Vol. 29 No. 4 - Feb 9, 2026

Students Eligible to Win $10,000 Through Essay Contest

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This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Vol. 29 No. 4 - Feb 9, 2026
The Robert L. Gould Scholastic Award is an opportunity for students of all majors to submit a research paper for the chance to win up to $10,000.
For more than 30 years, SS&C Technologies, a financial technology company, has sponsored the award to recognize outstanding university students who produce academic papers on topics related to investment management strategies, theories and trends.
The topic for this year is American investment into personal retirement plans. Although Americans have vehicles to save for retirement such as 401ks and IRAs, the median family retirement savings in 2022 was only $87,000 – not enough to retire. Some countries, such as Australia, mandate a retirement contribution for all employees. Other countries, such as France, rely primarily on pensions/defined benefits. What should be done to better prepare Americans for retirement – both by individuals and by the government?

First place will receive $10,000, second place will receive $7,500 and third place will receive $5,000. To apply for the Gould Scholastic Award, students must be a University junior, senior or honors program student. Graduate students are not eligible to participate. Group projects are eligible, but if the group wins, the winning dollars are split equally among the members of the group.

Interested students should contact Yung-hwal Park, associate professor of business administration, at yhpark@truman.edu by Sept. 20.

Test

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This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Vol. 29 No. 4 - Feb 9, 2026

What is Lorem Ipsum?

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

University Gifted Precision Equipment from Local Man

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This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Vol. 29 No. 4 - Feb 9, 2026

The Physical Sciences Department recently received two precision analytical tools with a combined value of approximately $15,000.

Students and faculty members conducting research can now make use of either an Ohaus analytical balance – with a draft shield – or an Ohaus explorer balance, valued at $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. These balances are highly calibrated and can measure the weight of a human hair. To show how precise the balances are, a person could dip a cotton ball in alcohol, place it on the balance and watch the mass decrease in real time as the alcohol evaporates.

The gift comes from John Cross, a retired machinist originally from upstate New York who has been living in Kirksville since 2017. Cross has always had an interest in precision engineering. In recent years, he primarily used the balances as a hobby, and he chose to donate them to Truman because he knows they will be used to educate students.

“I wanted to donate them to someone who could use them,” Cross said. “There are a lot of people over at Truman who could use them. There are a lot of brains over there. I feel fortunate if I can give them something that they can use.”

While Truman already owns similar pieces of equipment, this donation will increase accessibility for students. These balances will be housed in a chemistry lab space. The high-precision balance will be used most commonly in analytical, physical and biochemistry courses, while the other balance could be used across the entire lab curriculum.

 

Brain Lamp, right, and Tim Walston, center, accept a donation of two precision balances from John Cross.

Third Coast Percussion to Kick Off Kohlenberg Lyceum Series Sept. 24

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This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Vol. 29 No. 4 - Feb 9, 2026

Grammy Award winners Third Coast Percussion will kick off the Kohlenberg Lyceum season with a performance at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 in Baldwin Hall Auditorium.

For nearly 20 years, this Chicago-based quartet has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. Whether the artists are speaking from the stage about a new piece of music, inviting concertgoers to play along with a piece or providing an educational performance, the ensemble is known for making a direct connection with the audience. In addition to working with musicians from a wide range of backgrounds, the ensemble has joined with dancers, sound engineers and even architects on creative projects.

Third Coast Percussion’s recordings include 19 feature albums, as well as appearances on 14 additional releases. In 2017 the ensemble won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their recording of Steve Reich’s works for percussion. They made history as the first percussion ensemble to win the revered music award in the classical genre. Third Coast Percussion has since received five additional Grammy nominations as performers, and in 2021 they received their first nomination as composers. Their latest nomination, the 2023 album “Between Breaths,” was in contention for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. In just the last 10 years, the ensemble has amassed more than five million listeners and more than 10 million streams on Spotify.

Tickets for Third Coast Percussion are free and will be available starting Sept. 10, and can be picked up on campus at any of three convenient locations: the Union and Involvement Office in the Student Union Building; the Advancement Office in McClain Hall 205; or the Admissions Office in the Ruth W. Towne Museum and Visitors Center. Tickets are also available off campus at the Kirksville Arts Association in downtown Kirksville. Any remaining tickets will be available the day of the event beginning 30 minutes before each performance.

The four members of Third Coast Percussion – Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore – are also accomplished teachers, and make active participation by students the cornerstone of their educational offerings. The quartet originally met while studying percussion music at Northwestern. Members have degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory and the Yale School of Music.

As part of their visit to Truman, members of Third Coast Percussion will conduct a free masterclass at 8 p.m. Sept. 23 in Baldwin Auditorium. Open to all members of the community, the masterclass presentation should be of particular interest to area music students.

 

orientation day

For more information about the Kohlenberg Lyceum Series, visit lyceum.truman.edu or contact the Advancement Office at 660.785.4133.