The 5th Annual Southwest MO Truman State Golf Tournament will take place on Friday, June 7, 2019. The price is $340/team and includes green fees, a golf cart, the hole in one contest, and prizes. Registration and lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and the scramble will begin at 1 p.m.
There will be cash prizes awarded in two flights and other contests including the longest drive (men’s), the longest drive (women’s), closest to the pin, pay to move up, and betting hole.
Register and pay online by emailing Bill Cox at 417-838-4093.
Truman State University is the highest rated Missouri public school to be included in the 2018 Best College Values ranking conducted by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
Kiplinger combined public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges into a single comprehensive list and rated the 300 Best College Values for 2018. Overall, Truman came in at No. 71, while the only other Missouri public school on the list is ranked 234.
In total, eight Missouri institutions are on the Kiplinger list. Rated against its Show-Me-State peers, Truman was by far the best financial option. On average, Truman’s annual cost is nearly $20,000 lower than the other Missouri schools.
Along with its comprehensive list, Kiplinger also rated the 100 top values in public colleges. Again, Truman was the highest ranked Missouri institution, coming in at No. 19 overall. In terms of affordability for out-of-state students, Truman was No. 8 on the list for public schools.
Kiplinger’s quality measures, which are weighted more heavily than cost, include admission rate, percentage of students who return for their sophomore year, student-faculty ratio and the four-year graduation rate. Cost criteria include total costs, financial aid and average debt at graduation. The complete rankings are now available online at kiplinger.com/links/colleges and appear in print in the February 2018 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
Truman has the highest graduation and retention rates among Missouri public schools according to the Missouri Department of Higher Education.
Volunteers participating in the Big Event on April 2, 2016, posed for this group photo before heading off to their assigned tasks around Kirksville
Around 1,200 Truman students rallied together on Saturday, April 2, 2016, to donate a day of service for the Big Event, the largest service project on campus. The day-long, student-run event, which is organized through the SERVE Center at Truman, helps students form connections within the Kirksville community by giving some of their time to work on service projects for local residents.
For this annual event, enthusiastic volunteers assigned to specific worksites fan out across the community and spend the day volunteering for projects ranging from painting, to yard work, to street clean-up and more.
Elizabeth Roe, a member of the SERVE Center staff, was among the students who helped organize this year’s Big Event. “We love when students help out elderly community members who physically can’t complete jobs themselves,” says Roe. “We have received many thank-yous from elderly people who thought the students did an excellent job and were very respectful.”
Local residents all across Kirksville benefit from this huge volunteer effort, while students have a chance to make new friends in the community.
Pete Kelly, professor of education and chair of the Department of Education, inspired approximately 70 faculty, staff, students and alumni to participate in the Kirksville Buddy Walk where $2,700 was raised to help feed school children in Kirksville on weekends and holidays!
Jim White, whose story inspired the movie McFarland, USA, will kick off the Kohlenberg Lyceum Series 2015-2016 season. Jim White, known affectionately by the locals as “Blanco,” is considered a legend in McFarland
During his 20 years as the cross-country coach, he not only won an unprecedented nine state championships, but he managed to transform his community by training the young men on his team, mainly children of immigrant field workers, to run fast, work hard and dream of bigger things than picking almonds and avocados. Thanks to White, dozens of his runners have ended up going to college or into the armed forces.
White’s talk is being co-sponsored by the Kohlenberg Lyceum Series, the Multicultural Affairs Center and Ekklesia.
MOVIE: “McFarland USA” The movie “McFarland” will be shown following White’s presentation in Baldwin Auditorium. The screening is sponsored by the School of Social and Cultural Studies in conjunction with the Communication Department and the Athletics Department.
The foundation was selected as the nonprofit of choice by Preferred Family Healthcare of Kirksville after the organization received the 2015 “Excellence in Addictions Treatment Innovation Award” at a recent conference of the National Council for Behavioral Health.
The prestigious award recognizes behavioral health organizations for excellence in delivering treatment and support in the community to persons with mental illnesses and addiction disorders. It also honors passionate, committed and outstanding behavioral health leaders. Part of the award included the opportunity to contribute $10,000 to a nonprofit of the recipient’s choice.
The $10,000 grant will be added to the endowment of the Preferred Family Healthcare Scholarship at the Truman State University Foundation. The scholarship, established in 2004, provides support to Truman students who are psychology majors, residents of Missouri, are in good academic standing and have compiled a record of service to community and civic organizations. Preference is given to employees or dependents of employees of Preferred Family Healthcare.
The grant will boost the endowment value of the Preferred Family Healthcare Scholarship to more than $85,000. Since its origination, a total of $9,200 has been awarded to 14 students from the fund.
Michael Schwend, president and chief executive officer of Preferred Family Healthcare, presents a check for $10,000 to Truman State University President Troy Paino (left). The donation will support the Preferred Family Healthcare Scholarship, which is awarded to Truman students through the Truman State University Foundation.
Students at Truman State University start preparing for their professional careers long before the tassels are turned at the Commencement ceremony.
Using resources ranging from internship opportunities, to Career and Grad School Expos, to guidance from faculty and staff, students at Truman State University start exploring their career options early on so they are well-equipped to make smart choices about their future. This strategy is paying off as placement statistics show 90 percent of Truman’s recent graduates have a job or were enrolled at graduate and professional schools within six months of graduation.
