Chapter 5: SMSU as a Connected Organization

Serving the Common Good

As described in Chapter Three, “Missouri State as a Future-Oriented Organization,” the University is driven by a clear mission. Part of the University’s mission, as a metropolitan university, is to serve the community of Springfield, the Ozarks region, the state of Missouri, the nation, and the world. The goal of developing educated persons serves the greater society by providing educated citizens. The University’s themes of business and economic development, science and the environment, professional education, health, and creative arts, as well as the public affairs mission help the institution to focus on specific facets of society. Missouri State identifies constituents in each of these areas, knowing that, as the University serves them and defines future directions, it also serves society as a whole. Some of the ways in which Missouri State serves the common good were described in the previous section; additional ways are described in the sections that follow, along with references to ways in which the concept of serving the common good is incorporated into the University’s planning and mission.           

Not only the University as a whole but also units within the University have mission statements and planning documents that illustrate a commitment to service. (See, for example, the mission statements of the Music Department and the Multicultural Resource Center.) These documents also illustrate that specific units recognize the diversity of their constituents and the society served. Departments within the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS), for example, run a number of clinics addressing various health needs of those in the community, while the College of Education (COE) prepares teachers to serve primary and secondary schools in urban and rural areas and with diverse ethnic composition. The University also supports several Centers, some auxiliary to academic units, designed to serve various and diverse community needs. The examples below illustrate a few of the ways colleges and their respective departments and centers serve the common good.

College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) – Seven of the nine academic units in the CHHS offer a total of 26 service-learning courses in support of the University’s public affairs mission. In these courses, students are involved directly with serving the community as they learn about the health professions. In addition, the College supports several centers that involve students as they serve the community. The CHHS Center for Research and Services (CRS), for example, provides survey and program evaluation services to community groups through contracts and pro-bono work. The CRS has provided evaluation services for

• The Missouri Training Project, a program to improve the training and effectiveness of rural child welfare workers
• Partnering for Success, a program for middle school students and their parents that addresses risk and protective factors and includes activities intended to reduce drug use and strengthen families
• The Methamphetamine Awareness Project, designed to increase public awareness of methamphetamine through an advertising campaign and classes on the signs of methamphetamine use and production
• The Springfield Police Department, assessing residents’ attitudes toward their work
• The Underage Drinking Project, designed to increase public awareness of the legal consequences of allowing minors to drink alcohol
• Caring Communities, a neighborhood-based, school-linked program which strives to strengthen families, increase student performance in school, and connect families with social services
• The Mayor’s Commission for Children, evaluating aggression among kindergarteners in Greene County
• The Springfield/Greene County Library, on reinforcing their community information Web site, “Community Matters”    
• The Center for Multidisciplinary Health Education, Research and Services (CMHERS), established in 2002. The Center sponsors an annual Multidisciplinary Forum focusing on a significant health issue of the campus and community. Topics have included diabetes, dementia, Down syndrome, spinal cord injury, stroke, and the effects of a lightning strike. The purpose of each forum is 1) to promote the concept of interdisciplinary collaboration; and 2) to provide an opportunity for faculty, staff, students, and interested community members to experience the multifaceted aspects of the health and human services professions, and how they can work together to maximize health care.
  

College of Education (COE)—The College of Education serves the common good most obviously by preparing teachers. More specifically, it supports programs such as those of the Regional Professional Development Center (RPDC), a subunit within the Institute for School Improvement operated by the COE. RPDC collaborates with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide professional development assistance in reading, special education, and the Missouri Assessment Program to over 90 school districts in southwest Missouri. Other technical assistance is provided to certain priority-needs schools. On average, 35 of the districts served by the RPDC also pay into the center for services beyond the state-funded grant program. RPDC expertise comes from the professional staff of the center, graduate students, and faculty of the college.

College of Business Administration (COBA)—The College of Business Administration sponsors the Public Service Tax Clinic, consisting of the Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC), Volunteers for Individual Income Tax Assistance (VITA), and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs, is jointly funded by Missouri State, the Internal Revenue Service, the Community Foundation for the Ozarks, and the Southwest Missouri Office of Aging. The Clinic merges education with service to the community and region. At no cost to those served, Master of Accountancy graduate students and faculty train volunteers and work to provide direct assistance to low-income citizens, older adults, and individuals for whom English is a second language by preparing tax returns and assisting with the resolution of tax controversies. The Clinic serves the common good by giving students “real world” experience as they meet important societal needs. In 2004 more than 17,000 citizens in southwest Missouri were assisted. These included 3,300 taxpayers who were assisted with e-filing, 97 with IRS controversies, more than 5,000 with Missouri Property Tax credits and paper returns, and 29 workshops and other outreaches conducted in various locations in the region to help more than 500 non-native speakers of English.

Graduate College (GC)—Students in master’s programs conduct investigations that result in well over 100 theses annually, many of which are concerned with the common good. Perhaps most obviously, theses in the sciences address issues of public concern, often including attempts to solve environmental problems. For example, many biology projects have studied native plants and animals and chemistry projects have analyzed water and soil composition, reflecting environmental concerns in southwest Missouri. Additionally, chemistry and materials-science research serves the common good through product development in the areas of optics, thin-film technology, and surface and structural characterization. Similarly, in Defense and Strategic Studies, students analyze and provide perspectives on global politics and national security. The results of these projects are disseminated locally and nationally.

College of Natural and Applied Science (CNAS)—With leadership from the College of Natural and Applied Science, Missouri State hosts an annual, regional Science Olympiad competition and science fair, events that bring hundreds of middle school and high school students to campus. In addition, the Center for Resource Planning and Management, which provides the administration and leadership for the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments,  is integral to the College’s service. Likewise, the Ozarks Environmental and Water Quality Institute serves the common good as it focuses on the increasingly complex issues of water quality and quantity in the Ozarks. Further, faculty of CNAS lead the University each year in the number of grant-funded research and service projects. Often these projects have funding from, or carry out the work in direct cooperation with, state and local agencies to seek solutions to regional environmental concerns. Two examples include

• Dr. Ryan Giedd, Director of the Center for Applied Science and Engineering and his research team and corporate partners were awarded $5,850,000 from the Office of Naval Research to continue their efforts to develop micro-electromechanical systems for the detection of biological agents. This is the second award for this program.
• Dr. Paul Durham, Assistant Professor of Biology, was awarded a research grant in the amount of $209,400 from the National Institutes of Health to study the cellular mechanisms involved in the generation of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, an affliction effecting over 11 percent of the U.S. population.

College of Arts and Letters (COAL_--Each summer the College of Arts and Letters sponsors the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, which brings gifted high school students to campus for a residential program that includes several weeks of intensive classes and related activities. Additionally, the College sponsors numerous events throughout the year for the campus and the community at large: dance and music concerts, theatrical events, poetry readings, film series, public speaking competitions, and programs for secondary teachers. The Odyssey Project is an annual, themed series of public events sponsored by the College.

College of Continuing Education and the Extended University (CCE)—The College of Continuing Education and the Extended University exemplifies service through its delivery of both credit and continuing education (“noncredit”) programs to numerous constituencies, ranging from high school students “dually enrolled” to evening students employed full time during the day. The programs also include non-credit conferences, workshops, professional development programs, and a senior citizen fee waiver program. Continuing Education plays a lead role in fulfilling the University’s objective of expanding the number of off-campus students it serves.  

College of Humanities and Public Affairs (CHPA)—The College of Humanities and Public Affairs faculty participate in service-learning (providing later internship opportunities in businesses, non-profit organizations, and government), function as consultants to local agencies (from non-profit organizations to city government), and participate actively as speakers, volunteers, and community leaders. In 2003-04, CHPA faculty and staff engaged in public affairs by contributing a significant portion of the 67,914 hours of volunteer work in the community or around the state provided by university faculty and staff. In addition, the College sponsors several events and programs for secondary school students:

• An annual Model UN  that trains young people in important international issues.
• An American History Education Enhancement Program that partners with local school districts to provide online, master’s level instruction to a cohort of public school teachers (AHEEP).
• An annual History Day involving poster displays and dramatized historical presentations by secondary students.
• History Bowl, with scholarships for the two top secondary students.
• The Public Affairs Academy that draws students from throughout the state of Missouri to campus in the summer.
• The Bureau of Economic Research provides invaluable community service and an interface between the work of the Economics Department and local economic constituencies in southwest Missouri with the publication of four quarterly reports and the annual Southwest Missouri Economic Review.
• The mission statement for the Center for Social Sciences and Public Policy Research (CSSPPR) reflects its contributions to the community as a professional resource for those agencies wishing to do public surveys.
• The Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) conducts archaeological field work and other cultural resource management projects on a contractual basis. It primarily serves municipal, state, and federal government agencies. CAR also offers hands-on experience for students interested in careers in archaeology and is active in local archaeological and preservation societies.
  

University College (UC)--The University College serves the common good most obviously through its administration of the General Education program, which is fully aligned with the University’s mission. In addition, the College supports the University’s mission by helping students succeed at becoming educated persons through several specific areas of assistance:

• By providing advising for students with undeclared majors through the Academic Advisement Center
• By challenging top academic students through courses in the Honors program, thus bolstering the academic performance of the University as a whole
• By broadening students’ understandings of a global community through the Office of Study Away and its International Education programs.