Anderson Engineering Changes Name to OWN; Rebrands to Reflect Employee Ownership
Anderson Engineering has changed its name to OWN and rebranded to celebrate its successful business culture built on 100 percent employee ownership. The rebranding builds on the firm’s significant growth over the past few years, with staff expanding from 70 to 230 employees across 10 offices, including six in Columbia, and its share price doubling twice.
OWN serves the commercial, healthcare, education, residential, industrial, hospitality and sports, and entertainment sectors, as well as the federal/military, state, county, municipal, transportation, and utility sectors. Licensed to operate in more than 40 states, OWN’s core services include civil and structural engineering, land surveying, field services, and related subdisciplines.
The Columbia office has supported numerous projects around central Missouri with civil and structural engineering services since it was established in 2018, including the Kirk Building renovation at Truman State University, the new athletic complex at Warrensburg High School, and an annual pavement evaluation and maintenance program for the National Nuclear Safety Administration.
The State Historical Society of Missouri Lists Fellowship Opportunities
The State Historical Society of Missouri is seeking proposals for two Center for Missouri Studies fellowships to begin Jan. 1, 2024. Each fellowship carries a stipend of $5,000 for a project that results in the completion of a 6,000 to 8,000-word scholarly essay on one of two topics.
Topics for 2024 Center for Missouri Studies Fellowships are Labor History in Missouri and Missouri Women in the Great Depression or World War II. The fellowship awards will be announced in December. The chosen projects will be considered for publication in the Missouri Historical Review, the only quarterly journal devoted to scholarship on Missouri’s history. Fellowship recipients will also have an opportunity to make a public presentation of their work.
The deadline for submitting proposals is Sept. 5, 2023, and the competition is open to both academic and independent scholars.
Columbia’s First Dual Language School Will Expand to New Location
La Petite Ecole is expanding with a new location at 201 S. Fairview Rd. The new location will provide larger classrooms and will allow the school to provide its unique educational model to a larger group of children.
The school’s mission is to provide language immersion education to a diverse and multi-aged student population. La Petite Ecole has been at its current location at 1111 S. Fairview for the past 15 years, but additional space has become a necessity with the school’s continued growth.
“Since planting a seed in 2005, when our little school began, we have done a terrific job of expanding children’s minds,” says Principal Joelle Quoirin. “Hence the need now to expand their space. It’s all about the kids.”
Boone Health Celebrates Two Years of Independence
In celebration of Boone Health’s two-year anniversary as an independent healthcare organization, the board of directors reported that the hospital and its subsidiaries are on track to return to its historical record of institutional growth and financial strength.
“After 32 years of hospital management by BJC HealthCare, the board was well aware of the significant costs and challenges of the transition to independence,” said Dr. Jerry Kennett, board chairman. “When we made the decision to go independent in 2018, we recognized that this was going to be a multi-year process — one that would require the kind of steady and measured progress we continue to achieve.”
The board of directors is in the process of selecting an executive search firm to assist with a nationwide search for Boone Health’s next CEO.
State Historical Society of Missouri Showcases Historic ‘Mizzourians’
As part of its core mission to support educational outreach, the State Historical Society of Missouri is expanding the Historic Missourians website, a free resource that features notable people who influenced the Show-Me State.
New biographies are made possible through a generous donation from Carolyn P. and Robin R. Wenneker, whose financial support allows the SHSMO to expand the “Historic Mizzourians” initiative, highlighting prominent Missourians whose lives have intersected with the University of Missouri in meaningful ways. Recently added biographies to the site include Avis Tucker, newspaper publisher and the first woman to serve as president of the UM Board of Curators; MU alumni Edward “Ted” & Hilda “Pat” Jones, known for both financial and conservation legacies; Paul Henning, early television sitcom producer who attended what would become the UMKC School of Law; and Hazel McDaniel Teabeau, the first Black woman to attend Mizzou.
CPS Foundation Provides Spring Grants
The Columbia Public Schools Foundation (CPSF) has announced two spring grants for 2023. The CPS Planetarium will receive $3,361 to upgrade the facility’s sound and lighting. The Columbia Area Career Center (CACC) will receive $12,215 to purchase t-shirt printers and heat presses for the digital media department.
“The Foundation is excited to award these grants to the Planetarium and the Career Center,” said Katie Harris, executive director of CPSF. “The Planetarium is truly a gem for the school district and the community, and we are pleased that this grant will keep its lighting and sound state-of-the-art. We also look forward to returning to the Career Center to see what the digital marketing students will produce.”
