April 22, 2026鈥揟he Craig School of Business at 含羞草社区 invites the public to a financial planning workshop that will cover basic financial planning, investing and personal finance at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 2, at the St. Joseph Public Library East Hills Branch, 502 N. Woodbine Road in St. Joseph.听

鈥淥ur goal is to serve our community by empowering families through financial literacy,鈥� said Dr. Sel Dibooglu, chair of the Craig School of Business.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Topics include:

• The Foundation: Mindset & Inflation
• The Math Magic: Compounding & Rule of 72
• Investing Fundamentals: Asset classes and diversification
• Keeping What You Earn: Tax Shelters
• Investment Strategy & Risk
• Your Professional Team
  • CPA/Accountant/Tax Preparer
  • Financial Advisor
  • Fiduciary
  • Attorney
• Insurance Coverages

The workshop is for educational purposes only; no particular financial products will be sold or endorsed.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

April 6, 2026–The Center for Workforce Development at 含羞草社区 will present Python Training for the Supercomputer from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11 in the Houlne Center for Convergent Technology. There is a $45 fee for the general public to attend, with lunch included. The workshop is free for 含羞草社区 students, faculty and staff. To register, visit

The introductory workshop to the programming language Python workshop is built around data analysis for researchers and others within a science, technology, engineering or math field. This workshop will teach you to write programs that perform reproducible analyses.听

This is a workshop for beginners; no coding experience is necessary. Laptops will be provided.

The workshop will be led by Dr. Jeff Woodford, professor of chemistry and certified instructor.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

March 20, 2026–含羞草社区鈥檚 Collegiate FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) hosted the State Leadership Conference earlier this month. More than 100 students from across the state came to campus to compete.听

Competitive events included Accounting, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Public Speaking, Sports Management & Marketing, Impromptu Speaking, Marketing, Business Presentations, Business Law, Digital Design & Communication, and Supply Chain Management.

Eight students from 含羞草社区鈥檚 Craig School of Business tested their skills and abilities, earning a total of six top-4 finishes to advance to the National Leadership Conference in Las Vegas in June:聽

• Aden Monzon, senior accounting major from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  • 1st place in State of the Chapter Presentation (team with Curtis)
  • 2nd place in Sports Management & Marketing
• Kylie Curtis, senior business education major from Nevada, Missouri
  • 1st place in State of the Chapter Presentation (team with Monzon)
  • 6th place in Marketing
• Wyatt Fisher, junior management major with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Faucett, Missouri
  • 1st Place in Business Ethics (team with Roe)
  • 3rd place in Business Law
• Ashton Roe, junior management major with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Gower, Missouri
  • 1st Place in Business Ethics (team with Fisher)
  • 2nd place in Impromptu Speaking
• Valencia Chapman, junior management major from Kansas City, Missouri
  • 3rd place in Supply Chain Management
  • 4th place in Entrepreneurship
  • 3rd place in Digital Design and Communication (team with Nguyen)
• Quynh Nguyen, freshman marketing major from Des Moines, Iowa
  • 3rd place in Digital Design and Communication (team with Chapman)
• James Phalen, sophomore accounting and finance major from St. Joseph
  • 5th place in Finance
• Nicholas Klepees, freshman accounting major from St. Joseph聽
  • 5th place in Public Speaking

Curtis was re-elected as a Missouri state officer and is serving as president. Monzon was also re-elected as a Missouri state officer and is the vice president of FBLA Relations. They both were responsible for planning the conference on campus.

Alumnus Seth Hogue 鈥�23 participated in the networking event at Ricky Dean鈥檚 and also served as a judge for the competitive events.

含羞草社区鈥檚 FBLA, a student organization focusing on leadership, networking, resume building, and service, is actively recruiting all majors. The next membership meeting is Tuesday, April 14. For more details, contact Pam Klaus, advisor, pklaus@missouriwestern.edu.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

Oct. 1, 2025–含羞草社区鈥檚 Center for Workforce Development will begin their next classes for Missouri Home Health Aide certification聽 from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 4 in the Houlne Center for Convergent Technology.

