Focus On Faculty - Missouri Southern State University

Dr. Rick Schooler, Dean of the School of Health Sciences, published Planning for Organizational Success: A Leadership Guide to Achieving Success with a Plan. The book provides an in-depth and unique look at organizational strategic planning through the lens of a physician who spent 20 years practicing obstetrics and gynecology and then transitioned to the business side of the health care industry. Dr. Schooler went on to serve as a Medical Director, Chief Medical Officer, and then Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of a large health care system in the Midwest.

The critical dynamics of leadership, culture, collaboration and finance, along with plan adaptability and sustainability, are presented in a practical and proven model designed to achieve real-world success. All of the profits from the sale of this book are being donated to the Missouri Southern Foundation.

Dr. Michael Howarth, Associate Professor of English and Philosophy and Honors Program Director, authored a young adult novel titled Fair Weather Ninjas. This coming-of-age book chronicles Timothy Dimmick’s senior year of high school. Typical teenage struggles are compounded by Timothy’s determination to honor a promise he made to his late father: become a world-class ninja.

The idea for the book developed as Dr. Howarth was working on his M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Several short stories, completed as part of his coursework, provided a foundation for the story. Dr. Howarth was invited to provide book readings at Missouri Southern State University (September 29, 2016) and Ozark Technical Community College (October 27, 2016). Book signings followed the readings, with $1 of each book sold being donated to the Myrna Marble Scholarship Fund at MSSU.

Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology, was featured in an international documentary in which he reconstructed the predation performance of the largest snake to have ever lived, Titanoboa cerrejonensis.

The documentary was titled Prehistoric Megabeasts: Croc vs. Snake in the United Kingdom and Secrets of the Dead: Graveyard of Giant Beasts in the United States where it aired on PBS stations.

Dr. David Penning

AWA R D S & G R A N T S Dr. Megan Bever, Assistant Professor of History, conducted research in July of 2016 at the State Archives in Jefferson City, MO. The research was supported by a William E. Foley Research Fellowship from the Friends of the Missouri State Archives.

Dr. Gloria Faine, Professor of Teacher Education, was honored at the 2nd Annual Black Women Rock Tea, presented by the Booker T. Washington Class of 1966, in Tulsa, OK. The event was held on May 1, 2016, to honor women of achievement from the school’s class of 1966.

Dr. Ruben Galve Rivera, Assistant Professor of Spanish, received the Jackson Hope Grant, a research program at the Virginia Military Institute established to fill a critical need for funding that enables faculty to implement new ideas and to gather data to strengthen proposals for external support.

Mr. Charles Nodler, University Archivist and Professor of Library Science, was awarded emeritus status by the Academy of Certified Archivists in August 2016. Emeritus status in the Academy of Certified Archivists honors career contributions to the profession.

Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, received the Walter E. Meshaka Jr. Award for best poster presented at the Kansas Herpetological Society’s Annual Meeting, held November 5-6, 2016 in Kansas City, MO. Penning’s presentation was titled: “Here Be a Giant: Using Living Snakes to Reconstruct the Constriction Performance of a Prehistoric Apex Predator (Titanoboa cerrejonensis).”

Charles Nodler

2015 Faculty Winners of the MSSU Writing Excellence Award for Writing Assignments Dr. Melissa Locher, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, for her writing assignment in EDUC 302: The Exceptional Child.

Dr. Karen Plucinski, Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, for her writing assignment in BIO 402: General Ecology.

