Fulton Rotary Club heard from William Woods University President Jeremy Moreland at Wednesday's meeting, when he provided updates about the university and upcoming events.
Moreland, who is now in his second year as president of WWU, spoke about changes made to impact the student experience.
He mentioned that WWU has a new vice president of student life, Tiffany Nolan, and a new vice president of enrollment services, Andy Otto.
Moreland also spoke about new program offerings available at WWU, including a new specialization in the doctorate of education program. The new specialization is adult education, Moreland said.
"Teaching kiddos and teaching grown-ups is a little different in terms of pedagogy, right," Moreland said.
A masters in psychology is also a new program offering at the university.
Moreland spoke about the Owl Media Corps, which will be offered in the upcoming fall semester.
"The best way that I have to describe this group of students is think back to the yearbook club, those groups of students that all year long were kind of student journalists. They were taking pictures, they were gathering stories, and then at the end of the year they put it all together in a book. The media corps is kind of the same, except they are doing it all year long and they're using social media," Moreland said.
He provided an update to the Indie Pop-Up film festival that is hosted on campus. The festival shows independent movies across three months as part of an agreement with KMOS-TV, the PBS-affiliate station in Warrensburg.
The final screening will be of "Free Choi Soo Lee" on March 30 in Dulany Library Auditorium.
Moreland urged Rotarians to check out the new walking trail at Junior Lake on WWU's campus.
"Before we put the trail in, you could experience the lake but you need to bring your boots or your waders, maybe..." Moreland said.
He added that construction on a bridge renovation at Senior Lake was recently completed. This bridge is where first-year students cross when they first arrive on campus for the Ivy Ceremony. At graduation, the students walk back over the bridge.
Moreland said the fall incoming class in 2022 was 40 percent larger than the previous fall's incoming class.
"That was actually the largest incoming class we've had at the university in almost half a dozen years," he said. "...we think this fall might be an even larger incoming class."
He said a ribbon cutting ceremony will take place April 14 for the new Center for Equine Medicine.
Moreland announced that the speaker for the upcoming commencement ceremony will be Byron Bagby, who is a retired Major General in the U.S. Army. He also serves on WWU's Board of Trustees.
"We're so excited to have General Bagby come back to Fulton and come back the Woods," Moreland said.