Charles Nowell, a junior majoring in art at UMSL, designed the logos used for Jubilee Brew, an Irish-style red ale created by Ferguson Brewing to celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Ferguson (Mo.) Brewing Company, the closest brewery to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, wanted to do something special to celebrate UMSL’s 50th anniversary. That led to Jubilee Brew, an Irish-style red ale made to honor a half century of education and excellence at the university. It also led to learning opportunities at UMSL. 

Perhaps no one can appreciate this more than Charles Nowell, who parlayed a celebratory beer into a head start on a graphic design career.

The 24-year-old junior studio art major was one of more than 30 students from two UMSL graphic design courses to submit proposed logos to represent Jubilee Brew. Nowell’s design was selected as the winner and is now emblazoned across shaker pints, growlers, coasters and T-shirts at the brewery. If you order a Jubilee Brew at Ferguson Brewing, it’s Nowell’s specially designed tap handle the bartender pulls for your pint pour.

“The coolest part of this is actually seeing somebody purchase the shirt, glass or growler with my design on it,” said Nowell, who’s interested in pursuing a career in motion graphics, print or web design in the St. Louis area.

The Crestwood, Mo., native originally set his career sites on clothing design and applied to faraway programs like the Fashion Institute of Technology at State College of New York, Parsons the New School for Design in New York and the Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design. Costs to attend those schools kept him in St. Louis where he matriculated at a community college and another university before transferring to UMSL. Nowell said he couldn’t be happier with the graphic design program he’s enrolled in at UMSL, especially the faculty members.

“They have really high standards, which is good because it pushes you harder,” he said.

For the Jubilee Brew logo design competition, Nowell said he had a little over three weeks to create his concept. He worked his way through four or five versions with various typefaces. After scrapping each of them, he ultimately designed his own font.

Nowell is a fan of fonts used in circus posters. It’s a classic style, he said, historic but timeless and not so serious that it feels stuffy. He paid homage to that in his design.

“When you look at old Ringling Brothers posters, they still feel relevant,” he said. “Like the old Coca-Cola typeface – it’s from a specific time period, but it’s still relevant today.”

For Nowell’s Jubilee Brew logo, he tried to instill St. Louis iconography, like a fleur-de-lis as the backdrop. He pointed to green hexagons and said they were to indicate hops.

Jennifer McKnight, associate professor of art at UMSL, oversaw Nowell’s class. She, along with Bruce Sachs, adjunct assistant professor of art, and representatives from Ferguson Brewing Co. and University Marketing and Communications at UMSL, judged the competition.

“Charles’ logotype is reminiscent of old poster broadsides you might find at the World’s Fair,” McKnight said. “We liked that he didn’t rehash UMSL’s logo, but extended our campus’ energy and spirit with active type.” 

Nowell said he’s learned a lot from the project, especially in working directly with printers in order to see his design come to fruition as Ferguson breweriana. He also enjoyed the experience as a craft beer fan who’s fond of the Schlafly brand and frequents Ferguson Brewing Co.

As far as craft beer design aesthetics, he lists St. Louis’ Urban Chestnut Brewing Company and Rogue Ales in Newport, Ore., among his favorites. He also really liked the Jubilee Brew designs concocted by his fellow classmates and said many of them could have easily been chosen as the winning design over his. Nowell remains grateful for the opportunity and experience gained, as well as the additions to his portfolio.

“I know he’s learned a lot from it,” McKnight said. “The design department is also pleased to have our work serving the community we live and work in.”

Nowell and his classmates weren’t the only UMSL students to learn from the Jubilee Brew. Josh Wilson, brewmaster at Ferguson Brewing Co., discussed the science of beer and gave members of the UMSL Chemistry Club a tour of the brewery in the fall. The club president and faculty adviser, Erin Lowry and Mike Nichols, respectively, returned this spring to help Wilson brew a batch of Jubilee Brew. And communication majors wrote about the beer in the quarterly UMSL Jubilee newsletter. 

