The St. Joseph Junior College was a transformational force right from the start, and St. Joseph’s higher education institution continued transforming for the next 100 years.
Transforming Students
Missouri Western’s First Class
The transformations began in 1915 when the St. Joseph School District created a junior college in Central High School so high school graduates could attend college in their hometown for the first two years.
Many Junior College alumni have related over the years that they would not have gone on to college had it not been for the St. Joseph Junior College close by.
Dr. Frances Flanagan ’35, professor emerita of English, was grateful that the St. Joseph Junior College was close to her hometown of Easton, Mo. so she could attend college. It was the middle of the Great Depression, and not many women were going to college, she said. There were 102 students in her class.
- Missouri Western’s 100th Class
Along with giving traditional students an opportunity for higher education, the lives of many nontraditional students, those over the age of 25, have been transformed by Missouri Western, as well. In the fall of 1989, nontraditional students at Missouri Western numbered 39 percent of the student population, and even today, approximately a quarter of the students are considered nontraditional.
Missouri Western has always had a diverse student population throughout its history, which offers a great learning opportunity for students. In 1971, the International Student Club was small and made up mostly of students from Iran. Today, there are 129 international students from 34 countries on campus.
Additionally, Missouri Western’s open admission policy has always given students the opportunity to earn a degree if they are willing to work hard for it.
“I will be forever indebted to Missouri Western for giving me a chance,” said Dr. Bernie Patterson ’73, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. “I didn’t give them much to show that I would succeed. They helped make that happen.”
As an outgrowth of the college’s open admission policy, Access Plus was created by Missouri Western in the late 1990s. The program’s goals were to improve retention and graduation rates, and it transformed the lives of thousands of students.
The College received $2.2 million from the state to launch the nationally recognized Access Plus, and over the four-year program, the money funded 28 new faculty members, 22 staff positions, technology support, telecommunications equipment and several new initiatives. Many of those initiatives and positions still exist to this day, and improving retention and graduation rates are still priority goals.
“I believe we have an obligation to do more than merely accept tuition and fees from students, wish them well and stand back,” President Dr. Janet Murphy told faculty and staff in 1996 when she introduced Access Plus.
The University’s unique entrepreneurship program that was created in 2009 has also transformed not only the lives of the students and alumni involved in the program, but has created employment opportunities and improved the communities where the franchises are located. Today, 18 alumni have been awarded stores in 13 states, and the program is continually expanding.
“This program has definitely transformed my life,” said LaTricia Adkins ’11, owner of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Fresno, Calif. “If it was not for this program, I would not be where I am and I would have never been given these opportunities. I am very grateful and appreciative.”
Transforming the Community
Throughout its 100 years, the University and community have enjoyed a rich partnership.
Community leaders were involved in the St. Joseph Junior College from its founding. In fact, it was the St. Joseph Commerce Club (now St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce) that provided the impetus behind creating a Junior College in St. Joseph.
When it was time to expand the campus and become a four-year institution, the community again stepped up in its support of bond issues, first to form a Junior College district, and then to fund the first buildings on the new campus. Community members also passed a bond issue to fund Eder Hall, and they have been generous supporters of every one of Missouri Western’s capital campaigns.
It was a partnership with the College and the Missouri Department of Conservation that brought the MDC’s Northwest Missouri headquarters to campus in 1992, the first partnership of its kind in the state. That partnership has grown and further developed over the years with outstanding benefits for both partners, and the Missouri Western students gain the most.
Today, departments across campus engage in partnerships with businesses and organizations across the community, such as the St. Joseph School District and Mosaic Life Care.
Along with partnerships, community service has also been one of the cornerstones of Missouri Western’s mission, even from its earliest days.
In 1927, the Junior College’s Natural Science Club founded the St. Joseph Children’s Museum under the direction of their advisor, Orrel Andrews. The Science Club lent its support to the museum for many years thereafter, including publishing and writing the museum’s national newsletter and starting an endowment fund for the museum in 1945.
That Children’s Museum was the start of the St. Joseph Museums, which continue to partner with the University. Missouri Western students serve internships at the museum and faculty and staff serve on the board.
Additionally, the 1945 yearbook reports the creation of a Junior College Red Cross chapter, the only college unit in the Pony Express District of the American Red Cross. The group performed several hours of community service, including preparing Christmas gifts and wreaths for a veterans’ hospital.
Since the advent of social sororities and fraternities in the 1960s, St. Joseph has benefited from the Greek students’ commitment to volunteering in the community and raising funds for charities.
Don Willis, former director of student engagement, said that whenever an organization in the community asked for volunteers, he knew he could always count on the sororities and fraternities to help. That tradition continues today with the University’s 10 Greek social organizations.
When the summer of 1993 brought record rainfall amounts and record flooding throughout the Midwest, Missouri Western again stepped up to support the area in its time of need.
On July 23, Elwood, Kan., was evacuated, and the campus became the temporary home for the Missouri Air National Guard. Missouri Western’s parking lots were used for vehicles and equipment, and Air Guard and Missouri Army National Guard members stayed in residence halls. Additionally, the American Red Cross set up a shelter in the lobby of Potter Hall, and 30 evacuees from Elwood were housed there for five nights.
