The political husband and wife team of James Carville and Mary Matalin will be the speakers at the 15th annual Convocation on Critical Issues on Sept 30.

Carville is a political strategist for the Democratic party.  He has served as campaign manager under former president Bill Clinton in his presidential election win in 1992 along. He has also hosted CNN’s political debate show, Crossfire.  He appears regularly appears as a commentator on several news channels and political talk shows and made guest appearances in several different television shows and movies.

Matalin is a political consultant for the Republican party. She has been involved in the current Bush administration as an assistant to president Bush and a counselor to vice president Cheney. She has also written several books including Letters to My Daughters and also hosted Crossfire. She is currently the head of a conservative publication called Threshold. (Full story)

The Missouri Western softball team split a home doubleheader against the Central Missouri Jennies, winning the first game 9-6 and falling in the second game 9-5.

Mandi Nocita played well in both games as she hit two home runs in the doubleheader. She also drove in three runs in the first game. Then she added a another r.b.i. in the second game.

In the first game the Griffons got of to a fast start as Kori Bowser blasted a home run which led to a big inning for the Griffons. They never looked back in the first contest. (Full story)

Falling to the Washburn Lady Blues in the first round of post-season play, the Missouri Western women’s basketball team (12-15) season officially ended Thursday, March 6. The closing also brings the end of a great run in the careers of three seniors, Jill Johnson, Yanique Javois and Chemia Woods. Johnson and Javois were tied for the highest scoring game in the MIAA at 39 points. While Woods led the league in steals with 2.62 a game and second in assists diming out 4.65 per contest. (Full story)

The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee recently passed a proposal to delete MAT 090 and 095 from the curriculum and replace those with the proposed courses, MAT 081, 082 and 083.   Students are placed in the DMP (Developmental Math Programs) where they take an assessment to show deficiencies in their mathematics background.  According to the 2007/2008 summary of primary proposed undergraduate curriculum changes, some studentsí deficiencies are so severe that they have trouble completing MAT 090 in a single semester.   This is unfortunate for some, especially if they are working meticulously and making satisfactory progress. (Full story)

    When the ball dropped to bring in the new year–2008, the pay for minimum wage rose by 15 cents from $6.50 an hour to $6.65 an hour.  According to Jan Aspelund, the director of human resources, approximately 485 Western students working on-campus jobs were adjusted to the new wage.   This increase is based on a 2.2 percentage change in the Consumer Price Index between July 2006 and July 2007.  Minimum wage will continue to be indexed to inflation and increase or decrease on Jan. 1 of successive years. (Full story)

     At the end of January, Western will say goodbye to its dean of the Western Institute, Christopher Shove.

Shove will be resigning, as he has been given the great opportunity to serve as vice provost of Alfaisal University, a brand new school of research located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Shove said he was contacted by a national search firm, and he gladly accepted the offer, as it was his previous boss who offered him the position.

     “It’s an exciting opportunity for me,” Shove said.

Shove will have the chance to play a part in the modernization of higher education in Saudi Arabia.

   “The university is an American-style university on purpose,” Shove said.

     Shove’s absence will mean that Joseph Bragin, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, will be filling in for him in the meantime.

(Full story)

The clean up begins after an ice storm hit the area earlier this week causing power outages on campus and the cancellation of finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The ice storm has left many of the trees on campus damaged or destroyed. The ice storm followed a snow storm that happened in last week.

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