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Established	1867
Type:	Public, secular
President:	Barbara Dixon
Staff:	370
Undergraduates:	5,700
Postgraduates:	250
Location	Kirksville, Missouri, USA
Campus:	Rural, 140 acres (57 ha)
Athletics:	NCAA, MIAA
Mascot:	Bulldog
Website:	http://www.truman.edu

Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. About 5700 students attend Truman, pursuing degrees in 43 undergraduate and nine graduate programs. It is located in the city of Kirksville in northeastern Missouri, and is named after President Harry Truman, the only President born in the state. Until 1996, the school was known as Northeast Missouri State University. The name was changed, along with its mission statement, in order to reflect a change from a regional mission.

Contents 1 Campus 2 History 3 Campus lore 4 Leadership 4.1 University presidents 4.2 Board of Governors 5 Residence Halls 5.1 Dobson Hall 5.2 Ryle and Centennial halls 5.3 Missouri Hall 5.4 Blanton-Nason-Brewer 5.5 Grim Hall 5.6 West Campus Suites 5.7 Apartments 5.8 Farm Hall 6 Student organizations 7 Debate 8 Quiz Bowl 9 Campus media 10 Athletics 11 Notable Alumni 12 See also 13 External links

Situated in the southern part of the city of Kirksville, Truman's main campus is situated around a slightly wooded quadrangle. By long standing policy, the entire campus is officially "dry," meaning that alcohol is not allowed (though the president of the university has the authority to make exceptions, and past presidents have, for example, permitted alcoholic beverages at special gatherings in the University Residence).

Buildings on the Quad include Baldwin Hall, Pickler Memorial Library, the Kirk Memorial, Kirk Building (the oldest building on campus, built in 1922), and Ophelia Parrish (visual and performing arts educational facility). Other structures are generally situated behind or near buildings on the Quad, and these include three of Truman's residence halls: Missouri Hall, the Blanton-Nason-Brewer Hall complex, and Dobson Hall; Violette Hall (educational facility), a Career and Health Center, and Magruder Hall (a newly renovated science facility). Four university buildings are situated along the border of the traditional university on Franklin Street to the west, including Barnett Hall (science and nursing education facility), the Student Recreational Center, the Student Union Building, McClain Hall (administration and education facility) and two residence halls: Centennial and West Campus Suites. The south of the original campus includes two residence halls (Ryle Hall and E.C. Grim Hall), Fair Apartments (including a small convenience store operated by campus food service, Sodexho) and the Pershing Building athletic facility. Pickler Memorial Library is the main library. It is named after Samuel M. Pickler, who donated funds to rebuild the library after it was destroyed by fire in 1924. It was renovated in 1993. It is home to the main computer lab on campus. The library contains a total of approximately 450,000 volumes. The aforementioned Kirk Memorial is a small, domed structure near the geographic center of the campus. It is built almost entirely with materials from Missouri. The structure is a memorial to John Kirk, fifth president of the university. Currently, it houses Truman's debate team, in addition to a museum of Missouri history and classrooms for the university.

Truman State University was founded in 1867 by Joseph Baldwin as the First Missouri Normal School and Commercial College. Baldwin is considered a pioneer in education and his school quickly gained official recognition in 1870 by the Missouri General Assembly, which designated it as the first public teaching college in Missouri. The Joseph Baldwin Academy for Eminent Young Scholars, a summer program serving gifted 8th-10th graders, is housed at Truman.

A region of 25 Missouri counties was designated as the school's college district. The counties are as follows: Adair, Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Chariton, Clark, Howard, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Macon, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, St. Charles, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan and Warren.

The school continued to grow and Basil Brewer wrote the school song "The Purple and White" in 1902. The song's popularity prompted the university to adopt the school colors as purple and white. Thirteen years later, in 1915, the bulldog became the official mascot of the college (two bulldogs are currently the "mascots" of the university, Spike and Simone). In 1924 a massive fire destroyed Old Baldwin Hall and the library. Both Baldwin Hall and the library were rebuilt, with $25,000.00 for the new library donated by Samuel M. Pickler, a member of the first graduating class of 1870, former faculty member and local merchant. The broad pond in the quadrangle (a prominent feature in pre-1924 photographs of the campus) was pumped dry in a futile attempt to put out the fire. The depression was filled in with debris from the ruined buildings and covered over.

The college was renamed Northeast Missouri State University in 1972, and in 1983 the university was awarded the G. Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Northeast Missouri State continued its push for excellence and had not gone unnoticed by the state government. On June 20, 1985, Governor John Ashcroft signed a bill that designated the university as Missouri's only statewide public liberal arts and sciences university. This changed the school's mission to a state-wide rather than a regional (northeast) objective. As such, nearly 100 programs were dropped in the span of six years, including all two-year programs and those not fulfulling the liberal arts mission.

The school continued to win praise from such publications as US News and World Report and its reputation spread. By the 1990s, the university no longer was solely a teachers' college. The college had a nationally-known accounting division, schools of science, mathematics, and computer science, and literature. Ten years after Governor Ashcroft's designation, Governor Mel Carnahan signed legislation renaming the school Truman State University. Several schools had petitioned for the Truman name. Truman State University is designated by statute as Missouri's premier public liberal arts and sciences institution.

Years	Name
1867-1868	North Missouri Normal and Commercial School
1868-1870	North Missouri Normal School
1870-1918	North Missouri Normal School of the First District
1918-1968	Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (Commonly called Kirksville State Teachers College)
1968-1972	Northeast Missouri State College
1972-1996	Northeast Missouri State University
1996-Present	Truman State University

• The weather vane atop Kirk Memorial is welded in place so that it always points northeast, in honor of the school's previous name and identity.
• "The Ghost of Centennial Hall" is named "Joan," said to be a student killed in an auto accident in the 1970s. "Charlotte" and an unnamed little boy have haunted Grim Hall for 70 years, and "Gina" watches over the women of Ryle. See external link "Truman Ghost Stories," below.
• Students traditionally stuck their chewing gum on a redbud tree on the east side of campus, and the "gum tree" was covered in colorful wads, at times even sporting students' names. The tree was vandalized and knocked down by an unknown party in 2000, but students quickly adopted another tree.
• For many years, an irregularly-shaped portion of sidewalk (which had previously been home to a tree) was called the "sacred potato," and was the focus of a number of rituals and superstitions: one should never step on it if one had a test that same day; sticking a knife into a potato on the spot at midnight warded off a failing grade. Else stepping on the sacred potato had been rumored to cause one to either fail their next test or become pregnant. Around 2002, campus facilities replaced the sidewalk, sparking student complaints.
• The sunken garden, site of many student weddings, is actually the cellar left from the Baldwin Hall fire of 1924.
• Because of the frequency of student weddings at the sunken garden, a campus myth came into common circulation. It is alleged that if a new couple has their first kiss at midnight on one of the two benches that are located in the sunken garden, that couple will eventually get married.
• Many wonder who "Smarsh" was; a brass plaque beneath a peach tree just north of Baldwin Hall honors the senior euphonium and bass trombone performer, killed in a car accident July 3, 1994. He is also remembered with the Robert Scott Marshall Memorial Scholarship.
• A row of large, clapperless bells is fixed in a brick wall in the quad. According to legend, the "virgin bells" ring when chaste undergraduates pass by. (officially known as the Bell Wall, the monument dates from the 1967 centennial celebration, and was donated by local businessman Joe Burdman)
• The statue of President Truman in Pickler Memorial Library is said to bestow good fortune on any student who borrows a penny from his hat for a test. Beware, however, for any good fortune might be negated if the penny is not returned the same day. These 'Truman Pennies' are placed by students studying for tests in the library, and it is also considered good luck to place a penny in the hat.

• Joseph Baldwin (1867-1881)
• William P. Nason (1881-1882)
• Joseph Blanton (1882-1891)
• William D. Dobson (1891-1899)
• John R. Kirk (1899-1925)

Contrary to popular belief, the city of Kirksville was not named in honor of John R. Kirk.

• Eugene Fair (1925-1937)

A native of Harrison County, Missouri, the annual football game against Northwest Missouri State University was established in 1930 when Northwest president Uel Lamkin sent Fair a polished hickory stick from the farm where Fair was born. The "Hickory Stick" has since been contested annually. [1]

• Walter H. Ryle (1937-1967)
• F. Clark Elkins (1967-1969)
• Eli F. Mittler (1969-1970)
• Charles J. McClain (1970-1989)
• Robert A. Dager (1989-1990)
• Russell G. Warren (1990-1994)
• W. Jack Magruder (1994-2003)
• Barbara Dixon (2003-Present)

Truman State's Board of Governors consists of ten members. Each member is appointed by the Governor of Missouri 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 as follows:

• Four voting members from inside Truman's regional boundary, provided that not more than one person from the same county is selected.
• Three voting members from in-state, provided that not more than one person is from the same college region defined by Missouri state law. (For example, Missouri Western State University's college region consists of the counties of Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb, and Platte counties. Therefore, if a current member is from St. Joseph the governor cannot appoint someone from any of those five counties.)
• Two non-voting members from out-of-state. Current Housing and Urban Development secretary Alphonso Jackson, a graduate of Truman, served on the board in this capacity for two terms.
• One non-voting member who is a current full-time Truman student. Student groups including the Bulldog Party have lobbied the state to allow this member to vote. The Truman Student Senate recently passed a unanimous resolution calling for a student to become a voting member of the Board of Governors and sent the resolution to every member of the Missouri Legislature.

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 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 ResLife, an administrative body of professionals and students who live in the halls and act as advisors/directors ("SA's"). Incoming freshmen arrive a week earlier than the other students and spend this orientation time in friendly competition against the other halls. Themed door decorations, movie nights, games, and dorm-specific t-shirts are an ongoing part of ResLife's goal to foster a sense of community in residential living at Truman.

Dobson Hall is coed by wing and houses roughly 400 students who share community bathrooms. As of the spring semester of 2006, keypads have been installed on the bathroom doors and will be used as opposed to keys. Each floor is equipped with a lounge and a kitchenette (except first floor). There is a pool table and foosball table on the first floor and a ping-pong table has recently been added. Mail is distributed in a common mail-box area and packages are picked up by residents at the hall desk. The hall houses a computer lab and in-house laundry facilities. It does not have a cafeteria, so students usually travel to nearby Ryle Hall for meals, though some travel to Missouri Hall or to Centennial Hall.

Dobson has an in-house radio station called 107.5 FM. The station, legally unlicensed as per provisions in FCC Part 15, now broadcasts 24/7 and reaches all of campus and areas within one-half mile. 107.5 also streams its broadcasts online.

Ryle Hall is the second largest hall and Centennial Hall (or "C-Hall") is the largest. These two coed dorms each house nearly 600 students in suite-style rooms. The standard arrangement is two rooms, or four people, sharing one bathroom. Floors three, four, and five feature kitchenettes, and every floor except the first has a lounge. Ryle also has a spacious main lounge that is often used for small on-campus events. The two dorms also feature dining rooms, computer labs, mailboxes, vending machines, laundry rooms, and each also has a classroom used by the Residential College Program. The primary difference between the two dorms is that Ryle's cafeteria is located on the first floor, beneath its large lounge area. Centennial's cafeteria bisects the second floor, and the lounge area sits directly below with a pool table, ping pong, a large television and piano for entertainment purposes.

Missouri Hall (or "MO 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. While each wing is either male or female, each "house" (the north or south side of a single floor) includes both male and female wings. The building also houses a large cafeteria, study rooms, laundry facilities, and many public kitchens.

Missouri Hall opened its doors in 1965 as an all-male residence hall. Construction delays prevented the entire building from being ready for the 1965 season. Because only the north side had been finished, many students who were originally supposed to be housed on the south side instead had to share beds with other students in the on-campus apartments. Eventually those men were permitted to move into the building as construction completed. Truman's Residential College Program, in its earliest manifestation, was located in Missouri Hall. With a high percentage of first year students each fall term, more students get their start at Truman in Missouri Hall than any other place on campus. During the mid 1990s, Missouri Hall was converted from an all-male dorm to the current coed facility.

A renovation of Missouri Hall began in the summer of 2006. This extensive renovation and addition project left the building offline for the 2006-2007 academic year. In addition to behind the walls and cosmetic upgrades, the building now features retrofitted air conditioning, renovated bathrooms, wiring upgrades, and improved community spaces. Both laundry and kitchen facilities are located on each floor. With only minor tasks left to complete, the building opened on time this fall. While traditionally a building of predominately first year students, Missouri Hall had a strong upperclass renewal rate last year. The building does feature two houses available only for first-year students, but the majority of the students will be upperclassmen for the first time in many years.

Blanton-Nason-Brewer (or BNB) which offers three floors of suite-style living arrangements to students is currently closed for renovations and will reopen as a co-ed building upon completion. Originally three separate buildings it will upon completion of the renovation appear as one building with integrated crossovers. The north wing, Brewer Hall, is primarily populated by members of Greek organizations. The east and south wings, respectively Nason Hall and Blanton Hall will be single sex by suite. The residence hall is slated to re-open in the Fall of 2008.

Grim Hall is the smallest residence hall on campus, with a capacity of 68 residents. It is also unusual in its hardwood flooring and house-like appearance. Originally a dormitory for nurses at the adjacent Grim-Smith Hospital, it was later acquired by the University in the 1930s. For many years Grim was also the "International Dorm" by striving to maintain a population of at least one third foreign students. Because of its small size, Grim Hall sometimes feels more like a coed fraternity than a large housing complex; much of its personality comes from its residents differentiating it from the large dormitories.

The West Campus Suites, just northwest of Centennial Hall, opened its doors to 416 students in Fall 2006. The first three floors house mostly upperclassmen, and the top floor in the four-story building houses first-year students. Each room (with the exception of single rooms for eight student advisors and apartments for the hall director and community coordinator) is comprised of two bedrooms attached to a central living room, sink, kitchen cabinets, large bathroom, and independent climate control systems. Each floor has its own dedicated lounge, study rooms, laundry facilities, trash and recycling center, campus events bulletin board and end-of-the-hall study carrels containing computers with internet access.

Three apartment communities, Fair, Randolph, and Campbell, also offer campus-owned housing. Randolph and Campbell Apartments offer residents a kitchen area, while students living in Fair use their meal plan to eat on campus.

Located at the University Farm, only a handful of students, often majors in agricultural science, live here each year. Their work on the farm helps them gain useful first-hand experience, as well as acting as payment for room and board.

Truman is host to a variety of student organizations. The Greek community contains almost 20% of the campus in nineteen fraternities and eleven sororities[2]. There are numerous other professional, religious, honorary, cultural, and special interest organizations on campus [3].

A notable feature of Truman State University is its debate team. With a history of excellence stretching back to the late 1800s, Truman has won two national titles in parliamentary debate, competing in the National Parliamentary Debate Association national tournament. Truman won the 2000 NPDA final round on a 7-0 decision, as well as the 2004 NPDA final round on a 9-0 decision.

Truman also won the 2004 and 2001 Point Loma Nazarene University Round Robin, the MAFA state debate tournament in 2007 (taking first speaker award at this point as well), 2004, 2003, and 2002, and had the first and second speaker at the 2004 NPDA national tournament.

After knocking on the door for two years, Truman finally won the College Bowl (CBI) Region 11 Championship in 2004, and placed 7th at Nationals. ACO won its first outright NAQT ICT Division I invitation in 2005, and repeated as College Bowl Regional Champions that same year. At the CBI National Championship, Truman placed fourth and senior Matt Magruder became the first All-American College Bowl player. ACO successfully hosted its first high school quiz bowl tournament in the Fall of 2006 and has continued this tradition every semester since.

Truman State ACO is restarting its tradition of hosting its college tournament, Brainal Leakage, which this year was a mirror of Princeton's PARFAIT tournament. The 2007 event saw 10 teams from Illinois, WashU, Drake, Minnesota, UMR, and Kansas State compete in Violette Hall with Illinois A emerging as the champion with a perfect 9-0 record. On January 26th, 2008, they are set to host a mirror of Penn Bowl, another important national tournament that promises to bring many top schools to compete in Kirksville.

Publications include Detours, a travel magazine published each semester, the Index, the weekly newspaper distributed every Thursday, and the student literary annual, Windfall. Academic periodicals include the quarterly Sixteenth Century Journal, and GHLL, the Green Hills Literary Lantern, an annual venue for fiction and poetry, recently moved from print to online format. Broadcast media include two radio stations—the alternative format KTRM 88.7 FM "The Edge" and 89.7 FM, a National Public Radio feed of KBIA-FM in Columbia. Its range extends roughly ten miles (15 km) from campus. The University maintains an information channel, where News 36, a half-hour television news program, airs twice a week.

