ’14 Bachelor of Arts, Business Student Success Specialist, Park University; Parkville, Mo. My freshman year at CMU I didn’t know anyone, but I gained an entire family by the end of my schooling. I majored in Business. Joining organizations such as Alpha Gamma Psi, Enactus, International Eagles, and SGA; all played an important role in who I am today. I met my husband, Ricky Massana ’13, at CMU and we have a beautiful daughter. I gained employment with the help of my work study opportunities and leadership skills from the Career Center as a career resource assistant, mailroom attendant, Phonathon caller for Alumni and Advancement, mentor for Center for Learning and Teaching, and orientation leader for Student Life. These experiences helped me land a job as a student success specialist at Park University. I also became a U.S. citizen with the support of our CMU International Eagles family. I am thankful for the education I received at CMU and the countless memories I made. I am a proud CMU alum!

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The cast: front row (l-r), Kate Kellner, Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar, Abigail Wimberley, Kaitlyn Klapperich, and Jacquelyn Hoffman; back row, Cathy Thogmorton, Jessica Travlos, Rachel Richard, Dr. Annette Van, Bailey Brown, and Briana Greer

CMU joins V-Day 2015 college and community campaign In early February, Central Methodist University presented for the first time a two-night benefit reading of Eve Ensler’s award winning play, The Vagina Monologues.

All donations benefitted the True North Shelter, a Columbia group that helps victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Under the direction of Dr. Annette Van the cast, was completely comprised of women—CMU students, faculty, and staff members. The student cast members brought with themselves a variety of majors, myriad backgrounds, and different personal experiences. They included: Briana Greer, a physical education major; Kaitlyn Klapperich, a communication studies major; Bailey Brown, an English major; Jacquelyn Hoffman, a nursing major; Abigail Wimberley, a theatre arts major; and Rachel Richard, a music education major.

The faculty and staff cast members included: Dr. Annette Van, associate professor of English; Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar, assistant professor of English; Cathy Thogmorton and Jessica Travlos from the Department of Marketing Communications; and Kate Kellner, from the Department of Admission.

Ensler’s play is based on a compilation of true stories told by women about their vaginas. The play includes difficult topics and rough language and is for mature audiences only. The reader’s theatre is part of a global activist movement called V-Day. Its goal is to help put an end to violence 54

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against women and girls through benefit productions.

After each production, the actors stayed on stage and talked at length with people—many of them men—about the vignettes they had seen. They talked about why the play was finally performed at Central and the essential need to do so; about their own personal experiences; and how the play was transformative. They wanted to know what they could do to bring about necessary societal changes. The play sparked an amazing discussion both nights from students, faculty, staff, President Roger Drake, and community members.

The V-Day movement has raised over $120 million; educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it; crafted international educational, media, and public service announcement campaigns; reopened shelters; and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses nationally and internationally.

V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements and awards and is one of the top-rated organizations on both Charity Navigator and Guidestar. V-Day’s most recent global campaign, “One Billion Rising,” galvanized more than one billion women and men on a global day of action towards ending violence against women and girls.

Presenting The Vagina Monologues was a gutsy move that carried life-altering results for all involved—all women and all those who love them.

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CMU bands show talent, variety

Alumni Band Saturday, June 20, 2015 Directors: Dr. Joseph Labuta ('53) and Skip Vandelicht ('77) For more information or to register visit cmalumni.centralmethodist.edu /alumniband15

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The variety of bands at Central all showed their pizzaz second semester. The Concert Band (photo above) presented multiple home concerts and went on tour in March. The 58-member band toured eastern Missouri this year, including communities of Memphis, Kirksville, Paris, Festus, Pacific, and Florissant, all in Missouri.

The University Band began three years ago as an opportunity for non-Concert Band students to perform, along with many Concert Band members, some of whom play their secondary instrument. This year, they presented two home concerts.

The bands were conducted by Skip Vandelicht ’77 as primary for both. Dr. Dori Waggoner ’92, dean of the Swinney Conservatory, and Steve Litwiller, adjunct professor of music, also conducted the University Band.

The highly acclaimed Jazz Band, conducted by the husband—wife pair, Dr. Ron and Jo Ellen Ming Shroyer ’79, were a bundle of live wires. In addiion to guest faculty soloists, Dr. Laura Wiebe and Ryan McLouth ’06, the band drew strong numbers and high praise when the other guest performer at the spring concert was Central’s president, Dr. Roger Drake, on keyboard.

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Campus news

Pianos picking up steam Gerke sets off for AIMS Junior double music performance major Levi Gerke has been accepted to the worldrenowned, six-week intensive summer music program at The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

He will be studying piano as a collaborative pianist and coach for singers. He will also have classes in German and seminars on aspects of professional music.

Gerke and fellow opera standout, Lacey Eaton, will present a concert on Friday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kountz Recital Hall on the Fayette campus to financially gird his efforts to attend AIMS. Be sure to watch for a follow-up feature on Levi’s experiences in the Fall 15 Talon!

For more information, contact Dr. Dori Waggoner at dwaggone@centralmethodist.edu or call Lynette Beeler, administrative assistant at the Conservatory at 660-248-6317.

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A greater emphasis on piano/organ playing is building at Central. There were two recitals this semester that focused, wholely or in part, on the 88-note wonders.

In January the Conservatory presented a recital for two pianos and eight hands, actually four-hand, six-hand, and eight-hand pieces.

Ten CMU music students and five faculty members from the Con performed a number of genres, including Carmen “Overture;” “The Swiss Clock” by Opal Hayes ’25, long-time faculty member at Central; “Danse Macabre Op. 40;” and even“The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Faculty participants included Dr. Melissa Loehnig, Dr. Barb Anderson, Kelley Head, Mary Jane Nance, and Ruth Spayde.

Spayde, who retired from her work at the Conservatory after first semester, clearly is not slowing down. Her replacement is Lynette Beeler who admits she has large shoes to try to fill.

Later in the semester Dr. Loehnig and Dr. Laura Wiebe presented a combined recital. Dr. Wiebe is assistant professor of music in choir and voice at CMU, where she conducts the Conservatory Singers, teaches applied voice, music history, and academic music courses.

Dr. Loehnig is assistant professor music in piano and theory at CMU. In addition to teaching, she also accompanies operas and student musical groups on campus.

Vocal students at KCNATS

AMR: a little bit of everything

Three vocal students from the Swinney Conservatory of Music brought home awards at the Kansas City National Association of Teachers of Singing (KCNATS) competition this semester.

Taking top honors were junior Levi Gerke, who took first place in the upper men’s division; and sophomore Dan Terry, who took first place in the lower men’s division.

Freshman Kay Wilken won third place in the lower women’s division in her first participation in this competition.

All three of these vocalists study with Dr. Susan Quigley-Duggan, associate professor of music at CMU and head of the opera program.

Gerke, a baritone, is working on his Bachelor of Music degree with majors in voice and piano performance. Terry, a tenor, is pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree with a performance major in voice. Wilken, an alto, is in Chorale, Conservatory Singers, Marching Band, Swinney Sisters, and opera. She is currently an education major.

Spring always brings around the American Music Recital, hosted by Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (PMA). The annual concert focuses on music composed or arranged by American musicians.

The concert incorporates vocal solos and small ensembles, instrumental and piano/organ presentations, and the sponsoring groups alone and together.

This year the presentations included a brass quartet, a saxophone quartet, a flute trio, an alto saxophone duet and one alto with the piano, a trombone quartet, and a small jazz ensemble, in addition to vocal solos and duets and songs by the two music fraternities together.

One song, “To the Cross: The Mother, The Follower, and Messiah” was composed by CMU sophomore DaSean Stokes and performed by two sopranos, a tenor, and a pianist; another, “Land of Calling,” was composed by senior Daniel Jones.

Arrangements of various songs were done by Dr. Ron Shroyer, Ryan McLouth, and student Lucas Johnson.

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Campus news

Vocal groups have harmonious year It’s been a good year at Central to be a musician. All of the singing groups have been active and played to large audiences.

This semester began with the Church Street Boys (photo above) performing a th Missouri Music Educators Association in January, where they were warmly received.

They are directed by Dr. Ron Atteberry.

A performance at he MMEA Conference is one of the highest honors to which a Missouri musical group aspires. Last year only 10 of 150 choirs that auditioned were chosen to perform. The Chorale and Conservatory Singers held two joint concerts this semester. In the first

their performances were separate, with Dr. Claude Westfall directing the Chorale and Dr. Laura Wiebe conducting the Conservatory Singers.

In the second concert of the season, the two vocal groups joined to sing one of the most widely performed choral works of the late 19th century, Fauré Requiem, which features not only choirs, but also soloists, an organ, and a piano.

