Accolades abroad

Posted on Sept. 29, 2009 by Karen Pojmann

Chancellor earns honorary degree from Thai university

Chancellor Brady Deaton receives his honorary degree from Prince of Songkla University.

If you haven’t seen MU’s chancellor on campus this week, there’s a good reason. Brady Deaton is in Hat Yai, Thailand, where Prince of Songkla University has given him an honorary degree.

Deaton has close ties to the Land of Smiles. He taught vocational agriculture there as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s and has visited the country repeatedly since. He also speaks the language fluently, wowing Thai students last spring when he addressed the crowd at the annual Songkran Festival.

Deaton has made international engagement a priority for Mizzou. He hosts the Chancellor’s Global Issues Forum and last year established, by chancellorial proclamation, the first MU International Day. Currently more than 1,800 international students are enrolled at Mizzou, and the university offers more than 400 study-abroad programs in 60 countries.

Read more about Deaton’s honorary degree.

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The Truman legacy

Posted on Sept. 17, 2009 by Karen Pojmann

After speaking to a group of 12 MU students in Memorial Union regarding the Truman Scholarship application process, Harry S Truman Foundation Executive Secretary Fred Slabach continues the conversation with sophomore biology major Angelina Taylor. Photo by Shane Epping.

A representative from the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation visited Mizzou this week to honor the university for its promotion of public service. Mizzou is one of two universities to be designated a 2009 Truman Foundation Honor Institution.

During the visit, Executive Secretary Fred Slabach talked with students about what it takes to be a Truman Scholar. Each year the foundation awards 60-65 of the $30,000 graduate-school scholarships to exceptional college juniors nationwide on the basis of four criteria:

1. service on campus and in the community;
2. commitment to a career in public service ;
3. communication skills and aptitude for being an agent of change; and
4. academic talent that ensures acceptance into a first-rate graduate school.

Tigers have been well represented among Truman Scholars. So far 14 Mizzou students have been awarded the scholarships; political science major Rick Puig is the most recent. In 2008, an unprecedented two Mizzou students, Laura Merritt and Jennifer Kimball, earned the honor, and Merritt was later named one of Glamour magazine’s Top 10 College Women.

For more information about applying for a Truman Scholarship, visit www.truman.gov.

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