| Deceased Sikeston Resident Bequeaths $860,000 To University
Feb. 12, 1999 --
The late Margaret Woods Allen of Sikeston, Mo., has bequeathed $860,000 to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation to support programs in the Donald L. Harrison College of Business, the Department of Nursing and the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University.
“During Mrs. Allen’s lifetime, she made a significant impact on the personal and professional lives of our students,” said Wayne Davenport, vice president for University Advancement and executive director of the Foundation. “We are indeed fortunate that she has chosen to make such a significant contribution to the future quality of our music, nursing and business programs.”
Davenport says a portion of the funds will be used to establish a piano program of national prominence at the University and scholarships to assist talented piano students.
Another portion of the gift will be used to establish a memorial to Mrs. Allen’s late husband, Thomas B. Allen, in the Donald L. Harrison College of Business. These funds will be used for scholarships and for education trips by students to markets such as the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile.
In addition, the bequest also makes funds available to the Department of Nursing for study, research and courses in the area of psychological mental health, including chemical dependency. Sigma Theta Tau nursing honor society Lambda Theta Chapter also will benefit.
“Mrs. Allen’s gift to support and enhance programs at this University underscores the tremendous value of the Foundation’s Horizon Club and the impact it makes on enhancing the well-being of the University as the need to raise private funds continues to grow,” said Dr. Dale F. Nitzschke, president of Southeast Missouri State University. “Mrs. Allen did so much during her lifetime to enhance educational opportunities for students across so many disciplines here. She would be thrilled today to see the fruits of her generosity take hold here at Southeast.”
The Horizon Club recognizes donors who have named the Foundation as a beneficiary of deferred gifts. During the course of her life, Mrs. Allen made a significant impact on the quality of education at Southeast Missouri State University. Mrs. Allen, an accomplished violinist, established the Margaret Woods Allen Piano Scholarship in 1991 to allow talented piano students the opportunity to develop fully without the financial pressures inherent in pursuing a music degree. The scholarship covers the cost of incidental fees, room and board, and private piano lessons. Four such scholarships are awarded annually.
In 1987, Mrs. Allen received the “Friend of the University” award from the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. This award is the highest honor bestowed by the Foundation. Mrs. Allen also was a charter member of the President’s Council, the Copper Dome Society and the Horizon Club.
Mrs. Allen was a successful investor and author of Widow’s Might: A Survival Guide to Investing. Proceeds from this book benefit the Southeast Missouri University Foundation. During her lifetime, Mrs. Allen extended her interest in investing in the University, by endowing two Foundation funds in honor of her late husband, Thomas Allen. The earnings from these funds are earmarked for trips by Southeast business students to the New York Stock Exchange, The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile.
In 1993, Mrs. Allen said, these trips “open up a whole new world” for students. “The experience is so great. Many of these students have never been out of Missouri. Seeing how the markets work and experiencing a big city” is a tremendous opportunity for them.
“It makes my spirits soar to hear what the students think” after returning from the trips and the course,” she said. “It’s a marvelous experience.”
These funds also provide for a “real money portfolio” in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law, which is the focus of a “Portfolio Theory” course and a “Futures Seminar” course. Southeast is one of few schools nationwide that have student managed portfolios. Students in the “Portfolio Theory” course get hands-on experience in the selection and management of investments by being responsible for managing a “real money” stock and bank funds portfolio. Students also learn about bond, options and futures markets. In the “Futures Seminar” students learn about agricultural and financial futures market fundamentals and strategies used for risk reduction and speculative investments. Course activities also focus on the historical origins of futures trading, hedging and futures markets activity, speculating and the futures markets, technical and fundamental price forecasting, and contract specifications.
In addition to Mrs. Allen’s support of these business courses, she provided a six-figure gift to the Foundation in 1988 to establish the Margaret Woods Allen Endowed Chair in Nursing at the University. The fund is being used to bring distinguished nurse-scholars to Southeast.
“Mrs. Allen was a registered nurse and each year the Department of Nursing honors her support of the nursing profession by hosting the Margaret Woods Allen Special Speaker Day,” said Dr. A. Louise Hart, chair of Southeast’s Department of Nursing.
Mrs. Allen had a lifetime interest in nursing. She was honored by Sigma Theta Tau International honor society of Nursing, and the University recognized her for her philanthropy and leadership in that organization of which she was a member for more than 53 years.
Membership in Sigma Theta Tau International is conferred only to nursing students and graduates who demonstrate exceptional achievement in the nursing profession. As a longtime member of Sigma Theta Tau International, Mrs. Allen provided inspiration and guidance in Southeast’s efforts to affiliate with the organization and inspired Southeast to strive for Sigma Theta Tau International affiliation. Mrs. Allen is a founding member of Southeast’s Lambda Theta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International.
Mrs. Allen’s wide range of interests also translated in the establishment of a program to preserve the oral history of the region’s cotton economy of the 1920s and 1930s.
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Criminal Justice Weekend Summer Graduate Course To Be Offered For K-12 Teachers
Feb. 12, 1999 --
A criminal justice graduate course for K-12 teachers will be offered again this summer on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
Career Services will sponsor an Internship Fair Feb. 24 and a Career Fair Feb. 25 on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
With the rise of more full-time police officers assigned to the schools, teachers have echoed the request from their students to know more about the criminal justice system, said Dr. William Bourns, associate professor of criminal justice and instructor for the course. The Department of Criminal Justice has developed this special graduate course, "CJ837: Criminal Justice Workshop for Teachers," to be taught in intensive format weekends for this summer.
The course will cover units on gangs, when and what happens when you are under arrest, life inside prison and other timely criminal justice teaching topics for classroom use by kindergarten through 12th grade teachers. A special resource book has been developed by Bourns that involves bulletin board material, law enforcement web sites (such as the FBI and the 10 most wanted), crime prevention games and a look at the failure and success of the D.A.R.E. program. A special unit will focus on the new Missouri school violence prevention curriculum.
Classes will be held the weekends of June 18-20, June 25-27, July 9-11 and July 16-18. Class times will be Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. The deadline for registration is April 9 by 5 p.m. For more information, please contact Dr. Bill Bourns, Department of Criminal Justice at (573) 651-2687.
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Southeast Physics Professor Awarded $16,000 National Science Foundation Grant
Feb. 12, 1999 --
A National Science Foundation grant awarded to a professor at Southeast Missouri State University is expected to result in college students expanding their knowledge in the area of semiconductors, superconductors and various other materials.
Dr. Jai Dahiya, professor of physics, has been awarded a $16,000 grant to develop a course and experiments in the area of materials science. The work will be conducted for the Northeast Center for Telecommunications Technologies (NCTT).
The grant period began Feb. 1 and runs through Aug. 31. Dahiya has requested matching funds from Southeast to upgrade his equipment for this project.
Although Dahiya did not apply for the grant, his national reputation in the field of materials science has taken hold and his work recently piqued the attention of Dr. Jim Masi, director of the NCTT. Dahiya has attended the National Educators Conference for the past eight years and there became acquainted with Masi. He formerly was a professor at New England College and since has been named director of the NCTT.
Last November, Dahiya attended the conference in Seattle, where Masi asked him if he would be interested in developing a course and experiments in the area of materials science.
“He was impressed with my research,” Dahiya said.
Later, Dahiya and Masi began corresponding by e-mail and telephone. A few weeks ago, Dahiya received a letter stating that he had been selected for the grant project.
Dahiya says his work not only will benefit the NCTT, which serves two- and four-year colleges in the Northeast, but also will boost the hands-on experience Southeast students get in working with materials of the future.
The grant may be renewed for two additional years, each at $16,000.
Dahiya has been teaching at Southeast for 15 years. He currently teaches “Materials Science,” “Calculus Based Physics” and “Experimental Methods II.” The focus of his research, which he has been doing for the past 10 years, is on microwave spectroscopy. This is the study of the dielectric properties of various materials -- metals, ceramics, chemicals, liquid crystals, polymers , semiconductors and superconductors -- at microwave frequencies.
“I want to get more and more into research on semiconductors and superconductors,” Dahiya said.
“They have very exciting properties. High Temperature Superconductivity technology is going to be a breakthrough in the next decade,” he said.
Over the years, Dahiya has involved 40 undergraduates at Southeast in his research. Several have co-authored papers with him, presented papers at the Missouri Academy of Science and participated in regional conferences with him. Dahiya’s ultimate goal is to develop a large materials science lab at Southeast.
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Werner Becomes New Member of Horizon Club
Feb. 12, 1999 --
Kenneth C. Werner of Cape Girardeau has become a new member of the Horizon Club by naming Southeast Missouri State University in his estate plans.
Werner has established a $150,000 charitable annuity trust, and at the time of his death, the donation will be used to endow the Werner Family Scholarship. This scholarship will honor Werner’s parents, Clarence C. and Maude B. Werner, and will be designated to the general athletic fund with priority given to members of the Southeast Missouri State University men’s basketball team. The Southeast athletics director and head men’s basketball coach will select the scholarship recipient.
The Horizon Club recognizes donors who have named the Southeast Missouri University Foundation as a beneficiary of planned gifts -- real estate, a will, living trust, annuity or insurance policy. A minimum $10,000 commitment is required. These gifts are the result of careful planning involving the family attorney, family trust officer, insurance underwriter and accountant. Planned gifts are crucial for the long-term financial well-being of the Foundation and, ultimately, the University, as the need to raise private funds increases.
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