Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a
public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
in
Kirksville, Missouri
Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University.
...
. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021
pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs.
The university is named for
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, who was a Missouri native. From 1972 until 1996, the school was known as Northeast Missouri State University.
History
![TrumanStateUniversityEntrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/TrumanStateUniversityEntrance.JPG)
Truman State University was founded in 1867 by
Joseph Baldwin
Joseph Baldwin (October 31, 1827, some sources indicate October 27, 1827 – January 13, 1899) was an American educator, and called by some the "father of the normal school system".
__TOC__
Early life
Baldwin was born to Joseph and Isabella ( ...
as the North Missouri Normal School and Commercial College. Baldwin was a pioneer in education, and his school quickly gained official recognition in 1870 by the
Missouri General Assembly
The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are ...
, which designated it as the First District Normal School, the first public teachers' college in Missouri.
The school served a district comprising 26 counties: including
Adair,
Audrain,
Boone,
Callaway,
Chariton
Chariton of Aphrodisias ( grc-gre, Χαρίτων ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς) was the author of an ancient Greek novel probably titled ''Callirhoe'' (based on the subscription in the sole surviving manuscript). However, it is regularly referred to ...
,
Clark
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
,
Howard
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
,
Knox,
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
,
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
,
Linn Linn may refer to:
People
* Linn (surname)
* Linn (given name)
* Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990)
Places Germany
* Linn (Gangkofen), a part ...
,
Marion Marion may refer to:
People
*Marion (given name)
*Marion (surname)
*Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion"
*Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992)
Places Antarctica
* Mario ...
,
Macon,
Monroe,
Montgomery,
Pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
,
Putnam,
Ralls,
Randolph,
St. Charles,
Schuyler Schuyler may refer to:
Places United States
* Schuyler County, Illinois
* Schuyler County, Missouri
* Schuyler, Nebraska, a city
* Schuyler County, New York
* Schuyler, New York, a town
* Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York
* Schuyler C ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
Shelby,
Sullivan, and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
.
Purple and white were adopted as the school's official colors after Basil Brewer wrote a school song entitled "The Purple and the White." They have remained as the school colors since.
In 1919, the school was renamed Northeast Missouri State Teachers College.
For the next four decades, it was commonly called Kirksville State.
In 1924, a fire destroyed old Baldwin Hall and the library. The lake that once filled the current quadrangle, or "The Quad" (a prominent feature in pre-1924 photographs), was pumped dry in a futile attempt to douse the fire.
The Quad now serves as a popular gathering place where students study, play games, hold events, such as small concerts and fairs, and meet with one another.
The school's mission broadened significantly over the years, and by the 1960s, it was no longer simply a teacher-training school. Reflecting this, it was renamed Northeast Missouri State College in 1968.
Only four years later, in 1972, it was renamed Northeast Missouri State University (NMSU). On June 20, 1985, Governor
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...
signed legislation designating the university as Missouri's only statewide public
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
and sciences university. This changed the school's focus from regional to statewide. As such, nearly 100 programs were dropped in the span of six years, including all two-year programs that did not fulfill the liberal arts mission.
By the 1990s, the university boasted a nationally known
accounting
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...
division and schools of science,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
, and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the university's mission change, Governor
Mel Carnahan
Melvin Eugene Carnahan (February 11, 1934 – October 16, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st Governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in a plane crash in 2000. A Democrat, he was elected posthumously to the ...
signed legislation changing its name to Truman State University. The new name became official on July 1, 1996, and the university remains designated by statute as Missouri's premier public liberal arts and sciences institution.
In the 2016
U.S. News & World Report College Rankings, Truman placed eighth in the Midwest among regional universities.
Presidents
*
Joseph Baldwin
Joseph Baldwin (October 31, 1827, some sources indicate October 27, 1827 – January 13, 1899) was an American educator, and called by some the "father of the normal school system".
__TOC__
Early life
Baldwin was born to Joseph and Isabella ( ...
(1867–81)
* William P. Nason (1881–82)
* Joseph Blanton (1882–91)
* William D. Dobson (1891–99)
* John R. Kirk (1899–1925)
* Eugene Fair (1925–37)
* Walter H. Ryle (1937–67)
* F. Clark Elkins (1967–69)
* Eli F. Mittler (1969–70)
* Charles J. McClain (1970–89)
* Robert A. Dager (1989–90)
* Russell G. Warren (1990–94)
* W. Jack Magruder (1994–2003)
* Barbara Dixon (2003–08)
* Darrell Krueger (2008–10)
*
Troy Paino (2010–16)
* Susan L. Thomas (2016–present)
Board of Governors
Truman's Board of Governors consists of ten members. Each member is appointed by the
Governor of Missouri
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
to serve a four-year term, with a student representative serving for two years. The ten members must meet residential requirements defined by Missouri law. The Board of Governors also includes four committees: the Finance and Audit Committee, the Budget and Capital Projects Committee, the Honorary Degrees Committee, and the Truman State University Foundation Board of Directors.
