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Advising

Mark Weidner

Mark Weidner
Ryle 233D
660.785.7403
mweidner@truman.edu

Position: Head Academic Advisor

Hometown: New York City, New York

Education: MA - Student Personnel Services, BA - Political Science

Career Path: In higher education for 18 years in various positions: Residence Hall Director, Admissions Officer, Greek and student organization advisor, Academic Advisor, Student Union Director. Working one-on-one with students regarding academic planning is my forte and the focus of my career in higher education.

Interesting Fact: I'm a veteran - served 4 years in the U.S. Army as an infantry sergeant.

Favorite Quote: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hobbies: Reading and giving my NordicTrack a workout!

Other: I've been married to my wife Ann for 14+ years. I met her 18 years ago when I was a graduate school Residence Hall Director and she was one of my RA's!!

 

Barb Espe
Barb Espe


Ryle Hall 232B
660.785.7403
barbespe@truman.edu

 

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: Algona, Iowa

Education: BS in Business Administration with Concentrations in Marketing and Management from Truman State University

Career Path: My first career was as a Registered Orthodontic Assistant in Winona, Minnesota. When we moved to Kirksville, I decided to finish my college degree. Upon graduation, I was hired as an academic advisor for business and accounting majors. Presently I advise entering students for all majors at Truman.

Favorite Quote: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Hobbies: playing golf and reading

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: Tucson, Arizona

Education: MA in Education from Truman State University- 1979 and BS in Education from the University of Arizona - 1973

Career Path:

  • After two years of college I worked as a traveling salesman for 4 months and hated every minute of it.  It helped me decide what I didn’t want to do for a career.
  • Served in the U.S. Army from 1968-1970, 17 months of which was in Vietnam
  • Worked as a data technician at an airbase in New Mexico for a company that did missile testing/research for the U.S. government.
  • Taught middle school for 25 years and coached basketball for 12 of those years.

Interesting Fact: I worked in a “hippie” leather shop in Tucson, Arizona in 1974.

Favorite Quotes: "A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing." - Hudson Taylor
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliott

Hobbies: I enjoy sports, reading, Bible study and doing “minor remodeling” projects when there is time.

Family:  I am married and have two sons, two wonderful daughter-in-laws and 7 delightful grandchildren.

Other: Member of Missouri Academic Advising Association and Member of the National Academic Advising Association

 

Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly
Ryle Hall 232C
660.785.7403
jkelly@truman.edu

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: I’m an army brat.  I moved every couple of years while I was growing up.  Along the way I lived in such interesting places as Washington, D.C. and Denkendorf, Germany (outside Stuttgart) before eventually graduating from high school in St. Louis.

Education:  I graduated from Parkway West High School in 1989, got a BS (1993) and MA (1995) in English at Truman, and then earned a Ph.D. in English (Folkloristics emphasis, 2000) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Career Path: As an undergraduate I worked at the Writing Center and, during the summers, for B. Dalton books.  I also occasionally did fun things around campus like working for housekeeping and putting up weather balloons at four in the morning.  (That was an adventure.)  After finishing my MA I worked in English at Truman for a year as the Huenemann lecturer, and after finishing my Ph.D. I taught for the University of Missouri-Columbia English department for seven years.  Now I’m here and I love it.

Favorite Quotes: Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.  (John Lennon)

Hobbies: I’ve played tabletop fantasy role-playing games (like Dungeons and Dragons) since I was nine years old.  I wrote my dissertation about FRP gamers and gaming culture, as seen from a folkloristic perspective.

Other: I’ve been married to Melissa Blagg-Holcomb, who’s amazing and much smarter than I am, since 1993.  My kids are Will (born 1994) and Robin (born 1998).  We also have a dog (Arrow) and a cat (Bo).  My dad is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and my mom is a retired Special Education teacher.

Jack Holcomb


Ryle 233C
660.785.7403
jholcomb@truman.edu
 

Ted Frushour


Ryle Hall 232D
660.785.7403
frushour@truman.edu

 

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: Kirkwood, Missouri

Education: B.A. in English from Truman, 2001 and  M.A. in English from Truman, 2005. 

Career Path: After receiving my B.A., I returned to Kirkwood where I lived at home and worked full-time at Wolf Camera, processing photos and selling cameras.  After about a year I decided that life in retail, while quite consistent, wasn’t totally satisfying, either intellectually or financially.  Plus, I think I was killing thousands of brain cells every day from the photo chemicals.  I returned to Truman to get my M.A. in English, with the idea that I might later go on get a PhD. and become a Professor.  At Truman I worked as a GTRA, teaching composition while I did my coursework. I went on to teach English and Public Speaking at the MACC-Kirksville campus and as dual-enrollment courses at Schuyler County High School.  I also worked as a baker at Washington Street Java Company. 

Interesting Fact: One out of every eight Americans lives in California.  Since there are 20 people in my Skills for Academic Success class, at least two of them must have pretty long commutes.   

Favorite Quote: “I don’t need a compass to know which way the wind shines!” 

Hobbies: Cooking, Baking, Home-brewing, Fishing, Softball, Music

Family: Two parents, one sister, one wife, one kid, plus cousins, aunts—the usual assortment

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: Born in Colby, Kansas, grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, but I’ve spent my adult life in Alaska, Oklahoma, and now Missouri.

Education: B.A. in Journalism-Public Relations with a minor in Sociology, M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration University of Oklahoma

Career Path:

Favorite Quote: “An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Hobbies: Traveling! Also, watching movies, eating, and discovering new bands/solo artists before they become famous.

Erin Case
 


Ryle Hall 232A
660.785.7403
ecase@truman.edu

 

Danton Cardoso


Ryle Hall 233B
660.785.7403
djacardoso@truman.edu

Position: Academic Advisor

Hometown: Suburban Buffalo, New York

Education: B.A. English., B.S. English Education, MS Ed- Educational Computing, Ed. M- Higher Education Administration

Career Path: Taught Middle School and High School English and was a coordinator of Tutorial Services at a college in Buffalo

Favorite Quote: Carpe Diem

Hobbies: Cycling, skiing, tennis, reading, traveling (love the Caribbean), concerts, Parrothead, movies, hiking

Family: Father, who is a retired professor, Mother, a retired school teacher and artist, and a phenomenal girlfriend