Visit the UMSL YouTube page to view a video by Alicia Hottle-Sippy of Lowry, Nichols and Wilson’s brew day at Ferguson Brewing Co.

On April 20, more than 150 alumni, faculty and friends attended “50 Years of Great Chemistry,” a Jubilee event celebrating the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Chemistry alumni included (from left) Joseph Bono, BS 1969; Michael Finkes, BS 1973 and MS 1978; Yanina Levchinsky-Grimmond, BS 1997 and MS 1999; Jim Grib, BS 1976 and MS 1982; and Ken Henderson, BS 1972. (Photo by Dan Younger)

Joseph Bono graduated from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He shares many of the same memories that others have of UMSL’s early years. So, when he traveled from his home in Virginia last week to attend the reunion “50 Years of Great Chemistry,” Bono recalled the old clubhouse, classes in the laundromat and the opening of Benton Hall.

“After this visit, I realized my fondest UMSL memory is the camaraderie,” Bono said. “You were never just a number. The advanced chemistry students were all pretty tight. The faculty cared, not only about those students at the top of the class, but everyone. We all cared about each other. And that’s what we’re remembering – how much fun it was back then.”

UMSL’s Great Chemistry event was held as part of the UMSL Jubilee, a yearlong celebration of UMSL’s founding in 1963.

Bono also earned a master’s degree in political science in 1979. He recently retired from a long and distinguished career, most of it spent as a forensic scientist with the federal government. He was director of the forensic science laboratories for the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services in Washington, D.C., and the St. Louis County Police Department. He also taught in the Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.

Lawrence Barton, professor emeritus of chemistry and biochemistry, arrived at UMSL in 1966. He served as chair of the department from 1980 to 1998 and as director of the Center for Molecular Electronics until 2006. As the unofficial historian of the department, he served as one of the organizers of the event, which attracted more than 150 people.

“It actually exceeded my expectations,” Barton said. “Alumni came from all over the country.”

With his history collection, Barton provided materials for slide shows and posters. He had a display of departmental milestones, a timeline of chemistry faculty and staff over 50 years, memorabilia and listings of alumni who had received Distinguished Alumni Awards.

For the record: From 1971 to present day, 48 major awards were presented to faculty for research and teaching, some of them multiple times. Eight chemistry alumni received Distinguished Alumni Awards, and delivered 25 Distinguished Alumni Lectures.

“I dug out lots of old stuff, things nobody else wants,” he said. “It all added to the camaraderie.”

Barton recalled the earliest days of the university when he was brought in by Charles Armbruster, the division director, to help build the science program. It was top-notch, right from the start, he said.

“Chemistry was there from the beginning, followed quickly by biology and physics,” he said. “UMSL’s first graduating class in 1967 had 10 chemistry majors, and all but one of them went on to graduate school.”

Chemistry alumni came from all over the country to celebrate – Oregon, New York, and the mountains of northern Georgia. Most alumni have remained in the St. Louis region developing careers in chemistry with companies such as Mallinckrodt, Sigma, Pfizer and Steris. Some went on to medical and dental school. Others are teaching.

Michael Finkes, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1973 and returned to get his master’s degree in chemistry in 1978, was one of those alumni. He recently retired from Monsanto after 35 years, a job he got, thanks to UMSL.

“I came back to UMSL because I needed to learn more lab skills,” Finkes said. “I worked with David Garin in chemistry doing some research, honed my skills and when I interviewed, they wanted to know all about that research.”

Finkes has remained very active with the chemistry department and has served on the executive committee of the Alumni Association for many years. Among alumni groups, chemistry stands out as a very active one. They recently developed a LinkedIn group page that numbers more than 300. Finkes says there’s a formula for their success.

“It doesn’t happen by itself,” he said. “The faculty respected us, showed a lot of interest in us and they developed that culture. And once we left, they kept up with us. It takes the existence of that culture and work of several key faculty like Lol Barton.”

