Newsmakers

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation contributed $15,000 to the Missouri Colleges Fund. Member schools, including Drury and Evangel universities in Springfield and Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, will receive grants from the fund and award scholarships to qualified students based on financial need.

The Urban Neighborhoods Alliance held its third annual volunteer recognition June 2 in Jordan Valley Park in conjunction with its annual meeting. Winners and their neighborhoods are: Fred Ellison/Janice Parker and Central Assembly of God Church, Grant Beach; Janet Dankert and Dan Beach/ Drury Comer Project, Midtown; John Ehlers, West Central; and Jess Tracy and Reed Middle School, Woodland Heights.

Construction

Epcon Communities, an Ohio-based homebuilding developer with local franchises in Springfield, Nixa and Branson, was ranked 35th on the 2006 Builder 100 List by Builder Magazine, moving up from No. 36 last year. Epcon is expanding into six new states and adding 20 franchises this year.

Consulting

Janet Michel, business coach for the Springfield office of The Entrepreneur’s Source, received the Marketing Excellence Award at the annual company convention in Phoenix. Michel was selected from more than 230 consultants based on her work coaching clients, seeking self-employment options and providing small-business training and development resources.

Education

Evangel University alumna Kelly C. McLeland presented “Transformation of Attitudes Within the Church: Prejudice, Gender, Sexual Orientation and Mental Health” at the 2007 annual conference of the International Christian Association for Psychological Studies.

The paper was based on her master’s thesis and examined attitudes of conservative Christians toward people with mental health conditions and different sexual orientations.

Bryan Sanders, Evangel legal studies professor, was selected for the 2007–08 edition of “Who’s Who in American Law.” Published by The Marquis Who’s Who Publications Board, the book provides biographical information on more than 25,000 legal professionals, including judges, lawyers and educators.

Jeff Hittenberger, Evangel education professor, is the school’s new director of graduate studies. Evangel launched its graduate studies program in 1998 and currently offers eight master’s degree programs in teacher education, psychology, school counseling and organizational leadership.

Hittenberger, 1982 Evangel graduate, previously had similar responsibilities

at Vanguard University in southern California.

Kimberly Berry was promoted to communications division chair at Ozarks Technical Community College. She will supervise the communications department, which has four full-time and 10 adjunct instructors, as well as handle course scheduling and staffing. Berry is a 14-year OTC employee and has a master’s degree in communications from Missouri State University, where she worked for nine years.

Heidi Perreault, professor of computer information systems at MSU, received an $8,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for “Engaging Students in Business and Marketing,” a series of business education workshops.

Two three-day workshops in Springfield will be offered in June and July, and will include topics such as creating blogs, producing podcasts and updating Microsoft Office 2007. The workshops are free for local high school business and marketing teachers.

Lynn Robbins, professor of biology at MSU, was awarded two grants totaling a combined amount of $40,740 from Western EcoSystems Technology Inc. to determine if Indiana bats are in specific areas of northern Missouri. Two projects will study the presence of bats on a site under consideration for wind-generated electric turbines. [[In-content Ad]]