FA C U LT Y S E R V I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y Dr. David Locher, Professor of Sociology, led a group of 19 friends of MSSU on an 8-day trip to Havana, Cuba, May 15-23, 2016. The trip was coordinated by Dr. Chad Stebbins, Professor of Communication and Director of the Institute for International Studies. Dr. Locher led a similar trip to Cuba in 2003 and was able to revisit several of the same locations from the earlier trip, and even dine in some of the same restaurants. Future Southern Safari trips are being planned and additional information is available at this link: www.mssu.edu/academics/international-studies/southern-safari

The faculty from the Teacher Education Department and Modern Languages Department as well as the staff of the Child Development Center provided a professional development seminar for 13 Head Start centers in Jasper, Barton, Newton and McDonald counties on September 27, 2016. The training focused on effective strategies for English Language Learners. Dr. Carissa Gober, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education; Dr. James Kilpatrick, Department Chair, and Professor of Modern Languages; and Mrs. Nikki Tappana, Director of the Child Development Center, collaborated to design an interdisciplinary session, which focused on early childhood, second language acquisition, and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The session included a simulation of instruction given in a second language, preschool language strategies, multicultural awareness and tips on working with a translator.

The Emergency Medical Services Department was featured in several stories within the May/June 2016 issue of Joplin Magazine (JMAG). The title of the issue was “First Responders and What They Do.“ The stories are available at the following link: issuu.com/joplinmetro/docs/jmag-30944/18 P U B L I C AT I O N S Dr. Jonathan Adongo, Assistant Professor of Economics, authored an article which was published in the May issue of The Journal of Private Equity titled “Creditor protection law effects on venture capital investment in Africa: Country-level evidence.”

DOI: 10.3905/jpe.2016.19.3.03 Dr. Megan Bever, Assistant Professor of History, had an article about Civil-War-themed mascots published in the Journal of Sport History in 2011. It was recently translated into Portuguese and re-published as “Memórias peludas: Mascotes universitários e a luta para encontrar legados apropriados da Guerra Civil Americana” in Recorde: Revista de Histórua do Esporte.

Dr. Lezlie M. Cantrell, Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, has been acknowledged as a consultant and contributor for the 2017 Mosby’s Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Health Professions, 10th edition, specifically in dental radiography and oral pathology subject matter.

Dr. Paula Carson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, co-authored an article with L. Slatten, B. Guidry Hollier, D. Stevens and W. Austin in The Journal of Arts Management. Law, and Society titled “Web-Based Accountability in the Nonprofit Sector: A Closer Look at Arts, Culture, and Humanities Organizations.”

DOI: 10.1080/10632921.2016.1211048 Dr. Nicholas Nicoletti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Dr. William Delehanty, Associate Professor of Political Science, have co-authored a book chapter in an interdisciplinary publication on Moral Psychology. The book title is Moral Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Guide and publication is expected in 2017.

Dr. Dustin Faulstick, Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, authored an article titled “‘This Time I’m Going to Fool Somebody’: Willie Stark and the Politics of Humiliation” which was published in the New Ohio Review 20(2016): 174-179.

Dr. MariBeth Linder, Professor of Nursing, contributed a chapter titled “Musculoskeletal Disorders” to the NCLEX-RN Questions & Answers Made Incredibly Easy, 7th edition.

ISBN: 9781496325495 Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology, had an article accepted for publication in Integrative Zoology titled “The scaling of bite force and constriction pressure in kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula): Proximate determinants and correlated performance.”

DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12216 Ms. Kristin Spencer, Adjunct Criminal Justice Instructor, authored an article in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services titled “Patients’ dying declarations may be legal evidence” May 1, 2016.

Dr. Jency Sundararajan, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Physical Sciences, co-authored an article with M. Rabbani, A. Verma, R. Nekovei, M. Khader, R. Darling and S. Patil in the December 2016 issue of Semiconductor Science and Technology titled “Photoresponse of silicon with asymmetric area contacts.”

DOI: 10.1088/0268-1242/32/1/015001

Dr. Jency Sundarjaruan

Ms. Sherry Whiteman, Respiratory Therapy Department, Mr. Caleb Lewis, Simulation Center Coordinator, Ms. Janice Dunaway, Respiratory Therapy Department, and Ms. Glenda Pippin, Chair of the Respiratory Therapy Department, faculty and staff from the School of Health Sciences, along with Scot Jones from Broward College in Florida, co-authored a simulation manual and student workbook titled, Respiratory Simulations.

