Celebrating Northwest
John Jasinski
Our momentum and various projects continue to progress on so many fronts, and last week our Board of Regents took a significant step toward fulfilling the goals of our strategic plan, campus master plan and Forever Green campaign by approving a contract bid and authorizing construction to begin on our planned indoor activity center.
Four pre-qualified construction firms bid for the project, and our evaluation committee recommended that we proceed with E.L. Crawford Construction Inc. for a contract amount of roughly $15.2 million. Although our estimated total costs for the project, with equipment and financing costs, are about $21 million, we are funding the project through multiple sources including donors, University and student-based funding, and a portion of the transient guest tax approved by Maryville voters last November.
Furthermore, we are grateful for the stewardship and gifts of Carl and Cheryl Hughes and their Hughes Family Foundation. Because of their significant support of Northwest and this facility, the Board also approved a recommendation to name it the Hughes Family Center, through the construction phase as we work with them to solidify a name for the completed facility. Carl serves on our Northwest Foundation Board of Directors and is a 1976 alumnus of the University while Cheryl is a 1978 alumna. Both are active supporters of all things Bearcat.
We now look forward to a groundbreaking to celebrate this important step and invite you to join us at 10:30 a.m. June 15 at the area known now as the Practice Fields, located west of College Park, where the center will be constructed.
As we’ve said, this project represents the single largest public-private partnership in our University’s 112-year history, and it is one of the largest such projects in the region ever. We are so pleased and proud of the work and the partnership of so many to heighten this project.
In the meantime, though our traditional academic year is concluded, activity continues on campus as summer coursework is underway and we welcome a variety of summer camps. Our Summer Orientation Advisement and Registration, better known as SOAR, kicks off June 16 and continues through June 28, bringing a wave of incoming students and their families to our community and campus.
Additionally, we are pleased to be hosting the Coordinating Board of Higher Education, Missouri Department of Higher Education and Council of Public Higher Education meetings on campus June 7-8. This is an exciting opportunity for us to showcase Northwest as well as our community to legislative and university leaders throughout the state.
On Saturday, we celebrated 48 students on their graduation from Northwest’s Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing. These students completed their Associate of Science degree and their high school diplomas through coursework at Northwest – earned an average cumulative grade-point average of 3.67 while doing so. Thirty-three students earned a cumulative GPA between 3.5 and 4.0, and 16 of those earned a GPA between 3.9 and 4.0.
Furthermore, members of our faculty and staff have received several honors recently that are worth noting:
• Dr. Mike McBride, the coordinator of our professional education unit assessment and recent graduate of our joint doctorate program, received the 2017 Dan H. Cockrell Ed.D. Dissertation of the Year Award. Mike’s stellar work has helped us enhance our professional education curriculum.
• Dr. Joy Daggs, assistant professor of communication, was selected to the 2017 Fellowship for Educators Program and will join the staff of Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee in July for a workshop and research project.
• Recent Northwest graduate Tucker Peve and Renee Riedel, a career development coordinator in Career Services, were recognized recently by the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators as the student employee of the year and the supervisor award. They are emblematic of internationally benchmarked student employment program and its impacts.
• Our head athletic trainer, Kelly Quinlin, is the 2017 National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Division II Head Athletic Trainer of the Year. She will be honored June 28 at the annual NATA Convention in Houston. Kelly is a champion of champions, and she is so deserving of this honor.
• We received notification recently that the Arbor Day Foundation named Northwest a Tree Campus USA for the fourth consecutive year. We are so proud of our history and designation as the Missouri State Arboretum, and the Tree Campus designation is a tribute to that as well as our outstanding Facility Services staff who maintain the campus landscape.
We take pride in the positive movement happening in regard to Northwest’s future, the ways we serve students and the connections we make. We hope you will join us and celebrate Northwest with us this summer.
Dr. John Jasinski is the 10th president of Northwest Missouri State University. For news and events at Northwest visit www.nwmissouri.edu.