The Conservatory Singers also premiered a new piece composed for them by Dr. Atteberry. Titled “Psalm 31,” it features a choir plus a clarinet.

Hart holds master class

Trio of music performances

Martha Hart, a mezzo-soprano, assistant professor of voice at Webster University, provided a vocal master class for top vocal students in April.

In an unusual move, not just students, but the public in general was invited to come and watch Hart work with the six students.

Hart has sung with many symphony orchestras, including Montreal, Atlanta, Lansing, Phoenix, and St. Louis. She also recorded with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers.

She is also part of an ensemble, “Three for the Road,” a trio dedicated to the performance of popular American music from the 1930s and 1940s.

In April three of the Conservatory’s popular small groups performed to the delight of the audience. The Church Street Boys sang some of the songs from their MMEA experience. The Swinney Sisters began with traditional music by Handel, then moved to more contemporary songs such as a new arrangement of “The Sound of Silence.” They finished up with a fully choreographed song and dance number from Hairspray called “Mamma I’m a Big Girl Now.” The third group was CMU’s Trumpet Ensemble, led by Dr. John Perkins. These eight students singly and collectively received high honors in music competitions during the last year.

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Moon Over Buffalo

Moon Over Buffalo, by Ken Ludwig, is the kind of comedy that Bill Chott is perfect at playing. A television, movie, and improv actor, CMU class of 1991, Chott graced Central again with a humorous, agile, and touching performance as an actor who screws up what could be the last opportunity for himself and his wife to become world-renowned film stars.

Deftly directed by Dr. Mark Kelty, the CMU cast rose to the occasion in working with Chott.

As a drunk Cyrano de Bergerac, Bill’s character, George, invades a live performance of Private Lives—while top director Frank Capra is to be sitting in the audience making his decision—and promptly falls asleep on stage.

The eventual happy ending pleased all the play’s characters, the actors on stage, and the audiences who came to see the play in April at the Little Theatre.

Bill Chott, leading man, and his leading lady Kelsey Forqueran in Moon Over Buffalo, (photos, left and above)

Radium Girls Left, Grace has a nightmare where she is visited by her friends who have already died from Radium poisoning, still playing with the shiny stuff while Dr. Marie Curie watches over them. The foreshadowing is clear to Grace. Her time is running out.

Radium Girls is a stage production of a real event. In 1926 Dr. Marie Curie gave the world Radium. It was hailed as a cure for many illnesses and its uses included painting the dials of clocks used by the military.

When the worker girls get sick and begin to die, one girl, Grace (Katie Roberts) rebels against the paltry checks that let the corporation get off with no guilt or ramifications. Before she succombs to the disease, Grace takes them to court in one of the largest industrial lawsuits of the day and holds them accountable for the many deaths they caused, even after they knew they caused them.

With creative stage design and lighting, the audience watched crowds and reporters acclaim, question, and ultimately deliver the awful news. Dr. Mark Kelty directed the dark drama in late February on the Fayette campus.

In the last scene of the play (photo below), the inverted chairs and benches represent a graveyard of victims of Radium poisoning with the latest victim, Grace, still sitting on her gravestone, having just passed. The owner of the corporation, Grace’s mother, and other remaining characters mourn the horrible and irreversible losses.

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Left, Grace refuses a check from the legal department of the U.S. Radium Corporation to buy her silence, and decides she’s the only one left to fight in court over what has happened to them.

Below, clearly no one is safe from the effects of the Radium, whether it starts in bones or skin on hands. The irony is not lost on the lawyer who’s been doing the dirty work for the company.

Opera: The Magic Flute The February opera presentation was The Magic Flute by Mozart, directed by Dr. Susan Quigley-Duggan (photo above).

The story centers around the struggles by Prince Tamino to obtain and marry the lovely Princess Pamina (photo right). He is aided along the way by his companion, flighty Papageno, keeper of birds. Both are helped by a magic flute and the interference of parents, priests, and the Queen of the Night, who have their own agendas.

Tamino learns that things are not always what they seem. Nonetheless, he and Papageno end up with partners to love and very happy endings; and as with light opera, light triumphs over darkness.

photo, right: Papageno talks things over with the maidens of the Queen of the Night.

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CMU Service Day: Making A Difference “I love Service Day. A chance to get into the local community, help others, and have fun with your friends— what a great way to spend a day!”

Abby Addleman, sophomore pre-major student from Cape Girardeau, Mo., captures the sentiment of many students while cleaning cabinets at one of the homes for foster children at Coyote Hill near Harrisburg, Mo., during Central Methodist University’s 2015 Service Day. In total, more than 700 CMU students, faculty, and staff donated more than 2,100 hours of service work at CMU’s annual Service Day on April 9. CMU volunteers worked at 32 sites ranging from highway clean-up to preparing 6,981 pounds of food for regional distribution and packing 14,000 meals for international aid.

Volunteers could be found in Fayette, Glasgow, Boonville, Columbia, and cleaning up along the banks of the Missouri River.

“This year, we went intentional to expand our service efforts to impact our local, regional and international community,” says Lucas Endicott, director of the Center for Faith and Service at CMU. Julie Martin, associate director for civic engagement, organized much of the effort. “It is important that we dedicate one day a year to service, a piece of the University’s core values—commitment to social responsibility and making a difference in the world,” she says.

“It is refreshing and inspiring to be a part of a community that continues to live out their mission through their actions and engagement,” Martin adds.

Community partners were thrilled with the CMU support on Service Day. Liza Thompson, Volunteer and Event Coordinator at Coyote Hill remarks, “CMU is an exciting

partner for Coyote Hill.”

Beyond Service Day, service scholars from Central Methodist’s newly created program, serve at Coyote Hill throughout the academic year. Thompson notes, “One volunteer comes two times a week. She is full of energy— blesses the house, and the kids get so excited when she arrives!”

According to its mission statement, Central Methodist University is committed to “prepar[ing] students to make a difference in the world by emphasizing academic and professional excellence, ethical leadership, and social responsibility.”

CMU Service Day is increasingly important to living out this mission.

Next year, 2016, holds even more promise as CMU continues to work with local community partners to make a difference in the world.

Photo top: Members of the baseball team sack pretzels at The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri in Columbia.

Left, the volleyball team worked hard to completely repaint the inside of Fayette’s fire station, and a little of themselves at the same time.

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Athletics

CMU’s Anderson enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame

Athlete, coach, A.D., admissions director now professor

A record 1,790 people turned out in January as former Central football player and coach, tennis coach and athletics director Larry Anderson was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at ceremonies held in Springfield, Mo. Anderson was among 14 individuals, one team, and one program that were selected for enshrinement.

Now faculty member at Central Methodist, Anderson has been a part of the Central Methodist community for five decades and becomes only the second Eagle to be enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Alumnus Clyde Lear, retired Chairman and CEO of Learfield Communications Inc., got his call to the Hall in 2012.

A native of Bolivar Mo., Anderson came to Central Methodist in 1963. Highly recruited in basketball, he chose to attend Central Methodist to play football and other sports. Anderson was a running back for the Eagles’ football team from 1963-66 and earned All-Heart of America Athletic Conference honors three times from 1964-66.

He was a two-year letterman in basketball, earning All-HAAC honors in 1965, and baseball. Anderson was given the University’s Red Weir Award in football in 1964 and 1965 and the Estes Prize in Athletics as the school’s top male student-athlete in 1965.

After high school football coaching stints at Marshfield and Glendale, Anderson returned to Central Methodist in 1982 to become a professor of physical education and 62

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assistant football coach. He became head football coach a year later and remained in that capacity for 12 seasons until 1994 when he became the head men’s and women’s tennis coach for four seasons. While serving as head football coach and physical education professor, Anderson was promoted to athletics director in 1988 and held that role until 2005.

Anderson become the University’s admissions director in 2005. In nine years, Central Methodist experienced unprecedented growth, increasing undergraduate enrollment from 818 to 1,190, an all-time high.

Anderson left the admissions director role in July 2014 to resume teaching as an associate professor of physical education.

CMU softball stars Michelle Rupard and Aubrey Utley also were honored at the banquet that evening, as first team NAIA All-Americans.

Also inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame this past year were: former Kansas City Royals designated hitter Billy Butler, former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter, former Kansas City Chiefs kicker Nick Lowery, former Missouri athletics director Mike Alden, former Missouri and Pittsburg Steelers linebacker Andy Russell, former Southwest Missouri State and NBA guard Winston Garland, former Central Missouri women’s basketball, softball and track star Kathy Anderson, former Missouri State baseball coach Keith Guttin, former Glendale High School women’s soccer player Ann Cook, high school football coach Fred Merrell, Bass Buster Lure Company founder Virgil Ward; Bob Roth, the Farmer Family, the Webb City High School football program, and the 1969 Missouri football team.