Home Health Aides (HHA) work in clients鈥� homes, group homes or assisted living facilities, working with family members and other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care. 含羞草社区鈥檚 training meets all Missouri, Medicare and Medicaid requirements and provides options for the annual professional development required to maintain home health aide certification.

The six-week HHA program blends online and classroom learning to allow for the adult learner to continue to work a full-time job if needed. Limited class sizes and hands-on learning are what make 含羞草社区 the designated applied learning institution in Missouri.听

The training fee is $1,900 with an additional $100 for supplies. Participants may qualify for a grant through a partner agency.

The Houlne Center for Convergent Technology is located at 4141 Mitchell Ave. in St. Joseph. For more information about this class or to register for the course, please visit .

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. 含羞草社区 is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Caleb Keling (center) won the franchise competition in 2024.

May 29, 2025–A recent 含羞草社区 graduate will earn the opportunity to own and operate a franchise business. The Center for Franchise Development in the Craig School of Business will announce the winner of the 2025 franchise competition at 1 p.m. Friday, May 30 in the Walter Cronkite Memorial inside the Spratt Hall Atrium. The public is invited to the announcement.

Each year, the Center for Franchise Development offers business ownership opportunities to Craig School of Business alumni through a competitive process. Graduating seniors or alumni take an Applied Business Ownership class and prepare a business plan for a franchise opportunity. Students who wish to compete for the opportunity present their business plan to a panel of judges including Steven L. Craig, creator of the franchise competition, other business leaders and past winners.听

The Center for Franchise Development provides initial capital for the stores, which the alumni pay back over five years. The entrepreneurs also receive ongoing support from faculty members, the Craig School of Business Advisory Council, Craig and each other. Additionally, the owners are expected to donate a portion of their store鈥檚 proceeds back to the University.

The store awarded this year will be the 36th store awarded since the program鈥檚 founding in 2009. Many of the alumni have expanded on their initial business: they currently own a total of more than 50 stores in 11 states, with annual sales of more than $34 million and annual payroll of more than $10 million.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

April 25, 2025–含羞草社区鈥檚 Center for Workforce Development will begin offering in-person options in May at the Houlne Center for Convergent Technology.

Unlocking Power with a Lean Plant Assessment, 3:30 p.m. May 8

This one-hour workshop, presented by the experts from Missouri Enterprise, will give production managers, safety and maintenance managers, engineers and others information that they can utilize immediately within their workplace. The “Lean” concept will be discussed as well as how to utilize the free Lean Assessment within an organization to find places where efficiency improvements can be made. The workshop is free but registration is required. Registration can be found at .听聽

Introduction to CNC Machining and Milling, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, May 13 through June 30

This eight-week course will include machine shop safety, measurement instrument use, quality control, introduction to CAD & basic 3D modeling, CAM basics and CNC machining, HAAS CNC mill introduction and G-Code Fundamentals and integration of CAD/CAM with CNC Machining.

This 32-hr certificate course will include:

• Industry safety聽
• Measurement & quality control
• Intro to AutoDesk Inventor, 3D Modeling and CAM
• Intro to CNC machining, milling and G-Code fundamentals
• Integration of skills

The CNC certificate will be an applied learning course using ACRA manual lathes & mills, HAAS simulators and HAAS automated lathes and mills.

Participants must be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or GED. The cost is $2,000 including tooling supplies and a reference book. Registration can be found at .听

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

April 18, 2025–含羞草社区鈥檚 Craig School of Business will host a financial workshop on Saturday, April 19, at 10 a.m. at the Downtown St. Joseph Public Library.听

The workshop will feature an expert panel discussion on budgeting, saving, and investing and offers advice for both students and adults in the St. Joseph community.

The Downtown St. Joseph Public Library is located at 927 Felix Street.听

The event is free and open to the public.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

March 14, 2025–含羞草社区 has named Rebecca Lobina as director of workforce development. Lobina, currently continuing professional education director at Northwest Missouri State and regional director of the Missouri Small Business Development Center, will begin her duties April 1.