Terry Jones is a professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at UMSL. (Photo by August Jennewein)

With time comes perspective, and the 44 years that Terry Jones has worked for the University of Missouri–St. Louis have provided the political science professor with a view that’s unique and revealing.

Still in his twenties, he joined UMSL in 1969 – six years after it opened. Jones grew up in St. Louis and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Saint Louis University. He edited the student newspaper there, worked as a stringer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and planned to pursue a career in journalism.

But in the early 1960s, the higher-education community and the federal government recognized that, without action, there wouldn’t be enough university faculty to handle America’s oncoming wave of college students who were baby boomers. Strong undergraduates, like Jones, were recruited into doctoral programs with offers of assistantships and fellowships. He went on to earn a doctoral degree at Georgetown University in Washington.

At UMSL, he’s been the chair of the Department of Political Science twice, including his current stint, which began in 2010. Jones directed the Public Policy Administration Program, and he was the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1983 to 1997.

His research covers public policy, metropolitan governance, public opinion, strategic planning and surveying. He’s written three books, including “The Metropolitan Chase: Politics and Policies in Urban America.”

What drew you to higher education? *
I really loved the autonomy one had as a university professor. You had a lot to say about what you taught. You had a lot to say about what you read and researched. I also became very excited about the ability to have universities serve the public through advancing knowledge and their educational mission.

UMSL was in its infancy when you came here in 1969. What was attractive about joining the university?
It was an emerging metropolitan public university, and that’s the type of university I wanted to be a part of. We were developing a public university in a metropolitan area that serves the area primarily through teaching and research but also by extending that teaching and research into the community. It was exciting. At that point, I was 28 years old. I was very eager to make a difference – not simply as an individual scholar but in shaping an institution. UMSL offered me the opportunity to do that at a young age.

The College of Arts and Sciences evolved quite a bit under your leadership. What was your focus then?
I had a passion about connecting the university to the community. There were 18 departments in the college. I worked with many of them to help them think through what being in a metropolitan area meant, how that was different for them and how they might adjust their programs and approach to take advantage of our location. For example, we really built the criminology and criminal justice department. Safety is an important issue in a metropolitan area and to have a program that researched in that area and delivered advice was critical.

There have always been competing thoughts and ideas about how UMSL should evolve. What good comes from that competition? *
There weren’t many blueprints for young, public, metropolitan universities. We had to find our own way. Even people who are arguing with each other – we all shared a common goal to make this the best possible university we could. We often disagree about whether action A or action B is the best way to make that happen, but that’s healthy tension. For the most part, I think we’ve gotten it right.

There have been many changes to the university since it was established. What’s an important one that comes to mind?
I think one very significant change is that about 15 years ago we very consciously, as an institution, said, “We don’t have enough international students on campus.” For a lot of our students it’s not feasible to study abroad, so if you can’t send students overseas, then you bring overseas to the students. Now we’re up to around 1,000 international students, so if you’re teaching a class, there are two to five international students in the classroom. The face of the campus is different and better.

What about students overall? Have they changed much in 44 years?
This is not every UMSL student, but the prototypical UMSL student remains the same. They are between 25 and 35. For one or another reason, they didn’t go to college right away or more frequently went a bit and got distracted. But then they come here, and they’re very serious about education and somewhat concerned about their ability to succeed. We are a bootstrap for them, and they are a joy to not only teach but to watch develop in the community. It’s very satisfying to see our alumni in those pictures of St. Louis leaders in a publication like the St. Louis Business Journal and say, “That’s what we were thinking of in the 1970s and 1980s.”

UMSL is older than an infant or a toddler, but what are we now? *
We’re in our 30s. There are some accomplishments we can look back on with satisfaction and encouragement. Yes, we’re worthwhile. Yes, we made a difference. But we can do more, because we’re not in our 70s or 80s – even though some of us actually are in our 70s.

This story was originally published in the spring 2013 issue of UMSL Magazine. (* Did not appear in original version.)

