Archives for June 2024

CSI Camp brings future crime solvers to MSU campus

June 24, 2024 by Lynn M. Lansdown

The first of two CSI Camps, hosted by Missouri State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, was held June 10-13.

High school students from around the Midwest, including Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Illinois, attended this year.

The camp offers introductory training in basic criminal evidence-gathering techniques, such as fingerprinting, blood spatter analysis and plaster casting.

Now in its second year, the June camp enjoyed full enrollment of 40 students. The second camp will be held July 8-11.

Expanded training, smaller groups for 2024 camp

According to assistant professor Dr. Samantha Tjaden, camp organizers used what they learned from the 2023 camp to base the 2024 experience on what students want to learn.

“We have added more hands-on experiences to our camp from last year,” Tjaden said. “For example, we were very lucky to have Springfield Police Department investigators come share their experiences with our campers this year. We have also evolved the blood spatter component of our camp to include Luminol.”

“Both years that we have had the CSI camp have been an amazing experience but—like anything—we are learning and adapting to the needs of our campers,” she added.

Teacher explains a procedure to a student — Kamina Andrisevic listens as Dr. Tjaden explains fingerprinting techniques.

Ideas for 2025 camp in the works

Tjaden is not only one of the camp faculty instructors, she also serves on the planning committee with fellow camp instructor Dr. Michael Kyle. Tjaden lends her professional expertise and assists with content delivery and development.

“Professors Kyle and Tjaden are superb at connecting and building rapport with high schoolers, and they both have a wonderful ability to explain complex aspects of forensics in very down-to-earth ways,” said Dr. Brett Garland, head of the criminology and criminal justice school.

Camp organizers are already planning more techniques and topics for 2025, according to Garland.

“I’m looking forward to us integrating more on the search and seizure and interrogation side—since both are critically important to successful investigations—and maybe running interactive scenarios in those areas,” he said.

Director of Exhibitions Jodi McCoy advocates for university gallery needs

June 13, 2024 by Reynolds College

Missouri State University’s Jodi McCoy, Director of Exhibitions of University Galleries, is leading a research project for the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG).

Her research will contribute to a national census of information that AAMG will use to better support academic galleries, museums and collections.

Photo of Jodi McCoy and Dean Shawn Wahl at Judy Awards — Director Jodi McCoy with Dean Shawn Wahl at the 2024 Judy Awards. Photo credit: Jesse Scheve/Missouri State University.

Several student staff workers have been assisting McCoy with her research: Cassidy Hale (Student Project Lead), Kaitlyn Patton, Elliot Wheat, Melissa Campa-Garcia, Emery Wilcoxen and Olga Shute.

McCoy hopes her efforts will have a positive impact for local, state and national galleries and museums. [Read more…] about Director of Exhibitions Jodi McCoy advocates for university gallery needs

Pulitzer Prize winning play “Crimes of the Heart” comes to Tent Theatre

June 11, 2024 by Lynn M. Lansdown

“Crimes of the Heart,” Beth Henley’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play about three sisters and an interfering cousin living in a fictional Mississippi town, will be performed for the first time at Tent Theatre June 21-22 and 24-29, 2024.

All performances are at 8 p.m. Missouri State University alum Addie Barnhart is the director.

Family, southern gothic style

“Crimes of the Heart” is a dark comedy that follows the Magrath sisters, each of whom remains traumatized by their mother’s suicide years earlier.

To heal and move on, the three must grapple with the past. At times this is made difficult by their self-righteous cousin, Chick, who seems to enjoy reminding the sisters of their mistakes and failings.

MSU alum—and Tent Theatre veteran—Tess Harper played Chick in the 1986 film version of the play. Harper was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

The movie also starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek.

Adding a little bit of Ozarks to the role

Harper knows “Crimes of the Heart” very well, having not only played Chick in the film version but also playing “Lenny” in a stage production during a teaching project at the University of Georgia.

To play Chick authentically, Harper pulled from her own experience growing up in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, a small Ozarks community located about 30 minutes south of West Plains, Missouri.

She especially relied on memories of her mother for the role.

“I pulled a little bit from my mother, mostly her ability to talk really fast in a Georgia accent,” Harper laughed.

But she also adopted her mother’s know-it-all attitude toward just about everyone she knew, especially her family, to capture Chick’s sharp, self-righteous edge.

“Chick has a sugary aggression,” Harper said, a quality that reveals itself in the character’s constant complaints about how her cousins’ behaviors are ruining her social-climbing ambitions.

For Harper, who has often been selected for quieter, reflective roles, playing such a loud personality like Chick was a nice change.

“I enjoyed playing Chick so much,” she said.

MFA student Erin Tyler gives workshop at Pulitzer Arts Foundation

June 10, 2024 by Reynolds College

Graduate student Erin Tyler was invited to give a workshop at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in conjunction with the museum’s fall exhibition “Sarah Crowner: Around Orange.”

The education workshop on notebook making was held October 2023. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is located in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sarah Crowner is a nationally recognized visual artist who makes paintings, ceramics, sculptures, installations and theatre sets, some of which were on display in the exhibit.

Channeling Crowner’s style

Tyler, who is pursuing an MFA in visual studies in the Department of Art and Design, led workshop participants in cutting and binding hand-painted paper into original and interactive notebooks.

The notebooks mimicked the organic forms and hard edges present in Crowner’s paintings, which were featured in the exhibition.

Tyler hand-painted the papers in the notebooks to channel and reflect Crowner’s work.

“This process was particularly important and meaningful to me because I feel a deep connection to Sarah Crowner’s practice and wanted to honor that connection by responding to her work using my own visual language,” Tyler said.

“Crowner herself often responds directly to artists she admires, noting that she ‘channels’ them through her practice,” she added.

Red white and blue artwork museum display — Sarah Crowner painting on view at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation with Tyler’s roll of hand painted paper used for the workshop.

“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” opens 62nd season of Tent Theatre

June 6, 2024 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Missouri State University’s Tent Theatre tradition opens its 62nd season June 6 with “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

Performances are 8 p.m. June 6-8 and June 10-15 at the John Goodman Amphitheatre.

Tickets can be purchased at the box office, by phone or mail and online.

Telling the story of a musical legend

Directed by Lysa Fox, “Beautiful” recounts the journey of legendary songwriter Carole King from struggling musician to stardom.

The musical features more than two dozen of King’s hits from the 1960s and 1970s, including songs from her groundbreaking album, “Tapestry.”

“I don’t think people really understand what a force Carole King really is,” Fox said. “She had a huge career before she became a household name when she released the ‘Tapestry’ album. That’s what this musical is about—how she started and her relationship, personally and artistically, with Gerry Goffin.”

Showcasing MSU talent

Tent Theatre has always presented the opportunity to showcase the best of MSU’s theatrical, dance and musical talent, and “Beautiful” rises to the occasion.

“The investment of this team and cast for this show has been overwhelming and truly amazing,” Fox said. [Read more…] about “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” opens 62nd season of Tent Theatre

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