The Index Vol. 110 Issue 6

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Truman State University tmn.truman.edu

Wrestling meets fundraising goal, will compete this year

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 tmn.truman.edu

@TrumanMediaNet TrumanMediaNetwork

PHRE proposes Bachelor of Science JESSICA VENVERTLOH Staff Writer

A proposal for a new Bachelor of Science in philosophy and religion was presented to the Undergraduate Council at last month’s meeting. This program has previously only been offered as a Bachelor of Arts. Chad Mohler, philosophy and religion professor, said he and other faculty within the major have been discussing this proposal for about a year and a half. Mohler was involved in the writing of the initial proposal and recently presented it to the Undergraduate Council. He said they received positive feedback from the council, and overall faculty response has been favorable. Mohler said preliminary approval of the plans will take a minimum of four months. The council still needs to discuss the proposal and vote on it before sending it to Faculty Senate for further discussion and approval. Mohler said the new program is an attempt to attract more students to the philosophy and religion major, as well as offer more opportunities to current students within the major. “It’s a degree that, for one, might appeal to our current majors who may be more inclined towards STEM fields,” Mohler said. Mohler also said this new program would make it easier for students already pursuing a Bachelor of Science to add philosophy and religion as a major. Undergraduate Council Chair Justin Jarvis said he and the council are always excited for new program proposals that might be beneficial to students. “I think that all of us are pretty understanding and convinced that a B.S. in philosophy and religion might actually be useful for some students who might either want to have a B.S. or, furthermore, would like to add it as a double major,” said Jarvis. However, Jarvis said the council also had some concerns with the new proposal. See PHRE page 3

TRUMAN LOOKING TO HIRE

See page 14

Walston selected as dean of Science and Math RYAN PIVONEY News Editor

Timothy Walston was selected as the dean of the School of Science and Mathematics after serving as interim for the past two years. Truman State University began an internal search for a dean of the school after two external searches over four years failed. Walston had been serving as interim dean of the School of Science and Mathematics since July 2017. There are seven departments in the School of Science and Mathematics: agricultural sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science and statistics. The seven departments employ about 100 faculty members. Janet Gooch, vice president for academic affairs, said the search committee was comprised of people both in and outside the School of Science and Mathematics. She said Walston went through the typical process of an on-campus interview, meeting different constituents on campus and participating in an open forum. Gooch said the committee made the recommendation, and she approved it. Walston officially started Oct. 1. Gooch said Walston had the leadership experience the committee was looking for because he had been serving as interim dean and served as interim associate dean before that. Gooch said Walston was the only applicant in the internal search. Walston said he met with University President Sue Thomas, Gooch, members of the search committee, other school deans and the other science and mathematics chairs. He said he met with more people at the open forum as well. See WALSTON page 2

Truman State University conducts an extensive process to find and hire individuals to faculty and staff positions. The search process can take several months and results are not guaranteed. Photo by Daniel Degenhardt

Truman has approximately 19 open positions RYAN PIVONEY News Editor

Truman State University is looking to fill up to 19 faculty and staff positions, including six open staff positions, three positions in student affairs and an estimated 10 faculty positions. Sally Herleth, executive director of human resources, said the six staff positions include two housekeeping jobs, a study abroad adviser, an admissions counselor and more. These job listings are posted outside the human resources office. Herleth said the turnover rate at Truman has a number of factors, including retirement. The University did not offer a retirement incentive this year, but she said normally they see a higher number of staff and faculty taking advantage of that opportunity when it is available. Herleth said over the course of a given year, Truman has anywhere from 50-100 positions to refill. She said some of the positions are entry-level, so they expect a higher turnover for those. Herleth said people leave usually for personal reasons.

Herleth said the recent cuts to the budget have been a concern, and the University has chosen not to fill some positions because of budget constraints. “We take a pretty good look at all staff positions in particular to see [if] we need this, is there a better way we can do this, can other people cover those responsibilities and stuff,” Herleth said. “We’ve become pretty lean and mean, so it gets kind of harder to do after a while.” Herleth said most searches are external. She said the number of available staff positions and the turnover of this year is fairly typical. She said usually the University advertises staff positions locally and online. For higher level positions, the job listing would be posted on larger venues, such as the Chronicle of Higher Education. Janna Stoskopf, vice president for student affairs, said there are three positions she oversees that are currently vacant. These positions are director of Residence Life, assistant director of the Career Center, and the director of Student Access and Disability Services.

See HIRING page 3

Res Life, Sodexo propose meal plan changes CASSIDY KREWSON Staff Writer

Sodexo and the Office of Residence Life have been working on possible meal plan adjustments that could go into effect as early as the 2019-2020 school year. Possible changes include allowing meal swipes at Chick-fil-A, opening one dining hall on Sunday nights, bumping the transfer value of a meal up from $3.75 to $4.00, getting rid of prorated weeks and increasing the number of board days to six. Currently, Sodexo prorates meals during weeks with breaks, because dining halls are not open. “No matter how many signs we put up, a lot of the students just don’t grasp it or they’re not paying attention,” said Justin Dreslinski, Truman State University Sodexo general manager. “So they’re burning through their meals earlier in the week, and then they don’t have enough meals before they are scheduled to go home.” Sodexo hopes discarding prorated meals will eliminate student confusion. Six more board days will be added as the prorated meals are cut. When

board days are scheduled, dining services are open for normal operations. Meal transferability will not work with Mein Bowl because it is a third party subcontractor. The cost of meal plans would increase if Mein Bowl transferability was allowed. Fiscally, it wouldn’t benefit students. Because meal plans haven’t been changed in at least 5 years, Residence Life approached Sodexo to devise new meal plan options, Dreslinski said. To form the new plans, Sodexo used data from past meal plan usage and looked at which plans were popular and which weren’t. One prominent issue was the low number of students using the all-access meal plan. Last school year, 70 students had the all-access plan, and that number dropped down to seven students during the spring semester. Because all-access only allows meals to be used in dining halls, and the 75 flex dollars would typically be used for Sunday night dinner because no dining halls are open, many students displayed dissatisfaction with the plan. See DINING page 2

Meal Plan Changes Current

Meal Plan All Access 20 Meals 14 Meals 10 Meals Block 150

Proposed Meal Plan 21 Meals 18 Meals 15 Meals 12 Meals Block 150

Flex Dollars $75 $100 $125 $100 $200

$ Per Meal $5.04 $4.86 $6.35 $7.78 $7.77

Total Cost $1,661 $1,555 $1,454 $1,264 $1,365

Daily Rate $15.87 $14.86 $13.89 $12.08 $13.04

Flex Dollars $75 $100 $225 $125 $275

$ Per Meal $5.01 $5.45 $5.67 $6.61 $7.83

Total Cost $1,699 $1,639 $1,538 $1,348 $1,449

Daily Rate $15.73 $15.18 $14.24 $12.48 $13.42

Increased the cost of the meal plans to the student by $84 (6 x $14.02)

Information provided by Truman Sodexo

Truman’s 2018 Homecoming, page 7 Homecoming 2018 is centered around the Bulldog effect and has welcomed all organizations to participate. VOLUME 110 ISSUE 6 © 2018

Truman State University has a culture that continually thrives. Legacy families help to keep that tradition alive.


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