At 50 years old, the University of Missouri–St. Louis has cemented its status as a significant part of St. Louis history.

In a nod to UMSL’s half century of scholarship and community building, Ferguson Brewing Company created Jubilee Brew, a special release Irish red ale. Ferguson Brewmaster Josh Wilson (pictured left with brewery owner Joe Lonero) selected the style based on red being UMSL’s official color and the ale’s accessible flavor profile. Wilson describes the beer as having a subtle hop presence that takes a back seat to caramel and biscuit flavors.

Want to try the beer? Jubilee Brew will remain on tap throughout 2013 at Ferguson Brewing, located just down the road from UMSL at 418 S. Florissant Road in Ferguson, Mo. Visit fergusonbrewing.com for more information.

This story was originally published in the spring 2013 issue of UMSL Magazine.

In 1960, the Normandy School District converted the clubhouse of the Bellerive Country Club to the University of Missouri–Normandy Residence Center, which housed freshman- and sophomore-level courses offered by the University of Missouri–Columbia. The clubhouse was the only building on campus when UMSL was founded in 1963. Later named the Administration Building, the 66-year-old structure was demolished in 1977. (Photo courtesy of University Archives.)

By the fall of 1959, the Normandy (Mo.) School District’s oft-discussed desire to develop a junior college appeared close to a reality. The district had acquired the needed land, but was now faced with an important question: How does a public school district establish an institution of higher education when elementary and secondary education are what it knows?

The Normandy Board of Education assembled a group of 28 men and women to find the answer. They became known as the Committee of 28, and they played a key role in converting a golf course into the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Golf course for sale

(Photo by August Jennewein)

James Westbury (pictured left) was the director of special services for the Normandy School District when he was appointed to the Committee of 28. He says the district’s students were capable of succeeding in higher education, but the college enrollment rate for Normandy High School graduates remained low, mainly due to the cost of matriculation.

“They couldn’t afford Washington University, Saint Louis University or housing at the University of Missouri in Columbia,” he says.

The district flirted before with the idea of starting a junior college. Ward E. Barnes, then the Normandy School District superintendent, had publicly supported creating a state-funded university or college in the St. Louis area. Then in 1957, the Bellerive Country Club, a neighbor of the district’s administration offices, announced it intended to sell its 128-acre, 18-hole golf course. The asking price was $1.3 million.

The land drew interest from developers, but tough municipal zoning restrictions kept the property on the market. The club turned to the Normandy School District, offering the land for $600,000 if its members could continue to occupy Bellerive Country Club for up to three years while constructing new club grounds in west St. Louis County.

A $625,000 bond issue, supported by Barnes and the Normandy school board, went to ballot in September 1958. ($25,000 would go toward converting the country club into a college.)

“If the land would be sold for residential use, we’d have to build a new school to accommodate new students,” Westbury says. “So we were going to end up paying one way or the other. Our biggest selling point in the ballot issue campaign was to preserve this property for higher education.”

After gaining the necessary two-thirds approval votes, the district had its land.

In the fall of 1959, the club notified the district it would vacate the Bellerive property the following May. With new urgency to deal with the land, the school board formed the Committee of 28 in October 1959.

From country club to college

The Committee of 28 included a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, the president of the May Company, Normandy school board members, Normandy School District administrators and parishioners from Catholic churches in the district.

Westbury says he remembers the plan was to establish some form of higher education, likely in the shape of a junior college, which would benefit students from the district and across the St. Louis region. Committee members went on information-gathering trips to junior colleges in Hannibal, Mo., and throughout Illinois.

A subcommittee traveled to Columbia, Mo., in February 1960 to discuss how to achieve accreditation from the University of Missouri, which was responsible for accrediting all of the state’s junior colleges. During the conference, Elmer Ellis, president of the University of Missouri and a good friend of Ward Barnes, proposed that if the school district provide and maintain their new property, the university would provide an educational program.