Campus
![Icy Truman Bell Tower](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Icy_Truman_Bell_Tower.jpg)
The campus is located on the south side of
Kirksville
Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, Adair County, Missouri, Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Kirksville is home to ...
. Truman's main campus is situated around a slightly wooded
quadrangle, also known as the "Quad." It is two blocks south of the town square, which includes an eight-screen movie theatre and various eateries and shops.
Notable buildings on campus include Pickler Memorial Library, the Kirk Memorial, the Kirk Building, Magruder Hall, McClain Hall, Baldwin Hall, Violette Hall, Barnett Hall, Ophelia Parrish, Pershing Arena, the Student Union Building and the Recreation Center ("The Rec"). The oldest building is not Kirk Building, but is instead the purple-doored Physical Plant building located between the Health Services building and Magruder Hall.
Pickler Memorial Library was named after Samuel M. Pickler, who donated funds to rebuild the library after it was destroyed by fire in 1924. Renovated in 1993, it now houses the main
computer lab
A computer lab is a space where computer services are provided to a defined community. These are typically public libraries and academic institutions. Generally, users must follow a certain user policy to retain access to the computers. This usu ...
, as well as approximately 500,000 volumes of various works. The front lobby area of Pickler Memorial Library is known as "the Bubble" for its curved glass atrium.
Kirk Memorial is a small,
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
d structure near the center of campus. The structure is dedicated to John Kirk, the fifth president of the university. It formerly housed Truman's debate team and now houses a few administrative offices. The Kirk Building was once the university's combined gymnasium and auditorium facility. It previously housed the Center for International Education, Student Affairs, Publications and the Department of Sports Information, but has been closed since Fall 2020 and is currently used for storage space.
Beginning in Summer 2022, the building will undergo a $21 million repair and become a new student and community success center, with a projected completion date of Winter 2024.
The Rec is located north of Centennial Hall and is open every day except on holidays. It also offers a gymnasium for a variety of sports, a weight room, an elevated track, various exercise equipment, and a small multipurpose gym for hockey, indoor soccer, and other indoor sports.
There are seven main academic buildings. Magruder Hall is the science building and houses the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Agriculture. McClain Hall serves as both an administrative and academic building. For the academic portion, Classical & Modern Languages, Economics, English & Linguistics, History, Philosophy & Religion, and Political Science can be found there. Baldwin Hall is connected to McClain Hall and houses the campus auditorium that is best known for hosting cultural events through the Kohlenberg-Lyceum Series. Violette Hall, named after former history professor E.M. Violette, is home to the School of Business, the Mathematics and Computer Science Department, and the Education Department. Ophelia Parrish (OP) is home to the Art, Music, and Theatre Departments; it is named after Ms. Ophelia Parrish (1850-1915), the college's first librarian. Barnett Hall is home to the departments of Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology; Communication; Justice Systems; Psychology; ROTC; and Nursing programs. Finally, the Pershing Building, also home to the basketball team's Pershing Arena, houses the Departments of Health and Exercise Science and Communication Disorders.
Services available on campus to students include the student health center, career center, and writing center. The health center is closed on the weekends and holidays. The career center is located on the first floor of the Student Union Building and provides help to students in determining a career path, selecting a major, developing career skills, helping put together a resume, or even conducting
mock interview A mock interview is an emulation of a job interview used for training purposes. The conversational exercise usually resembles a real interview as closely as possible, for the purpose of providing experience for a candidate. It can help a job applica ...
s. The writing center is located on the first floor of the Library and offers critique and editing for student papers.