The Instructional Media Center also aired Federal Emergency Management Agency broadcasts to television stations and to more than a million homes on a special channel set up during the flood.
The community service tradition continued into the next decade, too. In 2001, the Unity Services Office (now the Center for Multicultural Education) initiated The Big Event, a day of service for students that was held two times a year.
Also, in an effort to stress the importance of community service to students right from the start of their college careers, the Griffon Edge new student orientation program added a service component in 2003. On the last day of the orientation, hundreds of Missouri Western students spread throughout the community volunteering for several nonprofit organizations, and that is still a part of Griffon Edge today.
In August 2005, students and the Missouri Western community stepped up after Hurricane Katrina. When student Brad Landrum ’10 mentioned to his professor, Jim Grechus, that 32 members of his family who were displaced by Katrina were coming to St. Joseph, Grechus mobilized the collection of 16 bags of clothing for Landrum’s family members, and the Missouri Western State University Foundation donated free evening meals in the cafeteria for family members.
In 2007, Missouri Western participated in the television show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The University provided full tuition and room and board scholarships for the family of nine children, and more than 200 students and employees volunteered at the home over spring break.
Those are just a few examples of Missouri Western’s volunteerism in the community. Today, students and employees log approximately 120,000 hours of volunteer service to the community each year, and Missouri Western has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for six years in a row. It is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and community engagement.
“Missouri Western is a jewel in the community. We’re blessed to have it,” said St. Joseph resident Gordon Robaska in a 2011 interview. “I think it is one of the main focal points of the community.”
Today, the great relationship with the community continues. With 550 employees and almost 6,000 students, Missouri Western has an estimated $190 million yearly economic impact on the region.
Transforming the Workforce
Throughout its wonderful history, Missouri Western never lost sight of its mission of transforming lives by preparing students for careers. The University has always worked closely with the region’s businesses and industries to provide alumni who were ready to compete in the workforce.
A News-Press/Gazette article about the Junior College noted that many people returned to college in the 1930s seeking higher education as a key to occupational success. “At no time did the college better prove its worth to society,” the article said, “than in that period when students could remain at home and obtain a good education.”
In 1941, the Junior College created a civilian pilot program in an effort to fill the need for pilots in WWII.
Marion Gibbins, who was dean of instruction when the college became a four-year institution, said during his tenure of 1957-63 and 1965-72, courses were added in agribusiness, management, machine shop, drafting and electronics so that graduates could quickly obtain a job upon graduation.
Missouri Western was at the forefront of teacher education when it began offering a four-year degree in 1969. That year, its classroom experience for students studying education was a national model for teacher education programs. Additionally, the creation of a four-year nursing degree in 1986 was a response to the need for nurses with bachelor’s degrees.
Missouri Western has kept abreast of technological advancements and its students’ need to learn new technology, as well. In 1993, a television studio opened for student use in the Hearnes Center, and in October 1994, the first program, “Western Weekly,” debuted in the new studio. The shows were directed, reported, anchored, recorded and edited entirely by students. In 2012, approximately $200,000 worth of state-of-the-art equipment was purchased for the cinema program so students in that program would be ready to step into their careers as soon as they graduated.
Applied learning, which includes internships or faculty and student collaborative research, has always been at the forefront of the University’s curriculum to ensure that students were prepared for their careers. In 2005, when Missouri Western gained university status, the state legislature also named it the statewide institution of applied learning. Today, 98 percent of Missouri Western students complete at least one applied learning experience prior to graduation.
When Missouri Western began to develop graduate programs, regional workforce needs were prominent in the discussion, and the graduate programs today include an applied learning component where students gain experience in the field before they graduate.
Transforming Society
The University has also been a transformational force in society since its founding. When it opened in 1915, the concept of a two-year college was relatively new, and the St. Joseph Junior College was just the second junior college in Missouri and the eighth in the nation to open its doors.
Also, many of its students have been the first in their families to attend and graduate from college. Those degrees have brought many families out of poverty because of the enhanced career opportunities with a college degree. That in turn has improved the lives of families, communities, the region, the state and beyond.
In June 1954, just 19 days after the historic Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, five teachers from the recently closed Bartlett High School quite possibly may have been the first black students in the country to enroll in a previously white institution in a formerly segregated state.
The Junior College was ahead of its time when it promoted Calla Varner to principal of Central High School and head of the St. Joseph Junior College in the 1920s, and promoted Nelle Blum to the Junior College’s highest administrative position 1931. Blum held that position until 1957. Also, When Dr. Janet Murphy was hired as president in 1983, Missouri Western became the first four-year higher education institution in the state to hire a female college president.
Today, when approximately 25,000 claim the institution as their alma mater and alumni are succeeding in careers around the world, the transformations continue. In the fall of 2014, the University welcomed its 100th class of 1,068 freshmen to begin the next century of transforming lives.
“Missouri Western doesn’t just enhance lives; it transforms them,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “As we celebrate our Centennial, we celebrate our rich history and look back with much pride. But we also anticipate our future and we are looking forward to our next 100 years of transforming lives.”
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