Month: April 2012

The teacher/scholar model lies at the heart of any successful liberal arts and sciences institution, and must remain at the center of the Guiding Coalition’s work in imagining the future of Truman State University. It contributes to an intellectually vibrant community with a pervasive sense of the value of the liberal arts and sciences. Faculty scholarship plays an important role in building Truman’s reputation and gaining our graduates entrance to top-notch graduate and professional programs. The teacher/scholar model not only keeps faculty abreast of their field, but even more importantly models behavior that we expect in our students of a life of engagement with ever widening knowledge of our fields and their relation to the larger world. It is important that we do not ask students to do things that we are not willing and able to do ourselves.

Given these realities, it is of utmost importance that Truman State University maintain an active program of internal research grants and sabbaticals. The suspension of this funding threatens the future of Truman State University as a liberal arts and sciences university. We applaud the commitment and support that the School of Social and Cultural Studies (SSCS) demonstrates to faculty research, and call on the entire University to embrace this priority.

Connor Stangler, a junior English and history double major from Columbia, Mo., was recently awarded a national competitive scholarship of up to $30,000 from the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

This year, the Foundation received 587 applications from 272 colleges. Only about 65 scholarships are awarded annually. Stangler is the only student from a Missouri university to receive the award.

Stangler, who will graduate from Truman in May 2013, tentatively plans to pursue a joint juris doctorate/master’s in public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison followed by a Ph.D. in politics and social policy at Princeton University. He credits Truman’s broad curriculum and focus on personal education, as well as service-learning experiences, with helping him secure this scholarship.

“Had I gone to a larger university, or one that placed less of an emphasis on civic commitment, I would not have had the same opportunities,” Stangler said. “The faculty, staff and administrators devote so much of their time to developing leaders and broadening the intellectual capabilities and, especially, the bold imagination of their students. Truman is interested in more than producing efficient professionals; they are interested in producing honest citizens, ones that have the chance to effect change.”

The Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., provides funding to students pursuing graduate degrees in public service fields. The Foundation also provides assistance with career counseling, internship placement, graduate school admissions and professional development. Scholars are invited to participate in a number of programs, including Truman Scholar Leadership Week, The Summer Institute and The Truman-Albright Fellows Program. A complete list of all of this year’s scholarship recipients can be found at truman.gov/meet-our-scholars.