The long road has came to an end for the athletic director search committee.  President Scanlon announced David Williams as Western’s new AD on March 7.  Scanlon offered  Western’s sixth AD position in history to Williams on Thursday morning and he accepted the position later that day. 

Williams will start May 1 at the latest and said he expects to be on campus much sooner. The seven-month process that started over once and reached another dead end, is finally concluded by the Friday press conference and contract agreement.

Williams received his bachelor’s in physical education and his master’s in educational administration at North Dakota State. 

Williams has the credentials to potentially be a very good leader for Westerns athletic department. He has sustained roles as the AD at UW-P since 2001. Williams was an assistant basketball coach at Augustana (S.D.), North Dakota State and Parkside, before entering administration.   (Full story)

Western will receive an additional $1.16 million in state appropriations if the recommendation by the House Budget Committee remains intact.

The recommendation must be approved by the House, the Senate and the Governor to guarantee the 5.2 percent budget increase for fiscal year 2009. 

If signed, the increase will be the second of three appropriations increases; the first 5.5 percent increase was part of the budget for fiscal year 2008, which runs from July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008.

Western will receive nearly $23.52 million in state appropriations, slightly less than originally anticipated. (Full story)

(editor’s note: WAC has now annouced the entertainers Wedensday. This peice was done before the announcement)

Western’s Activities Council, or WAC as they might be better known to the student body of Missouri Western State University has yet to officially announce who will be playing for the University’s spring concert. This can be looked at from many different angles. Certainly it is now spring and students in the past knew by this time who was going to be entertaining them for the spring concert. They may even have attended spring concerts that took place by this time late in the year.  The fact that there is only six weeks left in the semester and there has yet to even be an announcement could encourage one to wonder just exactly what is going on?

What’s the hold up? (Full story)

Missouri Western criminal justice student, Bryant King faces a March 27 preliminary hearing for a 2nd degree murder charge following a March 14 gang-related shooting that happened in Kansas City, Mo.

He has also been charged with discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and two counts of armed criminal action, all felonies.

An arrest warrant was issued for King soon after the incident. Missouri Western and St. Joseph police officers searched the residence halls but did not find him. He turned himself that Friday evening.

King was a first semester freshman and a resident living on campus in the LLC residence hall. (Full story)

The two-day sequence of events formerly known as Destination Western has gone through some changes which will be put into operation in the summer of 2008.

This program originally consisted of a series of registration activities extended over a period of two days.

Now known as “New Student Registration,” this program will give students the same opportunity to learn about Western over a shortened one-day session lasting from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Acting new student registration director Kristen Neeley explained their new slogan. (Full story)

The student chapter of Western’s Wildlife Society has recently been honored as the student chapter of the year for the North Central Section of the Wildlife Society.

Mike Voltz, president of the Wildlife Society, said that traditionally, a certificate is presented to the representatives of the student chapter at the North Central Section of the Wildlife Society business meeting, which took place this year in Madison, Wis.

“Winners also receive up to $1,000 for travel to the business meeting,” Voltz said.

This award required several standards that Western’s student chapter met exclusively. (Full story)

This guy knows a lot about rocks and meteorology. You can find him wheeling around a cart full of rocks and he almost always has a rock hammer with him. He has spent quite a bit of time in caves. In fact, he even met his wife in a cave in 1973.

He is associate professor of biology, Lee Evinger. He is a physical geologist.

At 61 years of age with 29 of those spent teaching at Western, he has decided to retire beginning Aug. 1.
Evinger has been teaching at Missouri Western since 1979. When he first came here, he described Western as big and called it a model campus. He remembers the days of using a mimeograph to process papers and frowns when describing the alcohol fumes from using this machine. He is thankful for the invention of computers, which have made his job easier. He pulls an old slide projector from under his desk and explains its use compared to Power Point. (Full story)