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Posted: Friday, September 11, 2015 6:17 am By TONY BROWN Staff writer, Maryville Daily Forum Northwest Missouri State University is included as a ranked institution in U.S. News & World Report’s “2016 Best Colleges” survey, which declared the school to be the top moderately selective regional university in Missouri for the second consecutive year. U.S. News placed Northwest at No. 74 on its list of “Best Regional Universities” in the Midwest, up six spots from last year. The Midwest regional schools roster includes public and private universities in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. A number of Missouri campuses placed higher than Northwest on the Midwest regional list. All are either private colleges or state-assisted institutions with more rigorous admissions standards. Those schools include Truman State University in Kirksville, a “highly selective” institution that tied with the University of Evansville (Indiana) for the No. 8 spot; Drury University in Springfield, No. 11; Rockhurst University in Kansas City, which tied for 18th with the University of Northern Iowa; Webster University in St. Louis, No. 26; and Missouri State University, No. 64, a “selective” university whose admissions standards are a step below Truman and a notch above Northwest. There are only three other moderately selective state-assisted public universities in Missouri aside from Northwest: the University of Central Missouri, Missouri Southern State University, and Southeast Missouri State University. Of those three, Northwest edged out the University of Central Missouri, which US news ranked at No. 75 in an eight-way tie with Wayne State College in Nebraska, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Concordia University in Chicago, and the College of St. Mary in Omaha, Nebraska. Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau claimed another of the 112 ranked positions at No. 92. Other Missouri Midwest regionals finishing below Northwest included Fontbonne University in St. Louis, No. 85, and Williams Woods University in Fulton, which placed 90th. Also on the ranked list, at No. 85, is Northwest’s arch-rival on the football field, Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan. President John Jasinski hailed the ranking as an indication that “Northwest continues to deliver academic excellence.” “Our focus is on people, relationships, and student success, and we deliver on those objectives through profession-based experiences and programming,” Jasinski was quoted as saying in a university release. “I thank all who help us help students succeed, build better communities, and deliver economic impact.” To develop its survey, U.S. News analyzes a wide variety of data, including statistics on freshman retention, graduation rates, class sizes, ACT and SAT scores, financial aid, and alumni giving. The survey reported Northwest’s freshman retention rate, a common measure of student satisfaction, at 68 percent, which university officials said places the school in the 66th percentile of its national peer group. In addition, Northwest had a fall 2014 the applicant acceptance rate of just under 74 percent. Degree programs at Northwest attracting the most students, the survey stated, include business, management, and marketing; education; agriculture and related sciences; psychology; and communication, journalism, and related disciplines. U.S. News reported that Northwest has a total undergraduate enrollment of about 5,500 students with a gender distribution of 44.7 percent male and 55.3 percent female. The consumer news organization also found that 41 percent of students live in campus housing. Other statistics presented in a survey profile show that 68.7 percent of full-time undergraduates at Northwest receive some kind of needs-based financial aid, and that the average needs-based scholarship or grant award is $5,602. Standard tuition and fees at Northwest, according to its website, total just under $8,000 a year for Missouri residents, assuming a student course load of 14 credit hours. Northwest’s fall enrollment of 6,415 students on the first day of class included 1,478 first-time freshmen, which represents an 11-percent increase over last year and ranks as one of the largest freshman classes in the institution’s history.

Posted on May 1, 2015 – Maryville Daily Forum by Tony Brown Among those hardest hit by the Great Recession were the so-called millennials, Americans born in the 1980s through the early 2000s. But the outlook appears to be improving for workers age 18-33 living in Missouri, and, according to one consumer-oriented economics website, the future of young adults is especially bright in Maryville. A story by reporter Kamran Rosen published this week by NerdWallet at nerdwallet.com, ranks Maryville ninth among the top ten cities in the state in terms of offering employment opportunities for job-seeking members of the demographic sometimes referred to as Generation Y. Writes Rosen: “A large millennial population — nearly 40 percent of the city’s 12,000 residents were ages 18 to 33 in 2013 — and employers such as Kawasaki and Northwest Missouri State University, helped push Maryville into the top-10 cities for job seekers. “Nodaway County Economic Development, as well as the (Dean L. Hubbard) Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Small Business and Technology Development Center at Northwest Missouri State, support existing businesses and help new ones get off the ground.” Beyond Maryville, northern Missouri as a whole was well represented on Rosen’s list, which also included Trenton (No. 3), Bowling Green (No. 4) and Macon (No. 5). Trenton, the Grundy County seat and home to North Central Missouri College, is located in north central Missouri about 100 miles southeast of Maryville. Bowling Green and Macon — also county seats — are located in the northeastern part of the state. On the fringe of the region, the east-central Missouri city of Fulton, population 12,700, came in at No. 7. Like Maryville, Fulton is a college town and home to both Westminster College and William Woods University. The top spot in the NerdWallet ranking went to Pevely, a town of 5,400 people located in Jefferson County south of St. Louis. NerdWallet analyzed 95 Missouri communities with populations over 5,000, but only two cities on the top-10 list have more than 20,000 residents: Jefferson City (No. 2), the state capital, which pushed passed the 43,000 population mark in the 2010 census, and the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights (No. 8), with a population of 27,400. Bonne Terre in southeast Missouri and Neosho in the southwestern part of the state filled out the list at No. 6 and No. 10 respectively. Rosen noted that several of the top-ten cities share key characteristics with Maryville in that they serve as industrial hubs and contain regional medical centers. Nerd Wallet used several criteria in picking the top-10 towns for millennial employment, including job availability, average worker salaries, affordability of rental housing, and the number of millennials actually living in a given community Cities with lower unemployment rates and higher payroll salaries scored higher as did those with lower rents. Using Census Bureau data, Rosen also estimated the percentage of millennials making up a given city’s 2013 population and the growth in the number of millennial residents between 2010 to 2013. The higher those two figures, the higher the score. In several of the cities, such as Pevely and Macon, Rosen stated that low rents and good pay countered higher unemployment rates. He added that affordability is a key consideration for this age group. Median rent, according to the report, was found to be below the state average for nearly every city on this list, the exception being Maryland Heights, which also has the highest average payroll. Rankings were derived using the following methodology: • Millennials as a percentage of the population and growth in millennial numbers between 2010 to 2013 each comprised 15 percent of the score. • The unemployment rate for each city was 20 percent of the score. The lower the unemployment rate, the better the community fared. • Average annual worker salary was 30 percent of the score. Salary figures were calculated by averaging salaries by ZIP code then dividing that result by population. • Median gross rent comprised 20 percent of the score.  