Academics
Admissions
Admission to the university is based upon a holistic review of a candidate's academic record, with the strongest consideration being given to those who have a combined ability score of 140 or higher. The combined ability score is calculated by adding the percentage of students in the applicant's graduating class that the applicant outranks and the percentage of students the applicant outscored on a nationally standardized test (usually the
ACT, although the
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
is also accepted). Admissions decisions are also based, however, on a mandatory application essay, the applicant's resume, and the applicant's high school and extracurricular record. According to the
Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
, Truman has a selectivity rating of 88, a 68% acceptance rate, with applicants having a 3.79 average high school GPA, and an 88% retention rate after freshman year. All applicants must have 4 credits of English, 3 credits of math, 3 credits of science, 2 credits of foreign language, 2 credits of social studies, and 1 credit of fine art. The average GPA of an admitted student is 3.25 on a 4.0 scale, with 50% of all admitted students ranking in the top 10% of their class, and the median ACT range is 25–31.
The Liberal Studies program
On July 20, 1985, the state of Missouri charged Truman State University with serving as the state's public liberal arts and sciences university. In order to meet this commitment to the people of Missouri, the Truman faculty and administration created the Liberal Studies Program, the general education curriculum undergraduates complete in order to receive a Truman degree. The Liberal Studies Program consists of three distinct areas:
*Essential Skills for success in liberal studies, including courses in writing as critical thinking, public speaking, elementary functions, statistics, computer literacy, and personal well-being.
*Modes of Inquiry by which students may approach problems and issues in other academic areas. The eight modes in the Modes of Inquiry have been separated into two separate areas Qualitative and Quantitative, each representing four academic areas. Students must complete coursework in three of the four academic areas in each category: fine arts, literature, history, and philosophy/religion are based on the Qualitative Modes while mathematics, life science, physical science, and social science are under the Quantitative Modes.
*Interconnecting Perspectives that allow students to understand and appreciate better the knowledge they have gained. This includes taking a series of writing-enhanced courses, an interdisciplinary seminar course in the junior year, at least two semesters of a foreign language, and participating in an intercultural experience (this can be fulfilled through any one of a series of courses or by going on any study abroad trip).
Schools
![TrumanStateEntranceEnlarged](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/TrumanStateEntranceEnlarged.JPG)
The School of Arts and Letters is the home of the departments of Art, Classical & Modern Languages, English & Linguistics, Music, and Theatre. Degrees offered through the school include Art, Art History, Classics, English, French, German, Linguistics, Music, Romance Languages, Russian, Spanish, Theatre, and Visual Communications. In addition to the 17 distinct undergraduate majors offered, the school also offers 6 graduate programs, including Music and English.
The School of Business offers degrees in Business Administration (BA or BS) with an emphasis in Finance, Management, Marketing, and International Business (BA only). In addition, a BS and MAcc in Accounting are offered, with the graduate program ranked third in the nation in terms of CPA passage rates. The School of Business is also AACSB accredited.
The School of Health Sciences & Education offers degrees in communication disorders (graduate and undergraduate), nursing, health science, exercise science, and education (MAE only). Education students can specialize in elementary education, special education, English, exercise science, foreign language, music, mathematics, science, and visual arts.
The School of Science and Mathematics offers degrees in agricultural science, biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and physics. The school also offers Missouri's only undergraduate interdisciplinary degree program in mathematical biology which has connections and resources available through the
Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance
The Intercollegiate Biomathematics Alliance (IBA) is a syndicate of organizations focused on connecting both academic and non-academic institutions to promote the study of biomathematics, ecology, and other related fields. Biomathematics is a scien ...
. The school also coordinates the Missouri Pre-STEM Pathways Program with Moberly Area Community College, Metropolitan Community College - Kansas City, and St. Charles Community College.
The School of Social & Cultural Studies offers degrees in communication, Economics, History, Justice Systems, Military Science (minor only), Philosophy & Religion, Political Science, Psychology, Geography (minor only), and Sociology/Anthropology.
Students are also free to create their own interdisciplinary majors or to minor in any of the approved interdisciplinary minors, which include African/African-American Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Cognitive Sciences, Disability Studies, Environmental Studies, Folklore, Forensic Science, International Studies, Italian Studies, Mathematical Biology, Medieval Studies and Women's and Gender Studies.
Campus life
Residence life
In the 1960s, the university built Dobson Hall (1961), Ryle Hall (1963), Missouri Hall (1965), and Centennial Hall (1967). There are three other
residence halls
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
on campus: Blanton-Nason-Brewer (1948, Brewer added in 1959), Ezra C. Grim Hall (1923), and West Campus Suites (2006). The residence halls are maintained by Residence Life, an administrative body of professionals and students who live in the halls and act as student advisors (SAs) and hall directors. Truman's residence halls underwent a $90 million renovation schedule in 2000s and 2010s. This project included the construction of West Campus Suites in 2006, the renovation of Missouri Hall in 2006, Blanton-Nason-Brewer in 2007, and Dobson in 2008. Ryle Hall's two-year renovation concluded in the summer of 2011, and Centennial underwent a two-year renovation concluding in 2014.
