Published on April 28, 2022

Hello CASE Scholars, families, friends and supporters,

As we wind down the 2021-2022 academic year, I am reminded that this time of the year (spring) is my absolute favorite time of the year for a number of reasons. The primary reason: it’s campus celebration season! There are a plethora of celebratory activities that highlight the talented students, staff and faculty that we have in the MU community. I just wanted to highlight a few that give me a sense of complete fulfillment and pride as we embark upon this year’s MU celebration season.

• The MU Advisor’s Forum recently honored our very own Ana-Maria Fernandez for her Excellence in Advising nomination. She was nominated alongside a number of professional and faculty advisors for the coveted honor. Let’s all congratulate Ms. Ana-Maria for her outstanding work that she does to support KC Scholars and other students on MU’s campus! Way to go Ana-Maria!
• On Saturday, April 16^th, I had the pleasure of attending the 33^rd annual McNair Scholars Conference and Luncheon.  This event, attended by campus leadership, featured 16 diverse McNair Scholars, many of whom are also CASE Scholars, presented brief talks about their research projects for the year. The diversity among the scholars was notable and the topics ranged from “Synthesis and Characterization of Uranyl Species” to “Designing an Application to Improve the Efficiency of Navigating Campus Resources and Increase Student Retention”. Click here to see the list of all of the presenters and topics covered. Congratulations to all involved. It will be exciting to see what and where these scholars go from here!
• Salute to Excellence: Perhaps the best part of my job at MU is highlighting student successes, including one of the most important, Graduation! On Thursday April 21, 2022 inside of Memorial Union, we had the opportunity to highlight over 300 CASE Scholars who are scheduled to “commence” their time at MU by graduating from our institution. Our “Salute to Excellence Program” differs from commencement exercises in that we allow students an opportunity to speak about their experiences and share with us their plans after graduation. This year was a success and due to COVID, was the first time since 2019 we were able to hold a big celebration in person for our spring graduates. Check out this link for some of the biggest highlights of the night! Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors and their families! We especially want to congratulate and thank our CASE marketing interns who will be graduating: Becca Newton, Lauren Purdy and Kelly Lopez. We are incredibly proud of each of you!

To all of our CASE scholars we wish you well on your finals and please be safe as you travel from campus to your final destinations as we conclude the 2021-2022 academic year! Feel free to reach out to the team in the CASE office, should you need anything. 

We really appreciate your individual and collective efforts during this difficult year.

#WeAreCASE

Go Tigers!

E. Andre Thorn, Ph.D
Director, Center for Academic Success & Excellence (CASE)
“Serving Students Since 1995”
110 Student Success Center, 909 Lowry Mall
Columbia, MO  65211
P: 573-882-9208
F: 573-884-4353
www.case.missouri.edu

Indigenous Peoples and Lands Acknowledgement:
I would like to acknowledge that I work in what is colonially known as “Missouri,” and that these were the homelands of the tribal nations of the Nutachi (Missouria), Jiwere (Otoe), Wahzhazhe (Osage), Ogáxpa (Quapaw), Chikasha (Chickasaw), Illini, and Báxoǰe (Ioway), among others.