鈥淚 am thrilled and very excited to bring Rebecca to MO West,鈥� said Dr. Jay Johnson, provost and vice president for academic affairs. 鈥淩ebecca has several years of experience and success in workforce development. She will be a major asset as we continue to invest in our future and work closely with the community and local industry to provide opportunities for our region to thrive.鈥�

Lobina will oversee all workforce development initiatives for Missouri Western, collaborating with faculty and staff and area industry partners to address the workforce needs of the region. She will implement training programming at the Houlne Center for Convergent Technology and other programming related to upskilling and continuing professional education through development of non-credit and for-credit programming.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to see the direction that MWSU has been pursuing in the past few years under the leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy,鈥� Lobina said. 鈥淣ow, with the Houlne Center and this position, Missouri Western is engaging businesses directly in a way that goes beyond encouraging collaboration, and instead engages both businesses and their workforce to make relevant, meaningful change as a result of an educated workforce.鈥�

Lobina has been with the Small Business Development Center since 2007, providing thousands of small businesses in the region with both training and one-on-one advising. As continuing professional education director, she created a trio of revenue streams, including non-credit certifications, corporate trainings and conferences. Lobina received a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana Tech University and a Master of Science in Administrative Studies from Missouri State University.听

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听

鈥淭his has been a goal of mine for quite some time now, junior year in high school to be specific,鈥� Keling said. 鈥淚 want to thank my family鈥� everyone involved with the Craig School of Business and Missouri Western. Not only for giving me the opportunity to own a business but also giving me the skills to own that business.鈥�

Keling, from St. Joseph, was a student in a senior-level Applied Business Ownership class this spring. Students in the class prepared business plans, and Keling presented his plan to a panel of judges that included Steven L. Craig, creator of the franchise competition, other business leaders and Missouri Western graduates who won franchises in previous years.

Keling graduated earlier this month with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in business management and a concentration in human resources. He completed a human resources internship at Clarios last fall. He has also been employed as a dance instructor at The Dance Arts Center, a choreographer at Central High School, a warehouse employee at Schneitter Fireworks and a photographer at DanceOut LLC. At Missouri Western, he was vice president of the Winter Guard and a member of the Honors Program.听

The franchise awarded to Keling is the 35th store to be awarded through the program founded in 2009. Many of the alumni have expanded on their initial business: they currently own a total of 54 stores in 10 states, employing 724 people with annual sales of more than $34 million.

The Center for Franchise Development provides initial capital for the stores, which the alumni pay back over five years. The entrepreneurs also receive ongoing support from faculty members, the Craig School of Business Advisory Council, Craig and each other. Additionally, the owners are expected to donate a portion of their store鈥檚 proceeds back to the University. So far, the donations have totaled approximately $367,000.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .

Craig School of Business

Dr. Sel Dibooglu will serve as chair of the Steven L. Craig School of Business. Dr. Dibooglu is currently professor and chair of the MBA program at Wilmington University College of Business. He previously served as chair of the Department of Finance and Economics and director of the executive MBA program at the University of Sharjah, UAE. He also taught at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for 16 years, and at Southern Illinois University for 10 years.

Dr. Dibooglu earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University, a Master of Arts in Economics from Ankara University, Turkey, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Gazi University, Turkey.

Engineering Technology

Dr. Boong Yeol Ryoo will serve as chair of the Department of Engineering Technology. Dr.Ryoo is currently associate professor in the Department of Construction Sciences in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University, where he has taught since 2008. He previously taught at Florida International University and served as a research professor at Hanyang University in Korea, and conducted postdoctoral research at Purdue University. Prior to his academic career, he had more than a decade of industry experience in engineering, construction and information technology.

Dr. Ryoo earned a Ph.D. in Construction Engineering and Management and a Master of Science in Construction Management and Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea.

含羞草社区 is a student-centered learning community preparing individuals for lives of excellence through applied learning. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit .听