Newsmakers

Butler, Rosenbury & Partners intern architect Mark Wheeler received his architecture license from the Board of Architecture and Engineering Examiners of Tennessee. Wheeler received a Bachelor of Architecture from Drury University in 2001. Wheeler previously was an intern architect with Lyman, Davidson, Dooley Inc. in Nashville, Tenn.

Community

The Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau received a gold Adrian Award for its 2007 “We’ll Buy Your Gas” advertising campaign. The Adrian Awards, given out annually by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International, recognize advertising, public relations and Web marketing campaigns based on marketing objectives, creativity, quality, content and results. The 2006 CVB campaign won a silver award.

Springfield Symphony Orchestra received grants from Kraft, Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, Community Foundation of the Ozarks and 3M. The grants will fund ongoing education programs, including the annual Young People’s Concerts, the Ensembles-In-Schools program, a free matinee concert for Title I science students and the new Music To Go Neighborhood Concert Series.

Murney Associates, Realtors received the Outstanding Corporation of the Year award from the Ozarks chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals during 2007 National Philanthropy Day. The firm was recognized for its support of the community and its longstanding reputation of giving to charities and civic organizations. Also at the event, ACR Nally Marketing Group was named Outstanding Small Business of the Year; and Nancy Fazzino, formerly of United Way of the Ozarks, was named Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year.

Construction

Kenneth Blair, a ReadyMix driver for Conco Cos. since 1984, took top honors at the second annual National Ready Mixed Concrete Association National Mixer Driver Championship. Blair outperformed 37 other competitors in the event, which included a six-section challenge course, truck inspection and a two-hour written examination. Blair receives $2,500 and an invitation to the International ReadyMix Driver Competition in Las Vegas in March.

Education

Dennis Hickey, political science professor at Missouri State University, received a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture on American politics and American foreign policy at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. The China Foreign Affairs University trains the nation’s future diplomats and is the only institution of higher learning in China under the guidance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Charles Hermans, MSU associate professor of marketing, received the 2007 Houghton Mifflin Pride/Ferrell Innovations in Teaching Award from the Society for Marketing Advances. The award is in recognition of his paper, “A Three-Way Integrative Learning Approach to Cross-National Collaboration Among Students and Practitioners.” Hermans presented the paper at the SMA conference in San Antonio.

Paul Deal, assistant director of the MSU Learning Diagnostic Clinic, received a $9,937 award from the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations to fund his project, “AFOSI Research Project: Agent Retention and Performance.” Deal’s project, now in its second year, tries to determine the differences and similarities between individuals at different points on the career ladder.

Suzanne Cutbirth, director of the Southwest Professional Development Center, received a $209,019 grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for her Missouri’s Reading First Program. She also received a $450,000 grant from MODESE for her Special Education Consultant and Trainer project.

Law

The Missouri Supreme Court reappointed Richard L. Schnake, partner with Neale & Newman LLP, to its Appellate Practice Committee. The committee comprises appellate judges and lawyers from throughout the state and recommends changes in rules and procedures to streamline practice in the Supreme Court and the three districts of the Court of Appeals.

Real Estate

Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realtors received three national awards from Coldwell Banker Corp. The Springfield office was among the company’s Top 100 Offices Nationally by adjusted gross commission; the Top 20 Offices Nationally by total units; and the Top 10 Offices in the 51–100 agents office size category for total units.