As a learning-focused institution, Missouri State is committed to developing educated persons by challenging them academically while nurturing them through the process of personal growth. The University strives to create learning environments supportive of students’ diverse learning styles, frequently turning to new technologies to assist in these efforts. As this section discusses learning environments and the ways in which Missouri State supports learning through services, facilities, and faculty, the report illustrates how the University fulfills the Core Components of Criterion Three.

Learning Environments

An educated person is developed in the traditional sense in classrooms and laboratories. Additionally, for Missouri State students, the metropolitan context in which the university is located is a natural setting for additional learning. The community itself is a laboratory wherein the University’s five themes are experienced and addressed, especially through programs such as Citizenship and Service-Learning. But an educated person also is developed as a result of the entire university experience—participation in co-curricular activities, service to the university community and the community at-large, membership in campus organizations, and interaction with fellow students, faculty, and staff. These multiple environments contribute to learning at Missouri State.

Residence hall life and fraternities and sororities, for example, add richness to the university environment that contributes to the development of educated persons. The 258 University-recognized student organizations are a powerful example of the great diversity of student interests and the breadth of the co-curricular learning environment at Missouri State. The Centennial Leaders Scholarship Program, funded in part by private donations and initiated for the fall 2005 semester, and the Legislative Internship program, represent two of the many additional learning opportunities overseen by Student Affairs units. Additional examples of co-curricular learning opportunities include Debate, Marching Band, and Tent Theatre. Intercollegiate athletics also provide important educational experiences at Missouri State. Community service projects that incorporate the University’s public affairs emphasis, ranging from serving as a tutor in an adult literacy program to building homes through Habitat for Humanity, provide students unique opportunities for personal development while contributing to the community’s welfare. Such groups also provide leadership opportunities and a context for conversations that build community as well as develop individuals. These and many other activities teach students to live responsibly and to participate actively in society, both of which are important traits of an educated person. (See Figure 4.2 on the following page.)

Each college within the University sponsors various events, lectures, panels, performances, workshops, and tutorials that enhance the University’s mission in public affairs and strengthen the learning environment for students, faculty, staff, and constituents. While many of these activities are discipline specific, others are interdisciplinary. Almost all are open to students, faculty, and staff from throughout the campus; most are also open to the surrounding community. For example:

• The COAL Lecture Series was designed to bring to campus recognized scholars in arts and letters so that faculty can stay connected with current practice, theorize in their respective fields, and develop a broader interdisciplinary perspective in their scholarship.
• The COAL Odyssey Project is designed to allow faculty to develop interdisciplinary programs to expand their own research and creative activity.
• The biannual Showcase on Teaching serves as a form of faculty development while strengthening the University’s mission of providing effective teaching.
• The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) supports innovative classroom practices and increased faculty scholarship.

Figure 4.2: Development of an Educated Person

This diagram depicts Southwest Missouri State University’s philosophy of "developing educated persons." The student is at the center of this effort and general education is the academic foundation, providing the shared knowledge and the intellectual tools with which to explore the disciplines. Public affairs, SMSU’s statewide mission, provides the embracing framework for the total institutional effort.

• Numerous events sponsored by Colleges and the Office of Multicultural Student Services foster an awareness of diversity.
• The Missouri Fine Arts Academy and the Public Affairs Academy provide summer residential learning experiences for high school students on the Missouri State campus.
• Several departments in the College of Natural and Applied Science provide professional growth for faculty and students through seminar series. Faculty members meet with seminar speakers to refine research plans and learn new techniques. Two series that meet weekly are sponsored by Chemistry and Biology.
• The College of Business Administration hosts an “Executive in Residence Series” for its faculty and staff.
• The College of Humanities and Public Affairs hosted a bioethics conference with five keynote speakers in 2005.
• The annual College of Natural and Applied Science convocation provides the opportunity to recognize faculty and staff college award winners and to highlight selected faculty activities.
• The College of Health and Human Services Student Research Symposium showcases undergraduate and graduate student research projects mentored by faculty members.
• The Graduate Interdisciplinary Forum has facilitated a campus-wide and community discussion of the scholarly works of graduate students since 1994 as it also promotes an understanding of the research and creative work of graduate students across disciplines. The Forum has grown from 7 participants in 1994 to 160 participants in 2005.

The University seeks to maximize the capacity to build community and develop educated persons through these types of activities. The university accomplishes this, in part, by coordinating the scheduling and promotion of special events, and by making it clear to all constituencies that these activities are both an educational and a social good.

Services Supporting Student Learning

A number of services on campus contribute to effective learning environments through their support of diverse learning styles and needs. As stated by the Division of Student Affairs,  one of the University’s goals is to “serve part-time students, full-time students, graduate students, undergraduate students, learning disabled students, minority students and physically challenged individuals,” as well as students of all ages and with all interests and experiences.

The Division of Student Affairs manages several student support services, including

• Disability Services—Disability Services illustrates that Missouri State is committed to providing an accessible and supportive environment for students with a variety of disabilities. The University ensures that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated, or otherwise treated differently from other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids or other appropriate services. (Accommodations cannot result, however, in an undue burden to the University or fundamentally alter the requirements essential to a program of instruction.)
  • One example of Missouri State’s strong commitment in this area is the fact that it has been selected as a host university for the last three years for the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP). This honor is given to only approximately 200 universities in the nation. Trained recruiters from federal agencies conduct personal interviews with students with disabilities.
  • The WRP assists students in obtaining summer jobs, internships and permanent jobs throughout the country. The WRP gives students the opportunity to learn how to disclose their disability, interview for jobs, request accommodations and self-advocate. This personal development will aid individuals’ academic performances and future careers.
  • Disability Services further enhances student learning through an online faculty/staff orientation that was implemented in fall 2004. This mandatory training for new faculty is also available to all faculty.
• TRIO—A program funded by the U. S. Department of Education, TRIO assists low income and first generation college students to attend and succeed in college.
• Student Academic Support Services –This office provides a supportive environment where students can feel comfortable asking for help. Tutoring, academic advising, and study skills assistance are only a few of the many services offered. New for 2005 is the Opening of School Information Web page providing answers to the top 50 most commonly asked questions by new students, along with links to a wide variety of resources and services.
• The Office of Academic Affairs and University College manage the following services:
• The Advisement Center—The Center offers
  • Presentations on academic advising and general education to each section of the Student Success (IDS 110) course
  • Outreach academic planning presentations to residence hall and fraternity/sorority groups
  • Presentations to International Student Orientation and the Adult Student Welcome
  • Assistance to undeclared major students in determining schedules that help fulfill graduation requirements and allow for appropriate study time as well as an appropriate level of challenge
  • Assistance to students in making satisfying and appropriate choices of academic programs through both individual student appointments and the annual Majors Fair
  • Documented recommendations and observations through Web-based “Advising Notes,” to be used by the student and future advisors
  • Crisis management with students who are in academic trouble, including support through e-mails and phone calls
  • Academic counseling for high-risk alternative admission and re-admission students.
• Special accommodations by the CAIS—Those students identifying themselves as having special needs while participating in CAIS assessment are accommodated. Examples include additional time, provision of an assistant, and large print documents. The inauguration of a special assessment session for the general education exit examination gave student teachers the opportunity to take the exam at a time when they were on campus for their orientation program. Freshman placement testing is scheduled with orientation visits to campus.
• Honors College—The Honors College “recognizes the diversity of [Missouri State's] learners,” by acknowledging the needs of “students of unusually strong academic achievement and motivation.”  These needs include more than the traditional classroom formats and more rigorous academic opportunities. Additional information about the Honors College and its programs appears in the section below on “lifelong learning.” 
• Writing Center—The Writing Center offers students assistance with their research and writing projects both on site and through Online aids.
• Distance Learning—As described in Daring to Excel, Missouri State provides several learning formats for students who are unable or choose not to travel to campus. These include Online, interactive television, and broadcast television programs.
• Missouri Virtual School (MVS)—MVS provides computer-based courses to rural school districts in Missouri (see map of school districts participating in MVS). This proximity-based distance education program provides the delivery of content through a variety of technologies while incorporating interaction between teacher and student through regularly scheduled visits. Integrated in the proximity-based education model are interactive television and synchronous full-voice Internet-based interactions, chat forums, electronic mail correspondence, fax, and telephone office hours. Courses are available through either synchronous or asynchronous delivery, depending on the course, the needs of the individual student, and the state of technology at the sponsoring school. 

These distance learning services depend on technology; additional ways in which technology supports student learning are described below.

Technologies Supporting Student Learning

Supporting efforts to improve student learning is a consistent emphasis of the Information Technology (IT) Council. The Instructional Technology Advisory Committee, which reports to the IT Council, consists of a representative from every academic college, as well as other constituencies. The charge of this committee is to advise the IT Council on ways technology can be used to improve student learning and teaching effectiveness. Missouri State has policies and procedures designed to ensure classrooms and labs are updated on a lifecycle basis to promote technologically savvy learning environments. For example, since 1995, Distributed User Support Specialists (DUSS) have been hired to provide discipline-specific expertise to the students and faculty within each college. The ongoing work of the IT Council and the Committee is discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.

Additionally, the Student Computer Usage Fee (SCUF) Committee, which also reports to the IT Council, oversees funds available for student-related information technologies. Paid by all Missouri State students, SCUF funds are used to evaluate, install, and upgrade technologies critical to the academic success of students. Hardware, software, support staff, and assistive technologies are supported by SCUF. A listing of its allocation over several years is found on the University’s Web site.

As noted in Daring to Excel, however, equipment for academic and administrative use ranges from obsolete to state-of-the-art. The Self-Study Steering Committee recognizes that a challenge exists in supporting student learning through technology, since the work of the IT Council and the Committee focuses primarily on computers. Many of the technological needs for teaching and learning in programs within the College of Natural and Applied Science, the College of Health and Human Services, and the College of Arts and Letters, for example, are overlooked in the current framework for planning, purchase, and maintenance of computer equipment.

Facilities Supporting Student Learning

Daring to Excel also notes several aspects of Missouri State’s facilities that support the University’s purpose of developing educated citizens. During the past 10 years, the University received $66.2 million in state appropriations for capital improvements to academic facilities and campus infrastructure. During these same years, University auxiliary units expended $44.0 million to expand or renovate their facilities. Another $9.8 million in grant and gift monies was generated to support the construction of new buildings and facility additions. ( See Table 4.4 on the following page). New facilities for academic and administrative uses generally include state-of-the-art equipment. An extended discussion of one of these facilities, the Meyer Library, and its technology appears below.

Table 4.2: Facilities Improvements

In spite of these significant additions to and improvements in University facilities that support student learning, several challenges remain. As noted in Daring to Excel:

• The Missouri State system ranks last among Missouri’s public, four-year higher education institutions, offering just 157 square feet of academic and administrative space per FTE student, compared to the state average of 240 square feet (fall 2004).
• The backlog in maintenance and repair stands at nearly $72 million.
• Unprecedented growth in program offerings and enrollment has outstripped the University System’s ability to provide adequate per capita academic, research, and administrative space to students, faculty, and staff, despite significant capital resources available over the past 10 years.
• The list of planned facility renovations, improvements, and new construction is extensive and will require $45-$63 million per year (see also the Facilities and Support Services chapter of Daring to Excel).
• By January 2006, when the new Intermodal Transfer Facility will open, Missouri State will have 92% of its needed parking spaces. Nevertheless, the demand for parking spaces probably will continue to increase.

 The Duane G. Meyer Library is the primary facility in the Missouri State Libraries system. Central library administration and all other library service units of the Springfield campus and its branches are located here. The addition to and renovation of Meyer Library in 2002 at a cost of more than $28 million doubled the space available in the University’s main library and addressed one of the concerns of the 1995 Self-Study. The expanded facility includes, in addition to ample traditional stack space and variable seating, twelve Group Study Rooms, nineteen Research Carrels, two classrooms which primarily support the Library Science program, a bibliographic instruction classroom, a Computer Lab, Media Production Labs for both faculty and students, a Faculty Development Classroom, a Curriculum Resource Center with primary emphasis on elementary education, the Academic Development Center, the Assistive Technology Center, and a coffee shop and lounge area. Since 2002 the facility has become a popular gathering place for study, meetings, instruction, and conversing.

Although this increased space meets the needs of many academic disciplines, the holdings for music continue to be housed in the Music Library in Ellis Hall. That facility continues to be severely short on space, so that the collections are now split between Ellis Hall and Meyer Library. A new facility is planned but not funded.

There are also small, specialized libraries located at the branch facilities and campuses of the University. The Greenwood Library Media Center (LMC) is a branch of the Missouri State Library System and is located in the Greenwood Laboratory School on the Springfield campus. Its primary clientele are the kindergarten through senior high school students that attend the Greenwood Laboratory School. The Paul Evans Library of Fruit Science, a branch library of the Missouri State Library system, resides in Faurot Hall on the Missouri State—Mountain Grove campus. The hundred-year-old collection originally belonged to the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, established in 1899. The horticultural-based monographs, journals, and state and federal government documents serve as reference materials for research conducted by the Department of Fruit Science and Fruit Experiment Station staff.

Technology in the Meyer Library has expanded and developed exponentially since the 1995 Self-Study. Most general library operations and services are conducted in an online networked environment. In 1999 the SMSU Libraries migrated to the Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III) integrated library system as part of its participation in MOBIUS, a consortium of 57 academic libraries with a common Library Platform and resource sharing. Through this partnership Missouri State Libraries have access to all available MOBIUS resources and daily (M-F) delivery of materials. Web-based electronic databases provide access to approximately 11,000 full-text journals. More than 110 electronic indices and reference resources are available to faculty, students, and staff. Like other subscription resources, these are evaluated annually for retention and additions. Many are available at reduced costs through the libraries’ participation in MOBIUS and the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet), which provides Internet connectivity, access to Internet2, technical support, videoconferencing services and training.

While technological advances have allowed the library to operate more efficiently and have increased access to resources, a static library materials budget of $1.8 million for each of the past 6 years has allowed net book purchases of only 11,000 in 2003-04. This number is down from the net acquired in FY95 of 26,000. Print serials have been cut from 4,750 subscriptions to 3,639 at the end of the 2003-04 year.

The Libraries’ resources include

• A general Collection of monographs and bound periodicals of more than 835,000 volumes
• More than 900,000 government documents including United States, Missouri, and United Nations collections; Meyer Library is the only full depository for United Nations documents in Missouri.
• A circulating map library with maps and charts numbering more than 177,000 items
• 35,000 audiovisual materials, including a significant number of music CD’s
• The Curriculum Resources Collection, which supports preparation of future teachers and school library media specialists, includes books, kits, and other learning materials for pre-K and on.
• The Ozarks Labor Union Archives contains records of over 100 labor unions in the Ozarks and Missouri.
• The Katherine Lederer Photo Collection documents African-American life in the Ozarks.
•  The Ozarkiana Collection contains books and manuscript collections dealing with the Missouri Ozarks and Southwest Missouri.
• The William Jack Jones French Literature Collection contains books and other materials by and about the French writers Arthur Rimbaud, Michel Butor, and Stephane Mallarme.

The Libraries’ services and programs include

• Support of the Student Success Course (IDS 110) by providing a session for each section on use of library resources. These sessions, conducted by librarians and held in a computer classroom, provide students the opportunity to have hands-on experience using these library resources. Feedback at public service desks indicates that new students are motivated to seek further assistance in making the most effective use of library resources.
• Specialized bibliographic instruction sessions are developed as requested. Numerous positive responses and requests to meet with classes each semester demonstrate the value of these focused sessions.
• The Libraries’ Exhibits and Programs Committee develops an extensive array of displays and presentations based on learning opportunities in the collections. One recent series, “Tell Me Another… Tales to Celebrate Our Multicultural Heritage,” offered monthly storytelling programs. This series earned the sponsorship of the University’s Centennial Committee. An open series of noontime “brown bag” programs features presentations by faculty and staff.

In sum, the expansion and remodeling created a greatly improved learning environment for students using Meyer Library. A variety of study space, large tables, individual tables, group study rooms, comfortable seating, and the lobby lounge encourage students to come and stay at the library. Entrance counts indicate more than a 50% increase in visits to Meyer Library since the addition and renovation were completed in 2002.

Because the Association of College and Research Libraries has modified its basic standards document since 1995, two points of reference help to measure library performance.

 Based on the Standards for College Libraries (1995), Missouri State libraries would be rated as follows in five crucial areas:

• Collection – “A” level. This grade is based on adequacy for undergraduate programs. Substantial increases may be necessary to support the new graduate programs or to enhance existing ones.
• Total library employees (Faculty and Support Staff) - “D” level. Meyer needs 13.25 additional members to reach the “B” level.
• Support Staff – “D” level. Meyer needs 17.5 additional members to reach the “B” level.
• Faculty- “C” level. Three more positions are needed for “B” level,
• Budget – “D” level. The “C” level standard for library budgets is 4.2% of educational and general expenditures (E & G). The University’s E&G budget (2004) was $191,377,505. The Library Services budget was $5.1 million; “C” level funding would require a Library Services budget of $8 million.

The Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (2004) provide a number of suggested measures, two of which the Missouri State Libraries has employed for direct inputs: 1) ratio of volumes to total students and to faculty FTE, and 2) ratio of expenditures per student and faculty FTE.

Table 4.3: Ratios of Library Acquisitions to Total Students and Faculty

Faculty and Staff Supporting Student Learning

Within diverse learning environments, educated persons at Missouri State are developed through the interaction of capable, motivated students with competent, caring faculty who advise as well as teach.

Missouri State supports student learning, then, through the interaction between knowledgeable faculty and staff academic advisors and their advisees. The university’s dedication to excellent academic advising is demonstrated by the nationally recognized “Master Advisor” training program. More than 700 faculty and staff advisors have voluntarily participated in this intensive training program, with several being recognized at both the state and national levels for their advising.

Advising at Missouri State is enhanced by technology. The Computer Services Department and Enrollment Services units, with direction from the Web Advisement and Registration Committee and feedback from the academic community, developed an online Faculty/Advisor Resource Center (FARC) to support the advisement process. Faculty can now easily view transcripts and degree audits for their advisees and also enter notes in an online “Advising Notes” feature. Students have access to their transcripts and degree audits and can view advising notes using the student My Information feature. The FARC has been expanded to include a number of functions to assist academic administrators and faculty in other ways (e.g., advisor assignment, course level management, course permission and prerequisite tracking). To access the FARC, faculty and advisors must go to the Faculty and Staff page, select “Faculty/Advisor Resource Center,” and enter a PIN.

The university creates effective learning environments by striving to increase the number of distinguished faculty, by recruiting and hiring faculty who are already distinguished in their professional work, and by developing and encouraging existing faculty to strive for distinction.

The university’s learning environments include a distinguished teaching faculty. Among the most exemplary are

• The winner of a prestigious Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Artist at Giverny Program
• An anthropologist who has received international acclaim for his work locating the Lost City of Ubar
• A leading authority on U.S.-Asian relations
• A Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Missouri Professor of the Year
• One of the top biblical scholars in the world
• A MacArthur Fellow
• The first female faculty member to be named a Fellow of the Missouri Academy of Science
• A chemist who is a Henry Dreyfuss teacher-scholar award winner.

The learning-focused organization not only hires and maintains quality faculty, but also supports the continued learning and scholarship of its faculty, staff, and administrators. Missouri State supports excellence among faculty through several means. Programs that enhance faculty learning include University Grants, Faculty Research Grants, and Sabbaticals. Excellence of faculty is also promoted by the high standards used for awarding Graduate Faculty status. The rigor and appropriateness of coursework (and other associated graduate experiences) are ensured by allowing only top-quality instructors to teach these courses as well as to direct the students’ research, clinical experiences, and other scholarly endeavors. The tenure and promotion process is also vital to promoting excellence. Five evaluative processes are outlined in the Faculty Handbook. These processes are reviewed annually by academic departments to ensure their tenure and promotion guidelines are in compliance. Although each Department’s guidelines are specific to their discipline, the guidelines must adhere to the general requirements outlined in the evaluative processes.  

One significant challenge associated with encouraging faculty to achieve distinction emerges from the multiple tasks asked of faculty. As Daring to Excel states, “The current standard for teaching—a goal of a nine-hour assignment—is not appropriate; given the complex and varied teaching tasks that different faculty face (e.g., clinical supervision, internship supervision, thesis supervision, studio courses versus large sections), a more accommodating standard is needed. That standard also should recognize that, while it is a goal that all faculty be productive scholars, not all faculty will be for a variety of reasons.” Another challenge that has emerged during the last few years is the need for improved mentoring of newly hired faculty. The potential revisions of the Faculty Handbook under consideration at the time this report was written may address such issues as well as the tenure and promotion guidelines.