Mr. Timothy Wilson, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, authored an article titled “Photographing bloodstains with Bluestar in an outdoor homicide scene” which was published online in Evidence Technology Magazine.

Ms. Shannon Sample, Lecturer of Biology and Environmental Health, co-authored an article with Marc Albrecht that was published in the Journal of Coastal Life Medicine in January 2016. The article was titled “Determination of the burrow shapes of Cardisoma guanhumi on Vieques, Puerto Rico.”

DOI: 10.12980/jclm.4.2016j5-245 Ms. Sherry Whiteman, Department of Respiratory Therapy Adjunct Faculty, is currently reviewing a respiratory care product called the Virtual Ventilator. The virtual ventilator is an immersive online mechanical ventilation training tool. This tool allows the user to take care of virtual patients without having to actually be in the intensive care unit; training can happen on any computer with an internet connection. The virtual ventilator incorporates real time changes in vital signs, ventilatory parameters, patient appearance, arterial blood gases, chest X-rays and more. Users are required to interpret physiologic, imaging and ventilator data, formulate diagnoses and make changes to best treat their patients.

REVIEWS Dr. Jonathan O. Adongo, Assistant Professor of Economics, peer-reviewed an article published in Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal.

Ms. Christine Bentley, Associate Professor of Art, served as a panel session reviewer and volunteer at the annual American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) meeting September 16-19, 2015, in Louisville, KY. Dr. Lezlie M. Cantrell, Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene, served as a reviewer for the text, Oral Pathology for the Dental Hygienist, 7th ed., 2017.

Dr. Dustin Faulstick, Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, reviewed the essay “‘Fire and Cloud’: Religion, Violence, and the Apocalyptic Imagination” which is forthcoming in Religion and the Arts, 20 (2016): 675-686.

Dr. MariBeth Linder, Professor of Nursing, provided a review for the book Mastering informatics: A healthcare handbook for success which was published in the Journal of Radiology Nursing, 35(2), 164-165.

Mrs. Stacie Scrivner, Department Chair and Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene, served as a book reviewer for the 4th edition of the comprehensive textbook, Foundations of Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist.

P R E S E N TAT I O N S Several faculty in the Teacher Education Department made presentations at the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Spring Conference on March 29, 2016. The theme of the conference was Myth vs. Reality: Quality Teacher Education in Missouri. Ms. Sheila Damer, Instructor and Director of Clinical Field Experiences, and Ms. Lorinda Hackett, Department Chair and Associate Professor, provided a presentation titled Cooperating Teachers and MEES. Dr. Jeanie Cozens, Associate Professor; Dr. Susan Craig, Associate Professor; Ms. Lorinda Hackett and Dr. Cherona Hicklin, Associate Professor, gave a presentation titled Surviving and Thriving: The CAEP Accreditation Process.

Ms. Christine Bentley, Associate Professor of Art, made a presentation at the Midwest Art History Conference (April 2016), in Chicago, IL, titled “Curating and Collecting in Small University Art Museums.”

Dr. Beverly Block, Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Management, and Mrs. Michelle Dawson, Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management, made a presentation at the 81st Annual International Conference of the Association for Business Communication in Albuquerque, NM, October 19-22, 2016. The presentation was titled “Connecting Business Communication Students with Career Services during the Job Search Unit.”

Dr. Teresa Boman, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, co-authored with L. Copple a paper titled “Testing of chemical, biological and physical parameters prior to the addition of native plants in an effort to aid in flood control, heavy metal depletion, and soil erosion.” The paper was presented at the Missouri Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting April 22-23, 2016 in Jefferson City, MO. Dr. Teresa Boman, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, and J.L. Bouldin co-presented a paper titled “Water quality response to the implementation of Best Management Practices in the Strawberry River Watershed, AR” at the Missouri Academy of Sciences Conferences in Jefferson City, MO April 22-23.

