Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (top right), senior speaker Joel Bryce (middle left) and Dr. David Sallee (bottom left) were among those featured at commencement ceremonies.

Jewell celebrates commencement

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William Jewell College observed baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 5, on the college campus. A reception for seniors and family members followed immediately in the President’s Home. Speaking at the baccalaureate service was Dr. Cal LeMon, president of Executive Enrichment Inc., a corporate education and consulting firm. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II offered the commencement address before more than 300 graduates, gathered with family members and friend in the Mabee Center for Physical Education. The graduating class included recipients of the national Fulbright, Goldwater and Truman Scholarships.

Trustees approve new mission statement

Approval of a new mission statement was among the agenda items at the William Jewell College Board of Trustees meeting held in May on the Jewell campus.

The newly approved mission statement reads: “William Jewell College promises students an outstanding liberal arts education that cultivates leadership, service, and spiritual growth within a community inspired by Christian ideals and committed to open, rigorous intellectual pursuits.”

Dr. Anne Dema, chief of staff in the President’s Office at William Jewell, said that the language of the mission statement is being updated as part of the college’s strategic plan. The new mission statement had been unanimously supported by both the faculty and the Student Senate in independent resolutions of endorsement during the spring semester.

William C. Nelson

The board also approved the election of William C. Nelson to the Board of Trustees. Nelson joined George K. Baum Holdings as Chairman of George K. Baum Asset Management in March 2001.  His responsibilities include providing senior level leadership and strategic advice to the management teams of the firm’s subsidiary, Prairie Capital Management, Inc., and the Investment Advisors Division of George K. Baum & Company. 

Prior to joining George K. Baum Holdings, Mr. Nelson retired from a 40-year career in banking in March 2000. At the time of his retirement he was serving as Chairman of Bank of America Midwest and President of Bank of America Kansas City Region.   Mr. Nelson came to Kansas City in 1988 as President of Boatmen’s First National Bank of Kansas City.  In 1990, he assumed the additional responsibility of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Boatmen’s in 1988, he served as Executive Director at First Republic Bank Corporation in Dallas, Texas. Previous experience at Mellon Bank included several years in London, where he was Vice President and General Manager of Mellon’s European Operations.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Nelson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Yale University.  He also attended the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Nelson is a member of the Board of Directors of DST Systems, Inc., Great Plains Energy, Midwest Research Institute, the Auto Club of Missouri and Chairman of the Board of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas City.  He has served as Chairman of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Development Council and Vice Chairman of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.  He has also co-chaired the Partnership for Children, and was Chairman of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, 1998-2001.

Jewell’s SIFE team is regional champ

Team presenters from the regional SIFE competition were (from left) Mark Stevenson, Nikki Kraft, Hattie Rains, Matt Staples, Jordan Cole, Melissa Herschlag and Drew Bellah.

The William Jewell College SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) team was named a SIFE USA Regional Champion following their participation in the SIFE USA Regional Competition held recently in Rogers, Ark. The event was one of 17 SIFE USA Regional Competitions being held across the United States. The team presented a report of their year-long community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders at the regional competition. Jewell’s SIFE team then advanced to the national level of SIFE competition at the SIFE USA National Exposition in Dallas, Texas.

“This SIFE team is poised for more good things to come,” said Deborah Scarfino, Sam Walton Fellow and assistant professor of business administration in the Department of Business and Leadership at William Jewell. “We are a three-year-old team and are excited about being invited to the national competition event for the second time. We see the measurable outcomes of our work in the communities we serve long before the judges get to formally assess us at competition. That is what makes this program so worthwhile.”
 
SIFE is an international non-profit organization active on more than 1,400 university campuses in 48 countries. SIFE teams create economic opportunities in their communities by organizing outreach projects that focuses on market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills and business ethics. 

“Our ‘Cash Cow Financial Project’ was a great success,” said project manager Steven Ritter. “Through four educational lessons on the basics of finance, we were able to provide 3rd- and 4th-graders at St. James School in Liberty the knowledge and means to manage their own money responsibly. The students completing the course were able to open up their own $20 savings account provided by project partner M&I Bank. Students even donated part of their money to Heifer International, a charity providing farm animals to villages that are in need.”

During the 2006-07 academic year, the Jewell SIFE team organized nearly 40 projects in the Kansas City metro community and across national boundaries. Seventy-seven William Jewell students are active members of the 2007 team. They work with a Business Advisory Board of 21 members from the business and campus community. For more information, visit the organization’s web site at www.sife.org 

Pryor Legacy Project addresses poverty through microfinancing
William Jewell College students participating in the Pryor Leadership Studies Program have launched a campaign to support impoverished people in third-world countries through microfinancing.

“Microfinance is the practice of providing small loans to impoverished people in third-world countries in order to start or improve their small businesses,” said Justin Barclay, a Pryor Fellow at William Jewell. “The people receiving these microloans live in countries where traditional bank loans are hard to come by or that charge exorbitant interest rates.  The goal of microfinancing is to give hard-working and creative people the opportunity to act on their entrepreneurial ideas and to empower them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

The Jewell students partnered with Kiva, a California-based non-profit organization that assists in providing microfinancing. “The Pryor class has already personally given over $2,000, but we are hoping to raise $12,500 for loans,” Barclay said. All donations are tax-deductible.

