• A poster created by Janelle Anderson, a graphic design major, was accepted for display in the National Student Show and Conference 12, sponsored by the Dallas Society of Visual Communications. Anderson was one of only 14 students nationwide from more than 1,400 entries submitted who had a poster or poster series accepted into the poster category of the exhibition. Anderson’s poster, “128 Lives,” was a response to the Paris terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, 2015. The poster portrays 128 terrified faces stacked in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.
  • Student Yuko Yamaoka was selected to attend the 2016 TOMODACHI Daiwa House Student Leadership Conference in Dallas. The conference is for Japanese and American undergraduate and graduate students to come together for leadership and development training.
  • Teresa Harris ’82 was Missouri Western’s recipient of the 2016 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. Harris, associate professor of art and director of graphic design, received her award at a luncheon with Gov. Jay Nixon in April in Jefferson City, Missouri. In addition to her teaching, Harris’s work has been accepted into more than 60 juried international, national and solo exhibitions and has been honored with numerous awards, including a first place at the South Arkansas Arts Center’s juried exhibition last year.
  • In April 2016, Colleen Kowich, director of Alumni Relations, was named the 2015 Kiwanian of the Year by the St. Joseph Kiwanis Club.
  • The Midwest Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society that was hosted on campus is a finalist for a ChemLuminary Award for Outstanding Regional Meeting. Mike Ducey is the Department of Chemistry chair.
  • The Fountain City Brass Band won first place in the Championship Division at the 2016 North American Brass Band Association Competition in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Lee Harrelson, associate professor of music and department chair, is a founding member of the group. He also conducted the Fountain City Youth Band, an ensemble made up of high schoolers from the Kansas City area that claimed first prize in the Youth Division.
  • Twelve graduate students in the Master of Information Management with an Enterprise Resource Planning concentration in the Craig School of Business passed the TERP10 exam and are now SAP Certified Associates. The pass rate was 80 percent; the pass rate for all people taking the exam in 2014 was 69 percent.
  • The NCAA and MIAA recognized Griffon Athletics’ efforts in the community with an NCAA Division II Award of Excellence. Missouri Western Athletics received an NCAA Division II Award for Excellence for a bone marrow drive that was organized by the Griffon volleyball team this past fall.

The team hosted bone marrow donor registrations on campus in support of 3-year-old Kennedy Holcumbrink’s battle with leukemia. Holcumbrink’s parents were both student athletes at Missouri Western. The team also sold t-shirts during the event with all proceeds benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Kansas City, Missouri.

  • Jen Bagley Trotter, Missouri Western’s head softball coach, was named a YWCA Woman of Excellence in the Woman in the Workplace category at the YWCA’s annual luncheon. Also nominated in the category were employees Judy Grimes and Annette Weeks ’87.
  • Eliot Swope ’14, video communications specialist in the Instructional Media Center, received a bronze Telly Award for “Am I Interrupting?” a promotional video he created for the Student Success Center. The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring videos and films.
  • Karen Luke ’87 of the Center for Academic Support was named the Student Employment Supervisor of the Year for the 2015-16 academic year.
  • The following were recipients of the 2016 Faculty and Staff Awards that are sponsored by the MWSU Foundation:
    • Award for Teaching Excellence: Rebecca Foley, Dr. Reza Hamzaee, Dr. Jennifer Hegeman and Elise Hepworth.
    • Staff Service to Colleagues Award: Tracy Sharp ’94
    • Staff Service to Students Award: Carolyn Schindler
    • Staff Service to University Award: Diane Holtz
    • James V. Mehl Award for Outstanding Faculty Scholarship: Susan Bashinksi
    • James J. Scanlon Award for Staff Service to Community: Tara Stoll ’00
    • James J. Scanlon Award for Faculty Service to Community: Dr. Maureen Raffensperger