Dr. Ruben Galve Rivera, Assistant Professor of Spanish, was invited by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures to give a guest lecture at the Virginia Military Institute on November 5, 2016. The lecture was titled Andalusia in the XXI century: An interdisciplinary analysis to cultural misconceptions and the philosophy of life in Southern Spain.

Dr. Amy Gates, Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, presented at paper titled Scene, Not Scene: Mary Russell Mitford’s Inez de Castro at the British Women Writers Conference held in Athens, GA June 2-5, 2016.

Dr. Amy Gates, Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, co-presented with Elisa Beshero-Bondar and Lisa Wilson a session titled TEI for Historical Manuscripts and Letters: A Beginner’s Workshop on Transcription, Metadata, Paleography and Code at the Keystone Digital Humanities Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, June 22-24, 2016.

Dr. Amy Gates

Dr. Amy Gates, Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy, presented at paper titled Byron’s ‘To Inez’ and the ‘dark procession’ of Inez de Castro through British Romanticism at the International Conference on Romanticism in Colorado Springs, CO, October 20-23, 2016.

Dr. Natalie Grecu, Assistant Professor of Communications, presented a Top Paper in Public Relations, sponsored by the Public Relations Division, at the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) 86th Annual Convention in Austin, TX on April 8, 2016. The paper was titled “Demonstrating Dialogue: A Proposed Adaptive Public Relations Approach to Place-Based Environmental Issues.” The paper addressed the need to consider the dialogical approach to communication in Public Relations theory to better integrate community engagement processes.

Dr. Jill Greer, Professor of Anthropology, co-presented a paper with Lori A. Stanley (Luther College) titled Honoring the Elders: A Tribute to the Speakers of the Missouri-Chiwere Language Project, at the Siouan-Caddoan Language Conference in Newkirk, OK, May 20-22, 2016.

Dr. Jill Greer, Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Conrad Gubera, Professor of Sociology, and Dr. Mikh Gunderman, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, co-authored a paper titled “The Dynamics of Demographic Shift: An Exploratory Look at Refugee Resettlement in McDonald County, Missouri”. The paper was presented by Drs. Greer and Gubera at the 9th International Conference on Translatlantic Studies on October 10-11, 2016 in Warrensburg, MO. This was an interdisciplinary conference, featuring sociology, anthropology, criminal justice, TESL, communications and history disciplines.

Dr. Robert Hilton, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management, along with Dr. Rickey Casey and Robert Wofford of the University of the Ozarks and Dr. Jay Robbins of Ouachita Baptist University presented two papers at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Arkansas College Teachers of Economics and Business. The papers were titled An Evaluation of Culture and Motivation in International and United States Manufacturing and Service Companies and An Evaluation of the Impact Culture has on Motivation in Central and South America, Mexico, and the United States The meeting was held on September 30, 2016, at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Dr. James Kilpatrick Jr., Department Chair and Professor of Modern Languages, was one of six instructors at the Educational Interpreter Summer Intensive held at the Washington School for the Deaf in Vancouver, WA, July 5-8, 2016. This event provided professional development for sign language interpreters as part of the National Preparation Training for National Educational Interpreter Assessment to assist K-12 interpreters in passing the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) at the state-required level of fluency. Dr. Kilpatrick provided classroom instruction and seminars on interpreter skills and best practices.

Dr. James Kilpatrick Jr., Department Chair and Professor of Modern Dr. James Kilpatrick Jr. Languages, made three presentations at the Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Conference in San Marcos, TX, July 18-20, 2016. The presentations were titled Working with and Teaching Sign Language “Successfully” to Spanish Speakers, Storytelling: Pathways to Literacy (co-presented with Dr. David Coco and Ms. Patrice Stephenson), and Discourse Mapping Using Signing Exact English, Huh? What Is That? Why Do I Care?”

Dr. James Kilpatrick Jr., Department Chair and Professor of Modern Languages, was invited to speak at the 23rd Annual Missouri Interpreters Conference, held October 7-9, 2016 in Columbia, MO. The two-hour breakout session was titled Ethics for Interpreters Pre – K to Freelancers.

