INSIDE: NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTS 20 CMU STUDENTS - See Page 8
T HE C OLLEGIAN CENTRAL METHODIST UNIVERSITY • FAYETTE, MO.
Vol. 140 • No. 6
Winter concert is Sunday
CMU’s Concert Band will present a winter concert Sunday, Dec. 11, at 4 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Student and Community Center. More than 70 students play in the band, which is conducted by Roy “Skip” Vandelicht, CMU’s director of bands and alumnus of the class of Vandelicht 1977. The band will be performing “Overture to Candide” by Bernstein, “Honey Boys on Parade” by Cupero, “Festive Songs of Christmas” by Erickson, “Jefferson Swing Concert March” by Tom Kampman, CMU class of 1954, “Joyance” by Claude T. Smith, also the class of 1954, “Waltz No. 2” by Shostakovich, and Bach’s “Fugue a la Gigue,” arranged by Holst. Kampman will attend this concert with his wife, Willa, an alumna from the class of 1956. He has been active in music since he graduated with a B.M.E. in voice. He earned his master’s degree from Indiana University and did summer stock in Indianapolis and St. Louis. He sang with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians and was a member of “The Group” jazz trio. He also sang in clubs and on television, including the Perry Como Show of the 1950s and ‘60s. For 10 years he served as music director, arranger and conductor for Carousel Productions in Denver. Claude T. Smith wrote “Joyance” for the 1975 Central Methodist Band in honor of the 50th anniversary of Central’s Swinney Conservatory of Music. The Central band premiered the composition at the MENC Southwest Division Conference in Omaha. Smith died in 1987. This year marks the 101st anniversary of Central bands.
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Friday, December 9, 2011
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www.centralmethodist.edu
Processing millions, one student at a time For a person who is responsible for processing more than $33 million this year, Central Methodist University’s Kristen Gibbs keeps her focus on a much smaller number: One. Gibbs, the new financial assistance director at CMU, has a clear focus on serving each student, individually and personally. Every student’s circumstances are different, and the goal Gibbs has for her department is simply to make sure each one gets all the financial assistance he or she can. “People are sensitive about their financial aid package,” Gibbs said. “I want them to be confident we’re getting them all they’re eligible for.” College aid is highly regulated, with federal, state, and institutional guidelines to be strictly followed - and those rules change often. Last year, CMU processed over $33 million in student assistance, a figure sure to grow during the current year. The rules are voluminous and complex, and usually offer little or no flexibility. Knowing the rules is tough enough for Gibbs and her six full-time and one part-time staff members; for a student, the rules can seem overwhelming. “That’s (knowing the rules) our job,” Gibbs said matter-offactly. “We can’t expect anyone outside of the financial assis-
Kristen Gibbs New director of financial aid tance office to understand. “You can’t just tell a student ‘hey, these are the rules’,” she continued. “When the boundaries don’t meet a student’s needs, you look for other resources to help them out.” A native of Maysville and a resident of rural Fayette, Gibbs is accustomed to strict regulations and oversight: she spent the previous two-and-a-half years in banking in Callaway County. Before that she was an economist in Iowa and Nebraska. Gibbs is a University of Missouri graduate. That background “gave me both an understanding of financial fundamentals and a more in-depth understanding of how regulations are applied,” she
said. “I learned how to read and interpret complex documents, and how to interpret and manipulate data.” Yet the transition to higher education is a big leap. “I have to be like a sponge, soak up all I can,” Gibbs said. “Just listening to our staff talk about matters that are routine for them, I’m picking up on things. We’ll face headaches and problems, but we have a great staff - there isn’t anything we can’t work through.” Still, Gibbs admits there are days she goes home thinking “I hope I can remember everything I learned today.” Home includes husband Alex, an agronomist with Howard County-based Waterborne Environmental Co.,, and their threeyear-old daughter Addison. “Our biggest challenges are going to be those things we can’t control,” Gibbs said. “Family income, state funding for grant programs, and the uncertainties surrounding federal student aid” are the biggest unknowns facing student aid in the future, she notes. “The goal doesn’t change,” she said. “Our office tries to find sources of aid that will allow a student to attend Central Methodist University. There are lines we have to play within, but if someone doesn’t qualify in one area, we have to think outside the box.”
‘Tis the season
The spirit of Christmas is much in evidence around the CMU campus. This brightly-decorated tree is just inside the main entrance of the Student and Community Center. (JIM STEELE PHOTO)
Holiday hours noted for CMU dining service
CMU’s dining hall service will close at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, and will reopen for breakfast on Monday, Jan. 9. Snack bar service will close at 6 p.m. Dec. 15, and will be open Dec, 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed on the 17th and 18th. It will be open from 11 to 1 on the 19th and 20th, then closed for the rest of the year. From Jan. 2 to 6, it will be open from 11 to 1 and 5 to 6. Closed Jan. 7. On Jan. 8 it will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. and resume regular hours Jan. 9.
CMU nursing program receives 10-year reaccreditation CMU’s nursing program has received one of its most important stamps of approval: maximum 10-year reaccreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). CMU President Marianne Inman received word in late November of the approval.
“Both our bachelor’s and our master’s nursing programs have been approved by this national accrediting body,” Inman said. “It is wonderful to have this additional affirmation of the high quality of our nursing programs. “Many thanks to Professor Megan Hess, Professor Stephanie
Brink, Professor Angie Cornelius, all of our nursing faculty and many more, for exceptionally fine work,” she added. The CCNE is a national accrediting body based in Washington, D.C. It requires extensive reporting and documentation, as well as an on-campus visit by an
evaluation team, as part of the accreditation process. CMU has 70-80 pre-nursing students, 85 undergraduate nursing students in the traditional program, 190 students in its bachelor of science in nursing completion program, and 48 master’s degree-seeking nursing students now enrolled.