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Two Birds, One Nest Mentoring Program Takes Flight as many Clark students in sixth- and seventh-grade met the first time in the Inman Student and Community Center’s Spaulding Room and enjoyed light refreshments and door prizes. With Eddie the Eagle and Freddie the Falcon in the house, the students introduced themselves to each other and talked about their favorite school subjects, activities, and hobbies.

“I think it’s great that we get to join with CMU and meet up with the Eagles and just have fun and get to see what college is like,” seventh-grader James Vahldick said after the event.

Central Methodist welcomed the middle school students back to campus in March for lunch in the Bergsten Dining Hall, and each student met with his or her Central Methodist mentor. The student-athlete mentors visited Clark on four dates in March and two in April before the middle school students came back to the University for final visits in April.

“This mentoring program will not only benefit the lives of a number of students, it will also benefit the communities of Fayette and CMU as a whole,” Central Methodist Vice President for Institutional Growth and Student Engagement Ken Oliver says. “We are hopeful that this program will run for many years to come.”

On one of the final dates, the Clark students had the opportunity to tour the Central Methodist campus, eat lunch, attend college classes, and visit the Stephens Museum on the second floor of T. Berry Smith Hall. Everyone celebrated an end-of-the-year barbeque during an Eagles baseball doubleheader.

WORLD SERIES!

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May 13: 2015 Eagle Softball Team makes the NAIA

The Central Methodist Champions of Character program has partnered with W.N. Clark Middle School to launch the Two Birds, One Nest Mentoring Program. The purpose of the program is to mentor middle school students about the importance of succeeding in school and the value of higher education.

According to a concluding report by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, the years from 10 through 14 are a crucial turning point in life’s trajectory. This period, therefore, represents an optimal time for interventions to foster effective education and prevent destructive behavior. Research indicates that students who are successful academically, in addition to having support from parents and teachers, usually have sustained access to other knowledgeable and caring adults. A mentor can provide critical assistance, including extra encouragement, academic help, and most importantly—for students who may not have access to an adult who has been through the college application process—guidance about how to prepare for and apply to college.

“I am certain that both our college mentors and the youth will learn a ton from this experience and have a fantastic time getting to know each other,” Central Methodist Champions of Character director James Arnold stated.

“It’s also our hope that the youth gain some insight on how they can best prepare themselves over the next few years for the transition to college. It also gives us a chance to share and reinforce the Five Core Values of our NAIA Champions of Character program – integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.”

Twenty Central Methodist student-athlete mentors and

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Women’s Basketball The Central Methodist women’s basketball team started its 15-15 season on a strong note, winning its first six games of the season.

Ranked No. 25 in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 poll, one of the highlights of the Eagles’ season was winning the Siena Heights Thanksgiving Tournament in late November. During the two-day tournament, Jesse Ellis was named tournament MVP and Taylor Cornelison also made the All-Tournament team.

In the team’s home opener against Central Christian College of the Bible, Cornelison tied an NAIA record by making her first 14 field goals of the game. She would finish with a career-high 40 points in the Eagles’ 49-point win.

Senior guard Morgan Vetter found a fitting way to wrap up her two-year career with the Eagles. In the first round of the HAAC Tournament, Vetter broke the school’s single-game scoring record of 43 points, a mark set by Darla Pannier in February 1989. Vetter made nine 3-pointers in the game and finished with 45 points, giving the Eagles a first-round victory over Evangel on March 2 in her final home game.

Despite finishing 5-13 in conference play, the 2014-15 season marked the fourth-straight season under head coach James Arnold in which Central Methodist has finished at or above the .500 mark. For the second-straight season, Vetter was named an NAIA All-American honorable mention and was second team All-HAAC. Cornelison and Ellis were both honorable mentions on the All-Conference team.

Senior Mitchell Farr (Racine, Wis.) averaged 16.1 points this past season to help the Eagles to a 20-12 record, earning NAIA Honorable Mention All-American accolades along the way.

Farr also leaves with a school record after drilling 12 three-point shots in a single game.

Men’s Basketball Central Methodist reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since the 2009-10 season and was ranked as high as No. 22 in the NAIA during the 2014-15 season. The Eagles started the season by winning 11 of their first 14 games, which included a buzzer-beating win at home against Culver-Stockton early in the conference season.

The Eagles battled adversity all season, and by the middle of the season, Central Methodist had lost two starters – John Palmer and Eric McDaniel – for the rest of the year due to injury. Still, the Eagles continued to persevere, even knocking off seventh-ranked Benedictine at home while playing with a short-handed roster.

Scott Stegeman made two free throws with less than a second remaining on the clock to give Central Methodist a two-point win over Peru State on Senior Night. The Eagles’ next game, a win over Graceland in the HAAC Tournament, gave head coach Jeff Sherman his 11th 20-win season in 30 seasons at Central Methodist.

Mitchell Farr, who scored his 1,000th career point as an Eagle during the season, was named an NAIA All-American honorable mention and was second team All-HAAC. Both Stegeman and Mike McCode were named to the All-HAAC honorable mention team Eagle golfer Katie Lee (junior, Jefferson City, Mo.) eyes the cup during the Eagle Men & Women’s Golf Open held this spring on the CMU The Central Methodist women’s golf squad finished its 2015 home course in Boonville. CMU closed campaign strong, with a second place finish in the Heart of Ameriits season with a second place finish in ca conference tournament. The men’s squad posted a seventh place the Heart of America Athletic Conferfinish in the league tourney. ence tournament.

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Coach Jim Ray Kluck’s teams both featured a number of underclassmen around which to build the program. Junior Allannah Hustead finished third overall in the Heart tourney to pace the women. Earlier in the season the team placed third in the Missouri Valley Invite and fourth in the Baker Invitational.

For the men, freshman Jason Williams fired the low score at the Missouri Valley Spring Invitational and earned Player-of-the-Week honors in the Heart.

Senior Austin Rapp paced the Eagles in the conference tournament.

Baseball Central Methodist entered its second season under head coach Nate Breland and had a promising start in Junior infielder Mike D'eletto (Walworth, N.Y.) starts 2015, winning six consecutive games and reaching the a double play in Eagle baseball action this season.

10-win mark by the middle of March.

D'eletto also earned three victories pitching for CMU One of the highlights of the Central Methodist during the campaign. CMU finished the season 26-28. season was participating in the Tucson Invitational, playing seven games in a four-day span in Arizona.

The Eagles finished 4-3 on their road trip, sweeping Dakota State University and Ashford University.

Newcomer Joba Ferrell led the Eagles in numerous offensive categories this season and earned a spot on the All-HAAC first team. In a doubleheader against Missouri Valley on April 11, Ferrell hit three home runs, drove in four runs and scored five times, earning the HAAC Player of the Week honor.

The Eagles finished the season just under the .500 mark at 26-28, but for the fourth-consecutive year, Central Methodist won at least one game in the conference postseason

Softball The Central Methodist softball team started the season in red-hot fashion, winning the Gold Bracket championship at the NFCA/NAIA Leadoff Classic. The Eagles barely qualified to be in the top-tier bracket of the Classic following pool play, but they reeled off wins against No. 7 LSU-Alexandria – scoring eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 10-9 – and then defeated defending national champion Auburn-Montgomery 6-5 in eight innings to win the title. Jessie Wilmes was named the Leadoff Classic MVP and Lindie Adair made the All-Tournament team.

The Eagles would win a school-record 27 consecutive games (tied for the 10th-longest win streak in NAIA

The CMU Softball team after winning their fifth straight Heart of American Athletic Conference Championship.

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Upcoming Events

July 17: 26thAnnual Luetjen Tournament Hail Ridge Golf Course in Boonville, Mo. To register contact Sherry Wells at 660-248-6346 or swells@centralmethodist.edu Sept. 5: Hairston Hall of Fame Inductions Oct. 24: Homecoming

softball history) during the season, finishing the conference season with a perfect 18-0 record, a feat previously unmatched by any other HAAC softball program. The regular-season conference championship is the fifth-straight for the Eagles, who also learned during the season that they would be one of the 10 host sites for the Opening Round portion of the NAIA Softball National Championships.

Lauren Geringer was named the HAAC Player of the Year, winning the award for the second time in three seasons. She broke her own school single-season record in home runs, hitting 16 this season, and also set the single-season record at Central Methodist with 59 RBIs. Haley Kinnison became a 20-game winner in her first season as a pitcher with the Eagles, earning both HAAC Pitcher of the Year and HAAC Newcomer of the Year. At one point during the season, Kinnison won 14 consecutive decisions.

