UCM Alumni Foundation FY2023 Annual Report by University of Central Missouri

FY2023 ANNUAL REPORT

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ds, great part to you, Dear Alumni and Frien al Missouri! Thanks in ntr Ce of ty rsi ive Un mark on the ly amazing year at the ing to make an indelible nu nti co is It has been another tru rt po sup r M in fiscal year that alumni and dono over $17.6 million to UC ed vid pro rs we are happy to report no do low Together, you and fel age of philanthropy. university community. rying on our rich herit car ), 23 20 , 30 e Jun gh ou M Alumni 2023 (July 1, 2022, thr largest distribution of UC the as r yea al fisc us vio break our own record uncing the pre immediately set out to we y, Furthermore, after anno tor his r ou in nts 1,147 students who to UCM stude rated through each of the nst mo Foundation scholarships de are s ort eff se successes of the in fiscal year 2023. The llion. funds totaling $1.6 mi ip rsh d Match were awarded schola Central Annual Fund an the for ay esd Tu g vin e Gi ized through generous fun-filled giving days, lik This past year included MuleNation was maxim of ct pa im ve cti lle co cility and welcomed where the ger Denker Wrestling Fa Madness for Athletics, Ro w ne the d ate dic de table $2.9 million gift ies. We n Aviation Center. A no matching gift opportunit ave yh Sk w ne the to T.R. Gaines Building. ity members ming renovation of the students and commun co up the rt po sup ll wi undation left significant from the Sunderland Fo se generous individuals the ty, cie So age rit He ich loved members of the Vision Endowment, wh Although UCM lost be ies included the Global iar r named fic he ne Ot Be . . ine nts de gaz stu ma r s in ou ver story of thi co the in ed contributions to invest tur fea as , perpetuity. experiences to students atest needs of UCM, in gre the ss dre provides life-changing ad to s rce vide unrestricted resou the 2023 annual endowed funds will pro , we are thrilled to share ors ect dir of ard bo n’s Founding Alumni Foundatio about the 2023 class of rn lea ll wi On behalf of the UCM u yo ges pa celebrating 10 years ghout the following Appreciation. Join us in of ing en report with you. Throu Ev An at ted few of the students s, who were induc portantly, read about a im st mo Philanthropist honoree d, an m gra pro portunity Grant of the donor-funded Op your philanthropy. m who directly benefit fro transforming the lives steadfast in our vision of are we ty, rsi ive un the better partner than you what’s next for e know that there is no W . As we look forward to ble ssi po d ne agi im nd what they Go Mules and Jennies! of UCM students beyo ur unwavering support. yo for u yo k an Th it. in this worthy pursu With gratitude,

Homer Kay, ’78 s dation Board of Director President, Alumni Foun

J.D. Courtney E. Goddard, ty Advancement rsi ive Un Vice President, ni Foundation Executive Director, Alum

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Celebrating the

Spirit of Philanthropy Established in 2021 during the University of Central Missouri’s 150th anniversary Founders Day celebration, the Evening of Appreciation is the Founders Society’s signature event. On this evening, members of the UCM Alumni Foundation’s most prestigious giving society come together to award the society’s highest honor. This year we recognized three Founding Philanthropists.

Organization (PEO) Sisterhood, Zonta International, the Park Hill Art Club of Denver, the American Guild of Organists and many other cultural and civic organizations. She supported her alma mater in numerous ways, including through UCM’s Central Annual Fund and the Alumni Legacy Scholarship. She was avidly interested in art, photography and gardening.

Voncile Bowen Huffman

Voncile passed away in 2002. She and Mervin are buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

Posthumous recognition went to Voncile Bowen Huffman, born July 13, 1920, in Clifton Hill, Missouri. Voncile had a passion for education and attended Central Voncile Bowen Huffman Missouri State Teachers College, now UCM, graduating with a degree in Elementary Education Functions in 1942. She moved to Denver in 1946, where she met and married Mervin C. Huffman, who was a colonel in the U.S. Air Force and held a patent for a drilling device now produced by Gardner Denver.

After her death, the UCM Alumni Foundation received a $2 million bequest to support students seeking to become educators like Voncile. Now, 20 years later, more than 250 undergraduate students majoring in Education have received the Voncile Bowen Huffman Scholarship at UCM.

Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts embodies UCM’s motto of “Education for Service.” He has spent a lifetime supporting his community and the causes he After Mervin passed away in 1984, Voncile went on to obtain a master’s and a champions, Phil Roberts doctorate in Education from the University including higher education. of Denver. Her dissertation focused on beginning reading materials for bilingual Phil’s father passed away when he was children. She spent 38 years with Denver in elementary school, and he spent his Public Schools, serving as a teacher and youth caring for his mother and working principal. in the family-owned print shop in Kansas City. He graduated from Manual In addition to her passion for education, Career Technical Center in 1945, then Voncile championed Park Hill United Methodist Church, as well as Delta Kappa enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He completed basic training in May 1945, Gamma, Philanthropic Educational

just as World War II was ending. He was stationed in Panama beginning in December 1945 and returned home in October 1946. Once discharged, Phil went to work in the shipping and metal department for a company that made aviation radios in Kansas City, earning 75 cents an hour. In 1947, Phil decided to pursue higher education using his GI Bill benefits. He began taking classes at Central Missouri State College, now UCM, before transferring to Southwest Missouri State College, now Missouri State University, where he completed his bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 1950. After graduation, Phil went to work for Dun and Bradstreet, a credit reporting agency. He later started a house-moving and logistics company under his own name, moving more than 70 homes from Kansas City to Independence, Missouri. He also built a commercial shopping center and gas station near the HiBoy Drive-In on Highway 40 in Independence, and another gas station in Raytown. During his career, Phil purchased tax-free industrial bonds with the intention of supporting educational causes later in life. He has supported the Independence School District, Missouri State University and the University of Central Missouri. A 20-acre park in Independence bears his name. In October 2021, he made a $1 million gift to the UCM Alumni Foundation to establish the Phil Roberts Scholarship for Business, available to students in a program under the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies. As of 2023, more than 30 students have benefited from this scholarship, with many more to come in the years ahead. University of Central Missouri Magazine

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Natalie Prussing Halpin Natalie Prussing Halpin’s family has been a staple in the Warrensburg community for many years. Her ancestors were early settlers in the area, dating back to 1868.

University, which was also the alma mater of legendary UCM Coach Millie Barnes. From 1938, the year Natalie Jr. was born, until 1942, Max served on the Board of Regents for the university, then known as Central Missouri State Teachers College.

It was that year when Natalie’s Natalie rode her Shetland maternal great-grandfather, pony, Merry Legs, five Alexander Wilson, moved blocks from the family’s from Ohio to partner in a home to the kindergarten foundry built along the new at CMSTC when she was railroad tracks at the corner of 5 years old. One morning a Pine and Warren streets. Also business owner told her to in 1868, Natalie’s paternal stop riding her pony past great-grandfather, Ferdinand his shop, and she rode home Prussing, relocated from Iowa, crying. Her mother sighed purchasing 100 acres of pasture and said, “Nat, for heaven’s land about five miles east of sake, ride your pony on the Warrensburg. The now 260 other side of the street!” acres is known Not only was this the as the UCM beginning of Natalie’s love Prussing Farm, for horses, which would be Natalie (Wilson) Prussing gifted to the a lifelong passion, but it was university by also a valuable life lesson. Natalie in 2002. Whenever presented with an obstacle, she Natalie’s parents, remembers there’s more than one side of Max McKee Prussing the street. Reflecting on her life, Natalie is and Natalie (Wilson) glad she was raised in a saddle instead of a Prussing, both graduated high chair, with a canoe paddle instead of from Normal School a silver spoon in her hand. No. 2, now UCM. Her Max Prussing After graduating from College mother was a basketball holding Natalie High School, Natalie standout and went on as a baby attended the University to attend Sargent of Arizona in Tucson College of Allied Health before earning a Professions at Boston

degree from the Tobé-Coburn School for Fashion Careers in New York City and working at Saks Fifth Avenue and another major department store. While attending the Tobé-Coburn School, she met an FBI agent named Steve Halpin, who had served as a P-47 fighter pilot in World War II, flying 53 airborne missions. They married in Warrensburg in 1961, and Steve was assigned to Atlanta, Georgia, to investigate civil rights-related violence, including the famous “Mississippi Burning” case, which later inspired a feature film of the same name. Natalie enjoyed a successful career as a fashion buyer for Rich’s Department Stores, the largest department store in the South.