Dr. Hyunjung Kim, Assistant Professor of Communication, presented a research project titled Instinct to Share: Applying e-Mavenism to Online Health Information Sharing at the National Communication Association Conference November 18-22, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV. Dr. Bill Kumbier, Professor of English and Philosophy, presented a paper titled “’A great retiring wave’: Stress, Release and Subjectivity in Dickens’s Prosodic Seas,” at the annual symposium of the Dickens Society, which was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, July 11-13, 2016.

Dr. Richard Laird, Professor of Mathematics, gave a presentation titled “Voting” on April 9, 2016 at the Meeting of the Missouri Section of MAA (Mathematical Association of America) at Southwest Missouri State University in St. Joseph, MO. Dr. Hong Li, Spiva Library Assistant Professor and Technical Services Librarian, attended the Innovative Users Group Annual Conference (IUG) in San Francisco, CA, March 16-18, 2016. She presented a poster session titled “Flowsheet: a tool streamlines our processing workflow”. The poster presentation shared information about Spiva Library’s experience using processing and mending flowsheets, demonstrated how flowsheets are used to provide instructions to student employees on a daily basis, and discussed how flowsheets have become a ‘responsive’ tool to facilitate workflow in the Technical Services department.

Dr. Holly McSpadden, Professor of English and Philosophy, presented a paper at the Midwest Modern Language Association Conference in St. Louis, MO, on November 10-13, 2016 titled First-Year Writing and the Thousand Yard Stare: The Intersection of Buddhist Practice and Writing about Writing.

The focus of the presentation was strategies that help first-year writing students move past their aversion to composition by combining mindfulness practices and specific components of composition theory as laid out in the composition textbook, Writing about Writing.

Dr. John Messick, Emeritus Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, participated in the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Academy of Science (MAS) April 22–23, 2016 in Jefferson City, MO. Dr. Messick presented a paper titled “Preliminary Comparison of Population Dispersion Patterns Measured Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV or Drone) and Traditional Methods.” He also chaired the Conservation Section of Oral Presentations and Posters, and continues to serve as the Historian of the MAS. Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, gave two presentations at the 8th World Congress of Herpetology which was held August 15-21, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. The presentations were: Hail to the King: Morphology and Performance of an Intraguild Predator and their Prey and The Scaling of Bite Force and Constriction Performance in Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula): Proximate Determinants and Correlated performance (poster presentation).

Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, gave an oral presentation titled Unravelling a biomechanical paradox: Using functional morphology to understand how an intraguild predator (Lampropeltis) defeats intraguild prey (Pantherophis) at the 29th Meeting of the Missouri Herpetological Association on September 17-18, 2016, at Bull Shoals Field Station near Kirbyville, MO. Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, gave two presentations at the 43rd Meeting of the Kansas Herpetological Society which was held November 4-5, 2016 at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO. The presentations were: When hypotheses collide: Understanding the contractile mechanisms that drive snake strike performance and Here be a giant: using living snakes to predict the performance of a prehistoric apex predator (Titanoboa cerrejonensis) (poster presentation).

Dr. Jency Sundarjaruan, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Physical Sciences, made a presentation titled Simulation studies on Schottky modulated Silicon nanowire FET sensor for specific detection of biological and chemical species at the Missouri Academy of Science Annual Meeting on April 23, 2016, in Jefferson City, MO. Dr. Jency Sundarjaruan, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Physical Sciences, made a poster presentation titled Performing two dimensional device simulations to understand the physical properties of different materials for consistent predictions on the behavior of innovative electronic devices at the Missouri Association of Physics Teachers (MAPT) Fall Meeting on October 29, 2016, in Joplin, MO. Mrs. Sherry Whiteman, Department of Respiratory Therapy, gave two presentations at the American Association for Respiratory Care Congress (AARC) in Tampa, FL, November 7-10, 2015. The presentations were: New Needs Require New Techniques: Using Digital Media to Make an Impact and Career Development Planning.