Dobson Hall is coed by wing and houses roughly 400 students.
Dobson Hall closed for the 2019–20 academic year but reopened one floor in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 years, with plans to reopen the second floor in 2022-23.
Ryle Hall is the second largest hall at Truman. This coed residence hall houses nearly 600 students in suite-style rooms.
Centennial Hall is the largest residence hall on campus. This coed hall houses nearly 600 students in suite-style rooms. Centennial Hall will be closed for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years to undergo renovations, particularly to its windows.
![Missouri Hall Ribbon Cutting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Missouri_Hall_Ribbon_Cutting.jpg)
Missouri Hall is a coed residence hall that houses 518 students, making it the third largest on campus. Missouri Hall is made up of seven different wings. On both the north and south sides of the building three wings join with a common lounge. The two common lounges are linked by a seventh "crossover" wing. From overhead, the building is shaped like an elongated asterisk.
Blanton-Nason-Brewer offers three floors of suite-style, coed living arrangements to students. Originally three separate buildings connected by breezeways, the building underwent a major renovation in the 2007–2008 academic year and is now one, unified residence hall.
West Campus Suites, just northwest of Centennial Hall, opened its doors to 416 students in Fall 2006. Currently, all floors are coed by suite.
Truman also offers the Campbell Apartments for student living. Campbell is located next to the tennis courts just east of Stokes Stadium. Yet another option is Farm Hall, located at the University Farm. Only four students, often majors in agricultural science, live on the farm each year. Their work on the farm helps them gain useful first-hand experience, as well as help pay for room and board.
Student organizations
All students are encouraged to explore their particular interests and find quality, co-curricular experiences to participate in. Truman offers approximately 250 different student organizations in the following areas:
* Academic/Professional
* Campus Media
* Cultural
* Fee-Based
* Fine Arts
* Greek
* Health and Wellness
* Honorary
* Political
* Recreational/Sports
* Religious
* Residence Life
* Service
* Special Interest
* University Department
An organization that has garnered considerable attention since its inception is the Bulldog Student Investment Fund, a group in which student analysts invest a portion of the university's endowment in public equities (stocks) in an effort to outperform the market. The organization hopes to eventually use the proceeds from the fund's returns to sponsor scholarships for Truman students. In 2015, members from the Bulldog Student Investment fund, representing Truman State, achieved the first place prize among the five competing universities in the St. Louis CFA Institute Challenge and went on to compete at nationals.
Greek life
Approximately 20% of the student body is affiliated with a social Greek organization. Truman hosts nine sororities and fifteen fraternities.
Interfraternity Council (IFC)
IFC governs the twelve men's social fraternities on campus:
*
Alpha Gamma Rho
Alpha Gamma Rho (), commonly known as AGR, is a social/professional, agriculture fraternity in the United States, currently with 71 collegiate chapters.
Founding
The fraternity considers the Morrill Act of 1862 to be the instrument of its incepti ...
*
Alpha Kappa Lambda
Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates approximately 30 active chapters and has approximately 28,000 li ...
*
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...
*
Delta Chi
Delta Chi () is an international Fraternities and sororities, Greek letter collegiate social fraternity formed on October 13, 1890, at Cornell University, initially as a professional fraternity for law students. On April 30, 1922, Delta Chi be ...
*
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...
*
Phi Kappa Tau
Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...
*Phi Lambda Phi (Local)
*
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
*
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston ...
*
Sigma Tau Gamma
Sigma Tau Gamma (), commonly known as Sig Tau, is a United States college social fraternity founded on June 28, 1920, at the University of Central Missouri (then known as Central Missouri State Teachers College). The fraternity was founded as a re ...
*
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...
*
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an internat ...
Panhellenic Council
The sororities are governed by the Panhellenic Council, which is made up of six internationally recognized social sororities on campus:
*
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Gamma Delta (), also known as Alpha Gam, is an international women's fraternity and social organization. It was founded on May 30, 1904, by eleven female students at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, making it the youngest member ...
*
Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a United States National Panhellenic sorority founded on November 15, 1901, at the Virginia State Female Normal School (later known as Longwood College and now known as Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia.
Once a sor ...
*
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Phi Epsilon () may refer to:
*Delta Phi Epsilon (professional), the professional foreign service fraternity and sorority
*Delta Phi Epsilon (social)
Delta Phi Epsilon ( or DPhiE) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North Ame ...
*
Delta Zeta
Delta Zeta (, also known as DZ) is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Delta Zeta has 170 collegiate chapters in the United States and Canada, and over 200 alumnae chapters in Cana ...
*
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa (, also known as SK or Sig Kap) is a sorority founded on November 9, 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
In 1874, Sigma Kappa was founded by five women: Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller Pierce, ...
*
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Sigma Sigma Sigma (), also known as Tri Sigma, is a national American women's sorority.
Sigma Sigma Sigma is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), an umbrella organization encompassing 26 national sororities or women's fraterni ...
National Pan-Hellenic Council
There are also four of the "Divine Nine"
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
historically black fraternities and sororities:
*
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...
fraternity
*
Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as char ...
fraternity
*
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...
sorority
*
Sigma Gamma Rho
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority, international collegiate, and non-profit community service organization that was founded on November 12, 1922, by seven educators on the Irvington campus (1875–1 ...
sorority
Multicultural
*
Sigma Lambda Gamma
Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Incorporated () (also known as Gammas or SLG) is a national sorority. It was founded on April 9, 1990, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, by five collegiate women who wanted an organization to em ...
sorority
*
Sigma Lambda Beta
Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Incorporated () (known as Betas, Lambda Betas or SLB) is a historically Latino based fraternity in the United States, now expanded to include a multicultural membership. Founded in 1986 at the Univers ...
fraternity
The organizations do service around the community, provide leadership on campus, and provide a social outlet for students.
Professional fraternities
At Truman, students may choose to affiliate with a professional fraternity associated with their academic interests or intended major. Professional fraternities often admit both women and men, but there are some exceptions (noted below).
*
Alpha Chi Sigma
Alpha Chi Sigma () is a professional fraternity specializing in the fields of the chemical sciences. It has both collegiate and professional chapters throughout the United States consisting of both men and women and numbering more than 70,000 mem ...
*
Alpha Kappa Psi
Alpha Kappa Psi (, often stylized as AKPsi) is the oldest and largest business fraternity to current date. Also known as "AKPsi", the fraternity was founded on October 5, 1904, at New York University and was incorporated on May 20, 1905. It is cu ...
*
Alpha Gamma Rho
Alpha Gamma Rho (), commonly known as AGR, is a social/professional, agriculture fraternity in the United States, currently with 71 collegiate chapters.
Founding
The fraternity considers the Morrill Act of 1862 to be the instrument of its incepti ...
*
Delta Sigma Pi
Delta Sigma Pi () (officially the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Inc.) is a coeducational professional business fraternity and one of the largest in the United States. Delta Sigma Pi was founded on November 7, 1907, at the School ...
*
Phi Epsilon Kappa
Phi Epsilon Kappa () is a national professional fraternity for persons engaged in or pursuing careers in the fields of physical education, health, recreation, dance, human performance, exercise science, sports medicine and sports management.
Histo ...
*
Phi Mu Alpha
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...
(men only)
Honorary organizations
Truman also offers a wide selection of honorary organizations.
*
Alpha Phi Sigma
Alpha Phi Sigma () (Phi is pronounced "fi") is the only Criminal Justice Honor Society accredited by the Association of College Honor Societies. Traditionally a national organization serving United States universities, recent expansion into Canad ...
*
Alpha Psi Omega
Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society () is an American recognition fraternity for participants in collegiate theatre.
History
The ''Alpha Cast'' (Alpha Psi Omega's term for "chapter") was founded at Fairmont State College (now Fair ...
*
Alpha Sigma Gamma*
*
Blue Key Honor Society
*Cardinal Key Honor Society
*
Eta Sigma Phi
Eta Sigma Phi () is a collegiate honor society for the study of Classics. It grew out of a local undergraduate classical club founded by a group of students in the Department of Greek at the University of Chicago in 1914. This organization late ...
*
Eta Sigma Gamma
Eta Sigma Gamma ( or ESG) is an honor society for health education. It was founded on August 14, 1967 at Ball State University "to elevate the standards, ideals, competence and ethics of professionally trained individuals in and for the health sci ...
*
Kappa Delta Pi
Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education, () is an honor society for education. It was founded in 1911 and was one of the first discipline-specific honor societies. Its membership is limited to the top 20 percent of those entering ...
