BOY SCOUTS APPLAUD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT; STROUP AIDED NATIONAL OFFICE

Kala Stroup, president of Southeast Missouri State University, was thanked Thursday for her leadership and contributions to the Boy Scouts of America's professional development committee.

Glenn S. Pannell, director of the National Professional Development Division of the Boy Scouts of America, presented a painting to Stroup during a visit to Cape Girardeau Thursday.

Stroup is a member of the Boy Scouts of America National Board and in 1987 was appointed chairperson of the professional development committee, one of the organization's personnel-related standing committees.

The committee is designed to develop the capabilities of professional and professional-technical employees of the Boy Scouts of America. The committee's purpose is to improve employees' individual performance and better achieve the organization's goals. Stroup's tenure as committee chairperson ended in June.

"It is appropriate for us to look back on the significant accomplishments that have transpired during her period of leadership," Pannell said of the gift.

"Most notable among her achievements has been the development of a master's degree program in human services for Boy Scouts of America staff."

More than a year in the making, the master's degree program now is being implemented and places the Boy Scouts on a competitive edge among corporations offering graduate degrees as a part of their benefits package to career professionals.

In addition, Stroup has brought educational resources to the permanent faculty of the Boy Scouts of America's Center for Professional Development, Pannell said. The educational center provides all training and development for the corporation's 4,000 career employees.

Most notable, however, is Stroup's contribution to the establishment of a 150,000-square-foot National Scouting Museum at Murray, Ky., Pannell said. The structure replaced the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America's corporate facility when it was relocated from the Northeast in 1979.

Finding a suitable location that could house the history, collections and memorabilia of the nation's largest youth movement posed a difficult challenge. The museum was re-established in 1985 in Murray.