The Echo yearbook, whose funding was reallocated by the administration in March 2007, will be published through spring 2007. The Echo has been published continuously on campus since 1909.

Alternative media options include The Monitor, published mostly online, and Dobson Hall Radio 107.5 FM.

The school mascot is Spike the bulldog.

Truman is a member of NCAA Division II and plays in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association conference. The athletic department sponsors 21 teams (11 men's and 10 women's) more than any other school in Missouri. Among Truman's most recent successes include four regional championships for women's volleyball, a regional berth for men's basketball in 2006, and undefeated regular seasons for both men's and women's soccer. In March 2006, the women's swim team won their sixth consecutive national title, beating rival Drury University after losing to that team earlier in the year. The team holds the record for most national titles won in their division.[4] [5] Indoor sports play in the Pershing Arena, named for famed general John J. Pershing, who attended school on the campus in the 1880s. Stokes Stadium is the site for home football games and track meets. In addition to intercollegiate athletics, recreational teams exist for lacrosse, rugby union (Bulls and Bullets), roller hockey, Ultimate (JujiTSU and TSUnami), men's volleyball and men's and women's soccer.

Truman students passed a resolution in the Spring of 2007, adding a $50/semester fee to all students taking six or more credit hours to help support athletics facilities on campus.

• Robert J. Behnen, a genealogist and former Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives;
• James Carter, current deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the United States Department of Labor's bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), formerly deputy assistant secretary of economic policy at the United States Department of the Treasury and associate director at the White House National Economic Council;
• John W. Cauthorn, a former Republican member of the Missouri State Senate;
• Lenvil Elliott, former professional American football player who played running back for nine seasons in the NFL.
• Jenna Fischer, actress, best known for her role as Pam Beesly, in the U.S. adaptation of The Office;
• Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, a non-fiction writer best known for his research of Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table.
• Harry Gallatin, Truman men's basketball player, NBA player for the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons, coach of the New York Knicks, and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame;
• Alphonso Jackson, current and 13th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD);
• Glen Jacobs, WWE wrestler best known as "Kane", played both football and basketball for Truman;
• Harry H. Laughlin, was a leading American eugenicist in the first half of the 20th century;
• Rebecca McClanahan, RN and professor of Nursing, and current Democrat member of the Missouri House of Representatives;
• Mike Morris, former long snapper for the Minnesota Vikings and is a current radio host on KFAN in Minneapolis.
• Al Nipper, a Major League Baseball coach and a former pitcher who played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.
• Ken Norton, boxer, one of the few to beat Muhammad Ali;
• General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, American Army Officer who achieved rank of General of the Armies;
• Mary Rhodes Russell, judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri, appointed in 2004 and retained in 2006.
• Rhonda Vincent, bluegrass singer, International Bluegrass Music Association's female vocalist of the year 2000-2006.

• Bulldog Party
• Liberal arts colleges
• Student Association of Missouri
• The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, a book by David Horowitz that mentions TSU professor Marc Becker

• Official website
• Truman State Athletics
• Residence Life

v • d • e Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Central Missouri • Emporia State • Fort Hays State • Missouri Southern • Missouri Western • Northwest Missouri • Pittsburg State • Southwest Baptist • Truman • Washburn

v • d • e Public Colleges and Universities in Missouri
4-Year Universities	Harris-Stowe State University • Lincoln University • Missouri Southern State University • Missouri State University • Missouri Western State University • Northwest Missouri State University • Southeast Missouri State University • Truman State University • University of Central Missouri University of Missouri System University of Missouri • University of Missouri–Kansas City • University of Missouri–Rolla • University of Missouri–St. Louis
2-Year Colleges	Crowder College • East Central College • Jefferson College • Metropolitan Community College • Mineral Area College • Moberly Area Community College • North Central Missouri College • Ozarks Technical Community College • St. Charles Community College • St. Louis Community College • State Fair Community College • Three Rivers Community College