Natalie and Steve Halpin In 1970, Steve retired, and the couple moved back to Warrensburg. After Steve’s passing in 2008, Natalie continued her commitment to the family farm, which is now a designated Missouri Centennial Farm. Natalie’s grandfather, George Prussing, built the mule barn in 1902, and her father built the homestead in 1921. Thanks to Natalie’s generosity, her family’s land and its historical structures now serve as a living classroom for UCM Agriculture students. Prussing Farm is home to UCM’s Trap and Skeet team and many of the university’s livestock, including hogs, registered Simmental cattle, the oldest closed herd of purebred Aberdeen-Angus cattle in the United States — and, of course, UCM’s live mule mascots.

Natalie Prussing Halpin in front of her family’s mule barn 12

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10 Years of Opportunity Grants Influence Generations of Students It is because of alumni and friends like you that the UCM Alumni Foundation celebrated its 10th year of offering Opportunity Grants in 2023. Faculty and staff apply for these grants by outlining how they would implement an innovative idea or technology to enhance the student experience. Over the past decade, generous gifts to the Central Annual Fund have resulted in: • 131 Opportunity Grants awarded to UCM faculty and staff • $374,571 used to implement student-focused initiatives • Priceless experiences beyond what students imagined possible! While some grants have been used for short-term research and projects, others have initiated programs that continue to directly impact the campus community. Here are just a few examples of how faculty and staff ingenuity, coupled with donor generosity, creates opportunity for UCM students.

Full Cupboard Helps Students Reach Their Full Potential Campus Cupboard Lets Mules and Jennies Focus on Their Studies, Not Their Stomachs One of UCM’s first Opportunity Grants in 2013 helped fund a campus food pantry that has since served thousands. With the $5,000 grant, UCM Director of Student Activities Beth Rutt, ’78, ’83, purchased a refrigerator, a chest freezer, shelving and a laptop. In partnership with the Department of Communication Disorders and Social Work and the Department of Nutrition and Kinesiology, Beth established the initial pantry in the lower level of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, an addition to the Morrow-Garrison complex that opened two years prior. In its first three months, the Campus Cupboard served 257 individuals. Today, the pantry averages more than two times that number each month. According to Feeding America’s 2021 “Map the Meal Gap” study, 11% of the population in Johnson County, Missouri, is food insecure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “the lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life.” When students face food insecurity, their health and academic performance can suffer. They may have to choose between eating a

Beth Rutt is the “Mother of the Cupboard.” healthy meal and paying for utilities, medicine, rent or other necessities. Of the households in the Harvesters Community Food Network’s 26-county service area, which includes Johnson County, 63% reported coping with food insecurity by buying the cheapest food available, regardless of its nutritional value.* * According to “Food Assistance and Hunger in the Heartland,” a 2021 report published by Harvesters Community Food Network and the University of Missouri’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security.

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As a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the Campus Cupboard gets donations of excess or soon-to-expire food from local grocery stores like Aldi and Walmart and farm-fresh eggs from Rose Acre Farms in Knob Noster, Missouri. UCM’s Department of Agriculture provides fresh produce, including lettuce, tomatoes and apples grown at the university research farm and orchard. When food items are needed to supplement the donations, the cupboard is able to purchase them for 43 cents on the dollar. For this reason, those interested in helping are encouraged to contribute monetary gifts rather than food items. The cupboard is open three days a week during fall and spring semesters and one day a week in the summer. Students are allowed 10 items per week, which can provide a week’s worth of meals if they choose items like fruits, vegetables, bread and peanut butter or pasta and pasta sauce. In fall 2022 the Campus Cupboard partnered with Sodexo, UCM’s dining services provider, and a national nonprofit called Swipe Out Hunger to also provide students facing food insecurity with 10 free meals per semester in the university’s dining halls.

Ceramics Collection Enables Tactile Experience UCM Art and Design was awarded a 2023 Opportunity Grant to start a functional ceramic art collection in the Art Annex on campus. The grant funded the purchase of 24 works of art and a glass cabinet for safe display. The ceramic pieces selected represent a variety of building techniques, such as handcrafting or throwing on a pottery wheel, and surface techniques, such as stamping, piercing or burnishing. The professional artists who created the ceramic ware come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. More than half are featured artists in Kansas City galleries. Approximately 40 ceramics students per semester are able to interact with

the collection to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of this art form. Students can examine the pieces to understand the techniques used in their creation and experience different textures and ergonomic features. Each piece will be displayed with a description of how it was made and a QR code that links to the artist’s website. Students can conduct market research to price their own work and Bri Foreman, holding develop industry knowledge a mug created by that will be useful in Sarah Anderson. The mugs their future careers. shown at left are by KC Anthropology artists Nicole Woodard students pursuing and Kate Schroeder. careers in museum curation or archaeology also benefit from handling the collection.