*
Kappa Mu Epsilon
Kappa Mu Epsilon () is a mathematics honor society founded by Emily Kathryn Wyant in 1931 at Northeastern Oklahoma State Teachers College to focus on the needs of undergraduate mathematics students. There are now over 80,000 members in about 150 ...
*
Lambda Pi Eta
Lambda Pi Eta () is the official Communication Studies honor society of the National Communication Association (NCA). As a member of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS), Lambda Pi Eta has more than 500 active chapters at four-year c ...
*
National Residence Hall Honorary
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National Society of Collegiate Scholars
The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) is a national non-profit academic honor society for college students in the United States. NSCS has active chapters at over 300 colleges and universities in the United States, including the Distr ...
*
Omicron Delta Kappa
Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...
*
Phi Alpha Theta
Phi Alpha Theta () is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.
It has more than 400,000 members, with new members numbering about 9,000 a year through its 970 chapters.
Founding
Phi Alpha The ...
*
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
*
Phi Kappa Phi
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of education ...
*
Phi Sigma Pi
Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity () is a gender-inclusive/mixed-sex national Honor societies, honor Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity based in the United States. The fraternity is a 501(c) organization#501(c)(3), 501( ...
*
Pi Delta Phi
Pi Delta Phi () is the National French Honor Society—La Société d'Honneur de Français—for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities in the United States.
Founded as a departmental honor ...
*
Psi Chi
Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States.
Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...
*
Sigma Delta Pi Sigma Delta Pi () is the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society (La Sociedad Nacional Honoraria Hispánica). It was established on November 14, 1919, at the University of California at Berkeley.
History
Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegi ...
*
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...
*
Tau Lambda Sigma
*Pershing Society - An organization for students awarded the Pershing Scholarship, the university's most prestigious award.
Campus lore
![Truman gum tree](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Truman_gum_tree.jpg)
*The
weather vane
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
atop Kirk Memorial is welded in place so that it will always point northeast, in honor of the school's previous name and its location.
*Students traditionally stuck their chewing gum on a redbud tree on the east side of campus. This "gum tree" was decorated in colorful wads, and at times, it even sported students' names. Lore has it that the concept of the gum tree originated in the 1920s when it was against the rules to chew gum in class. The tree was vandalized and knocked down by an unknown party in 2000, but students quickly adopted another tree.
*The annual football game against
Northwest Missouri State University
Northwest Missouri State University is a public university in Maryville, Missouri. It has an enrollment of about 8,505 students. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, its campus is based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis Worl ...
was established in 1930 when Northwest president
Uel W. Lamkin
Uel Walter Lamkin (January 18, 1877 – September 16, 1956) was president of Northwest Missouri State University from 1921 to 1945.
Lamkin was born in California, Missouri. He attended the private Clinton, Missouri Academy run by his father. ...
sent Fair a polished
hickory stick from the farm where the former president Eugene Fair was born. The "Hickory Stick" was contested annually until 2013, when Truman and Northwest Missouri began competing in different athletic conferences.
Army ROTC
Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Army
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
) was established at Truman in 1969. Approximately, 200 Truman students are members of the "Bulldog Battalion" and enroll in military science courses each semester. Students completing the ROTC program are additionally awarded a minor in Military Science.
Athletics
Truman is a member of
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
and plays in the
Great Lakes Valley Conference
The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level. Its thirteen member institutions a ...
(GLVC), joining the conference in 2013 after having been a member of the
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...
(MIAA) since that league's creation in 1912. Because the GLVC did not sponsor wrestling until the 2016–17 season, that team remained in the MIAA.
The athletic department sponsors 18 teams, ten each for men and women. Among Truman's most recent successes include: four regional championships for women's volleyball, a regional berth for men's basketball in 2006, a College World Series appearance for baseball, and undefeated regular seasons for both men's and women's soccer. The women's swim team won six consecutive
NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships
The NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships is an annual college athletics, college championship in the United States. The meet is typically held on the second-to-last weekend (Thursday-Saturday) in March, and consists of indivi ...
national titles for Division II between 2001 and 2006 and won again in 2008 again beating their in state rival
Drury University
Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and grad ...
.
Notable alumni and faculty
References
External links
*
Truman State Athletics website
{{Authority control
Educational institutions established in 1867
Education in Adair County, Missouri
Buildings and structures in Adair County, Missouri
1867 establishments in Missouri
Monuments and memorials to Harry S. Truman
Public universities and colleges in Missouri
Public liberal arts colleges in the United States