And many of Truman’s newest degree holders are discovering the valuable experience gained from high-impact learning opportunities, such as internships, can help secure a job before they collect their diplomas.
Prior to graduation day at Truman this past May, Gina Wang already knew she would be applying her Bachelor of Science in business administration working as a procurement agent for Boeing in Seattle, Wash. Wang began developing connections with Boeing during her first year at Truman when she participated in the Future Leaders in Thought and Experience (FLITE) program ― a partnership between Truman State University and Boeing that seeks to bring new, younger talent into Boeing through summer internships.
“I applied to the FLITE program and was accepted, and so began a three-year journey at Boeing that has eventually led to a job offering,” says Wang.
Andrew Gress, who came to Truman as a transfer student after graduating from a community college, also took advantage of internship opportunities to enhance his career experience. Through an internship at Enterprise Fleet Management, Gress not only learned how the business world works, the experience also confirmed he was on the right career path. Planning ahead for his career, Gress researched the list of companies that would be visiting campus for one of the Career and Grad School Expos hosted by the University’s Career Center.
“L.J. Hart and Company was one of these companies and speaking with representatives at their booth was practically an interview,” says Gress. “One representative was a fellow brother through the business organization on campus, Delta Sigma Pi, and she also provided me with great details about the company as well.”
Gress’ extra effort paid off when he secured the position of financial analyst with L.J. Hart and Company prior to receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in May.
Rachel Foster, another member of the Class of 2015, found that internships, combined with the right guidance and support, can make all the difference when it comes to advancing one’s career. Prior to earning her Bachelor of Arts in communication this spring, Foster accepted an offer to join the 2015 Teach for America Corps (TFA) and will be teaching first grade in Kansas City in the fall.
“Before my TFA endeavor, I had several really great internships with radio stations―I wouldn’t have had these internships without the help of Brandi in the Career Center and Dr. Kleine in the Communication Department,” says Foster.
While around half of Truman’s graduates enter the workforce, the other 50 percent choose to further their education, like Chelsea Rickman, who recently earned a Bachelor of Science in biology along with a minor in disability studies. After graduation, Rickman moved to Houston, Texas, to pursue a Master’s degree in genetic counseling at the University of Texas-Houston, and she plans to become a practicing genetic counselor in the next few years.
“I will truly miss Truman and all the opportunities, both academic and social, I experienced here,” says Rickman. “I’m so glad I chose to attend Truman, Bulldogs forever!”
Interested in recruiting bright students?
During the Career and Grad Expos held at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., each spring and fall, representative of various businesses, schools, and organizations come to campus to recruit Truman students for jobs and internships. For information about how you can participate in Truman State University’s Career and Grad School Expos, contact Polly Matteson, assistant director of the Career Center, pollym@truman.edu.
The weather turned out to be perfect as President Troy Paino welcomed graduates, families, friends and members of the Truman community to Stokes Stadium to celebrate Truman State University’s Spring Commencement on May 9, 2015.
During the Commencement Ceremony, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon offered remarks for the graduates, and Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., an astronomer and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, presented the Commencement address.
Consolmagno told graduates that life is making decisions based on inadequate data. “Our lives are the sum of our choices; the sum of the places where we put our faith,” said Consolmagno. “Whether your life leads you to working with Popes or Nobel Laureates or the poor, there is one thing you can believe — you can have faith in the things you learned here; you can have faith in the magic.”
Truman alumnus Joshua Johnston, a Hazelwood (Mo.) Central High School social studies teacher, who was selected as the honoree for the James and Margaret Mudd Teacher Recognition Scholarship, was also introduced during the ceremony. Earlier in the year, Truman’s spring graduates were invited to nominate high school teachers whom they felt made a significant impact on their lives as students, and a selection committee chose Johnston. A $1,000 scholarship will be given in his honor to an incoming Truman student from Hazelwood Central High School.
Near the end of the ceremony, Keith Epperson (’82), vice president of the Truman Alumni Association, instructed the graduates to turn the tassels on their caps signaling their transition from students to Truman’s newest alumni.
Earlier in the week, the Truman Alumni Association held its annual Graduation Picnic for all of Truman’s spring graduates. The Alumni Association also teamed up with Truman’s Graduate Studies Office to host a Graduate Studies Celebration and Social Hour.
Each year at the Graduation Picnic, the Truman Alumni Association presents the University’s most recent graduates with an “alumni” T-shirt to celebrate their new status as they join the group of nearly 60,000 alumni living around the world. The graduates are also invited to get involved with Truman’s regional alumni chapters and clubs which provide a network to bring together Truman alumni, friends and parents who live in a specific geographic region.
During the days leading up to the Commencement Ceremony and on Commencement Day, graduates took time to record this milestone event by taking photos around campus. Some of the most popular spots included the Campus Gates on the north edge of campus, the fountain in front of the Student Union Building, and the restored cupola from Kirk Memorial that now resides by the Ruth Towne Museum, which all provided the perfect backdrop for memorable photos.
Congratulations to all the graduates as they embark on the next part phase of their journey and continue to pursue lives that matter.