Pat Reardon was named the HAAC Co-Coach of the Year, winning the award for the fifth-straight season and in seven of the last eight seasons. With 43 wins this season, the Eagles have won 40 or more games in four of the past five seasons.

Men’s Track & Field The CMU Eagles’ men’s track and field program has consistently performed at the highest levels during both its indoor and outdoor seasons this year, with the indoor squad finishing in ninth place in the NAIA national championships in March.

The outdoor national meet occurred after Talon press deadline.

Senior Nickola Shingles won the 60 meter hurdle national indoor championship, his second national title after capturing one for another college two years ago. Shingles became the first two-time NAIA national champ in the event since CMU’s Edward Stewart captured back-to-back crowns in 2010-11.

Junior pole vaulter Nick Homan also claimed an indoor national title in that event, while sophomore Doug Hutcherson was fourth in the 3,000 meter race walk to join Shingles and Homan as Eagle indoor All-Americans.

This spring, the Eagle outdoor men’s team placed second in the Heart of America conference meet hosted by CMU in May. Shingles won his second straight conference title in the 110-meter hurdles, Derek Freeman won the 100-meter day, Hutcherson won the 5,000-meter race walk, and Jordan Kukal won the discus event.

Eagle Coach Mark Nelson was named the Heart Men’s Coach of the Year – the second consecutive honor for Nelson.

Junior pole valuter Nick Homan (Fayette, Mo.) won an indoor National Championship earlier this season and was named an All-American.

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Knowles’ $100,000 gift enhances softball at CMU One of the best small-college softball programs calls Fayette home. Now that home has seen some additional major improvements to its ballpark, thanks to a generous gift from Central Methodist University alumnus Dr. Ralph E. Knowles.

CMU has received a $100,000 gift from the retired dentist now living in Pensacola, Fla., to substantially upgrade the Cox Softball Complex, where the facilities now better match the quality of not only the product on the field, but student athletes who play there. “Ralph Knowles is a dear friend and a great fan of Eagles softball,” CMU President Roger Drake notes. “His gift will dramatically improve the athletic experience for these talented student-athletes.”

The Ferguson, Mo., native enrolled at M.U. after graduating from high school and shortly thereafter entered the U.S. Navy. Following his discharge, he came to Central because of its academic reputation, Knowles says. After attending for two years and two summers, he left for dental school in St. Louis in 1949.

A staunch supporter of charitable initiatives at Central

through the years, Knowles has become a fan of the highly successful Eagle softball program. Spring trips by CMU to play in Florida and Alabama first brought him to the stands, and he has become one of CMU softball’s biggest fans.

“It was obvious we had an outstanding softball program,” Knowles says. “However, after visiting several NAIA softball fields, it was apparent our facilities couldn’t compare to some others. It was surprising to me how our coaches and players could be so successful under these conditions.”

The Lady Eagles, conference champions for five years running, are equally strong in the classroom with a host of NAIA national scholar-athletes on the roster and the highest average team GPA on campus. The members of the softball team are committed to upholding both the academic values of Central as well as the stellar on-field reputation – something for which Knowles, and all of us associated with Central, take special pride.

“Although the team members’ win-loss records are impressive, I feel their academic achievements are even more important,” he says. “Hopefully the improvements [to the softball complex] will help in continuing to recruit top notch academic students who are also interested in softball.”

Inside the new locker room (below), funded

by Dr. Knowles, the lockers are oak-fronted with an Eagle carved into each locker (right).

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Women’s Track & Field CMU women’s track fans saw the Eagles log four individual event conference titles, break four school records, and earn a second place finish in the Heart of America Athletic Conference outdoor meet hosted by Central Methodist.

Results of the national meet were not available

by Talon press time.

Junior Kaitlyn Emig broke two individual school records, winning the 400 meter hurdles and finishing second in the 100 meter hurdles. Emig was also a member of the second place 4x100 meter relay team that established a new school record.

Senior Stephanie Atkinson broke her own school record in the pole vault to take the conferCMU's Kaitlyn Emig (junior, Fairview Heights, Ill.) was ence title. Other league champions included freshone of the leaders of the Eagle women's track and field man Kaitlyn Sewell in the triple jump and senior team this spring. During the Heart of America Athletic Brianna Greer in the hammer throw.

Conference championships hosted by CMU, Emig Sewell was also a member of the school-record set school records in the 400-meter and 100-meter setting 4x100 meter relay team, along with Emig, hurdles, and was a member of the school record-setfreshman Theresa Zehnle and junior Briana Zumting 4x100 relay team, too. walt.

During the winter 2015 indoor season, the Eagles finished fourth in the Heart meet. Emig (60 meter hurdles) and senior Kaitlyn Loeffler (3,000 meter race walk) both qualified for the national meet for Coach Mark Nelson.

Athletic Honors HAAC Players of the Week Baseball Joba Ferrell, 2 times Ian Walsh, 2 times Men’s Basketball Mitchell Farr

Nick Homan: men’s indoor track and field (National Champion pole vault) Doug Hutcherson: men’s indoor track and field

Women’s Track & Field Kaitlyn Emig Briana Greer, 2 time Emily Nealley Briana Zumwalt

Women’s Basketball Taylor Cornelison Taylor McDowell Men’s Golf Jacob Williams

Other Recognitions Lauren Geringer: HAAC Softball Player of the Year Haley Kinnison: HAAC Softball Pitcher of the Year and HAAC Softball Newcomer of the Year

NAIA All-Americans Mitchell Farr: men’s basketball, honorable mention

Softball Lindie Adair Lauren Geringer Jocie Glaze Haley Kinnison 3 time Jessie Wilmes

Morgan Vetter: 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District Women’s Basketball second team

Morgan Vetter: women’s basketball, honorable mention Nickola Shingles: men’s indoor track and field (National Champion - 60-meter hurdles)

Men’s Track & Field Nick Homan, 2 time 68

Doug Hutcherson Alex McCormack Tyler Meierarend Nickola Shingles Kiven Steitz

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Pat Reardon: HAAC Softball CoCoach of the Year Mark Nelson: HAAC Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year

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turned it into apartments, we would be squandering the potential of the building.”

Ever since they have been working on financing, permits, and the like.

While they have kept the matter low key up to this point, response from those they’ve talked to about the project has been overwhelmingly positive.

“This project holds great promise for our community, and there is no question that a stronger Fayette is a wonderful thing for Central Methodist University,” notes CMU President Roger Drake. He and the Alexanders have had several discussions about the initiative.

“The project itself is exciting, but we know that with Rick and Shelby behind it, it will be done the right way,” Drake adds. “We believe it will be very popular with our alumni, visiting guests and artists, candidates for positions, and much more.”

The hotel will be the latest incarnation of the four-story brick building that most recently housed a sports bar and grill on the ground floor. It’s been vacant for approximately three years. The building has an interesting story, notes local historian and CMU Professor of History Dr. Robert Wiegers.

One of its most interesting “lives” was as the local National Guard Armory, complete with upstairs machine-gun shooting range, Wiegers says. Wiegers authored Missouri Armories: The Guard’s Home in Architecture and History, the definitive history of Missouri’s National Guard Armories, published in 2012.

The local National Guard unit was decommissioned after World War II. Through the years the building has also been home to several grocery stores, dry goods stores, a bottling works, an upscale bar, and an antique store, Wiegers notes.

In addition to hometown support, the Alexanders are quick to thank the Moberly Area Economic Development Council for assistance in the project. MAEDC is the regional economic development group and is supported, in part, by the City of Fayette.

Make no mistake, the Alexanders are developing the property to make a profit. At the same time, Rick and Shelby Alexander are making an investment of this significance in a town they live in and love, with high hopes that it will benefit the community as a whole – including their alma mater, Central Methodist University.

Alexander Hotel could spur Fayette growth A Fayette project many of its proponents believe may help re-energize the downtown is on the near horizon, thanks to local residents Rick ’03 and Shelby Michael ’97 Alexander.

And while the Alexander Hotel is a labor of love, the labor side of things has been in the forefront as the pair readies to renovate a building that opened in 1905 as an opera house on the southeast corner of Morrison and Main Streets on Fayette’s courthouse square.

“We think the Hotel will fundamentally change downtown Fayette,” Rick Alexander says. “Our hope is that it will be the linchpin for downtown redevelopment. We want it to create demand for other businesses, as people who used to need to leave town for lodging will stay in Fayette to shop, eat, and visit.”

If all goes according to plan, work on the boutique hotel could begin by late summer, Alexander says. The hope is to have it open by Fall 2016, though that’s an ambitious goal, he added.