Dr. Jason Willand, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, gave a presentation at the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Academy of Science (MAS) on April 23, 2016, in Jefferson City, MO. The presentation was titled “Does Suppression of Dominant Species Affect Community Assembly and New Propagule Recruitment in Restored Tallgrass Prairie?

Dr. Jason Willand

COMPETITIONS Mrs. Glenda Pippin, Department Chair of Respiratory Therapy, competed with a team of other Missouri educators at the National Sputum Bowl competition in Tampa, FL, at the 2015 American Association for Respiratory Care Congress (AARC) Congress. The team took 2nd place in the practitioner division.

G R E AT G A M E O F E D U C AT I O N Dr. Scott Cragin, Professor of Marketing and Management, served as a panel member of a presentation titled No Money, No Mission: Bigger Community Impact through Multiple Bottom Lines at the Annual Gathering of Games Conference held September 7-9, 2016 , in Dallas, TX. The Gathering of Games is the only conference where the open-book community comes together from around the world to learn innovative best-practices to connect with other practitioners.

Missouri Southern State University is the first institution of higher education to adopt the open-book management principles and practices proposed in Jack Stack’s “Great Game of Business”.

DEGREES EARNED Mrs. Lisa Kelley, Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene (Sikeston campus), recently graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Management.

Mrs. Sherilyn Merritt, Clinical Instructor of Dental Hygiene (Joplin campus), graduated from Williams Woods University in May 2016 with a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction.

Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, completed his PhD in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana - Lafayette in December 2016.

E X H I B I T I O N S O F C R E AT I V E W O R K Mr. Burt Bucher, Associate Professor of Art, was included in an invitational portfolio titled Dog Head Stew: The Second Course. This portfolio has been exhibited at the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton, OR; the Visual Arts Center at Boise State University; and the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The portfolio was also recently purchased by the Library of Congress; it is currently being digitized and will be available in a book format in early 2017.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Ms. Christine Bentley, Associate Professor of Art, served as a Panel Chairperson for a presentation titled 19th Century Art at the Midwest Art History Society Conference April 7-9, 2016 at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Ms. Christine Bentley, Associate Professor of Art, provided a venue/ installation orientation for awardees participating in the NEH (Midwest Arts Alliance) Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints: Popular Art of the Northeast of Brazil exhibition in Kansas City, MO, in November 2015.

Dr. David Penning, Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Health, served as a session moderator for oral presentations at the 43rd Meeting of the Kansas Herpetological Society which was held November 4-5, 2016, in Kansas City, MO.

Mrs. Lucinda Shearman, Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene, has been involved with the American Dental Hygiene Association at both the local and state level since 2010. She has served locally as the vice-president, president, and past president of the Greater Dental Hygiene Association over the last 4 years.

Ms. Sherry Whiteman, Department of Respiratory Therapy, began a term as the President of the Missouri Society for Respiratory Care in July of 2016.

Ms. Sherry Whiteman, Department of Respiratory Therapy, served as the National Sputum Bowl Committee chair for her third year in 2015. She hosted 35 teams from across the nation in an academic competition for three days while attending the 2015 American Association for Respiratory Care Congress held in Tampa, FL, November 7-10, 2015.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT The Dental Hygiene faculty from all program locations (Joplin, Rolla and Sikeston) and approximately 93 MSSU dental hygiene students attended and participated at the Missouri Dental Hygienists’ Association Annual Meeting in October 2016 at Camden on the Lake. The Joplin first year students earned 2nd place in the Lip Sync contest, raising funds to support ongoing legislative efforts that affect all state dental hygienists.

Dr. Richard Laird, Professor of Mathematics, led a team of nine students to the Missouri Collegiate Math Competition April 7-8, 2016 at Southwest Missouri State University in St. Joseph, MO. One of the groups of MSSU students tied for first with students from Washington University.