To fill a need for qualified electrical technicians, Nucor, the largest mini-mill steel manufacturer in the US, is sponsoring full-ride scholarships. Jacob Bailey, a Maryville High School senior, has received the scholarship from Nucor LMP to attend Shelton Community College in Tuscaloosa, AL. Nucor has worked with the community college to offer a two year program which allows recipients to graduate with an electrical technician associate’s degree. The scholarship is estimated to be worth in excess of $100,000 and will provide Bailey with housing, full tuition, full-time pay and on-the-job training. Bailey will work at the Nucor plant in Tuscaloosa for half of the day and take classes the other half. He will work in the Maryville plant during breaks and the summer. Nucor will pay travel expenses for Bailey to return to Maryville twice a year. Nucor’s intention is to hire Bailey full time on the completion of the program. “I’m very excited,” said Bailey, the son of Jim and Melanie Bailey, Maryville. “It’ll be an exciting adventure that I will start on August 1.” Art Filips, an electrical engineer with Nucor LMP, Maryville, did presentations at Northwest Technical School, as soon as he knew about the program in spring 2014. After the presentation in the fall, several students followed up with local plant tours. Interviews then narrowed the choice to Bailey.

At a news conference held on May 1, 2015 Northwest Missouri State University announced the results of the economic impact study conducted for Northwest by Idaho-based Economic Modeling Specialists International, and the results are significant. It shows Northwest generated $617.5 million in added regional income during fiscal year 2014, which is equal to creating 9,465 new jobs within the service area that Northwest calls the Green and White Circle. Furthermore, the study looks at the economic impacts Northwest makes through our operations, students who come from outside the Green and White Circle, visitors to the region and alumni who stay find employment and stay within the Green and White Circle. You can read an executive summary of the study here or the full report is available here.    

Posted: Friday, March 27, 2015 10:40 am By STEVE HARTMAN Staff writer Maryville Daily Forum maryvilledailyforum.com Results generated from a collaborative study between the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, show Nodaway County to be the healthiest county in Missouri for the second year in a row. “The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the largest funding source in the country for health-related issues,” Nodaway County Health Department administrator Della Rhoades Watkins said. “When Robert Wood Johnson attaches their name to something, we in the business of health care education listen, because they have great credibility.” Nodaway County ranked No. 1 in the Health Outcomes section of the survey, which gave equal weight to the length and quantity of life in the county. Last year, Nodaway County ranked third among Missouri counties in the same category. “We have ranked in the top five in healthiest Missouri counties for several years, according to the results of this annual survey,” Rhoades Watkins said. “I believe several factors make Nodaway County’s high rank possible. “First of all, Nodaway County passed a smoking ordinance in 2005 and recently expanded that ordinance. The survey found that 15 percent of Nodaway County adults smoked, while that average statewide was 23 percent. Research shows that it takes about 10 years to change a social norm, so it’s our belief the county percentage could drop even more.” Rhodes Watkins also believes the work of several Nodaway County entities, working together, has helped produce Nodaway County’s high health ranking. “Several segments of our county are involved in teaching health and wellness,” Rhoades Watkins said. “This is a community that works together. Our health educator is working with school nurses and the county schools to implement health and wellness education in their curriculum. We have a nurse that works with county day cares. It’s a community that works together on health.” Rhoades Watkins was also quick to point out the positive factor St. Francis Hospital has been in allowing Nodaway County to be found Missouri’s healthiest county. “Nodaway County ranks below the state average in preventable hospital stays and the county also ranks lower in health care costs than the state average,” Rhoades Watkins said. “That’s directly attributable to St. Francis and their staff.” Nodaway County ranked 12th in the state of Missouri in the section of the survey concerning Health Factors, which includes the categories of health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environment. “We want to improve in this section because we strive to get better at health and wellness education,” Rhodes Watkins said. “But our rural location hurts us in some of these categories. For instance, according to the results of the survey, 22 percent of our county population has limited access to healthy food, while the state average is six percent. The survey views having to drive a distance to the closest grocery store as limited access, so that makes it a difficult category for us to improve in.” While continuing to look for opportunities to improve the overall health and wellness of Nodaway County, Rhoades Watkins feels Nodaway County’s spirit of cooperation has helped to make health and wellness a priority. “Overall, we’re very pleased with the ranking,” Rhoades Watkins said. “I believe it’s a product of the efforts of several different county entities, and those entities will continue to improve their efforts, which will allow Nodaway County to continue being a very healthy county.” http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/community/article_4acc83d6-d497-11e4-a0ef-0fe9f71a79b7.html