When completed, the Alexander Hotel will feature 27 guest rooms, including five suites. A main floor banquet room for up to 200 will be available, and the basement will feature a cocktail lounge open to the public and accessible from both the hotel and from a Morrison Street entrance.

The idea to establish a hotel in downtown Fayette actually started out as a plan to convert the building into apartments, Alexander says. But as the Alexanders talked it over, they realized the lack of downtown lodging was “the biggest hole in Fayette.

“Our building is perfectly suited” to be renovated into a hotel, Rick Alexander says. “We decided that if we Spring 2015

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(See rest of the story on page 75.)

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Alumni news

Greetings from the CMU Alumni Association Dear alumni, As the incoming president of the CMU Alumni Association Board of Directors, I wish to express my sincerest thanks to Judy Rethwisch for her outstanding four years as our president. Thank you, Judy, for everything you have done for CMU! Your accomplishments are too numerous to mention in this small space.

Under Judy’s unwavering efforts, the gala Alumni Awards Banquet has expanded in scope, size, and prestige.

This year five Distinguished Alumni were honored, as well as the recipients of the Young Alumni Award and University Service Award. The May 1 program featured taped introductions by family and friends of each honoree, plus an outstanding performance by the CMU Jazz Band and a wonderful meal. The recipients of these prestigious awards were selected by vote of the Alumni Board of Directors.

Speaking of the alumni awards, if you have someone you would like to nominate, please go to www.centralmeth odist.edu, click on the Alumni and Friends tab and then Alumni Awards. We eagerly welcome all nominations. This would be an award every CMU graduate would hold dear to his or her heart. Consider warming the heart of one of your friends from your time at Central. Go ahead. Bring up the website. You heart will overflow having made this effort.

You can also get information about CMU license plates on the website. Recently, my wife, Jacque, and I both got a CMU license plate for our cars. It has been fun! Alumni have approached us on parking lots to strike up conversations. It is a great way both to publicize and support our great alma mater at the same time. Please take a look.

You know, there are lots of small things each of us can do to help Central. Encouraging students to attend Central is a big one. Perhaps you have contact with teenagers in your church, athletic team, or similar youth activity. Tell them about your experiences at CMU. You have nothing to lose by sharing. They have nothing to lose by making application. Central is improving its scholarship program. Funds are out there. We all know that the positive differences between CMU and the state schools is profound. Sound off. Speak up proudly!

The Board of Trustees has approved changes to the Alumni Board constitution. We will be expanding our membership from 22 to 28! Jump on board. There is but one requirement—A LOVE FOR CENTRAL! Our membership includes recent graduates and some a slight bit older. We have a retreat in July with many plans for the future. CMU people are a special bunch and fun to be around. And remember, coming back to Central is always like coming home.

New Alumni Association Officers President, John Cheary ’70 Vice president, Laura Blair ’86 Secretary, Nikki Parrish-Scott ’94 70

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John Cheary President, CMU Alumni Association Central Methodist University

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Alumni news

Class Notes ’60s

only to the most valued employees in the WELK organization nationally.

Maurice Graham ’60 was appointed to serve on the University of Missouri Board of Curators on Jan. 3, 2015.

Charles Baker Brown ’62 was inducted into the Dunklin County Hall of Honor in Kennett, Mo., on Nov. 4, 2014.

Iva (Alcorn) Banning ’64 and her husband Ray celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary on Dec. 27, 2014.

Neil Gladstone ’65 was recognized with publication in the Leading Physicians of the World for his remarkable achievements in his specialty.

Leslie Anne Perry ’67 published three new books, Small Town Roots, Small Town Roots, Vol. Two, and Hangar One 1935 to 2014 and Beyond.

’70s Gary Miller ’71, a civil rights activist, has published his memoir in the LGBT e-zine outhistory.org.

Kevin Berry ’75 has recently published a book, The Origin of Philosophy.

James Hunt ’75 is the vice president for academic affairs for McMurry University in Abilene, Texas as of April 1, 2015.

’80s Jacque (Allred) Cheary ’82 was given the Circle of Excellence Award; this award is given

Father Dominic Lenk, OSB, ’82 is pleased to announce the publication of his first book, A Witness in Verse. In this book he explores his call to religious life and his faith through prose and poetry, and invites his readers to consider more deeply their own faith journeys.

Nancy (Walker) Peacock ’82 worked with Team Martina in 2013 and 2014. Team Martina is a group of volunteers who donate time and raise money for cancer patients.

Terry Henderson ’83 received the Friends of the Chamber Award from the Troy Chamber of Commerce in Troy, Mo. Starr (Hampel) Himmel ’83 has published an inspirational book called Songs in the Morning.

Dr. Knial Piper x86 was named the 2014 Health Care Champions Honoree at Jordan Valley Community Health Center.

Ariz. in Dec. 2014.

John Canterberry ’95 is the chief financial officer for Missouri Highlands Health Care in Ellington, Mo. Melissa (Niedergerke) Hunter ’96 was promoted to the director of nursing for the Lake Regional Health System’s in Osage Beach, Mo. Ken Hansen ’97 was named one of the 50 Directors Who Make a Difference by School Band and Orchestra magazine. One director was chosen from each state.

Tony Primeau ’92, Aurie Meyer ’96, and Linda (Roche) Nagle ’69 were among 99 St. Louis-area educators honored with an Emerson Excellence in Teaching award.

The award pays tribute to educators for their achievements and dedication tot he field of education.

Debra Hockanson ’87 and Ron Beckman were married May 24, 2014.

John Wiggans ’97 is the Principal for St. Thomas the Apostle School in Elkhart, Ind.

Betty (Thorne) Tierney ’87 is currently the group vice president - associate general counsel - litigation for Macy’s Inc. In her role, Betty is in charge of the litigation function for Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s on a nationwide basis. She heads a team of 17 professionals and five administrative assistants.

Kristi (Boggs) Schlegel ’98 will begin teaching Kindergarten at Derby Ridge Elementary School in Columbia, Mo., this fall. Also, she and her and husband Cory announce the birth of daughter Mara, born Nov. 1, 2014.

Mark Calvert ’88 was elected Associate Circuit Judge of Phelps County Division 2 on Nov. 4, 2014.

’90s

Dow Benedict ’67 is a Professor of Art and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.V. In May 2015, the sculpture studio in the Shepherd University Center for Contemporary Arts was named in his honor.

Spring 2015

Sean Unterreiner ’90 is the Vice President of Equipment Finance with PNC Bank in Clayton, Mo. Mindy Gregory ’93 received her Doctorate in Education with a Specialization in Exceptional Student Education from Northcentral University in Prescott,

Central Methodist University

Brandi (Humble) Bloomfield ’99 and husband Keith announce the birth of daughter Presley Dawn, born April 6, 2015.

’00s John Kleekamp ’00 was appointed to the Citizens Bank Board of Directors in Washington, Mo. Anna (Barth) Stonecipher ’02 and husband Chad announce the birth of daughter Mercedez, born April 23, 2015.

Dena (Barth) Pittsenbarger ’02 and husband Kelly ’02 announce the birth of daughter Tori Jerene-Elizabeth, born April 15, 2015.

Susan (Heffner) Boss ’04 and husband Brent announce the birth of son Henry William, born Jan. 21, 2015.

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Alumni news

Alumni profile: Dr. Cynthia Crystal “CC” Lohr, helping people Not many people can say that they are living the dream, but when CC Lohr ’99 wakes up each day, she knows this day will be better than the last. CC went to Central a on an athletic scholarship to study sports medicine. She left CMU, received the doctorate and training to become a chiropractor, and then practiced sports medicine for several years. And then, like so many, she took a different turn, recognizing that following a “career path is not really a ladder. It’s more like a jungle gym. You create what you want to be.”

With a decade in healthcare and a desire to help patients as a group, CC added medical science liaison to her ever growing list of accomplishments.

She feels that this is another step to helping more people.

While still a practicing chiropractor, CC also works as a senior principal medical science liaison/field clinical scientist with Medtronic Spine. Her job is helping spine surgeons who use the medical devices to understand scientifically how and why the product was developed and the benefits and risks of each. The surgeon can make a better informed decision for his/her patient(s), because CC knows that the best medicine comes from the best education.

CC, tell us about… the heart of your CMU experience…

For me the heart of CMU was athletics. I went there on a scholarship in basketball and track and field and then moved to cross country; but even when I wasn’t performing as an athlete I was getting athletic training.

a person who stands out in your memories…

Wade Welton, the athletic trainer. I was excited about being an athletic trainer and learning about injuries and sports medicine. He was a great mentor and coach. He really kept you in line and helped you out day or night.