“Normandy would cut the grass, keep the lights on and clean the building,” Westbury says. “We’d be the landlord. The courses offered would be right out of the Columbia catalogue. There was nothing second rate or diminished about this.”

The proposal meant instant accreditation for a two-year college, a quality education at an affordable price, minimal costs to taxpayers and the possibility of opening within months. The district would also have to ensure that at least 100 students enrolled at what would become known as the University of Missouri–Normandy Residence Center, a precursor to what is now UMSL. The committee’s new tasks were to promote the center to St. Louis-area high schools and prepare the Bellerive Country Club Building for classes in the fall.

Enrollment opened in May 1960. More than 100 students enrolled the first day, and the center reached its enrollment cap by the end of day three. In June, the district began renovating the building.

The center appeared to be a success after enrollment doubled the next year, but expansion was a problem. As Westbury points out, the district had no money to grow the program, nor did the university have any incentive to do so because it didn’t own the land.

The University of Missouri had a solution. In October 1961, the university proposed the start of a four-year university on the old country club grounds if the school district turned over the land to the university.

The Normandy school board agreed to sell the land to the University of Missouri for valuable considerations and a token payment of $60,000.

“There were more than a few people who challenged the wisdom of that,” Westbury says.

The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately voted down the sale 4-3. The district would have to follow the rules for selling public property, which involved accepting the highest bid. The Missouri General Assembly later intervened (see story on House Bill 153), allowing the Normandy School District to sell the land to the University of Missouri.

UMSL begins, the Committee of 28 ends

With the property transferred from the district to the university and UMSL’s opening in 1963, the Committee of 28 concluded its successful mission. Westbury was named superintendent of the Normandy School District in 1977, a role he continued until he retired in 1987. Two of his children went on to earn a total of three degrees at UMSL.

(Photo courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri)

“It was a matter of timing and availability,” he says, reflecting on the establishment of UMSL. “It was a unique and very unusual set of circumstances that caused it all to happen. The guiding light behind it all was Ward Barnes. I can’t emphasize that enough.”

Barnes (pictured right) spoke about the university’s beginnings in a 1972 interview archived at UMSL.

“This is a success story that probably has not been equaled by many places in this country,” he says. “There has developed here an institution that will make contributions to this metropolitan area and to the state for many, many years to come.”

Barnes died in 1993. Westbury says he was a visionary but doubts if Barnes or anyone from the Committee of 28 could have envisioned what UMSL has become today.

Committee of 28 members

A total of 29 individuals served on the Committee of 28, but only 28 served at any given time. James Westbury is the last surviving member of the committee.

William F. Allison
Ward E. Barnes
Daniel F. Bauer
Roy W. Bergmann
Herman C. Bleckschmidt
Morris Blitz
Fred O. Coble Jr.
Roland L. Diehl
Mildred C. Erhart
Edward F. Ford Jr.
Irma G. Hill
Newell J. Holbrook
Gerald A. Koetting
Roland H. Kolman
Raymond N. Leach
C.R. McAdam
A.H. McKain Jr.
Fay McKinney
Edward Monaco
C.E. Potter
Geoffrey Probert
V.J. Rosengreen
Raymond M. Schmidt
Fred R. Small
Jerry W. Turner
Ben H. Walter
Harry T. Weeks
James Westbury
Ballard A. Yates

This story was originally published in the spring 2013 issue of UMSL Magazine.

Missouri lawmakers Wayne Goode (left) and Ken Rothman worked on legislation that made it possible for the Normandy School District to transfer land to the University of Missouri. The deal made the creation of UMSL possible. (Goode photo courtesy of Blanche Touhill. Rothman photo courtesy of the Missouri State Archives.)

The year was 1963, and it was all falling into place – the people of Normandy, Mo., were working to convey a piece of property owned by the Normandy School District to the University of Missouri in order to bring public higher education to St. Louis.

Led in large part by Superintendent Ward E. Barnes, district residents passed a bond issue to purchase the former Bellerive Country Club in north St. Louis County. Barnes and the district envisioned luring a higher education institution to the site as a way to offer more educational opportunities to St. Louis-area residents and stabilize nearby neighborhoods.

Simultaneously, the University of Missouri – headed by President Elmer Ellis – explored the possibility of opening campuses in Kansas City and St. Louis. The university ultimately decided the Bellerive site was ideal for a St. Louis-area campus.

So a deal was struck. Normandy would transfer ownership of the 128-acre country club for a nominal fee. In return, the University of Missouri would establish a campus at the Bellerive site.

Just one problem: The property deal was illegal.

State law mandated that public schools solicit competitive bids when selling excess property, but that process didn’t appeal to either the district or the university. Competitive bidding would not guarantee the college or university that Normandy residents sought. University of Missouri officials had no interest in a bidding war with a potential developer, noting that its Columbia and Rolla campuses were built on donated land.

That’s when lawmakers Wayne Goode, of Normandy, and Robert Young, of St. Ann, stepped in. In January 1963, state Rep. Goode introduced the 78-word House Bill 153, and state Sen. Young introduced a companion bill in the Missouri Senate to make the proposed land transfer legal. Both supported bringing the University of Missouri to St. Louis and were sold on the merits of creating that campus in the Normandy area, as was Missouri Gov. John Dalton.

Barnes’ rationale for support was that St. Louis was the largest metropolitan region in the United States without access to public higher education, which did not bode well for local citizens or the overall regional economy. It turned out to be a winning argument.

“The key for passing this legislation through the General Assembly, particularly for a freshman representative, was cementing strong local support and then convincing our colleagues in rural Missouri,” Goode says. “We had a good case, and I was fortunate to attract some very persuasive co-sponsors in introducing the bill to the House.”

Among the co-sponsors of HB 153 were: Frank Bild, of Affton; Donald Gralike, of Lemay; Pat Hickey, of St. Ann; R.J. King, of Clayton; Pat O’Connor, of Bridgeton; Walter Meyer, of Bellefontaine Neighbors; Peter Rabbitt, of Rock Hill; Jay Russell, of Florissant; Alfred Speer, of Glendale; Robert Snyder, of Kirkwood; Irvin Zwibelman, of Olivette; and Ken Rothman, of University City.

“Part of the Normandy School District was in my House district,” Rothman says. “I knew Ward Barnes well, and Wayne and I became good friends campaigning together. We both thought [the new university] was a good idea. It really became a team effort – with a lot of support in the community.”

The House passed the bill on Feb. 5, 1963, on a vote of 150-3. Young allowed his bill to die and guided HB 153 through the state Senate for unanimous approval on March 27. Gov. Dalton signed the legislation into law on April 3, and the University of Missouri–St. Louis was dedicated in September.

Classes were initially held in the old Bellerive clubhouse and nearby storefronts along Natural Bridge Road. The new campus had 672 students, 32 faculty members and 10 staffers. Rothman says the statewide support was instrumental in securing startup funding as the young campus badly needed to hire faculty and construct buildings to accommodate an enrollment that would swell to more than 10,000 students by 1969.

It didn’t hurt that three of UMSL’s primary supporters were young men who would enjoy long, successful political careers. Robert Young became a U.S. Congressman. Goode served 42 years in the state House and Senate, primarily as chair or minority leader of the Appropriations Committee for each half of the General Assembly. He’s currently chair of the University of Missouri System Board of Curators. And Rothman rose to become speaker of the Missouri House and lieutenant governor.

“I sleep well at night knowing we’ve given so many people an opportunity to succeed,” Rothman says.

Goode expressed the same sentiment at the university’s Jubilee Kickoff in February. He spoke of the many people who had helped create and build UMSL over the years. Goode also marveled at his long association with the University of Missouri in general – enrolling at the Columbia campus after graduating from Normandy High School in 1956.