Volunteers and donations are crucial to sustaining the Campus Cupboard. Learn more and donate at ucmo.edu/cupboard.

To continue the Opportunity Grant program for the next 10 years, we need your support! Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Central Annual Fund. Every gift creates opportunities for students. Visit ucmfoundation.org/give. Josh Roscher (seated) examines a mug crafted by Didem Mert of the Artstream Nomadic Gallery while Art and Design Associate Professor Natasha Hovey looks on. 14

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OPPORTUNIT Y GRANT HIGHLIGHTS Math Mentoring Program Impacts Countless Students Proficiency in foundational mathematics is essential for success in the secondary grades, higher education and beyond. However, math is an academic subject area in which many teachers lack skills and confidence. Funded by a 2023 Opportunity Grant, Mathematical Connections provided the opportunity for undergraduate students majoring in Elementary Education at UCM to improve their content understanding and pedagogical practices. At the same time, the program helped UCM’s Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) graduate students develop the leadership skills needed to coach their colleagues and guide program-level implementation of new concepts and techniques in their schools and districts. Five hands-on workshops – each focused on one specific math content area – were

held on the Warrensburg campus during the 2022–23 academic year. UCM College of Education faculty, alumni volunteers and EMS graduate students mentored undergraduate students, demonstrating effective teaching techniques using math manipulatives like pattern blocks purchased through the Opportunity Grant. All undergraduate participants

surveyed at the end of the program indicated that their level of confidence in teaching all five content areas had increased. UCM has the state’s longest continuous accreditation by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. In 2022, College Factual ranked UCM the No. 1 Most Focused College for Mathematics Education in Missouri.

Front row, from left: Dorothy Bailey, Jennifer Bay-Williams, Tiffanie Birdsong-Hild, Gabby Byers and Sarah Pettengill. Back row: Meredith Beggs, Olivia Goodmon, Kylie Wilbur, Leslie Browning and Charlene Atkins.

THRIVE Creates Kitchen to Teach Food Fundamentals One of the Opportunity Grants awarded during fiscal year 2023 funded a full set of kitchen supplies for students in the THRIVE program. Established in 2009, the program helps students with learning or developmental disabilities build the skills they need for independent living. Students are able to have the college experience and earn a certificate, often while working toward a bachelor’s degree. Initially a two-year program, THRIVE expanded to three years in the 2021–22 academic year and added a fourth-year option in 2022–23. Courses in the first two years develop skills in areas like computer applications, communication, personal finance and career readiness. Students now also take two foods and nutrition classes, where they learn basic food preparation, healthy habits and cooking skills.

THRIVE utilizes the culinary laboratory in the Grinstead Building for hands-on learning that is transferable to students’ own apartment or living situation. Supplies purchased through the Opportunity Grant include blenders, microwaves, hand mixers, air fryers, waffle makers, pots and pans, cutlery and cooking utensils. All students in the initial foods and nutrition classes earned their food handler’s cards and demonstrated selfsupporting kitchen skills. Starting in their second year, THRIVE students do an internship every

semester. Those who choose to enroll in the full four years come away from the program with six semesters of job experience.

THRIVE students Logan O'Brien, Jessica Vaughn and Benny Tripp serve a dessert they baked. University of Central Missouri Magazine

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of Science

Anthropology Professor Casts Aside Convention By Kathy Strickland

Hannah Marsh believes it’s important to know where you come from. But her family tree has much deeper roots than your typical genealogy.

the program had a bare-minimum bone collection, and students often had to compare and measure pictures of bones.

S “

“You can show pictures “You gotta know your all day, but it’s nothing cience wears relatives to understand like seeing it in person,” yourself,” Hannah, Hannah says, adding that pink pants and an associate professor the size of the Opportunity sparkly jewelry. of Anthropology at Grant was perfect for her Science is just a UCM, tells her students needs, which exceeded the when staging a “family departmental budget but way of thinking reunion” in UCM’s Rolla were not extensive enough about the world, F. Wood Building. She to appeal to an institution and it comes in lays out casts of humans’ like the National Science closest living relatives: the Foundation. “Having the any package. chimpanzee, followed by casts in hand is going to – Hannah Marsh the gorilla and then the be magical.” Associate Professor orangutan. “Comparing of Anthropology The Opportunity Grant our teeth, comparing even allowed Hannah to the size of our brains, comparing the offer a new course this fall called Human orientations of our skeletons because we Osteology, where students “take a deep dive move differently. All of this is incredibly into how we grow, heal and vary through important in understanding who we are time and space.” today and how these bones function for us the way they do.”