He was always there. He wanted to make the best athletic trainer and the best athletic training program. He’s probably the one who kept me staying within sports medicine orthopedics.

the guest list for your ideal dinner…

I’d definitely have Albert Einstein. How many can I have? What if I just generalize? Thought leaders, like Albert Einstein, in the field of each therapeutic area of health care. We could all sit down and see how to bring all the silos of research together for the better welfare of the patients of this nation.

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advice you would give to our current students…

Always keep an open mind. Diversify yourself. Know yourself with emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Be yourself. Be authentic. And, always remember that actions speak louder than words. It took me a long time to figure that last one out – about 30-some-odd years.

the best advice you’ve ever received…

You cannot move forward by looking at the past. When you drive a car do you look in the rearview mirror all the time? No, you’ll have an accident.

The rearview mirror is put there for a reason – to glance. If you get worried, or feel something’s not right, you glance in it. You check your surroundings and then you focus back on what’s in front of you. If you focus on that rearview mirror, you’re not going to move anywhere. You focus on what’s in front of you and check to make sure you’re not repeating the same mistakes. That’s what’s going to get you ahead.

if you were a fictional character…

If I were a fictional character, I would be Wonder Woman. It might be cliché, but I always looked up to her.

When I was five years old, I would run outside with aluminum foil on my wrists for bracelets and spin around a tree to change into my split personality. Maybe I have that – I am a Gemini. But to be able to go into your professional world and be one way without changing your life and who you are, and then come home and take that professional hat off is important. It’s the work-life balance. A lot of people out there are living to work when really you should be working to live. Wonder Woman always got the job done whether it was her being Linda Carter or her fighting to make the world a better place.

your favorite extra-curricular memory of CMU…

I have a couple. I liked going out to the lake for the fraternity and sorority social gatherings. Everybody came.

It seemed like everyone was part of a different local fraternity or sorority. You realize when everyone is together under a big top tent that it’s bigger than you thought. I know that means nothing to people who went to NCAA Division I schools, but it was plenty of people for me. And, of course, winning the HAAC 1996-97 women’s basketball championship and cutting down the net, which led our team to Nationals, making it to the sweet 16 – a bittersweet memory brought back in Feb. 2009, when the team was inducted into the Hall of Fame!

Central Methodist University

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Alumni news Joe Hardin ’04 was elected presiding commissioner for Vernon County on Nov. 4, 2014.

’10s

Rachel (Speight) Wells ’05 and husband Jon announce birth of son Brody Michael, on Sept.

14, 2014.

Johnathon Hankinson ’10 is the head equipment manager for Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Chris Neale ’82 was chosen to fill the position of assistant commissioner for the Office of Quality Schools.

He will assume his new duties on July 1, 2015. Dr. Neale most recently served as superintendent of Gasconade County R-1 Schools in Hermann, Mo.

Carrie (Lessly) Adams ’06 and husband Marcus announce the birth of daughter Brecklyn Bee, born Dec. 9, 2014.

Brad Royston ’06 and wife Jessica announce the birth of son Camden Reece, born April 1, 2015.

Sarah Wehrman ’06 graduated from the University of Central Missouri in Dec. 2014, with a Master of Arts in Music in Kodaly. She achieved national certification in all three levels of Kodaly in 2013. She also received the Teacher of the Year award for 2014-2015 at Thomas Hart Benton Elementary in Independence, Mo. Todd Oberlin ’07 and Christina Thebeau are engaged to be married.

Cassandra Bliss ’08 is the chief financial officer for Pelopidas LLC in Naples, Fla. Travis Dierker ’09 is the city administrator for St. Clair, Mo.

Mason Rivers ’10 is the president of the Oregon School Psychologists Association and is currently the school psychologist for the Beaverton School District.

Stacy (Galemore) Sederwall ’10 is a nurse practitioner with the Lake Regional’s Urgent Care Clinics in Osage Beach and Eldon, Mo.

Kellie (Handy) Stickler ’10 is currently at the University of Kansas studying Physical Therapy. She recently published her senior thesis, titled “Adherence to Physical Therapy: A Qualitative Study.”

Kimberly Straatmann ’10 and Dominic Aguilar were married Nov. 22, 2014.

Caryn (McDonald) Yeager ’10 is an Emergency Room nurse at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, and is studying for her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Degree.

Suzanne Barrett ’11 and Brian Loepker were married March 28, 2015.

were married Feb. 28, 2015.

Helen “Becky” Wasson ’12 and Benjamin Thelen ’13 were married Dec. 6, 2014.

Hannah Babcock ’13 teaches physical education and health at Fulton High School in Fulton, Mo. She is also the head volleyball coach.

She was recently published in the Teacher Talk section of the Missourian.

Jim Echelberry ’14 is the special education Teacher for the Laquey School District in Laquey, Mo. Rachael Beckerman ’14 and Andrew Eggert ’10 are engaged to be married.

Lauren Noble ’14 is the assistant volleyball Coach at Missouri Southern State University.

Brenna (Wheeler) O’Neill ’14 and husband Michael ’13 announce the birth of son Keegan, born April 21, 2015.

Kelsey Parrott ’14 is engaged to be married to Mitchell Saunders on June 6, 2015. The wedding party also includes Sabrina Eaves and Jessica Kent, both class of 2014.

Julie Ramiso ’14 and Ricky Massana ’13 were married Oct. 11, 2014, and announce the birth of their daughter, Mia Anne, born Oct. 28, 2014.

Michael Starnes ’15 composed a piece titled “Psalm 23” which was premiered by the Three Rivers College Choir during a gospel festival on the Poplar Bluff campus on April 25, 2015.

Zechariah Bowman ’11 and wife Kim announce the birth of daughter Aubrey, born Oct. 26, 2014.

Melissa Gable ‘02 was selected at the Ashley Epperson ’11 State of Texas Secondary Science Teacher and Daniel Jacobs ’11 of the Year for 2014. Dr. Gable is currentwere married April 26, ly a chemistry teacher for Crosby High 2014.

School in Crosby, Texas and was recently Lacey Eaton ’11 and elected onto the executive committee of Ben Gladden ’14 are the Science Teachers Association of Texas. engaged to be married.

Also, she and Andrew Heitz announce the birth of daughter Lillian Jean born Taylor Reed ’12 and March 30, 2015.

Travis McCann ’10

Great progress is being made on The Thogmorton Center for Allied Health!

The building is scheduled to be open for classes in the fall with a dedication ceremony in October.

To watch the progress live, visit: www.centralmethodist.edu/ heartofcentral/view.php

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Alumni news

In Memoriam ’30s

Marcelene (Hardy) Bowen ’45 of Tulsa, Okla., died Nov. 30, 2014.

Annabeth (Limbaugh) Huber ’37 of Sikeston, Mo., died Jan. 8, 2015.

Geraldine (Cone) Stallcup ’37 of Walnut Ridge, Ark., died Nov. 26, 2014.

Leslie H. McQuary ’38 of Tucson, Ariz., died March 27, 2014.

Katharine (McCorkle) Dwight ’39 of Walnut Creek, Calif., died March 31, 2014.

Iva Dell (Quisenberry) Thurman ’39 of Columbia, Mo., died Dec. 6, 2014.

’40s Raymond H. Colin ’40 of Pittsburgh, Pa., died Jan. 5, 2015.

Francis L. Grable ’40 of San Antonio, Texas, died Jan. 21, 2015.

W. Arthur Slaughter ’40 of Lee’s Summit, Mo., died Oct. 24, 2014.

Vita M. (Scribner) Goppert ’41 of Olathe, Kan., died Nov. 13, 2014.

Dallas Henry Parker ’41 of Leawood, Kan., died Jan. 27, 2015.

Joseph F. Jacobs ’42 of Kansas City, Mo., died Nov. 29, 2014. He received a Central Distinguished Alumni Award in 1953.

Rickey Irene (Monsees) Goetz ’43 of Warrensburg, Mo., died Jan. 16, 2015.

John Button ’44 of Seattle, Wash., died Dec. 27, 2014.

John William Sutton ’44 of Seattle, Wash., died Dec. 27, 2014.

James H. Sweiger ’44 of Maple Valley, Wash., died Jan. 16, 2015.

F. L. “Tom” Thompson ’44 of Kansas City, Mo., died March 17, 2015.

Frank J. Toelke ’44 of Union, Mo., died Dec. 29, 2014.

J. Roderick Bradley ’45 of Overland Park, Kan., died Jan. 31, 2015.

Dorothy Nell (Wilson) Hungate ’45 of Hannibal, Mo., died Nov. 16, 2014.

