FY2024 ANNUAL REPORT
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
Alumni and Friends,
Thank you! Your generosity has fueled incredible advances for our university over the past year. Because of your continued support, we are creating opportunities for our students that they never imagined possible. The investments of alumni and friends like you continue to yield significant outcomes for our university. The future is very bright at UCM.
This past fiscal year, you and thousands of other proud donors provided $8.75 million in gifts, pledges and newly documented planned gifts. We are incredibly grateful to the many individuals who contribute to our work and the increasing number of businesses, foundations and corporations stepping up for UCM.
We have also made great strides toward improving UCM’s physical campus. In the past few months, the remodeled Terry Noland Football Office Complex was unveiled, and the brand-new Hough Education and Counseling Center has opened in what was once the Lovinger gymnasium. The university also unveiled the Skyhaven Aviation Center and the Harbert Collegiate Golf Center, both funded in large part by donor support. Renovations to the James C. Kirkpatrick Library opened new study spaces for students, and work continues on a complete remodel of the Humphreys Building.
For the first time in the Alumni Foundation’s history, assets under management surpassed the $100 million mark. This remarkable achievement for our relatively young foundation speaks to the trust and faith of those of you who give back. Because of careful management and investment of donor gifts, our annual payout from the endowment was over $2 million. These funds significantly impact UCM’s greatest needs today and for years to come. We also awarded over $1.66 million from donor-funded scholarship endowments — a new record — to 1,102 students.
Our Alumni Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to share the enclosed 2024 Annual Report, with information regarding our many successes and our progress over the past year.
No matter the year of your graduation, where you are in MuleNation or the amount of your gift, we value you as a part of the UCM community. Thank you for redefining what is possible for all who learn and learn to lead at the University of Central Missouri.
With thanks and appreciation,
Leslie
J. Krasner,
J.D., ’77, ’78 President, Alumni Foundation Board of Directors
Courtney E. Goddard, J.D. Vice President for Advancement Executive Director, UCM Alumni Foundation
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Celebrating the Spirit of Philanthropy
Established in 2021 during the University of Central Missouri’s 150th anniversary Founders Day celebration, “An Evening of Appreciation” is the UCM Founders Society’s signature event. On the evening of April 20, 2024, members of the UCM Alumni Foundation’s most prestigious giving society came together to honor the following individuals with the Founding Philanthropist Award.
Ed and Sandra Elliott
Ed and Sandra Elliott’s 14 years of service to UCM as president and first lady were marked by record enrollment increases, expansion of academic degree programs and renewed efforts to endow the university with philanthropic support.
Sandra and Ed Elliott have played an indelible role in making UCM what it is today.
Both Ed and Sandra grew up in Grain Valley, Missouri, graduating from Grain Valley High School. Ed received an artium baccalaureus degree from William Jewell College, where he earned 10 varsity athletic letters and was captain of the football and wrestling teams. Sandra attended what was then Central Missouri State College and joined the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority. She married Ed in the Alumni Memorial Chapel on campus the year before she graduated with a degree in Business Education in 1961.
Ed went on to coach and teach at various high schools and universities. Sandra taught elementary and high school, and the couple raised three children. Ed earned his master’s degree from Columbia University in New York and his doctorate from the
University of Northern Colorado. The Elliotts eventually served as president and first Lady of Wayne State College in Nebraska for three years before Ed was appointed as UCM’s 12th president in 1985.
Ed and Sandra made lasting contributions, including establishing the Emeriti Association and University Art Collection; spearheading fundraising efforts to build Walton Stadium and Crane Stadium; building a modernized Central Village, Greenwood Park and the South Recreation Complex; and constructing Smiser Alumni Center in the student union. The crown jewel of their construction legacy is the James C. Kirkpatrick Library, which opened the year Ed retired in 1999.
In appreciation of their service, the student union was renamed the Elliott Student Union, with the ballrooms named for Sandra Temple Elliott. Ed was inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Elliotts remain active supporters of UCM Athletics. They also have established the Sandra Temple and Ed M. Elliott Family Scholarship, which supports UCM undergraduate students who have been active volunteers supporting the university.
UCM’s Global Vision Founder
While many donors to the University of Central Missouri are acknowledged publicly, some choose to keep their philanthropy anonymous. Inspired by a service-learning experience with international nonprofit Global Volunteers, this donor wanted to bring a similar opportunity to students in Warrensburg. To fulfill this mission, the Global Vision Endowment was established through the UCM Alumni Foundation in 2015.
UCM students enjoy a view of Kathmandu, Nepal, from 256 feet at Skywalk Tower during a Global Vision service-learning trip in May 2024.
Since then, more than 250 volunteers from UCM have taken service-learning trips abroad to places like Tanzania, Peru, Cuba, Saint Lucia, Nepal and Poland. All expenses are paid through the endowment, including airfare, meals, room and board.
During the two-week trips, volunteers help the communities they visit in many ways — teaching conversational English, caring for malnourished and at-risk children, conducting workshops for mothers, planting container gardens for sustainable nutrition, renovating school buildings and working in health clinics. Although intent on remaining anonymous, the donor would often attend (always sitting incognito in the audience) the presentations students gave to the campus community about their transformative experiences.
Upon this donor’s passing, the UCM Alumni Foundation received a large bequest from their estate, making the Global Vision Endowment the largest at the university. A committee was then formed to assist with carrying out the donor’s wishes, which have manifested through the expansion of the Global Vision program. Many more students now have the opportunity to go beyond “the Burg,” with four trips planned for 2025.
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Rand and Kelly Harbert
Rand and Kelly Harbert embody the University of Central Missouri’s motto of “Education for Service.” As firstgeneration students from rural Missouri, they have committed to giving back to causes and institutions they believe in, including higher education.
After playing football, basketball and golf in high school, Rand attended what was then Central Missouri State University on a golf scholarship. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Graphic Arts Technology Management in 1985 and was awarded the George Charno Outstanding Senior Award. He later earned an MBA from Webster University and graduated from the General Management program at the Harvard School of Business.
Kelly attended CMSU on a full-ride academic scholarship and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. As a student, she was a cheerleader with Rand, a University Ambassador and a member of Delta Zeta sorority, while Rand was a member of Alpha Kappa Lambda. She graduated as valedictorian in 1986.
After graduation, Kelly worked in KPMG’s estate planning group, and Rand worked in various roles for H.J. Heinz and Marion Merrell Dow before joining State Farm Insurance as an agent in 1992. When he retired from State Farm 30 years later, Rand was serving as executive vice president and chief agency, sales and marketing officer.
Kelly currently serves as president of Spectrum Partners, a company she founded in 1995 that operates assisted living facilities. The Harberts have been happily married for more than three decades and have raised three children.
Rand and Kelly continue to give back to their alma mater. In addition to their support of the university’s greatest needs through the Central Annual Fund, they have established the Randall and Kelly Harbert Marketing Professorship in the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies. They are also champions of Mules and Jennies Golf, elevating the programs through generous gifts to purchase vans for the teams and to construct the Harbert Collegiate Golf Center, which opened April 20, 2024, the same day they were honored as UCM Founding Philanthropists.
From my University High School graduation in 1976 to covering the University of Central Missouri as a journalist in the 1980s, then serving the institution professionally for more than three decades, UCM and its many different facilities have impacted me as a student, employee and alumnus. As I transition into retirement from the Office of Integrated Marketing and Communications, it is gratifying to share information about the progress UCM is making through various buildings and grounds projects while also offering personal anecdotes that, for me, transcend bricks and mortar. — Jeff Murphy
Rand and Kelly Harbert, center, cut the ribbon at the April 20 dedication of the Harbert Collegiate Golf Center at Mules National Golf Club. Pictured with them are UCM Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Matt Howdeshell, Mules Golf Head Coach Tim Poe, Vice President of University Advancement Courtney Goddard, UCM President Roger Best and Jennies Golf Head Coach Chris Port.
Jeff Murphy took this photo of students on a dock at Pertle Springs while working as a reporter for the Warrensburg Daily Star Journal in the 1980s.
The More Things Change After Half a Century of Expansion and Renovation, UCM Still Feels Like Home
By Jeff Murphy, ’80, ’95
Harbert Collegiate Golf Center
As a newspaper reporter in the 1980s, I covered Easter egg hunts for children in need and an annual Teddy Bear Jubilee that brought collectors from across the United States to the old lodge at Pertle Springs. The festival of bears was started by Warrensburg native and UCM Theatre alumnus William “Bill” Boyd, ’55, as a fundraiser for the Good Bears of the World organization, which donates teddy bears for first responders and grief counselors to use.
Pertle Springs was a popular spot for student and community gatherings in the ’80s. I spent many summer weekends with my daughter
at the Pertle Springs pool, and was defeated shamelessly by every friend who ever played golf with me at what was then known as Keth Memorial Golf Course.
Fortunately, today there are a lot of university members, alumni and friends who are much better than I at golf, and many of them have claimed the Mules National Golf Club at Pertle Springs as a great place to engage in their favorite pastime. It is also the location where some of the best collegiate competitors in the nation perfect their skills as members of Mules and Jennies Golf. Efforts to better serve these students and other golf course users received a significant boost during the 2023–24 academic year when Rand, ’85, and
Kelly, ’86, Harbert donated the lead gift for the construction of a new golf center at Mules National Golf Club.
UCM launched this building project on Sept. 22, 2023, and on April 20, 2024, the community celebrated the opening of the Harbert Collegiate Golf Center. Located on the west side of Traditions Restaurant with a view of the beautiful, well-manicured golf course, this 2,100-square-foot, single-story building is the pinnacle of such facilities in NCAA Division II collegiate golf programs. Amenities include lounge space for both the men’s and women’s golf teams, offices, restrooms, a recruit lounge/meeting room, a laundry room and a large outdoor deck.
The Harbert Collegiate Golf Center features lounge spaces, offices, restrooms, a laundry room, a meeting room and a large outdoor deck.
Skyhaven Aviation Center
For someone who built a nearly 35-year public relations career by sharing stories about UCM, Aug. 28, 2005, was a memorable day. During my Sunday morning ritual of thumbing through The Kansas City Star, my eyes turned to the weekend issue of Star Magazine. On the cover was a photo of a 15-year-old boy wearing a headset and a beaming smile while seated in the cockpit of a UCMowned single-engine Cessna 172 airplane. Experiencing flying for the first time, this young man was part of the first Aviation Youth Academy Summer Camp, a Kansas City-based program that partnered with Kansas City Public Schools and the university’s Max B. Swisher Skyhaven Airport to expose 20 underrepresented youth to aviation careers.
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While this article reached thousands of metropolitanarea readers, it highlighted one of many examples of events that have taken place at the airport since it was donated to UCM in 1968 by former Warrensburg resident, entrepreneur and businessman Max B. Swisher. Such events have not only introduced young people to aviation but have also provided opportunities for pilots from Missouri and beyond to utilize resources at the state’s only university-owned communityuse and educational-use airport. From its humble beginnings as a place where private pilots took off on grass runways, this airport has continued to improve and expand.
A milestone at the airport was reached in 2021 with the campus celebrating “50 Years of Aviation Excellence.” This observance recognized the university aviation program’s growth from 25 students and a fleet of four Cessna aircraft to nearly 500 students and more than 24 airplanes on property that now features vastly improved runways, taxiways and hangars. But there was much more to come.
In September 2023, a significant step forward was celebrated at the airport with a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the opening of the 10,000-square-foot, $5.1 million Skyhaven Aviation Center. This facility was the result of a vision that became a reality, thanks to $2.8 million in donor support, $1 million in state funds and remaining funding from UCM.
The campus and local community celebrated the new Skyhaven Aviation Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 8, 2023.
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Cutting the ribbon Sept. 8: David Pearce, UCM director for governmental relations; Scott Fitzpatrick, state auditor; Lynn and Jackie Harmon; President Roger Best; Missouri Sen. Denny Hoskins; Tyler Young, a ’23 Professional Pilot graduate; Courtney Goddard, executive director of the UCM Alumni Foundation; Mark Suazo, former dean of the Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies; and Ed Hassinger, MDOT interim director and chief engineer.
Replacing and expanding the role of the old administration and terminal building that was constructed in the 1970s, the Skyhaven Aviation Center includes amenities such as a pilots’ lounge, lockers, a bathroom with shower, and a quiet room to serve local and corporate aviators. It also features shared space with a dispatch station, a break room,
airport staff offices, a conference room, a work room and 30 private “pods,” or small meeting rooms where Aviation students can visit individually with flight instructors. Adding to this project, Missouri legislators appropriated $850,000 for UCM to build self-service fuel facilities that will operate 24 hours a day.
The airport will continue to play an important role at the front and center of Johnson County aviation, serving the community and preparing the next generation of professional pilots and industry leaders.
Testyouraviation knowledgewiththe MuleNation Aviation crosswordpuzzleonthe inside back cover!
A view of the runway from around the time the airport was gifted to the university in the mid-’60s.
Paige McCarty, right, was one of the high school students who spent the summer of 2021 learning from UCM Certified Flight Instructor Keaton Rex, left, and others at the Air Force Junior ROTC Flight Academy.
James C. Kirkpatrick Library
As a university student in the late ’70s, trips to the Ward Edwards Library on the north side of campus were an important part of my university experience.
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Whether as a place to meet up with classmates to work on a project, to spend hours combing through card catalogs or to stand in line with other students for rented textbooks at the beginning of each quarter, the library often beckoned my attention.
By the end of the first decade of my employment at UCM, Ward Edwards’ role at the university began to change. The Board of Governors approved the construction of a new library on the south side of campus to replace the building completed in 1939 and bearing the name of librarian Ward Edwards, who had operated the university’s library out of other campus
buildings until enough funds were raised after the 1915 fire.
The new library would be named for James C. Kirkpatrick, a former newspaper man who served for 20 years as Missouri’s secretary of state, the longest tenure to date for that office. He was also a 12-year member and former president of UCM’s governing board.
Kirkpatrick was part of the groundbreaking for the new library in October 1996 but died a year later at age 92 before the building was finished. He did not witness the official dedication
ceremony on March 24, 1999, or the “book brigade,” which was a human train of volunteers who transported books hand to hand down a line they formed on the sidewalk from Ward Edwards to the new location. The act was largely ceremonial, as professional movers were ultimately needed to load and unload an estimated 836,000 books and other bound materials.
Decades after the James C. Kirkpatrick Library (JCKL) opened, a new milestone occurred on Nov. 28, 2023. Demonstrating the power of philanthropic support, UCM celebrated Giving Tuesday, a global day of philanthropy, with the library’s rededication. This was a day when members of MuleNation came together to raise support for the Central Annual Fund and to check out state-of-the-art renovations made at the library last fall. These included modernized study and collaborative learning spaces, new study nooks, a wellness room and soft furnishings made possible by a gift of $975,000 from the Koch Family Trust.
Students, faculty and staff members line the sidewalk to pass books hand to hand from the library at Ward Edwards to the new James C. Kirkpatrick Library in February 1999.
Students read and relax on the lawn outside of what was then Ward Edwards Library.
The trust was established by Oliver T. Koch and Mary G. Koch in 1990. Oliver graduated from Central Missouri State Teachers College in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. During their lifetime, the couple supported student scholarships and the Kirkpatrick Library Construction Fund.
UCM alumna Ashley Perrin, ’11, an Interior Design graduate, served as lead designer on the renovation project with Odimo, an architecture, design and consulting firm. She also returned to campus during the academic year as a guest speaker for the [Shirley] Kleppe [’67] Foundation Visual Arts Visiting Artist Endowment series coordinated by the UCM Gallery of Art and Design.
Donors continue to support JCKL as the library serves the academic needs of the UCM community, with more than 200,000 square feet of floor space and more than 1.3 million physical and online books, documents, journals and media resources. The facility serves as a hub of scholarly research and houses the McClure Archives and University Museum, a designated Blue Star Museum and Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area.
While I never got to use JCKL as a student, professionally I have made good use of its vast resources in search of information for articles or reports I was writing, to attend training sessions with colleagues in the facility’s meeting rooms or to seek out a quiet spot to conduct an interview.
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Above: The library under construction after the October 1996 groundbreaking. Below: The library completed.
UCM President Ed Elliott, James C. Kirkpatrick and Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new library.
Students can now enjoy comfortable furniture, study pods and small-group study spaces on the first floor.
Hough Education and Counseling Center
The gymnasium on the second floor of the Lovinger Building became a place where I learned the value of patience and how to keep a bench seat warm as a sophomore on the University High School (UHS) Colts basketball team. Two years later, the gymnasium was the spot where a major announcement was made during the allschool assembly. A day when many tears were shed by my teachers and classmates, it sealed my fate as a member of the last senior class to ever graduate from UHS, which closed in 1976.
My transition to college was easy, as I was already familiar with most of the buildings on campus, and many of the educators I studied under as a student continued their service to the university outside the high school classroom. The men and women I admired and respected as a student later became friends and colleagues through my work at the university. The lockers that lined both sides of the hall on the ground floor of Lovinger — a relatively new facility when I attended high school — remained for many years like ghosts from the past.
Fast-forward to 2024: the same area that once housed a wood basketball court, bleachers and a stage has been reimagined and has undergone significant renovations to create a state-of-the-art mixed-use educational facility that will help the College of Education
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
continue to be a leader in counselor education in Missouri and beyond. This renovation was made possible by a generous gift from UCM alumnus Greg Thurman, ’74, of Franklin, Tennessee, in honor of his nephew, Mike Hough, ’93 and ’98. Hough earned three bachelor’s degrees from UCM in Biology, Chemistry and Secondary Education, followed by a Master of Science in Education, Secondary School Administration. He also earned education specialist and doctoral degrees as part of a career that has included serving as an adjunct professor at UCM, a chemistry teacher at Lee’s Summit West and Knob Noster high schools, a middle school principal in Holden, Missouri, and currently as superintendent of the Holden R-III School District.
The university community celebrated the new center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 24, 2024. Alumni like me no longer recognize the Lovinger gymnasium, which has been completely converted into an area that includes counseling rooms, a play therapy room, multifunctional space, faculty offices and a welcoming lobby. Faculty and students work alongside school-based practitioners and engage with communitybased clinicians and counselors to better understand how trauma-informed care can be practiced through play therapy, which can then be integrated back into the classroom. The center also offers individual and group counseling services to the community as well as free services to UCM students.
The gymnasium in the Lovinger Building was where the University High School Colts played basketball until the school closed in 1976.
The Lovinger gym was transformed into a multi-use education and counseling center.
The new center is named after Holden, Missouri, superintendent Michael Hough, shown here with his wife, Kim, and children.
The Hough Education and Counseling Center features counseling rooms, a play therapy room and meeting spaces serving the university and local community.
Humphreys Building Renovation
During my sophomore year at University High School, the Humphreys Building — the site of the original Training School to prepare generations of Missouri teachers — became one of my favorite spots while I was enrolled in a driver’s education course. Although most of my classes were on the first floor of the Lovinger Building, as an eager young man who was only months away from his 16th birthday, I was focused on becoming a licensed driver.
While I was mostly oblivious to all of the great programs that were taking place in the Humphreys Building, I learned the rules of the road on the automobile simulators there. This was followed by more advanced lessons in one of the ’70s-era Chevrolets available to our class at the highway safety instructional park south of campus. (Sometimes I even won the mad dash to drive the Camaro!)
While the primitive driving simulators have long disappeared and many changes have
As a University High School student, the author learned to drive using one of these 1970s “driving simulators” in the Humphreys Building.
taken place within Humphreys over the past 50 years, this facility continues to be one of tremendous importance to UCM. With the words “Education for Service” etched into the building’s north exterior wall, Humphreys is home to students in areas that embody the spirit of that longstanding UCM motto. To better contribute to the education of students in areas such as Criminal Justice and Criminology, Safety Sciences, and Military Science and Leadership, an extensive renovation project is underway. The project will modernize resources and address $21 million in deferred maintenance needs.
As renovation began in December 2023, faculty, staff and students were relocated
from Humphreys to other buildings on campus. The first phase entailed asbestos abatement, and additional work to follow includes modernizing classrooms, open collaboration areas, faculty open office areas, the UCM Counseling Center, the Reserve Officers Training Corps program area and a new esports facility.
Action taken by the university’s Board of Governors made it possible to take advantage of the summer 2024 schedule to renovate office suites used by academic departments in Humphreys. An additional $9.95 million installment of funding for the Humphreys renovation project is part of the state’s fiscal year 2025 capital appropriations. This installment, along with prior funding, constitutes 100 percent financing by the state of Missouri for the $39.8 million project, scheduled for completion in 2026.
These five capital projects, started or completed in fiscal year 2024, exemplify the university’s strategic forward movement to meet ever-changing needs, and the master plan adopted in 2023 provides a detailed roadmap for the future. As always, the generosity of UCM alumni and friends is essential to driving the facility renovations and innovations that enhance both the student experience and the role of the university in our larger community.
As a new member of UCM’s emeriti family, I treasure the fond memories of my alma mater and workplace and look forward to celebrating more project milestones in the years to come.
Historical photos for this story were provided by the McClure Archives and University Museum.
The renderings at right show how the front and back of Humphreys is expected to look when the renovation is completed, including a new front entrance being created where the two halves of the building meet.
Driving Opportunity Opportunity Grants Fund Safe-Driving Initiatives
By Cloe Pohlman, Public Relations Undergraduate Student
College is about freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. A big part of that is being able to go where you want to go, which in central Missouri means having a license to drive. Two programs were made possible by donor-funded Opportunity Grants in fiscal year 2024 to help students get a license and get around safely: Drive Safe UCM and Cannabis Impairment Education.
Drive Safe UCM
Drive Safe UCM was designed to help international students learn about driving in the U.S. and acquire their driver’s licenses. It is a four-hour course in a classroom setting that discusses the rules of the road, how to obtain a license, what to do in encounters with law enforcement and the American culture around cars and driving.
The popular culture surrounding driving in the U.S. has ties to the mass production of the earliest automobiles, car shows, the glamorization of hot rods and drag racing in post-World War II entertainment, the lore of Route 66 and Americans’ general infatuation with owning a vehicle.
“There are differences with the United States and other countries around the world as to what driving actually is,” says Mike Perkins, senior program manager for the Missouri Safety Center, who taught the Drive Safe UCM classes. “For the United States, it’s not just necessarily a way to get from point A to point B; there’s a big portion of the population that actually uses cars for entertainment to go out and drive around. The culture of cars and how they evolved and things like car clubs ... a lot of the international students found that to be really interesting.”
In some countries, including India, which is home to the majority of UCM’s international students, people drive on the left side of the road instead of the right,
The Drive Safe UCM initiative teaches international students Missouri rules of the road and the culture behind driving in the U.S.
with the steering wheel being on the right-hand side of the vehicle. Other differences that may surprise international students include less public transportation, more complex and expensive ride-share services, and fewer walkable cities.
Since January, more than a dozen students have completed the Drive Safe UCM program, and the Missouri Safety Center plans to continue offering the course in the future.
OPPORTUNITY GRANT HIGHLIGHTS
Since 2013, the UCM Alumni Foundation has offered faculty and staff the opportunity to apply for Opportunity Grants. Powered by donations to the Central Annual Fund, these grants are awarded for initiatives and technology designed to enrich students’ learning experience.
In December 2022, recreational marijuana was legalized in Missouri. The Cannabis Impairment Education program was designed to educate students about the dangers of driving under the influence.
According to the 420 Drug-Impaired Driving Enforcement Campaign by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, drug-impaired driving contributed to 7% of all 2023 Missouri traffic fatalities. In 2023, 73 people were killed and 167 seriously injured in crashes that involved at least one drug-impaired driver. Drugimpaired Missouri drivers under the age of 21 were involved in five fatal and 13 serious injury crashes in 2023, in which eight people were killed and 22 seriously injured.
In an effort to reduce the number of students driving under the influence, Sergeant Joe Jennings with the UCM Department of Public Safety applied for and received an Opportunity Grant to purchase cannabis impairment goggles. Similar to goggles used to mimic drunkenness, these devices and five paired activities are designed to mimic the cognitive and physiological impairment caused by cannabis use.
One activity involves a maze on a dry-erase board. The first time students
do the activity, it’s generally quick and easy to complete. However, when students put on the goggles and try the same maze again, it is significantly harder due to the visual impairment the goggles cause and the inability to remember the route they had previously taken to complete the maze.
“What cannabis is ultimately doing is affecting that psychophysical ability to see something, react to it and understand what you’re seeing, which is all pretty important when you’re driving a car,” says Jennings, who is known as one of the top four most active drug recognition experts in Missouri.
The equipment is used in introductorylevel college-orientation classes at UCM and at various university events. The goal is to reach as many people as possible and raise awareness about how quickly cannabis can affect your memory and judgment while driving. Since August 2023, approximately 500 campus community members have participated in the Cannabis Impairment Education project.
College life brings a thrilling mix of freedom and responsibility. These two Opportunity Grants not only educate students but also foster a safer and more informed community for everyone.
Cannabis Impairment Education
Students try out the Fatal Vision cannabis impairment goggles at the New Student Carnival during UCM’s Week of Welcome in fall 2023. Pictured from left are UCM Police Sgt. Joe Jennings, Officer Payton Graham and Officer Lane Embry.
Activities designed to demonstrate how cannabis can impair visual perception and reaction time include a maze and a Connect 4-style memory challenge.
Period Poverty
Addressing the Stigmas and Solutions
By Cloe Pohlman, Public Relations Undergraduate Student
Period poverty remains a pressing and often overlooked issue on college campuses, where access to menstrual products can be a significant barrier to academic and personal success. This is why Associate Professor Sarah Ray Rondot applied for and received a donor-funded Opportunity Grant from the UCM Alumni Foundation to provide students, faculty and staff with free period products in a total of 32 women’s and gender-neutral restrooms across campus.
The National Library of Medicine describes period poverty as “having insufficient access to menstrual products, education and sanitation facilities.” According to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, in the U.S. it is estimated that 14.2% of women attending colleges or universities have experienced period poverty in the past year, with 10% consistently unable to afford menstrual products every month.
Motivated by these statistics, Rondot, who serves as the director of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UCM, and then-undergraduate student Kylie Dannatt, ’23, conducted their own research. They found that 30% of the 224 students who
Key the Music
responded to the survey reported having a hard time purchasing period products every month.
While price is a big factor, there are other reasons for inaccessibility, such as the lack of time or transportation to get to a store.
“Having products in the bathrooms alleviates this pressure and potential feelings of shame or embarrassment in having to ask for products,” Rondot explains. “Many students commented on our survey that the boxes were a ‘lifesaver’ when they needed a pad or tampon in the middle of class but didn’t have one. Others commented that simply knowing the boxes were there was helpful in lowering feelings of anxiety or stress surrounding menstruation.”
The initial donor-supported Opportunity Grant provided enough funds to stock the boxes for one semester. The effort that started with an idea and an Opportunity Grant will now be funded through the university, giving students one less thing to worry about.
Portable Keyboard Benefits Theatre and Dance
The Division of Theatre and Dance in UCM’s School of Visual and Performing Arts was awarded an Opportunity Grant to purchase a portable keyboard stage bundle. The equipment has traveled to student showcases, auditions, classrooms and performances at the Highlander Theatre and the Nickerson Black Box Theatre.
“Within our classes, it provides many opportunities for students to easily practice and hone their craft and will allow us to continue to produce an excellent level of productions in the years to come,” says Ashley Miller-Scully, chair of UCM Theatre and Dance. “We are able to make the keyboard accessible to our students and have it available for their use so they have all the means necessary to succeed both inside and out of the classroom.”
Alongside each box was a QR code that people could scan if the box was empty. Some boxes needed to be refilled biweekly and others only once a month, depending on the location. In total, the QR code was scanned 145 times in the 2023–24 academic year.
UCM Theatre and Dance used the portable keyboard during the spring musical, “Xanadu.”
Backpack Journalism Pro Camera Kits Allow Students More
Mobility
Students participating in the production of UCM’s student newspaper and associated multimedia are benefiting from a 2024 Opportunity Grant to purchase four Canon T8i professional camera kits.
The Muleskinner is a student-led organization that provides students in any major the opportunity to generate news content. The newsroom previously had only one camera for approximately 75 student journalists to use. While photographers, videographers, podcast creators and members of the promotions team are the primary users, writers and editors occasionally take their own pictures for stories.
“Overall, each story submitted for coverage must have a standard of excellence to include a visual to help the student journalist show and not just tell the story,” says Julie Lewis, ’05, ’15, associate professor of Communication and faculty adviser for the Muleskinner. “The grant’s cameras have the ability to provide both still photography and video images.”
Lewis is excited that the new photography equipment is allowing more students to have real-world experience covering
news at the university, in the Warrensburg community and beyond. At the fall 2023 National College Media Convention in Atlanta, the Muleskinner’s 2023–24 multimedia manager, Ellie Whitesell, took home first place in the division for Best Feature Photography. This was one of many awards the Muleskinner staff won last year, including Missouri College Media Association recognition for Best in State, Best Overall Newspaper and Best Overall Website in Division I, competing with the largest institutions in the state.
This fall a team of student journalists relaunched the Backpack Journalism Project. Their first assignment was covering places in Warrensburg, including the Farmer’s Market, Java Junction and Retrograde. Throughout the year they will be covering stories in other locations along Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner route.
The Muleskinner publishes a print issue monthly during the academic year, with ongoing coverage at muleskinnernews.com.
Linda Alviar, the Muleskinner’s news editor, adjusts the lens of a Canon EOS Rebel T8i DSLR, one of the four cameras awarded to the Muleskinner by a donor-funded Opportunity Grant.
Staker, Ambati, Alviar, Mostaffa and King scout out campus news with their mobile photography equipment.
From left, Darby Mostaffa, managing editor; Riley King, staff writer; Vinaydeep Reddy Ambati, business promotions manager; and Sadie Staker, editor in chief, view the photos they took outside the Martin Building.
H OW YOU R
E N E ROSIT Y SU PP O RTS UCM
As the University of Central Missouri continues to transform students into leaders, the UCM Alumni Foundation continues
t o me e t t he tas k o f c reatin g oppor tunities that enhance their
w h at' s po ss i b le
Together with thousands of donors across the globe, we have delivered
— June 30, 2024) of incredible suppor t for UCM’ s students, faculty and programs. We are proud to have secured:
• $8.75 million in total giving, including donations, pledges and documented planned gifts
• $1.66 million distributed in direct scholarship suppor t to students
• 21 new endowed funds that will support UCM in perpetuity
• $2 million in endowment earnings paid out to UCM, the largest amount ever!
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
By Caitlin Mendenhall, Public Relations Undergraduate Student
Leah Holt
Leah Holt is a first-generation transfer student from Kansas City, Kansas, majoring in Health Studies with a minor in Nutrition. She received the Katzentine/ Carswell/Cheatham Scholarship.
“At a time of uncertainty, this scholarship provided me an opportunity to continue my education and also my experience here as a Mule,” Leah says. “I’m proud of the work I’ve been able to do within my short time here, and although I’m excited for what’s to come, I’m even more thankful for the opportunity of just being able to attend this great university.”
Leah is involved in the Association of Black Collegians, Sisters of Ujima, the Honors College, the Health Studies Student Leadership Committee and Paramedico, a student organization that does health-carerelated community service.
Leah became a McNair Scholar through the federal TRIO program aimed at helping first-generation, low-income undergraduates prepare for graduate study. After graduation in May, she plans on attending graduate school to study public health.
Mauro Hernandez Hadley Oden
Mauro Hernandez is a first-generation student from Monett, Missouri, who came to UCM to pursue his dream of flying. In addition to learning to fly in the Professional Pilot degree program, he had the opportunity to fly to another country for the first time, thanks to the Global Vision Scholarship, made possible by a generous anonymous gift to the UCM Alumni Foundation.
Mauro and 14 other students traveled to Nepal in May 2024 on an all-expenses-paid service-learning trip.
“My parents immigrated from Mexico with no high school education,” Mauro says. “If it wasn’t for my high school teacher Mr. Marcus Reynolds [’02], an alum from UCM, I would have regretted not following my dreams. … I am beyond grateful for his guidance and advice because UCM has truly opened up a whole new world for me!”
For the 2024–25 academic year, Mauro received the Kenneth W. Thomason Aviation Opportunity Scholarship. After graduating in May 2027, he wants a high-flying career — potentially as a bush pilot, aerial firefighter, crop duster or pilot for sightseeing tours.
Hadley Oden is a first-generation student from Hermann, Missouri, majoring in Criminal Justice, with minors in History, Political Science, and Legal Studies. She received the Sandra Temple and Ed M. Elliott Family Scholarship and the Leslie J. McClure Krasner Criminal Justice Scholarship.
“I have worked hard throughout my educational career this far to get where I am, and am incredibly excited to see what the future holds,” Hadley says. “I proudly have been able to pay for my schooling myself so far, but I know that I couldn’t have done it without the support and generosity of scholarships.”
Hadley is captain of the Mock Trial team and served as chair of the Sustainability Committee of the Student Government Association. She also holds a distinguished position as the student representative for UCM’s Board of Governors.
After graduating in May, Hadley plans to attend law school and eventually return to her hometown to work in a general practice firm.
Ethan Gerst
Ethan Gerst is a first-generation student from De Soto, Missouri, majoring in Economics with a minor in Aviation. He received the Craig R. Korvas Memorial Scholarship in Aviation, the Department of Aviation Scholarship and the Global Vision Scholarship.
“My time at UCM has been instrumental in shaping my academic and professional journey,” Ethan says. “The university’s robust programs, supportive faculty and opportunities for extracurricular involvement have prepared me to pursue my dreams in the financial and aviation industries with confidence and determination.”
Ethan holds an on-campus position in the Career and Life Design Center as the lead Walk-In Studio Experience (WISE) coach.
Ethan beat out 45,000 applicants to earn one of 289 internships at United Airlines this summer and was offered a position as an associate analyst on the company’s Financial Planning and Analysis team in Chicago. He plans to start full time after graduation in May.
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
How scholarships create possibilities
Neely Humphrey
Neely Humphrey, ’24, was a first-generation student from Payson, Illinois, who earned her degree in Public Relations and Strategic Communication. She received the Mary Beth Vogt Bailey Sigma Sigma Sigma Scholarship in her senior year at UCM.
“This scholarship helped me pay toward my tuition for my final semester without having to take out student loans,” Neely says. “This was such a blessing and one that I certainly do not take for granted.”
Neely was chapter president of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and served on the leadership team for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She also held two campus jobs, in the Registrar’s Office and as a personal trainer at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.
After graduating in May 2024, Neely continued working at a marketing agency and now offers contractual services for businesses in the realm of marketing, copywriting and advertising.
Mingzhu Zhu
Mingzhu Zhu was an international student from Guangzhou, China, who earned her MBA with a concentration in Marketing in May 2024. Her tuition was fully covered by the Adrian and Margaret Harmon Business Graduate Scholarship.
“The scholarship really helped me validate what I was working on and that I’m putting effort there and somebody sees that,” says Mingzhu. “It makes me really proud.”
Mingzhu served as promotions manager for UCM’s student newspaper, the Muleskinner, and as a communication specialist for International Student Services. She previously worked as a reporter and photographer at the Washburn Review, the student publication for Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media with an emphasis in Creative Advertising and a minor in Theatre in spring 2022.
Mingzhu is currently pursuing a Teaching English as a Second Language Graduate Certificate at UCM and considering a Ph.D. in marketing or communications