Each year, Jewell students preparing to graduate from the prestigious Pryor Leadership Studies Program work together to organize a service-learning project that aims to leave a lasting impact on the community and all who are involved.

Endowed by Jewell alumni Fred and Shirley Pryor, the Pryor Leadership Studies Program teaches personal, vocational and civic leadership through critical reflection, mentoring and “real-world” experience. In order to graduate as Pryor Leadership Fellows and receive the corresponding leadership certificate, students complete a course in leadership theory and assessment, compile a leadership portfolio, serve in volunteer and vocational internships, and participate in an Outward Bound experiential learning exercise.

Undergraduate research is focus of colloquium

William Jewell College showcased student research initiatives and creative activities during the seventh annual David Nelson Duke Undergraduate Colloquium April 19. Regular classes were suspended for the day in order to involve all students in the celebration.

Celebrating the Life of the Mind: A Day of Undergraduate Scholarship and Creativity involves students presenting their scholarly works to faculty, staff and the community at large through oral presentations, performing and visual arts, public speaking and readings of creative writing. The colloquium allows students from all academic disciplines to receive recognition for their unique ideas and studies.
 
“The colloquium concept reflects Jewell’s commitment to increasing involvement of undergraduates in research,” said Dr. John Westlie, dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs. “The event embodies William Jewell’s educational mission and reflects its high expectations and commitment to academic excellence from students and faculty.”

Presentation topics were reflective of the full breadth and depth of the liberal arts and sciences. Topics addressed during this year’s colloquium included:

• Marriage for All the Right Reasons: Jane Austen’s New Model of Marriage

• Opus Di Jazz: Incorporating Historical Concepts with Contemporary Jazz Compositions

• Classification of Two Unknown Species of Spiders

• Reparations: The Debt America Owes African Americans

• No Theory is an Island: Economic Policy Under Reagan and Thatcher

• The Question of Consequence: Evaluating Legalized Prostitution in the Netherlands

• Breaking God’s Covenant: Masking Homophobia in Christian Sermons

• The Relationship Between the Media and Physical Expectations in Romantic Relationships

Helzberg offers Dickinson Lecture

Barnett Helzberg, Jr., former chairman of the board of Helzberg Diamonds, offered a free public lecture entitled “What I Learned Before (and After) I Sold to Warren Buffett” April 10 at William Jewell College. The presentation was a part of the Gary Dickinson Lectureship at William Jewell.

A Kansas City area native, Barnett Helzberg, Jr. is a graduate of Pembroke Country Day School and received his bachelor of business administration from the University of Michigan. He is the former chairman of the board at Helzberg Diamonds, a family-owned business started in 1915. He was at the helm of Helzberg Diamonds beginning in 1962, expanding the company from 15 units into the third largest jewelry retailer, consisting of 143 units in 23 states by the time it was sold in 1995 to Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett). He is the creator of the I Am LovedÒ theme and co-creator with Dr. Rich Davis of the book titled “I Am Loved”Ò, published in 2001. He is also the author of the book “What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett,” published in 2003.

In order to pass on what he has learned and what other entrepreneurs have found valuable as business practices, Helzberg founded the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program in 1995. It is a mentoring program by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, which is sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. 

The Gary Dickinson Lectureship at William Jewell was established with a grant from the Gary Dickinson Family Charitable Foundation of Kansas City, Mo. The lecture series is dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship and business leadership in the community. It is named for the late Gary Dickinson of Chillicothe, Mo., founder of the Dickinson Financial Corporation and a friend of the College. Bank Midwest, a subsidiary of the Dickinson Financial Corporation, is the co-sponsor for the lecture.

Jewell lecture examines American values

Dr. Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and cultural historian, offered a public lecture on “Values Americans Live By” March 28 on the William Jewell College campus. In addition to the lecture, Dr. Wills participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic “What Jesus Meant.”

Dr. Garry Wills

Dr. Wills, who served as the Hall Distinguished Visiting Professor at William Jewell, began writing professionally at the age of twenty-two, when a story he had written parodying Time magazine was accepted by William F. Buckley, Jr. at the National Review. Over the course of his career, he has penned thirty-three books, including Nixon Agonistes (1970), Reagan’s America (1987), Saint Augustine (1999), Why I Am a Catholic (2002) and What Jesus Meant (2006). In 1993, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for Lincoln at Gettsyburg: The Words that Remade America (1992), an examination of the 272-word Gettysburg Address. Former New York governor Mario Cuomo wrote of the book, “Seldom have so few words excited such scholarship, penetrating analysis, and brilliant explication.”

Wills was born in Georgia and grew up in Wisconsin. Raised in a family of devout Catholics and educated in Catholic schools, Wills briefly planned to join the priesthood, but instead turned to classics, earning his Ph.D. from Yale in 1961. Wills is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a recipient of many awards, including two National Book Critics Circle Awards and the 1998 National Medal for the Humanities. He is an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University.