Art Missouri State University President Michael Nietzel received the Leadership Award at the 2010 Ozzie Awards during the Springfield Regional Arts Council’s annual membership meeting.
Other recipients include: Robert Eugene Smith, artist, who won the Legacy Award, offered posthumously by the SRAC; Lisa Blumenstock and Anna Squires, Artsfest co-chairs for the Springfield Regional Arts Council 2006–09, won Individual Awards; Logan-Rogersville High School Show Me Arts Committee won the Organization Award; BKD LLP won the Corporate Art Collector Award; and Bill, Marie, Tom and Kim Prater won the Individual Art Collector Award as a family.
Communication Jennifer Ailor of Ailor Communications became professionally accredited in public relations by the Public Relations Society of America. Ailor has more than 30 years of experience in public relations and communication and has worked in education, health care, telecommunications, manufacturing and public accounting.
Education The Solae Co. donated a $3,000 grant to help underwrite Solae Scholars Program scholarships at the 16 member schools of the Missouri Colleges Fund, including Southwest Baptist, Drury and Evangel universities. The scholarships will be awarded based on financial need to those qualifying in business-related majors.
Janice Greene, biology professor at Missouri State University, and Celeste Prussia, Bull Shoals Field Station manager, received an $11,350 grant from the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society to help finance the Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems. The weeklong academy at Missouri State teaches 16 teenagers how to impact their local community environmentally.
Kathryn Hope, department head of nursing at MSU, received a $28,790 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services-Health Resources and Services Administration to provide tuition and fees to full-time students in the Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship program.
William Meadows, MSU anthropology professor, published his fourth book, “Kiowa Military Societies: Ethnohistory and Ritual.”
Jennifer Morrison, an English as a second language adjunct professor at Evangel, represented the Mid-America Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages in Washington, D.C., to discuss with government officials the reauthorization of the Secondary Education Act.
Ozarks Technical Community College was granted accreditation for its Culinary Arts program through the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation.
Tracy Dalton, senior English instructor at MSU and Ross Hawkins, transfer adviser in the MSU academic advisement center, were honored at the annual National Academic Advising Association conference in Orlando, Fla. Dalton was chosen as an outstanding adviser in the faculty category, and Hawkins was one of 22 advisers awarded a certificate of merit in the professional staff category.
Government State Rep. Bob Dixon was elected to the statewide board of trustees for the Missouri Council on Economic Education, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting economic and financial education in Missouri schools.
Health Care Dr. Joong Yong Kwon joined Cox Senior Health Center. Kwon is board certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine.
Dr. Saumitra Biswas joined CoxHealth Pediatric Hospital Affiliates. Biswas is board-certified in pediatrics, neonatal-perinatal medicine, pediatric critical care and pediatric cardiology.
Dentist Jeremiah Shakespear joined Jordan Valley Community Health Center.
Hospitality David Caine was appointed director of events for the Branson Convention Center. Caine has 20 years of catering and events management experience and has worked in hotels nationwide, including in Atlanta and New York.
The Best Western Music Capital Inn in Branson received the Best Western Director’s Award. The award recognizes hotels that score in the top 20 percent of all North American Best Westerns in terms of cleanliness, maintenance, design and customer service.
Literacy Springfield-Greene County Library received a $43,558 Missouri State Library Cooperation Grant to fund job and computer skills training programs in three rural branches and three city branches.
Martial Arts Richard Osborn Jr., owner and chief instructor at Next Level Sport Karate, was chosen as a member of the U.S. Martial Arts Team to compete in Las Vegas at the 2010 World Martial Arts Games. Osborn is a seventh-degree black belt in tae kwon do.[[In-content Ad]]
A new and improved Reed Academy is being constructed on the middle school’s original site to preserve a neighborhood connection that goes back a century.