”

A World of Wonder Hannah has always had an interest in the how and why of human history. Growing up the daughter of a geology professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, she decided as a middle school student to follow in her father’s footsteps. “I realized that as a science professor I could continuously research and expand all of our knowledge about how the universe functions in the past, the present and the future,” Hannah says. “It feels like not growing up because you get to wonder for the rest of your life.” Throughout her undergraduate studies in anthropology and zoology, Hannah built a supportive network of colleagues and mentors. When she entered graduate school at a different university, however, she found herself alone. Her doctoral advisor discouraged her, but through drive, determination and the help of her previously established support group,

Hannah points out that, in humans, the leg bones are much longer than the arms, whereas chimpanzees’ arms and legs are similar in length because they use both to traverse the landscape. In contrast, she points to the arm bones of another ape, the gibbon, which are much longer than its legs because it moves by swinging through the trees. Instead of the long stride humans require to walk bipedally, other primates necessitate a longer arm span. Students are able to handle the durable bone casts and examine them side by side. This would not have been possible without a donor-funded Opportunity Grant through the UCM Alumni Foundation. Hannah applied for and was awarded a $5,000 grant to purchase more than 620 bones to be used at every Anthropology course level, from Human Prehistory to Forensic Anthropology. In the past,

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Hannah prevailed as the only female student of her cohort in her advisor’s lab to earn her degree and achieve the career she had always planned. “I had people tell me things like, well, you know, it’s hard to find jobs like that. You’re not really going to enjoy it. You should think about other things,” Hannah recalls. “I just stuck with it no matter what people were saying.” Now in her 10th year at UCM, Hannah says watching the faculty screening of “Picture a Scientist,” funded by another donor-funded Opportunity Grant, reminded her of her graduate school experience.

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“I knew what the theme was, but I was unprepared,” she says of the impact the film had on her personally. “I realized I never dealt with how I was treated by my advisor in graduate school. … In a lot of documentaries, the people wearing white coats and working in the labs will be women, and the people they actually interview are men. Women need to give themselves permission to be heard.”

cientists aren’t all lab coats

”

and stoicism.

– Hannah Marsh Associate Professor of Anthropology

Hannah decided to speak openly about her experience as part of the panel discussion after the student screening of the documentary. Before taking students on a dig or to an industry conference, she and her colleagues have upfront conversations with students about reporting incidents of harassment, discrimination or anything that makes them feel unsafe. “Reporting needs to be real,” she says. “It needs to be talked about, and people who are leaders need to take that seriously and offer reporting mechanisms early — before anything happens.” Hannah is a role model for her students at UCM — especially women pursuing a degree in science. Leading by example, she strives to demystify science and students’ preconceived notion of what a scientist should be. “What is science? It’s not this monumental, scary thing,” Hannah tells students. “Science wears pink pants and sparkly jewelry. Science is just a way of thinking about the world, and it comes in any package. Most of science actually doesn’t happen in a lab. Science can happen right here, right now.” A woman of her word, Hannah walks the walk — and even dances it. She embodies the pink pants and is a competitive ballroom dancer — all while conducting leading research into cranial vault thickness and tooth size variation in Homo erectus and recent humans. “Scientists aren’t all lab coats and stoicism,” she says. “Sometimes we get things wrong, but we can fix that by asking better questions, tweaking the directions we’re going, measuring better. … That’s the beauty of science, that you’re standing on the edge of that knowledge.” 18

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Hannah practices her ballroom dancing skills with Stan the Man, a cast of “your basic European male,” who can often be found in the Anthropology lab in the Wood Building. She says female skeleton casts are more expensive to obtain — another example of inequity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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‘ Picture a Scientist’ Women Professors at UCM Challenge Stereotypes

Melissa and her husband, James, visiting Yale University, where they met as students.

he University of Central Missouri works hard to make campus a safe place where everyone can be seen and heard. In an effort to make staff, faculty and students aware of the struggles women in STEM fields can face, the UCM Alumni Foundation awarded an Opportunity Grant to Chemistry Professor Jay Steinkruger to fund screenings of the film “Picture a Scientist.” The documentary features stories from women scientists who have struggled in their fields against harassment, discrimination and unequal access to opportunities, resources and laboratory space. The Opportunity Grant funded a screening for faculty and staff members a week before the fall 2022 semester began and another screening for students in October of that year. After students watched the film, a panel discussion was held to address the gender gap students might have experienced in their prior education and raise awareness of inequities they could face in STEM graduate studies or in the workplace. On the panel were two UCM faculty members, anthropologist Hannah Marsh and instructor of engineering technology Pamela Hoyer, as well as guest alumna Melissa (Swope) Willis, who earned biology and chemistry degrees from UCM in 1992 and the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2020.