“I’ve been connected to the university a long time,” Goode says. “It will be over 60 years when I complete my Board of Curators term, and when I look back on introducing legislation to create UMSL 50 years ago, I never imagined I’d still be this involved with the university. I’m so happy to have been a part of this.”

In response to his words that night, the large crowd at the 50th anniversary party rose in unison as he exited the stage at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. A standing ovation well deserved.

* * * * *

Without HB 153, UMSL would not exist. This is the law:

Whenever there is within any school district any school property that is not required for the use of the school district and the property could be used for purposes of offering education beyond grade twelve by a public institution of higher education, the board of education is authorized to lease or convey the property to the public institution, and any proceeds derived from a conveyance shall be placed to the credit of the building fund of the district.

This story was originally published in the spring 2013 issue of UMSL Magazine.

Mirthday, UMSL’s annual celebration of spring, will kick off at noon April 17 and run to 4 p.m. on Parking Lot D on the south side of the Millennium Student Center. The celebration includes carnival rides, and booths, inflatables, snow cones, cotton candy and lots more. The Mirthday concert will begin at 7 p.m. at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center and will feature the music of Grouplove, Neon Trees and The Capital Kings. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Tegan Klevorn refuses to think about bad weather, even though it’s St. Louis and April brings showers and an occasional tornado. As coordinator of student activities, Klevorn oversees Mirthday, the annual student carnival and spring celebration held outdoors at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Just as the name implies – Mirthday is for frivolity, especially if it involves laughter.

“I never look at the weather forecast beforehand,” Klevorn said. “There are too many other things to think about.”

However, she quickly admits to “peeking” (at a forecast) 10 days out from the celebration, which runs from noon to 4 p.m. April 17. The carnival is set up in Parking Lot D on the south side of the Millennium Student Center.

Thrill seekers will find carnival rides and large inflatables for jumping and bouncing. There will be snow cones, cotton candy, hot dogs and other goodies. There will be booths to test your skills and a roving magician has been added to the festivities.

This year there’s a booth-decorating contest. Student organizations, departments, staff and campuswide organizations are encouraged to decorate their booths for the UMSL Jubilee. Klevorn said the two best decorated booths will each receive $250 for a program during the 2013-14 academic year.

This year’s Mirthday concert will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in Anheuser Busch Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $5 for UMSL students with an ID (limit four); $20 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Touhill ticket office, 314-516-4949. Students on the University Program Board chose three bands this year.

Co-headliners are Grouplove a Los Angeles-based indie band, and Neon Trees, an alternative rock band from Provo, Utah. The Capital Kings, a Washington, D.C., Christian pop band, will open for the headliners. Klevorn said ticket sales are running ahead of last year’s concert.

The five members of Grouplove met in 2009, started playing in 2010 and by the end of that year were recognized as one of the top ten best new bands. They have been touring ever since. Their 2011 single “Tongue Tied” appeared in an iPod Touch commercial. It hit number one on the Modern Rock charts and has sold more than 1 million singles. Grouplove has appeared on several television shows including “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Neon Trees’ lead singer Tyler Glenn and his neighbor Chris Allen formed the band in 2005, later adding Branden Campbell and Elaine Bradley. They gained national attention in 2008 when they were chosen to open for The Killers on their North American tour. Neon Trees released their debut album, “Habits,” in 2010. During 2011 they appeared on numerous television shows including “Conan,” “Late Show with David Letterman” and three times on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” They have toured extensively in recent years.

Charles Nowell, a junior majoring in art at UMSL, designed the logos used for Jubilee Brew, an Irish-style red ale created by Ferguson Brewing Company to celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Ferguson (Mo.) Brewing Company will celebrate its third anniversary on April 27. But that’s not the only milestone the brewery is honoring in 2013. In a nod to UMSL’s half century of scholarship and community building, Ferguson Brewing created Jubilee Brew, a special release Irish red ale. In addition to the beer, which will remain on tap throughout 2013, Ferguson Brewing worked with UMSL to create learning opportunities for the university’s students.