John Hert ‘42 of Fayette, Mo., died Nov. 20, 2014. After his graduation from Central he spent a short time in Chicago, St. Paul, and Detroit. He returned to Fayette and spent the next 35 years at The Democrat-Leader and The Fayette Advertiser. Retiring as editor-publisher.

Hert received a CMU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004. liams ’50 of Oklahoma City, Okla., died April 2, 2015.

Mabel (Baker) Gahr ’46 of Saint James, Mo., died Dec. 2, 2014.

John P. Land ’51 of Houston, Texas, died July 28, 2014.

Dorothy (Cochran) Harlan ’46 of Columbia, Mo., died March 8, 2015.

Lawrence Wayne Rucker ’51 of Marshall, Mo., died Feb. 20, 2015.

James D. Harrison ’46 of Pear River, La., died April 7, 2015.

Joyce Sue (Farrar) Steere ’51 of Columbia, Mo., died Nov. 29, 2014.

Edward Joseph Ferrari ’47 of Carlyle, Ill., died Aug. 24, 2014.

Paul David Danclovic ’52 of Tucson, Ariz., died March 27, 2014.

William H. Remland ’47 of Orange, Calif., died Nov. 15, 2014.

Patsy (Stevenson) Railsback ’52 of Oak Park, Ill., died Jan. 18, 2015.

John “Jack” H. Stitt, Sr. ’47 of Antioch, Tenn., died Oct. 31, 2014.

Donald L. Pape ’53 of Saint Louis, Mo., died Jan. 27, 2015.

William Harris Green ’48 of Overland Park, Kan., died April 4, 2015.

Harry Leo Hickman, Jr. ’48 of Bolivar, Mo., died Jan. 23, 2015.

Jo (Morrison) Johnson ’49 of Centralia, Mo., died March 23, 2015.

Esther Lee (Ryder) Riley ’49 of Huntsville, Mo., died Sept. 23, 2014.

Mildred (Whitley) Watts ’49 of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Nov. 16, 2014.

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Roland Eugene Banaka ’50 of Kansas City, Mo., died April 16, 2015.

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Edwin Dale Stammerjohn ’53 of Boonville, Mo., died March 25, 2015.

Ronald W. Fidler ’54 of Tarzana, Calif., died March 8, 2015.

’50s

D. Lavonne (Greenhalge) Guenther x41 of Woodinville, Wash., died Jan. 12, 2015. She was an educator and was active in performance piano. She attended Central College and later received both the Bachelor of Science in Education and the Master of Liberal Arts degrees from Texas Christian University. She and her husband, the late Dr. Ralph R. Guenther ’38 established a Hall of Sponsors scholarship in 1997 for students majoring in music, as evidence of their support of education, and their belief in the mission of Central Methodist University.

Jean (Naylor) Copeland ‘51 of Glasgow, Mo., died Jan. 13, 2015. She graduated cum laude from Central Methodist College with a business degree. Copeland taught business at Montgomery City High School, Glasgow High School, and at Central Methodist College before retiring.

Delma Fern (Steinhauser) Harless ’50 of Independence, Mo., died Jan. 25, 2015.

Barbara Ann (Coleman) Rohlfing ’50 of New Franklin, Mo., died Feb. 15, 2015.

LeRoy C. Wil-

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Gerald Craig Hurt ’54 of Saint Louis, Mo., died Oct. 16, 2014.

Mary Nancy (Pear) Hoerst ’55 of Rossville, Ohio, died March 29, 2015.

Louis H. Johnsen ’55 of Spring, Texas, died March 11, 2015.

Nina (Bitner) Long ’55 of O’Fallon, Mo., died Jan. 13, 2015.

Donald Wayne Dickenson ’56 of Gallatin, Tenn., died Aug. 15, 2014.

Donald A. Kinzer ’56 of Saint Cloud, Minn., died Dec. 3, 2014.

Robert Lee Snoddy ’56 of Franklin, Mo., died Jan. 21, 2015.

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Alumni news John B. Batchelor ’58 of Kirksville, Mo., died April 4, 2015.

Robert Louis Nicolay ’68 of Saint Louis, Mo., died Feb. 16, 2015.

Kimberly Lyn (Hanks) Dunn ’88 of Shawnee Mission, Kan., died November 29, 2014.

’70s

’90s

Robert H. Brackman ’59 of Rockville, Md., died July 17, 2013.

Charles E. Leonard ’59 of Bunceton, Mo., died Feb. 3, 2015.

Donna Cheryl (Donaldson) Schmidt ’70 of Edmond, Okla., died Feb. 22, 2015.

George A. Schuster, Jr. ’59 of Saint Louis, Mo., died Feb. 20, 2015.

Cheryl (Fox) Sackreiter ’72 of Costa Mesa, Calif., died Feb. 27, 2015.

Wanda (Melton) Wilson ’59 of Lee’s Summit, Mo., died Nov. 15, 2014.

Nancy Lou Bundy ’73 of Raleigh, N.C., died Dec. 15, 2014.

Lana Hagedorn, wife of Bill Hagedorn ’76, of Moberly, Mo., died Aug. 7, 2014.

’60s

Debbie (Luckenbill) Cullotta ’74 of Wheaton, Ill., died Feb. 11, 2014.

Vivian Lee Street of Fayette, Mo., died April 25, 2015.

James Parrish ’62 of Lake Zurich, Ill., died June 2, 2013.

C. Joe Myers II ’76 of Mexico, Mo., died Dec. 15, 2014.

James B. Webb, former CMU Trustee, of Chesterfield, Mo., died Nov. 3, 2014.

Sam Lee Powell ’62 of Malden, Mo., died March 1, 2015.

David L. Thornton ’77 of Saint Louis, Mo., died Feb. 9, 2015.

John Marcus Hopkins ’64 of Orange, Calif., died June 27, 2014.

Michael J. Harig ’98 of Labadie, Mo., died Jan. 31, 2015.

Friends

’80s

Ronald C. Kautzner ’67 of Effingham, Ill., died Jan. 30, 2015.

Pamela Maureen Sharp ’83 of Idyllwild, Calif., died April 5, 2015.

John K. Buchholtz ’68 of Jefferson City, Mo., died Aug. 25, 2014.

Willie Wilson ’84 of Florissant, Mo., died November 22, 2014.

Continued from page 69.

Alexander roots run deep in Central Methodist and Fayette The Alexander name has been connected with Fayette and with CMU for generations. The family has supported the town and the college with involvement, leadership, and gifts.

Fred and Barbara (Miller) Alexander are alumni, class of 1958 and 1956, respectively, along with daughter Leigh (Alexander) Hilderbrand ’94, son Rick Alexander ’03, and his wife, Shelby ’97.

For decades, the family has supported CMU initiatives, from athletics to fine arts, as well as every campaign since 1978.

Fred Alexander served on the Central Board of Trustees beginning in 1980, part of the time as president. When he recently came off the Board, he was honored with emeritus status for his leadership and support to Central.

Currently Shelby sits on CMU’s Board of Trustees.

In 2006, Fred and Barbara created a Hall of Spon-

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sors Scholarship. Nearly six years later, they and other family and friends honored Fred’s aunt, lifelong teacher Virginia Ruth Alexander ’34, with another Hall of Sponsors Scholarship.

The two of them also donated to Central approximately 16 acres just northeast of the Davis Football Field for use as practice fields for football, bands, and other groups.

Both Fred and Barbara received the CMU Service Award in 2008.

Rick and Shelby have taken on the dream of seeing the old opera house become the Alexander Hotel, a move that will be of great benefit to both Fayette and Central Methodist University.

The Alexanders’ support and love for CMU continues to thrive, as does Central’s respect and gratitude toward them.

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Alumni profile: George Kessinger, man of Goodwill George Kessinger entered this world in 1942, in a house with no running water and no electricity. George admits that things did not immediately improve from there. Growing up in various rural Missouri towns, his family was extraordinarily close, with the whole family spending many evenings gathered around an oil lantern that served as the home’s only light source to hear his father, a Methodist Minister, tell them the stories of the scriptures. Despite such humble beginnings, George would not only attend college at Central, but would eventually rise to become President and CEO of Goodwill International.

ShopGoodwill.com, in 1999 is widely recognized as his greatest contribution to Goodwill. Since its launch in 2000, the site has brought $315 million to Goodwill, and now brings in over a million dollars in an average week. For George, however, the money is just an added benefit. The site, and other elements of technology have opened up new opportunities for people with disabilities who have college degrees and/or advanced experience.