Melissa Willis As a panelist, Melissa felt a personal connection to the film. She was a graduate student at Yale — the only woman in her cohort in a department with very few female faculty — when Biology Professor Nancy Hopkins and a group of professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were preparing to shatter the status quo. In 1999, the year after Melissa earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology, the results of a five-year “Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT” exposed significant gender inequalities in salaries, professional development opportunities, laboratory space and resources. The report made waves in higher education research institutions across the country, including Yale. One recommendation in the first report of the MIT committee was to “address the family-work conflict realistically and openly.” Having raised two daughters while working in biodefense and biomedical research, Melissa knows how challenging striking a balance can be. After completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Immune Disease Institute, she got married in UCM’s Alumni Chapel. She started her family while working at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she conducted research into treating neuropathic pain based on the way University of Central Missouri Magazine

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spiders inject toxins into their prey to numb their pain receptors. Melissa raised two daughters while advancing her career in the Washington, D.C., area, working with bacterial toxins at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), then with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). She eventually became influenza therapeutics chief at BARDA and helped develop a multiantibody cocktail to fight Ebola. In 2018 there was an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the drug, now part of the standard treatment for Ebola

patients, reduced the mortality rate from approximately 70 percent in untreated individuals to less than 6 percent. Melissa decided to leave the profession to become a secondary educator and motivate more girls to stay in STEM. She is currently in her fifth year as a science instructor at the Academies of Loudon, a STEM magnet school in Leesburg, Virginia. “By the time they hit college, they’ve already decided whether science is too hard for them,” Melissa says. “I really wanted to impact the next generation of scientists.” A 2022 study published in an academic journal titled Social Science Research found that having exposure to science at an early age and a role model at home with a degree in science makes children of college-educated parents twice as likely to pursue science in higher education. True to form, Melissa’s own daughters are in college now, studying astrophysics and geoscience at Berkeley and Penn State, respectively.

Pam Hoyer Pam Hoyer, an assistant professor of Engineering Technology at UCM, volunteered to represent the “E” and the “T” in STEM as part of the “Picture a Scientist” panel. “The ‘T’ is very much the application of the sciences,” Pam says. “I don’t know how you would bottle enthusiasm for the field, but if you love it, you love it.” Pam grew up surrounded by engineers — her grandfather, her dad and her brother all inspired her to build, fix and tinker. When personal computers were brand-new in the 1960s, her father went into computer engineering and helped the family build their first PC. “If I didn’t have that family support, I would feel kind of abnormal being good at math,” Pam says. “You can stick out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t all that cool to be good at math, especially as a girl in middle school and high school.”

Melissa, shown at top with former UCM President Ed Elliott and above in a university lab, earned UCM’s Distinguished Scholar Award, which came with strict GPA requirements that helped prepare her for graduate studies in the Ivy League. 20

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When her high school counselor attempted to sway her decision to pursue an engineering degree, Pam stood her ground and applied. She enrolled at Texas A&M in 1979, when, according to the National Science Foundation, only 10 percent of U.S. college graduates earning a degree in engineering were women.

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Soon after graduation, Pam started her career as a manufacturing engineer and floor supervisor for Westinghouse, working on circuit boards for radar systems in F-16 Fighters. She then took a lead engineer position at Northrop improving B-2 Bombers. She was the first woman that many of her team members had ever worked with — in workspaces that sometimes didn’t have a women’s bathroom. However, the early ’80s was a time when there was a big push to get more women employed in STEM occupations. “People bent over backward to keep me in the field,” she says. “Women in engineering have to expect and realize that they’re not going to be surrounded by women. You have to respect yourself and say, yeah, I belong here. … It was a very positive experience for me.” Pam started her family while working for the DTM Corporation developing manufacturing systems for selective laser

sintering (SLS) machines, the precursor to modern 3D printers. It was when she had her second child while helping to launch a new manufacturing facility for Harmon Electronics that she decided the long hours and intense workload the industry demanded were incompatible with raising kids.

