~ News About the Department ~

In addition to celebrating the 100th Birthday of Missouri State, we've seen several significant changes taking place in our department. As you may know, we now offer a Minor and a Major in Anthropology and in Crime and Society (formerly the Criminal Justice Studies program).

Associated with the expansion of those programs, together with recent retirements, we also have some new faces on the faculty. We moved to new quarters just a few years ago.

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Happy Birthday, Missouri State!
The Missouri State Centennial Celebration
by Professor Robin Amonker

Missouri State University is currently celebrating 100 years of service. The centennial celebration will recognize the University’s contribution to educational, social and economic well-being of residents of Southwest Missouri, the state, and beyond.

The centennial book entitled “Daring to Excel: The First 100 Years of Missouri State University,” written by Dr. Don Landon, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, has been published and distributed to the public. Over the last 100 years, the University’s name has changed several times to reflect its evolving role in Missouri education. 

Through the years, Missouri State’s name changed from State Normal School #4 (1905-1919) to Southwest Missouri State Teachers College (1919-1946) to Southwest Missouri State College (1946-1972) and, finally, to Missouri State University (1972-present).

Missouri State began in the summer of 1906 as a regional teachers school serving 543 students from primarily 22 counties in southwest Missouri. It has grown into a university serving more than 20,000 students from every county in Missouri, 44 other states and 80 foreign countries on three campuses located in Springfield, West Plains, and Mountain Grove.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology has undergone several historical changes over a period of 85 years. The sociology program at Missouri State, starting in 1919 as a part of the History Department, became the part of the newly created Department of Sociology and Economics in 1930, where it remained until 1971. By 1976, Anthropology and Social Work programs were added to the Department degree offerings, and in 1980, the name of the Department was changed to the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work.

The Department continued to grow in the 1990’s when a major in Anthropology in 1997 and a major in Crime and Society in 1999 were added to the program. Since its inception, the Department has made significant contributions to the societal and educational needs of its students. At present, there are over 2000 living alumni from the Department programs in Sociology, Anthropology, and Crime and Society. If you would like to explore the history of the department further, and perhaps find a familiar face or two among our faculty old and new, please click the above link.

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Changes in the Faculty and Headship

Mr. Jeff London and Drs. William Meadows, Suzanne Walker, and Gayle Rhineberger have joined the faculty over the past four years. London and Rhineberger teach courses primarily in the criminal justice curriculum while Meadows and Walker teach Anthropology courses. Recently retired are Drs. William Larkin (SOC), Doris Ewing (SOC),  and Burton Purrington (ANT).

Dr. Melodye Lehnerer announced she will be retiring at the end of the 2004 academic year. She will move to her home in Las Vegas to join her husband and, it seems, the other millions of people who are taking up residence in that exciting desert city. Because Lehnerer teaches criminal justice courses, we are in the process of searching for a replacement in that field of study.

Dr. and Mrs. William ("Bill") Larkin moved to Kansas, immediately west of Kansas City and north of Leavenworth. They have family in the area and are thoroughly enjoying life in retirement. Dr. Ewing still lives in Springfield, although she can be found traveling around the world quite often. Dr. and Mrs. Purrington moved to Seattle to be near family and the bounties of nature so prevalent in that part of the country.
 

Dr. Karl Kunkel became Head of the department about two years ago replacing Dr. Jeffrey Nash, who served in that position for eight years. Mrs. Avon Bradshaw retired as our fulltime secretary and Mrs. Janet Graham now fills that position along with Mrs. Christy Titus, her assistant.

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