Dr. Chris Moos, Professor and Interim Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business, advised the MSSU International Business Competition Team at the Math Competition 2016 NASBITE Student Case Competition held April 6-8, 2016 in Newport, RI. This competition has only been held for the last two years; both years Missouri Southern has won.

Mr. Alan Schiska, Professor and Department Chair of Radiology, led the MSSU Radiology Bowl Team, which competed in the Missouri Society of Radiologic Technology Student Bowl in April 2016.

The team took 3rd place in the state bowl competition and competed against 13 other teams across the state of Missouri, including the University of Missouri.

Mr. JJ Spurlin, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, completed the Master Gardener program and used the experience for a student project. Spurlin’s Asset Protection class built a large permaculture style garden behind the Justice Center which will be used to examine asset protection through external environmental design.

The entire Department of Modern Languages attended the 2016 Joint Conference of KSWLA (Kansas World Language Association) and FLAM (Foreign Language Association of Missouri) titled Pathways to Proficiency October 28-29, 2016 in Overland Park, KS. The 2-day event covered multiple ways to integrate technology into the language classroom and highlighted the need for the exclusive use of the language of study, rather than English, during classroom instruction time. The following faculty attended: Ms. Leslie Smith, Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Rubén Galve, Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Susana Liso, Assistant Professor of Spanish Dr. Pedro Talavera-Ibarra, Professor of Spanish Dr. Sherman Hou, Professor of Chinese and Japanese Dr. Shannon Connolly, Assistant Professor of French Dr. James E. Kilpatrick, Dept. Chair of Modern Languages and Professor of Spanish

Emeritus status was granted to a group of faculty on November 19, 2016. This honor is a recognition of meritorious service to the university, including significant contributions in areas such as teaching, job performance, and scholarly and creative activities. In order to be eligible, faculty must hold the rank of associate or full professor after a minimum of 15 years of service. Emeritus nominations start at the departmental level and must be approved by the Dean of each school before then being approved by the Provost and University President, and then conferred by the Board of Governors.

N E W E M E R I T U S FA C U LT Y A R E : Dr. Theresa Agee School of Business

Ms. Grace Ayton

School of Health Sciences (Nursing Department)

Dr. Al Carnine

School of Arts & Sciences (Music Department)

Dr. Beverly Block School of Business

Dr. Jim Gray

School of Business

Dr. John Tiede

School of Business

Dr. Patricia Murphy

School of Arts & Sciences (English & Philosophy Department)

I T S F R I D AY The ITS (Ideas That Stick) Friday presentations are provided to encourage the campus to come together for a free exchange of ideas. All members of the faculty and staff are invited.

Dr. Conrad Gubera, Professor of Sociology, presented the ITS Friday program on April 29, 2016. He discussed the history of Missouri Southern through the lens of his 49 years teaching on our campus.

Mr. Ed Outhouse, Assistant Professor of Art, presented the ITS Friday program on October 7, 2016. The theme of his presentation was “Design for Social Change and Social Justice.”

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

- Nelson Mandela Missouri Southern has long been lauded for its proud tradition of caring for the professional and personal development of our students. Learning has, and always will be, the focus – and the heart – of our inclusive, intellectual campus. But learning comes in many forms, and is enhanced by the creation of knowledge and the advancement of wisdom. In this issue of Focus on Faculty, we are proud and delighted to share with you the numerous intellectual contributions of our esteemed faculty. The reach of these scholarly works is global in impact, and yet, enormously enriching to our students here. In this past year, we have seen the advancement of research production, development of our research oversight functions, enhanced institutional support for research, growth in our research fair – and perhaps most importantly, a stellar increase in facultysupported undergraduate research. Sharing and passing on our passion for inquiry is one of our hallmarks here at MSSU. And in these pages, we demonstrate tangible evidence of just how extensively we are doing that. A sincere thanks to all who are included here for your works and contributions.

- Dr. Paula Carson Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs