From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., members will be lounging in the new water fountain at Kent Library on Normal Avenue.

“It’s disturbing to see this kind of thing happen in our nation’s high schools,” said Paul Dobbins, Sigma Nu public relations chair. “We just want to do whatever we can to help the Littleton community.”

Dobbins said his fraternity hopes to get a lot of participation from fellow students by tossing in coins and making contributions while walking to class or lunch.

“A lot of students and faculty have been affected by this tragedy in some way,” said Dobbins. “This is a very easy way to help with the healing process. All we are asking them to do is throw in their spare change.”

Review sessions will be conducted by University faculty and staff and area high school teachers. They will be held in Robert A. Dempster Hall on the University campus. Four sessions, one for each area of the ACT, are available at the following times; Math Review, Wednesday, June 2, 6-9 p.m.; English Review, Thursday, June 3, 6-9 p.m., Science Review, Tuesday, June 8, 6-9 p.m.; and the Reading Review, Thursday, June 10, 6-9 p.m.

The Harry L. Crisp Bootheel Education Center Advisory Council will host a reception prior to the showing of the film at 2:30 p.m. The documentary will be presented from 3 to 4:15 p.m.

The title of the documentary is “Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939.” This is the story of an historic protest in January 1939 in the Missouri Bootheel, which was led by African-American minister and union organizer, Rev. Owen Whitfield. Sharecroppers -- black and white -- lined the sides of two state highways. The protest spurred the U.S. government to build housing for displaced sharecroppers. Some protesters also established a remarkable farming community -- and made lasting changes in their lives. The story of the sharecroppers is an inspiring example of courage in the face of poverty and injustice.

“Oh Freedom After While” is a co-production of Webster University and the University of Memphis, and is co-sponsored by The Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri-St. Louis in partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Funds also were provided by the Tennessee Humanities Council; Horncrest Foundation; Gateway Foundation; VIDEO programs, Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Southern Humanities Media Fund, and University City Committee for Access and Local Origination Programming from a fund established in cooperation with TCI Cablevision.

The documentary was produced by Candace O’Connor, Steven Ross and Lynn Rubright and directed and edited by Ross. Both producers and the director plan to be on hand in Malden for the showing.

Joe Surdyk of Carbondale will be the caller. Gary Watson of Fredericktown and his daughter, Jenny Watson of Cape Giraredeau, will play traditional dance tunes. No previous experience is necessary because each of the dances are taught. All ages are invited to attend.

The Parker Building is behind the tennis courts on Henderson Street. The Dance Studio is on the second floor of the building. Parking is available in the Robert A. Dempster Hall parking lot.

Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon will present the commencement address during exercises scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center. Degrees will be conferred on 900 undergraduates and 91 graduate students. In addition, the University’s Young Alumni Merit Awards will be presented at this ceremony.

Leading the class of undergraduates are six students with perfect 4.0 grade point averages. They are: David Jenkins of Jackson, Tenn.; Shannon Landreth of Mt. Vernon, Ill.; Joan Rexroat of Poplar Bluff, Mo.; Lesley Wells of Charleston, Ill.; Robin Wiegand of Jackson, Mo.; and Kari Williams of Waltonville, Ill.

Also among the graduating class are 15 honors scholars and four students earning academic distinction in the department of major. Among the 16 honors scholars to be recognized during commencement exercises are Landreth; Williams; Jason Lane of Troy, Ill.; Carol Adams of Campbell, Mo.; Matthew McKnight of Harrisonville, Mo.; Peggy Stocker of Richton Park, Ill.; Bridget Greenwood of Bowling Green, Mo; Rebecca Burns of Piedmont, Mo.; Daniel Cofer of Havre, Mont.; Beth Hensley of St. Louis; Jamie Johnston of Cape Girardeau; Amy Lenard of West Monroe, La.; Melanie McCormack of Jackson, Mo.; and John McDermott of Mt. Vernon, Ill.

During their years at Southeast, honors scholars must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.25 and complete 24 hours of honors coursework, six of which must be at the senior level. They also must complete a senior research project.

Students who will graduate with “Academic Distinction in the Department of Major” complete a special project in conjunction with a faculty committee, department chair and dean after having completed at least 75 credit hours of course work with a minimum 3.25 grade point average in their major department and a minimum 3.0 overall grade point average. Among the students to be recognized for “Academic Distinction in the Department of Major” are: Jenkins of Jackson, Tenn., Department of Foreign Language; Landreth of Mt. Vernon, Ill., Department of Political Science; Lane of Troy, Ill., Department of Political Science; and Darrin Tipton of Dexter, Mo., Department of Criminal Justice;

In addition, 36 members of Phi Kappa Phi will be recognized during commencement exercises. Phi Kappa Phi is an international honor society for academic distinction that brings together individuals from a variety of disciplines. The charter is only extended to colleges and universities meeting that society’s rigorous standards. The society is open to men and women in all academic fields who have demonstrated excellence of scholarship and integrity of character. Graduating seniors who rank in the upper 10 percent of their class and have a grade point average of at least 3.75 on a four-point scale; juniors who rank in the upper five percent of their class and have at least a 3.85 grade point average; and graduate students who are near graduation, have a grade point average of at least 3.9 and have an outstanding record are eligible for consideration.

Fourty-four students will graduate summa cum laude, 53 will graduate magna cum laude and 123 will graduate cum laude. Five will graduate with honors in associate degrees. The required undergraduate grade point average for graduating cum laude is 3.5 to 3.74, for magna cum laude is 3.75 to 3.89, and for summa cum laude is 3.9 to 4.0. Graduate students participating in the Honors Convocation must have achieved at least a 3.9 grade point average. An Honors Convocation is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Academic Auditorium, during which 225 undergraduates and 43 graduate students will be honored.

Dr. Gary Miller, professor of music (organ, harpsichord and music theory) and the coordinator of graduate studies in the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University, will present the Honors Convocation address. Miller was awarded the 1998 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and received Southeast’s 1998 Faculty Merit Award.

Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, who will present the commencement address, is a professor at Southern Illinois University (SIU), where he teaches classes in political science and journalism. He joined SIU’s faculty in 1997, just weeks after retiring from the U.S. Senate. Simon makes his home in tiny Makanda, Ill., and teaches at the nearby SIU-Carbondale campus. He also teaches from time to time at SIU’s campus in Edwardsville.

In addition, Simon is founder and director of the Public Policy Institute at the Carbondale campus. The Institute opened its doors in 1997 and promises to “find new ways of solving some very old problems,” Simon said.

Prior to leaving the U.S. Senate, Simon ranked as Illinois’ senior senator. In the 104th Congress, he served on the budget, labor and human resources, judiciary and Indian affairs committees. He also has served on the foreign relations committee.

Enacted education and job training laws he wrote include the National Literacy Act, the School-To-Work Opportunities Act, the Job Training Partnership Act amendments, several provisions of the Goals 2000 Act and the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He was the leading Senate Champion of the new direct college loan program enacted in 1991 as a pilot program and expanded in 1993 as a replacement for the guaranteed student loan program. He was chief Democratic sponsor of the balanced budget amendment, and his version of the amendment, unveiled in 1986, has been the leading version before the House and the Senate since then. The drive he spearheaded to curb television violence led to the first joint standards on violence by the broadcast networks, the Parental Advisory System and the new independent monitoring programs launched by the broadcast and cable networks in 1994. Legislation he initiated led to the designation of the first five federally chartered future, high-speed rail corridors, including the St. Louis-Chicago-Detroit/Milwaukee corridor.

In November 1994, as Illinois’ leading statewide Democratic officeholder and with the strongest political standing of his public service career, Simon announced that he would retire from the Senate when his term expired Jan. 3, 1997.

Simon, a Democrat, was born Nov. 29, 1928, in Eugene, Ore. He attended the University of Oregon and Dana College in Blair, Neb. At the age of 19, Simon became the nation’s youngest editor-publisher when he accepted a local Lion’s Club challenge to save the Troy Tribune in Troy, Ill., near St. Louis. He built a chain of 13 newspapers in southern and central Illinois, which he sold in 1966 to devote full-time to public service and writing.

Simon used the Tribune to expose syndicate gambling connections in Madison County. In 1951, at age 22, he was called as a key witness to testify before the U.S. Senate’s Crime Investigating Committee.

Simon served two years, 1951-1953, in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Counter-Intelligence Corps as a special agent along the Iron Curtain in Europe.

He was elected to the Illinois House in 1954 and to the Illinois Senate in 1962. During his 14 years in the legislature, he won the Independent Voters of Illinois' "Best Legislator Award" every session. Simon began earning a reputation for political courage and integrity during his years in the legislature. He was chief sponsor of the state's Open Meetings Law and of legislation creating the Illinois Arts Council, and he played a leading role in chartering the state's community college system.

Simon was elected lieutenant governor in 1968 and was the first in the state's history to be elected to that post with a governor of another party. In that office he became the people's ombudsman and is widely credited with turning what had been a ceremonial position into one focused on making government better serve its citizens.

After narrowly losing the 1972 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Dan Walker, Simon started the public affairs reporting program at Sangamon State University, now the University of Illinois at Springfield, and lectured during the 1972-1973 school year at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Simon was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and served Illinois' 22nd and 24th Congressional Districts for 10 years. During his service in the House, Simon played a leading role in drafting and enacting major legislation in a wide range of issue areas, including education, disability policy and foreign affairs. He was chief sponsor of the Missing Children Act and of subsequent legislation that established the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He helped win passage of the bill that created both the Illinois-Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor and the extension to Illinois of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the national park associated with St. Louis' Gateway Arch. He was the chief House advocate for the nation's so-called "atomic veterans" and their families. Always known as an effective legislator, Simon, according to Time magazine, passed more amendments in 1983 than any other member of the House of Representatives. While in the House, he worked closely with former Speaker Newt Gingrich in establishing the office of House historian.

In 1984, Simon upset three-term incumbent Charles Percy to win election to the U.S. Senate. In 1987-1988, he sought the Democratic nomination of president. He won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 1990 by defeating Congresswoman Lynn Martin with 65 percent of the vote and by nearly one million votes -- the largest plurality of any contested candidate for senator or governor of either party that year.

During his years as a public official, Simon was known for exceptional constituent service. His office handled more cases each year than almost any other Senate office. He also was the Senate's pacesetter in convening town meetings. As a senator, Simon held more than 600 town meetings throughout the state, more than any U.S. senator from Illinois in the state's history. For 40 consecutive years -- longer than any other federal office holder -- Simon released an annual detailed financial disclosure report for himself and his wife.

Announcement of the award was made by Gail Mortimer, professor of English at the University of Texas-El Paso, and president of the William Faulkner Society.

As a research assistant in the Center for Faulkner Studies, Grider worked on the manuscript of A William Faulkner Encyclopedia, co-edited Dr. Robert Hamblin, director of the Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast Missouri State University and forthcoming from Greenwood Press. Grider also has delivered papers on Faulkner and other writers at meetings of the Midwest Modern Language Association, West Virginia University Colloquium on Literature and Film, and the Missouri Philological Association. She served as the program chair for the 1999 Missouri Philological Association meeting, held on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

“The qualities that stood out about Kim are that she is dependable and reliable,” said Dr. Tom Harte, chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre. “She maintains a high level of contribution and goes that extra mile to do so. She is one of the mainstays of the program and a leader among students.”

The Lorberg Award was established last year by Southeast’s Department of Speech Communication and Theatre as a way to honor the late Dr. M.G. Lorberg, who served for many years as chair of the department.

“Lorberg was a speech correctionist by training -- a generalist.” said Harte. “So we look for those same qualities in the award recipient -- being versatile and being at home in a wide variety of areas in speech, communication and theatre. This is our way of also honoring the memory of Dr. Lorberg, who was instrumental in the growth of the department.”

Westrich has been awarded a medallion, which she will wear at commencement exercises scheduled for 2 p.m. May 15 in the Show Me Center.

Westrich has been active in many areas of speech communication and theatre. She is a member of the Black Mask, the honor society for theatre, University Players and Phi Kappa Phi. While at Southeast, she most recently has directed and designed the set for “Plaza Suite” which was performed last year and played Sweet Sue in “Sugar.” She also has been awarded the Limbaugh Scholarship.

“This award is an honor for me because I know the recipient who won it last year,” said Westrich. “and to be held in the same esteem is a great honor. I also am honored to be recognized so highly by the faculty in the department.”

The event, in its 22nd year at Southeast, was sponsored by Southeast's Department of Mathematics and the Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Students had the opportunity to compete in 22 individual events, five team events and two problem-solving events, including "Mathletics."

Mathletics is a fast-paced event in which teams of four students work simultaneously on problems for periods of 15 seconds to two minutes. The students compete to see who can score the most points for correct answers. Members of the Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics judged the event. First-, second- and third-place winners respectively in this event were Sikeston Senior High School, Cape Central Senior High School, and Advance High School.

In other events, ninth grade students competed in the areas of word problems, non-routine problem solving and number bases. Tenth grade students competed in geometry, non-routine problem solving and Algebra I. Eleventh-graders competed in the categories of Algebra II, non-routine problem-solving, level two, word problems and exponential and log functions. Twelfth-graders competed in the categories of non-routine problem solving, level two, matrices and determinants, analytic geometry and calculus.

Open events included history of mathematics, sets and logic, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, probability, mental arithmetic, number theory and hand calculator. Team events were held in algebra I, algebra II, geometry, trigonometry and medley.

Schools participating were: Advance R-IV High School, Bell City High School, Bunker R-III High School, Campbell R-2 High School, Caruthersville High School, Charleston High School, Clarkton High School, Cooter High School, East Carter R-2 High School, Leopold High School, Malden R-1 High School, Marquand-Zion R-VI High School, Meadow Heights High School, Mom School, Naylor R-2 High School, North Pemiscot R-1 High School, Notre Dame High School, Oak Ridge R-VI High School, Risco High School, South Pemiscot High School, Steelville High School and Zalma High School.

The public is invited to the event scheduled for 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the meeting rooms.

Southeast Missouri State University’s six former presidents are Dr. Mark Scully, Dr. Robert Leestamper, Dr. Bill Stacy, Dr. Robert Foster, Dr. Kala Stroup and Dr. Bill Atchley. Scully served as president from 1956 to 1975; Leestamper, from 1975 to 1979; Stacy, from 1979 to 1989; Foster from 1989 to 1990; Stroup, from 1990 to 1995; and Atchley, from 1995 to 1996. Dr. Dale Nitzschke currently is serving as Southeast president.

The six will be honored during spring commencement exercises on Saturday, May 15 at 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center. Each Young Alumni Merit Award is presented by an academic college at Southeast to honor a distinguished young alumna or alumnus.

The recipient of the Young Alumni Merit Award from the College of Education is Mary Dinger of Carbondale, Ill. Dinger is currently an assistant professor of health education at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Dinger, a native of Ironton, Mo., received a bachelor of science in physical education degree from Southeast in 1985. She also earned a master's degree in exercise physiology and a doctoral degree in health promotion from the University of Missouri-Columbia, in 1986 and 1993, respectively. Since completing her doctoral degree, Dinger has been a faculty member at several universities, including Southeast Missouri State University from 1993 to 1994. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Health Education and Recreation at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. In addition, she has authored more than a dozen articles in professional journals and conducted numerous research presentations at national, regional and state conferences. Recently, she was honored by being named a research fellow by the Research Consortium of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

The Polytechnic Institute has named Mark Dowd as the recipient of its Young Alumni Award. Dowd is currently employed with the Square D Company in Columbia, Mo. Dowd, a native of Fredericktown, Mo., received a bachelor of science degree in electronic technology from Southeast in 1987. Dowd has been employed with Square D for most of his career. He has served as an electrician, equipment development designer, senior equipment development designer and is currently an electrical engineer. His responsibilities include designing, building, programming, debugging, and maintaining controls and schematic diagrams for new equipment as well as troubleshooting and repairing existing equipment. Dowd and his wife, Karla, a 1988 graduate of Southeast, reside in Hartsburg, Mo., and have two children, Rebekah and Nathan.

The College of Science and Technology has chosen Bryan McGraw as the recipient of its Young Alumni Merit Award. McGraw is currently the director of quality and process improvement at Deutsche Financial Services in St. Louis. McGraw, a native of Imperial, Mo., received a bachelor of science in geography degree in 1984 from Southeast. He also earned a master of public administration degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1990 and is currently completing course work towards a doctoral degree in public policy at Saint Louis University. McGraw and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Arnold, Mo., and have two children, Kaitlyn and Brendan.

The Young Alumni Merit Award recipient form the Donald L. Harrison College of Business is Jawad Akhtar. Akhtar is currently the president and CEO of Transworld Technologies Corporation, a Colorado company that specializes in computer consulting in the fields of system architecture and framework design, object oriented analysis and design, offshore software development and web development. Akhtar, a native of Karachi, Pakistan, received a bachelor of science in business administration degree and bachelor of science in computer science degree from Southeast in 1986 and 1987, respectively. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Southeast in 1991.

The recipient of the Young Alumni Merit Award from the College of Health and Human Services is Patricia Colon. Colon, a native of Cape Girardeau, received a bachelor of science degree in human services/social work from Southeast in 1987. She was a member of the Southeast Lady Otahkians basketball team. Currently, she is attending Southeast in pursuit of a master's degree in criminal justice. Since graduation, Colon has served Cape Girardeau County in a variety of positions. From 1987 to 1990, she was a clinical case worker at Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center. In 1994, she took a position with the Cape County Juvenile Office as a deputy juvenile officer. She served in this capacity until 1996, when she took the position of chief deputy juvenile officer for court services. Currently, she is the chief deputy juvenile officer for operations for the Cape County Juvenile Office. In addition, she is a member of the Big Brother/Big Sister program, an Optimist League Basketball coach and was named outstanding young woman of the year in 1997. Colon and her daughter, Ashley, currently reside in Cape Girardeau.