Nearly two decades later, in 2018, the percentage of women earning engineering degrees was up only 2 percent, still hovering at approximately one in five. Furthermore, the number of women employed in STEM fields remains low. A 2019 study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau found that only 27% of all STEM positions in the country were filled by women.

In 2003, Pam made a career change to academia, helping to build the Engineering Technology program into what is now the School of Industrial Sciences and Technology at UCM. By that time, the percent of U.S. women earning degrees in engineering had doubled since Pam started college, according to the National Science Foundation’s 2002 Science and Engineering Indicators. However, at 20 percent in 2000, engineering had the least representation of female graduates among STEM degrees, with women representing 33 percent of mathematical and computer science graduates and 56 percent of grads in biological and agricultural sciences.

Pam says women are needed in engineering technology as more manufacturing shifts from manual to automated. While an engineering technologist probably won’t design a robot, they are the ones who will program it, calibrate it and make the systems work better. “Placement for students is phenomenal. Robotics is huge,” Pam says. “I want young women to know it’s not going to be an uphill battle all the time.” Former UCM student Samantha Wright contributed to this article.

“

You have to respect yourself and say, yeah, I belong here.

”

– Pam Hoyer Assistant Professor of Engineering Technology

Students Forestt Hertzog, Sowmya Golla and Norma Romero control a machine during Robotics lab. Pam directs students Stephanie Umunna and Jeffery Eason as they use a CNC machine in the Noel B. Grinstead Building.

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DONORS GIVE BACK

SO STUDENTS CAN GIVE THEIR ALL Thanks to donors like you, the past four years have been an incredible period of growth for the UCM Alumni Foundation. Supporters from across the globe have invested in our work, and as a result, we are in a better position to support UCM students, faculty, programs and capital projects. We know that you have many choices for how you wish to give back. We are grateful that donors like you choose to support “Education for Service” at UCM. This annual report demonstrates that the UCM Alumni Foundation has experienced remarkable growth, thanks in significant part to the wise stewardship of your generous investments by our hardworking staff and our partners at Commerce Trust. Highlights from fiscal year 2023 include:

2.0

1.5

$1.6M

1.0

In Donor-Funded

SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED

0.5

0.0

FY20

$1.1 million

FY21

$1.3 million

FY22

$1.5 million

FY23

$1.6 million

• $17,623,478 in gifts, pledges and new planned gifts to UCM. • $1,595,422 in donor-funded scholarships awarded to 1,147 students. • $1,878,949 dispensed for scholarships, programs and capital projects from income earned on the Alumni Foundation endowments. • An all-time record of $92,255,820 in total assets managed by the Alumni Foundation. We hope you take pride in the progress we have made together. Because of you, the UCM Alumni Foundation is in a position of immense strength to support the university today and for many years to come. Continue supporting UCM with your gift to the Central Annual Fund! Visit ucmfoundation.org/give/magazine. 22

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900

ALUMNI DONORS CONTRIBUTED

$288K TO THE CENTRAL ANNUAL FUND IN FY23

2023 A N N UA L RFEEPAT O RT URE

PAYOUT TO UCM

Businesses and Corporations 9%

from the Foundation’s Endowment FY20 $1.46 million

Alumni 43%

Friends 21%

FY21 $1.57 million

SOURCES OF

GIFTS

FOR FY23 FY22 $1.65 million

Foundations and Trusts 27%

800

FY23 $1.88 million 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

$17.6M

GIFTS, PLEDGES AND NEW PLANNED GIFTS

700

2.0

600 500

Number of

ENDOWED FUNDS* 552

566

FY20

FY21

595

612

400 300 200 100

$92.3M

TOTAL ASSETS IN FY23

HOW

$75M ENDOWMENT MARKET VALUE

FY22

*These are funds that are invested, and the principal balance remains intact forever.

DONOR DOLLARS

WERE SPENT IN FY23

FY23 KMOS PBS 4%

Capital Scholarships Projects 18% 59% Athletics 12%

Academic Support 7%

University of Central Missouri Magazine

Tygran Gilligan is a 2023 Music Technology graduate from Carthage, Missouri. He was awarded the Tom Shaffer Memorial Scholarship for Custodial Staff, made possible by a gift from Gaila Shaffer, a ’76 College High alumna. “I never thought that being a custodian during the COVID-19 pandemic would grant me the opportunity to receive such a generous scholarship,” says Tygran. “You gave me so much hope for my future.” Tygran is currently interning as a technician at Quimby Pipe Organs, owned and operated by 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Michael Quimby, ’73, ’75. He is also a classical guitarist who plans to further his career in the music industry.

Scholarships Make Everything

UCM Students are Grateful for Your Support 24

Fall 2023 | ucmfoundation.org/magazine

“My future aspiration is that I will devote myself to learn and experience the world full of knowledge,” says Manish. “I hope that one day, I will be able to assist struggling students in achieving their higher education goals in the same way you are assisting me.” During his time at UCM, Manish was a member of the cricket club and an Alumni Ambassador. He recently launched his career as a software engineer.

Learn more about establishing a scholarship endowment at ucmfoundation.org/giving/priorities.

POSSIBLE

By Cloe Pohlman, Public Relations Undergraduate Student

Manish Mondal is a 2022 Master of Computer Science graduate. As an international student from India, he was awarded the Maynard and Fern Beardsley Scholarship for International Students, made possible by a gift from Toshiyuki Shiohara, ’72, of Tokyo.

2023 A N N UA L R E P O RT

Trever Haugen is a firstgeneration transfer student from Roseau, Minnesota. He is a triple major in Business Management, Economics and Finance. Trever was awarded the Integrative Business Experience Adviser Annual Scholarship, made possible by a gift from Rebecca and Mary McCord in conjunction with Equity Bank. As a nontraditional student, Trever gained a sense of belonging by joining student organizations like the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity, economics club, fencing club and Enactus, an international nonprofit for young leaders working to make a social and environmental impact. “I try to experience as many things as possible to get the most out of college and to continue bettering myself in every aspect of my life,” he says. After graduation, he plans to continue his service in the Missouri Army National Guard, where he is currently a staff sergeant. Trever also serves as a firefighter for the Johnson County Fire Department.

Rickeah Henderson is a Bryan Frye is a nontraditional, first-generation student from first-generation student from Columbia, Missouri, majoring Warrensburg, majoring in in Social Work. She received Communication Studies. the Generation Study Abroad He was chosen out of Scholarship and the Shipley500 candidates as the first Hocker Scholarship, made recipient of the Bill Kountz possible by a gift from Helen Jr. Media Fellowship, created M. Hocker, ’37, in memory to help fund students’ of her mother, Anna Shipley living expenses while they Hocker, and her sister, E. Virginia participate in an internship Hocker, ’38. These scholarships with a major public media allowed Rickeah to study abroad entity. Bryan’s dedication to in the Dominican Republic his work at KMOS-TV made over the summer. him a great candidate for a summer internship at PBS in “Learning doesn’t have to be Arlington, Virginia. limited to just the classroom,” Rickeah says. “My heart is in “As I started working, helping people with different my passion for the public ethnic backgrounds, ideas and television sector skyrocketed,” experiences in life.” he says. “Mr. Kountz was especially interested in Rickeah is an active member ensuring that public media is of the National Society of in good hands for generations Leadership and Success, secretary to come. Combining his of the Association of Social Work passion and generosity, this Students and a student employee puts me in a position to fulfill for the UCM day care. his legacy.” After graduation, Rickeah Bryan loves that UCM gave plans on pursuing a master’s him the opportunity to gain degree in Social Work. She real television experience with would like to help older adults KMOS-TV. After graduation, or become licensed in family he wants to continue working and marriage therapy. in public media.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Emma Braley and Emily York are graduate students pursuing their master’s degrees in Athletic Training. They are both recipients of the Dr. Ronald VanDam Athletic Training Student Scholarship, made possible by a gift from friends and former students in honor of the longtime UCM professor, Hall of Fame inductee and 2006 Distinguished Service Award recipient. Emma is from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. She is vice president of the Athletic Training Student Association and part of the advisory board for her master’s program. After graduation, she aspires to become an athletic trainer for a professional sports league. “[Because of the scholarship] I can devote more time to athletic training studies, and I can be more present at my clinical sites,” says Emma. “I get to learn a lot more, I get more hands-on experiences, I get to see a variety of things, and I get to meet more people. For that I am forever grateful.” Emily is from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, and is president of the Athletic Training Student Association. She is part of the Missouri Student Leadership Council and has her sights set on an internship with NASA before she graduates. “At the end of the day, I just hope to someday work in a setting that I love and enjoy waking up for every day,” Emily says. “Thank you for this opportunity and support in my journey.”

University of Central Missouri Magazine