On the Street

Norman K. Myers, the only president Ozarks Technical Community College has ever known, will retire June 30. In an Aug. 18 announcement to faculty and staff, Norman said retirement discussions with the OTC Board of Trustees began in 2003. The board voted earlier this year not to extend Myers’ contract beyond this school year. During Myers’ tenure, OTC grew from 1,198 credit students in 1991–92 to about 9,000, from 35 full-time staff to 385 and from a $1.5 million operating budget to $35.5 million. Myers has overseen more than $40 million in campus development, but is stepping down with construction under way for a south campus in Ozark.

Downtown attention

The work of Springfield developers downtown, namely John Q. Hammons, has snagged favorable press outside of the market. Arkansas Business Publisher Jeff Hankins mentioned his downtown Springfield experience in an Aug. 8 column. A recent visit to SBJ offices introduced Hankins to Springfield. “I’m impressed,” he wrote. “Loft apartments, restaurants and retailers are springing up all over downtown.” Hankins was in awe of Hammons Field and said it should inspire voters in North Little Rock, Ark., to support a 1 percent sales tax for two years to fund a $28 million minor league baseball stadium for the Texas League Arkansas Travelers. Voters did, by a 54 percent margin.

Top of the Rock still closed after fire

A June 23 kitchen fire at Top of the Rock in Branson has kept the Big Cedar Lodge property from reopening longer than expected. Golf course officials are targeting spring while crews remodel the restaurant and clubhouse that overlooks Table Rock Lake; Big Cedar spokesperson Larry Whiteley initially said the restaurant would be closed for at least a month.

Next-Generation MBA

Beginning Aug. 29, University of Phoenix is offering a new Master of Business Administration program online and at the Springfield campus. The school calls the Next-Generation MBA program nontraditional because it focuses on management, growth opportunity and leadership challenges based on business scenarios. The scenarios are presented in simulations that allow students to make real-time decisions – just as they would in the workplace – on risk management, ethics and human capital development issues. Registration is open.

Slice of Nice

The Taneyhills Community Library in Branson held a fund-raiser Aug. 27 to raise money for a building addition. Called Growing Like the Dickens, the $75-per-person fund-raiser with silent and live auctions and music from Les Brown & the All Star Band will help fund an 8,000-square-foot addition to the private library’s debt-free building. Taneyhills Library Club Inc. established Taneyhills Community Library in 1933. The library receives no tax money.