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campus today
Freedom Scholarship
Dinner Set for Jan. 17
CMSU alumni Noel
Hwande and Lydia McGhee,
past recipients of CMSU’s
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Freedom Scholarships, will be
keynote speakers at the annual
Freedom Scholarship Dinner
Tuesday, Jan. 17. Scholarships
funded by private donations
are presented to high school
students from Kansas City and
Johnson County, MO, and
CMSU students at the event.
The dinner caps a week of
activities that will feature an
issues forum and leadership
awards luncheon, ecumenical
worship service and gospel
concert. Tickets are available by
calling 660-543-4156.
CMSU’s Criminal Justice
Team Wins Regional
Championship, Again
CMSU’s Gamma Epsilon
Delta chapter of the American
Criminal Justice Association
– Lambda Alpha Epsilon
claimed the championship in
regional competition for the
fourth consecutive year.
Forty-six students and
three faculty advisers attended
the three-day conference this
fall in Springfield, MO. They
captured 28 individual and six
team trophies. Team members
earned 11 individual first place,
nine second place and eight
third place trophies. In team
competition, they earned three
first places, two second places
and one third place.
Clarification
on Cammack
We regret that an article
in our fall issue inadvertently
omitted important career
information on professor
emeritus Larry Cammack in the
Department of Mathematics
and Computer Science. In
addition to teaching math
courses, Cammack also taught
computer science. In fact, he
taught every course in the
computer science curriculum
until it was revised and
expanded in 2005. He also
played a key role in revising and
revitalizing the program.
Richard Herman, center, directs students Jason Eaken, left, and Ryan Morehead in the art of stage fighting.
Award-Winning Professor ‘Buzz’
Herman Lights Up Theatre Program
Central Missouri’s Department
of Theatre office is not spacious,
but it is a constant beehive of
activity. Students come and go,
waiting in chairs outside offices of
individual instructors for insight
and advice that will allow them to
succeed.
In the middle of it all is
Richard Herman, chair of the
department. In Herman’s 18 years
with the department, students
and colleagues alike have learned
they can count on him to teach,
dispel fears, set standards and
encourage excellence.
Herman’s qualities as an
educator were recognized by his
peers this summer as he received
the Wayne Brown Outstanding
Teacher of the Year Award.
The award is presented by the
Speech and Theatre Association
of Missouri for excellence in
teaching and inspired leadership.
As department chair for the
past four years, Herman has
been instrumental in securing a
permanent performance space
for the Black Box Theatre and
purchasing new seating and a new
rigging system for the James L.
Highlander Theatre.
Under Herman’s leadership,
the Department of Theatre
received more than 25 awards at
the Kennedy Center American
College Theatre Festival Region V
in St. Louis in January 2005, an
unprecedented accomplishment.
Herman’s leadership also
has been reflected in the largest
freshman enrollment in the
history of the Department of
Theatre this fall.
John Wilson, associate
professor, has worked closely
with “Buzz” Herman as a faculty
member. He also recognizes his
qualities as a mentor.
“To know and work with
Buzz is like having free access
to an artistic machine,” Wilson
said. “I borrow from his brain,
his heart and his imagination
all the time. He has provided
leadership in my classes, the plays
I direct and administrative and
departmental duties. I wouldn’t
be the artist I am today, nor
would our department have
the success and recognition it
has, without his leadership.”
Herman’s students also have
found a mentor who encourages
them to test the boundaries
of their own abilities. Ryan
Morehead, a senior theatre
major, was cast as Macbeth in
the department’s fall mainstage
production. He knows Herman as
a director and a teacher.
“His ideas gave me a totally
different interpretation of the
character,” he said. “As a director,
his style is collaborative, not
dictatorial. And you won’t find
anyone more passionate about his
subject in the classroom. There
is a non-stop intensity, and it’s
contagious.”
Herman said he always
wanted to teach. His interest
in theatre led him to a career
he still finds fascinating.
“I like to direct, and here I get
to direct many more productions
than I would in professional
theatre,” he said. “And all the
while, I’m able to teach young
actors in a collaborative style
of learning. There are no egos
involved, just young people who
want to learn and grow.”
Herman was a driving force
behind the development of
the Black Box Theatre, a small
experimental venue in a campus
residence hall where students can
learn their craft.
“Black Box has become one
of our most popular places for
performing,” he said. “Students
can perform without critique
or reviews, and it gives us the
opportunity to try new plays in
original productions.”
— Mike Greife ’74
page 4 central today
winter 2005