Education

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden was in Kansas City over the weekend on what he called “a labor of love."

Holden was in town to greet the first group of Chinese students who will participate in Missouri Boys State and Girls State this year. In total, there'll be 37.

The annual summer sessions give young people an opportunity to learn about American government and actually run a simulated state government.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators voted unanimously Thursday to extend employment benefits to same sex couples employed by the UM System.

“Effectively, more and more employers and institutions such as the University of Missouri System realize you need to have these types of benefits in order to remain competitive in a state environment,” said AJ Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO – a Missouri LGBT rights group that has been advocating for this change.

Teachers and school district superintendents lined up before the Kansas Board of Education Tuesday to support Common Core reading and math education standards. They argued the standards will help students transfer more easily between schools and create students who are better at critical thinking and problem solving.

Sarah Berblinger is a teacher in the Buhler School District. She said the standards also help build a strong foundation for education.

They've mastered advanced battlefield operations planning. They’ve navigated years of overseas intricacies and family complexities. But now, can they master trigonometry?

The Veteran in STEM program seeks to support veterans in acquiring the education they need to pursue jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields.  While the process of retooling your education to focus on math or science might seem daunting to anybody, only half of STEM jobs require a bachelors degree or higher level of education, the other half typically require associate degrees or specific trade training.  Dean Kevin Truman of the School of Computing and Engineering and Alexis Petri, Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director of the KC BANCS program guide us through the unique supports and programing they've put together to help veterans advance their education and careers.

University leadership from around the state met with the Kansas Board of Regents today to discuss how to adjust to nearly $49 million in cuts from the state’s higher education budget.

The move was approved by lawmakers over the weekend, and include cuts to the state’s six universities in addition to community colleges, technical colleges and Washburn University. Cuts were also made to student financial assistance programs, the Board of Regents Office, and adult education programs Board Spokesperson Vanessa Lamoreaux said.