ACKSON, MS — For working adults who want to optimize their advantage in the marketplace, Belhaven College has announced the Master of Science in Leadership degree. The 36-credit hour accredited graduate program is designed to enhance the professional skills of business managers and executives. It is especially tailored to accommodate adult professionals who seek to develop their management and leadership roles in business, education, church and other areas of their professional lives.

The Master of Science in Leadership focuses on developing the student’s comprehension of the complex and multifaceted factors that affect the decision-making process within the organization. The program has been structured to serve both holders of baccalaureate degrees in business as well as other disciplines.

SHERMAN, TEXAS — The oldest college in Texas makes history July 1 as Austin College welcomes Marjorie Hass as the first female president in the college’s 160-year history. 
The Austin College Board of Trustees selected Hass, then provost at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, for the leadership position in November after a comprehensive national search.

“Austin College has been nationally recognized as a college that changes the lives of its students,” Hass said. “I am eager to be a part of moving the college to its next level of success and ensuring that future generations of talented students have the opportunity for an Austin College education.”   

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — John Prevas, Eckerd College assistant professor of Classics, and businessman Steve Forbes co-authored a book, recently published by Random House.

Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today... and the Lessons You Can Learn compares six great leaders of the ancient world with contemporary business leaders.

Steve Forbes, chairman and CEO of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine, was Eckerd’s 2009 commencement speaker. In addition to his teaching role at Eckerd, Professor Prevas is an author and adventurer who has climbed the Alps in search of Hannibal’s pass and has followed Alexander’s footsteps through the “terrorist belt” of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

CHARLOTTE, NC — For the first time in Johnson C. Smith University’s history, a woman, Officer Angel Bennet, will wear the badge of a sworn police officer.

Bennett has had an active career in law enforcement. She completed her Basic Law Enforcement Training in 1999 at Stanly Community College in Albermarle, NC. She furthered her education by earning an associate degree in criminal justice from South Piedmont Community College in Monroe, NC, in 2008.

Before joining the JCSU family in October, she served with the township police departments of Scotland Neck, Enfield and Pinetops, NC. In addition, Bennett volunteered for three years with the Marshville Police Department as a reserve officer and was a reserve officer with the Anson County Sheriff’s Department.

DECATUR, IL — Millikin University is the new home for the National Bird-Feeding Society.

Established in 1989, NBFS seeks to improve the hobby of bird feeding and watching by connecting bird lovers with education and research about best practices for wild bird feeding.  After 15 years of service to the public, the society entrusted the Wild Bird Centers of America, Inc. to be the exclusive sponsor of NBFS and continue its mission.  
Dr. David Horn, associate professor of biology at Millikin and director of research and development for Wild Bird Centers of America, serves as director of NBFS. Stacey Shonkwiler, a 2008 Millikin graduate, serves as general manager. 

DUBUQUE, IA — The University of Dubuque bought five new Cessna 172 SP glass cockpit aircraft to be used for primary and instrument training.

The addition of these airplanes increases the university’s fleet to 23. UD’s Flight Operations Center is located at the Dubuque Regional Airport.

Dubuque’s aviation programs provide students with the academic and professional tools needed to achieve success in the aviation industry. The mission of the Aviation Department is to provide students with the professional skills that allow for success in all segments of the aviation industry while enhancing their critical thinking and decision making skills.

ASHEVILLE, NC — Warren Wilson College’s EcoDorm, which opened in 2003 as a model of energy-efficient building designs and renewable-energy technologies, has become the first building on a college campus to achieve LEED Platinum certification in the Existing Buildings (EB) category.

Platinum certification is the highest rating level a building can receive under the LEED system. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council that sets standards for the “design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.” The category of Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance “identifies and rewards current best practices and provides an outline for buildings to use less energy, water and natural resources; improve the indoor environment; and uncover operating inefficiencies.”

EcoDorm is a two-story residence hall that houses 36 students each semester. Warren Wilson students were heavily involved in the planning, research and design of the building, which initially had four priorities as a “green dorm”: energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy indoor air quality and use of local and recyclable materials. The latter was accomplished in part by ensuring that all wood for the EcoDorm came from the college – either recycled or timber milled and finished on campus.

FULTON, MO — The Winston Churchill Memorial and Library in the United States on the Westminster College campus is now America’s Churchill Museum as a result of Congressional legislation.

The resolution for the new designation garnered 47 Congressional co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, including the entire Missouri delegation.

America’s National Churchill Museum is the only museum in North America totally devoted to Sir Winston Churchill’s life and work. Its state-of-the-art interactive exhibits, located in the Undercroft of a 17th century Christopher Wren church brought stone by stone from London and reconstructed on the Westminster campus, bring Churchill and history to life.