Two UMSL graphic design classes at UMSL held a competition to design a logo for the Jubilee Brew. Charles Nowell, a junior majoring in studio art, won, and now his logo design work is featured on a tap handle, pint glasses, growlers, T-shirts, coasters and table tents. In addition, members of the Chemistry Club have toured the brewery and been invited by Ferguson Brewmaster Josh Wilson to partake in brewing a batch of Jubilee Brew.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Hip Hops columnist Evan Benn covered Jubilee Brew and the students work with Ferguson Brewing in his article “Beer love goes from Soulard to Edwardsville and beyond.” Read the full article on STLtoday.com.

St. Louis Cardinals fans are often called “the best fans in baseball.” And with a new season just underway, KSDK (Channel 5) once again turned to one of the best of the best fans to spotlight: Tom “The Hat Man” Lange.

Lange, a mail carrier at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was recently featured twice on KSDK. For one segment, Lange discussed the elaborate Cardinals hats he’s created over the last several years to celebrate his favorite team. He also showed off some of his non-Cardinals hats, including a UMSL-centric hat (pictured) he made to celebrate the university’s 50th anniversary. 

Lange’s hats are currently on display in the UMSL Postal Services building on North Campus.

Visit the KSDK website to view a video featuring Lange before the start of the season and on the day of the home opener.

A conference at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will examine the contemporary relevance and validity of the American exceptionalism thesis.

AE21: American Exceptionalism in the 21st Century will run April 25-26 in the university’s J.C. Penney Building/Conference Center. The conference is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and organized by UMSL criminologists Richard Rosenfeld and Robert Bursik.

“One of the deeply imbedded tenets of the American heritage is that the U.S. has played a special role in world history, not only in the distinctive dynamics that led to its establishment as a uniquely egalitarian and democratic society, but also in its perceived mission to serve as a guiding example for the rest of the world,” said Bursik, Curators’ Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “Recently, however, the existence of such an ‘American exceptionalism’ has been questioned, as well as its presumed uniformly positive effects on the quality of American life compared to that found in other nations.”

The hallmark of the conference is a series of presentations and discussions that focus on the contemporary relevance and validity of the exceptionalism thesis as applied to a variety of institutions in the U.S. and other developed nations.

Key themes include:

• whether the U.S. can be considered to be an exceptional society
• whether the nature of this exceptionalism has changed over time
• implications for the future role of the U.S. in a global system

The conference will present keynote speaker Godfrey Hodgson, historian and acclaimed print and broadcast journalist. Hodgson is a Fellow at Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford in England; a former director of Reuters’ Foundation Programme at Oxford; a U.S. correspondent for The Observer and The Sunday Times; a foreign editor of The Independent; a documentary filmmaker; and author of “The Myth of American Exceptionalism” (Yale Press, 2009).

Additional speakers will include:

• David W. Garland, School of Law, New York University
• Jerome B. Karabel, Department of Sociology, University of California–Berkeley
• Michael Kazin, Department of History, Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
• Donald E. Pease, Department of English, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
• Rogers M. Smith, Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
• John C. Torpey, Department of Sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
• Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

Richard Rosenfeld, Curators’ Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UMSL, notes that the conference is a fitting part of the university’s Jubilee celebration.

“This conference includes world-renowned scholars on the American experience in global context,” Rosenfeld said. “It represents the university’s commitment to intellectual engagement and should be of interest to scholars, students, and the public across the St. Louis region and elsewhere.”

To attend the conference, the registration fee is $100 through April 17 and $125 after. UMSL faculty, students and staff qualify for a reduced rate of $75. Student scholarships are available; to apply, email Bob Bursik at bbursik@umsl.edu. For more information, including the full conference schedule and speakers’ biographies, visit ae21conference.com or call 314-516-5655.

About the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UMSL: The department conducts and disseminates the findings of basic and applied research on crime and justice, offers excellent teaching at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree levels and serves the campus, profession and community. This mission is realized via the research, teaching and service of the department’s faculty, staff and students.