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Achieve Summer 2011
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EMBRACING THE FUTURE:A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
A C H I E V EThe magazine for alumni and friends of William Jewell College
Summer 2011
A C H I E V EM A G A Z I N E
On the cover (from left) Heather Marshall, Joe Johnson, President David Sallee, Hunter Kiely and Jessie Newman celebrate commencement at Jewell.
The Last Walk (above); April Berry gives the “thumb’s up”; President Sallee congratulates Charles Tolbert; Kyle Heiman contemplates the commencement ceremony
commencement ceremony
ContentsFeatures
5 Embracing the Future:A liberal arts college for the 21st centuryWilliam Jewell’s plans for the future extend to refocusing the gathering and shaping of knowledge for both students and teachers.
8 Great ExpectationsMabee Foundation extends challenge to Jewell alumni and friends.
10 Leadership PerspectiveThomas R. “Buzz” Willard ’76, chairman of the William Jewell College Board of Trustees, shares his thoughts about Jewell’s past, present and future.
13 “There’s an app for that”Jewell student Chris Stathopoulos develops an iPhone app.
Departments4 From the President 15 Faculty Notebook
16 Class Notes 28 Jewell Facets
Our MissionWilliam Jewell College pr omises students an outstanding liberal ar ts education that cultiv atesleadership, service, and spiritual gr owth within a community inspired b y Christian ideals andcommitted to open, rigorous intellectual pursuits.
Harnessing the powerof learning’s evolving landscape
It has been a time of great re vitalization and renewedcommitment to our vision of providing the best in aliberal arts education these past few months on theHill. At Achievement Day in March, we announced thenaming gift from alumni Fred and Shirley Pryor thathas added new momentum to the Pryor LearningCommons project (see cover story sidebar on page 7).
During the week following commencement, Jewellfaculty members participated in the “Innovation in
Teaching Symposium and Workshop: Integrating Digital Resources” eventaimed at outlining the future landscape of t eaching and learning in adigital environment (see cover story beginning on page 6). Thanks to thegenerosity of the Hall Family Foundation, 62 William Jewell facultymembers were actively involved in this three-day campus workshop thatstimulated dialogue and built awareness around the ideas, tools, bestpractices and philosophies of digital resources in education. Our goal is tocreate a culture of innovation among faculty about how learning can beenhanced by integrating digital resources into the classroom.
With funding from the Hall Family Foundation, each participating facultymember received an iPad2. Workshop facilitator Dr. Lisa Spiro, Director ofNITLE Labs (National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education), servedas a kind of tour guide through the emerging educational technologies thatare revolutionizing the teaching and learning process. Faculty projectproposals involving technology-assisted learning are being developed andfunded on a competitive basis.
While the use of technology is only a means to the end of providing a richand robust learning environment, it is undeniably a powerful tool. Thissummer we have eliminated the barriers of cost and lack of training thatsometimes impede the implementation of technology in higher education.
Thanks to the foresight and commitment of donors like Fred and ShirleyPryor and the Hall Family Foundation, we are making great strides towardreducing those technological barriers and altering the landscape oflearning in the 21st century. When we begin construction on the new Pryor Learning Commons, which we hope to do in the fall of 2012, we willalready have taken important steps in our journey toward providing both aphysical facility in which technology can be harnessed and a receptive andsupportive environment in which the expanding horizon of technology-assisted learning is well within reach for both faculty and students.
From the President
ACHIEVE MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2011
PRESIDENT
David L. [email protected]
VICE PRESIDENTFOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
Chad J. Jolly ’[email protected]
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Robert A. [email protected]
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOROF ALUMNI RELATIONS
Kent Huyser ’[email protected]
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OFCOMMUNICATIONS AND NEW MEDIA
Cara [email protected]
WEB DEVELOPER
Jonathan [email protected]
MANAGER OF PRINT
COMMUNICATIONS
Kari L. Perry ’[email protected]
DIRECTOR OF CEREMONIES AND SIGNATURE EVENTS
Susan E. Arbo ’[email protected]
CAMPUS PHOTOGRAPHER
Kyle Rivas ’[email protected]
Achieve is produced three times a year bythe Office of College Relations and
Marketing atWILLIAM JEWELL COLLEGE
500 College HillLiberty, Missouri [email protected]
www.jewell.edu
Visit us on Facebookfacebook.com/jewellalumni
a liberal arts college for the
21st century
Embracingthe Future
On the college campus of the 21st century,the classroom is “necessary but not sufficient”for a great education, according to WilliamJewell College President David Sallee.
That philosophy is guiding an evolution on theWilliam Jewell College campus that will altereverything from the institution’s physical layoutto the way faculty and students engage andshare information.
The College’s plans to refocus the gatheringand shaping of knowledge received asignificant boost with a recent $3 millionnaming gift from alumni Fred and Shirley Pryor’56 (see sidebar for more information). ThePryors’ gift is designated for the Pryor LearningCommons, the centerpiece of “Shaping theJourney: The Campaign for Jewell.” Plans callfor the multi-function, $15 million facility toanchor the east side of the Quadrangle, on thesite where Greene Hall currently stands.“We want to physically remake the core of the
campus, and the Pryor Learning Commons willbe our new front door,” Dr. Sallee said. Visitorswill enter a welcome center located on thelower, east-facing side of the building. Asvisitors proceed up to the Quad and upperlevel, they will encounter students and facultyinteracting in various technology-enrichedlearning centers. “Their first impression shouldbe that we are a college that has a strong
intellectual center,” Dr. Sallee noted. Currentstudents entering the facility from the west-facing Quad entrance will view a panoramicwall of windows designed to evoke a sense ofendless possibilities for the future. Aprominent feature in the building will be theCenter for Innovation in Teaching andLearning, a facility designed to help theteaching and learning community utilize
emerging tools and methodology for thebenefit of student learning.
Approximately $11.5 million in commitmentshave been secured to date for the $15 millionproject. Construction of the new facility couldbegin toward the end of 2012 if the Collegecan secure the balance of the funds tocomplete the project. (See Mabee Challengeon page 8.)
In addition to its significant $6 millioncommitment to support the LearningCommons, The Hall Family Foundation hasalso made a gift toward reimagining the futurelandscape of teaching and learning in a digitalenvironment with its funding of the “Innovationin Teaching Symposium and Workshop,” heldon the Jewell campus in May. Dr. Lisa Spiro,Director of NITLE Labs (National Institute
TECHNOLOGY-ENRICHED LEARNING CENTERS
DRIVING THE LIBERAL ARTS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
(clockwise from left) Scott McCormick, Chief Vision Officer for the VML agency, addresses the Innovation inTeaching Symposium; Randall Morris, professor of philosophy, and Mark Walters, professor of English, focuson an iPad program; Jewell faculty members get to know their new iPads.
for Technology in Liberal Education), led thethree-day workshop aimed at exploringemerging educational technologies anddeveloping collaborative approaches tointegrating learning, scholarship andtechnology. As part of the workshop, 62participating members of the William Jewellfaculty received iPad2s to facilitate theprocess of integrating technology into theclassroom.
“Technology can help us meet the core goalsof the liberal arts, and can enable a superior,transformative, collaborative style of teachingand learning,” Dr. Spiro said. “It’s not abouttechnology for technology’s sake, but aboutwhat technology can bring to enrich theeducational process. Technology is thecatalyst, but learning is the focus.”
Dr. Anne Dema, provost of the College,planned and coordinated the Innovation inTeaching workshop, which also included liveand online contributions from a variety oflocal and national facilitators. “Our goal wasto familiarize faculty with the tools that canbetter enable engaged learning,” Dr. Demasaid. “We want to put a system in place fora new kind of learning that will drive theliberal arts for the 21st century. We areasking our faculty to think about where theyneed to be in terms of employing thesetools in the classroom two years out or fiveyears out. The College is building a f acultyculture that will be increasingly responsiveto future learning opportunities.”
The Innovation in Teaching workshop hosted avariety of experts and practitioners in theutilization of digital resources and engagedlearning. Symposium speakers offered keynotepresentations and served as panelists andsmall-group facilitators. Faculty participantsformed smaller groups organized bydiscipline throughout the workshop to work
more closely with the speakers regardingthe integration of digital resources intotheir respective fields.
A half-day of the workshop was spent at the Lewis and Clark Center at FortLeavenworth, Kan. This session allowedJewell faculty the opportunity to view thehigh-tech military facility and learn howleaders there are integrating advanceddigital tools into the learning environment.The workshop closed with the introductionof an opportunity for faculty to apply forgrants to pilot initiatives that integratedigital learning resources into coursesoffered during the 2011-12 academic year.
Dr. Spiro, who focused on the democratizationand worldwide sharing of knowledge enabledby web-based sources, noted that anestimated 107 trillion emails were sent in2010, along with the creation of more than 14billion web pages and 152 million blogs.Discussing the need to harness these tools insupport of education, she cited a quote fromthe article “Minds on Fire,” written by JohnSeely Brown, visiting scholar and advisor to theprovost at the University of Southern California,and Richard Adler, research affiliate at theInstitute for the Future in Palo Alto, Calif.:
“New kinds of online resources—such as social networking sites,blogs, wikis and virtualcommunities—have allowed peoplewith common interests to meet,share ideas and collaborate ininnovative ways. The web is creatinga new kind of participatory mediumthat is ideal for supporting multiplemodes of learning.”
JEWELL RECEIVES $3 MILLIONGIFT FOR LEARNING COMMONS
A $3 millionnaming gift fromalumni Fred ’56and Shirley NeffPryor ’56 willsupport thecornerstone project
of William Jewell College’s “Shapingthe Journey” campaign.
“Fred and Shirley Pryor have once againmade a gift that is both prescient andinspiring,” said Dr. David Sallee, presidentof William Jewell College. “Nearly twodecades ago, they helped us create thePryor Leadership Fellows Programbecause they knew that quality leadershold the key. Now, they understand thatlearning is different and will continue toevolve. The intellectual heart of theCollege must lead that evolution. And thislearning commons will be that vibrantcenter that every great college needs.”
The Pryor Learning Commons is thesignature project in the first phase of“Shaping the Journey: The Campaign forJewell,” which focuses on $55 million ofpriority initiatives coming out of theCollege’s strategic plan adopted in late2007. The Campaign, with over 10,500donors to date and gifts andcommitments of more than $50 million,is the largest in the history of the 162-year-old college. The announcement ofthe Pryor gift during the Celebration ofAchievement in March also marked thepublic announcement of “Shaping theJourney: The Campaign for Jewell”(www.jewell.edu/campaign/).
“OUR HOPE IN MAKING THIS GIFT ISTHAT IT WILL FACILITATE THEEMERGENCE OF WILLIAM JEWELLAS A LEADER IN ENGAGED ANDEXPERIENTIAL LEARNING,” FREDPRYOR SAID. “WE HOPE THECOLLEGE CAN SERVE AS A MODELFOR GENERATING COLLABORATION,BOTH ACROSS THE CURRICULUMAND WITH COMMUNITIES BEYONDTHE CAMPUS.”
Great ExpectationsMABEE FOUNDATION EXTENDS ALUMNI AND
Alumni and friends of William Jewell Collegehave received a “challenge” from the J.E. andL.E. Mabee Foundation in Tulsa, Okla. TheMabee Foundation will provide the Collegewith $1 million to reshape the heart ofcampus through the construction of the newPryor Learning Commons if the College cansecure an additional $2.5 million in pledgesby July of 2012.
“We are aggressively reaching out to secure new gift and pledge commitmentsfrom alumni and friends who wish to helpmake the College’s bold vision a reality,”said Dr. Chad Jolly, vice president forinstitutional advancement at William Jewell. “This is a very important year in the life of the College.”
The Pryor Learning Commons is thecenterpiece project of “Shaping theJourney: The Campaign for Jewell.” Morethan $11.5 million in gifts and pledges hasbeen raised toward projected constructioncosts of $15 million for the Pryor LearningCommons. In addition to the naming giftfrom Fred and Shirley Pryor and generoussupport from alumni and generousmembers of the Board of Trustees, theCollege has received local support for theCampaign’s signature project from theWilliam T. Kemper Foundation, the
Sunderland Foundation, JE DunnConstruction Company and the GaryDickinson Family Charitable Foundation.
Responding to the evolving needs of the21st century learner, William Jewell Collegeplans to construct a modern learningcenter for collaboration and engagement.The new Pryor Learning Commons willtransform the core of the campus, hostnew programs, re-imagine library services,provide a technology-rich learningenvironment and support experientialeducation across the curriculum.
The Pryor Learning Commons will anchor the east side of the quadrangle on the site currently occupied by GreeneHall, the College’s administration building.The design calls for a three-level, 25,300-square-foot facility featuring flexible andcomfortable spaces in a technology-enhanced environment. The facility itself is designed with a commitment to sustainability principles, and sitedevelopment will allow the College totake significant steps toward a moreenergy-efficient, pedestrian campus.
The Learning Commons will include:
• Technology-assisted collaborative learning spaces
• Expanded access to on-line journals and research tools
• A wireless and flexible computing environment
• Video conferencing and presentation rehearsal studios
• Media production and viewing studios for the development of digital classroom materials
• Engaging spaces for faculty colloquiums and Kansas City community lectures
• Training labs to help faculty and students remain current with technological developments
• Flexible and comfortable spaces and furniture that invite collaboration
• Café with late-night access
• A Welcome Center to greet prospective students and campus guests
• A home for emerging centers of excellence like the Center for Engaged Learning, the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and the Center for Justice and Sustainability
ctationsND FRIENDS A $1 MILLION CHALLENGE
“The project supports a forward-lookingapproach to education and focuses onfacilitating creative and comfortable spacesfor the Jewell community to engage oneanother and the world beyond,” Dr. Jollysaid. “The Pryor Learning Commons willoffer students a variety of studyenvironments and will include specializedequipment, laptop-ready stations and openstudy areas.” The building interior isdesigned to be flexible to accommodate
evolving technologies. Pending a successful response to the Mabee Challenge,construction of the Pryor LearningCommons could begin in late 2012 with anopening date in December of 2013.
The College’s Curry Library, which openedin 1965, will continue to house theinstitution’s book collection and will
The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation, Inc., a Delaware non-profit corporation, wasformed in 1948 by John E. Mabee and hiswife, Lottie E. Mabee, with its of fice inTulsa, Okla. The Foundation aidsinstitutions of higher learning, hospitalsand other charitable organizations. TheMabee Foundation has provided supportpreviously for William Jewell Collegeprojects, most recently a $1 million
challenge grant to complete fundraising for the Dianne C. Shumaker Hall SororityHouses & Greek Commons, which openedin the fall of 2009.
undergo some renovation to accommodatestaff offices that must move into the librarybuilding once site development begins forthe Pryor Learning Commons.
In addition to the Pryor Learning Commons,priorities for Phase I of “Shaping theJourney: The Campaign for Jewell” includecreating a wider array of active andexperiential learning opportunities thatintegrate with the College’s core
curriculum; increasing need- and merit-based scholarship support; securingPhi Beta Kappa status for the College’sfaculty; and supporting membership transition from the National Association ofIntercollegiate Athletics to the NationalCollegiate Athletic Association. More than$51 million of the first phase goal of $55million has been secured since thecampaign was launched in 2007.
RESPONDING TO THE EVOLVING NEEDS
OF THE 21ST CENTURY LEARNER
Scan to find out more aboutShaping the Journey:
The Campaign for Jewell.
Leadership PerspectiveThomas R. “Buzz” Willard is a member of the William Jewell Collegeclass of 1976 and serves as Chair of the William Jewell College Boardof Trustees. Here he shares his perspectives on the past, present andfuture of William Jewell with Achieve readers.
Why were you interested in serving on William Jewell’s Board of Trustees?
I was aware that the board was going to need to resolve their troubledrelationship with the Missouri Baptist Convention and didn’t believethe College could reach its full potential or claim its rightful place as anationally recognized liberal arts college without terminating thatrelationship. I realized that if I wanted to be a part of that discussionand decision then I needed to agree to be involved and to serve. I havebeen fortunate to serve on a number of civic boards, but I had neverserved on one that my father had also served and the thought ofcarrying on his legacy in a place he lo ved dearly was appealing.
Why do you think your fellow alumni should be excited about WilliamJewell today?
We are on a mission to be a premier liberal arts college in this country.If you look around, most great cities have at least one great researchuniversity and at least one great liberal ar ts college in their community.The latter is Jewell’s destiny and when we achieve that distinction wewill have significantly enhanced the metropolitan area in which we liveas well as the value of a Jewell degree. It’s hard for me to imagineanything that could or should excite an alum or an entering freshmanmore than that vision.
What are the major opportunities and challenges you have faced inyour service as Board Chair?
One challenge is that we live in a world of immediate gratification andwe are seeking something that will not be achieved overnight. It canbe hard to stay the course when faced with all the challenges we facein higher education, so it will require considerable discipline and focusfor us to reach our goal.
Other significant challenges are the College’s financial capacity, thedecision-making model in higher education and the need to garnermore enthusiasm from the extended Jewell community to support thetremendous opportunity in front of us. I think our greatest challenge isattracting students who want the type of outstanding education Jewellprovides and will continue to provide as the world changes. Ourimmediate goal is to have a student body of 1,300, but my hopesomeday is for Jewell to be a school of at least 2,500 students.
With regard to opportunities, I suppose in many ways they’re the sameas the challenges: becoming a nationally recognized liberal artscollege, developing a financial model that supports the excellenteducation we provide, successfully executing on our strategic planwhich includes among other things transitioning to NCAA Division IIand joining Phi Beta Kappa.
PerspectiveHow would you describe this point intime in the 162-year history of William Jewell College?
I truly believe Jewell is on the cusp ofgreatness. I believe we are seeing a dramaticchange in higher education that is likely tocontinue in the coming years. Studentinterests and demands have changeddramatically; technology is ever-evolving andmaking their world smaller; different modesand methods of teaching are taking form andconsumers (primarily parents) are re-evaluating the cost/value proposition of highereducation and specifically a private liberal artseducation. It is for those reasons that it isimperative we don’t let this opportunity slipaway. I sense that our faculty, administrationand board are all open and anxious toconquer these challenges—together. I amhopeful our alums will join with us andsupport us in this endeavor.
There is great clarity concerning the role weseek to play in higher education and this isa time of great focus and intentionality.The nation, and this par t of the country,need a place committed to not onlyproviding students with a credential, butone that is equipped to provide them withtransformational experiences.
The College continues to achieve success inits fundraising, despite the challenges of theeconomy. What do you think that says abouthow donors feel about the College’s mission?
It’s interesting that despite difficult economictimes, the College has raised more moneyover the past three years than at any point inits history. I am proud that over 10,500 friendshave given to Jewell during the currentCampaign. I think they must believe in themission of William Jewell College, and thatthey care about having a national liberal artscollege as a regional resource. Many of the10,000 donors had their lives changed for thebetter at Jewell and feel an obligation to makesure future generations do, too.
The College recently received a positive reportand a 10-year accreditation from the HigherLearning Commission of the North CentralAssociation. How important is thatindependent validation?
It is a vital af firmation of the work that we are doing, both in terms of thefundamental mission of the institution andthe way our faculty and staff are executingthe goals that we have set for ourselves.
Continued on following page
What are some of the major fundraisingpriorities for “Shaping the Journey: TheCampaign for Jewell”? Why are theyimportant to the future of William Jewell?
A list of our major fundraising priorities would be:
l Securing funds for construction of the new Pryor Learning Commons in order to respond to the revolutionary changes that have occurred in the methods of scholarship.
l Enhancing support for The Center for Justice and Sustainability, which fits with the College’s historic mission of service.
l Providing funding for the Jewell Fund and Journey Grants. The Jewell Fund provides essential annual operating support, and the new Journey Grants provide a source of support for student-designed experiential learning opportunities.
l Increasing support for athletic programs and facilities as the College transitions to NCAA membership.
l Funding endowed chairs and innovative academic programs that attract both excellent faculty and excellent students.
“We are on a mission to be a premierliberal arts college in this country.”
Your daughter is a William Jewell graduate.As a parent, how would you assess thecollege experience that she had at Jewell?
My daughter Julie is a very discerningindividual: she attended three otherschools including one of our aspirantschools and another well-known school onthe east coast before coming to andgraduating from Jewell. Her experience atJewell was, in her estimation, superior thanat the other schools. As a parent, you wantyour child’s college experience to bemeaningful and challenging. Jewellcertainly met and exceeded thatexpectation for us and for Julie. (Seesidebar story on Julia Willard’s Jewellexperience below.)
Where would you like to see William Jewell College in 10 years?
I would like to see our enrollment growingand our student satisfaction levels high, andour membership in Phi Beta Kappa secured.I would like to see us building on emergingtechnologies that will allow our students toaccess information in ways that we can onlyimagine today. This is an important time inthe history of the College, and we arebuilding a foundation that will allow Jewell toclaim its place among the truly great liberalarts colleges in the country.
What do you hope your legacy as Board Chairwill be?
I think there is an old adage about leavingthe campsite in a better condition than youfound it. I would hope that when I end mytenure as Chair, Jewell will be a betterplace. We have tremendous challenges andopportunities in front of us as aninstitution. I would like to be rememberedas a person who faced those challengeshead-on; embraced and encouragednecessary change and helped the Collegereach its rightful place in the community ofnationally recognized liberal arts colleges.
Live What You Learn:Navigating a shrinking worldThe universe may be expanding. But the worldis shrinking. Just ask Julia Willard, a member ofthe William Jewell College class of 2004 anddaughter of Jewell’s Trustee Chair Buzz Willard’76 and Pam Doubleday Willard ’76. Go ahead:Skype her in France or Amsterdam, Facebookher in Philadelphia, or call her in Kansas City.
Julia, who recently completed her MBA fromInstitut Européen de ManagementInternational (IEMI), understands that thesetools have changed business forever. Locationmeans less than inspiration these days. “Itdoesn’t matter what country you come fromnow. If you have an idea you can start abusiness,” she said. “The influx of information,and access to information, has changed theway business is done.”
Julia knows this first-hand. While living inFrance, she worked for a U.S. company thatspecializes in search engine marketing,helping clients from around the world connectwith potential customers. To be anybody onthe Web, you have to be everywhere.Julia’s own search – to combine her passionsfor business and French – led her to Jewell.She earned a double major in French andinternational business, studying abroad inDijon, France, and then interning at CernerCorporation’s Paris office. After graduation,Julia worked in the United States for two yearsbefore heading back to France to complete herMBA at IEMI. The Paris-based program waspopulated by students from around the world,from China to Angola and Mauritius to Ukraine.
The most important lesson Julia learned: “If youdon’t know how to work with people from othercultures, you won’t get the deal.” Just howmuch Julia grew academically, professionallyand personally during this two-year program isbest judged by those who know her best: herparents. When Buzz and Pam Willard visitedtheir daughter in Europe, the traditional parent-child roles were reversed.
“It was the first time in my parenting life that Iwas not the one in charge,” Buzz said,remembering how Julia made all the plansand translated for them. “I thought, ‘This isawesome. She’s far more worldly than I am.’”
Thanks to her Jewell education, graduateschool and international work experience, Juliais better equipped than many of her peers inthe business world to adapt to new situations,connect with those of different backgroundsand solve problems. “The world gets smallerevery day, and the more you understand thepeople who are here with you and how you’reconnected, the better off you’ll be – and thebetter off the world will be,” she said. Despitethe shrinking world, these skills will surelyremain in demand.
Buzz Willard ’76 and Julia Willard ’04
Not many teenagers receive royalty checksfrom Apple, but Chris Stathopoulos learned at an early age where an idea and initiative can lead.
A first-year student at William Jewell College,Chris is a Hall Scholar and double major(business administration and Applied CriticalThought and Inquiry) who also happens to bean American history buff. While in high schoolin Mentor, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Chriswas using an iPhone application on U.S.Presidents but couldn’t find one for the VicePresidents. He contacted the developer, thenbased in Lenexa, Kan., who offered to writethe code if Chris would develop the content. Abusiness partnership was born.
Chris spent several months of his senior year gathering detailed biographies, trivia and other fun facts about “the men thathistory forgot.” In February 2010, he and Paul Dardeau released version 1.0 of VicePresidents under the name SwampBits onApple’s iTunes App Store.
It’s no business secret that marketabilityincreases when products are improved andupdated. Chris recognizes the challenge of
expanding a niche product and findingsomething new about history. “This is where Ithought my developing career would end,”Chris said, “then Paul asked me to helpoverhaul the Presidents’ app.” A month laterthey released an update on iTunes, and Chriscontinued strategizing on ways to broaden theappeal of their apps. His next idea –combining the Presidents and Vice Presidentsapps for the iPad – should be available thissummer or fall. He’s now considering creatingan interactive component that would enableusers to debate historical topics as well asrewriting Presidents in Spanish to appeal to abroader range of customers.
“I love the entrepreneurial spirit. That comesnaturally for me,” said Chris, who was selectedto begin Jewell’s Pryor Leadership Program inthe fall. “To innovate and find something newis very rewarding and a lot of fun.” In February2011 during the week of President’s Day,SwampBits’ app was a featured “staff favorite”on the iTunes App Store front page. “We saw ahuge spike in sales, so we are excited for thepossibilities of a new app and an electionseason gearing up later this year.”
“There’s an app for that”Business student develops application for iPhone
Discovering a new passion:Jewell nursing graduate trades sequins for scrubsLike many kids growing up, Renee Klapmeyerlooked forward each year to watching theMacy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on television.But it wasn’t the giant Snoopy balloons or thearrival of Santa Claus that kept Renee glued tothe TV set. Instead, it was the splashy song anddance numbers from Broadway musicals thatcommanded her attention and set herimagination soaring.
“I wanted to be on Broadway for as long as I can remember,” the 2011 graduate ofJewell’s accelerated track nursing programrecalls. Her Cinderella dreams of a career onthe Broadway stage were destined to cometrue. Within just a few years of those childhoodThanksgiving morning viewings in her family’sStilwell, Kan., living room, Renee would findherself in front of the cameras at the annualtelevised holiday extravaganza on New York’s34th Street, and living her dream ofperforming in front of the footlights eight timesa week on the stages of the tradition-steepedBroadway theaters 10 blocks uptown.
The Blue Valley High School graduate startedearly with tap, jazz and ballet classes. Singinglessons started when she was in the fifthgrade. As she gained confidence, she beganperforming with a local dance school troupe. “Iwas part of the Miller Marley Entertainers, andmy love for performing started to grow fromthis experience,” Renee says. “We performedall around the Kansas City area, and we wereeven invited to perform at the World’s Fair inSeville, Spain, in 1992. Growing up, my nightsand weekends were filled with perfecting mysinging, dancing and acting skills.”
She gained more experience performing incommunity theater and high schoolproductions. At the age of 17, she made herfirst trip to New York City to audition for amusical theater program at New YorkUniversity. While she was there, she went tosee “Beauty and the Beast,” her f irstBroadway show in a real New York theater. “Icried through the whole show,” Renee says.
While completing a B.F.A. in musical theater atthe Hartt School of Music at the University ofHartford in Connecticut, she spent summersperforming at regional theaters up and downthe East Coast and soon qualified to join theperformers union Actors Equity. Aftergraduating from college in 1999, she moved
production of “The Producers,” a part sheperformed more than 300 times. Thatopportunity led to a role in the movie versionof “The Producers,” where she worked withMathew Broderick and got to “hang out” withSarah Jessica Parker. She also got theopportunity to perform the national anthem ata New York Mets game. Her final Broadwayshow was 2007’s “Young Frankenstein,” inwhich she performed with “Will and Grace’s”Megan Mullaly.
“I was so blessed to be able to workconsistently on Broadway for about 10 years,”Renee says. “It was a tough career. We dideight shows a week, plus we worked everyholiday. It required a lot of dedication, but itwas so rewarding. Toward the end of mycareer, I started to lose some of the passion Ihad for performing. I wanted to make more ofa difference.”
Since she had considered a career in nursingbefore she began performing, it seemed anatural transition. She moved back to KansasCity and began taking some prerequisitecourses at Johnson County CommunityCollege. A classmate told her about WilliamJewell’s BSN-AT program, which allows collegegraduates to receive a nursing degree on anaccelerated schedule. “I did some research onWilliam Jewell and heard so many wonderfulthings about the school and the nursingprogram,” Renee says. “I feel so blessed to bea part of this amazing program. Nursing issuch a rewarding career. I am so excited toknow that I get to go to work and touchanother person’s life. How amazing it is to beable to do that every day!”
Renee was recently hired to become a part ofthe ICU nursing staff at North Kansas CityHospital. She does volunteer work withOperation Breakthrough, a program for at-riskchildren in Kansas City’s urban core, and shealso plans to teach a musical theater class forkids who are as stage-struck as she once was.For Renee, it is a time of new beginnings andnew possibilities. “I am so excited for this nextchapter in my life to begin,” she says, “and tosee what the future holds.”
to New York City and for two years lived thestereotypical actors’ existence of performingauditions during the day while waiting tables atnight. Finally, in 2001 she landed her firstBroadway show as a member of the ensembleof the hit musical revival of “42nd Street.”
In that production, she performed alongsideTom Wopat, star of the television series“Dukes of Hazard.” “He has the mostbeautiful, buttery, dreamy singing voice, andhe was a huge flirt,” Renee remembers. OtherBroadway shows followed, and her resumegrew to include “Anything Goes” with PattiLuPone and “Stairway to Paradise” withKristen Chenowith. She worked her way up toplaying the female lead in the Broadway
Nathan Wyman tackles theatre in the U.K.Tea & Theatre
FACULTY notebook
Nathan Wyman, associate professor oftheatre and technical director of JewellTheatre, traveled to the United Kingdom lastfall for a sabbatical project. He shared hisimpressions of the visit with Achieve:
In October, I traveled to the U.K. to work on aproduction of “Darkness Falls,” a double-bill of“The Monkey’s Paw,” a traditional tale of horrorthat has been reshaped countless times, and“The Dark,” a modern take on the Mephistophelesstory. The plays were performed for two nights atthe Black Box Theatre at North HertfordshireCollege in Hitchin, England.
My friends Ella Kent and Christian McCormackare the founders of Running with ScissorsTheatre Company, and each directed one of theplays. I met Ella and Christian in 1998 when Ifirst travelled to the U.K. with a touringproduction. Our friendship was rekindled in2005 when I was teaching at HarlaxtonCollege in Grantham, England, and Ellaasked me to give a lecture at the schoolwhere she was teaching. We decided that someday we should do a production together,never imagining that the opportunity wouldarise five years later!
When it came time for me to take a sabbatical, Idebated on several projects. When I got a messagefrom Ella on Facebook during this time, a light bulbclicked on. I asked Ella what her fall term looked like,and we decided I should be the designer for hercompany’s fall production of a Halloween-themedstaging of “Darkness Falls.” About four weeks before myflight, we were forced to move the show to a smaller space.Christian sent me photos and measurements (in metric) ofthe new space, and I began adapting the designs to make thestage space smaller and more intimate.
I arrived with about 10 days to build and paint the set and get the lightshung and focused. I got permission to paint the floor in the theater space,which had never been done before in this venue. Painting the floor to looklike wood allowed us to delineate the stage area from the audience andgave us a more finished look for the set. The walls were treated with alayered paint technique starting with a pale yellow, then washed with greyand sponged with a watery black mixture of paint to make it look old and charred.
We found a fireplace mantle in a rubbish pile,and one of the crew and I carried it about a mileon foot back to the theater space. We painted itand all of the trim white and then distressed itwith black wash. The lighting equipment wasvery different than the standard fixtures usedhere in the States. But after some studying, I wasable to figure out what each of the f ixtures didand managed to set a sufficient light plot withsome options for both shows. It was fun workingwith the student crews and learning from themthe differences in construction techniques andsharing with them the ways we do things backhome. The most fun was learning the Britishnames for things--for example, paint is called
“emulsion.”
On opening day, my wife, Juliannearrived direct from Heathrow for the
matinee performance with abouttwo minutes to spare. We got in a
quick “hello, how are you, I’vemissed you” before the house
went dark and the showbegan. For the second
performance, anotherhonored guest arrived to
see the show: my studentKarina Bielecki fromJewell, who was
studying at Oxford for thesemester, took the train to Hitchin
to see the show. It was great to have twoAmericans in the audience!
After the show, we took down the set and headed to a pubto celebrate. I said my goodbyes to the company, and the next day
Julianne and I headed off for the second leg of our adventure, whichtook us to London, Bristol, Salisbury, Stonehenge and on to Wales,taking in museums, live theater, historical sites and beautiful sceneryalong the way. We also journeyed north to Grantham to spend a nightat Harlaxton College, where we had a great visit with principal GordonKingsley and staff, then headed further north to Scotland. The tripproved to be both personally and professionally rewarding, with manylessons learned about working with a new company in a completelydifferent theatrical environment.
(from top) Nathan Wyman at the “Doctor Who” exhibitduring his sabbatical in the U.K.; the cast of “DarknessFalls”; Wyman's design sketch for the production
500 College HillLiberty, Missouri 64068-1896
Homecoming PregameCelebration, hosted by theAlumni Board of Governors
The Alumni Board of Governorsinvite you to join the festivitiesand celebrate Jewell’smembership in the NCAA asthey create Cardinal Village inthe parking lot between theTerry Barnes Memorial Fountain(campus entrance) and GreeneStadium for a pre-gameHomecoming celebration.More information on thisexciting event and all othergreat Homecoming activitiescan be found online or in the2011 Homecoming Brochure!
Homecoming 2011October 7 - 9th
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