Eventually George was invited to leave the Goodwill agency he ran in California for 24 years to bring the same innovation and leadership to Goodwill International, as President and CEO. During his time there, he oversaw many changes to the corporate structure of Goodwill, including the construction of a new permanent headquarters in Rockville, Md. While the move was a physical necessity, it also served as a symbol of change. The new Main Office would now be known as the Member Services Center, representing a shift in the organization’s philosophy. To this end, George also developed a new contract supporting the autonomous member agencies, with Member Services authorized to protect interests held by all of the agencies, such as the Goodwill brand. After retiring from Goodwill, George was inducted into the Goodwill Industries Hall of Fame for his exemplary service.

George, tell us about…

George’s path to the highest post at Goodwill began with his time at Central. He often freely admits to others that he was not a very good student in his early days. But George will be the first to tell you that the education he received from Central was priceless. At Central, George was active in Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and the college band. Though he struggled academically early on, almost failing out of school his first year, he eventually improved his grades, transferred to the University of Missouri, and completed the bachelor’s degree he had begun at Central. (George has established an endowed scholarship for CMU students on behalf of his family, who all attended Central at one point—both his father and his sister earned degrees in 1960.) Later, he obtained a Master of Theology from Drew School of Divinity, and, after reading about Goodwill’s mission of helping people with disabilities, George felt called to the organization he would serve for more than 40 years.

After brief, successful tenures in West Virginia and Kansas City, George became the CEO of the Goodwill in Orange County, Calif. Though his first two decades there were littered with many obstacles and surprises, from disgruntled employees to audits by the IRS, he navigated the organization through each issue with creativity and patience.

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the heart of your CMU experience…

Central was the place I started to become an adult.

It provided a safe environment to begin to participate in activities and explore the world. I was born under a rock down somewhere in the Ozarks, but somehow the family knew we were going to college even though we were really, really poor. Over time it emerged that “college” meant “Central.” When my dad was 55 and was trying to improve himself and his ministry, he was able to get access to Central.

It sort of became our college. It was really important to our lives. We were quite often on campus to hear a lecture, or listen to the choir, or see a play. In our George (right) and Beta Sig friend, Buzz Jones, at Central in 1961. Notice the tennis courts behind them where Stedman now stands.

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family, CMU was a place that provided culture and other things we knew were important. My dad went there, my sister transferred there, my brother went there. When it came my turn, there was no other thought about where to go to college. We didn’t have any money, and Central made it possible for us to go to school. A poor country preacher didn’t have enough money to get us through college, but CMU made it financially feasible. It was cherished by us.

your favorite class/professor/mentor at CMU…

one person and imposed on the group.

your greatest professional accomplishment/achievement…

I’ve got a lot to be humble about, but my greatest professional accomplishment was at Goodwill International. When I got to the last stop in my Goodwill career, the organization was in disarray. There was constant turmoil – fighting amongst the members and fighting with the national office. When I was hired for the job, I was told to bring harmony to the movement, and I did that. We start-

When I was at CMU, everyone was required to take a religion class and attend chapel once a week.

Dr. Eller got the happy job of taking these freshmen and sophomores through a religion class they didn’t want to take, but all of the Kessingers sat through his class and grew to love him. He had such a good sense of humor. He famously said he didn’t have to see the movie “The Bible” when it came out in the 1960s because he read the book. Another time, he asked on an exam “What have you learned in this class?” and a student wrote “Not a dam thing”; Dr. Eller gave him a 90% because he misspelled ‘damn.’

the best advice you’ve ever received…

People never exceed their dreams. You should dream, and you should dream big dreams. Be courageous. Visualize the future in the way you would like it to be, and then practice that. Have a vision for where you want to go, and get there. Make strategic plans, but remember that people are down on what they’re not up on. A poor plan created by and believed in by a group of people will have better results than a great plan created by George on his favorite Harley Davidson (below), and spinning prayer wheels in Tibet (right).

ed with a strategic plan, and the bickering and the yelling subsided. People focused on where the organization was going. For example, ShopGoodwill.com brought together a lot of the different agencies. For the first time in history, the CEOs joined together on one activity that was better for the whole group. It was a very important turning point for the whole organization. That success all started with the experience and success I had with being a student and a person at Central.

your best advice for CMU graduates…

Know that your experience at Central is going to be a foundation for your life and for your future. Participate, get to know people. Love Central and feel that close to it. When you get out, support Central with financial gifts and refer other students to Central. I wish I could do more. The most important thing, though, is to remember Central. Keep it in your minds as you go on through your life and career. I did not graduate from Central, but it is still the most important institution of learning in my life. My degrees from University of Missouri, Drew University, and the University of California - Irvine, are all good and important. My time at Central was essential.

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Alumni profile: Rolland Love, storyteller The old adage is that everybody has a story; Rolland Love ’60 has discovered that everybody is a story. Rolland, himself a storyteller of sorts, has authored award winning short stories, novels and a best selling computer book, as well as co-authored Homegrown in the Ozarks: Mountain Meals and Memories, a cookbook that was a finalist for best book of the year in Missouri. Now his focus has turned to getting other people to tell their stories through what began as a travelling workshop and has now become ImAStory.com, an authoring system website that helps people write their life stories. The inspiration for this project hit when a librarian told Rolland that there are over 50 million people over the age of 65 in America, and the most important thing they have are their stories, something many of them never have the opportunity to tell in a lasting format. While the focus is on capturing the stories of older members of society, Rolland’s website and workshops also target young kids to sit down with their older relatives and engage together in the story creating process.

ImAStory.com is free to use for writing stories or reading any of the over 1,000 stories from all over the world already in the database.

Rolland, tell us about . . . who would play you in the movie of your life

In the old days it would have been Burt Reynold’s, but he’s gotten too old. All the people I can think of are old now. So, probably just a young Burt Reynolds.

if you could go anywhere in space and time, where you would go

Definitely where I grew up off the Jacks Fork River in the Ozarks. When I was 13 years old, I helped my uncle with his fishing camp. I had a better life then… when I got up every day I had these major decisions to make, like am I going to go fishing first, am I going to swim first, or am I going to float the river? But I spent truly every summer from the time I was in the eighth grade until I was in high school on the river doing just that. That’s what inspired me to write my Blue Hole novel.

advice you would give to CMU students and alumni starting the next phase of their lives

Do something that you like to do. Don’t do something because someone else thought it would be a good idea or because maybe you could make more money doing it. If you like what you’re doing, you’re going to have a much happier life. And keep in touch with the other students

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that you met at CMU. They end up in some really interesting professions. I didn’t do that as much as I should have.

the accomplishment you are most proud of

The Blue Hole novel, which I started writing at CMU, has over 500 reviews and about 125,000 downloads. It was written as a young adult novel, but it turns out that it has endured.

what day you would choose to re-live over and over again

Fishing in the ponds around CMU. There’s a lot of them on the farms. We used to go and fish. Generally we would eat the fish at the end of the day. They were delicious.

the heart of your CMU experience

I enjoyed every aspect of the university. I liked everything about the environment, particularly the old buildings, the campus, and the type of students that attended the university. I really appreciated the people that were in my dorm. We had a good time but we also studied a lot. It was an exciting experience. I still like to come back and visit for the vista and the ambience of a quaint place that is over 150 years old. It is just a wonderful place.

your favorite CMU staff/faculty member

I liked the gentleman that was – not sure what his exact title was – but the dorm master. I think his name was Thogmorton. It’s been a while.

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Phonathon spring 2015 Once again, Phonathon was dialing fast and taking names! We were able, due to the great generosity of our alumni and friends, to raise over $75,000 over the course of the fall and spring calling campaigns. Even with a new action and communication plan and a more focused fundraising campaign with different segmentations, the results remain impressive.

My dedicated team of 20 callers, ranging from freshman to seniors, are truly top notch and deserve a lot of credit for the work they accomplished. They truly understand what Phonathon and alumni relations are all about. Not only have they stepped up in calling our constituents, they have, on their own initiative, raised money among themselves (keep in mind these are poor college students) to donate to the annual fund to support student scholarships. It is that important to them. They get it and they went above and beyond what was asked of them.

I am very proud of everyone on my team. I can’t say enough good things about them. Central Methodist University students truly are some of the best!

We will talk to you next year. You can count on it!

Matt Vander Vennet, director of annual giving Left to right, front row: Ashley Novak, Jackie Hoffman, Maggie Moore, Megan Berwin, Shawnie Jones, Carissa Zimmer, Brooklyn Duncan, and standing, Matt Vander Vennet, director of annual giving; row 2: Emily Everett, Kaitlin Romine, Shelbi Becker, Megan Prenger, Alex Amptman, and Jenn Ray; row 3: Adebola Adeoba, Harrison Hill, Candace Fox, and Zach Andrews.

Not pictured are Kelsey Kalish, Kyle Schenewerk, and Shakirah Salandy.

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