This year is the tenth anniversary of the name change of an important Missouri university. It’s been twenty years since Northeast Missouri State University became the state’s premier Arts and Sciences University, kicking off a statewide trend for state colleges and universities to assign themselves specific roles in the higher. It’s been ten years since the state’s primary Arts and Sciences university changed its name to Truman State University. President Barbara Dixon says Truman still has to educate the public about what it is and what it does. She says the school’s mission is more valid now than it was in 1985 – because society places greater demands on people to be flexible in their knowledge, more insightful in their thinking, and more prepared to change jobs – perhaps as often as five or six times in their careers. She says an arts and sciences education might be the best preparation they can have.
