The Index Vol. 109 Issue 24

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Truman State University tmn.truman.edu THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018 tmn.truman.edu

@TrumanMediaNet TrumanMediaNetwork

FEATURES | Renovation featuring student art coming to library pit Page 7

SPORTS | Head softball coach Erin Brown reaches 300-win milestone Page 14

Art major will offer photography concentration Students prepare presentations for annual research conference

BY NICOLAS TELEP News Text Editor

Truman State University’s Art Department will add a photography concentration to its degree program beginning fall 2018. A photography major was part of the curriculum until the late 1990s and has been a minor in the department for a few years. Strong interest in the major and the availability of a professor were factors leading to the reinstatement of a photography concentration within the art major. Art Department Chair Aaron Fine said the department surveyed art students and found many were interested in majoring in photography. He said the photography minor is very popular and, some years, the department has more photography minors than the program was designed for. Additionally, he said prospective students have expressed interest and asked if there was a photography major. See PHOTOGRAPHY, page 5

BY RYAN PIVONEY Staff Writer

Photo by Athena Geldbach/TMN Students and faculty members attend a photography exhibition in the Truman State University Art Gallery. After almost two decades, the art major will reinstate a photography concentration.

City plans for aquatic center BY ELISABETH SHIRK Staff Writer

said the large community area could be used for wedding rentals, club meetings, anniversary parties and youth programming. “So there are certain aspects of wellness we could do [like Zumba or aerobic classes], but really we’re looking for a larger gathering place for a multi-generational community center,” Sadler said.

The Kirksville Parks and Recreation Department is negotiating a contract with a team of consultants to plan the location, design and construction of a new aquatic and community center. The City Council will decide whether to approve the team of consultants at its April 2 meeting. If the team is approved, the Parks and Recreation Department will begin deciding on a location for the new aquatic and community center and getting input from the Kirksville community. Rodney Sadler, Parks and Recreation Department director, said bids for the project will go out after working with community members. He Photo by Nicolas Telep/TMN said the process will begin next May, and Kirksville’s current aquatic center is located at Rotary Park. A new aquatthe city anticipates ic center, funded by a voter-approved municipal sales tax, might be conbreaking ground the structed at the site of the current pool or at another park. same month. Sadler said the city would like to open the complex in May Sadler said the department does not want to du2020, meanwhile the current aquatic center would plicate the services of places like the YMCA or Truremain open. However, he said if the new complex man State University’s Student Recreation Center. is built at the Rotary Park site, the existing aquatic Sadler said City Council is considering many opcenter would be closed during construction. tions for the location of the new facility. He said Rotary Sadler said the project would include an indoor Park, the YMCA and North Park are areas of interest. pool, an outdoor pool and a community center. He See AQUATIC CENTER, page 5

Truman State University will host the annual Student Research Conference on April 5, an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to present the research and work they have done throughout the year. The conference happens at various places across campus. In the afternoon, there is a reception and poster session in the Student Union Building. Chad Montgomery, Office of Student Research director, said there are about 240 presentations from 50 different areas of study across multiple disciplines at this year’s conference. He said the conference provides valuable exposure experience for students and an opportunity to discover what is happening across disciplines at Truman. Students in all disciplines participate in a variety of activities, Montgomery said, and the conference is an opportunity to showcase their efforts. “These students get this culminating experience because they get to show off their work and take pride in their work, but the campus in general gets to see what’s happening across disciplines.” Montgomery said students at other schools might not get the same opportunity to participate in a research conference like this. The Student Research Conference at Truman began in 1988, making it one of the longest continually running student research conferences in the country, Montgomery said. He said previously the conference was only available to students studying science and human potential performance, which would now be called health and exercise sciences. Associate Provost Kevin Minch said the conference is a benefit for students because it provides an opportunity to go through the process of submitting a proposal, giving a formal presentation and receiving feedback in a conference setting. He said the experience the Student Research Conference provides is useful preparation for graduate school and academic conferences. Minch said the conference also offers an opportunity for students that might not otherwise be able to participate in the formal process of submitting research and presenting. Minch said one of Truman’s points of pride is the many opportunities for high-impact experiences, including the Student Research Conference. “The vast majority of the students who participate in this conference are undergraduate students, but it is open to both graduate and undergraduate students,” Minch said. “For undergraduate students, the opportunity to do undergraduate research is something you don’t get at every institution, so it’s one of the things that Truman has historically been able to pride itself on.” Minch said students who are not presenting are still encouraged to engage with the conference. Classes at Truman are canceled the day of the conference to allow students more freedom to choose which presentations they would like to attend.

Rap artists DRAM and Fetty Wap to perform at SAB spring concert BY NICOLAS TELEP News Text Editor

Student Activities Board is bringing rap artists DRAM and Fetty Wap to perform at Truman State University’s spring concert. The pair will perform April 14 in Pershing Arena. SAB has been promoting the concert since February but just announced the headliners Tuesday. SAB decided to host a rap music concert based on student feedback and Spotify listening data SAB examined. Senior Blake Buthod, former SAB president, said because the concerts SAB hosted in recent years have stuck to a handful of sub-genres, there was desire among members of SAB to break the mold. The last major rap concert on campus was B.o.B in 2012. Buthod said the concert committee considers data from surveys SAB periodically sends out, considering year-to-year trends in survey results. Buthold said since joining SAB in 2014, attendance at campus concerts has varied from 400-1,000 students. He said Pershing Arena has a capacity of more than 1,000, but the concert this year is not expected to bring in more than that number. Buthod said SAB knew who would perform at the concert more than a month ago but needed to wait to make the announcement because of a long contracting process. He said SAB needs permission from the artists to make promotional materials, which goes through several agents, prolonging the process. Junior Hannah Smiles, SAB concerts committee chair, said attendance at campus concerts has

gone up since SAB switched from doing multiple, smaller concerts each year to one, large-scale concert a few years ago. She said SAB wanted to bring in someone who had not previously performed at Truman. Smiles said when the committee was considering genres for the concert, rap emerged because it has been increasing in popularity recently among students. Smiles said the committee chose 10-12 artists to present to the all of SAB after researching each one. She said the concerts committee has been working throughout the year, and it took about two months to research the artists. She said the committee chose the most reliable and cost-efficient popular artists they could find and thought DRAM and Fetty Wap would appeal to various types of music fans, broadening interest in the concert. Smiles said the committee spent about $100,000 on this year’s concert, which is similar to the amount SAB spent on concerts in previous years. Buthod said SAB has an annual budget of about $300,000 and performance fees for popular artists start at about $30,000 and go up from there. He said SAB wants to bring popular artists students want to see, but it is not willing to overspend on a concert. “We are absolutely not going to spend 100 grand [each] on two artists to bring to Truman,” Buthod said. “That would be two-thirds of our budget, and that’s not what we’re interested in doing.” Tickets are currently on sale for the concert and cost $7 for students.

Spring 2018 Concert DRAM and Fetty Wap previous concerts Fall 2016: Bowling for Soup and Timeflies Spring 2016: Andy Grammer and Ben Rector Spring 2015: MisterWives and Smallpools Fall 2014: Matt and Kim and not a planet Spring 2014: Hoodie Allen Fall 2013: Phillip Phillips

There will be no issue of The Index next week because of term break and the Student Research Conference. VOLUME 109 ISSUE 24 © 2018


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