Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-6
Board of Governors Approve 2003 Operating Budget
At the June Board of Governors meeting and planning retreat, the Board approved the 2003 operating budget which includes faculty and staff salaries being maintained at the 2002 operating level, due to the severe budget shortfall. The Board also gave authorization to the President to institute a special student surcharge, up to $100, for the fall semester. A decision on the surcharge will be made soon so all students can be notified. President Jack Magruder also notified the Board of his intent to retire next year on June 30, 2003. Board member Randa Rawlins was appointed to serve as the chair of the search committee, with the goal of having the process under way before school starts this fall.Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-6
The Heartland Chautauqua will be at Kirksville’s NEMO Fairgrounds July 1-6. It is an event with a deep history in the heartland. From the mid-nineteenth century until the 1930s, the Chautauqua offered a place for Missouri residents to engage in intellectual activity.The traveling tent shows featured famous politicians and orators, and brought entertainment and education to many small Midwestern towns. Famous personalities such as Teddy Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan contributed to oratory, musical and dramatic performances that kept audiences returning each summer. The Chautauqua ended its run in the 1930s when it began to lose educational value and could no longer compete with movies and radio.
A revival of its legacy began in the late 1970s as the humanities’ councils in the Midwest recognized the value of the Chautauqua. The Missouri Humanities Council launched Missouri Chautauqua in 1993, and when the citizens of Missouri responded enthusiastically, the Council decided to establish the Chautauqua once again as a permanent traveling program. In 1996 the Illinois Humanities Council joined Missouri’s efforts to create the Heartland Chautauqua.
Five scholars will appear in full costume each evening and present historical characterizations. Each program is free to the public and will begin at 7 p.m with 45 minutes of local entertainment.
Personalities to be portrayed include Aimee Semple McPherson on July 2. McPherson was born in 1890 in rural Canada and was the founder of the International church of the Foursquare Gospel. She was the first woman to preach over the radio. During her young adult life she spent much of her time evangelizing throughout the United States. By the time her life ended in 1944, she had built and dedicated the 5,300 seat Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, built the L.I.F.E. Bible College, started her own radio station, KFSG, and instituted many welfare projects.
Willa Cather will be portrayed at Heartland Chautauqua on July 3. Cather was a writer who considered the pioneer woman an artist in her own right. She moved to Nebraska when she was nine years old and wrote about the pioneer spirit and old traditions which shaped the America West. She began her career as a journalist and a teacher in Pittsburg and New York City. She is best known for her novels “O Pioneers!,” “My Antonia” and “Death Comes for the Archbishop.”
Harry Reser will be portrayed at Heartland Chautauqua on July 4. Reser was a famous musician, composer, band leader, radio producer and banjo virtuoso of the 1920s. His musical talent was discovered at an early age and by the time he finished high school he could play the guitar and piano. Reser also received classical training on the violin and cello. He mastered the banjo and began playing for amusement parks, ballrooms and dance academies. He formed a band of nine musicians who played as a part of the Clicquot Club radio program.
Another personality to be portrayed will be H.L. Mencken on July 5. Mencken is most remembered for his essays. He began writing as a reporter at the Baltimore Herald. He had his own column by the time he was 30. Shortly after that he and George Nathan founded and edited American Mercury. Mencken gradually added literary criticism, drama criticism, history, biography and fiction to his growing repertoire of essays and columns.
John Dos Passos will be portrayed on July 6. Dos Passos served as an ambulance driver during the Great War where his perceptions of a society gone mad and of the negative effects of capitalism furnished the material for his first two published novels. More novels, all of which offered a critique of urban life, politics, reform and industry soon followed. He wrote his highly-acclaimed trilogy “U.S.A.” after the controversial trial and execution of two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
Musical entertainment and other festivities will accompany the skits underneath the giant tent.
For more information about the Heartland Chautauqua program, or to contribute a monetary donation, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 665.3766.
The Public Relations Office
is looking for
volunteers to work the gate
July 24
for Truman Day at
the NEMO Fair.
Shifts begin at 5:45 a.m. and run for three hours each, ending at 10:30 p.m.
Call 785.4016 or stop by the Public Relations Office to sign up.
Volunteers receive a free day pass to the fair.
Notables
Ten Truman students earned a place on the MIAA Presidential Scholar lists. They included Diana Betsworth, freshman exercise science major from East Moline, Ill.; Andy Crossett, freshman political science major from Liberty, Mo.; Sarah Dance, freshman exercise science major from Lincoln, Neb.; Lance Dorsey, senior biology major from Hannibal, Mo.; Gina Fettig, freshman biology major from Billings, Mont.; Austin George, freshman pre-business administration major from Wichita, Kan.; Jenny Glenn, senior exercise science major from Granby, Colo.; Christine Gould, senior biology major from Ballwin, Mo.; Shawn Guethle, sophomore pre-business administration major from Dexter, Mo.; Steve Jones, freshman pre-accounting major from St. Louis; Abigail Souders, freshman from Rosemount, Minn.; and Brett Werenski, freshman pre-business administration major from Curryville, Mo. Six of Truman’s MIAA Presidential Scholar students also earned a place on the Academic All-MIAA list while excelling in their individual sports and simultaneously maintaining a 4.0 GPA. They included Betsworth, Dance, Fettig, Glenn, Jones and Souders.
Notes
The Speech and Hearing Clinic is providing hearing evaluations for the month of June from 10:30-11:20 a.m., Tuesday-Thursday. There is no cost to the public.
Lynn Swanson will speak about “All I Wanted Was the Sweet Free Open” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., July 1, in the SUB Georgian Room. Everyone is welcome to attend and bring their lunch from Mainstreet Market to eat while Swanson speaks. This program is sponsored by Pickler Memorial Library. Swanson will be portraying Willa Cather at the Heartland Chautauqua at 7:45 p.m., July 3, at the NEMO Fairgrounds.
Graduation clearance packets were mailed June 11 for summer 2002 graduates. If you have not yet received your packet, please contact the Registrar’s Office at 785.4143 or registrar@truman.edu. This packet is a graduation requirement, and must be completed by July 12.
Transcripts will cost $5 each beginning Aug. 5.
On Campus
25 Tuesday
18th American Prairie Conference, on campus26 Wednesday
18th American Prairie Conference, on campus27 Thursday
18th American Prairie Conference, on campus28 Friday
First five week graduate courses end1 Monday
7:30 a.m.-Second five week graduate courses begin
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.-”All I Wanted Was the Sweet Free Open” talk, SUB Georgian Room; see Notes
Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds2 Tuesday
7 p.m.-Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds; see Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-63 Wednesday
7 p.m.-Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds; see Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-64 Thursday
Independence Day-No classes, offices closed7 p.m.-Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds; see Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-6
5 Friday
7 p.m.-Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds; see Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-66 Saturday
7 p.m.-Heartland Chautauqua, NEMO Fairgrounds; see Heartland Chautauqua to Portray Five Historic Personalities July 1-6
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